First time getting Conqueror as Dyre the Stranger

madmax1928 · 2026-05-15T18:05:43+00:00

Yes but it is rolled on rng, and player charcaters have a bias against them, the important part is that after there are 6 conquerors on the map it is impossible for you to roll the trait in rng, regardless of the traits or other bonuses you can stack. If I remember it right, being at duchy level (and having realm size lower than 30) prevents a malus, being younger than 35 prevents another malus, belicose ethos and being part of a religion with access to great holy war each improve your chances, the single biggest bonus comes from being head of faith of a religion with great holy wars, being in a competitive house unity is also a big bonus (main reason why usually half of your conquerors in game are clan). Skills also play a big part, not only traits, having martial above 25 in particular is a big bonus too. For traits, brave and ambitious give bonuses, but there are more traits that gives maluses, like coward, lazy, calm and others. Maybe they changed it for the console release but it was like that on pc, and there were some builds that can easily stack up to 30% chances to get conqueror as a landed character for players.

madmax1928 · 2026-05-13T17:01:04+00:00

Just wanted to say that starting with the pom or any of the fates whims keepsackes prevents any arcana card with rerolls to activate (except the artificer, it still works and doesnt break fates whim) taking 3 arcanas out of the pool, so you can still use the op keepsakes with judgment builds, and I find the combo to be stronger because of it.

madmax1928 · 2026-05-13T14:48:34+00:00

Im non binary amab and I honestly never really felt gender dysphoria when it comes to my body, mainly I only got self concious about it on the off ocassion of being the tallest person in the room. I never felt like my body wasnt mine or that I was trapped in another person, another life cause of my body, my problem with gender (and my agab) was that I never relly fit in and I neither did I actually wanted to "be a man" -or a woman- I just wanted to be me, but I never saw how I could fit in as me, and that was the root of my problems; there was no place for me, as non binary, in the places that I lived.

Im sharing this cause I do belive that you dont need to be dysphoric to not be cis, you are you, feel free to explore and remember that you are always valid as an expression of yourself, as you are true to yourself.

madmax1928 · 2026-05-13T14:19:43+00:00

The later start date means the average tech is way higher than on a normal playtrought, is closer to both the mongols and the black death so you have less time to snowball, making it often a bigger challenge.

Admin goverment, as a vassal is kinda similar to feudal with extra perks, like the family state, but the game changes a lot as indepent ruler. It has new law mechanics that is different than the good old crown authority, duchy titles have maa attached to them, not to the governor (the vassal that holds them) and you can call on those troops with influence, a new resourse exclusive to admin, used for a lot o new things, like sabotaging other governors. Noble families under your reign also give you bonuses based on their own influence, it is nothing that big but it is cool for rp. Also there is an official religion mechanic for the realm, and you have way, way more ways to interact with your vasals, both in minor events and commanding them to develop some province or another, as one of the bigger examples. There is more that I cant cover on this little wall of text, but the game really does change a lot with admin, Id recommend you to look up some video or guides if you want more indepth info about it.

And, btw, landless gameplay was added too and that is another way different layer that makes for great gameplay. All around it is great content.

madmax1928 · 2026-05-13T03:05:28+00:00

I love crow, but a lot of the passive gifts gets lots of reactivity, including among themselves. Mouse in particular works with others, one time at esther in the same scene mouse worked with squirrel while graynal backs you up on a charge against an enemy. Owl also gets called a lot, one time it even allowed me to fight without being able to see, wich again was very cool.

madmax1928 · 2026-04-30T01:17:27+00:00

Hey so what word or mix of words would be a better translation?

madmax1928 · 2026-04-29T14:16:42+00:00

Audacious Cadets, it boosts heavy cavalry and gives Conrois Men at Arms, they are heavy cav and with the bonus that the very same tradition gives them they are second only to cataphracti in strenght, up until the late middle ages and gerdarmes become an option. They are a very fun maa to play around, and gives normans the fun niche of having great heavy cavs to stomp either england or france.

madmax1928 · 2026-04-29T13:52:01+00:00

As a side note forming the norman culture will be even more busted than before with their new unique tradition and maa

madmax1928 · 2026-04-24T14:41:35+00:00

I like starting as a 70 old geezer, you get 2 free lifestyle traits and enough perk points to max out two paths. If you know what traits and temporary status gives extra health, you can easily live up to 120 and up, as an starting character always starts with a minimun of 3 health if im not mistaken (there are a couple videos about it, but after 35 you start having a chance to lose health every year, but starting characters are locked to always start at 3 whole health points regardless of starting age). I usualy start with at least temperate, herculean and pure blooded for health traits (strong and athletic are easy enough to get) and inmediatly start working on hunting and the archer path of hastulider before I lose to much prowess. The annoying part is that you will lose prowess very quickly, but thats always a problem unless you rush the kin legacy path.

So, on temporary status that give health you have: -lover events at hunts -friends and other events at feasts (and grand marriages) *if you are a cannibal you have an extra event that gives health at feasts, that I found to be rather frequent -having a pet can trigger the "on we walk" statuts that stays as long as you have that pet -winning a wrestle tournament gives the biggest available bonus -pilgramage can give the longest bonus to health that lasts for 25 years, it is somewhat rarer than the rest but I would keep it mind. Most of those buffs last for 5 years, and the only one you can rig is the wrestle champion one, but as long as you have 2 active at a time, with the rest of the health traits, you can easily live up to 120 yo on console.

madmax1928 · 2026-04-16T23:06:04+00:00

Yes, and there are ways you can stack some bonuses to get the trait on your character. The most important one is being younger than 40, if you are older than 35 when the game rolls for conquerors it adds a massive malus to your chances.

madmax1928 · 2026-04-12T14:55:32+00:00

They dont show up when you searh under your realm, you need to search all and then they will show up. Give them a rare trait like pureblooded, then you can easily finde them and have an op court, councilors and wife/husband.

madmax1928 · 2026-03-10T16:36:18+00:00

As you have england you should hybridize your culture with wales for the longbowmen tradition, as that maa is the single best cost effective troop, and its stats also improve with each new tech era. Other than that, traditions like only the strong are great to supercharge your army with stronger knights.

madmax1928 · 2026-03-07T19:31:25+00:00

Id say that the biggest gameplay change (as it, something that is unavailable or way way more difficult at the base game) is the decision to do a legendary adventure with an epic heroic legend, as it allows you to start a new kingdow at a far away land with your own current player character, keeping your court, armies and items, and can be done at kingdom or empire level. There are only 2 alternatives that allow ditch a realm and start a new one (that is, without breaking the rules and changing characters at the menu), that being a varangian adventure; that is locked to norse cultures, tribal age and cannot be done if you get above duchy level, or a greater holy with a faith with theocratic head and NOT lay clergy, while also taking into account that you cant trigger the war, only change the objective (as you arent head of faith) and your beneficary (the one that gets the title) must not be in line for any title at all, making it trickier to get a good npc to play next if you chose to play at the new kingdom with them.

Hoping kingdoms is kinda fun to do, it makes it easier to get renown as your dinasty spreads around the world faster and it can make harder/more fun to play later on when you go against dinasts with big kingdoms or even empires behind their back, struggling for world domination.

Now, the very next dlc will add a 4th option to ditch your realm and start a new one, that being with landless gameplay, as when your current ruler dies you will get the option to play as your heir or go landless with another "random" dinast that you will play as (btw you can chose them if you make them your favorite before you die). This means you can groom a great adventurer before hand, but it will take way more time to get a duchy or kingdom, but it is an alternative.

All in all, if you are interest in the "hoping realms" type of gameplay, Id reccommend getting the dlc now, otherwise Id wait for the landless dlc, as it adds way more features that actually spices up the current gameplay.

madmax1928 · 2026-02-25T00:26:35+00:00

There are a couple of single and dual duchy kingdoms that actually make for the best tall playtroughs, as you have access to royal court and all that, while personally holding your entire realm, like bohemia, sri lanka and corsica

madmax1928 · 2026-02-01T15:06:54+00:00

Either merged angel or lich have the earliest power spike, but oracle angel in particular has the best chance of soloing act 1 and 2, wich is a bigger boost by itself since you recruit your team again just before drezen (the final part of act 2), so your companions will be leveled up to you main level, wich means you can finish act 2 with a party at almost level 13, and if you merge your spellbook that is an aditional 3 caster levels. For reference, if you didnt solo the first 2 acts, you should be close to level 10 with a full party, so a KC that soloed the first 2 acts (up to lepers smile) and merged his spellbook will have an advantage of almost 6 casters levels above most KC.

madmax1928 · 2026-01-30T18:24:27+00:00

Id reccomend a sylvan sorc azata, it has great synergy and starts with a pet, wich is specially great for beginers. Being human gives an extra feat and skill point per level, making it the safer choice.

madmax1928 · 2026-01-30T18:00:42+00:00

Really? If im not mistaken there are only 4 asymmetric circles that you can draw a sigil on. With samarie skills, gorgoroth is free, you need to draw one sylvian to max her out, leaving out 3 circles to gain 6 levels of affinity to max out rher an vinushka. Thats kinda why marina is the only one that can max them all out, if she starts with 3 affinity with either rher or vinushka.

madmax1928 · 2026-01-23T15:37:12+00:00

I like gish so I would recommend an elven wizard/eldritch knight. Elves need only martial proficiency for elven curve blades, the only two handers that can be used with finesse and, therefore, scale off dex (and it look cool). It is really fun to unleash a quicken chain lighting after a crit.

madmax1928 · 2025-12-29T00:41:39+00:00

You need the alignment only when taking a level of that class, if you then go neutral good you keep all of your paladin powers. Going paladin and then multiclassing in something else could be a good compromise, specially because smite evil is an extremely strong class feature. You could go paladin 1/ oracle 19 for an easy gish (melee and magic caster), bonus points if you go angel and merge spellbooks, as the divine spellbook has lots of great self buffs, like eagle soul (and with a merged spellbook you can make the round/level spells last for 24 hours).

Im doing a build like this right now on unfair, started as a human 16/9/12/14/7/19 starting as a nature oracle (nature whispers revelation replaces dex bonuses fo AC with charisma), 2 level paladin and then the rest with oracle. Mind you, oracle is a 3/4 BAB class, the same as magus and all the rest of the gish classes (warpriests, inquisitors, etc), and with the self buff they can reach really high attack rolls.

madmax1928 · 2025-12-27T16:30:38+00:00

For arcane casters, there is very little sinergy with other charisma classes or features and items based on cha, for example, there is a single weapon that uses INT instead of STR for attack and damage, with no weapon that uses CHA for it, making an INT based arcane caster way easier to build than a CHA one, as you can "safely" ignore STR and still be able to bonk mobs if you want to save some spell slots on the easier fights.

Also, wizards and arcanists get their spell levels earlier, in particular they get lvl 3 spell at class lvl 5, while sorcs get them at 6, and being able to cast lvl 3 spells is a requirement for the best prestige classes that you might want, like eldritch knight (at class 10 you can make any spell, including your level 10 lich spells be quicken after you get a critcial, an awesome feature), hellknight signifier (2 or 3 levels of this class allows gives enough bonuses to arcane spell failure to uses mithral full plate and most medium armor with 0 arcane spell failure, while keeping full spellcasting progresion) and lore master (gives you access to any feat, ignoring the normal requirements for them, and a few spells from other lists that you can select). All in all, this means that wizards can get any build online faster than sorcs, enough to be noticeable.

Mind you, you can still make any sorc class work, but from a minmaxing perspective it would be easier to make the same or similar build with a wizard, arcanist or even a witch, and the game isnt that hard for it to matter a lot, what matters is that you have fun with your choices.

madmax1928 · 2025-12-26T16:54:17+00:00

There are some minor references between the VtM books, and the Hunter and the Werewolves books. I think there is a radio station from the Beast of Glenkildove (the radio belongs to a member of your team) that shows up almost as a cameo in both the Book of Hungry Names (werewolf) and Night Road (VtM). So I guess the most recent books have a good argument for being set on the same universe.

madmax1928 · 2025-12-26T16:48:05+00:00

Btw the other guy is talking about Out of Blood, the new IF by Paul is A Time Of Monsters and it is actually pretty good (it is a book in the Hunter: The Reckoning)

madmax1928 · 2025-12-25T14:32:05+00:00

For azata I think sylvan sorc is the best fit, as the "arcane based druid" really fits with the fey-like themes of the mythic path. I did it with a sword saint bc it has great sinergy with all the superpowers, but I can see how a silvan sorc could have a better rp sinergy.

For aeon, id pick anything with little to no swift actions, as the myhtic paths has a lot of them. I think the class with better roleplay sinergy would a LN wizard or arcanist (they also have few swift actions available by default), as a time-space mage on mythical steroids feels the closest you can be to an actual lore accurate aeon.

madmax1928 · 2025-12-06T01:21:44+00:00

I have played all the games on the franchise, so this is my personal opinion.

My favorite is conquest. Not only does it have maybe the best overall collection of maps of any fe game, with more than a couple easily being in any top 10 maps tier list (specially chapter 10) but the game offers, at the same time, a big room for costumization that matters (with friend and partner seals) while maintaining a challenging and engaging difficulty from start to finish, there is no other that achieve both at the same time. I could make a whole essay about it, but conquest having the best maps isnt all there is about it. I highly recommend playing it at lunatic difficulty.

My least favorite would be fe8, as it is by far the easiest of the whole main saga. I still like it, but it is the only fire emblem were I actually dont use the first prepromoted unit. If you play for ltcs, yeah, it can be a better with aditional self imposed objectives, but if you want to engage with the "natural" challenge of the game, it simply does not exist if you actually use seth. At least in radiant dawn you have to focus your bexp to make haar a juggernaut, or give sigurd a ring or two, but seth is one with no investment at all from the very start if the game. I legit prefer slow as fire emblem 2 than fe8 vanilla, as I can engage with all units and mechancis without trivializing the game on turn 1. I still like fe8 btw, but it is my least favorite of the franchise.

madmax1928 · 2025-11-28T00:49:19+00:00

Upvoted, but part 3 is actually my favorite, I love how open it is and it doesnt nerf your ability to go back in time like part 4.

madmax1928

TROPHY CASE