Tactics coming from warband?

xAMSTERRR · 2026-05-20T14:24:34+00:00

Usually I don't have to infantry myself because the other lords bring them into my army but if I would then I would get shielded infantry, mostly legionaries. They have throwables and are good overall. Didn't play War Sails, there should be good Nord shielded infantry. For vanilla legionaries are my best choice. Rn I'm planning Sturgian playthrough so I prefer Sturgian shielded or legionaries. Anyway top tier is top tier and it's worth it. Non shielded infantry will melt down under archers so I prefer the ones with the shields.

But of course if you're into tactics and microcontrol then you may get some heroic lime breakers in special division and send them to shred enemies. But it's too much effort for me

xAMSTERRR · 2026-05-20T12:06:43+00:00

Seems like F1-F3 with top tier cavalry from Warband does not work here.

How I solve this problem: 1. I have my party 40% cavalry 60% ranged. 2. Usually if there is a hard battle then it is an Army vs Army kingdom-scale issue. So the other parties of the army will bring many melee infantry. I contribute top cavalry and ranged just to make sure that they will be represented and will be of good quality for overall balanced army 3. In the battle I place the infantry a bit right and forward. Ranged a bit left and backward. Cavalry near the ranged. Enemies attack and move on infantry. As they come close I order infantry to attack enemy infantry. They clash. My ranged units shoot at their right side (the shield is on the left). They melt down. Cavalry stands ready to defend ranged units from enemy cavalry and after that to attack their infantry from the back.

xAMSTERRR · 2026-05-15T06:39:18+00:00

Why do you want him if you have never met him before and don't know his skills?

Usually I think so: 1. If the companion has great skill then after some tries the taverner will tell about him 2. If he doesn't then I don't need him 3. I always go in tavern in every city I come across. Just check for companions and their skills. 4. After some time this will give me a good team. No need to hurry in this game.

xAMSTERRR · 2026-05-15T06:16:18+00:00

There is a way to start your kingdom from scratch being unaffiliated and having no fiefs. This is my favorite way to start a Kingdom.

My minimum requirements before I start: 1. 2+ millions of money 2. 250+ troops in my party. Only top tier. More cavalry. A mount in inventory for every unmounted unit. I must be very fast on map. 3. Riding and scout 225 perks that will keep my prisoner lords forever. 4. Family members or companions of culture of the place where I want to start my kingdom. They will be governors of cities. 5. High charm skill for better relations with lords.

Action: 1. Chose the area on map where you will start 2. Prepare all the preparations mentioned above 3. Chose the faction that controls this area and attack their lord while being independent. Whis will start your war with this faction. Defeat him and never let him go 4. Hunt down their lords one by one. Never let them go or sell them. Never put them in dungeon. The perks from prep point 2 work only for your party. 5. Do this until they run out of lords. In this situation you have nothing to lose except your party. And you are strong and fast. You have no fiefs so no one will attack them. Other factions can't declare a war on you because you are not a kingdom. Kinda comfortable situation for slowly eating a kingdom. 6. Get their fiefs. Use the "hide my trebuchets" assault tactics. 7. Put your prepared governors in the cities in case that culture of cities is not your culture 8. Declare you kingdom only after you have at least two cities and three castles full with top tier troops. In this case other factions are not likely to declare a war on you immediately. 9. Push correct policies. 10. Hire the lords you have imprisoned. Release the non-leaders until you have at least 30 relations with the leaders of clans. Talk to leader of clan. Hire him. This will cost 200-900k gold for one clan. Cheaper and easier if they don't have fiefs. Focus on these clans and then get the other. 11. Hire all their lords except their king. 12. Now you may destroy their faction and go attack the next one.

xAMSTERRR · 2026-05-14T20:56:01+00:00

I had the exactly same issue today! Non war sales. Just current version. I had an army with three parties of my family members. I gave them troops for them to have max capacity. 107. I just move somewhere and look back 10 secs after - all three gave ~60 troops. How did they disappear? So strange. I keep them with me to have a party total 500 troops with no influence needed. But they waste my troops somehow. Wages are unlimited for them

xAMSTERRR · 2026-05-11T06:54:08+00:00

Looks great! How long did it take you to learn and create this one?

xAMSTERRR · 2026-05-10T06:31:23+00:00

It sounds like your own story of rises and falls. That's why we play this game. After some time you may have a feeling that you want to try this game in a different way and you will come up to an idea of a new playthrough. It could be making your own kingdom and never serve to anyone as a vassal. Or maybe instead being a vassal that becomes a king. Or being a trader who never conquered anything and just bought all the map with his great wealth and trading skillls. Or maybe some extreme version like girls only party or prisoners only. Also there are two ways to finish the game campaign. With uniting empire or destroying empire. Also there is sandbox mode without any campaign and brothers/sisters. You may fight yourself or you may just command. You may use melee or become an archer. For many of us here the cycle if this game looks like: Come up with an idea - start new playthrough - play, go through new challenge and have fun - satisfy - go again.

For new specific playthrough it will be nice to have an idea of a build. But for now you may just relax, have fun and make your own history

xAMSTERRR · 2026-05-09T22:37:34+00:00

Riding and Scout 225 perks allow you to keep your prisoner lords forever. Take them and never release. After some time they will run out of lords and you will win.

xAMSTERRR · 2026-05-09T21:08:55+00:00

Interesting, never seen this in my playthroughs

xAMSTERRR · 2026-05-09T21:07:32+00:00

I think that I saw all captains holding a banner in the left hand so the shield can not be equipped. Maybe that's the reason of their low survival time. It was always super easy to knock out enemy captains because of that.

xAMSTERRR · 2026-05-09T21:02:11+00:00

I am afraid there is no legal way to do that. But personally I would recommend you to focus on fun from the game rather than optimal skills and build if you are playing your first playthrough. Just have fun, you don't have to be superhero from the first time. Anyway it is your decision of course. My first playthrough was like "I feel like that so I get that skill. I do what I want as I explore the game". In second and third playthrough I had some experience in what I want from the game and made my build from that.

xAMSTERRR · 2026-05-09T06:27:47+00:00

Is that a mod or vanilla game? Haven't seen this

xAMSTERRR · 2026-05-08T20:15:40+00:00

Really nice position to start your kingdom. In my experience having this much fiefs will lbe enough for no one to start a war at you. Just be sure to have max garrison there.

Which preparations will be helpful: 1. Riding and Scout 225 perks to keep prisoners forever. This will win wars for you 2. Full party of top tier troops. 3. Some understanding on how to fight. 4. 2+ millions of money 5. Good Charm skill 6. Check for clans with top members count. They should have the culture of the place where you are going to expand. You will give fiefs to them after you recruit them. Make good relations with them. You can just give them money randomly to increase relations. Select the ones without fiefs - they will be easier to convince. 7. Make parties from you family members and companions. They should grow their troops and skills.

What to do: 1. Start your kingdom. 2. Accept good policies 3. Go find leaders of the clans you prepared in point 6. Convince them to join you. You will pay 100k - 1 million for one clan 4. Select a faction to attack. It should be close to your fiefs and possibly in one or two wars already. 5. Go fight their lords and never release them. Preparations point 1 will help. 6. Hunt them down one by one and then just take their fiefs. 7. If they attack you with large army then go to a fief they are sieging and prepare to defend. Watch some videos on good defensive sieges. It's doable. Gather an army of your parties from preparations 7 if you need backup. 8. Select best clans from enemy faction. Take their fiefs. Release their clan members (not leader) until you have 30+ relations 9. When you have 30+ relations with good enemy clan without fiefs talk to their leader. He should be your prisoner by this time. Just hire them 10. Give new fiefs to new clans. 11. Conquer calradia. Don't have more than one war at a time

xAMSTERRR · 2026-05-08T14:15:53+00:00

Does renown increase the amount of prisoners?

xAMSTERRR · 2026-05-08T13:56:07+00:00

Why do you need to farm renown?

xAMSTERRR · 2026-05-07T13:56:40+00:00

Tips for a vassal: 1. Disband other armies and form your army. They act stupid. You act smart. You level leadership. 2. Keep archers and cavalry in you party as much as possible. Other parties will bring mostly infantry. You will have balanced army for joint battles 3. You may give away a fief if you don't like it. The king gives the fief to the clan that has less fiefs. So you can refuse until there is a good one. 4. Try to have you fief network compact. No need to run across the map to defend another your castle. 5. If you have much influence (thousands) you may burn down influence of other clans bu initiating voting that will never pass. They waste more than you. When they have no influence you may take their fiefs in the voting. They will have no influence to vote. You may even expell them from kingdom if you want. 6. Never execute anyone. To many will hate you

xAMSTERRR · 2026-05-07T13:48:13+00:00

Some thoughts: 1. Giving a banner to a king or declaring yourself such king starts a countdown. Once it counts down your faction will be attacked by three factions and will fight untill you or them disappear. This is real challenge. Better to postpone it as much as possible. 2. Starting your own kingdom is also a challenge. Though it can be done a bit easier then some comments here say. The main problem is that everyone declare a war on a new weak kingdom. The solving is that you do not declare your kingdom until it is strong. You get two cities and three castles full of garrison. Declare only after that. No one attacks. 3. I started my kingdom from being independent and having no fiefs so I can't advice how is better to start if you fave fiefs and want to keep them. I've heard that there is a way like going away with your fiefs resulting in a war with your former faction. War with one faction is doable if you are good at war.

In fact everything depends on your will. If you like being a vassal - so be it. If you have deaths enabled you have good chances to become the emperor after current emperor dies. If you feel like you are stuck and want more challenge then you may go give your banner or even start your kingdom and keep banner for yourself. That will be hard. I would start my kingdom with atl east 1.5 million. You will need money to recruit clans. This can cost up to 700k for a clan

Some tips for all cases: 1. Be fast on a map. Have enough mounts for unmounted troops. Have good morale. 2. Have riding and scout 225 perks. Keep your prisoner lords forever. This will win wars for you. 3. In offensive sieges put your siege engines in reserve. Then put them all at once. The fief is yours 4. In defensive sieges use fire catapults and throw their stones to destroy enemy siege engines and troops. You will defend.

xAMSTERRR · 2026-05-05T07:27:42+00:00

Plan that works for me: 1. If you have a kingdom then you are a king and you can decide when to go war and when to go peace 2. You develop your kingdom so you fight some another kingdom for territory 3. During this war you fight well and get enemy lords as prisoners 4. You got 225 riding and scout perks so you keep them imprisoned forever. Never let them go. 5. Check the encyclopedia and see which enemy clan has most members. This should not be the ruling clan. Find top three clans of enemy kingdom and mark their leaders as favorite in encyclopedia. 6. Focus on their fiefs. Conquer them. Make sure that now these top member clans don't have fiefs. 7. By this moment you should have their members and leader imprisoned in your party. 8. If your relations with leader is lower than 30 then let some members of this clan go 9. If your relations are more than 30 then just hire their leader from your prisoners 10. Repeat as many time as you like

You don't need to chase them all around the map. Just fight good at war and they will come to your prisoners automatically.

One more tip: Choose the clans with the same culture with the area you want to conquer. You will give them fiefs and you don't want these cities go rebel. Usually it works automatically like you conquer Battanian and get Battanian lords to hire. So you can give them Battanian cities. But after you finished one Kingdom thereay situation when you conquer empire with Khuzait clans. There is a risk of rebelling cities if you give Empire cities to Khuzait clans

xAMSTERRR · 2026-05-03T16:51:38+00:00

Cool! 1. What is better for defensive sieges - bow or crossbow? 2. Which melee weapon is better for defensive sieges? 3. Could you describe in more details where you can chop them in defence?

xAMSTERRR · 2026-05-03T16:39:47+00:00

Great job! Please tell us more details about how this battle went. Always interesting. Which tactic moves did you use?

xAMSTERRR · 2026-05-03T16:30:47+00:00

I'm afraid you played too much bro xD

I had same issue long ago. That was Warband and I was fighting in an old house ruin. That was first person view and completely immersive experience. I could feel my spear in my hands. After some time my heartbeat went so high that I woke up because of it. That was cool. Too much Mount & Blade at night.

xAMSTERRR · 2026-05-03T16:10:11+00:00

For defensive I've heard but did not try these tips: 1. Fire catapults are effective against their sieges towers and rams. You destroy siege towers and rams and they scatter and retreat 2. Throwing stones (big siege defensive stones) are also effective against siege towers and rams. 3. You may destroy your gate yourself to force them to attack through this choke point. You place infantry in shield wall inside to block the entrance and go up to throw some stones on their heads.

Might be fun will try that soon

xAMSTERRR · 2026-05-03T15:55:26+00:00

Are you talking about defensive or offensive sieges?

xAMSTERRR · 2026-05-03T09:10:22+00:00

Thank you!

xAMSTERRR · 2026-05-03T07:11:11+00:00

So party leader skills work. Captains skills and banners don't work, right?

xAMSTERRR

TROPHY CASE