Some Questions About Mount & Blade: Warband

[Synobun]

i. How do I get rid of a noble prisoner? I've tried going to a slave or ransom broker and to no avail. The only way I can get rid of one is if I lose a battle and he escapes. I'd like an alternative to this.

ii. How is one expected to make any real map progress? I see noble armies traveling around with over 200 men while I'm stuck at 44. I only by chance come across an assault by my empire and I join in, but it doesn't happen very often and I already lost one game because there were two flanks and I couldn't come to the defence of either one because of how small my army is.

That's all I can think up of right now, I just woke up, and going through the first couple pages I couldn't find a thread about this so decided to put it in its own thread.

Thanks for any responses.

 

[SuperBeaverInc.]

1)If you keep them for a while you will get a message from his kingdom offering to pay you a ransom, usually ranging from about 1500-4000 denar or so.
2)You can increase the number of soldiers you can have with the leadership skill. Also, IIRC you might be able to field larger armies if you control a city. Additionally, you don't have outnumber your enemy, as if you have elite soldiers you can take on larger armies. Try Nord Huscarls and Swadian Knights.

 

[Yeekim]

2)You can increase the number of soldiers you can have with the leadership skill. Also, IIRC you might be able to field larger armies if you control a city.

Cities shouldn't have any effect (unless they´ve tweaked this recently), but reknown and Charisma also count.

 

[SuperBeaverInc.]

Went and looked it up on the M&B Wiki. Its not so much having a city as simply being a lord with a fief which increases your limit some.

The party size represents of course how many troops you can take with you. Party size is affected by your renown, charisma, and leadership skill.
Size ModifiersEdit
Base size: the base size of your party is 10
Leadership bonus: every level in the Leadership skill will increase your party size by 5.
Charisma bonus: every level in the Charisma attribute will increase you party size by 1.
Renown bonus: your renown heavily affects your party size. For every 25 renown, party size is increased by 1.
Lord: being a lord (having at least one fief) adds 10
Marshall: being the marshall of the troops of a sovereignty adds 20
King: being the king of a sovereignty adds 100 (Mount and Blade: Warband)

http://mountandblade.wikia.com/wiki/Party

 

[Synobun]

Ah, thanks Subi! Unfortunately I held onto the Boyar for about 20 days and nothing came through. I guess the Vaegirs didn't like him.

Two more questions!

iii. In times of peace, what more is there to do besides taking on odd-end quests and hunting down small bands of sea raiders here and there?

iv. I just got a quest from my village asking me to bring them 6 cattle. I can't find cattle anymore in the stores, so where do I get them?

 

[SuperBeaverInc.]

I assume you are a member of a kingdom? If not then I usually just go around being a mercenary for whichever kingdom needs one. If you are, then maybe build up your army. If you have a fast party, I would also recommend doing a trade route between Curaw, Rivacheg, Wercheg, and Tihr. Tihr and Wercheg have ridiculously cheap salt, Curaw has cheap iron and fur, and Rivacheg often has cheap silk(?). Then once you get 10000 denars or so start building manufacturies in the cities (you need to have good relations with the lord of that city first though) I find Rivacheg is always the best place for making a profit from manufactories. Or you could just build up your army and train them by fighting bandits.

You get cattle by going to villages. You can talk to the village elder and you can buy it from him then drive the herd to the other village. Note that herding cattle is incredibly aggravating.

 

[Synobun]

Yeah, I'm a Nord. So if your relations are high enough you can build things in towns that are not yours? Seems nifty. I'll have to try that one out.

So you buy cattle by going directly to the village elder? I guess that'd make sense, I always simply clicked on "Buy" in the menu itself.

v. My village description says that its poor and rather unmanned. Is there a way to improve that, such as building a Mill or something? (I'm currently building a Watch Tower so I can't check)

 

[SuperBeaverInc.]

If you have the money and good relations, click the Wander Through Town option and find the Guild Master. Talk to him about buying land in the city and he will give a bunch of options. Sort through them to find the one with the best profit (its usually a dyeworks). After that you will automatically get income from it. One on its own doesn't do much, but if you have a manufactory in pretty much every city it really adds up. Of course, the initial startup fees are quite large, so its more of a long-term investment.

 

[GoodGame]

i. How do I get rid of a noble prisoner? I've tried going to a slave or ransom broker and to no avail. The only way I can get rid of one is if I lose a battle and he escapes. I'd like an alternative to this.

If I remember right there's also a prisoner skill that sets how many captives you can keep and also the chances that they'll escape.

Q:If you talk nice to them from time to time does that decrease the chance they escape too?

 

[Maniacal]

As Subi said the best way to get money is to talk to the guild master in each town (you need a relationship of at least +1 with each town) and build an enterprise, you won't get money from a town if you are at war with the controller of the town though so it is best to build as many as possible before joining a kingdom or forming your own.

Trading is a great ay to make a lot of money early on, especially trading iron (usually some Sarranid towns will pay a lot for iron, although I have also had a game where I bought iron in Curaw and sold it for even more in Wercheg) and also spices and dates from the Sarranids bring in a lot of money in the rest of Calradia.

You will also want to get as many lord's relationships with you as high (ie 40+ should do it iirc) as you can too before founding your own kingdom or supporting a claimant for the throne as it makes it a million times easier to get them to join you.

Q:If you talk nice to them from time to time does that decrease the chance they escape too?

I don't think it does.

v. My village description says that its poor and rather unmanned. Is there a way to improve that, such as building a Mill or something? (I'm currently building a Watch Tower so I can't check)

Build a mill (although it is also a long term investment) and not letting anyone loot the village (this is the most important).

 

[Synobun]

Ah thanks guys.

So I decided to try my luck at commandeering the war effort, and I convinced the Marshal and the King to come siege a castle with me. Only problem is, they aren't doing anything. They are just sitting beside the castle and the rest of the army didn't follow. I can't take on a castle by myself (partly because I have no idea how to make my men move the siege tower, and partly because I simply don't have enough men) so this is rather problematic. I tried waiting 5 days for them to do something but to no avail, they continue standing there. I can't even get them to go somewhere else. What can I do?

What is exactly the point of sneaking into a castle? When I discovered that pulling a siege by myself wouldn't work, I noticed that I had the option to sneak into the castle. Thinking that I could give the army a nice easy way inside/make it possible for me to siege alone, I went into the castle. Now that I am in it, uhm... What now? I opened the gate, I knocked all the guards unconscious... Pressing Tab simply tells me if I want to surrender and go to jail. Is that my only choice? If it is.. What's the point of the option in the first place?

Edit: Trading.. Am I missing something with this? Is this just buying a certain good from a city, going to another city, and selling? Or is there something more?

 

[SuperBeaverInc.]

There are some tasks you can do that require sneaking into cities, such as breaking a captured lord out of jail or meeting up with a spy.

 

[Synobun]

There are some tasks you can do that require sneaking into cities, such as breaking a captured lord out of jail or meeting up with a spy.

That's it? >.> Damn, guess I'm forced to surrender and rot in a jail cell. At least my party doesn't die from it, I hope.

 

[Set]

Additionally, you don't have outnumber your enemy, as if you have elite soldiers you can take on larger armies. Try Nord Huscarls and Swadian Knights.

I tend to use mamelukes as my main cavalry unit not swadian knights. Mamelukes are awesome powerful

 

[Synobun]

I tend to use mamelukes as my main cavalry unit not swadian knights. Mamelukes are awesome powerful

I just discovered this. Mine and another Jarl's army (composed of around 120 Huscarls) just went up against around 200 recruits and then another 150 mamelukes. We carved through the recruits like butter, but those mamelukes... There were only 30 of us left standing after the battle.

 

[SuperBeaverInc.]

150 heavy cavalry will typically carve up any infantry force

 

[Maniacal]

With the possible exception if they are outnumbered by elite Rhodok sergeants. Or if they are dismounted.

 

[Synobun]

With the possible exception if they are outnumbered by elite Rhodok sergeants. Or if they are dismounted.

That was my priority. I stalled their horses long enough to kill them off. I would much rather deal with ground infantry than cavalry, especially when said cavalry have polearms and do a 1-hit kill shot.

 

[Maniacal]

It is always worth it to get one of the companions who already starts out with healing skills and level him/her up with only surgery, wound treatment and first aid until they are maxed out.

 

[Synobun]

It is always worth it to get one of the companions who already starts out with healing skills and level him/her up with only surgery, wound treatment and first aid until they are maxed out.

That would be really handy, but so far the only companions I've found are on the other side of the moral compass of my character (woman who wants to be treated like a princess, crazy homicidal steppe rider, etc). The one I do have, however, is a master tracker and all those other map based skills, so it's nice that I don't have to focus on those.