Sweet Realistic Medieval Combat (Mount and Blade)

[rajpoot]

swadia. knights are expensive but totally worth it

Fixed it for you :)

Yeah go with Swadia. Melee combat is very important, so pick Power Strike.
If you find it hard to hit stuff from a horse, then you'll have to practice a bit, because that's the best way to go. Playing on foot is harder.
Also see that the weapon you pick has decent reach. Like mentioned before, get a good Bastard sword at the earliest.
And if you play as a mounted character (which you should), then try and get good quality armour for your feet.

You'll be trampling down poor infantrymen in no time.

[Centurion1]

sorry was preoccupied

[seireikhaan]

Drunk Clown, unless you yourself are a horse archer and you go around recruiting only khergits and get them trained to a decent level, I would steer well clear of the steppes for a bit. As you noticed, steppe bandits can be cruel early on, especially on home turf. You basically need to match them on skill and technique in order to both beat them, not get mugged by the 8 billion of them swarming around the steppes, and not go bankrupt fielding an army larger than you can support. Personally, I'd say the Vaigirs or Nords are good starters, mostly for proximity to the sea raiders others have wisely waxed poetic about. The raiders are your best early source of cash to build up... well, whatever you want I guess. For long term cash flows, I like the infrastructure projects int he cities. Profit takes longer, but its less tedious than acting as caravan. Not that you can't do both, at least for a while.

As far as skills? Its really up to you. Afaik, there's no totally useless skills. For essentials, I personally would say investing in charisma is necessary for later game, when you'll want to be able to field large armies. Leadership(as a derivative) is pretty much mandatory for me, but you could probably avoid investing in it for a little bit. Early on, the merchant skill can be nice, but I find I don't need it if I go raiding. On the other hand, you don't necessarily need to go raiding if you've high merchant skill. Weapons are pretty much up to you. Personally, I find archery(on horseback) to be the most rewarding experience, but it can be difficult. Other than that, pretty much all weapon styles and types have uses. I would just avoid being a foot spearman, and that's about it.

[Drunk Clown]

I think I go with the Veagirs..

But for skills... Strength is important because I don't want to die all the time, but charisma skills are awesome too. And you need intelligence of course for more available points to invest.

I got one problem with bow, if I use it, I can't use spear and sword, I have to choose. I found that when I lose my horse I really like a sword but on horse I really like a lance and a bow and arrow.

[Ibn-Khaldun]

Could someone give me some tips on how to make long distance shots with the bow?

[johnhughthom]

Using a bow with a power draw requirement of two lower than your current total maximises accuracy, apart from that the only real advice I can offer is practice.

[rajpoot]

Could someone give me some tips on how to make long distance shots with the bow?

Just go to a castle and search for one of those practicing targets, with rings and all. Then you can move to varying distance and try out.
I think the best score on it is 12, if you hit dead center.
The advantage of doing this is that you can gauge how much the arrow falls at different distances and then you can regain all the arrows by simply picking them up without having to reload.
Improving your power draw skill will reduce the fall.

I got one problem with bow, if I use it, I can't use spear and sword, I have to choose. I found that when I lose my horse I really like a sword but on horse I really like a lance and a bow and arrow.

IMO you should just try and improve your sword and horse combination....It's mount and blade :D

[Hooahguy]

They also have practice fields scattered around Calderia.

[Prussian to the Iron]

I got one problem with bow, if I use it, I can't use spear and sword, I have to choose. I found that when I lose my horse I really like a sword but on horse I really like a lance and a bow and arrow.

Bow + Sword. or if you feel like you wanna dismount (highly non-reccomended, but if you want you can try), Definitely use some sort of big-ass axe. I remember having a certain axe for sieges, it had like over 80 attack, now that i think of it I think it was 102, and could crush shields in one hit. You need lots of strength, but they are devestating to enemies.

[rajpoot]

Bow + Sword. or if you feel like you wanna dismount (highly non-reccomended, but if you want you can try), Definitely use some sort of big-ass axe. I remember having a certain axe for sieges, it had like over 80 attack, now that i think of it I think it was 102, and could crush shields in one hit. You need lots of strength, but they are devestating to enemies.

AFAIK no weapon has a basic attack over 55 (cutting weapons at least). Are you sure you're not talking about the reach?

[Drunk Clown]

I found another thing a bit odd.

I did some custom battles to improve my horse+sword/lance combat. And I did full infantry battles with me playing that knight. So my faction was nords and the enemy Khergit Khanate. Their infantry is dismounted lancers, so I pit them against each other without me inferring. Result Khergit Khanate won, massively. When I was Khergit Khanate vs the nords (infantry only) the nords would win.

And about the axe; I played Sverre in custom battle, cos he has an axe, and mounted a horse (which rider I killed). I found out that you can only thrust with the axe; what's up with that?

Oh and I think as far for my skills; I go for strength etc. and I hire a character to do the managing/merchant.

[rajpoot]

And about the axe; I played Sverre in custom battle, cos he has an axe, and mounted a horse (which rider I killed). I found out that you can only thrust with the axe; what's up with that?

What's a Sverre?
Anyway you must have had a long axe/polearm axe...you can only thrust polearms when on horseback. You can swing them on ground though.

[Drunk Clown]

What's a Sverre?
Anyway you must have had a long axe/polearm axe...you can only thrust polearms when on horseback. You can swing them on ground though.

Sverre is a character in custom battles.

I have discovered the couched lance :P Didn't know it was there. So far I can kill 25 bandits on my own with a lance.

But I'm probably going for the Veagirs, use a lance and throwing weapons plus a claymore, I think may chance later on.

[Prussian to the Iron]

AFAIK no weapon has a basic attack over 55 (cutting weapons at least). Are you sure you're not talking about the reach?

I'm certain that it was over 80, now that i think about it 102 is probably a length. It was a really good condition big-ass axe, that's all i remember. if my old guy is still saved ill load it up and get back to you guys on it soon

[Hooahguy]

I must say, the game gets more exciting once you get a large army and swear fealty to a king.
Ive fought three large battles and now every noble I meet says "I heard of your great victory against so and so!"


Now I just need to establish a trading guild somewhere.

[johnhughthom]

I must say, the game gets more exciting once you get a large army and swear fealty to a king.
Ive fought three large battles and now every noble I meet says "I heard of your great victory against so and so!"


Now I just need to establish a trading guild somewhere.

If you fight in a large battle with other lords of your realm, talk to them all afterwards to get a bonus to your relationship with them.

[Prussian to the Iron]

I picked it back up again, starting with a Vaegir character: I'm getting my ass handed to me. I'm playing on the difficulty where everyone takes normal damage, so basically one hit kills me, and sea raiders looove throwing axes at me halfway across the map for a cheap kill.

[johnhughthom]

You mean you're playing the game the way it should be played? I could probably count on one hand how often I've been hit from halfway across the map by a missile (not an axe, they don't have the range, try throwing one yourself) and pretty much every time has been on horseback. You know, when you're a bigger target...

[miotas]

And about the axe; I played Sverre in custom battle, cos he has an axe, and mounted a horse (which rider I killed). I found out that you can only thrust with the axe; what's up with that?

Press x to switch between thrust and swing.

My favourite tactic in single player is to get a force of rhodoks, about 50/50 spearmen/crossbows, and set them up on even just a slight incline (steeper hills and mountains are best of course) with the crossbows standing just behind my spearmen. After the enemy engage with my rhodoks I then take my small bodyguard force of Nords and any companions who are good enough, flank the enemy and cut them up from behind.

[Drunk Clown]

How do you guys have time to deploy your forces. In my games they start of running immediately to the enemy. I press follow me to call them back, and tell my archers to stay behind and hold ground. For the rest I let them charge as the enemy is coming.

Do you guys get captured a lot? I do. I get a surprise attack from a noble when I'm camping. As a result I'm all by myself again. And if you do get captured what's your main priority then?

[miotas]

How do you guys have time to deploy your forces. In my games they start of running immediately to the enemy. I press follow me to call them back, and tell my archers to stay behind and hold ground. For the rest I let them charge as the enemy is coming.

As soon as the battle starts just tell your forces to follow you, then you can take a bit of time getting them in position.

Alternatively you can use the Pre-Battle orders mod which lets you lay out a few orders for your troops to do automatically when the battle starts. It also lets you choose specifically what troops you want on the field rather than it just fielding the troops in the order they appear in the party screen.

Do you guys get captured a lot? I do. I get a surprise attack from a noble when I'm camping. As a result I'm all by myself again. And if you do get captured what's your main priority then?

In the late game I rarely get caught, my party is either too big, or if I leave everyone but my companions in a garrision then my tracking companions will make us too fast to catch and even if I do manage to get caught in late game then I can just go grab more troops from my nearest garrison once free.

If you are too early in the game to have a city or a castle then getting caught shouldn't really matter much, just go hire some new troops and build your forces again. If you have a business or two then getting back on your feet should be a breeze.

[Hooahguy]

I got awarded a fief, but its all the way on the fringes of the Swadian kingdom, right on the border with those purple folks, which we (Swadia) happen to be at war with.
So how do you profit from fiefs? Is it automatic or do you need to visit?

Also Im a bit annoyed because I cant do small missions for lords and kings, and its getting hard to support a 50-man army, which is the minimum I need to fight the purple people.

[miotas]

Taxes are collected automatically the same as with businesses, you used to have to ride around to each town or village you owned to collect, but they fixed that.

Protecting the town from raids and stopping attacks on caravans and peasants travelling to and from towns increases prosperity. Doing missions for the village elder in a village or the guildmaster in a town will improve their prosperity and their disposition towards you. High town disposition also means a LOT more men will sign up to your party.

[johnhughthom]

High town disposition also means a LOT more men will sign up to your party.

High enough and you'll sometimes get trained men rather than peasants.

[miotas]

High enough and you'll sometimes get trained men rather than peasants.

That can be annoying on occasion, go looking for some peasants to train as infantry and 50 crossbows offer to join up.

[Alexander the Pretty Good]

I got awarded a fief, but its all the way on the fringes of the Swadian kingdom, right on the border with those purple folks, which we (Swadia) happen to be at war with.
So how do you profit from fiefs? Is it automatic or do you need to visit?

Also Im a bit annoyed because I cant do small missions for lords and kings, and its getting hard to support a 50-man army, which is the minimum I need to fight the purple people.

It's automatic (weekly like your party's pay and city business ventures) but if the village is looted you don't get income for the week (and your fief gets poorer, decreasing future collections).

Doing missions for your town can also increase its wealth (and thus its collections).

[Hooahguy]

Ok, I seriously need tips on how to fight the Khergits. Thankfully the war with them is over, so I dont need to worry so much about fighting them, but of three major battles I fought with them, I lost two of them (well, I really won two of them but after one of them another large party attacked so I had to withdraw and sacrifice a few of my men.
I have a spear but its not enough, and my chances of hitting are not always so great. I really just need a lance. But I just cant find a lance to buy anywhere. ugh.

[miotas]

In native I just get a lot of troops with really big shields, pack up together tightly at the top of a hill and wait for them to come. Fighting them on the plains is usually a bloody affair though.

A better option is to get the pre-battle orders mod I suggested earlier. It lets your spearmen brace against cav and allows for actual formations. Against horse archers I usually put my spearmen and archers in the same group, then get them to form either ranks or a square, so the ranged troops can shoot the horsemen and are protected by the spear.



Lances are pretty easy to find. Anything that uses the polearm skill can be couched.

[Hooahguy]

Lances are pretty easy to find. Anything that uses the polearm skill can be cr?ouched.

Are you sure about that? Right now I have a balanced long awl pike, and I cant crouch it, at least not the way I would in a tournament using a practice heavy lance.

[Centurion1]

no only lances couch.

go to swadia you should fins some lances there. go for length btw.