Author: NecroFile  <...>    75.82.52.24 Use this link if you want to link to this message and its entire thread of discussion. Post a Msg
Date: 8/19/2014 8:35:57 PM
Subject: RE: Necro

obsolete
..mountain blade 2 will be king

but i will give a rundown
a great effort is required to play this game, more so than any title in gaming history. this effort is perhaps the most unique. it is hands down the most satisfying and rewarding, but so great that it could only really be a one time experience. or so i felt..
as you may know, my original conquest of m&b came way back along in the beta stage of the game, when it was offered for free. from the outside it seems little has changed since 0.x original-beta and 1.5/6 warband. and to most players such as myself; this can be deceptively true.

but the secrets are there, they're just a little hidden
..or not readily made obvious.
the most prominent feature between both versions was the addition of true rulership over your own entire kingdom/faction; offered in warband, complete with total control over your vassals and few other options. although i really wish my original playthough offered these features, they just didnt seem to contrast well enough to convince me in re-investing another playthough.

boy was i wrong.

this post is already much longer than i want it to be, so im really going to cut things short as i can now..


basically, the game is meant to be played 3 times, each with increased difficulty (very similar to diablo type RPGs)
starting with default and ending at 100% difficulty. this may sound like an impossible and boring task; considering that many find "easy" to be quite the difficult feat, but i assure you, an entire game is there, lay waiting.
much of the magic is within the import/export character feature.
you keep your main skills/EXP and gold, but lose party memebers/items and a few other minor things. but its ok, because the skills are where all the money is at.

im on my second playthrough at "medium" settings, and everything has scaled perfect enough to keep me wanting more. to keep me going. with enough money to gear myself out early on lordly stuff (found a lordly plate early in second game, but not once during about 150hrs on first, the difficulty may effect the chance of better items appearing at shops)

so here it is -
read carefully


your party is everything
gearing and managing them is extremely important, you want happy melee fighters who are decked-the-fuck-out in the best gear, riding heavy chargers with heavy morningstars and 30STR - 10/10 powerstike+ironflesh - with the rest on AGI weapon master+4riding. these motherfuckers will ruin shit, and will keep you satisfied and wanting more out of them. you want the largest party you can get while keeping alyen and ferentis at 99 moral- totally undisturbed- and keeping as many others at 99 with focus on keeping the weaker scaling members at 89 or so. this amounts to a party of 9 or 10 heroes (not including yourself)
your first playthrough should be trial and error, but here is the list, which is ordered from most important being at the top, to least important.

http://cloud-4.steampowered.com/ugc/43102333179098540/A9E7C836CEA322A1734185A464307CE4975DAE83/
there are 9 memebers here, im still working on the possibility of juggling one or two more.

very important on how you respond to bickering of party members, and i will give you advice on what to do later, so read on..

you want these fuckers using the morningstar as 1h on horse, and to give them nice, speedy but weak coursers at first, so that they use the morningstar as 2h (faster more powerful overhand swing that 1hit kills everything and crushes through any block) when a mob drops the horse and renders them on foot right in the middle of a huge group.
the best way to achieve this is by equipping a think and heavy boardshield on their backs, which can not be used on horse, and they will not equip it once they fall off too. not only the shield gives added protection to their backs, but it also doubles its role during siege offence, protecting them from archers. it will be equipped whenever they start any map or battle that is on foot, but again, they will totally ignore it when they start on horseback.

also note the morningstar is the best weapon in game.
do not argue with me about this ;)


:stats and skills:

no time for INT/AGI bullshit
just pure STR/CHA at 30
you will need this, trust me.
party members will handle most of the INT skills

i forgot exactly how i made my character, but i remember focusing my background options on ones that grant absolutely no INT, and mostly in STR/CHA with minor focus on AGI
when everything is done and you've chosen your background options and distributed your points, you should only have 4 INT and - if i remember correctly - 8 AGI... with STR being the highest along with some CHA.
you want to focus on pure STR first, this will level you faster
but you also want to tick one point to get AGI at 9 somewhat early, because having weapon master at 3 will level your melee skills in the 320+ range and keep going, not sure if this is a bug or what, but is more than enough to keep you swift. you can also have 3 in athletics, shield, and riding.
but remeber that your AGI will eventually get to level 12 so you can have a +4 in weaponmaster and riding, but much later on.

level ironflesh/powerstrike as fast as you can
not one single point in any other STR skill

then focus on CHA
obviously on leadership
just one point in prisoner management
and the rest on trading
and yes, there is room to level leadership and trading both at level 10..
prisoner management might net you more proft early on, but trading will give you far more in wealth overall.

after STR and CHA are at 30, every other point goes into AGI
you will be at character level 40+ before your AGI hits 12 and can ride heavy chargers into dense, elite mobs and rape them with crushing-blow-morningstars. 1hit/1kill per swing without ever losing your horse :)

here is the secret i use for party members...
you need two members who do not focus on combat at first, but on pure INT - you will definitely want borcha and jerimus for this. and you can use this to an advantage in building your party around this.
since jerimus and borcha wont be having a huge role in battle (but later they can) so they dont need to be kept at 99 moral.
the best tip in determining outcome in moral is to side with the first complainant.
whoever makes the first complaint, tell them you support them. then tell the second person making a complaint back at the first, that you also support them. this will keep both members at 89 in most cases. but remeber, you have to balance key members at 99, and weaker members at lower lower levels.
jerimus and borcha are not the only people who have leverage in losing moral, there are plenty of other members who dont scale well, who either start at higher levels when hired and/or have points in non-combat related attributes.
rolf and artimenter dont level well, so its okay in making them slightly unhappy
yirma levels and fights great, even with 89 moral - it is okay to upset her a little. she might be bumped up in rank, she is leveling so fast will most likely surpass rolf in STR to character level ratio.
this party alone is more than enough to win battles against 100 elite troops.



finally, the last piece of advice i can give is to use rhodock sharpshooters for the bulk of your army. these fuckers are devastating,
by far the best unit in the game.
they output the most DPS of anything, the slower rate of fire from crossbows is actually a huge advantage on open field and in siege. it takes a solid 10mins for them to run out of ammo where arches run out in just two or three. they wield devastating siege-crossbows with steel bolts, each hit more than twice as strong as the best archer. they aim very well and will fuck up even the most heavy of calvary and, they have great melee skills and armor and fight extremely well in hand to hand.

know how to use them.