Author:
Simulacrum
<
nub
>
69.149.123.96
Use
this link
if you want to link to this message and its entire thread of discussion.
Date:
2/14/2010 11:57:06 AM
Subject:
RE: Was Mount & Blade the game Sim wouldn't shut
M&B is confusing at first. You start in a badly rendered and horribly animated tutorial as a guy with a bad haircut dressed in a sack. The only thing the tutorial is good for is showing you how to use a melee weapon. This takes about thirty seconds to master.
Then you're thrown onto the campaign map as a tiny figure with no clue about what to do or where to go. It is important that find small groups of Looters -- as small as possible -- so you can defeat them and get some shoes and a slightly better sack to dress in. You also need to develop Attributes such as Strength, Charisma, and Agility -- in that order. The skills you need to work on at first are Power Strike, Iron Flesh, Leadership, and Riding, pretty much in that order of importance.
As soon as you think you can handle a *small* group of Bandits, do so. This is one way to get a horse. A horse changes everything. You really need to get a horse asap.
Eventually, you'll run across groups of outlaws (Looters, Bandits) who have prisoners. After defeating the outlaws, you have the option to hire the prisoners. Do so. Also, try going around to villages and recruiting people to be in your group. A skill you should be working on now is called Training, which decreases the time that your recruits need to level up.
Work on defeating more outlaws, obtaining loot, improving your shoes and sacks, and keeping your recruits alive until they become useful (one way to do this is to tell your group to hold position -- F1 -- while you sally forth and defeat the outlaws yourself; you can use the various Training Grounds, but they're usually a waste of time).
As soon as you feel ambitious, try taking on a few Sea Raiders. Now you can rack up some good XP and get some decent gear, provided that the Sea Raiders don't capture you, in which case you may lose everything.
When you've amassed some money, go to the various towns and visit the taverns. You should start hiring hero companions now. You should hire about two or three for their skills. The best ones to hire (since they get along and have good skills to begin with) are:
Lezalit (let him be your Trainer and Engineer)
Klethi or Deshavi (let one of these be your scout and develop her as an archer and rider -- also scout skills such as Spotting and Pathfinding -- Tracking is useless)
Jeremus (this guy is essential -- you need a good surgeon -- let him develop skills such as Surgery, First Aid, etc.)
You should work on your Leadership skill, along with Power Strike and Iron Flesh. I would advise getting your Riding skill up to 4. As opportunity allows, develop your archery with Power Draw.
If you want to get invited to join a faction early on, "roll" yourself as a person from a noble family. Otherwise, you will have to wait longer to get invited as you build your Renown. And you do want to join a faction as soon as you can.
Once you're in a faction, ride around and join more powerful lords in battles. Until you get pretty strong, pick battles where your faction outnumbers the enemy.
Eventually, you will be commanded by your faction's marshal to join in a campaign. Be sure that you have plenty of food and keep an eye on your party's Morale. If it gets Below Average, look for a group of Bandits or some other target to fight, then rejoin the marshal.
The marshal will ask you to do two kinds of quests while on campaign. One is scouting. Agree to this. The other is rounding up cattle. Always decline this. It's a stupid waste of time. On rare occasions, the marshal will command you to join in an actual siege. You should agree, but be prepared to lose quite a few of your men.
If your faction succeeds in besieging a castle, your King will award it to someone -- not you, unfortunately -- at least not for a while. Keep working on Renown and joining campaigns, and eventually you'll get a castle. This is no great award except insofar as you have a dungeon in which to lock up capture lords. They are less likely to escape and more likely to generate ransom money.
Once you have a fief (usually you start with a village) be prepared to lose it unaccountably. An enemy lord may loot it and it may be awarded to another lord in your faction. The King may, for no apparent reason, award it to another lord even though it hasn't been attacked. Castles and towns are rarely taken away from you -- I don't think they ever are.
Now you should be a successful warlord. I'll send you a bill.
