Mount & Blade Warband

In the beginning, go after bandits - looters, forest bandits, sea raiders (they are harder than the rest so be careful), deserters, steppe bandits (another difficult bandit since they have horses).

This will help you level up your recruits and gains some loot/denars.

I also suggest obtaining companions ASAP. Make one or two a mule where they have high values in party skills, such as Surgery, Spotting, Tracking (2-3 points is enough), etc. This way you don't have to waste your points on those skills.

Then you can become a mercernary/vassal for a faction. Many mods allow you to start your own kingdom, but I don't think M&B originally has that. Warband does.

A good mod that doesn't change too much is Native Expansion: http://forums.taleworlds.com/index.php/board,109.0.htm

IMO, Warband is an upgrade in all areas. The only downside is that the modding kit is not yet released so very few major mods are out. I think the devs want to push out one last big patch before they release the kit, and that patch will likely be coming in a couple weeks.
 
So I finally decided to install and play the copy of Mount and Blade that I picked up during Steam's Christmas sale and all I’ve got to say is WOW! This game is addictive. And to think I had written off M&B years ago during the early beta just because I didn’t have the patience to learn it. :( I’m very tempted to pick up Warband just based on the 5 hours I spent (mostly getting my ass beat by bandits) with the game last night.

The only downside so far (and it’s not exactly a down side) is due to the overwhelming amount of freedom and options you have at the beginning; it can be difficult deciding where to start.

I understand there are some great mods out there too so I’m going to be busy this weekend tweaking the game as well as my tactics.

Can anyone recommend some good modding or strategy resources for a Mount and Blade newbie before he gets lost in the game world over the weekend? :)

Mods always make the awesome game even more awesome. I can't think of many mods that are newbie friendly. It's really just practice that matters most. Arena is a safe place to do it, though skill gain is slower there. Though you could edit the module.ini to increase skill gain rate.

Looters are good to practice on. I wouldn't mess with sea raiders until later. Weapon skill increases faster when you fight weaklings like looters. Bandits are ok too. You could also ask to join a warring kingdom as a mercenary. Just find the right nobleman and he'll hire you. Or if you have renown, you can become a lord within a faction.

still playing it, my biggest complain, autocalcing combat sucks balls. got headshotted by some random archer one battle and somehow it went from overwhelming victory to overwhelming defeat, ghey. And on a couple of castles, both from the sarranids, my guys get stuck on the ladder with no one in front of them, WTF?

A lot of mods change it so that when you die, you can watch the battle from your corpse (which might be a while if it's a castle seige). You "TAB" out when you want out, or when one side dies. Might even be possible to tweak that death setting from an unmodded Natvie game. I haven't looked at the long list of tweaks you can do.
 
Thank ya’ll for the tips and recommendations. I ended up restarting my game about 3 times before I finally found a decently starting strategy.

  • With my latest character, I decided to get a few levels & cash in the Arena before doing anything else.
  • Then I created a list of compatible companions and began the process of visiting every city tavern to collect them all.
  • I did not recruit any soldiers/mercs during this period to reduce travel time and cost. This also allowed me to chase down / escape from bandits etc…
  • Once I had recruited at least 2 companions I started taking on small groups of bandits/looters/raiders for loot and experience.
  • After recruiting all my companions I focused on getting them geared up, mostly from raider/deserter loot.
Finally, I started doing quests for towns and recruited only a small force of soldiers (around 20) so I could still move fast enough to catch up with various raider groups.

The major mistakes I made with my first couple of characters were:

  • Not dispersing skills efficiently between my companions.
  • Recruiting too many infantry too early on. This made me unable to chase down or escape from almost any type of unit on the map!
  • Choosing a faction too early in the game.
  • Accepting difficult / stupid quests (like chasing down fleeing serfs).
  • Ignoring or not using party commands in combat (had a huge effect on the number of survivors at the end of each battle).
  • Recycling troops way too often. When I could find battles I’d lose at least 3 experienced soldiers each time.
 
Warband is 50% off today on Steam: http://store.steampowered.com/app/48700/. Patch 1.125 was released about a week ago, too, so it's a good time to purchase the game. Still a bit buggy, but if you enjoy(ed) M&B original then Warband should be to your liking. :)
 
Last edited:
mhm .. the sale has put it in my cart. I will wait to see if it gets put on daily though.
 
black_b[ ]x;1035899924 said:
So Warfare will be on sale until the 4th? Not sure it'll go much below $15...

Lots of games that were on sale for $15+ were put on the daily deal for much less. (Borderlands and it's DLC for example)

No harm in waiting, if it doesn't show up by Sunday, buy it.
 
That mod looks AMAZING. I havent really played this game since release, I wasnt overly impressed in it and preferred the original. But that mod has got me installing Warband again to give it a go, just to see it.
 
That mod looks AMAZING. I havent really played this game since release, I wasnt overly impressed in it and preferred the original. But that mod has got me installing Warband again to give it a go, just to see it.

It looks great. The landscapes now have a very desolate and dark feel to them that fits the game so much better than the original textures.
 
Does anyone know of some good Warband mods? For instance, I hear that Prophecy of Pendor is coming to Warband, and that is one of the greatest Warband mods to date. If you still haven't purchased (legit) Warband, I really suggest doing so either direct from Taleworlds or on a Steam sale - I got mine for less than half price. Oh, and the Multiplayer is a very nice change from normal FPS style gameplay. I can't wait for multiplayer campaigns though, co-op style, where more than one player-controlled Lord can play a game together and work together or fight as they see fit.
 
Does anyone know of some good Warband mods? For instance, I hear that Prophecy of Pendor is coming to Warband, and that is one of the greatest Warband mods to date. If you still haven't purchased (legit) Warband, I really suggest doing so either direct from Taleworlds or on a Steam sale - I got mine for less than half price. Oh, and the Multiplayer is a very nice change from normal FPS style gameplay. I can't wait for multiplayer campaigns though, co-op style, where more than one player-controlled Lord can play a game together and work together or fight as they see fit.

I use More Metal Sounds: http://forums.taleworlds.com/index.php/topic,51681.0.html and Arena Overhaul: http://forums.taleworlds.com/index.php/topic,100061.0.html

I can't wait for SoD and PoP to come over to WB.

Edit:
I also use Battlesizer and Utrehd's Music pack v.8 (or the music from PoP instead - you will need to manually modify the music.txt if you do this).
 
Last edited:
I just found a Battle Continuation mod for v1.126 (previous was only for 1.113, which is included in TweakMB). BC allows the battle to go on even after you die. Sadly, I do not know how to get it to work with Polished Landscapes as the game hangs when I enter a battle with it installed. Maybe if I installed PL to Native and then install BC on top of that. It works fine in Native. Edit: Works fine with PL installed into Native.

Here is the link: http://forums.taleworlds.com/index.php/topic,101731.msg3016321.html#msg3016321
 
Last edited:
Polished Landscapes is almost completed for Warband. Here's the thread with pictures in it:
http://forums.taleworlds.com/index.php/topic,122423.0.html

Wow christ that looks insane. I've been following that mod since it was in testing phase, but I've been out of the loops for a few months. Is he using some sort of DOF mod as well in those shots?

Also, in his installation steps he says to use a 2nd installation of warband, how would this work with steam? I suspect I'll just go ahead and download the game from the website using my key I got from steam just in case.
 
Wow christ that looks insane. I've been following that mod since it was in testing phase, but I've been out of the loops for a few months. Is he using some sort of DOF mod as well in those shots?

Also, in his installation steps he says to use a 2nd installation of warband, how would this work with steam? I suspect I'll just go ahead and download the game from the website using my key I got from steam just in case.

I placed the PL folder into the Module directory and select PL during startup instead of Native. I never created a second installation of WB. Make sure to get the v1.126 fix too, though it played well for me without the fix. Do note that some taverns and towns are messed up as Taleworlds changed them while he was working on the mod.

WB has DoF built into it. :)
 
Wow just wow... that mod is simply INSANE. The devs need to hire him and release a patch that makes all of Warband look like this. This is just... oh my god.

PL_eyef.jpg


WB has DoF built into it.
Hmm, I never really noticed that. I'll have to look closer. I do notice a "use depth effects" option in the video options though.
 
Hmm, I never really noticed that. I'll have to look closer. I do notice a "use depth effects" option in the video options though.

I think it is only when you aim with the bow and/or use zoom.

Looks like a new patch is out - v1.127:
Has a few new horses (Steppe Charger, Sarranian Warhorse, Plated Charger and a Chainmail Warhorse) and the Mameluke horses have different looking horse armor now
New online game mode - Duel
No idea what else

Thread: http://forums.taleworlds.com/index.php/topic,126006.0.html

I'm not going to update yet as I fear PL and BC may not work with it.

Edit: Link to supposed patch notes: http://forums.taleworlds.com/index.php/topic,126006.msg3042792.html#msg3042792
 
Last edited:
PL works fine with 1.127, I didnt even realize it had updated yesterday before I was playing lol
 
I think it is only when you aim with the bow and/or use zoom.

Looks like a new patch is out - v1.127:
Has a few new horses (Steppe Charger, Sarranian Warhorse, Plated Charger and a Chainmail Warhorse) and the Mameluke horses have different looking horse armor now
New online game mode - Duel
No idea what else

Thread: http://forums.taleworlds.com/index.php/topic,126006.0.html

I'm not going to update yet as I fear PL and BC may not work with it.

Edit: Link to supposed patch notes: http://forums.taleworlds.com/index.php/topic,126006.msg3042792.html#msg3042792

What's BC?

edit. Nm, battle continuation it looks like.
 
heya, a stoopid question. I have original mount & blade which I have not really played. Would it be worthwhile to start with it, or does warband make it obsolete?
 
Not obsolete since there are more mods for the old one. But other than mods, I can't imagine going back to the old one now that I have both. But if I played the old, I wouldn't feel like I'm playing the "crappy version."
 
heya, a stoopid question. I have original mount & blade which I have not really played. Would it be worthwhile to start with it, or does warband make it obsolete?

I played the original M&B for about 2 years now, and I can confirm that Warband has everything the original M&B has, but generally does it better. If you have Warband, there's almost no reason to go back to M&B, except for maybe some mods that haven't been ported yet.
 
I played the original M&B for about 2 years now, and I can confirm that Warband has everything the original M&B has, but generally does it better. If you have Warband, there's almost no reason to go back to M&B, except for maybe some mods that haven't been ported yet.

Pretty much since Warband is technically just a big mod of M&B so it's not really lacking anything that M&B had at its base. The only thing M&B has is a giant library of mods since it's been out for much longer.

I'm waiting for a final stable version of Warband before doing a serious game. I've put over 60 hours into it so far, but everytime steam updates I have to redo my text file tweaks etc., it's just annoying.
 
black_b[ ]x;1035982955 said:
i'll have to look into the horses... is the heavy hunter still the best all-around?

I've always preferred the Charger as it has a much higher charge, health, and armor rating with only a small decrease in speed. Plus, it looks cooler. :cool:

BC doesn't seem to work nicely with v1.127. The game pops up a couple script errors when in battle and the ally symbol that goes over the troops' heads doesn't show up. The game still played fined from what I've witnessed though.
 
Last edited:
they have some new horses now. I'm looking at a heavy steppe charger...48 armor, 40 speed, 50 maneuverability, 32 charge, 155 HP but only 2 riding skill required. Damn, after trying to get my guys up to 4 riding so they could handle a warhorse... might be a typo :)
 
Here is a picture of the Lancer's new horse:
mb7.jpg


And we now have full gauntlets:
mb13-1.jpg
 
Damn you Steam. Damn you.

The only thing keeping me from pulling the trigger is the apparent lack of any coop capability.
 
does this game have a decent tutorial and a single player campaign with a few sentences of plot? might buy it tonight on the steam sale.
Posted via [H] Mobile Device
 
does this game have a decent tutorial and a single player campaign with a few sentences of plot? might buy it tonight on the steam sale.
Posted via [H] Mobile Device

Don't buy this game expecting a story, but there are few sentences worth. There is a tutorial mode. Can't comment on it as I ever bothered to use it as I prefer to learn as I play.
 
Back
Top