A Rebellion United The Empire On Day 1 - Here's what happened

[@AdaLollA]

BRRRO there was absolutely zero justification for that good of an intro 😭😭 you are amazing at creating content!

[@Strat-Guides]

Haha you had me in the beginning... Thanks Ada! In the beginning, I thought - how can I make the data and map staring part of this video better? And I realized I'm not good enough to come up with something in time SO instead I'll make an interesting intro to make up for it :P

[@chadstallings5558]

🔥🔥🔥

[@Kazumix1337]

@@Strat-Guides Worked llike a charm :D

[@APersonOnYouTubeX]

Just realised that all Calradian Empire leaders died ironically: Lucon, who wants the senate to take over, died the same way that Caesar did when senators assassinated Caesar While Garios died with the irony of dying without fighting Rhagaea died ironically fighting, which stereotypical queens don’t do so (they get executed mostly)

[@Strat-Guides]

I'm glad you noticed :) I try to put little details without hand-holding and it's cool to see you picked that up!

[@EPICFAILKING1]

Julius Caesar didn't want the senate to take over Rome. He was dictator, and therefore HE was Rome. Which is why the senate (namely Brutus) decided to assassinate Caesar, due to his somewhat aggressive consolidation and extradition of power from the senate.

[@jackhallander6706]

Very ASOIAF-esque.

[@malyjozo5585]

So its wasnt just my imagination..:D

[@xamol732]

Do you know what irony means?

[@daviddavidson505]

Good to see Vlandia maintain the tradition of bullying Battania no matter what else is going on under any context.

[@Strat-Guides]

Lol damn that Derthert! Battania was doing so well too. I guess they are fine as long as they don't get dogpiled - but inevitably they do.

[@ilikecatsandstuff1]

Recent patches have made me miss the higher death rates because almost nobody dies in my games anymore. For all their love of adding sliders, they should add one for these rates. The thrill of seeing that red skull when you dome a rival was great.

[@Strat-Guides]

Yeah I noticed that - more than half of the deaths in the first 20 years were from old age. Then once I checked at 30 years it skyrocketed and it was all old people! Every time a town rebels, the map gains 4 nobles instantly and most of the time they survive even after the fief is taken. Sometimes they will get executed and it destroys the other 3 in the clan, but sometimes they get recruited into other kingdoms. It's interesting stuff!

[@АлексейВиноградов-э8ф]

@@Strat-Guides hi! Found your chanel like 4 days ago and absolutely loved it! Do you think you can make an up to date(patch) tutorials for newbies like me? Like how to manage a war campaing, how to do diplomatics) etc

[@Strat-Guides]

@@АлексейВиноградов-э8ф Nice, welcome to the channel!! Yeah for sure, I was planning on making a beginners guide before the full release :) lots of topics to cover in that video but I think I can get it done pretty soon. I appreciate the support!

[@ShummaAwilum]

Start breaking people out of prison. Easiest way to assassi..... I mean rescue people, ever. If fact, one time I "rescued" Caladog simply because he kept taking the most tournament wins from me and I just respected him so dang much as a competitor.

[@Strat-Guides]

@@ShummaAwilum lol true! Accidentally hit em in the face with a throw knife

[@NotSimo]

Last time I was anywhere near the empire I caused it all to crumble... As an empire loyalist

[@Strat-Guides]

Hahaha Sounds like you are roleplaying the AI :D Thanks for watching Simo! What kind of video you working on next my man?

[@blank2809]

SIMOOOOOO, I wish you a good day aswell :)

[@DIEGhostfish]

Isn't that the curse of the banner?

[@colour1881]

Loving these map visuals, especially with region names, makes everything exceptionally clear

[@Strat-Guides]

I should have put the names in for the other ones - it's just hard to read because I made that layers while zoomed in a bit so I could have to cut them all out and readjust. I might make 2 layers - one for zoomed in and one zoomed out. It's just tought because it's a massive file lol almost 100MB for a single jpeg!

[@aquilathegreat9486]

Momentum is huge. Often as the player you're able to influence a battle a lot more than the AI. I've won a battle outnumbered 2:1. Sure. That wipes a lot of men off the enemy's side but more importantly it takes a ton of nobles out of the game. Mounted Patrols + Keen Sight ensures they're out of the game until peace. This allows allied AI to just run through them. I've once held 50 prisoners and completely wiped the Aseri off the map. It's wild. It usually comes down to whoever wins the first 2k vs 2k imo. If that battle never happens, it's usually a stalemate. Issue is, as pointed out, the AI is brain dead. I've watched armies ping-pong in the center of the kingdom trying to figure out the next course of action. REALLLY wish you could tell army leaders "hey. I think you should go to Myzea and siege it" like you could in Warband.

[@is2unknown893]

wasn't that a thing in warband? where you ask the army leader to head to somewhere.

[@kopazwashere]

@@is2unknown893 yes that is a thing, in bannerlord you can only toggle defensive/offensive/neutral :( I think you were able to tell lords to go wherever even if you werent a king or marshal, which didnt make sense; if TW wants to implement that only king or marshals (policy enacted and T5 clans+) and you have to spend tiny bit of influence for ordering army to move somewhere. Perhaps TW thought it wasnt necessary to implement the option since you can disband armies and form armies of your own.

[@rignanroach1775]

Where IS the video game that has good AI? I Haven't watched this through yet, but is there some talk of modding AI? Us that doable?

[@Strat-Guides]

Yeah that's one of my favorite perk combos in the game! One thing I noticed in this one is the AI was very aggressive with sieges - they would siege anything they could even when they shouldn't. 500 army being chased by 1500 an hour march away? No problem, siege the castle and get ganked Lol. The only sieges that won were the ones where the enemy couldn't get there in time, but then they lost it because a 100 stack would come in right after to take it back. PRetty sad. Yeah being able to give basic commands would be game changing.

[@aquilathegreat9486]

@@Strat-Guides the simple fix for me is just to follow an army (not join it) and vanguard ahead looking for enemy armies Typically when a siege happens, the enemy will form an army nearby So what I do is go looking for that army, and basically blockade it from the enemy parties from joining However if you attack and kill the army before it even starts, the ai will just form a new army And if the army is already too big well you can lure it around All this doesn't apply to Khuzait or Aseri armies who move too fast for you to run away even if they outnumber you by 300

[@venator4838]

I was shocked that Sturgia was able to hold their town in the south for 20+ years

[@herbertpocket8855]

Dude the storytelling on this one is incredible. Such a great mix of genuine information and narrative

[@Strat-Guides]

Thank you Herbert! I'm trying to make these videos a bit more entertaining/immersive instead of just straight data/guides so I'm happy to hear that :)

[@ervinsapinis2379]

There simply isn't any better bannerlord content out there. For the intro alone. You've set the bar so high, I can't imagine how could it be surpassed. I remember one of your videos talking about how you plan to make this your full time, man I really hope its not stressful for you on that front. You deserve so much more attention and views

[@Strat-Guides]

Thank you Ervins! Yeah I do plan on it - I've been able to survive on the revenue from my other business so far but at some point I do hope the income from the channel catches up :) Either way, I'm learning so much and having such a great experience doing this that the skills and fun alone were worth the effort. Thank you for your support and I'll keep pushing forward! I've got next week's intro in the works right now and I'm going for something a bit lighter lol it should be funny. I've been paying for voice overs and I think this video it will really shine!

[@LocalDiscordCatgirl]

I’ll never forget when my ruler’s party of 1500 marched *through* the army sieging my castle with me inside and with not enough troops to defend it

[@Strat-Guides]

The next episode can be found here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/rae3oJSiZ9xkq7s How to grow a clan 10x faster than the AI: kzbin.info/www/bejne/bYq7k4aVjbeDkJI

[@Axis_._]

Totally agree with you, one of the things which makes me struggle to really get into bannerlord is the campaign AI is just lacklustre for where it needs to be. If the potential is 100%, i would say its currently at max 30-35% of what it could be. Doesnt need overhauls, just small tweaks to make the kingdoms actually feel dymanic, and smart. Also, i really hate that rebellions just result in the feif returning to its old kingdom. Would be such a huge improvement, if rebellions led to entierly new kingdoms/factions which then tried to expand themselves.

[@Strat-Guides]

Agreed! I would rather have a more stagnant map if it means the AI is better at defending. Then they could add other mechanics to help break the deadlock like alliances and using influence or denars to have other kingdoms attack with you, etc. So much potential!

[@Axis_._]

@@Strat-Guides i totally agree. I wonder if the Devs know that this is what the player base wants for single player. The game doesnt need more/new content, just basically AI improvements in battles and campaigns. It still feels very much like it did two years ago.

[@zoramaitken3449]

That would mostly depend on different types of rebellions. A loyalist rebellion led by NPCs wanting to rejoin the old kingdom, or an independence faction that doesn't like the new regime OR the old one. Would definitely make more really cool options popping up in the game

[@GamerGrovyle]

@@Strat-Guides They could give "personality traits" to Lords between Attackers and Defenders. Using a Defender to join an army would cost extra influence and their priority would be to garrison into newly claimed fiefs whenever they have a full party. Meanwhile Attackers would function more or less like AI is now.

[@DIEGhostfish]

@@Strat-Guides I wish there were alliances, Ibdread thebday my liege declares war against my inlaws.

[@MarkD5678]

just imagine what it would be like if clans could decrease in rank over time as their prominent members die off

[@Strat-Guides]

That would be interesting - or have some sort of decay rate so if they don't keep fighting or lose a lot of battles their renown could decrease?

[@thehashslingingslasher6443]

0:59 Garios is a known warrior/skilled general who is loved by his men tho; its in his description that his men love him? He ran at Pendraic because it was a full retreat. I never fought for the empire but I always respected Garios as the best one out of the 3 empire leaders. If anything it would be Garios walking at night getting assassinated and old man Lucon being the coward. I appreciate the time it took to make this tho. much love.

[@Strat-Guides]

What about the soldiers from the other 2 kingdoms? Why wouldn't they have flocked to Garios? That was my rationale anyhow lol I'm definitely no effort in Mount and Blade lore! I appreciate the feedback, I would like to make more lore videos and turn them into cinematic videos like the intro for this video, not sure if that's something people would watch though?

[@AAllen-br8it]

The AI is my biggest gripe with this game. I lose all motivation to fight for a faction when there's no way to get anybody to work with me to get things done.

[@jamiehughes5573]

Exactly why independence is superior

[@tomsonlarrson3318]

You can call armies, and clan mates come with no? Influence to get them in. You need to be part of a kingdom tho

[@karl_franz_prince_and_emperor]

​@@tomsonlarrson3318 thats great, but you cant conquer an empire with 1 army, and if all your factions armies are halfway across the world for no reason, theres not much you can do. I hope they implement a system where the king can spend influence to direct other armies like a king should be able to do

[@tomsonlarrson3318]

Get riding 225 and scouting 225 and ambush parties as you go. I ended up not even bothering with scouting perk and just leveled leadership and steward to 275 for the bonus in order to take over empires. You can take it all with just one party, not even an army. Running around with a stack of 200 and arresting as many nobles as you can means their armies get greatly reduced, and you can hunt the armies when they scatter due to cohesion loss. By the end of the run I had a party size of 545 alone, literally just let my vassals fight off the smaller parties while I solo'd armies and only consolidated when the enemy army was 2-1 or higher. @@karl_franz_prince_and_emperor

[@ahmedhussain153]

@@karl_franz_prince_and_emperor if you’re in a war then put the plan to offensive and stick to them they will mostly take castles and you can take towns

[@lupus_lupi]

I've had a playthrough in which western Empire was an absolute smasher, they've took half of northern and southern empires and had huge armies, for 5 years I've been fighting as mercenary against them. In the end Sturgians came deep and took western side of Northern Empire, Lycaron. Vlandians took western castles, Battanians took Lageta. Had I not intervened Garios would conquer SE and NE. But this ended up just like in real politics.

[@Strat-Guides]

Oh wow, that sounds like a really fun campaign! It reminds me of an EU4 achievement - I think it was called the Gendarme of Europe? Something like that lol but basically policing everyone around you :)

[@mendax2251]

Your editing is unmatched. The level of effort is pretty outstanding

[@Strat-Guides]

Thank you Mendax! I've been trying to improve for the last 6 months and focusing hard on editing and story telling so It's good to see that paying off. Thanks for watching :D

[@restitutororbis675]

Vlandia goes crazy everytime in my campaigns btw that intro is awesome

[@CaddywumpasFilms]

I just started a new campaign and witnessed TWO 900 man armies from vlamdia absolutely blitzkrieg western empire. They took like half the territory in less than an in game year lmao. Easily the biggest conquest I’ve seen the AI do so early

[@Strat-Guides]

Thanks Alexander! I thought it would be a fun concept to get all those hated kings/queens to die off at the start :) Yeah Vlandia is savage - Derthert must be dealt with!!

[@makingmercien9642]

I love this map you've got! This is so much better for seeing the big movements between kingdoms.

[@Strat-Guides]

Yeah I got spoiled with EU4 and HOI4 maps looking all pretty, then you get to Bannerlord and you can't even see the castles lol It took me a while to make, but I think it's worth it because I'm going to use it for my campaigns as well :D

[@waitingword87]

I hope your viewership explodes with the full release of bannerlord. You do a great job with your videos and are always helpful and are able to help all the bannernoobs

[@Strat-Guides]

I appreciate that! I'm hoping as well :) I think a lot of people will come back to play so it will be interesting to see how long they will stay. I hope TW does an amazing job with the full release version of the game :)

[@osetrinushka]

Discovered this channel 10 days ago and have already watched ALL of your videos. Keep up the great work, the best bannerlord channel out there!

[@Strat-Guides]

Thanks Dmitry! The algorithm gods have blessed us both then haha Friday's video should be eye opening :)

[@osetrinushka]

Haha, yeah, that's true, can't wait!

[@strategossable1366]

Best solution that the devs can come up with to improve campaign gameplay diplomatically is firstly to add in nerfs for Vlandia and the Khuzaits (at the edge of the map they have an advantage as they only have to defend one front really, compared to say, the Empire, or Sturgia, which have to move their armies to the other end of the map almost to defend against different enemies), and secondly to make the rebellions do stuff - as it is, they just sit there and wait to die. A good rebellion AI that invites other noble families and tries to expand, or just straight up defects to its cultural overlord (if certain conditions are met) would make the diplomatic game a lot more interesting.

[@balgain8613]

Your selfmade map is just absolutely amazing. Already saw you do similar map in Frederic's Prussian Conquest but this one is even better. After seeing this I genuinely hope TW adds political map to campaign when zooming out Thank you for the effort you put into the videos, its pleasure to watch

[@Strat-Guides]

Yeah this is the same map! But I spent about 20 hours last weekend drawing out each border so that the villages are accurately contained :) It took forever, but now I have each fief as it's own layer - so when someone is captured all I have to do is select that fief layer and change the color! I plan on using it for more things in the future as well. I appreciate that Balgain, it means a lot to me!

[@flinkyfink]

Omg this is amazing, and that map! Any chance of getting me hands on it so I can plot my own progress?? Either way keep up the great content! ❤️

[@unskillled9258]

Thanks for taking the time to compose this very informative video. Great content!

[@Strat-Guides]

Thanks for watching!

[@ShummaAwilum]

I think the reason the southeast border held for so long (aside from castles) is because Danustica is a very tough city to take. It starts the game with most/all of its buildings complete. Several of its villages are located close to the city, making them hard to successfully raid if there are event parties in the city. It is wealthy, and it's relatively secure villages ensure it has a steady source of food. Almost every time I pass the city it has 600+ garrison plus friendly parties of all sizes roaming nearby. Unlike Marcy Lavenia Castle, which you can capture with a stiff sneeze, Danustica requires a massive army and a massive investment of time to capture. Any siege will naturally provoke a massive army to form in response. The defenders can almost always hold out long enough for relief. Even if it is captured the attackers usually take enough casualties that the relief army can wipe them out and immediately retake the city. If you can take it Danustica makes a fantastic capital city that requires almost no oversight.

[@Strat-Guides]

Interesting, I had not considered that. You make a fine point though. One thing I keep forgetting to test is how much of a difference the wall level makes for auto resolve battles. If it's a huge difference then maybe upgrading walls to 3 for all fiefs would be priority #1.

[@ethanbrown7198]

Sheer gold and I want more! Can't wait for Episode 2! Nice job Senor Strat

[@bladfadsfblaadsfsadf900]

Love that you used the KCD soundtrack as your background music. Now I gotta do another play through!

[@Strat-Guides]

I got tired of using the generic KZbin music that doesn't match the mood so I figured I would change it up! The KCD soundtrack is one of the best I've ever heard for gaming :) it could easily be in a multi billion dollar movie production

[@Salac0]

Henry has come to see us!

[@Strat-Guides]

@@Salac0 Hahaha you just gave me an idea! Time to load up the character creator... we may see Henry of Skalitz in the flesh someday :D

[@stillcantbesilencedevennow]

So next episode we will see how YOU do in charge? I'm excited if so. A unified empire under a good commander should be interesting.

[@Strat-Guides]

Yeah that's exactly it! No combat allowed and I'm not allowed to form an army - so it's 100% AI let troops. However, as you probably noticed from this video, the AI doesn't have a problem with combat - it has a problem with managing the kingdom like wars, peace, passing useful policies, etc. It should be a good episode!

[@МихаилРадулов-й4т]

I can guess from now its gonna be making sure you only have 1 war going on even if that means paying tribute to 2 other kingdoms cuz this way the whole army can focus on 1 front. And passing beneficial policies like loyalty to prevent conquered towns from rebeling = slow but steady increase in kingdom lands until you not only outnumber the enemy 2-1 but after the conquest of one kingdom you can now grow your forces up to 3-1 so every new war is more managable and so on and so on.

[@Estel_98]

I never saw this . This is AWESOME . Beginning was like a movie . And you did very well .Map and taken castles And this excel table is good

[@Strat-Guides]

Thanks Umut! I thought I would try something a little different for this one :) I have somethin more light-hearted for Friday's intro - hopefully it's funny!

[@WesternHypernormalization]

I'm surprised that the Aseri were so accommodating of that one Sturgian turncoat province. That clan must have a great lawyer/diplomat lol

[@Strat-Guides]

LOL! I was pretty surprised to see it myself.

[@emmanuelhernandez396]

This happened in my playthrough, really strange too since the lord was super young like 24 so I assumed his clan leader died in battle, the Aserai never declared war but we eventually lost such a far town to the khuzaits

[@Petergriffin3450]

The way you make such detailed videos that are also super entertaining is amazing good job man

[@Strat-Guides]

Thanks Peter! I'm probably going to stream this weekend, just a heads up :D

[@Petergriffin3450]

Thanks

[@aumperialism]

Khuzaits suffer penalties for horse archers in siege battles so it's logical they'd go for towns than losing troops for castles

[@yoloswaggins2161]

It sucks that the campaign AI isn't smarter about war. I guess its really hard to make a good one that isn't OP.

[@Strat-Guides]

Yeah you're probably right. I don't know anything about programming AI, but I do know it's not easy to do because I've been playing games since NES and it's pretty much bad across the board since then hahaha Damn I'm old :P

[@Genktarov]

Coming up with a set of logical algorithms to assess situations even for fairly basic parameters gets stupidly complex extremely quickly. Most chess computers run by choosing the move which in its database had previously led to the most victories. Metrics like that don’t exist for Bannerlord.

[@Strat-Guides]

@@Genktarov I think it might be easier to boost the passive defense of fiefs like making militia stronger or more plentiful. Something like that would require an adjustment to the AI behavior and might achieve the same results?

[@napolien1310]

"THIS NOBLE WARRIOR surrendered like a coward" Lol

[@Strat-Guides]

Lol he didn't even try! Cowards. At least Rhagaea took one to the jugular giving it the ole college try :)

[@napolien1310]

@@Strat-Guides I mean he is the easiest guy to get captured whenever I play in the empire I w8 in a place close to him he doesn't have that much of a quality troops because he lose much in his first encounter capture him then ransom to make a quick money, good times.

[@Strat-Guides]

@@napolien1310 Lol true - It's always fun fighting against 10 cataphracts and 200 recruits :)

[@ryanleggott2716]

This video is beautiful. Some of your best work. I am so glad I found your channel a few months ago keep up the good work!

[@Strat-Guides]

Thank you! I'm a huge fan of the map games like EU4 and HOI4 and thought Bannerlord needed some love in that department too lol I appreciate the support :)

[@savic101]

The editing is crazy great vid

[@Strat-Guides]

Thanks Sam! I've been working on it hard for the last 6 months or so, I'm happy to hear it's working :)

[@Nerazmus]

Uuuuh. A colourfoul map. That pleases my inner Paradox gamer.

[@Strat-Guides]

Hahaha yes! That's exactly why I made the maps :) I'm an EU4 nerd and starting to really get into HOI4 as well. Painting maps is a life's pleasure one can never get tired of! Thanks for watching Nerazmus, I appreciate it.

[@benwatson222]

Valandia is absurd this patch. They pulled up on me with 1200 army of all tier 5 troops 😭

[@stillcantbesilencedevennow]

I hope to God you were defending with some decent troops. 😂

[@Strat-Guides]

Especially with a bunch of sharpshooters - those guys are soooo hard to beat once they get to that critical mass!

[@harrybenson6731]

Really good stuff as always, keep up the good work!

[@Strat-Guides]

I appreciate that Harry! I've got an even better one for Friday :)

[@AnarchistGrandpa]

This new format slaps. I'd love to see the same video but on different mods like the Europe map or Tetsojin

[@Strat-Guides]

Thank you!! It's pretty interesting to see how the AI handles (or doesn't lol) things. Yeah I had some ideas to test this same setup with mods - I tried it with diplomacy mod but it kept crashing at around 10 years :(

[@koviknia2894]

Damn, these wars are absolutely mental. It might just be that I've never played long into campaigns but- The most vicious war I'd seen was between Vlandia, Sturgia and Battania, it was a free for all but...only a little less then ten thousand died, total. And yet, in this more then three times that happened in the first year alone. Draining the world of its people

[@znahardev]

Map coloring is very comprehensive. Thank you

[@Strat-Guides]

Thank you! It's a lot of work, but it's almost impossible to know what's really going on without slowing it down and tracking each fief change.

[@commissarkordoshky219]

The issue of the Southern Empire; The Khuzaits and Aserai can be pushed out and using the other empire factions as regretful meatshields we focus on reaching the edges of the maps for one very important reason; avoiding multiple front wars.

[@Lgnds_CBZ]

With only 180 troops I took the khuzaits from 3450 to the 1600s and they still won't pay tribute :(

[@ShummaAwilum]

Having owned Lavenia Castle in the past, I recommend against ever accepting it. I would use influence to vote for someone else to have that smoking ruin, or even give it back to the king rather than have the rest of the kingdom think I was ok owning it. The castle has few/no buildings in it. The villages are raided *constantly* wherever the owner is in a war. Because the castle is so poorly equipped and poorly garrisoned (because no one can generate any wealth under those conditions) *and* on the border it is captured constantly. No projects get completed because of the near constant loyalty malus from recent capture/siege/lack of food/small garrison/raided villages. Just don't ever accept Lavenia as your fief until it's safely behind the front line. It starts with nothing and can never get better so long as it's on the border.

[@Strat-Guides]

Yeah it's a crappy castle lol At least until it's no longer on the front line. You can actually accept the castle and give it away for free! That's what I usually do. Go into the fiefs tab under kingdom and find your fief on the list, there is a button at the bottom to give it back to the kingdom.

[@TheManofthecross]

if anyone does take lavenia castle and holds it for themselves then at least put a strong garason in there with a decent economic backbone to pay for the grason then you will have all the time in the world to build up the castle in to something worth while.

[@Strat-Guides]

@@TheManofthecross It's definitely a money pit for a while though! lol

[@TheManofthecross]

@@Strat-Guides apprentlly though i had not seen it switch hands that offten in my game plays that castle remains in imperial hands and remains stable there to build up such infastructure as much as the ai does there in either case helps that the clan that owns it has other estates to cover the costs as well. in either case a front line castle like that with long periods of peace can give it space and time to build up which helps nicely there. :) otherwise like you said it's a money pit though to be frank i never went for that castle out right i usually go for other places on the other side of the map first then make my way over to there eventually.

[@segothgalont23]

This is super interesting, thanks man!

[@Strat-Guides]

Thanks for watching!

[@unionvoluntad4651]

Looking for the next one! Really amazing way of test the game and its AI.

[@Strat-Guides]

Thank you! Yeah it's sad to see how the AI fumbles around a lot, but on the bright side there is a bit opportunity to improve once we take over :)

[@unionvoluntad4651]

@@Strat-Guides I think the Empire has been given some of the best and more diverse kind of troops just to overcome its situation on the map, right in the centre, and sourrounded by enemies... It's my Favourite faction and lore, but lastly I enjoy joining more peripherical factions in order to know peace from time to time, and build large high tier armies...

[@Strat-Guides]

@@unionvoluntad4651 That's a good point - nobody can stand toe to toe with the legionary troops! I know a lot of people hate on the Cataphracts but personally I really like them. I would rather have a tank than glass cannon like the Vlandians. So true - those edge of the map kingdoms get a nice break between wars at least.

[@Ruler_Of_Elves]

is there a mod that lets the empire start united like this?

[@Strat-Guides]

Not that I'm aware of - I had to do this manually with console commands and jumping around the map

[@likeablekiwi6265]

King Lucon either hasn't invested in athletics and weapon skills or didn't have a weapon on his person at all times to be defeated by a couple of pheasants.

[@Strat-Guides]

Lol! A true king would have fought his way out of that :D

[@mertgezent605]

Nobody : Sturgia be like vikings s5 and go to aserai lands

[@Strat-Guides]

Hahaha they traveled the seas to get there too no doubt!

[@FACM.]

This looks like a really cool alternative history for Bannerlord! I just watched the intro and I want to see more about it!

[@Strat-Guides]

I was thinking about making some cinematic videos covering some Bannerlord lore - I'm not sure if anyone would watch them but I know they would be really fun to make! I made a whole character for Emperor Arenicos too, maybe it would be a fun experiment to use him in a campaign to reunite the empires?

[@micgil4193]

You can see just how beautifully well balanced Bannerlord is when you look at huge time lapses like this.

[@Strat-Guides]

Haha it's like those chaotic systems that should collapse, but they don't because everything is perfectly imbalance enough to make it... balanced? Thanks for watching Gillanator!

[@ESFAndy011]

Tell that to Battania

[@kommissarantilus3742]

Lageta rebelling is such a meme

[@franciscojavierjimenezlede723]

Your videos are amazing! Keep the good work!

[@Strat-Guides]

Thank you Francisco! You've been with me for a while now so I'm sure you remember how bad the videos were when I started out haha I appreciate the continued support my man :)

[@fabilavooy]

Wow!!! Amazing like always my friend! Its sad when you let the IA conquer casttles and towns and then they go away to nowhere (like you said) and they lost AGAIN the town! ITS SO FRUSTRATING! hahah Anyway! Thanks for the video!

[@bladfadsfblaadsfsadf900]

I think the problem is the troop donation system is broken. For some reason, until a fief is rewarded to someone other than the ruler (which is default until about a day later during elections), the AI refuse to leave troops behind, sometimes leaving 0 in my experience for castles. Since armies typically move out before that point, you’re left with just a day’s with of militia to hold the settlement until another party passes through.

[@Strat-Guides]

Yeah it's so much back and forth! I'm happy with back and forth, but not when it makes no logical sense. I imagine people would have defended their conquests pretty heavily, at least for a while until they were stabilized. I appreciate that :)

[@jc-nd5qx]

thanx for another great vid! been watching since the robin hood series!

[@Strat-Guides]

Nice! That's old school haha back when my videos were #$%^ :) Thanks for sticking with me, I appreciate that

[@TimNurTV]

found this channel recently, big fan of the narrative driven content

[@GuyontheInternet525]

Lavenia Castle was besieged so many times, I'm surprised it still has battlements

[@jaredsmith7240]

Video quality is sublime

[@Strat-Guides]

Thanks for watching Jared!

[@crishernandez1056]

I’ve been watching your videos daily and I’m starting to like your content more and more I have a request though would it be possible to do a breakdown of all the exploits currently working but any way keep up your work

[@Strat-Guides]

Thank you! I'm going to need some time with the new 1.1.0 patch as I have not found any new ones and they have been patching all the old ones lol but if I find any, I'll be sure to make a video on it.

[@myers4924]

Embarrassingly took awhile for it to click that this was a game. I love this style of story telling and visuals. Can't wait for more content :)

[@Strat-Guides]

Nice, that's exactly what I was going for! I try to make things a bit more interesting because a lot of my guides are packed with data, which can be very boring after a while :P Thank you for watching!

[@isecsanchez789]

Alright now I like this video💪🏽💪🏽💪🏽 I hope you make more.

[@tommaccarthy5954]

Shoutout to the Kingdom Come: Deliverance soundtrack. Love the vids Strat.

[@Strat-Guides]

Yeah!! The music in that game is better than multi-billion dollar budget movies I feel like. It's just too good not to use :) Thanks, I appreciate the support!!

[@tjpatton8562]

The ai loves to just aimlessly run back and forth between two objectives accomplishing neither. I found its best to start seiges yourself and just hope they decide to come assist rather than wait for them to make a choice.

[@jamesrahe5287]

Just wondering strat- did you get this idea from my comment a while back? Epic Video!

[@Strat-Guides]

Possibly! I honestly can't remember - but I get a ton of really good comments and I appreciate it :) I'm not all that creative on my own so I can just the help!

[@guyfieriismyhero2445]

It’s important to imagine castles as fly traps for armies, especially border castles they’re the perfect distractions for countering armies

[@qwr818]

How does he create him own empire? When i am leave the kingdom i can't make policies of the fiefs i own.

[@Inkxo3D]

Great editing!

[@Strat-Guides]

Thank you!!

[@GRAHAMICVS]

by the way, along with incompetence, the united empire was cursed with "swadian position", aka, the center of the map

[@Strat-Guides]

Yeah bordering everyone else is not an easy position to be in.

[@walterlaten7662]

The khuzait speed is just so strong

[@Grauer1510]

Great effort, great video 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

[@Strat-Guides]

Thanks! I know this one was a bit delayed and shorter than usual but those maps are pretty labor-intensive to work with. I think it's worth it though, the map in game is doesn't really show progress very well (in my opinion anyhow, I like to see the colors and borders move around lol)

[@t2force212]

Hey Strat, something to look into. It seems since 1.8 couch lancing is somewhat broken in the sense that the troops do not couch their lances much anymore. I've been noticing this and just ran a small test with 20 Khuzait Heavy Lancers vs about 40 imperial infantry and none of the lancers even attempted to couch. Instead they would run up, try to stab them, fail because shields and get hacked to death by a small swarm of angry imperials.

[@Strat-Guides]

Oh yikes, I know cav had some issues for a while now with couch lancing and landing thrust attacks but it sounds like it's gotten worse! I was holding off on testing unit by unit until the full release because I would imagine a lot of balance changes are coming? I'll be covering it soon!

[@t2force212]

@@Strat-Guides fair enough, honestly I understand waiting for the full release since it's not that far away. I imagine however unless this is a bug then this might stay this way into the full release as if it's not a bug then this would've been an intentional balance change on TaleWorlds part and a balance change this close to release is probably unlikely to be reversed.

[@Strat-Guides]

@@t2force212 It's so hard to say as TW patches have been all over the place. The last 2 were really good, but before that it seemed random if they would release content, fixes, big changes, etc. I'm hoping they continue the trend for this next one!

[@lpseudonyml]

Would love to see another video like this, with the two parter, but with mods. Definitely Diplomacy, but maybe War & AI Tweaks, Separatism, Allegiance Overhaul, etc... It's so weird seeing a Bannerlord War without War Exhaustion.

[@theamazinghippopotomonstro9942]

This is why I play mount & blade. Not for the battles, but for the politics, culture, trade etc.

[@Lgnds_CBZ]

Bro I loved the intro

[@celebrimborau6420]

you should incorporate line graphs for the demography statistics and some of the other long period view overs. 20 years of stats looks great in one graph that can demonstrate the rise and fall better visually.

[@Strat-Guides]

That's a good point, it would have much easier to visualize. I have most of Fridays video edited already as well but if I have time I'll go back in and add it. Thanks for the suggestion!

[@DemianX6x6x6X]

is that KCD music i hear in the background? great video mate

[@Strat-Guides]

Yes sir! I'm eagerly awaiting KCD2 and will gladly lock myself away for a week straight when it comes :) Thanks for watching!

[@gustavmeier1953]

crazy vid ma dude here is a comment for the algorithm

[@Strat-Guides]

Thanks for the help Gustav! I appreciate that

[@MarksmanGamingPk90]

Can't wait for next part

[@Strat-Guides]

Thanks Marksman! It pretty crazy how big of a difference there is between AI vs Player.

[@fabf77]

I see that you have stayed as an observer, but remain in the empire as a vassal. If you do this same test, but leaving the empire initially. Undoubtedly the result will be different, because the lonely AI seeks peace very quickly and does not get into multiple wars. The AI always increases the difficulty to the player unfairly, which kills all long campaigns. Since you were idle and your allies were losing battles as usual, the game didn't get more aggressive against your empire. But if you get to participate, without a doubt, it will be worse, because by winning battles and reducing the strength of your enemies, the AI will send more wars, your allies will not want peace with anyone and you will begin to have allies leaving the kingdom. You are going to manage to defend a front while the enemies devour you on the other side. This completely pointless AI has left me with a huge list of 10+ year unfinished games and not wanting to put in the effort to finish them.

[@Strat-Guides]

Interesting, I didn't consider that. I stayed in the empire so I could get siege notifications on the castles, otherwise I would have to pause every couple days and scan the whole map which would have skyrocketed the tone to record this. I still have all the same files so I can go back and try it from the start, leave the empire and see what happens. Massive I'll add that to Fridays video as a little bonus then and see what difference it makes :)

[@fabf77]

@@Strat-Guides You have left the empire at the mercy of its worst enemy, your existence lol. Lately I only play as a mercenary for that reason. When the AI gets too aggressive towards me, which means, being aggressive to the realm I support. I finish the mercenary contract, I take a few days and I offer myself as a mercenary again. Even something interesting happened to me, I recently did this and when I offered myself as a mercenary again, the noble told me "right now we don't need mercenaries to win the war". It was the southern empire giving the Kusait a merciless beating. I had to wait for another kingdom to declare war on them in order to be hired, I'm not complaining, the value of influence was higher for it hehehe.

[@Strat-Guides]

@@fabf77 Oh wow, I didn't know that could happen! lol

[@fabf77]

@@Strat-Guides caught me by surprise. I felt like Willem Dafoe in spiderman when I was denied rehiring: "You can't do this to me, do you know how much I sacrificed for this Empire?!" 😆😆😆

[@Strat-Guides]

@@fabf77 haha I love his acting! That's a great scene too, you would be great at putting together videos if you can come up with stuff like that :)

[@dillonschroeder985]

Alright that intro was well done and hmm, I think your live-stream of simping for Rhagaea has carried over as she was the only one to have a noble death. (Edit, I just realized this video is a year old nvm me lol)

[@Strat-Guides]

Yeah this was an older video, but Rhagaea seems to be the best of the 3 Empire factions (IMO)

[@Ozcogger]

They fail to hold them for a while due to only leaving a skeleton crew guarding castles and towns until given to a lord.

[@Strat-Guides]

Yeah that doesn't help - the militia haven't had time to regenerate and they just leave the fief to fend for itself. I would love to see them post a single party nearby to defend it for the first couple of weeks. One big problem with putting the garrison is the fief is usually starving already, so anyone who sieges it down will instantly starve the garrison out :(

[@ibnebadr367]

damn! the story mode is sick 🔥

[@Strat-Guides]

Thanks for watching! The episode for Friday has a fun intro as well :)

[@federicusv2139]

Love the storytelling

[@Strat-Guides]

Thanks Federicus! I had a lot of fun putting the intro together for this one :)

[@hero_on_youtube]

I think the fiefs flip-flop because once it's changed hands once, it's weak and it's the easiest/best target for the AI, going both ways.

[@Strat-Guides]

Yeah that's exactly it. They focus hard on conquest and put almost no thought into defending it. Thanks for watching Hero! How's Monster Hunter going? I keep checking your channel once in a while for new videos lol

[@matiasfidalgo8898]

Very good video!! Thanks

[@TheGreatAndMightyGoBo]

There should totally be a mod where this map shows up if you zoom out enough

[@DEADCASTdragonuff]

this custom map is amazing

[@Strat-Guides]

Thank you! I spent way too much time making that damn map haha

[@zacharysplain2944]

Just an overall excellent vid

[@Strat-Guides]

Thank you!! Episode 2 should be ready by Friday and it's going to be interesting to see how different the map will look with a tiny bit of player input :)

[@tfljmartis]

I like it when people use KCD music

[@Strat-Guides]

I feel like it should be the default music for any medieval game!

[@alicesauter8231]

Incredibly high quality content. I’m amazed at how well put together this video is. The intro is great, and the map visuals are awesome too. Keep up this kind of content! Edit: It might look a little better to give the empire a color on the map. Also, cool to see notion being used for such a project like this. I use it for personal organization stuff but it’s nice to look at with all of these numbers to track.

[@Strat-Guides]

Thank you Alice!! I appreciate that :) I usually spend way too much time on these intros lol but I think it's worth it. Thanks for watching!

[@Ozcogger]

Amazing quality video. You got a new sub in me.

[@Strat-Guides]

Thanks Sean! I appreciate the support :)

[@Gaming-Enthusiast]

Great video , massive inspiration to us smaller creators 👍🛎

[@Strat-Guides]

Thank you!! Just gotta keep pushing forward :)

[@wapankiller1219]

"Darius" of the series "Soldier" from "Simo✅" would have been pround. His rebellion keep on.

[@thisguyagain7857]

Leaving 50 starving troops is kinda like Sun Tzu death ground philosophy possibly?

[@comtedeswag]

Is the map for this available?

[@jacobterry2900]

I love Bannerlord, I love all the work that you put into this video. I can’t wait for part 2

[@Strat-Guides]

Thank you Jacob! I appreciate that :) I'm working on the intro right now - I'm going for something much more light and funny lol There will be plenty of voice acting so be ready!

[@KyleOchoa-k6e]

It's so weird to me in like every video you mention Battania always gets "stomped". I'm sure I don't have anywhere near as many playthroughs as you, but in my 5 playthroughs Battania has never once been destroyed by anyone other than me. I've seen one of the empires get destroyed by other AI, right now it looks like Sturgia is about to get wiped out by the AI, and that's the second time I've seen that, but never Battania. They do typically get pushed a bit on the western flank by Vlandia, they usually lose a few southern and western castles to them, maybe a town once or twice, but they are usually also expanding east. Right now in the game I'm in they hold everything to Omor and Epicrotea and I've seen them go as far west as to have a border with Khuzait. The only thing I notice about them is they seem to SUCK at keeping non Battanian towns. They constantly lose Varcheg, Epicrotea and Omor to revolt only to come back and conquer them again.

[@kelanjames8429]

9:30 yeah no vlandia does not fuck around heavily armored calvery just rips through infantry heavy armies makes it really difficult to fight them in the field best bet is to try and get them to attack castles and cities and fight em there cause thats where they are weakest from what ive seen

[@amoney1421]

As a Battanian lover, i feel for my people as we just get conquered in every scenario no matter what lmao .