THE Kingdom Guide For Bannerlord

If you've ever tried to start and run your own kingdom, then you know how painful Bannerlord can be! In this guide, we take an in depth look at what to do before starting a kingdom and how to navigate the three stages of kingdom management - early, middle and late game. You'll learn the best ways to farm renown quickly and reach clan tier 4, bullet-proof strategies for taking your first fief, which policies to take in the beginning, how to defend against the countless hordes of AI nobles sieging you down, how to recruit nobles & promote companions to expand the kingdom and so much more! Did I mention there will be lots of Farquaad?
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All 35 Policies Tested & Ranked: • Bannerlord Kingdom Pol...
0:00 - Intro
0:33 - Before Starting A Kingdom: Clan Tier 4
2:26 - Before Starting A Kingdom: Save Up Money
5:31 - Before Starting A Kingdom: Optional, Increase Relations With Nobles
7:28 - Before Starting A Kingdom: Charm Build
7:39 - Before Starting A Kingdom: Taking The First Fief
11:52 - Starting A Kingdom After Being A Vassal
12:45 - Early Kingdom Stage: Passing Important Policies
13:57 - Early Kingdom Stage: Early Expansion
15:12 - Early Kingdom Stage: How To Defend While Outnumbered
18:18 - Middle Kingdom Stage: Recruiting Nobles
22:02 - Middle Kingdom Stage: Promoting Companions
23:16 - Middle Kingdom Stage: More Expansion
24:52 - Middle Kingdom Stage: No Prisoner Escape Perks + Conquest
26:07 - Middle Kingdom Stage: How To Avoid Noble Defections
26:46 - Late Kingdom Stage: ???

[@righteouspal6246]

I joined Vlandia and 2-3 months later i was elected king because Derthert kicked the bucket, was surprising to say the least.

[@Strat-Guides]

Lol nice! That's so cool when it happens :) Although it ain't easy controlling all those clans who keep voting for stupid crap.

[@theholyromangamer6385]

Exact same thing happened to me

[@pekkalaitinen8769]

Same! And I didn't even want the throne, but they insisted. Gladly I had a recent backup save from 2 days earlier and this time Dethret didn't do the kickerino bucketino

[@wesgibson5273]

Same thing happened to me with Britannia, first thing I did was pass Devine majesty and then set my kingdom on the defensive. Now I just capture and fight lords of small armies and donate them to garrisons for influence. With that I can over ride all my vassals when necessary and force my enemies to pay large tributes for peace. Just remember if War isn’t profitable to you, your doing it wrong. Lol

[@bibby659]

He just died in my campaign as well a year in lol.

[@daviddavidson505]

It cannot be understated how much of a chore it is to chase down enemy lords for recruitment. Promoting from your own ranks is an extremely welcome improvement.

[@Strat-Guides]

100% agree! It's so annoying trying to find them, then half the time they are in an army...

[@chengkuoklee5734]

I have been late to the party but I once conquered whole Empire then promoted 25 companions into Lords to govern the realm's castles. They may be weak but with around 50 parties... Number matters.

[@Truef1ame]

Yeah but for 500 influence?! Wtf by then all my fiefs will have been sieged and taken by monchungs army of 2000

[@chengkuoklee5734]

@@Truef1ame Well, I hit back with 4k troops. That's what vassals are for.

[@Truef1ame]

@@chengkuoklee5734 I wish I had those numbers 😢

[@Brandon-io9yj]

Another excellent video. I tried 2 times already to have a Kingdom and failed, after work I am going to used your advice. Thanks again

[@Strat-Guides]

Wow thank you so much for supporting the channel! I hope this guide does help. I put an ungodly amount of time into this one lol It started off as 6 hours of recordings that I tried to edit down to 20 minutes but fell short quite a bit :)

[@dalimillazan2877]

24 seconds in I Smashed that like button cause that is most realistic looking Lord Farquaad I have ever seen :D

[@Strat-Guides]

@@dalimillazan2877 Hahaha thank you! I spent a long time working on him - it's not easy recreating that much ugly :P

[@MrViki60]

Let's go Brandon Norwood Sneed

[@TommyLikeTom]

50 bucks? For a gaming turtorial?? I teach people how to animate and nobody pays me

[@ilikecatsandstuff1]

Important: If you have high relations with a clan, if you marry someone from that clan you can make them pay you instead, sometimes crazy amounts like 70k

[@Strat-Guides]

Lol that's nuts! They pay you and you get to sell 200k worth of their gear :D

[@chickenlegg]

Started my campaign as a ghost kingdom. I preyed on rebellions until I owned 10 towns, without declaring a kingdom, or joining any. I played Switzerland like that, improving my towns, saving up bank/influence, until I was very wealthy and established. Then, I had to decide which corner of my undeclared kingdom I would defend once I declared it. Having reaped all of my fiefs from rebels meant they were spread out. I chose 3 towns of the same culture that were close to each other and went from there. Wars came and went, as I suspected the fiefs far away that I could not defend were eventually captured. Didn't matter, I had 15m denars and 25.5k influence when I created a kingdom and good relations with all of the lord's around me. I started crushing the map, which was almost entirely owned by the western empire and valandians by the. After conquest, peace, player death and one of my kids becoming my heir... I made a new campaign. Damn good game.

[@Jakenatorr]

So you can avoid war by not declaring?

[@michaelh2282]

​@@Jakenatorr You are immune from being DOWed by the AI if you are independent but don't declare yourself a kingdom (yet you can also attack other kingdoms unprovoked). It's the stupidest diplomatic feature that Taleworlds came up with for BL, followed by the tribute system. In Warband, if you were independent and held land, you by default were a king/queen.

[@Jakenatorr]

@@michaelh2282 ok, thank you

[@Belishaur]

Did you play with the dragon banner ?

[@chickenlegg]

@@Belishaur No I let the quest expire.

[@DrZaius3141]

If you have enough denars (or handcrafted swords) and the 300 trade perk, the easiest strategy is to interact with nobles, buy their fiefs, then recruit them to your kingdom. As they will have no land, they are highly likely to join. The fun internal synergy here is that in your trade you will improve relations already and when you pay them to come to your side, you can actually hand them back their fiefs. You won't make a profit, but it's still fairly cheap.

[@Strat-Guides]

That's a good idea! I wonder how the math shakes out? Do you still end up recruiting them for cheaper than if you did it without buying their fief?

[@DrZaius3141]

@@Strat-Guides Honestly, it was so incredibly rare to recruit anyone while they had their fief, that I assumed it was impossible - so my approach got streamlined to buying their fiefs before buying their vassalage and I never bothered to check. The issue was likely that I would generally run around with few denars and many swords instead of the other way around, and since you explained that your current bankroll is integral to their wish to change allegiance, I was missing out. Besides, I always felt that making swords worth millions was a lot easier than liquidating your armory.

[@wuxiagamescentral]

@@DrZaius3141 yeah they seem to prefer good swords in bargains than denars. 1 good sword can hugely sway a noble. It's easy to make them but hard to pawn

[@illmaster]

Can you buy fief when you are still have no faction? I'm still grinding my trade as it take quite a lot of time so I can't test it yet.

[@Strat-Guides]

@@illmaster yeah you can! And the best part is nobody will attack you. Add soon as you join a kingdom or start your own, they will start to attack

[@SrConstantinopla]

I think I founded only one kingdom in my 600+ hours. I like wandering around the map with a warband, much more than conquering and governing. Thanks for the great video, Strat!

[@Strat-Guides]

Yeah it can be a real chore to get locked into one location and be forced to defend. I feel like it limits the options/creativity once you establish a kingdom. It's a lot of fun still, but I know where you're coming from.

[@MusMasi]

@@Strat-Guides True but my ending point always is, when my empire gets big and it starts to steam roll, even from vanilla warband I never get around to finishing then, I mean I know I can win but I cannot be bothered, I think its time to play on harder difficulties and also higher death chance so I can do the succession to make things more interesting.

[@hbsavage0387]

@@Strat-Guides I got so royally hosed when I founded mine after what I can assume killing off twice the population of the continent in the never ending wars. I got pissed and started a new game for whatever reason the other lords all had some sort of pact to only attack me about half way through I just started taking heads too see if that would help. It did not they bred faster then I could kill them.

[@gregortheoverlander4122]

@@MusMasi This is the problem with a lot of games like this. Same in Crusader Kings. There is a point where you know with 100% certainty that you CAN conquer the world... but by that point it just doesn't feel fulfilling. CK3 helped with this a bit by making it harder to build up an unstoppable empire.

[@ivan200804]

"It's more fun when you are not doing it alone." Agreed. Doing it alone is like immitation meat. It's good, but it's not the same.

[@Strat-Guides]

Haha I have no further comment :P

[@fishsnapz5501]

Something worth noting is a kingdom that's leader and clan leaders all love you is pretty unlikely to declare war on you. So if you have somewhere you want to set up your kingdom work as a mercenary for your future neighbors and donate noble prisoners to holdings of the powerful clans this will quickly raise relations with them.

[@lpseudonyml]

My favorite starting town is Argoron because the only way to attack is through crossing the bridge. You can safely protect both the town and one village by just guarding that bridge.

[@DaDoubleDee]

The best way to improve relations with a kingdom is to go to war with them or join as a mercenary with another kingdom that is at war with them as well. Defeat and release every single lord you capture and in no time, you'll be +100 relation with everyone, then just un-war with them :) It's also the best way to get charm skill and to achieve the "Mercy" trait!!!

[@Awesomewithaz]

That bandut base quest chain is actually my preferred route. Usually the same town requests manual laborers so I mark villages that ask

[@Strat-Guides]

Ah damn that's a really good idea lol using the village markers to remember where the good quests are. I'm going to try to remember that one!

[@Strat-Guides]

@@notanalphalegionary8949 I've actually never tried that before, I'll have to test it out!

[@mobiusrazgrim]

Your guides are heads and shoulders above any other youtuber. I watched a vid titled "this is why your workshops aren't making money" and literally the only reason the guy stated the entire 6min video is "because economy" - fucking thanks einstein. You produce the most informative, detailed, and factual content on this game, on the internet. Was excited to see you post on this topic.

[@Strat-Guides]

Thank you!! I really appreciate that. My first priority when making any of my guides is to present the best information I can, which usually involves 1 - 2 days worth of testing and data collection, so it's nice to hear that showing through and being noticed :) It's sad, but I could probably record a "guide" in 1 hour by just talking about what I know and still get the same views without providing anything to back up the claims. I'm hoping the trend in KZbin is to move away from "lazy" content :)

[@bladfadsfblaadsfsadf900]

I think I know what vid your talking about. Does he spend the first half of the video complaining about people not understanding, the proceeds to give a crap explanation on how it varies for each play through?

[@Strat-Guides]

@@bladfadsfblaadsfsadf900 lol I can neither confirm nor deny anything!

[@blazezz1101]

One way I like to build up an independent kingdom is to first declare war against a target faction to take a few fiefs before peacing out but don't found a kingdom. Since you're still not officially a kingdom, AI cannot declare war against you so you get to decide who do you want to fight next. Use that opportunity to build up garrisons and strengthen the army before founding a kingdom. Main downside is that you can't enact policies so loyalty issues from different culture is going to hit you hard especially in cities so better to target fiefs of your own culture. If done right (and rather tedious) especially as Empire culture, it's possible to own all Empire fiefs under your clan before going after other cultures.

[@Destroymaster100]

if you declare war on a faction while not being a kingdom yet, how do you even make peace? i thought you had to be a kingdom to have the peace option. if you dont, may i ask, how do you make peace?

[@m3tro_mx355]

@@Destroymaster100 you can simply pay for peace if you interact with any lord. It will take between 60k-200k

[@Destroymaster100]

@@m3tro_mx355 yee, found out the other day, thanks

[@soleo2783]

@@m3tro_mx355 huh, so functionally you are buying that fief without actually having trade 300, very interesting

[@7Tenchi]

I would love to see a lord Farquaad campaign, maybe like he tries to become emperor of the empire uniting the three rebel factions under his greatness or something. Either way great vid.

[@Strat-Guides]

Oooh that's a good idea!

[@Vladimir_Ches]

This video is exactly why i love this channel, a 27 minutes long in depth guide and i know most of this anyways, wasn't bored for 1 sec.

[@Strat-Guides]

Thank you for watching! This was a tough one for me, I tried my best to keep the flow moving quickly without rushing the info. I'm happy to hear it was entertaining :D

[@Vladimir_Ches]

@@Strat-Guides Choice of characters was hilarious, about the guide tho, i like to starve a city (for my first 1 before i make the kingdom), make it rebel and then take it, process takes some time but easy enough. But my playthroughs are lengthy ..

[@krisbrox]

Thank you so much for this guide, it's exactly what I need to get my current run on the right track

[@Strat-Guides]

To be honest I was dreading making it because I knew how long it would take lol it was pretty rough but I'm glad it's done! Hopefully it's helpful

[@mrBrain101]

Would you consider making a separate "Guide - How to become a King of an existing faction"? Thanks for all of your very informative, well produced and, overall, high quality videos!

[@Strat-Guides]

That's a good idea! It would be a pretty short video because I can only think of a few off the top of my head but it would be nice to take over an already established kingdom.

[@lewmano7367]

Wait is this even possible?

[@ScruffyySoTPubg]

@@lewmano7367 yes it is. I just became king of Vlandia last night after derthert kicked the bucket randomly. Took roughly 15 years or so of being in Vlandia. I've read people got it within a few days to many years. Totally random I suppose.

[@spencbb1]

Great Bannerlord content - Love the game but can't say I fully understand it - learning more and more with each video. Much appreciated

[@Strat-Guides]

Thanks Ben! You're not alone lol that's the main reason I started a channel - it's a fun game but there's almost no help from the game to explain anything!

[@Flesson19]

1) Doing charm check for marriages gives no charm 2) caravans make more profit as time passes, terrible at at the start but great around day 500 and beyond 3) remember to strip companions before making the a clan as the game gives them OP gear, also there is a bug right now, when you promote a clan, culture "Doesn't" matter. The game considers the clan as a culture of the fief you give them even though their culture is different, bugged but they don't lose -3 loyalty right now 4) Another bug, if you fight with your towns, garrison or militia on your side and they capture the lord, the lord will go into your dungeon but right now you have no access to take them into your party.

[@Strat-Guides]

I didn't know that about companions equipment, good to know! I always learn something new from Flesson, never fails!

[@MusMasi]

makes me feel stupid outfitting companions to be vassals

[@Flesson19]

@@MusMasi I use their gear for the next companion I hire, since when you promote one it frees up a slot for another

[@chadstallings5558]

👍👍

[@Flesson19]

@@chadstallings5558 🙂

[@gerryw173ify]

I haven't tried it myself but if you are seceding from a faction it might be better to stay as a rebel instead of immediately turning into a kingdom. You can't get declared on by other kingdoms and can just focus on the one faction you're rebelling from. While you can't get vassals you can still get a big army with your companion armies.

[@Strat-Guides]

Yeah I agree! It's not a bad way to start off.

[@faramund9865]

Thank you so much! I was just going about my business as a vassal. As I thought we had just signed peace with Sturgia, but I hadn't noticed we almost immediately went back to war with them. Then I see a message 'Pendraic Castle is under siege'. I'm like... What?! So I rush there with my 180 guys: Its a thousand guys at my doorstep. This wasn't the first time, but the time before there was a friendly army nearby of 800 strong. This time, nobody! But it gets worse, ANOTHER army of a thousand enters the siege! So I remember your tip: Auto resolve is heavily skewed towards the defenders of castles. I had also followed your guide on fiefs, so I had 350 militia and 79 high level troops in garisson. I enter my castle, lose a few guys. I 'send troops', the battle begins... I see the kills raking up on my side and oh my... I wish I could show you the screenshot. I killed all 1999 of them, and had 141 guys remaining. I gained 180!!! renown from the battle. I had captured 16 of their nobles and 1300 soldiers. I then traveled to my castle with an anti escape governor to throw all the nobles in, when suddenly a message pops up.... "Vote on the next ruler of Vlandia"... what?! I click on it, 100% me. Pog, I am king. I guess Derthert got a heart attack when I defeated the entire Sturgian faction in one siege. > So, now I've come back to this video to learn the ways of the King. And then I realized it was in this video I learned the auto-resolve trick! Again, thank you so much!

[@reddeaddude2187]

I pledge myself and my clan to you Lord Farquad! May your kingdom prosper and extend to the farthest reaches of Calradia.

[@Strat-Guides]

Lord Farquaad accepts your fealty - now out of his sight peasant! He must get back to staring in the mirror now... Thanks for watching! :D

[@ashitakasama]

the editing, the storytelling, gags on point, I had no other option but to subscribe

[@Strat-Guides]

I appreciate that :D

[@Petergriffin3450]

Thanks for the help strat, the content is good as always, can’t wait for the next vid

[@Strat-Guides]

No problem! Next video is going to be a complete guide to workshops and will feature a fun storyline as well :) Elon Musk Vs. Jeff Bezos lol

[@Vok250]

While this does work, simply becoming a renowned warlord is equally good. I was paid a dowry of $170k to marry my wife. I was given multiple fiefs by Gario, and was OP as anything by the time I reached clan tier 4. Full tier 7 gear on all relatives and companions. About 200 in each combat skill, party size over 200. Just able to solo towns and castles with my gang of fians and legionaries.

[@creativelightning9703]

Your vids are the best! Can't wait till release so we get finalized guides that won't change

[@Strat-Guides]

Thank you! Yeah It's going to be a process going back through to see what's changed and what needs to be updated. I suspect a lot of guides will have to be updated though.

[@duffborgwardt8512]

The part where you suggest to save millions before starting a kingdom is SO important to me at this stage of the game. I have been playing this off and on for a year and last night was the first time I got a vassal. I'm pathetic. But I always have jumped into having a kingdom WAY too soon. I loaded some of my old save files, and it is pretty sad how clueless I was. I was a vassal for Vlandia, and I had 10 or 15 Sturgian vassals in my prisoner pile. My only friend was my wife, which I am shocked I was smart enough to find a wife. Now, my party is strong. My brother and I both have 2 children. I have good people I have built up to be caravan runners. My 210 man army is full of Fians and the Kuhzait horse archers with other solid infantry and cavalry. We stomp everyone. I have 3 towns that I took in rebellions. I have beat down the minor clans over and over and have a bunch of friends. I have 2.4 million moneys. The next step is really scary, so I plan on just stacking money. I have played this long, and getting into kingdom policies is scary. All of that and making peace with clans I have fought with is completely foreign to me. I think I will watch this video about 10 or 100 times. Thank you for your very detailed work.

[@restitutororbis675]

Honestly been waiting on some mods to update to 1.8 but I still been learning some new things from your videos everytime you upload, keep it up bro

[@Strat-Guides]

Yeah I hope they get to a stable build soon so we can have longer campaigns with mods. Thanks Alexander! Hopefully we get to full release before the end of the year so I can see your beautiful face here more often haha :D

[@Mordaqie]

A good trick is to make alot of Javelins with max size on the highest tier parts, then you can sell them for 18k a piece, and for even more if you use the trade - lvl 25 perk. The only problem is that you bankrupt every town near you :/ So you have to go to new towns to sell more... (Rich people problems)

[@scheffie0589]

Thank you for always making such helpfull videos cause they have really helped me

[@Strat-Guides]

I'm glad to hear that! My first focus is to help, second is to entertain (although I have a long way to go on the second part)

[@HJ.187]

One of my favorites that I HAD to rewatch over and over lol

[@HJ.187]

Hey Strat! I finally got my first vassal through giving him quite a bit of gold but hes not being very active? and his party size is too small to recruit for wars. I also gave him a fief before his relations reached 100 already. I cant even enter his fief (on my territory) without getting guard checked? Any options to alteast make his castle open for me ? D: I tried giving him clan influence even though its been 100. Merry Christmas to you and your family!

[@k.m890]

I'm glad I found this channel. great video I do really appreciate it. Now it's time to restore the empire and teach the barbarian their place.

[@andreibaume689]

Thanks. I never would have thought of leaving the town!

[@Strat-Guides]

Yeah I was fixated on holding the first fief for a long time - then when I did the bandit campaign (Amir Timur) it dawned on me that I don't need to hold it, just own it for a split second to declare the kingdom and then it doesn't matter after that!

[@batiannolte]

@12:10 it is mentioned that you don't really get to choose where your fiefs are, while true to an extent what you can actually do is take a gamble which often pays off by giving away one of your fiefs once you successfully capture a new one before you open the vote tab. This often puts you in the top three and you effectively can push them together. Depending on what type of game you want to play feel free to save before and try various different approaches as they seam to differ often. The last and least immersive debatably is to control your kingdoms forces in a army and waiting for a enemy to raid the fief you like which would be on the boarder and close to the ones you started adding too and then raiding it after using the before mentioned tactic to slowly grow your empire. This worked for me in September and October of 2022.

[@Strat-Guides]

That's a good point, as long as you don't have a lot of fiefs you should be at the top of the list because there is a big bonus for being the player.

[@rzuid7350]

Was really missing this video thanks!

[@Strat-Guides]

I was holding off on doing it because I knew how painful it would be to produce LOL I was not wrong :) I'm glad it's done and I feel like it turned out okay. Thanks for watching!

[@roffels11-gamingandhistory69]

This was a lot and it was very useful information. Much deeper than the videos I made. Impressive!

[@Strat-Guides]

Thank you roffels! I appreciate that. I spend about 50 - 60 hours making this one in total so i'm glad to hear it paid off :)

[@jamesmcnamara8939]

That was a good good video however one thing that I think you missed out on is that other kingdoms are MUCH less likely to declare war on your kingdom if you only own castles once you take over a city the other kingdoms start targeting you. At least that’s what I’ve found in my experience it could be that I was just extremely lucky

[@Strat-Guides]

Interesting, I had not tested that before actually. I usually just avoid being in a kingdom if I'm trying to build up a base since nobody can physically declare war on me in that instance :) If that is true, that would probably change things a bit! I'll have to give it a try this weekend. I appreciate the tip!

[@philippe-lebel]

I would have been glad having a kingdom guide in my time.

[@Strat-Guides]

Hahaha I think you would also profit by learning how to implement TaleWorlds Mathematics into your kingdom as well :) Nothing quite like illogical math to steer things in your favor my liege!

[@ericaember8571]

Such a detailed guide.Nice!

[@Strat-Guides]

Thank you!! :D

[@shawnwolf5961]

The "Flesson Special" is the best name, I love it! Also love the humor you put into these videos :D

[@Strat-Guides]

Thanks! Yeah I found out about that combo while watching one of his streams and he never named it so I did it for him :)

[@adebisiadetunji7366]

It's how you guys were able to create a custom character that looks a lot like Farqhuad from Shrek. That is some serious customization skill!

[@JD98x]

12:00 Just want to add an additional tip to this part here because I discovered it through playing myself, if you want to get a few free fiefs right next to one another just join the faction that you aim to use to capture the fief you want; and any time they give you a fief you don’t want just give it away. This will ensure that when you finally capture the fief you want you will have a almost guaranteed chance to get it I did this with Sargot, usanc castle, and talivel castle. I just waited for someone to declare war on vlandia (my chosen culture.) which happened to be the aesari and when that happened I immediately joined unquid as a vassal and assisted them in taking those three previously mentioned fiefs which are all next to each other and then I left the aesari. Kept the holdings and joined vlandia.

[@Freakatwar]

amazing video! thank you for your effort!

[@Strat-Guides]

Glad you liked it!

[@kelcapiral5301]

Dude. I am sitting here dead serious figuring out how to properly start a kingdom. but that Lord Farquad character caught me offguard 🤣 you just earned a sub

[@itsorcacraft9037]

I love the intros to your videos each one is different but creative

[@Strat-Guides]

Thank you! I've been working on the intros lately :) It's hard to balance between "wasting someone's time" to having something boring, short but effective.

[@ottovonbismarck5631]

@@Strat-Guides Must say, I feel weird about joke when he married taller woman in video, since im short too, im afraid that something like that (laughs) will happened to me.

[@Cozonac3000]

So I applied this method of yours, it works incredibly well. I waited for rebels to take over a town in Aserai Vlandia or Khuzait, in the meantime I was a vassal for the empire, gathering resources and money. I ended up taking Galend which is in the corner and I am also Vlandian, nothing attacked me there, and can easily conquer Vlandia without getting closer to other kingdoms. Until now I used the smithing method to make money (20 million so far) I also ended up with 4 boys (I was so lucky in this playthrough). I upgraded at maximum all my troops and then I used the hit and run tactic, got Hongard and Drapand castles and Pravend, now I made peace with the Vladians (I lost 24 troops in total somehow) 😂.

[@elijahandrews7538]

High quality script and commentary. Love this vid bro

[@Strat-Guides]

Thank you! I have a lot of fun with this one :)

[@specrtre]

All the math and data you do is crazy. Appreciate the work, I probably won't play any game this efficiently in my life, but the sheer amount of work you put into all the data, funny editing, and general tips make it worth watching alone.

[@Strat-Guides]

Thank you, I appreciate you taking notice :)

[@hapotus410]

I was mastering my Vlandian guys art of smithing in Epicrotea, when Western Empire started an war campaign against Sturgia. I got caught in the middle of it, because of a mercenary contract i signed with Sturgians because i didn't know any better. I lost all the hard earned crafting materials and a lot of time being dragged around by Western Empire. I was left rotting in jail till a truce was signed. From today, i'll lay down my apron and my hammer, as my days as a blacksmith are over. I will see to that Western Empire will be razed to the ground and erased from the history. Rip and tear till it's done TLDR; good guide bro thx

[@carljohnson8591]

How's it going?

[@lnplum]

I genuinely tried to defeat the Western Empire by executing every single noble but that just ended up making everyone else mad at me because they're all inbred and peace would have been even more expensive because unlike prisoners, executions don't factor into the power comparison. So I'd leave the extermination plans until you can take on every kingdom at once.

[@Brenhydra]

One thing about fief choices that should be mentioned is the trade-off between access and security. A border town will have the highest access to a diversity of troops, but be susceptible to multiple kingdoms trying to claim it. A town in the middle of one faction will be easier to defend, but only give you one faction's worth of units, which could put you at a disadvantage later on.

[@mrbritish6673]

I know this is an old video, but when you’re clearing bandit hideouts, as well as labourers and captured by bandits you should always pick up clear bands of brigands, because the bandit parties inside the bases are individual groups. So if there’s 3 parties in the hideout you would get 3 groups cleared towards the hunt brigands quest :) Edit: Make sure to get oratory as well for +1 renown per quest. Can always swap it later if your main focus is tourneys

[@L33C333]

been on a video bing for your bannerlord guides, amazing work

[@Strat-Guides]

Thanks for watching!! I need to update the skill and perk guides soon, was just waiting for the full release :)

[@L33C333]

@@Strat-Guides cant wait for it

[@HaloNerd117444]

Your Farquaad avatar is... [chef's kiss] _perfect_.

[@Strat-Guides]

Lol thank you! I think I spent over an hour trying to tweak Farquaad and Fiona. I just suck at artistic stuff like that so it takes me a whole :)

[@trevorcarson2774]

I ran a Vlandia campaign recently and went fiefless for a while to build up money. Derthert ended up giving me basically the entirety of Sturgia because I was the only noble in proximity and when he died I was elected King with 6 towns to my name . It was fun but me and my companions basically had to solo protect the north against the Khuzaits and Western Empire. Very overwhelming business for a beginner player

[@Strat-Guides]

Yeah that sounds like a handful! Baptism by fire lol

[@topgun1613]

great video as always

[@Strat-Guides]

Thank you!!

[@doomy156]

Another dope guide thank you

[@Strat-Guides]

Thank you! I worked hard on this one so I'm happy to hear that :)

[@zreed545]

My personal favorite play is to take the rebel towns and buy cities from nobles without declaring a kingdom. I've been trying to buy all of Calradia in one lifetime, without having a kingdom one entire continent without a kingdom.

[@joshuacoleman6245]

Thanks Strat!

[@Strat-Guides]

Thanks for watching!!

[@jesusoffamolly4229]

Im doing a Gengis Khan play through right now but even w console commands im so lost in this game thank god for these guides 😭

[@tiramisu8924]

My character got elected as new queen of Battania and I had over 10k influence 4kk denars saved with clan tier 6 but only had 1 town.. now a few ingame days later my clan owns all of the Battanian culture fiefs and most of Vlandia. The kingdom overall owns about halve the map while and the Khuzait the other halve. Its a large scale war between both kingdoms where most battles get decided based on which army has more nobles Fian or Khans Guard. The other kingdoms are still around too but with like 1 town or are castle and act more like bandits cause they cant get that much units going. Its brutal to fight the Khuzait on open fields even with alot of Fian. My Character lost 2 sons and 1 daughter in the war so far. Its crazy fun to roleplay the story of my character.

[@TheoTheLeo]

Very High quality. Subbed to see More

[@Strat-Guides]

Thank you Theo! I've got a different kind of video planned for this week, I'm hoping to have it ready by tomorrow.

[@jacepro2827]

For the money making part in smithing, I find glaives cheap but expensive to sell at 2000-8000 for iron/wrought iron tier 2, 10k-18k with tier 4 and 20k-35k with tier 5 using only 3 fine steel which you can get easy by smelting tribe throwing daggers. I usually visit every town and get all their money so fast. also glaives are also very easy to unlock because it only has 118 parts and you can get them much easier with the perk. One time I got a legendary tier 5 one and oh boy I deal 230-480 damage per swing which is op.

[@FrozenSolid131]

Very useful thank you

[@sunnyd9321]

Now I need to make a lord Farquaad build too, though I’ve always seen him more of a crossbow user.

[@Strat-Guides]

Lol that's true, although I dunno how he would reload? He's so short, the stirrup or windlass would be hard for him to use!

[@frodobeutling5883]

the best 30 min of the day - thx.

[@Strat-Guides]

Thanks for watching 😀

[@carlosrodriguez3104]

By the time I became tier 4 I owned 13 fiefs. I basically had 1000+ influence and one I had around 5-6 fiefs I realized that their was a curruptipn debuff for having to many fiefs and eventually I would run out of influence. So I spent the last of my 1000 influence and capturing until it ran out (I won three elections as well) and now I have 13 fiefs. 6 towns I think.

[@Strat-Guides]

Unless they've changed it, corruption actually comes from low loyalty or low security. Do your fiefs have either of those? Might be something to look into.

[@StandingWithUkraine]

Continue doing your great work. If Bannerlord's Oct release is a success, you'll be a huge reason for that!

[@Strat-Guides]

Thanks!! I'm really hoping so, it's a fun game and I think a lot of people would enjoy it.

[@ali69175]

Man i love your videos keep it up

[@Strat-Guides]

Thank you!! I've got some fun campaigns in the works soon and will also pick back up the tactics series, covering large army tactics.

[@MarksmanGamingPk90]

great video like always

[@Strat-Guides]

Thanks Marksman!

[@MilitaryBuff]

Got made Khan came back to this video on the same day. I inherited a massive Khanate from Monchug that spans all of Eastern Calradia my main enemies the Western Empire and Vlandians have started fighting each other finally and I am thinking about taking out the Aserai.

[@Strat-Guides]

Nice, go get some of that date fruit land :D

[@shionnevymerimerisdaymore]

Why youtube recommended me your videos?Okay i started with one and now i watch them more and more, can't stop they're so good....AND I DON'T EVEN HAVE BANNERLORD

[@Strat-Guides]

LOL! Thanks for watching, I appreciate it 😀

[@bobsmith3852]

I've got 1200 hours on Bannerlord and have been opening chat dialogs with my companion party leaders to find prisoners. Mind blown about the Alt+hover trick.

[@Strat-Guides]

I'm so glad they added the button to access their troops right from the first pop up! I really hated having to go through the dialogue each time. Thanks for watching!

[@WhoTheLoL]

About that smithing - I'm using two-handed swords. There's a combination of tier 4 components with a tier 3 handle that uses ONLY wrought iron and iron (yes, no steel or fine steel, which are standard for tier 3/4 components) and which sells for 14400. You can literally buy shit weapons from the market for less than 500 gold that, when smelted, give you more than enough iron and wrought iron for this sword. If you need charcoal, simply pick the perk that allows you to produce 3 charcoal from 2 hardwood and buy a bunch of wooden hammers (smelt into 3 hardwood each) and pitchforks (smelt into 3 wood and 1 crude iron each). With the charcoal perk, smelting 2 wooden hammers takes 2 charcoal and produces 6 wood which you can refine into 9 charcoal. Most cities have a stockpile of ~40 or more wooden hammers and/or pitchforks each. With the method above and assuming you have the 2H sword tier 4 elements necessary unlocked, you can literally walk up to almost any big settlement in the game with 500 gold and a single unit of charcoal and, through only buying cheap weapons in the market and smelting them, generate enough materials to produce a stack of swords worth hundreds of thousands of gold. I use this to level up armies of fresh recruits. I get a full party of volunteers, go to a city, buy cheap weapons, smelt them, refine hardwood from wooden hammers, then use those materials to forge those 14,4k gold swords. Then I exchange 400k+ gold worth of those swords on the market for literally all of the armor available in the city, which I then dump in several batches using the Steward perk that allows you to get XP from discarded armor. This allows me to almost instantly get an army that's mostly tier 3-4 out of a bunch of tier 1 junk.

[@sorenjensen3863]

For money early on ive found raiding caravans to be the way to go. Good source of renown at the same time

[@chubzlich5307]

FINALLY A NEW STRAT VIDEO!!!

[@Strat-Guides]

I'm trying to post every Friday morning and if it's not a huge guide (like the last 3 were) then I'll get one during the week as well :)

[@chubzlich5307]

@@Strat-Guides much appreciated

[@michaelmische1433]

Would love to see a world conquest speedrun but for ingame time!

[@Strat-Guides]

I did one a couple months ago, not sure if you had a change to see it yet: kzbin.info/www/bejne/l2Svnqilr72agJI This the recap episode and I also have I think 17 - 18 episodes of highly edited gameplay. I'm thinking about doing another one soon as I've found several things that can speed it up a lot faster. This one ended around 16 years but I think I can get it below 10 (maybe even 8) without using exploits or smithing.

[@thehamilton5678]

very helpful, thanks,

[@seanwoodgate5335]

Wanna know something hilarious: my first kingdom playthrough my first fief was in that EXACT spot you highlighted. Pulled it off though but yeah was a little rough.

[@Strat-Guides]

Nice! It's a good spot for sure. Although sometimes you don't really get a say in things and you gotta take what you can get

[@hero_on_youtube]

11:15 Fiona on the throne looking down on Farquaad, like he's a child... lol Even the look on her face is priceless... :)

[@Strat-Guides]

Haha she kept doing the "side eye's" thing at him too, it was hilarious!

[@DestroyerOfOgis]

farquaad down horrendous

[@Zuu4MH]

Just need one more tier to start my own kingdom and this video is perfect! Btw do you use something to make the fast forward faster?

[@Strat-Guides]

Nice, that's one of the most exciting (and scary) parts of any campaign :) Yeah there is a mod to do that or you can use the console commands to speed it up. I usually use console commands so I can go REALLY fast instead of the 8x - 16x most mods cap out at.

[@pendantblade6361]

The most impressive about this guide is you playing this entire run with Farquad as an avatar and not starting over.

[@Strat-Guides]

I wouldn't want to break the immersion for you :D Thanks for watching!!

[@ExperiencePlayers]

Great video mate! Would you switch culture from battanian to aserai if you start your kingdom through rebels in sanala?

[@Strat-Guides]

Yeah that sounds like a solid plan. It's not easy making a fief rebel if the owner has the same culture.

[@andrewheard5157]

Joined brit, helped take over all of their kingdom and they gave me half their kingdom, so when I took over was fighting everyone but the south, the best part is as I have no clue hoe to destroy a kingdom the rats of vland kept attacking and gave me plenty of relationship boosts by assisting or saving allies, took over and made all my comps lords and just made them rich after learning they were poor, the only issue is they never keep folks in garrisons so if I could figure that out

[@avivio0]

More memes in a video please, thanks for the tips how to deal with my wars, that was biggest pain for me.

[@Strat-Guides]

Thanks polish slug!! I do meme research at least twice a week trying to find new/good ones to add so I'll keep doing that :)

[@artifixer]

About lords recruiting. They reject any offer if the cost they would ask of player to pay for defection exceeds player's money divided by 3 OR 2 mil gold - whichever is less. So yes, having at least 6 mil gold helps to maximise the chances on player's side, but otherwise it's important to lower the price they would demand for defection. And by far the biggest part of that price comes from the owned settlements, if they can't take those with them (you literally have to pay for those, and they usually cost several millions each). That's why it's important either to recruit a fiefless clans, or to recruit a clan while at war with their current kingdom, thus allowing them to change the sides while keeping all the lands.

[@nicolasolivet5484]

love it!

[@Strat-Guides]

Thanks for watching :D

[@MusMasi]

I was expecting to see Shrek and donkey in this video Faarquad was so accurately depicted. Also the power of friendship in bannerlord? no moe than 5%

[@Strat-Guides]

I tried to get more shots of the green-faced Derthert but it's pretty hard to get the moving characters masked out like that! I was able to do it with the "who wears the panties" scene pretty well though! I just need to improve my editing skills a bit more to handle that level :)

[@dzimi9281]

Thank you! I just got a few fiefs and am struggling

[@Strat-Guides]

Nice, that's a great start! I rely heavily on the defensive strategies I showed, it really negates their numbers advantage.

[@benthemortgagepro]

Any tips for setting up fiefs to be defended well? You made an interesting point I didn't know about which was having no garrison is better than a small one due to army sizes that attack. But it feels like it takes forever to build up militas so every fief I take it gets taken back eventually. Idk what to do.

[@Strat-Guides]

A couple things you could do - sue for peace as soon as you get attacked. If you're a vassal and nobody wants peace, then you can use influence to call people into your army and hold them for defending the fief. If all else fails, save scum before the enemy attacks your fief and make sure they build Onager and take out the ram. If they don't have a ram, you should be able to win 5 to 1 or even higher!

[@alexey_chekhovich]

About luring noble factions into your kingdom. There used to be a bug where if you convince them to join you during peace time they will come stripped of their fiefs, only during a war they could keep fiefs joining you. Is it still the same or they fixed it? Also a small hint - since paying them to join you is considered a barter, you can swap the fiefs they own if you have “fief trading” perk unlocked in trading tree. I.e. you can give them a fief of appropriate culture from your own and take their fief, or you can just pay them in form of city or a few castles instead of mil of dinars. You also used to get a huge amount of trading exp for that, but dunno if it’s still the same. Btw there are some more additions to the luring equation. I.e. if their kingdom do not have any fiefs at all and they are one of the last 3-5 remaining clans in the kingdom - they will never leave, looks like there is some limit to minimal amount of clans AI kingdom must have, maybe it’s done so that they will be able to gather an army large enough to capture a single city in any case. Anyway - great video as always, keep up the good work!

[@Strat-Guides]

Yeah they do bring the fief with them now, but at a much higher cost!

[@alexey_chekhovich]

@@Strat-Guides I used to lure small fiefs-less clans into my kingdom by giving them small castles on the borders. Each castle is roughly 300-400k, so usually you don’t need to pay them anything more than that. And once you have like 4-6 clans in your kingdom - they will gather army themselves and be able to defend an incoming siege army or even maybe capture a city. This way you can have 2 active armies almost all the time at very early stages. Later in the game, around 15-20 clans in the kingdom, you will have a bunch of armies constantly, like 3 not counting yours, a self sustaining force that will conquer entire map for you if loyalty is high enough. It’s a peaceful time, you can just sit back and watch your legions march across the map. Also afair, enlisting all the nobles available in the kingdom spanned across the continent - largest army I was able to maintain was around 22k or something. Larger one kept disassembling after each cohesion tick. Still a force comparable to what Genghis Khan had while building his empire :-)

[@HbrDorber]

It was at ov castle they had 1259 soldiers and I had 121 + 70 militia, the win was because I used your stray of taking the archers off the wall since I was fighting the sturgians.

[@ForgetfulPenguins]

I got amazing luck with fiefs as a vassal for vlandia, I have half of the asirei fiefs and the western empire town closet the the asirei and vlandia so all my fiefs are connected, it's almost like king derthert wants me to start a new kingdom. Also I married his daughter

[@tyecharessewhite7831]

U can focus on renown at the sametime getting denars . Just fight the lower kingdom

[@samom4511]

Hi strat, lets see what do we have on menu!!

[@Strat-Guides]

Lol this is like a 6 course meal :D

[@Toothmain1432]

My method was to siege a settlement, take it, then go for peace and pay a tribute. I ended up broke and hated by everyone pretty quickly until I started blacksmithing.

[@Strat-Guides]

Lol It's better to be feared than loved anyhow :) It seems that's one of the only ways to survive in the early game, unless you have a great starting position and can weather the storm for a bit. Thanks for watching Liam!

[@dbuyandelger]

Who knew Lord Farquaad had to work so hard to remove fairy tale creatures from Calradia. Also I agree, defense first and then offense. Less armies to come after me, when I go around besieging fiefs

[@markj2305]

Yes, they are rudely being alive when "nobody " wants the to be.

[@Strat-Guides]

Lol Derthert is still in his Vlandian swamp...

[@Strat-Guides]

I had that clip edited too!! But I couldn't find a good spot for it so I scrapped it sadly.

[@markj2305]

@@Strat-Guides oh No! That's one of the very best quotes from that movie that speaks to anyways that those Empower me look at others. No doubt there will be future opportunities for us insertions.

[@markj2305]

Yes basic math. Use Force multipliers

[@andrewbacon4001]

Does the gangs give renown on console? I've cleared some out but I don't seem to gain any. Do I need to clear out the whole city?

[@jasoncramer6717]

hey I just wanted to point out a sidestep to the tier 4 requirement for a kingdom, though it won't necessarily be "your own" kingdom. as a tier 3 vassal of Sturgia, when Raganvad died in battle I actually got elected new ruler of Sturgia, and suddenly had a whole ready built nation. this was random strangeness but a charisma build with the right tactics could maneuver a hostile takeover like this and plan a terrible accident to befall the current ruler.

[@jaymorrison2419]

I had the same thing happen when one of the Empire nobles 'mysteriously' died to a friendly javelin to the skull...

[@Strat-Guides]

Yeah that's a good point! It seems the default vote will always go to the player, no matter what. I tested it once by doing it day 1 with cheats - no money, no troops, clan tier 0 and I killed off the king but they still wanted me as king lol. It's like they thought I was John Snow or something.

[@Strat-Guides]

Lol savage!

[@HarpuiaBR]

@@jaymorrison2419 forensics determined death was by natural causes I suppose

[@alcedob.5850]

@@jaymorrison2419 man you are brutal ahahahah

[@shmowpow5401]

One thing to say about promoting companions that is REALLY important, if you promote a companion thats lets say a khuzait and you give them an empire fief, their clan culture is empire despite being khuzait, the only thing different is that the 2 other clan members they get are khuzait

[@Strat-Guides]

Interesting, I didn't know that! So the culture can never be the wrong one for promoting companions?

[@shmowpow5401]

Yeah, just watch out if you have policy's that decrease loyalty and this companions culture is not compatible with the settlement you give them because although their clan culture is fine, their governor's culture is different and will decrease loyalty which I say makes it just as easy to rebel.

[@shmowpow5401]

But back in my 2nd campaign where I tried to conquer the world and it worked but it took a while obviously, this was an older version so because I was the king and any settlements conquered I get and then its voted on who gets it next, I knew they'd give it to the wrong clan culture because that's what they do, so I always had a companion on deck in my party so I could promote them and their culture was good. Unlike my first campaign, I never had to deal with rebellion after rebellion after rebellion. It also helps I forced policy's that increase loyalty for like 4k influence.

[@Strat-Guides]

@@shmowpow5401 Oh gotcha, yeah that makes sense.