The Ultimate Guide to Bannerlord: Cunning Skills - Complete guide to Roguery, Tactics & Scouting

[@McDadden]

Important to note on prison breaks: once you are clan tier 5 and up you can no longer sneak into towns. High renown lowers your chances dramatically of sneaking in so stay neutral

[@Strat-Guides]

That's really interesting, I didn't know that! I'm going to make some notes for when I have to redo the video down the road. Thank you for that!

[@chengkuoklee5734]

Make sense, it's harder to sneak if you are famous.

[@2ndsnake899]

@@chengkuoklee5734 Maybe the devs could add in ways to disguise your identity, like a mask or just using makeup.

[@bogdanalin962]

@@2ndsnake899 and sun glasses

[@agroplode9680]

@@bogdanalin962 And a fake beard to hide your real beard.

[@Strat-Guides]

**We finally did it! They fixed the troop sacrifice amount for higher levels of Tactics as of 1.6.3 on 9/28/2021 Hot Fix** Whew, this was a long one! I should be breaking these up into smaller guides moving forward. The quality dropped a bit as I got to Roguery since I had to stay up all night to finish it in time. I'll get better at my planning and workflow so hang tight! Let me know your thoughts - Good, bad or indifferent... Also - I spent over an hour trying to get a legit looking Rick-Roll near the end, tracking video to the wall of a tavern to make it look like they had flat screens blasting it, but then KZbin said it would copyright strike the video so I had to pull it back :( Sorry for the long final segment, it was supposed to be much more entertaining than it ended up being!

[@Uzzgub]

A interaction to appease the 6th Chaos God, the Almighty Algorithm, a Comment for the Comment Throne

[@Strat-Guides]

@@Uzzgub you're an absolute beast lol thank you!

[@ayajamesaya]

Oh my god, I can’t imagine how much time you put in collecting all these deep analysis! The game itself isn’t doing a good job of explaining the perks and this is absolutely something people need when they are going to plan in the beginning. Thank you so much for making such a valuable video 🔥👍❤️

[@Strat-Guides]

Thank you for noticing! I've spent a ton of time on the guides, but I think they are being helpful so I don't mind it :) I appreciate your support!

[@BracownReclidobo]

These are soooo amazing please keep them rolling out!

[@Strat-Guides]

Thank you for the support!! Next Friday I will have the Social skills done (I might do trade separately depending on how long it takes) so stay tuned!

[@BracownReclidobo]

@@Strat-Guides I'm super curious about tactics now. So do you think it is a useless skill to put points in at this point?

[@Strat-Guides]

It really depends on how one plans on playing. If the only battles you plan to fight in personally are the close ones and you auto resolve everything else, then there is an argument to be made for having it as it will cut your casualties by almost 60% at the higher levels. If you are only using it for bandits once in a while or you plan to fight all battles in person, then it's totally useless. There are a few good perks in there, but otherwise avoid imo.

[@Huffl3puff_Deatheater]

@@Strat-Guides honestly the only videos i could find with in-depth up to date info. Thanks!

[@Strat-Guides]

@@Huffl3puff_Deatheater No problem, I'm glad they were useful! Thank you for the support :D

[@anderseriksson7698]

Your guides are immaculate, no other channel goes as in depth on explaining the different mechanics and how they work. Subscribed and recommended to friends.

[@Strat-Guides]

Sweet, thank you so much!! I still have a long way to go, but I'm working on it :D

[@thisguyagain7857]

You know I used to miss the days of getting a new game and the strategy guide to go with it. I just realized though it opened the door for content like this which is better it creates a community of like minded people and that's usually good.

[@rogelioalonzo2911]

When he typed subscribe, ... I was sold. He did that in game with irl in mind breaking the 4th wall twice first in the game second on KZbin. You win, subbed

[@Strat-Guides]

Haha thank you for the support! :D

[@iamerror1699]

Jesus, you had to put so much time and effort into this. I really appreciate the videos you make, you seem to put a lot of time into them.

[@masterbaiting22]

I’ve been waiting for a really good banner lord guide channel to come with this patch, you are easily the best. Great videos keep them coming!

[@Strat-Guides]

Coming from a Tudor, I'm honored! Thank you for the support! I am just finishing up the research portion for Engineering so I'll have that one ready to go by Friday. After that, we will dive into all the perk and probably the combat system. Let me know if there is a topic you are interested in seeing a video on and I'll do my best to schedule it in! : D

[@masterbaiting22]

@@Strat-Guides Definitely a look into the perk system and maybe a guide for levelling for different play styles, I find sometimes I start a character and a few hours in realise I messed up my focus points and levelling and then have to start again :/

[@Strat-Guides]

@@masterbaiting22 I'm really looking forward to starting the perks guides as I feel like it can be even more impactful if you get a good combination of perks together. I know the feeling lol I have restarted so many games, my saved game files look like a graveyard lol. I'm not sure if you've seen it yet, but I use a "Hero Builder" database to build each of my characters. Basically, I pick all of the perks that I want before I even start the game, then work backwards to find out exactly what attribute and focus points I need to put into each category to get exactly what I want. I used it in my Robin Hood and Joan of Arc Let's plays. Just check out the character creation section, It's only a couple minutes long and you can see what it looks like. I have made it available for anyone to use on the Discord channel as well.

[@ryanscottnix]

That intro was a 10/10. Well done!

[@Strat-Guides]

Lol thank you! I appreciate that :)

[@nunyanunya4147]

thank you for spending so much time confirming my gut instinct 'autoresolve is worse than doing nothing'

[@Strat-Guides]

I did a bit more testing recently and it's a little better with the right perks, but you have to get to 300+ tactics, which will take many many years lol it's probably best to avoid it instead :)

[@nunyanunya4147]

@@Strat-Guides you dive in with autistic enthisism. confirms my *feels*. :) thanks for doing the maths. game close to finished yet :*(? i wanna play

[@HolyReality]

Playing Bannerlord again, so I'm virtually guaranteed to be watching Strat gaming videos They go hand in hand 😁 Thank you for the compendium of information you have compiled on this game!!

[@Kanabei]

is seems like they fixed Tactics in today's hotfix: 'Fixed a bug that caused the Tactics skill to increase the number of sacrificed troops when trying to get away, or when breaking in and breaking out.'

[@Strat-Guides]

Nice, we've done it! We helped make tactics great again! Lol j/k it's still not very good, but getting there :) Thanks for the heads up!

[@Kanabei]

@@Strat-Guides at least not not totally useless now.

[@michasokoowski6651]

@@Strat-Guides I mean... Tactics is an amazing skill, It has great skill in the skill tree... autoresolving... well, autoresolving battles is trash.

[@Strat-Guides]

@@michasokoowski6651 I agree, there are some great perks in there! The skill itself needs some work. They did finally fix the sacrifice amount - It used to cost you MORE troops the higher level you were in tactics haha I had a good laugh when I gathered the data for that. Auto Resolve for higher tactics needs a face-lift I think. Or even better, they should add more benefits to tactics, like allowing you to have a higher ratio of troops in the battle than the enemy (If you come with 1k troops and they come with 1k troops, right now you both bring 500 each at a 1k unit limit. But maybe they should let you have a better ratio, like maybe 600 to 400 or something).There are a lot of things that could be added. We will see!! Thanks again for the support :D

[@Gamesplayed15]

Ive been playing on and off since this released on beta. These videos are the best I've seen. No shade probably just me having a better understanding of the games mechanics. But thank you for these.

[@Strat-Guides]

I'm happy to help! Have you had a chance to try out 1.7.0? It's a pretty big difference. I played when the game first came out and then stopped for close to a year or so and I can say for sure this is the best patch they have released IMO.

[@stanp120]

Very informative video. Thank you. )) Most of all - very (very) timely as I just started a rogue playthrough today ! Look forward to your next videos

[@Strat-Guides]

Oh nice, good luck with the play through! What culture did you end up picking?

[@mahdmahmud9776]

Thanks STAT man! Current playthrough is as a Rogue. I just town hop and free people :)

[@Strat-Guides]

Nice, rogue play throughs are fun. Good luck with the prison breaks!

[@halmuradturghun1048]

The clips you be putting on the background of you explaining serious statistics are hilarious. 😂😂😂 love your videos.

[@Strat-Guides]

Lol thanks, i'm glad you like it! My wife rolls her eyes at my videos all the time so it's nice to hear :)

[@asoldier3229]

Your videos and advice are absolutely top notch! Only 585 subscribers right now is mind blowing. You're going to be big one day.

[@Strat-Guides]

Thank you for the vote of confidence! I just started making videos last month so I think it just needs a little more time. That shifty KZbin algorithm needs to do it's thing I guess lol

[@dharmeshmistry342]

Roguery is incredible for a horde of Khuzait horse archers, something I’m currently experimenting with. Fight steppes bandits, take their horses and capture them, recruit the marauders and raiders easily, turn them into Khan’s Guard. Ez Mongolian horde.

[@Strat-Guides]

Yeah it's amazing! Do you have a consistent way of catching the steppe bandits? They are so fast, it can be challenging at times.

[@dharmeshmistry342]

@@Strat-Guides Keep your party small enough to be a target without being weak, and throw yourself mindlessly into hordes of bandits with the hopes one of them will drag the others to them in the attack phase. Also, you can easily get raiders and marauders from steppes bandit bases, just roll up with a club and bonk them all.

[@whiterabbit4945]

this video deserves beeing called ultimate great job love it subbed and saved right away

[@Strat-Guides]

Thank you! Although this one needs an update lol I'll be redoing these soon :)

[@whiterabbit4945]

@@Strat-Guides lucky me as i installed Bannerlord yesterday once more

[@whitey6174]

Super high roguery does have a use though. Assuming your steward takes the donate for xp perks, this means more xp from battle loot, faster troop leveling, meaning endless bannerlord wars arent personally backbreaking

[@Strat-Guides]

That's very true, especially going from tier 1 without shields! That's the worst lol It's a great point you bring up and definitely worth considering if your quartermaster has the capabilities!

[@kebertxela941]

You make the best informative bannerlord videos, super professional,super deep testing.

[@Strat-Guides]

Thank you! :D

[@DrZaius3141]

I was thinking myself about doing a video called "Everything useful about Bannerlord cunning skills", but YT won't allow me to upload empty videos. Seriously: - Scouting is such a waste on your main character, just get a companion. - Roguery does so little per level, it's worth neither the stat points nor the focus points. - Tactics could even be considered the most useful, because at some point doing all the trivial battles yourself becomes a pita and having fewer losses can add up. Soc > Int > End > Ctr > Vig > Cng (in terms of where to put attribute points and dependent on you wanting to have a good late game)

[@Strat-Guides]

LOL you had me in the beginning :P In general I agree with you about the cunning group, although there are some good perks to pick up in scouting. There is one that gives 50% less chance of prisoners escaping which you can pair with the riding 50% less chance of escape so that no noble can escape your party. I like to use this for my world conquest games so that I can start a kingdom and actually have a chance to expand early game. I only need to beat them once in battle and then they are mine.... forever... haha I would love it if they redid the entire roguery skill. You bring up excellent points.

[@areyoufcknkiddinme]

last perk in scouting doesn't work on companions and good luck getting good party speed with bigger party size without it

[@Strat-Guides]

@@areyoufcknkiddinme Interesting, I didn't know that about the final perk. I have a video planned for maxing movement speed so I'll have to figure out what work and what doesn't and this will help a bunch! Yeah it's crazy how slow the larger armies are, but it makes sense that it works like that.

[@areyoufcknkiddinme]

@@Strat-Guides and its even crazier if around 300 horsemen can catch anyone and autoresolve(bcs good cunning means good tactics) them to their doom(even the steppe bandits sometimes)

[@Strat-Guides]

@@areyoufcknkiddinme Cav armies are a lot of fun, that's for sure! I was really shocked to find out that ALL infantry armies were the best for auto resolves though, I thought for sure Cav would be.

[@Slas_ss]

Once again, love the videos. All the facts and stats

[@Strat-Guides]

We need to figure out a good "sit in God" for the algorithm. You have no idea how many times I have to redo my audio for that word LOL it's a tongue twister. Thanks for the continued support!

[@gerzlg8099]

Lmao I was surprised when he said he'll help us with our social skills towards the end of the video. Then I realised he was talking about the game...

[@Strat-Guides]

Hahaha I'm definitely not the right person to give advice on that :D

[@kylekelly1167]

The second to last tip at the end so useful.

[@Strat-Guides]

Thanks for watching :D

[@kylekelly1167]

@@Strat-Guides Your welcome I learned today it seems that if I support the Merc Companies. Get The Clan INFO to state they average or very Rich they don't seem to leave my kingdom.

[@Strat-Guides]

@@kylekelly1167 Oh interesting, so you can hire the good mercs like the khuzait or aserai ones and just make sure they have enough money in the bank to stay? That makes a lot of sense. I think you can have up to 3 mercenary clans fighting for you so it would be a huge boost to have them stay. Thank you for sharing that!

[@kylekelly1167]

Yes this seems to be the case

[@viperswhip]

This is why tactics is so important for your Caravan Leaders and Companions you make into leaders.

[@Strat-Guides]

Yeah that's a very good point since it's the only way they fight. It's a tough one to level for companions though unfortunately :(

[@Helerek]

@@Strat-Guides I did some testing of Tactics with my party leader companions and it didn't affect their outcome at all. Maybe you can make a video to show us which skills actually contribute in any way on our companions? From my testing if it's auto-resolve it was only Steward (troops count/wages) and medicine (less casualties dead). Other skills like Tactics/Engineering didn't affect outcome.

[@lancebennington5327]

Hey Strat love your videos! They have really helped me understand the game as a new player. Will you be making a perk guide for roguery? I'm really interested in which ones you would take. Thanks for all your hard work & passion for the game!

[@Strat-Guides]

Sorry for the delay, I'm just getting to all the messages from 4 days ago until now, finally getting caught up! I'm so glad the videos are helpful :D I do plan on doing roguery soon. I just released the smithing perks a few minutes ago and will start working on scouting for release by Friday. Then I'll work my way down in order, so roguery should be a couple weeks away at the most! If you have specific one's you aren't sure about, feel free to message me back and I can let you know ahead of time so you don't have to wait.

[@goodnightjohnboy7826]

Finally, a useful video on roguery.

[@Strat-Guides]

Yeah I was giving bad info before doing this guide too lol I'm guilty! I learned a ton making it

[@jimmyselsmark7346]

I'm amazed at the time you put into making each video and still you "only" have 3,5k+ subs.

[@Strat-Guides]

Thank you, I appreciate that! It's growing so fast, I just started 2.5 months ago and the algorithm is starting to share the love this month haha

[@seth4bucks]

I would think that Tactics is a very crucial skill . . . . for your companions leading independent parties as well as other nobles in your clan.

[@Strat-Guides]

Yeah that's an excellent point, it's critical for the AI led armies as that's the only way they can fight!

[@flacorandom]

You're marvelous! Congrats Strat!

[@Strat-Guides]

Thank you!

[@RandomCarrot2806]

Thank you so much for the tip for leveling roguery. Been doing a bit of a cheat playthrough giving myself bonus skill and attribute points at the start of a campaign (mostly just to avoid hitting the hard cap where you can no longer level up at all) and with every other skill in the 300s Roguery weren't even at 200.

[@Strat-Guides]

Yeah it's a tough one to level up. In my experience, selling tons of prisoners and prison breaks are the only way to get a reasonable skill level. The other ways are okay to get to 100 or so but anything past that is too slow.

[@johstimgaming7224]

Dude, your content is fire! Really helpful and entertaining, keep it up and thanks 😄

[@Strat-Guides]

Thank you! I'm making good progress on the trade guide so far, which will be out next week so stay tuned. I appreciate the support!

[@willpetrie9104]

Roguery can also be gained with high moral while having bandits in your party.

[@Strat-Guides]

Thank you for the info, I had no clue!! I just ran some testing and it looks like you get a flat 8XP per 100 bandit troops per day, regardless of their Tier. I'll add it to my database and when I have to update the guide for a patch or something, I'll be sure it makes it in there. I appreciate it!

[@oleksandr2234]

I'm not sure about this ... I had 4 to 12 bandits of 100-180 people in my party during the game year or more with a morale of 70-80. And not a single point of Roguery gained without selling prisoners in taverns.

[@lancereandeau2115]

What faction armor you rocking in 5:03? Also incredible videos! Did such an amazing job putting all these together!

[@Strat-Guides]

I may be off a little here: Helmet from Sturgia, shoulders from Aserai, everything else Battania. Thank you for watching!! :D

[@MrBb3k]

I love watching these guides. Been playing since having an achilles tendon injury not being able to move. These guides help a lot. Although I'm sure many people caught the npc that was killed standing up and stayed that way...😂🤣. I would have kept on swinging till I realized it had died and I myself got knocked out having only realizing it.

[@Strat-Guides]

Ouch! That doesn't sound fun at all. When I was younger, I shattered an ankle in a skateboarding accident and was out for a few weeks, it was brutal! I wish you a very speedy recovery. I'm happy the videos are helping :D Lol yeah sometimes they would get stuck in a position where it wasn't obvious they were dead! It took a couple swings before I realized.

[@Mr1991Teddy]

you earned a Sub my dude. great stuff

[@Strat-Guides]

I appreciate it! I'll keep the guides coming, once a week

[@Imperator-SPQR]

It would be great if you update your bannerlord guide

[@kurtschmidt5005]

Great guide on roguery

[@Strat-Guides]

Thanks!

[@jasons5904]

Best Bannerlord guides. Hands down

[@Strat-Guides]

Thank you for the words of encouragement! :D

[@BryanGC]

I hate math, but the way you explain makes it so interesting xD

[@Strat-Guides]

Lol I know the feeling. I used to hate math, but I got lucky and had a teacher that was amazing and I fell in love with it ever since. Math is really fun when it's used on something important to us :D

[@arifyilmaz3970]

you really put effort man good job

[@Strat-Guides]

Thank you! I appreciate it :)

[@ryguy037]

Great videos! I love all the testing you do

[@Strat-Guides]

No problem, I'm happy to make them!

[@JacksonOwex]

5:30 Dead dude is standing up!!!

[@Strat-Guides]

Lol it's like those street performers that dress up and freeze in place - pretty trippy!

[@g-lix7702]

There is a huge benefit doing autoresolve if you are being besieged and defending, i win with autoresolve in these cases with low tactics when the enemy outnumber me 4 to 1 in some cases

[@StimmR]

Wow, I dont play Bannerlord and I found this video amazing to watch.

[@Strat-Guides]

Lol that's hilarious! Gotta love that KZbin algorithm. I found the Lockpicking Lawyer a few weeks ago - same thing. I have no interest in picking locks, but damn are his videos addicting to watch haha.

[@AndriiGryganskyi]

Just thinking - how cool it would be, if at the beginning of prison break I can give a prisoner my throwing knives, tell him/her to stay in a good spot (F), run to the guards that they can see me, run back to the prisoner, that he/she could meet them with knives first, finish the guards, run for another one. Well, silly scenario..

[@Strat-Guides]

Lol that would be cool, a firing squad of throwing knives. I guess they kind of have that with the minor faction Hidden Hand, but it would be cool to see it in a prison break.

[@victoro7056]

Just found you. That video was great, keep the good job brother, funny as hell.

[@Strat-Guides]

Thanks for watching! I am working on the final skill right now, engineering. All of the other skills are covered so far, hopefully that helps! I plan on doing all the perks next as well as a few other topics like managing a kingdom etc. Let me know if you have a topic in mind and I'll do my best to get it done!

[@victoro7056]

@@Strat-Guides nice! would be great to see A.I. behavior on the map without the player, like 100 years simulations, to get data, what happen when we r not there ? I have the impression that is just totally random, who or what they attack, why and when they declare war. Some runs I get stupid total wars with no peace, and other is so peaceful that I get broke. Also, how bandits are able to get to 100 troops ? can it be more ? is spontaneous, or do they actually grow from a small party ? would be cool to see a small bandit group being followed and grow to the limits. Alright, keep the awesome great work man, soon the channel will explode.

[@Strat-Guides]

@@victoro7056 I had the same question about the map too recently and actually ran a 50 year test to see what would happen. I was also testing the death mechanic for AI vs AI battles. Here is the link, its a very short video at 3 minutes: kzbin.info/www/bejne/fKCyYpqJpNplb7M I still have the save file at 50 years so I could extend it another 50 just to see. I may do that if time permits : ) I think you're 100% right about things being random. No two games are ever the same, although some patterns do emerge. Definitely not the exact same outcome each time though. I've read that bandit party size will increase over time so as you get further into the game they can become larger. I've seen looter parties above 100 before, but not in the early game so it seems to be that way (although without running tests it's hard to say). Thank you for the support! I really appreciate it and i'm with you the channel blowing up, that would be nice! I gotta keep the results up or the wife will say find a new hobby at some point haha

[@victoro7056]

@@Strat-Guides haha don't even start on the wife subject LOL. So about the bandits, in a fresh game: I did run some test on 1.6.1, in the first 2m I would cross the map, and check on bandits, it happen that I saw some 40+ bandits groups, in a new fresh game, they ware rare, Do not have records, but lets say, Did 15 runs, and saw them twice. lets say that a fresh game, have some random values that creates bandids parties, but playing the game, I notice that on war times, when im far away from my fief, they will grow ALOT, I think they r pokemons, they fight and evolve those mtf, and grow bigger, eventually some Noble f, will kill the party. So now is ur time, if no nobles, no playe interfere, would they become God like ? 1000s of bandits, on the same party ??? feeding freely on the poor villages.. well idk, maybe u can check it out, can be fun. Once again, keep going brother.

[@Strat-Guides]

@@victoro7056 hm... That is a very interesting thought! I wonder if there is a way to remove all nobles from the game just to see what would happen lol imagine 400 looters against 100 Fians - GG. I would be terrified of 400 steppe bandits though!

[@ndld4955]

Faint Circulars around your party would help on the map .. with scouting

[@Trenial]

Idk if this was pointed out yet, but if not: Bribing Guards at the Keep, gives decent XP gains for Roguery. Also it seemed that as it increased, the price of the bribes went down.

[@Strat-Guides]

Interesting, I didn't test for that! Thank you for the heads up, I'm adding it to my notes :D

[@dichebach]

So this video is a year old: are the broken aspects of Tactics now fixed as of "Beta" 1.1 version? Second question on Tactics skill and any influence on battle map generation: I had not played any M&B titles for years, but played the heck out of older versions (both original and "Warband" I guess . . . all I remember is playing a lot of Brytenwalda mod . . .). So I've been playing Bannerlord for a few weeks now, and one thing I am confused on that maybe you can clarify: I vaguely recall Tactics having some impact on the parameters applied in generating the procedural maps used in actual field battles? As in: higher Tactics = "better" maps (more advantageous in being bigger deployment area, larger chunks of same terrain, more varieties of terrain). Was this ever an actual thing, or is my Alzheimer's just kicking in?

[@Ananda_The_Destroyer]

@16:25 that's a good one. I don't think I want to get that many prisoners but that's a good trick! I put trade over the hard cap once because of a bug that gave trade for putting stuff in storage, so I dump everything in at once to sort it and suddenly had 21 trade when it should have been stopped at 18 (I don't trade).

[@Strat-Guides]

Oh very cool, did they patch that?? I'm going to be working on trading in the next week or two so that info would be helpful :) Thank you for watching!

[@Ananda_The_Destroyer]

@@Strat-Guides They patched it.

[@Jaybird_102]

4:12 Average Companion in Bannerlord: - Walks in front of his soldiers; staring down a band of 80 bandits less than 50 feet away. Slowly walks forward anyways. - Proceeds to get riddled with arrows - Throws a spear into the ground 10 feet infront of the bandits - Refuses to elaborate further - *Dies immediately after*

[@GammaFields]

Thank you strat great data as always.

[@monsieursp00ky44]

Great video but what's that good lookin' hat you're wearing at 0:36 in the Aserai Prison? It looks like a Monomakh's Cap but I wandered across Sturgia and Khuzait lands and couldn't find anything.

[@Strat-Guides]

It's called the Jeweled Fur Rimmed Helmet. I think it was from Khuzait lands, but I can't recall. It's pricey but provides 41 armor and is civilian enabled :)

[@iuric.528]

Tacticst is more for companions generals that are out and about, since all their combats are simulations

[@Strat-Guides]

That's very true! It comes in handy when they are not roaming with us in our army. I've noticed it helps a lot when they hunt down bandits, saving their higher tier troops. It's so frustrating when you see 2 fian champions die when fighting 10 looters... Lol in what world would a looter group of 10 survive a barrage of arrows and out melee fight a fian champion?!

[@evescent7312]

Yesss.. my favorite skills lets go.

[@Strat-Guides]

Let me guess.... Tactics?! Lol jk. although they did fix it recently so you never know!

[@evescent7312]

@@Strat-Guides roguery and scouting xD both fulfill my roleplay perfectly. tactics too, although its almost useless for gameplay, i still like to call my boy a master tactician. I dont care if cunning is a suboptimal tree, I always max both endurance and cunning haha.

[@kylelinder5353]

I vote for a before and after roguery guide when TaleWorlds revamps roguery through game mechanic

[@bjornkapunkt5214]

good stuff 👍 didnt even know Prison Breaks were a thing 😂 cheers

[@Strat-Guides]

I can't remember when they added it, but a few patches back they snuck it in. Glad you got something out of it and thanks for watching!

[@Elrohof]

​@@Strat-Guides I think it's been in the game for a year - But they may have recently made it available by town menu, as I remember manually walking inside the prisons to find prisoners I can break out. Could just have been me that was in a roleplaying mindset at the time and refusing the town menu, but I do remember prison breaking trying to max out roguery when I played last time, which was almost a year ago. I'm getting itchy for a new playthrough after watching your videos however :D

[@Strat-Guides]

@@Elrohof ah that makes sense. I'm glad they added the menu options, but role playing and lurking around the dungeons does sound fun! It's a good thing they can't spot you while walking around the city too, there are way too many to fight, although it would make for an epic last stand! Yeah I would try this latest patch out - the game is really smooth right now. Like butter...

[@whitebloodism]

@16:58 ok 👌🏻 great vid

[@Strat-Guides]

Lol glad it worked! jk, I appreciate the support : )

[@palebears8913]

These videos are nuts

[@Strat-Guides]

Thank you for watching!!

[@zoriononline]

Not to mention about busting lords out of jail, also have another effect - relations -> Charm, so its a 2 fold bonus ;)

[@Strat-Guides]

Yeah the relation boost is crazy! I can't recall exact but I think it was like 48 at level 300 charm???

[@illrain4life]

Dude you are a beast at making videos. I love your creativity. Specially that reminder to subscribe by naming a character Subscribe. I've been chain watching your videos to help with banner Lord. It is such a hard but fulfilling game. Appreciate all the effort.

[@Strat-Guides]

No problem, I'm glad to hear they are helpful! Thanks for the support :)

[@aliteralpieceofbread3373]

0:37 damn that dagger is op 😂

[@Strat-Guides]

BOOM headshot :D

[@agenth7270]

Another fun thing that I've noticed about the tatics skill tree Is that when I got to level 50 as a kuzait my horsemen no longer skirmish anymore they would always charge

[@Strat-Guides]

Interesting, I wasn't aware that tactics changed unit behavior! I'll add it to my list and run some tests :D

[@agenth7270]

@@Strat-Guides Thank you I'm not sure if that was the reason but it was the only notable change in my game once my seargent's take charge button stopped allowing my horse archers from working so I'm quite curious to see your results

[@Strat-Guides]

@@agenth7270 I did hear from some other people about horse archers acting differently for this patch so I'm wondering if it's bugged?

[@agenth7270]

@@Strat-Guides oh this was months ago so i don't think that would be it unless the patch you are referencing was also months ago around July 17th

[@Strat-Guides]

@@agenth7270 Oh gotcha, I heard that mounter archers were not shooting and just charging in, so I thought maybe that was a similar issue.

[@kevinpatrickcatapang8068]

Good content dude. Subbing!

[@Strat-Guides]

Sweet, thank you brotha!

[@antix995]

Is having 100 melee troops preferable to having say, 120 troops, 100 of which are melee and 20 are ranged?

[@Strat-Guides]

In regards to tactics auto-resolve, I would still rather have more troops. I would have to test to see exactly where the break even point is for having other troops in the mix, but I suspect it's not a big amount (my guess would be in the 5-10% range).

[@fabf77]

Governor: Sir, we already have 10,000 prisoners in the city, what are you trying to do with that? I sell them? You: No, hold on. you will see. Gov: but sir, one of them is even a distant cousin and ... You: Hold

[@Strat-Guides]

Lol! Thank god we don't have to feed the poor bastards too!

[@grimlock5990]

Nice work.

[@Strat-Guides]

Thank you for watching!

[@grimlock5990]

@@Strat-Guides with as much work you put into these videos its well deserved.

[@Strat-Guides]

@@grimlock5990 Yeah they do take a bit of time to make, I appreciate you noticing :) I usually spend about 2 hours per 1 minute of video on average.

[@jabbott6748]

Great video! Lots of good helpful information. One note though, you said in the guide that you can't do prison breaks in towns you're at war with. However I do them in towns I'm at war with regularly. Once I have 100% chance in disguise missions, just so there's no chance of getting caught on the way in, I can ransom prisoners in the tavern (Helpful) and do prison breaks even in enemy towns. I'm playing 1.6 for the record. Can't say if it changed after that but I don't remember reading about it in the patch notes so I just thought I'd let you know. Thanks for the very informative video. Please keep up the great work. Edit: They are harder in enemy towns because you don't get even your civilian armor. Just the disguise your snuck into the town with and your weapon.

[@Strat-Guides]

That's definitely a typo, I meant to say Castles! There is currently no way of sneaking into castles when you're at war, but in the Roguery part I show stats on sneaking into towns. Oops and thank you for pointing that out! When they patch something, I'll end up redoing the guide so I can fix several mistakes. I appreciate the support! It was good to see you on Flesson19's stream, you're always very helpful and laid back. I wish more people had your demeanor when going online lol

[@jabbott6748]

@@Strat-Guides Heh, thanks. I'm just a retired soldier with enough PTSD to stay stoned all the time. But yeah, there is no way I know of to sneak into a castle. Would be nice if they added something for this near the top end of Roguery. But towns, even at war, you can.

[@Strat-Guides]

LOL dang that's crazy. I have a lot of family that served (wwi, wwii, vietnam, iraq) and it's tough to see people go through it. I appreciate your service though, no way I could handle that kind of stress. Yeah hopefully you can ninja your way into a castle at some point. It would also be nice to have an option to attempt to assassinate, kind of like Total War. That might be a little OP though if you get really good at it...

[@jabbott6748]

@@Strat-Guides Yeah, would be cool. But I could see it being abused a lot also.

[@mahmoudhanafy1440]

this serise is bretty good

[@Strat-Guides]

Thank you for watching!

[@frankcolumbo6465]

Good job!

[@Strat-Guides]

Thanks for watching!

[@hassanraza-zc5rp]

Hey strat nice video man. Do tactics also affect npc battles? Say if two lords are evenly matched in terms of troops one has 200 tactics and other has 50, how significantly would it impact battle outcome?

[@Strat-Guides]

Yes actually the only way the AI can fight when the player isn't involved is through tactics and auto resolve. So tactics is really important for the AI. I did a video recently where I bumped up all the battanian nobles to 300 tactics and they ended up conquering the whole map in like 10 years LOL

[@lolHERALDlol]

Levelling up roguery is hard

[@sgg200]

Sorry couldn't understand, should i be following tracks or discovering track is enough?

[@Strat-Guides]

No problem, I'll clarify: you get the XP for discovering the tracks. If you're trying to gain as much XP as possible then follow the tracks to keep uncovering them. I hope that helps and thank you for watching!

[@greybill]

Well, I'm going to bribe some guards! :)

[@Strat-Guides]

Make it rain on dem guards!

[@zyfryth]

IIRC, in warband, braking into a city had additional variable, of how big your party is. With more troops, you had lower chance to sneak pass the guards. Is that the case in Bannerlord, as well?

[@รุ่งทิวาจําปามูล]

I have only 1 question. Always have "sneaking in the city" or something like this when i attack a castle for example. If it successfull what happen? Why better if i sneak the castle and not start siege?

[@Strat-Guides]

So if you sneak in, you can use the city functions first before you siege. A great example of this would be to do a prison break and get a noble out. Or you can sneak in, buy out ALL of the defender's food so they starve faster during your siege :D

[@รุ่งทิวาจําปามูล]

@@Strat-Guides I see. Fantastic. Thank you. :)

[@PendlayRoe]

Tactics seems so useless, I only ever auto-resolve against bandits or when out-numbering enemies 5 to 1. With the lvl 25 trait in medicine (Preventative Medicine), you will always be above the critically wounded threshhold and are never forced to auto-calc. The only things I care about in Tactics is the lvl 25 morale penalty reduction in formations and the lvl 75 increased party size by 10.

[@Strat-Guides]

Yeah it's crazy, I actually tested it to see how many Tier 6 units you would need to get 0 casualties against a modest sized looter party (in the 20s) and it was well over 300. Even then, there is still RGN involved so if you get unlucky, you could have a bad roll and loss a troop or two. Imagine losing 1 Fian champ to a pack of 20 looters???? Very true, there are some value perks in Tactics and is probably the only saving grace to that skill. Hopefully TaleWorlds reworks that one.

[@aw2584]

I stopped autofinalising battles once I realised how many more level 1 or 2 troops I level up after manual battles vs automatic ones... Even if I just tell everyone to simply charge and my calvary kills everyone. Idk why. Thing is, now I separate basic recruits and such to another group so I cna command them separately and make them fight alone when we go against a much smaller group f. E. Bandits. This way they can train and level up like 10 times faster compared to just autofinalising or charging with everyone - even if you don't use calvary, the better troops take all the kills. This only works if you're commanding a big army of like 100 or 200 soldiers, out of which let's say 30 are recruits, if you command like 30 people then it's kinda pointless tbh

[@baltimoregaming273]

I don't see my companions picture bottom right. What am I doing wrong?

[@Strat-Guides]

Hope on the discord, I can try to walk you through it. It takes me hours to get through all the comments so I probably won't see your reply until tonight lol I have some time to help out if you need it - discord.gg/v86qW3mENU It's hard to say without knowing more info so probably easier that way. Just DM me.

[@Millbro82]

Why is the party size so high with roguery? never noticed that,.. Unless thats just another army.

[@Strat-Guides]

Hm... I'm not sure - it could be or it could be me using console commands to demonstrate something. I made this several months ago so I don't recall, sorry!

[@alp50ae]

I can't stage prison breaks in castles though: can't click and the tooltip says you have limited access. Any thoughts?

[@Strat-Guides]

They messed something up in patch 1.7.2 :( I'm pretty sure it was not intentional. Hopefully it get's fixed in the next patch or a hotfix.

[@alp50ae]

@@Strat-Guides ah thanks for the info. Keep up the good work

[@Strat-Guides]

Thank you!

[@Lurch150]

I don't see any updates on Tactics in your library, did they fix it?

[@Strat-Guides]

The only thing I'm aware of that they fixed was the bug that caused more troops to be sacrificed to avoid battle rather than less. I didn't update the guide just yet as I'm waiting to see what they do with full release. I don't want to remake these and have to redo them again in October. We will see though!

[@Lurch150]

@@Strat-Guides I'm studying and cross referencing your videos and finding contradictions. I understand it's because of patches but I have not laid out a chronology for which concepts are out of date. It won't end with the full release though. They'll continue to patch and change the meta for years to come. It's one of 'those' games.

[@Strat-Guides]

@@Lurch150 Yeah for sure, it's going to be hard keeping up with it on my end since interest will eventually wane and I won't be able to justify spending ungodly amounts of time testing/editing these lol. But you're always welcome to ask me question if you're stuck. I highly recommend hopping on discord though, it's getting increasingly difficult to respond to comments because of the sheer volume I get. I used to respond to 100% but this month I have not been able to keep up. For example, on Sunday alone, I spent over 4 hours answering questions and responding to comments, which is time I should have spent making the kingdom guide lol so I'm having to scale back some. Hit me up on discord and I'll do my best to respond in a reasonable amount of time :)

[@ChristiaanHunter]

thanks :)

[@KonradCurse88]

I found where was my problem with the gear in prison break, I just never switch into civilian part of hero equipment doll, god damn now i feel myself stupid AF xDD

[@Strat-Guides]

Lol don't feel bad - We've all done it before!

[@KonradCurse88]

great guide, tnx a lot. Also i have two questions about these 2 skills - Would tactics be useful for parties, led by your clanmates instead MC? And also how do you manage to keep weapons and armour in prison breaks? I used full civilian gear and guards always strip me out of all parts, it was castle break if it means anything

[@Strat-Guides]

Thanks for watching! That's a great question - I should have included that in the guide but it didn't occur to me until you brought it up lol. Tactics benefits only when you autocalc battles, so it can be great for companions to have at least some skill into it. I generally keep my companions with me in an army, so it wouldn't get used much then but I can see a real value in it for companions running caravans or cleaning up looters near your towns/castles. I never noticed being striped for failed prison breaks, I'll have to run some tests on that one.

[@KonradCurse88]

@Strat Gaming Oh, i didn't mean the failed breaks, when you got smashed. The problem was in being stripped from my gear just from the start of the location, instead game gave me some shitty clothes & default low-lvl sabre, no need to tell that sturgian guards teared me apart so easy.

[@laytonletendre]

Just casually drops a game changer like its nothing right at the end of the video

[@Strat-Guides]

Haha that's how we roll :D

[@Kanabei]

It looks like they "Fixed a bug that allowed the player to escape before the battle without sacrificing any troops if their tactics skill level was above 200."

[@Strat-Guides]

Yeah I saw that haha finally after a few months :D Better late than never!

[@albertpniewski1499]

Very nice guide. it's seems like tactics is undertuned. I wondering if tactics plus medicine might be a nice synergy? Tactics can help you to level up medicine. Last medicine perk could limit your casualties in simulated battles. I suspect thats still bad ...

[@Strat-Guides]

I'll have to test that when I get to the Medicine guide, but that's a great idea! It does seem like simulated battles produce more injuries that fighting in person. One strategy I use for Medicine is to: start a siege, make sure the enemy builds catapults (if they build ballista, cancel siege and restart until they make catapults), command your troops to sit in catapult range, back off when most of your troops are injured and heal up. Catapults ONLY do injuries, never kills so it's a safe way to get mass casualties without losing troops. Thanks for watching! I have the trade guide about 70% done and should be out by this Friday.

[@Uzzgub]

A interaction to appease the 6th Chaos God, the Almighty Algorithm, a Comment for the Comment Throne

[@Strat-Guides]

Sweet :)

[@miseee007]

Hmm so how does tactics affect your starting position on open battles, i have always picked it for the sole reason of putting me on the hill or more advantageous position than my opponent, if i have bigger tactics than him that is.

[@Strat-Guides]

To my knowledge, tactics makes no difference once you are in the battle personally. It only helps with auto resolve and troop sacrifice numbers. I really hope they boost tactics somehow because it needs some lovin!

[@miseee007]

@@Strat-Guides Im pretty sure it had that effect in Warband, cause i have played on the same generic battle maps over and over and the difference was quite noticable, meaning if its a map with a river and a single bridge on it i would be closer to the chokepoint than the enemy, same with hilly maps i would have the high ground or be closer to it, but i havent played singleplayer bannerlord lately and i was wondering if its like in Warband or not cause it was working there as intended, and it should work the same in Bannerlord i believe it says on the description as well or I could be mistaking that with Warband, needs more testing in any case.

[@paulhendel2270]

Is it possible for a Merciful companion to become neutral or cruel? And if yes, how? Amazing Vids btw

[@Strat-Guides]

That's a great question! I know it's possible for our character, but I'm not sure about companions. It's usually done through certain actions like starving troops on accident, letting people go after battle, etc. which may be possible if they run their own party? I'm not sure

[@paulhendel2270]

@@Strat-Guides I tried doing them the quest: blah blah wants his daughter found... And the poacher quest, but they always return with the same merciful attribute.

[@trevorstravels6751]

My lord, how many hours of total play time do you have logged?

[@Strat-Guides]

At this point almost 5k lol too many

[@trevorstravels6751]

@@Strat-Guides wow! I've got just over 300 hours, and I've yet to really get a real kingdom established and running for longer than about 2 seasons. This game is wayy harder and in depth than any of the other mount and blade games I've played on steam. I'm on console with bannerlord, my PC can't handle it on graphic settings higher than "potato" lol

[@rathfoks5051]

How many prisoners can you fit in a town? Unlimited?

[@Strat-Guides]

Yup, there is no limit! I tested it with tens of thousands and let the game run for a few months, nobody escaped ☺️

[@timli4342]

U r so fking genius, u should write a essay for how to play mount and blade

[@Strat-Guides]

Lol you think I could get a masters or doctorate in Bannerlord?! :D

[@Kanabei]

Please make those videos and even another version once M&B is released (if there are any changes).

[@Strat-Guides]

That's a great point, I'll be updating these guides as they patch/game releases. Thanks for watching!

[@Jixxor]

So the secret trick is to just ransom 54k prisoners at once, got it.

[@Strat-Guides]

Hehe yeah to get to 330. You need way less to get a reasonable number like 275 though. It was basically just to show one extreme end.

[@getsomeboy321]

Do you get a negative trait for sacrificing troops?

[@Strat-Guides]

Yeah your mercy trait can go negative. There's a -1 and a -2 version of it (cruel and I don't recall the -2 name)

[@getsomeboy321]

@@Strat-Guides thank you

[@deus5185]

@@Strat-Guides do a guide about + & - traits and how to get it

[@heishephaestion4178]

How strange that the group (cunning) which seems like it would be the most fun is the most lame. The amount of love tactics and roguery has received should be a crime (unless something has changed since 1.6.2.). also, this entire time I thought I was increasing tactics skill by using various commands on the battlefield..womp womp

[@Strat-Guides]

It seems the most useful one is scouting, but arguably tactics should be equally or more so. And I agree, roguery needs a big overhaul because it's just not fun to use lol