Which Kingdom to sign on with?

[jhawk613]

I have been building up my honour and relationships with the Lords of all kingdoms and now I am getting propositioned to join on as a mercenary.

Which Kingdom do you recommend signing to fight with? I know all the pendulum of power continuously swings, but is there one generally stronger Kingdom?

[Disodium]

A lot of people will tell you personal preference..
Each faction has their own story and specialization.

I ended up going with Khanate because.. I do not know, they appealed to me at the time and currently we are at war with all factions excluding Rohdoks so its good fun and have been pushing into Swadian turf slowly.

I was originally going to go with the Nords but the lack of cavalry units pushed me away and I decided to wonder around, mainly chasing down bandits and deserters etc and ended up in Khanate country.

[KazooieBanjo]

I just align with whatever country they plop me into.

[ShootForTheHead]

Go Rhodoks! woooo

[outlaw85]

Swadia and Vaegirs tend to be more balanced. Both have cavalary and infantry options. Where Rhodoks/Nords you need to rely on mercenary cavalry to fill that out or develope some infantry tactics that work for you. And the Kharnates all mounted policy can make castle sieges a little tricky. So i dunno about strength of kingdoms but the Vaegirs and Swadia seem to have the more flexible lists.

[PuppyFiddler]

I went with the Veagirs and they seems to be well rounded.
I think you also should consider the positioning of your kingdom and it's main towns as you'll be visiting them often and if you're trading it's generally the further away you are the more profitable, at least that's what I've observed.
I think the Nords have nice positioning, I was going to go with them but changed my mind for some reason.

[Alexc26]

I prefer Swadia, i upgrade all my troops to knights and pwn everyone which tries to attack us, also Swadia in my game are taking over tons of castles.

[Geowil]

I went with Veagris, but ever since we nrealy, I mean ALMOST; they only had one castle left and then they went pwning Nord's castles and are back, killed of Swadia, and my fief is a Swadia village, I use a lot of their calv. They have more armor and generally can pwn more.

My 90 calv army can kill anyone that doesnt have more then 500 troops and/or less then 30% calv to everything else ratio. I usually get around a 45 to 60 to 1 kill to death ratio, sometimes that goes up to 100+ to 1 if the enemy army has almost no calv.

Only draw back is im paying almost 3k a week to those bastards lol.

[chokke]

I always end up with Vaegir, now I am not sure if you get faction rewards in normal M&B, but in Native Expansion (community-made mod) you get an ivory bow by reaching 50 aligment and beeing vassal for them. The bow got 99 accuracy compared to 80-90 which the other has, giving clear headshots which helps alot compared to the other rewards. And the fact you can get the bow fairly early, it's no problem to break your vassal and join up with one other faction (or start your own).

[theking3000]

Swadia.

The Nords' army are just above average farmers. Apart from the Lords they are the nearest thing to moving targets.

Everyone else won't touch me

[geckofish52]

Vaegrirs. King Yargolok is my home boy.

[Pellaes]

Vaegirs! But the nords are awesome at seiges... Huscarls are pretty close to the ultimate infantry unit.

[Katana No Kage]

I went for the Khergit Khan, and having an army consisting almost entirely of horses is helpful. Regardless of the enemy number, if I see they don't have any cavalry, I know we'll win. Only trouble is, the reinforcements you get from the other lords will use wimpy skirmish tactics where they just ride in circles around the enemy shooting arrows from a mile away.

[AeneasXI]

You should go with whatever clan you want! I would pick some Rhodok Infantry(pikemans and big shields) as well as nordic infantry then some veagirs archer. for heavy cavalry Swadia and for Horse Archers Khergit Archer/Skirmisher...

If you just want to concentrate on one country, and your not basing your game on sieges (you can always participate in your allies sieges too and they always bring alot of inantry (except for Khergit Kharnate since they only field cavalry) )So you don't really have to rely on infantry too much in the game, also you can do every fieldbattle perfectly fine with Cavalry only.

Khergit kharnate is pretty strong in this aspect... Also Swadian but they need some upgrades to become horseman while the Khergit warriors are always mounted! You could easily pick every nation except for the nords and you have always a direct border with Khergit Khanate where you then can buy your cavalry units cheaply... at least if your not at war with them...

[AeneasXI]

I went for the Khergit Khan, and having an army consisting almost entirely of horses is helpful. Regardless of the enemy number, if I see they don't have any cavalry, I know we'll win. Only trouble is, the reinforcements you get from the other lords will use wimpy skirmish tactics where they just ride in circles around the enemy shooting arrows from a mile away.

Those horse archers that annoy you so much, are pretty effective in fact... I like to have loads of them! They perfectly distract enemy cavalry/infantry, they land alot of hits against infantry blobs and they die seldomly since they dont stupidly crash into an infantry line to get stuck in it and killed from 10angry infantry men left and right and in front of them ^^

Sure they are pretty useless for cavalry charges, but you dont really need them to since they distract half of the enemies army, which can't really hit them anyways...
They are no match for heavy cavalry except for the skirmishers but because of their fast horses they will hardly ever be hit by enemy heavy cavalry anyways.

They are pretty usefull if you don't mind having your cavalry on charge command, but they also do quite well on follow while they are quite vulnerable then.. But you don't really have to use them if you dislike them then just pass them ^^. They don't bring you the quick win but they will definately cause chaos in the enemy ranks and if they decide to stick together then they are d00med :D

[Mormacil]

Currently after using the Khergit my current character has a Rhodok sharpshooter army. It's freaking lethal. Cavalry is a bit tricky but my heroes keep the busy while their horses die and because they rarely die (no direct contact with the enemy) they're all sharpshooters and not crossbowman, meaning greater armor.

[AeneasXI]

Currently after using the Khergit my current character has a Rhodok sharpshooter army. It's freaking lethal. Cavalry is a bit tricky but my heroes keep the busy while their horses die and because they rarely die (no direct contact with the enemy) they're all sharpshooters and not crossbowman, meaning greater armor.

Yes, Rhodok Infantry is in my opinion also the most annoying to fight because of their huuge shields and crossbowman. Also your right in that you got some cavalry through your heroes anyways =]

[Tummynomnom]

Your own.

[Voyager I]

You can recruit from any village you aren't burning down regardless of faction alignments, so the composition of your army isn't defined by the kingdom you sign on with. Nothing complements a wing of Swadian Knights quite like an anchoring wall of Nord Huscarls, with maybe a few Sharpshooters or Vaegir Marksmen taking cover behind them.

The only army with serious compatibility issues is the Khergits. Since their primary tactic is running willy-nilly about the map, anyone in your army who isn't on a horse is pretty much left out to dry. This isn't to say that they're weak; just that your army will have to be basically nothing but cavalry archers for them to work at full effectiveness.

[AeneasXI]

The only army with serious compatibility issues is the Khergits. Since their primary tactic is running willy-nilly about the map, anyone in your army who isn't on a horse is pretty much left out to dry. This isn't to say that they're weak; just that your army will have to be basically nothing but cavalry archers for them to work at full effectiveness.

Very informative post I have to say, good work here ;)
Anyways Your right with the Khergit running around like wild, but this offers the player pretty strong chasing capabilites paired with beeing nearly impossible to catch by -any- opposing faction and nearly all neutral troops. So you can get alot of loot and prisoners, way more and way faster than you ever could with any other faction than Khergit Khanate...

Sure Castle sieges get tricky but Khergit armies also can get quite a thread to the player who is running armies below 50members, like I like to do alot.(since their incredible speed you won't have much time to run and hide...)
Khergit really have the appropriate speed and warriors to be an excellent Looter/Raider and recon Faction. For sieges you can always hire mercenary swordmans or hire the foot soldiers of other factions...

[snowmonky]

I went for the Khergit Khan, and having an army consisting almost entirely of horses is helpful. Regardless of the enemy number, if I see they don't have any cavalry, I know we'll win. Only trouble is, the reinforcements you get from the other lords will use wimpy skirmish tactics where they just ride in circles around the enemy shooting arrows from a mile away.

I LOVE those tactics! But, I don't know how to order my horse archers to do the same. They tend to charge towards infantry to their deaths. :eek: They only use this tactic when they are facing Swadian men at arms or knights. It's weird.

I allied with the Khergits because I loved playing as the Timurids in Medieval II: Total War, but I should've chosen Swadia because I want the battles to end faster with swords and clashing and blood spewing out of their faces.

[HaVok]

Swadia, although they can be ♥♥♥♥♥es when it comes to war

[NearNihil]

Swadia, although they can be ♥♥♥♥♥es when it comes to warKing Yaroglek (the Vaegir Monarch) was smart enough in my game to declare war on everyone except Swadia. I am now waiting for the official declaration that we're at war with everyone. Even though we're losing. By a lot.
I like the Vaegirs though. They have archers, they have (medium) cavalry. I tend to go onesided on one aspect though, so I have one save file with just archers and one with just cavalry, both Vaegirs. I used to like the Swadians until I figured that the Vaegirs are a tad faster without the tons of steel. Never liked the Rhodoks (too lightblue and pikey) or the Khergits (too light cavalry focused) a lot. Used to play Nords initially 'cause I liked their archers so much.

As for the OP, it all boils down to who you find the coolest.

[Boogeyman-TPF-]

I prefer Swadia, i upgrade all my troops to knights and pwn everyone which tries to attack us, also Swadia in my game are taking over tons of castles.

Hear, hear. Swadian knights are the most powerful units available, although they are pretty expensive to maintain. Swadian sharpshooters are also very good units, as they have excellent ranged ability and strong melee and defense.

Of course, you can recruit Swadian peasants even if you aren't part of the Swadian faction. If you decide to go another faction, just be sure to leave a few Swadian villages free from your plundering ways so you can recruit from them.

[protyx]

Nord huscarls are the most powerful units in the game, if i remember correctly. 10 nord huscarls in a close formation holding ground against 10 swadian knights? huscarls most likely win. Not to talk about sieges.

[Da-V-Man]

I go for the Kingdom that has a similar playstyle to me. For example, I go with Rhodok when I am a Halberdier, or Kerghit when I'm a horse archer.

[jhawk613]

A lot of great tips.

Ultimately I chose Swadia cause of those Knights, but I do have a steady stream of Rhodok Sharpshooters.

Sadly, I won't get any Nord Huscarls, cause I've pillage about every Nord village and captured about 7 castles (even the the King is a tool and gives them away).

I had a bunch of Khergits, but they so effing annoying.

[Adam Banman]

Nords all the way baby, big burly viking lads with axes. Good for what ails ya.

[Sarejo]

Well, it depends... If you plan on taking many castles or towns, you should go for infantry specialized factions such as Rhodoks, or Nords (specially Nords, as someone mentioned, because of that thick banded armor and resistant huscarl shields). Nevertheless, I prefer Vaegirs if I'm going to defend my castles because of those great marksmen. If you enjoy battles in the open, nothing like a huge army of Swadian Knights. Khergits... well, I just don't like them :D

[Pellaes]

I've found that the most fun army makeup when you have 100 guys is to have around 40 huscarls or high rank Nord infantry, 40 or so Vaegir Marksmen, your companions (mounted) and the others Vaegir or Swadian knights. Have your Huscarls hold ground and position your archers behind and slightly above them. Have your cavalry and companions (those guys never follow orders) follow you into small skirmishes as the enemy force reaches your shield wall. For this I suggest Vaegirs because the Nords get destroyed in every game I start right at the beginning.

[rial2209]

How do i resign from a faction? I'm a mercenary for the rhodoks at the moment, but they're pussying out on the war by being at peace with everybody.. I want to join the nords cos they fight, but dont know how to quit my job. :I

I've talked to most of the lords at a feast, but none seem to give the option to leave, not even the king.