Two Questions...

[Validuz]

1. party skills (surgery for example) do they stack? (one party member got 4 and my other got 5... is it the highest one that counts or do i get a total of 9 in surgery?)

2. how does the tactic skill work? i had like 3 in tactics and i still end up spawning in the middle of a cliff...

[Gooberduber]

Question 1: I believe thats how it works, if not, I @#$%'d up some of my party member's skill wise.

Question 2: Tatics just increase's your battle Advantage? or perhaps how your troops act by default? I really Have no Helpful answer.

[Nizar]

1) They only stack if you have the skill. Your party takes the highest skill level (whether that is yours or a companions) and a bonus is added based on your skill level too.

I think it is if you have 10 it's +4, 7-9 = +3, 4-6 = +2, 1-3 = +1. Something like that anyway so if one of your companions has 7 for surgery and you have 6, the parties total will be 7 + 2. You still get the bonus even if it is you with the highest. In my last game I had 9 looting which gave the party skill of 12 (9 base +3 for me having 9).

2) Tactics affects how many troops you field in relation to your enemy. Imagine 2 armies of 50 men, one lord has tactics 8 and the other 3, when the battle starts the tactical advantage means that the lord with 8 will spawn with all 50 men but the lord with 3 will only start with 40 with the rest coming as reinforcements when the time comes. If they both had 8 tactics then both would spawn with 50 men.

[Ardbug]

1. highest counts, open the party window and on your left you can see all the skills you get from your companions.

2. The higher the tactics the more of a battlefield advantage you have, if you have 100 men, and your opponent have 100 men, and battlesize is 100, then you would start with 55 men to his 45 men for example if you have 4 tactics and so on (made up example).

[MarcusValerius]

1: No, except for training skills.

Surgery, for example, will use the highest members skill. Unless someone has the skill at nearly the same level, in which case they will get a slight boost (I've seen at best +2 so far). Not a straight stackable addition.

Training adds xp for each character that has training and is at a level that is higher than the people that can be trained. Their training skill reflects how much xp is awarded. For example: If you have yourself level 5, Rolf level 2, Nizar level 8 and 5 spearment level 4. Nizar trains everyone, you train everyone but Nizar, and Rolf trains noone. Everyone you trained + Nizar trained has stacking xp.


2. Tactics does not improve starting location, it only improves battle advantage (as mentioned). Battle advantage increases or decreases how many units you get in comparison to the enemy if not all units can spawn at once. Facing 1000 troops vs your 50, ever 2 tacics levels will help decrease each enemy wave size and increase your wave size.

The spawning on a cliff battle scene is a bug (I'm hoping anyway :p)

[Validuz]

1. highest counts, open the party window and on your left you can see all the skills you get from your companions.

2. The higher the tactics the more of a battlefield advantage you have, if you have 100 men, and your opponent have 100 men, and battlesize is 100, then you would start with 55 men to his 45 men for example if you have 4 tactics and so on (made up example).

Ahhhhh..... that helps alot, thx... figured highest counts but i had to ask... :) but the tactic thingy really opened my eyes on how important it can be for that small edge u might need against some similar equipped lord...:)

[Da-V-Man]

The only "party-centric" skill that stacks is the trainer skill. That means that if you have a skill of 5, that will stack with Borcha's skill of 6, and Marnid's skill of 2. However, the skill bonus does not apply to training.

[Bolvyrk]

Theres some misinformation here so I suggest anyone with questions should read the Warband game manual. It has been viewable from the store page for a couple of days now I think. Just open Steam, right click M&B Warband and select View Store Page then the game manuals link is on the right sidebar.(Lazy link http://cdn.steampowered.com/Manuals/48700/PDX5505US_Warband_Manual_US.pdf?t=1270243112

Heres a copy and paste from the manual-

Skills come in three types. Personal skills apply only to individual characters and
their abilities. Just because you’re good at riding a horse doesn’t mean anybody else
automatically becomes good at it too. Leader skills are only effective if the leader (you)
knows them. Lastly, Party skills are those used by your entire band. Only one character in
the party needs to know the skill for the whole party to gain its benefit, though the skill
will become more effective if the leader (you) also knows something about it. In other
words, a party skill’s effective level is a combination of the skill level of the person who
has the best rank in it, as well as a bonus based on your own rank in that skill.

The bonuses look like this:
Your skill / Party skill bonus
1 / 0
2 to 4 / 1
5 to 7 / 2
8 to 9 /
10 / 4

[MarcusValerius]

Theres some misinformation here so I suggest anyone with questions should read the Warband game manual. It has been viewable from the store page for a couple of days now I think. Just open Steam, right click M&B Warband and select View Store Page then the game manuals link is on the right sidebar.(Lazy link http://cdn.steampowered.com/Manuals/48700/PDX5505US_Warband_Manual_US.pdf?t=1270243112

Heres a copy and paste from the manual-

Nice, they finally add the manual and it's still not selectable in the steam game properties. Go Steam :p

Edit: The manual also has some errors in it. The large paragraph on Automatic Lance combat in particular. That just got added by patch, and still isn't turned on by default. Fair warning.

[Validuz]

Theres some misinformation here so I suggest anyone with questions should read the Warband game manual. It has been viewable from the store page for a couple of days now I think. Just open Steam, right click M&B Warband and select View Store Page then the game manuals link is on the right sidebar.(Lazy link http://cdn.steampowered.com/Manuals/48700/PDX5505US_Warband_Manual_US.pdf?t=1270243112

Heres a copy and paste from the manual-

ehrr.. so to simplyfy that... if Marnid got 5, and i got 1, its 6? cuz im the leader and my single number helps the rest of the group? even tho im not the highest?

[derkaderka]

here's my companion skill setup:

artimenner: engineer
borcha: tracking and pathfinding
lezalit: spotting
marnid: wound treatment and first aid
nizar: surgery
rolf: tactics
katrin: charisma for trade (if you care about trade discount at all)
matheld: focuses more on agility to unlock looting bonuses

all companions learn "training", and combat/riding skills with leftover points..
all companion focus on 21-30 in intellect for skills, and 9-12 in strength and agility.

the main player-character focuses on...
leadership, inventory and prisoner management, persuasion, and training
(and combat/riding skills). get high intellect early, grab the other stats only when you will outgrow their level.

also there's tricks to getting the right skills out of character creation choices (to prevent wasting points on party skills)...
- dad was a warrior, you were a page, you became a troubadour or lady in waiting, and left home because of loss or forced out.