First attack of brigands.

[Xan84]

How do you guys deal with that? I only get the spearmen from the free weapons but no idea how to make money to get mercs or more weapons before those dudes show up? They burn everything down. Tried 2 times. Thx!

[ForrestFox]

+1
I just passed the first winter, and right away an enemy army with 90+ men decides to march against me. o_O
Is this normal for the enemy to muster a large army just after a year?

[Xan84]

I think I got 2 or 3 years and I still have no clue how to get peeps to defend myself :)

[Norbik]

call your men, send them to face the enemy and then run with your guys to another lords units. Make sure that bandits follow your units.
Avoided battle and used AI to fight each other.

[Fiur]

Originally posted by Xan84:

I think I got 2 or 3 years and I still have no clue how to get peeps to defend myself :)

You later can Tax the people through the Policies I think to get the other Money.

I lost my first game too - I guess all you have to do is Rushbuild a Settlement - get 2 Woodcutters etc.

[Melo]

Originally posted by Norbik:

call your men, send them to face the enemy and then run with your guys to another lords units. Make sure that bandits follow your units.
Avoided battle and used AI to fight each other.

You sir, are a genius!

[Xan84]

I hope we get a toggle on how many peeps the AI shows up with, so the guys you start with can at least defend the first wave. Probably going to stick with no enemies for now.

[MEGACHAD]

Originally posted by Xan84:

I hope we get a toggle on how many peeps the AI shows up with, so the guys you start with can at least defend the first wave. Probably going to stick with no enemies for now.

Or you hire mercs and they show up as far away as possible so you get to pay them to come to you and they get there too late anyway.

[Kadrak]

I'm only on year 3, so fairly new but:

If you rush your manor, you get 5 free retinues.

You can use your militia or retinues to pillage bandit camps that pop up. For me, they've all been undefended and I was able to loot ~150 wealth from each of them. That can be used for weapons for militias or for more soldiers if you are worried about raiders.

My first raider attack was only 2 x 18 thugs, so the militias and soldiers were plenty to crush them. I made sure to rally early and have my men fight downhill and took no casualty.

[Xan84]

Originally posted by Kadrak:

I'm only on year 3, so fairly new but:

If you rush your manor, you get 5 free retinues.

You can use your militia or retinues to pillage bandit camps that pop up. For me, they've all been undefended and I was able to loot ~150 wealth from each of them. That can be used for weapons for militias or for more soldiers if you are worried about raiders.

My first raider attack was only 2 x 18 thugs, so the militias and soldiers were plenty to crush them. I made sure to rally early and have my men fight downhill and took no casualty.

You can buy weapons from the trader I assume?

[calamityferret]

Originally posted by Xan84:

You can buy weapons from the trader I assume?

Yeah, I'm not fully positive yet on how the trader works but if you establish trade routes you can set it to import big shields and spears and keep some in reserve. Theres a research tree option that makes trade routes cheaper if you're having trouble raising the wealth to unlock the trade route

[Androme]

One militia spearmen and one militia archers is enough to deal with the first bandit raid. So make sure to upgrade one of the houses to level 2, and begin crafting warbows. About 15-20 of each (spearmen and archers) should be enough to deal with the bandits.

Begin the battle with your archers firing volleys towards the approaching bandits, have your archers move back and your spearmen step in front. Begin flanking with your archers as your spearmen "give ground" to make the flanking easier, and shoot at the bandits from the back. As your archers begin shooting, you can put the spearmen in defensive formation to avoid losses, as most of the damage against the bandits will be dealt by the archers anyways (the spearmen simply hold the line, not deal damage).

[Karsh]

build a manor , get some free units that way , otherwise follow the other lord and after he kills the unit get the camp before he does , choose own treasury to make your own retinue stronger , until they cna solo clear camps then you get influence and money :D

[LaughingBird]

You have to use burgage slots then upgrade them to level 2 and build an extension onto the plot of a smith and joiner, or a fletcher. At that point you can recruit more soldiers and equip them.
However you will be limited by the number of families that have moved into your town, when the bandits attacked I had 18 families which gave me a group of spears 18 strong, and a group of bows 18 strong, just enough to beat the enemy with 4 spears and 18 bows remaining.
You can also recruit mercs in the army screen by instead of choosing a unit type you use the + symbol to the right that gives you the option for mercs.

[WaterMelwin]

the 20 spears it gives you is not enough and bows literally refuse to attack idk what else to do

[Tam]

hire mercs slam bandits hire more merks