Recommended Difficulty?

[MrDeity]

I'm usually pretty good at RPG games and RTS games so I thought I'd try "Realistic" for all difficulty settings. However, I just started the game and I've visited 5 towns, but not a single one of them is willing to let me hire any men. I also talked to all (or at least most) of the towns people and none of them offer me any quests or ways to earn income or gain sufficient reputation to grant me access to hiring troops.

Can someone help me get started here? I have not played any Mount & Blade prior to this experience so I'm thinking perhaps I'm just missing something.

[morph113]

The only thing influencing it (the hiring of recruits I mean) would be the recruitment difficulty. However even on realistic you should be able to access the first slot which usually has tier 1 recruits for hire in villages and cities. Sometimes it's possible these can be empty if there are no recruits available at the time. But it doesn't sound like you are doing anything wrong. Just try out different villages, most of them should have recruits for hire no matter what difficulty you play on.

[Murray]

Damage to player on easy and the rest on realistic, you have less chance dying to some ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ like random stray arrows and a overall less rage quit experience than all realistic

The game is still challenging and you can still die pretty fast

[Theutus]

Quest givers have a blue exclamation mark on their portrait.

I've found if a lord has passed through before you, they tend to suck up all the recruits.

Hire around 15 people, buy a couple level 2 horses, hunt down looters

[FON]

Go full Realistic and actually let the game kick your teeth in.

[ƬᗩԲԲվ]

Sometimes taverns have mercenaries in them.

[Plebeian Kilo]

Do very easy. You'll still get yourself and your troops wiped out. When you're ready, play on a harder difficulty. Learning how to block / attack correctly will take getting used to.

[Drunio]

Game is gonna be hard for new players. It was the same case for warband.

Tips:

Get a better horse. They are only 100-200 danars and can be found in villages around where you start.

Use a polearm with a shield on horseback with a length of 140+. Can hit looters without getting hit after a little practice.

Use a bow from horseback and kite looters as you shoot them down.

Get a companion ASAP and give them a horse with bow/arrows/polearm/shield. They will give those looters someone else to throw stones at. Plus they should get at least a few kills every battle for no upkeep. They are also on a mount so they don't slow down your party.

Kill looters until you start seeing quest generate. Parties of 5-10 are good until you get the hang of combat. You can run a bow/arrows/arrows and go after larger parties with the extra ammo or retreat and reengage with refreshed ammo. Kill ranged units throwing stones or shooting arrows with a polearm. 1h weapons can be hard to use from horseback until you get a decent amount of practice in.

Looters give enough money to survive and get more compaions. Once you have 3 the game is WAY easier. Get them gear. Get yourself gear. Many quests are made easier with a strong core for your party plus battles are easier.

Recruits honestly suck pretty bad and just slow you down. I don't even bother at the start anymore.

[ForwarD]

I'd not recommend to play on realistic if you're new to M&B. At least reduce damage to yourself. Increase later when stop dying every fight.

[MrDeity]

Thanks for the tips guys. I restarted the game with a few slightly different difficulty settings. Seems to be going easily enough so far.

[Plebeian Kilo]

Also pro tip to level your troops: for some reason they do MUCH better and get a lot of XP when you do auto-battles versus looters. This is specific for "looters" not the other bandits. I'm assuming it is because they are just walking fodder and they dont need to share the XP with me.