Choosing a Faction As a Vassal

[Ashaman Jake]

Hi all

Admittedly, I have spent more time reading these forums and watching Youtube videos than playing Bannerlord. But I wondered (for when I can actually get online to play!), what is the better faction to join as a vassal?

These are the official descriptions of the Faction Leaders (copied from the Mount and Blade Wiki on Fandom):

Sultan Unqid
"The current Sultan of Aserai is Unqid. He wears his authority lightly, preferring to charm rather than to coerce, always deferring to the laws of the Banu Asera in his judgments. But there are some who say that Udhain is remiss in his duty to administer justice, allowing the wealthiest clans - such as his own - to use bribes and clever legal arguement to oppress the others."

King Caladog
"The current High King of Battania is Caladog, a brilliant war captain adopted by the prior king, Uthelhain, who then died in mysterious circumstances. Despite the doubts around his succession, Caladog has made himself popular among the lesser clans of the land who admire him, a man of no great lineage, for having discomfited the Battanians’ traditional clan hierarchy. His clan is the fen Gruffendoc, a formerly obscure family now swollen with his comrades-in-arms with whom he has made marriage alliances."

Monchug Khan
"The current khan of the Khuzaits is Monchug, With the Empire in a state of disarray, he dreams of surpassing his ancestor Urkhun and conquering even deeper into the settled lands. Some of the clans have been decimated by the Urkhunids' wars, however, and feel their sacrifice have not been properly rewarded. They yearn for a khan who is less interested in glory, and more interested in justice."

Senator Lucon
"The northern third of the Empire is ruled by Lucon, who represents a long-standing oligarchic trend in imperial politics. It holds that strict adherance [sic] to imperial law is the best guarantee that the empire will not become a tyranny. Oligarchs like Lucon also tend to believe that only landowners can have the extensive education, experience in government and stake in property to really understand and appreciate the law, and thus the senate should be supreme."

Empress Rhagaea
The southern third of the Empire is ruled by Rhagaea, widow of the murdered Emperor. For her, politics is personal: all men want their families to inherit what they have, and if you loved Arenicos then you will support the right of his heirs. Arenicos was indeed loved, and also there are some Calradians who believe that the endless squabbling and civil wars can only be overcome by a king, or, if necessary, by a queen.

Prince Raganvad
"The current Grand Prince of Sturgia is Raganvad. Harsh and uncompromising, he believes that it is the right of the prince to command the boyars in all things, not just in making war. For the time being they obey him, not least for his ability to call on the kinsmen of his mother, a Nordic princes with ties to the fearsome Skolderbroda mercenary company."

King Derthert
"The current king of Vlandia is Derthert. In his youth, he dreamt of glorious conquest. However, upon taking the throne, he spent most of his reign simply putting down revolts, quashing pretenders and keeping the fractious barons and counts in line. When possible, he prefers to rule by arbitration, cajoling his vassals to set aside claims to each other's lands and enjoy what they have. But some Vlandians murmur that a warrior people deserve a more virile king."

Garios
The western third of the Empire is ruled by Garios, a charismatic general who represents a longstanding populist trend in imperial politics. He is deeply loved by his soldiers, both for his solid record in winning battles and for his insistence that his veterans be compensated in land afterwards. He often demands that the 'people' should settle key issues, but in practice this usually means an assembly of his soldiers, where his veterans can be counted on to shut down opposition.


From these descriptions, Garios of the Western Empire seems quite worthwhile due to him compensating his veterans qith land (i.e. I assume you fight for him and win, he will more likely overdue decisions to give you land?)

Whereas in comparison, Derthert "prefers to rule by arbitration, cajoling his vassals to set aside claims to each other's lands and enjoy what they have". (i.e. he wont reward you with land as often?)

What have people's personal experiences been with the leaders etc, and are there any that are a definite no no.

Thanks for reading.

[Ronin]

Unqid likes to give you fiefs even you dont want to,
Monchug and Derthhert thinks like "look, another free fief for me!" when you conquer any.

Havent experienced others than those till now.

[Morkonan]

Lucan tends to be fairly practical in when necessary. When awarding a fief and it doesn't really matter much in who gets it, the Vote generally stands.

In general, concerning factions to join, I'd say it doesn't really matter - Join whatever faction one thinks one is going to have the most fun playing with.

But, until 1.3 makes it to Public, joining Sturgia is just asking for a "hard time." The other factions farm Sturgia for experience points so they can level up their units to fight "real battles" against "competent factions." :)

[Swirler]

Just bear in mind the AI is a bit wonky atm. Rulers have a tendency to hoard new fiefs even if you conquer them repeatedly.
Politics is a bit weird. That said.

I recommend waiting 1 year in the game and see where the cards fall then pick a faction who isn't about to be removed from the map.


Personally I went for Empress Rhagaea mostly for army composition reasons I swear.

Legionaries are dope they carry the day even in very difficult combats, Cataphracts give your force a nice kick and they have access to archers/crossbowmen/horse archers for all your other needs. And their low tier infantry have shields which are quite handy at present.

Very adaptable army.

Originally posted by JakeCE:

Admittedly, I have spent more time reading these forums and watching Youtube videos than playing Bannerlord. But I wondered (for when I can actually get online to play!), what is the better faction to join as a vassal?

I know how that feels.

Originally posted by JakeCE:

From these descriptions, Garios of the Western Empire seems quite worthwhile due to him compensating his veterans qith land (i.e. I assume you fight for him and win, he will more likely overdue decisions to give you land?)

Western empire is an interesting one. Well positioned to fight battanians/Aserai or expand into other empire territory. And they don't have to face the Khuzait hordes directly which is another benefit.
They can be very opportunistic with who they want to fight.

In my playthrough they got beaten badly by Vlandia then the Battanians were able to leverage this.

Originally posted by JakeCE:

Whereas in comparison, Derthert "prefers to rule by arbitration, cajoling his vassals to set aside claims to each other's lands and enjoy what they have". (i.e. he wont reward you with land as often?)

What have people's personal experiences been with the leaders etc, and are there any that are a definite no no.

Thanks for reading.

Most of the blurb for the leaders is just fluff atm I'm afraid. I don't think there's any real uniqueness behind how they behave.

They're all a bit predisposed to making bad decisions though. Sturgia seems to be getting the worst of it but the Northern Empire are also in a bad place too.

[Trip]

For me, in an RP standpoint, I tend to favor Lucon. Lucon seems more likely to uphold the traditions of the empire and not have it become a despotic regime. Northern empire has an awful position to start though, and I've never seen them able to hold the kuzaits back. I feel like I'm coming to their rescue when I join them.

Another thing I like about the northern empire is Zoana, Lucans daughter, who makes a great support spouse with her high steward. Because if I'm going to marry, I'm going to marry UP for sure.

[Halfgeek]

In my experience,

The ones who hoard territory: Caladog, Derthert and Monchug.

The ones who are generous: Rhagaea and Uniq.

I have no experience with the others.

Rhagaea is nice lore-wise, because her daughter Ira is heir to the Empire and you can marry her. Plus, she is super fertile. Like super. Oh, she also comes equipped with the best armor and horse + armor (worth like 500K) in the game basically. A fair price for only 4K denars to marry! ;)

[TomOfFinland]

Just play the game and discover for yourself. You can always start again or switch a faction as you go.

[Breadsmith]

Garios gave me all the territory we took from Sturgia: Omor and a couple castles iirc. This just after joining up with him. Then he signed a peace treaty and decided to pick a fight with Rheagea. So now I'm minding my business on the other side of the Empire fighting endless waves of bandits because none of my allies want to come so far north and the Sturgians apparently couldn't even fight off some looters.

[Malus]

Monchug is the only right answer.

If your going to fight be on the side that is going to win.

Rhageae in my experience is pretty free wit the Fiefs.

But purely from a story point standing it really depends if you believe the empire should be reborn or not.

[Malus]

Originally posted by Breadsmith:

Garios gave me all the territory we took from Sturgia: Omor and a couple castles iirc. This just after joining up with him. Then he signed a peace treaty and decided to pick a fight with Rheagea. So now I'm minding my business on the other side of the Empire fighting endless waves of bandits because none of my allies want to come so far north and the Sturgians apparently couldn't even fight off some looters.

PLOT TWIST the sturgians ARE the looters.

[Ashaman Jake]

Thank you for your comments