early game making money

[funkmonster7]

Is the only way trading and fighting? Those workshops cost 22k gold, wow.

[QbeX]

Workshops and caravans are pointless money sinks, true money is in Bannerlording - run a war party as a merc or vasal and sell captives and war loot.
And then there is smithing money cheese if you're desperate

[Joebear]

Originally posted by funkmonster7:

Is the only way trading and fighting? Those workshops cost 22k gold, wow.

If you want to get rolling asap, then basically yes. If you're struggling, go to villages and spend some of that initial 1k recruiting low tier troops. They cost significantly less to recruit and maintain than anything you can recruit in the tavern (where you eventually sell prisoners and royals for good money as well).

They will die a lot, but that will help you level your medicine skill lol. The unfortunate harsh realities of the middle ages may now becoming clear to you.

You can just send them in to die while you sit back and shoot, or have them shield wall while you stand back and swing. On easier difficulties you don't have to worry as much and can handle probably 1-4 looters as a new player. Just make sure they are Looters, and not Forest Bandits, Mountain Bandits, Steppe Bandits, or Sea Raiders. They will be really challenging for you in the beginning.

Just equip the best gear on yourself and any companions you recruit, sell the rest, if you have inventory space keep 1 set of the 2nd best stuff for new companions if you want.

From there you'll quickly find that you can do whatever you want. But keep in mind that if you promote your troops as soon as you can, you will also be paying more to maintain them, which basically forces you into continuing to fight, whereas rolling solo and/or in small groups or with many scrub troops will allow you to roam more freely.

[Joebear]

Originally posted by QbeX:

Workshops and caravans are pointless money sinks, true money is in Bannerlording - run a war party as a merc or vasal and sell captives and war loot.
And then there is smithing money cheese if you're desperate

Early game, yeh, pretty much a sink. It's not worth spending 20gs when you only have 20gs, but if you have 30k and you're confidently gaining money it's not a bad investment. A good workshop/caravan with elite troops will eventually pay for itself and usually be enough to cover some or all of your army wages for doing absolutely nothing. But the returns take a long time to see.

[Action Man]

Workshops are weak at the start of the game. They need good prosperity to really turn a profit, and it takes several in game years (with no siege/pillage) to crank the prosperity up to where it prints money. Caravans are probably a better bet early on, just don't use them if you're part of a faction.

Best way I've found is fighting in tournaments and selling the prize, and being a mercenary for a faction. Hunt down bandits, clear out Hideouts, that kind of thing.

[Roosterfish]

Learn how to fight in the tournaments and make you some starting money there.

[funkmonster7]

Thanks for the advice. I ran with a horse archer death squad... It's been many years since I played Warband, I forgot that to upgrade units into cavalry units I need to buy horses... And now I have a small unit of 13 high-level cavalry, it's costing me 150g a day for army upkeep. Ouch.

One thing I just realized is there is the (something) Noble's Son units who are mounted archer units by default, which cost 180g to hire. I should've just hired them instead of buying mounts to upgrade regular units into cav units.

[SpidersInABirthdayCake]

Smithing is really all you need for money, smelt the weapons of your enemies for materials.

[lurkathon]

Originally posted by funkmonster7:

Thanks for the advice. I ran with a horse archer death squad... It's been many years since I played Warband, I forgot that to upgrade units into cavalry units I need to buy horses... And now I have a small unit of 13 high-level cavalry, it's costing me 150g a day for army upkeep. Ouch.

One thing I just realized is there is the (something) Noble's Son units who are mounted archer units by default, which cost 180g to hire. I should've just hired them instead of buying mounts to upgrade regular units into cav units.

The Khuzait nobles sons will need War Mounts later to upgrade from Qangli to Torguud. A good way to eventually avoid buying war mounts is to get rep with notables up, and then you can hire Torguud directly from villages/towns.

[Grizzly]

Originally posted by QbeX:

Workshops and caravans are pointless money sinks, true money is in Bannerlording - run a war party as a merc or vasal and sell captives and war loot.
And then there is smithing money cheese if you're desperate

i call BS with 1K hours in the game. snowballing caravans is extremly good until you got your 100-200K, after that i still snowball them cause i dont need my companions for anything else but you could also do something else

merc and vasal isnt early game, thats mid game. as soon as you can hunt lords with your party you have reached the mid game

2K a day from caravans is pretty good early game imo
workshops are not worth the time tho

Originally posted by SpidersInABirthdayCake:

Smithing is really all you need for money, smelt the weapons of your enemies for materials.

its also hella boring and slow tho

[kristianjakob]

Originally posted by Grizzly:

Originally posted by QbeX:

Workshops and caravans are pointless money sinks, true money is in Bannerlording - run a war party as a merc or vasal and sell captives and war loot.
And then there is smithing money cheese if you're desperate

i call BS with 1K hours in the game. snowballing caravans is extremly good until you got your 100-200K, after that i still snowball them cause i dont need my companions for anything else but you could also do something else

merc and vasal isnt early game, thats mid game. as soon as you can hunt lords with your party you have reached the mid game

2K a day from caravans is pretty good early game imo
workshops are not worth the time tho

Originally posted by SpidersInABirthdayCake:

Smithing is really all you need for money, smelt the weapons of your enemies for materials.

its also hella boring and slow tho

No, Qbex is right. Buying caravans and worksshops is wasting resources that you could have used to buy men and horses; so you can transition into hunting lords. And, once you reach that point they become useless because..war...

[funkmonster7]

So, what should my first steps be? Should I go find the followers and recruit them first? IIRC companions used to not have any upkeep, but that has changed in Bannerlord. This is why I'm not keen on finding them this time around.

Another reason why I kept a horse archer death squad is cavalry in the army lets me move faster, which lets me outrun steppe bandits if I get chased by any; and also lets me chase bandits down if I have to kill them to complete the hunt-2-bandit-groups quest.

[kristianjakob]

Originally posted by funkmonster7:

So, what should my first steps be? Should I go find the followers and recruit them first? IIRC companions used to not have any upkeep, but that has changed in Bannerlord. This is why I'm not keen on finding them this time around.

Personally, they are the very first thing I get. It gives you more time to level them, but most importantly, you dont want to run all over the map gathering them after you have build up your warparty (at that point you want to war).

[funkmonster7]

Originally posted by kristianjakob:

Originally posted by funkmonster7:

So, what should my first steps be? Should I go find the followers and recruit them first? IIRC companions used to not have any upkeep, but that has changed in Bannerlord. This is why I'm not keen on finding them this time around.

Personally, they are the very first thing I get. It gives you more time to level them, but most importantly, you dont want to run all over the map gathering them after you have build up your warparty (at that point you want to war).

Ah, that makes sense.

[Grizzly]

Originally posted by kristianjakob:

Originally posted by Grizzly:

i call BS with 1K hours in the game. snowballing caravans is extremly good until you got your 100-200K, after that i still snowball them cause i dont need my companions for anything else but you could also do something else

merc and vasal isnt early game, thats mid game. as soon as you can hunt lords with your party you have reached the mid game

2K a day from caravans is pretty good early game imo
workshops are not worth the time tho


its also hella boring and slow tho

No, Qbex is right. Buying caravans and worksshops is wasting resources that you could have used to buy men and horses; so you can transition into hunting lords. And, once you reach that point they become useless because..war...

im always at war and lose maybe one caravan in a month at max, easily making the money back. I dont hire troops early game cause i grind my character up or it will be a pain later down the line and character XP will suffer a hella lot

heck last time i wasnt minding my time and had 275 bow before i hired my first troops

i never start hunting lords until i have 50 T6 cav ready, otherwise its just a waste of time. why having 200K if you dont use them for anything? super early lord hunting is a mistake imo

[kristianjakob]

Originally posted by Grizzly:

Originally posted by kristianjakob:

No, Qbex is right. Buying caravans and worksshops is wasting resources that you could have used to buy men and horses; so you can transition into hunting lords. And, once you reach that point they become useless because..war...

im always at war and lose maybe one caravan in a month at max, easily making the money back. I dont hire troops early game cause i grind my character up or it will be a pain later down the line and character XP will suffer a hella lot

heck last time i wasnt minding my time and had 275 bow before i hired my first troops

i never start hunting lords until i have 50 T6 cav ready, otherwise its just a waste of time. why having 200K if you dont use them for anything? super early lord hunting is a mistake imo

Your progress, in terms of money and otherwise, is largely proportional to how many people you(party) kill. Lords are just the ones that have the numbers and quality of troops.

Even if you had unlimited looters and bandits (alas that is not the case) to kill; the only thing you are really gaining from hunting them is improving your own personal combat prowess.

You will get that fast enough by just doing your fair share, and a little extra no doubt, in regular battles.

So, we will have to disagree on that. My perspective is straigthforward. In the early game, every second you spend on something that is not directly related to building up a warparty, is time you have wasted.

But, at the end of the day, what should really matter is obviously that you actually enjoy the game.