Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord

Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord

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Rezox Dec 19, 2023 @ 7:39am
How difficult can this game be?
I don't own the game yet but I'm close to buy it (sale + wishlist since a long time).
I like challenging games so my question is, how hard can this game be (with mods)?

Like I want to have perma death on everyone, I want to be a poor soldier serving for an army before I finally get enough gold to build my own squad, if I ever make it and not die in a battle. If I die the game just ends, if I don't have children (not sure if this is a thing now or still planned).
Iron man mode is a thing now iirc, but which mods would you suggest?
Many thanks for the help!
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Action Man Dec 19, 2023 @ 7:50am 
With mods, the game is as hard or as easy as the mod makes it.

Like I want to have perma death on everyone

Death is permanent. In the vanilla game, you can choose to turn off death if you want. The default chance of an NPC to die in battle is ~1%. Once an NPC reaches late 40s, there's an increasing chance they die of old age.

There are mods you can get that increase the chance of death - including yours. However, if nobles die out too fast, the game will be very empty.

I want to be a poor soldier serving for an army before I finally get enough gold to build my own squad

You can do this in the base game, and there have been mods made to do it as well. Just don't recruit. You can be a mercenary for any faction, and just join their battles. If you're going solo, everything hostile is going to come after you. You are not a god on the battlefield, and you can go down in one or two hits at the start.

You can recruit companions and troops to build your forces.

If I die the game just ends, if I don't have children (not sure if this is a thing now or still planned).

I believe in the vanilla game if your PC dies/retires, you can choose an heir from someone in your clan. It doesn't have to be a child. Or, you could just start a new game. If you have no eligible heirs, it is game over.

Iron man mode is a thing now iirc, but which mods would you suggest?

Ironman mode is best mode. :) In this game, it means you only get one save file, and you have to save upon exiting. The game isn't inherently more difficult.

As far as mods, that's tough to say. There are plenty of Quality of Life mods, but I'd suggest playing through on your own. If there are aspects you don't like, see if a mod addresses it.
TruXurT Dec 19, 2023 @ 8:35am 
Originally posted by Rezox:
I don't own the game yet but I'm close to buy it (sale + wishlist since a long time).
I like challenging games so my question is, how hard can this game be (with mods)?

Like I want to have perma death on everyone, I want to be a poor soldier serving for an army before I finally get enough gold to build my own squad, if I ever make it and not die in a battle. If I die the game just ends, if I don't have children (not sure if this is a thing now or still planned).
Iron man mode is a thing now iirc, but which mods would you suggest?
Many thanks for the help!

You can do all of those things in the base game as it is now.

Perma death: check

Iron mode: check

Poor soldier: well you can play it this way if you want, although it is not that expensive to get few low level recruits to join you from the get go. As much as you can eventually play with armies having hundreds of troops, the game is not really intended to be played solo, so at least small squad is recommended. But you can go solo if you want. To be honest having some hired troops/companions will not only enhance your gameplay, but also help you stay poor, as those troops cost money, so if you don't pursue some money making opportunities in the game, keeping your party paid up and fed, will be an extra challenge.

Try to do a tutorial mission and don't worry about those initial troops you get, after tutorial is over you will be left alone and can do whatever you want.

With recent changes in AI fighting skills, you will find fights quite challenging on the highest difficulty, so if this is your thing, go for it.

I'll give you one extra tip though. When you are in character creation and are happy with your looks, do ctrl-C and then paste the string to a notepad. This way you can always ctrl-V those settings when you start over.
Last edited by TruXurT; Dec 19, 2023 @ 8:53am
Rezox Dec 20, 2023 @ 1:51am 
Many thanks for the replies!
If I buy the game I will stick with the base game and add a mod if I miss something.
Last edited by Rezox; Dec 20, 2023 @ 1:53am
A Dec 20, 2023 @ 2:40am 
Getting killed isn't easy to achieve in this game even if you turn on death for heroes and your own character. In my 3 playthroughs and 150+ hours of playtime, in my faction/party, I've only seen my wife die + a younger sibling. And that's about it, I've never had companions die.

I've seen lords die on rare occasions. Execution on the other hand is a different topic altogether, lol.

If you really want to be a soldier in an army, you have to download a mod for that because doing so lets you start as a grunt and slowly work your way up to getting promoted. I forgot the name "serve in an army"? Check Simo's video about it, He did a playthrough exactly how you want it. However, you'll have to rollback to previous versions to get it running.
Redarmy Dec 20, 2023 @ 3:34am 
First of all, dont buy this game its shallow and lifeless.

secondly, its super easy. its my biggest complaint. you can easily roll in money, outrun ANY army,and obtain fiefs and soldiers with no thought or effort put in. This is why ppl complain the game is boring also.

thirdly, updates(laughable to call them that) WILL always break your mods.

lastly : DONT BUY THIS GAME.
Rezox Dec 21, 2023 @ 6:47am 
Originally posted by Redarmy:
First of all, dont buy this game its shallow and lifeless.

secondly, its super easy. its my biggest complaint. you can easily roll in money, outrun ANY army,and obtain fiefs and soldiers with no thought or effort put in. This is why ppl complain the game is boring also.

thirdly, updates(laughable to call them that) WILL always break your mods.

lastly : DONT BUY THIS GAME.

Is there no mod to make the game harder for the player?
Ozan Dec 21, 2023 @ 6:57am 
CK 3 is the game ur looking for, for bannerlord you need diplomacy otherwise its ai hard not like meaningful hard.
Unfortunately you can only serve as mercenary with 20 men if i remember right
Dying is very low chance but with mod kingslayer u can fix that too
Kingdoms declare wars constantly
Every kingdom have senate literally makes no sense
Constant meaningless rebellions without stopping it
Cant change culture of the settlements, no religion system etc.

Other than battles and sieges were broken too, bannerlord doesnt offer anything about diplomacy. If u want to trade settlements u need to make trade skill 300 if i dont remember wrong. U can send assassins u can execute people but it costs major relationship points. U cant choose heir when u die ur senate chooses.

Game is fun like i said if u go become merc-take specific armor-be king get cities but not fun getting entire continent like ck3 because there is no end reward other than a cinematic
Elite665 Dec 21, 2023 @ 9:10am 
many factors to this the game has built in difficulty modifiers and now with the Ai rework they can duel much better. Id say it starts challenging and becomes much easier as you get skills and an army
ShadowFox Dec 21, 2023 @ 9:18am 
Originally posted by Rezox:
I don't own the game yet but I'm close to buy it (sale + wishlist since a long time).
I like challenging games so my question is, how hard can this game be (with mods)?

Like I want to have perma death on everyone, I want to be a poor soldier serving for an army before I finally get enough gold to build my own squad, if I ever make it and not die in a battle. If I die the game just ends, if I don't have children (not sure if this is a thing now or still planned).
Iron man mode is a thing now iirc, but which mods would you suggest?
Many thanks for the help!
With mods you can literally do anything you want. I don't use mods personally as I enjoy the vanilla game plenty
TruXurT Dec 21, 2023 @ 10:03am 
Originally posted by Rezox:

Is there no mod to make the game harder for the player?

Did you already get the game? I am sure you can find mods for all sorts of things, but don't assume this game is easy, especially if you want to solo the content.

If you enable death... OK you may not die at every fight you lose, you will get captured instead, but this actually makes things worse... Because you will eventually die, once you built your character up and invested some time into the playthrough. It is more of a russian rulette thingy, but dying 5 minutes into the game means little invested/little lost. Dying after 100h, on a brink of getting something great accomplished... now this hurts.

Also a heartbreak of losing your companions or family members... I mean imagine you managed to get a wife and a kid. She can die in childbirth, so kid is left... Kid becomes an adult. OK, you have a backup in case you die. And then you go clear the bandit's lair with the kid in your party and the kid ends up dead... This can very much happen.

I'll give you another example that actually happened to me. I established a quite sizable army of let's say 150 troops or so. With that goes lots of supply pack animals, loot. The way this game works, you can't really carry that much stuff yourself, so you need your party to carry it for you.

I get defeated in a battle. The whole party gone. Ok, after some time I escape captivity, but then some band of bandits gets me. Now understand that escaping and being alone with a baggage train for 150 people army makes you basically immobile.
But anyways, bandits take me with them and bring me into a remote area (between Revyl and Varcheg), in the middle between those cities. I escape there, but I can't get inside those cities to sell stuff or hire more troops, just see more roaming bandit parties, with a hideout on either side of the path. You can't escape without dumping all of the stuff you collected. Supplies, horses, armor, weapons, all of it you have to dump. And they still can get you. As there are few parties around each of the hideout. And you are wounded... If somehow you make into a town you are basically starting over.



Last edited by TruXurT; Dec 21, 2023 @ 10:35am
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Date Posted: Dec 19, 2023 @ 7:39am
Posts: 10