Questions starting out

[Larco]

Played a lot of warband but this is obv a new game and that was a long time ago. I was trying to find a basic starter guide but the ones I did come across seemed quite old, I'm guessing poss out of date? Anyone point me to a decent one they've found useful that's up to date?

Alternatively...
- vanilla or are there any mods you really kind of need?
- campaign or sandbox to start? - And am I right there's a time limit on the main quest?
- any of the culture bonuses important to making starting out easier or are they just flavour?
- any skills you really need to prioritise? - I read that leadership, tactics are now useless?
- Any stand out weapons / choices to avoid - 2h vs SnB? Swords vs axe etc?
- infantry vs cavalry (I mean, it's called mount and blade and I cleaned up with swabian knights in warband, but lots of people seem to be using infantry and fighting on foot?)

[TruXurT]

Originally posted by Larco:

- vanilla or are there any mods you really kind of need?

Vanilla is perfectly fine for starters, you can always go into modding later

Originally posted by Larco:

- campaign or sandbox to start? - And am I right there's a time limit on the main quest?

Campaign is perfect for first playthrough. Give you some background to the world. Time limit on the main quest is huge and most likely you will want to start fresh before it expires.

Originally posted by Larco:

- any of the culture bonuses important to making starting out easier or are they just flavour?

I think culture bonuses are more important once you have a very good grip of the game and know exactly how you want to play that particular playthrough. For first try, pick what looks the best for you.

Originally posted by Larco:

- any skills you really need to prioritise? - I read that leadership, tactics are now useless?

Leadership is very important, particularly Veterans Respect perk. Tactics are not a big priority, but there is some useful stuff there too. I would say on top of Leadership, Riding and Scouting are very important, especially in the late game (to keep prisoners from escaping). You will also need someone in your party with Stewardship and Medicine (could be you, or could be a Companion).

Originally posted by Larco:

- Any stand out weapons / choices to avoid - 2h vs SnB? Swords vs axe etc?

You can be effective with any combination. Personal preference. Most of the fighting will be done by your troops.

Originally posted by Larco:

- infantry vs cavalry (I mean, it's called mount and blade and I cleaned up with swabian knights in warband, but lots of people seem to be using infantry and fighting on foot?)

Again playstyle preference. I usually try to have balanced army (Taking advice from Lezalit from Warband, picking best troops from each faction), I think having more cavalry makes the battle a bit more dynamic, but I would not want to go in with cavalry alone.

Hope this helps.

[MrMinMax]

1. 1st time - vanilla, so you know what you hate and look for mods to fix it.
2. Campaign, it has "first time" crutches aka family. AFAIK, main quest can be ignored. If you do start it, there are timers in "conspiracies".
3. Nothing beats Battania "forest move buff" in vanilla. Unless you want to play specifically in the south.
4. Depends on how you want to play. I always do smithing and END, as it has 4 extra attrib points and i like money. Leadership affects your party size, so it is still important, tactics are important for autoresolve, and by the end game you will be autoresolving a lot. END riding and CNG scouting has 2 perks to prevent prisoners' escape, which will make winning wars easier.
5. 2H still the best, as it has 20% armor pen perk and you can use them in the prisons breaks. 2H axes also have multihit.
6. Cavalry still rules if you use it right. Overall if you play vs AI, it doesn't matter, you gonna be smarter than AI anyway. Auto resolve favors heavy cavalry.

[lar unuruur]

1. no need for any mods. you can, but updates will make saves uplayable or risky to play;
2. campaign, there is time limit by reaching it one may fail quest, but that is... not important;
3. yes, culture affect loyalty of fiefs. if you aim for certain culture fiefs, then as for beginner it would be easier to start with same culture, otherwise battanian -50% forest movement penalty is best trait, second could be empire. all other are simply irrelevant.
4. yes, stewardship for bigger party size, medicine for less killed units, engineering for faster and better sieges, scouting for movement speed, smithing for smithing(if one goes that way), charm would not matter much as for beginner, but could level and from combat skills riding and athletics are very valuable;
5. first, set blocking on auto in settings. shield is invaluable against missiles even while using twohanded weapons. throwing weapons are most op thing in the game, just get used to them. also bows, when leveled are excellent at sniping. but javelins become so deadly its not even comparison to anything else;
6. classic cavalry is way weaker now, horse archery is still strong. just start with archers and some shield units to begin with, no mistake there.

[Larco]

Wow, three answers, all incredibly helpful and they all broadly agree! That's got to be a first. Awesome, thanks guys.

[󠀡󠀡]

Also i would recommend you get used to modding mountnblade 2, its rather simple once you get used to, and since i played a lot of swadia in part 1, i would say go to vlandia but hey , try out all cultures see wich one fit you best !

also an mod wich is rather fun to have, and compliments the game well https://www.nexusmods.com/mountandblade2bannerlord/mods/5676
workshop version
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2949132830

[Ruffio]

Originally posted by 󠀡󠀡:

also i would recommend you get used to modding mountnblade 2, its rather simple once you get used to, also since i played a lot of swadina in part 1 i would say go to vlandia but hey , try out all cultures see wich one fit you best !

also an mod wich is rather fun to have, and compliments the game well https://www.nexusmods.com/mountandblade2bannerlord/mods/5676

Tbh, I wouldn't touch any mods before learned how the game work in vanilla. Seen to many people just stuff mods in the game, run into issues and blame the game. Learn how to use mods should always be a given before start modding though. Workshop sound so easy, but stick to Nexus if you do.

[A]

Campaign is an objectively better start (quicker to develop and more companions) than sandbox. The main quest can be ignored, turning it into a sandbox but with more clan members from the get go.

Vanilla is fine. It's better than Warband Native for the most part.

Culture bonuses are nice, cherry-on-top things. Not gonna make you decide against starting as this culture or that culture.

Steward is leadership I think? And tactics are still nice. read the perks before making an assumption to see if you would value these. Perks are a new thing here. If memory serves that steward = leadership, you literally grow a fast army by discarding loot to give the army exp courtesy of a steward perk

I read on reddit that one handers basically boil down to what you want and that swords are the best in a siege just because you can swing it at any distance and deal the same damage vs swinging maces or axe in an optimal distance (head vs handle) which is hard if you're in a tight melee.

I'm burnt out from this, but forging is one of the most reliable ways to make money here. It's like a credit card later on. You smith when you need to buy out a city's money to fund yourself. It just takes maybe a few years of your in-game life to get the most out of--i try to find a spouse by then to make babies while raising forging and unlocking components. The tiring part is finding optimal companions (you could arguably settle for one companion with a forging background) to help you unlock components and make metal.

Who are "lots of people"? Last I checked the consensus is fian champions (battanian noble foot archers) are the kings of range with solid melee. Khan's guards (khuzait h. archers) are the horse archers with all rounder versatility thanks to glaives, banner knights (swadian knights) are still good. Empire elite cataphracts are the tankiest.