A few questions about caravans.

[DarkMagic]

If I give a companion better gear and assign them to it will this gear effect their winning chance when attacked as well as their stats? I assume so since they will level up their combat skills after they are captured every time they fight... but I just wanted to make sure.

If I give a companion a banner will said banner benefit the caravan? So if I give them a movement speed banner will the caravan have a higher chance of winning each engagement when they are attacked? Also on the subject of banners if I assign my character as commander that unit gets the bonus from the banner but what about the hero troops will their banner effect movement speed as well or is it only the commander? Also do horse archers count as archers so they get bonuses from the archer banners?

Do caravans benefit from companion trade perks? For instance If I grab the 30% carrying capacity for your party on a companion in a caravan will the caravan be able to carry more good and sell more effectively increasing profits of that caravan? And would it technically mean they could potentially get 30% more since they can carry 1/3 more of a valuable product? And does it also benefit from the passive upgrade as the companions trade level increases effectively causing the caravan to make even more money? Essentially do the skills window of the companion effect the caravan they are running so or are they not assigned to be a party leader/captain/quartermaster?

I wish there was a in game guide made by the developers to allow you to read up on general information regarding stuff about this game because I have literally had to search up a guide/tutorial on almost everything to try and figure it out.

[Ruffio]

Gear have no impact. Deciding factor is the tactics skill. That is the one that deal with simulated combat,

[DarkMagic]

Originally posted by Ruffio:

Gear have no impact. Deciding factor is the tactics skill. That is the one that deal with simulated combat,

So what about the skills and perks with trading will that effect caravans profits at all?

[Ruffio]

Originally posted by DarkMagic:

Originally posted by Ruffio:

Gear have no impact. Deciding factor is the tactics skill. That is the one that deal with simulated combat,

So what about the skills and perks with trading will that effect caravans profits at all?

Trade skill should afaik.

[Yen Lo Wang]

Trade is obviously the most important stat but is still dependent on the economic development/prosperity of the towns it visits and it takes the economy a while (~200 days) to ramp up at the start of the game by which time wars have already broken out and negatively impact captured towns' prosperity.

Riding improves caravan speed while Scouting improves caravan leader's sight range to help avoid combat altogether. Tactics improves their combat capability but you are still largely at the mercy of the RNG gods. Medicine can help keep keep caravan troops alive longer when the caravan is forced into combat.

Little point buying upgraded caravan as it only affects the party strength at the beginning. When they die, the troops get replaced with new recruits like any other party.

Unfortunately TW doesn't provide anything beyond the basic tutorials and most, if not all, guides on caravans are dated so they may not be up to date.

[Clovis Sangrail]

Reference Trade skill -- Your caravan leaders will level Trade by running a caravan, which your player character cannot do. You can put family members in charge of caravans, then when their Trade hits 300, retire and make them your heir.

[Philippe_at_bay]

I haven't run any tests on this (and don't intend to), but my impression has always been that the really important survival skills for a companion leading a caravan are the ability to see trouble coming from far enough away to avoid stumbling into a battle, and the ability to move as quickly as possible so as not to get caught. Apart from that, starting a caravan in a part of the map bordering on two or three war zones is a really bad idea.

Caravans aren't supposed to go looking for trouble. As far as I can tell the more combat-effective expensive version of the caravan isn't significantly less fragile than the normal kind (so save your denars). I do, however, like my caravan leaders to be combat proficient, and usually make sure they have good ranged weapon skills and good recurved bows.

At the best of times I've found that caravans eventually get put out of action, so you need to keep their expenses down and their revenue up. Trading and steward skills are really important. I suspect that good tactics skills might make caravans more likely to survive, but I haven't (yet) found a companion with good enough tactics skills to get excited about. So far I've been concentrating on setting up a good route for each of my caravans that isn't likely to overlap with another of my caravan routes.

[kristianjakob]

Originally posted by Clovis Sangrail:

You can put family members in charge of caravans, then when their Trade hits 300, retire and make them your heir.

Is this something you have actually done or are we talking theory?

[Clovis Sangrail]

Originally posted by kristianjakob:

Originally posted by Clovis Sangrail:

You can put family members in charge of caravans, then when their Trade hits 300, retire and make them your heir.

Is this something you have actually done or are we talking theory?

Done it. I put my sister in charge of a caravan and ran her Trade up to 300. It takes a while.

[kristianjakob]

Originally posted by Clovis Sangrail:

Originally posted by kristianjakob:

Is this something you have actually done or are we talking theory?

Done it. I put my sister in charge of a caravan and ran her Trade up to 300. It takes a while.

Yes, I can imagine that it does;)

[Clovis Sangrail]

Originally posted by kristianjakob:

Originally posted by Clovis Sangrail:

Done it. I put my sister in charge of a caravan and ran her Trade up to 300. It takes a while.

Yes, I can imagine that it does;)

You definitely want 10 points in SOC and 5 focus points in Trade.