"Privateers" mission during noble war

[Findanniin]

I thought I was doing pretty well, a warband lvl 4 -11 with most around 6/8; 300 hp armor 250+ helmets on the characters with the fatigue to pull it off,
nimble archers in chain mail and coif..

And then yeesh, privateers is just murder.

Maybe it's my map layout, but you're sent to traverse 3 cities all across enemy terrain, I ended up fighting 3 x 26+ men in rapid succession (who hunted me down - I didn't choose to engage them) in addition to numerous smaller fights for the 'destroy' objectives.

My warband lost 6 of it's more promising and higher level recruits, a coat of plates and other good gear and the reward is a measly 3k. On the whole, easily a 10~15k loss.

Any suggestions here for privateer style missions?

This is my first 'end-game crisis' and I'll admit to having underestimated the type of opposition I'd be up against; but I was also expecting to make bank, not lose resources and be back down to fresh recruits.

Are privateer missions just best avoided? Is the opposition very random? Was I double-effed because I had to travel through one noble's house turf (and deal with their patrols) to get to the house I was supposed to strike against?

Insight appreciated.

[mrbunnyban]

Heya. Wow, my men have only 210hp armor and 215+ hp head armor for my first noble war on expert (NOT iron man). Your guys are really well equipped compared to mine. But I don't seem to be running into as much problems, my guys are tearing through the noble armies and I've completed 4 privateer missions so far.

I think the 3x26 men in rapid succession is bad luck: as the noble handing out the mission says, you should try not to get caught by the main forces. 3x26 men sounds like the main forces going out to take out a city but found you along the way. The game actually warned me via an event when a 28-sized group spawned to kill me and hunt me.

I kited bigger groups towards bandits and allied armies (includig the 28 man group) which reduced the losses I suffered to almost nothing.

The other issue may be tactics. The shield bearing footmen and even knights are not dangerous but very tanky, so your men should be equipt with the means to take out the billhooks/arbalests behind the footmen. My front lines quick switch from kite shields to either greatswords or billhooks. I made the mistake of underestimating the nimble duelist sergeants with cleavers though.

[WastedTrojan]

Fighting all of those companies in such a short time is what really cost you. You need to be really careful in enemy territory. Play on 1 speed. You aren't being paid to kill 78 soldiers, you are being paid to raid them. Play like the bandits, if there are hills or mountains in the area, use them for both a better view and to stay hidden. Run away if you see an enemy company coming. You don't need to be a hero, you aren't trying to win the war with this mission. You are there to screw their economy.

[Findanniin]

Sensible advice, thanks.

For clarity, I did try running from enemy companies - and while in a straight line I'm faster than they are, they seem as capable of (and as intent on) following footsteps as I am.

Not necessarily criticism, I suppose in the future I'll stay off of the roads which makes sense for a 'privateer' to do.