Viking conquest, morale for a merchant?

[FizzyCupcake]

Hi, I'm a mount and blade veteran. I own all the games on GOG.com but I only recently found viking conquest. This game is different to any of the other games in the series. I wanted to see if anyone had tips on keeping morale high. My current character is a merchant and this causes morale problems because I spend 95% of my time sailing around. As I'm sure you know men lose morale when sailing and extra when sailing overnight. I tried to buy lots of food types but I can't store enough to keep them happy as I have to constantly fill my inventory with goods to sell. I can't cut down the number of men because ,being a rich merchant, most vikings want to break my legs slowly and loot all my goods before harvesting season. So I need a strong defense force to keep me safe.

[the smoking mค็็็็็n]

preists give an auto morale bonus just like flagbearers,you can talk/pay to them for extra morale
30+ peasantwoman and above give random morale bonus every 2-3 days
basically everything Tuidjy says seems to be about right from what i read,except the religion part,which is a little screwed up at the moment,but only a king should have to worry about those effects really
i'm not sure what will/won't carry from saves over different versions of the game,some stuff does,others don't,so it's hard to test/advice for others
(it will be script relavent,but i don't know the scripting protocol)

[the smoking mค็็็็็n]

@White Knight
i know you have atleast tryed this mod
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=838756121&searchtext=woman
so it may messed with the woman script

[White Knight]

Actually, I'm sad to admit that I haven't tried it yet. The way it was presented didn't inspire me with confidence and having to go to Nexus was a deal breaker for me. This site makes me feel exposed and vulnerable, there's no way I'm going to some random, anonymous bunch of pirates for anything.

If they can't manage to make it work in the Workshop, I definitely don't need it.

I'd happily make it my first mod though, it's exactly the kind of thing I've been hoping for since VC came out. I know, it's terribly unpopular to say anything that isn't wonderful about modding but sensible people have to draw a line somewhere. I like to "keep my ♥♥♥♥ wired tight", so to speak.

The morale bonus from priests is definitely interesting - I'm sure I'll be using that at some point. Filling my army with peasant women for a small random bonus...not so much. After getting the mod you mentioned, that might make a lot more sense though.

I get that historical accuracy would suggest that Camp Followers should provide Happy Widow services but I'm fine with my ladies of ill-repute hanging out at the tavern. If I could get +10 morale for 1,500 gold anytime I wanted, I probably wouldn't bother carrying food anymore.

I think anyone who reads this thread will likely never have a morale problem ever again. Even if we haven't covered everything yet, there's more than enough ideas in here to keep any army happy.

[Tuidjy]

Originally posted by White Knight:

Filling my army with peasant women for a small random bonus...not so much.

I must have been unclear. The bonus from having a few dozens of soldier wives and their upgrades isn't random. It is periodic, every few days, and it's quite high - about ten times what you get for 500 coins from a priest, if I remember correctly. Furthermore, at least one of their tiers comes with Pictish crossbows, and properly commanded, can be extremely useful in sieges... which is when I most need their bonus, anyway. I'd try to get you the exact information, but right now I have no wives in my party - I am playing whack-a-lord in Eire, and morale is stuck at eleven from all the fighting and loot.

[White Knight]

Ok, I think I've got it now...

Priest = +3 for 500 gold. Works on more than one type.

Camp Woman = +3 morale for 450 gold. If she gives +10 like the Happy Widow, then this is an incredible discount. Only works on "Camp Woman" specifically, not the others.

Soldier's Wife = With thirty or more in your army, they give a morale boost every 48 hrs.

Priests, Hornmen, and Standard Bearers provide a battlefield morale boost to keep soldiers fighting longer if things go badly.

[the smoking mค็็็็็n]

they also give a bonus to leadership,tactics,spotting and a few others depending on how many you have of each,i haven't bothered checking them all out,and the bonus changes at sea,but you can get heaps of goodies from them

[FizzyCupcake]

Ok this question is unrelated but how do I become a bandit lord? I've managed to convince a few groups of outlaws to join me but I can't increase my relation with them. I am attacking farmers and innocents to lose reputation but I can't figure out how to join a battle on the bandits side.

[the smoking mค็็็็็n]

they don't run when you are around then?
right-click follow them and/or herding farmers,caravans,etc into them,different bandit groups have different factions,so concentrate on certain ones
good spotting,pathfinding,tracking helps here

[FizzyCupcake]

They do run away from me now. I'm at notorious reputation and small outlaw groups readily join me. But the faction as a whole has -43 respect for me. I'm trying to get them to respect me not just know I pay well.