Do AI lords have money? Or how to skill a companion as a lord

[Fajeth]

I mean do they even use it to buy things like food or upgrade soldiers? If yes, inventory management is probably good for companions I want to make lords.

Also: wiki says prisoner management is useful for lords. But is it? Besides taking lords prisoner, do they even sell prisoners? Do they need that skill to take prisoners?

I am still experimenting with skilling companion lords. Riding, Pathfinding and Leadership are obviously good choices, also training. Does tactics has an influence on AI deciding to use formation instead of full ♥♥♥♥♥♥ charge?

Surgery is probably slightly useful as well. Seeing how long AI lords need to conquer castles engeneering could be interesting for a lord I want to make mashall later ...

[bigsengineer]

doesnt hurt to give them any of the usefull world skills but imo i would say path-finding, leadership and training are bigest ones to get ur lords bigger faster stronger armies. i also give surgury so that when im marshal they have less deaths

[Temper]

Obviously they'll benefit from leader type skills just like the player but the biggest factor is their level.The game gives bonus renown to ex-companion AI lords at certain level intervals.I don't remember the bonus amounts and intervals sorry.

But at level 30 companion lords have 450 renown,of that I'm certain.Specced with leader appropriate skills they net around 125 troops with one castle and one village.

About AI lord wealth.I'm uncertain if it's only upgrade costs that need to be met,but I'm pretty sure that's all an NPC lord has to cover.The initial recruitment and ongoing recruitment is free.The higher the campaign difficulty setting the more troops the AI have and get them at a quicker pace with a better selection of higher quality troops off the bat.

Tactics only effects troop number handicap as far as I know.

[cqqks]

(Native game w/ no mod's)

- You're the only person in this game who has to buy food and equipment. I have a hard time just keeping 100 troops fed. You think these kings with 800 men are buying food?

- I suggest that you 'not use' your companions as lords. They should be made into killing machines and kept at your side. There are about 2 dozen Honorable Lords in the game who you want to hire as followers/vassals in your new kingdom and no one else!

[Shenji]

Originally posted by cqqks:

(Native game w/ no mod's)

- You're the only person in this game who has to buy food and equipment. I have a hard time just keeping 100 troops fed. You think these kings with 800 men are buying food?

- I suggest that you 'not use' your companions as lords. They should be made into killing machines and kept at your side. There are about 2 dozen Honorable Lords in the game who you want to hire as followers/vassals in your new kingdom and no one else!

True and very true.

[Morkonan]

Originally posted by Fajeth:

I mean do they even use it to buy things like food or upgrade soldiers? If yes, inventory management is probably good for companions I want to make lords.

Inventory management would be useless for AI characters, IIRC.

Also: wiki says prisoner management is useful for lords. But is it? Besides taking lords prisoner, do they even sell prisoners? Do they need that skill to take prisoners?

There's always a minimum amount of prisoners that can be taken by the player, but I don't think there are many restrictions on Lords. However, their battle mechanics are very, very, different than battles where the player is involved. IOW - Don't waste the points there.

I am still experimenting with skilling companion lords. Riding, Pathfinding and Leadership are obviously good choices, also training. Does tactics has an influence on AI deciding to use formation instead of full ♥♥♥♥♥♥ charge?

Riding probably won't do anything notable for your Lord, especially where it counts in battle. If they can ride a decent horse, level 3 or so, that's fine. I have no idea if that plays into the combat mechanics/survival/capture for Lords. I doubt it, though.

Pathfinding and Leadership are good, since that has a direct effect on the World Map. IMO, you don't want to really focus on much to do with AI battles at all, since those are more "rock/paper/scissors" sorts of affairs.

Tactics may help. It allows them to bring more of their force to bear, so that is one combat-stat that could be helpful for an AI Lord. Leadership is the same, of course, due to the increase in army size.

Surgery is probably slightly useful as well. Seeing how long AI lords need to conquer castles engeneering could be interesting for a lord I want to make mashall later ...

I don't know... The AI battlel mechanic is, supposedly, pretty darn basic. It may not take into account that stat, since it might be pretty darn overpowered since AI Lords aren't generally generated with much in that stat. If you find that it does appear to help, be sure to report it as that would be a very interesting thing to know!

[Strawman]

I know this post is old but as a modder I can tell you that Lords use their wealth to pay for upkeep, and recruitment. The campaign difficulty determines how much the pay for reinforcements. To be honest it is so cheap they can almost always afford to buy as many as they need.
reinforcement_cost_easy = 600
reinforcement_cost_moderate = 450
reinforcement_cost_hard = 300
This is copied from the module_constants.py and shows you the cost that they pay for reinforcements.Lords usually have in the thousands of wealth so if they are only paying 300 for each group of reinforcements they will easily be able to afford it.
Other wealth factors:
Lords gain wealth when they raid a village
Lords lose wealth when their village is raided as of version 1.126

You can make a Lord poor if you attack him consistently, however even if they don't own fiefs their autoincome is so high that they can usually still get quite a few troops pretty quick.

[✚ Mariel ✚]

They do but it's complicated

Lords replenish their soldiers and garrison using money. The amount they get in taxes is very different from what a player will get, and the cost of their troops training and upkeep is much lower than a player to compensate for their inability to sell loot or to trade. They dont get money from raiding either, it's entirely taxes for them

Lords will maintain a certain number of troops in their army and garrison, and then spend money on upgrading their troops. Raiding their fiefs will severely damage their income, but not drain their cash. Killing their troops will force them to spend cash to replenish them. Raiding their fiefs and kiling their troops repeatedly will drain their cash and ruin their income, resulting in them running around with militia and recruits. The AI is quick to spend their excess cash on upgrades and they dont hoard it usually, so it doesnt take that long to break them down, its just if they have armies of elites then it might be difficult to beat them in the first place

As for your own lords, its good to give them a break between wars and after you hand out territory to let them accumulate some money, recruit troops and upgrade them, as well as fill out the garrisons of any new fiefs they get. Try to have good wound treatment so when you assist them in battle their troops dont die as much and they dont have to waste cash replacing them