What's a better way to improve speed on the map?

[Gojak_v3]

Putting points in riding and buying a faster horse? Or investing points in path-finding? TBH, that 3% gain from path-finding per point doesn't seem all that great.

[Tuidjy]

Riding and a better horse does nothing for your map speed. Path-finding's 3% is not much, but +36% (10 from a companion and +2 from the player's easy 5) is nothing to sneer at.

To increase your party's speed, here are a few things to keep in mind:
- footsloggers slow you down. Keep your men mounted, companions included.
- unconscious people slow you down. Rest at an inn, or at least a castle before you risk traveling.
- a large army is slower. Do not hire people you do not need, especially early on.
- an unhappy army is slower. Use food, victories, or even free drinks to keep morale up
- many trade goods are heavy. When transporting, for example, ale, use extra horses in inventory
- the path-finding party skill increases speed. Have a companion specialize in it.
- avoid bad terrain like forests, mountains, etc...
- don't travel at night if you can avoid it

Note that extra horses in inventory do not do anything for you if you do not have heavy trade goods to counteract - as a matter of fact they slow you down a bit.

[ULTRA]

Remember that other than for speedrunning purposes, the point of the mobility skills is to outmaneuver enemies of your same loadout, so pathfinding is basically just to outmaneuver lords when you have a big fat army

[Tuidjy]

To be honest, when I have a big fat army I do not maneuver, I forge ahead, seeking confrontation on my way to the siege for which I've gathered the army. Better kill the enemy in the field than behind the walls I'll be assaulting anyway.

And path-finding is great for that, too.

Hell, speed in all its forms (Athletics on foot, fast mounts, weapon speed, path-finding) is very, very important in Warband.

[Adriac]

Originally posted by Gojak_v3:

Putting points in riding and buying a faster horse? Or investing points in path-finding? TBH, that 3% gain from path-finding per point doesn't seem all that great.

Hopefully you already know but you can hold down ctrl and spacebar on the map to speed up gametime and you move way faster.

[Tuidjy]

Originally posted by Wayzz:

Originally posted by Gojak_v3:

Putting points in riding and buying a faster horse? Or investing points in path-finding? TBH, that 3% gain from path-finding per point doesn't seem all that great.

Hopefully you already know but you can hold down ctrl and spacebar on the map to speed up gametime and you move way faster.

[Ctrl]-[Space] does not increase your party speed. It will not help you catch any outlaws or escape any enemies.

It increases the speed at which things happen in the whole world. You still need a day to get from Point A to Point B, it's just that you will spend less time waiting, and have less time to react to what's happening around you. Goes without saying, enemies will also appear to move faster, for the same reasons.

It's useful for saving your precious gaming time, but not for saving your precious skin.

[ULTRA]

Originally posted by Tuidjy:

TBetter kill the enemy in the field than behind the walls I'll be assaulting anyway.

That's what I'm sayin though, you can catch up to all those guys in the field if you have better land speed

(though for the most part I know you're fighting these guys with <30 troops)

[Andrius227]

Use cavalry only. Even if you have 100+ knights, you will easly outrun even the most slippery bandits.

[Danny]

Originally posted by Andrius227:

Use cavalry only. Even if you have 100+ knights, you will easly outrun even the most slippery bandits.

100+ Swadian knights are also a big hit on your wallet... XD

[Andrius227]

Originally posted by Danny:

Originally posted by Andrius227:

Use cavalry only. Even if you have 100+ knights, you will easly outrun even the most slippery bandits.

100+ Swadian knights are also a big hit on your wallet... XD

But is it really? In my current game (~120 days in) i have 1 town and 2 villages and im getting like 8k profit per week, and thats after wages for my army and garrison which includes around 100 knights, maybe 50 sergeants/sharpshooters, and like 100 low tier units that im currently training.

(Note: these numbers may not be 100% accurate as im not at home and cannot look up exact figures)

[HunterAnubis]

hmmm I didnt know that the pathfinding skill stacks.... time to spend some of those lovely points

[Andrius227]

Originally posted by HunterAnubis:

hmmm I didnt know that the pathfinding skill stacks.... time to spend some of those lovely points

Remember that it only stacks with your main character. For most skills its not worth it. But path finding is too good to pass.

Putting 10 skill points to get a +4 is super expensive.

[Danny]

Originally posted by Andrius227:

Originally posted by Danny:

100+ Swadian knights are also a big hit on your wallet... XD

But is it really? In my current game (~120 days in) i have 1 town and 2 villages and im getting like 8k profit per week, and thats after wages for my army and garrison which includes around 100 knights, maybe 50 sergeants/sharpshooters, and like 100 low tier units that im currently training.

(Note: these numbers may not be 100% accurate as im not at home and cannot look up exact figures)

Well before you have any towns or enterprices it is... XD

[Andrius227]

Originally posted by Danny:

Originally posted by Andrius227:

But is it really? In my current game (~120 days in) i have 1 town and 2 villages and im getting like 8k profit per week, and thats after wages for my army and garrison which includes around 100 knights, maybe 50 sergeants/sharpshooters, and like 100 low tier units that im currently training.

(Note: these numbers may not be 100% accurate as im not at home and cannot look up exact figures)

Well before you have any towns or enterprices it is... XD

I mean, by the time you can even train 100 knights, you should have a town or at least a couple of villages, which should be enough.

[Tuidjy]

Every time that this discussion happens, there are two sides, and some people in the middle.

People who play at low difficulty, where tax inefficiency is low, swear by the Swadian knights, who are nigh invulnerable due to reduced damage being unable to make it through their armor.

People who play at high difficulty use Swadian knights only sparingly, as lower income and unavoidable casualties make them less efficient, especially in some sieges.

And then, there are people who play at high difficulty, but have very solid income, and do not care about being absolutely effective - they still use Swadian knights a lot, and just take cost, casualties, etc. in stride...

Personally, I'm the second group. I use Swadians knights as a very small part of my army, mostly in the field as heavy cavalry. In sieges, I sometimes use them as shield infantry, as "Use blunt" forces them to present their shield. Throwing them into situaions where they're suboptimal offends my sense of how things should be done.

But the truth is, you CAN afford to use them exclusively, and you CAN make them work everywhere. If you're good enough, more power to you.

[kristianjakob]

Skills like Trainer and Surgery would hardly be so popular if you didnt take the occational losses.


There are many excellent reasons to go with a purely mounted force. Mapspeed clearly being one of the key advantages. I would probably be in the "anything that does not have a horse is useless outside of a siege" camp.



That said. In the vast majority of situation you will not get to use 100 Swadian Knight in the field.

A good alternative pure mounted larger field army, specifically for the purpose of mapspeed, would be to mix in some Khergit lancers. They are faster, easy to train and a slightly cheaper.