A Guide of Ice and Fire 2 (Game of Thrones/Asoiaf Mod)

Getting started in the A Clash of Kings mod version 2.2 based on the Game of Thrones/A Song of Ice and Fire universe.

Version 3.0 of the ACoK mod is out! This guide will no longer be completely accurate. I've heard rumors that Bannerlord will be in early access soon so I will likely not play version 3.0 long enough to write another guide.

Getting Started

All players start by picking character traits for themselves. This is an important part of the game as your decisions affect the player's stats and skills. You should try to pick the stats that suit your playstyle the most.

Its important to note that 12 Strength is required for most of the useful gear in the game. 20 Strength is required for the best gear, while 16 strength gives access to nearly all items in the game. You should always aim for at least 16 strength.

Here is an ideal example start:


The player has a large amount of Ironflesh to survive battles longer. Surviving battles is a big bonus because the player can contribute to killing the enemy than any single AI can, and it allows the player to continue directing his troops. This is also important, as when you die, your allies will simply charge mindlessly into battle. The player also gains Power Strike, to help fight battles early on, and some Leadership and Tactics, should the player want to form a warband early. Female characters start with more silver and less strength. Female characters also start with zero renown, while males gain about 50.

The first enemy you fight will be a variation of this guy:

You will have a rusty sword, and you're essentially thrown right into the game. You will be expected to fight, recruit, train, and govern your way into significance. Naturally, with the help of this guide.


You'll be placed near The Weeping Town after your meeting with the Osbert Clerk. The weeping town is located in the Stormlands, which is an incredibly annoying area of the map to navigate. It is also one of the poorer regions of Westeros with only a single town at the beginning.

From here, you can join a lord's army, or strike out on your own into the world.

A Lord's Army

Getting yourself noticed can take quite a while. This is probably the most difficult part of the game as you will have few skills at your disposal. Don't fret. Even though this is a crucial part of the game, it is also some of the most interesting.

When you start, the War of the Five Kings will have just begun. Pretty soon it will be in full swing. Renly Baratheon will claim the Iron Throne is his, with the help of the Tyrells of the Reach. His brother, Stannis, will declare his slightly more legitimate claim at his seat of Dragonstone. Robb Stark will be declared King of the North, and he will begin his invasion south into the Westerlands. The Greyjoys in the Iron Islands will raid Northern villages and attempt to pillage their way into the world.

All the while, the free cities will fight eachother. Some may find new masters, others will rise quickly or fall just as fast. Soon, a great Khalasar will rise and the Free Cities may tremble as a result. It is here, in Essos, that the Targaryen girl may begin to find her way, should the right nobleman's manor be visited.

The Osbert Clerk offers you a journey to Essos, but ultimately the decision is yours.


Regardless, you will either find yourself attaching to a lord, or striking out on your own.

Joining a lord's army grants you gear appropriate to your rank and allows you to participate in combat without fear of personal loss. Your character cannot die, so you're free to start from nothing as many times as it takes to battle your way onto some seat of power somewhere in the world.

Should you fight in a lord's army, the safest option is a Northern lord. The north will regularly fight the Westerlands or the Iron Islands, but you're not so close to either realm that your lord will very often get captured. A riskier pick is a Riverland's lord, who are allied to the North, or a lord from the Westerlands. The Westerlands, fighting a war on four fronts, is bound to lose. The Lannisters may be good at the Game of Thrones, but they are not so great at Mount & Blade AI.

Other options include the Stormlands and the Reach. Notably, the Reach has one of the best unit compositions in the late game, which will be covered in the next section.

Army Composition

This section is the meat and bones of the guide.

First, I will quickly cover the best units of Westeros. Generally speaking, Essos units are never as good as their Westeros counterparts.

Infantry: Vale Serjeants/Veteran Ironborn Retainers
Shock: Elite Ironborn Retainers
Cavalry: Reach/Vale/Westerlands Heavy Knights
Cavalry Archers: Dornish Mounted Skirmishers
Longbowmen: Riverlands Longbowmen/Reach Longbowmen
Archers: Elite Sisterton Archers

Infantry

Infantry are the primary fighting forces of an army and almost always carry a shield. While you can train up all your men to knights later on in the game, they are actually less effective than infantry in a siege. The Vale Serjeants are easily the most powerful melee fighting force in the game. They have more health than Knights, hit just as hard, and carry a piercing-damage-only weapon to counter any other heavily armored unit. Veteran Ironborn Retainers get an honorable mention as they have suitable combat abilities as well as a throwing weapon, making them incredibly deadly, but less able to take damage.

Avoid Infantry from Essos, the North, and Dorne. Bear in mind, however, that any high tier unit is a dangerous foe, but there are objectively worse and better choices. I am simply outlining the best choices.

Shock

Shock infantry have no shield and wield two handed weapons. Their purpose is to break a siege, a frontline, or to simply kill lower tier enemies in one hit. Keep these units safe from archers, while trying to flank with them. Since these are few in number, all notable shock infantries are as follows:

Elite Sisterman Retainer, Elite Ironborn Retainer, Stormlands Hammerman, Riverlands Two Hander, Elite Riverlands Two Hander, Westerlands Two Hander

In general, they serve their functions equally well, although the two-handers with swords do not have shield-breaking attacks. They gain, however, piercing thrusts, which can more than make up for that loss versus more heavily armored opponents in open fields.

Cavalry

On the open fields, though, Cavalry dominate. Your choice in Cavalry is much broader than your other options, but the path to get there is more difficult depending on which units you take. Heavy Reach Knights, for example, are the most well-equipped knights in the game, but their infantry is mostly spearmen until you rank them up to serjeants. This is incredibly important. Heavy Vale Knights are well armored, but they have sub-par horses in comparison to other knights. Their infantry, however, is the best in the game. This makes Vale troops a worthwhile investment, despite not having the most powerful cavalry. Westerlands Heavy Knights are also a solid investment, and the Westerlands troops even have Shock troops as part of their troop tree for added diversity.


When it comes to convenience, however, Riverland's Knights (they do not get Heavy Knights) are decently-equipped and can be trained much faster than the other factions' Heavy Knights, which typically pass through a Knight or Man-at-arm phase where their armor is only chain mail instead of plate armor, making them noticeably weaker. White Harbor Knights are also incredibly accessible. Every few days, knights on par with Riverlands Knights or Vale Knights (not Heavy Knights) are available for recruitment at White Harbor. These knights can easily make up the bulk of your standing army. However, knights are not as good as infantry in sieges, despite their amazing gear.

Archers

Archers are a powerful tool when used correctly. They offer the best value in sieges, where they can rain arrows for an incredibly long time undisturbed. Enemy Cavalry will also attack archers in the open, so never leave them undefended.


The best archers are easily Elite Sisteron Archers. The simple reason is they bear a shield. Their bows are nowhere near the most powerful, but they make up for it by standing their ground in melee instead of being run over and trampled. If you're looking for your archers to pack a punch, then the longbowmen from the Riverlands are the best-equipped overall. The Reach longbowmen come very close, but they lose out since they wear leather armor instead of chain mail.

Crossbowmen are availalbe in Essos, and they are generally better than longbowmen, but I personally consider archers to be not very important. The archer AI present in the game means they spend more time running than shooting, and this nullifies their effectiveness. They are an annoyance, but once you gather a serious army with cavalry, you will run them over without issue. Myr issues the best crossbows, but they are mostly the same.

Crossbows have no strength requirement, so make all your companions that arent supposed to be in combat, crossbowmen.

Conquering the World

Conquering the world is a big task. Particularly since Westeros and Essos are both massive.

As I've said earlier, the Westerlands will definitely lose the war by nature of fighting four wars at once (think King Harlaus and Swadia). This makes them a prime target, but you do not want to personally smack the Westerlands onto the ground. You must make war with the factions fighting the Westerlands before it's too late. If you wait until they're dead, then all of your new enemie's attention will be moved to you and this is a bad thing. You don't want to fight an even war. Stack the odds in your favor.

The Vale is a great place to start wars from. It is accessible only by sea, or through the Bloody Gate. The Vale posess amazing infantry for siege defense, and their castles are impeccably designed. Some are near-impenetrable, abusing high ground to the fullest, with long unobstructed views for their archers, even within the castles themselves.


However, the Vale is neutral in the War of the Five Kings, and so not many in the Vale will be overly happy with joining the fighting because of little old you. Nevertheless, it can be done.

if you want to pick a faction already in the fighting, the North is hard to assault, and it's ally the Riverlands will likely see most of the fighting directed at the North. While the North does not have the best infantry, cavalry, or archers in the game, they are adequate, and access to the Vale Infantry and Sisterton Archers is there, along with White Harbor for easy to recruit knights. Additionally, Dark Sister can be acquired from Maestor Aemon through the Night's Watch questline up in the North.

The Reach and the Stormlands form an incredible alliance. Both bear very strong armies, and when they gang up on the Westerlands, they do it very, very well. The two factions can easily become out of control, gobbling up lords from all over to bolster their cause. The Reach also bears some of the best Cavalry, with the entire midsection of Westeros to use them on. If all you want to do is fight those Lannisters and beat them to submission, this is where you want to be.

If you want to forge your own empire, the best place to start might be the Three Sisters. They have few lords at hand and while many places will get mad at you for attacking them, these can be reconciled, while the territory still yours. To assuage the dissenters, however, you require right to rule.

Money and Land

Money and power go hand in hand, and typically that means passing from your hand to those of your subordinates. Your subordinates keep you in power. In this case, your companions.

Companions can be sent on missions giving you the right to rule your own kingdom. This is very important, as no self-proclaimed king in Westeros will consider you a friend unless you have the authority to wear a crown yourself.

But managing all those villages, castles, and towns, requires a boatload of money. Fighting bandits simply isnt good enough sometimes to keep your men fed and the caravan wheels turning. The importance of earning money cant be stressed enough. If you become the lord under a King, you will typically be given a village. Villages are good to have. Villages make money and require no soldiers to garrison them. It's important you try to acquire many villages. These are the literal bread-winners. Towns are good, but often, they require huge garrisons to support them, making it a tough financial decision. A great way to hold a town is to be married to a noblewoman and then gift her the town for her own party to control. But of course, this can only work for so long before you're out of wives and there are way too many towns to control.

Gift your friendly lords the towns, while you keep the villages. This will keep you well supplied in funds to build up your armies.

To gather additional silver, build productive enterprises in any friendly cities. While the initial investment is high, the payouts overtime should make up for it and then some. Its less important to make back your money than it is to make sure your troops get paid every week, and so a steady income is important to balance debts, much like in real life.

Also, all companions are now noble in birth. Some will not be happy if they don't receive fiefs from time to time, so its important to keep the good natured companions as lords, while the rest should be kept as companions.

Selling prisoners as slaves also brings in some residual income, but is not nearly as steady as it needs to be.

Training an Army

Companions are essential to building up an army quickly. The Trainer skill will quickly turn your recruits into decent fighters in a handful of days.


It will take a long time, though, for your companions to be a high enough level to train units to the highest tier. This means in order to rank up to the strongest knights or cataphracts in the game, you require large groups of enemies to fight consistently.

If you're at war, you can fight against enemy lords. This can be dangerous, as enemy lords will often posess the highest tier units available to them. Those can be very deadly and you can suffer unexpected losses, so be wary when fighting the nobles around Westeros.

The best neutral farming area is north of Winterfell, just south of the wall. Here, the Wildlings roam freely and are in a huge abundance. The biggest issue with this is selling the gear when youre done, but your companions can be made to do this instead. Also, you are at least a day or two away from food in either direction, so you require a lot of supplies before journeying up this far north.

You can complete the Night's Watch questline to unlock the Free Peoples faction, which consists of Wildlings that have come south of the wall. Chances are this faction will get wiped out quickly, but you can choose to join them and turn the tide.

Companions

Your companions are really important and you need them to give you the skills required to perform well.

You should absolutely have a companion specialising in Pathfinding and Spotting. Train another companion in First Aid, Wound Treatment, and Surgery. Train a backup for First Aid, Wound Treatment, and Surgery and keep him out of the fighting. Also train a companion in Engineering and Tactics.

All other companions should put points into Trainer and their personal skills.

Companions that you want as lords should be trained in Charisma, Leadership, and Prisoner Management. If you plan on promoting these companions to lords, those stats will help them immensely. Do not promote a comapanion to a lord until he has read the books on Leadership and Charisma and has maxed out leadership. Also ensure your lords have high prisoner management. Prisoners are often recruited into an army to bolster its size, this is to your factions advantage, especially early on in your conquests.

Remember to send out companions on their applicable right-to-rule questline if starting your own faction.

For your own sake, turn off companion complaints about other party members. It is arguably one of the most incessant and distracting things in the game and it just kills the experience.

Summary or TL;DR

Gather as many companions as possible and max out the imporant map skills, trade skills, and healing skills. Make companions max trainer whenever possible as this will build up your army very quickly after recruitment.

Gain right to rule, then conquer. Avoid the Westerlands and let them live as long as possible. They are a great distraction for the other factions. Wipe out neutral factions like the Three Sisters. Be very careful when taking the Vale, you might get more than you bargained for.

Recruit Vale Serjeants (Infantry) to siege castles. Do not promote them to mounted serjeants. Fight in the open with cavalry. The White Harbor knights recruited from White Harbor are the easiest to acquire.

Give yourself many villages to supply money for your armies. Avoid controlling towns and castles as these are money sinks since you have to garrison them while at war. Fight Wildlings in the North to train your armies.

The general elements have not changed much since the previous guide, but I definitely enjoyed playing this version of the mod a lot.

Good luck out there!

And don't let your guard down or you'll end up like me:

[Morgz]

nvm think i found it :) https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1927239829

[Morgz]

Potato PC Sep 8, 2017 @ 6:56pm
I need help on the quest 'Old Valryian' where you need to find a castle, and build it up or something. please :) <-- i could use some help with this too xD

[Axle]

Yes there a few that will join you for free.

[Alienteddy]

Hm, is there ANY reasonable priced companion out there. I only find those who want between 10.000 and 35.000 gold for their service.^^

[Imortis317]

I have found myself ina really frustrating situation. For whatever reason my capital which is the one you can get through a quest along with my town and three villages hate my guts. I don't know why this is. The last time I checked they all loved me, then I took my eye away from them and when I looked again I found them to be at -20 relation.

Anyone have an idea what went wrong here? Also any tips in increasing relation with cities, towns, villages? Also do vassals pay you in taxes? I just made two vassals.

[Axle]

Astapoor is an island? Don't quote me on that. I believe in newer versions there is simply a guy who sells Unsullied. You can find him in taverns.

[UnbrokenGlory]

So I fancy the Unsullied over all troops, but the problem is I cannot find Astaphar. It's really frustrating roaming the map of Essos and not see the Slave city there. If I could get help on how to get an Unsullied army, please tell me >.<

[Axle]

If I did the quest I dont remember it at all. A lot of them were bugged when I played and uncompletable, even on different characters.

If you get stuck, you can make a new save, turn on developer & cheat modes via the launcher settings until you figure out the solution, then go back and play it normally. It will probably disable your achievement progress for that save file so if you value that at all then don't do it on the wrong save file.

[Potato PC]

I need help on the quest 'Old Valryian' where you need to find a castle, and build it up or something. please :)

[Tzeenath]

ok thanks