Before We Begin (00001) |

O============================================================================O

M&B: Warband /---------------------------------------------------------o

-------o--------\ Introduction |

(00002) \--------------------------------------------------------o

Welcome to my FAQ for Mount & Blade: Warband, and thank you for reading it.

Before we begin, it would be best if I explained how I'm going to do things

here.

* When the FAQ mentions "you", that means, well, you. As in the person reading

this document. Should be obvious, but clarity is important.

* "This FAQ", "the FAQ", "this document", and "the document" all refer to the

collection of words you are currently reading. Again, should be obvious.

* I expect you to know the basics of the game: How to move, how to navigate

menus, how to interact with party members, buy/sell items, and so on. If you

have not played the game before, do the tutorial. It will show you the basics

you need to understand to use this FAQ.

* The letters "MBW" will be short for Mount & Blade Warband, as will "this

game" or "the game". "M&B: Warband" and "M&B:W" will also be short for

Mount & Blade: Warband.

* Likewise, PC will stand for Player Character, or the person you, the player,

directly control. NPC will stand for Non-Player Character, meaning other

people with names and faces that you do NOT control.

* In general, when a term is followed by a short sequence of letters in

parentheses, that will be the abbreviation for that term going forward. For

example: " Strength (Str), Agility (Agi) " - Strength is specified to be

abbreviated 'Str' in this case, and Agility is abbreviated Agi.

* None of these are absolute rules, mainly because I'm only human and thus I

make mistakes.

O============================================================================O

| Mount & Blade: Warband mechanics (00003) |

O============================================================================O

M&B: Warband /---------------------------------------------------------o

-------o--------\ Characters |

(00004) \--------------------------------------------------------o

[MBW] Basics (00005)

Each and every character in MBW has his/her own attributes, skills, and

proficiencies. Combined, these numbers reflect a character's abilities to

accomplish tasks in the world of MBW (combat is also heavily impacted by one's

equipment, though). There's also the important derived value of Hit Points

(HP), which is equal to 35 + S + 2I, where S = Strength attribute and

I = Iron Flesh skill. A character with 0 HP is killed or knocked unconscious.

Lords, your character, and heroes are always knocked unconscious instead of

being killed.

Related to all these things is Experience and Level. Like in most RPGs, the

characters of MBW have experience points and levels. Once a character reaches

certain experience thresholds, they advance in level. Each level grants an

additional attribute point, an additional skill point, and some additional

proficiency points.

This section will contain an explanation of the various things you can do with

your character, in addition to some basic advice as to how each thing is

valuable to you. The game contains explicit explanations of how each skill

impacts your character at the character screen.

Since listing stats for all the soldiers and heroes isn't really feasible due

to GameFAQs's format requirements, I've put together a Google Documents

spreadsheet containing most of the recruitable soldiers and all of the

recruitable heroes. It can be found at the following link:

https://spreadsheets.google.com/

ccc?key=0AtswgbELO72adGF0R0JrWk91NmtFanFBVm9BZE5fVkE&hl=en&authkey=CKbzxaUB

You will need to be careful when copying it, as the link itself is too long

for GameFAQs format requirements, as was thus broken up into two lines. I will

be copying this link to relevant sections for ease of access, but the only

explanation of how to read it will be here:

Spreadsheet reading guide

To save space, the spreadsheets makes use of many abbreviations.

*Faction units do not have their faction name as a prefix. They are listed

under a heading of their faction name in bold, however. So a Nord Archer is

listed as "Archer" under the bolded "Nords" heading.

*As stated before, Strength is Str, Agility is Agi, Intelligence is Int, and

Charisma is Cha.

*I. Flesh is Iron Flesh; PS is Power Strike; PT is Power Throw; PD is Power

Draw; WM is Weapon Master; Sh is Shield; Ath is Athletics; Rdg is Riding; HAr

is Horse Archery; Loot is Looting; Trk is Tracking; Tac is Tactics; Wound is

Wound Treatment; Surg is Surgery; and Eng is Engineering. The rest are either

spelled out or should be obvious.

*The number-letter prefixes in parentheses, such as (3A), indicate the unit's

position on the promotion tree. Numbers indicate the level, and letters

indicate the branch. Let Swadia's unit tree serve as an example:

(1) Recruit

|

(2) Militia

/ \

(3A) Skirmisher (3B)Footman------------------------------\

| | |

(4A) Crossbowman (4C)Infantry (4D)Man At Arms

| | |

(5A) Sharpshooter (5C)Sergeant (5D) Knight

So, without a letter, promotion is linear. A branching uses the next two

available letters. Linear promotion after branching maintains the same letter

as the previous level.

*Vet. is short for Veteran; Tr. is short for trained; HA is Horse Archer; d

is short for denars.

[MBW] Attributes, Skills, & Proficiencies (00006)

Attributes reflect a character's basic physical and mental aptitudes.

Attributes consist of Strength (Str), Agility (Agi), Intelligence(Int), and

Charisma (Cha). Each attribute "governs" a set of skills - a skill can not

rise above 1/3 (one third) of the total of the attribute that governs it

(this resitriction only applies to your characters and heroes that he/she

recruits).

Skills reflect the ability to complete a specialized task, such as following

tracks left by other parties, using bows, trading, and so on.

Proficiencies reflect the ability to use a certain type of weapon - one

handed weapons (small swords, small axes, small hammers), two handed weapons

(mauls, greatswords, heavy axes), polearms (spears, lances), crossbows,

draw bows (bows with strings, such as the longbow), and throwing weapons.

Attribute bonuses are explained below, and improving a skill obviously makes

a character better at it (the game provides explicit explanations for most

skills, so there's little need to repeat them ehre). Increasing proficiencies

provides greater ability to use a weapon. While I'm not entirely certain,

higher procifiencies seem to mostly be related to higher weapon speeds. I

also know without doubt that higher proficiencies for missile weapons do

lead to improved precision (that is, if you take the same shot multiple

times, there will be less spread amongst your shots - it's up to you to

properly aim your shots, however).

Strength governs Iron Flesh, Power Strike, Power Throw, and Power Draw.

Each point of Strength also grants a character an additional Hit Point.

Strength directly governs the ability to use heavy armor, crossbows, and

melee weapons. Each of these will explicitly state exactly how much Str

is needed to use it. Some lighter armor and weapons will not have any Str

requirement. Since Str governs Power Throw and Power Draw, it also

indirectly governs what throwing weapons and hand-drawn bows (not crossbows)

a character can use. Each of these items will also explicitly state how much

Power Draw/Throw is necessary to use it. All bows require at least 1 Power

Draw, but some throwing weapons have no requirement.

A character with high strength will be allowed to do more damage, wear

better armor, use better weapons, will have more HP, and can get even more HP

by investing in the Iron Flesh skill. Thus, you will want your character to

have decent Str, as in addition to leading your army, you will almost

certainly be its most experienced and best equipped soldier. Your army will

also automatically lose any battle in which you are knocked out, so don't

neglect Str. The Power skills each impact a different weapon type (Strike for

all melee weapons, Draw for bows, Throw for thrown weapons; crossbows derive

their power from mechanically stored tension and thus have no corresponding

skill), and it's very difficult to specialize in more than one. However, you

should generously pour points into the weapon type you do use, as the Power

skills can give tremendous damage bonuses when developed (80-140%, depending

upon weapon type).

Agility governs Weapon Master, Shield, Athletics, Riding, Horse Archery, and

Looting. Each point of Agility also grants a character another five weapon

proficiency points to spend.

A character with high agility will generally increase their weapon proficiency

ratings more easily, with investment in Weapon Master. However, the best skill

that Agility governs is Shield. Shields are great for defense, and higher

Shield skill improves everything about a shield - coverage, speed, and its

durability. If you intend to ride a horse, which you should, you will want at

least 12 Agility, so you can ride a Charger, which is the best horse for direct

combat. The fastest horse, the Courser, only requires 2 Riding, but more Riging

skill also means you move more quickly on horseback, so at least 4 Riding will

be useful anyway. Your Athletics needs will depend upon your playstyle. Even

mounted characters will still be on foot during sieges, so Athletics can be

useful for exposing yourself to fewer missile attacks, but your skill points

are likely better spent elsewhere. If your character is going to be on foot,

then you'll get a lot of value from Athletics. As stated, Weapon Master allows

you to put more proficiency points into your weapon proficiencies. However,

you can also increase your proficiencies by using the related weapon, so it's

a bit of a waste of skill points to increase Weapon Master. If you plan on

doing any horse archery, you'll need to pour points into the related skill.

Otherwise, don't put any in. Looting is somewhat useful, but don't waste your

personal character's points on it - leave that to your Hero characters.

Intelligence governs Trainer, Tracking, Tactics, Pathfinding, Spotting, Wound

Treatment, Surgery, First Aid, Engineering, Inventory Management, and

Persuasion. Each point also gives a character an extra skill point,

which is fortunate because Int governs many important skills.

These skills all have their uses, but only Persuasion and Inventory Management

are Leader skills (meaning the game will only use your skill in it for the

relevant checks). Trainer is very useful, and every party should have someone

with high Trainer skill, as it will result in your soldiers more rapidly

advancing in rank, making your army inherently more effective. Tracking is

useful for several different quests, as well as during warfare in general.

Tactics changes a parameter for battle called battle advantage, which seems

to impact morale, but might also or instead impact each side's skill at arms.

Pathfinding increases your party's speed on the map, and you should have a

hero who focuses heavily on maximizing it. Wound Treatment, Surgery, and

First Aid will all keep your army healthy, which is essential. You will want

one character who specializes in these three skills to act as party doctor,

and another person who puts some skill into them to act as a backup doctor

when the primary one is injured. Each skill point in Engineering will make

your siege engines build more quickly (I believe it's 1 hour less per point

for ladders and 6 hours less per point for siege towers), which will give

enemy forces less time to send relief units to the site of your siege, making

Engineering a very valuable skill to have. Persuasion is most useful for a

character who is trying to recruit lords to their cause - be it your own

kingdom or the cause of the Claimant you support. Inventory Management lets

your party carry more items, which boils down to letting you claim more loot

while holding your food supplies stable, allowing you to earn more money from

battles/pillaging. Lesser benefits include being able to carry alternate

equipment and being able to transport more goods for sale.

Intelligence governs too many vital skills for one or even three characters

to handle. So, you'll likely want pretty much every hero in your party to

focus on at least one Int-governed skill. Some characters start with decent

(3-4) values in certain skills, and thus make great specialists for those

skills.

Charisma governs Prisoner Management, Leadership, and Trade. Each point of

Cha also increases your maximum party size by one. Leadership and Prisoner

Management are both Leader skills.

Prisoner Management allows you take five more prisoners per point (at 0

skill, you can not take any prisoners). Taking prisoners is useful for some

quests, and is also a pretty good way to add income to your fights - and if

you can capture a lord attached to a faction, you can make anywhere from

1,000 to 4,000 denars by selling them back to their faction (Kings will

typically yield 6,500 to 10,000 denars, but are difficult to capture). You

will want at least 1 skill point in Prisoner Management to facilitate quests

and ransom. Leadership is the most important skill in the game for anyone

looking to build an army. Each point increases max party size by 5, increases

party morale (which boosts map movement speed as well), and lowers wages paid

to troops. These are three very useful effects, and you will want to get them

many times over as you advance in level. Trade reduces the "trade penalty,"

which allows you to pay less for items and sell them for more. It's waste of

skill points to increase your own Trade skill. If you want to pay less/sell

for more, get a hero to boost their Trade skill. Since Trade is governed by

Charisma, however, it will be difficult to raise it very high without giving

up more useful attributes and skills, so it's best to just find a hero with

high Trade skill and dedicate them to it - or even just rely on their starting

Trade skill.

As mentioned earlier, some skills are personal, some are party, and some are

leader. Personal skills are related to each character individually, and each

character must raise their own personal skills to benefit from them. Party

skills use the highest value held by any conscious (<33% HP) hero or by the

PC (regardless of HP). Also note that the PC's skill in a party skill will

provide a bonus to any party skill if the PC has ranks in that skill.

This is a largely meaningless thing, since you won't want to waste your PC's

precious skill points on small, inefficient bonuses. However, a single skill

point will provide a +1 bonus, which is the only level at which this feature

is remotely useful. I'd ignore it entirely, though.

[MBW] NPCs (00007)

There are several kinds of NPCs: Kings, who each lead a faction (some have

other names like Sultan, but are functionally equivalent); Claimants, who each

want to lead a faction; Ladies, who are sisters/daughters/mothers/wives to

lords; Lords, who directly manage parts of a kingdom; Towns, which do many

things; and villages, which provide recruits and sell some supplies. Info on

all of these things can be found in Notes tab from the main screen. When you

visit a town/village, you can see its relation with you. When you speak to a

person, you can mouse over their portrait to see your relation with them.

Strong relations with kings and lords will result in them giving you more

quests, and more important ones, and make them more open to romance with a

female PC. Positive relations with ladies will open up the option to use the

lady to influence lords in their faction. However, this is expensive and does

not provide serious changes to relations - helping a lord by accomplishing a

quest he gives you is far more useful. Male PCs will be able to dedicate

tournament victories to ladies and discuss poetry with them to bump their

relations into marriage range.

Claimants are a special type of NPC, and can be very useful when utilized

properly. There is one claimant for each kingdom in the game. You can find a

claimant by speaking with the 'Traveler' NPC in a tavern. Once you follow the

traveler's information and speak with a claimant, you will have a chance to

offer your assistance to the claimant, if your renown is high enough. The

minimum renown requirement is fairly low (no higher than 250, as far as I can

tell), but you will want much more renown than that (more on renown in a later

section) before you begin the claimant's quest. Once you agree to be a

claimant's champion, you will be part of their pseudo-faction, and leave any

other factions. If you are taking your current faction's claimant's quest,

you will take all cities, castles, and villages you own with you. To complete

a claimant's quest, you will have to defeat the faction they wish to control.

Stronger relations with towns may impact the prices of goods purchased there,

but I am not certain. Either way, it is quite difficult to change your

relations with a town for better or worse. Collecting full taxes from them is

the main way to hurt relations, doing quests for the town's guildmaster is the

main way to improve relations. You can also spend 1000 denars to buy many

rounds of drinks for the entire town, but this gives a mere +1 to relations

and isn't really worth the cost. Improving relations with villagers is

accomplished by completing quests for their elder. The main benefit is that

they will provide you with more recruits more often - a great benefit indeed.

However, you won't really need too many villages to recruit from, and even

those at 0 will still provide a decent stream of recruits, so don't go

overboard on helping villages - aside from improving recruiting prospects, it

doesn't provide many other benefits, as village quests pay VERY poorly.

You can locate any town or village by clicking on the Notes tab, then clicking

on Locations, selecting the location you desire from the list on the right

hand side, and then clicking 'Show On Map' on the top of the screen.

If you go to characters instead, you will be able to find an NPC's last known

location. However, you can update their last known location by speaking to any

other lord or lady in their faction and asking this lord/lady where the person

you wish to find is. This will not totally pinpoint their location, and they

will usually be on the move, but it is still very useful for locating people,

as otherwise you're stuck wandering around at random until you bump into them.

If you wish to locate a Claimant, you must go to the tavern in a town and

speak with a 'Traveler' NPC (they are not always present in taverns) and pay

them 30 denars for the location of a Claimant. Claimants usually stick to one

town for 3-10 days, then instantly transport to another one. Claimants can

always be found in the castle section of the town they occupy, and will never

be in a town controlled by they faction they wish to seize control of.

[MBW] Heroes (00008)

MBW contains nearly two dozen 'heroes' that the player can potentially recruit

to join their party. A hero is an NPC with a name and unique 3D model that can

join the party and act, in some ways, as another leader. The main exception is

that they can not use leader skills - that PC must use those skills. Any skill

listed as a 'party skill' can be used by either the PC or heroes, and this is

where heroes are most useful. There are far too many skills, and most of them

are useful in some way, for one character to handle. However, for each party

skill, the game will use the highest score amongst the PC and able bodied

(that is, currently >33% HP) heroes for a given skill's various functions.

Heroes can be recruited in taverns for anywhere from 0 to 500 denars. They

will tell you a brief backstory when spoken to, and then ask if they can join

your party. There's no upfront way to tell what a hero's stats are, so I've

compiled this information in a Google docs spreadsheet. The link will be

repeated below:

https://spreadsheets.google.com/

ccc?key=0AtswgbELO72adGF0R0JrWk91NmtFanFBVm9BZE5fVkE&hl=en&authkey=CKbzxaUB

To change a hero's equipment or manage their level ups, click on the party tab

and then choose the hero in question and speak with them. These options, along

with some others, will be available.

These other options are much more strategic ones. Sending out a hero to

convince people that you would make a good king will gain you "right to rule,"

which is only useful if you intend to form your own faction. The option about

sending them to speak with contacts they have in a region will send the hero

out for a few days to gather information on how much discontent there is in

the faction that rules the hero's contact location. This function is useful

for claimant quests, primarily.

Each hero has one other hero they like, two other heroes they dislike, and a

variable amount of things they don't like. Many of the things heroes dislike

should be avoided anyway, such as retreating, heavy casualties, running out of

food, and failing quests. Some heroes dislike raiding villages/caravans, but

as long as you do these things sparingly and keep other morale factors high,

you should be fine. If you fail to maintain a decent morale level, a hero may

decide to leave the party. If they do, they will take all of their equipment

with them. However, they can be easily located by speaking to a 'Traveler' NPC

in a tavern and paying a small fee (30 denars). The hero will be eager to

rejoin the party, but bear in mind that if conditions have not changed, they

will be eager to leave once more. You might also simply run into a hero at

random without needing to ask the Traveler where the hero is.

[MBW] Your Character (00009)

Your character, the PC, is the leader of an army. Or perhaps a merchant. Or

maybe a tax collector. But probably the leader of an army, as bandits

necessitate moving around with some manner of armed guard. As the leader, your

PC is the only person whose Leader skill values are used by the game. Other

consquences of being the leader:

* You control the party's finances.

* You decide where to go and what to do or not do.

* If you are defeated in a battle (overall), you will always be captured. This

will cause your army to be dispersed, some of your posessions to be taken, and

you to be dragged about for a while (usually 2-10 days) while you wait for a

chance to escape from your captors. Once you do, you will be alone and will

have to relocate your heroes, rebuy any missing goods, and rebuild your army.

* If you fall in battle, that phase will end. Fall too many times and your

party will instantly lose, no matter how great of an advantage you had.

To edit your character's equipment loadout, go to the Inventory tab. To edit

or see your character's stats, go to the Character tab.

M&B: Warband /---------------------------------------------------------o

-------o--------\ Armies |

(00010) \--------------------------------------------------------o

[MBW] Recruitment (00011)

There are three main ways to recruit soldiers: By going to villages and asking

for recruits, by freeing prisoners from other parties, and by hiring

mercenaries.

The primary source of your troops will likely be villages. They will almost

always supply the basic 'Recruit' unit (sometimes a Tribesman). Each recruit

will cost 10 denars to hire and join with no experience whatsoever. To recruit

in this way, simply travel to a village and select the recruit option. It will

be the top option if you can recruit at the village. If you have a negative

relation with the village, you will not be able to recruit there. A strong

relationship with the village will result in more recruits more often. I have,

on occasion, seen a village offer recruits from tiers besides the basic tier,

but this is rare and I have not been able to pin down any reason that it has

happened, and I might just be remembering incorrectly, so consider this notion

a baseless rumor.

To free prisoners, you must either defeat an enemy party in the field or

capture an enemy castle/town. These troops can be anything from the mighty

Swadian Knight or Sarranid Mamluke to lowly peasant women and farmers. Since

you freed them from a life of imprisonment, they will cost nothing to add to

your party. Liberation is the only way to recruit certain troops, the most

notable of which are women, who can eventually promote to the fairly powerful

Sword Sister class. Manhunters, whose entire promotion chain uses blunt

weapons the facilitate prisoner capture, can also only be recruited by

liberation.

To hire mercenaries, go to taverns are look for armed men. Mercenaries will

require a hiring fee scaled to the number and type of mercenaries you are

hiring.

You can also recruit prisoners. To do so, click on the Camp tab, select take

an action, and then choose recruit prisoners. Warning: This action is usually

not very successful, and will put a serious penalty on morale. Recruited

prisoners are also a thankless lot, and will often run away at the next night

phase.

All of the faction soldiers, and most others besides largely useless bandits,

are summarized in my MBW spreadsheet.

https://spreadsheets.google.com/

ccc?key=0AtswgbELO72adGF0R0JrWk91NmtFanFBVm9BZE5fVkE&hl=en&authkey=CKbzxaUB

[MBW] Training, Experience, & Promotion (00012)

Heroes and soldiers can both gain experience to level up or promote. There are

two primary ways that soldiers and heroes gain experience: success in combat

and by training. Soldiers gain experience for their kills/knockouts in battle,

and the party gets an experience bonus after each battle based on its size.

Training can be done in two ways: The Trainer skill and training fields. Each

hero (and the PC) with the trainer skill will provide an experience bonus for

training each day to each party member on a level lower than themselves. This

bonus is scaled based on the Trainer skill user's rank in the Trainer skill.

Trainer skill ranks provide a great way to keep your force constantly getting

better. As elite units die, your Trainers will be training new troops to

replace losses as long as you provide them with raw recruits. This creates a

steady stream of good troops so long as you provide recruits as input (and

make sure the wages are paid!) for the system. Training fields can be used to

hold sparring matches and other types of training, but all of them are quite

tedious, and consume lots of in-game and real-world time - too much to be

worthwhile for their meager experience gains.

When units are ready to promote, you will be notified with a message in the

message line. Go to the party tab, and troops ready for promotion will have a

plus symbol ( + ) after their names. Click on the troop to bring up the

promotion choices. Promotions cost denars, and the specific amount is based on

the level being promoted to. Heroes ready to level up will also have a plus

symbol, but you'll have to ask them about their skills to handle their level

ups.

[MBW] Maintenance, Morale, and other Numbers (00013)

There are several factors that go into party maintenance: Morale, wages, and

medicine.

Morale is provided with a succinct number that you can find in the

Reports tab by selecting View Party Morale Report. The report will explain

all facets of morale. Base morale does not change, Leadership is directly

related to the PC's Leadership skill rank, the party size penalty increases

as party size increases. These three factors can not be easily managed - Base

does not change, leveling can not be done easily, and a smaller party may

have higher morale, but is less able to fight large battles and absorb

casualties. So, the primary ways to prop up morale are food variety and

recent events. Each food item will spell out how much morale it provides and

how many units it has left, so managing that is a simple matter of stopping

at villages often enough and having enough cash and space. Note that extra

units of food will only last longer, not provide stacking morale bonuses, so

you must balance the extra weight they give with the longer time between

shopping trips. I usually snap up low unit items like Honey and Butter because

Sausages, Fish, Dried Meat, Grain, and Bread can be easily found at almost

any village (Fish may require a trip to the more coastal Nord villages). The

food types are summarized in the table below.

o------------------o---------o---------o-------o

| Food | Morale | Weight | Units |

o------------------o---------o---------o-------o

| Beef* | 7 | 20 | 50 | * Beef, Chicken, and Pork

| Bread | 8 | 30 | 50 | will go rotten after a

| Butter | 4 | 6 | 30 | few days. Once rotten,

| Cabbage | 2 | 15 | 50 | they will provide no

| Cheese | 5 | 6 | 30 | morale bonus and should

| Chicken* | 8 | 10 | 50 | be thrown out.

| Dried Meat | 5 | 15 | 50 |

| Fruit | 4 | 20 | 50 | ** Olives and Grapes have

| Grain | 2 | 30 | 50 | such a high weight due

| Grapes | 3 | 40** | 10 | to their status as

| Honey | 6 | 5 | 30 | goods. Each can be used

| Olives | 1 | 40** | 10 | in production and trade

| Pork* | 6 | 15 | 50 | and are thus too heavy

| Sausages | 5 | 10 | 40 | and have too few units

| Smoked Fish | 4 | 15 | 50 | to make viable food for

o------------------o---------o---------o-------o an army.

If you have one of each and every food item, your party will get +70 morale.

However, since Olives and Grapes are too heavy and fresh meat rots too quickly

the realistic cap will be +45 morale. This is still a very significant bonus,

as the highest morale value possible is +99. Morale is important because it

plays a major role in determining map speed, and high map speed is key to use

of strategic moves to control battles.

M&B: Warband /---------------------------------------------------------o

-------o--------\ Combat |

(00014) \--------------------------------------------------------o

[MBW] Controls (00015)

The tutorial will explain most of the controls, and your preferred difficulty

will dictate most of the specifics. Instead, I'll mention that you can look up

some very useful commands in the controls menu, or by pressing Backspace in

a battle. Backspace will also bring up a radar that will show you where all

living units, enemy, ally, and your own, are. Enemy units will be red, allied

and your own units will be color coded based on their type (cavalry, infantry,

or missile). Backspace also brings up a variety of army controls, such as

blunt weapons only (for taking prisoners).

[MBW] Damage & Other Important Calculations (00016)

Damage is based primarily on three factors: speed advantage, damage type, and

enemy armor levels.

Speed advantage is fairly simple: The faster your "closing speed" when you

strike an enemy, the greater the bonus. This bonus will be listed for each

attack that lands, even if it is blocked, so you can quickly train yourself.

By "closing speed," I mean the difference between your speed and the enemy's.

If you and your opponent are both charging at each other on horseback, any

blow either of you land will get a sizeable speed advantage bonus. If you are

chasing someone running away from you, your speed bonus will be lessened.

There are three types of damage: Cutting (c), Blunt (b), and Piercing (p).

Weapons will list what type of damage they do, with what type of attack (some

weapons do cutting damage on a swing and piercing damage on a thrust, for

example). Blunt damage ignores a portion of the target's armor, and people

finished with blunt damage will fall unconscious, allowing them to be taken

prisoner. Piercing damage, like blunt damage, will ignore a portion of a

target's armor. Weapons will list what type of damage they do after the

number listing for how much they do (such as 40c or 27p - 40 cutting and

27 piercing damage, respectively).

Cutting damage is typically the highest in terms of base damage, and are thus

very effective for taking out archers and lightly armored foes. Piercing

damage will ignore some armor and typically has more base damage than blunt,

making it suitable for medium armored foes like lower level horsemen. Blunt

damage ignores 3% more armor than piercing does, making it suitable for

heavily armored foes like knights, sergeants, and mamlukes. Thanks to Yenis

for this tip.

[MBW] Starting & Finishing Battles (00017)

Generally, to start a battle, you must approach or be approached by an enemy.

This can be a faction you are at war with, bandits, or an enemy settlement.

If you are being approached, bandits will give you the chance to pay some

denars for passage instead of always forcing the fight. If you are friends

with an enemy lord, you may be able to convince him to not fight you. If you

do wish to fight someone, the option will usually mention there being no other

option or something of that sort. It will be obvious which option will lead

directly to combat. To siege a castle or town, look for the option to build

ladders or a siege tower, then select it. Once the siege engine is built, you

can choose to fight.

For each battle, you have the option of leading your men, sending them to

fight without you, or retreating (or not attacking if you are a besieger). In

general, you should lead your men to battle, as the simulation (send them to

fight without you) will not be kind to them - if you have the difficulty on

anything less than maximum, this will not impact events, so you may suffer

casualties on levels you're not really used to. Retreating is very costly, and

even if successful it doesn't usually work too well - you will go back to the

world map and the group you just retreated from will be close to you and will

start pursuing once again - if you couldn't outrun them before, you likely

won't be able to after retreating.

M&B: Warband /---------------------------------------------------------o

-------o--------\ Romance |

(00018) \--------------------------------------------------------o

[MBW] Benefits of a Spouse (00019)

Note: I have not had a female character marry a male, so all of this info will

pertain only to a male PC marrying a female NPC.

Your wife has several practical uses in MBW. She can come up with ways for you

to "improve your standing" in the realm - generally by helping to resolve a

conflict between two lords within your kingdom. She can also store items for

you, and host feasts.

[MBW] Finding and Attracting a Potential Spouse (00020)

To find a spouse as a male, you need to visit castles/castles within towns and

speak to women. Ask them to know more about them, and if they do not mention a

husband, they are a potential spouse. For female PCs seeking a male spouse,

find a male and speak to him and ask him about cementing an alliance with his

house. If he mentions an available male, you can speak with that man.

To attract a male NPC, simply complete quests for him. Get his relation to

more than 10, and he should be receptive to a marriage proposal.

To attract a female NPC, learn poems from wandering poets (called bards,

ashiks, or such, and found in town taverns) and discuss them with the lady in

question. You may also dedicate tournament victories to her. Once you get a

lady to >25 relation, she will be plenty willing to marry you. She may have a

male relative who might object. You can choose to run off an elope with her,

or take the time to win him over. Once his relation is at 10-15+, he will be

willing to let you marry his sister/daughter.

[MBW] Getting Married (00021)

Once you have taken care of buttering up the requisite individuals, you may

formally propose to your spouse. To do so, speak to them and mention it. If

they accept, simply wait for a feast, then attend it and marry them. Female

NPCs will show up at any feast in the faction they are a member of. If you are

seeking a male NPC, simply follow him around and wait for a feast in the

kingdom.

[MBW] How to Use Your Spouse (00022)

To use your female spouse, you will (to my knowledge) need a castle or town

for her to hang out in. Once she establishes a home base, she will stay there

unless the settlement is captured by another faction, at which she will move.

Once you locate your wife, you can simply talk to her to bring up the options.

M&B: Warband /---------------------------------------------------------o

-------o--------\ Items |

(00023) \--------------------------------------------------------o

[MBW] Weapons (00024)

Without mining into the game's data files, I can't feasibly display all of the

weapons in the game. Plus, it's not like you can just get whatever weapons you

want at will anyway. So, I will summarize and explain what each attribute

indicates.

Bows and Crossbows do not have a line indicating that they are such. However,

all of them will say either "bow" or "crossbow" in their names. Melee and

thrown weapons will have a line of blue text near their mouse over info box

that will indicate how they can be used. Many thrown weapons can be switched

between modes using the x key. This allows you to save your last throwing

weapons as a melee weapon.

Weight is just that, an item's weight. Equipping higher weight items will

decrease a character's speed.

Damage indicates how much damage a weapon does. Damage is explained more

thoroughly above, but part of the explanation will be repeated here.

There are three types of damage: Cutting (c), Blunt (b), and Piercing (p).

Weapons will list what type of damage they do, with what type of attack (some

weapons do cutting damage on a swing and piercing damage on a thrust, for

example). Blunt damage does not, to my knowledge, do anything special except

for its ability to cause any unit finished with blunt damage to be knocked out

instead of killed, allowing you to take them prisoner after the battle.

Cutting damage does nothing special at all. Piercing damage, however, will

ignore a portion of a target's armor, making piercing weapons more suitable

for heavily armored foes. Weapons will list what type of damage they do after

the number listing for how much they do (such as 40c or 27p - 40 cutting and

27 piercing damage, respectively).

Cutting damage is typically the highest in terms of base damage, and are thus

very effective for taking out archers and lightly armored foes. Blunt damage

is exclusively for taking prisoners. Piercing damage is typically not as high

in base damage as cutting, but is effective against heavily armored foes, like

knights, sergeants, or mamlukes.

Speed is how quickly a weapon strikes or is drawn (in case of ranged weapons).

Higher speed numbers mean a weapon strikes/is drawn more quickly.

Reach indicates how far away from the character the weapon can strike. True

ranged weapons (throwing, crossbows, and bows) do not have a range attribute.

[MBW] Armor (00025)

There are two types of armor: Shields and armor.

SHIELDS

Weight: Same as with weapons, more equipment weight slows you down.

<number/number>: How much health a shield has. Once its health hits zero, a

shield will break and be useless for the remainder of the battle. It will be

fully repaired at the end of the battle, so you needn't buy another.

Resistance: How much damage a shield ignores. Shields do not reduce damage in

any other way, so high resistance is key to a shield surviving. High

resistance shields typically have resistance greater than 12. Very high

resistance shields have resistance greater than 18.

Size: How much of the user's body the shield covers. Circular shields have one

number indicating the diameter of the shield. Higher is better.

Speed: How quickly the shield's user can raise it to protect him/herself. Once

again, higher speed is better.

ARMOR

Weight: Same as always, more weight slows you down.

Armor: More is better.

[MBW] Horses (00026)

The stats of all the horses I have ever encountered are in the spreadsheet.

https://spreadsheets.google.com/

ccc?key=0AtswgbELO72adGF0R0JrWk91NmtFanFBVm9BZE5fVkE&hl=en&authkey=CKbzxaUB

[MBW] Food (00027)

Food is used to boost an army's morale. The various types of food are listed

in the table below. This table is a duplicate of the table in Section 13.

o------------------o---------o---------o-------o

| Food | Morale | Weight | Units |

o------------------o---------o---------o-------o

| Beef* | 7 | 20 | 50 | * Beef, Chicken, and Pork

| Bread | 8 | 30 | 50 | will go rotten after a

| Butter | 4 | 6 | 30 | few days. Once rotten,

| Cabbage | 2 | 15 | 50 | they will provide no

| Cheese | 5 | 6 | 30 | morale bonus and should

| Chicken* | 8 | 10 | 50 | be thrown out.

| Dried Meat | 5 | 15 | 50 |

| Fruit | 4 | 20 | 50 | ** Olives and Grapes have

| Grain | 2 | 30 | 50 | such a high weight due

| Grapes | 3 | 40** | 10 | to their status as

| Honey | 6 | 5 | 30 | goods. Each can be used

| Olives | 1 | 40** | 10 | in production and trade

| Pork* | 6 | 15 | 50 | and are thus too heavy

| Sausages | 5 | 10 | 40 | and have too few units

| Smoked Fish | 4 | 15 | 50 | to make viable food for

o------------------o---------o---------o-------o an army.

[MBW] Goods (00028)

Goods are items that can be used purely in production enterprises or trade.

These items can be purchased from the goods merchant in cities or from

villages. Using the Trade skill by choosing "Assess the local prices" in a

town, you can find out what goods will sell best where.

[MBW] Books (00029)

There is a total of ten books in MBW, split into two basic types. Seven of the

books can be read for a permanent boost of a single skill point (which skill

is increased depends upon the specific book), and the other three books give a

+1 bonus to one of the PC's skill as long as the book is in your inventory.

Books that provide a bonus when held in the inventory will list what skill

they boost. To read one of the other seven books, select the Camp tab and then

select Take An Action. Over time, you will read the book if your Int score is

high enough. The Int restrictions are, in practice, not much of hindrance, as

you'll want more than 12 Int by the time you can afford books anyway (books

will cost anywhere from 2900 denars to ~9000 denars, depending upon the book

and party Trade skill).

Books can be purchased from book vendors, who will sometimes appear in town

taverns. There are two book vendors with different inventories. The two have

the exact same appearance, so you'll have to get a little lucky to acquire all

ten books.

The ten books are summarized in the table below.

o------------------------------------o-----------------------------------o

| Title | Skill Boosted |

o------------------------------------o-----------------------------------o

| De Re Militari | Tactics |

| Rhetorica ad Herennium | Persuasion |

| The Life of Alixenus the Great | Leadership |

| On The Art of Fighting With Swords | Weapon Master |

| Methods of Mechanical Theorems | Engineer |

| Essays on Logic | Intelligence** |

| A Treatise on the Value of Things | Trade |

| Manual of Arms* | Trainer |

| The Book of Healing* | Wound Treatment |

| The Great Book of Surgery* | Surgery |

o------------------------------------o-----------------------------------o

* These three books provide bonuses while held in the inventory.

** This book boosts the Intelligence attribute. Intelligence is not a skill.

M&B: Warband /---------------------------------------------------------o

-------o--------\ Factions |

(00030) \--------------------------------------------------------o

There are six factions in MBW: The Kingdom of Swadia, the Kingdom of Rhodoks,

The Kingdom of Nords, The Kingdom of Vaegirs, The Sarranid Sultanate, and The

Khergit Khanate.

[MBW] Joining a Faction (00031)

In order to join a faction you need 160 renown. This figure is reduced by 5

renown for every 1 point of positive relationship you have with the king of

the faction. One way to join a faction is simply by offering a king to join,

if you have enough renown this will work. The other way is to parlay work as

a mercenary into lordship. To become a mercenary for a faction, you only need

to have a decent size army and ask a king/lord for quests. Then, once you are

a mercenary, follow orders, assist the kingdom in battles (which will also

boost your renown), and wait for an offer.

Once you actually join a faction, you will be given a single village as your

fiedom - and it's usually one with low prosperity, which usually means it has

been raided recently.

[MBW] Life as a Lord (00032)

As a lord, you will be allowed to own fiefs. You will receive a single fief

when you join a faction (a village, to be specific). Life as a lord is quite

simple unless there's a war going (which there usually is). Aside from war

duties, you don't really owe much to your faction. You automatically collect

your taxes and duties, and automatically pay out salaries. You can do quests

for your king and other lords, but that's optional. However, it does lead to

better relations with them, which can be useful, and some quests pay well.

For war, your main duty is to show up when summoned by the marshal. Your

faction's marshal will, at points during wartime, summon the lords of the

realm in an effort to build a concerted offensive. You will get a quest to

report to the marshal with a minimum number of troops (it's rarely a high

number - you'll need more than that many to prove even remotely useful, and to

protect yourself), and be told where the marshal is. You'll usually have about

4 days to get there, which is enough time if you move out immediately and if

the marshal doesn't move too far. If you fail to report once, the consequences

won't be severe, but continued derelection of duty will hurt relations and

could potentially result in being expelled from the faction.

You'll want to join the faction's army anyway, as it's a good opportunity. The

army of the realm will usually go after big targets like towns, and if you're

smart, you can use this for your own gain. Once your fellow lords assemble

around a target, click on the town/castle, besiege it, and once you can,

attack the settlement. If victorious, you will be credited with the victory,

as you led the assault. If you are credited with a successful siege and ask

for the settlement, you have a higher chance of receiving it when the king

decides to award it to someone - and even if you don't get it, the king will

at least send a small reward of ~900 denars to compensate you partially.

However, since you had the other lords for backup, you will minimize your own

force's losses - if the settlement has enough prisoners, you may actually be

able gain troops as a result of a successful siege.

[MBW] Being Marshal (00033)

Marshals are selected by the king, with advice from the lords (in the form of

an informal election between two candidates). If you are picked to become

marshal, you will be able to summon or dismiss the lords. You can combine this

ability with the strategy above to take select targets. Generally, you should

focus on towns when using the marshal's powers, as towns typically have

garrisons of 300 to 400 troops (plus more if an enemy lord is in the town),

making them extremely difficult to take without help.

To utilize the powers of the marshal, speak with an allied lord or with one of

your heroes, and select the option to send out a message to the lords of the

realm, then choose which option you desire.

[MBW] Claimants & Rebellions (0033a)

Claimants are a special type of NPC, and can be very useful when utilized

properly. There is one claimant for each kingdom in the game. You can find a

claimant by speaking with the 'Traveler' NPC in a tavern. Once you follow the

traveler's information and speak with a claimant, you will have a chance to

offer your assistance to the claimant, if your renown is high enough. The

minimum renown requirement is fairly low (no higher than 250, as far as I can

tell), but you will want much more renown than that (more on renown in a later

section) before you begin the claimant's quest. Once you agree to be a

claimant's champion, you will be part of their pseudo-faction, and leave any

other factions. If you are taking your current faction's claimant's quest,

you will take all cities, castles, and villages you own with you. To complete

a claimant's quest, you will have to defeat the faction they wish to control.

The six claimants in M&B: Warband are summarized in the table below.

o========================================o

| Faction | Claimant |

o========================================o

| Swadia | Lady Isolla of Suno |

| Rhodoks | Lord Kastor of Veluca |

| Vaegirs | Prince Valdym the Bastard |

| Nords | Lethwin Farseeker |

| Sarranid | Arwa the Pearled One |

| Khergits | Dustum Khan |

o========================================o

To defeat a faction in civil war, you don't have to fight them all. Before

you fight any lords from a faction at all, you should speak with them and try

to convince them to join your side. There are several factors at play when

trying to convince a lord to rebel against his king: your personal relations,

his relations with his king, the argument you give him for your claimant's

claim to the throne, your Persuasion skill, and the consistency of your

argument (if you tell everyone what they want to hear, they'll catch on and

no one will believe you). You won't be able to convince everyone to join

your rebellion, but you should focus your efforts on taking a faction's

town owners over to your side, as towns are the most difficult places to

siege (town owners can be found in the Locations tab or by visiting the town

in question).

Once you have convinced as many lords as you wish to join your rebellion, you

proceed with the bloody war part (there's no avoiding it, you're no Gandhi).

I said "as many lords as you wish" because there's a reason to limit how many

lords you bring over before the war is over - while the rebellion is going

on, you have the future king's/queen's ear, and they will almost always (if

not always, full stop) agree to award fiefdoms to whomever you suggest,

including you. This can allow you to acquire a substantial amount of property,

vastly more than you usually acquire, and with significantly less risk to you

and your personal army.

Completing a rebellion is quite similar to eliminating a faction: You must

capture (or convince) all their towns (or town owners) and castles (or castle

owners), and then they will eventually lose - and it usually helps to defeat

the king in battle at some point (capturing him is especially useful).

M&B: Warband /---------------------------------------------------------o

-------o--------\ Your Own Faction |

(00034) \--------------------------------------------------------o

Note: I have never formed my own faction, so I don't know much about this

section.

[MBW] Forming (00035)

Forming your own faction is deceptively simple: You must simply be unattached

to any current faction, and then successfully siege a town or castle.

I believe you can also use the rebel faction formed by a failed rebellion as

your own, but the regular method is easier.

[MBW] Managing (00036)

It's important to have lots of Right To Rule when going the road of having

your own faction. The primary way to increase your Right To Rule is to send

your heroes out to campaign for you. To do this, talk to them, then talk about

your desire to be King/Queen of Calradia.

As King/Queen of your own faction, you will have some extra duties. You will

decide who gets what fiefdoms. Giving a fief to a lord will increase your

relations with that lord, but damage them with all others - so it's a wise

idea to keep the number of lords you have in your faction under control.

[MBW] Defense & Diplomacy (00037)

Other factions should be able to declare war on yours, but aside from simply

attack them, I don't know of any way to declare war on another faction. I am

somewhat certain that you can try to declare peace with another faction by

directly approaching their leader and inquiring about peace - but they could

simply reject your offer and choose instead to conquer you if they think they

can.

O============================================================================O

| Gameplay Advice (00038) |

O============================================================================O

M&B: Warband /---------------------------------------------------------o

-------o--------\ Your Character |

(00039) \--------------------------------------------------------o

[MBW] Design/Builds (00040)

There are two basic builds for a PC, in my view: Heavy Cavalry and Horse

Archer. The Heavy Cavalry build uses the best armor available, and either a

one or two handed weapon. The one handed build would have a shield. The Horse

Archer build focuses more on speed and missile attacks, and generally avoids

prolonged melees.

Neither build is going to be like an MMO build, since you have a lot more

control of your circumstances in MBW. Consider these more like guidelines than

true builds.

Heavy Cavalry Build

You'll want to find the best armor you can, first of all. Ideally, you'll have

Plate armor, but a Coat of Plates or Scale Mail will also work. This armor

will be extremely expensive, so you'll need to work your way up to it. You'll

want strong gloves, boots, and a Great Helm or Winged Great Helm, as well.

Gloves are a little weird, since the adjectives like "reinforced" give the

same bonuses no matter what piece of armor they're on - +3 armor isn't a major

difference for chest pieces that can easily give 30-55 armor, but for gloves

that give 2-8 armor, good leather gloves can outdo normal metal gloves.

This build will require a decent investment into Str (you won't be clear until

you hit 15, really) to use all its heavy gear and get more Iron Flesh and

Power Strike. You will also want at least 12 Agi so you can get 4 Riding,

allowing you to ride Chargers. Your desired Int will depend upon how many

skills you delegate to heroes. You should still focus on Cha on some level, as

it governs the essential Leadership skill.

With this build, you will be the closest thing to a modern piece of armor on

the battlefield. Use this to your advantage: Charge into enemy formations and

start swinging.

Horse Archer Build

For this build, you'll first want a Courser (the fastest horse; it's purely

white in coat color). Then, you should look for light but effective armor,

like Sarranid equipment - you want to minimize weight without compromising

protection too much. Gloves and helmets don't weigh very much, so you can

just go full armor on those pieces. You'll want to get the absolute best bow

you can acquire, and go for Large Bags of Khergit Arrows - 2 bags and a bow

will use up 3 of your four weapon slots. I recommend a melee weapon in your

final slot, as you won't be able to, or need to, avoid melee combat forever.

This build requires a most balanced spread between Str and Agi. More Agi means

more Riding, which means faster riding speed, and more Horse Archery, which

will increase your archery precision from horseback. while more Str lets you

boost Power Draw more, which means you can do more damage.

With this build, you should use your horse to evade clusters of enemy while

firing off shots or picking off those that leave the group by slowing down and

lining up a more accurate shot. You will be able to shoot at attackers while

defending on a siege, but when attacking during a siege, you should leave the

initial breaching to heavier troops.

[MBW] Leveling (00041)

This is about leveling up quickly.

There are two ways to level up quickly: Killing lots of enemies in battle and

doing quests. Some quests can give thousands of experience points, but so can

killing a dozen or so enemies in a battle. However, you need to give your army

time to rest and heal, so once you beat up enough bandits to tire out your

troops, find a lord and take on a quest. Don't bother with village quests, as

they pay poorly and often take a lot of time, and town quests aren't much

better.

[MBW] Using Heroes (00042)

You can have a maximum of 10 other heroes in your party. Each should be able

to take on 2-4 skills, depending upon how much you want to improve their

combat skills. Since you'll be focusing on your own combat prowess and keeping

your Leadership skill high, heroes will need to fill in the gaps. You will

most certainly want to have heroes with high skill in Wound Treatment, First

Aid, and Surgery - in fact, there's one hero who is perfect for these skills.

If you happen upon Jeremus, recruit him, and focus him purely on those three

skills (and one other Int skill of your choice, as you'll have room for it).

Bump him down to the bottom of the party list so he's the last to engage in

battle. This will make him much more available to keep your army fit to fight.

Pathfinding is the next most important skill. The rest of the skills are more

up to your own judgment, but with enough heroes, you won't really have to make

many, if any, sacrifices. Keep searching those taverns for heroes.

M&B: Warband /---------------------------------------------------------o

-------o--------\ Making Money |

(00043) \--------------------------------------------------------o

[MBW] Tournaments (00044)

You can make money by betting on tournaments - betting on yourself, to be

specific. In order to collect on the bets, you must win the tournament. You

can place a 100 denar bet on yourself for each of the seven rounds of the

tournament. The basic tactic for winning a tournament varies depending upon

the weapons you get, but keep in mind that each town always gives the same

suite of weapons for tournaments, so you can avoid tournaments at towns that

give you weapons you dislike. In general, look for people engaged in melee

with another combatant, and the attack them from behind, and you'll do well

in tournaments.

[MBW] Production Enterprises (00045)

You can build one production enterprise in each town. To do so, you must speak

to the town's guild master, who can usually be found in a fairly central part

of the town and is generally an older-looking male. In general, the more

expensive a production enterprise is, the more money it will produce, but the

guild master will also provide estimates of the enterprise's profitability

for you. The profits from your production enterprises will be delivered to

you automatically at the end of each week, when revenues and expenses are

handled.

[MBW] Fiefs (00046)

You can make money from your fiefs. It's a simple matter of being awarded them

by the king. Conquering them yourself helps, but if you have too many fiefs,

you will be less likely to be awarded new ones. If you run your own faction,

you can control who is awarded a fief.

[MBW] Pillaging, Prisoners, & Combat (00047)

You can pillage by going to a village and choosing to take a hostile action.

This will lower your relationship with that village and net you a fair amount

of goods, which can then be sold or used as desired.

Prisoners can be sold to traveling ransom brokers, who show up in taverns at

random. The higher a prisoner's tier level, the more they sell for. Also, in

Tihr, you can find Ramun the Slave Trader, who will pay 50 denars for any

prisoner.

Winning a battle nets you some random weapons and armor. Generally, you'll

want to pick on Sea Raiders, as they have the most valuable equipment that

doesn't require a war to get.

M&B: Warband /---------------------------------------------------------o

-------o--------\ Warfare and Combat |

(00048) \--------------------------------------------------------o

[MBW] Building an army (00049)

You'll want a sizeable amount of heavy units like Knights/Mamlukes in your

army (the units that become these will work, as well). Archers/Crossbowmen

are most useful on siege defense. Infantry can also work in place of heavy

cavalry, but the absolute strongest units tend to be the heavy cavalry. The

easiest way to train soldiers is to have someone skilled in the Trainer skill,

or even have multiple people skilled in it (the bonuses stack).

[MBW] Strategy (00050)

In general, you'll want to have high party speed to make use of strateic

moves. MBW isn't that complicated, but you can still make use of strategy to

control battles. The main thing you can do is divide your enemies by leading

them around until they're sufficiently separated to allow for smaller battles.

[MBW] Tactics (00051)

When in a battle, you can hit delete/backspace to bring up a minimap and a

list of commands. You can also look in the controls to see what commands you

can issue with keystrokes. This is useful for when you want to use only blunt

weapons to take prisoners for war profiteering or missions.