also, if you are fairly new you will probably get killed a lot... so try to play conservatively and follow orders, even if your overall score isnt good its better to follow orders and be where they want you to be with a 1:20 score than constantly rambo-ing off on your own in the hopes of improving your score and ending up 5:50.
A thousand times this. It is far better to play extremely carefully and hold that RMB if you are a shielder, focus on stopping cavalry if you are a polearm, and.....I don't know, abusing stab if you are a 2h or something. After the battle the faction leader(s) are bound to look at the scores and filter them by most kills/deaths. As a new player you certainly aren't going to be too high in the kill department (nearly everyone in strategus battles is a very experienced player, often with high strength and trying their hardest) but you can prevent yourself from being very high up in the death department. Also, if you are quite new and want to increase your desirability as a merc, consider volunteering for flag-guarding or equipment-guarding duty. These roles can range from "wow this is pretty cool, I feel like I'm really important" to "holy shit you better be getting high/drunk, eating, sexting, or watching some shit on TV or a second monitor" Regardless, faction leaders will notice that you are willing to do the shit job and if you do it properly, you'll be hired more often. Strat battles are AMAZING XP, but also a lot of fun for many people. Of course, there are people that get upset and suffer through every strat battle for the sake of XP, but try not to end up as one of those tortured souls.