Warband Singeplayer as a merchant

[Casul]

Hello friends and Yuhmaz, recently I came back to playing Warband Singeplayer and I wondered if anyone of you ever tried a go-through as a merchant, making deals and milking money from productive enterprises etc.

I am playing the small Mod Calradia Enhanced though, however I dont think it does any changes outside of troop trees and adding a few more weapons/armor/horses.

So here I am asking for advice since it looks remarkably difficult to win the game without striking a single foe with your own sword.
That means, I am trying to roleplay as much of a real merchant as possible.
I am not trying to get involved in battles as much as possible, not bothering with weapon skills and any great weaponry.


Is it actually playable like this?
What is the best faction to settle in first? I thought about Rhodoks.
Should I even join a faction or stay neutral as long as possible?
What skills should I invest in mostly?

And about my army: Should I bother with recruiting peasants and level them myself or should I buy my caravan guards in the tavern? (They are actually usefull in Calradia Enhanced)


Tell me about your thoughts and adventures!


die Cassi

[IR_Kuoin]

Haven't played singelplayer in years bur that sounds fun. Fuck peasants just buy trained troops.

[WITCHCRAFT]

Mercs from the tavern in regular M&B aren't actually bad in combat, just extremely expensive so you should only grab them if your faction marshall demands that you meet up with troops and you need them RIGHT NOW OR ELSE. Not sure if that is changed in that mod since I haven't played that.

Merchant is harder, but probably not the hardest. Being "evil" and sacking villages/stealing cattle will make you hostile with huge faction armies right off the bat, nobody likes you, you have no resources, etc. is the hardest way to play. There is also no payoff/endgame to this play style. It's kind of like the devs didn't finish it. Fun to play hardcore mode and see how much of an infamous little shit you can become before you die. Just don't get too attached to your character. It will end sooner or later. Probably sooner.

Have max possible ranks in pathfinding on all your party members. The best way to not lose a battle is to not get into a battle. This also lets chase down and beat the shit out of tiny groups of bandits that you have 100% chance to win against, but they always run as soon as they see you on the map. Faster trade routes as well.

Do you plan to attend your battles but sit back and issue commands? Or will you use the skip battle option? If you are skipping battles I would recommend you grab all the unique NPCs you can find and train up tactics on yourself and all of them as well. After that go for surgery. Become a cold and impersonal general. Your troops are nothing but numbers, just the same as a bag of wool or salt in your inventory. Maximize your profits in trade and war. Play the numbers game and come out on top.

Training skill is worth considering as well. If you have one bad battle and lose a huge % of your army, all you need is one high level party member (could be you, could be unique NPC) with training maxed. You can turn worthless peasants into at least basic footmen that make a difference in battle outcome. Just swing through a friendly faction and grab every peasant for hire. Camp out somewhere safe for a few days and you are ready to throw more soldiers into the meat grinder.

[Casul]

thanks Witchcraft thats some usefull words right there.

I was thinking about playing neither good nor really bad, I will do what earns me most money over time.
e.g. I would loot and burn down a rich wealthy village and then talk my way out of a battle with one of the factions vassals.
Just to get a general impression how I want to play.
I plan to rely on many companions, however I know too many of them will end up in leaving my group etc.

So probably someone knows how to deal with the moral bullshit as a result of my actions and in between companions?
Fruitcake hipsters like Marnid would be great for trading skills etc, however hes getting upset more frequent than swadians are helding feastings while Suno and Praven are burning.

[Golem]

https://www.moddb.com/mods/nova-aetas

[Drunken_sailor]

buy wheat from Dhirim and its surrounding villages for 10 shekles and sell them anywhere else for 30.  Buy iron from Curaw and salt from Wercheg also sell these anywhere else.  Also I don't think I have ever lost money on establishing a brewery in a city.

I agree with Heskey, you can play merchant but there isn't enough detail about trading to really make it interesting long term

[Casul]

I guess Heskey is right on my biggest concern, being a neutral money milking merchant is only viable and fun until I am joining a party and sieging another factions castle. That would be the point where I am forced to lay down my fine velvet clothes and put on plate.
It would bind me to the 3-4 towns of the faction I join, limiting my income and then again enemies will always try to keep my villages raided

[Kadeth]

wtf what year is it. where am i

[Peasant_Woman]

Saw a Warband speed-run where the guy owned a castle in like 16 minutes by buying cows for 10 denars each from villages, slaughtering them for meat and selling to cities. Then he just hired sword sisters and sword brothers and stuff from taverns and took a Khergit castle straight away. It was pretty sick tbh.

Currently doing a merchant run on Native myself. Buy low sell high, assess deals at each city you visit. Comfy.

[Ikarus]

ah yes, singleplayer, that reminds me of the rise of catamitus, my lovely ass fuckery empire
http://forum.melee.org/spam/the-rise-of-catamitus/msg1237507/#msg1237507

[Algarn]

Don't think it's even possible to win without smashing some bones, and it's extremely hard to make a merchant-like playthrough because experience is linked directly with killing enemies. Add to that the uselessness of troops in auto-calc, and as well on the battlefield. Your best bet would be to stack huscarls and rhodok sharpshooters as much as you can, and own enterprises literally everywhere, so having a single faction against you isn't that much of a deal.

About companions, their problem is that most of them hate each other if you aren't careful about your choice : http://mountandblade.wikia.com/wiki/Heroes

I'd go with Matheld, Nizar, Bashetur/Rolf, Artimenner, Lezalit, and Borcha. The problem is when you plan on pillaging villages (and caravans for Marnid), you get way less choice compared to what you cab get you could get on a "good guy" playthrough.

About the soldiers, get some trainer skill up, and recruit peasants from Rhodok and Northern lands. The problem with pillaging is that you won't be able to recruit anymore, so you better skip the villages which give these troops. You could also try doing some quests so they give you actual soldiers after some point.

[Taser]

Just keep your party size relatively small and mounted, stock up on 6 horses or so in your inventory, and trade like a mofo. Once your enterprises are up, you should stay in the black without having to trade at all which allows you to take more risks with your money and dump them into more trade goods and so on.

Merchant runs never were my thing but its the same idea as my basic startup in SP. Get some mercs or recruits but keep them mounted or get them mounted asap and keep the party small but powerful to be able to run and fight bandits. This also keeps your weekly costs low for food, wages and equipment which allows you to dump your money into enterprises and trading. I usually just went with enterprises or depending on the mod, rentals and other ways to make money.

[Casul]

Some nords lord called me out for being a woman, chopped his pretty little head off and drank from his skull.

Welp, I managed 63 days without a single kill (knocked out the entrance mission guy with a kick)

Back to less talking, more raiding.


However, I will try again, did many mistakes and can do much better on my new run

[the real god emperor]

Play Prophesy of Pendor if you want challenge and something different, it's highly recommended

[Leesin]

Sounds really gay