Does leader skills of companions help anything?

Question

Or does it only make sense to add skill points to those skills on my own dude?

Clarification: When I say 'leader skills' I mean the skills marked with (Leader skill), not the Leadership skill (although that one is a leader skill too).

Asked by Svish

Answer

From the Mount and Blade wikia:

Leader skill

Like a party skill, a leader skill grants an ability to a party. However, only the party-leader's level in the skill is used.

I can confirm this, as several of my party members have 2+ points in Prisoner Management, while I only have 2 points in it myself. I can still only hold 10 prisoners.

If you're wanting your other heroes to be more beneficial to your overall party, you'd be best giving them party skills instead. If you want them to be of more use on their own (as a vassal for your kingdom), give them Leader skills, as they will then be the leaders of their own armies.

Answered by Fluttershy

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Is there a way to “win” in Mount and Blade?

Question

I have been playing Mount and Blade for a while now, and it's a more or less open world, but is there an actual end to the game?

Or is it just a game that you can play forever if you so choose? (or until you take over everything there is to take over...)

Asked by The Sasquatch

Answer

You 'win' when you decide that you've achieved what you wanted and have had enough. Even if you conquered the whole world, I expect you could simply start another rebellion and conquer it again.

It's a great game, but I suspect you will tire of it before you get anywhere near taking over the whole land.

Just enjoy playing it. If you find you are progressing too fast, notch up the difficulty, or impose restrictions on yourself (swords-only, or no horses etc)

Answered by CJM

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If my men are taken prisoner, can I get them back?

Question

In Mount & Blade, I was recently attacked by a Lord whose army outnumbered mine 2:1. I tried my best to avoid the fight, as I knew I wouldn't stand a chance, but he was adamant about fighting with me.

Needless to say, I lost. Badly. I managed to get captured, along with my 54 men. However, I was fortunate enough to escape from my captors. Unfortunately, it was only me and 2 of my heroes, leaving me with only 3 troops.

Is there any way for me to get them back? Say, if I were to capture a Lord from the Kingdom in which my men are being held?

Asked by Fluttershy

Answer

The only way to get your men back is to beat the lord that fought you in the first place and recruit his prisoners into your army(hopefully your former army is still there).

Considering you only have 3 units left, this is probably out of the picture at this point.

Answered by yx.

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What good are prisoners?

Question

I recently won a skirmish with some deserters in Mount & Blade. Upon claiming victory at the cost of several of my own men, I succeeded in securing a prisoner.

I've checked with the Lord of the castle from which he deserted, but was met with no option to return said prisoner.

What do I do with prisoners?

Asked by Fluttershy

Answer

There are merchants in the taverns (they travel around so can't say what city you'll fine them in). You can sell them into slavery through them.

Not sure if it's in the original mount and blade, but some of the series has quests to take x number of enemy prisoners for lords.

Answered by ewanm89

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If I join the Kingdom of Swardia, will I lose my recruits?

Question

In Mount & Blade, I've managed to recruit a small amount of troops from the Kingdom of Rhodoks.

I was recently given the option to join the Kingdom of Swardia as a mercenary. Unfortunately, Rhodoks and Swardia are currently undergoing a massive war, resulting in raids of several small villages in the Kingdom of Rhodoks (some of which played home to my recruits).

Will my Rhodoksian recruits leave me if I pledge allegiance to their enemy?

Asked by Fluttershy

Answer

No. Your army is loyal to you, if they have enough morale and you enough money to pay them. They don't care for whom they are fighting.

You can basically pick the best units from each nation, like Nords for Huscarls, Swadians for Cavallary and so on.

However, this does not apply to units stationed in a castle. If you own a castle that was given to you by your current king and you renounce your loyalty to him, then you loose that fief and all units inside.

As a sidenote, you should avoid recruiting units from taverns, since they are much more expensive. It can be a valid source of more men later on when you quickly need some good troops, but in the beginning it can ruin you.

Answered by scorcher24

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Can I see my troop morale?

Question

In Mount & Blade, you're given the option to recruit villagers for your army. I've been led to believe that my troops need a certain level of morale if I'm to expect them to raid innocent villages, plunder, and pillage for slaves.

I would very much like to take over these villages and rule over them all with an iron fist, but I'm not sure if my troop morale is high enough to do any of that.

How can I see my troop morale?

Asked by Fluttershy

Answer

If you click on "Reports" on the bottom of the screen while you are on the campaign map, there should also be a button for a report about troop morale.

This will look like this:

Answered by scorcher24

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What use is a shield on my back?

Question

In Mount and Blade Warband, A shield, when not held in hand, is worn on the back. Does this have any benefits, or is it purely cosmetic?

I may have seen something like "Arrow hit shield on back", but in the middle of a battle, I may have merged two sentences together.

Answer

A shield worn on the back will protect you from missile fire, but not melee attacks. This does not apply to NPCs. I know this from experience and it is also stated on this wiki.

Note that the shield worn on the character's back in the pic most likely caught the arrows while he was holding it.

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How do I start my own faction in Mount&Blade?

Question

I figured out how to be a vassal to another king and how to help claimants, but how do I create my own faction to take over the world?

Answer

To create your own kingdom, you must conquer a castle, any castle. First, you have to begin a war with an existing kingdom. For this, you could try attacking caravan or pillaging villages until you are under 0 relationship with the kingdom. Then, you can start attacking castle and cities.

IIRC, you can also , if you are a vassal to a kingdom, start a rebellion. You have to ask to be given a land, and, if refused, challenge the king and start a rebellion.. If you are wife to a lord of a kingdom, you can also ask him to join you in rebellion, thus starting with some land.

Once you have your castle, you can start giving titles to your companions. When you do this, he will quit your party and patrol around the village, castle or town you gave him, until you give him another order. You also have to put garrisons in your castle and town, otherwise you'll lose them very quickly.

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How do I turn off Hardcore Mode in Mount & Blade?

Question

I regret choosing to play Mount & Blade in hardcore mode. Is there a way to turn it off?

Answer

There isn't a way to do this, unfortunately, unless someone goes and deciphers the savegame format and figures out where the hardcore mode flag is.

What you can do though, is export the character, then import them into a savegame that is not on hardcore mode.

If you do this, you keep your skills, attributes, money, and experience, but you lose your reputation, honour, army, and items. Its not really a great method, but if you're attached to your character, its a better alternative than starting over.

Here are the steps to take to export your character and import them into a non-hardcore save:

1. Load up your hardcore save
2. Go to the Character tab
3. Click on the Statistics button
4. Click on Export Character
5. Return to the main menu
6. Make a new non-hardcore mode character with the same name as your old character (don't worry about the stats and stuff, they get imported)
7. Play through until you get outside the city
8. Go to the character tab
9. Click on the Statistics button
10. Click on Import Character

I know this isn't exactly what you want, but its about as close as you can get.

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Can't find the lord I need to talk to in Mount & Blade. Where is he?

Question

I'm stuck. I'm in Curaw and I need to speak to Lord Naldera but he's not in the castle. Where should I find this Lord and in general the Lord?

Answer

The normal way to find a lord is to go to another lord of his faction and choose the

   I need to know the location of someone.

conversation option, and then the name of the lord you are looking for.

This will give you a rough idea of where he is.

Note that there can be glitches here sometimes; once, a lord I was after was taken prisoner, and I only found him MUCH later, after I freed him in battle.

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How do you increase movement speed on the map in Mount & Blade

Question

I just bought Mount & Blade off of steam yesterday. On the map (with all the cities etc.) I see some groups have speeds much higher than mine (like the 'steppe bandits' going at 7.1), is there a character trait that's linked to this? If not, how do I increase my group's speed?

Thanks!

Answer

There are 4 ways that I remember off the top of my head, but I haven't played for a while, so I won't be much more help.

1. A hero with high pathfinding skill

2. smaller party

3. extra horses

4. more mounted troops

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