I have been to the north a few times now. I normally stay up there for a while hunting for the elusive Sea Raiders lair.
![Warband Warband](/uploads/1/2/3/7/123704715/744276211.jpg)
They normally have a lot of large armies patrolling around there campsites. For whatever reason, that has not been the case during my trips up north. Perhaps they are just really good at hiding or I’m just a blind fool! Without running right top of it with my troops we seem to just miss it. Fl studio tempo keeps changing. Despite some training being done by my men for spotting such things they as well must have gone blind on the ale in a tavern!
On one such of these trips, I left Praven at daybreak. With the men rested and food in stock. Spirits are high at first.
We travel through the forest near Ryibelet Castle to see if we can find any forest bandit to capture and farm before marching on. While the loot is never that great you might just happen on one of their lairs. Cleaning one of them up helps keep the area safer for trade and keeps more villages from getting lost.
After that, we head up through a valley where Jelbegi Castle is alongside one of the mountains. These mountains separate two majors factions. We have not been at war in ages and perhaps a good mountain helps keep the peace.
After that, we head back into a forest but there never much there. The temperatures start to drop somewhat around here and the men start to get tired of our long journey. Shortly after that we cross two rivers and spend a night recovering in Sargoth. That town has a fanatic Inn with a barkeep that the men get drunk in during the night. I also like to check to see if there anyone worth recruiting. Turns out the inns are great places to meet some lively folks with some fire in them.
After that we start to head into the snow lands towards Curaw to see if they have any tournaments, people to recruit and restock on food if needed. This also starts to be placed to check for Sea Raider lairs as they sometimes like to take up along the rivers.
From there we cross over another river and make our way towards Rivacheg. This is the main area they have been reported to be in as of late. We had quite a few many battles clearing out these rats from the lands. Some decent starter gear to be found as well and an ok way to make some early money to buy some upgrades or put towards an economics plan for long-term survival.
After marching up and down the coastline for more than a week news reached us that a local noble was heading towards Rivacheg for a few days. He so happened to have reports of some Sea Raiders causing trouble in the area and offered a bounty if I could find the exact location and take them out.
While it was tempting to just pick off a few of their patrols and let them rebuild over time. I decided after about a month of doing so it was time to clear them out and loot them for what they had remaining. I needed to head back down South to Praven for some business which would give them the opportunity to show up again.
Their camp was well hidden that was for sure. I ended up going down a very steep side of a small mountain to get into their cove of operations. With their ships and them just singing some sea chanteys we closed the ground on them before they were able to fully react.
The two-handed sword I’m wielding to take them out was found in a local shop in town and thankfully I already had some money from taking out sea raiders. If not then I would have surely had enough after this camp was cleared out. The noble paid me a nice sum of 1,500 and I made a few thousand from selling the loot as well. At this point, any little bit helps.
Setting up some business will start to get pricey and I could be out between 5k to 10k each. I won’t be setting up in all the cities on the map as some of them are enemies of my faction more times than not. A few wars have broken out for short stints and then a short-term peace treaty is brokered between the kings involved. More of that in another time as I’m still gathering up funds to afforded just the necessity of wages, food, and some gear upgrades.
Screenshots were taken and content written by @enjar. Screenshots are from a game called Mount & Blade: Warband
My Mount & Blade Warband Playthrough Series
- Ep 3 | To The North, We Go!
Soloing is a risky, tricky, thing to pull off in M&B:WB, but with this simple guide, you'll (probably) find yourself singlehandedly racking up more bandit corpses than you can count.
Disclaimer: While the techniques in this guide are somewhat universal to most M&B Modules, this guide is directed towards the Native module, and some bits of information may not provide helpful in other modules & entries in the franchise.
Other Mount & Blade: Warband Guides:
- Cheats.
- Beginners Guide.
- Basic and Improved Infantry Melee.
- Prophesy of Pendor Guide.
- Kingdom of Nords Guide.
Essential Equipment
Get a Horse
This is, by far, the absolute most important part of fighting bandits solo. A horse allows you to get & stay out of tight situations, it allows you to swoop in at oppertune times, it allows you to kite the enemy, it allows you to chase down routers & stragglers, and many other things. In short, a horse keeps you 10 steps ahead of the enemy, and you absolutely need it to survive as a solo.
Get a Shield
This one is much less important than having a horse, but crutial none-the-less. You should always have your shield facing the enemy archers, and only have it down when facing directly away from the enemy, attacking, couching, and when you have your ranged weapon out. You won't really need it too much, however, when the enemy's ranged attacking capabilities are neutralized.
Get a Bow or Crossbow
This will allow you to kite the enemy, whilst still inflicting casualties on the enemy. Remember to take out the enemy archers before using this thing, because you can't have your shield and bow out at the same time.
![Blade Blade](/uploads/1/2/3/7/123704715/389736786.jpg)
Techniques & Maneuvers
Kiting
Kiting is a very important part of soloing, and it's what you'll spend 90% of a battle doing. The actual process of kiting is actually pretty simple. Repeatedly circle the group of enemies.
When the enemy still has their throwables, it's a very good idea to keep an aditional 40-70 meters away from the enemy, as the AI isn't very good at leading their shots, so almost all of their projectiles will be drunkenly flung onto the ground behind your horse. Doing this is actually quite helpful even when you have an actual army, as it makes the enemy waste their very limited supply of throwing spears, saving many of your own men from dying right before the fight even starts.
Exposing their archers
Now, unlike the melee infantry that run at you in a straight line, archers, as long as you stay within their range, will just stand in one spot. And since these guys are your #1 threat while soloing, you want to get them out of the way ASAP.
So here's how you do this: Kite the enemy in an uneven circle, luring them in a particular direction, until the enemy infantry is seperated from their archers. After this is done, charge the archers, 1 by 1, while strafing & wiggling as much as you can, and start to pick them off. Charge, lure the infantry away, charge, rinse & repeat until all archers are wiped off the field.
Exposing their faces
After taking out the enemy archers, you'll find that you've now got to deal with a solid brick of shields. But the M&B AI are programed to hold up their shield at all times, until they're near an enemy, in which they will lower their shield and raise their weapon, preparing to strike, and at a closer range, they will actually attempt to strike with their weapon.
Mountain Bandit Lair Warband
You want to ride right past them, to the point where they almost get bushwacked by your horse's tail, right at the point where they raise their weapon and lower their shield. This is when you should strike, either with your ranged or melee weapon.Weaving
This one goes hand-in-hand with the former technique, as you'll need it when getting so close to their line, especially with spearmen.
Weaving consists of charging towards an idividual straggler, or the edge of the enemy formation, and subtly wiggling your horse during the charge to avoid missile fire (charge weave), weaving towards the enemy right as you make contact (Contact weave), and weaving out to better avoid their melee retaliation (escape weave), or the melee attacks of the other members of their formation. The charge weave can be ignored, however, if the enemy has no more ranged weapons, although it is very important when charging archers.
Types of Bandits & How to Deal with Them
Looters
Mount And Blade 1.168 Crack
These guys are who I would recommend going after whenever you can, as they're pretty easy targets for soloing, as their ranged weapons are very weak, they have no shields, and their melee weapons are mostly short ranged swords.Now, if you're all decked out in a full suit of late game armor, their rocks will just bounce right off of you, doing 0 - 1 dmg per hit. Just kite them, and shoot blindly into the crowd, and your archery/throwing/crossbow skill will quickly improve.
If you're not particularly well armored, then it's best to wiggle around as much as possible when kiting, and preform the charge weave constantly, but the damage of their stones still shouldn't be that much of a threat to you.
Forest Bandits
With forest bandits, it's actually best to dismount and take advantage of the enviroment that you found them in. the forest. Just hide behind a tree, peek out, take a pot shot, and hide back behind the tree to reload. Some of them will eventually try to flank you, so make sure to keep vigilant over your flanks and take the flankers out ASAP.
Tundra Bandits & Sea Raiders
I'm throwing these 2 into the same bin, because Sea Raiders are essentially just upgraded Tundra Bandits. So with these guys, you want to do an initial loop around them with a very wide distance between you & them, in order to make the infantry expend their throwables. Then, you want to lure the infantry away from the archers, take out the archers, and kill off the infantry as usual.
Mountain Bandits
Same as the Tundra & Sea Raiders, but with yourself being put at a disadvantage due to the steep terrain, which almost knocks your speed advantage right out from under you. Almost.
At the very start of the battle, scout out the area to see if you can manouver properly. If not, retreat and attack again, re-generating the battlefield terrain. If it's still not suitable, repeat once more. If you do this again, it will go back to the first of the 3 maps that it generated and cycle through them in the same order, so pick the best, most flat terrain that you can.
Sandits
These guys are on horseback, just like you, so make sure to only pick small groups. As always, go after the archers first, and then move onto the melee ones.
Oh yeah, and DO NOT GET COUCHED!
If you get hit by a couched lance, it's game over. Those things do about 400 damage, which is enough to one shout both you, and a low-end shield. If you see a couched lance with your name on it, just put your shield up, and get out of the way.
Remember that fighting these guys is the medieval equivalent of being in a modern day dogfight, so make sure that you keep vigilant at all times, or else a single fell swoop from behind is gonna be your demise.
Sea Raider Mount And Blade
Steppe BanditsAlright, now here's how you solo fight a group of steppe bandits: You don't. Seriously, you might as well fight a helicopter with an M60 gunner on the side. Just don't.
Fighting Dismounted
Okay, you've just had your horse turned into a shish kebab, so now what? Well, before you put your weapon down and accept your fate, there's a few things that you can try in a last-ditch effort to stay alive.
Backtracking
Keep walking backwards, and make it so that only one enemy is engaging you at a time. If you can successfully funnel them into a single file line, then you have an infinitely higher chance of surviving unhorsed, than if you were to run in and surround yourself with bandits.
Horse Impaling
Alright, you've got a horse coming straight towards you at 40mph, what now? Get your melee weapon out, preferrably a spear, and slightly fling your mouse directly downwards while clicking and holding. This should set your spear in the 'Stab' position. Wait until the time is right, and depress the mouse button, impaling the horse, instantly killing it, and giving the rider a mouth full of dirt. Kill him. Kill him now.
Dodging a couched lance
You've now got a couched lance coming for you, and your weapon is too short to impale the horse before the lance reaches you. Again, don't give up yet. Unequip your shield if you have the time, wait until the time is right, and strafe-jump to the right (or the left of the horseman), and block mid-air.
Time this too soon, and the horseman will correct their trajectory, too late and you'll either get trampled by the horse or impaled by the lance.
![Mount And Blade Warband Sea Raiders Mount And Blade Warband Sea Raiders](/uploads/1/2/3/7/123704715/163246308.jpg)
Archived
Here's a few things I've learned while playing in the last couple days that should help others new to the mod.
First, it's okay to turn down the difficulty. I for one get rid of the encumbrance penalty because that only affects me and my companions. All the other NPC's in the game already have their items and armors set. They aren't going to change no matter what I pick. Survivability and fun are what I'm after.
- Who am I--I don't know a lot about the character creation but I do know that if you choose things like Poacher it will have a negative affect on your relations with lords. You may also notice that choosing to be a tall person gives you some strength and being short gives you agility. It stands to reason that being a mummer will give you some points in entertainment, and being a merchant's apprentice will probably give you some money and blacksmith apprentice some better equipment.
- Decisions, decisions. The first scene and what to choose. Fight like heck but you'll still lose. But you can gain a level before you lose and you wont' lose any money or stuff like that. Do you help the Starks? If you choose 'yes' then it will give you -10 relations with Westeros, and you'll have some Lannisters chasing after you. However, if you choose 'no' then you get not relation penalty, but Robb Stark does not start the quest line with the Nights Watch. I'd rather have the quest line personally. I can pay off the Lannisters later.
- Show me the money--Head to Saltpans or Lord Harroways Town. They sell salt dirt cheap. Buy what you can and sell in Maidenpool or Duskendale, Gulltown, KL, etc. Then go back to Saltpans and buy some more. Remember not to carry so much you can't move quickly. There are bandits around and they except cash or blood only. I've not learned a lot about trade but the North has cheap furs that sell everywhere for good money. The Reach sells cheap food for a modest profit and Pentos sells Velvet. I bought it for about 200 stags but couldn't sell it anywhere for more than 369. That's strange because the Velvet enterprise says it will sell over 2000 stags worth of velvet each week. Maybe they are making more than 2 now?
- A horse, a horse! My kingdom for a horse. Here's a list of the two best horses that I've found so far. The two best horses are the Plated Warhorse that can be found more often in the Reach or Stormlands. And next is the Sand Steed. This is the fastest horse in the game. They come in different colors and speeds. One of them has a tan coat and has a speed of 51! (hint: get the one with speed of 51)
- Say hello to my little friend. The best weapons in the game are as follows: The Dog Cudgel. Found on slavers in Essos. Speed of 125 (ish) and damage of 35 blunt. Arguably the best one-handed weapon in the game. Next is the Longbladed Spear found in Volantine region. Length 155, speed pf 97. Damage is 43c swing and 39p thrust. A wicked weapon and second only to the Night Kings Ice Spear. I don't even know if that Ice Spear drops! For bow I would go with a shortbow. Good damage, can use on horse, easy availability all over the Seven Kingdoms, and you can improve it at a weaponsmith. Honorable mention to the 'Sword' found in Braavos. About 140 speed, 101 length, does 25c swing and 35p thrust. I haven't mastered this weapon yet but it has a lot of promise--especially for single combat. Dog Cudgel is still probably better.
- Let them fight! Sooner or later you've got to defend what you've got or maybe just kill something. It's best to start with enemies that can't hurt if they can't catch you. I know, for instance, that the Black Ears which patrol around Saltpans and the Riverlands have no ranged weapons and use a lot of two handed axes. This is perfect for a new player if you find them. Bring lots of arrows. But my favorite units to kill for fun and prizes are the White Walkers. You don't need no stinking Valyrian sword. Just buy 3 quivers of Obsidian Arrows in Thenn and kite those bastards until you run out of ammo. If that happens then go as far away from them as you can and retreat and fight another battle. At the end you get all the loot and experience. All of them are easy to kill with obsidian arrows. You'll be stinking rich!
- “If it bleeds, we can kill it”--Tactics. The hard part when starting is learning what enemies are capable of and sadly we have to find out the hard way. Let me start by saying that with higher Tactics skill you can retreat and leave a battle successfully and fight another day. However, if you have working testicles like me then you'll want to stick it out for better or worse. So, here a couple tips. When fighting mixed troops kite the melee users away from the ranged troops and then attack them when you are clear. Or, double back and run down the archers when they are without melee support. You can also try riding in circles around javelin throwers until they run out of spears. Then close in and kill them all. Another method, if you are a skills horse archer, is to pick off the archers at a distance. With a fast horse they can't track you fast enough to hit you, but you can hit them. If you run out of arrows then draw them away from the corpses and double back and pick some up.
33 comments
Posted by10 months ago
Archived
I recently bought mount and blade warband, and installed the floris mod. Boom 3d windows cracked.
Fallout 4 best graphics mods xbox one. How can the answer be improved?
It's been really fun so far, but I am having problems with a literal army of sea raiders, complete with a banner holding leader.
I never experienced this playing vanilla, but only played vanilla for a few days. I am wondering if this is normal, or if it is from the floris mod.
Also any tips on dealing with them? Trying to fight them ends in a battle with over 600 sea raiders and they are quite annoying.
9 comments