(Guide) New Player Tips

SyncWolf

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Oct 17, 2021
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New Player Tips

A collection of useful tips & tricks for new players to help them on their journey.
  • Character Culture
  • How to make Money
  • How to recruit troops
  • How to increase party size
  • What Troops to use
  • How to make Food
  • Attribute Points
  • Inventory Capacity
  • A horse
  • Companions
  • Player vs Player (PvP)
  • Trade License
  • Influence
  • Acronyms (Next post)
  • Hideouts (Next post)

Character Culture
Bannerlord Online does not include any of the culture benefits. The chosen culture for your character currently has no impact at all. Though it's something the developers of the mod are considering, it would be something for far into the future.


How to make Money

As a fresh new character, having no gear or troops, you'll be tasked to make money by Godric. So what are your options?

Arena
Go to the Arena in Zeonica and have some fun fighting. You can earn 500 Denars if you win a fight.

Chopping Wood
The closest wood chopping village is Alsasos, located west of Zeonica. Talk to the headsman and go back to the entrance of the village to grab an axe and chop down the marked trees. (White X). Chopping wood is a relatively safe and easy way to make good coin.

Farm Wheat
Multi step work to produce wheat required for making food.

Mine Ore
Gathering fest with a nice bonus involving iron ore required for smithing.

Hunt Pelts
A hunting trip for boar carcasses.

The Artisan
The Artisan in any city will always be happy to buy the junk look from you that you obtain from Looters. So if you have a bunch of junk, pay him a visit. Check his quests before selling unwanted items. He'll offer 5 quests per hour. So don't worry about being stuck on his quest.

Forest Bandits
Once you have a proper army, including some infantry to put in a shield wall. You can try your hands at killing forest bandits. The money reward for them is quite nice.

Guard Commander
There are 2 available options from the Guard Commander, found in every town by the entrance. (Repeatable quest)
  • Troop Training: Bringing trained warriors will be random tier troops from the culture of the town.
  • Headhunting: The bandit leader will spawn an army wandering near the town and its connected villages of the same culture of the town. Your own party size will have an impact on the party size of this bandit leader, which can be 20-50-80 stack in size. Only you can see this enemy wandering, but players can join your battle once you engage them.
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The Frostlands
New high reward area with both PvE and PvP.

How to recruit troops

Troops can only be recruited inside cities. The lower tiers (1-3) can be found in the Town Surroundings and will always be units belonging to the faction the city is part of. In addition there is a chance to encounter tier 4 or 5 troops inside the Tavern.


How to increase party size
There are 3 different options that can increase your party size capacity.

Leadership
This is your base skill and the main way of increasing party size. Your party size increases by 1 for every 2 skills in Leadership up to Leadership 100. For Leadership 100 to 200, your party size is increased by 1 per 4 skills.

Clan Bonus
Being in a clan with an active clan bonus will instantly increase your party size capacity for as long as the bonus is active. The extra party size depends on the clan level.

Companion Perk
Having a companion with the Commander perk active will increase your party size by the amount stated by the perk. Perks do not stack, so you can only have 1 active Commander perk in effect.


What troops to use

Early Game
Focus on getting some archers. They'll help you take down looters a lot easier.

Vlandian Crossbowmen
Once you managed to get to Vlandia, invest in getting some Vlandian crossbow units. They're highly effected and the Vlandian Sharpshooter is widely considered a great unit.


Food
Food can be crafted at the Artisan, after obtaining ingredients from a village.

Attribute Points

Unlike single player, attribute points do not increase your leveling speed. They increase the skill cap of the corresponding skills by 30. So don't bother trying to spend all your attribute points the moment you get them.


Inventory Capacity

Mules
Buying a mule (not the old mule) will increase your inventory capacity by 50. You can only have 1 mule without Trade perks! Cargo can be used to level the Trade skill for more mules.

Cargo
Talk to the Trader in Zeonica and ask about cargo that needs to be delivered. It's fairly safe to deliver cargo to Poros. If you have a party of 21, you won't be attacked. You will get a perk to get an extra mule at Trade 20 and Trade 40. Allowing you have to have up to 3 mules in total!

Companions
It is possible for a companion to have a perk that expands your inventory capacity (Perk: Sorter) or allows for more mules (Perk: Caravanner).


A Horse

Old Work Horse
You'll need to start out with a bad horse, like the "Old Work Horse" or "Decrepit Horse". They're not fast, but you'll need to make kills while on a horse to improve your riding skills.

A saddle
Saddles are generally more expensive then horses. But you don't actually need one to ride the horse. You'll want one though, as it will allow you to manouvre a lot better.

Companions
Companions can be obtained either through defeating bandits that hold one prisoner, or by doing special hideout quests.

Player vs Player

By default the campaign map is a PvE area, however there are 2 zones that are free for all PvP in which you can get attacked at all times (except by your allies or group members. These two areas are the Wildlands (south of Aserai) and the Frostlands (north of Sturgia).

Clans can attack each other anywhere on the map IF the clans have declared war on one another. The exception is within the green circles surrounding cities and villages. These circles are only visible while in a clan.

Wildlands2.png
Frostlands2.jpg

Trade License

A trade license allows you to sell items through the merchants (Trader, Armor Master, Weapon Smith, Decorator & Owner of the Stable) in the city you purchase the license in. You can obtain a trade license from the Senechal. You do not require a trade license to sell loot to the Artisan.

So if you buy it in Zeonica, you can only use the merchants in Zeonica. You'll need to buy multiple licenses if you wish to sell in multiple cities at the same time.

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Influence
Influence is a currency that can be used by clans and to recruit troops.

Clans
- To upgrade the clan level
- To pay for the clan bonus


Recruiting
- The bonfires in the Frostlands can spawn tier 4 or 5 melee/ranged troops at the bonfires. Influence can be used to recruit these troops.
It costs 2 influence per recruited troop. See the Frostlands FAQ above.
 
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SyncWolf

Veteran
Oct 17, 2021
643
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43
Netherlands
Acronyms

These are some commonly used acronyms ingame. Courtesy of providing the list by UlfurHrafnsson.

AcronymMeaningExtra
WTSWant To Sell
WTBWant To Buy
EAEachOften used as "WTS AHHA 4K EA"
SSVlandian Sharpshooters
AHHAAserai Heavy Horse ArcherAserai Mamluke Heavy Cavalry
Fian(s)Battanian Fian Champion
BaltaBaltakhandKhuzait City
AMAAserai Master Archer
KHHAKhuzait Heavy Horse Archer


A mission to find and destroy a bandit hideout, the old way to gain Scouting XP. There are a few different tier hideouts, but the locations are all the same. You can click on the word "Hideouts" above to go directly to the map containing all hideout locations. So let's cover some of the needed things to know. For other ways to obtain Scouting XP, you can also complete companion dungeons.

Hideout Map


Preparations
In total, there are 3 Preparation perks to be earned.
- Tactics level 60 - Basic reconnaisance
- Scouting level 30 - Advanced reconnaisance
- Scouting level 75 - Expert reconnaisance

These perks will prevent you from being ambushed when doing a bandit hideout of higher difficulty.

1. Barkeep - Echoes of War
Repeatable: 3 times per hour
Preparation required: 0 perks
Base Scouting XP: 500 (updated)
Info: This hideout will always spawn in the direct vicinity of the city you pick this mission up at.

2. Mabon Notes
Repeatable: As long as you have books.
Preparation required: 1 perk
Base Scouting XP: 500 (updated)
Info: This hideout will always spawn near one of the nearby cities.

3. Mabon Diaries
Repeatable: As long as you have books.
Preparation required: 2 perks
Base Scouting XP: 608 (outdated - actual value is higher)
Info: This hideout will always spawn near one of the nearby cities.

4. Mabon Revelations
Repeatable: As long as you have books.
Preparation required: 3 perk
Base Scouting XP: 1177 (outdated - actual value is higher)
Info: This hideout will always spawn near one of the nearby cities. Random troops can be obtained as a reward for this hideout, including Noble troops. This hideout can also reward Velvet among its loot.

Battle Tactics
Depending on the difficulty of the hideout, barkeep being the easiest, Revelations being the hardest, you will need to adjust your troop composition. You'll be a lot more flexible on how to approach the easy hideout and can learn to play around a bit with troops/weapons.

For the higher difficulties, it will be recommended to bring capable infantry and place them in a shield wall, to absorb the bulk of the enemy attacks, while you take out majority of the enemies.

Recommended weapons: Javelins, for their high damage and decent speed.
 
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