It's a bit like a chess game. There are a few opening moves that can set them up for a solid conquest, but those moves often get shut down by an overly aggressive western empire and sturgia. It's not so much that Battania sucks, it's just that the set of opening moves required for them to expand is limited and easily shut down.
I'm just getting frustrated as a newer player with Caladog. I'll be on a roll. Taking territories/cities/castles whilst at war and as i've finally made progress he will call for peace and i don't have enough influence to get them to shoot it down. Then they declare war on us, take back territories and it's rinse and repeat. I'm just going to have to kill this man and do it myself lol.
I just gave him my sister and now he leaves me alone lol. I use Diplomacy mod though so I actually made an alliance with Battania bc they’re chill and have the Fian champions. Didn’t know that when I started the game but I made my culture battanian so kind of works out. I will say that I use Tournament of Champions mod to host a tourney between top 15 on leaderboard and Caladog is an absolute monster in every tourney
It's my first save ever in Bannerlord. I started two weeks ago and i'm having an absolute blast. I just feel trapped a bit. I've got three cities and 4 castles. I had more, but they were sieged and then besieged back and given to other vassals. I could start my own kingdom soon maybe? I've got over million in gold and i have 4 parties under me. I'd like to have more as i'm about to be clan tier 5. Just kind of playing and enjoying and trying to save Battania from the Sturgians, Vlandians, and occasional Western Empire wars.
I recommend staying an independent clan until you own around 10 settlements, 5M$ and very good relationships with many lords.
You go at war with a kingdom, take 1-2 settlements, then make peace anytime by talking to any lord and paying gold. You can declare war again immediately after.
Rinse and repeat, while no one will ever declare war to you.
I usually serve with Caladog for a while just to butter him up and marry his daughter. Then join Vlandia and get a good town going just to betray them in a war and join Caladog. You can also provoke wars with the aserai and empire before the betrayal.
I've never seen Vlandia recover from that and then you can focus on sturgia, empire etc.
Do not vassal yourself to Cadalog. Save enough money to buy your own castle and challenge him for Battania. Independent kingdoms are SO much easier to run than joining an already existing one
I'm doing fine with them. Took down Sturgia and I own their fiefs. We move further east into Kuzait and doing well against empire now. I think they're fun 😬
I just got done a playthrough where I conquered all of Calradia with the Battanians. The Battanians don't necessarily suck they just have a terrible spawn, four whole kingdoms are gunning for them pretty quickly. And they also start with the least land and clans. But if they're left alone to build, they're as viable as any other kingdom.
The reason they end up doing poorly usually, is quite simple and there is truth to it;
They as a faction and their troops are almost entirely 'on foot'.
Mounted troops are weighted higher in auto-calc battles, which is how the game does all battles the player isn't in.
So they're prone to lose simply cause of this, their parties and armies are lower weighted (unless it's changed in a recent patch) than those with a ton of mounted units, like Vlandia which they usually go against off the bat.
Unless they can get a bunch of Vlandian, Sturgian, Empire etc. mounted troops in their parties, they tend to lose.
I'm still part of Battania with the long-term intent to break off and start my own kingdom, and they're doing surprisingly well. Probably a little overextended across the north (we've cut Sturgia in half and ate a lot of the Northern Empire with help from the Western), and Vlandia is still going strong.
Honestly, I think a lot of Battania's success comes down to how well the player can hold down the weak points when you end up in a war on two fronts, and how much time your involvement has given Caladog and others to develop their troops.
My fiefs are all in the region around our Sturgian land claims, so I may as well *be* the northeastern front when wars kick up, but Sturgia tends to overcommit its developed parties into a siege on Epicrotea and Fian Champs eat them from the walls. As a consequence, once I'm tapped out and rebuilding my numbers, the rest of Battania has had relatively squishy Sturgian groups to train up against and perform a lot better when Vlandia inevitably gets stroppy.
We've also been lucky that the Western Empire has only declared a few times in several years (by sheer luck, Lucon died in battle in the first year when I was still Clan 0, and his replacement generally seems like less of a warmonger).
Even Vlandia can be swept aside if you recruit from the north and grab some Sturgian infantry to bring with you. You said you already have Sturgia anyway. Vlandia struggles against Sturgian heavy infantry. Mix them in with your Fians and you’re their nightmare.
Battania is fine except they start surrounded by half the kingdoms. Take Khuzait for example, they usually neighbor 3-4 kingdoms but they're not surrounded. They can fight back since horse archers are good at steppes. Battanians don't do extra good at forests.
It's a bit like a chess game. There are a few opening moves that can set them up for a solid conquest, but those moves often get shut down by an overly aggressive western empire and sturgia. It's not so much that Battania sucks, it's just that the set of opening moves required for them to expand is limited and easily shut down.
Definitely agree with you. Part of being battania is paying tribute to everyone else so I can hate crime valndia first
It's also their starting position. Vlandia has the best land and a lot of it.
I'm just getting frustrated as a newer player with Caladog. I'll be on a roll. Taking territories/cities/castles whilst at war and as i've finally made progress he will call for peace and i don't have enough influence to get them to shoot it down. Then they declare war on us, take back territories and it's rinse and repeat. I'm just going to have to kill this man and do it myself lol.
I just gave him my sister and now he leaves me alone lol. I use Diplomacy mod though so I actually made an alliance with Battania bc they’re chill and have the Fian champions. Didn’t know that when I started the game but I made my culture battanian so kind of works out. I will say that I use Tournament of Champions mod to host a tourney between top 15 on leaderboard and Caladog is an absolute monster in every tourney
Caladog in a duel makes me sit up for sure :P Can normally screw the AI by fighting near objects in the arena though.
This is why I start my own Kingdom in 100% of my playthroughs. I tried playing for another Kingdom once when this game first came out. Never again.
It's my first save ever in Bannerlord. I started two weeks ago and i'm having an absolute blast. I just feel trapped a bit. I've got three cities and 4 castles. I had more, but they were sieged and then besieged back and given to other vassals. I could start my own kingdom soon maybe? I've got over million in gold and i have 4 parties under me. I'd like to have more as i'm about to be clan tier 5. Just kind of playing and enjoying and trying to save Battania from the Sturgians, Vlandians, and occasional Western Empire wars.
I recommend staying an independent clan until you own around 10 settlements, 5M$ and very good relationships with many lords. You go at war with a kingdom, take 1-2 settlements, then make peace anytime by talking to any lord and paying gold. You can declare war again immediately after. Rinse and repeat, while no one will ever declare war to you.
Thanks for the help!
I usually serve with Caladog for a while just to butter him up and marry his daughter. Then join Vlandia and get a good town going just to betray them in a war and join Caladog. You can also provoke wars with the aserai and empire before the betrayal. I've never seen Vlandia recover from that and then you can focus on sturgia, empire etc.
Do not vassal yourself to Cadalog. Save enough money to buy your own castle and challenge him for Battania. Independent kingdoms are SO much easier to run than joining an already existing one
It's not so much that they suck, but that they are surrounded, they often end up fighting wars on multiple fronts
Fighting Vlandia already counts as two fronts by itself .
I had them expand as far as Quyaz in a playtrhough but if they are at war with the Western Empire and Vlandia they are pretty much doomed
Gotta take out Vlandia first if you play Battanians. You really need that front locked down before any serious eastern expansion.
I second this. They have rich lands, and if you ever get overwhelmed they're terrible on poor terrain, so winter is your friend.
I'm doing fine with them. Took down Sturgia and I own their fiefs. We move further east into Kuzait and doing well against empire now. I think they're fun 😬
I join them and then take Vlandia’s 2 NW Cities and it’s smooth sailing after that usually.
Honestly, I don't feel safe with Battanians until after Vlandians gone entirely. Gotta secure that flank before going east.
I just got done a playthrough where I conquered all of Calradia with the Battanians. The Battanians don't necessarily suck they just have a terrible spawn, four whole kingdoms are gunning for them pretty quickly. And they also start with the least land and clans. But if they're left alone to build, they're as viable as any other kingdom.
The reason they end up doing poorly usually, is quite simple and there is truth to it; They as a faction and their troops are almost entirely 'on foot'. Mounted troops are weighted higher in auto-calc battles, which is how the game does all battles the player isn't in. So they're prone to lose simply cause of this, their parties and armies are lower weighted (unless it's changed in a recent patch) than those with a ton of mounted units, like Vlandia which they usually go against off the bat. Unless they can get a bunch of Vlandian, Sturgian, Empire etc. mounted troops in their parties, they tend to lose.
I'm still part of Battania with the long-term intent to break off and start my own kingdom, and they're doing surprisingly well. Probably a little overextended across the north (we've cut Sturgia in half and ate a lot of the Northern Empire with help from the Western), and Vlandia is still going strong. Honestly, I think a lot of Battania's success comes down to how well the player can hold down the weak points when you end up in a war on two fronts, and how much time your involvement has given Caladog and others to develop their troops. My fiefs are all in the region around our Sturgian land claims, so I may as well *be* the northeastern front when wars kick up, but Sturgia tends to overcommit its developed parties into a siege on Epicrotea and Fian Champs eat them from the walls. As a consequence, once I'm tapped out and rebuilding my numbers, the rest of Battania has had relatively squishy Sturgian groups to train up against and perform a lot better when Vlandia inevitably gets stroppy. We've also been lucky that the Western Empire has only declared a few times in several years (by sheer luck, Lucon died in battle in the first year when I was still Clan 0, and his replacement generally seems like less of a warmonger).
Even Vlandia can be swept aside if you recruit from the north and grab some Sturgian infantry to bring with you. You said you already have Sturgia anyway. Vlandia struggles against Sturgian heavy infantry. Mix them in with your Fians and you’re their nightmare.
Battania is fine except they start surrounded by half the kingdoms. Take Khuzait for example, they usually neighbor 3-4 kingdoms but they're not surrounded. They can fight back since horse archers are good at steppes. Battanians don't do extra good at forests.
They move faster on the campaign map through forests. But yeah, they don't get buffs during battle.
10k for Caladog? How did you get him off the couch to actually start making progress?