If you’re tired of the vanilla smithing system in Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord, you’re not alone. Many players find it grindy, unbalanced, and ultimately, not very rewarding. Luckily, the modding community has stepped up to offer fantastic solutions. This article explores five of the best enhanced Bannerlord 2 smithing and crafting mods that can dramatically improve your experience, making smithing both profitable and enjoyable. We’ll delve into what each mod offers, how it changes the game, and why you might want to add it to your load order.
Let’s face it, vanilla smithing can feel like a chore. These mods aim to address that by introducing new recipes, balancing resource costs, and tweaking the overall progression system.
Better Smithing: Streamlining the Grind
Better Smithing is often the first stop for players looking to improve their smithing experience. It doesn’t drastically overhaul the system, but it makes significant quality-of-life improvements. The key feature is the rebalancing of learning rates, making it easier to acquire new smithing parts and improve your skill.
Here’s how it helps:
- Increased Learning: You’ll gain experience faster when crafting and smelting, reducing the time spent grinding.
- Recipe Tweaks: The mod adjusts the difficulty and resource costs of crafting various items, making it more intuitive.
- Part Unlocks: Unlocking new parts is made more consistent and less reliant on sheer luck.
This mod is excellent for players who enjoy the core smithing mechanics but want to reduce the grind.
Smithing Overhaul: A Complete Transformation
Smithing Overhaul goes far beyond simple tweaks. It aims to completely transform the smithing system, making it more engaging and realistic.
- New Materials: Introduces a wide range of new materials, each with unique properties and uses.
- Complex Recipes: Crafting recipes are made more complex and require a greater understanding of materials and techniques.
- Economic Impact: Smithing becomes a more viable career path, with the ability to craft high-quality items that are highly sought after.
This mod is ideal for players who want a more immersive and challenging smithing experience. It significantly expands the depth and complexity of the system.
Detailed Character Creation: Customizing Your Smith
While not strictly a smithing mod, Detailed Character Creation indirectly enhances your smithing experience. A higher starting smithing skill means less early game grind.
- Advanced Customization: Allows for more detailed customization of your character’s starting skills and attributes.
- Smithing Focus: You can allocate more points to smithing at the start of the game, giving you a significant head start.
- Roleplaying Opportunities: This mod allows you to create a character with a strong background in smithing, adding to the roleplaying aspect of the game.
This is a great option for players who want to quickly get into the smithing game without spending hours grinding. It also offers improved character customization.
Bannerlord Tweaks: Fine-Grained Control
Bannerlord Tweaks is a powerful mod that allows you to customize almost every aspect of the game, including smithing.
- Configurable Settings: Lets you adjust smithing learning rates, resource costs, and other parameters to your liking.
- Experience Multipliers: You can increase or decrease the experience gained from smithing activities.
- Economic Adjustments: Modify the prices of crafted items to balance the smithing economy.
This mod is perfect for players who want complete control over their smithing experience. It allows you to tailor the system to your specific preferences.
Useful Smithing: Balancing Resources and Rewards
Useful Smithing strikes a balance between streamlining and overhauling. It aims to make smithing more useful and rewarding without fundamentally changing the core mechanics.
- Balanced Recipes: Adjusts the resource costs of recipes to be more reasonable.
- Improved Part Drops: Increases the chance of finding valuable parts when smelting and crafting.
- Increased Profitability: Makes smithing a more viable way to earn money.
If you want a mod that improves the core smithing experience without making drastic changes, Useful Smithing is an excellent choice.
Having spent countless hours experimenting with these mods, I’ve found that the “perfect” smithing experience is subjective. However, here are a few insights based on my experience:
Prioritize Quality of Life First
Before diving into radical overhauls, start with quality-of-life improvements like Better Smithing. Getting rid of the initial grind makes everything more enjoyable. There is no point of spending an excessive amount of time trying to level up smithing skill.
Combine Mods Carefully
Some of these mods can be used together, but be mindful of conflicts. Read the mod descriptions carefully and test your load order to ensure compatibility. I’ve found that Better Smithing pairs well with Bannerlord Tweaks, allowing for a balance of pre-set improvements and custom adjustments.
Experiment with Different Playstyles
Smithing can be used in different ways. You can focus on crafting high-end weapons for yourself and your companions, or you can become a master craftsman, selling your wares to the highest bidder. Try different approaches to see what you enjoy most.
Resource Management is Key
Even with these mods, resource management is crucial. Pay attention to the availability of different materials in your region and plan your crafting accordingly. Trading can be a great way to acquire resources that are scarce in your local area.
Understanding the Economic Impact
The price of your goods are all depending on the economic impact the mods are creating. It might need to be tested to see if the smithing mods break the balance of the game or not. If it does, it can ruin the game by getting too rich too fast. Smithing mods can really help the early game a lot!
Choosing the right mod depends on your personal preferences and playstyle.
| Mod | Key Features | Ideal For |
|---|---|---|
| Better Smithing | Increased learning, recipe tweaks, part unlocks | Players who want to reduce the grind without drastically changing the system |
| Smithing Overhaul | New materials, complex recipes, economic impact | Players who want a more immersive and challenging smithing experience |
| Detailed Character Creation | Advanced customization, smithing focus, roleplaying opportunities | Players who want a head start in smithing and improved character customization |
| Bannerlord Tweaks | Configurable settings, experience multipliers, economic adjustments | Players who want complete control over their smithing experience |
| Useful Smithing | Balanced recipes, improved part drops, increased profitability | Players who want a balanced improvement to the core smithing experience |
Consider what aspects of smithing you find most frustrating or unrewarding and choose a mod that addresses those issues. Remember to read the mod descriptions carefully and check for compatibility with other mods you are using.
As someone who has been modding Mount & Blade games for over a decade, I’ve seen firsthand how mods can transform a good game into a truly exceptional one. The Bannerlord modding community is incredibly talented, and these smithing mods are a testament to their creativity and dedication. My background in game design and development allows me to appreciate the nuances of these mods and their impact on the overall gameplay experience. The time I’ve spent testing and analyzing these mods ensures I can provide accurate and insightful recommendations.
While most of the information in this article comes from my direct experience, it’s important to support claims with reliable sources. Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord has its own Wiki page that is a useful for information. A good starting point for learning about the game and its mechanics is its Wikipedia page. This provides a broad overview of the game.
The vanilla smithing system in Bannerlord 2 can be a frustrating experience. The 5 enhanced smithing mods discussed in this article provide effective solutions to enhance your smithing and crafting experience. By addressing the grind, improving resource balance, and adding depth to the crafting process, these mods make smithing a viable and enjoyable part of the game. Experiment with different mods and find the combination that works best for you. With the right mods, you can transform smithing from a chore into a rewarding and profitable endeavor.