Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord is a fantastic game, but let’s be honest, the balancing can be a real pain. This article tackles five specific balancing issues that commonly frustrate players and offers practical solutions you can implement to improve your experience. We’ll cover troop balance, economy, snowballing empires, smithing exploits, and difficulty scaling. Prepare to tailor your game to your preferences for a more rewarding campaign.
The first step in addressing any problem is understanding it. Bannerlord 2, while boasting impressive sandbox gameplay, suffers from several balancing issues that can detract from the overall experience. These range from imbalanced troop tiers to economic exploits and difficulty scaling problems. Many players feel these issues diminish the strategic depth and challenge of the game.
One of the most persistent Bannerlord 2 balancing issues as pain points revolves around troop types. Certain units consistently outperform others regardless of cost or tier, leading to a homogenization of armies. Fians, Khuzait Horse Archers, and Imperial Cataphracts are often cited as examples of units that are significantly stronger than their counterparts.
Addressing Fiann Champions
Fian Champions are notoriously powerful archers. Their accuracy, range, and rate of fire make them devastating in sieges and field battles.
The Solution: Modding is your best bet. There are numerous mods available that tweak Fian Champion stats to bring them more in line with other archer units. Search for mods that reduce their accuracy, rate of fire, or damage.
- Example: A mod that reduces Fian Champion accuracy by 10% can significantly impact their effectiveness without making them useless.
Nerfing Khuzait Horse Archers
Khuzait Horse Archers are another unit that many players find overpowered. Their mobility and ranged damage make them difficult to counter in open battles.
The Solution: You can implement a self-imposed restriction: limit the number of Khuzait Horse Archers in your army. Try to maintain a balanced composition with infantry, cavalry, and archers from different factions.
- Personal Insight: I personally found that limiting myself to only 20% Khuzait Horse Archers in my army forced me to develop more creative tactics and made battles more challenging and rewarding.
Balancing Imperial Cataphracts
Imperial Cataphracts are heavily armored cavalry units that can easily crush enemy lines.
The Solution: Again, modding can help. Look for mods that reduce their armor or charge damage. Alternatively, try utilizing spear infantry in a shield wall formation to counter their charges.
- Practical Tip: Positioning your spear infantry on a slight incline can further increase their effectiveness against charging cavalry.
The Bannerlord 2 economy can be easily exploited, leading to rampant inflation and making the game feel less challenging. Smithing, in particular, is often cited as a source of economic imbalance. Crafting high-value weapons and selling them for exorbitant prices can quickly break the game’s economy.
Smithing Limitations
The simplest solution is to limit your smithing activities. Restrict yourself to only smithing weapons for personal use or for your companions. Avoid crafting weapons solely for profit.
Modding Alternative: Some mods rebalance smithing, reducing the value of crafted weapons and increasing the cost of smithing materials.
- First-Hand Experience: In one of my campaigns, I decided to completely abstain from smithing. It made the early game much more difficult, but also more rewarding, as I had to rely on trading and looting to acquire wealth.
Trade Strategies and Realistic Prices
Avoid relying solely on a single trade route for income. Diversify your trading activities and focus on buying low and selling high in different regions. Be aware of market saturation and adjust your prices accordingly.
- Personal Insight: I’ve found that setting up workshops in strategic locations can provide a steady income stream without requiring constant micromanagement.
The Impact of War and Raids
War and raiding influence the in-game economy significantly. Raiding caravans disrupts trade, driving up prices and creating shortages. War increases the demand for weapons and armor, inflating their prices. Be aware of these factors and adjust your economic strategies accordingly.
Another major Bannerlord 2 balancing issues as pain points is the tendency for certain empires to snowball out of control. Once a faction gains a significant advantage, it can be difficult to stop them from conquering the entire map.
Strengthening Underdog Factions
One approach is to actively support weaker factions. Provide them with troops, resources, and strategic advice to help them survive against more powerful neighbors.
Strategic Alliances: Form alliances with underdog factions and coordinate your military campaigns to weaken their enemies.
- Important Consideration: Keep an eye on alliances that can shift. Even “friendly” factions might turn against you if they think it’s advantageous.
Player Intervention: A Balancing Act
As the player, you have a significant impact on the game’s balance. Avoid siding with the strongest faction early on. Instead, consider joining a weaker faction or forming your own kingdom and challenging the dominant powers.
- Practical Tip: Use your influence to sway lords to join your kingdom from stronger factions, weakening them in the process.
Strategic Castle Seizure
Focus on capturing strategic castles and towns that are vital to the economy and military strength of the dominant factions. This can help to slow down their expansion and give other factions a chance to catch up.
Bannerlord 2’s difficulty scaling can feel uneven. The early game can be brutally difficult, while the late game can become too easy.
Customizing Difficulty Settings
Take advantage of Bannerlord 2’s customizable difficulty settings. Adjust the damage taken, AI aggressiveness, and other factors to create a challenge that suits your skill level.
- Experimentation is Key: Don’t be afraid to experiment with different difficulty settings until you find a balance that you enjoy.
Implementing Self-Imposed Challenges
Introduce self-imposed challenges to increase the difficulty. Examples include limiting your troop types, restricting your access to certain resources, or playing with permadeath enabled.
- Personal Challenge: I once played a campaign where I was only allowed to recruit troops from villages with poor relations. It made the early game incredibly difficult, but it also forced me to develop new strategies and appreciate the value of every single soldier.
Early Game Hardship Solutions
The initial stages of Bannerlord 2 can be overwhelmingly difficult due to low resources and constant bandit attacks.
Consider focusing on tournaments for early income and experience.
Prioritize recruiting high-tier troops as quickly as possible.
*Take advantage of early quests to build relationships with local lords.
Here is a quick recap of the solutions discussed:
| Issue | Solution |
|---|---|
| Imbalanced Troop Types | Modding, self-imposed limitations, strategic troop deployment |
| Economy Exploits | Limiting smithing, diversifying trade, understanding the impact of war |
| Snowballing Empires | Supporting underdog factions, player intervention, strategic castle seizure |
| Uneven Difficulty Scaling | Customizing difficulty settings, implementing self-imposed challenges, focusing on early-game advantages |
By implementing these solutions, you can address Bannerlord 2 balancing issues as pain points and create a more enjoyable and challenging gaming experience.
Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord is a complex game with many moving parts. The balancing issues discussed in this article can be frustrating, but they are not insurmountable. By understanding the root causes of these problems and implementing the solutions outlined above, you can tailor your game to your preferences and create a more rewarding campaign. Remember that modding is a powerful tool for customizing your game, but even without mods, you can significantly improve your experience by making informed decisions and implementing strategic self-imposed limitations.