5 Solutions for Bannerlord 2 Progression Pain Points

Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord is a complex game, and that complexity can sometimes translate to frustrating progression. This article tackles the most common bannerlord 2 progression pain points experienced by players and provides actionable solutions to smooth out your journey to conquering Calradia. We’ll cover clan progression, character skill development, economic hurdles, and other roadblocks.

Many players stumble upon the same difficulties in Bannerlord 2. These aren’t necessarily bugs or broken mechanics, but rather areas where the game’s depth can feel overwhelming or poorly explained. Let’s break down the key areas:

• Slow Clan Tier Progression: Reaching higher clan tiers unlocks crucial benefits like larger party sizes, access to better troops, and political influence. The grind to reach these tiers can feel excessively long.
• Frustrating Skill Development: Leveling specific character skills, especially in the early game, can be a tedious and time-consuming process.
• Economic Instability: Managing your finances, especially as a new clan, can be challenging. Constant warfare and poorly managed fiefs can lead to crippling debt.
• Influence Generation: Participating in the political game requires Influence, a resource that can be difficult to accumulate, particularly for smaller clans.
• Finding and Training Elite Troops: Building a powerful army takes time and resources. Identifying the best troops and leveling them effectively can be a significant hurdle.

Clan tier dictates your party size, available workshops, and eligibility for higher-level political roles. Here are several ways to accelerate your clan’s ascent:

• Participate in Tournaments: Tournaments offer a steady stream of renown, especially early on. Focus on mastering the melee combat and betting on yourself for maximum profit and renown.
• Complete Faction Quests: Agreeing to quests offered by the faction leader not only increases your renown, but can also increase relation with the faction.
• Fight and Win Battles: Obviously, winning battles is a good way to gain renown. To maximise renown gain, engage in fights where you are outnumbered and win.
• Marry and have children: Renown is also gained when your character is married and has children. Make sure you are married to someone of good standing and high renown for optimum growth for your clan.
• Crafting: Crafting weapons not only raises your crafting skill, but selling them also nets you renown. Craft highly sought after weapons to maximise renown gain.
• Focus on Renown-Granting Activities: Prioritize activities that directly contribute to your renown gain. Renown is what directly contributes to clan progression.

Skill progression can feel slow, especially for non-combat skills. This is by design. Here’s how to speed it up:

• Focus on Specific Skills: Don’t spread your focus too thin. Pick a few key skills relevant to your character’s role (e.g., Tactics for a leader, Medicine for a surgeon) and concentrate on leveling them.
• Utilize Learning Rate Bonuses: Your learning rate is affected by attribute points. Use attribute points to speed up the desired skill learning rate. Use focus points to speed up the desired skill learning rate.
• Seek Out Training Opportunities: Hire companions who can train your skills. Look for companions with high skill levels in the areas you want to improve.
• Exploit Early Game Opportunities: Early game is important for skill training. Skills like scouting, riding, and steward all benefit from early investment and can lead to significant advantages.
• Constant Action: Keep your character busy. If you want to level your Steward skill, make sure you’re always managing a city or castle. If you want to level your tactics skill, be at the head of the army. Skills are only leveled by using them, so keep using them.

Money makes the world go around, and in Calradia, it keeps your troops fed and your workshops running. Here’s how to maintain a positive income:

• Diversify Income Streams: Don’t rely solely on one source of income. Combine workshops, caravans, and fief income to create a more stable economy.
• Choose Workshop Locations Wisely: Different towns have different production strengths. Research which workshops are most profitable in each location before investing.
• Manage Fief Expenses Carefully: Garrison costs can quickly drain your treasury. Optimize your garrison sizes based on the town’s prosperity and security.
• Invest in Trade: Trading between towns can be very profitable, especially with the right knowledge of supply and demand. Find out what is overproduced in one town, and bring that product to a town where it is desired.
• Limit Party Size When Not at War: Keeping a large army costs money, even if you are not at war. Recruit troops and disband them before engaging in combat, and limit your party size when not fighting.

Influence is the currency of politics. Here’s how to build your political power:

• Complete Clan Quests for Your Kingdom: These quests often reward Influence. Pay attention to which quests offer the best Influence rewards relative to their difficulty.
• Participate in Kingdom Decisions: Voting on policies and declaring wars consumes Influence, but actively participating also generates it. Make informed decisions and contribute to kingdom discussions.
• Own Fiefs with High Prosperity: Prosperous fiefs generate more Influence for their owners. Invest in your fiefs to increase their prosperity and Influence output.
• Support Kingdom Policies that benefit you: Every kingdom decision has a benefit or a drawback. Support those policies which benefit you and your long-term goals to benefit from the policy.
• Be Generous: Giving influence to other lords will improve relations with them and increase the likelihood of being helped in return. Be generous with your influence, but not recklessly so.

A strong army is essential for both offense and defense. Here’s how to build one:

• Recruit from Areas with High-Tier Troops: Some regions are known for producing specific types of elite troops. Explore Calradia and identify villages that recruit high-tier troops from the start.
• Focus on Troop Experience: Troops gain experience by fighting in battles. Prioritize keeping your higher-tier troops alive and fighting to increase their combat effectiveness.
• Utilize Training Perks: Invest in perks that improve troop training speed. These perks will significantly reduce the time it takes to upgrade your recruits.
• Be Patient: Training an elite army takes time. Focus on consistently recruiting and training troops, and gradually replace your weaker units with stronger ones.
• Practice Good Tactics: Troops aren’t everything. If your army has good positioning and tactics, it can outfight armies twice it’s size. Practice with your formations and get creative with your strategies.

Having spent hundreds of hours in Bannerlord 2, I’ve definitely experienced these progression hurdles firsthand. One of the biggest lessons I learned was the importance of specialization. In my first playthrough, I tried to make my character a jack-of-all-trades, spreading my skill points thinly. I quickly realized this was a mistake. By focusing on specific skills like Stewardship and Tactics, I was able to excel in those areas and contribute more effectively to my clan’s success.

Another key takeaway was the significance of economic diversification. Initially, I relied heavily on workshop income, which proved to be unstable due to fluctuating prosperity and raiding. By investing in caravans and carefully managing my fiefs, I created a more resilient economy that could withstand periods of war and hardship.

The most unique approach I discovered was using family members as strategic assets. I trained my siblings and children in specific skills and assigned them roles that complemented my own. For example, I trained my brother in scouting and assigned him to lead a small, fast-moving party to scout enemy armies and identify lucrative trade opportunities. This allowed me to focus on leading my main army while still benefiting from his specialized skills.

Finally, I noticed a trend that the AI faction leaders prefer to target wealthy parties and caravans. So, if your party carries little to no loot, the AI lords are more likely to leave you alone.

Here’s a simple table summarizing the pain points and their solutions for easy reference:

Overcoming the bannerlord 2 progression pain points requires a combination of strategic planning, focused skill development, and careful economic management. By implementing the solutions outlined in this article, you can smooth out your journey to conquering Calradia and building a powerful and prosperous kingdom. Don’t be afraid to experiment, adapt your strategies, and learn from your mistakes. The world of Bannerlord 2 is vast and complex, but with perseverance and the right approach, you can achieve your goals and leave your mark on history.