How to Master Prisoner Caravans Safely in Bannerlord 2?

Successfully managing prisoner caravans in Bannerlord 2 is crucial for turning enemies into profit and minimizing the risk of escape or costly defeats. This article dives into proven strategies for securing and transporting prisoners, maximizing their value, and mitigating the inherent dangers of prisoner management. This article solves 3 problems: How to minimize the risk of escape, how to maximize profit and how to mitigate the danger of prisoner caravans.

Effective prisoner management is a balancing act. You need to make enough money to justify the risk, while also preventing escapes and avoiding unnecessary fights. Here’s how to achieve that balance:

Optimizing Party Composition

A well-rounded party is essential for any caravan, but it’s particularly vital when dealing with prisoners. Your party should prioritize speed, combat prowess, and scouting capabilities.

• High Scouting Skill: A scout with high scouting skill significantly increases your map speed and spotting range. This allows you to avoid larger enemy parties and locate profitable bandit lairs. Experienced scouts can be found in taverns.
• Elite Troops: While a large army isn’t always necessary, a core of elite troops provides a significant advantage in case of an ambush. Consider Mamelukes, Khuzait Darkhans, or Imperial Elite Cataphracts for their excellent combat stats.
• Reasonable Party Size: While it’s tempting to have an overwhelming force, a smaller, faster party is often more effective. A sweet spot is usually between 50-80 troops depending on your leader’s leadership skill.
• Consider Party Roles:
  • Leader: High Leadership Skill, Tactics Skill, and good combat skills.
  • Scout: High Scouting Skill.
  • Surgeon: High Medicine Skill.
  • Engineer: High Engineering Skill (for siege defense if needed).

The Right Equipment and Mounts

Equipment and mounts directly impact your caravan’s effectiveness. Investing wisely in these areas significantly improves your party’s speed, combat ability, and overall survivability.

• Mounts for Everyone: Ensure every troop has a mount, even if it’s a cheap one. This drastically increases party speed.
• Good Armor: Equip your troops with decent armor to increase their survivability in combat.
• Horses in Inventory: Carrying extra horses in your inventory can offset the speed penalty from carrying prisoners. These can be cheap sumpter horses bought at any town.
• Consider Pack Animals: Mules or pack horses can help with carry weight, but prioritize speed first.

Utilizing Companion Parties

Companions can be used to create additional caravans focused solely on prisoner transport. This strategy is effective, but requires careful planning.

• Companion Selection: Choose companions with high Steward skill to maximize party size and reduce wages.
• Designated Role: Instruct the companion party to only transport prisoners and avoid unnecessary combat.
• Safe Routes: Assign them routes that avoid known bandit hotspots and large enemy armies.
• Support: Provide the companion party with enough troops to defend themselves, but not so many that they become slow and expensive.
• Strategic Placement: Position your companion parties near castles or towns with large garrisons for easy prisoner drop-off and resupply.

Scouting and Route Optimization

Knowing the terrain and potential threats is crucial for a successful prisoner caravan. Effective scouting and route optimization are essential.

• Prioritize Safe Routes: Stick to well-traveled roads and avoid areas known for bandit activity.
• Use Mountain Passes Wisely: While mountain passes can shorten travel time, they also increase the risk of ambush. Assess the risk carefully.
• Pay Attention to Map Speed: Keep an eye on your party’s map speed. Overburdening your caravan with too many prisoners will slow you down and make you an easier target.
• Patrolling: Patrol the route ahead to make sure it’s safe before you caravan passes. This requires time but greatly reduces risk.

Beyond the standard advice, here are some unconventional strategies for managing prisoner caravans.

The “Bait and Switch” Tactic

This involves intentionally engaging smaller enemy parties to lure larger ones into ambushes near friendly garrisons.

• Identify Suitable Locations: Find locations near castles or towns where you can easily retreat if needed.
• Engage a Small Force: Provoke a small enemy party and lead them towards the garrison.
• Lure the Main Force: The smaller party will often call for reinforcements, drawing a larger force into your trap.
• Utilize Garrison Support: The garrison troops will assist you in defeating the larger enemy force, minimizing your losses and maximizing your prisoner capture.
• Risks: This tactic requires careful timing and awareness of the surrounding area. A miscalculation could result in a significant loss.

The “Prisoner Farm” Approach

Establish a network of castles and towns where you can consistently sell prisoners for profit.

• Identify High-Demand Locations: Determine which settlements consistently pay well for prisoners.
• Establish Trade Routes: Create efficient trade routes between these settlements and your primary areas of operation.
• Optimize Prisoner Storage: Utilize castles with large garrisons to store prisoners until they can be transported to high-demand locations.
• Invest in Infrastructure: Improve the prosperity of your “prisoner farm” settlements to increase their demand for prisoners.
• Benefits: This approach creates a stable and predictable income stream from prisoner management.

Exploiting Prisoner Skills

Some prisoners have valuable skills that can be exploited.

• Identify Skilled Prisoners: Check the skills of your prisoners before selling them. Some may have high Steward, Medicine, or Engineering skills.
• Recruit Talented Individuals: Offer skilled prisoners a chance to join your party or serve in your settlements.
• Benefits: This can provide a significant boost to your party’s or settlement’s capabilities.
• Risks: There is always a risk that recruited prisoners will betray you.

From personal experience, I’ve found that the key to successful prisoner caravans is adaptability. No strategy is foolproof, and you must be prepared to adjust your approach based on the situation.

• Don’t Be Greedy: It’s tempting to overload your caravan with prisoners to maximize profit, but this significantly increases the risk of escape and slows you down.
• Pay Attention to Morale: Unhappy troops are more likely to desert or cause trouble. Keep morale high by providing them with good food, paying them regularly, and winning battles.
• Learn from Your Mistakes: Every defeat is a learning opportunity. Analyze what went wrong and adjust your strategy accordingly.
• The value of speed cannot be overstated. A fast caravan is a safe caravan.
• Sometimes, cutting your losses is the best option. If you’re facing overwhelming odds, it’s better to release your prisoners and escape than to risk losing your entire party.

As a long-time Bannerlord 2 player and strategy enthusiast, I’ve spent countless hours experimenting with different prisoner management strategies. My advice is based on both personal experience and observations from the wider Bannerlord community. The Bannerlord wiki is a great resource for learning game mechanics and strategies, although it may not reflect the most up-to-date information. https://mountandblade.fandom.com/wiki/Mount_&_Blade_II:_Bannerlord

I also recommend checking out the Bannerlord subreddit (https://www.reddit.com/r/Bannerlord/) for discussions, tips, and tricks from other players.

Table: Prisoner Management Strategies

Here are some frequently asked questions related to Bannerlord 2 prisoner caravans:

By implementing these strategies and insights, you can transform prisoner caravans from a risky endeavor into a reliable source of income and power in Bannerlord 2. Remember to adapt your approach to the ever-changing political landscape of Calradia and learn from every success and failure. Good luck, and may your caravans always be filled with valuable prisoners!