Brytenwalda Guide, Warband


Brytenwalda, Warband



Brytenwalda is an Arthurian-style total conversion mod for Mount & Blade: Warband. Brytenwalda is set in the Dark Ages of what is today known as the British Isles or United Kingdom of Great Britain. Roughly, England & Wales are Britannia, Scotland is Caledonia and Ireland is Hibernia. This commentary is based on v.1.41 of Brytenwalda.

Bryten means Britain and Walda means ruler. Brytenwalda then, means Ruler of Britannia. Which can be the object of the campaign: to unify Britannia under one banner.

The cultures or peoples covered include:


The religions are either Christianity or Paganism (Woden: Norse). There are references to the Roman Empire.

The opening track:

The OST and ambient sounds are well selected and deployed in Brytenwalda.

This TCM is notable for being more difficult and realistic than many others of its kind. By default, several hardcore features are enabled for its Dark Ages Battle System, and I decided to leave them that way when I started out, but quickly disabled most of them because it was just too hard for me.


These features include breakable weapons, fatigue, stumbling while backpedaling, wounds, drowning and heavy armor penalties.


There is also +dmg when flanking and ambushes as standard.

The formational and combat unit AI is much smarter, too. At first, enemy shieldwalls will feel impenetrable. Impressively, the enemy backpedals and strafes in formations. Also, many battles can be won through breaking enemy morale: while archery may not claim many victims, an arrow hail can shake them into freezing in fear or fleeing the battlefield. 

 Brytenwalda's British Isles overworld can be described as "busy". There is a lot going on all the time. Afterall, there are over 30 factions (Kingdoms) vying for supremacy whereas in Native Warband there are just six factions. It is possible for a Brytenwalda faction to get eliminated within the first month. 

 The overworld is heavily scripted with roaming mobs and other events that trigger quite frequently. The scripts and map text files are twice the size of Native Warband.

 Locations are not just limited to lairs, villages, castles and towns but also include ruins, monasteries, groves, ports, mines, caves, ancient stones, Hadrian's Wall etc.

 Much of Brytenwalda seems to have been built from Diplomacy and submods also found in the Floris Mod Pack, but there are plenty of features unique to it as well. More than other TCMs I've played, it feels like a new game. While Floris has more options, Brytenwalda has enough of them and is also more cohesive and polished than Floris.

Brytenwalda Difficulty


I want to make it clear that Brytenwalda is hard. Very hard. It is very hard on the Easiest difficulty setting (20% difficulty rating) with all the hardcore features turned off. Before you download and install it, please consider that.

If you just like facerolling everything like in Native Warband, Floris and Prophecy of Pendor, you're not going to like this TCM. It is going to own you because you are a casual that doesn't like a challenge.

As with Warband as a rule, there are no fail-states per se, but there can be devastating losses that can take weeks to recover from, which are basically the same thing. Brytenwalda does not subscribe to the Native concept of the MC becoming a Hero who towers over the world due to OP skills and items.

The scariest thing in Brytenwalda are dena pirates:


Wielding two-handed axes:

Want to just dive in and play? Skip to the tips section: [1.1]

First Foray


For my main character, I'm going with a merchant character background:


I cranked Intelligence for the extra skillpoints, and then diversified my skillset while maintaining the initial focus on Trade, Pathfinding and Inventory Management:


These skills and their bonuses appear on the top-left of the Party sheet as follows:


Note the bottom-right, where it says I don't have the Prison Management skill. Well, there isn't a PM skill in Brytenwalda (see Character Sheet above). We can take prisoners by default but only in proportion to our Company size: the bigger our army, the more prisoners we can take. Prisoners can then be sold off to Ransom Brokers in town taverns (called Mead Halls in Brytenwalda) or recruited into the Company (-Morale).

I'm starting off in the region of East Engla:


Which is currently ruled by Cyning Annan Ening:


I begin outside the East Englian town of Grantebrycge...


... in the southeast of what is, in our day and age, known as Cambridge, England. It is February of the year 636 A.D; it's the Dark Ages.


Grantebrycge flanked by dense woodland:


Reverse angle showing farmland:


I notice banditry nearby. The low-tier bandits or looters in Brytwenwalda are called Theows. They are part of the Outlaw troop tree. Anyway, there is no way a first level merchant build can take on five Theows alone; they're too tough despite being the lowest tier bandit.

Thankfully there are a few villages nearby, but can I reach them before I get ambushed or run down? 

Knowing I'm an easy mark, two of the three Theow mobs stalk me to the village of Cyddaingastun, a few hours hike eastward. I was able to outpace them on the overland due to my Company size (1 combat unit) and my Pathfinding skill (4).


Luckily Cyddaingastun offers up no fewer than eight Gebur Engle combat units for recruitment. And being a merchant, I can afford them all:


They're light infantry, and some are bare-chested, but they're a lot tankier than I am.

And not bad for 80 scillingas! (The currency, gold or "GP" in Brytenwalda.) I didn't need to pay the 40 scillingas to the Village Elder, either (you sometimes have to in order to recruit).

I immediately turn around to face the bloodthirsty Theows -- now with eight men backing me up!


Theow:


My men fought well for their master; only one of them bit the dirt. We looted the corpses of the dead and then buried/burned them for +Reputation.


After a few low-key battles against such bandits (my character did not partake directly), the Company gains some Renown and starts to build up their wealth to about 2,000 scillingas. This came mainly from selling off loot from the battles, and from selling our captured Theows to Ransom Brokers in Cyddaingastun at a rate of 104 scills each. Wealth accumulation is heighted because of my Merchant-focused character background: I'm able to carry more loot and sell it for more scills.

In search of more Theow mobs, we discover the location of a Dena Landing site and make a promise to ourselves to stay well away from it for the time being.


Why? Well, Dena Raiders are top-tier Outlaws and heavy infantry pirates with Strength scores of 30. In my brief test-game, I saw a single Dena Raider smash through seven-strong Gebur Engle before he turned his baleful gaze my way. Dena Raiders are led by Ship Captains that can be ransomed for 294 scills if caught:


It is now the second day of my campaign, and I have reached second level thanks to the kills my fledgling Angles have scored on the roaming wretches circling the town of Cyddaingastun.

The early game is slow-going and not easy. We need money and we need experience (wealth accumulation and power progression). We decide that hunting Theows is lucrative enough: we get their loot which we sell off in town, trade in any captured Theows to Ransom Brokers, and gain Renown and experience points by beating them in battle. We also gain +Reputation for disposing of the fallen. Reputation can also be gained by freeing peasants tied to trees by bandits, giving poor children gold, and so on. 

The idea at this point, I think, is to continue like this until we can uptier our Angles peoples from Gebur Engles into heavy infantry units such as those depicted in the troop tree:


Then, we can start taking on Dena Raiders and Frankish Raiders, which further steepens wealth accumulation and power progression. Basically, it's similar to Native in that we start off on looters, work our way up to forest, mountain or taiga bandits, and then finally face off against sea raiders before taking on Kings' armies and besieging castles and towns. Native is just dead-easy compared to this, though.

We keep our Company (our party, our army) small in number in order to keep up our mobility and train them more explicitly. Light Cavalry cannot take on Raiders; forget about that. With their mighty axes, Denas and the Franks will hack the horses down and lop off the rider's head.


Heavy infantry is what we need but that's going to take a while to find and uptier: a long while. This isn't Native Warband where we can get a force of Mamlukes (top-tier cavalry) going in a fortnight and start taking out entire factions within a couple of months: it's going to take us a couple of months just getting on our feet in Brytenwalda. 

We will also need to track down and recruit Heroes into our Company (companions that add to our skillset). I'm not going out of my way to go from town to town, tavern to tavern in search of them, though; that's boring, and I want to play the game naturally.

At this point, the beginning of the second day, I don't even have a mount; not even a lowly donkey. Mounts are expensive in Brytenwalda. We're looking at 1,000 scillingas just for a donkey.

I'm wielding what amounts to a lump of wood at the moment, and I'm dressed in what amounts to rags, though I do have a sturdy shield (which is absolutely mandatory).


A couple of my Gebur have uptiered to Kotsetla now, too:


These guys make a big difference. Shields + Light Armor = a degree of staying power, but they're still just light infantry and they need to be taken care of on the battlefield.

Trade-wise, we have no lucrative options in Cyddaingastun...

... But a day's march south in the town of Rendlaesham, also in the region of East Engla:

Thus, for example, we could purchase three bundles of Flax from Rendlaesham in East Engla for 994 scillingas and sell them to Dun Iasguch in Mumain for 1365. Not much of a profit for what constitues a three day march, filled with peril. Such a journey would take us on the high seas as well (Dun Iasguch is in IRELAND), upon which morale would take a hit. What we need for this is a wagon full of flax and ponies to pull it in order make such a trip worth it, but we don't have the scills. And we'll need a Company of cavalry... Anyway, there are much more lucrative commodities to trade in (such as metals), and we'll work out a trade route when we've thugged ourselves out a bit.

Taking on 16 Theows on the grassy hills of the East Engla:


Hard-fought, it was our most glorious early victory:


And now we break into the third tier and medium infantry with the Geneata Engle:


Or the Geoguth Engle (the tree forks at this point, with the geoguth line going all the way to elite infantry and the geneata line going into another fork, including the one and only cavalry unit for the Angle peoples, which is only light). The Angles troop tree.


cf. first tier Gebur Engle and second tier Kotsetla.

These three tiers can sometimes be picked up in the Mead Halls of the towns, where Heroes and Ransom Brokers randomly hang out, too, so it's worth checking them out whenever we arrive at a new town.

And yes, I have so far ignored the skirmisher/ranged forks as opponent shields seem too tanky for them in Brytenwalda, at least for the lower tiers. 

There is a ton of variety in roaming overworld mobs. I've already mentioned Theows, Dena Raiders and Frankish Raiders, but there are also bandit gangs, masterless men, unrights, Scoti raiders, outlaw warriors, young men, pagans and many other kinds of mobs.


Bandit gangs usually have a tough leader running the show decked out in heavy armor, and these can take out several men before falling.


Thus, they need to be prioritized before they inflict too much damage on our shieldwall.


We managed to capture this one in battle and sell him off to a ransom broker for 228 scills. Normal bandits yield only 121. The bandits had raided a hamlet and captured some farmers and peasant women, who we freed and recruited into our ranks:



Farmers are part of the Mercenary tree and peasant women are part of the Others tree.

I mentioned ambushes in the opening paragraph. Well, they are random, chaotic and deadly. We were trailing some masterless men, but were still ambushed by them.

As we can see here, the enemies converge on us from all sides:


I am not sure what affects the chance of an ambush or if it's completely random. There seems to be some kind of mechanic at work, though:


Likewise, sometimes it's possible to bring enemies over to our side. It's expensive, and again, I'm not sure what affects the chance or if it's completely random, but here I recruit 12 Geneata Engle into my Company for 2,724 scills:


That is quite a bargain since we don't have to recruit them and then train and up-tier them (which takes time and involves potential casualties). Their 8 prisoners are added to our prisoners, too.

Week 1 budget:


Renown is 90, Honor is 13.

Restarting Brytenwalda


I restarted at this point because being a merchant is boring and I couldn't fight well on the battlefield.

Ok, so here is an early-campaign strategy that I think is efficient for any build. You start off alone, we know that. But from the get-go, just recruit 10 or so combat units of any kind, win a few battles against Theows with them, and earn a few thousand scills. Then, search the Mead Halls aka taverns of the towns for heavy infantry or heavy cavalry such as Professional Mercenaries, Veteran Warriors (heavy infantry) and Equite Heavy Cavalry. Start off with 5 of them, whatever you can afford, and start destroying larger bandit mobs with them. Keep the Company size at about 20 as you make your way from town to town, tavern to tavern, looking for Heroes (companions) to recruit, and slaying bandit mobs whenever you see them. I've found 4 Heroes in one tavern.



Note the copy-pasta in the stats. Also, Professional Mercs are identical to Veteran Warriors.

Here is a rarity I found:


Just one of those guys cost me 1,530 scills. We can give them their own Company, too!

The reason you want to look for Heroes is because they add to your skillset. For example, you don't need Trade when you find Aleifr because he's got 7 points in Trade at level 1.


And you don't need to invest in medical skills if you've got Ultan, Eithne or Orosio:


And you want those professional mercs and veteran warriors to do the heavy lifting in battles; that way, the companion/heroes are getting a slice of the overall battle experience points, even if they're not actively engaged during the battle (which they shouldn't be early on because we can't afford the equipment that keeps them alive).

As with Jeremus in Native Warband, your medics should be assigned to their own Group and tucked away in a corner of the map during battles (or at least behind your archers).

Just like in Native Warband, it's best to roll with a physically strong main character (one-handed weapon and shield + bow, Power Attack and Power Draw) and recruit companion Heroes from town taverns ASAP. Build wealth and then get everyone in your Company horses, good armor, helms and shields or they will get owned on the battlefield. Pretty much every companion, even the tough Pict ones, should have one-handed weapon and shield setups for staying power (sword n board). At least until we get good at the game.

I recommend giving every Companion a Round Shield, a proper axe of some kind, a bow, and arrows. Archery is not so effective in Brytenwalda but the arrows at least wear down enemy shields before they get to our shieldwall.

Here our 30-strong Company takes out 70 mid-tier bandits:


Renown 150, Reputation 54 = Hornmen and Gwas Ys Tafell auto-join due to main character's fame.

Companions recognizing main character fame:



A band of thieves and murderers makes a nuisance out of themselves from an elevated position:



[1.1]

Best tips I can give for now:

Brytenwalda Chargen


Create and build a physically-strong main character that can fight on the battlefield, as utility skills can be covered by Heroes (see next section). Basically, someone that wields one-handed AXE on-hand and shield off-hand (or a two-handed axe). Why axe? Armor and shield penetration. Assuming fatigue/stamina is disabled (I recommend doing so), main characters can dictate encounter outcomes much more than combat units controlled by AI. Early on, we can save many lives simply by using a shield or a mount effectively. We will also get 10 or so kills per battle depending on player skill and opportunity, which gives our character an experience point boost (a power progression boost) that utility builds will not get in the early going. Pump the Strength stat first so that you can equip decent arms and armor. Put points into the Shield skill because a sturdy Shield is vital to survival. Get some javelins, too. Thrown weapons are great for breaking down shieldwalls, whereas archery is weaker until we get tons of archers. Get one or two points in Inventory Management; it's crucial and can't be covered by Heroes.


Brytenwalda Builds


Main character and Companions should strive for 15 Strength and 9 Agility. This allows us to reach the (nerfed) caps of:

  • Power Attack 5
  • Power Throw 5
  • Power Draw 5
  • Shield 3

That's right: Brytenwalda limits such skills (troops and enemies are also limited). Do not go above 30 in Strength as it only gives us +1 HP for each point. 30 Strength gives us Iron Flesh 10 and that is enough. Heavy Two Handed Axes only require 14 Strength and Strong Short Bows only require Power Draw 3. I wouldn't go above 30 Agility either, as Weapon Master 10 is enough (and Agility only gives a movement speed increase above 30).

The most important utility skills to crank for companions are Surgery, First Aid and Wound Treatment along with Pathfinding, Spotting, Looting, Tactics and Trade. Note that Inventory Management cannot be covered by companions; it is a Leader skill not a Party skill. Thus, the main character must crank this unless we want to rely heavily on a wagon.

Remember that the Training skill stacks, unlike other skills. Foraging and Engineering are important when we start besieging castles and towns. After the Warlord phase, when great Renown and Reputation have been built, and thus forming a large army is possible, main characters can consider cranking Charisma and Leadership in order to battle armies led by rival Lords, that can be a few thousand in number. Note that the Leadership skill stacks, too.

Brytenwalda Companions


There are 26 companions in Brytenwalda. Basically, we can build them to fulfull three main roles: warriors (Strength, Agility), utility (Intelligence, Agility) and leaders (Charisma). Since almost every companion starts off at first level, they can be built towards any role, but some are more tailored to specific roles.

We need our utility companions such as doctors, pathfinders, spotters, trackers and tacticians/engineers, but most of them need to be able to fight and have access to decent arms and armor or they won't survive.

Alphabetical listing of companions with starting stats:


The worst companions are the ones that are already significantly leveled (Brian, Liuva). The best companions are the first level companions with strong template focus and synergy in Attributes and Skills (Onuist, Orosio) or very helpful focuses (Aleifr). Any Intelligence-based character can maximize several utility skills once they are significantly leveled.

Due to intra-Company conflicts, it's not easy to get a stable companion party going...

(This is a WiP.)

  • Agasicles likes Brian
  • Aleifr likes Osmund
  • Brian likes Agasicles
  • Ciniod likes Onuist
  • Connor likes Matui
  • Frioc likes Athrwys
  • Gwenllian likes Ceawlin
  • Onuist likes Ciniod

  • Agasicles dislikes Orosio
  • Aleifr dislikes Frioc and Lothar
  • Athrwys dislikes Ceawlin
  • Bodero dislikes Gwenllian
  • Brian dislikes Ceawlin
  • Bridei dislikes Osmund and Athrwys
  • Ceawlin dislikes Brian and Athrwys
  • Ciniod dislikes Gwenllian and Agasicles
  • Clovis dislikes Matui
  • Connor dislikes Ultan
  • Eadfrith dislikes Matui and Ultan
  • Eadwin dislikes Mihael
  • Eithne dislikes Brian
  • Frioc dislikes Aleifr
  • Gwenllian dislikes Bodero and Frioc
  • Inka dislikes Onuist and Ciniod
  • Lothar dislikes Aleifr
  • Matui dislikes Clovis and Connor
  • Mihael dislikes Eadwin
  • Onuist dislikes Orosio and Bridei
  • Orosio dislikes Agasicles and Siwi
  • Osmund dislikes Bridei
  • Siwi dislikes Orosio and Eithne
  • Ultan dislikes Onuist and Eadfrith

Note: Just like in Native Warband, there can be bugs with companions. Take this example:

Gwenllian dislikes Bodero and Frioc; she complains.
Player keeps Bodero and Frioc in the Company.
So she leaves.

Logical. Now, take this example:

Gwenllian dislikes Bodero and Frioc; she complains.
Player dismisses Bodero and Froic from the Company.
Gwenllian STILL leaves.

Illogical.

Now, let's say the player tracks Gwenllian down again and re-adds her to the party without Bodero or Frioc in it. Does she stay? No, she leaves again.

Bug.

Conclusion: You can't keep Gwenllian in the Company if she has first been in it with Bodero or Frioc. Unless you succeed at Persuasion checks or keep Company morale very high (I don't think anyone leaves if morale is very high, but this is unconfirmed). I just kept paying her lump sums to keep her in the party.

However, I dislike Warband conflict/complaint mechanics completely. Thus, I edit them out:

Brytenwalda scripts.txt


Edit 2133 2 144115188075856758 0
to 2133 2 144115188075856758 1

Brytenwalda simple_triggers.txt


Edit 144115188075855984 2147483679 2 144115188075856283 1 2320 2 51 216172782113786895 1025
to 144115188075855984 2147483679 2 144115188075856283 1 2320 2 51 216172782113786895 31

Brytenwalda module.txt


In addition, I edit Company companion limit in modules.txt:

• Edit base_companion_limit = 20 to base_companion_limit = 26.

I have no qualms doing this when there are bugs in the system, anyway. The game is so much more fun when we can have all of the companions in our Company. It makes it a little bit easier, but Brytenwalda is hard enough as-is.

Brytenwalda Grouping, Ordering & Positioning the Company


We need to learn how to break up our Company into separately controllable forces on the battlefield (assign to Group). Then, we need to learn how to manipulate the order of our Company (move up/move down) so that we can train them with great efficiency. Then, we need to learn how to manipulate their positioning on the battlefield in order to refine that efficiency even more (use the mini-map to get them to hold certain positions and charge from certain positions). I always assign Companions to their own group called "Heroes". The medic/doctor is always assigned to a separate group, too, which I label as "Squishies" or "Don't Dies".

Brytenwalda Basic Battlefield Tactics


When going up against dena raiders, I push the square heavy infantry formation towards them first. Then, I have my mounted Heroes flank, dismount and push up behind the enemy or on top of a hill, ready to fire their ranged weapons into their backs or down upon them. Then, I have my cavalry flank, circle and kite to break them up. The medic/doctor is tucked away in the corner of the map, out of harm's way. My main character dismounts just before my infantry engages; she basically acts as heavy infantry as well, trying to get as many kills as possible or protecting as many allies as possible with her tanky shield. The cavalry and archers mop up the fleeing enemies.

Brytenwalda Troop Trees



Troop trees are heavily infantry/melee focused but such troops can throw weapons such as javelins, angons and throwing spears. There is only one dedicated ranged troop per peoples, and it is untiered (weak). Cavalry is also realistically represented for the time.

The tankiest combat unit, taking into account stats and gear, is perhaps the Hearthweru Seaxe of the Saxons:


However, the Dena Pirate or Dena Raider of the Outlaw tree is the hardest hitter, and is also tanky enough (and about 100 times easier to acquire). Denas are berserkers when they spawn with the third best weapon in the campaign:


(The two best axes are player/Hero only: Heavy Two Handed Axe and My Wife.)

The Gaisgidh of the Picts would be a beast if it didn't wield swords: it is the only combat unit with Power Attack 5.

[commentary and stats to come, along with in-game observations].

Brytenwalda Troops Skill Bonuses 


Some troops grant bonuses to utility skills when they're in the Company. For example, one Caravan Master grants +1 to Trade for our Company, five Caravan Masters grants +3 and eight grants +4.

Brytenwalda Cavalry



We all fondly remember the Mamluke, the Slaver Chief and the Khergit Lancer in Native Warband. And we remember our Champion Coarser for speed and our invincible Champion Warhorse for charging, tanking and winning with ease. Well, there are no armored horses or lances in Brytenwalda. Thus, even though we have the wedge formation, there is no thunderous impact when we charge heavy infantry. There are no insta-kills to speak of from couched lance dmg (500 dmg). And firing a wedge into heavy infantry is basically suicide. Instead, cavalry is best used as a distraction against heavy infantry (or a mop up job).

Brytenwalda Archery



Remember the Retinue Longbowmen in Floris and the Rhodok Sharpshooter and Vaegir Marksman in Native Warband; they could single-handedly win sieges. Well, that's not going to happen in Brytenwalda, and you're not going to find Masterwork Warbows or +3 khergit or bodkin arrows much less the +12 steel arrows found in Floris or the +8 shield-penetrating steel bolts found in Light & Darkness. Archery in Brytenwalda can be made to work, though Bows and Crossbows were basic in the Dark Ages. If Heroes are equipped with strong shortbows or longbows their collective rate of fire + dmg will be effective against light and medium infantry, which is fine in Scotland and Ireland. Otherwise, the shieldwalls of denas/franks are just too strong (unless we have dozens of archers). Javelins and thrown axes, however, can be effective against shields. Problem is, ammo is limited for them. A large bag of arrows gives us 45 shots whereas Javelins give us just 4 throws.

10 heroes, most wielding shortbows. Sweet.


Scanning the code, I can't actually see any differences between Native and Brytenwala arrows/bows. Brytenwalda archery is weaker because:

  • 1. Itemization is weaker (the stats of bows, xbows and arrows relative to the tankiness of the troops)
  • 2. The hitbox for shields covers too much of the body (really hard to get past or around a shield to hit the squishy bits).

Here we can see the kind of tankiness an average shield-equipped enemy gets against arrows:


However - and this is key - archery is very effective in morale-failing the opposing force. If an enemy formation comes under heavy hail of arrows, they may freeze in formation or break and flee. Either way, they get filled full of holes.

Brytenwalda Infantry



Infantry is King in Brytenwalda: Light, Medium and Heavy. Heavy is best in most situations; it's scary what it can do. A heavy infantryman in Brytenwalda makes a Nord Huscarl of Native Warband seem like a wuss. 10 heavy infantrymen vs. 20 elite cavalrymen? Smart money's on the infantrymen. In Native Warband, 70 Mamlukes could take out 700 Nord Huscarls. Not here. In addition, forget about finding a Masterwork Heavy Bastard Sword or a Heavy Long Hafted Spike Mace. You're not going to find blacksmithing masterworks in this TCM. Axes rule for melee.

Brytenwalda Armor


Armor is also King. One heavily armored infantryman can take out several unarmored ones. But you're not going to find Lordly Plate Armor, Lordly Winged Great Helms and Reinforced Steel Shields in Brytenwalda. Put on some rags, equip a board of wood in your off-hand and put a bronze bowl on your head; it'll have to do. It's the Dark Ages, son. Get used to it.

Armor is not as strong in Brytenwalda. Changes are as follows:

Native / Brytenwalda

  • armor_soak_factor_against_pierce: 0.65 / 0.45
  • armor_reduction_factor_against_cut: 1.0 / 0.8
  • armor_reduction_factor_against_pierce: 0.5 / 0.25
  • armor_reduction_factor_against_blunt: 0.75 / 0.65

While these value changes may seem trivial, they're not.

Brytenwalda Blocking


Get Round Shields for all Heroes ASAP; makes a huge difference to staying power of dumb AI-controlled Heroes. Logically, you cannot block with a dagger. I hate how in Native Warband a peasant can block my Heavy Great Long Bardiche with their dagger. The sheer weight and power I swing it down at would split them in half from crown to crotch. I have inflicted 270 dmg hits on troops with that thing. Or a peasant can block my Masterwork Heavy Bastard Sword that I swing at them while riding at full-tilt on a champion coarser... with a dagger.

Brytenwalda Items


What I said above doesn't mean we can't get good arms and armor; there is some sweet stuff to be bought and found. There are Lordly items but not Lordly plate items. I'm just making a point that the arms and armor are realistic and that we need to work hard and long to find it.

Brytenwalda Weapons


Axes, axes, axes. One-handed or better still two-handed. Deadly. Armor penetration + shield smashing = I win. I slew a motley crew of 20 in the Cave quest single-handedly with a heavy two-handed axe:


Brytenwalda Morale


In addition to winning battles and having a variety of food in our inventory (standard Native Warband), morale can be increased simply by resting in towns. We can also donate to clerics and priests or solicit the services of Hores. These three can also be hired as staff in our lair (see Lair entry). There are many overworld scripts that trigger which can increase or decrease morale based on our decisions. Recruiting or freeing prisoners also results in +Morale. And this list is not exhaustive. Basically, morale is much more tailorable in Brytenwalda.

Brytenwalda Renown


This seems fairly easy to crank. Even if we outnumber the enemy, there are Renown gains which don't happen in Native. There are also scripted overworld triggers that increase or decrease Renown depending on our decisions. For example, looting or not looting the grave of a warlord. If you loot it, you lose 50 Renown but you get good armor + sword.

Brytenwalda Training


Even when stacking the Trainer skill, getting new recruits trained up is grossly slow; so much so, that I'd say it isn't even worth it. It's best to find mid- and high-tier troops ready-made in mead halls, as freed prisoners and any other way we can. Sometimes they will find us, which is cool (must have a degree of fame). The best way to train troops, of course, is to engage them in battle, but they die SO easily, which is a great loss if we trained them up for what equates to a month of game-time.

Brytenwalda Prison Management


There is no PM skill in Brytenwalda. We can take prisoners by default but only in proportion to our Company size: the bigger our army, the more prisoners we can take. Imprisoning Lords is not subject to our PM limit. Prisoners can be sold off to Ransom Brokers in town taverns or recruited into the Company (-Morale). Prisoners can also be held in our lairs and castle/town dungeons. Lords should not be held in lairs as it's too easy for them to escape. Prisoners can also put to work in mines such as Salinae. In Native Warband, enemy troops can only be captured if they are knocked out (by Blunt weapons). That is not the case in Brytenwalda. You can "kill" every enemy during the battle and still capture a proportion.

Brytenwalda Religion


Pagan or Christian. This is dynamic and will influence your reputation with adherents. From my experience, the religion of your Kingdom should align with your own or the people won't be happy and their productivity plummets. For example, as a Christian, I had a mixture of Christian and Pagan villages: the former were Loyal and I was able to recruit 60 troops in one go, whereas from the latter I could only recruit 6 or so. We can also convert our population from one faith to another, but that takes time.

Brytenwalda Quests


There are many quests on offer, though most of them are boring. The best quests are the dungeon crawls, but they're too small and you can't bring even one Hero with you, which is lame. RPG fans will laugh at these quests.

  • The Return of the Roman Empire: Londinium (Lundenwic): Given by the Old Roman in the refugee camp at Hadrian's Wall.
  • Rare Ruins. Roman ruins. Hostiles. Didn't get far in this one. Got a Mail Coat, Rich Leather Shoes and a Helm.
  • Cave in the Highlands / Cave of the Bandit King. It's northeast of the town of Dun At. Go in there wielding a bigass two-handed axe and hack up 20 or so hostiles for the following gear.


Brytenwalda Items



Not very impressive items, are they? The My Wife axe is basically just a Heavy Two Handed Axe with +6 to speed rating. Whoop-dee-damn-doo. Seriously, that was a slap in the face. Still, it's the best axe I've found so far.

Note that you can train in the cave as long as you want: just enter, kill, exit, rinse repeat. Just don't kill the last hostile until you're ready to complete the cave for good.

Sacred Grove. Located north of Caiseal in Ireland, in the deep forest. From your starting position, just fun forward to the camp and slay the Old Hero within for the Dux Helm Gold:


Brytenwalda Roaming, non-Factional mobs


There is a ton of variety in roaming overworld mobs. In order of toughness, I rank them as follows:

  • 1. Dena Raiders (East Engla, tough as nails; need heavy infantry)
  • 2. Frankish Raiders (Cantaware: tough as nails)
  • 3. Outlaw Warriors (Mumain, Ireland)
  • 4. Scoti Raiders (Mumain, Ireland)
  • 5. Bandit Gangs (England, Wales)
  • 6. Masterless Men (can be recruited; composition varies) [Masterless Men, Masterless Men]
  • 7. Unrights Gangs (Wyliscs can be tough) [Unrights Gangs, Unrights Gangs]
  • 8. Young Men (non-hostile; kiss my arse; the equivalent of manhunters; mobile ransom brokers)
  • 9. Pagans or Christians (non-hostile; donate)
  • 10. Band of Thieves & Murderers (Fortriu, Scotland, tier-two Morths) [Band of Thieves & Murderers]
  • 11. Theows (East Engla; start off farming these; squishy)

The pics show particularly juicy targets in terms of force size and troop yield.

Biggest mob I've encountered:


Spotted in southeast Ireland, around Ard Ladhrann on day 130. Best part was, we took them out with a force of 20 elite infantrymen.

There are also herds of deer and packs of wolves. When hunting animals, the main character hunts alone with their items and mount, but no minimap. Attempting to hunt deer while mounted on a mule or a donkey is folly; I laughed at how my mule trotted about like a retard, as I tried to aim my bow at the deer. I haven't successsfully conducted any hunts at this point, but I would presume they yield skins and meat.

Brytenwalda Dena Raiders aka Dena Pirates


These are top-tier bandits that are difficult to tame. In fact, they are a nightmare.


In the scenario of 50 Gebur Engle versus 24 dena raiders, 50 GEs were killed vs. just 5 DRs killed. That is the power of the dena raider. Another example: Imaging the toughest King in Warband. Now, multiply him by 10. That is a Dena Raider.

Looking at their stats, they didn't seem much different from my top-tier heavy infantry. But then I realized, it isn't just their stats but also what they wield. And many of them wield two-handed axes, which are among the most damaging weapons in the campaign (50 dmg!). That's what makes them scary as hell, that's why they can hack through armor and smash through shields, and that's why they can kill anything in one or two hits. What we want to do is get these guys on our side, and we can do that by fielding them from imprisonment (Talk to).

Dena Landings are usually located east of Licidfelth (southern England), along the coastline or along rivers close to the coastline.

Brytenwalda Spies


Spies. Right-click on towns to have spies infiltrate them. You can also right-click on roaming mobs to have spies skirmish with them. Skirmishes will not thin the ranks of enemies but they will slow them down, indeed stop them, on the overworld, meaning your slower, wagon-pulling force can catch up to highly mobile bandits.

Brytenwalda Duels


You can duel any combat unit that is currently in your party. In the below vid (which I've uploaded to my blog in slo-mo), I duel a dena raider. While I do sort of suck at fighting them, let me just say that I'm not trying to win here. I'm just showing how they attack, and I'm angling the cam for a good view and trying to block the blows as best I can at the same time. You can see that I don't even have time to raise my shield when the duel begins. You can also see the reach of the axe, and how quickly it smashes through a Lenticular Round Shield wielded by a character with 25% Shield damage reduction. The armor I'm wearing is Brown Noble Mail (53 body, 10 leg):


A Dena Raider makes a Nord King from Native Warband seem like a ponce.

Brytenwalda Commander's Options 


This option is not always available; not sure why. But you can duel the leader of the opposing force or inspire your force just before the battle:


Or both:


Though there may be no one willing to duel you.

Criticism.

Shields cover too much of the body. I'm sorry, but a round shield does NOT cover the feet or even the legs from arrows and javelins. Not even a tower shield covers the feet. I've hit the feet and legs before but it's basically just fluking it. Honestly, that sucks.


Troops take way too long to train and die way too easily. In the Warlord stage, we should just find and buy them pre-built. Get Denas, Franks and elite infantrymen.

There are not enough Ransom Brokers populating the town mead halls. There is nothing more annoying than having 15 prisoners to sell off, searching four or five towns, and not finding one. Once, I searched the entire southeast of England and there was not one Ransom Broker. It almost caused me to rage-quit. I will mod their spawns in my next game.

Next up: Campaign progression.

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