Creating your own kingdom is one of the crown experiences in Mount and Blade 2: Bannerlord because it puts you in Total War-like surroundings where you need to balance war, diplomacy, and economy. You’re not a free rider who just takes care of his party’s wages and food anymore.
Owning a kingdom is serious business as you’re in the big league now and one wrong move can lead to a series of disasters. Still, getting to this point is extremely fun as you get to do plenty of new things that aren’t available when you’re just a free agent or a vassal.
How To Create Your Kingdom
Getting your own kingdom in Mount and Blade 2: Bannerlord isn’t too hard, but it is a late-game feature more than it is an early-game one. The key requirements you need to start your kingdom are clan tier 4 and a fief (castle or a town). There are two ways you can get your kingdom: through Campaign or Sandbox mode.
Even though there isn’t a defined sum of money required for you to start a kingdom, you will need at least 500,000 denars when starting one.
There will be many expenses that include construction, wages, and food, so you’ll quickly bankrupt if you aren’t ready for them.
If you’re playing Sandbox mode, you simply need to get your clan to tier 4 and conquer any fief. Castles are easier to catch since they’re smaller and hold a smaller garrison than big towns. On top of that, try looking for freshly conquered castles somewhere on the map and siege them, as they have an even smaller defense force than an average castle.
Conquering castles on your own isn’t easy and requires more than a great army. Garrisons are usually pretty big and the attacker suffers tremendous casualties compared to the defender. To get yourself ready for a successful siege you’ll need to level up your units and work on your Engineering skills.
Choose a castle that doesn’t have a large number of soldiers defending it and go at it with at least 160 men all leveled up to the maximum. Constructing siege weapons such as battering rams, catapults, and ballistas will earn you engineering that will allow you to make them quicker in the future.
Your soldiers level up through battle, fighting training, and certain permanent perks you might have that give passive bonuses.
The quickest way is, of course, the battle. Pick off groups of bandits and looters or same-size armies of factions that you’re at war with.
When sieging, the minimap will show miniature siege weapons shooting at one another. This isn’t just for show and is portraying the real state of things on the battlefield, so if enemy catapults destroy your catapults, and you start the battle, you won’t have them when rushing the walls.
Never start an offensive siege battle when you don’t have siege weapons while the enemy team has some. There’s a great chance that they will destroy you quickly.
Once you’ve got the fief, put a companion as a governor and go talk to them. From the dialogue options, select the ‘It is time to proclaim a new kingdom’ option.
Be careful though, as you are now an easy pray for other kingdoms. Put those strong soldiers you’ve had for the offensive now in garrison and pick up fresh recruits for your party to level them up.
When you’re playing the Campaign mode, you’ll be given a series of quests which we won’t spoil here, that will lead you to eventually getting an option to start your own kingdom. However, you’ll still need clan level four and a fief to do it.
In case you decide not to complete all missions in the Campaign mode, you can still start your own kingdom Sandbox mode style.
How To Get Clan To Tier Four
To level up your clan tier you need to earn renown. Renown can be gained in a couple of ways:
- Winning battles, especially where you’re outnumbered.
- Getting to nyumber one on the arena Tournament leaderboard and staying there.
- Artisan Community and Great Investor perks from Trade skill tree.
You’ll notice that every battle won will carry a certain renown reward. The more the odds are against you the more renown you get. This is true for both your own solo battles and allied battles.
Fighting in the arena is a great way to get renown and earn good money by betting on yourself, especially in the early game. Different towns hold tournaments on different days, so you need to visit any arena in any town and talk to the guy there. He will tell you where the next tournament is being held.
Lastly, if you are really dedicated to farm renown like a professional, you’ll need to head over to the Trade skill tree and pick up either Artisan Community or the Great Investor perk when you reach them. This will take some time, but these perks will allow you to get +1 renown each day for every profiteering workshop or caravan.
