So you’ve been playing Mount and Blade: Bannerlord for a while and seeing all these happy lords and ladies with their towns? Wondering how to get a settlement for yourself? This guide will show you some of the ways you can get settlements in Mount and Blade: Bannerlord. There are multiple ways you can achieve this and we will go through a few of them.
This guide will show you how to get a fief as part of a kingdom as a vassal, or on your own. It’s worth noting to begin with the you cannot own a settlement as a mercenary in Mount and Blade: Bannerlord. So that is off the table.
| Which Settlement Can You Take? | Taking a Settlement on Your Own | Taking a Fief as part of a Kingdom |
What Settlements can be Taken in Bannerlord?
There are two types of settlements in Mount and Blade: Bannerlord. There are castles and towns. Castles are a place where you can garrison troops to defend the castle, or take them out when you are o the offensive. Castles and towns can both have villages connected to them. To own a village, you will need to be in charge of the castle or town connected to them.
There is no way to take over villages on their own in Mount and Blade: Bannerlord. The villages will simply serve the town or castle. If the villages are doing well, the settlement will prosper. This works the other way around too. If you’ve taken over a fief with villages attached to it, be sure to keep them safe. If your town’s food supply is cut off it will start to become less loyal to you and the prosperity will drop, meaning lower denars for you.
How to Get a Settlement on Your Own
In Mount and Blade: Bannerlord, the player is able to take their own castle or village. You do not have to be apart of any kingdom in order to take over a settlement. That being said, you will have to attack this settlement and win. If you haven’t got allies behind you this can prove rather difficult. not impossible if you are a well-established clan but difficult nonetheless.
To take your own settlement you must be at war with the faction which currently controls the settlement you want to take. As you’ve probably realized you cannot just click on any settlement and start attacking. It is very easy to get on a kingdom’s bad side, however. All you have to do is attempt to raid any village of this faction.
Say you want to take Varcheg from the Sturgians. All you have to do is raid any Sturgian-controlled village and they will become hostile towards you. At this stage, you are able to attempt to siege any of their castles or towns you wish to conquer. Simply approach the settlement (which should now be red), and select the option to besiege it. As long as you win the siege the settlement will not be under your control.
As long as you are not apart of a kingdom however, other lords will see your rule of the settlement as nothing more than a rebel force. Other nobles will not treat you with the same respect as any other kingdom. In order to start your own kingdom, you can read this guide.
How to Get a Settlement as a Vassal
One of the easiest ways to get a settlement of your own is to win it with the help of friends. Once you reach the clan rank 3 you will be able to join any kingdom you wish as a vassal. As long as the ruling clan does not absolutely hate you, you should be able to join their kingdom. Simply find the ruler of the kingdom and initiate dialogue with them.
The dialogue path you have to take to join a kingdom should be fairly obvious but of you are having any trouble you can check out this guide to joining kingdoms. It also has info on how to become a mercenary for a kingdom which is a good idea if you aren’t clan level 2 yet.
Now that you are part of a kingdom, create an army and use the numbers to overwhelm one of the settlement you want to take over. It can be a good idea to first start by taking over a castle as they generally have less defenders. When you have a good army size, you can besiege the castle as normal.
When the settlement falls to your troops there will be an election to decide who gets the fief. There’s a good chance it will be given to your clan if you were the one that approached and took it over but sometimes the AI can decide differently…
Improving Your Chances at Being Given a Fief as a Vassal
As there is still an election to see who will become the ruling clan of the fief, it is always a bit of a risk taking it over. Luckily there are a few things you can do to swing the vote in your favor. These tricks will help you win fiefs within a kingdom more often. Some of the things you can do to improve your chances at receiving a settlement are:
- Initiate the siege as the leader of an army
- Improve relations with the other clans within the kingdom including the ruler clan
- Earn a lot of influence and use that to swing the vote in your favor
- Start with no fiefs
If your clan is the only one in the kingdom without a fief you will have a better chance of it being gifted to you when it is captured.
So that was how to get a settlement in Mount and Blade: Bannerlord. Following this advice you should have one under your belt be it a town or a castle. Now that you’re a fief owner, you can manage a settlement by approaching it and selecting Manage this … You can store troops and prisoners here and also upgrade the settlement to make it more profitable and defensible.