New Player: Battanian or Vlandian, Smithing

I got into Warband recently, and just bought Bannerlord. I got the idea to play a male character this time, since apparently being a woman isn’t a way to marry into a castle anymore like it was in Warband. Is that true?

Also, I had the idea to go with a character who uses smithing (and is the son of a town smith and worked there as an adolescent, giving me two bars of smithing from the start). Is that useful, or is it better to put those points into combat? I like the idea of being a crafter, and I know that there’s money to be made there, but not whether the initial investment is worth it.

Also, I’ve heard that it’s really important to get stewardship, leadership, and tactics up. Is it better to take skill points in those at character creation, because they’re harder to grind, or is it better to focus on combat skills in character creation, to get you through the early game?

Finally, culture. I like how Vlandians look more, and the bonus to mercenary income seems pretty nice, but it sounds like a 50% reduction in forest movement speed penalty and a bonus to sight in forests could be a real game changer—is that the case, or am I overselling things?

Submitted December 26, 2021 at 05:05AM by Voronov1 https://ift.tt/3syVw8l