These are the best policies to enact in Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord.
Turns out that running a kingdom is hard. Players simply can’t just sit on their thrones eating roast chicken and cherry tomatoes while someone sings for them. There has to be some form of ruling involved. That’s what Mount and Blade 2: Bannerlord demands from its players.
Because there will come a point when players‘ actions can snowball into owning a kingdom. When that happens, players need to be prepared to either genuinely care for their people or to minimize the need for ruling so they can go about their merry way. These policies will aid in either endeavor. 18 Noble Retinues
Pros
+40 party size for leaders
Cons
-1 influence per day for Tier 5+ clans
If players don’t want to be tied down to their stately duties as a lord, then they’ll be pleased to know that they can enhance their experience as a war-mongering warband leader with policies like Noble Retinues. It increases the number of troops they can bring to their party.
While there are other ways to increase your party size, this is a huge additional on top if you are the leader of the kingdom. That’s quite the advantage considering the relatively low troop count in Bannerlord clashes. 17 Grazing Rights
Pros
+0.5 settlement loyalty per day
Cons
-0.25 daily hearth production in villages
Loyalty tends to be difficult to gain the larger the territory so if players find themselves holding too much. So in order to keep their territories more manageable, then Grazing Rights might just be the policy they need, especially against a populace that’s quickly becoming unruly.
Such a policy is even more important if players delegate kingdom management to their companions or wives just so they could run around gallivanting with their retinue. The negative hit is relatively low, so it’s almost a staple pick once players have earned a kingdom. 16 Castle Charters
Pros
-20% castle upgrade costs
Cons
None
Castles are easily the most important structures in a player’s kingdom and ensuring that they’re well up to standards in the event of a siege is imperative. Luckily, the Castle Charters policy is practically free and has no downsides, making it yet another staple pick for players with budding kingdoms.
Granted, a lot of players will likely be snowballing their way into domination once they can already claim and keep castles so the upgrade cost reduction might not mean much. It’s fair enough, however, since there’s no negative stat and any discount is welcome. 15 Tribunes of the People
Pros
+1 town loyalty per day
Cons
-5% town taxes paid to the ruler
Another way to increase loyalty once players have started collecting towns under their dominion is Tribunes of the People. It gives an even more substantial and steady loyalty boost compared to Grazing Rights though it’s only for towns so the benefits are limited.
The drawback can hurt players‘ wallets since towns now pay less but it’s just a small amount and players likely won’t notice it especially if they’re getting a lot already from their territories as a whole. Consider it a small price to pay for preventing rebellions and bandit uprisings. 14 Precarial Land Tenure
Pros
-50% influence cost for rulers in proposing settlement annexation
Cons
none
If players simply just want to grab more territory via settlements without much bloodshed, then they ought to make sure they have Precarial Land Tenure. This allows players to politically maneuver a settlement they want with less cost to their influence currency.
There’s also virtually no downside since usage for this kind of policy is a bit niche as securing certain settlements is easier done through brute force. But if players find themselves spending their influence a lot during gameplay, then this can help them perform more political machinations. 13 Serfdom
Pros
Villages grant + 0.2 influence daily to clan owner
+1 security daily for towns
Cons
-1 Militia daily to towns
As all policies have pros and cons, some are better suited for smaller kingdoms than larger ones.
