How to Have a Successful Town in "Mount & Blade: Warband"

When you first come across a town in "Mount & Blade: Warband," it's hardly a thriving community; they're about as destitute as your character. Towns you own offer additional activities for your character, including improving how well it survives in the dangerous world of fighting factions.

Owning Your First Fief

At the start of the game, fief land owners are generated randomly and typically don't change. As such, your character often needs to buck up and lay siege to a town to acquire it. The trick here is to conquer the town alone; otherwise, your more powerful allies would claim the victory instead. If you do become a vassal to a lord, you can get the lowest valued village he owns. Female characters will have to work extra hard due to archaic attitudes; nobles often refuse to recognize that she could easily match or better them in strength.

Improving the Town

When you do gain control of a town, one way or another, you can start collecting taxes once every week; any taxes left uncollected are still yours to pick up whenever you're back in the neighborhood to gather again. Treating your villagers kindly allow your reputation to rise, which gives you a source of recruits for future battles and contributes to a better economy. Building a messenger post improves your radar for enemies as well, securing the roads for villagers looking to sell their excess goods.

Adding a Productive Enterprise

To help further the local economy along, a town's owner can speak with the guild master about constructing an industrial enterprise for local profit. The game restricts you to one enterprise per town. As long as the faction that controls the town isn't hostile towards you, profits will start to come in after the week-long construction completes. The choices of buildings include a brewery, tannery, wine press, ironworks, linen weavery and others.

Leaping to Its Defense

Be sure to keep your town properly defended; if you lose a siege, you run the risk of losing ownership of the fief or having your valuables looted, causing trade and wealth to plummet. For best results, be sure to station a garrison within your town. Being a vassal to a lord can also help you here because you'll gain their armies as allies.

Relocate the Royal Court

When the time comes and you eventually become a monarch, forming your own faction with your own laws and values, you can pick one of your fiefs to become your capital. Using the Tools and Velvet resources in the chosen city, villagers get to work building your royal court. Before you can found a monarchy, your character will need high amounts of honor -- or dishonor -- as well as renown; otherwise, you run the risk of being attacked by a more powerful rival faction.