Bannerlord Fief Income Guide: Maximizing Wealth from Trading and Buildings

Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord does not have a season system. As of June 2024, the latest stable version is v1.2.9. This article is based on the current version.

After fighting through the wars of Calradia, you've finally acquired your own town or castle. However, many new lords, despite enthusiastically starting their lordly life, find their income stagnating and their daily deficit growing due to Garrison maintenance costs... Fief management isn't just about constructing buildings. It's essential to understand and strategically manage the three elements: Prosperity, Loyalty, and Security. This article provides a comprehensive guide to the specific steps needed to transform your domain into one of Calradia's wealthiest lands, from initial stabilization after acquiring a fief to development and advanced economic management integrated with smithing and trade.

The Foundation of Fief Income: The Trinity of Prosperity, Loyalty, and Security

The ultimate goal for maximizing income from your fief is to increase its "Prosperity." Higher Prosperity leads to increased tax revenue, and affluent citizens supply higher quality soldiers. However, Prosperity does not increase on its own. It is built upon two foundations: "Loyalty" and "Security."

Loyalty: This value indicates how obedient the residents are to the player (the lord). If it's low, construction project progress will be severely delayed, and if it falls below 50, a negative modifier will be applied to daily Prosperity. Furthermore, if it drops below 25, the risk of rebellion becomes a reality. When acquiring a new fief, Loyalty tends to be low due to cultural differences, so addressing it is a top priority.

Security: This indicates the safety level within your territory. Low Security causes bandit groups to raid surrounding villages, disrupting food supplies and leading to a decrease in Prosperity. Conversely, high Security increases the "Militia" provided by residents, contributing to a cost-free defensive force.

These three elements are interrelated, and if even one is lacking, your economy will not function well. The golden rule of fief management is to first stabilize Loyalty and Security, building a foundation to increase Prosperity.

The First Step in Lordly Life: The Stabilization Phase Immediately After Acquiring a Fief

Once you acquire your long-desired town or castle, do not rush to construct marketplaces or other facilities. First and foremost, stabilize the territory and gain the trust of its residents. Especially lands acquired through conquest will start with very low Loyalty due to cultural differences.

Securing Loyalty is the Top Priority

Until Loyalty stabilizes above 50, prioritize measures to increase it, even if it means postponing everything else. The specific steps are as follows:

1. Appoint a Suitable Governor: Appoint a companion who shares the same culture as the fief as its Governor. This alone provides a daily +1 Loyalty bonus. Furthermore, a Governor with a high Steward skill can provide additional bonuses to Loyalty and Prosperity through relevant perks.
2. Execute the Continuous Project "Festivals and Games": In the town management screen, cancel all currently ongoing construction projects and select "Festivals and Games" from the Continuous Projects. This converts construction power into Loyalty gain, providing a significant daily bonus of +3 (which can increase further with perks).

By executing these two steps, Loyalty will steadily increase in most cases. Once you see Loyalty stabilize around 50-75, then proceed to the next step.

Towards a Wealth-Generating Town: Building Construction Priority

Once your fief is stable, it's time to begin constructing buildings. Here, too, it's crucial to proceed in a strategic order rather than building haphazardly. The royal road is to solidify your foundation with "Infrastructure Development" before aiming for "Expansion."

Step 1: Infrastructure Development Phase

First, construct facilities that will permanently increase the stability of your fief.

• 1. Fairgrounds: Provides a continuous bonus to Loyalty. Even at level 1, it grants +0.5, and at level 3, it becomes a significant +1.5. This is an essential building to stop "Festivals and Games" and begin other constructions.
• 2. Granary / Orchards: Stabilize food supply. Food shortages impose severe penalties on both Prosperity and Loyalty, so secure these early. The Granary, in particular, increases food storage capacity, making your fief more resilient to sieges.
• 3. Training Fields: Improve Security and promote the growth of Militia. An increase in Militia allows you to reduce the high-cost "Garrison" mentioned later, directly leading to financial improvement.

Step 2: Development Phase

Once the fief's foundation is established, begin constructing buildings that genuinely enhance Prosperity and tax revenue.

• 1. Marketplace: Increases tariff income and directly improves the town's Prosperity. It is the heart of the town's economic activity and contributes significantly to income generation.
• 2. Aqueducts: Directly provide a large bonus to Prosperity. Although the construction cost is high, it is one of the most effective Prosperity-enhancing facilities in the long run.

Differences in Roles Between Towns and Castles

In terms of income, "Towns," where caravans gather and many buildings can be constructed, overwhelmingly surpass "Castles." Castles offer little in the way of income and primarily serve as border defenses or soldier replenishment points. When owning a castle, aim to strengthen training grounds and walls to increase Militia, thereby minimizing Garrison costs and establishing a defense point with low maintenance.

Key to Black Figures: Maintenance Cost Management and Economic Diversification

Even when fief management is on track, it's not uncommon for income and expenses to be in the red due to the maintenance costs of your warband and Garrison. Alongside efforts to increase income, it's crucial to manage expenditures and adopt a perspective of bolstering the economy through your own personal money-making strategies. As your Clan Tier increases, your warband size expands, and maintenance costs grow like a snowball.

Controlling Garrison Maintenance Costs

The largest portion of fief expenditures is the wages for the Garrison. In a town with stable Security and over 300 Militia, the Garrison can often be overkill. From the "Fiefs" tab on the clan screen, you can set the "Garrison Wage Limit" for each settlement. Unless it's a frontline settlement, limit the cap to around 500-1000 Denars to cut unnecessary expenses. Doing so can often instantly turn your finances black.

The Royal Road to Early Game Money Making: Smithing

As a personal money-making strategy, smithing holds the potential to disrupt the game's balance. Engaging in it from the early game will significantly ease later fief management and warband maintenance.

1. Purchase large quantities of "Hardwood" in towns and create "Charcoal" through "Refining" at the smithy.
2. Collect cheap throwing knives and axes, then "Smelt" them to acquire materials like "Crude Iron" and "Wrought Iron."
3. Repeatedly produce and smelt, patiently leveling up your smithing skill while unlocking new part designs.
4. Once designs for highly valuable "Two-Handed Swords" or "Javelins" are unlocked, mass-produce them and sell them in towns. You can create weapons that sell for tens of thousands of Denars each, accumulating immense wealth.

Journeying Through Calradia: Trade and Workshop Management

If smithing isn't to your liking, steadily increasing your assets through trade and workshop management is also a good option.

Examples of High-Profit Trade Routes

While commodity prices constantly fluctuate based on supply and demand, the basic principle is to transport specialties specific to each cultural region.

Caravan and Workshop Investment Priorities

As passive income sources, caravans and workshops are highly effective.

• Workshop: The basic principle for investment is that "raw materials are abundantly produced in that town or its attached villages." For example, establishing a "Wood Workshop" in a Battanian town (rich in wood) or a "Silver Smithy" near Sanala in Aserai (produces silver) can yield high profits.
• Caravan: The "Trade" skill of the companion appointed as leader directly impacts profits. When your Clan Tier is low, caravans have fewer guards and are more susceptible to attacks, so it's recommended to start them once your clan has grown to a certain extent.

A Capable Governor is the Best Investment

Finally, I want to re-emphasize the importance of developing capable governors. Skills such as Steward, Medicine, and Engineering contain numerous powerful perks that take effect when a companion is appointed as a governor. For instance, the Steward skill 275 perk "Price of Loyalty" reduces the wages of the Garrison in the governor's town by 20%. Cultivating companions with a long-term perspective and appointing the right person as governor is arguably the shortest path to successful fief management.

Summary

Maximizing fief income in Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord cannot be achieved overnight. A gradual approach is essential: first, thoroughly stabilize by solidifying "Loyalty" and "Security," then establish foundational facilities like "Fairgrounds" and "Granaries," and finally, foster development with "Marketplaces" and "Aqueducts." Simultaneously, a multifaceted perspective is required to manage the largest expenditure, Garrison wages, and support the overall economy with the player's own money-making strategies like smithing and trade. By following the steps outlined in this article, you can escape deficit management for your territory and develop it into a prosperous economic powerhouse envied by all of Calradia.