There’s a lot of moving parts to Mount&Blade Bannerlord. The game models many economic and social structures, including an early form of mildly democratic rule. OK, it’s really more autocratic feudalism, but we’re splitting hairs with that distinction. The point is, you can vote in Mount and Blade Bannerlord. The system is kind of confusing, and the player won’t always have access to it, but it can prove helpful. The idea is called Fief Voting, and it has a lot of mechanics at play. The most important use of the Fief Voting system is to enact Kingdom-wide laws within your realm. And if you belong to a major faction, this also applies. If you’re subject to a ruler than enacts new laws, they apply to you as well.
You will need to learn how this system works if you ever plan to have your own kingdom. With that in mind, here’s how the voting system in Bannerlord works.
Voting System in Bannerlord Explained
The basic principle is that the system tabulates a score for each fief within the kingdom, and then assigns territory and voting power based on how well you did, and how much you contribute to the kingdom. This happens after every war that your faction wins. After your faction conquers a hostile land, you will get a notification about voting for new laws and territory. Other votes will happen when new Lords need to be appointed to voting positions. This is where nominations come in, and you need to play a more political game.
The trick is, there’s some complicated math involved. Keep reading to learn how the voting assignment and underlying math works in Mount&Blade Bannerlord.
The math behind Fief Voting
The game uses a formula for determining which fiefs and their holders get a vote within the kingdom. The basic principle is that the system tabulates a score for each fief within the kingdom, and then assigns territory and voting power based on which lord has the highest score. This is called Nomination Score, and those Lords with the highest scores get ownership of the holdings which are up for grabs. So if you want to accrue political power and direct the path of a kingdom, you need to max this out.
Here’s the breakdown: The overall Clan Strength score of the player is the biggest determining factor. This number is divided by 10, and your Clan Tier is multiplied by 30. When added together the resulting number is your base score. If you don’t already hold a vote within the Fief Voting system for your kingdom, you get a small boost to your score. If you personally captured the fief’s controlling settlement, you get a bonus as well. If you happen to be the leader of your faction, you also get a bigger tertiary bonus to your score. The more score you have, the easier it will be to get nominated.
The other element you need to be aware of is Influence Points. This is a secondary stat and is basically your personal renown within the kingdom as a whole. Influence Points are gained by winning battles for your faction, and the Lords with the most Influence Points get to spend them on more votes. In short, the more Influence Points you have, the more votes you can cast when handing out new territory.
How to get a Fief Vote in Bannerlord
Since you’re going to be voting on more than just land holdings, you need to be on the voting side of things pretty often. This means getting nominated by other Lords that hold votes. So the best way to ensure you end up nominated consistently is to have a high Clan Tier, and have lots of parties (not caravans) running around the world map. This will boost your score a fair bit, and offers a ton of opportunities to expand as well. Be aware that enacting laws that damage the prospects of other Lords in your faction will harm your personal relations with them, and this can sometimes impact their willingness to support your nomination.
Another little trick to use is to cleverly place your holdings. Instead of taking a holding in the center of the map or a densely populated zone, aim for something that’s more remote and by itself. Taking a castle or town further from your faction, can serve a few goals. You isolate yourself from enemies that can attack you from more than one direction. You also gain a bonus for each settlement you take, and can accrue more votes, this allows you to expand a bit more freely into open territory without having to compete with other lords in your faction. The one downside to this move is that you also isolate yourself from help and economic support of your faction’s lords.
When making your character in Bannerlord, it’s important to know what to expect. You can then get up to the fun of waging war and engaging in diplomacy. You can recruit lords for your faction, bringing more armies under your banner. There’s a lot more to learn about this game, so pay attention. Other things you might want to learn are how to properly manage your party’s size and movement speed. No use building a massive army if it’s too slow to fight. Smithing and other crafting disciplines are key to outfitting your troops. And knowing how to deal with rival lords and vassals is key to actually building that army.
