After you’ve finally fought and schemed your way to your very own kingdom in Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord, the next challenge is maintaining order in your lands. By then, you should have a firm grasp on the wartime and diplomatic strategies that will keep you in charge.
But the policies are another story. Each one comes with invaluable perks and seemingly complex downsides.
Like any ruler, you’ll have to accept that there will be people who are unhappy with your decisions. So, it’s really about deciding what type of ruler you want to be. Below, we cover Bannerlord’s best policies for various purposes, so you can choose which fits your King’s or Queen’s role-playing personality.
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Best Bannerlord Policies for Conquest
In this context, the word ‘conquest’ refers to the type of ruler who wants to take over the world rather than get along with everyone. These policies will help you rule with an iron fist and establish that your word is law:
- Sacred Majesty – Provides 3 influence per day to the ruling clan–your clan–while penalizing non-ruler clans 0.5 influence per day. For a tyrant, the hit on your underlings won’t matter. But, the daily influence boost really adds up and lets you control bigger armies and decisions.
- Royal Guard – Allows the ruler clan to field 80 more troops and provides +1 influence per day for the ruling clan. This is a no-brainer for dominant rulers since the 0.2 influence hit on all non-ruler clans actually strengthens your rule.
- Royal Privilege – This policy lowers the influence cost of overriding kingdom decisions by 20%. It has no inherent downside written into its charter. But, you will still have to consider the relationship impact of overriding popular decisions.
Best Policies for Diplomacy in Bannerlord
These policies are for diplomatic rulers, those who want to spread wealth and maintain good relations among their vassals:
- Senate – This policy grants 0.5 influence to clans of Tier 3 or above, essentially showing favor to the lords in your kingdom of a certain strength. It incurs a 10% penalty for inviting clans of lower tiers into the army, but you probably don’t want to go to war with Tier 2 clans anyway.
- Feudal Inheritance – Establishing a feudal system in your kingdom, this policy doubles the cost of revoking a fief from a clan and gives each a 0.1 influence bonus per day for every fief they own. Essentially, it rewards your lords and ladies for their fealty by making it much harder to take away what they’ve earned.
Bannerlord: Best Policies for Renown
These are the best policies for Renown in Bannerlord.
In this context, “renown” refers to the love of the people rather than the approval of the lords under your charge. Some political sacrifices might be necessary if you truly want to be loved by the common folk:
- Magistrates – This policy raises security in all towns by 1 per day, but it also sacrifices 5% in tax revenue. Both will make the people love you more, but the latter part means your purse will take a sizable daily hit.
- Trial by Jury – This policy increases settlement loyalty by 0.5 per day throughout the kingdom. It comes at the cost of security in the settlements (-0.2 per day) and clan influence (-1 per day). This may seem like too much of a loss, but considering that loyal settlements produce and defend themselves better, and are much less likely to rebel, it’s one that bears consideration in the early days of a kingdom.
- Serfdom – This one provides a daily influence boost from all villages under your rule of 0.2, which adds up the bigger your kingdom becomes. Towns are empowered to police themselves, gaining 1 security point per day, but losing 1 militia unit and 1 prosperity point at the same rate.
Bannerlord’s Best Policies for Money
These policies are the best policies for making a profit in Bannerlord, all about making as much money as possible for your personal account rather than improving the prosperity of the kingdom. Of course, you can justify your greed by saying you’ll use that money to expand, but that’s between you and your inner circle.
- Debasement of the Currency – In one of the most extreme risk/reward policies, this charter provides 100 denars per day for each town in the kingdom, while lowering settlement loyalty by 1 per day. It ties into a conquest playthrough, in that it forces expansion to make the loyalty penalty worth it.
- Land Tax – Takes 5% of village income for the ruler and deducts it from the respective clans. This means more denars flow into your private coffers, but less is left for the vassals under your rule.
The beauty of the game is that these policies can be mixed and matched for your own purposes and that there is no set formula for making the best ruler. As King or Queen, you decide which sacrifices are worth it and which bonuses are must-haves.
These are what we consider the best Bannerlord policies for just about every situation.
