However, while stockpiling butter and capturing castles, players will have to face many important decisions, such as which troops to focus on and who to marry. The most important one in Mount and Blade 2 is choosing which culture to play as. With six different options to pick from, each with unique advantages and disadvantages, players will want to know which one is the strongest.

6 Aserai

The Aserai are great for a trader or merchant playthrough. Caravans are 30% cheaper to build, and they have 10% less trade penalty. This leads to a good flow of income, especially early in the game. They also have no movement penalty when traveling deserts and usually have evenly split armies, with a good number of infantry, archers, and cavalry.

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However, their advantages in trading are less valuable later in the game, when controlling settlements becomes much more beneficial. Additionally, as there are no deserts beyond the borders of the Aserai Sultanate, their speed bonus is useless in attacking other Kingdoms. Aserai characters must also pay 5% more daily wages to their troops, greatly increasing the cost of maintaining armies.

5 Vlandians

Vlandians make excellent mercenaries and sell-swords. They gain 5% more renown from battles, which improves their clan progression. Once their clan reaches tier 1, they can serve a lord as a mercenary. This is a good source of money and influence, and Vlandians earn 15% more income as mercenaries than the other cultures. These bonuses, in addition to their 10% village production bonus, can help Vlandians with the early stages of improving their clan, income, and castles.

Unfortunately, these bonuses become less valuable as the game goes on. Players are unlikely to still be serving as mercenaries later in the game, and a little more production from villages is not as strong as the bonuses that other cultures gain. Renown also becomes less important, and influence becomes crucial. This is a problem, because Vlandians must pay 20% extra influence when recruiting lords.

4 Sturgians

Based on the Kievan Rus and the Vikings, this is the culture for players who enjoy the idea of strong infantry troops pillaging and looting across the continent. Recruiting and upgrading infantry troops is 25% cheaper, and the loss of cohesion in their armies is 20% less. These advantages stay relevant throughout the game, as they save players money and influence and allow them to create massive armies. Sturgian units are also very effective. By creating a shield wall, they can withstand enemy archers while advancing, and their shock cavalry is a surprisingly effective counter to any enemy cavalry.

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The disadvantage is that Kingdom decisions cost Sturgians 20% more influence, which can be set players back in the late game if they are trying to keep territory or ensure peace. Sturgians players may also struggle to set up their Kingdom because their land is stretched thinly across the top of the map and Grand Prince Raganvad loses more battles than the other faction leaders.

3 Khuzaits

Cavalry in Mount and Blade 2 is extremely strong, and players wishing to take full advantage of this should create a Khuzait character. This gives them access to lancers and horse archers earlier than any other culture, and makes mounted units 10% cheaper to recruit and upgrade. Khuzaits also gain a 25% bonus to the production of horses, mules, cows, and sheep in the villages they control, which can lead to some extra income. As a bonus, because Khuzait armies are usually mainly cavalry, they can move around the map faster.

Although the only downside to playing as a Khuzaits is that they get 20% less taxes from towns, this can be quite costly. Towns can be a great source of income later in the game, so this may even balance out their cheaper mounted units.

2 Empire

Players who choose the Empire as their culture pay 25% less in wages to troops in garrisons, and gain 25% more influence while in an army. These features are extremely strong later in the game as players can maintain much stronger garrisons in castles, and control what happens in the game through kingdom decisions. Another advantage of the Empire is that the Northern, Southern, and Western Empire Kingdom all share the same culture. This means that, if the player chooses the Empire culture, they effectively have three times as many loyal fiefdoms on the map.

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Empire characters unfortunately have a 20% penalty to the growth of their villages. This can create problems for food production to upkeep their garrisons and armies. The Empire’s territory is also in the center of the map, meaning that each Empire faction is almost always at war, sometimes even with multiple other factions. These factors can make the playthrough difficult, but with proper management, the Empire culture is extremely strong.

1 Battanians

A Battanian character is at home in the woodlands, able to see 15% further than other cultures while in forests. This allows them to get the drop on enemies whilst fighting in forests. Their movement speed is also affected 50% less by forestry, which, when combined with the increased range, means they can outmaneuver any army so long as there are forests nearby. They can then take their time killing enemy troops from out of range with their strong archery units. In Calradia, forests are almost everywhere, so this is a very valuable feature. Battanian-owned towns also gain +1 to their militia production. This is not as strong as increased range and movement, but is a nice advantage when defending settlements.

The penalty for the Battanian culture is not too troubling either. A 10% slower build time is never going to decide the fate of a player’s settlement or kingdom. Fighting for the Battanian faction can be difficult because they do not start with a great number of fiefdoms. They also often lose some of these early in the game because they are surrounded by enemy factions. Despite this, picking Battania as a culture is still a very safe decision as it grants extremely strong bonuses to the player’s army.

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