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In Mount and Blade II: Bannerlord something that the developers have worked on and made a lot deeper is governing and the settlement system. In Mount and Blade Warband owning a settlement could be a bit of a hindrance. You would constantly see updates about your settlement being raided and if you were too far away there was nothing you could do about it. Upgrades also took a while and the amount of money you got from them made players question if they were even worth having. Luckily TaleWorlds Entertainment made a few adjustments in the sequel that make them a lot better to handle and way more valuable to have. But with the changes come some new complications that some players are a bit confused about. Here’s a full guide to owning a settlement in Bannerlord.

How to Get A Settlement in Bannerlord

There are a few different methods for acquiring a settlement in Bannerlord. The first way is the most straight forward, just take one through brute force. To do this you’re going to need to be at war with a faction. 

Then you’re going to need to attack a castle or town of the faction that you are at war with. I’d recommend starting with castles instead of towns, as they will have less of a garrison to defend them. Be careful when sieging as even less defended castles are still going to need some skill and a strong army to take. Once you’ve captured a castle or town, any settlements under that castle or town’s control are now yours. 

Note that you can only raid villages, you can’t capture them by themselves. If you want to capture a certain village, you’ll need to take the settlement it is bound to.

You can also receive a settlement from your lord if you are a vassal if they choose to offer you one. If you’re interested in finding out more about how to get a settlement check out our guide here.

How to Appoint a Governor in Bannerlord

bannerlord manage settlement screenshot

Appointing a governor is the next step in running your settlement. You can select a governor from members of your clan. This is done by clicking the “Manage Castle/Town” option in the menu that pops up when you enter a settlement. From this menu, you have the option to construct buildings in your settlement or pick between four bonuses for it. You also can appoint a governor by clicking the box with the plus sign. If you have a companion in your party, they will pop up in the list below and you can make them the governor.

What skills are good for governors?

There are a few skills that make some companions more suited to being governor than others. These skills have perks that give governor’s bonuses once they have leveled them up sufficiently to unlock said perks. There are bonuses for everything from mining income to building siege equipment or repairing walls quicker. The skills are as follows:

  • Steward
  • Medicine 
  • Engineering 
  • Trade
  • Leadership 

The title that certain companions have is also important. Certain titles like The Swift and The Spicevendor can give boosts to settlements through their associated stat boosts.

The culture of your governor is important too. If the governor is from a culture that the settlement is from, it will increase loyalty by +1, but if the governor is from a different one, it will decrease by -2.
     

How To Manage Your Settlement in Bannerlord

bannerlord manage stats screenshot

After appointing the right governor for the job, the next thing that you are going to want to do is invest in your settlement. With investing, you can build new structures, upgrade existing ones, and even set a “Daily Default” option. You’ll want to keep track of your settlement’s stats. You can see these at the top of the screen when you enter a settlement. If you hover over each stat, it’ll give you a rundown on all the different factors that affect each stat. Here’s how to increase each of them.

How to Increase Settlement Food in Bannerlord

If your settlement is running low on food, there are a few things you can do. You can build and upgrade that settlements granary. Putting gold into the reserves will also help increase the speed at which buildings like the granary are built. You can see in the image below that this castle has 9290 gold in the reserves. The settlement will take 500 gold out of the reserves every day, but boost production by +50 construction. This will help you pump out buildings quicker.

bannerlord manage settlement screen

You can also choose the Irrigation option as the Daily Default option to increase the food production for your settlement by +1 as seen above. 

How to Increase Settlement Security in Bannerlord

Increasing settlement security is a good way to stop people from attacking it, and if someone does, it will be able to defend itself to a certain extent. 

You can increase the defense of a settlement by building and upgrading the Barracks and The Training Fields. These buildings will make sure that you have the maximum number of troops possible defending your settlement and make sure that they are well trained. 

You also have the option to garrison some of your troops in settlements. The garrison is separate from a town’s local militia and has a separate unit cap. They will eat into your settlement’s food supply though, so keep an eye on how many troops you have in the settlement and how much food the settlement is producing a day.

How to Increase Settlement Prosperity in Bannerlord

There are a few ways to increase your settlement prosperity. First is to make sure that it doesn’t get raided by utilizing all the information in the previous section so that they can keep producing goods. The second thing you are going to want to do is to upgrade buildings within that settlement that affect the income of it. Setting up a caravan from your settlement with one of your clan members is also a good way to add another source of income from your settlement. This is only an option if it is a town though since castles cannot have caravans.

How to Increase Settlement Loyalty in Bannerlord

Keeping a settlement loyal to you is very important because if they are too disloyal, they have the chance of rebelling. A settlement’s loyalty, food supplies, and the local militia’s strength are indicators of how happy they are under your rule. As mentioned previously, having a governor from that village’s culture will boost its loyalty. 

The main way to keep your settlement loyal is to make sure that they have food and that they have a strong militia to protect them. Make sure that you check in on your settlements regularly to make sure that their needs are being met. 

We hope you found this complete guide to owning a settlement in Bannerlord helpful. If you’re looking for more Bannerlord tips and tricks, check out our other guides below!