Mount & Blade 2 Bannerlord is a strategy RPG from TaleWorlds Software on both PC and more recently available on console including Xbox Game Pass and PS5. Along with the typical methods of earning money in Bannerlord such as completing quests and owning businesses, players can also explore a variety of criminal activities and live the life of a crew of bandits, preying on trade caravans and pinching the nobles' hard-earned cash in various ways. Each of these however is attached with a certain amount of risk and players can find themselves with higher criminal ratings, falling out of favor with settlements, being banned from towns altogether and in the worst cases triggering wars if they are too overzealous in their Robin Hood tactics.
Some illegal activities are better than others in terms of their risks and rewards, but there are several methods to mitigate the risks associated with these and ensure the bandit's life is a successful one. Most illegal actions can be carried out as part of a mercenary contract without incurring too much of a penalty, provided it is an enemy settlement, noble or trade route being hit. Players can also have a criminal operating area that is separate to their hometowns and kingdom where they expect to be able to visit settlements and not be hunted by the law.
6 Illegal Trade
One of the first options to tempt players into the criminal underworld of Bannerlord will arrive in the form of merchants in towns asking for goods to be delivered to contacts in other towns, despite strict laws prohibiting this.
Although the NPC shop owners will earnestly explain that everything should be alright, more often than not it won't be, and the action will be quickly discovered. If players don't give up the goods and take a hit on the purchase price the town is notified, and their criminal rating increased, all for a few hundred measly denars. Not ideal.
5 Fencing Stolen Goods
Similar to the "Merchants can't sell products" quests, gang leaders will ask for assistance in fencing stolen goods. Again, this will often be discovered when a more respectable merchant in town explains the goods belong to his friend and were stolen, an honest mistake, surely. Of course the player will normally select the option that says "none of your business" and proceed with the transaction, buying stolen goods for half price and selling them elsewhere.
Not a bad quest to carry out in the early game, if the player is not too bothered about building up reputation in the town or kingdom where they are currently. However, it is only a few hundred denars extra profit that the quest represents so not really worth the potential hit to criminal ratings selling the dodgy stuff. If players can loot some goods in an honest battle they get all the profits and none of the associated risk.
4 Force Peasants To Give Supplies
When visiting a village players can select "take an illegal action" providing a further drop down menu where they can "force peasants to give supplies". Players need to be very careful with taking these kinds of illegal options and entering the world of bandit lord on Bannerlord. Much safer to take these actions on enemies as part of an existing war, either through a mercenary contract or conflict between two kingdoms.
When the village militia resists the attempt, this will always trigger a war with the target faction. They will resist the attempt to use force on them 95% of the time, unless the odds are ridiculously stacked in the player's favor such as a 400 strong army against 20 defenders. This is fine if the kingdom is already at war with the player, otherwise it can cause problems, especially if the player is not aligned to any kingdom and the war will be connected to the clan and exist in a more permanent state.
Compared with the risk of starting a semi-permanent war with a major kingdom, the rewards for successfully beating a village militia and forcing them to give supplies are relatively paltry. For example the loot obtained from the soldiers in the fight beforehand will normally be worth more than any supplies obtained when the townsfolk give up the goods. When deep behind enemy lines on military campaigns and surrounded by hostile towns however, this can sometimes be the only way to get supplies to feed the troops.
3 Tax Fraud
If players keep their eye out for a quest called "Revenue Farming" there is a brilliant opportunity to steal all the taxes from up to 3 villages and get away without paying any of the money owed to the lord who they are collecting the money for. Especially good to pull this off on nobles who the player hates for whatever reason or has some existing rivalry.
These ill-gotten gains can then be used as seed money to help set up armies and more legitimate businesses. Accept the quest as normal, the noble will ask for say 1700 denars then "anything else you can squeeze out of them is yours". Quite a generous offer in itself but players can make this even more generous by taking the whole lot and failing to provide the 1700 as requested. This can result in around 5 or 6k depending on the area. The criminal rating and relation with the particular lord will suffer but if they have already been targeted for bandit activities then this shouldn't bother the player too much.
2 Raiding Villages
Raiding villages in Bannerlord is certainly one of the more risky options. It takes a while to complete the task and involves beating the local militia then holding in an area while time fast forwards as the raid takes place. There's a good chance that nobles belonging to the faction will rock up with 100 or more troops and will not take too kindly to the raiding of their village that is currently in progress. For this reason it is advisable to play time through on normal speed, in order to watch out for any threats and be ready to move if needed.
The loot from the militia itself is quite significant and can be worth several thousand denars. As the raid progresses, every few seconds an item will be stolen and enter the player's inventory. This will normally be a combination of money and whatever the main product of the village is such as iron ore, or grain. This action also has the added bonus of rendering the village inoperable for some time, making no money and not providing recruits for the enemy.
1 Attacking And Looting Trade Caravans
On top of running their own trade caravans to gain residual income, it is possible for players to ambush and loot the caravans of their rivals as they travel to town to sell their wares. Bandits can make quite lucrative profits with a typical caravan raid giving around 8k total loot. If bandits can catch traders on the way to market they gain a significant portion of all their trade goods on top of the loot from the guards. This is the quintessential outlaw bandit activity, lurking on bridges and outside towns, waiting for merchants to ambush.
There is, however, a few things to consider with raiding caravans in Bannerlord, as with all illegal actions. Firstly if the bandit is part of a kingdom and hits a caravan from a neutral kingdom starting a war with them, the boss is not going to be happy to put it mildly, with a staggering -400 drop in influence. So it is better to take these actions against enemies, or do it before joining up with any factions, so there's less risk of annoying everyone. Bandits should also avoid doing robberies around their hometowns and kingdoms, losing relation with their own faction. Instead, it is better to have an operating area for crime that is separate from the home area where bandit players will still want to visit towns, use shops to sell their stolen goods and build relations in that area. Also by spreading the crimes around in a Mongolian raider fashion this can lessen the impact of criminal ratings building up in one place and leading to penalties.
Mount & Blade 2 Bannerlord is currently available on PC, Xbox and Playstation.