How to Gain Influence

Learn how to gain and spend influence in Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord. Discover methods like winning battles, donating troops, building forums, and utilizing specific perks.

The influence system in Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord is crucial for participating in political decisions within a kingdom. Without it, your ability to affect policy or even be heard is severely limited. When you first join a kingdom, your influence is typically zero. The most basic way to gain influence is by winning battles, with greater influence awarded for victories where your side was outnumbered. Participating in battles alongside powerful nobles against enemy factions, and successfully completing sieges, yield the most influence. Basic field battles against strong opponents can also provide significant influence.

Additional methods for earning influence include:

• Donating troops to settlements within your kingdom or allied kingdoms (this does not apply to settlements you own).
• Building and upgrading a forum in one of your settlements for a daily increase in influence (starting at 1 influence per day).
• Implementing and supporting policies that increase influence, particularly in your own settlements. Note that some policies may decrease influence daily.
• Joining a large army from your kingdom can increase your daily influence gain, especially if you have ample food in your inventory to supply the army.

Specific perks can further enhance your influence gain:

• Charm Perk Tree:
  • 'Champion' (Level 125): +10 more influence from winning tournaments.
  • 'Our Glorious Leader' (Level 175): +20% more influence gain from personal actions.
  • 'Pro Familia' (Level 175): +10% more influence from clan member party actions.
  • 'Courtship' (Level 225): +1 influence per day for each allied lord party not in an army and waiting in the same town.
  • 'Immortal Charm' (Level 275): +1 influence per day for every 5 Charm skill points beyond level 250.
• Trade Perk Tree:
  • 'Influential Trader' (Level 250): Allows Caravans and workshops to gain influence daily on your behalf.
• Steward Perk Tree:
  • 'Supreme Authority' (Level 25): +1 influence as a ruler.
  • 'Prominence' (Level 50): +1 influence as a vassal.
  • 'Warmonger' (Level 75): Reduces the influence cost of summoning vassals to war.

You can track your influence and compare it with other clans in the 'Kingdom' menu under the 'Clans' tab. As a mercenary, influence converts to denars daily, offering a quick cash injection but reducing political standing. If you become a vassal, inactivity can lead to influence loss, so focus on kingdom expansion.

What to Do With Influence:

• Participate in votes for governing newly acquired settlements.
• Vote on reassigning settlements to different nobles.
• Propose or disavow kingdom policies.
• Pledge support for a clan to increase their influence (at the cost of yours).
• Propose the expulsion of a clan from the kingdom.
• Request an army to join your party temporarily.
• Force an army to disband within the kingdom.
• Propose a declaration of war against another kingdom.

Significant influence is required to impact policy decisions. As your influence grows, you can engage in internal politics, diminish rivals' influence, vote to remove them as governors, or even expel them. While more nobles might vote against your decisions, sufficient influence can sway the outcome. These methods are also applicable once you establish your own kingdom.