Creating your own kingdom in Bannerlord isn’t a walk in the park. Kingdom creation opens up in the later stages of the game, and managing it is also not easy if you don’t know how each kingdom policy affects your kingdom. That’s where we come in with a list of the best kingdom policies in Bannerlord.
The Kingdom Management panel in Bannerlord is your most important tool when managing a kingdom. It will allow you to manage faction relations, armies, fiefs, and in this case: kingdom policies.
How Kingdom Policies Work in Bannerlord
There are a lot of policies in this game that upkeep the peace of your conquered lands, but not every one of them is going to only benefit your kingdom. Some of them do in fact come with pros and cons. And it mostly depends on what kind of kingdom you want to build.
Furthermore, not all of your kingdom’s lords might agree with the policies that you’re implementing. So, make sure to always check which policies displease certain vassals; you don’t want lords suddenly going “rogue”. You always have to at least try to maintain a sense of balance between your own clan, vassals, and citizens.
With that being said, let’s get into the best policies that both you and your kingdom will benefit from.
Sacred Majesty
- Ruler clan earns 3 influence per day
- Non-ruler clans lose 0.5 influence per day
Right off the bat, the ruling clan earning 3 influence per day is an absolute must for any newly-created kingdom. It’s one of the best policies if you’re hell-bent on creating your own kingdom from scratch, but only in the beginning stages. Firmly avoid this policy if you’re a vassal.
The 0.5 influence per day that your vassal clans lose isn’t substantial, and it won’t hurt your relationship with them too much. But beware, keeping this policy on for too long even after you’ve built a mighty kingdom may come at a cost. Even then, you should be fine.
Royal Privilege
- For kingdom decisions, the influence cost of the ruler overriding the popular decision outcome is reduced by 20%
This policy may be a bit confusing to some. But, what it essentially does is reduce your influence cost when voting against other more dominant vassal votes. Giving you (the ruling clan) the ability to spend 17% less influence when overriding the votes of other vassals.
Once again, this policy is an absolute necessity if you’re the ruler of a kingdom. Vassals have a tendency to start a vote on very banal or unnecessary policies, and having the ability to override them without much influence cost is always a good thing. Keep in mind that this is useful if you’re a ruler, not a vassal.
Forgiveness of Debts
- Settlement loyalty is increased by 2 per day
- Settlement production is reduced by 5%
There are a lot of settlements and fiefs that you can own in Bannerlord. This is why it’s great to keep them loyal to your kingdom by raising overall settlement loyalty. This policy will ensure that your villages and castles stay loyal to you at the cost of production.
The reduced rate of settlement production won’t really affect you as much because of what settlement loyalty provides. The more loyal your settlers and citizens are – the more income your kingdom will receive. Keeping loyalty at 100 will always benefit you in one way or another. You should always have this policy in your kingdoms.
Noble Retinues
- Tier 5+ clans lose 1 influence per day and the party size of their leaders is increased by 40
Increasing your party size is always recommended if you want to build an army worthy of conquering Calradia. This policy allows you to do just that but at the cost of losing 1 influence per day. If your clan’s tier isn’t 5, then getting this would just be a waste.
We’d only recommend this policy once you’ve actually reached clan tier 5, and when you’ve established a decent flow of influence per day. Stretching yourself thin when it comes to clan influence is not a route you want to do down with a new kingdom.
Royal Guard
- Ruler’s party size is increased by 60
- Non-ruling clans lose 0.2 influence per day
Here we have yet another policy that increases your party size, and this time by a whopping size of 60. Gaining such a huge increase in your party size makes this one of the best kingdom policies in Bannerlord, and the 0.2 influence loss per day for non-ruling vassal clans won’t really be noticed by them.
There is still a chance that, if paired with other negative vassal policies, your vassals will rebel. But you should be fine in most cases. It is just too good to pass up in the grand scheme of things. This policy obviously won’t benefit you if you’re a vassal yourself.
Tribunes of the People
- Town taxes paid to the ruler are reduced by 5%
- Town loyalty is increased by 1 point per day
It might seem ludicrous to sacrifice 5% of your taxes in order to boost town loyalty, but it’s the way to go in Bannerlord. As mentioned previously, town loyalty is going to either make or break your kingdom’s territorial integrity. You do not want towns rebelling, and letting your tax income take a small hit isn’t that big of a price to pay.
Your AI vassals are likely going to vote against the implementation of this policy, but we’d recommend overriding their votes. This is essential for any prosperous kingdom.
Castle Charters
- Castle upgrade costs are reduced by 20%
This might seem like a mediocre policy at first, but it’s great once you discover its additional advantage. It does in fact reduce castle upgrade costs by 20%, which is in and of itself a great perk. However, it also affects town upgrades. With this policy implemented, both your town and castle upgrade costs will be reduced.
This fact that it benefits towns as well is what makes it one of the best kingdom policies in Bannerlord. This hidden perk still isn’t patched as of Bannerlord’s official release, but it could be in the future.
State Monopolies
- Ruler clan gains 5% of the settlement as tax per town
- Workshop production is decreased by 10%
The State Monopolies policy focuses on generating more income for the kingdom as a whole. Players who rely too heavily on workshops might not find this too optimal, as it will decrease workshop production overall.
A policy like this is great for your kingdom’s financial prosperity, and should only be implemented once you’ve established more sources of income.
That is our list of the best kingdom policies in Bannerlord. If you want to learn more about Bannerlord and further develop your kingdom, we have plenty of guides to start with:
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