Starting: (Good Side)
I tried different factions. Finally I suggest start with Gondor or Rohan. You will greatly benefit from their multiple castles and traders and vicinity to enemy actions.
I started with Gondor, at Minas Tirith. And recruited my first companion C.... (Level 1) using my initial 1/1 influence with Gondor. Rome freely for first 20 days, then beware while entering enemy territory. For first 20 days, keep a party size of 10, return extra soldiers to their factions for resource points. The enemy patrols are faster than you. And any caravan near you at start of battle joins respective side. Remember this, otherwise you may surprise yourself by attacking 5 goblins and fighting 60 Uruk-hai. After 20 days, when Invasion starts, have 25-30 soldiers or more as needed. After 20 days many enemy vassal armies gather and patrol near west Osgiliath and Isengard.
It is very difficult to get companions in TLDTTA. For everything you need 4 types of currencies.
1. (& 2) Rank & Rank Points: This is how u get promoted in any faction. U start with rank 2 of ur own faction. And “stranger then known” with other factions that u help. Once u get some rank with any faction u start getting daily resource points of that faction. Higher the Rank more the resource points u get. To get a companion first u have to qualify some required Rank with his/her faction.
3. Influence: To get rewards and Companions you need to SPEND influence. I.e. Cost of Companions and promotion rewards are given in terms of influence. For rewards u still have to be of certain level. Like for first reward u have to be level 10 or above. I suggest don't waste it on rewards. Some companions need 10-20 influence to recruit.
4. Resource Points: All buying, selling, recruits and returns are done in currency of Resource points. Gather 3000 points to buy a warhorse.
To get any of the above currencies/resources “Keep fighting, Keep questing”. You get resource & rank points as per territory, nearest town/camp, any allied vassal in sight. For larger battles u can get some influence too.
Quests:
I suggest you do questing for first 20 days. If u r lucky or in Gondor or Rohan, you get enough fights and quests, and traders to prepare yourself in first 20 days. Don’t forget to get a warhorse from some faction by spending almost 3000 resource points. Warhorse will be very useful in scouting the battlefield during fights. Other horses may not just survive the arrows.
Battles & Troops:
With any good troops with shields and bows you can defeat army double your size. But observe this mod is not much favoring cavalry. Almost all evil infantry troops carry good spears. Rare cavalry gets easily killed. At start of the battle ur troops start with hold and formation:. Infantry behind, cavalry on right, and archers 10 or 20 paces ahead. But enemy starts as infantry in front, standing closer, and archers at back. And they will keep rotating on battlefield but don’t break their formations easily. Sometimes I have to kill half their troops by myself to break their formations. Sending cavalry without breaking them loose is suicide.
In this mod, infantry and archers are both best. Archers on enemy side are good too. Finish them carefully, or they will do lot of damage. Player army needs medium or higher level archers to be effective. Human and Elf archers have more range than Goblin and Orc archers (Check). Cavalry troops at higher level are good in group of 5-10, but if they charge on a tight infantry group, they easily die. (Evil Cavalry: Warg riders die easily but their wargs keep charging your troops. So kill the wargs too with spears or lances. Wargs can’t harm mounted troops yet.)
So in short, you stay on horse, but focus on developing army of more archers and some infantry, later some cavalry. Every castle/camp provides different types of troops of same faction. So you may have to recruit, infantry and archers from different places. Most noble troops are cavalry from start or from first promotion. Like Gondor noble become Squires of Gondor. Many volunteers are available from every castle, but beware tough battles may give ur companions long term injuries or wounds.
Siege:
U can participate, but you can’t start a siege. Wait for the story to be unfold. Sieges can be slow in some towns. Attackers use multiple entrance points including gate, which opens after some time. While defending, enemy archers in front of open gate defended by infantry crowd, is bad situation. Kill those archers fast or they may kill many gate defenders, as gate defenders may not move out.
Loot & Inventory: Most things have weight. You get metal scraps as loot. The more you carry the slower your party runs. Less healthy soldiers, more weight, slower your party runs. So sometimes if you find yourself in tight situation and not able to run, discard all your loot and then see the speed difference. Reducing party size has adverse effect. And no need of looting skill higher than 2.
Equipments and Food:
You will have to buy EVERYTHING. So sell metal scraps, do quests, buy gears.
Skills: As no companions, you have to develop your own party skills. Start with first-aid, path-finding and spotting, then wound treatment. Simultaneously get at least 4 power strike in first 10 levels. (Ur choice) You may not need power draw to use many bows. Player doesn’t need power draw to use many good bows, except Elven bows. Gondor and Rohan bows are good without skill requirement.
Towns & NPCs:
In all towns, when visiting first time, you manually have to find NPCs. Every town has at least two of the three NPCs: 1)Guildmaster/Thane, 2)SupplyMaster/Maiden, 3)Smith. Don’t forget to ask about ‘Latest Rumour’ to at least one person in every town. That’s how you mark/reveal many locations on world map. Some locations are always hidden until you travel in their vicinity. One funny thing is, if you sneak in an enemy town, you can start fights/riots. Suddenly two teams will be formed. All armed with clubs, except town guards with their regular weapons. So defeat a town guard, take his falchicon/sabre and finish all opponents. Larger towns have more guards. U get 200-300 resource points of nearest allied faction. If u loose, then you can just leave. (Bug at Orc Camp: One soldier on wooden tower shoots with bow, then he can’t come down, u can’t go up, and u can’t throw ur club at him. U just have to quit without saving.)