Here you will set the groundwork for your character (obviously). There are many possibilites for role-play, but I will only be going over my standard set-up here, as it is the best for newcomers in my opinion. It was pointed out by a commenter on my last guide (called Teddybear at the time of writing) that a strength based character may be an option, so I made some changes.

My recommended character is the son of a landless knight, a squire and a noble in training who is out for personal revenge. This gives 9 strength, which is one of the most important attributes for this character, gives him a point in leadership and it makes him a noble. It makes him start with a Palfrey, which gives you a massive advantage early game, and it hits the renown requirement for recruiting levies in villages.

(Here you can check the "Gather Companions" box or the "Fog of War" box. I do not recommend ticking the "Fog of War" box, but if you are looking for an easier start then you should gather the companions, which will put them all in the tavern of starting town (the Weeping Town in this case). You will have to leave and re-enter the tavern after you have hired some companions in order to get the rest of them.)

You can then put points into your skills. You should put most of your points into strength, iron flesh and power strike/draw/throw depending on what weapons you plan on using. This prepares your character for future levels and battles.

Once you create your character you will instantly be put into battle with a bandit. Once you either beat him or lose to him a clerk will take you into his home. Tell him you mean to seize your chance to get some gold. You will then spawn next to the Weeping Town, which is the Stormlands' only market town. Enter the town and talk to Septon Garibald in the castle to get some quests (including the brand-new quest where you go past the wall). Re-enter the castle to talk to Ser Clifford Gower to get a quest to go to Ninestars. Then talk to Goodman Tom in the tavern to get a very easy quest to go to Cairnhall. Don't forget to talk to the Guildmaster to gain experience (do this for every town you visit).

From here onwards you have a few options. You can join a lord's army or you can recruit some troops and go off on your own. In my opinion by far the best option is to go off on your own because you get vast amounts of experience and money, so this is the strategy I will talk about in the guide.

One of the unique elements of this mod are the locations you can visit around Westeros and Essos that give you experience, and most (if not all) have a hidden chest somewhere. The first one you should go to is "The Howling Hill", where you can find a chest with an axe and a Wierwood branch that you can sell. On your way to Cairnhall you should also visit X just above. Some of the market towns have chests hidden in them aswell, such as King's Landing which contains a Pot of Wildfire.

In terms of levelling, you should get your strength to either 18 or 20 to level up your Ironflesh and power strike/draw/throw. If you aren't playing a melee then I would only recommend getting 18 strength, as the heavier armours will reduce your power draw/throw, but armours such as Chainmail Hauberks still provide decent amounts of armour without penalising your skills. You should then get your intelligence to 10 to allow you to read books and then keep levelling your charisma to allow you to increase your leadership and prisoner management.

DeCoder68W's guide on companions in ACOK 3.0 may be for an older version, but it still contains relevant information regarding the companions in the mod. Also keep in mind that you do not need to recruit all of the companions.

If you gathered companions then you may want to go to the tavern in the Weeping Town and hire Brynden Storm, Saathos, Martyn Snow, Fenna, Alyn, Carver and Maron, as they are all free.

Brynden Storm will be your doctor (has high surgery), Maron makes a good trader (you can also level up his persuasion and use him to recruit lords to your cause if you start a kingdom), Alyn makes a good knight and you can use one of the other companions as a kingdom manager.

Ser Bennis of Hollow Hill and Ser Felton Flowers will make very good vassals should you make your own kingdom, as they are nobles and can be levelled up to have high leadership etc.

Like in version 3.0, troops vary in quality. I would link to the wiki, but it has not been updated and I am unsure if the old information is still accurate, so I will use my personal experiences here.

Infantry:
Dragonstone infantry has good armour and proficiencies, making them an obvious choice.
The Riverlands may also appeal to you as they use maces which knock enemies out so they can be sold as prisoners. You may come across Grazmak mo Senko who sells Unsullied troops. These are some of the best infantry in the game, and after the initial outlay of 800 per troop, they only cost 1 denar to maintain. The best bit is that if you pay him 10000 you can have him reside in your court for all eternity (just make sure NOT to pay him the 10000 again because it will do nothing. And remember where you told him to wait if you don't already have a castle).

Archers:
Stormlands archers are good, but as soon as you get 100 renown start to recruit Raventree archers from Raventree Hall in the Riverlands, and Karhold Longbowmen from Karhold in the North. They may be more expensive, but they are without a doubt the best option.

Cavalry:
I would recommend the Riverlands cavalry because of their plated horses and very good proficencies. The Golden Company cavalry that House Targaryen use are excellent aswell, but also more rare.

One of the major additions to this mod is the new quest which has you go over the wall with the Nights Watch.

Follow the quest given to you by Septon Garibald and then find Jon Snow on the wall. Make sure to explore all of the locations in the quest, as they contain items that you can sell. If you have an army with you then some of them WILL die. Once the quest has finished you will gain lots of experience, but some of the Northern lords will join the Westerlands.

Other notable quests include:

If you are a vassal of the Westerlands, then you can talk to Tywin Lannister to get the quest "Hear Me Roar", which increases your relationship with King's Landing and gives you a set of armour (Aemond Targaryen's Plate Amour).

"The Tourney at Ninestars". This quest can go two ways. You can either fight against a knight or enjoy some food and peacerfully finish the quest (if you succefully beat the knight you get two arming swords, but If you lose you have to pay for the armour repairs and you lose some stats).

You can talk to the maesters in the archives at Oldtown to get two quests. There is also a chest containing some books and you can talk to one of the maesters to get "The Book of Patrons". One of the quests has you travelling to the septry in the north of the Vale in an attemp to find a book, and the other quest has you travelling to Lanisport to fetch a book for Maester Yandel.

There is a quest you can get by talking to a woman in the castle of Norvos that has you track down bandits in a cave, which gives you quite a lot of gold.

You can go to the castle in Braavos and talk to the women there in order to get renown

This is the point in the game where you start making money and building your army. Before starting your kindgom, it is vital that you get a lot of income and can sustain an army of considerable size. Having a high leadership skill is vital, as it decreases troop wages and allows you to lead more soldiers.

The foundations of this mid-game require you to become a mercenary for a faction. Essos is still the best place for this, as the factions declare war and make peace more often than those in Westeros, giving you a lot of right to rule.

Once you become a mercenary you will be occasionally asked to join a military campaign. If you don't care about your relations with the marshall then don't bother, but high relations with a lord may persuade them to join you when you start your faction, and completing the tasks that they set you give you xp.

When you are not in a campaign, you should be in Westeros trading and setting up enterprises in major cities. Buying salt at Saltpans is good at the start, but I found that its price rose a lot by about 200 days. Buy it at no more than 170 denars and sell it at no less than 210 denars at other cities, and only sell a few bags per city and then move on to the next. Buying furs at White Harbour in the North is a very good way of making money, as you can sell it for around 250 in Essos. Having a high trade skill or having a companion with a high trade skill is very important, as you will be able to buy more for less and sell less for more. Having a high trade skill also allows you to assess prices better (go to the market place and at the top it will say "Asess the local prices"). When setting up enterprises, it is best to set them up in towns which are not besieged very often, as their prosperity will remain high, which brings you more profit. Check all of the enterprises you can to see which ones will give you the most money, as it varies considerably town to town. If you plan on staying in Essos then it is best that you make enterprises in Westeros, but the Westeros factions will still declare war on you eventually, which will heavily impact your income.

Also make sure to take part in tournaments and bet on your self to gain a lot of money. The town may also provide you with a prize such as a horse or extra money, so its worth it.

You can travel to Braavos and set up an account at the Iron Bank. You will recieve 2.5% interest on however much the money in the bank at the time, so to maximise profits you should put in 10k as soon as possible and then leave it until you need the money.

Prisoners are also a brilliant source of income (just don't think about how they will become tortured galley slaves and you will be fine). Using a blunt weapon will allow you to knock out enemies instead of kiling them, meaning that you can then sell them off to ransom brokers (you will find them in taverns around Westeros and Essos).

This is where you can decide whether you will start your own kingdom, become a vassal or help a pretender.

If you decide to start your own kingdom, then make sure you have a solid income (as many enterprises as possible), a lot of cash in-hand (50k+) and a decent army (as many high level soldiers as possible, mainly archers). Find a castle (or market town) with <100 troops garrisoned and besiege the castle. Make sure you have enough food to sustain the army for a few days and that the castle is not in the middle of enemy territory. Taking towns will provide you with more income, but they are harder to defend because the faction you took it from will send most of their vassals to take it back. Make one of your companions your kingdom manager (make sure they are not vital to your cause) and then talk to them and hire the necessary staff. Take into account that the lords of other faction do not take troop quality into account when beseiging a fief, so quantity is far better than quality when building your garrisons.

Another way to gain land is by rebelling. You can marry a lady who owns land and then use her fief as your own (as pointed out by popcorn3 in my last guide).

It's easy enough to take the castle, but maintaining the empire is where it gets difficult. You will only have yourself (maybe 1 or 2 vassals) to take and defend castles, and the other factions will most likely declare war on you as soon as you become a king. Recruit lots of troops and train them in your castle and continue to recruit troops for your own army.

In my playthrough I became a vassal of House Targaryen. In this version the invading factions start with a fief of their own, which allows them to actually take fiefs. A handy trick may be to swap fiefs with a lord from your faction. I took Ashford from the Reach but I was not able to maintain a large garrison because my enterprises were in factions that we were at war with, so I swapped it for Rain House, which gave my king a better fief but still gave me the oportunity to help my faction.

Thanks for reading this guide, I hope it was helpful!

If you're feeling a bit saucy, then you can use Morghs M&B Editor to make factions declare war on eachother or to create your own player faction troops.