Lo-Fi Games

So, you start with 6(?) people when you select this to start. Are those pulled from the world to begin with, or are those additional characters generated, and you still have all the normal npcs around the world?

I would think those are characters generated alongside your main companion. So not pulled from the game world itself.

I would think so as well, but that may be an unfair advantage* to start making an easier play from the beginning. although, since almost everyone starts with 1's in everything, it might be more of a detriment, as you may draw more unwanted attention.

*with the complete understanding that as a single player game, theres no one to have an "advantage" over.

Since it's also a group of people, it'll take a bit longer to actually train all your people, too, to get to the point where you can survive a single bandit group. I just had my group of 6 - 2 recruits and 4 "experienced" people - almost get wiped by bandits before I resorted to getting guards involved, so handling 6 raw people must be a nightmare to get better.

I get wiped by bandits too many times for it to be an advantage...

running into bandits in the first few seconds, 3 of your dudes are pack mules who are encumbered, means drop your bags if you want to live/run. usually means your stuff disappears-not good.

running into bandits in the first few minutes, you've used some of your resources but your guys are in the same fighting state of being complete wimps and you haven't got the tech for dummies to train on.

running into bandits once you've got a foundation, I've trained my guys up to 4 attack on dummies and still got my ass handed to me, and if I managed to make the hold, by the time I medic everyone, there's another bandit raid and youre screwed again.

got a town down with no walls(due to the state of release) attempt to make guys lock themselves in, but the bandits wont stop beating the door down, so screwed again. even though I've taken bandit weapons before some of these and loaded up my guys.

the world is not a friendly place for the freedom seekers

Yea, I've been having similar results, sort of. Generally, I tend to notice the bandits coming, so I immediately start bee lining it for the nearest town, and since they start in an area with 3 or 4 of them all around you, thats not too difficult. Of course, thats'a also making training my guys difficult, because they're not doing most of the fighting ye. But i've gotten a fairly decent center started, with rank 2 stone processor, so now i've got some extra guys standing around (since i only need 3 on it, and i had been using like 4-5)

Well, from playing it through a few times, the best thing to do is to let the guards fight the baddies at the start. Sell your building mats and backpacks and get everyone small backpacks, grey straw hats, and armored sandals. After that, spend whats left on medium plate for everyone. Head into the round building or police station in almost any town and set your men to train until they are at skill 4. Without any real cats left, you either wait in town for a skirmish and join in, or you wander out, avoiding the bandits and looting the unfortunates of their weapons and armor. Keep ringed swords and the chest plates for use on your men, the starting katanas and unarmored men will thank you. Lastly, if the bodies are close to town, make your men pick them up and set them to walk, free strength training while you shop to get everyone into plate mail and plate pants.

the only thing i see happening when i carry bodies around is athletic training and never strength...

Order your guys to walk.

I remember way back when you could only start as the Wanderer. My first short term goals were to earn enough money to hire some recruits and buy some building materials. Usually, by the time I've satisfied those goals, my #1 is a decent fighter. The way I see it, Freedom Seekers just skips past those early, painful, tottering steps.