• At the start, focus on trade tasks, they are very low risk and good consistent cash. Mercenary tasks can be very profitable and good for renown/reputation, but you should wait until you have strong companions/ equipment and the cash to support the necessary fighters. Be careful with ‘escort’ missions early on. You will be attacked during them, but they can still be worth it if you have the fighters.
  
  
• A pretty good initial route to do trade tasks to start with is Tor'Zag Shelter -> Arken, Arken -> Deven, Deven-> Arken, Arken -> Tor'Zag Shelter. Also consider Lumen as a destination from Tor'Zag.
  
  
• Getting your second beast of burden is a big upgrade in capability and worth prioritising. It’s the difference between having room for 1 trade mission and 2 or 3 at a time.
  
  
• Don’t bring scouts if you are just travelling on roads, only for long journeys offroad, they are a waste of consumption just travelling on roads between cities as there is no hunting on roads.
  
  
• Cargo hold slots are increased by each 20 increment in cargo. It can sometimes be useful to get that extra worker/mount to get you over the next increment of 20 if you are close and you can use it.

The differences between mammals and lizards as mounts and beasts of burden aren’t obvious at a first glance, lizards are not a direct upgrade. The main difference is the way the movement is generated. Lizard beasts of burden have +1 movement base, more cargo and less work needed but more consumption, whereas Mammal beasts of burden have +3 march, less cargo and less consumption but more work. For mounts, horses carry more cargo for less consumption and work, whereas lizards fight better.

For total movement available you need to consider marching as well. As long as a Comitatus leaves at least half the Beast of Burdens original march value rounded up (so 3 for mammals and 2 for lizards) then they will be able to stay on 'Fresh and Sustained' consistently without going below that over time, though be sure to also keep a full guard to maintain morale.

Given all this, which animals you should us depends on what you are doing.

For the full stats of each:

Beasts of burden:

Mounts:
(Mount movement only applies when the -entire- comitatus is mounted)


What does this translate to on a mid game Vargus with some deputies and items? Well with 3 beasts of burden and 5 mount, Scout Master, Reinforced Cartwheels, Dwarven Compass, max nutrition, vigor and morale:

Mammals:
12 slaves to maintain, 9 fighters to fully protect, 13 movement and 9 march. 316 cargo. 79 daily consumption = 13 movement no march, 19 with sustained march, 22 all out.

For lizards
11 slaves to maintain, 9 fighters to fully protect, 14 movement, and 5 march. 354 cargo, 105 daily consumption, = 14 movement with no march, 17 with 50% march, 19 all out.

In field conditions (Fervent Morale, Sustained Nutrition, Fresh Vigor)
Mammals: 12 movement 8 march = 17 movement with sustainable march
Lizards: 13 movement 4 march = 15 movement with sustainable march.

So mammals are less consumption overall, with slightly lower cargo and faster moving.

Lizards carry more for less work, are 1 overall movement slower when marching, though have one extra raw movement to be used if you are not marching. Despite lower workload, Lizards are still just over 25% more consumption overall.

If you are on roads and travelling between cities doing trading, you should use horses and march to half your value each time with a fully guarded camp. Use your horse mounts to supplement your cargo and keep them unmounted until required by combat. Less consumption required and the movement is faster. As there is no hunting or forage on roads you don’t need to conserve movement, or bring scouts.

If you are off-road exploring/ long distance trading and taking advantage of hunting and foraging to generate supply, you should bring lizards, as you need to leave 2 movement in order to not fatigue your comitatus’ vigor, and thus the raw movement of lizards is more valuable and march value is not relevant. Lizards get much greater use out of the 'Traverse' perk, as they turn that otherwise not useful march into 3 movement, whereas mammals would just march for the same effect. If you are planning on doing a lot of combat, then consider lizards as they are flat out better in that regard.

• Always buy rumours in cities and check them in your journal, they are a great source of quests (thus insight) as well as companions/upgrades.
  
  
• Keep your Morale, Nutrition and Vigor high. It will help you move faster and more efficiently.
  
  
• If you can afford it, maintain enough fighters to fully guard your comitatus. Meaning you no longer have the ‘Partially defended’ status on the Crew screen. Having fully guarded rests gives a bonus to your morale and obedience each rest, which allows consistent marching.
  
  
• Try to keep consumption low, lower consumption means bigger profits and a bigger range of movement. Consumption can be reduced by slotted items and deputies, or fewer crew.
  
  
• Don’t be afraid to change your comitatus often, if you are just questing around civilised areas, you don’t need scouts or lots of fighters, just take what you need for what you are doing right now, you can always pick up what you need later from another city. Conversely you may not need a lot of beasts of burden when doing merc work, giving you more room for mounts and fighters.
  
  
• Having said that, have some redundancy. Take more food than you think you need, allow enough workers/fighters that you can lose some on the way and you aren’t crippled. Bad events happen a lot, and you will be attacked and lose supplies/people.
  
  
• If you are attacked, and you can afford it, buy off the attackers. It’s almost always less costly than a close fight. Bandits will be happy with a trivial amount of cash, excess slaves can always be offered to creatures who want meat instead….
  
  
• Fighters are better on defense, outriders are better on attack. Unless you initiate the combat, you’re on defense. You can mount up at the start of a battle if you wish, so don’t feel the need to have outriders mounted all the time.
  
  
• When you have reputation with a trade house, you get a Trade House license, meaning you no longer pay gate taxes for cities, or the random road taxes forced on you by tax collectors in the world. Pick a trade faction of your choice and get it to a high rank.
  
  
• Be careful when taking on passengers, they may overload your workforce and/or fighters. So make sure you have sufficient fighters and slaves/workers to support your new passengers before leaving.
  
  
• If disaster strikes and your people are starving/ overworked in the middle of nowhere, go on 50% rations and eat the beasts of burden and mounts as required. You’re eating your money but it’s better than dying. If morale is failing and you're broke, offer double pay with ‘pay later’, at least you’ll get home.
  
  
• Both slaves and workers are viable. Initially slaves are a lot more efficient for consumption (if you have the cash for the initial investment), though with items workers come close. The downside with slaves is the obedience to keep track of, and moral implications (some companions and factions disagree with the practice). You can also feed slaves to attacking monsters if you have to. I find slaves are more useful overall.

• Companions are the most efficient way to upgrade your comitatus' capabilities, they are very cheap and give a lot of bonuses. Always get them as fast as possible.
  
  
• The insight spent on upgrading companions prowess is multiplied by 3, and their professions and attributes cost the same as yours. Thus before spending insight on your own professions and attributes, upgrade all of theirs to level 1 as it is 3 times as efficient. The first prowess of each companion should probably be spent upgrading each of their available professions and attributes to at least one, with a lot of companions this will greatly increase your comitatus stats quite quickly.
  
  
• The least common companions skills are: Religion, Healer and Herb lore. Consider them for yourself.
  
  
• Deputies are a great boon to your comitatus, try and increase the requisite authority to accommodate new companions into a role quickly. My favourites to have are Scout Master, Chief Handler and Supercargo, though they are all quite good. You can also swap them around as you need in camp or a settlement, so if you haven’t got full slots and are going into a fight, it’s worth changing in a guard captain and marauder prime for example.
  
  
• Upgrading combat skills is the next priority, having 6 or more companions with strong combat skills will allow you to undertake the more challenging parts of the game.
  
  
• Your companions can each equip two items called Gear as well, perk increasing gear is quite cheap and useful, for combat anything that provides channeling/durable spells, armour, regeneration or power is hugely valuable.

• Heat shielding crystal, reinforced cartwheels, dwarven compass, armaments (steel ideally), anything that reduces consumption.

• Good upgrades for your Vagrus are resourcefulness, and means to use it, as well as authority. Upgrade authority as needed keeping in mind that some factions also increase it (Venari).
  
  
• Traverse is not an auto take, as marching makes it redundant, but it can be useful for off-road scouting strategies.
  
  
• Boost and/or Aid can be of great use in Companion combat.
  
  
• Exploit can allow you to be a little more efficient in getting tasks.
  
  
• Command is useful for Crew combats once you are routinely using 20 or more fighters.

• Each faction has enemies, that means increasing your standing with one will decrease standing with another. Thus raising your standing with everyone at the same time can be difficult. This is especially true of the trading Houses. House Venari, Ratharnak Alliance, House Darius, House Oquo and Scythichnis Covenant all hate each other. Try to just focus on one that you like the bonuses for initially.
  
  
• Check the ‘rewards’ screen on the ‘tasks' tab for cities for what each faction can give you, and make sure to collect on these rewards when you earn sufficient rank on the rewards screen.