Mount and Blade questions

[Brother Oni]

I've got two questions for all you Mount and Blade players (I assume there are some here, although the last Mount and Blade thread's dropped off the board as far as I can see):

1: Is the game supposed to have a fish eye's lens? Everything at the edge of the screen looks a bit squished but when I move the camera round to bring them into the middle, it looks fine.
Is this intentional or is my graphics card being funny again?

2: I'm currently playing the demo and the game is borderline tripping my simulation sickness. Assuming that I'm able to adjust, do people recommend getting the original M&B or M&B:Warband?
I know Warband is touted as a sequal, but general reviews place it more as a standalone expansion.

Thanks in advance.

[Om]

Quick questions, quick answers:

1) Sounds like a problem on your end. Certainly I've not noticed any such effect on my machine. What demo are you playing? If its the original then note that the graphics did get a minor upgrade for Warband

2) Unless you really want to play old mods, there's no reason to buy the original. Warband, which is standalone, has everything that was in that plus more

[Incomp]

1. No, sounds like an issue with your comp.

2. Definitely Warband.

[Whammydill]

Yeah, I've never had graphical problems like that.

Warband is best of course. I only continued to play the first one until Prophecy of Pendor mod came out for Warband. I love that mod.

[Gaius Marius]

The only thing I gotta say about this game is this:

There is no feeling looking victorious over a battlefield, with your men cheering, and noticing the piles of deads at your feet. Your avatar covered in blood.

You know you weren't invincible going in. You know there is no silly mechanics that makes a random arrow do nothing on you. Every blow is dangerous, every swords swung at you could kill you. Heavy Armor merely give you better odds.

And yet, they are the ones lying at your feet. For you killed, and killed, and killed, until you can bath in their blood.


Mount & Blade is, in my opinion, one of the most violent game around. You see up-close the violence you cause, and you throw yourself in it. There is no fancy combat mechanic about initiatives, there is no abstraction. The only thing that matters is swinging a sword and connecting.

It makes victory taste all the better. :smallbiggrin:

[Brother Oni]

1) Sounds like a problem on your end. Certainly I've not noticed any such effect on my machine. What demo are you playing? If its the original then note that the graphics did get a minor upgrade for Warband

It's the demo off the Taleworlds site, which is apparently Warband 1.134.

I'll try updating my graphics drivers again.



It makes victory taste all the better. :smallbiggrin:

Hence why I'm really hoping I can play this game. :smallbiggrin:

[Leecros]

The only thing I gotta say about this game is this:

There is no feeling looking victorious over a battlefield, with your men cheering, and noticing the piles of deads at your feet. Your avatar covered in blood.

You know you weren't invincible going in. You know there is no silly mechanics that makes a random arrow do nothing on you. Every blow is dangerous, every swords swung at you could kill you. Heavy Armor merely give you better odds.

And yet, they are the ones lying at your feet. For you killed, and killed, and killed, until you can bath in their blood.


Mount & Blade is, in my opinion, one of the most violent game around. You see up-close the violence you cause, and you throw yourself in it. There is no fancy combat mechanic about initiatives, there is no abstraction. The only thing that matters is swinging a sword and connecting.

It makes victory taste all the better. :smallbiggrin:

...and then you join a siege and /facepalm when your soldiers push you off the ladder eight times...

[Gaius Marius]

...and then you join a siege and /facepalm when your soldiers push you off the ladder eight times...

Agreed 100%, this is probably the most maddening element of this game. The very, very, very uncomfortable siege mechanics. I'd like the opportunity to set up my siege assault plan and decide where and how to assault the walls.

But you have to admit, dude, that once you manage to piece the wall of defenders (which is hard ennough as it is. Makes you feel sorry for the soldiers you send to their death in Medieval Total War), I just go around with an axe + shield, back-stabbing back-skull-cracking open (:smallconfused:?) soldiers to help your men pierce through..

And then, I go hunt for those bloody archer! I kill about 20 by myself, charging headfirst into the fray with my bloody axe. I am really wondering what my men say about me... :smallbiggrin:

Until we charge in the courtyard, all together, for the final slaughter.


Siege is the most frustrating, but also most fun part of the game. Once you're in, it's merry bloodfest with a real feeling of pure carnage...

[Jothki]

The only thing I gotta say about this game is this:

There is no feeling looking victorious over a battlefield, with your men cheering, and noticing the piles of deads at your feet. Your avatar covered in blood.

You know you weren't invincible going in. You know there is no silly mechanics that makes a random arrow do nothing on you. Every blow is dangerous, every swords swung at you could kill you. Heavy Armor merely give you better odds.

And yet, they are the ones lying at your feet. For you killed, and killed, and killed, until you can bath in their blood.


Mount & Blade is, in my opinion, one of the most violent game around. You see up-close the violence you cause, and you throw yourself in it. There is no fancy combat mechanic about initiatives, there is no abstraction. The only thing that matters is swinging a sword and connecting.

It makes victory taste all the better. :smallbiggrin:

That or you're setting personal damage to 25% and just rampaging through everyone.

[Gaius Marius]

That or you're setting personal damage to 25% and just rampaging through everyone.

If that's your thing, why not?

I like the idea that a sword I weild is as dangerous as my ennemy's.. :smalltongue:

[Brother Oni]

Well I've updated my graphics drivers and there's no change in the distortion.

It seems to only happen in taverns though, or at least that's where it's most noticeable. It doesn't seem to have an effect on the gameplay, so I'll just live with it.

[Om]

This thread has tempted me back to Calradia. Can anyone recommend some good mods for the SP game? Preferably graphical mods that don't change the game world


Well I've updated my graphics drivers and there's no change in the distortion'Fraid I don't know what the problem is then. Might not be the same in the release version but obviously you may not want to gamble on that

[Miscast_Mage]

This thread has tempted me back to Calradia. Can anyone recommend some good mods for the SP game?

EEEEEEEeeeeeee-:smallbiggrin:


This thread has tempted me back to Calradia. Can anyone recommend some good mods for the SP game? Preferably graphical mods that don't change the game world

Oh. ಠ_ಠ I wouldn't know about graphics. I have mine at the lowest of low qualities so I can run battles with 600+ troops at a time(see below for linky). Sooooo worth it~ Regardless, go and download the native compilation (http://forums.taleworlds.com/index.php/topic,126993.30.html) at the very least. The handier things including: Allowing every companion simultaneously without headache, letting you use said companions as pack-mules via party-inventory, and my favourite: automating them picking up the spoils of battle, upgrading their gear from said spoils(or you just stick an item in the item pool and click upgrade-gear), and selling the vender-trash you don't need.


'Fraid I don't know what the problem is then. Might not be the same in the release version but obviously you may not want to gamble on that

Well, if it's only happening in taverns(or if it's the only place it's bad enough to notice), then it's not too much of a problem. Action-wise, you might fight the odd drunkard in a tavern, but that's it. And the native compilation(linked above) has a handy feature of A)turning off companion disagreements, and B)having every compinion start in the city you start closest to(note that both are optional if you don't want to use either of them) so you don't have to scrounge around taverns for companions.


...and then you join a siege and /facepalm when your soldiers push you off the ladder eight times...

See, this is why I stood back with my archers and just plinked at the enemy during sieges. Plus, when you run a battle size changer (http://forums.taleworlds.com/index.php?topic=103109.0) that enables having, let's say, 300 troops on either side(the max it allows is 1000 on the field at one time, a far-cry from the dinky little 150 limit in native), sieges tend to become that much more dangerous as a melee character, if not outright broken with that amount of troops. Untill you install extra ladders/towers(and walls, too.) (http://forums.taleworlds.com/index.php/topic,132920.0.html) Aaaand another handy link; a list of how-to-do tweaks (http://forums.taleworlds.com/index.php/topic,46290.0.html) that you may like(though a bit of warning; the only I've tweaked with that guide's help are the prisoner management limit(I mean, come on! 50 prisoners at 10?! I take out that many single-handedly per battle, let alone when I have my specially built slave-catching anti-killing-which-just-so-happens-to-be-profitable-and-gives-me-free-troops army with me), so I don't know how well it works with other elements, some of which are already done in the NatComp.), as well as an automated tweaking program (http://forums.taleworlds.com/index.php?topic=101731.0), though it works a little wonky with some elements of the native compilation.

Oh, and another two useful little tidbits of information; if you're feeling frustrated with your character, you can export your character, edit the text file which is in plain english and is located in My Documents, and import it back in. Another is you can enable cheat mode when in the game launcher; the cheat I found most convinient was ctrl+z to teleport across the map. Made some things too easy, yes, but it means I no longer have to click a spot across the map and just go do something else for 5 minutes. Also, let me organise-and-reorganise troops in each castle according to theme, tier, purpose, and effectiveness. Yes these games bring out my OCD in horrible, eldritch ways. Shut up. >_>

Another mod I'm contemplating is The Eagle and the Radiant Cross (http://forums.taleworlds.com/index.php/topic,106688.0.html) because I toyed around with the flintlock pistol in native(only found with cheats, mind you) and got a taste for firearms. Seems decent so far, but... so horrible without all those handy native compilation fixes:smalleek:, and now I'm trying to mix them together with a few other tweaks and such.

Whew, that was bigger than I planned. Oh, and if you still don't feel like downloading any of the above:
http://img10.imageshack.us/img10/3316/hypnotoad.gif
DOWNLOAD. THEM. RIGHT. NOW. SRSLY.

[Leecros]

http://img10.imageshack.us/img10/3316/hypnotoad.gif
DOWNLOAD. THEM. RIGHT. NOW. SRSLY.

All Glory To The Hypnotoad!

[Brother Oni]

'Fraid I don't know what the problem is then. Might not be the same in the release version but obviously you may not want to gamble on that

I suspect it might be my resolution (1920x1080 as that's native for my monitor), but the more usual 1600x1200 doesn't have the same aspect ratio.


Now all I've got to do is to figure out how to use a lance while on horseback. Why can't you just have it like real life - fix your grip then let your horse do all the work, rather than having to thrust it at people in the game? :smallsigh:

I assume you must be in motion for it to deal damage? I couldn't hit the broadside of a barn when I got given one in a tournament.

[Miscast_Mage]

I suspect it might be my resolution (1920x1080 as that's native for my monitor), but the more usual 1600x1200 doesn't have the same aspect ratio.

Hmm, I was wondering if it was a resolution issue. Still, doesn't sound too bad for you; my resolution(which escapes me at the moment), when it isn't supported by a game, tends to cut off the bottom of the screen, varying between "text is slightly annoying to read" to "OHGOD I CAN'T ACCESS THE MENUS BECAUSE THE BUTTONS AREN'T ON SCREEN!":smallsigh:. Also, I tend to play games on lower resolutions anyway because the framerate seems to drop like a fly when it's on the proper resolution. And yes, I don't have the cash to go buy another monitor. Arghle.

Out of curiousity, are there any resolutions closer to the correct ratio of your monitor's resolution? It may be worth just taking slightly lesser graphics if there is. And if you complain about graphics being just a teensy bit less shiny than it would be otherwise, I will find a way to hurt you through the internet. With fire.

Edit: You ninja you. Yeah, about lances: Their sole purpose in practice is couching; get your horse running up to top speed for a few seconds and your lance will lower down. Now, when you charge into someone, it will automatically hit them, and for quite a chunk of damage; generally breaking their shield if they block or a one-hit kill. Oh, and you can only do this with lances, no other polearms. Oh, and it's much easier to aim a couched lance in first-person mode, in my opinion.

Yeaaah, I tried doing what you're doing at first too; endless frustration and just pushed me into horse-archery. The lance is especially bad as the range just doesn't make up for the horrendous speed.

[Tavar]

Now all I've got to do is to figure out how to use a lance while on horseback. Why can't you just have it like real life - fix your grip then let your horse do all the work, rather than having to thrust it at people in the game? :smallsigh:

I assume you must be in motion for it to deal damage? I couldn't hit the broadside of a barn when I got given one in a tournament.

Huh? Maybe this is just my experiences talking(Yay Native expansion), but the way to do damage with a lance it to equip it, and then get your horse moving at a decent pace. Then all you need to do is steer, and the horse really will do the rest. Directly attacking with the lance messes that up.

[Maeglin_Dubh]

Yeah, I've never had graphical problems like that.

Warband is best of course. I only continued to play the first one until Prophecy of Pendor mod came out for Warband. I love that mod.

I wish I had been able to continue helping with development for that mod, but work and life took over...

And now one of the lead developers for it has passed away, I find recently. That was saddening.

[Leecros]

Edit: You ninja you. Yeah, about lances: Their sole purpose in practice is couching; get your horse running up to top speed for a few seconds and your lance will lower down. Now, when you charge into someone, it will automatically hit them, and for quite a chunk of damage; generally breaking their shield if they block or a one-hit kill. Oh, and you can only do this with lances, no other polearms. Oh, and it's much easier to aim a couched lance in first-person mode, in my opinion.

I'm pretty sure you can do it with any polearm that's sufficiently long enough.


Also i miss the Pre-Warband days when Couched Lance Damage phased through horses. You could in theory ride down a line of horsemen killing their horses as long as you didn't hit an actual person. They've made it slightly less powerful by removing that, of course that said if you take a lance to the face you will die....

[Miscast_Mage]

I'm pretty sure you can do it with any polearm that's sufficiently long enough.


Also i miss the Pre-Warband days when Couched Lance Damage phased through horses. You could in theory ride down a line of horsemen killing their horses as long as you didn't hit an actual person. They've made it slightly less powerful by removing that, of course that said if you take a lance to the face you will die....

Nope. Apparantly you could do it with most polearms in M&B, but they nerfed it in Warband so that you can only do it with lances specifically, and actually gave lances a reason to exist. Goddess knows I was tearing my hair out trying to learn what the Hells couching was at first and reading instructions that were mixed between different versions between M&B and Warband.:smallsigh: Also, if you see a lance coming, you either run around like a little girl hoping it doesn't hit you, or you kiss your shield goodbye. And "slightly" less powerful? I would jump on the ability to practically demolish the enemy's calvary; they're basically just infantry when de-horsed and calvary is my army's weakspot.

[ninja_penguin]

I would jump on the ability to practically demolish the enemy's calvary; they're basically just infantry when de-horsed and calvary is my army's weakspot.

KHERGIIIIITS.


Seriously, my strategy against them is to run about screaming '[boop] your horse!' with my lance.

[Incomp]

Eh, real men deal with Khergits by hiding in their castles.

Note that I play Khergits.

Also note that Khergits are the weakest faction. :smallfrown:

[Leecros]

And "slightly" less powerful? I would jump on the ability to practically demolish the enemy's calvary; they're basically just infantry when de-horsed and calvary is my army's weakspot.

they still one-hit you...



Also note that Khergits are the weakest faction. :smallfrown:

I'm not too certain about that. They would have a pretty fair chance against either of the unmounted factions. Unfortunately for them they're surrounded by godly Knight factions: Vaegirls , Swaddles , and Serenades :smalltongue:

[Flickerdart]

Khergits are pretty fearsome on the field - their light cavalry means they move at cruise speed and can chase down whoever they damn well please, and horse archers are really hard to pin down. However, when besieging castles you can't do anything without some imported Huscarls.

[Tavar]

Then there's the native expansion. Oh, god, the native expansion.

[Demon 997]

Khergits are pretty fearsome on the field - their light cavalry means they move at cruise speed and can chase down whoever they damn well please, and horse archers are really hard to pin down. However, when besieging castles you can't do anything without some imported Huscarls.

The Sarranaids (doubtless misspelled) seem to be even worse. They're laughable at taking or defending castles, and pretty easy to smash with a Swadian Charge (tm) in the field. The Swadians are just ridiculous. Heavy calvary to smash just about anything in the field, heavy infantry to take and hold castles, and pretty good crossbowmen.

[Trazoi]

I hadn't seen there was a sequel to Mount & Blade out. What improvements are there in Warband? Worth picking up if I enjoyed the original (and aren't that interested in multiplayer)?

[Flickerdart]

The Sarranaids (doubtless misspelled) seem to be even worse. They're laughable at taking or defending castles, and pretty easy to smash with a Swadian Charge (tm) in the field. The Swadians are just ridiculous. Heavy calvary to smash just about anything in the field, heavy infantry to take and hold castles, and pretty good crossbowmen.
I find that a posse of Sarranid Mamlukes is as good as Swadian Knights when it comes to pounding your enemies into dust.

[Eldan]

I've only played the original (and have no idea what Sarranids are), but taking castles with Khergites wasn't too hard.

You take 300 dismounted horse archers and equip your character with the heaviest bow you can find and as many arrows as possible.

Then you shoot all enemy archers and proceed, over several days, if necessary, to shoot everyone standing on the walls. It doesn't take long, usually. The PC can pretty reliably make headshots with a decent archery skill.

[Om]

Also note that Khergits are the weakest faction. :smallfrown:Depends. If you value field battles more than sieges then I'd argue that the Nords are the weakest faction - tough fighters but slow and without the dedicated anti-cav units of the Rhodoks. Then again the Vaegirs (my personal favourites) arguably fall between the two - poor worse infantry than the Nords and worse cavalry than the Khergits


The Sarranaids (doubtless misspelled) seem to be even worse. They're laughable at taking or defending castles, and pretty easy to smash with a Swadian Charge (tm) in the fieldwouldn't agree with that. The lower-tier Sarranid units aren't great (understatement) but with a bit of experience they improve dramatically. Mamlukes are tanks that are tougher than any other cavalry, expecting perhaps the Swadian Knight, while their top archers and infantry are pretty much comparable to those of any other faction, again excluding those particularly specialised factions

[HerbieRAI]

In the origonal, Rhodoks were awful at everything except defending in a siege because you couldn't brace spears against cav. Did they adobt the 'bracing spears' in warlords?

[Fri]

What? I played rhodoks in the original and I regularly beat enemies twice, or even thrice the size of my army. It's by massing your archers and spearmen in tight location on places where it's hard for your enemy cavalry to charge. Mostly I find the closes hill from the starting place and simply put my archers on top of it and the spearmen slightly in front of them. Cavalry simply can't charge through massed infantry, especially if they're in a hill/in a hard to navigate forest. THe main point is you just need to mass enough archers and pikemen.

Anyway, while we're at it, I'm playing the last days now. I can't find the companions, can someone help me?

I only got three so far. The ranger guy from gondor, the rider guy from rohan, and the merc that you get by giving him money from the brigand fort. I also found glorfindel, but I read you need really high influence to hire him. Are there any more companion for man side?

[Leecros]

It's Doubtless that the Sarranids are good. I mean, they have the Desert Bandits running around their territory.

Augh! The Desert Bandits!:smalleek:

They're not necessisarly have the sheer power of stronger bandits *coughsearaiderscough*, but a Jarid to the face will ruin any ones day.

[Gaius Marius]

I just believe this game is in serious need of more Role-playing elements.

How about hiring Bethesa or Bioware to create side-quests? :smallbiggrin:

[warty goblin]

I just believe this game is in serious need of more Role-playing elements.

How about hiring Bethesa or Bioware to create side-quests? :smallbiggrin:

How about not?

Despite having experience points and involving swords, M&B is structurally closer to games like Sid Meier's Pirates! or the Space Rangers series than it is to RPGs. That is to say it runs a fairly basic, but nevertheless dynamic, simulation or representation of the world at large, and lets the player run around as merely one of many actors within that landscape. These other actors are AI driven, but have the ability to alter the largescale state of the game at least as much as the player. Outside of combat, the player is the only actor in a Bioware or Bethesda title with the ability to influence the largescale shape of the gameworld. This allows enough authorial control to tell stories with some degree of player choice, but is at a fundamental level radically distinct from the way M&B works.

I suspect it would be difficult to impossible to marry these two structures in a way that allows enough authorial control for the delineated sort of storytelling Bioware does while maintaining the high level unpredictability of M&B. In order to get the former, the latter would have to be seriously reduced or limited. Personally I rather like M&B's dynamism, and would be sorry to see it disappear for the sake of another batch of "find my husband" or "resolve the issues in my past by killing a lot of dudes and then having sex" scenarios. There are plenty of games that do that, M&B is a much rarer beast anymore.

[Leecros]

I suspect it would be difficult to impossible to marry these two structures in a way that allows enough authorial control for the delineated sort of storytelling Bioware does while maintaining the high level unpredictability of M&B. In order to get the former, the latter would have to be seriously reduced or limited. Personally I rather like M&B's dynamism, and would be sorry to see it disappear for the sake of another batch of "find my husband" or "resolve the issues in my past by killing a lot of dudes and then having sex" scenarios. There are plenty of games that do that, M&B is a much rarer beast anymore.

It would be quite difficult, but i wouldn't call it impossible. Companies can do a lot with video games nowadays, they just don't. They would prefer to go out and create remakes of similar games that they know were popular than come up with some original thinking.

[Brother Oni]

Out of curiousity, are there any resolutions closer to the correct ratio of your monitor's resolution? It may be worth just taking slightly lesser graphics if there is. And if you complain about graphics being just a teensy bit less shiny than it would be otherwise, I will find a way to hurt you through the internet. With fire.


Sorry, I wasn't being clear. I'm running it in 1920x1080, which is a 16:9 resolution and is native for my monitor. I was wondering if the M&B engine didn't like widescreen resolutions that much.

Here's something that might explain things better:


Look at the inkeeper.
http://i56.tinypic.com/rrlfn7.jpg"]http://i56.tinypic.com/rrlfn7.jpg

Same spot, just the camera swung round.

http://i55.tinypic.com/wiszeh.jpg

The innkeeper's not so stretched horizontally when in the centre of the camera.

As for being concerned about less shiny graphics - if I was at all concerned about shiny graphics, do you think I'd be playing Mount and Blade? :smallbiggrin:




Edit: You ninja you. Yeah, about lances: Their sole purpose in practice is couching; get your horse running up to top speed for a few seconds and your lance will lower down. Now, when you charge into someone, it will automatically hit them, and for quite a chunk of damage; generally breaking their shield if they block or a one-hit kill. Oh, and you can only do this with lances, no other polearms. Oh, and it's much easier to aim a couched lance in first-person mode, in my opinion.

Ah, so just prep the thing and charge into people at top speed. I'll try that out - unfortunately FP mode is going to make me too ill to play the game, so I'll have to slum it in third person.


It would be quite difficult, but i wouldn't call it impossible. Companies can do a lot with video games nowadays, they just don't. They would prefer to go out and create remakes of similar games that they know were popular than come up with some original thinking.

The problem is that many big name companies have become risk adverse, especially in the current economic environment.
Quite a lot of innovative games haven't done that well at full budget scale, despite winning several awards, because nobody outside the hardcore gamer section of the market (which is still quite small) buys them.

Most casual gamers just want more of the same and as long as that's what the vast majority of the market wants, that's what investors will pressure the big name companies to produce, leaving the smaller companies to carry the flag for innovation.

[warty goblin]

It would be quite difficult, but i wouldn't call it impossible. Companies can do a lot with video games nowadays, they just don't. They would prefer to go out and create remakes of similar games that they know were popular than come up with some original thinking.

My guess is that if you went around to a hundred different developers, and asked them about their dream game, you'd get at least two hundred responses. The reason they don't get made? Developers and publishers are afraid they won't sell well enough to cover costs.

Given that gamers tend to be deeply superficial about how they decide between games and most studios operate one or two flops away from closure, I can't say I blame them. It's a rational response to a market that has a proven track record of buying deeply derivative titles over innovative ones, and has a deep seated - and deeply controlling - love affair with the sequel and her slightly trashier sister, the franchise.

Because, let's face it, as gamers, we don't really reward original thought very well or consistently. Mostly we seem to scamper around looking for reasons to hate on a title, irrespective of how much fun it actually is. Just look at the bitchfests over Dragon Age 2, Supreme Commander 2, and to some degree Dawn of War II not being virtually identical to the first title. I've frequently seen people say, with absolutely straight faces that these games would be just fine and enjoyable if they had a different title, or that by changing mechanics X, Y, and Z from the first game they are 'betraying the fans.'

Thinking like this does not encourage original thought or mechanics, and anymore seems to be more common than not. Sure you still get the occasional indie developer who can do something genuinely new; but I wonder how long before people start whining that established indies aren't churning out clones of their first hits should they dare to do something different? I don't know about you, but I'm betting not very damn long.

Honestly this sort of thing disgusts me. It's unhealthy for both the industry and the consumer, and smacks of over-entitlement and looking for a reason to whine. Criticize things that are different than expected or from other games by all means; a lot of the time they are legitimately garbage. But being different does not make them so, and hating on a game because of the name on the box is shallow, nothing else.

Sorry about the rant, my optimism about gamers at a group is delving new depths this year.

[Flickerdart]

Sorry, I wasn't being clear. I'm running it in 1920x1080, which is a 16:9 resolution and is native for my monitor. I was wondering if the M&B engine didn't like widescreen resolutions that much.
Try adjusting your FoV?

[CarpeGuitarrem]

Anyway, while we're at it, I'm playing the last days now. I can't find the companions, can someone help me?

I only got three so far. The ranger guy from gondor, the rider guy from rohan, and the merc that you get by giving him money from the brigand fort. I also found glorfindel, but I read you need really high influence to hire him. Are there any more companion for man side?
Wait, is this in original M&B that you're playing? I've heard of this mod, and want to get it for Warband...

[Brother Oni]

Try adjusting your FoV?

Wow, I haven't messed about with FoV commands since Quake...

Reading up about it, the default 3rd person view is 97 degrees, which explains the fish-eye look. The M&B FoV mod doesn't current work in Warband as it's apparently considered a hack due to the multiplayer, so I'll just live with it.

Thanks for pointing out what I was missing.

[Fri]

Wait, is this in original M&B that you're playing? I've heard of this mod, and want to get it for Warband...

Yeah, as some people said, the reason on why you'd want the original is to play some old mods. The Last Days is only available for the original. Not any original in fact, but only version 0.808 of the original (which you can download from the m&B repository)

[Om]

Despite having experience points and involving swords, M&B is structurally closer to games like Sid Meier's Pirates! or the Space Rangers series than it is to RPGsIt should be relatively simple to deepen the RPG aspect of M&B. Not through a set linear plot (a la Bioware and the like) but using dynamic events/characters. My dream game (for the next 5 min) would be a cross between M&B and Crusader Kings


My guess is that if you went around to a hundred different developers, and asked them about their dream game, you'd get at least two hundred responses. The reason they don't get made? Developers and publishers are afraid they won't sell well enough to cover costsAnd so you blame the gamers for the caution of "developers and publishers"? :smallconfused:

People can only buy what is available to them. If a game is not being made or is inaccessible (usually because its not being promoted enough) then it will obviously not be bought. Promotion is usually key with smaller developers really struggling to get the attention of customers when the vast majority of game coverage goes to the AAA titles. The latter are of course those multi-million development teams who are simply too big to allow to fail; hence the safety of sequels and conservative gameplay. When that's where the money is and that's what dominates the coverage/market then its absolutely no surprise that these AAA titles garner the largest sales. Those that do discover smaller niche titles usually do so entirely by accident

So the problem is not that people who play games somehow hate originality, but that the main players in the industry simply don't see the profit in putting out interesting or challenging work. If anything proves just how wrong they are in this then its the digital distribution revolution of the past few years. There are an unprecedented number of indie games being made and sold today. It is impossible to imagine a game like Minecraft making millions a mere 4-5 years ago. The appetite is there for good games and now it is easier than ever for smaller developers to respond to this

An interesting parallel would be the film industry which is/was in the grip of a similarly conservative mindset. Its only recently - with Inception, The Dark Knight (to a lesser degree), Source Code, Adjustment Bureau, etc - that some studios have come to (re)discover that relatively challenging films (we're not exactly talking Last Year at Marienbad here) can make big money. That is, they've begun to accept that the audience is not comprised of brain-dead morons who need to be spoon fed exposition every few minutes. This realisation is the first step towards, hopefully, improving the quality of films on release

[Stubbazubba]

And so you blame the gamers for the caution of "developers and publishers"?

That actually makes total sense. At the end of the day, developers are just as beholden to their shareholders as they are to their consumers, and satisfying both simultaneously is an acrobatic stunt that not everyone can pull off. If the market (read "gamers") does not accept a bold new game, then the consequences for a company are harsh. So you want to keep costs down for experiments; that way, if you don't make your initial investment back, you won't have to liquidate the company.

If every innovative game was marketed like Rift, the developers would mostly go under, except for the few that caught on, but when people have families to provide for, that's not a risk most people are willing to take except the die-hard artists.

That's how art has always been. It's not necessarily a problem with one side or another, it's just the nature of the beast that is art in a market economy.

It takes an investor (or group of investors) with a lot of faith and a lot of vision to back a developer who is willing to buck the industry trends and try something new with the kind of budget it would need to succeed on a scale large enough to justify the investment in the first place. That obviously can't be the norm, as people would lose way too much money very quickly.

Because consumers are having to tighten their belts due to the depressed economy, they are much more discerning as to what kind of game purchases they make, and innovative games aren't popular when you might only buy one or two new games this year.

[Leecros]

If every innovative game was marketed like Rift.

Rift wasn't an innovative game though...

[Greensleeves]

Rift wasn't an innovative game though...

That was kinda the point... He's saying that Rift, a fairly derivative game (from what I understand, haven't played it myself), is a game that was advertised heavily. If innovative/original/whatever games where advertised just as heavily, the costs for these ads would make most companies go bankrupt, since most of the innovative games usually aren't the strongest of sellers.

[Om]

If every innovative game was marketed like Rift, the developers would mostly go under, except for the few that caught on, but when people have families to provide for, that's not a risk most people are willing to take except the die-hard artistsSo how is this the fault of the consumer for not buying the non-advertised innovative game? How can they be faulted for not purchasing something that they don't even know exists? It is the developers and publishers who consciously decide what features a game will get or what its advertising budget will be or how many pixels will be devoted to the heroine's breast size or whatever. Not the customers, they can only buy what's available or visible to them

It seems pointless to me to excuse the developers/publishers just because they've taken the easy route (ie, heavily promoted derivative games to account for massively inflated development and promotion teams). At least when worrying about the state of the industry


Because consumers are having to tighten their belts due to the depressed economy, they are much more discerning as to what kind of game purchases they make, and innovative games aren't popular when you might only buy one or two new games this yearI do not for a moment accept that there is some sort of in-built bias against innovation amongst the wider gaming public. Not only does this not sit with the history of the industry (implying that the current staid conservatism is its default mode; this is not the case) and not only does it entirely ignore the role of promotion (both direct and indirect) on influencing consumer choice, it implies that people actually make purchase decisions based on whether a game is innovative/derivative rather than whether its just good/bad

Particularly so when many of these "innovative games" are a fifth of the cost of a AAA title


If innovative/original/whatever games where advertised just as heavily, the costs for these ads would make most companies go bankrupt, since most of the innovative games usually aren't the strongest of sellers.Yes. Because they're not marketed as heavily

[thorgrim29]

hum... did any of you guys catch that there's a new mount an blade set in eastern europe in the 17th century coming out next week? And that this weekend on steam the original game, warbands and the third one are in a 20$ bundle pack?

[Gaius Marius]

If you can recreated Romance of the Three Kingdoms with that, it's gonna be a sell! :smallbiggrin:

[Om]

Apparently the new M&B (With Fire and Sword) was originally a mod and then a third-party Eastern European release and is only now coming to the English market in a polished form. Or something like that. I've heard that the earlier Polish/Russian version (not the mod) wasn't great, so I may keep my powder dry (pun intended) until I hear a few reviews

[Gaius Marius]

If you use some Firearm mechanics, and you find a way to include giant-sized creatures, fantastic beasts and maybe some magic/spellcasting, I would pay dearly for a Warhammer Fantasy mod..

[Flickerdart]

Oh sweet, they're making With Fire And Sword not suck?

[Brother Oni]

If you can recreated Romance of the Three Kingdoms with that, it's gonna be a sell! :smallbiggrin:

You could always play a Dynasty Warriors game instead. :smalltongue:

That said, without some serious modification of the combat engine, it's going to be an awkward mix of Western and Eastern influences, much like one of those oriental themed Neverwinter Nights module.

[CarpeGuitarrem]

Putting a brief two cents in on innovative games...

Digital Download and online promotion is the best way to go for these games. The people who criticize the "game industry" for being derivative often overlook the, well, easily overlooked fringes, the "long tail", who in the long run add up to more than the gaming giants. Steam has allowed games like Recettear and Audiosurf to do quite well for themselves, even though by all rights they shouldn't see the light of day, according to the old model.

The marketing and sales are there. They're just a little less visible.

[Greensleeves]

Mount&Blade: Warband is on sale on Steam. €5 for it... Is it worth getting, even without playing the demo or the original?

[Om]

Definitely. I've spent over a hundred hours on M&B. It is a great game if you like the idea of charging through ranks of infantry, sabres flashing

[The_JJ]

Ah, so just prep the thing and charge into people at top speed. I'll try that out - unfortunately FP mode is going to make me too ill to play the game, so I'll have to slum it in third person.


If by prep the thing you mean hit the button, then no. To couch a lance you need not click, just get the horse up to speed and pointed in the right direction.

[Brother Oni]

Mount&Blade: Warband is on sale on Steam. €5 for it... Is it worth getting, even without playing the demo or the original?

It depends on whether you can cope with first person perspective games.

If you have no issues, I highly recommend it (bought the bundle off Steam).


If by prep the thing you mean hit the button, then no. To couch a lance you need not click, just get the horse up to speed and pointed in the right direction.

I figured it out now since I had to restart from scratch (can't find the Steam save game directory).
Unsurprisingly, things seem much easier now that I know what I'm doing. :smalltongue:

Edit: Huh, never mind, found them.

[Fluff & Napalm]

So I'm thinking about getting warband while it is cheap. What are some good mods that people recommend? I've played enough of the original to know that the game can be made much better than vanilla.

[Flickerdart]

It depends on whether you can cope with first person perspective games.
You can toggle first/third person.

[Katana_Geldar]

So I'm thinking about getting warband while it is cheap. What are some good mods that people recommend? I've played enough of the original to know that the game can be made much better than vanilla.

Prophecy of Pendor? That's out for Warband? I am so getting that as it was brilliant in ordinary Mount & Blade.

Played M&B on a plane last week. Took a castle from a Nord and whipped another's butt. His fault for crossing my path when I came around the corer with my army of 130 men! :smallbiggrin:

[Gaius Marius]

Prophecy of Pendor? That's out for Warband? I am so getting that as it was brilliant in ordinary Mount & Blade.

Played M&B on a plane last week. Took a castle from a Nord and whipped another's butt. His fault for crossing my path when I came around the corer with my army of 130 men! :smallbiggrin:

I wish the maps were generated and "played" like the Total War map, where you can take control and hack/General a la Mount and Blade..

.... That'd be a nifty game, no? Players control the WArlords, others control the armies...

[Brother Oni]

You can toggle first/third person.

The third person view in M&B is still first person enough to give me nausea and I know some people who suffer from simulation sickness worse than me.

Turning down the mouse sensitivity would probably help, but then I can't move the camera fast enough to fight effectively.


I'm having major issues in fighting from horseback, especially in fairer fights where I need to put in more of a contribution in the battles - does anybody have any suggestions, or do I just need to practice more?

[Katana_Geldar]

You need to practice more, M&B does require good reflexes.

[Gaius Marius]

The third person view in M&B is still first person enough to give me nausea and I know some people who suffer from simulation sickness worse than me.

Turning down the mouse sensitivity would probably help, but then I can't move the camera fast enough to fight effectively.


I'm having major issues in fighting from horseback, especially in fairer fights where I need to put in more of a contribution in the battles - does anybody have any suggestions, or do I just need to practice more?

Unity is power. Even if they dont stand a chance 1 vs 1 against you, mobs can bring you down quickly.

Better organise and fight alongside your army. Help them win tough clinches and snipe the archers with a bunch of bodyguards.

6 charging heavy cavalry can often change the tide of te battle. I wonder if you could create a mod that adds leadership potential to your army? Like, morale checks, or damage/speed/armor bonuses? :smallbiggrin:

[Fri]

yeah, if you like to be cavalry you just need to learn how to charge and when/where to charge. Don't charge into a mass of people for example, 'cause they'll stop your charge and they'll surround and stab you to death. Charge to isolated enemy/the sides of the enemy formation and simply hit them with crouched lance/swing of your sword.

I started the game mainly using cavalry, but as I said before, I ended up joining the rhodoks and enjoying their style, until I can say that I got bored with m&b because I could just wipe everything with my formation of massed lance and crossbowmen. Except for the khargits, since they have horse archers, they're the only faction which I kinda still kinda have some trouble in relative with other factions.

[Katana_Geldar]

The easiest battle strategy is the hammer and the anvil. The cavalry go off one side of the battlefield and spread out (usually to the left in my battles) and the infantry and archers stand on the side of a hill with me at the top.

Sometimes the enemy goes right for your stationary units, other times they will split and come after your cavalry. That's when the cavalry charge towards the rest of your units so the enemy are caught between the hammer and the anvil.

Cavalry are only effective as long as they keep moving. Particularly fighting the Nords in the open field. With cavalry you can win a battle three to win with strategy like this. You can also cut off retreat quite well with cavalry.

Khergits, however, need a little more thinking. They like to spread all over the map and your units will follow them. So you need to regroup constantly, making the Khergits lump together. Then kill their horses and they're pretty much easy peasy.

[Flickerdart]

I find that field strategy often just boils down to:
1: Get as many Knights/Mamlukes as you can
2: CHARGE!
The enemy will usually go for quantity over quality, so a fist of 40 or so Knights will utterly demolish anything short of 40 other Knights.

[Katana_Geldar]

That's hardly going to help you against Nords, or Khergits.

[thorgrim29]

I usually mass my archers on a hill, my infantry in front of the hill, and run through their lines a few times with my cavalry by the time they get to my guys, then hit infantry charge and run after stragglers and reinforcements with my cavalty.

[warty goblin]

I usually mass my archers on a hill, my infantry in front of the hill, and run through their lines a few times with my cavalry by the time they get to my guys, then hit infantry charge and run after stragglers and reinforcements with my cavalty.

That was more or less my default as well, then I started playing Nords. That meant saying goodbye to the horses, and hello to lots of heavy infantry. So the archers still end up on a hill with the infantry in front. I usually take up a position on the flank of the infantry line; the archers murderate as much as possible until the enemy lines hit ours. At that point I tell them to charge, followed by the infantry so both of them surge forwards and hit the enemy at the same time. Usually this shatters the enemy, and it's all ax-work after that.

[Flickerdart]

That's hardly going to help you against Nords, or Khergits.
Except for the part where it totally does. Khergit arrows are a joke against fully armoured knights, and the AI runs into trees or the end of the map often enough that speed is useless. Nords can be defeated by going around them before giving the charge command, so that the knights hit the side of the formation.

[Gaius Marius]

I am a complete neophyte of programming. However, as some posts above led you to believe, I have lots of mod ideas for this game.

Can someone tell me where I should get started to be able to mod this game? What language do I need to know?

Yea, I'm that bad :smallbiggrin:

[Flickerdart]

Awright, pre-purchased With Fire and Sword on Steam. Discount price and free hats = awesome.

[Spartacus]

I remember back when Mount and Blade first came out, my greatest foes were peasants. They would often swarm in numbers that were simply unseen elsewhere, and their sheer quantity was able to overwhelm and neutralize my small but powerful army.

Freakin' rocks.

[Leecros]

I remember back when Mount and Blade first came out, my greatest foes were peasants. They would often swarm in numbers that were simply unseen elsewhere, and their sheer quantity was able to overwhelm and neutralize my small but powerful army.

Freakin' rocks.

One of my basic strategies for a quick burst of experience to make it to the next levels is to go raid a village solo. It's very likely that the peasants will get pissed and charge out at you, then you just keep them at arms reach and one-shot them till they all die. Note: This doesn't really work well unless you're level like....13-15 and have at least some good equipment.



Also i think this thread has evolved into the General M&B discussion...:smalltongue:

[Flickerdart]

At the start of the game, killing looter mobs solo is a great way to level up, because with your horse they can basically never hurt you. Hell, I won an encounter with looters by running them over repeatedly once.

[Leecros]

At the start of the game, killing looter mobs solo is a great way to level up, because with your horse they can basically never hurt you. Hell, I won an encounter with looters by running them over repeatedly once.

The problem with soloing looters early on is you still have to be careful.


Those stones do hurt when you're that early in the game.

[LostEnder]

It's probably worth mentioning the Steam has M&B, Warband, and the new With Fire and Sword that's due out next week all for $20. I read this thread then that popped up and I couldn't resist. Now if I could just remember how to be a horse archer...

[warty goblin]

It's probably worth mentioning the Steam has M&B, Warband, and the new With Fire and Sword that's due out next week all for $20. I read this thread then that popped up and I couldn't resist. Now if I could just remember how to be a horse archer...

For horse archery to work, you basically need to already be a good archer, and have points sunk into the horse archery skill. My advise is to play as an archer with a horse, but while your archery proficiency is under a hundred and you don't have 3 or so points in horse archery, do most of your shooting while your mount is stationary or from foot.

You can of course pull one or two enemies and then ride very slowly away and shoot them over your horse's back from close range early game. My experience is that the risk of riding into something and consequently being cleaved is very high, even from a walking horse accuracy is terrible, and what arrows do hit don't hit very hard due to the mounted archer damage penalty (at least there used to be such a thing), so you burn through arrows stupidly fast. It's simply more efficient to ride quickly and shoot from a stationary horse; and because you'll be making longer range hits you build that all-important archery proficiency faster as well.

[LostEnder]

Ah, I thought that it was just me having terrible aim. Maybe I'll roll out melee until I get a better feel for the game.

[Tavar]

Another option is to use the Native Expansion mod. Changes up the factions greatly, and makes archery worthwhile.

[Brother Oni]

Somebody was wishing for a Warhammer mod for M&B earlier: Link (http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=385484).

The Chaos warriors look amazing (http://foto.totalwars.ru/image-A1CE_4C7D0E22.jpg), although I'm a bit worried that the project might die due to it being so over ambitious.

@Gaius Marius
Apparently the scripting in M&B is python based, but there are several guides for it:
How to mod M&B (http://forums.taleworlds.com/index.php/topic,48405.0.html).
How to mod M&B Warband (http://forums.taleworlds.com/index.php/topic,107054.0.html).

[warty goblin]

Another option is to use the Native Expansion mod. Changes up the factions greatly, and makes archery worthwhile.

Unless they really changed a lot of things since I last played a horse archer, it's still a very powerful path; it just takes a while to get off the ground.

[Incomp]

Somebody was wishing for a Warhammer mod for M&B earlier: Link (http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=385484).

The Chaos warriors look amazing (http://foto.totalwars.ru/image-A1CE_4C7D0E22.jpg), although I'm a bit worried that the project might die due to it being so over ambitious.

@Gaius Marius
Apparently the scripting in M&B is python based, but there are several guides for it:
How to mod M&B (http://forums.taleworlds.com/index.php/topic,48405.0.html).
How to mod M&B Warband (http://forums.taleworlds.com/index.php/topic,107054.0.html).

Awesome. I pray that lives to see the light of day.

[Etcetera]

At the start of the game, killing looter mobs solo is a great way to level up, because with your horse they can basically never hurt you. Hell, I won an encounter with looters by running them over repeatedly once.

Good to know it wasn't just me.

[Morty]

If Warband is on sale for only 5 euro, I might buy it, thus correcting my mistake of buying vanillia M&B once... it's fun, but from what I hear Warband is simply better in every aspect.

[Demon 997]

Are there any mods that add more ladders to sieges/make the AI less stupid about ladders and staircases? Having your entire army bunched up on a stair getting destroyed by archers when theirs an open one ten feet away isn't fun. One that could get added to other mods would be great.

[Incomp]

Well, the blood&steel mod (I think that's what it's called) renovates seiges extensively, but it also makes a huge amount of other changes as well.

[Brother Oni]

Is there any way to defend a village fief in a war?

I've been made a vassal and was given orders to follow the marshal around - while doing this, the enemy snuck in and burnt my fief to the ground, losing the manor I was half way through building. :smallsigh:

I wouldn't have minded so much except that to attack my fief (Ruldi), they had bypassed three other villages, a city and two castles. :smallmad:

[Tavar]

Are there any mods that add more ladders to sieges/make the AI less stupid about ladders and staircases? Having your entire army bunched up on a stair getting destroyed by archers when theirs an open one ten feet away isn't fun. One that could get added to other mods would be great.

This might be up your alley. (http://forums.taleworlds.com/index.php?topic=57569.0)

Can't say of any real way to defend village-fiefs.

[Katana_Geldar]

Except for the part where it totally does. Khergit arrows are a joke against fully armoured knights, and the AI runs into trees or the end of the map often enough that speed is useless. Nords can be defeated by going around them before giving the charge command, so that the knights hit the side of the formation.

You are forgetting that Khergits disperse all over the map and your guys usually chase them. That's why you constantly need to re group your guys in an open field battle so the Khergits can regroup and focus on you, then you mow them down.

Khergits of course are a pushover in a siege.

[Gaius Marius]

Is there any way to defend a village fief in a war?

I've been made a vassal and was given orders to follow the marshal around - while doing this, the enemy snuck in and burnt my fief to the ground, losing the manor I was half way through building. :smallsigh:

I wouldn't have minded so much except that to attack my fief (Ruldi), they had bypassed three other villages, a city and two castles. :smallmad:

Makes you understand the need for a Baron, eh? You might start to root for him over the pesky woodsman who steal your taxes... Hehe..

I think in Warband you can appoint vassals to oversee some of your fiefs.

[Demon 997]

This might be up your alley. (http://forums.taleworlds.com/index.php?topic=57569.0)

Can't say of any real way to defend village-fiefs.

And I can just copy it into another mod instead of native?

[Tavar]

Probably not. I believe it's compatible/possible included in the Native Expansion mod, but besides that I'd assume that it's not compatible.

[Flickerdart]

You are forgetting that Khergits disperse all over the map and your guys usually chase them. That's why you constantly need to re group your guys in an open field battle so the Khergits can regroup and focus on you, then you mow them down.

Khergits of course are a pushover in a siege.
Yeah, they chase them right into the edge of the map, and then lop their heads right off. It takes a while, but so would ordering my men from all over the map to stop what they're doing and bump into cliffs and trees on their way back to me while the enemy is slinging arrows.

[Nightson]

Usually once the Khergit break into a million bits I let my knights just chase them down and go afk.

[Fri]

Hey, how to actually marry in Warband?

I'm playing a female character, and I'm in good relation with one of the lord and he said he's my ardent admirer. When I ask on 'how to alliance' he suggests about marriage and I agree. Then I got a quest 'marry my bethroted"

Then what do you do? I tried to ask him again about marriage, we're talking about proposal again, I choose agree, and then I suddenly got 'quest succeed' message. But no change can be seen anywhere.

[Gaius Marius]

Hey, how to actually marry in Warband?

I'm playing a female character, and I'm in good relation with one of the lord and he said he's my ardent admirer. When I ask on 'how to alliance' he suggests about marriage and I agree. Then I got a quest 'marry my bethroted"

Then what do you do? I tried to ask him again about marriage, we're talking about proposal again, I choose agree, and then I suddenly got 'quest succeed' message. But no change can be seen anywhere.

It never happened to me, to be honest. But I think you are, in fact, married.


Congratulations. Don't let it happen like that in real life... :smallamused:

[Alchemistmerlin]

The first time I played I allied myself with the Khergits and fought bravely for them.

I was crushed rather soundly, repeatedly.


The more recent save I'm working on I allied myself with the Nords. This seems to have been a poor choice, as they are currently being wiped off the face of my map, leaving nothing but me and a small resistance holding back the hordes. It speaks to the games versatility that I created a character intended to be a ravening barbarian crushing enemies and seeing their women driven before me, and instead have wound up as the leader of a small skirmish fighting resistance.

[Fri]

turned out that you need to meet your bethrothed in a feast, to have the wedding or so.

But actually, I didn't have to wait until a feast. I talked to my bethroted after a while, and said that he can't wait for the lords to gather, so I just met him in a castle and agree to a wedding there. Then you get a wedding cutscene, and voila, you got a partner.

[Gaius Marius]

turned out that you need to meet your bethrothed in a feast, to have the wedding or so.

But actually, I didn't have to wait until a feast. I talked to my bethroted after a while, and said that he can't wait for the lords to gather, so I just met him in a castle and agree to a wedding there. Then you get a wedding cutscene, and voila, you got a partner.

What are his stats? :smallamused:

[Demon 997]

Anyone know how to get lords to talk to you after you rebel? I'm friends with a number of Swadian lords, and I got a few to join me, but now when I ask to speak in private with them they refuse. I'm playing InNo Native mod for Warbands, which I believe include features from the Diplomacy mod.

[thorgrim29]

So.... guns are really fun, but boy do they make it hard to start the game, getting one shotted constantly kind of hampers getting enough money to buy strong armor.

[LostEnder]

Just tried WFS, and am totally underwhelmed. It's a hopped up mod that got a commercial release, and it feels that way. Even for the like 3 bucks it cost in the bundle, not worth it to me.

Anyone else tried this and maybe had a better experience?

[Neon Knight]

I've been playing With Fire and Sword and Warband side by side, having picked up both for the first time in the bundle.

I like the historical setting of WFS, and muskets and the like are actually a decent option. Their great power is offset by low ammo capacities, long reloads, and kinda iffy accuracy (not that bows seem to fare that much better in either WFS or Warband). That being said, WFS has a much more limited start (and your character is somewhat weaker than a normal M&B character, I think.) You're a lot more fragile even without all that crazy musketry throwing 60 damage a shot your way, and I've found it much, much more difficult to recruit troops. Most villages don't seem to have a recruit option, even though I'm well liked by them and have gained significant renown. The only troops I've been able to get so far are mercenaries in taverns. I also find getting prisoners for ransom is difficult because I often end up musketing everyone to death.

I like it, but then again I'm pre-disposed to like it just for the time period and visual aesthetic. And if I don't find a way to get some troops soon, I'll start running out of stuff I can viably circle strafe musket to death.

...

Say, are there any mods that changes M&B's setting to, say, a late 19th century American Old West setting? >.>

___

Warband is better, undeniably, but it is also somewhat frustratingly difficult. My first character was probably the most unsuccessful mercenary captain the Swabians have ever had. My second Kheregit Horse Archer character is doing better, if only because I'm far more cautious and because I save-scum a bit.

[thorgrim29]

Every country has a mercenary camp where you can recruit troops for cheap. Of course they suck and I,haven't been able to level them yet, but the best are probably the polish marksmen so far, the have a pistol and a horse, so they can tag along for circle strafing. Oh and you can upgrade your troops equipment there too.

[Fri]

o...

Say, are there any mods that changes M&B's setting to, say, a late 19th century American Old West setting? >.>

___

.

there actually is

http://www.mbrepository.com/file.php?id=2714

I haven't tried it yet tho

[deuxhero]

1866 is fun!

[Odin the Ignoble]

Every country has a mercenary camp where you can recruit troops for cheap. Of course they suck and I,haven't been able to level them yet, but the best are probably the polish marksmen so far, the have a pistol and a horse, so they can tag along for circle strafing. Oh and you can upgrade your troops equipment there too.

It's a bug hat they haven't gotten around to fixing.

But luckily somebody in the modding community played batman. :smallcool:
http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1872125

[Neon Knight]

there actually is

http://www.mbrepository.com/file.php?id=2714

I haven't tried it yet tho


1866 is fun!

Sweet! So far, the only negative to it seems to be a lack of in game music, but Pandora set to Ennio Morricone can fix that right up!

EDIT: Or it does, but not the first time you boot it up. Eh. Ennio is still better. Mix in a little Marty Robbins to season to taste.

[thorgrim29]

Hum.... is the duel wound mechanic bugged or is it normal that I seem to be stuck a str 3 forever now?

[Demon 997]

Warband questions: What happens to the lords of a destroyed faction? Will they join other factions? If they like the faction that destroyed them will they join them? What conditions do you have to meet to get a lord to talk to you in private? I have a number of lords who love me but won't speak with me.

I'm running Invonative, which I believe uses pieces of the Diplomacy mod if that helps.

[Morty]

Well, having played Warband for a while, it's definetly cooler than vanillia Mount & Blade. One thing that's absolutely infuriating, though - it wasn't quite as bad in vanillia M&B; guess I was lucky - is that I can't really get away from my fief, which is near Shariz that we'd taken from the Sarranids(I'm a vassal to the king of Rhodoks) without someone showing up to loot it. Literally. It's a very lucky occasion if I can get to Jelkala without my fief being raided. And then I have to hike over there and beat the raiders back, only they tend to flee when they see me. But I have to chase them, otherwise they'll be back as soon as I'm gone. No other lords are nearby, either, so there's noone else to chase them off. It's really frustrating. The only way to solve it that I can see is to take the nearest Sarrinid castle so my fief doesn't lie directly at the border. But of course, that takes time - especially since few counts ever visit the area - in which my village can be raided.

[ninja_penguin]

Your very first fief will probably get the crap pounded out of it a lot, as its the only target of your rivals and enemies to vent their frustration on. Build a guard tower and all of that to delay the time and either babysit, or just let it get pounded and go buy some businesses instead.

[Brother Oni]

Being away from the border is no defence. My first fief was in the heart of Rodok's territory and it still got raided, the enemy army bypassing 2 villages, a castle and a city to do so.:smallsigh:

[Ailurus]

Honestly, to avoid the whole 'fife getting pounded' bit some, I usually refrain from joining a faction as long as possible. I'll hire some Vaegir or Rhodok villagers, level them up to their archer-types on looters, and then graduate to stronger bandits. Once I've got 20+ of them as ranged, I'll then hunt sea raiders for a while to make money and get gear upgrades, and also level up whatever companion I want to use as my tracker. Once I've got decent gear and have decided what faction I'm going to join, I'll pick up villagers from that faction, so that by the time I officially join I've already got a small, medium-high level army.

Its still annoying to have to constantly chase down fief raiders, but with a higher level tracker and higher level soldiers (especially if it includes cavalry) I can usually run down whoever tries to loot it, and as long as its only one or two lords trying to do the looting they get squashed quite nicely. And as frustrating as it is, once the hostile faction has lost a half dozen armies trying to pillage my village it usually means that the official kingdom assault force can start making headway. Unless of course the bunch of noble-born ***** are sitting around feasting all week rather than fighting.

[Gaius Marius]

I always hated how the AI can simply spawn armies. What's the point of defeating a Lord and letting him go if he can wish another army into existance?

[Flickerdart]

I always hated how the AI can simply spawn armies. What's the point of defeating a Lord and letting him go if he can wish another army into existance?

Can they? I thought that they just took men out of their garrison.

[Tavar]

I think they can only spawn troops while in a garrison, but they don't take them from the garrison. They're just spawned. Makes it kind of annoying, because in late game on native mod you're fighting cities with over 1000 people, because every noble from the opposing nation is there, with full stacks of men.

[Demon 997]

Again, anyone know how you destroy a faction? Will the lords quickly defect once the last keep is gone? I'm pretty close to destroying the Swadians, and a number of the lords love me, so with any luck they'll join me, as I'm desperate for more men (ten lords really can't compete with 24 or more).

[Tavar]

After defeat(which can be rather difficult, requires all castles and towns captured, and then all lords and patrols defeated), they will split themselves among the remaining factions.

[Demon 997]

Does defeating a lord me defeating him in battle or capturing him? Thanks.

[Tavar]

After they don't have any cities, towns, I think every defeated lord is captured.

[Demon 997]

After they don't have any cities, towns, I think every defeated lord is captured.

Awesome. You sir are a scholar and gentleman. Next question: Any point to promoting your companions? Does there leadership skill affect the size of their armies?

I've noticed that other kings seem to have huge armies, anyway the player can get the same bonus?

[ninja_penguin]

Be careful with promoting companions, as some of them may desert if you start neglecting them. Also, if you're roping other lords into your cause, you can sometimes irk them rather fierce if you're running amok promoting 'commoners'.

Also, I don't know if it's just hardcoded into the game or not, but I'm assuming that most kings have huge renown, as you get +1 guy for every...20? renown or so.

[Demon 997]

Be careful with promoting companions, as some of them may desert if you start neglecting them. Also, if you're roping other lords into your cause, you can sometimes irk them rather fierce if you're running amok promoting 'commoners'.

Also, I don't know if it's just hardcoded into the game or not, but I'm assuming that most kings have huge renown, as you get +1 guy for every...20? renown or so.

Nope, I've got more renown than some of the other kings. Any easy way to stop having companions desert, maybe something you can edit? I'm looking for a way to edit party size right now.

[ninja_penguin]

I don't presonally know, as I haven't run my own faction yet. I poked around about it and I've found that it'd be a huge pain, and I don't feel like my power was consolidated enough into the places I've got to deal with it. Also, it'd tick off the Vaegirs, and I've helped them conquer about half of Calradia. I'm kind of planning on letting them lose battles while i just defend my own areas, and see where that goes while I try and bump relationships with people higher.

I do know that you'll need to hold feasts all day long in order to keep them happy. Because when you give one guy a fief? everybody else gets angry about it. Woo.

[Kageru]

Are there any mods which make the computer better at sieges? because he sucks at them.
A few days ago i saw this thread and noticed that i had mount and blade on my steam account(must have bought it when it was reduced, sadly i didn't buy warband instead.) Anyway i started to play it and yesterday I switched to the Sword of Damokles mod, won a few turnaments to finance a small mercenary army (the mod allows higher bets and mercenary groups who follow you on the world map) and captured radoghir castle naturally a few nobles attacked me but nothing I couldn't manage(I even captured their king but then I went to far away from my castle and they recaptured it temporarily).
Then I captured the next castle and suddenly the king and many lords came to attack me. They had over 800 id had ~85. I thought "oh ****" lowered the damage to friends to 50% and the battle size to 50. And I didn't think that was enough to win, but now after the first few fights it seems it is. I simply slaughter them in the last fight I lost 1 soldier. My archers and I kill many of them before their siege tower reaches the wall and once they are there the player character can kill ridiculous numbers by standing there and slashing away with my two hand axe.
I just put it back to battle size 100 and the result was my side:3killed 4 wounder their side: 136 killed 7 wounded. It's ridiculous. (Yes damage is still at 50% but that only applies to companions so I should lose a few more normal soldiers. Personal damage is at 25% and changing that would weaken my side (I got somewhere between 30 and 40 kill according to the counter), but it's boring to be dead.)
Should I just get the mod which changes the battlesize to actually let them use their superiors numbers? But I fear that the walls will get a bit overpopulated if I do that. I think there was a mod which adds more ladders does it also add more siege towers? If yes that should help the attackers. Anyway I want to keep the castle so it's good that I have a good chance, but In the long run it might be a bit to easy.
(PS: 40 arrows just aren't enough.)
Edit: (Another fight this time 100 and full companion damage 7k 17 w my side 193 k 2 w their side hmm with that many wounded I could at leat lose by attrition.)

[Demon 997]

Well I seemed to have destroyed my conversation file or something. I get errors when I talk to people, and have for a while, but now it leads to weird stuff, like it trying to start a battle with a random villager, or a lord taking my stuff (like being captured) when I talk to him, then agreeing to join my faction, having his title change but not his color.

I've tried to use a back up conversation file, then one from another mod, but nothings working. I'm running Invonative, with TweakMB.

[Brother Oni]

I've tried to use a back up conversation file, then one from another mod, but nothings working. I'm running Invonative, with TweakMB.

Copy your save game somewhere safe, then reinstall everything from scratch?