Don't give up, its really a very stable game considering its only just half completed and still in Beta.
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Don't give up, its really a very stable game considering its only just half completed and still in Beta.
GAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! Has that being happening to anyone else??? :hide:
Any way, this game is every thing that the LOTR games should have been ~:thumb: I just hope i don't have to uninstall it...
Never happend to me Mongoose, no CDT is my games.
To bad you have to pay when you get to level 6 , and why couldn,t they just let you play on when you get to level 6, that would have been great.
Now it just saves and returns to the desktop.
I may get the full game though, the concept is great and it's only just in beta fase , so I may get it when I get the money.
:balloon2:
Only experienced CTDs when ordering the troops to mount up. That order is bugged, and it is recognized. So don't do that.
Since I'm a crossbower I actually like to shoot at cavalry, it simply looks so great when you hit them and they fall off and are dragged for a distance.
When cavalry gets close it is important to have the shield ready, just in case... But I prefer to load up the crossbow for one last shot. Seeing the enemy is charging at you with the shield up, there is no point in shooting just yet (and this is where the crossbow shines), just keep the aim up until he drops the shield. He has to do it to strike you with the weapon, then shoot. More often than not I kill the cavalryman, but with better horses you run the risk of getting flattened by the horse (it doesn't stop and you will suffer damage).
When doing that I feel like a real crossbowman in a battle where the enemy knights are bearing down on his unit... Ahh MTW in FPS.
really? i'm positive that on at least one occaision, i ordered my men to dismount and then mount up again...Quote:
Originally Posted by Kraxis
Update: I am now lvl 9, and of course I've had the first of a series of fight regarding this game with my dear spouse (she absolutely hates computer games btw and me being as hooked on this as I am, is not helping things).
I am getting better at mounted battle, but still fair much better on foot. I've upped some difficulty settings, to make the game more challenging and now I get whooped more frequently.
Did I mention this is a great little game and that I absolutely despise the guy who brought this up in here? I mean, hell on Monday I am starting a new job and I absolutely have to prepare a few things on the weekend... like 6-7 hours work and there is not a chance in hell I am going to do it? Because of this bloody game!!!
I love it!
I do know though that the fact that the quests are few and very repetitive and the game world is everything but fleshed out AND there is not even a main plot, means I will get unhooked from it pretty quickly (like... after 50 or 70 hours of playing that is!). I only can imagine how addictive the finished product shall be... frightening, really.
if i have a fast horse and a bardiche in hand.. i can really do serious damage.. more so than on foot (i'm kind of impatient with using my shield lol).Quote:
Originally Posted by Rosacrux redux
The horses in the arena are horrible... they can't turn at all! And do all horses do so little damage when they knock down an infantry? The creator obviosly doesn't have much experience with horses... heavy critters. If you get charged by one, you're gonna hurt more than just getting knocked down!
If you get hit with a better horse, you'll be getting more damage. The charge skill on the arena horses is probably 5-7. On the best warhorses, it can go as high as 30 or so I think.
Right now my character has a war shield, Saber (or heavy mace, or longsword), javelins, and a great axe. And boy, the great axe is awesome. I ride right towards the enemy and swing at them as they go by and 1/3 of the time kill their horse on the first pass (leaving them very vulnerable to my infantry.) And if they stay on the horse, I go around for another pass (I've got a spirited courser, which is faster than most of the knight's horses) and bam! It's swadian knight down, or dark knight down. If they're fast and avoid me, I take out the old javelins and throw in the back.
And you never have a true appreciation for how hard it is to throw something like a javelin at a horse until you try it in game (provided you haven't in real life).
Right now I've got about 20 men and am raiding enemy (swadian) caravans. It nets several k denar a time, and I'm fast enough to avoid the big swadian war parties.
Boy, I love this game
Just one query:, anyone know where it stores the screenshots it takes?
Crazed Rabbit
I'm a low down, rotten, scalawag crossbowman. I sit my party (a whole bunch of mounted mercs and hired blades) down on a hill far away, and snipe at those pirates and bandits. When they get too close...
Charge!
I completed my first caravan mission (very easy, no one attacked) and levelled up to 6. Gah.
These two I have entitled, "Mess with the best, die like the rest."
http://img134.echo.cx/img134/8770/47hd.th.jpg
http://img254.echo.cx/img254/6812/55mv1.th.jpg
Thats with my new ranger character with his Khergit Bow. ~:) Every single pirate died from my bow. All 30 of them. :balloon2:
And now a before and after shot.
Before.
http://img46.echo.cx/img46/8195/64cu.th.jpg
After.
http://img236.echo.cx/img236/433/78cj.th.jpg
And I have strange suspicions that my first character has Robin Hood Complex. ~:)
http://img14.echo.cx/img14/7269/88jd.th.jpg
Wow this game is great! I've been playing it since last friday and have reached level 6 for the fifth time.
I love mounted combat, especially with a great lance. About 10 minutes ago I actually managed to kill 3 men in a row :shocked: here's the proof: https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v...72/GCS0786.jpg
I originally downloaded the demo about 2 and a weeks ago, and bought it on the bank holiday Monday, and it was a great way to spend about £8, especially when you consider this is basically a husband and wife team making this game. ~:cheers:
I had a hell of a lot of trouble fighting on horseback to start off with, not that I am great now, but I am certainly better, although I tend to use only a Balanced Longsword, and a Steel Shield, even though I do have a lance in my Inventory. I think with my next level points I will improve my horsemanship even though my Swaybacked Hunter is a lovely creature, and is the best I have had so far. In my current game I have decided not to officially ally with either side, even though my party is made up mainly of Vaegir units.
I don't tend to play games like this, most of the time I tend to play just RTS/TBS games, but I am so glad I tried it out.
On the matter of CTD's I seem to just get a random one every now and again, but they don't seem to be related to any particular event, area command etc. And as it's only a Beta, you have to accept there are going to be some problems, as one of the main points of Beta is to make sure the final release is as stable as possible. I can't wait for the next update.
It took nearly 2 hours to get my PC working again, and I very nearly lost plenty of work on my assorted bits of writing, plus a set of significant additions to my extremely time consuming to put together collection of assorted easy reference historical notes on just about every subject a writer might need. I back up to CD regularly, but saving each file to floppy as well as to hard drive each time I edit anything is the only way my backups could stay up to date. But the files are all too large to fit on floppy - 100MB total! Even my manuscript for Eleanor is too big to fit on a floppy now. So I really can't afford to take chances; even one line of text lost is going to be very tough to replace. I'd have to work from memory and try to piece together and approximation, and that's assuming I could even remember what was lost.Quote:
Originally Posted by zelda12
Looking at the M&B forum a few others have reported the same error (if anyone's interested this is the topic.) I experienced, but none of them had anything worse than an unexpected reboot. Also, at least two people found the error came when issuing mount/dismount orders. I hadn't done that; I've issued those commands frequently without problems. It's supposed to be fixed in the next version. I would hope so, but I'm not sure I want to risk trying and seeing. I like the game, and it's very stable, especially for a beta, but when it goes it does more damage than anything I've seen since the old days of windows 98.
I have annoying issues with the game when I quit. After quiting, all attempts to access other parts of my computer yield an error message that refuses to go away. I am forced to reboot. Quite annoying, and I don't play the game anymore.
Sorry to hear that people are having problems with the game. :( It's been flawless for me thus far, but now that I said that it will probably crash. :)
I just lost my entire army of 10 Swadian Knights, 5 Men at arms, and 5 Swadian Sharpshooters because of one little tactical mistake! Wow, I love this game :D
I'm up to lvl 14 now. I think sharpshooters are my favorite guys to have around right now. They can make some insane shots that put a big grin on your face. I usually follow them around and try to keep horsemen off them while they clean up everything in sight. I'm trying to find a better sword but it seems rare to find them in shops or even as loot so far. What do you guys think is the best overall one-hander?
Just tonight I have seen possibly the strangest and funniest arrows sticking out.
First I had a Sharpshooter with an arrow right in his hindquarters. That looked absolutely hilarious when he ran about.
Another one had an arrow right though his knee from the side, thus it looked like his legs were connected.
Finally I saw an enemy with that famous arrow though the side of the head, you know like those things you put on. And he was even alive!!!! ~D
Finally I took my chances with my big thick steel shield and stood out in front of a steppe bandit army and just let them have a go at me with ranged weapons... Boy did that shield look like something that was alive and growing. ~:cool: But then again it was brought down to 64 points out of 867.
Yes, I have a similar problem, the game seems to cause every other program to quit with an "illegal operation" error message.Quote:
Originally Posted by Lehesu
However, the game itself runs just about flawlessly.
If you're having problems, I would suggest shutting down all the other programs that are currently running (except of course the essential ones). After I shut down my antivirus program and zonealarm it seemed to work much better - but yes I still get the error messages from multiple other programs while or after running the game.
It doesn't bother me though, I just do a reboot after running the game, no problem.
BTW I'm running 98SE. What are you using?
I've found that the best way to get a slow horse to turn quicker is to pull it up first and then turn it. They can't gallop and turn very well at the same time.Quote:
Originally Posted by Steppe Merc
Sounds like my problem. I'm running ME.Quote:
Originally Posted by screwtype
Yep the game is a rare gem and i had bought the license. Btw, i am using XP and i do not have any problems running the game. No ctd or likewise issue ~;)
True, but the reward for those types of quests is double what you spent to buy the items. So if you do pass it, you'll get 140k!Quote:
Originally Posted by Thoros of Myr
This game is amazing. I'm currently running around with 14 Swandian Knights. Nothing can stop me! I steam roll through anything and the money just keeps on piling in! Right now I'm trying to raise in rank by doing some quests for the Swads. I'm thinking of taking on a Veigar war party (54+ men) soon!
i second this.. using xp (specs are athlon 2500+, 1 gig ram, radeon 9800pro) the game is entirely stable, so far. hasn't crashed once.Quote:
Originally Posted by Lechev
Just bought it. Really good.
I can get the lance to crouch in the arena, but out in the real world it won't. Is this because my horse is too rubbish?
Most likely... If it can't gallop or at least run at speed 8 it is too slow. Also inclines will slow you down, so trying to charge that man standing on a small hill is perhaps not the greatest idea concieved.Quote:
Originally Posted by BDC
Re: Stability, I'm running it on XP and had one CTD in about a weeks worth of play.
Happened when I ordered my men to mount up, which I believe is a bug they plan to correct in the next update.
Although thinking about it my computer didn't just CTD, it restarted itself too and then said it had just recovered from a major error....
Scary Stuff :hide:
Still a brilliant game though
This is freakin' awesome. I've reached level six, and I'm going to buy it.
Damn my finding out about this in an exam week!
Question-is there any difference between the various factions' troops? For example, are Swadian militia (second level troop) better than watchmen (also second level troop) or are the watchmen better, or are they the same?
Watchmen are "neutral", I think. Personally, I prefer the Swadians - their crossbows seems very lethal whereas I have not noticed similar firepower in the Vaegars (sp?). Whenever I fight Swadian deserters, I tend to lose my knights. :help:Quote:
Originally Posted by Big King Sanctaphrax
Which is why I try not to engage them.Quote:
Originally Posted by Simon Appleton
I do believe that the Swadian troops are better in general. They look like they have better equipment than their Vaegir counterparts, especially the knights.
Watchmen are not great, but they can become the best 3rd tier unit I can think of. The Caravan Guard. They are quite heavy and strong, yet only one advance up. But their other upgrades aren't as spectacular, so I think they end up just a little lower than the Swadian Knights. But Hired Blades are damn nice still.
BKS, since when were you made moderator? Damn, I have been here entirely too long and have been entirely out of touch in all the other forums except the Arena.
A couple of months ago. I'm prepared to grant a Kikkoman amnesty!Quote:
Originally Posted by Lehesu
In that case I will try to finish the mission ~D I was worried about spending that kind of money and getting a measly reward.Quote:
Originally Posted by Sethik
And who else is playing on max (107%) difficulty? ~:cool:
Not I. How do you get it up that high? Even with normal damage it isn't that high for me.
It seems some are having problems-in some cases very severe. So far I haven't had any, and I am using XP. Perhaps it is OS related?
One time I got a mission, as a level 10 fighter(or higher) to get 4 cleavers. Those things only cost about 50 denars! The only hard part was finding four.
Crazed Rabbit
Vaegir Skirmishers are pretty good units, but I'm not sure if the other "3rd level" counterpart is superior.Quote:
Originally Posted by Kraxis
Vagier Knights man not have as good of armor as their Swadian counterparts, but they all wield two handed axes. This things can cause major damage when used right.
Since the question of OSes and performance has come up, I'm using XP. Also P4 2.4, radeon 9800 pro, 1024MB DDR RAM, SB live! 5.1. Performance was great aside from that devastating crash. I was getting FPS in the 150's most of the time, and not a single hitch.
Gah! The more I read this thread the more I want to download another copy and reinstall. Some days I hate this job :blankg:
Do you also have combat AI on good? The only other thing is I selected the realistic save mode whereby you must save the game whenever you quit.Quote:
Originally Posted by Crazed Rabbit
Hmm, it must be the unrealistic save mode that does it for me. Oh well, call me wimpy.
I'm using a P4 1.3, Geforce 2 MX, and 300~Mb ram. It works well enough on the camp map, but the fps can drop to 10-15 in the middle of large battles.
Crazed Rabbit
Exxxcelent. Just give me a date and a time to strike...Quote:
Originally Posted by Big King Sanctaphrax
Man, I love javelins. A fun thing to do is riding up to swadian x-bow men and nailing them in the head, like this:
http://img10.echo.cx/img10/9106/mbheadshots2sz.th.jpg
Here you can see where I got 2 headshots in a row.
However, the best has to be nailing an oncoming knight in the head, taking him out before he gets to swing his weapon once!
Plus, throwing weapons like javs and axes are great foot weapons, though they have small missile capacity.
Man, I love this game.
Crazed Rabbit
Yes, javelins are great. I just started using them instead of my crossbow, because I was focusing more on mounted combat, and I can use them and still have space for a lance, sword and shield. Crossbow's not much good on a horse either.Quote:
Man, I love javelins.
Does anyone know whether injured horses recover over time? I had a cool spirited courser in my last game with a speed of 11 and he got hit a few times and I had a sense he was slowing down, then after one battle I happened to see his stats and he was down to a speed of 6 and listed as a "lame courser"!
Do lame horses get better? Or are they permanently lame? Do horses recover at all over time as long they don't reach lame status?
Also, anyone know if it helps party speed if you have an extra horse in your inventory to help distribute the weight?
The horse will recover after a long time (as long as 30 days I've heard or as little as 4-6). Unfortunately it won't be spirited any longer.
yeah that'll do it - normal damage, good AI and realistic saving is 107% I think.Quote:
Originally Posted by Thoros of Myr
Had to start a new campaign after my last one got bugged - had restart problems when I tried to load one particular campaign only - got the message to either retry, abort or ignore - only abort would work and that would rstart computer. Other saved games we're ok and new one seems fine for moment.
shame I lost that campaign cause I had a nice crew of Vaegir knights and was pretty heavily armoured myself riding a spirited courser (he was so fast nobody could catch me)- my dismounted run speed was horrible (too much heavy armour) so if i got knocked off I had to wait for enemy to attack me.
Lost most of a weekend to this game but I now understand what medeival knights were on about - nothing better than riding down a bunch of bandits at full speed with my fellow knights beside me! :charge:
Even managed to take about about 6-7 pirates solo with javelins and axes thrown from horseback at full gallop - that was a bunch of fun. takes a while to get it right - now I just have to figure out horse archery for my new character.
only complaint so far is I can't seem too choose exactly which guys to take into battle with me - I once decided to save some peasant women from some sea raiders (hoping their 'gratitude' might up my mens morale) so needless to say my starting force was me, 2 footmen and a bunch of peasants and their wives - against sea raiders we got whomped and I barely survived until my relief force arrived.
still haven't enjoyed a game this much since mtw.
I believe it does, yes. Indeed, I think party speed depends on the average speed of your party including spare horses. Once I was escorting 7 steppe horses for a quest and my party was pretty fast.Quote:
Originally Posted by screwtype
There's a fair amount of depth in this game. I only found out yesterday that bludgeoning and piercing damage halves the effectiveness of armour. Time to put away that sword...
No, I used to think they did, but after selling off the 5 horses in my inventory and having an identical speed I realised they didn't.
Extra horses help only if you are carrying so much stuff that it would slow you down.
Apparently having high wound treatment skill speeds recovery.Quote:
Originally Posted by Magraev
I think if you go into your party screen ,when in world map view ,you can give priority ,to which troops you start with.Quote:
Originally Posted by desdichado
You know those tags that say ;move up one slot ,down one slot .
Haven't tried it yet ,because the default set up seems to be your best men ,which suits me .
Maybe if you're trying to save peasants ,you can't ,which I think would make sense.
yeah, that's right. i actually put my weaker troops up front, often, so they can get more experience (kill experience).Quote:
Originally Posted by The Scourge
A great way to get money in the beginning of the game is to fight in the arena until you have around 1k or 2k then by a cheap horse and ride for the salt mine. Spend all of your cash there and fill up with salt. Go back to Zender to sell for 2.5 times the price! After a trip or two I had around 4k or 5k!
Afterwards go buy some Swadian Militia (Or Veiger) and hunt river pirates and even mountain bandits for a while until they level up to Swadian Men-at-Arms/Knights. At this point you should be able to fight against more powerful mob groups.
For those of us who are dabbling in the art of the Horse Archer may I draw your attention to a mod over at the M&B forums.
http://taleworlds.com/v-web/bulletin...t=1609&start=0
Thats right! You can now field an entirely horsearcher army for battle! ~D
I'm finally getting good at this game! I got myself a spirited steppe horse, a lance, a khergit armour and a steppe bow. I was having a lot of fun riding past my enemies, peppering them with arrows, then charging them down with a lance!
It took roughly one week for this little 35meg game to generate 5 pages worth of posts here at the Org! Simply amazing!
For taking on a party of Huns.... err, Khergit horsemen (or Steppe Bandits for that matter) nothing beats a Spirited Hunter horse; it will catch anything on four legs, turn on a dime and is thick skinned to boot. Spirited Hunters are ideal for rapidly closing the distance between fleet footed horse archers who like to keep their distance and snipe at you and your men. With a Spirited Hunter it takes no time at all for you to catch up and get on their 'blind' side where you can hack them to death without getting a missile in the face. However, most of the time I use a Heavy Charger, it's 36 Charge rating is fantastic and its armor will absorb most minor blows. With a Charger you can knock down anything on two legs at will and can bowl over entire groups of men if you're galloping at a decent speed. I'd love to have a Spirited Charger but I have yet to see one for sale anywhere.
I do have to say that I think Steppe Horses should have the best Turn/Maneuver ratings of all the horses in the game. Those breeds may not be the swiftest but they really can turn on a dime.
And I think they should start with an 8, as opposed to a 7 in speed (fortuanatly, my spirited has 8). Cause they may not have been the fastest, but they sure as hell could support a rider using a lance. They were also very tough, and could move a long distance better than European horses. Perhaps they should give better map move speed?
Sweet Realistic Medieval Combat indeed. 'Nuff said. And I learned about this game only a few days after I moaned about the lack of realistic medieval RPGs. Heavensent this game is heh
Now, I wonder whether there are some efficient anti-cav measures that one can take, apart from breaking enemy charges by means of missile, or using some form of zweihänder while the horse rides by. Something more in the sense of a spear/pike hedge, where you set your weapon to receive a charge rather than trying actively to chase the rider or kill the mount. I looked a bit at the forums, but I don't remember finding an answer.
Maybe it's reserved for M&B2, where in its mp mode people can form along with their companions nice spear-forests:)
archery is fun. lancing people in the face got a little boring for me, so now i'm practicing other skills. i wish the battles were harder, though. khergit and dark hunters (or whatever they're called) put up good fights, but generally, that just means a few of my men get killed.. i've only lost most of my men like once.. and i'm lvl 25! once i did get my spirited charger lanced out from under me though.. that was pretty wicked, because i was behind the enemy, and my men were holding position. i got up and was surrounded by 8-10 bandits. it was fun waiting for my men to save me while i hid behind my steel shield. literally, as it was down to ~50/800, a swadian knight and a sword sister came riding through the group of bandits, and we went ape-house on them.
http://users.telenet.be/eforum/emoti...t/sterb239.gif
can't wait to see what the devs do with future versions. i wish axes did more damage to shields.. i mean, when i'm charging and swinging my great axe with a ~40% speed bonus, it should just shatter the weaker shields outright. as it is, i prefer the sword of war to the great axe.
oh, btw, can couched lances be blocked with shields? also, are jarids are worth the power throw point?
I'm hooked as well. Only lvl 8 at the moment but getting there. I love charging enemies on horse back and attacking them with my sword.
I found two sound mods for this game. One generally improves battlefield noises, and the other (tries) to increase the sound of horse hooves.
They can both be found here.
Just extract the .zip files into the "Sound" folder in the Mount & Blade directory. I like the mods - the new sounds are pretty good, and a step up from the vanilla sounds.
~:cheers:
I've gotten to level 6 twice so far, and on my second used court lady with Bouche, and even got heradric armor shortly before level 6. So, my question is, is the game worth the money, or will it oly shortly keep your attention?
Game is definatly worth the 12 bucks. Its just so simple and addictive!
My bane when on horseback are those npcs that have spears or polearms. I can't reach them with my Sword of War without them striking first. Polearms, if used properly, have a great advantage over horseback.Quote:
Originally Posted by L'Impresario
Yes, that's what I wanted the extra horses for. I find if I fill my saddlebags with salt or some other product, my party (just me) goes from a speed of 10.5 to around 6.Quote:
Originally Posted by Silvouz
I have discovered that extra horses in the party will help you carry those goods at a faster speed, however they don't give you as much of a speed boost as you might expect. My character currently has three horses in his inventory (including his mount) but top speed is still only around 8 with full saddlebags.
I've made very good use of a crossbow from a mount. In my last session I despatched a bunch of a dozen river pirates with just 15 bolts, hey man I'm getting pretty good at those headshots :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Big King Sanctaphrax
Crossbows are not so useful when your opponents are mounted tho, although if you have a fast enough horse you can still find time to stop and reload. But it is a bit of nuisance.
I'm starting to think about using melee from horseback more. I've been reluctant to do that for fear of injury to my expensive horse, but I got pretty good results from it in my last party combat, just riding around bopping footbound sea raiders from horseback while avoiding the enemy's mounted troops. Ranged weapons aren't so useful in party melee because it's hard to get a bead without the risk of shooting one of your own. By the time you've got off one or two clear shots the battle can be over.
So what I've done now is get hold of a jousting lance, not only because it knocks opponents out for capture, but also because it has a very long reach of 200 plus which should give a substantial advantage. Now I've just got to learn how to use the darned thing :)
I just started getting into party combat and it's really hard, a lot harder than fighting by yourself! My party invariably gets slaughtered, in spite of the fact that on paper they're a pretty good mixture of knights, horsemen and veterans. Makes no difference, after every combat, even the ones where we outnumber the enemy, everyone in my party gets killed and maybe one or two of the enemy get killed.
I can't figure out what to do in these combats either. The enemy run around too fast to be easily snagged with ranged weapons. I've tried attacking the ranged enemy units on horseback, but even when you hit them they turn around and shoot you in the back after you've ridden past. Two hits from a bow or crossbow and you're dead!
Sometimes I think the best thing I could do is get off the horse and just mix it up in melee, at least I might take a couple out before I go, but there doesn't seem to be an easy formula either for staying alive or for damaging enemy units.
Anyone got any hints or tips?
How strong and well armoured are you?Quote:
Originally Posted by screwtype
Get your-self a good fast horse ,and learn to use the command buttons.
I usually take my men up a hill ,and put them men on hold position while I scout out the lay of the land .
Timing of the charge is also very important .
I almost always try to take their cavalry first ,as your own squad will go for the nearest enemys ,and often get caught in the rear or scattered around place ,if running after cavalry.
So after I've taken care of their cavalry .I use my own horse to harry their foot troops ,and make sure they are the ones that are scattered.
My merchant gets massacred pretty regularly. 9 river hunters managed to kill me and my 12 fairly good quality men because all my horsemen charged straight into a narrow river valley and got themselves chopped up. :(
Find a nearby hill, hit "2" and lead your men up there. Being on a hill will slow down the enemy, especially the cavalry. Then hit "1". Your shooters will stand and shoot while your horse and melee foot will only engage when the enemy is close. You'll tend to have a concentration of force against the straggling AI army. Tactics skill helps here too.Quote:
Originally Posted by screwtype
Personally, I like ranged fire - get some Swadians and train them up the skirmisher to sharpshooter path. They will do a lot of damage and are not that weak in melee. Training skill is cumulative, so you and the two NPCs can all invest in it for fast upgrading of troops.
I like archery myself. Start off with a background that gives you a decent skill or otherwise get to 80+ archery. It will rise with kills after that. I don't bother targeting bandit cavalry much - they are too fast and not that dangerous. I'll take out the odd annoying one who gets too close or survives too long. But generally, my mounted men take care of them.
I focus on the enemy infantry and start shooting as soon as I see them. I usually miss most of the time early on, but have resupplies of arrows in the inventory. If they are heading straight for you, they are not hard to hit closer up. I and my Swadians pick them off as my mounted men get among them. I may have to position myself to the side or in front of my men to get a clear view, but often it's ok on the top of the hill. I focus on the AI infantry that is shooting first, then the others without shields or the ones who have exposed their backs/flanks to me as they chase my horse. It's a waste shooting at the ones approaching you with shield up.
If you put Borsha and Marnid on horse, they can take some of the blows that could otherwise kill your mounted men. They tend to charge off despite the hold position order and often fall unconscious early in the battle, but the disruption they cause is good and anyway it's better them getting a bump on the head than a dead knight or two.
Yeah I do that already but I find they seem to wander off. Often they will manage to take down the enemy's cavalry charge which doesn't wait for the foot soldiers but after that my crap party just seems to get totally murdered in the affray while doing little to no damage themselves. It's really annoying.Quote:
Originally Posted by Simon Appleton
This could be one mistake I've made. I've been going for horsemen and knights for the extra speed, but I agree that ranged units are pretty darned powerful in this game.Quote:
Originally Posted by Simon Appleton
Yeah, I've done all that, except I'm using a crossbow instead of a bow. They've got much greater damage. You do have to dismount to use one but that should theoretically make you a smaller target. All the same those damned enemy bowmen always seem to get me first, mainly because I'm outnumbered by them.Quote:
Originally Posted by Simon Appleton
Probably the most successful battle I've fought so far is one where I just rode around at top speed slashing everyone with my sabre. Me and my guys won that really handsomely, and I suspect there is some sort of algorithm in the game that multiplies the success of the rest of your party by your own success. But then when I tried it another time those blasted bowmen cut me down.
Ah, those marvellous heroes. Somehow miraculously only ever manage to get knocked out! Obviously Mr Armanag's commitment to realism isn't all that great :laugh4:Quote:
Originally Posted by Simon Appleton
Also a good idea to pick the battle field ,according to your preferred tactics.
With my currant knight heavy squad .I like flat open terrain .
Most of the time (Unless you're right in the thick of it.)
you can refuse battle ,and pull your army back and go in when the field is more to your liking.
Hey, that's a good idea Scourge. I hadn't thought of that. Although it does strike me that this method might be considered something of a cheat...
Well, this is one thing you can control - your exposure to enemy fire. When it gets excessive, you can use a reverse slope defence or just peak around the corner of your hill, taking them out one at a time.Quote:
Originally Posted by screwtype
But that won't help with your main problem - that your mounted men get cut down. I agree with your assessment - it sounds like you need some ranged troops. Kinda like the British army's response to the swarms of Napoleonic French skirmishers - get more of your own and better ones too.
I find it very tough fighting Swadian deserters with armies of 20-30 crossbowmen. They kill my knights and so, like Kraxis said earlier in this thread, I avoid giving battle to them.
I rather like the balance of arms in the this game - neither cav, nor shooters, nor melee infantry are obviously superior. Personally, I like a roughly 50:50 mix of cav and shooters.
well I have found these army's to be very annoying also , so what I do is just pay them, it usually costs you 1500-2000 and the funny part is , that you don't lose ANY gold at all , this is a bug I guess.Quote:
I find it very tough fighting Swadian deserters with armies of 20-30 crossbowmen. They kill my knights and so, like Kraxis said earlier in this thread, I avoid giving battle to them.
Don't know if any one else has experienced this ( BTW I'am still playing the trial version )
As for army mix, I usually go all infantry with a couple of skirmishers,with these kind of army's I have beaten lot's of army's mostly Khergit Raiders ( because they are all horse army's easy to beat when bogged down )
:balloon2:
remember though, bows don't take half as long to reload, so the damage-per-second difference isn't that great. with a good horse archery skill (like 3 at least) you can become a deadly, mobile sniping machine! :rifle:Quote:
Originally Posted by screwtype
i once killed 3 bandits that were chasing me on horseback.. swiveled all the way around, and 3 bodkins later, three horses were bandit-less. :charge:
Hehe, level 9 already on my new character. Don't go merchant, it takes absolutely ages to do anything and the money you make will be lost because you are too inept to shoot anything that attacks you. It takes ages going between cities too. It needs a time-accelerate button.
I'm playing a merchant at the moment. At the moment he's kicking ass (then again i'm playing on easy).Quote:
Originally Posted by BDC
He's already got 16000 in gold and has loads of cool equipment as well.
Not at all! The Mongols and other steppe forces always choose their ground,. and wouldn't fight unless they wanted to. Why shouldn't you?Quote:
Although it does strike me that this method might be considered something of a cheat...
Yeah, I've done that too. It's something you learn quite early in this game - to make yourself as small a target as possible.Quote:
Originally Posted by Simon Appleton
But I've figured out what the main problem was. I was just fighting against a bunch of real hard guys - 18 sea raiders. I thought they weren't so tough as I have killed up to half a dozen fighting solo, and this time I had with me a party of 21 including 1 knight and half a dozen horsemen, but they are no match for those raiders. I played the same battle over a dozen times and lost it by a street every time.
But with essentially the same party I am now beating the crap out of large bands of mountain bandits, so I think the main lesson is to choose your enemies carefully ~;p
Yes, I instinctively avoid these parties, as I know from experience what kind of havoc I can wreak on large parties when fighting solo with just me and my own crossbow. Crossbows are really deadly weapons, even a humble hunting crossbow will get 60-70 points of damage at distance with a headshot, so they're not the sort of weapons you'd want to face en masse ~;)Quote:
Originally Posted by Simon Appleton
Yeah, there's a lot to like about it. I think I just like the fact that it provides a real challenge, I've played so many PC games that have got everything but that most important element. Not only can the combat be tough, but you also have a bunch of different skills you can hone over time, so there's always that feeling you could be doing better if only you were a bit more skilful...Quote:
Originally Posted by Simon Appleton
Thanks everyone for your advice. Much appreciated ~:)
On reflection I decided it wasn't a cheat. If you have the more mobile party then there's no reason you couldn't give battle on a field of your own choosing. Personally I think I prefer just taking pot luck, but I'll certainly keep your tactic in mind, especially for those battles where you need every bit of help you can get ~:)Quote:
Originally Posted by Steppe Merc
I don't think that any body has mentioned how good Javalins are. They are extremely accurate (the targeting reticule barely widens!) and deal loads of damage. The only problem I have is their relatively low ammunition rate (Jarls only have 8 per battle.) Though if you are aim good enough its possible to score a kill with each as headshots are pretty easy to dish out.
Another thing that's great about them is seeing someone recieve a headshot with a Jarl and see them live running around with a meter long stick jutting out of their skull. ~D
I downloaded it last night. I think Kraxis' nailed it. The combat is great, the rest is pretty worthless (now). I'm not going to pay to play the beta, as I think the game is too limited at the moment.
I've been fighting in the arena most of the time, it's fun, you learn to use the different weapons, you can make some money, and at least you only have one other teammate that can screw up.
The weapon selections in the arena seems random, leading to some very unbalanced situations. Two guys with just longswords fighting a mounted lancer and a horse archer ? You can pretty much forget about winning that.
Some people commented that the horses in the arena are cr*p, I disagree, you just have to learn to use the breaks ~:)
Overall, it's a very promising combat system, now they just have to build a game around it :charge:
EDIT: So far no one mentioned the shadows, they're some of the Best shadows I ever saw in a game, in one fight, I noticed an enemy approaching me from behind because of his shadow.
Get a good side swing ready ,and time it right ,and you can easily take any mounted fighter down from his horse.Quote:
Originally Posted by doc_bean
In fact that's one of my favorite weapons in the arena.