Sweet Realistic Medieval Combat (Mount and Blade)

[Prussian to the Iron]

Yes, it is the ultimate strategy:

-start out as a nomad, steppe person, hunter, everything that has to do with bows and horse archery.

-make sure you max out your agility and archery, plus power-draw and horse archery

-Find some looters (because they have no shields) and basically do a cantabrian circle, shooting arrows at them from your horse.

-sell their stuff, buy some cheap infantry from the villages, and tell them to wait at the start of every battle.

-attack the enemy until all your arrows are used up, then order a charge

-get tons of money and prisoners, and then do anything you want

Using this, at level 1 I already have 8 infantry buddies, an archer woman who is amazing, and 2 mercenary crossbowmen. needless to say, I am owning.

[Alexander the Pretty Good]

Fight a group of twenty swadian crossbowmen and come back here. :D

[pevergreen]

This needed its own thread why?

[al Roumi]

Fight a group of twenty swadian crossbowmen and come back here. :D

This needed its own thread why?

Lol to both.

I would also be interested in your findings on the success of this strategy against, erm, anything from mountain bandits and up.

Edit:

Ok, just realised you are new too M&B.
1, well done for getting it -you won't regret it (your social life/girlfriend will).
2, be very wary of attacking anything other than looters for a while! Your noob infantry will get owned -I always start with a party of "companions", not generic troops as you'll lose them too quickly... note that not all companions like each other and there are a few optimum party compositions to get around that.

[Alexander the Pretty Good]

To be fair, you have to start somewhere. And if you enjoy horse archery, go for it. But you can't fight looters forever and the difficulty ratchets up depending on who you're facing.

[johnhughthom]

be very wary of attacking anything other than looters for a while! Your noob infantry will get owned -I always start with a party of "companions", not generic troops as you'll lose them too quickly... note that not all companions like each other and there are a few optimum party compositions to get around that.

I use that strategy too, generally I solo as long as possible getting ridiculous amounts of renown (soloing Sea Raiders is great fun, 17 was the biggest group I beat) then gather up a party and wait until one of the Kings invites me into their Kingdom. Only then do I bother hiring peasant, and I have been levelling up all my companions training so the peasants don't stay weak for long.

[Prussian to the Iron]

hey, I have a spear and a shield, but it wont let me couch it. how do i do that?

[johnhughthom]

Couching is automatic, just get your horse up to speed and point your spear at the enemy don't press the attack button.

[frogbeastegg]

Topics merged.

[professorspatula]

Yes, it is the ultimate strategy:

-start out as a nomad, steppe person, hunter, everything that has to do with bows and horse archery.

-make sure you max out your agility and archery, plus power-draw and horse archery

-Find some looters (because they have no shields) and basically do a cantabrian circle, shooting arrows at them from your horse.

-sell their stuff, buy some cheap infantry from the villages, and tell them to wait at the start of every battle.

-attack the enemy until all your arrows are used up, then order a charge

-get tons of money and prisoners, and then do anything you want

Using this, at level 1 I already have 8 infantry buddies, an archer woman who is amazing, and 2 mercenary crossbowmen. needless to say, I am owning.

You make it sound like this is a quick strategy to success, yet to be a truly great horse archer, you need a high power draw and horse archery stat. For that, you need to pump your stats into strength and agility, which means you'll not be increasing the intelligent stat which is oft needed to give you extra skill points to make you a better rounded character. It'll take quite some time just killing looters and small mountain bandit parties to get a high enough level to be a true great horse archer, and then you'll be weak elsewhere and it'll take you a much longer time to level up other areas. A horse archer is a strong character but it often only takes one lance charge or an unlucky arrow to knock your health down to dangerous levels and make you weak as a kitten, and if you don't have a strong support force to help you, you risk losing the battle and your men and much of your wealth.


I think the horse archer character is fantastic for mounted combat and one of the deadliest in the game, it's just the path to getting him to that stage (Horse archery 6-7 min, same for powerdraw) takes time. That's why if I want to play such a character I usually add a couple of points in riding, horse archery and powerdraw before going out in the wilds to give me a heads up so I can also be less weak initially elsewhere. Or if he has high horse archery already, put the points elsewhere like wound recovery. Technically it's cheating but after playing M&B so much during beta stage, anything I can do to save myself a few hours of leveling up in a new game I will. It's a shame my main PC is out of action as I wouldn't mind playing the game now to be honest. I barely given the game a chance since it got out of beta.

[Beskar]

What doesn't make sense is where it says "At level 1".

I have found though, using pole arm and horse, you can just couch attack hitting the enemy for around 480 damage (What I am hitting for at the moment). Then just sell stuff.

[Apoc]

Some new M&B news:

The European closed beta servers are now open, and invites are being sent out. Needless to say, if you signed up, now is the time to check your inbox.

A new game, Mount & Blade: Ogniem i Mieczem (With Fire and Sword) has been announced. Comes with one of the better M&B-related trailers I've seen.

In mod news:

gutekfiutek's Polished Buildings Mod has been released, and includes fantastic towns and castles for Swadia and Vaegir.

World War Z and Shaun of the Dead fans may be interested in the Modern Zombie Minimod that was recently announced. And the third chapter of The Eagle and the Radiant Cross is out.

There is also a screenshot from The Peninsular War showing a Rifleman of the 95th Rifles crouching (yes, the new animation) and taking aim.

[Vuk]

Hhhhm...that Polish one looks great. Will that be released in English? Also, I hope it will be available in the US.

[Prussian to the Iron]

wait, so is M&B multiplayer now? or are those just closed beta servers?

also:

Does anyone know what Warbands price will be? and what is the current price of full M&B in stores? I might just hold off buying it until when Warbands (and multiplayer) comes out in early 2010, but if its cheap enough, ill buy the full version now.

[Apoc]

Will that be released in English? Also, I hope it will be available in the US.

There's very little info on it. As it looks right now it'll be an eastern European release, at least at first, but that's just me guessing.

wait, so is M&B multiplayer now? or are those just closed beta servers?

Yeah, those are closed beta servers. You need an invite to get in, and the sign up ended weeks ago.

Not sure what the price is in physical stores, but the price is usually around 30€ online (GamersGate, Steam).

[Prussian to the Iron]

€ ? whats that? a euro?

[Crazed Rabbit]

€ ? whats that? a euro?

I believe so. As for your strategy, well, I wouldn't call it the 'ultimate' until you've faced someone besides river pirates.

And thanks for the news Apoc.

CR

[Beskar]

I know for a fact the arrow circle strategy won't work. I already tried it. Then again, it might be because I am playing with a mod, but the arrows seem to do next to no damage.

[Husar]

I believe so.

You can be sure you ignorant yanks, you...

[Prussian to the Iron]

I know for a fact the arrow circle strategy won't work. I already tried it. Then again, it might be because I am playing with a mod, but the arrows seem to do next to no damage.

well there you go.

if you do horse archery, you have to invest just about every skillpoint possible in horse archery and power draw, and thrown weapons if you'd like.

in order to get good starting bow weapons, start out as steppe nomad, hunter, etc.

[Beskar]

I done that. It hardly does any damage, even then if shots aren't wasted hitting their shields.

Just having polearm and couch lancing them is pretty much 1 shots them.

[Prussian to the Iron]

did you ever try mounted crossbow-ing?

and remember you said you were using a mod; i'm only on the vanilla trial, so there will be some obvious differences.

[Beskar]

Crossbow's pretty much as a whole, cannot be used on horseback.

I played Lords and Realms, and the Prophecy of Peldan.

[Prussian to the Iron]

ummm......???

and one more thing:

It often takes several passes to get the perfect target, and I often end up firing as they raise thier shields and try to attack me, exposing their body for less than a second. This is the time to strike.

Admittedly, I almost never end up with prisoners due to a decisive lack of mercy.

[Husar]

Crossbow's pretty much as a whole, cannot be used on horseback.

I played Lords and Realms, and the Prophecy of Peldan.

Wrong, unless they changed that.
I mean at least in version 1.something, the last I played, you can shoot all of them from horseback and the light and hunting crossbows can also be reloaded on horseback.

[Beskar]

Wrong,

It isn't wrong. If the game could be screen shotted, I would post a picture. It explicitly says "Cannot be used on Horseback" in Lord and Realms for the Siege Crossbow for instance, But every other one I seen says pretty much the same.

[Prussian to the Iron]

whats 'Lords and Realms'?

[Apoc]

Interview with CD Projekt's managing director about Mount & Blade: Ogniem i Mieczem.

[johnhughthom]

Admittedly, I almost never end up with prisoners due to a decisive lack of mercy.

You should try using jousting lances. They have the longest reach of all polearms and give blunt damage so you capture pretty much every enemy you come across. It's a bit odd to be soloing and carrying 25-30 prisoners around with you though...

[Prussian to the Iron]

You should try using jousting lances. They have the longest reach of all polearms and give blunt damage so you capture pretty much every enemy you come across. It's a bit odd to be soloing and carrying 25-30 prisoners around with you though...

oh, I don't solo, but I think I can only carry like 10 prisoners at a time right now.

and that interview about M&B: Fire and Sword....I don't know. the historical battles looks cool, but I'm guessing it would be a non-campaign thing? and I thought this was set in Calradia, not medieval europe? and whats up with the muskets and pistols?

BTW: is Fire and Sword only available in poland in polish? or is it a world-wide thing? Because I have not seen it in anything but polish except for this translation...