Sweet Realistic Medieval Combat (Mount and Blade)

[Veho Nex]

I know a little I might be able to help with, I've been asking questions all over the net the past few days.

[Beskar]

For example, I ended up working for the claimment for Swadia. They are now the ruler, etc etc.. why do I still have the quest? Also when I finished it, why did it come up with "NO STRINGS!" for the text?

Why does my character keep going green/blue/etc while inside buildings?

Ok, those were just part of the big bunch of bugs I have come across.

[Prussian to the Iron]

Beskar, the limit on the trial is either 7 or 8.

anyway, got the full version. amazing. I am currently playing Sassanids, who are only at war with the Rhodoks. because of this, I think I will switch from an all-infantry force to a more cavalry oriented force, the only weakness being the rhodok spear reliance.......


anyone have any strategies to beat Rhodok spear and crossbow as Sassanids (yes i know its Sarassids, i just remember Sassanids better)?


my guy is looooooaaaddeeeeeeddd with cash from pillaging Rhodoks. basically, I kept trying and getting caught by huge armies, so I waited. when the Rhodoks nearly drained their entire armed forces into the invasion of our lands, I swept in, crippling every village I found, and only occassionally running into someone I need to run from.

meanwhile, the Rhodoks are gang-banging all of our lords just east of Shariz, while our king does nothing. starting to get annoying trying to run the gauntlet over there. once I get some more experience to get more leadership skill, you better believe I'll be hanging "The Sassanids Want YOU" posters all over the villages east of the invasion force.

[Kekvit Irae]

The way I see it, Warband is an insult. 30 dollars for a patch. A FREAKIN' PATCH. And there are STILL a crapload of bugs in the game!

[Crazed Rabbit]

Surely you jest.

Warband has Multiplayer.

It has a greatly expanded single player campaign, both in breadth and depth.

It is no mere patch.

Bugs it has, sadly. But the devs have released three patches already.

CR

[Vuk]

The way I see it, Warband is an insult. 30 dollars for a patch. A FREAKIN' PATCH. And there are STILL a crapload of bugs in the game!

I disagree Kekvit. While yes, I don't think that it is enough new stuff to warrant $30 (I think $20 would have been more appropriate), it is certainly more than a patch. There has actually been a ton of stuff added that really does make it an expansion pack. As long as they release modding tools with it, I will not be disappointed.

[Prussian to the Iron]

The way I see it, Warband is an insult. 30 dollars for a patch. A FREAKIN' PATCH. And there are STILL a crapload of bugs in the game!

i disagree. even though $30 is outrageous, and should be reduced to maybe $10, it is not a patch. it is a expansion, adding Multiplayer, a whole new faction, new unit trees, new equipment, a greatly expanded map, more locations, more people, etc. i could go on, but the point is that it is not a patch.

[Alexander the Pretty Good]

$10? Taleworlds isn't a charity

[Veho Nex]

I wouldnt mind 20$, 'cause that would bring it down to an affordable level for a poor man like me.

[al Roumi]

I guess it depends on how much you paid for the original, but for me, the £25 to get Warband from gamersgate is well worth it.

After a short bandit killing and tourney career, I joined the Nords -who are the only faction to not have been at war with anyone since the game started. That, however, hasn't actually frustrated my ambitions as I singlehandedly (well, with about 20 Huscarls & 30 odd Nord veterans...) stormed & captured the nearest Vaegir castle (Ismiraila) to my village fief (Fearichen), and thanks to some careful renown timing (circa 400), was granted the castle and nearby village by 'ole King Ragnar -which was nice of him i thought. Especially as he then berated me (-2 relationship !) for provoking people he wasn't at war with... pansy.

My wife, who i'd romanced and been granted approval to wed by her Nord father, joined me in the castle. To celebrate my ascent to power, we held a feast to which all Nord nobles were invited, and for which I had to gather all manner of exotic ingredients from throughout the land (dodging the odd vaegir lord's party of course...). Now i'm trying to build on the favour I gained with lrds for holding the feast, to learn their dirty secrets and play the political game. Ragnar might not initialy like it much but a good war with the Vaegirs will do wonders for the Nords' power -and mine, of course...

[rajpoot]

Blame the price on Paradox. And the bugs. I mean these were the people who gave us Mount and Blade......the only game ever, far as I know, which had gamers suggesting how it should me made right since the early stages when walking inside a city was a big new thing....If there are bugs, the only explanation is that they're there because the devs had to hurry to meet publisher deadlines.
And one has to give them credit. hardly a week after the game was released they released a patch to fix one of the biggest gripes people were having with the game, couching of the lance.

[Kekvit Irae]

And one has to give them credit. hardly a week after the game was released they released a patch to fix one of the biggest gripes people were having with the game, couching of the lance.

I checked the 1.104 and 1.103 changelog (I'm using 1.1), and the option to have an automatic couched lance will DEFINITELY make the game much more enjoyable for me (I use an all-cavalry army, and personally use a lance as my primary weapon). Making lances couch manually is fine by me in multiplayer, but since I have absolutely NO interest in multiplayer, it's an insult to me that they would even think of putting in a multiplayer balance issue in the single-player game prior to this patch. If I want to be cheap in SP, that's my own right.

Still, the bugs present in 1.104 (specifically the kill logs in battles) is enough to make me avoid the patch until they fix it. I quit and reload a save whenever one of my Sword Sisters dies, and if I don't know who is dying then I'll stick with a more stable version (I'm trying hard not to laugh) in the meantime.

Anyway, I'm still enjoying the game for what it's worth. My collected thoughts:
Besieging castles is a lot harder than what I remember from M&B Vanilla 0.951. I cant put my finger on the problem. My paltry 55 troops can barely kill half of the usual 150 troops stationed inside before my troops die.
Rhodoks still suck because of the lack of cavalry, which always makes them a favorite to run down in a field battle. The Khanate is still a major annoyance to my all-cavalry army, but at least my Sword Sisters are equipped with Spirited Corsairs which allows them to run down the slower Khergit horses (the same cant be said about my 20+ Swadian Knights).
Even with Persuasion at 6, massive amounts of renown (thanks to running down hordes of Rhodoks), and the available number of eligible bachelors, my girl is still unmarried.
What does Hono(u)r do? I've been releasing all captured lords for reputation, but I still haven't figured out what Hono(u)r does.
I recruit companions simply to send them off on Right of Rule missions. I keep three in reserve for their skills, though. Speaking of Right of Rule, I find it odd I gain that whenever Swadia (my current nation) declares peace.
You know what I would like to see? More variety in siege weapons. Catapults, trebuchets, boiling oil, ballistas, battering rams... Or maybe I've just been playing Dark Age of Camelot a bit too much. The title of this thread is Sweet Realistic Medieval Combat... but there's nothing sweet nor realistic about attacking a heavily fortified castle without supporting siege weapons.

[rajpoot]

:D Modding tools will be out soon. You can bet that they release some siege mods within the month.

Honour basically (AFAIK) makes the 'good' lords like you more. When you gain honour there's a general increase in the approval rating of all the good npcs. For instance, in my game, many times I met a lord whom I'd never met before or done any missions for, who had an approval rating of 15+ for my character. This means more 'friendly' lords.
As far as right to rule is concerned I can't make the head or tail of it. I've been sitting at 3 since ages, and can't think of a way to increase it. Am not recruiting companions right now, since I believe they still have this system where they'll quarrel amongst themselves and leave the party for good. Don't want that. Not so early in the game.
Did get married though. Turns out it's not as much fun as one might imagine it to be. All you get to do, is throw parties to increase your renown (I threw a party and got +72 renown when it ended) and the wife suggests what can be done from time to time, to increase standing in the realm, which takes form of a quest.

What's not working out is, that they still seem to have the random system for the persuasion game? I invested in persuasion and charisma both, yet, many times, my character has '0' effect on the person in front....? Does not make sense.

[al Roumi]

What does Hono(u)r do? I've been releasing all captured lords for reputation, but I still haven't figured out what Hono(u)r does.

I think it is more an indication of your character's RPG esque alignment (good/evil). As a factor, this is meant to affect your relationship with NPC lords', based on the comparison of each, e.g. some lords will tell you they dislike someone because of their chivalry (+honour) or recklessness (-honour?). But I'm only guessing.

[al Roumi]

Did get married though. Turns out it's not as much fun as one might imagine it to be. All you get to do, is throw parties to increase your renown (I threw a party and got +72 renown when it ended) and the wife suggests what can be done from time to time, to increase standing in the realm, which takes form of a quest.

LOL, I never knew M&B was a sim. Joking aside, I found that courtship is more fun in the game than the married phase. Anyway, I'm glad we haven't had to endure an M&B "Hot Coffee" mod yet

[Prussian to the Iron]

I checked the 1.104 and 1.103 changelog (I'm using 1.1), and the option to have an automatic couched lance will DEFINITELY make the game much more enjoyable for me (I use an all-cavalry army, and personally use a lance as my primary weapon). Making lances couch manually is fine by me in multiplayer, but since I have absolutely NO interest in multiplayer, it's an insult to me that they would even think of putting in a multiplayer balance issue in the single-player game prior to this patch. If I want to be cheap in SP, that's my own right.

Still, the bugs present in 1.104 (specifically the kill logs in battles) is enough to make me avoid the patch until they fix it. I quit and reload a save whenever one of my Sword Sisters dies, and if I don't know who is dying then I'll stick with a more stable version (I'm trying hard not to laugh) in the meantime.

Anyway, I'm still enjoying the game for what it's worth. My collected thoughts:
Besieging castles is a lot harder than what I remember from M&B Vanilla 0.951. I cant put my finger on the problem. My paltry 55 troops can barely kill half of the usual 150 troops stationed inside before my troops die.
Rhodoks still suck because of the lack of cavalry, which always makes them a favorite to run down in a field battle. The Khanate is still a major annoyance to my all-cavalry army, but at least my Sword Sisters are equipped with Spirited Corsairs which allows them to run down the slower Khergit horses (the same cant be said about my 20+ Swadian Knights).
Even with Persuasion at 6, massive amounts of renown (thanks to running down hordes of Rhodoks), and the available number of eligible bachelors, my girl is still unmarried.
What does Hono(u)r do? I've been releasing all captured lords for reputation, but I still haven't figured out what Hono(u)r does.
I recruit companions simply to send them off on Right of Rule missions. I keep three in reserve for their skills, though. Speaking of Right of Rule, I find it odd I gain that whenever Swadia (my current nation) declares peace.
You know what I would like to see? More variety in siege weapons. Catapults, trebuchets, boiling oil, ballistas, battering rams... Or maybe I've just been playing Dark Age of Camelot a bit too much. The title of this thread is Sweet Realistic Medieval Combat... but there's nothing sweet nor realistic about attacking a heavily fortified castle without supporting siege weapons.

oh yeah...the couching. one of the worst ideas to ever happen in M&B. I dont play MP, so i hate that its on campaign as well. most of the time, I start to couch just a split second late, and then it un-couches right before i make contact. recharge time is stupid too, as well as the fact that half the time, even when I make full contact on an un-shielded enemy, with the lance fully couched, at full speed, it often does no damage, doesnt break shields if they have it, and just stops my horse when I run into them, bogging me down.

not done any siege battles yet.....i hope to capture a Vaegir castle soon. filled with arches though, so i'm not sure if i should try.


Kekvit, how do you deal with the Rhodok Sergeants? it seems like the first 2 tiers for Rhodoks are old hat, easy to sweep away with even recruits. after that though, the Veteran Spearmen and Sergeants just destroy my guys, and the spears make cavalry attacks difficult.

[Kekvit Irae]

Anyway, I'm glad we haven't had to endure an M&B "Hot Coffee" mod yet

With the internet, you never know...

[johnhughthom]

oh yeah...the couching. one of the worst ideas to ever happen in M&B. I dont play MP, so i hate that its on campaign as well. most of the time, I start to couch just a split second late, and then it un-couches right before i make contact. recharge time is stupid too, as well as the fact that half the time, even when I make full contact on an un-shielded enemy, with the lance fully couched, at full speed, it often does no damage, doesnt break shields if they have it, and just stops my horse when I run into them, bogging me down.

Sounds like you want a kill button. The game is too generous with couching as it is, if you start to go up or down a steep hill you will uncouch. I have never failed to damage an enemy I am aiming at properly, couching is harder than in the original but it was ludicrously powerful then. As for the cooldown, couch, switch to sword, kill with your sword, switch back to lance. Easy.

how do you deal with the Rhodok Sergeants? it seems like the first 2 tiers for Rhodoks are old hat, easy to sweep away with even recruits. after that though, the Veteran Spearmen and Sergeants just destroy my guys, and the spears make cavalry attacks difficult.

What cavalry are you using? I'm using myself, nine companions on horses, 7 Sarranid Mamlukes and 3 Sword Sisters and just run over 3 50+ Rhodok armies in quick succession.

[Kekvit Irae]

Kekvit, how do you deal with the Rhodok Sergeants? it seems like the first 2 tiers for Rhodoks are old hat, easy to sweep away with even recruits. after that though, the Veteran Spearmen and Sergeants just destroy my guys, and the spears make cavalry attacks difficult.

I just use my Swadian Knights to run them down. If the cavalry charge is halted by a group of Rhodoks, my knights are dead. I issue a Follow Me order to prevent this. Archers are virtually worthless against Rhodoks, since even the lowest scum have board shields.

[al Roumi]

I have one answer for Rhodock infantry, and it comes in many sizes of axe. Nord melee infantry! As for their weakness to Cavalry charges, that's where a nice mix of Rhodock spears and Nord sociopaths comes into its own. Lezalit ain't wrong at all...

[White_eyes:D]

I just use my Swadian Knights to run them down. If the cavalry charge is halted by a group of Rhodoks, my knights are dead. I issue a Follow Me order to prevent this. Archers are virtually worthless against Rhodoks, since even the lowest scum have board shields.

Try facing the Rhodocks in a castle and you will see why, Rhodocks is a strong faction.(If your the defenseive type)

Example:I just finished being in a war with the Khergit faction and won some pretty big battles....of course, I never used any of own men unless, I had to by telling them to "hold position" at the edge of the map.(The other Lords used there men for the grinder)

After peace was declared....I went nuts waiting for another war. Finally, Swadia declared war on Rhodocks and we marched on one of there castles....it was a Slaughter. 700 vs. 95 Rhodocks didn't seem like much....but on that one battle alone,
(before I was wounded) so many arrows hit us from all directions that we lost over 50 guys before they even reached the ladder

Fighting them in the field is simple...taking there castles is HARD.

[Kekvit Irae]

Try facing the Rhodocks in a castle and you will see why, Rhodocks is a strong faction.(If your the defenseive type)

I have. One castle siege and 75% of my troops dead, I decided it wasn't worth it. If there's one thing that Rhodoks are good at, it's castle defense. Just as Khergits can tear you a new one on the field, but have such pathetic armor and infantry that they fall easily in siege defense.

[Madoushi]

Well, I finally caved and bought the game, and am in the terrible starting phase where even common Looters can be hard to run down.

I tried the MP, and it was pretty neat, although I got discouraged pretty fast when I had 1 kill to 45 deaths. Without a horse, you're just in big trouble, and it wouldn't let me buy a horse, so yeah.

The new map, faction and merchant quests are pretty neat. As I'm still just starting, and basically just running around with a dozen Vaegir Recruits, I can't speak on any of the other new plot features like marriage or feasts.

Before I knew how to couch my lance in M&B, I found combat a nightmare. Not even that it was hard, but more that it took forever, since the enemy could rarely hit me, and I could rarely hit them. Countless times I'd thrust with my lance, watch the tip pass right through a head or shoulder or torso, but deal no damage because it didn't hit the hitbox.
I don't mind things like auto-couch or a wider mounter sword radius, because for me they make up for the fact I have to play using a 2D monitor. If they wanted to balance combat, formations would have gone a longer way, IMO.

I'm sure I'll enjoy the game more when I have a few months worth of game-time under my belt. I really hate the starting phases, though, so for now I'm just trying to grind it out.

[Kekvit Irae]

Well, I finally caved and bought the game, and am in the terrible starting phase where even common Looters can be hard to run down.

I tried the MP, and it was pretty neat, although I got discouraged pretty fast when I had 1 kill to 45 deaths. Without a horse, you're just in big trouble, and it wouldn't let me buy a horse, so yeah.

The new map, faction and merchant quests are pretty neat. As I'm still just starting, and basically just running around with a dozen Vaegir Recruits, I can't speak on any of the other new plot features like marriage or feasts.

Before I knew how to couch my lance in M&B, I found combat a nightmare. Not even that it was hard, but more that it took forever, since the enemy could rarely hit me, and I could rarely hit them. Countless times I'd thrust with my lance, watch the tip pass right through a head or shoulder or torso, but deal no damage because it didn't hit the hitbox.
I don't mind things like auto-couch or a wider mounter sword radius, because for me they make up for the fact I have to play using a 2D monitor. If they wanted to balance combat, formations would have gone a longer way, IMO.

I'm sure I'll enjoy the game more when I have a few months worth of game-time under my belt. I really hate the starting phases, though, so for now I'm just trying to grind it out.

You'll eventually get used to manually thrusting with a lance. I find it's easier to charge a little to the left of a target. If you charge head on, then more than likely your horse will hit the enemy before your lance does. The game does calculate the momentum of a thrust, which is nice, so hitting an enemy mid-thrust will do more damage then having your lance fully extended. Another tip I can offer is to aim low. Aiming straight on will result in a miss 95% of the time, whereas aiming for center mass will net you good results.

And the early part does suck, but that's what Recruits are there for. Recruit a good number of Recruits, charge headlong into a group of enemies, distract them until the Recruits can catch up, then lance the enemies in the back while they are busy fighting someone else. If a Recruit dies, no biggy, just hire more. And a maxing out your Surgery goes a LONG way in preserving your troops. I find it's easier to increase STR and CHA to about 9 or 12, then pumping everything into INT. Not only do you get an extra skill point per INT point, but your Surgery maximum increases every 3 INT. I'm currently at 6 Surgery which helps greatly if things go badly.

[Major Robert Dump]

I like to play on hard setting. But I hate starting a new character. So here is what I do:

Put diff on easy. Buy about 15 recruits. Go from village to village forcing them to give you supplies that you will immediately sell as you go from town to town, because you are going from town to town checking the tavern for the book merchant. Buy every book that adds a skill (not the +1 while in inventory crap). Logic is most important, as it gives u an intelligence point which gives u an extra skill point. Trade, weapons master, tactics, engineer are good, too, but the secondmost important is the life of alexander because it adds to leadership...which means you can control better parties without having to necessarily dump points in charisma early on.

If you want hit some tournaments up too for weapons xp and a few levels, but this takes longer than stealing from villages and doesnt pay as well.

By the time you find the book merchant, go camp somewhere in a secluded corner....read all your books semi-afk.....then go sell them and sell everything else you have.

Export character.

Start new game, import character.

Wash rinse repeat, I suggest at least 5 times.

Now start your real game of the hardest setting, with some skill points banked and a couple levels ahead of the curve. Much more fun, imo, especially if you play no-save realistic.

[Crandaeolon]

I prefer to just edit the exported character file or, heaven forbid, use cheats! To be honest, M&B campaign mode is rather grindy. Doing it once should be enough.

[Vuk]

I prefer to just edit the exported character file or, heaven forbid, use cheats! To be honest, M&B campaign mode is rather grindy. Doing it once should be enough.

Or you can play the VFGR mod and it will take you a few months to conquer the campaign, and doing it again will be fun all over again.

[miotas]

oh yeah...the couching. one of the worst ideas to ever happen in M&B. I dont play MP, so i hate that its on campaign as well. most of the time, I start to couch just a split second late, and then it un-couches right before i make contact. recharge time is stupid too, as well as the fact that half the time, even when I make full contact on an un-shielded enemy, with the lance fully couched, at full speed, it often does no damage, doesnt break shields if they have it, and just stops my horse when I run into them, bogging me down.

That sounds pretty good actually. When playing Mount and Blade I prefer to use a spear rather than a lance because I find the unbreakable-super-lances-of-death to be unrealistic and boring. One of the best things about Mount and Blade is that the it isn't just about stats, your skill as a player is quite important as well. Point and kill, how's that fun? I'll have to look in to getting Warband when my finances permit.

[al Roumi]

I can't deny that starting a completely new character is a complete grind, where you are made to feel your weakness and vulnerability rather ruthlessly. Anyone actualy played a new character without the ability to save? Man, I would find that frustrating.

IMO, the sweet spot is when your char has 12 in Str and agility. You are good enough to be prominent in a melee, but you also have to be careful (not having massive army). The thing is, i find the proficiencies ratchet up quite fast too so it means most of my time playing SP is not with the same skill set as in Multiplayer. Which is then quite hard to adjust to e.g. horse archery in multiplayer isn't as accurate as i'm used to playing in SP...

[Prussian to the Iron]

am i the only one that thinks the early game is easy? I find that massing 20 or so recruits in the first day and attacking deserters helps, especially since you can then recruit the deserters.


does anyone consider it cheating using the Ctrl + F9 cheat (Slow-motion)? I find it sometimes necessary, since the hit boxes are so crappy sometimes, I need to slow it down to aim perfectly. I am proud to say, however, that I only do like 2 or 3 cheats including that one, the other 2 being leveling up my companions to 5 or 6 early on, and teleporting away if some massive army of foot troops is somehow out-running my army of maybe 1/4 the size and a mix of cavalry and foot.