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 Mount & Blade is a medieval battle simulator which blends elements of Action RPG, empire building, and tactical combat. The player directly controls a single character who in turn may command other troops in battle, gain control of entire towns and multiple armies, or just go it solo. Along the way in your quest for glory you might recruit peasant volunteers or powerful heroes to fight by your side, test your skill in a gladiatorial tournament, woo and marry a noble lady, invest in local businesses, loot and raze villages, lead siege assaults on walled cities, aid an usurper’s claim to the throne, or create and defend your own kingdom. There is no goal or victory condition (even if you conquer the entire continent), but there are hours of strategic and tactical gameplay. Warband is the standalone expansion to Mount & Blade which adds an additional faction to the game, features updated graphics, and supports current gameplay patches.  Welcome to Calradia! Mount & Blade: Warband takes place in the (re-modeled for Warband) region of Calradia, which is home to six nations of people. Each faction is modeled by medieval feudalism despite what its name might imply: it has a single leader and several vassals, a claimant to the throne which the player may aid in rebellion, and several castles, towns, and villages. The factions are constantly fighting each other in the background, which the player may ignore or join as desired, and each has its own selection of military troops. The game is pretty well balanced with regards to the troops available to each of the factions, and the player may raise armies which mix and match whichever troops are preferred. The six factions are: Khergit Khanate led by Sanjar Khan. They live in the grassy steppes in the southeast of Calradia, and are unique in that all of their troops save for their fresh recruits are calvary of some kind; moreover, they are the only faction to feature dedicated mounted archers among their army. Their map colour is purple; their capital is Tulga; the claimant to the throne is Dustum Khan. Kingdom of Nords led by King Ragnar. They live in the northern coast of Calradia, and are one of two factions with no cavalry in their armies; however, their heavy infantry features the only sixth-tier troop in the game and is generally regarded as the best. Their map colour is cyan; their capital is Sargoth; the claimant to the throne is Lethwin Far-Seeker. Kingdom of Rhodoks led by King Graveth. They live in the mountainous area in the southwest of Calradia, and are the other faction without calvary; however, their spearmen are great castle defenders and their crossbowmen are the best in the game. Their map color is green; their capital is Jelkala; the claimant to the throne is Lord Kastor of Veluca. Kingdom of Swadia led by King Harlaus. They are the geographically largest faction in the game, and they feature a very well-balanced army; notably, their infantry is the most heavily armoured in the game and their cavalry the most powerful. Their map colour is orange; their capital is Praven; the claimant to the throne is Lady Isolla of Suno. Kingdom of Vaegirs led by King Yaroglek. They live in the snowy northeastern portion of Calradia, and their armies feature the most accurate ranged units in the game; however, their units are not as heavily armoured as, and are resultingly somewhat faster than, their counterparts in other armies. Their map colour is grey; their capital is Reyvadin; the claimant to the throne is Prince Valdym the Bastard. Sarranid Sultanate led by Sultan Hakim. They live in the southern deserts of Calradia, and theirs is another balanced army which features faster calvary than Swadia with archers that are nearly as good as the Vaegirs. Their map colour is yellow; their capital is Shariz; the claimant to the throne is Arwa the Pearled One. Misogyny Ahoy! The world reacts to the player character differently depending on the choices made at character creation: in brief, a male noble starts not only with superior combat equipment and training compared to most other backgrounds but also is more respected and is able to pursue many quests and faction relationships with much less work; meanwhile, a woman requires literally seven times as much raw grinding in order to pursue those same efforts and will encounter unfavourable welcomes, insulting remarks with regards to her gender and parentage, and various other hurdles all along the way. We will of course be playing as a female character so that everyone will get a chance to see it. The LP. We will be working together to set and pursue goals as Lady Ingrid, scion of a fallen house who has set out on a new life of adventure in Calradia. At the time of writing the OP, I have already done the first session worth of gameplay and gotten us through the tutorial quest; however, what we do after that and how we accomplish it will be frequently put to vote in terms of broad objectives which will be chronicled in this thread. I will handle most of the minutiae myself, so you don’t need to worry about not knowing a big deal about game mechanics; however, you should feel free to ask questions, make suggestions, and so on. Update List: Update 01: Character Creation and First Quest Update 02: Touring the Country Update 03: First Knight Addamere fucked around with this message at 03:09 on Dec 1, 2014 |
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Nov 22, 2014 23:14
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This post reserved for stuff. 1. VOTING RESULTS Update 01 Final Tally: pre:First Vote Kingdom of Nords: 2 (2 elite melee) Kingdom of Rhodoks: 1 Kingdom of Swadia: 6 (4 knight/melee) Kingdom of Vaegirs: 2 Sarranid Sultanate: 2 Second Vote Drop: 2 Keep: 7 Addamere fucked around with this message at 06:00 on Nov 25, 2014 |
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Nov 22, 2014 23:14
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Swadian Knights - because screw the mongol-standins, and screw having anything less than an awesome army. Keep - Don't really care, but it's gonna be a while until you can reliably field pure cavalry, especially since I find no one but me goes heavy on the Trainer stats. If you're not fielding pure cavalry, there's not much downside to fielding a small handful of slightly-sup-optimal troops (heck, the variety might even help you) I'm definitively going to be watching this thread, and even coming with advice. Said advice will lead you into economic destruction, should you listen to it, given I've grown used to having money-cheats I assume you're not using (I make no apologizes for cheating, cheating allows me to have a lot better fighting-to-time ratio) But it's the thought that counts, right?
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Nov 22, 2014 23:23
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Make a Vaegir Army! They're not the best, though their archers are awesome, but I love the not-Russians.
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Nov 22, 2014 23:25
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aerion111 posted:Don't really care, but it's gonna be a while until you can reliably field pure cavalry, especially since I find no one but me goes heavy on the Trainer stats. I personally love the Trainer skill and usually stack it on companions; but, for all I know people will tell me not to have companions at all.  Given that I'll be letting the thread take the lead on what to do, I didn't bank on being very high level anytime soon; so, I skipped it at character creation.
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Nov 22, 2014 23:42
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Update 01: Character Creation and First Quest  After warning us that the early game will be harder if we are anything other than a male noble, the game asks us five questions in which we select our gender, our parentage, our early life, our adult life, and the reason we left home to become an adventurer. This is the process of character creation which determines our starting stats. At each step the game takes into account previous choices to craft a short narrative.      I have chosen, in order: female, an impoverished noble, a shop assistant, a lady-in-waiting, and being forced out of your home.  This screen appears regardless of your choices.  We see this screen at character creation because I chose to be a noble. Gaining the right to carry a banner can be done by anyone through gameplay, but nobles start with them. They confer no gameplay advantage, but NPCs will occasionally reference the fact that you have one in dialogue. I chose the symbol on the top left, which will appear on the player character’s shield and on some armours as well as on the world map.  This is our hero, the Lady Ingrid. I am incredibly lazy and accepted all the default slider positions on the default female face.  The choices I made in the previous screens contributed some stats, and then you are given a few freebie points to spend on whatever. Ingrid is built to be a smart character rather than a tough one, but that can change as we level up. Each time we level up we get to spend an attribute point, a skill point, and 10 weapon proficiency points. Some gear has minimum strength requirements, but more often we increase attributes for the particular bonus each gives or to qualify for increasing skills that are dependent on them. Skills are limited to ⅓ the value of their associated attribute, but character creation skills are exempt from that: Ingrid’s background as as a nobleborn lady-in-waiting affords her a Ride skill of 4 even though she only has an Agility attribute of 6. Check out the links above for a full description of all the things on this screen and what they do. I made the choices I did so that we can have high speed both in battle and on the worldmap (allowing us to chase down or run away from enemies as desired), and so that we can save money both by taking (and selling) prisoners and by keeping our troops alive.         Here is our starting equipment that my character creation choices have afforded us. Most of it is really, really bad. The unnamed bandit we will soon fight has better equipment. I will be showing off each time we upgrade, but won’t otherwise be drawing much attention to our gear. Notable here is our Spirited Courser, which is the second-fastest horse in the game. Note also our smoked fish, which is a food item with a certain number of uses to be consumed by troops as we hire them. Food and pay are the two things required to maintain troops, and there is a morale bonus accrued for each separate type of food you carry with you.  Once again demonstrating my laziness, I picked Swadia because it was at the top of the list. It also happens to start us near the center of the world map, so we have less distance to travel if we decide to go somewhere else.   This is the last wall of text before we get to actually play the game. As soon as I hit continue, I spawn on the streets of Praven and am soon attacked by a bandit.  I honestly intended to make a short video demonstrating both ranged and melee combat, but I got a lucky headshot and the guy died. You can see the aiming reticule in this screenshot: imagine that guy on the ground on his feet and the reticule slightly above his head, and you have the only other relevant image for this fight. Notably in this shot we have a reference to shot difficulty, which is how the game determines how fast your ranged weapon skill will level up: more difficult shots (distance, elevation, moving, etc.) level it faster.   Immediately after our victory over the unnamed bandit, we are hailed by the Quest Merchant. Regardless of which town you start near, “Merchant of [that town]” spawns and guides you through a short series of tutorial quests. You can opt out of every part of them except this initial dialogue, but I’m going to be showing them off. I am also done screenshotting walls of text and writing in italics for now.   We’ve always had brigands in the hills, driven to banditry by war, debt, or love of violence. Recently, however, they’ve been getting bolder -- leaving their camps in the wild and venturing into town, looking for unwary prey. The watch commander tells us it’s because of all the fighting on the frontiers -- fewer men to keep an eye on the streets - but I’m not sure what to make of that. It seems to me that the most logical explanation is that these bandits have an ally inside the walls, who helps them enter unnoticed and helps them identify particularly tempting targets... Go on. Last week, you see, they took my brother. I don’t know what my brother was thinking -- a lad from a prominent house, out alone after dark in times like these… Well, I suppose you were too, but you’re a stranger here, and didn’t know how bad things have become. He had no such excuse. But he’s family, so what can you do? I don’t think you’d be telling me all this if you didn’t have some idea of what to do. If you don’t protect your kin, then people will start thinking that you can’t protect your investments either, and I can’t have that… Your concern for your brother is touching.  No doubt the gang will soon send word about a ransom, but I don’t care to pay it. So here’s my proposition. You look like you’ve had a bit of experience with a blade. Enough to know that I’d much rather shoot someone in the head from a safe distance than try to fight them with this letter opener. More importantly, you must have a bit of fire in your belly, or you wouldn’t be coming to Calradia to seek your fortune. So here’s what I’m asking you to do: gather a small party, track down these bandits to their lair, teach them a lesson they won’t forget, and get my brother back safe. Your brother is missing and your solution is to convince some peasants to fight some other peasants. That’s pretty standard fare for the times we live in, I suppose. What’s in it for me? In return, you’ll earn my lasting gratitude and a bit of silver. What do you say? I’m interested. Especially in the part where you pay me. You won’t be able to do this by yourself, though. If you try and take on the whole gang singlehandedly, the hunter will become the hunted, I’ll warrant. You’ll first want to round up a group of volunteers. There’s always a few lads in the villages around here, looking for a bit of work that’s more interesting than tilling the soil or hauling water. They’ll follow you if you pay. So… Take this purse of 100 denars. Don’t mind if I do. Consider it an advance on your reward. I’ll consider it “mine now”. Go round to the villages, and use the money to hire some help. I’ll reckon that you need at least five men to take on these bandits. Very good, sir. I’ll go collect some men from around the villages. Good. You can find me again in the tavern here in Praven after you’ve got your group together. Then we’ll speak about what we do next. And with that we’re free to leave. There are things you can do in towns that I will show off later, but for now let’s be off on our first quest!  This is the world map. You can zoom in and out, rotate it, and pan it around. We are right outside Praven, and the nearest village is Azgad. Guess where we’re going next?  If you said anything other than Azgad, then you were not paying attention when I said I was lazy. You can see here that we are moving at a speed of 10.3, which is pretty fast. For reference, most bandit groups move at around 5.0 with elite groups topping out at around 6.5, and big war parties full of infantry can get bogged down to 3.0 or slower. Overland speed is determined by party size (bigger is slower), average party speed (using the Athletics or Ride skill for infantry or cavalry), party morale (higher is better), and the Path-finding skill. Since we have a party of one and have invested in both Path-finding and Ride, we can move at a nice clip. That will change soon.  This screen appears every time the player’s party enters a village. Additional options appear if you control the village as a fief, allowing you to construct improvements. At the moment the only thing we care about is getting some raw recruits for our party.  The game determines the number and quality of recruits in a village by rolling a die, with the lowest value being zero and the highest value dependent on your relationship with the village. With a relationship of zero, we can get at most 8 baseline recruits from any one recruiting attempt, so 5 is not bad. It also happens to fully qualify our quest objective.  This is a basic Swadian Recruit. He has about as much health as our pampered lady-in-waiting player character does, and slightly better gear. For some reason he also has skill points in skills that are of no use to him: riding, because he has no horse; inventory management, because he has no inventory to manage and only the party leader’s points in this skill matter for calculations; prisoner management, again because only the party leader’s points matter; and trade, which only matter for the party leader and companions. He is stronger than Ingrid and has better weapon proficiency in literally everything; also, there are five of him, and their polearms can stop a horse in its tracks. In case you missed the point, Ingrid is literally a worse fighter than a peasant farmer.   Speaking of peasant farmers and their thatched-roof cottages, this is what the village Azgad looks like if you choose to visit it in person. Usually you spawn in villages and towns with your horse if you have one, but sometimes you don’t. I did this time, so all is well.  Two things to note about this dialogue: first, he only calls me “madam” because I am a noble with a banner; second, there are a total of four dialogue options. This is important! Do you have any tasks I can help you with? Bandits have driven away our cattle. Our pastures are empty. If we had just a few heads of cattle we could start to raise a herd again. How many animals do you need? I think 9 heads will suffice for a small herd. Then I will bring you the cattle you need. There is now an additional dialogue option. Whenever you do anything that affects your relationship with a village, positive or negative, the recruitment counter resets and you can try again. I just volunteered to help the village, and while this by itself does not justify a whole integer increase in relation it did go up a little. Boom! More recruits. I could have just asked for recruits again on the village screen, but doing it here shows off this mechanic. Are there any lads from this village who might want to seek their fortune in the wars? I can think of 7 whom I suspect would jump at the chance. If you could pay 10 denars each for their equipment. Does that suit you? Tell them to make ready. Whenever you are on the world map, and in most cases when you are somewhere in person, you can press Q by default to bring up this screen. No matter how much the game insists that this is the “Notes” screen, I think of it as the Quest Screen. Most quests have a timer, and you automatically fail if you pass that. Note: this screenshot was actually taken toward the end of this update session, after I’d already completed the tutorial quest; otherwise, you would see the tutorial quest over there on the right under “Notes”.  Ingrid leads the party back to Praven to meet up with the Quest Merchant. Adding a dozen Swadian Recruits to the party has reduced our overland speed from 10.3 to 6.4, due to the effects on party speed already mentioned.  This screen appears every time the player’s party enters a town. Additional options appear if you control the town as a fief, allowing you to construct improvements. Towns are different from villages in several ways, most relevant for us in that they have taverns and markets. More on the marketplace later—right now, we’ve got a date with a merchant at the tavern.  People congregate in taverns, and their populations rotate every week. The tavern keeper behind the bar over there will always be the same in each town, but everyone else will come and go with time. Pictured: two adventuring heroes that we might recruit as companions in our cause, a mercenary troop we might hire, and the quest merchant. We have precious little money to our name right now, so we can’t afford to hire anyone. Later, though!  This is the guy we came to see.  Very well. I shall hunt for bandits. The tutorial quests are variations of quests that otherwise exist in the game. This one is “Track Down Bandits,” and for the tutorial quest they spawn right beside you. Even with a dozen clueless peasants tagging long, Ingrid is able to run them down in short order.  Tell me where you keep your prisoners, and I’ll let you go. No, but I brought steel. This screen appears prior to every overland battle. Especially large battles will be broken up into multiple battles, all of which are preceded by this screen. Additional options may appear if you are heavily outnumbered, allowing you to sacrifice a portion of your army in order to withdraw or to surrender and let yourself be captured. Letting your troops attack without you is pretty much always a bad decision: the AI is stupid, and you will lose large numbers of troops even in one-sided fights like this one. And besides—leading from the rear is for cowards, which Ingrid is not.  Each battle in the field takes place on a map randomly selected from a set specific to the overland biome. We spawned on the side of a mountain, which would be great if we had any ranged unit. But we don’t, so the only thing to do is to blindly charge at the enemy.   Well, we do have one ranged unit. Being on a horse allowed Ingrid to get around the mountain and into firing position before the rest of the group could get in range, so she draws first blood. Her hunting crossbow is one of only two crossbows that can actually be reloaded and fired from horseback.   Not that it matters much: as soon as the dozen recruits join the fray, the equally ill-equipped bandits fall before the weight of 4-1 odds.  I’ll spare your life -- but in exchange, I want information. Either you or your mates kidnapped the brother of a prominent merchant in town. Tell me where you’re hiding him, and give me your word that you’ll stop troubling the people of these parts, and you can go free. Refuse and I will tell everyone about how you got beaten by a lady in a sun dress. Once this dialogue is triggered, the kidnapper’s hideout appears on the map. This is technically a new quest, though a continuation of the one we’re already on. It’s a variation of the quest you can get from nobles called “Destroy the Bandit Lair,” which we will likely see again at some point.  This is the Party Screen, which may be accessed anytime by default P. It automatically opens after fights to allow you to do some troop management. Enemies that are knocked out with blunt weapons during a fight appear on the bottom right as potential prisoners, which may then be recruited into your army or sold to a Ransom Broker. Selecting Capture puts them over on the bottom right. The maximum number of prisoners is determined by the player character’s Prisoner Management skill level.  Among other sources, fights are a source of experience for troops that kill things. When a troop gets enough experience to level up, it gains a + beside its name in the Party Screen and may be upgraded. Doing so costs money in advance, and increases the pay owed per week to the troop. I upgrade this guy to a Swadian Militia.  As a result, the Swadian Militia gains some hit points, athletics, and weapon proficiency. He now wields a better shield, a crossbow, and a random melee weapon drawn from a list the Swadians use. He is now tougher, faster, and more versatile. Still not great, but significantly better!  I put him at the top of the troop list, right underneath Ingrid. In situations where limited numbers of troops are allowed, the game prefers to send in guys at the top of this list. This can be a really big deal in certain circumstances, so I like to keep my best troops at the top.    This screen usually follows every fight. It never shows how much money you got from the fight here, but usually you acquire some denars after winning. You do get to take your pick of the loot, up to the amount you can carry determined by your Inventory Management skill level. As was already mentioned, Ingrid’s starting gear is pretty terrible so even a simple club is better than her dagger. As a bonus, it’s a blunt weapon so she can now knock people out in melee and take them as prisoners.  Back on the world map, the party gains experience and income from the fight. For some reason this happens as a separate event instead of being calculated at the post-fight screen.   Back on the Party Screen, a second Swadian Recruit was ready to upgrade. You can also see the Party Skills on this screen, which you cannot during the post-fight version of it. All those skills that have a (+1) after them are receiving bonuses because Ingrid has at least 2 levels in the skill. The leader of a party adds a synergy bonus to any party skills that he or she has more than two levels in, and oddly enough that synergy bonus applies even if the party leader is the only hero in the party.  With the location of the kidnapper’s hideout revealed, Ingrid leads the way there. It always spawns near a village that’s attached to the starting town.  Remember just a second ago when I said that some circumstances only allow a certain number of troops? This is one of them. All variations of this quest require you to take only a small group of your troops in. Because they are at the top of the troop list, we’re joined by both of our militia.     This version of the quest is intentionally very easy: there are only four weak enemies, and they are very spread out. Charging into the fray and overrunning them ends the battle as quickly as the previous one. Once all enemies are dead, the Merchant’s Brother runs out to talk to us.  Yes, I told him that I would find you. I advise you to return to your family as quickly as you can -- and be careful on the road.     No prisoners this time, but more loot. So much that we can’t carry all of it. Oh well—what we leave behind is only worth 1 denar each to sell, so it’s no big loss. Two more recruits are ready to upgrade, and then we’re on our way back to Praven to see the merchant.  The money is most welcome, and I am glad to have been of service. Good! Now… Are you interested in making some more? Possibly. What do you need? Remember how I told you that the bandits had an ally inside the walls? I think I know who it is -- the captain of the watch, no less. Some months ago this captain, seeing the amount of profit we merchants were making from trade across the frontiers, decided to borrow some money to sponsor a caravan. Unfortunately, like many who are new to commerce, he failed to realize that great profit only comes with great risk. So he sank all his money into the most expensive commodities, and of course his caravan was captured and looted, and he lost everything. As a consequence, it seems our captain turned to villainy to recoup his fortune. I suppose I’d do the same if, the Heavens forbid, I ever faced indebtedness and ruination. Now, any watch captain worth his salary will have a few thieves and robbers on his payroll, to inform on the rest, but our captain decides to employ these bastards wholesale. He brings them into the town, lets them do as they will, and takes a share of their take. You’ve heard of poachers turning gamekeepers? Well, in the unfortunate land of Calradia, sometimes gamekeepers will turn poacher. Luckily, there are still a few brave, honest souls in the watch who’ve told me how he works. Now -- here’s my plan. I could bring this to the attention of King Harlaus, lord of the city, but that would mean an inquiry, my word against the captain’s, and witnesses can be bought and evidence destroyed, or maybe the whole thing will be forgotten if the enemy comes across the border again, and all I’ll get for my trouble is a knife in the ribs. In time of war, you see, a king’s eye wanders far from his domain, and his subjects suffer. So I’ve got another idea. I’ve got a small group of townsfolk together, some men in my employ and some others who’ve lost relatives to these bandits, and we’ll storm the captain’s home and bring him in chains before King Harlaus, hopefully with a few captured bandits to explain how things stack up. All I need now is someone to lead my little army into battle -- and I can’t think of anyone better than you. So what do you say? Holy wall of text, Batman!  What? Nothing, forget about it. OK, then what do you think of my plan? How do I know that you’re telling me the truth? Oh, well, I suppose it’s possible that I found a dozen bandits who were willing to give their lives to give a passing stranger a false impression of life in old Praven… Well, I guess you can’t really know if my word is good, but I reckon you’ve learned by now that my money is good, and there’s another 100 denars, or maybe a bit more, that’s waiting for you if you’ll do me this last little favor. So what do you say? All right. I’ll lead your men. Splendid. It’s been a long time since I staked so much on a single throw of the dice, and frankly I find it exhilarating. My men are ready to move on your word. Are you ready? Yes. Give them the sign. Good! Now -- strike hard, strike fast, and the captain and his henchmen won’t know what hit them. May the heavens be with you!  The town looks peaceful enough for the moment; however, this portion of the quest only lets us control the player character. We do not have the support of our troops with us when combat eventually starts. And it starts almost immediately …  … with pretty poor results for the townspeople.     Luckily the player character is there to turn the tide, as well as a group of racial troops belonging to the town. I don’t think it’s actually possible to fail this quest short of somehow aggroing the entire group of bad guys and dying to them.  Ah, well, I’m proud to have done my bit along with the rest. Yes, yes… Now, a couple of my boys have the watch captain pinned down in a back room, with a knife at his throat. I’ll need to go drag him before King Harlaus and explain what this breach of the peace is all about. You don’t need to be part of that, though. I’ll tell you what -- if all goes well, I’ll meet you in the tavern again shortly, and let you know how it all came out. If you don’t see me in the tavern, but instead see my head on a spike over the city gate, I’ll assume you know enough to stay out of town for a while and forget this whole episode ever happened. So -- hopefully we’ll meet again.The quest is done for all intents and purposes, but we can go see him at the tavern to find out how things went.  That hardly seems fair… Fair? This is Calradia, my lady! Kings do what they will, and the rest of us do as they must. He didn’t string me up, and instead gave me time to sell my properties -- even put in a word with the other merchants that they best pay me a fair price, too. That’s gracious enough, as kings go -- but he’s a weak king, as they all are here, and weak kings must always look to their authority first, and justice second. I suppose I’d do the same, in his shoes. Anyway, I wouldn’t go rubbing your part in this affair in King Harlaus’s face -- but he’s taken note of you, and decided that you’re not worth hanging, and that’s something to which I’ll raise a glass any day of the week. He might even have work for you, further down the road. Or, you can sell your sword to one of his competitors. Anyway, I hope you’ve learned a bit about what it will take to stay alive in this troubled land, and I suspect that the money you’ve earned won’t go to waste. Good luck. I am preparing to leave town in a short while. It’s been an honor to know you. Quest Merchant will be gone the next time we visit the tavern. But while we’re here, let’s have a chat and recruit a hero!  You must have me confused with the tavernkeep, sir. My most humble apologies. It is sometimes hard to recognize folk amid the smoke and gloom here. I still cannot believe that I must make my home in such a place. I was my father’s first son, and his heir. But my mother died, and my father remarried. His new wife thought that her son should inherit. She could not move against me openly, but the other day I fed a pot of suet that had been left out for me to one of my hounds, and it keeled over. I accused my stepmother, but my father, befuddled by her witchcraft, refused to believe me and ordered me to leave his sight. I hope to offer my sword to some worthy captain, as it is the only honourable profession for a man of my birth apart from owning land, but in the meantime I am condemned to make my bed among thieves, vagabonds, merchants, and the other riff-raff of the road. Perhaps you would like to join my company for a while. I would very much like that, madame. I am a gentleman, and prefer to fight with sword and lance. I recognize that you are of lower birth than I, but there is no shame for me to serve under an experienced captain -- presuming, of course, that your followers do not become too familiar with me. I assume that will not be a problem? Well, it shouldn’t be. I’ll have a talk with them. That’s very good of you. And before I join, can you lend me 300 denars, so that I can buy some proper clothing that befits a gentleman of noble birth such as myself? The coat on me has been worn down badly due to my recent bad fortune, and I cannot let common soldiers mistake me as one of their own. Very well, here’s 300 denars. Good! Give me a few moments to prepare and I’ll be ready to move. Though expensive to recruit, Alayen is cheap to maintain. As a hero he can never die, only be knocked out during combat, and he can use equipment and skills just like Ingrid.   Alayen has a better weapon that Ingrid does, though his armour was so bad that the bandit gear was better. His stats are also way better than Ingrid’s, and he is focused on combat. His one skill point in Leadership is wasted, but everything else about him is pretty good and as he gains levels he can be molded into pretty much anything.  And now it’s time to look at the other function of towns we care about right now: buying and selling things. There was no Ransom Broker in the tavern to buy our prisoners, but there are always merchants in town marketplaces who will buy our looted junk.  I visit the horse merchant to highlight the difference in buy and sell prices. If you recall, our Spirited Courser has a sell value of 780 compared to the buy price of 7605. While trade goods in the game are generally profitable to buy and sell, anything you can loot from enemies on a regular basis—armour, horses, weapons, etc.—are intentionally programmed to have drastically reduced sell value so that you cannot easily accumulate wealth just by fighting a bunch of bandits.  Selling our entire inventory of looted goods yields us only 157 denars, putting us at 415. We still have that quest to bring 9 heads of cattle to Azgad, but beyond that we presently have no pressing obligations. First Vote: Short Answer Take a look at the faction descriptions in the OP (or be a super nerd and learn every unit inside and out if you want). Give me a vote for which faction troops we should pursue in the first few in-game weeks. Be as general or specific as you like; i.e., "XYZ troops," "XYZ ranged dudes," and "get a core of 20 XYZ dickbutts ASAP" are all fine. Second Vote: Drop or Keep Short of going out of our way to do otherwise, the guys you pick up to do your tutorial quests are from the kingdom where you started. For us, that's Swadia. Do we want to drop those Swadia troops as soon as we're able, or do we want to keep them and incorporate them into whatever army we build? Addamere fucked around with this message at 14:41 on Nov 23, 2014 |
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Nov 23, 2014 02:35
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Sarranid Sultante because they are awful and hilarious; You get to back Pearls into being Sultana and you are playing the game completely Vanilla, where they're even worse. (Not even Native Expanded? What do you have against gloves?) Keep because the Swadians won't be fighting against them for a while, usually. And knights are baller as heck.
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Nov 23, 2014 02:57
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Kingdom of Swadia to keep the opening simple and get us a decent core force as early as possible. Keep due to the above.
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Nov 23, 2014 03:38
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Swadian but with an Elite core of Nordic Varangian Guardsmen because that's amazing. Also Keep.
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Nov 23, 2014 05:49
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Let's start with a good core of solid troops to allow us more freedom to act. To that end, I say we start working on getting, as income permits, 20-30 Swadian Knights. Obviously, this means we should keep the troops we have for now.
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Nov 23, 2014 10:11
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Aim for Swadian Melee Troops, with an eye towards eventually having a force of a hundred Swadian knights, with which you can turn pretty much any enemy army, even ones that outnumber you three to one, into a fine red mist without much concern for casualties. Accordingly, Keep the Swadian troops we currently have, because we can level them up into Knights eventually.
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Nov 23, 2014 11:07
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My votes are staying the same, since the question is the same also.aerion111 posted:Swadian Knights - because screw the mongol-standins, and screw having anything less than an awesome army. On top of DivineCoffeeBinge's reasons of turning armies into red mist, I find the Swadian Knights look pretty intimidating too. But in general, in medieval warfare you just can't excuse using anything but the walking tanks that men in armor become - putting them on a horse solves the main weakness against arrows, too.
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Nov 23, 2014 11:49
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aerion111 posted:My votes are staying the same, since the question is the same also. Certain mods will broaden the possibilities inherent in unit types, but I find that in vanilla you have basically two choices - either knights who crush everything in their path, or horse archers who circle around and perforate everything in their path. And, honestly, I am better at playing the knights so that's what I'm recommending. 
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Nov 23, 2014 13:51
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Swadian knights is the most boring, vanilla poo poo ever to pick in M&B, which is why I suppose having it picked here would give the most archetypal M&B experience but just drat folks. Honestly, the most fun to be had for me at least is trying to do stuff differently, like say, mixed infantry tactics or gimmick runs. Every try playing the game without a horse? It's pretty cool how it makes you not play the exact same character you always play every time. DivineCoffeeBinge posted:Certain mods will broaden the possibilities inherent in unit types, but I find that in vanilla you have basically two choices - either knights who crush everything in their path, or horse archers who circle around and perforate everything in their path. And, honestly, I am better at playing the knights so that's what I'm recommending. Going all heavy cavalry is the easiest in this game, because it's a bit rough around the edges, but especially when it comes to sieges and later when you have to hold land, it is pretty good to have diversified at least a bit.
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Nov 23, 2014 14:51
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Deceitful Penguin posted:Going all heavy cavalry is the easiest in this game, because it's a bit rough around the edges, but especially when it comes to sieges and later when you have to hold land, it is pretty good to have diversified at least a bit. This is actually a fine point, though I think we're getting ahead of ourselves a bit with it; we're still getting established, so it might be a little early to start thinking in terms of 'what will we garrison castles with.' Once we do get there, I'm going to heartily recommend some Vaegir Archers and Nord Footmen be added to our troop mix... but we're not there yet, I don't think.
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Nov 23, 2014 14:56
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Lustful Man Hugs posted:Swadian but with an Elite core of Nordic Varangian Guardsmen because that's amazing. I'm convinced.
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Nov 23, 2014 15:20
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Deceitful Penguin posted:Swadian knights is the most boring, vanilla poo poo ever to pick in M&B, which is why I suppose having it picked here would give the most archetypal M&B experience but just drat folks. I at least have never even previously seen a screenshot of M&B, so archetypal sounds pretty damned perfect...
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Nov 23, 2014 15:21
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Man let's get some Vaegirs up in this army because they seem pretty metal, being Norsemen and all. While we're at it let's drop our starting band because doing the smart thing and developing a power base where we started and have reknown is exactly what they'll expect us to do
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Nov 23, 2014 15:52
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Deceitful Penguin posted:Swadian knights is the most boring, vanilla poo poo ever to pick in M&B, which is why I suppose having it picked here would give the most archetypal M&B experience but just drat folks. This is why I voted for, like, 20-30 knights. They function as a rock-solid core for us to fall back on while the majority of our army is more diverse.
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Nov 23, 2014 17:06
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If you didn't fill every castle you owned with Rhodoks, and cruise around with a field army of nothing but horse archers you're doing it wrong. Barely organized chaos for a field army, whats all this having to issue orders stuff.
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Nov 23, 2014 17:58
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I once had a game going on for loving forever because I was going to get all the pretenders on the throne, but only when they looked like they were winning and it showed me that honestly, pretty much all factions are perfectly playable, it's just that some of them are way simpler. Lack of good cavalry can be taken care of by good placement; if you have enough dudes and tactics you can drown fuckers and then you take them our for good (walking is glorious for that btw, because it lets you use the gently caress-off-and-die crossbows which once you get the hang of them are just instant death for whatever you just headshotted). It's still goddamn hilarious though that when you're installing a pretender you can have them give you all the castles, though keeping them in vanilla is a huge pain due to lack of patrols. Still, is a good kickstart for when you found your own kingdom. Edit: Also you should always grind a bit against the easy bandits (bow bandits if you feel up for losing some scrubs) but there is an honest joy in finally getting over to the horse bandits (both varieties) and just watching them loving melt in a hail of death or get dehorsed like scrubs. Also fighting in dunes is baller. Deceitful Penguin fucked around with this message at 20:15 on Nov 23, 2014 |
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Nov 23, 2014 20:02
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Sarranid because I've seen dozens of games where we play as the crusaders, also their units seem hilariously weak. Also drop your current ragtag band of followers. If we are to rebase we should start from scratch. I'll be watching this lp with interest. Even though I own warband it never managed to grab me. Will be interesting to see how you play. double nine fucked around with this message at 21:02 on Nov 23, 2014 |
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Nov 23, 2014 20:56
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Done with the next gameplay segment. You guys have until I put up the next update to conclude voting. Running totals right now are: pre:Update 01: First Vote Kingdom of Nords: 2 (2 elite melee) Kingdom of Rhodoks: 1 Kingdom of Swadia: 6 (4 knight/melee) Kingdom of Vaegirs: 2 Sarranid Sultanate: 2 Update 01: Second Vote Drop: 2 Keep: 7 Addamere fucked around with this message at 19:17 on Nov 24, 2014 |
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Nov 23, 2014 21:38
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Always love to see a M&B SSLP. Surprised you're doing this completely vanilla though. I'm a huge fan of the Floris mod myself. Especially because of the extra command options and AI tactics during combat. Edit: Oh, and for vote: Rhodoks. Their crossbows are awesome and between that and their spears can gently caress up some calvary. Great for taking castles too. I personally mix up some swadian calvary, some Rhodoks and Vaegers for ranged, and a bunch of Nords to wreak poo poo in melee. Heir03 fucked around with this message at 21:53 on Nov 23, 2014 |
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Nov 23, 2014 21:51
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Comedy option: Do not use actual factions, make a Merc only army, With a core of Sword Sisters, Merc Crossbowmen and Manhunters. Sword Sisters are unironically like, one of the best drat units in the game, well worth the effort to get them up to speed, even if it means having to have trainer or use training camp.
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Nov 23, 2014 22:03
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Nietzschean posted:Just to avoid any chance of confusion, can Ghostwoods and Lustful Man Hugs please confirm that their votes include the desire to rush top-tier Nord infantry as soon as possible? Sure, sounds good to me 
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Nov 23, 2014 22:39
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Deceitful Penguin posted:Comedy option: Do not use actual factions, make a Merc only army, With a core of Sword Sisters, Merc Crossbowmen and Manhunters. I always used sword sisters as a sort of general's bodyguard, the unit that would follow my actual PC into battle. I love that Floris has an entire Sword Sister troop tree.
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Nov 23, 2014 22:44
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Nietzschean posted:Just to avoid any chance of confusion, can Ghostwoods and Lustful Man Hugs please confirm that their votes include the desire to rush top-tier Nord infantry as soon as possible? That is affirmative.
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Nov 23, 2014 23:13
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Ghostwoods posted:Sure, sounds good to me Lustful Man Hugs posted:That is affirmative.  Awesome, thanks. Huscarls are pretty amazing dudes or so I am told; personally, I've never used them so this will be a learning experience.
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Nov 23, 2014 23:25
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Nietzschean posted:
Even the lower tier Nord infantry are amazing. In one game my force of around ten Nord warriors and one or two Nord veterans were just ripping larger groups of Sea Raiders to shreds without any real interference from me (aside from ordering them to defend a spot and then having them charge when the raiders were close enough).
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Nov 24, 2014 00:14
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Update 02: Touring the Country When last we saw our heroine, she had completed the tutorial quest and marshaled a dozen men to her service. We return now to the town of Praven in the Kingdom of Swadia, where the lady Ingrid now sets out to keep her promise and deliver nine head of cattle. This update and all future updates will be increasingly written from a first person perspective.   There are no cattle available for purchase in town, and my search is directed to the surrounding villages. Veidar is the first stop, southwest of Praven and nestled in the forest. I find three men there eager to join my company and gladly recruit them.   I find also the village elder, who is eager to sell me cattle. I cannot afford them. We leave.    Iyindah is similarly situated among the forest, and cattle is similarly expensive. Another man flocks to my banner. We leave without cattle again.  As we ride out of Iyindah my thoughts wander. I am destitute, as my father was, able only to pay my men for the time being and with a promised debt weighing on me. I am interrupted from my reflection by word that another bannered troop has been spotted. We ride out to meet them, and I quickly fall into familiar habits of conversation.  My name is Ingrid. At your service, sir. I am Count Rafard, a vassal of the Kingdom of Swadia and the lord of Azgad and Rduna. I see that you carry a nobleman’s banner, but I do not recognize the device. No matter -- a brave warrior’s home is all the world, or so they say! Anyway, what is it you want? Do you have any tasks for me? I have something you could help with, an issue with the lawless villain known as Raurge of Tihr. He murdered one of my men and has been on the run from his judgment ever since. I can’t let him get away with avoiding justice, so I’ve put a bounty of 300 denars on his head. Friends of the murdered man reckon that this assassin may have taken refuge with his kinsmen at Azgad. You might be able to hunt him down and give him what he deserves, and claim the bounty for yourself. I will hunt him down and execute the law. That’s excellent. I will be grateful to you and so will the family of the man he murdered. And of course the bounty on his head will be yours if you can get him. Good hunting! I must beg my leave. If I am to be running errands for peasants and lords, then why not also for the king of this land? We return to Praven and I am granted admittance to the castle. Again my manners afford me scripted words.  My name is Ingrid. At your service, sir. I am King Harlaus, the ruler of the Kingdom of Swadia and the lord Praven and Tahlberl. It is not often that I meet a woman who aspires to lead men into battle. But these are dark and troubled times, and I for one will not turn away hands that can grip a sword, should their owner be brave and loyal. Now, what is it you want? Do you have any tasks for me? As you know I am the lord of the village of Tahlberl. However, it has been some months since Tahlberl has delivered the taxes and rents due me as its rightful lord. Apparently the populace there has grown unruly lately and I need someone to go there and remind them of their obligations. And to … persuade them if they won’t listen. If you go there and raise the taxes they owe me, I will grant you one-fifth of everything you collect. A fair offer, my lord. We have an agreement. Scripted conversation and niceties among the local nobility have afforded me additional opportunities to reinforce my purse. I will need that silver if I am to raise a respectable army and gain proper recognition among their peerage. But that is an endeavour for later; now, there is dirty work to be done.  I am looking for a man by the name of Raurqe of Tihr. I was told he may be hiding here. Strangers come and go to our village, madam. But I doubt you’ll run into him at this hour of the night. You would have better luck during the day. I have no patience to wait for daylight when I have other engagements. Tahlberl is to the east. We ride through the night.  We pass through the village of Riyabelet at noon. Three more men join me seeking fortune.    We arrive at Tahlberl in good time. My men are eager for the respite, and their presence with me is enough to discourage the villagers from doing anything more than complain. The better part of two days are spent collecting taxes and rents on behalf of King Harlaus, and night has fallen on the second day by the time I wrap up the counting. I’ve a small fortune gathered, 3949 denars.   Before leaving the village I take a stroll through it to get a feel for the lay of the land and of the general atmosphere. I am understandably unpopular, and no one rushes to greet me.   But the village elder is eager to sell me cattle and supplies, which I pay for with the money I just took from him earlier in the day. The irony is lost on him.  Despite the time of night and whatever misgivings they might hold against me, the townsfolk dutifully gather up the purchased cattle and set them outside the village for me. My men and I make ready to travel through the night.  This is what I’ll call the cattle screen, which you encounter whenever the player character’s party arrives at a group of cattle. The gimmick behind the cattle delivery quests is that cattle, once driven onward via this screen, will move away from the player character’s party. The only way to get them to stop is to catch them and use this screen dialogue, or to herd them such that they get close enough to a quest objective location.      There is nothing particularly interesting about driving a herd of cattle. So long as your party speed is as fast as the herd’s speed, you can keep them in sight and zig zag back and forth as you lead them straight to your destination. If your party speed is slower, then they can outrun you and wander off; and, if your party speed is significantly faster, then you end up having to click a lot and wait for the herd to move. Our party speed is fast enough to catch them but slow enough to need only minimal additional zig zags, so this run is quick and painless.   Just outside of Ryibelet we spot a group of bandits. Perhaps mistaking us for an unarmed caravan, they meet us bearing steel. I am happy to return the gesture.  Without any specific formation or tactics, my men rush to meet the bandits. I ride out ahead of them along their flank.   As my mass of Swadian peasants meets up with the gaggle of Swadian outlaws in direct melee, I strike behind their line. I am not a skilled fighter, but a fast horse and a blunt implement make up for my lack of skill.    We take prisoners from among the defeated, and more importantly my fighting men gain valuable experience at arms. It is amazing how quickly a group of raw recruits can become hardened, some after only a single battle. One peasant whose name I never learned died in this encounter.    We pick through the spoils and quickly distribute obviously useful equipment. A more detailed accounting will have to wait until we have reached town, for we still have a herd of cattle to drive.   Ingrid and Alayen both level up from that fight. Ingrid gained one attribute point of intelligence, gained one skill point each in Path-finding and Surgery, and ten weapon points in crossbows. Alayen gained one attribute point in strength, one skill point in Power Strike, and did not spend any of his weapon points.  Another group of bandits that I hadn’t noticed turns tail and runs as soon as the battle ends.    We approach Azgad at around midnight. Though it is too late to go looking for the fugitive who is allegedly holed up there, it is apparently not too late for some of the locals to run out and take delivery of the cattle. Four of them volunteer to join my band on the spot.  The village elder is overjoyed to receive the cattle, and in his gratitude presses another three men to follow me.   The village of Azgad has prospered from my aid, though I gain little joy when considering my own dwindling finances. While the locals may be happier now and more productive, I have come away from the deal with seven more mouths to feed and as yet no steady supply of income with which to feed them.  Again my brooding thoughts are interrupted, this time by the clamour of battle ringing clear and loud in the still of the night.  Quick assessment of the situation suggests that one of the local lords has run down a band of outlaws on the road.   The battle, if it may be called that, is already decided well before I commit my men to it. Soon after the battle is ended my party is hailed by the lord we joined in battle, and we exchange introductions beneath our respective banners. Though my involvement in the melee alongside him was merely a gesture, offering aid is due gratitude and Count Klargus is quick to express his thanks before leaving.  We gain no spoils beyond goodwill, though I notice again as we return to Azgad that my troops are so quickly ridding themselves of their former dispositions. Some among these Swadian Footmen may yet become the core of a fighting force that shall see me through coming days.  Just before dawn I enter the village of Azgad and begin looking around for the fugitive. I get no clear directions to who or where he may be, but this is my only lead so I take my time investigating the area.  One of the villagers draws my attention. He had been intently watching me as I toured the village and spoke with the other townsfolk. I approach him after a while, and a decidedly short interview follows.  I am looking for a murderer by the name of Raurqe of Tihr. You fit his description. Then drop your sword. If you are innocent, then you have nothing to fear. We’ll go now and talk to your neighbours, and if they verify your story then I’ll be on my way. Alas, that you cannot be made to see reason. He pulls a sword on me, so I shoot him before he can attack.  He took exception to that, and wounded both me and my horse.  In retrospect, I could have save myself a flesh wound by taking some distance from him prior to shooting him. I resolve to make less foolish mistakes in the future, and to ensure that my troops learn from my mistakes.  Ingrid gained one attribute point in intelligence, two skill points in Trainer, and invested her weapon points in crossbows and one-handed weapons. Weapon points are not always spent on a one-for-one basis: as proficiencies get higher each purchased increase becomes more expensive, and it is not uncommon to be left with a few points remaining after purchasing increases in a particular proficiency. Those remaining points may be banked and used later, as I have done with Alayen, or they can be spent on something else right now. Ingrid does a bit of melee during field battles, so points spent on increasing her one-handed weapons are not wasted and that’s where I spent them. Later on in the game as those become more expensive as well, I will probably start leveling up archery and polearms, just for added versatility.  My personal thoughts are interrupted yet again, this time before growing dark. Another bannerman is riding by, and as I’ve squandered the tax money I collected on behalf of King Harlaus to satisfy an earlier promise, I am eager to seek work and regain the lost money. I ride out to meet this lord.  My name is Ingrid. At your service, sir. I am Count Regas, a vassal of the Kingdom of Swadia and the lord of Nomar and Ibiran. I don’t recognize the device on your banner. No doubt another foreigner come to our lands, as if we didn’t have so many here already. Well, what is it you want? Do you have any tasks for me? I need to send a letter to Count Grainwad who should be currently at Tilbaut Castle. If you will be heading towards there, would you deliver it to him? Certainly, I intend to pass by Tilbaut Castle and it would be no trouble. I appreciate it. Here’s the letter, and a small sum to cover your travel expenses. Give my regards to Count Grainwad when you see him. Before we part ways, I would like to ask you a question. Aye, what is it? I have recently completed a task for Count Rafard. Do you happen to know where he is now? Count Rafard is travelling to Tilbaut Castle and he should be close to Burglen at the moment. Thank you. I must beg my leave. Tilbault Castle is even further east than Tahlberl, toward the edge of Swadian territory. Due to the intervening hills and forests the quickest route from Azgad or Praven is to go south through Suno following the road past Ruluns and Ibiran, then north past Kelredan Castle and eastward again once the terrain dips.  The town of Suno is a short jaunt from Praven.  A new town means fresh faces and new opportunities. Our errand is not urgent, so I take the time to investigate the taverns and the marketplace.  Of interest to us is the woman standing in the back of the room. The guy on the left is a travelling bard who can tell us how to woo a lady, and the guy on the right is a mercenary troop for hire.  Hello. What’s a clearly well-brought up young lady like you doing in a place like this? A good question, and I shall tell you! My father, a well-known merchant here in Suno, decided that I should be married to one of his business partners, a man well past the age of 30. I have been an obedient daughter all of my life, but it was a ridiculous and horrid proposition. So I ran away! I shall marry whom I want, when I want. Moreover, regardless of what my father might think, I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself. I was thinking that I should perhaps join a band of gypsies, or perhaps a troop of mercenaries! Well, as it happens I run a company of mercenaries. Do you? Well, I am in no position to be picky! I would be pleased to join you. I think you would I would be a most valuable addition to your ranks. I am well versed in the classics of literature and can declaim several of the epic poems of my people. I play the lute and am a skilled manager of household servants. Um, that’s a start. We can teach you the rest. Good! Give me a few moments to prepare and I’ll be ready to move.    This is Ymira. She costs nothing to recruit, and since she is only level 1 she can be molded into anything we want. At the moment she is pretty terrible except for her First Aid skill, and her Ride skill is worth taking advantage of as soon as possible. Third choice junk we’ve picked up from bandits is better than anything she comes with, and right now she has even worse combat stats than does Ingrid.    Remember the comment right before this one where I said that Ymira should get a horse as soon as possible? I instead bought one and gave it to Alayen, and did not even notice until looking back through my screenshots that I’d passed over her. The light crossbow is the only other crossbow besides the hunting crossbow that can be reloaded while on a horse, and while I’d prefer to upgrade Ingrid first she has poor strength and Alayen can use it right now so he gets it along with the 29-count of bolts Ingrid was previously using while she gets a bigger quiver which will come in handy later on while trying to solo groups of bad guys.  After ensuring that our supplies are adequate and that we’ve unloaded anything unnecessary, we leave Suno with our new companion. The village of Ruluns is another short jaunt, and we stop briefly on the way through to add one more eager body to our ranks.  The village of Ibiran is a somewhat further ride, and none of its citizens are interested in joining up with a mercenary troop. We ride on.  As night approaches we catch sight of more bannermen and more bandits.  This group of outlaws seems to have already taken a beating before meeting us. Still they turn and fight when we run them down.    Another blind charge quickly concludes the fight in our favour, with only wounds to show for it. Alayen seeks a word with me afterward.  Were she of noble blood, I might ask for her hand. It is a pity that she is a merchant’s daughter. But speaking with her is a pleasant way to pass time on the march.  Our route to Tilbaut Castle brings us near the villages Chide and Tosdhar. Fourteen more men join us.  We arrive in the afternoon, our numbers now at 46. We are met at the gate and I am admitted entrance to the lord’s hall …  … only to find the lord absent. Lady Philenna informs me that Count Grainwad left for Derchios Castle and that Count Rafard left for Azgad. We must have passed them in the night or in the forest.  We passed by Derchios Castle on our way from Tosdhar to Tilbaut Castle, and saw no one. Nevertheless I go straight there, and Lady Melisar informs me that Count Grainwad left just a short while ago for the village of Burglen.  We spend the rest of the day and into the night riding from Derchios Castle to Burglen, taking a route through the forest which I had hoped would lead us to meeting Grainwad’s party. We encounter no such luck, but we do gain another four recruits from among the townsfolk which raises our number to 50.    Another bannerman we’ve not yet met is spotted close by. After brief introductions, Count Harringoth informs me that he despises foreigners and their banners, and yet he is willing to tell me that he saw Count Grainwad’s party rallied at the nearby Kelredan Castle, and that Rafard will be passing through Ruluns village on the way to Tilbaut Castle. I thank him for his time, and then we part ways. There is nothing good to come of quarreling with him over words, but I will remember his insult.   The morning sun greets us as we catch sight of Kelredan Castle, surrounded by the banners of several congregated lords and their war parties. I have not been paying attention to the news of Swadia’s military campaigns, but I can only assume they are marshaled for some military action.    The conversation with Count Grainwad is much more pleasant; in fact, he is the first of these lords to greet me with kind words. We talk, we smile, he fumbles with his compliments, and I pretend not to have noticed. I eventually bring up my business with him, and he thanks me for prompt delivery of the letter from Count Regas. I beg my leave, and he expresses that he looks forward to seeing me again.  I have now only to find Count Rafard and inform him that Raurqe of Tihr is dead. We last heard that he was passing through Ruluns en route to Timbault Castle, so we head toward Ibiran in hopes that we will intercept him along the same route we took.  We very nearly pass by him without noticing. For whatever reason he has directed his party through the forest. We waste several hours catching up to his party.  Of course, sir. Now, what is it you wanted? I found Raurqe of Tihr hiding at Azgad and gave him his punishment. And we’ll all be a lot better off without him! Thank you for removing this long-festering thorn from my side. ‘Tis good to know you can be trusted to handle things with an appropriate level of tactfulness. Thank you. A bounty I promised, and a bounty you shall have. Here you are, 300 denars and not a copper less. I must beg my leave. You can just hear him tipping his fedora. That particular phrase, “your most ardent admirer,” is what you say as a male character when you want to initiate courtship with a noble lady. We can only assume that the good Count is smitten with Ingrid.  The forest in the middle of the country is infested with bandits. One of my scouts tells me that he is certain they have a base of operations there, which will surely be stocked with their ill gotten gains. Justice and profit are both excellent motivators, and it’s on the way back to Praven.  But first there are some more patrols to eliminate.  I order my men to hold position and their fire.  I ride out alone to intercept the bandits and to demonstrate proper battle maneuvers.  I favour the simple club, both to allow taking prisoners and to show the men that even a thoroughly terrible weapon may be used to great effect.  Because she got many of the final blows in this battle herself, Ingrid gains enough experience to hit level 4. She gains one point of intelligence, two points in Trainer, and the weapon points are all sunk into crossbows.  We gain several new prisoners, but In so doing I am wounded and one of my militiamen is killed. Happily there is Ymira to get me back on my feet quickly, and while tending my wounds she speaks to me privately.  I also confess that I find him a truly delightful companion, a man of both wit and manners, Perhaps, perhaps… Ah, but I say too much. Good day, madame. More bandits.  I circle them like a hunter stalking game and wait for them to deplete their arrows.  Most chase blindly after me, infuriated that I have made fools of them so.  I could see the fury in their eyes, because I aimed right between them before every shot.  Eventually they turn to flee, and only then do I allow my men to charge in and clean up. They are run down and killed to the last.   Ingrid leveled up during that fight, too. Doing this sort of solo fighting is a great way to gain levels and loot very quickly, especially if you don’t have a party with you because then you can also gain large amounts of renown as you fight significantly outnumbered. Ingrid is still pumping intelligence, and is now fully invested in Trainer as high as we can with 18 intelligence. Her crossbows skill is also maxed out right now, as it is dependent on the Weapon Master skill level; we will be unable to invest points into it further unless we raise that, though she will still be able to gain proficiency during combat.   All of these Swadian Recruits are slowing us down and taking up a lot of our limited party space, but at this point in the gameplay segment I didn’t want to just disband them because I didn’t know what the thread would decide with regards to desired faction troops; so, I do the next best thing by turning them into suicidal shock infantry. By default the game has three premade groups for Archers, Cavalry, and Infantry, to which you can give individual or combined tactical orders. By adding a fourth group, I can order them in separate from the rest of my troops.  With the road now clear, we return to the bandit hideout.  We position ourselves on a hill and I fire into the camp until I hit something. A few are drawn out this way and killed.  We proceed forward methodically and in tight formation, with the footmen’s shields providing cover.  At no point do we engage the bandits in a pitched melee; they are felled like game, one at a time.   We ransack their camp and take all the loot we can carry with us when we leave.  We reach Suno shortly after dawn. I had intended to proceed directly to Praven to conclude my business with King Harlaus, but we have not yet recovered enough coin to deliver him the taxes due him. We rest for a while.  This is another guy who can spawn at taverns. Actually, there are several NPCs all with the same name and function which rotate out, and they all have the exact same dialogue sequence which you get to see whenever you run into a new one.  Why is that? I broker ransoms for the poor wretches who are captured in these endless wars. Normally I travel between the salt mines and the slave markets on the coast, on commission from those whose relatives have gone missing. But if I’m out on my errands of mercy, and I come across a fellow dragging around a captive or two, well, there’s no harm in a little speculative investment, is there? And you look like the type who might have a prisoner to sell. And what if their families can’t pay? Oh, then I spin them a few heartwarming tales of life on the galleys. You’d be surprised what sorts of treasures a peasant can dig out of his cowshed or wheedle out of his cousins, assuming he’s got the proper motivation! And if in the end they cannot come up with the silver, then there are always slave merchants who are looking for galley slaves. One cannot do Heaven’s work with an empty purse, you see. What can I get for a prisoner? It varies. I fancy that I have a fine eye for assessing a ransom. There are a dozen little things about a man that will tell you whether he goes to bed hungry, or dines each night on soft dumplings and goose. The real money of course is in the gentry, and if you ever want to do my job you’ll want to learn about every landowning family in Calradia, their estates, their heraldry, their offspring both lawful and bastard, and, of course, their credit with the merchants. Would you be able to ransom me if I were taken? Of course. I’m welcome in every court in Calradia. There’s not many who can say that! So always be sure to keep a pot of denars buried somewhere, and a loyal servant who can find it in a hurry. That’s all I need to know. Thank you. Anyway, if you have any prisoners I will be happy to buy them from you. Then you’d better bring your purse, I have got prisoners to sell. Let me see what you have… Every unit in the game has a sell price to the Ransom Broker, and he has an unlimited budget to buy as many as you can sell him. Higher tier military units can be worth a few hundred denars each, so capturing prisoners can be a great boon to income. Not mentioned on the previous screen was an option to ransom one of our companions, which I did not bother noting the dialogue for because why would we sell elite troops that cost pennies to maintain?  While we are in town I visit the marketplace to unload the bandit loot. While browsing I notice an injured horse among a merchant’s livestock, priced well below the average cost for the breed. Wounds can be healed over time, so I seize on this opportunity.  Ymira gets more third-rate hand me downs, and I continue to forget about giving her a horse.  There is a tournament master in every town, available by going to the arena from the town screen. From here you can fight in a free for all melee for pennies, or hear news of where actual tournaments are being held. This last one is what we care about, because that’s a great way to get some money and fame.  Of the towns listed, Uxkhal is closest and belongs to Swadia so it’s our obvious choice.  I visited the arena while in Suno and was struck with a wonderful idea to join a tournament. Winning the contest will afford me renown among the nobility and a hefty purse. The trip from Suno to Uxkhal is uneventful.  Whenever there is a tournament in a town, a new option appears to join the tournament. Another option may also appear to join the feast at the castle, which replaces the regular option to go to the castle. If you win a tournament, then you are automatically allowed admittance to the feast that accompanies it; otherwise, you need to have 200 renown to get in. There is no feast being held just now because the tournament has not officially started yet, but we can still sign up for it and it will immediately start.  This is the tournament screen. It appears again after every successful round of combat. Once you join the tournament you cannot back out of this screen without withdrawing from it, and while there are short windows at the end of each match where you can save loading such a save file puts you back in town with the tournament over. No save scumming for easy wins!  Viewing participants only shows you their names. You can scroll up and down the list, but there is otherwise no way to interact with it and it does not give you any useful information.  Before every round of combat you can place bets on yourself. Each of the bets is cumulative, and since I am pretty confident in my ability to win tournaments I put down 100 denars on myself at every tier.  The first round of the tournament was a small cavalry battle. Four teams of three riders, armed either with a sword and shield or a two-handed sword, form up at the corners of the arena and then are set loose in a free for all.  While the other teams immediately charged into battle as I am sure was the intent of the game, my team withdrew to our corner and waited to pick off survivors.  Whenever one of the other combatants disentangled himself from the melee to set up a charge or flee, we ran him down and beat him senseless.  Eventually the only remaining combatants are myself, one of my teammates, and a dismounted member of the yellow team whom we circle while seeking the advantage.  I find it and secure the victory.  Round Two Fight  The second round calls for three teams of two riders, again armed either with a sword and shield or a two-handed sword. Again my partner and I bide our time while the other combatants do half of our work for us.  As before there eventually remains only a single dismounted combatant against the two of us.  As before I deliver the final blow and accept the cheers of the crowd.  Round Three Fight  The third round of fighting began like the others, with my team holding back to let the other teams fight it out among themselves.  Unfortunately the other teams had by now caught onto that tactic, and many of them immediately charged our position.  Most of my team was dismounted in the initial charge, and then fell soon after in the resulting melee.  The blue team emerged victorious from the ground fight, having hung back and focused their efforts once everyone else had engaged.  Unfortunately for them, I am a competent rider.  It took some care and some patience, but I was eventually able to set up clean charges on each of them in turn.  My horse took a few hits in the process, but I secured victory and graciously soaked up the adulation of onlookers.  Round Four Fight  The fourth round of combat featured two teams of two riders, armed as before. This time we actually charged directly into the fight.  The fight was short and brutal. We knocked the horse one off of his horse in the initial charge and ran him down. Then we pinned his companion against a wall and beat him from both sides.  Round Five Fight  The fifth round of combat pit me against a Sword Sister. She was armed with a sword and shield, and I with a two-handed sword.  We spent some time circling each other, dipping in and out of weapon’s range. She was an excellent rider, and with her shield she might have held off my attacks and eventually won the fight through attrition.  Unfortunately for her I had the advantage of reach with my longer sword, and while she was focused on trying to hit me I was focused on getting her off her horse.  Once the horse was taken out from under her she was no more a threat than any of the other combatants had been.  Round Six Fight  I was betting 100 denars on myself at every tier of the tournament, but rather than show all of the betting screens I’ll just leave in the final one. The odds against you go down after every round and so the amount of money you stand to gain from each bet also decreases.  The sixth and final round of combat pit me against a champion fighter of some renown.  We were both armed identically with swords and shields, so this would be a battle decided by skill and tactics.  He was undoubtedly the better swordsman, and I am certain he would have beaten me in a ground fight.  But this was never a ground fight, at least for me.  The default prize for the tournament is 200 denars, 20 renown, and an increase in relationship with the hosting town. Betting on yourself at every tier bumps the total money prize to 4180 denars which is more than enough to pay back King Harlaus the tax money we collected and then immediately embezzled.  Immediately after the proceedings I am greeted into the castle to meet with the lord of the town.  Perhaps it was fatigue from the tournament, but I had little interest in conversation. I was polite, of course, and before taking my leave I asked after King Harlaus and was told he should be at Praven.  Once out of the castle I surveyed the market. The prize purse is easily enough to buy a couple of more horses, though not nearly enough for a particular item that caught my eye. Someday.  The only thing left is to go to Praven and settle my business there with the king. We stop at the village of Yaragar along the way to buy fruit and olives at less than half the price we’d have payed in Uxkhal.  Night falls along our journey, and around midnight we meet up with yet more of the bandits.  As before I ride out ahead of my troops to meet them, intending as I did before with their brethren to slay a number of them myself.  I also brought the freshest recruits along with me, both in hopes that they should gain valuable fighting experience and by the thinking that if some of my men must take their arrow fire then I should prefer it be the least useful.   The battle went well. I waded into the fray with the green recruits, and struck down several men.    I woke up as my party neared Praven. I am told that I was knocked unconscious after my horse faltered, and several men died while retrieving me from the field. I am also told that King Harlaus is not in Praven right now.  There were spoils from the bandits, which were sold.  And before we set off again I assign Ymira a horse.   Ingrid and Ymira both gained levels in that fight. Ingrid gained another point of intelligence, saved her skill points, and spent her weapon points on one-handed weapons. Ymira gained a point of intelligence, two points of Trainer, and saved her weapon points.  Riding across the length and breadth of Swadia in search of nobles who asked me to do something for them has begun to try my patience. That coupled with the recent defeat by a random gang of outlaws perhaps had me a bit on edge when I approached the nearest bannerman in search of the king’s whereabouts.   What have we here! A woman, caparisoned for war! Well, I dare say that one as fair as you could lend a touch of femininity even to a mail hauberk. And you could add a touch of humanity to a horse’s harness, but only a touch. Hah! I admire a quick tongue. Perhaps some day I shall remove it, with tongs, to admire it at greater leisure. But today, at least, I shall salute your wit and courage. Count Rochabarth seems entirely smitten by my brash remark, and is eager to call himself my most ardent admirer. He also tells me that King Harlaus should be near Tevarin Castle, and so that is where I go.  The king was not at the castle. There was no one at the castle but the garrison. I am livid. And so rather than wander aimlessly through the forest at night in hopes that I will randomly encounter his party we go to the nearby training field where I may let off some of this anger by beating my troops with a stick. Next Time: As a result of the votes in the first update, we will be keeping and training a core of Swadian troops into cavalry. We will definitely be leaving Swadia in the next update to get some more experience for our heroes, and pick up some Nord and Vaegir recruits since they were other popular choices and are both vaguely north. Time to Vote: Short Answer Do we want to work towards gaining reputation with and joining one of the factions, and if so which one? Addamere fucked around with this message at 15:08 on Nov 25, 2014 |
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Nov 25, 2014 04:50
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I'd be interested in hearing why you are boosting int before anything else, also why you choose the weapons and skills that you did (crossbows above archery, ranged over melee, etc...). is it a matter of preference, game balance, risk/reward ... ? In addition, in one of your future updates I'd hope you will give some brief pointers for the different weapons? In addition, schmooze your way through the ranks of a faction. I don't particularly care which one.
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Nov 25, 2014 11:28
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double nine posted:I'd be interested in hearing why you are boosting int before anything else, also why you choose the weapons and skills that you did (crossbows above archery, ranged over melee, etc...). is it a matter of preference, game balance, risk/reward ... ? In addition, in one of your future updates I'd hope you will give some brief pointers for the different weapons? I'm betting that Intelligence is being prioritized for Ingrid so as to boost Trainer up as high as it can, as fast as it can; it takes a lot of XP to make your troops elite, and Trainer is a better source of such XP than bandit-killing, in my experience. Ymira's INT boost may be because she makes a damned fine doctor, and all the medical skills use INT; that's what I usually do with her anyways, especially since I personally find the other medically-focused companion to be irritating. For my vote, build reputation and relations, but don't join up with any particular faction - save as a mercenary. Not yet, anyways. Keep our options open in case we want to kelp out a Pretender or anything.
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Nov 25, 2014 14:02
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DivineCoffeeBinge posted:I'm betting that Intelligence is being prioritized for Ingrid so as to boost Trainer up as high as it can, as fast as it can; it takes a lot of XP to make your troops elite, and Trainer is a better source of such XP than bandit-killing, in my experience. Ymira's INT boost may be because she makes a damned fine doctor, and all the medical skills use INT; that's what I usually do with her anyways, especially since I personally find the other medically-focused companion to be irritating. so the characters you meet are predetermined? I always thought their skills and backstory were randomly selected from a list.
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Nov 25, 2014 14:08
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double nine posted:so the characters you meet are predetermined? I always thought their skills and backstory were randomly selected from a list. No, the companions are always going to be who they are - Ymira will always be the same Ymira we met in this update. There's a very broad variety of companions, though, so it's easy enough to find ones that suit your particular playstyle and demeanor.
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Nov 25, 2014 14:12
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DivineCoffeeBinge posted:No, the companions are always going to be who they are - Ymira will always be the same Ymira we met in this update. There's a very broad variety of companions, though, so it's easy enough to find ones that suit your particular playstyle and demeanor. Also, the skills are only pre-set when you get them. As in, if you find them at an early level, you can customize them using the other 5-10 levels they're likely to get before you're done gathering a 'main army' The personality matters more, though - the 'I know how to be a nose-in-the-air-noble, and that's about it' companion is unlikely to get along well with someone who's background is more along the lines of 'I hate nose-in-the-air-nobles, and I'm hoping joining you will give me a chance to shank some', and there's practically no way to deal with other than high morale and ignoring it.
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Nov 25, 2014 15:02
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double nine posted:I'd be interested in hearing why you are boosting int before anything else, also why you choose the weapons and skills that you did (crossbows above archery, ranged over melee, etc...). is it a matter of preference, game balance, risk/reward ... ? In addition, in one of your future updates I'd hope you will give some brief pointers for the different weapons. DivineCoffeeBinge nailed it: intelligence is being pumped on Ingrid to get Trainer as high as possible. Trainer is absolutely my favourite skill in this game, because it allows you to literally turn tier 1 recruits into tier 2 troops overnight without any combat. Since it is the only party skill whose effects stack, I also generally get at least a few points of it on each of the companions. Intelligence also has the perk of affording us an extra skill point every time we increase it, so we can get more total skills up faster. Ymira started with 11 intelligence and an otherwise blank slate, so I rounded it up to 12 with her first level-up and now I might do something else with her. I am actually hoping that we encounter Jeremus at some point, as he is a much better doctor than Ymira. Weapon choices are a combination of availability, game mechanics, and risk. First, for crossbows over archery the difference is entirely mechanical. Archery in this game is more complicated than crossbows both in damage calculation and in execution. For both bows and crossbows, pressing and holding left-click readies your weapon to fire and displays an aiming reticule whose fineness is determined by your proficiency and the speed at which you are moving. With a crossbow you can hold your weapon ready forever, justified in the simulation by the fact that all you're doing is holding it up and sighting down it; however, bows lose a great deal of accuracy after a few seconds, justified in the simulation by the fact that you are physically holding the string taut and that is tiring. Crossbows also have a higher projectile speed, and since the game requires you to manually account for distance, elevation, and movement, they are somewhat easier to use. But the main reason I am using crossbows right now versus archery—not just on Ingrid who started with one but also on the other companions—is that crossbows can be used early on to maximum effect. Archery requires skill investment in Power Draw—which in turn requires attribute investment in Strength—in order to increase damage and even just to equip the more powerful bows, while crossbows start out with higher base damage that never gets better. Alayen might make a fine archer since he is already investing in strength, but only after sinking a few levels into Power Draw; meanwhile, Ingrid and Ymira do not have the strength to support that and will remain better with crossbows. Second, for ranged over melee I will be making a point of giving every hero both options. Ranged weapons are definitely safer, and I definitely exploit when I solo grind a bunch of bandits on Ingrid to get her some quick levels, but the main issue so far has been availability. In addition to being at the top of the list at character creation, Swadia is one of the easier starting positions because its bandits are so weak. I could have increased Ingrid's strength enough to use some of the axes they drop, but a club lets me knock them out and take them prisoner so I didn't feel the need. Unfortunately that also means they can't drop some of the better weapons and armour that others can, and I have not bothered to purchase anything from merchants. In the next update I will be showing off some of the tougher bandits and some of the different weapons. Addamere fucked around with this message at 15:09 on Nov 25, 2014 |
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Nov 25, 2014 15:02
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Nietzschean posted:stuff
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Nov 25, 2014 16:43
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Talk With the Nords because I want you to be the badass lady that is hanging out with Vikings.
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Nov 25, 2014 23:12
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Nietzschean posted:Not mentioned on the previous screen was an option to ransom one of our companions, which I did not bother noting the dialogue for because why would we sell elite troops that cost pennies to maintain? That's not what that button does, though. It's there to allow the player to pay the ransom for, and thus regain, companions who have been taken prisoner in a losing battle.
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Nov 25, 2014 23:54
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