Mount and Blade Post V1

[Setzer]

Yeah, that'll happen. However, if things in your company are unchanged, they'll leave just as quickly.

[Stark]

No, I meant if you choose to break away and form your own kingdom. In Vanilla, you are unable to recruit lords for your own kingdom.

Oh I see!

Ando, don't let your cavalry actually engage; if you either micro them (with charge/return charge/return) or simply follow you'll rape everyone.

And sieges aren't meat-grinders if you have a) lots of infantry and b) the map is sploitable. I've killed hundreds of khergit in a single battle (several rounds, retreating for ammo) for a few guys wounded simply by setting up a shield-wall in front of my archers and shooting everyone in the head. 50 high-level archers = you win.

[Setzer]

me, I do things simply. Get onto the wall as fast as I can, and clear room for the rest of the army.

[Stark]

Melee leads to the incredible randomness of the poor AI and pathfinding, though - you can lose high-value troops to pathing glitches or lucky shots. I dislike randomness and prefer to kill all/most of their decent melee guys before going up the wall, since once you're established on it their respawn reinforcements get slaughtered.

[Vympel]

It's a source of annoyance to me that, if you have a castle, you actually have to move your troops into the garrison so that you only need to pay 50% of their wages at the end of the week - if you just arrive in the castle and wait, you'll still pay the full amount.

When you've got a force like mine, if you're not in the castle, you're shelling out 4,000+ bucks every week. I've got a healthy surplus of cash (around 50,000) but I need it to equip all my party with good armor (using the relationships drawing previously provided, I'm going to set about hiring *every* NPC in Caladria).

Of course, in reality, one would imagine that your men would mutiny if week after week you insisted on only paying them half wages because you spent the last night of the week in your castle.

In other news, I wiped out a joint Nord/ Vaegir force of 459 men, with only 3 deaths (and a few more wounded) to my side - 2 Swadian Knights (*sniff*) and 1 Mercenary Cavalry (who cares, overpriced for their stats anyway). Of course I did have about 140 allies fighting the battle (I rode to their rescue).

This war between Swadia, the Nords and Vaegirs has been going forever. Isn't there ever going to be peace?

Also, has anyone tried installing one of the "claimants" to the throne? If I renounce my oath to Swadia, do I lose my fiefs? I assume yes.

[Karza]

This war between Swadia, the Nords and Vaegirs has been going forever. Isn't there ever going to be peace?

Hopefully no. If there are no wars to fight, the game gets incredibly boring and gathering money and renown becomes a bit of a pain in the ass. Now one way to end the war is of course to wipe out your enemies completely . Happened to the Khergits in my current game. There's still the occasional Khergit lord riding around with maybe 20 men, but they control no land anymore and are essentially a non-factor.

Also, has anyone tried installing one of the "claimants" to the throne? If I renounce my oath to Swadia, do I lose my fiefs? I assume yes.

Haven't tried the claimant rebellion shtick, though from what I've read it's a bit of a pain in the ass. Apparently juggling the relations between the various lords you recruit to your cause is annoying because the lords are all selfish assholes. Which I suppose is quite realistic .

As for renouncing your oath: If you renounce it after being refused some fief you just conquered, you do get to keep the fiefs you had thus far. Granted, everyone will be queuing up to take them from you afterwards. I don't know what happens if you talk to the king in person and ask to be relieved of your oath, haven't tried that.

[Vympel]

Well I was exaggerating a bit, it's only Day 145 in my game and the war didn't even start until a few weeks after I began playing.

There actually was a declaration of peace between Swadia and the Vaegirs, but that was when I quit out without saving one time because I had wasted too much time chasing Sea Raiders before I managed to get back to my castle in time to save on weekly wages (yeah, I'm one of those).

It didn't happen again.

The current situation is like this:

Swadia vs Nords and Vaegirs
Khergits and Rhodoks vs Vaegirs

The Nords are the worst off in my game because my castle (that was taken from them to begin with) is right next to their territory (Tehrlog Castle) and it puts me in easy striking distance of Sargoth and Tihr, whilst they keep trying to take the castle back - wiping out their large armies makes them weak when the other Swadian lords besiege their other castles - they've also lost Hrus, which is even closer to Sargoth and Tihr, as well as the castle south of Wercheg (can't remember the name).

At the beginning of the game Swadia was fucked - they lost Derchios castle to the Nords very quickly, but I rectified that situation.

The Vaegirs aren't much better because they're being pounded by three seperate enemies. They've yet to lose a city but they have been shedding castles.

[weemadando]

I'm currently trying to capture a Nord noble for a Prisoner exchange (I'm merc'ing for Swadia at the moment). I find it a bit ridiculous however that when their Noble is taken down in the middle of my shield wall and his body is being stood on by about 20 guys that he can escape the battlefield time and time and time again.

[Setzer]

http://forums.taleworlds.net/index.php/ ... 290.0.html

This has a lot of tweaks you can make to the text files. This includes one to make lords easier to capture.

[Vyraeth]

Just wanted to bring it to the attention of anyone who may have lurked this thread and debated purchasing the game:

It's now 75% off on STEAM, so you can get it for 7.50. I thought that was an incredible steal and bought it a few minutes ago. The promotion only lasts until the end of today, though.

[weemadando]

I bought it for a few friends to get them hooked.

[Tolya]

As for renouncing your oath: If you renounce it after being refused some fief you just conquered, you do get to keep the fiefs you had thus far. Granted, everyone will be queuing up to take them from you afterwards. I don't know what happens if you talk to the king in person and ask to be relieved of your oath, haven't tried that.

In the beginning I used to go around the Nord territory. Eventually I enlisted with King Ragnar and later became a vassal. At some point however, after training up and seeing that riding after Ragnar lords and doing menial tasks (like delivering letters) won't get me too far, I renounced my oath.

I lost my fief (a small very poor looted village) but retained on the good side of Ragnar, who said to me that in the light of all my accomplishments he won't hold it against me. So Ragnar still likes me.

That said, I went to Lady Isolla of Suno and started a rebellion. As of now I managed to convince 6 of 13 lords to join me, take Suno and most of the castles. What I really love about this game is that it naturally exploits all the unbalances. Rebellion started to reap Swadia and it wasn't before long that Khergits and Rhodoks jumped in to take advantage of the situation. Uxkhal is currently in Khergit hands while Praven is being besieged by Rhodoks.

The problem is however that before I can end the rebellion (from what I read on MB forums) I need to take care of all of the other lords. There are 13 of them, some in my captivity, some in the Rhodok and Khergit hands and some still roam the countryside. Im waiting to see what happens when Rhodoks take Praven - King Harlaus will effectively have no land left and it should THEORETICALLY end the rebellion since the other side just got wiped out. It would be a pain in the ass to have to ride around and hunt down every one of his vassals, while taking care of the Nords, who just declared a war on me (and don't want a lasting peace since Im a rebel).

Rebellions can be tough, but also show how great the game mechanics are.

[Setzer]

As someone who's played the mods for so long, I can say the original game feels kinda bare bones, but it's as solid a framework for fun as I've ever seen. There's always someone surprising me with what they can do with it.

[Stark]

Yeah, I've been playing mods exclusively since 751 and the base game is not much fun (especially since it's so easy to powerlevel and become invincible). However, many of the 'big' mods haven't been updated in years and it's a bit sad that it was actaully more fun to dick around with the mods in older versions.

[Zablorg]

Can you tell me which mods are the most fun?

[Executor32]

Right now I'm playing through the vanilla game as a Vaegirs-aligned merc, and it's currently Rhodoks vs. everyone else. Hell, I came across a battle between 900-odd men from 5 parties from Swadia, Vaegirs, and Khergit factions, versus a single 30-man Rhodok caravan. I ROFLed at the force disparity there.

Zablorg, the Calradia 16th Century mod is pretty decent. It's basically the vanilla game with flintlock pistols and new gun-using units. Native Expansion is a must-download, as it takes the vanilla game and makes it what it should have been. Britain 1297 is another must-have, with a new world map of the British Isles, period factions and items, and an emphasis on archery. Another good one would have been Onin no Ran, which has a medieval Japanese setting, but the last version was made for .903. They're working on updating it for the current version, though.

I also suggest Zaro's Graphics Enhancement 2.5, punkt's Campaign Map Textures, and M&B Panoramic 2.0, for maximum pretties. There's also a mod that converts the shaders from Shader Model 2.0 to 3.0, so if you have a native 3.0 card it can result in increased performance.

[Lagmonster]

Is there a good repository for browsing, reviewing and downloading mods? I just picked up the game on Steam's discount weekend and am enjoying it, but would like to see what depth the community has added to it.

[Executor32]

Funnily enough, there is indeed a repository, as it were.

[Tolya]

I was browsing the mod forum for several days and I picked one to try. I installed Native Enhancement mod, which adds tons of new stuff and tweaks many features. I've been playing it since yesterday and I noticed that the game is much tougher. Archery is now very effective and enemy parties are much bigger and more skilled. So far I like it, it adds depth to the vanilla game, as now you even can start your own Kingdom.

[Artemas]

I believe the name of the 16th century mod is The Eagle and The Radiant Cross. Pretty fun, but a warning:
It has 19th century Prussians. Complete with pointy helmet.

Other mods for the current version that might bear observation are:
Chronicles of Talera (a fantasy mod with undead and low level magic and artifacts)
Sword of Damocles is pretty cool
Hundred Years War
actually, its probably just better to check out the mod section of the website

Great mods for older versions are Last Days, Fantasy mod (you can ride Rhinos!), and an italian city-states mod, and, well a bunch of others.

Is it just me, or do all the mod teams that move to MBX seem to significantly reduce their activity? It seems like a M&B mod retirement home.

[Stark]

It's a common thing with mods, MnB just makes it worse by constantly breaking the module system. Last Days has been stuck in 'we're adding new features and won't release a straight port' limbo for years now, which is a shame because much of what they hacked in is in native now.

[PeZook]

I was browsing the mod forum for several days and I picked one to try. I installed Native Enhancement mod, which adds tons of new stuff and tweaks many features. I've been playing it since yesterday and I noticed that the game is much tougher. Archery is now very effective and enemy parties are much bigger and more skilled. So far I like it, it adds depth to the vanilla game, as now you even can start your own Kingdom.

Heh...I'd use it, if I didn't suck so bad at fighting the current, lousy enemy parties

I bought the game yesterday, and it's great. Feels kinda unpolished, but it's one of those "Could be way better but occupies a niche nobody else could do even this good" games that Paradox is known for marketing, so overlooking the glaring flaws is somewhat easier.

Also, archery sucks dick. Melee (especially the lance) is way more efficient - even against the Khergit, I prefer a sabre & shield + a fast horse to bow duels.

[Brother-Captain Gaius]

You just need very high skill in archery and a lot of power draw. Get your power draw up to 7, 200-300 archery, and pack a longbow and watch your foes fall before you.

[PeZook]

You just need very high skill in archery and a lot of power draw. Get your power draw up to 7, 200-300 archery, and pack a longbow and watch your foes fall before you.

Yeah, it's just that getting it there is a problem, since first-level archer builds are so wimpy common bandits can assrape them (unless you get a horse from the start).

EDIT: Nothing beats riding right through enemy infantry formations when leading a cavalry charge. NOTHING.

[Tolya]

Heh...I'd use it, if I didn't suck so bad at fighting the current, lousy enemy parties

I bought the game yesterday, and it's great. Feels kinda unpolished, but it's one of those "Could be way better but occupies a niche nobody else could do even this good" games that Paradox is known for marketing, so overlooking the glaring flaws is somewhat easier.

Also, archery sucks dick. Melee (especially the lance) is way more efficient - even against the Khergit, I prefer a sabre & shield + a fast horse to bow duels.

PeZ, get the Native Enhancement as soon as possible. I felt like I lost time to original vanilla. The sooner you start playing it, the faster you will get used to it.

Yes, it is more difficult. But in vanilla you pretty quickly get to the point where your elite band just gangrapes everything in its way. With NE it is more difficult to get to this stage. Also, best troops are quite expensive. I currently have a 27 level character (imported from vanilla) and my 100 party (mostly elite cavalry and some archers to boot).

Archers in vanilla do suck donkey balls, but not in NE. Archer equipment has been strenghtened and tweaked. For example, bows have reduced accuracy but bigger punch, there are more arrows in a pack and the best item - ivory arrows deliver +10 damage. With a good hit you can take pretty much anything with a single shot or two. Archers are now deadly.

I got the impression that in NE your party matters much more than in vanilla, where I used to leave my troops behind to get the enemy to break their ranks (and at the same time position my infantry in front and cavalry on their backs). Doing this in NE results in insta-death if they have even mildly competent archers. So you have to work with your troops in the field more.

Also, there are more quests, a morale system, a formation system, more options to manage your fiefs (basically more buildings) and even a way to create your own kingdom, together with lords.

They also implemented a pike bracing system and the AI even uses it. During one of my first battles I charged straight into the enemy formation (like you always do in vanilla with no problems) and being the first rider to reach their line I was very surprised to find my horse dead and me on the ground. Cavalry still rapes everyone in their way.

Right now Im again on the gangraping level, where my 60 paladins, crusaders, lady knights, knight lords etc. can reap literally through anything in the field, while 30 archers pick off the rest. But having a party that costs you about 3700 denars per week really makes you think about the economy side. Mostly because NE grants you bigger parties by default, which balances for the fact that the enemies ride bigger and stronger than in vanilla.

Also, tons of new equipment and tweaked factions really make it worthwhile. And Swadia (now the Holy Kingdom of Swadia) has a Queen!