Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord

[Metro]

Vaeger archers are worse if you play with a mod like Native Expansion. It adds a more robust troop advancement tree with elite units. Ivory Archers for Vaegers... ten can destroy a few hundred melee in a siege.

 

[Genma:TheDestroyer]

The Noldor in Prophecy of Pendor. Fuck, just one of their archers could wipe out an army of mid-level troops.

 

[deuxhero]

Why the fuck would anyone want that? I hate when realismfags kill fun with shit like that.

It would help nerf horse archers, who can currently gallop full speed around masses of troops with poor ranged ability all day slowly picking off heads

 

[Spectacle]

It would help nerf horse archers, who can currently gallop full speed around masses of troops with poor ranged ability all day slowly picking off heads

That's what horse archers are supposed to do. Horse archers aren't particularly strong in M&B against anything except masses of low-level infantry, why nerf the one thing that makes them somewhat useful?

 

[Perkel]

The Noldor in Prophecy of Pendor. Fuck, just one of their archers could wipe out an army of mid-level troops.

Their short bows are fucking amazing.

buying masterwork one though is really really pricey stuff. Provided you will find it first.

 

[Turisas]

Just a rehash of the Gamescom footage by the looks of it.

 

[LESS T_T]

Blog post explains various gameplay aspects: https://www.taleworlds.com/en/Games/Bannerlord/Blog/13

Going through the video chronologically, we want to explain what you can see and why we have decided to include it.

Right at the start of the video, there is an extended segment demonstrating some of the siege weapons in the game. Actual sieges are undergoing a lot of work in development right now and we are aiming to give a full demonstration of a siege in the near future, once all of the pieces are in place. The clips here are intended to highlight the various siege engines we have created. We think it's a huge step forward for sieges in Mount & Blade to include multiple siege engines of different types. In the video, you can see the player pushing the battering ram. This hint was deliberately placed to signify that all siege weapons are fully usable by the player, as well as the AI.

One thing that we didn't show in the video, though, was our deployment screen. All of the siege weapons are placed freely by the players, so there is full control over how to assault the walls. Once the siege begins, the player can also order troops to change what they're doing on the fly, throughout the battle. Of course, these weapons need to be constructed first.

After this, we see a short clip of the world map and village management. Graphically, we have made huge strides here, to improve the look and feel of Calradia. Though there are also some significant gameplay changes evident here. Castles are now fully integrated with villages, which means that settlement produces goods and has economic impact. The four sides of a village can all be made into different types of production, with the unique option of turning one into a castle.

A village with a castle is naturally much more defensible, but the slot is sacrificed that might have been used for something valuable like a salt mine. All of these are reflected on the world map as well, as can be seen in the video.

What's really interesting is that AI Lords start new projects and modify their villages over time, just like the player. So during a long playthrough, the face of the map and nature of various settlements can change significantly, in ways that are fully dependent on the current economic and political situation of the NPCs and their factions.

By assigning the work allocation of the village, you can adjust how fast projects are completed, as well as the tax and militia levy from villages. Though all of this has an effect on morale and neglecting your peasants can lead to serious complications in the long term.

Next is a clip of some combat from a small fight between the player's small party and some bandits. We have much more varied and interesting terrain for combat now, as well as much more advanced AI, that knows how to keep out the range of attacks, while moving closer to strike. Looters in the game don't pose too much of an obstacle for experienced, high level players with good equipment but by spreading out and trying to surround their opponents, it can still be dangerous to face multiple enemies at once. Though that is balanced by the power of larger, stronger weapons to hit more than one foe with a single swing!

The inventory screen demonstrates our improved UI, that offers the player much more intuitive and direct control. For instance, it's now much easier to switch between equipping the player and companions as all it takes is a simple click, from any place where the inventory screen is shown. Items can also be sorted and filtered really easily, which makes it much simpler to manage large numbers of items. There are also hotkey and buttons which make it simple to buy/loot/sell items with fewer clicks. Tooltips provide comparisons between equipped and selected items.

Next as the player enters the city, we have provided a glimpse of imperial culture and architecture, reflected by the style of the buildings and clothes of the citizens. The tavern seen here shows how lively and appealing scenes have become in Bannerlord, with NPCs sitting, drinking, interacting with one another and going about their business. In this tavern, there is a musician playing and a game host in the corner, with whom you can bet money on the custom board games which we have introduced. Each of the game's six cultures has their own boardgame, originally designed but inspired by real historical games. These can also be played with ladies and lords, as well as other NPCs in the game for role-playing and diplomatic purposes.

Moving into the latter half of the video, there is a demonstration of seasons in the game. All scenes change dynamically according to the season, which is altered by a yearly cycle. This is also reflected on the world map by the advance and retreat of snow cover. The gameplay effects of this will also be felt by players who try to wage war in the winter, as troops will suffer greater losses to morale, demanding more food and fuel. One subtle but interesting benefit of the yearly cycle, which we have felt while play testing, is that it gives the player a much more innate connection to the advancement of the game world; feeling the steady flow of time as familiar places alter in appearance throughout each season.

Beyond this, we offer a look at another new feature in weapon crafting. This fits really well into the sandbox game, by not only providing players with a huge amount of freedom in and connection to the weapon they use but giving us an engine, with which to create unique weaponry in the game world. These items are used for quests and appear variously as significant objects like family heirlooms, to which certain characters may hold special attachment.

The logic of the crafting is simple in that weapons are separated into parts that can be exchanged, with any kind of combination. This also works for axes, polearms etc. One feature not shown in the video is length adjustment; it's actually possible to tweak the exact length of certain parts such as blades to get exactly the kind of weapon you want. All of these parts have physical properties, to which the power of the weapon is directly related. Some fairly serious calculations assess the centre of mass and balance of a weapon, which changes the speed and damage, as well as the timing of the animation itself. This contributes to a unique feel for each weapon, depending on the parts it uses. Naturally, we give the player freedom to name the weapon as well. One of the interesting results of this feature can actually be losing your prized sword and seeing it turn up in the possession of some bandits half way across Calradia!

Lastly the video demonstrates our replay system. This is one of the newest features in the game, although it is something we have planned to include for a while. As developers, we are keen to respond to changing trends in gaming as a whole and in the past few years, it has become more and more important for players to share their experience with others. Let's play videos and machinima are already a pretty huge part of community culture for our existing games, so we really just wanted to provide a tool that would support and encourage the same. Any battle, single or multiplayer is saved directly and can be re-watched from any angle as well as slowed down. Lighting and other effects such as dynamic field-of-view adjustment can also be customised. In the video, one of our developers is actually creating a simple camera path which tracks some of the action, and at the end you can see the final result as a high quality render, exported directly from the game.

We really did reveal a lot over the past week! We hope this provides some context for the footage released. There is of course much much more of the game that we haven't talked about yet, but we're looking forward to doing so in the coming months.

From all of us at TaleWorlds, thanks to everyone for all of the support and nice comments. It has been a real boost to us, after a period of very hard work!

I like what I read.

 

[Metro]

Should be fun to play... in 2019.

 

[deuxhero]

weapons to hit more than one foe with a single swing!

FINALLY!

That's what horse archers are supposed to do. Horse archers aren't particularly strong in M&B against anything except masses of low-level infantry, why nerf the one thing that makes them somewhat useful?

AI horse archers perhaps, but the player with a good bow can get about a kill every other arrow and stall foot units forever. Admittedly this is just as much a problem with the AI as the ability for horses to run full speed forever.

 

[Zewp]

Horse archers whittling away at infantry is pretty much what the Mongols did, which is what the Khergit faction is based on. What would be a better solution is more varied terrain with areas where horse archers can't always just circle enemies and have to try and attack them through specific chokepoints or have to come in close to attack.

 

[Gregz]

Horse archery is not broken and doesn't need 'fixing'.

The only time it's an issue is if you're playing a PvP mod. If you are getting your ass handed to you by expert horse archers then the mod design is to 'blame', not the game.

So many great games have been destroyed in their sequels by adding or removing just a handful of features that worked perfectly in the predecessor. It's such a delicate balance that makes a great game great. If I had my horse on the field and it got 'tired' on me I'd ragequit and probably break my keyboard and monitor in the process. I'm a huge fan of M&B and I desperately hope they don't screw it up. I would prefer a graphics upgrade to a gameplay broken sequel. Ultimately it's up to Taleworlds and no one on the forums (thank god). They've exercised good judgement in the past, hopefully learned from their mistakes with fire and sword, and if we're lucky, we won't get a Deus Ex: Invisible War.

 

[deuxhero]

I only play single player. Horse archers clearly stand way above most builds.

The other changes (like actually being able to hit more than one thing per swing and the AI not being super dumb and stopping when a player runs around them and segregating their archers for easy kills) may fix this on their own without nerfing horse archers directly.

 

[Morkar Left]

A build which is based on not getting hit while dealing out damage will always stand above all other builds in a direct confrontation. Nothing you can really do here.

 

[Burning Bridges]

GraphixGraphixGraphix

 

[TOME]

Fucking graphicswhores.

 

[set]

I'm optimistic about the siege weapons. I don't think they will have scripted effects. Of course, I doubt the ram will be very useful against anything other than doors, but I expect there to be destructible doors, towers and structures you can hit with seige weapons. More likely, people will use them to destroy archers up on the walls. So far, they've simulated a lot of stuff with their fancy smancy engine, so I don't see why they wouldn't utilize it to simulate destructible walls. Other games have done it.
But yeah, 'board games' feels like wasted development time. Could have put that somewhere else - unless they did that just as a part of test-casing or mocking up the engine.

 

[tyrannosaurus rex]

Will Taleworlds challenge traditional views on gender once again?

Find out more in their next title. Coming on consoles soon.

 

[Lemming42]

Playing as a female character makes the game more fun, though, because of the handicap in it being way harder to join a faction and get fiefs.

 

[Avellion]

I dont know if Mount and Blade would be considered feminist. To any feminists I brought up the game with, inevitably get offended by the game.

Besides, Men get a bonus to the superior str and charisma attributes and women gets a bonus to the inferior intelligence and agility attributes.

 

[hivemind]

How the fuck is agility inferior lmao

 

[Avellion]

Because Strength gives you HP, and is required for most equipment. It also governs the ironflesh and power X skills.

Agility gives a minor bonus to attack speed. But attack speed will go up naturally regardless of what you do due to the broken raise by use wepaon proficiency system. The only good skills it governs are shield and horseback.

 

[hivemind]

Agility also gives you movement speed and allows you to boost the athletics skill in order to go fast.

 

[Avellion]

Agility also gives you movement speed and allows you to boost the athletics skill in order to go fast.

I checked the wiki to. Appearantly Agility imroves movement speed as well, I didnt know that.

Anyways, the athletics skill is decent. Problem is, due to the level design when you actually use the athletics skill and friendly AI that obstructs your movement, athletics isnt nearly as good as it should have been. Power Attack will let you instakill most enemies once its high enough, as will power draw. Which is very good during those sieges. That said, I do think that Agility is the more fun attribute.

Another thing to note is that, Intelligence becomes really OP once you get it to very high levels, but ONLY when you get it to high levels. Level 14 surgery (only achieveable by leader) will make your troops difficult to kill, getting a 81% chance to knocked out instead of killed if taken down. But before then, I generally find myself preferring the financial bonuses of charisma.

 

[Hobo Elf]

Only pussies need to go faster so that they can run. Real men stand their ground and fight.

 

[Somberlain]

Being a real man doesn't help your army much if you die halfway through the fight