f13.net

To be published by Paradox, who've been selling serial numbers through their Gamersgate (http://www.gamersgate.com/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=shop.flypage&product_id=69&category_id=10&manufacturer_id=0&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=14) site for over a year.

http://www.wargamer.com/news/news.asp?nid=5167

I bought it ~3 years ago for $12.50.


Amazing game. Still installed and I make a new character every update or so.

I tried one if the first version.  Did they add multiplayer?

No - they've said no multiplayer, despite how much everyone cries out for it.  I guess that the only dev (its literally a husband-and-wife team doing it) knows that he sucks at writing netcode or something.

We'll, its good he's realistic about it.  More people need to recognize their short comings rather than fuck something up horribly, no matter how much people want them to.

It is an awesome game though.  Bought it years ago.  Hopefully it does well enough to support a sequel with a bigger team, which could actually result in multiplayer, heh.

Hmm, I think I have my code lying around still. Look forward to seeign what's changed.

(I think they have a person or two working for them now beside the married team).

Yeah a couple of mod-makers are now working for them and I think they have a graphics guy now too.

They've added a ton to the base game lately. If you've not played for a year or so you're in for a surprise or 19.

Necropost:

I guess the people at Taleworlds are working on a multiplayer add-on (http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2009/03/mount-blade-multiplayerpsh.ars). Not much info yet, unfortunately.

(I chose the most recently updated thread in the general gaming section, move this somewhere else if you want)

There was a video at GDC about the expansion for it, and it showed off a good bit of the revamped graphics as well. I believe this is it.

http://www.gametrailers.com/player/47390.html

HOLY SHIT!

I went to my brother's house and spent most of last weekend playing Mount&Blade with my 6 year old nephew. I went home and downloaded the latest version yesterday and was enjoying the hell out of it. Had an IM conversation with Trotski about it this morning-


If this was an early April Fool's joke someone is getting shoed in the junk.


 :heartbreak:

My EA sense is tingling...  :ye_gods:

Err, what?

Right now? Really? I'm fairly sure EA is on a silent freeze for acquisitions.

They could be a good fit for the EA partners program. M&B does seem like a project that could use an influx of cash and artists to kick it up to a AAA title. The core gameplay is damn fun.

They'd need to reanimate. And I honestly feel bad bringing it up in here because I really really like M&B, but after the Demon's Souls sword combat it's hard to go back (protip: If you like M&Bs melee, you should get Demon's Souls).

I need to finish what I'm working on and write that article.

When does the pc version of Demon's Souls come out?

Never, you're absolutely fucked Mr. One Track Mind.

Guess there won't be a Xbox version either and you are fucked if you aren't one of those people buying every console under the sun?

You have to buy every console to buy a PS3? I've never heard this argument. What praytell are you smoking, hombre?

Definitely. 

Fortunately, I won at Pokemon.  :raspberry:  My anniversary present this year is a wasted opportunity.  Quick, someone release a new console.

I bought an Xbox360 when the PS3 wasn't a viable alternative yet due to no "want to have" games coming out for it. If you think back long enough you might remember that time.

I've hated exclusive titles back then as well, so at least I'm consistent.

I don't like exclusive titles when they're not first party property or a tradition (I mean like FF was a tradition until recently, but that list is very short). Demon's Souls is owned by Sony though, there's no reason to get mad at them for coming up with some amazing IP.

Mainly I'm mad at myself for choosing the Xbox over the PS3, which I haven't turned on in months. And the flak I got from my better half for buying that one and never using it leaves only one option - Modded PS3 that looks like an Xbox  :ye_gods:

Just sell the xbox. I don't know what you were thinking, being european at all. Which is still, for the most part, Sonyland despite how many Wiis have sold (and the notable lack of great selling euro wii software).

My thought were quite simple and fanboyishly stupid. They were "Waiting a year for Mass Effect? I don't think so" (extrapolated from the Jade Empire Release dates).

I've really been enjoying this iteration of Mount and Blade, and multiplayer would be pretty cool. The feeling as you finally run down that horse archer who has been constantly firing arrows at you with the perfect forehanded sword slash to the head...

Man I love that every time.

Fuck i love that feeling, i always try to swing the camera backwards really fast just so i can watch them drop dead from their horse.  If i can nail both the horse and the rider in one swing thats even better.

This wiki (http://strategywiki.org/wiki/Mount&Blade) has some good info for learning wtf to play and some of the mechanics. I never knew how championing a throne claimant worked, for instance, but now that I do I am working toward putting Lady Isolla of Suno on her rightful throne. The usurper and his lords love me atm (he even sent a messenger to offer me vassalage and fief- never had that happen without a face to face meeting), but I will have a surprise for him soon.  :awesome_for_real:

Don't bother with the base game it's limited and dull compared to the Native Expansion mod: http://forums.taleworlds.net/index.php/board,109.0.html

What does it change/improve? I am still re-learning the regular game and reading all of that forum sounds a lot like :effort: to me.  :awesome_for_real:

Short list:
-Almost 100 new units.
-Most units have gotten stronger.
-Looters replaced by war parties, which are fairly powerful - 30-40 mercenaries.
-Mercenaries are very strong, but kingdom troops tend to beat them.
-Kingdom troops gain a strength boost.
-Lords and Kings are extremely strong.
-Dozens of new items.
-Troops are equipped with these new items.

Long list is LONG:
http://forums.taleworlds.net/index.php?PHPSESSID=6110c5016db1ca3bc55dfc22c56690da&topic=49800.0

Basically, the mod takes the base game and turns it up to 11, while also removing the crap you hate. It's 60 something features long, many of which REALLY turn the game from wandering around to you actually controlling a living kingdom with sweeping changes to buildings, items, and diplomacy.

The only change I don't like is the hugely buffed horse charging damage, but that's easily tweaked yourself in:

mount&blade\modules\native expansion\module.ini

horse_charge_damage_multiplier        =

I set it way back down to .5

Wow how did i not know about this mod, it makes the game tons better.

Am I alone in not making it more than a few steps outside of the nearest town before being attacked by 27 odd bandits, and getting my lone ass handed back to me? 

Maybe I'm doing it wrong, but it rather makes the mod, and/or the game not all that enjoyable.  Or is that the whole point?

I haven't tried the mod yet. My experience is I get attacked by 10-12 yokels with swords that I proceed to run down on my horse while they run in circles.

Native Expansion changed that. Made them a lot more powerful.

Cad - You should try avoiding them by clicking around. Do melee tournaments to get XP and money, then do normal tournaments to get more money. From there, hire some goons from the tavern and start raping.

If it's your first run through, especially with Native Expansion, click camp and look at the options. You MIGHT want to change the Dark invasion to 200 or off and then enable it later. They can really put a damper on learning to manage your forces as they just charge at you with a 200-400 force army.

Usually you can outrun any army as a lone dude. You don't fight them and you have to be aware as you roam from town to town not to just go on autopilot.

Is anyone using any other mods? I've seen mention of sound/graphics mods. Some of the combat noises are just terrible.

A couple of the other mods I've tried have had new sounds that were from some new mod soundpack, but I was unable to find it.

OK, so I installed Native Expansion and restarted. However, I am having a hell of a time getting traction, since all the delicious looters (whom I could solo by the dozen) have been replaced by the mercs who hand me my ass on a platter. Any advice on where to hunt while still a n00b?

Find the tournys.  Go do them.  Try and win.  Get money.  Buy dudes.  Pwn Mercs.

I can't get some of the companions to join me yet. I am not trustworthy? Look at this face!

Is it a renown thing, or a local reputation thing?

I have won a couple of tournaments, but spent most of the money pimping out my character with a new horse and weapons. Plus I try to avoid merc units when I can. There seems to be a direct inverse correlation between the amount of money I spend to hire them and their life expectancy. I also wanna see how the new troop trees are for each faction.

Also, fuck the long term injury stuff. Does it ever heal, or is it permanent? I turned it off (also turned off the companion complaints. Overpowered party here I come!).

I'm pretty sure it's renown, it also might be honor (or whatever it's called... what you get when you turn down money).

Injuries heal, but take a long ass time (I turned it off as well).

I just got this.

It reminds me alot of Lords of the Realm for some reason. Kinda the same deal with the overland map, mercenaries and struggling fiefdoms and all that. It's quite fun, even if I haven't got far yet.

A question though, is there a viable strategy for mounted skirmishes? I win, eventually, but God, it drags and drags and drags because my troops are just chasing around the battlefield.

I've doubts about that as well, my troops excel at dying, but that's it.

I ride around killing mounts and let my troops mop up.  Cavalry vs cavalry fights do tend to be frustrating though, specially with big armies because everyone just masses in one giant horse/rider ball and swings at each other without doing a lot of damage.  Dropping as many enemy horse as you can helps.

I'll try going for the mounts then, thanks.

A bit of a necro... I think he's saying that because it would mean severe implications on the single player design. Even if it may work NOW, including something like multiplayer means you have to design the single player to fit into a multiplayer model which could mean cutting alot of cool/epic future features - which I think most players rather have than multiplayer.

PROTIP: If you are fighting a cavalry heavy army with mostly infantry, as soon as the battle starts, immediately run to the edge of the map, and tell your men to hold ground. That way, when the cavalry charge into your men, they slam into the side of the map and cant turn around to charge again. Doesn't work when fighting horse archers of course.

I train up a bunch of Rhodok Master Spearman to deal with the large cavalry melee units. Have them hold ground and brace together, and they'll pick off almost any charging horse units. The archers just have to be dealt with by you, your companions, and your cavalry. I prefer Spear Knights because they take out the other horses, then you can mop up the riders.

There are 3 things I like to do when you are starting out:

1 - Win a match in the arena and use the gold to buy troops from villages.
2 - Make sure you put points into training so your troops gain xp every day.
3 - Avoid Mercs, buy supplies at villages for next to nothing, and sell them in the big towns to make more cash. Also, try to do jobs for the Guild Master in town to make some cash.

I've tried googling this, but can't find an answer. I have 74/152 in my party, but I can't recruit any more people. Is it tied to honor/renown? I have 8 leadership.

It might be... Are you using a mod? It might be tied to that, because otherwise I haven't encountered anything similar.

Native Expansion. But I can't find anything on it. Bah, this is pissing me off.

The answer is one I stumbled on myself by accident. The game only allows you a set number of different TYPES of units in your army. If you are carrying a shitton of different xp level units from different countries, you will run out of space.

I think the general idea was for you to go after units from one region rather than playing hodge-podge with everything. However, it does grate on me as well when I've got a ton of different ranked units in my army and I run out of room.

That sucks. How do I tell where a specific unit is from? I'm all for the Lordless Knights and what not.

I figured it out. Two words - Rhodok Sharpshooters. Totally awesome. I got like 80 of them! Park them on a hill and you'll destroy cavalry! :awesome_for_real:

In other news, this game is really fun and I particulary like the aim system for melee weapons. Charging up a ladder and cleaving first poor chap you come across with an over-the-head swing won't get old anytime soon.

By the name, basically. There are only a certain # of slots in your party. Each companion takes up one slot, and each unit type takes up one slot. I am currently stuck with a few units that are ready to upgrade, but don't have a slot available into which to spawn. The single units I have scattered through the party are high level and i don't want to disband them, so I just wait until attrition does it for me  :drill:

You are a sick man. I like your thinking.

After creating my own kingdom I sent several of my companions to start raiding around the kingdom. It takes a ton of pressure off of you trying to defend everything from all comers. Also, I've found that a fully upgrade Swadian noble pretty much owns everything. I prefer Counts over the Knight-Lords, but both of them will own pretty much any unit unless they get surrounded.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K16bIpGnd1o

From GDC this year, "Warband"  - an expansion coming Q3 2009.

One word - MULTIPLAYER!

I played this game a lot months (years?) ago. I love the game but I stink at it. I have a hard time killing anything while mounted. I think I'm swinging too late or something.  :sad:

If using a spear, you shouldn't swing at all while mounted.

Yeah, crouched lance can hit for over 300 damage even very early on.

I just recently updated and I was playing a scenario. I'm pretty sure it's a sword of some type the character has.  I'll load it up tonight and play around with it a bit.

I think this was posted already. In this very thread too.

So it has. Mea culpa, missed the one-line post two entire posts. Yarrgh.

Speaking of Native Expansion... it's great and all, blah blah. However...

The Dark Invasion is, quite franky, a load of turd. 700+ elite troops that my Balanced Knightly Sword can barely fucken dent. SEVEN FUCKEN HUNDRED! That's about three times as many troops you can even command at one time.

Jesus. That's a whole weekend of wrist-spraining playing totally into the shitter. Fuck you, Mercenary (the coder of Native Expansion.)

You can turn the dark invasion off.  That said, I really like the Calradia at War (http://www.mbrepository.com/modules/PDdownloads/singlefile.php?cid=7&lid=946) mod.

You should read threads more. I pointed out you can turn off the Dark Invasion at the beginning of this page. Just export your character and start over making sure to turn off the invasion.

I was/am quite aware that it was toggleable, I didn't fully expect it to go full retard and park about 1500 units at my captial though. :-P

Edit:
I posted both to vent and to let you people have some schadenfreude on my behalf. I'm fully aware it was my own fault. It's still a shitty mechanism and it doesn't mesh with the game at all because suddenly the game is just about surviving the Dark Invasion. It completely dwarfs every other faction in the game.

I've always had a lot of fun with Eagle and the Radiant Cross (http://forums.taleworlds.net/index.php/board,95.0.html), and I don't think I've seen it mentioned here yet. Lots of primitive firearms, vastly different factions, and much simplified troop trees. I like it a lot, but it seems to be an acquired taste for some.

My biggest problem with the radiant cross mod was that the new armour looks fucking terrible. It is actually distracting.

Yeah, I tend to stick with either the armor that was ported over from base M&B or stick with some of the simpler-looking ones like the ones that the Imperial State uses, since I find them looking a bit less retarded.

I think (not sure) that the updated brigantine actually looks pretty good, but it was just re-coloured.

I posted in haste and realize now I was being a douche. I completely understand what you mean, when the invasion started in my first game I thought nothing of it until the shore line turned black and I ran into a 300 man army.

Well, I was upset over losing close to 20 hours of playtime. Having it turned off from now on. 8-)

I like the Dark Knight thing. They are the only real challenging opponents after about level 30. You have to train up the best troops to deal with them, and you have to be a good commander, not a face-beater. I find that the best units so far to deal with them are the Elite Swordsman/Halbieders from the Rhodoks. It takes a ton of leveling up to get them to that tier, but when you do they own everything in a castle assault or defense.

Well, I've really only played two half-campaigns, so I'm not very good yet. I just expected something a little subtle/more clever than being curbstomped. I'll get back to you in six months. :-)

I suspect having cranked the number of simultaneous units in combat to 220 probably didn't help. But by God, it was a glorious sight to see the cavalry fronts clash!

Oh, if you haven't come across it, here's the util to change battle sizes: http://www.mbrepository.com/modules/PDdownloads/singlefile.php?cid=8&lid=107

I can't say I recommend it for sieges. With 90+ units on either side, they cork up every ladder, ramp and ledge and about six fight at a time. It takes forEVER. But it's really cool for open field battles.

Yes, opening the floodgates on units would be pure madness. However, I'm telling you if you want to win against the Dark Knights, train up the Rhodok infantry to the max and let them play ball. It's a toe-to-toe affair, but you will win your matches with some archers to help keep the attention. Rhodoks are the OP units in the Native world. They are also fucking expensive. Win lots of tournaments.

Interesting- I ended up working for the Rhodoks this go around. I postponed the Dark Knight invasion until day 200 (and may turn it off until I am ready). If High Councilman of Rhodokius doesn't cough up a castle or town to me damned soon I am turning on them, however. I am doing all the heavy lifting while his band of idiots run around getting captured. I have rescued about 10 of his lords recently.

You need to do quests for Elmerra to get a castle and either ask him to start a campaign or be very involved in one he starts. After our first huge campaign against Vaegrin I was given a castle the minute it finished, which opens up the awesome potential of stacking your castle with an insane amount of defenders. I'm at 220 right now and each time they attack, even if I don't make it back before the siege starts, the attackers lose.

Yep, just run up your rep with the King of the nation you like and you'll get the first castle you capture. I'm working for Vaegris atm and they seem to be the biggest retards in the game atm. Who starts a war with 2 nations while you're getting your ass handed to you be the Dark Knights?

Vaegris does :awesome_for_real:

I picked Rhodoks cause they seem to be the most level headed. I don't know if there's AI set out for each faction, but they ally with big people, attack weaker ones and hold their own. Plus, I like teal.

The Nords seem like the weakest nation in the bunch in my book. If you get a bunch of cavalry, you can roll over them in any battle.

They are fucking insane at castle defense/siege when they get the highest tier infantry.

I just took over all of Vaegris. Do they try to take back what was theirs? I let all of their men go, so I have an ass load of honor now. With the nords pushing the Khergs into a corner, it'll only be Swadian, Nords and Rhodoks left soon. Uh oh! Might be time to crush the nords.

Oh and I now declare Rhodoks infantry the most unbeatable in the game. I won a battle down 200 to their 1000 against the Nords, and beat them off with only 20% losses. That was with a combination of Elite Halberdiers, Elite Swordsman, various levels of spears under that, and various levels of nobles I picked up from the Swadians.

We've also managed to kill off the Khans and the Dark Knights at this point, and the Nords are now on my hit list.

 I can't bring myself to play this game very often, because playing with myself feels dirty, when most other games in the genre are multiplay.

Uhm, what other games in this genre? I'm genuinely curious to find more of them. Not saying this is a one-off, but games like these of any quality haven't been made the past fifteen years, probably exactly because implementing multiplayer (which has been deemed vital since Quake) in them is actually impossible (variant timescales.)

Yeah, I can't imagine how multiplayer would deter you from playing this. It would suck with it.

Man, I've played this game on and off since the first beta releases came out many years ago.  The final build is pretty damn awesome.

I just started a revolt in Swadia by backing Lady whatsherface from Suno.  Got Suno and two castles so far, and a couple of lords to switch over.  Good times.

Though, is there anyway to increase your chance of capturing a defeated noble?  I never ever ever ever capture them, except one time randomly on another game I started.

This as full-featured multiplayer would be like playing Risk. I hate Risk. Hate hate hate. Once you've been beaten back to the stone age, you'll just be passing every turn because there's absolutely nothing you can do anymore to gain a fresh foothold. As a cherry on top of it, nobody will finally kill you either because they're busy fighting people that are actually relevant.

Use blunt weapons.  There's actually a tactical command you can give to your units to tell them to switch to blunt weapons if they have them.  Jacks the chances of wounding vs killing (or in the case of nobles, knocking out vs letting run away).

Ah, yeah, wasn't sure of that for nobles.  I knew thats how it worked for normal soldiers.  However, if I hit a noble with a club or a battle axe, it still says I just knocked him unconscious.  So I figured it didn't matter.  I'll give it a try.

Well, there's this text file edit (http://forums.taleworlds.net/index.php/topic,37023.msg958292.html#msg958292) that lets you globally adjust the percentage chance of capturing nobles...

Ah, sweet, thanks man!  I think I'll have some fun with that   :awesome_for_real:

Native Expansion must have changed that value. Most times I have the option to take them prisoner.

Yeah, NE has that value much higher. It is closer to 50% rather than 10% IIRC.

Yeah, I changed it manually to 50% now.  Works out much better.

I finally hit the tipping point in my game- I am starting to just massacre people en masse. Sieged 3 or 4 towers in a row last night...was having a blast sniping archers (archery 275+, draw power 8 bow). They eventually got so pissed that they boiled down the ladders at me (I was standing on the ladder and shooting anything that poked its head out. I ran back to my line of troops, then turned around and just waded through them- most of them went down with one good slash. I really need to find a ginormous high damage two-handed sword to make it even better. I do have a bigass axe- might give that a try.

Combat in this game is fucking fun!