Mount & Blade Final - Q2 2008

[koro]

I've always had a lot of fun with Eagle and the Radiant Cross, 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.

[FatuousTwat]

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

[koro]

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.

[FatuousTwat]

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

[NiX]

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.

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 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.

[Tarami]

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

[Paelos]

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.

[Tarami]

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.

[Paelos]

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.

[WayAbvPar]

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.

[NiX]

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.

[Paelos]

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?

[NiX]

Vaegris does

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.

[Paelos]

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.

[FatuousTwat]

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

[NiX]

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.

[Paelos]

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.

[Mavor]

 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.

[Tarami]

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.)

[NiX]

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

[Teleku]

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.

[Tarami]

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

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.

[sidereal]

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.

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).

[Teleku]

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.

[MisterNoisy]

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.

Well, there's this text file edit that lets you globally adjust the percentage chance of capturing nobles...

[Teleku]

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

[NiX]

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

[WayAbvPar]

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

[Teleku]

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

[WayAbvPar]

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!