Mount &Blade:Warbands

[Jade Falcon]

Saw this on a steam pop up tonight.Looks like an updated version of the original with multi player as well as the ability to make yourself king instead of just a vassal or renegade claiment.Anyone tried it out yet?

[Stormwaltz]

I don't have money the spare until next Friday.

But I'll get it that morning.

[Yegolev]

Some mention in the "what are you playing" thread.  I almost got it but came to my senses.  I simply don't have time for it.  Buuuuuuut....

[Ratadm]

I totally bought it, the first one was like the best gaming money I spent.  I think the big point is the multiplayer which I haven't gotten around to.  The single player feels pretty much the same there are a couple of new elements added in that I'm looking forward to trying out though.

[Tebonas]

It pretty much feels the same as the old game with some new items, a love interest and a morality system added in. I started a game in the new desert empire and stumbled over some bugs and freezes I mentioned in the other thread, but after restarting Steam I got a new version (1.1 instead of 0.8 beta) and now it seems stable. There still is a {blank} quest in my questlog (the starter quest, even after finishing that), but that might just be a leftover bug. Haven't found another Hero yet, which might be bad luck or the heroes don't spawn in desert empire cities.

The game is just as wickedly fun as the original one, and I'm looking forward to becoming Sultan (you can become leader of each of the factions now).

[Wolf]

humm... I was thinking it wasn't going to be worth picking up if you don't have any interest in the multiplayer stuff, but I'm kind of reconsidering right now.

Can you start wars when you're king? I always played as if I had a personal vendetta against one of the nations, gave me some structure and an excuse to attack caravans :)

[Tebonas]

Started yesterday, not that far yet! 

[Speedy Cerviche]

Been playing M&B for years now (I paid 7$ for it), fantastic game.

Most of the features they're adding have been in various mods for years. The community modding is very strong, and usually the "vanilla" game is behind the modders in terms of content, which is fine since it lets the Devs concentrate on the engine, core features and mechanics which the community can then pick apart.

I'll probably wait a few months to get this, I'm enjoying Darkfall a lot at the moment, the melee/archery combat mechanics in DFO aren't quite as sophisticated as M&B, but the multiplayer/MMO elements add more depth. From what I've seen with Warband the multiplayer is very fun, but very arcadish/counterstrikeish. I think the real meat will still be in the single player game, with multiplayer being a fun diversion to load up when you are looking for some pure combat at a very challenging level.

If I wait a few months I'll be get this, and I'll be rewarded cuz by then some major mods will have warband releases out which will be juice up the single player bigtime.

[Ingmar]

The combat is slightly changed and I'm still getting used to it. In particular swinging a weapon from on horseback has a lot more angles and positions you can do it from. Also skewering people with a lance is actually kind of hard now, you don't just auto-couch the lance, you have to hit x to couch it and time it right, and it is harder to aim as well (maybe I need more riding skill.)

[Jade Falcon]

Cool, well it's all sounding good so far thanks for the info.I've played the original for years and enjoyed it,I'm always leery of these rebuilds since at times they tend to stray too far from the original game play.

Now I just have to sit through a weekend of Pirates of the Caribbean and Narnia on the 360 that the girlfriend thought "looked like fun" before I can play it.

[tazelbain]

I kinda avoid this title because it always seemed like a work in progress.  Is it a complete game now?

[Draegan]

I never played the original.  Is it worth it?

[Ard]

Try the demo if you're not sure.  It's effectively the full game.  It's an extremely sandboxy game, which isn't for everyone, but like a half hour with the demo convinced me that I was a moron for not having tried it previously.  I can't get their page to load to link it, but you can also get the demo off of Steam.

[Draegan]

There's a demo?

[Ard]

Of the original, yes.  It's not that functionally different from Warband, so you'll at least know if the franchise is something you're interested in.

[Paelos]

It's a solid mechanical game. The gameplay is amazingly fun, but also repetitive at the really high levels. You can find yourself in the older game facing wave after wave after wave of the units because your 40 solid warriors can own a field of 300 shitty ones.

[Speedy Cerviche]

It's a solid mechanical game. The gameplay is amazingly fun, but also repetitive at the really high levels. You can find yourself in the older game facing wave after wave after wave of the units because your 40 solid warriors can own a field of 300 shitty ones.

YThat;s what I mean by the the multiplayer byeing a ncie diversion, when you are tired of creaming 400 peasants with your elite heavy cvalry squadron you can load up warband multiplayer and get pwned by some euretrash who only plays that. Adds a latryer of difficulty to M&B that never previously existed.....

[Falconeer]

by some euretrash who only plays that.

This is fascinating.

[Tebonas]

Somebody got bested in an online game by somebody from Europe once too often it seems. Through his rage and tears he couldn't even find the right keys on his keyboard

Don't hate on us for it, I try not to play games in multiplayer. Promise!


On topic, restarted a new game and everything worked fine. Heroes in taverns (even in the desert cities) and no funny stuff with quest descriptions anymore.

[Megrim]

I played a beta version of this long ago, and liked it but didn't have the time back then. How does the multiplayer work in this?

[Nightblade]

I played a beta version of this long ago, and liked it but didn't have the time back then. How does the multiplayer work in this?

Certain modes of the multiplayer are very fun. Stick with modes that allow you to respawn, as large battles with no respawn (until the next round) take freaking forever.

[Paelos]

Are any of the single player features very improved for those of us that like the sandboxy experience? I heard about the Throne and vassals and marrying politically stuff, but I didn't hear how it translated beyond featurespeak to actual play.

[Megrim]

I played a beta version of this long ago, and liked it but didn't have the time back then. How does the multiplayer work in this?

Certain modes of the multiplayer are very fun. Stick with modes that allow you to respawn, as large battles with no respawn (until the next round) take freaking forever.

Can one play the campaign with other people, or is the multi reserved solely for pvp stuff?

[NiX]

So, do any of these updates from Warband go into the original? Or do you have to buy Warband to get them?

[Nightblade]

I played a beta version of this long ago, and liked it but didn't have the time back then. How does the multiplayer work in this?

Certain modes of the multiplayer are very fun. Stick with modes that allow you to respawn, as large battles with no respawn (until the next round) take freaking forever.

Can one play the campaign with other people, or is the multi reserved solely for pvp stuff?

I only played the beta, I have not bought the full game yet, but I doubt you can co-op through the main game (that would have been great though).

[Tarami]

So, do any of these updates from Warband go into the original? Or do you have to buy Warband to get them?

Warband is stand-alone and virtually the same game as the original, just a little deeper and "complete" (although riddled with non-critical bugs like text formatting errors and such.)

And no, no campaign co-op.

Still worth it, in my opinion. It IS better.

[climbjtree]

Anyone actively playing? I've done a bit of multiplayer and have had a good time every time. In fact, I think it would be pretty sweet if we could get some sort of group together and play on a ladder or something.

Anyone interested?

[Paelos]

I plan on buying it when they go to $19.99, and/or I hear about a solid mod for warband like the last one I had for regular that made unique unit types and a Dark Knight invasion.

I forget the name of it though.

[Morfiend]

I'm currently downloading the "try before you buy" thing from their site. I never got around to playing it before. If I enjoy it, ill pick it up.

[Ralence]

I plan on buying it when they go to $19.99, and/or I hear about a solid mod for warband like the last one I had for regular that made unique unit types and a Dark Knight invasion.

I forget the name of it though.

That was "Native Expansion" mod, which I also really enjoyed.

[Ingmar]

The dark knight invasion part of that mod was completely retarded, IMO. Thankfully you could turn it off as the other stuff in it was largely pretty nice, particularly the fixes to village improvements and the like.

[Ceryse]

Tried out the "play before you buy" with a couple characters. First off; kudos to the company for that alone. Did my second run through with some heavy cheating (to try and beef up my character to get a feel for some higher level stuff). Seemed.. interesting. Lack of some in-game information/feedback was bothersome, however. Like when upgrading units.. I get no idea which option really gives me what. I can pick between two upgrade options, but there didn't seem to be any indication of how each differed. Likewise, when picking up heroes.. no real indication what they all do before you hand over the coin.

Also wasn't.. uncommon for me to get "lost" in battles with little indication as to where the enemy was without watching my own charging troops for a general direction; especially in very hilly/small mountainous maps where line of sight was largely useless. I miss minimaps, even though I understand why there isn't one.

Archery eludes me, as well. At 30-40 yards I can't seem to hit shit, but then again, I always forget to zoom. Still, game looks interesting enough, even with the "what should I be doing...?" feeling at the beginning. I'll probably pick it up from Steam later today (especially with C$ at parity atm  ) just based on what I saw in the 'try before you buy' and such.

Its awesome when I get glowing neon lights in taverns though for body textures

Time to start heavily reading up on the game, though, so I don't feel so... lost.

[Ingmar]

Hit backspace in combat to bring up the minimap/troop order window.

Also, quick version of troop upgrading tips:

- Khergit troops only have one fork. Lancers or Horse Archers. Pretty self-explanatory
- Nord troops also only have one fork. Footman sends them down the infantry line (eventually ending in huscarls which are pretty much the most badass infantry unit), huntsman sends them down the archer line
- Rhodok troops, again, only one fork, spearman is the infantry line, crossbowman is their archery line
- Swadians have two forks - first you get a fork after militia between footman and skirmisher. Skirmisher is the archer line, the footman line then forks into man-at-arms (cavalry line) and infantry (infantry line)
- Vaegirs are the same as swadians - one fork after footman between skirmisher (archery line) and veteran, veterans then fork into infantry (infantry line) and horseman (cavalry line).

Not sure about the Sarranid troop tree, they're new and I haven't messed with them much, but from fighting against them I can tell you their heavy cavalry (mamelukes) are pretty badass.

I didn't include the neutral troop options as they're almost all really expensive and/or lame. One exception is if you get peasant women (I think only recruitable by freeing them from bandits who've captured them) they go through several really lame steps but then eventually turn into sword sisters which are a pretty good cavalry unit and are notably cheap in terms of upkeep.

[NiX]

...(especially with C$ at parity atm  )...

Don't be so naive. Your credit card company will charge you at least months rate if they can.

[Ceryse]

Don't be so naive. Your credit card company will charge you at least months rate if they can.

Nope, got charged at the current rate.

Ingmar; yeah, found a chart that showed the unit progression, and a host of other things I'd missed. Such as heroes not liking certain other heroes, heh. Thanks for the tip on the minimap. Didn't see that anywhere.