What I am hoping to get from testers
1) Firstly, are there bugs? (The short answer is yes, there are bugs, and plenty of them. Big, ugly, game-stopping bugs. Thanks to the testers, however, there are a lot less than there were two weeks ago).
2) Secondly, are the new features easy to understand? Are they fun?
3) Thirdly, is the game balanced in the long term? Does Calradia's economy collapse some time around Day 200? Do kingdoms implode? Are all the marriageable lords and ladies snapped up long before the player can be competitive in the marriage market?
Note that the game is probably too buggy to support long-term testing at this point, but keep this in mind for later.
What I am not hoping to get from testers
Suggestions on new features. There's lots to suggest, and Taleworlds has made use of a lot of good community suggestions. But.... the place for this is the Privy Council.
I am interested, however, in suggestions related to existing features, and flaws that you perceive in them, or options related to the new features that you really miss having. There is a fine line between the two. To illustrate:
Welcome suggestion: "I really think that the player needs additional ways of improving relations with his or her vassals. Maybe doing X should have this affect."
Not-so-welcome suggestion: "We need ships and sea travel!" Ships are very dear to my heart, actually. However, not for Warband.
The following is a list of the major new features, both added and upcoming, so that you have an idea of what to look for.
Bugs, and changes between SP testing versions, are noted in the Compiled Bug List thread.
Still to add:
New map
New faction
Cut-scenes for events such as marriages
Marriage and courtship for males:
Summary: A male player should be able to woo and marry the daughters of the nobility, facing competition from NPC lords in the faction. Faction feasts play an important role in courtship for both players and NPCs. This feature should be more or less complete.
Status: Wooing should be complete, although the wedding ceremony lacks a climactic cut-scene, and the benefits to marriage are not fully explored.
Questions: Does it work? Is the system bugged? Is it too easy or too hard to find a compatible wife? Are the different stages/quests in the procedure hard to follow? Does the system need more explanation?
Marriage for females:
Summary: A female player should be able to marry certain noble lords, if she desires. Once she marries a lord, she should have access to his castles, and be able to influence his political choices.
Status: The marriage process should be complete, although again, married life is not yet completely fleshed out.
Questions: Is the system bugged? Is it too easy or too hard to find a compatible husband? Does the system strike a good balance between the low-fantasy medieval setting, and allowing women enough options?
More challenges for female players
Summary: Female players will face a few extra obstacles, although this is compensated by their ability to marry an active noble, rather than a noble's daughter.
Status: This is partially complete
Questions: Do the NPCs lay on the comments too thickly? Do the obstacles feel appropriate?
More complicated relations between nobles:
Summary: Kingdom lords now have different relations with other nobles, which are influenced by events on the world map, as well as random events. They are also part of extended families. Relations affect whether or not lords cooperate on the world map, and also leads to defections from the main kingdoms.
Status: This should be more or less complete.
Questions: Is there enough impact on the game? Is it easy to find out a lord's relation with another lord? How does the system play out over a year or two of game time? Do factions tend to drift to become very tight knit, and immune to rebellion, or do vassal relations all spiral into mutual fear and loathing?
A unified rebellion/defection system:
Summary: A single system now governs whether or not nobles will switch sides. Players can recruit lords to their own rebellions, or to a pretender's rebellion.
Status: This should be more or less complete.
Questions: Is it too easy or too difficult to get lords to switch sides? Is it clear why lords reason the way that they do? Are the pretender rebellions still viable?
Player legitimacy
Summary: Players should be able to build up their own legitimacy (ie, "right to rule") by making use of to their companions, after which they can proclaim themselves as candidates for the throne.
Status: This should be more or less complete.
Questions: Is is transparent how the system works? Does it happen at too fast or too slow a pace?
Player monarchs
Summary: Once a player becomes king, he or she can conduct diplomacy with the other factions, and also dismiss disloyal vassals.
Status: This should be more or less complete.
Questions: Are there enough options? Is it too easy or too hard to firm up one's relations with the other monarchs?
New quests
Summary: We are adding a number of new quests, most of which are dynamically generated: ie, created by circumstances on the world map, rather than by the player simply asking for them. These quests include: hunting down bandit parties which have attacked travellers, rescuing prisoners held by lords, a quest to prevent a war, and a new version of the "raid caravans to start war" quest. These quests are supposed to be rarer and have more impact than normal quests. You shoudl be able to find out about them by speaking to a tavern keeper
Status: Tracking bandits should be complete, but is untested. Rescuing prisoners is partially implemented. Attacking caravans should be complete.
Questions: Do these quests work?
A new diplomatic system:
Summary: All wars now have a cause. Some realms will have claims on each others' territory, other wars will stem from border incidents and other provocations, which can be engineered by the player. You should be able to hear about the cause of wars by speaking to a town guildmaster. Wars will also end in truces, which are determined largely by the damage that one side does to another. Breaking truces has consequences, as does failure to respond to a provocation.
Status: This should be complete
Questions: Does it work? Do wars seem to have a logical beginning and end? Are there long periods of time when a kingdom is not at war?
New lord AI with explainers:
Summary: Lord AI has been tweaked, and lords should now provide explanations for their actions. So, if your vassal ignores your orders and gallups off to a far corner of the map, you might be able to at least ask him why (assuming you can catch him en route, that is)
Status: Not yet implemented
Questions: Does it work? Do the explanations fit the circumstances?
Promotion of companions to lords:
Summary: You can make your companions into vassals
Status: Should be complete, although it might need additional color
Questions: Does it work? Do we need additional "color" quotes to distinguish companions from ordinary lords?
Late game adjustments and balance:
Summary: There are some small adjustments to mitigate some of aspects of the late game which players have found frustrating -- ie, the huge piles of troops in a final castle. Repeated defeats should cause factions to start suffering political disintegration, and lack of funds should cause NPC lords to suffer desertion. Too much success will also hurt a faction, as kingdoms which expand too fast might suffer from significant internal dissension. Ideally, the late game should favor the rise of player-driven realms, although the player should need to pay some attention to lord relations and quarrels to succeed.
Status: Should be complete, although balancing it will be a major task
Questions: This is going to be quite difficult to test, as it will probably require several hundred days' worth of game-time to note the effects -- and by that time, we'll probably have made tweaks to the system so that the findings will be obsolete. However, I would like it if players kept an eye out for any effects
Bar fights:
Summary: A minor tweak. Sometimes you get attacked by a belligerent drunk in a tavern
Status: Should be complete, although it will require changes to the agent AI.
Questions: Too easy? Too hard?
Morale:
Summary: Troops will break and rout in battles
Status: Implemented, but not complete (ie, troops currently rout very slowly)
Questions: Probably wait on feedback until the system is fully implemented
More comprehensive list:
Implemented and hopefully complete, albeit without graphical support:
Family relations between lords
Quarrels between lords
Making companions into vassals
Economic info about towns
Dynamic quests (ie, generated by circumstances)
Sortie system
NPC feasts
NPC courting and marriages
Duels
Minstrels
PC courting
PC marriage
Diplomatic system (ie, a reason for every war)
NPC missions to gather information or to
Lords who can't pay their troops suffer attrition
Age and aging
Different dress for women according to personality type
Implemented with a few loose ends
Diplomatic and political options for player monarchs
Treason accusations
Male player character marriage
Female player character marriage
Partially implemented:
Rescue prisoner by fighting
Female interaction with husbands
Male interaction with wives
Aftermath of duels
Comments specific to women
Lord comments on controversial policies
Morale in battles
Not implemented:
Rescue by intrigue
Rescue by ransom
Consequences of husband leaving faction
Kingdom hero AI as checklist
Cut scenes for weddings
Family relations with one lord affects family relations with another
Player advice to liege
Longstanding bugs from 1.011:
Rebellion quest does not always successfully complete (possibly specific to Swadia?)
