Player Suggestions and Feature Discussion

[Fatty_McButterpants]

Any chance that you would consider adding the option to ask a traveler in the tavern where a companion that we have met before, but not recruited, is currently located?  They move around from town to town faster than the ransom brokers.

 

[Lav]

Those are all interesting options.

 

[Fatty_McButterpants]

You gotta do something about the quantity of female warriors in mercenary bands.  The audio file heard during a casual slaughter of 40+ mercs sounds like a cheap porno. edit - or perhaps change the audio file for females getting hit/killed and make it sound a bit better.  I don't know what you can mod; perhaps you can make a slider to adjust the number of female combatants and make everyone happy. 

 

[dooomninja]

there are a few things in troop tree i would like to see cleared up like how rhodokian vet scouts don't have xbows unlike the normal scouts, and how the councilmen are mounted but dismount when the become champions. the sarranids also have two melee cav lines with one skerm cav building into the heavy side, you could consider making the Akinci side jav cav to fit with them being on the ranged side of the tree (as the timariot have no throwing skill and the Akinci all do i would presume this is just an oversight) and the top end sarranid nobles have really bad armour.

also any reason you nerfed hafted blades to the ground?

and any chance would you give Vassals some better horses? it looks a bit silly the leader of the army either sat on a pony or suiciding on a Courser into the enemy

sorry if this sounds really harsh i really do love this mod and its got me back into playing SP again 

 

[Lav]

There are plenty of issues still remaining with the troop tree. They will be cleaned up in time.

I'm not sure about hafted blades as item rebalance was done long before I started working on the mod. So even if they've been nerfed, I would still be hesitant to change them without understanding why they were nerfed in the first place.

Equipping vassals is something to consider.

 

[Oliveran]

A few things would be nice:
1) That the elite units of each faction is as good as at least the Dark Knight Champions - right now only their armor is the same, but it pretty much sucks to have any normal units
2) Rebalance some troops (Rhodok Armsman has a 58 armor plate lol)
3) Just as a suggestion, try to make a castle or two with some descructable doors etc., it's boring to have to stand outside and shoot for 3 minutes because charging in is suicide For an example, instead of a ladder, you can make it so that the units "closest distance" to each other are "through" breakable doors. Once they're just next to each other with the door between them, they'll smash the door(s) to pieces. Some very old pre-Warband M&B map had this and it was one of the best things I've tried as of yet in this game!
4) Just as a possiblity, give the AI a higher chance of blocking. Sometimes it decides to block after attacking, sometimes not. It's in the scripting, so it should be easily fixable if you know where to look, though I don't know myself

Thanks for any answers etc.

 

[dynasyhan]

When you go back to your own fortress and your prisoner wanted to duel for his freedom, it would be nice to have an answer choice to duel a day later so you can rest up. Most of the time I just finished a hard battle and was gravely wounded. I would like to rest at my castle to regain strength. But prisoners keep asking to duel with me right as soon as I entered the castle so they're on full health and I'm 1/10 health remain. 

 

[Lav]

Okay, regarding the new suggestions.

Troop balance is a work in the being. No guarantees here.

Rhodok Armsman I consider a bug. There are a few other similar situations.

Improving sieges is an interesting option, but not high in priority, especially since it will probably require scene editing and a lot of heavy scripting.

Blocking is engine-driven unfortunately.

Prisoners dueling is one of the things I'm planning to convert to quests (possibly with a time limit).

 

[thelight9]

Is there any intention to integrate parts of Diplomacy into this mod? The way I see it, NE is somewhat lacking at the field of options for things you can do as a vassal or a king. Not being able to send a fief or money as a gift to a faction to strengthen realations with it is what bothering me, mostly
Anyway, adding more diplomatical options would be great - they don't need to come from Diplomacy of course, just to let the player have more control over his kingdom
Also, are you going to enlarge the dark knight faction? I remember that before this mod died ( and was reborn) there was a talk about giving them a unique quest line, a city, etc. Is this still a thing?

 

[Lav]

It's in the FAQ.

 

[thelight9]

It's in the FAQ.

Well, the part about expanding diplomatic options still stands - doesn't have to come from Diplomacy the mod

 

[Lav]

The FAQ gives answers to both questions actually, albeit in a slightly indirect way. The fact that our ideas on improving politics differ from those of Diplomacy kinda implies that we do have some ideas on improving politics.

 

[dynasyhan]

I thought the only way to hire assassins/mercenaries to take out another lord is becoming king. But I've been getting ambushed by those hirelings and the "note" said they were hired by other lords. So how come other lords can hire merc but I can't?

 

[Lav]

Expanding mercenaries is in the plans, though it's unlikely that they will accept contracts against kingdom lords - that would need underground connections and to handle that requires a major expansion of outlaw faction (with related quests and all). It's one of planned directions for development, but I give no guarantees to when or how.

 

[Pr00ch]

Hi there, I'd just like to say I very much appreciate your work, and the well polished standard of quality you have.

I'd like to just let off a couple of random thought that I found are frustrating in the base game and/or the mod, that I would absolutely love to see fixed and/or enhanced. Those are in no particular order, I think it's easier to read that way however.

1.  Assassination attempts are a bit to common.

2. The AI seems to be able to create troops out of no-where after they take over a Castle or City, unless I'm mistaken. While the player would have to spend a few of his own men from his party to put the garrison above 0.

3. The Vassals and the realm has no idea of defense. Once a fief has been taken, it usually stands around defenseless, while there is only the offensive party lead by the marshall while the rest of the lords just kinda hang about their castles. I wonder if it would be possible to create a second, defense oriented marshall-esque position, or at least make the vassals care for the realm a bit more.

4. The Vaegir Archers are a bit too overpowered, I think.

5. The automatic battle system is just awful. Sometimes you could win a battle without having even one of your troops die, meanwhile the auto battle (ordering your troops to attack without you) managed to kill off half of your army and barely achieve a pyrrhic victory

6. The options you have to play as a merchant are fairly limited. (Although I am aware that you tweaked things to make it more viable, and I feel it did work.)

7. The game doesn't put enough emphasis on how money is power.

8. Party size increases really, really slowly, and it's one of the more important values of a character.

9. I feel that the mod image in the launcher stands out a bit, it gives an unpolished notion.

10. It's sometimes hard to buff up relations through quests after becoming a vassal, due to the Lords deeming you too important for basic tasks.

11. You can only send expensive gifts too lords when your relation is negative. A few more options of bribery would be lovely. Kind of referring to point 7.

12. Some companions you recruit just for the sake of party skills. It would be lovely to have the option not to put them into combat.

13. In times of intense war, I feel like Mercenaries should be more approachable, instead of the occasional hanfull in a tavern. Think With fire and Sword, something along those lines, although not as unbalanced. Referring to point 7.

14. It would be lovely to be able to somehow support your realm financially, like donating to the king or the other vassals, which would make their armies bigger or something along those lines. Once again, point 7.

15. The ability to suggest diplomatic actions to your king based on the relation with the realm and the relation with the king would be amazing. (Think being something like the Kings right hand, or if going hand to hand with point 7, a rich Backseat political magnate of some sort.)

16. More power as marshal. The ability to give more specific orders to the vassals, for example being able to order a lord capture and hold a fief, defend a fief until the war ends etc.

17. Having a less tedious recruiting system would be lovely. This doesn't mean a straight up change of the mechanics, but perhaps a few tweaks with a work/reward character.

Once again, I'd like to put emphasis on how this is just a string of thoughts, some of those points you might already be addressing, some might already be addressed, some might be planned to be addressed. I have no good knowledge of coding, and I am aware that some of those suggestions might be reaching for the sky.

 

[Lav]

1.  Assassination attempts are a bit to common.

Maybe, there were complaints to that. My playstyle usually results in very few lords being upset with me, so I never noticed myself, but it's in the list of things to check.

2. The AI seems to be able to create troops out of no-where after they take over a Castle or City, unless I'm mistaken. While the player would have to spend a few of his own men from his party to put the garrison above 0.

Unrealistic, yes. Player has other advantages though, so this is one of the ways to compensate. Especially since AI sucks at defending newly captured centers. Improving AI would be a better solution (and is in the plans) but with AI you never know if your ideas for it will prove beneficial at all, and even if they will, then to what degree.

3. The Vassals and the realm has no idea of defense. Once a fief has been taken, it usually stands around defenseless, while there is only the offensive party lead by the marshall while the rest of the lords just kinda hang about their castles. I wonder if it would be possible to create a second, defense oriented marshall-esque position, or at least make the vassals care for the realm a bit more.

I'm quite unhappy with Native faction/lord AI so it's in the plans. It's a resource-intensive task though, and as I said, without any guarantees of the results.

4. The Vaegir Archers are a bit too overpowered, I think.

They are. And there are too many of them. That's going to be partially fixed.

5. The automatic battle system is just awful. Sometimes you could win a battle without having even one of your troops die, meanwhile the auto battle (ordering your troops to attack without you) managed to kill off half of your army and barely achieve a pyrrhic victory

Technically, the auto-battle *should* yield considerably worse results than actual fighting - otherwise being knocked out and not able to participate will cease being a penalty at all. And NE auto-resolve script, while not ideal, is still loads better than vanilla Native one. There are some improvements planned, but nothing drastic.

6. The options you have to play as a merchant are fairly limited. (Although I am aware that you tweaked things to make it more viable, and I feel it did work.)

They will probably be improved a bit more, but essentially this game is about riding and swinging long sharpened metal pieces, not about trade and commerce, so these directions get somewhat lower priority. Not zero though.

7. The game doesn't put enough emphasis on how money is power.

There's too little of non-compat interaction with the game world, not just limited to money. That's true.

8. Party size increases really, really slowly, and it's one of the more important values of a character.

Cannot give an opinion ATM.

9. I feel that the mod image in the launcher stands out a bit, it gives an unpolished notion.

Probably, but I don't have another and I'm no artist. And while unpolished, it's the image that's been representing NE for many years. It's practically history.

10. It's sometimes hard to buff up relations through quests after becoming a vassal, due to the Lords deeming you too important for basic tasks.

Yep.

11. You can only send expensive gifts too lords when your relation is negative. A few more options of bribery would be lovely. Kind of referring to point 7.

Gifts are being planned.

12. Some companions you recruit just for the sake of party skills. It would be lovely to have the option not to put them into combat.

Not sure. You can push them to the bottom of the party, move them to a different group and order them back during the battle, etc. But essentially, they're with you and they're part of your party and if your party is in battle, they're part of it to some degree whether they like it or not.

13. In times of intense war, I feel like Mercenaries should be more approachable, instead of the occasional hanfull in a tavern. Think With fire and Sword, something along those lines, although not as unbalanced. Referring to point 7.

Mercs are going to change a lot. Primarily those on the party map but probably those in the taverns too.

14. It would be lovely to be able to somehow support your realm financially, like donating to the king or the other vassals, which would make their armies bigger or something along those lines. Once again, point 7.

Yep.

15. The ability to suggest diplomatic actions to your king based on the relation with the realm and the relation with the king would be amazing. (Think being something like the Kings right hand, or if going hand to hand with point 7, a rich Backseat political magnate of some sort.)

Yep.

16. More power as marshal. The ability to give more specific orders to the vassals, for example being able to order a lord capture and hold a fief, defend a fief until the war ends etc.

Technically you should be able to do that - IIRC lords are more likely to listen to your suggestions if you're the marshal. Not certain though.

17. Having a less tedious recruiting system would be lovely. This doesn't mean a straight up change of the mechanics, but perhaps a few tweaks with a work/reward character.

Possibly, yes.

Overall, pretty reasonable list.

 

[Pr00ch]

Oh my, thanks for the reply! Lovely!

 

[Ballacraine]

Very good to see progress with this mod.
It has always been the one I play most.

Whilst I can see where you are coming from with the post battle loot screen, for me to find it useful, it has to be refined further.
I like to see the condition of my character & companions gear, so I can allocate the loot where it has most benefit.
This is actually currently easier to do from the talk to companion / equipment screen.
If a selected companion equipment screen could be selected from the drop down it would be a lot more useful.

More new companions would add something too.

Good work thus far....Keep it up! 

Balla. 

 

[Lav]

Very good to see progress with this mod.
It has always been the one I play most.

Whilst I can see where you are coming from with the post battle loot screen, for me to find it useful, it has to be refined further.
I like to see the condition of my character & companions gear, so I can allocate the loot where it has most benefit.
This is actually currently easier to do from the talk to companion / equipment screen.
If a selected companion equipment screen could be selected from the drop down it would be a lot more useful.

More new companions would add something too.

I'm afraid I don't really understand what specifically do you want to change in equipment interface (I assume you mean the Companions Overseer?). While I'd love to be able to display equipment for all companions so it could be compared at a glance, but there's a limit to how much information I can squeeze into a single screen without it being overcrowded. And with Overseer's interface already being a bit overcrowded, I'm somewhat wary of expanding it even further.

More companions are always nice but all I'm willing to say on the subject at this moment is that I keep it in mind. There are some ideas to widen the amount of available npcs, but none have yet been cleared for implementation.

 

[groudas]

Recently I decided to try this mod because I enjoy the Native Warband feeling. I played a couple of days and I am noticing that trading is much less profitable on NE than on Vanilla. Am I right?