AvaRice
Sergeant Knight at Arms
With the latest version (.901) faction parties band up every once in a while to form "war parties". As of this moment though, these war parties don't have the profound impact that I would expect out of several lords marching off on a war campaign. This is unfortunate since I expect that most of the major game-changing moments would center around successful war parties. Hence, I wish to propose a number of additions to the war party system.
1. Currently, war parties don't seem to have steadfast objectives, and tend to break apart before ever threatening a city or castle. Really, how many campaigns have disintegrated in pursuit of a stray caravan…? In this event, the war party needs to think collectively, remaining close to the main party. And if a lord does break apart from the war party I want to see him punished.
2. I like the direction that M&B is going now with castle and city sieges, but I think that they only went halfway and as a result sieges are proving nearly impossible. The numbers are about right; a lord should not be able to take a castle on his own. Throw in a war party though and you’ve got a real siege. The problem of course is that accompanying parties won’t join you in a siege battle, yet they will join you in skirmishes. This is definitely something that should be changed.
3. Now I'm pretty sure that somewhere in the oath of fealty given to the faction lord, the player must swear to defend the land or something like that. Furthermore I believe that lords were expected to answer a call to arms, and it doesn’t make sense that the player is left out of the war party without even a message. Hence, I propose that every once in a while the player is called upon to join a faction lord in a war party. I want to see lords coordinating attacks. Something like a message stating the objective of the war party, the place to meet, and the time of departure. Think mustering of the Rohirrim- lords with hundreds of soldiers streaming into a Rivacheg war camp, set to march at daybreak to break the siege of Reyvadin.
I feel that at the moment M&B really falls short on lord interaction. Really, what do those relation numbers mean if those lords will never help you take a city? The war system at the moment is incomplete- all those skirmishes never get you anywhere and I can’t help but feel like I’m cheating when my party of 50 eventually takes a castle of 200. As a result, the player never really gets the sense that he’s part of a team; any progress must be made by the player alone. I do feel that M&B is going in the right direction, and I’m optimistic knowing that the Battle for Sicily mod handled lord interactions very well. However, these additions could really go a long way to giving a more complete feel to the current war system.
1. Currently, war parties don't seem to have steadfast objectives, and tend to break apart before ever threatening a city or castle. Really, how many campaigns have disintegrated in pursuit of a stray caravan…? In this event, the war party needs to think collectively, remaining close to the main party. And if a lord does break apart from the war party I want to see him punished.
2. I like the direction that M&B is going now with castle and city sieges, but I think that they only went halfway and as a result sieges are proving nearly impossible. The numbers are about right; a lord should not be able to take a castle on his own. Throw in a war party though and you’ve got a real siege. The problem of course is that accompanying parties won’t join you in a siege battle, yet they will join you in skirmishes. This is definitely something that should be changed.
3. Now I'm pretty sure that somewhere in the oath of fealty given to the faction lord, the player must swear to defend the land or something like that. Furthermore I believe that lords were expected to answer a call to arms, and it doesn’t make sense that the player is left out of the war party without even a message. Hence, I propose that every once in a while the player is called upon to join a faction lord in a war party. I want to see lords coordinating attacks. Something like a message stating the objective of the war party, the place to meet, and the time of departure. Think mustering of the Rohirrim- lords with hundreds of soldiers streaming into a Rivacheg war camp, set to march at daybreak to break the siege of Reyvadin.
I feel that at the moment M&B really falls short on lord interaction. Really, what do those relation numbers mean if those lords will never help you take a city? The war system at the moment is incomplete- all those skirmishes never get you anywhere and I can’t help but feel like I’m cheating when my party of 50 eventually takes a castle of 200. As a result, the player never really gets the sense that he’s part of a team; any progress must be made by the player alone. I do feel that M&B is going in the right direction, and I’m optimistic knowing that the Battle for Sicily mod handled lord interactions very well. However, these additions could really go a long way to giving a more complete feel to the current war system.
