Beginner's Guide to Tournaments in Floris 2.52

[jarlaxle1985]

First post ever, on the TaleWorlds forums. Specifically registered to express plaudits for Floris mod and team. Tremendous work, guys! The sort to bring tears to my eyes.

This is also my first try at making a "guide". It's more of a chronicle of how/what I do to win tournaments. Note that the objective is to maximize profit. If you tourney for the challenge, just take this guide as a starting point; tweak it to just the way you like it as you learn and grow.

Comments and discussions are more than welcome! I do this to grow as well. I want to learn from all the better players out there. As you read and realize I'm missing out on some vital point or setting that I can tweak to enhance gameplay, or some viable tactic I've never considered before, please share it with me.

Some Background:

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Only got M&B during the recent Steam sale. Loved it from the get-go. It's like a dream come true; living out all those battles I waged in Medieval II Total War. I can't believe it took me 4 years since 2008 for me to discover this gem of a game.

Installed Floris for the first time, just yesterday. Floris 2.52. Tried the tournaments. Quite steep learning curve, coming from Native. But I'm having a blast now.

Took a few retries to figure out all settings (game allows quit without saving). Found my sweet spot in the settings, in the tradeoff between challenge and profit. Thought I'd share what I did, for the benefit of those having issues with it as I did when I was teething.

Statistics So Far:

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Have fought 4 tournaments, for real. Came in 1st place 3 times, 2nd place 1 time (first was Alayen, my companion, the filthy kill-stealer!).

Settings Used:

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• Red Team.
• 200 gold.
• Bid for 6 points.
• Companions allowed in tournaments.
• 3 teams, 4 men each.
• One-handed and shield.
• Horse.
• Enhanced weapon.
• Standard payout is 2400 denars per round. This is the max allowed by above settings.
• Native arenas.
• I'm level 8 with 140 one-handed and 4 points in Power Strike.
• I picked the easiest settings for damage done and damage received, with slowest combat speed.

Rationale:

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Why Red team? Why allow companions? I assumed the settings up top apply to both me and my companions, such that if I chose Red they all will be Red. I wanted to my companions to gain XP from tournaments.

Why 200 gold? Max allowable. To maximize profit.

Why 6 points? As high as possible, to maximize profit, but still giving me a strong chance to win. You get 2 points for surviving the round, 1 point for being the side that scores the most points. That's 3 in the bag. All I need to do now is make sure I defeat 3 during the fight. 3 out of 8 is doable consistently.

Why 3 teams? If I went with 2 teams, the other team have only one side to fight; mine. Having 3 means the other team has another team to fight, increasing my chance to win.

Why 4 men? Moving the slider all over, I took the option that gave me the biggest payout with 3 teams and 6 points bid.

Why one-handed and shield? I'm training that for my character. Shields are too useful to trade off for more range/damage 2-handers and Polearms offer.

Why horse? The fighting tactic I've honed from field battles. I came from battles to tournaments, so I tried to lead with my best tactic. Will try unmounted warfare when I see a real benefit.

Why enhanced weapon? 1 option left. Chose more offensive so I can get those kills.

Why Native arenas? More galloping room for my mounted warfare.

General Fighting Notes:

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Start galloping from the get-go. Ignore all mounted targets. Beeline for the furthest foot unit to allow for acceleration. Ready a right-side swing (my modus operandi), target doesn't hold up shield since he is beelining for someone else, boom. 1 kill. 2 more to go.

Meanwhile, your team has been softening up the enemy.

Turn horse around. Pick out next foot unit. Prefer distracted units with backs facing you, already engaged so chances are they have lower health. Gallop fast and furious. Time swing. Boom. 1 more to go.

To get that last 1 is usually pretty simple. Sometimes I even dismount to just backstab some distracted opponents.

At 4 Power Strike and 140 One-handed, I do between 20-40 damage per successful gallop "drive-by" at speed.

Things To Try:

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• Turn on health bar displays so I know which target is ripe for the picking. Does this work? Anyone tried this?
• Learn to swing on the left. Why? Your shield is on the left. When fighting field battles, I usually gallop clockwise as I do circles around the enemy infantry, so that my right side is the side facing the enemy cluster, for good swing access. But when doing this, I tend to get peppered by projectiles. I figured if I learned to swing on my left, I can then gallop anti-clockwise, putting my shield in between me and the enemy cluster.
• I have a feeling the option to disallow companions from spawning, is not working. I'm assuming this option was meant to prevent companions from being able to compete in the tournament. I disallowed my stronger companions from participating as I wanted my lower-level companions the chance to get experience, especially my path-finding/scouting/tracking companion and my first-aid/wound-treatment/surgery companion. Can anyone verify if this works as intended?

[oh_no]

Very nice guide, but I'd like to note that using a polearm in place of a horse can be very effective.  It can be wielded with a shield and if held in two hands I can kill a charging horse in one or two stabs, possibly the rider if the positioning allows for it (keep in mind that my character is likely a much higher level than yours).  The extra length is also invaluable if you happen to be going up against a rider with 2 handed weapon, especially the slow, powerful axes.

I'd also advise that you train up your two-handed skill, as the enhanced two-handed sword is very capable of dropping men and horses in a single blow when your skills are above 300, even if they're wearing enhanced armour (assuming you strike their head).  Always keep a one handed weapon and shield though, as your opponents can give you trouble if they're allowed to close in.

[jarlaxle1985]

Thanks, oh_no. 

Polearms, eh? Don't think I've never been tempted.

The min-maxer in me says I should work on only one weapon style for melee and another for ranged - and stick to that strictly till the weapon skill cap. The sheer range of the Polearm appealed immensely to me. Especially when I consider swinging one from atop a horse at full gallop. But I'm thinking of the future, in sieges, where a sword/board (I imagine) will be more useful. But I've never played to the siege-bits of the game so I could use some pointers with what weapon styles are best there, too.

On that note... what's the weapon skill cap, anyway? Is there even a weapon skill cap?

And on that note of that earlier note... what's the skill cap for regular skills i.e. Path-finding, Tactics, Power Strike, etc.. I know that skills like Weapon Master lists the ranks till 10 and then just stops (I counted 11; I'm assuming the first is for 0, when you have no points in that skill). Same for Trainer. So I'm guessing 10 is the cap.

And on that note of that earlier note of that earlier note... what's the attribute cap i.e Strength, Agility, Intelligence, Charisma? I'm thinking 30, since (assumption) skills are limited to 1/3 of their corresponding attribute and the skill cap is 10.

Anyone care to confirm?

[Eurafrica]

People need a guide for tournaments on Slowest Combat speed and 1/4 Damage Received?  The new tournament system is so rewarding and challenging if played on max game difficulty and max tournament difficulty, otherwise it's just free repetitive cash flow minus the challenge. (Which makes tournaments boring as all hell). That and playing on a higher difficulty will make you infinitely better at the game. Doing yourself a disservice playing on easiest.

Weapon Proficiencies cap at 690'ish and from my experience there is no cap to attributes, but there is a level cap in Floris of 62. So that in turn kind of restricts your attributes. You will continue to get 1 HP from Strength beyond 30, .5% Weapon speed increase from Agility beyond 30, More XP/skill points for INT beyond 30 and +1 Party limit for CHA beyond 30.

[jarlaxle1985]

I understand where you're coming from, Eurafrica. I too enjoy a challenge to get satisfaction out of my gaming. This is more of a starting point for players. A point of reference, before they move off to tweak their game towards more challenging levels. Think of this is the as training wheels of a bicycle; not everyone knows how to ride straight out of the womb.

That's why I included the preface of sorts; I just got the game less than a week ago, I came from Native Expansion, I just got Floris less than 24 hours ago, I've had that long to navigate through a spanking-new tourney system. Which rocks, FYI. Major kudos, modders! 

I was going to post that in another thread titled "Tounaments in 2.5". I was reading through that and saw quite a few people having problems with the tourneys. So I figured I'd chime in. Community spirit and all that.

[Windyplains]

I'd like to add a few points to consider on maximizing profit:

• [2.53] The "bell curve" for round betting will be fixed in 2.53.  Read about that in my latest blog entry.
  
• [2.52] The higher your difficulty score the higher your final payout for winning.
• [2.52] The higher your bids each round are the higher your final payout for winning.

Also adding advice to the Floris Wiki is also always encouraged.  It could be linked right off of the tournament pages or added into the advice section on the main page.

[jarlaxle1985]

Thanks for the link to the blog, Windyplains. 

About the difficulty rating system, I notice a significant drop (10%-ish) when I go from Random team setting to Red team setting. I'm not getting why choosing a team is any sort of advantage to me (and therefore, I deserve less payout), since it's pretty much every man for himself with kill counts forming such a big bulk of your round score. In fact, this system even makes me wish I can defeat my own teammates so they don't compete with me for kill counts.

Is there a distinct advantage to picking a team? Am I missing something? I read something in some thread about start positions but that does seem like such a small advantage to be deserving of such a large drop in rating (and therefore, payout).

[Windyplains]

There is always an advantage to being able to choose your starting location vs. having it chosen for you.  There is also some challenge difference depending on which team you are a part of.  I'll let the rest of you figure out how that works from playing though.

The loss in difficulty score for turning off random teams is 5% though, not 10%.

[jarlaxle1985]

Alright thanks, Windyplains. I'll switch back to Random Teams to see if it makes any sort of difference.

About loot, I read somewhere about people getting tired of just getting Reinforced Heraldric body armor as tourney prizes and I've gotten quite a few pieces already. I also read that checking level scaling is how you unlock the "upper half of the loot table".

Will checking this at my level, level 8, do anything to improve loot tables?

Is there a link somewhere that explains and details what the tourney loot tables are? Is this "tourney loot table" not a loot table specific to tournaments, but really just a universal loot table all across the game?

[Eurafrica]

I understand where you're coming from, Eurafrica. I too enjoy a challenge to get satisfaction out of my gaming. This is more of a starting point for players. A point of reference, before they move off to tweak their game towards more challenging levels. Think of this is the as training wheels of a bicycle; not everyone knows how to ride straight out of the womb.

That's why I included the preface of sorts; I just got the game less than a week ago, I came from Native Expansion, I just got Floris less than 24 hours ago, I've had that long to navigate through a spanking-new tourney system. Which rocks, FYI. Major kudos, modders! 

I was going to post that in another thread titled "Tounaments in 2.5". I was reading through that and saw quite a few people having problems with the tourneys. So I figured I'd chime in. Community spirit and all that.

It's a great guide, especially for people newer to the game. Even a seasoned player can learn a thing or two tournament wise.

When you get comfortable enough I'd recommend turning auto-blocking off and up the damage received a bit. It changes the game immensely and you really have to focus/use more tactics. When I first started I played on the easiest settings and could just take a horse into any situation and mop up (Destroying entire armies by yourself). Will get boring quickly and  IMO the game is NOT supposed to be like that, hence the disservice comment.(Nor should you win every tournament you participate in or only comes in 2nd or 3rd due to your teammates kill stealing).

The first time you get smacked in the head for 200+ damage or catch a crossbow bolt to the grill your butthole will pucker up a little and the game becomes very exciting!

[Windyplains]

Enabling level scaling changes your level bonus from (+ 1/3 your level to + 1/2 your level) and (removes the looting limit).  In 2.53 I'll change this to simply key off of the difficulty score to improve variety since level scaling comprises a fair chunk of that score.

The tournament loot table is unique to the tournament system.

The first time you get smacked in the head for 200+ damage or catch a crossbow bolt to the grill your butthole will pucker up a little and the game becomes very exciting!

[jarlaxle1985]

After just starting a new game, before even getting any companions, I tried a tournament. Got slaughtered, under the same settings as the above. Even after toning down to the least difficult setting.

I was perplexed for a while. Till I started to notice who were the people knocking me out. These were random NPCs. Not my companions, as I'm used to.

So I went to hire all 12 of my companions I'm aiming for, then came back to try. Breezed through it.

Point? If you populate your tourney opponents with your own lowbie companions, you will shine. I guess that's why the option to not allow companions to spawn is there; for people who enjoy the immense challenge of fighting leveled NPCs in tourneys.

[Lavalya]

After just starting a new game, before even getting any companions, I tried a tournament. Got slaughtered, under the same settings as the above. Even after toning down to the least difficult setting.

I was perplexed for a while. Till I started to notice who were the people knocking me out. These were random NPCs. Not my companions, as I'm used to.

So I went to hire all 12 of my companions I'm aiming for, then came back to try. Breezed through it.

Point? If you populate your tourney opponents with your own lowbie companions, you will shine. I guess that's why the option to not allow companions to spawn is there; for people who enjoy the immense challenge of fighting leveled NPCs in tourneys.

Honestly I'm having no difficulty at all doing tournaments from level 1 with difficulty as high as possible minus the weapon choice. I just use a horse + enhanced weapon and one handed. Lance would work too but I still think its cheating.

[Eurafrica]

After just starting a new game, before even getting any companions, I tried a tournament. Got slaughtered, under the same settings as the above. Even after toning down to the least difficult setting.

I was perplexed for a while. Till I started to notice who were the people knocking me out. These were random NPCs. Not my companions, as I'm used to.

So I went to hire all 12 of my companions I'm aiming for, then came back to try. Breezed through it.

Point? If you populate your tourney opponents with your own lowbie companions, you will shine. I guess that's why the option to not allow companions to spawn is there; for people who enjoy the immense challenge of fighting leveled NPCs in tourneys.

Honestly I'm having no difficulty at all doing tournaments from level 1 with difficulty as high as possible minus the weapon choice. I just use a horse + enhanced weapon and one handed. Lance would work too but I still think its cheating.

This is why I switched to Random Equipment Assignment. Made the idea of being a tournament competitor better because you had to pay attention to all Proficiencies and Athletics. Horse + Sword/Shield + Enhanced Weapons will tear everyone up, even at Level 1 on Max Difficulty.

The real challenge is when you spawn in with a Bow and Arrow and an Archery skill of 40   

[Lavalya]

After just starting a new game, before even getting any companions, I tried a tournament. Got slaughtered, under the same settings as the above. Even after toning down to the least difficult setting.

I was perplexed for a while. Till I started to notice who were the people knocking me out. These were random NPCs. Not my companions, as I'm used to.

So I went to hire all 12 of my companions I'm aiming for, then came back to try. Breezed through it.

Point? If you populate your tourney opponents with your own lowbie companions, you will shine. I guess that's why the option to not allow companions to spawn is there; for people who enjoy the immense challenge of fighting leveled NPCs in tourneys.

Honestly I'm having no difficulty at all doing tournaments from level 1 with difficulty as high as possible minus the weapon choice. I just use a horse + enhanced weapon and one handed. Lance would work too but I still think its cheating.

This is why I switched to Random Equipment Assignment. Made the idea of being a tournament competitor better because you had to pay attention to all Proficiencies and Athletics. Horse + Sword/Shield + Enhanced Weapons will tear everyone up, even at Level 1 on Max Difficulty.

The real challenge is when you spawn in with a Bow and Arrow and an Archery skill of 40   

Yeah I do that now, but my first go around I wasnt as accostumed and couldnt figure out how to get the healthbars going : D