Expansion / Multiplayer suggestion thread

Wow, what awesome news!

Personally, something I'd really, really like to see in the expansion is greater environmental variety in the battlefields (and by extension, some better AI to best understand them). Maybe a better terrain generator that is capable of making some truly unique looking areas with pseudo-distinguishing characteristics in the landscape rather than everything in each landscape type looking mostly the same. And I definitely wouldn't be opposed to integrating some structural components... more battles with huts, farms, and windmills off to the side (that you could enter and fight inside, ideally).

And I'd love to see an overhaul of the sieges once the wall-breach battles are over. The fighting in the streets and in the keep is always so small-scale. Eight guys in the streets? Five in the castle? It would be great if the castle interior were to be greatly expanded upon such that you and your men have to move throughout the corridors and stairwells of the enemy stronghold while facing off against waves of defenders (again, some kind of AI improvement to keep defenders posted to key areas rather than all rushing at you would be important in making that work), and perhaps some non-linear paths during the fight. I'd also be all for old ruins posted along the game map that may or may not be inhabited by bandits (exploring said ruins and fighting bandits is probably the only way a "dungeon-crawl" type scenario could be included without breaking the atmosphere too much, right?) — ah, so much I'd love to see. But the game is, of course, fantastic as it is so even if very little is added to the single-player component, the addition of multiplayer is still wonderful, wonderful news.

Indeed great news!

With multiplayer added, I also hope, that the fighting system will be made better and expanded...

Oh and maybe a teammatch! 2 teams with live players, where each player would  have its own small army (10-20  AI soldiers), so there would be one great battle going on...

I would like to see ram bashing trough Castle gates in siege mode.

Also Somekinda of survivor mode could be fun. Something like 4 guys with horses try to survive waves of footmen as long as they can. And then there would be maybe a highscores list. It would engourage to teamwork.

Maybe Races on very spirited Coursers over really bad terrain might be fun. Especially if every player gets a bow and a few arrows.

A thought about character creation - almost the same thing as in single-player, no leveling up though, only some skill points ( 20-25) to distribute them.

12oz Jesus said:

As a suggestion for consideration, it might add some spice and give each MP battle more significance to add a system where the number of enemies killed (or goals achieved, if goals are implemented) gives players denars to be spent the following round on equipment - ala several popular FPS MP games.  Get a few killls, work your way up to that Shiny Lamellar armor and wield a balanced axe.  Rewards always seem more satisfying than simple points.

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Agreed, like in Counter-strike for example.

Hippotoxotai said:

or building a siege tower as Artimenner.

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I don't think I could handle that much fun.

In siege mode, each player gets to control one NPC.

"Everon send your NPC's up the ladder!"

"Bob20323, send your NPC to help cover Jim2312 advance!"

Yeah, stuff like that.

Vilhjalmr said:

Voice chat only. No text. None. Period.

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I disagree. We should have both voice chat and text, but also the ability to disable chat on both a server and an individual level for those who don't want to see other's idiotic banter.

I argee with Fei Dao, and a fade effect will be downright almost impossible

How about a theater mode/replay mode?

Moddability.

MountainBlade said:

for balance maybe servers will have classes that restrict your choice in equipment and maybe skills? So that if you want to have a bow on a horse you can't ride anything tougher than a courser or wear anything heavier than Khergit Guard armor for example.

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I would love this option, at least for player servers. Unbalanced equipment is a part of M&B yet I wouldn't want to see everyone wearing the same top tier armor.

EDIT: Also, it would be extremely cool if each player could have bots under his command. The article says you can have bots beyond the 32 players but doesn't mention if they're just there to fill out the army or if they're commandable. If every player was the commander of one unit it would add a lot to strategy even if the possible commands stayed the same as they are now.

hayabusa12 said:

Moddability.

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Armagan already stated it willl be moddable.

Infantry/Cavalry balance will be a much bigger problem, as no one will pick infantry unless they can compete. Lance/horse archer only M&B would be kind of dull.

maybe a 'protect the caravan' game type? you would have players defending a cart that is moving and players trying to destroy it before it reaches its destination, if it reaches the destination the defenders win.

The Pope said:

Infantry/Cavalry balance will be a much bigger problem, as no one will pick infantry unless they can compete. Lance/horse archer only M&B would be kind of dull.

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Plenty of ways for infantry to compete, including using a pike or two-handed weapon, or waiting for the horseman to lower his shield to attack, then nailing him with a ranged weapon. The latter would be even easier if the horseman was couching, without any active shield protection.

I don't know if this has been said before, but wouldn't a custom class system like CoD 4 work well?

The Pope said:

Infantry/Cavalry balance will be a much bigger problem, as no one will pick infantry unless they can compete. Lance/horse archer only M&B would be kind of dull.

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You underestimate the skills of infantry players. It's quite possible to dodge a lance, jump in the air, and stab the rider in the face as he goes by.

As I see it, playing as a lancer will become much harder.

As for horse archers, simply make the horse archery skill hard to get so they'll be less accurate.

It's a lot easier to do these anti cavalry tricks against the AI than a human player.

I suggest a game mode similar to conquest in the Battlefield franchise games, without ticket system thus making it similar to Domination in Call of Duty United Offensive. Maybe we can call the game mode Invasion. There should be a few points/areas on a map and two teams struggling to capture and hold them. I want to give a map idea; Praven. Possible points on the map includes gatehouse, towncenter, marketplace, streets, castle courtyard and keep.

For every point you capture, your team gains 5 points on it every minute.
If a team manages to capture all points, they will instantly win.
If not, there is a time limit and when the clock stops, which ever team gains the most points in the end wins.

So if your team simply sucks and will not win by points because of the points you captured are so few and scores earned are so few, just fight harder and capture all the points if you can for instant win.

What do you all think?

A survivor mode, either one guy holds off everyone with a bow while the others have their fists.

OR!!!!!

A small team, preferably 4, hold off wave upon wave of enemies. Mods will enable it to be zombies or something.

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Yeah, 4 human players fights against against waves of bandits, kingdom troops, zombies what ever.

hayabusa12 said:

I don't know if this has been said before, but wouldn't a custom class system like CoD 4 work well?

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yup, its already been said. But really i think it could work pretty well. Or like in cod5, Where you can get more custom classes as you advance trough levels. Are you now referring to only the custom classes or the whole rank and challenges stuff too?