Bazza_ov_da_Norf
Recruit
This has been talked about now and then going back a long way, but as its still a problem in 1.6.1 I feel its worth bringing up again. Beyond the first couple of hours of gameplay - i.e at the point when the player stops needing to grind them - bandits quickly become a tedious nuisance instead of positively adding to the gameplay experience. Why and how can it be fixed?
Note: All of these points are from the perspective of being past that very early grind phase.
1: There's too many bandit parties.
Note: All of these points are from the perspective of being past that very early grind phase.
1: There's too many bandit parties.
- There's simply too many of them roaming around the map. Yes, certain gameplay mechanics alter their presence - but it seems too heavily skewed towards adding even more. It feels like no matter how good the conditions are - you're only a few minutes away from another annoying infestation to deal with.
- While AI Lords can also use bandits for levelling troops, the number of bandit parties very clearly exceeds the numbers needed for that to happen. If the number was adequate, there wouldn't be so many roaming bandit parties going completely unopposed by AI lords in the first place.
- The % chance of a lord "clearing" a nearby hideout is too low, and they don't do enough in real-time to combat the roaming bandit parties.
- When not at war, instead of wasting time & influence making unneeded armies, clearing bandits should be a priority.
- It's **EXTREMELY** immersion breaking to watch bandit party sizes balloon, just because the player is levelling up.
- As the player has passed the need for grinding bandits, it's adding no value to the gameplay by doing this and just creates other problems, like caravans being lost too often (even the upgraded type), bandit parties existing for longer and basically overrunning areas etc. It's just adding tedium and nothing positive to the gameplay experience.
- Bandit party size should fluctuate entirely based on gameplay mechanics/conditions affecting the world, and nothing to do with the player.
- I find it baffling that Manhunters aren't added, like they were in Warband. A minor faction that specifically exists to tackle bandits would help alleviate things.
- Another option would be to allow the player and AI lords to create small parties (say, 20 men) that will roam and attack bandits. They'd have a running wage cost, just like any other troop, and maybe limited to 2 parties per castle.
- Due to point 2, 3 and lack of 4, no matter how far into the game the player is - it's 90% up to the player to clean up the bandit mess or nothing will get done about it. For a game that's about creating a simulated world driven by AI decisions, this again feels like poor game design and isn't impacting the experience positively.
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