搜索结果: *

My suggestion would be that if you opt to let the lovers be together, you should have a chance to talk the father into accepting it. If you succeed, you don't get any money but you do get the relationship gain. If you fail your conversation checks, you get one more option where you offer up a dowry, something like 2k gold or whatever 'sizable enough to noticed' is once economics gets balanced out, to get him to grudgingly go along with it (no relationship gain, but still quest exp) or just accept the loss (proper failure, relationship loss, no reward, ect...).

Several quests that do this, like herd delivery quests. You arrive, city is under siege, you can't get in to make the drop off, and eventually fail unless you luck out and the battle ends fast. Not sure how viable it would be, but it would be nice if the game could offer extensions for these situations. Maybe some kind of scale of diminishing returns, where even a late delivery is acceptable, just for reduced reward.

Even just having the quest cancel itself without counting as a failure when a village is raided or a town besieged would be an acceptable stop gap though.

Could be interesting.

What would the ground rules be?

Looters.

Maybe not really in the spirit of things, but I still remained utterly shocked and awed at how often it seems like these unarmored, rock-throwing idiots with kitchen knives somehow manage to lucky-shot my tier 3-5 units into one-hit deaths or berserk on them and still manage to kill them.

As for guys who are actually fighting for me, Hired Blades would be one. Everyone I saw talk about them seemed to rank them rather low on the infantry totem pole and their tiny shields made them seem extremely unimpressive after dealing with the heavily armored and boardshield carrying Rhodoks for so long, yet I've taken them up against everything from Huscarls to cavalry of all stripes and they continually manage to come out on top.

Speaking of the Rhodoks, the truly lowly Rhodok Tribesman has always somehow performed miracles in my games. Maybe it's because I always make them a second-line unit who are never absorbing the initial impact of an attack and are just getting in ping-hits that take down already weakened foes, but never the less it's always mind-boggling for me to see things like 'Swadian Knight killed by Rhodok Tribesman' being spammed in the message buffer. Those long reach pole arms really do seem to help, when they actually get the chance to use them.

Felonious 说:

The only reasons crossbowmen really need armor in field battles would be if you're not arranging your force well, you're completely overwhelmed, or you're fighting a cavalry intensive force, such as Khergits.

点击展开...

I actually had my crossbow's positioned nicely on a hilltop that was steep enough to force most cavalry from a charge to a walk and was fighting on more or less even numbers. The slaughtered happened because all the Mamlukes were part of second-wave reinforcements. Normally I have my own cavalry move to intercept, but I hadn't been expecting reinforcements and set my cavalry free to hunt down routed enemies. The reinforcements message got lost in the buffer and I didn't even realize the Mamlukes were there until I started getting messages about someone clobbering my crossbows.

Rhodok Sharpshooters, even Swadian Sharpshooters, could have at least held out long enough for my other troops to regroup and ride rescue, but the awful armor and weapons the mercenaries had meant they dropped like flies once the Mamlukes got in among them. Which they did, since most of the crossbows were shooting at the few remaining infantry who weren't on the run, instead of the solid wall of steel and horseflesh trotting slowly up the hill to mow them down.

So, it's not always bad positioning or being overwhelmed. Sometimes you just can't react quick enough to an unexpected turn in the battle. Which is fine by me. Keeps the game interesting.

On the same note, one thing I would love to see is for sieges to have an effect on the cityscape.

Always kind of drives me crazy when I'm allowed into a city under siege by a faction I'm neutral to and everything inside is business as usual. I think it would be great to see panic and worry. Prices in the markets skyrocket, particularly for food. Mercenaries vanish from the taverns because they've already been hired to either defend the city or specific homes and businesses. Buying "a round for everyone" means nothing because no one is coming to the tavern. Troops are on the streets. The castle is under lock down and unless you're friends with the lord you're not allowed to just stroll in.

Later in the siege, you might see bodies on the street or, if they're running low on supplies, find yourself being attacked by townsfolk after your food. Or maybe even see/hear stones crashing into walls or background buildings.

Not that the advice isn't appreciated or well intended, but I think people are missing my point.

I'm pretty aware that I'm not "using them right" when it comes to mercenaries. That's actually the whole point. The trial and challenge of taking an all mercenary army into the field. Of course I use them to fill gaps in my army, because they are my army. They're all I got.

Which is also why I end up sometimes having to train them or find trouble getting exactly the right replacements. Since the type you find in the tavern is random, you can end up in the situation I was in, where poor luck meant it took an entire month of tavern hunting and watchmen training to replace my crossbowmen.

The funny thing is that despite my complaints about the cost, I think I've ended up with a larger bank account than any other game. Yes, my automated weekly income from businesses and contracts is nowhere near enough to cover the weekly cost of my troops paychecks, but in my over zealousness to ensure I don't run out of money I've ended up raking in TONS from other sources. I hadn't even really noticed, because I'd been spending it decking my character and companions out in top-grade weapons and armor. The sort of stuff I couldn't begin to afford as early into my other games as I do here. 

Being able to tackle more difficult missions and fights from the get-go helped a lot. I could take down giant bandit groups, huge and wealthy caravans, even take down a few paper tiger nobles who would have probably swallowed me with sheer numbers if I were using faction troops.

Really just curious about the experiences anyone else who has tried this have been like. What difficulties they've run into or triumphs they've unexpectedly accomplished.

Ludial 说:

actually, merc xbows are great - their proficiency places them as the second-best crossbowmen in Calradia (alongside Rhodok veteran crossbowmen and above Swadian sharpies). Additionally, their price is somewhat lower than other xbows with similar ranged ability (Rhodok and Swadian sharpies) while also being much faster runners both on the map and in battle(athletics 7, only matched by Nord huscarls and veteran archers, plus light equipment).

点击展开...

Huh, I just double checked and you're right. For some reason I thought they only had 80 proficiency with their crossbow, but it's actually 130. It's everything else they've got 80 proficiency in which, combined with their extremely weak armor, is probably why they get torn apart when anything actually reaches them. Sadly doesn't help the siege situation any, since Hired Blades and Mercenary Swordsmen (let alone cavalry) still don't make a very effective shield wall to absorb defensive fire, but still gives me a little more respect for them than I had before. Might have to hire on a few more in the future.

Hm... little sad to hear that it's as simple as "build dyers everywhere." I thought maybe there was a trick to it, watching local market prices and stuff.

Honestly, the whole import/export thing would work a lot better if they let you build/invest in your own caravans to deal with it, instead of making you run across the map. It ends up kind like taking cattle herding jobs. No matter what the pay off, the time you have to put in and the dullness of the task make it unappealing. Why make milk runs back and forth across Calradia when you can make more money, faster, by selling bandits into slavery or stripping their bodies?

JTDC 说:

I make my men sing "It's a Long Way to Tipperary" when we're on campaign.  Goodbye, Picadilly, farewell Leicester Square....

点击展开...

On that note, the triumphant war song of the Rhodok army in our glorious war against the Vaegir threat...

"The mademoiselle from Radoghir,
parlez vous?
The mademoiselle from Radoghir,
parlez vous?
The mademoiselle form Radoghir,
she hasn't been paid in fourty years!
Hinky dinky parlez vous!"

KuroiNekouPL 说:

Nope... You're drawing bow string in completely different way than crossbow, and you use other strength. Just like strength of drawing bow do not help you when you fight hand to hand. Your speed increases with your proficiency in crossbows.
Also, crossbow should never be as fast as bow...

点击展开...

And the way you wield and axe in combat is completely different to how you'd handle a sword, yet they use the exact same proficiencies and skills. C'mon on man, sometimes reality takes a sideline to gameplay.

Also, you're right that crossbows should never be as fast as bows. That was silly. Put it down to me posting the idea at 1:30am.

I've never actually noticed my reload times getting any faster at higher skills though, just the targeting indicator getting smaller faster. Hence why having something that boosts a crossbows capabilities seemed fitting, since they're the only weapon that didn't have a secondary skill to do that. Even if you're right about the reload times getting faster with higher, having them get a little faster on top of that would at least be throwing crossbows a bone.

Again, please forgive me.

That was based off events that transpired mostly in my current game tonight. Nearly all the details are true, making the events that cost Rhodok half of it's territory so hilariously tragic I felt inspired to share.

Reland really does seem to have a fetish for cattle and women. Every time I see him, he's got at least ten peasant women prisoner and when I later visited the villages he had looted, they were always begging me to bring them cows. Not too sure just what he does with them all, but I took a guess.

He has also never seen a potential battle he didn't flee from. This is probably because he's now landless (his own damn fault) and only has 30 or so troops with no way to replace them. Of course, since Graveth refuses to appoint anyone else marshal, that means the whole army runs off with him whenever anything more threatening than a small looter band wanders within ten miles of him.

Next time we go to war with Swadia, I'm talking Matheas and Gutlans into coming with me to retake Yelan before Reland has a chance to assemble the army again, since as soon as that happens we can kiss actually getting anything done goodbye.

Edit: Oh, I've also now gained two levels thanks to Reland assembling the army, having us stand around for a few days, then sending everyone home. RHODOK!

Uh, for the record, I'm not actually thinking about an 'equality between the sexes mod.' Count Jyland is not and his opinions are not affiliated with me!

Gogol Khan 说:

3- Greater interactions with NPCs. The initial missions with the merchant are great stuff. The fact that nobles can take offense when you turn down their request for help impolitely is great too. In M&B, being polite or gruff made no difference. It ought to. Further things could be made of NPCs without too much tampering. For example, when a noble from your side has been taken by the enemy, would it not be wonderful if his wife or daughter came begging you for money or help? And, of course, if you help, financially or otherwise by freeing their father, well, let's just say you're in a good position to blackmail said family into a marriage. It doesn't have to be complicated - A few screens, a few options...

点击展开...

The same idea struck me just the other evening. After a noble I was friends with and his son both got taken prisoner, there was no one left to ask me to rescue them. When I spoke to his wife about them, she just rather off-offhandedly mentioned how they were both being held in an enemy fortress. She wasn't upset or even curious about their fate.

If nothing else comes from this, one thing I would really like to see is deeper interactions with the ladies of court. As it stands now, they have exactly two real purposes. Either they can tell you where someone is or you can marry them. Consistently, they do absolutely nothing else. They don't ask for your help, they never offer their own. They're just sign posts someone put a dress on. It would be fun to see them giving out quests or, if they liked you enough, even trying to play matchmaker between you and their unmarried children. The romantics among them might even go as far as to help you carry out elicit meetings when she approves of you but her husband does not.

Captain_Octavius 说:

What about a +1 Morale for every male/female couple in your party?

点击展开...

Tsk, what a filthy mind. I love it. 

But more seriously, the reason I think the morale boost would be nice and make sense is not because the Nords are seeing women fight, but figures of fable and legend.

Starting out, the raw recruited female Nord is nothing more than a free-spirited young woman out to seek excitement and fortune in war. She may be following a tradition laid down by her family, accompanying a brother or father or husband, but even more likely it is of her own accord. Head filled with lodge tales about the epic and beautifully tragic shieldmaidens Brnhild or Vi Verundi, the battlefield is something romanticized and glorified to her. She is more of a burden on the army than an aid to it.

By the next tiers, the romance has faded somewhat. She has seen battle and come to understand just how Brnild or Vi Verundi met their fates in the service to their jarls. She has come to accept her own limitations as well. She will never stand alone against one hundred foes and fight for hours to buy her lord a chance for escape. Yet, she is not willing to give up the battlefield. She is a Nord. The blood of dragons flows through her veins. Pride, both her own and her families, would not allow it. So, she takes an active effort to cease being a star-eyed burden and aid her fellow soldiers however she can. She trains in spear and shield and sword or travels with the hunters to scout out and harass the foe.

She proves her worth in the next few tiers and by the final tier is a force to be reckoned with. To the eyes of her fellow Nord, she has become the dream her younger self had abandoned. The honored shield maiden who stands proud and equal among the men, steadfast and loyal, the stone to which all other soldiers can brace against when the winds of battle batter at them. The valkyrja flitting swiftly through the misty woods like something more spirit than flesh, so often ahead of the army that when they catch up to her it is to find her standing over the bodies of their fallen foes like one of the old god's own cup barer's come down to take the worthy away.

That is why they'd get the morale bonus. Y'know, provided it could even be done.

Captain_Octavius 说:

Nice read. Personally, the idea just occurred to me to make the female troop line completely ranged. The reasoning behind it would be that males by nature tend to have more physical strength and more weight, and thus suit a melee role in an army better, leaving the ranged support role for the females.

点击展开...

Agreed, in part, hence the notion of using them as fast skirmishers or back rank infantry instead of frontline troops. The idea of shield maidens holding the line is more that if the front ranks fall, the maidens can hold out and keep the enemy occupied while the army rallies. They might die buying the army that time, but then every epic about shield maidens ends with a heroic death, so that comes with the territory.

I don't really want female troops to supplant the pre-existing male soldiers in anyway, but to compliment them.

I'm a... "Get knocked off your horse-y."

I've tired, lord knows, but I just cannot get the hang of mounted combat in this game. I'm worthless at it. Can't hit nothing with nothing, unless it involves having the horse stand completely still and plunking at someone with a ranged weapon. Seems like any time I actually try to charge something, even going full gallop and after a lone target, either me or my horse is going down and the guy is going to get away without a scratch.

Tried taking a 'mounted infantry' approch. Y'know, ride near to the conflict, dismount, then fight, but it seemed like half the time I'd do that, something would then spook the horse and it would either run off and I'd never see it again or it would run me over and get in my way.

Seriously, screw horses. They're all jerks anyway.