1.5.7 extremely Difficult for NPC to level up

[veronicaaltoids]

so I have been playing for 500+ days, and I let my NPC fight every battle, charge just like a Calvary
give them best weapon and armor, then what happen after 500+ days??

it only level up 1-2 level

for REAL????!!!! omg even those low level troops level up faster than them

and their skill doesn't grow much too.
the "surgeon" guy only level up his medicine from 80 to 100, in 500 days......

I mean , come on, if NPC can't level up, they are just useless assets to me.
why do I even need NPC ??? unless for scouting, suegeon, and engineer , and quatermaster??

 

[Tryvenyal]

Isn't they on like level 15-20 when you hire them?

Many companions have a hard time leveling their primary skills, they get low if any XP.

 

[veronicaaltoids]

Isn't they on like level 15-20 when you hire them?

Many companions have a hard time leveling their primary skills, they get low if any XP.

yes 15-20 I considered them low level still
after playing 500 days I would at least expected them to level up 10 level at least

how come my normal average farmer peseasent can get level up to lvl 26. the highest level soldiers
but normal NPC can't ??? they should be like super soldiers

 

[Lord Irontoe]

This isn't new. Its been like that since launch and people have been complaining about it for just as long but nothing really changes.

 

[Zorion_no]

What? I'm thinking its sounds like your not "paying" attention to your companions strength.
I'm not haveing that issue at all.

You sure they are "suited" to lvl up those skills you equip them for?
Example if they have 10 or less rideing, it will take "ages" for them to lvl up not to mention if they dont have any focus points in it already.

Then you have the "red skills" meaning they cant progress those.
I personally though typically put them as archers all of them(unless they come mounted and have good skill in it(brother + wife typically).
As archers I tend to give them crossbows(unless they have a high skill in Bow to start out with).
Crossbows suffer less from lack of skill to use, thus they hit more and lvl more.

Shady way of sorts is of course to have them smith aswell(although if you wanna do the smithy without being exploitative you can do that though)
(explotative is makeing 2h swords and move sliders all the way, then once you've unlocked Javelins do that and move the sliders all the way(cheap materials for Javelins, and it lvl's like crazy and sell for crazy(I use it to gift to lords for relations, or when I'm makeing them defect!)

But yah even without useing the splotative ways, I have no issues with makeing them lvl.
Afaik it gets easier down the line with 1 skill(I dont recall on the spot which tree its in, where xp is shared among them).

Overall the new system is neat in one way, but on the other hand it do have its flaws.
(specially imo on the caps to skills based on the focus and abilty)
Too reach 300 you need 5 focus and 7 ability I belive it is.
I have 5 focus and 6 in one skill and its now capped at 274 firm.
Antoehr skill I have 5 focus and 7 and I've hit the 275, and its still moveing onwards.

Ideally the ui could be more informative than it is, since the bars that tell you where the cap is, isnt accurate(as you can push past it until it becomes red).

End of wall of text - clue is to make sure they arent red in the skill you are trying to lvl up.

 

[veronicaaltoids]

What? I'm thinking its sounds like your not "paying" attention to your companions strength.
I'm not haveing that issue at all.

You sure they are "suited" to lvl up those skills you equip them for?
Example if they have 10 or less rideing, it will take "ages" for them to lvl up not to mention if they dont have any focus points in it already.

Then you have the "red skills" meaning they cant progress those.
I personally though typically put them as archers all of them(unless they come mounted and have good skill in it(brother + wife typically).
As archers I tend to give them crossbows(unless they have a high skill in Bow to start out with).
Crossbows suffer less from lack of skill to use, thus they hit more and lvl more.

Shady way of sorts is of course to have them smith aswell(although if you wanna do the smithy without being exploitative you can do that though)
(explotative is makeing 2h swords and move sliders all the way, then once you've unlocked Javelins do that and move the sliders all the way(cheap materials for Javelins, and it lvl's like crazy and sell for crazy(I use it to gift to lords for relations, or when I'm makeing them defect!)

But yah even without useing the splotative ways, I have no issues with makeing them lvl.
Afaik it gets easier down the line with 1 skill(I dont recall on the spot which tree its in, where xp is shared among them).

Overall the new system is neat in one way, but on the other hand it do have its flaws.
(specially imo on the caps to skills based on the focus and abilty)
Too reach 300 you need 5 focus and 7 ability I belive it is.
I have 5 focus and 6 in one skill and its now capped at 274 firm.
Antoehr skill I have 5 focus and 7 and I've hit the 275, and its still moveing onwards.

Ideally the ui could be more informative than it is, since the bars that tell you where the cap is, isnt accurate(as you can push past it until it becomes red).

End of wall of text - clue is to make sure they arent red in the skill you are trying to lvl up.

some personal skills are easy to level up, like scouting, quatermaster, but surgeon is very difficult to level up
I am talking about the NPC player level, when I hire them they are 15-20 level, after 500+ days they only up 1-2 level

they only kill 1-2 enemy in every battle, while I kill 10 at least, in big battle I kill 20-40+ myself before I knock down

I give them the best armor and weapon, but they still acting like low level troops and so difficult to level up

 

[Zorion_no]

some personal skills are easy to level up, like scouting, quatermaster, but surgeon is very difficult to level up
I am talking about the NPC player level, when I hire them they are 15-20 level, after 500+ days they only up 1-2 level

they only kill 1-2 enemy in every battle, while I kill 10 at least, in big battle I kill 20-40+ myself before I knock down

I give them the best armor and weapon, but they still acting like low level troops and so difficult to level up

I just started a play today, and have had no real issue.
Note that in autocalc battles they kill like you say 2-4, but they typically improve a skill abit(not enough to lvl up naturally, but bump them up for progress).

I do tend to assign them to archer, and micro-manage archers abit so they are more likely to get some kills in.

Overall though, the leveling process is less than desirable overall.

As you say medical skill is just plain nitemare to lvl up if you play on the lower difficulty settings.
Bump it up maybe? so more troops get wounded in combat, then return to town and heal up, that should rack it up nicely.
Bigger chance of soldiers getting "wounded in combat" instead of dying if you actually fight the battles.(which afaik do progress the medical skill aswell).

I have a "wish-list" in terms of town/village quests.
*Medic related quest, where you have to gather some materials(like linen & oil to make bandages for ppl).
*Engineering quest where you "help rebuild" after sieges/raids, gather tools and spend 1-3 days in the place building for a nice xp.

That way some of those skills would be easier to get non-combat wize but also to send your companions to do them, like the art of trade etc.

 

[veronicaaltoids]

I just started a play today, and have had no real issue.
Note that in autocalc battles they kill like you say 2-4, but they typically improve a skill abit(not enough to lvl up naturally, but bump them up for progress).

I do tend to assign them to archer, and micro-manage archers abit so they are more likely to get some kills in.

Overall though, the leveling process is less than desirable overall.

As you say medical skill is just plain nitemare to lvl up if you play on the lower difficulty settings.
Bump it up maybe? so more troops get wounded in combat, then return to town and heal up, that should rack it up nicely.
Bigger chance of soldiers getting "wounded in combat" instead of dying if you actually fight the battles.(which afaik do progress the medical skill aswell).

I have a "wish-list" in terms of town/village quests.
*Medic related quest, where you have to gather some materials(like linen & oil to make bandages for ppl).
*Engineering quest where you "help rebuild" after sieges/raids, gather tools and spend 1-3 days in the place building for a nice xp.

That way some of those skills would be easier to get non-combat wize but also to send your companions to do them, like the art of trade etc.

the surgeon medicine skill is just so so difficult to level up

and also the Engineer too, how could the engineer to improve the skill while the NPC doesn't know how to operate the siege machine during the seige???

I would hope if my party attend a seige attack or defence, the NPC should auto get some exp for seige, whether they actually operate the seige machine or not.

other wise there's no way to improve it

 

[Rycon Caldestan]

I have a "wish-list" in terms of town/village quests.
*Medic related quest, where you have to gather some materials(like linen & oil to make bandages for ppl).
*Engineering quest where you "help rebuild" after sieges/raids, gather tools and spend 1-3 days in the place building for a nice xp.

That would be excellent. Really there could be quests like that for most/all of the skills.

 

[Zorion_no]

the surgeon medicine skill is just so so difficult to level up

and also the Engineer too, how could the engineer to improve the skill while the NPC doesn't know how to operate the siege machine during the seige???

I would hope if my party attend a seige attack or defence, the NPC should auto get some exp for seige, whether they actually operate the seige machine or not.

other wise there's no way to improve it

As I touched upon before as soon as you can if you want to invest into Engineering on companions - put at the very minimum 2 focus points there.
The impact is huge.
Generally speaking same for medic aswell or any other skills, haveing 2 focus instead of 1 helps alot.

So if you siege and they are in your party(lead you lead an army and they lead a party in the army of their own - you'll see it tick in).

Overall they are makeing improvements to the pace it would seem that companions learn, but I still wish overall there was other and or better options(like more shared xp in the party when doing "world map stuff" like build up of a siege, why do only I get the xp for it, and not all in the party(I'm guessing they would learn something building the ramparts, equipments etc).

But yah put 2 focus points into any skill you want them to improve as the effect is noticable imo.

 

[Ananda_The_Destroyer]

the "surgeon" guy only level up his medicine from 80 to 100, in 500 days......

Lucky

The leveling system is bad and it's even worse when combined with "lol random so crazy" wanderer stat loadouts.
I'm okay with wander spawning and names/appearances being random, but their stat builds need to be hand crafted to fit their role and allow some player agency. I also think they should join with their perks un-selected. Same for spouses TBH, I was horrified to get a spouse in a game yesterday and see they had different perks then in previous my game. Perks, as petty as they are, are are only leg up on dealing with some new mechanics such as rebelions and skill nerfs to some units (via captain perks to balance them) and just not having the one we need isn't okay.

 

[stevehoos]

It's very poorly designed.

 

[Monkey]

It's very poorly designed.

Character development is among the worst things in Bannerlord IMO. It's not just too slow. There are other problems with it too. It has been pointed out a couple of times over the months since the EA release. Experience should be completely separate from skills, for example, IMO. They took a step in the right direction, but still didn't completely untie leveling from skill progression. The whole thing is worthy of a dedicated discussion of its own and a complete overhaul, which would be best IMO, would be a huge endeavor and would definitely take a toll in development of other areas/features of the game. Nevertheless, it would be completely worth it IMHO.

 

[Abyssos]

one word for you: smithing

 

[veronicaaltoids]

one word for you: smithing

I never smithing, seems very difficult and have to gather so many resources
where do you find charcoal? from hardwood??

 

[Zorion_no]

I never smithing, seems very difficult and have to gather so many resources
where do you find charcoal? from hardwood??

Hardwood is made into charcoal.
You can get materials like Iron ore which can then be refined, but also you can smelt the weapons of your foes to get mats aswell.

go look it up on tutorials etc on youtube.

Smithing is "the best" way to lvl up atm, for both player and companions, as it gives you more focus which you can put into other spots, but also put a few in to smithing so they can max it out(Imo).
Higher in the smithing tree there is even several choices to add attributes aswell.

You do need to rest abit after smithing, but like 1 day tops.
Atm make 2h weapons and pull all the sliders to max imo.
Once you've unlocked javelins do the same with it until you hit max.

The price of the weapons you craft will be crazy priced, and thus your skill zooms up.(faaaast)

But back on track its true that overall to the op point that skilling up normally is ehem "slow and tedious" in general for comanions and it dont help that they have the HARDCAPS on skills either(that should be removed just gimp the progress when its red, until you actually hit the hardcap of the game(300?330 or whatever it is, never had it that high tbh).

Maybe they should be more generous with attribute points aswell, to either each lvl or 2nd lvl and not as its today.

 

[veronicaaltoids]

Hardwood is made into charcoal.
You can get materials like Iron ore which can then be refined, but also you can smelt the weapons of your foes to get mats aswell.

go look it up on tutorials etc on youtube.

Smithing is "the best" way to lvl up atm, for both player and companions, as it gives you more focus which you can put into other spots, but also put a few in to smithing so they can max it out(Imo).
Higher in the smithing tree there is even several choices to add attributes aswell.

You do need to rest abit after smithing, but like 1 day tops.
Atm make 2h weapons and pull all the sliders to max imo.
Once you've unlocked javelins do the same with it until you hit max.

The price of the weapons you craft will be crazy priced, and thus your skill zooms up.(faaaast)

But back on track its true that overall to the op point that skilling up normally is ehem "slow and tedious" in general for comanions and it dont help that they have the HARDCAPS on skills either(that should be removed just gimp the progress when its red, until you actually hit the hardcap of the game(300?330 or whatever it is, never had it that high tbh).

Maybe they should be more generous with attribute points aswell, to either each lvl or 2nd lvl and not as its today.

thank you very much , I never really look into smithing , but I will watch youtube to learn now

 

[8uzzard]

For me, its impossible to play without "bannerlord tweaks" mod! There you have sliders for the experience along with looots of other stuff like tournaments, castle, towns almost everything you need to tweak to be in the borders of the realistic gameplay.

 

[Abyssos]

its pretty simple ,,,get hardwood...make into charcoal..after u reach 25lvl on smith u start making 3 charcoal from 2 wood..allways chose steelmaker perks...buy all pugios and alot throwing knifes..good iron/steel etc resource ..then for start make 2hand swords..good lving, after that pray to the smithinggods u can unlock 2hand maces/some polearms(with good swingcut dmage) and ofc the javelins special the imperial simple spearhead /harpoon head..and the world is urs YW hehe

 

[Monkey]

It would be nice if you could just naturally level up and get stronger in a good pace as you play how you like to play instead of having to resort to exploits or mods to "fix" that part of the gameplay for you. I do have my hopes TaleWorlds will continue to adopt more things from mods (like the developer console and settlement icons) and tweak skill progression further for a smoother and more satisfying experience.