(268) 268 B.C. suggestions and ideas / item requests

[ealabor]

Post here your Ideas, suggestions, and critiques which you believe could better the mod.

I only ask that you be thoughtful and make sure that such ideas havent been suggested first to reduce reduntant answering.

 

[Israeli_IL]

I like to see greek phalanx and romen turtle formation
that will be great
could the game do this?

 

[ealabor]

I like to see greek phalanx and romen turtle formation
that will be great
could the game do this?

A testudo formation likely wont happen.

however there are several formation scripts floating about, and I would hope to get one implimented for a possible phalanx.

 

[Merlkir]

the phalangites also need two more things besides formations:
- longer spears - correct sarissas.
- I suggest you don't give them a shield. Have someone rig you a shield to the arm of the armor's model. It'll look like a shield and you can increase passive defence. The protection of the phalangite shield would likely be rather passive, you can't block much holding a 5m long spear The phalangites are really strong now, but not for the right reasons.

 

[Spawn Of Achilles]

I would like to see more infantry and less cavalry in game, but thats just a personal preference.  Because I find it much more exciting to be a hoplite versus infantry than a hoplite versus cavalry.

 

[ealabor]

the phalangites also need two more things besides formations:
- longer spears - correct sarissas.
- I suggest you don't give them a shield. Have someone rig you a shield to the arm of the armor's model. It'll look like a shield and you can increase passive defence. The protection of the phalangite shield would likely be rather passive, you can't block much holding a 5m long spear The phalangites are really strong now, but not for the right reasons.

- Sarissa: yes ive covered this topic before, and the conclusion was that new models are to be implemented and that I was going to set them to unlootable/unsellable and not allow the player to use them (as to not exploit them on horseback). The models just havent been crafted yet.

As far as the phalangites shields go I havent decided on that yet. The original plan is to use reduced size bronze hoplons and set the surface block area really minimal, and the Argyraspides would have slightly larger shields. Appending a shield to armor model actually sounds like a good idea. Not sure how I would increase passive defense though?

I would like to see more infantry and less cavalry in game, but thats just a personal preference.  Because I find it much more exciting to be a hoplite versus infantry than a hoplite versus cavalry.

It is likely when formations are implemented, they will give phalanx/hoplite units and edge against cavalry. If that doesnt work, I may look at reducing horse survivability or speed across the board. I myself am annoyed by the cavalry advantage. However I wouldnt want to cripple them, just bring them to reasonable levels, to where they arent overkill while at the same time not having the AI expend them meaninglessly

 

[Spawn Of Achilles]

Fair enough, I just don't like having to chase down dozens of horse archers due to the fact that they never charge!

 

[Lyze]

This just came to mind. It might be elaborate, extravagant, too painful, or just plain annoying, but it is a possibility. I notice in the game that many of the 'villages' are possibly misrepresenting their historical counterpart in the sense that the original 'village' was more than just a collection of huts and farms. Would it be possible to include a tavern and a goods merchant, or something to that extent, in a few villages? Of course, it would be to make them seem larger than just 'villages', but not massive like the towns. Perhaps it could be done. But it's really more for the aesthetics and  perceived realism of the game than anything.

 

[TITANAS84]

hi guys.i play eagle radiant cross and i see very long pikes(laurian pike 340 lenght) and i think is good for philip phalanx style.same lenght have swadia pike but handle upper of body,this is good for traditional hoplite-phalanx.i post here if i am wrong move to new equipment.philip phalanx style maybe have smaller shields and increase size hoplon of hoplite .

 

[ealabor]

This just came to mind. It might be elaborate, extravagant, too painful, or just plain annoying, but it is a possibility. I notice in the game that many of the 'villages' are possibly misrepresenting their historical counterpart in the sense that the original 'village' was more than just a collection of huts and farms. Would it be possible to include a tavern and a goods merchant, or something to that extent, in a few villages? Of course, it would be to make them seem larger than just 'villages', but not massive like the towns. Perhaps it could be done. But it's really more for the aesthetics and  perceived realism of the game than anything.

I had retitled villages to towns, and towns to cities along with all the associated references, but had to scrap all the work when I had an error with the script module, to where i was too lazy to hunt down the comma or whatever the value was that was causing such error. Needless to say villages remain named villages etc.

the reason why I dont fret over that, I that I have plans to do away with villages entirely and adapt a different style of settlement format.

 

[ealabor]

Moved

Why don't the Spartan Hoplites (I hope I typed it right) wear the spartan helmet, instead they wear somekind of an hat like thingy - Sorry just closed the game

Edit: The "hat kind of thingy" is Pilos Helmet - searched it trough Mount & Blade Unofficial troop editor.  You can find it here http://forums.taleworlds.com/index.php/topic,34154.0.html. Basically its a great program if you want to change what troops wear to your own liking.

If by Spartan helmet you mean Corinthian, that's because around 270 B.C. it would have been used vary rarely, if at all, due to restricted hearing and vision. The Pilos helmet is more accurate to the period.

 

[Lyze]

I might get the proverbial hook for saying this, but I would like to see incorporation of Bandit King code, if possible, so that you could be a 'rebel general' or some sort of 'self-appointed' leader. It is probably not historically accurate, but would be quite fun, especially with the varied map and political dynamics going on with all of the factions. That's just my hopes and desires though. Probably frivolous.

 

[ealabor]

I might get the proverbial hook for saying this, but I would like to see incorporation of Bandit King code, if possible, so that you could be a 'rebel general' or some sort of 'self-appointed' leader. It is probably not historically accurate, but would be quite fun, especially with the varied map and political dynamics going on with all of the factions. That's just my hopes and desires though. Probably frivolous.

I wont backlash on people with crafty ideas.

There is a possibility that I might flog some folks who dont read the posted readme's or make suggestions that have already been suggested 

As far as your suggestion goes, i'll be all for it if they are willing to share the script. I played the mod and agree its a good set of scripts and fun.

I do have plans to implement a sort of script which will call for a civil war with your faction leige, but then again I also have plans to win a million dollars on a powerball ticket..

Scripters seem to be in short supply, so im now in the process of educating myself

 

[Merlkir]

the phalangites also need two more things besides formations:
- longer spears - correct sarissas.
- I suggest you don't give them a shield. Have someone rig you a shield to the arm of the armor's model. It'll look like a shield and you can increase passive defence. The protection of the phalangite shield would likely be rather passive, you can't block much holding a 5m long spear The phalangites are really strong now, but not for the right reasons.

- Sarissa: yes ive covered this topic before, and the conclusion was that new models are to be implemented and that I was going to set them to unlootable/unsellable and not allow the player to use them (as to not exploit them on horseback). The models just havent been crafted yet.

As far as the phalangites shields go I havent decided on that yet. The original plan is to use reduced size bronze hoplons and set the surface block area really minimal, and the Argyraspides would have slightly larger shields. Appending a shield to armor model actually sounds like a good idea. Not sure how I would increase passive defense though?

that's the lame thing about this solution, you would simply increase the defence value of the chest part of the armor. But it works somehow...TLD uses it for bucklers strapped on shoulders/arms - heavy kataphrakts use this armor..

 

[Rosacrux]

If you manage to implement the phalanx (hoplite and sarisa and legio - is it even possible to get the triple acies to work in some feasible way in M&B??? -  formation) and spice up the whole thingy (more varied missions, player only events, better starting character variety -  I would look towards Expanded Gameplay II or Band of Warriors for the latter) methinks there doesn't take much to make this king of all mods! It's a great work, played a couple of hours more last night and I couldn't drag myself to bed.


A minor nitpick: It should be "hellenic (which means "Greek") cities"  and not "hellenistic cities" (the latter being the designation for the post-Alexander kingdoms ie. Ptolemaic, Seleucid etc. and not Greek proper city-states). Other than that, playing as the Hellenes is a pain in the arse, their settlements being scattered over 2/3 of the map. I love it 

Oh, missed to say this: I wholeheartly agree with Merlkir on the phalanx thingy. To make them more accurate the really long pike plus a solution about the shield, is a must.

Also, another minor nitpick, I think the gauls and the dacians are overpowerd. A tad bit.

 

[Legionary]

I suggest you lower the price of mercenaries

 

[lostone84]

Hey, congrats on the release and sub forum.  I registered here pretty much just so I could contribute to this excellent mod somehow.
I've only got a couple of suggestions after playing for a couple of days now since it seems like you have many good and concrete ideas for the direction of the mod.

Since several factions have similar troop trees, sometimes with exactly the same units use names to differentiate between different races units. eg: Macedonian Toxotai/Hellenic Toxotai, Macedonian Levy/Hellenic Levy

Since many battles are now more focused on infantry, a good thing I think, maybe move the starting point of armies in battle scenes a little closer together to save empty running time at the start.

Also want to support the idea of more varied and useful towns/villages and forts and I'm intrigued to see what different style of settlement format you have in mind.

Every mod I've seen for M&B as well as the native seems to have completely random items in the various shops.  It's always seemed strange to me that buying the best Swadian Plate was just as easy in Nord towns as it was in Swadian ones.  Is it even possible to have region specific vendors?  If so it would be a great idea to help make the different parts of the map feel more uniquely cultural as well as making it easier to more reliably kit your character out according to a certain theme.

Thats all I got for now.  Congrats on making such a great start to the mod and I hope it continues to progress well!

PS. Just had another, somewhat stranger, idea that directly corresponds to how tired I am.  I think there's opportunity to have real variety in the arena competitions.  If you can model elephants into the game you can do lions and tigers too, right?  Did the Iberians have bullfighting at this time?  It wouldn't be too hard to add that as well.  The most far out there idea is for the Greek influenced cities instead of fighting in an arena perhaps you can compete in scripted debating competitions where your persuasion, charisma and intelligence are used to provide dialogue to outwit an opponent.  Not sure about historical or cultural accuracy but it's certainly thematic   I've seen it scripted in RPGs such as Baldur's Gate and so forth and from what little I know of M&B it should be possible.

PPS.  Just wondering if plans for any sort of backstory or quests have been made?  It's rather strange to see Zendar transported to 270bc Mediterranean.  I have an idea for turning Zendar into a slave trader/gladiators camp.  You have to fight for the 'trainer' to earn your freedom, then you get sent to hunt down escaping slaves.  Would add a lot of flavour to the start of the game and provide direction for new players.

PPPS Horse Races!  Hippodromes!  Can it be done?

 

[Xenophon]

I know it's not exactly with the time period, but could you lads produce a praetorian armor with navy cloth and shields and navy cloaks? (and hellmet crests, etc)

Perhaps they had them in 272.. Since Praetorians were probably outfitted by the VIP they were protecting.

And yes, I am thinking about Gladiator...

 

[Xenophon]

There also seems to be some issues with the phalanx...

Well, if you have a siege going on with a tower, and you have the battle size at say, 200, then while the tower is heading for the wall your men will line up 3 or 4 deep and about 20 or 30 across, and all put their shields up... and it looks very impressive! I don't know if you could somehow use that code to go off at a location where you command your men to hold position... I think it would work well with all spear-armed infantry.

Just a thought...

 

[SPQR]

Just an idea.  Maybe the mod can expand on gameplay inside the arena.  Maybe include animal fights (gladiator vs lions) and one on one matches with ranked gladiators.  As you progress you eventually could win "Rudius".  Maybe the wooden gladius can bring extra skill benefits if you maintain in the inventory.  Also maybe include the old M & B training ground on the world map and turn it into a gladiator camp where you can purchase gladiators at various levels.