AAR: Me, Floris | Completed | Chapter 60 & Epilogue posted (19-09-2015)

Users who are viewing this thread

Looks like the Khergits saw my comment and made a preemptive strike :razz:

Good work as always!
 
monnikje, I just thought you should know this.

I've been considering buying this game for about a month now, and "Me, Floris", pushed my decision to buy Mount&Blade: Warband. It will be my first Mount&Blade title, and I look forward to it immensely. Thank you for the inspiring AAR, and keep up the fantastic work! Look around for my very own AAR in the coming months.

In your debt,

Barrett
 
Just in case you didn't know - if you talk to the village elder, you get the option to buy cattle. If you buy cattle, they appear on the world map and you get the option to slaughter some of them to get fresh beef, the same as stealing them. You have to actually talk to the elder and try to buy cattle, not use the 'buy supplies from the villagers' menu option.
 
Lord Barrett said:
monnikje, I just thought you should know this.

I've been considering buying this game for about a month now, and "Me, Floris", pushed my decision to buy Mount&Blade: Warband. It will be my first Mount&Blade title, and I look forward to it immensely. Thank you for the inspiring AAR, and keep up the fantastic work! Look around for my very own AAR in the coming months.

In your debt,

Barrett
Looks like Monnikje has just earned Taleworlds 20 bucks. Great job!
 
Okay so, I've been reading this for a few weeks and I think now that Floris has reached legendary status :grin:
I love the way you display the maps and images. Very refreshing. Keep doing what you're doing.
 
I would, by the way, recommend the More Metal sounds mod. It makes battles awesome.

http://forums.taleworlds.com/index.php/topic,51681.0.html
 
Hey Monnikje, how is the new weapon loadout for the companions working out?
I've tried giving them lances but I can't seem to get them to use them (and I have enough trouble with them and my knights getting in my way and blocking my own charges...the wife is very amused when I start yelling at my troops to "Get the F out of my way!")

I have personally tried a lot of the weapons and I've found them all to have their uses, depending on the situation I was in I've found myself wishing I had brought one or the other or sometimes pleasantly surprised how many kills I racked up with a particular weapon. That is one of the things I love about this game. Best gear depends on your tactical situation and playstyle rather than there just being 1 uber set.

However when it comes to the companions it just seems there are certain things they can't do. So I'm really curious how they are performing for you.

Henk said:
I would, by the way, recommend the More Metal sounds mod. It makes battles awesome.

http://forums.taleworlds.com/index.php/topic,51681.0.html

I second this  :smile:
 
Dilios said:
How did you force everyone into wearing Heraldic Armour?

Epic Story Bro!

Epic heraldry minimod. Link is between ingame picture and movie poster (love it btw, thanks for the lulz)
 
This is my favorite read when travelling long distances in M&B (gotta love that excellent alt+tabbability).

I just had a quick tip for you, don't buy fresh beef, it's hard to find and rots. Buy a cow, herd it to your town then slaughter it. As fresh as it gets.
 
Lord Barrett: This really makes my day :smile:. Thank you for letting me know, and I look forward to your AAR!

vonskyme: Thanks for the advice! I didn't know that. Next time I'll be more civil to my neighbours and just buy it, which fits Floris' character better than stealing it.

killer-blead:

shirt.gif


Sorry, couldn't help myself :mrgreen:.

Thel: Thanks! He surely is legendary, being able to pull such a kingdom from the ground in just two years. I wouldn't be able to do that if they dropped me there. I'll surely continue :smile:.

Henk: That's some great mod indeed. I'm already busy with the next chapter (and I only add mods in between chapters), but the one after that I'll start using it.

Kellick: The first thing I do when charging an enemy, is riding towards the side, so the others won't block my way. Else I would have that problem too. Also, when I charge with the lance, I won't charge into a dense group of enemies: I pick one from the side, especially since there is a cool-down on lances, so I need to make a little round before attempting to strike again.
I actually seen some of my companions switching from the swords to lances on the battlefield. Most of them I've turned into frontal assault figures, with their dense armor, plated horses and lances, who ride along with my mamlukes and storm right through any opposing force. I'm not sure if that's because they are good or because the group is great: I think the last. When performing a siege, I always see them swinging around with their swords, and looking at the messages, they perform pretty well. But I'll try to keep an eye out for them.

Dilios: Kellick has already answered that, thanks!
Every time I use a new mod, I post it after the 'Gameplay notes'. Also, you can find it back in the overview in the first post

Kellick: Thanks :mrgreen:.

Gufnork: Thanks! And I love that alt+tabbability too, only then to write it :wink:.
I just found out about the rotting beef :sad:. But luckily it won't rot in my household inventory (which makes me wonder if there's a fridge in there).
 
@ monnikje: Thanks for the hint on installing the diplomacy module! Works wonderfully, and I wouldn't have figured it out this quickly without your help! (Man, I love those recruiting parties and being able to bribe my sulking lords back in line with some ale, wine or oil :smile:)
 
monnikje said:
Gufnork: Thanks! And I love that alt+tabbability too, only then to write it :wink:.
I just found out about the rotting beef :sad:. But luckily it won't rot in my household inventory (which makes me wonder if there's a fridge in there).

Same for the grapes.
By the way I've found that while they each count as a seperate food type in inventory (beef, fresh beef, day old beef, etc...a unit of each will be consumed per meal period if your force is large enough of course...and I'm pretty sure you get the morale bonus from each as well) they do not for feasts; only the beef and grapes went down by a unit (the older varietys did not, of course I didn't try removing the fresh stuff and leaving only the older and see what happened). Yeah I got way too much time on my hands, was trying to see if I could get magnificent overall but it doesn't go up. Horse meat (yeah it's still in the game even though you can't get it without cheatmenu) and date fruit, while classed as food by the texteditor are not consumed at feasts either.
This has been your feasting advisory, brought to you by King Harlaus' council for feasting. Please feast responsibly.

Oh and thanks for the info on the lance. I'll have to give my boneheads another go at it. I usually get a few kills per battle in with it, then it's axe time, until they start routing and then the lance comes out again. Still it is nice to see your polearms skill has gone up by +3 with a single kill, even around 200 skill.
 
SirElric: Glad to be of service :smile:. Great to hear it works like a charm now! And I agree, those recruiting parties are really helpful.

Kellick: Thanks for the advice! I'll make sure to don't have food in different stages of the rotting process (ew) in my household inventory for a feast. I didn't knew there was any horse meat: I had found out that chicken and pork are very rare, and I haven't seen them the past two gameyears.

Ssgt. Griggs: Thanks!
 
Chapter 34: Expansion
23 July 1259

Dear Diary,

The Khergit had declared war on me. At first I ignored them, rather going out shopping and preparing for a feast than facing them, but when both the Nord and the Sarranid decided to attack the Khergit too, I knew I should do something before all had been divided yet. So nine days ago I set out from Khudan and rode together with lord Plais and Montewar to Ymura castle, a fortification nearby. No lord was currently residing there: only the 164 soldiers guarding the place were present. No shocking number, so I prepared the ladders for an attack after a four hour siege.

The siege was the largest surprise I had so far in the lands of Calradia. The ladders were laid on their place, but before my men could storm the place, I ordered them to hold their places. There was movement at the walls. Indeed, it didn't take long before the defenders started to swarm the ladders, ran down them and ran towards my carefull formations. Most of them fell by the hand of my sharpshooters before they even came close to the lines. It was the weirdest attack on a castle I had ever done: my long line of archers just had to wait for the defenders to come storming unorganised to their death. After the conquest I took in lord Rafarch and gave him this castle, while keeping the village of Karindi for myself.

034a.png

'Conquest of Yruma castle' is the most surprising show DPC has shown so far: the defenders go out of the castle using the ladders to attack the attackers.

After my success at Yruma castle, I took both Plais and Montewar and rode to the nearby Slezkh castle. This time Tulug noyan would lead the defence, but his men and the defenders together were still only 151 men. I could beat that easily, so I entered a siege once again. This time it went a lot harder than before, although the defenders also walked down the ladders. Tulug organised his men a lot better: the archers did go down, but would stand in formation and shoot at mine instead of just running aimlessly towards my lines. I took the castle, but lost eleven men. Then I gave it to lord Karaban, who I accepted into my realm, and kept the village of Slezkh for myself.

While I was busy conquering two castles, lord Belir decided he didn't want to serve me and walked away to the Sarranids. How rude. He also took both Uhhun and Uhhun castle with him, which was unacceptable. But there was nothing I could do about it: I was already fighting the Khergit, and the Sarranid, who were pretty welcoming towards me, were in this case my allies. On the positive side: the Uhhun enclave wouldn't be isolated anymore.

034b.png

Slezkh castle was also easy to take, although the losses were heavier than at Yruma castle.

Next on the list was Nelag castle. While I rode towards there, the Rhodoks declared war on the Nord. It wouldn't surprise me if the Nord would soon back out of the war, making it a perfect excuse to invade them. But that would have to wait: first I needed to handle the Khergit. Together with my loyal team of the vengeful Plais and loving Montewar I climbed the mountains, till I came to Nelag castle. The siege went pretty the same as with the other two castles: the defenders came swarming from the ladders, giving my archers a perfect opportunity to shoot them on the ground while my infantry engaged them. The remaining few in the castle were no problem after the main army had been destroyed before the walls. I had to give the castle to lord Grainwad, who had mustered the support of already seven lords, but I kept the village of Hanun for myself.

Then I went for the big price itself: the city of Curaw. I wasn't able to gather a large army: only lord Montewar followed me. Together we had barely 200 men, which seemed hardly enough in my eyes. But still I proceeded. When we were at the gates of Curaw, I noticed Tredian noyan, a Khergit noble, lurking around. Even though he only had 64 men, it would be deadly for my force if he attacked me in the back. So I first rode to him, to have a little chat with him. After asking about his feelings of Sanjar khan, I offered him a position at my court, which he accepted. The main thread thus decided to join me and become a lord of Holland, which freed my hands to build the ladders and start the attack on the walls. They had 100 men more, and were defending, and thus in a better position. But still I won: I first held everyone in position before the walls, and let the archers shoot. The defenders were packed together, and were easy targets. After a short while I ordered both my infantry and cavalry to move up the ladder, while I shot, together with the sharpshooters, many Khergit down. This appeared to work really well. 21 of my men and 23 of Montewar's troops fell dead, while 291 Khergit got their skulls cracked in the combat. It surprised me that, despite the weaker position, I still managed to take the city. I even hadn't had to intrude the palace to root out last defenders: all seemed to have joined the combat.

034c.png

The battle for Curaw was a more exciting one than the previous three, resulting in more losses on my side.

The conquest of Curaw extended my holdings not only by a city, but also two villages. I had promised lord Tredian a fief, and I kept my promise: the village of Rebache was his. I attracted also a new lord from my great hall, Regas, whom I gave the city of Curaw. Finally I kept the village of Bazeck for myself. My personal lands were now more and more consisting of villages surrounding the city of Khudan: only a few more of them and I would have a nice personal area which hopefully would be profitable. But now I've outstretched this war far enough: my treasury is almost empty, and the men in reserve are almost depleted. For the sake of consolidation I need a peace now, and I need it sooner than later.

034d.png


*****
Gameplay notes
Floris' stats still haven't changed, so let me use this opportunity to show you some reports:
034e.png


The war has been disastrous for the Khergit. Not only did they loose territory to Holland, but also to the Nord and Sarranid. They are almost back to the point they were a year ago, locked between the mountains. Within the white border I marked my personal territory along with the city of Khudan and several villages.
034f.png
 
Why aren't you gaining renown faster? 695 seems awefully low to be this late in the game, you've been in plenty of battles warranting large amounts of renown. Do you have a habit of taking a bolt to the head just before you win the battles?

Also, you made a big mistake giving Karaban a castle. He will betray you and he will do it soon. He's the least trustworthy lord in all Calradia, trust me.

Finally, haven't you reached the point where adding fiefs to your personal demesne loses you money?
 
Very impressive blog. I admit, first I was hesitant to read this for it was quite long but as I started to read, I couldn't stop! Keep it up man.
 
Gufnork: The past gameyear I haven't fought that much, and the fights I had, weren't that generous for my renown. Quite a lot of times I was wandering around the field, training soldiers, when I got attacked by enemies or bandits. Even though those recruits didn't fight, the counted towards the number of men, and thus reduced the renown I'd get for the battle, making it range between 0 and 2. Even those large battles didn't give me much, because in a lot of cases I brought sufficient men to the fight. Also in due time my renown diminishes, and sometimes it diminishes even faster than I raise it with the few fights I had. If I would have gotten renown for trading, then it would have skyrocketed to over 9000.

Ow my, I didn't knew that. I'll keep a close watch on him, and when I suspect any evil plans, I'll edict him for treason.

I indeed loose some money because of the tax inefficiency, but I'm also almost at the limit: once I get over it, I'll only make more money without influencing the tax inefficiency (or did the Diplomacy mod change that? Hadn't checked it).

Peter Ebbesen said:
Tax inefficiency is equal to 5%*(2*NOfTowns + NOfVillages + NOfCastles -3) capped to the interval [0%; 70%].

That means that if I have Khudan and 15 villages, I'll be at max tax inefficiency, and every village I'll get beyond that, will only raise my income. Currently I'm besides Khudan at 11 villages. Things might get interesting soon. Also, thanks to the Diplomacy mod I can raise the taxes in my villages. I have everything at normal now, since raising it will make the inhabitants angry, but that's also a way to make profit.

SimmiSumo: I'm glad you continued and enjoyed it :smile:.
 
Back
Top Bottom