Another game mode - skirmish

[Nahkuri]

*insert a pitiful excuse for bad english here*

and please, keep in mind that I am not familiar with making games, and I have absolutely no idea what is and what is not possible. I'm just letting out my ideas, that (well at least to me) don't seem impossible.

Well anyway, I was playing Shogun: Total War the other day, messing with the skirmish game mode, creating more or less interesting battles. After a while I started thinking how cool that feature would be in M&B!

For those who haven't played any of the TW games, the skirmish mode allows you to choose your, your allies and enemies clans(in shogun, this mostly just effects the colours of the armies), size and make-up of each army, the battlefield and the time of the year.

For M&B, I was thinking something like this:

1. First you choose one of your already created characters, then you choose what kind of equipment (s)he has. The skirmish mode wouldn't effect the "normal" game. It wouldn't give you more xp, or allow you to keep that kick-a$$ armor you are wearing in skirmish.

2. then you pick soldiers for yourself from a list that has all types of mercenaries in it. Maybe even the enemies could be in the list, like forest bandits, mountain bandits and such.

3. then you choose what kind of an enemy you are dealing with. Maybe a horde of mountain bandits, group of angry townfolk or a mixed bag of all kinds of fighters.

4. After all this, you would choose the terrain you are fighting in and the time of the day. Or even better, the game would allow you to generate a random terrain, throwing before you a pile of bars that allow you to adjust the amount of trees, water, heights and such.

Maybe you could also create very detailed npc's, save them in your computer and add them in the skirmish mode fighting with or against you(you pick their equipment).
You would create them just like you would create a new character, except that you have no limitations setting their attributes, skills and weapon skills(well, except the same limitations that you have for yourself) plus you set their appearance and their behaviour(level of agression, preferred weapons and such).

Sure, you can mock me: "LOL BUT NAKURI, THERE IS ALREADY TUORNAMENT!!", but I feel the tournament is more a part of the "story mode" (couldn't think of a better word) since it's a way of making money and gaining experience(though you won't get much XP, as I recall)

That's about it. What do you think?

 

[tsuken]

I second this. This was mostly the suggestion for the mutliplayer addition to the game, but yes it would be great for the singleplayer.

You can also use it to see what kind of a group works best for your play style in the normal game. For example you can see if those swadian crossbow guys are better then the archers of the other side by just letting them fight eachother.

 

[Lhorkan]

Sounds like a good idea to me... The battle system in this game is so great, it would be cool to start up a quick battle with units you choose yourself.

 

[Nahkuri]

Oh yeah, you wouldn't have necessary to take part in the battle. You could just be an observer, and watch the fight like you would in online fps games - as a spectator

 

[0cool]

it would also be a good way to find which weapon you like more.

 

[DaLagga]

Great idea! Just imagine how many more people would buy the game if you could fight like 5 skirmish missions in the demo before it expired. Mwahahaha, make you rich armagan!

 

[Manifold]

I like it. Maybe you could set up duels to the death for your entertainment.

 

[VooDooTroll]

Hear hear! One of the best idead ive read yet.

 

[Wanderer]

Great idea! Just imagine how many more people would buy the game if you could fight like 5 skirmish missions in the demo before it expired. Mwahahaha, make you rich armagan!

Bad plan. Uninstall, reinstall, re-skirmish. The game's small enough. Even if it was buried in a regkey or a setup file, it'd be easy enough to find and smack around, if not easier then an actual code file.

 

[Worbah]

I like the idea of a skirmish

 

[okiN]

I agree, M&B needs the option to fight customizeable quick battles, as well as the ability to save replays of battles. This should definitely be added sooner or later.

 

[Howzer]

This is one of my favorite ideas for this game, and I've though about it alot myself. Hope Armagan puts thi in SOON.

 

[Nahkuri]

I'm glad that you like the idea

I just hope Armagan likes it as well.

 

[tsuken]

Let's not give him a choice

I don't think there is any suggestion higher on the suggestion list then this, or are there much more important suggestions?

Ofcourse the multiplayer version of this skirmish mode would be even greater, but first things first

 

[Nahkuri]

Oh yeah. I didn't think about the trial version before. Funny, you'd think I would have thought about it, since I'm playing the trial version. This is because I can't buy the activation code which sucks.

But to the point, some of the elements in trial version could be locked. Things like mroe interesting battlegrounds(if my idea of the battlefield generator won't bet added), better allies and enemies, better equipment and such. But, if you're playing the trial version, you should still be able to play your lvl 6 character in the skirmish mode, since it wouldn't gain any loot or experience anyway. This is my opinion, and I won't complain if the developers disagree.

 

[Dread]

Definately a great idea that would add even more hours of fun and replayability to this great game. I highly approve.

 

[Howzer]

For trial version i'd say limit the troops and equipment available down to the beginnnings of the game. I'd say limit only the quality of troops available, so they can get a taste of the larger battles, but don't get the cool soldiers till they cough up some real cash. Also maybe put a cap on the equipment value available. Maybe even limit battles to, say 10 min. in length or something(Not quite sure how long this translates to when playing, as I don't pay much attention to the clock).

 

[GreenKnight]

I'd tend to say that while it might be more realistic to say that knights won't serve a relative unknown, it would be an unwise addition for this game. You can't recruit knights anyway, so the only way to get them are to train them, or rescue them. In either case, a fair bit of work (Or patience, if you actually just train them in the taverns.) is involved, and it seems unfair to say you can't have the benefit of that work just because you're only starting out. Knights serve the character either because they've served himbefore, and thus know him to be a man worthy of their respect, or because they owe their freedom to him. Besides, restricting you to footmen would leave you unable to outrun more powerful enemies, or beat them without your troops getting torn to shreds. I say leave the recruitment as is, realistic or no.

 

[OddjobXL]

I'm not sure that a merchant *could* train a knight. Or that a hunter, a squire, or a priest could for that matter. Now, I don't know how compelled I feel to argue that this point is essential to M&B. But the idea of having what one can command (and one supposes train) tied to one's military rank has been brought up in another thread.

 

[GreenKnight]

Well, whatever your class may be, your character will see a fair bit of combat, and as such, would certainly have a fair bit to teach a soldier. My thought is that while you should be able to train a soldier up to knight, your rank be rewarded in what calibre of unit you can recruit outright. At the beginning of the game, all you can recruit is peasants, but once you achieve the highest rank the king can reward you, then you have the clout to walk into the tavern, and hire knights.

It would be pricey, of course, but perhaps the better your war band does in battle, the cheaper it becomes, since your character has a reputation as a winning commander, sure to lead his men to glory and riches. At the lower levels, this difference would be miniscule, so as not to make it too difficult to recover from a loss of your army, but when you try and recruit knights, you get a big monetary bonus for racking up a lot of wins.