Big Strategic Changes

[JayWalker]

I expect that the major strategies that I and others used in warband to accomplish goals will be VASTLY different in Bannerlord.

As an example an oft used Warband strategy for obtaining your own kingdom is to join another kingdom, let them get beat up in wars (possibly sabotaging them by getting some of their bigger armies killed) so that you can easily retake castles lost to the enemy and keep them. Then become marshal or somehow otherwise lead a massive siege against a town right after taking a castle and go on a "siege spree" to try and ensure that the king won't give you all of them AND wreck his armies (maybe lose a siege or retreat from a losing one to cause massive casualties). Then rebel with plenty of land to hand out to trusted companions, or enemy lords.

I always felt like the bad guy doing this. I betrayed the kingdom I joined almost from the outset, while befriending its many lords. Then I betrayed my oath to the king. Even on an "honorable" playthrough this felt so wrong.

In bannerlord however you have clans and the ability to not only take over a faction legitimately from the inside, but also possibly cause civil wars within a faction (I suspect this is the case because of the fractured empire) with you just leading one side. When you rebel if you have a large clan you may already have several armies. Therefore to obtain your own kingdom the strategy should be completely different. You can actually support your faction from the begining wholeheartedly trying to strengthen it since it may one day be yours or your children's, or your children's children's. I love this change in meta strategy as it allows you to be a truley noble vassal become king. Perhaps you swore an oath to a king but not to his children so you rebel when he dies, or your children have sworn no such oath and they rebel before they are forced to and so commit no dishonorable deeds.

What other massive meta/strategic changes do you think you will see or use considering what we know about the new game. I for one am super excited to see how deep the bandit playstyle rabbit hole goes, and to see how far I can go with it.

 

[Timmortal]

never went to all the work you did but i did use to take a city with a 100 very good men plus my companions and then stack som good units in there, like crossbowmen and then defend the city with 200-300 troops against 500-1000 by just standing and swinging my weapon for an hours time until they gave up and the city was mine. Got repetative after a while, very much doubt this will be doable anymore, with swings being able to cut through enemies into nearby foes.

 

[JayWalker]

never went to all the work you did but i did use to take a city with a 100 very good men plus my companions and then stack som good units in there, like crossbowmen and then defend the city with 200-300 troops against 500-1000 by just standing and swinging my weapon for an hours time until they gave up and the city was mine. Got repetative after a while, very much doubt this will be doable anymore, with swings being able to cut through enemies into nearby foes.

Lol I'm not "good" at the game as far as action and fighting myself so I could never really survive those super long sieges. I need to have the troops for it, or to make sure that they don't.

 

[Timmortal]

Lol I'm not "good" at the game as far as action and fighting myself so I could never really survive those super long sieges. I need to have the troops for it, or to make sure that they don't.

Well it took me a while to get that good. I only have 618 hours of Warband on steam, but originally i did not add the game on steam and if i add that time to the steam time i have over 6000 hours in Warband (and the plain mount and blade) also it helped when your char started being over lvl 40 with the best gear in the game. Also got pretty good with a bow

 

[JayWalker]

Well it took me a while to get that good. I only have 618 hours of Warband on steam, but originally i did not add the game on steam and if i add that time to the steam time i have over 6000 hours in Warband (and the plain mount and blade) also it helped when your char started being over lvl 40 with the best gear in the game. Also got pretty good with a bow

Yeah if I add all my hours from prior to steam I probably have 2500 total. However I never found any mod or version of the game where I actually enjoyed the siege battles. Even in Pendor I found them to be buggy and an annoying means to an end rather than fun. That is why I only full conquered the map as king once in Calradia (Diplomacy) and once in Pendor. I usually content myself with a town or two and play that way for awhile and then its on to a new character. Sieges in Bannerlord look amazing, and it is the one feature that they needed to change to make warband the best game of all time for me. If Bannerlord was just Warband with good sieges it would still be my game of the decade.

 

[paladinx333]

I've never been anyone's vassal. The only loyalty that I ever had in Warband was to myself. I was able to conquer Calradia more than once so my methods, while unusual, clearly worked.

In my first playthrough I waited until the Vaegir's were down to two towns and then I took them both away from them. The other kindoms were embroiled in wars with each other and they hardly took notice. Eventually one of them sent me a letter acknowledging me as a rightful ruler. I went on to unite all of Calradia under my rule. All those repetitive seiges almost broke me, but I did it.

 

[Ananda_The_Destroyer]

I'm hoping for a more gradual, integrated way to progress, such as being able to quarter troops before taking a castle and being able to make useful connections that benefit you over the game. As opposed to in warband you can have this awkward stage where you have big strong expensive army but no where to put them and sometimes nothing good to do with them if you joined a faction that declared peace right away. Your good relation only pay off late game by giving you good relations with vassals, but have no utility earlier in the game.

I'm wondering though if the most broken, powerful move in warband will be in bannerlord?: Being a lady and getting married.
Free garrison
rebel without being refused fiefs
Make more free garrisons wherever you want as queen.

 

[Rabies]

I'm hoping (expecting, even) that there will be a much bigger variety of much more interesting quests, and that they are more appropriate to your position and progress in the social hierarchy.

In Warband you were mostly doing the same stuff over and over again, no matter who you were and how far you'd got.

For example, Kings and Lords trusting you with important missions when you were still a nobody fresh off the boat/caravan felt just as wrong to me as having to herd cattle around the continent and deliver wine to taverns when you were a landed noble.

I also think you were able to become a Lord much too quickly in Warband - tagging along in a couple of battles as a mercenary seemed to be enough. Hopefully you have to do much more to earn your place in Bannerlord.

In general I'm looking for more depth. Stuff that creates a story line for your character.

 

[Brynjahr]

Can anyone quickly explain difference between clan and kingdom and how to join a kingdom but make the lords join your clan, thanks

 

[Timmortal]

Can anyone quickly explain difference between clan and kingdom and how to join a kingdom but make the lords join your clan, thanks

Well we dont know everything yet or full details, also some of the clan/kingdom features might not be there at the start of EA. Clan is your family and other lords extended families, some count as minor factions. Not sure if you can make lords join your clan, maybe marriage counts as this? The kingdom is different from the clan, by being a unification of several clans under one crown. A clan is likely able to join or leave a kingdom in some way.

 

[RoboSenshi]

I'm excited to actually recreate my first time fighting a battle in Warband, many many years ago. It was exciting because of the perceived danger. I was new to the game and I didn't want to get killed so I was cautious and fought intently, my heart racing cause I never use auto block.

However, after many playthroughs and many mods and going down in hundreds of battles, it all becomes very plain. I just rush in and click non stop and if I go down, it doesn't really matter.

That's why my most anticipated feature is perma death and succession. Hopefully battles present more danger and adrenaline pumping action. The risk of losing your hard built character will make the battles a lot more fun. I expect players will put more emphasis on actual battle strategy as opposed to just rushing behind enemies and click till you go down. It will be very interesting seeing how people play battles when there is a risk of death for their character.

For example, imagine your are commanding a battle with your long term character. You've accomplished so much already and have lots of plans that requires the skills and relationships you've built up with him. In the midst of battle, you **** up your commands and suddenly find yourself surrounded and desperately fighting for your life. That fight could be a gaming moment you remember forever.

That sort of emergent gameplay and story elements is what Bannerlord should be all about in my opinion. A proper sandbox.

I also think you were able to become a Lord much too quickly in Warband - tagging along in a couple of battles as a mercenary seemed to be enough. Hopefully you have to do much more to earn your place in Bannerlord.

I completely agree. If you don't choose "Noble" at character creation, it should be extremely hard to become a lord in game. They should make it a challenge for players. Something like a higher "difficulty setting" for the game.

 

[elcapo29]

never went to all the work you did but i did use to take a city with a 100 very good men plus my companions and then stack som good units in there, like crossbowmen and then defend the city with 200-300 troops against 500-1000 by just standing and swinging my weapon for an hours time until they gave up and the city was mine. Got repetative after a while, very much doubt this will be doable anymore, with swings being able to cut through enemies into nearby foes.

Lol that was my strategy. The battles will be bigger and the enemies will be using a siege tower, a battering ram and climbing multiple ladders all at the same time so yea it probably wont work any more.

 

[JayWalker]

That's why my most anticipated feature is perma death and succession. Hopefully battles present more danger and adrenaline pumping action. The risk of losing your hard built character will make the battles a lot more fun. I expect players will put more emphasis on actual battle strategy as opposed to just rushing behind enemies and click till you go down. It will be very interesting seeing how people play battles when there is a risk of death for their character.

So much this. Because you are immortal in warband you have very little to lose especially early game. One of my early game strategies in Pendor is to solo large groups of vanskerries (think super buffed sea raiders). This is possible because you can take out their few cav with a bow (I'm bad so I just kill the horses), circle with a horse until they run out of thrown weapons and then take the rest out with your lance in repeated passes. No reason for any other weapon if your horse dies you die anyway. If you lose the fight you are captured for a bit. . .so what? You escape and do it again. Like this you can take out almost any number of them as long as you stay careful and patient. There is no risk, and the rewards in money, loot, and renown are huge.

But what if they could just kill you? Is a battle this risky worth it anymore? It is definitely a much more harrowing adventure if you choose to go that route since you can be taken out by a single stray axe or one misstep on the charge. Also if they have an annoying number of Queen Agnes Freebooters that spawn with horses it can make the early part of the fight very dangerous as it is hard to account for them and avoid all the throwing weapons at the same time. I think that adding real risk will make high risk battles like this a much better experience as there will be real danger involved

 

[RoboSenshi]

I really hope they don't botch the succession mechanic though. We haven't really heard anything about it at all.

And of course it should be optional. Not everyone wants to play this feature. Perhaps you can choose the option at character creation.