Change 'Charge' at Start of Battle

[Ethan109]

A small suggestion.  It's slightly annoying to me how your troops instantly charge at the enemy when a battle begins.  I think if they were set to the 'Hold' command by default it would make more sense.  This would be especially useful for players who play more defensively.

Maybe even consider an in-game option to change the default command (charge, hold, follow)

 

[PrinceGhaldir]

Hmm, I agree with the idea of the in-game change for the default command, shouldn't be very hard.

 

[Oskatat]

this is so obviously useful. If it hasnt been done yet, i dont know if it ever will, but i'm in favor

 

[Kasimir]

There was one module, Calradia - Light & Dark, which does this (gives you a menu allowing you to choose). So I know this is possible.

Ideally I would like for your cavalry not to spawn entangled by infantry as well.

 

[Oskatat]

why not have them spawn in a battle formation of your choice?

 

[PrinceGhaldir]

Now we are going to a pre-battle command interface, which surely isn't where this thread is about. Although it combines well.

 

[Art Falmingaid]

Yes, having my troops immediately run towards the enemy every battle has always irritated me.

It cannot be too hard to implement this.  For one, you could add another selection to the "Charge the Enemy, Pull Back and Leave a Few Soldiers Behind, or Leave" menu before every battle.  It could be that the two options leading to the battle scene are Prepare for Battle and Charge the Enemy.  Prepare would have "hold" as the starting troop command, and Charge would remain as is, though I think simply having "hold" be the default is better but having custom pre-battle commands would be best.

 

[Ethan109]

It's such a simple change, but I think and important one.  I am still sort of slow with Warband's command interface, and I hate seeing my cavalry get slaughtered as they charge alone into the enemy because I couldn't issue the 'Hold' command in time.  I think it'd be good for new players who haven't learned the command menu as well.

 

[Makh]

This belongs in privy council... the idea is fine, but this thread'll probably get locked, or at the very least moved.

 

[PrinceGhaldir]

Eh, it is in the privy council... 

 

[Makh]

Eh, it is in the privy council... 

oh durr, my bad. I had the single player forums open as well.

 

[PrinceGhaldir]

XD

 

[Da-V-Man]

I like this idea, however, I think if it were to implemented it would need to have a notification somewhere or some sort of message telling players how to change it on the screen (like a tutorial tip) - else the forums will be flooded with "My army is broken - it won't move in battle!" topics.

 

[PrinceGhaldir]

to get it moving, is one of the most basic commands...f3 only.

 

[Makh]

to get it moving, is one of the most basic commands...f3 only.

Yeah, but as a newb, I had no clue how to do it. The tutorial tip would be nice.

 

[Aethelred]

I always hated this. When you have ranged troops it's maddening, since they sometimes ignore the follow/hold commands after they're in charge mode with a ranged weapon equipped. That means you have to then order a hold fire command and wait for them to rejoin everyone, and by the time that's happened there could be a few kamikaze horsemen on top of them. It can completely **** up your battle plan. Troops should start with ranged troops on hold position behind and others holding in front or following the player. It's probably easy to make a change in module_mission_templates, but still.

 

[Ethan109]

Totally, my troops should wait for MY order to charge, not blindly run towards the fight.  Especially the archers as you pointed out.

 

[dunde]

Just press F1 immediately when the battle start. They will turn and come back to where you're standing, then start giving them order. Developers must have their own reason to make "charge" as default order. Imagine a newbie plays the game for the first time, without knowing how to make his troops charge. He will complain why his troops just stand around him and not attack the enemies if the default order were "hold position".

 

[Makh]

Just press F1 immediately when the battle start. They will turn and come back to where you're standing, then start giving them order. Developers must have their own reason to make "charge" as default order. Imagine a newbie plays the game for the first time, without knowing how to make his troops charge. He will complain why his troops just stand around him and not attack the enemies if the default order were "hold position".

Yeah, someone suggested there be an on-screen tip that comes up to help you, like when you first start a game on the world map. Nothing big, but good enough to help the newbs.

 

[shrankalin]

love this idea, even if you spam F1 at the beggining theirs always a dumb khergit or something that goes ahead 50 miles then turns around and starts walking back. that really gets me angry as the only way i like to deal with khergits is dismount and go behind a hill and kill them once they run out of arrows.