Combat and Mounted combat feels clunky and weird

[stevehoos]

Yeah it's off, I can't do much on horseback against looters. They always deal damage to my horse no matter what happens. Something needs to be done with the camera angle.

 

[anton97]

Are you guys actually having trouble hitting people from horseback? Are you sure you´re aiming your strikes right? I´ve been cutting and stabbing people left, right and center with the same effectiveness as Warband.

 

[MountainBladesMan]

I do notice that mounted AI seems to have difficulty hitting people too, at least with a lance. I was looking forward to my cataphracts rolling over fools with their two-handed heavy lances, but sadly that is not that case. They cant even knock people down, which seriously nerfs cav into the ground.

 

[Demoulius]

You defenitly need to aim a little bit differently compared to warband. But once ive adjusted for it the issue isent as bad as it was starting out.

It feels really off though and very often my weapons just whiff over enemy heads because im not aiming downwards enough but I inmagine that with some more practice that should dissapear as well.

 

[Count Talbar]

My issue with 1 hand weapons versus lances/spears is that polearms completely overshadow 1 hand weapons. In Warband, lances promoted the cycle and charge playstyle while sidearms offered a higher risk, higher reward playstyle (more fun personally) where you could weave through a melee and dish out more dps with a sword by quickly acquiring different targets. With the current mechanics in Bannerlord, you're railroaded into only the cycle and charge playstyle for several reasons:

• Spears and lances attack faster than in Warband and deal damage earlier in the animation
• Lances can be re-couched instantly after a successful couch
• Couches stay active indefinitely and can even stay active while going up hills (horses don't really lose speed going uphill)
• You can stab your lance through your horse's head, the area that protects the rider the most
• Low maneuverability at low speeds makes it more advantageous to stay at high speed, which plays to the lance's strength. Even at low speeds the lance/spear is better because you need the reach to compensate for your inability to turn.
• 1 hand weapon swings are imprecise and force you to aim your camera into the ground

As for getting stuck in infantry blobs, I don't know if anyone was actually complaining about dying in one. Charging into infantry blobs is actually more forgiving in Bannerlord because horses can just pass through multiple ranks without slowing down while dealing significant charge damage. And both the cavalry and infantry AI are pretty bad at actually hitting each other. Part of this is might be due to the smaller collision that allows the bots to partially stand inside each other.

Bumping infantry is a much bigger problem in multiplayer because even a low speed hit can leave you on the ground for enough time for someone to hit you so many times. And then allied cavalry, even enemy cav sometimes, can slide you across the ground a long distance. I played a custom battle where enemy cav dragged me through a dense infantry square for like 25 feet.

 

[Dragens]

Some times I feel its off but not many times. I experienced that you really need to LOOk at the enemy you want to hit. If you look forward or think that its skyrim like hitbox then you are mistaken. Pretty much a long weapon helps more with it but I really think a lot of people are misplacing their hits. sometimes but not often I literally see the weapon clipping through the enemy and asking myself why thats not a hit but in most cases its working well.

@Count Talbar lets be honest. we all know that spears and polearms were superior weapons in the middleages. on horse back even more. Tanks with reach to sting and stab. I think its totally ok to have polearms to be superior.

 

[Benisfug]

I actually like the mounted combat. The horses don't feel as easy to turn on a dime. In Warband you can solo entire bands of bandits just because your on a horse. It makes sense that they'll be able to take out your horse if you try to cheese them like in Warband.

 

[Rigan]

was tough at first with the mount, but picked a different wep (went to sword from an axe) and having a much easier time of it. Think it's more a mater of learning/picking the right method that works for you.

 

[VincentNZ]

I prefer it the way it is, as it does give the cavalry a real punch in the charge, while you will have issues in melee. The horse offers you advantages as your most vulnerable parts are out of the reach from the ground and you are also a smaller target, so your horse will absorb some of the damage. And of course you can get away quick.
There are quite a few workarounds to fix issues and shortcomings, like using two-handers and polearms and generally weapons with a longer reach. Also if your issue is getting too many hits while not dishing out as much damage, there is no shame in decreasing the difficulty setting.

 

[left2live]

Are you guys actually having trouble hitting people from horseback? Are you sure you´re aiming your strikes right? I´ve been cutting and stabbing people left, right and center with the same effectiveness as Warband.

same

 

[Barbaricus]

Having played MB and Warband for quite a while, I find that MB2 has less terrain penalties. It feels weird to keep the same pace on the horse up and down the hill, and nearly never bumping into obstacles. Circkling a group in MB would often get you stuck against a tree or stone, but now I just ride through almost everything. Possibly my graphics card is so old that the game just show trees and not put them there, but it feels wrong. I'm also bothered by the swordswing, but as a rather poor meleefighter at any time I prefer the bow. In MB1/WB you had a much more prominent ballistic curve. In MB2 the arrow will go much straighter. All my enemies gets a new haircut as I consistently aim to high. I have only tested real bows (old style, not modern ones) a few times, and I feel that the arrows will drop faster than in MB2. Just look at how movies demonstrate how they aim for the sky to hit the enemy at far distances.

 

[Keverclin159]

I literally googled this just to make sure I wasn't going crazy. Personally I feel like I have to go into first person mode to make sure that I'm within reach with my polearm or 1h, even though they're both over 100 length. I don't get it, but it seems my body can't rotate back as much as warband does on horseback.

 

[Brentimus Maximus]

I feel like mounted combat is pretty realistic for the player. Its difficult to hit with a sword while mounted but I've gotten up to, I guess, 80% of the time with practice. I would imagine riding a horse and trying to hit moving targets isn't the easiest thing in the world and choosing the right weapon is very important.

I do agree that the cavalry AI is absolutely terrible.

Also, a horse can knock down a person really easily even at slow speeds.

 

[Lord Irontoe]

It takes a lot of getting used to. I does seem to be a lot easier for someone on foot to hit a rider than the other way around. The other day I was fighting some looters from horseback and one of them hit me in the shoulder with a hand sickle. Meanwhile I'm having a hard time reaching his head.

 

[XDaron]

they really need to fix the two handed swords animations so it feels more accurate
and yes, I know that with time you get accustomed with it, but that doesn't mean it shouldn't be fixed, as it is off-putting for new players

 

[Wojski]

I like that more and more people are finding same issues and starting same subjects as we did in beta.

 

[Wulfsdottir]

My biggest issue with mountain combat is that it seems that the enemy is always on a run. You can't just go into 1 vs 1 horse battle with an opponent and have an exchange of sword swings. It seems like they're always afraid of you (even if they have better gear, are 2 heads taller, have bigger sword and are overconfident lords when you're nothing but some newly hatched noble).

They just come at you, swing once and then run away. You chase them, swing once, they run. You chase them.

I understand that some people would act like this, but surely there must be some braver ones too who just frigging stay in place and fight like the medieval warriors they claim to be

 

[Talbrys]

I think the issue is the swing seems to actually hit about 10-15 degrees above the center of your screen (where you would expect it to, or at least where I did). As someone else said, it's something that you can get used to and once you do it's not that big of a deal but there shouldn't be that aiming disconnect between mounted and unmounted melee.

 

[Aeddes]

Hello everyone, I just wanted to discuss the issue of Mounted combat feeling extremely clunky. The combat in general feels weird, but it's mostly mounted combat.

First of all, I'd like to adress the issue of using 1-handed and 2-handed weapons on a horse. To strike an enemy next to you, you have to completely move the camera so that you are basically staring into the ground. This was nothing like this in Warband. It feels weird and unnatural. Is this just me? I can't explain it better than this, but I am sure that you will understand.

Secondly, The horse does not seem like an advantage any more. Yes it's good for kiting emenies with a bow, but going vs infantry with a horse using one or 2 handed weapons seems like a suicide. If you are playing on realistic, you know full well that any damage matters. You can't fight looters on horseback using these weapons because somehow, they will hit you, and not the other way around. Their stone throwing is increadibly accurate and strikes even more so. More on that later.

You might use polerams, and truly, this is where horseback fighting shines the brightest, but the pike aim feels extremely weird. You might be aiming at the guy, but somehow, he will simply buzz next to the tip of the spear. Again, comparing this to the Warband, having a mount was an extreme steroid, and having a good mount could have made you unstopable. You could fight with one handed swords perfectly well. And why shouldnt you? Sabres, swords and one handed weapons have been used on horseback throughtout history. It's not about the learning curve. I've been swapping between warband and bannerlord and something feels way off.

Now, I am happy that enemies got a better AI. But this combat system is not prepared for that. If you have a sword and shield and your enemy has the same, the fight will look something like this: you attack, they block, they attack, you block, you attack, they block... and so on and so on. The wonderful thing is that if you are using a shield, you can bash them, however this does negligable damage and does not provide an opening to strike. Am I having a bad aproach to dismounted combat?

Change attack movement to keyboard and keep block on mouse.
Worked for me.

 

[Fantomen]

I like that it's a bit more difficult than in warband, mounted vs infantry was definitley too overpowered and exploitable in single player warband.

But I agree it feels clunky and should be made more smooth and intuitive.