COOP Campain : Ideas.

[Yukmouth++]

COOP campain has been asked for a long time, and i do agree that in the way the game is played, its mechanics, it is very difficult to pull off without modifying some of the core elements of the gameplay. It is indeed, without a doubt, that players would have to accept certain inconveniencies in order to play COOP (or even PVP campain) with a friend. I think that the idea that its only doable by limiting it to a friend play one of your companion in your army is boring to me, it would be way more interesting if we were to play on the world map as well.

Here are some modifications i think would make multiplayer campain plausible :

(COOP MODE)
-The game cannot pause when your character stops moving, it keeps on rolling.

-Game pauses for BOTH players if one of the 2 players does one of the following things : one of the player engages in a tournament, one of the player wanders in a town or city, one of the player engages a bandit hideout. (post things i might've forgotten here please)

-Add a Button "Ask for a pause". Player 1 press it, a windows shows on Player 2 screen, if player 2 clicks "Agree", the game is paused til Player 1 is done. (obviously both players are probably on discord anyway)

-As soon as a player engages in a battle, it pauses the game for the other player(s). It gives the other players the option to play one of the soldiers in the battle.The XP gained is given to the player who's having the battle.

-It is impossible for Player 1's army to assists Player 2's army (or vice versa) when player 1 engages in a fight on the world map (a skirmish fight). Make it possible for a player to join another player's siege (while the other player is building the siege).

Note : i think the game would be too easy vs AI if we could assist other player's armies with our armies. Imagine, you just wander with your 10 soldiers, bait an army of 50, and your friend brings help with his army of 100. The AI would chase the army of 10 and take the bait too hard in my opinion.

-Friends can play the soldiers of a player who's engaging a fight vs a bandit hideout.

-Tournaments : when one of the players joins a tournament, the other players gets to play the weakest NPC units in the draft.

-Nothing can accelerate the map speed.

-Players CANT give each other units

-Players CANT garrison units in another player's castle (game would be too easy)

-I don't know if there is a cinematic of some sort for weddings, or anything else, but get rid of them, game doesnt stop rolling !

Feel free to add some new ideas if i've forgotten about some core mechanics.

 

[Archange]

I'd be personally be pretty satisfied to it working like warband's Freelancer mod for the non-host players. That would be the easiest to implement too.

 

[Carnith]

I think you could do it so that you both are siblings. You can share units if you engage with each other, when one of you goes into a fight, the person initiating it can decide to Auto-Calc or engage in battle. If you engage in battle, the other player can control either a troop or a companion, unless of course their own character is involved in the battle. The main combatant is in charge of dictating orders, while the controlling player could either be given a sergeant role such as only controlling infantry, archers or cav.

I don't think the issue is game is too easy, the game is purely a sandbox, so why limit how much they can do? If the players want to cheese big armies into engaging, then they can do it. If you really think this is an issue, then either make a radius of where another player could help. Maybe make it small enough that the armies would have to be on top of each other anyways, which any AI lord would either run from the fight or engage.

For garrisoning, you can easily let both players do it if they are part of the same faction, since this is a mechanic that other lords already do. Just don't have the players tied down to the same faction if they don't want to. One wants to lead Vlandia and the other decides they want to see bountiful horse archers? Let them do it. It's a sandbox, let them do it. No one's fun is going to be ruined cause things were too open.

For tournaments you can do the same thing in terms of radius. Both players wanna compete against each other for the prize and really make betting a thing? If both are near the town, let them both participate, just that each others fight's can't be skipped if they are different groups.

 

[bannerlord_addict]

COOP Campain would make my dreams come true!

 

[Yukmouth++]

Agreed brother, lets keep this topic to the top !

 

[Sweet Lemon God]

Can draw a lot of inspiration from Total war co-op campaigns

 

[Delinard]

It would still work if time moved during battles, but make it impossible for AI or Player to help unless they were nearby at beginning. Also a timer during battles to prevent camping. Maybe one day now that the game dosen't run on some outdated engine from 1994

 

[Nalgasucia507]

Its not gonna happen for Bannerlord folks!

 

[TechnicalGamerz]

I've dreamed of playing M&B campaigns with friends. I hope this becomes a reality sooner or later

 

[kXlIdRoberta // Seb Merc]

Soo... literally conquerors blade?

The "best" way to do coop for Bannerlord would be to have a drop-in system where the joining player joins as an existing companion, or one of their own characters from a save. They then work as a companion/party member for the host, can take a weekly wage, get given items etc. just like a regular one. They would also be able to ping the map where to go and small things like that. The Host would also be able to give them commanding properties for a unit type, or several, or even the whole army if wished for.

I seriously don't think having two player-parties would work in Bannerlord, without changing the game completely on the fundamentals.

 

[SmattlePattle]

Soo... literally conquerors blade?

The "best" way to do coop for Bannerlord would be to have a drop-in system where the joining player joins as an existing companion, or one of their own characters from a save. They then work as a companion/party member for the host, can take a weekly wage, get given items etc. just like a regular one. They would also be able to ping the map where to go and small things like that. The Host would also be able to give them commanding properties for a unit type, or several, or even the whole army if wished for.

I seriously don't think having two player-parties would work in Bannerlord, without changing the game completely on the fundamentals.

This.
Just let my buddy be a companion in my party. Maybe make party leadership swappable. That much would make me so happy.

 

[Yukmouth++]

Have you guys read my post ? I reject the idea of companion only coop campain... its lazy.

 

[Kordale]

I strongly support the OP's post towards this.
This shouldnt be too hard to implement the core is mostly there. Taleworlds could bare bones it and leave the rest to modders? essentially what the campaign is now just without the forced story elements is a good idea for co-op. Even if its not balanced, modders can take care of that. Just being able to share your sandbox made story with a friend who is there with you is definitely worth.

COOP campain has been asked for a long time, and i do agree that in the way the game is played, its mechanics, it is very difficult to pull off without modifying some of the core elements of the gameplay. It is indeed, without a doubt, that players would have to accept certain inconveniencies in order to play COOP (or even PVP campain) with a friend. I think that the idea that its only doable by limiting it to a friend play one of your companion in your army is boring to me, it would be way more interesting if we were to play on the world map as well.

Here are some modifications i think would make multiplayer campain plausible :

(COOP MODE)
-The game cannot pause when your character stops moving, it keeps on rolling.

-Game pauses for BOTH players if one of the 2 players does one of the following things : one of the player engages in a tournament, one of the player wanders in a town or city, one of the player engages a bandit hideout. (post things i might've forgotten here please)

-Add a Button "Ask for a pause". Player 1 press it, a windows shows on Player 2 screen, if player 2 clicks "Agree", the game is paused til Player 1 is done. (obviously both players are probably on discord anyway)

-As soon as a player engages in a battle, it pauses the game for the other player(s). It gives the other players the option to play one of the soldiers in the battle.The XP gained is given to the player who's having the battle.

-It is impossible for Player 1's army to assists Player 2's army (or vice versa) when player 1 engages in a fight on the world map (a skirmish fight). Make it possible for a player to join another player's siege (while the other player is building the siege).

Note : i think the game would be too easy vs AI if we could assist other player's armies with our armies. Imagine, you just wander with your 10 soldiers, bait an army of 50, and your friend brings help with his army of 100. The AI would chase the army of 10 and take the bait too hard in my opinion.

-Friends can play the soldiers of a player who's engaging a fight vs a bandit hideout.

-Tournaments : when one of the players joins a tournament, the other players gets to play the weakest NPC units in the draft.

-Nothing can accelerate the map speed.

-Players CANT give each other units

-Players CANT garrison units in another player's castle (game would be too easy)

-I don't know if there is a cinematic of some sort for weddings, or anything else, but get rid of them, game doesnt stop rolling !

Feel free to add some new ideas if i've forgotten about some core mechanics.

 

[HeinzAnimation]

+1 I hope they read this!

 

[joelonidas6]

+1

 

[IAmFailSafe]

"-It is impossible for Player 1's army to assists Player 2's army (or vice versa) when player 1 engages in a fight on the world map (a skirmish fight). Make it possible for a player to join another player's siege (while the other player is building the siege).

Note : i think the game would be too easy vs AI if we could assist other player's armies with our armies. Imagine, you just wander with your 10 soldiers, bait an army of 50, and your friend brings help with his army of 100. The AI would chase the army of 10 and take the bait too hard in my opinion."

The AI joins fights all the time. Players should be able to do the same. And remember, one good hit and it's all over for the player. I don't see a problem with allowing players to join.

Here's what they should really do. Allow players to customize their own game. Give them a list of options to choose how they want their Cooperative experience to be. Check a box if you want players to be able to join a siege in progress.



Cooperative Gameplay, there should be two modes, Real time and turn based. One for each save type, realistic saves and the regular saves.

1. Real time, time slowly progress continually, AI is constantly moving, players can constantly move. When inside an area or in a Tournament the day/night cycle just appears to be the time of day it was when you came in. If it was day, it stays day. If a NPC was at the tavern, they'll still be there until you leave the town. If you're in a tournament and your castle is being seiged, you'll have to decide what's more important or ask your friend to help out. Everything happening on the world map should be reported to you, as it happens, even while you're in town. So you can leave if you need to. But, once you leave the town, it all updates. If it's night now, then it's night. If the tournament's over, then you're out of luck. If the NPC at the tavern migrated, he's gone. So essentially, when your inside an area, the world is static for the area, but everything outside continues on without you. This goes for quests too. So, you should only grab quests when you are ready to complete them. Or you'll fail them, like the wrangling of surfs back to an area.

This mode goes well with the realistic saves choice.

2. Turn-based, when you're on the world map each player gets their turn to move, then the AI gets their turn. While in an Area or in a tournament, the game is paused and nothing moves. Players can't move until they both leave the Area or Tournament. If one Player is in an area, the other can't move on the world map, but they can go into an Area if they are already located on a town or keep. Even while the game is paused.

When one player joins a tournament the other is prompted with the option to join that tournament. When the tournament is over, both players are still at the locations they joined the tournament from. So basically, you're only requiring one player to actually be at the location where the tournament is being held. Not a big deal.

Then, while they are on the world map, it's turn based movement. Give the option to skip turn and give each player the option to opt out of taking their turn, so they can wait indefinitely. This way they don't have to keep skipping their turn. When they click to move, they will be put back in the lineup, in turn based mode at the last position. If they both elect to opt out of taking their turns indefinitely, AI keeps moving until one of the two players opts in, by clicking to move.

When in a battle, the other player can join that battle if they have the movement remaining to reach that battle on their turn. If they can't reach the battle, world map is paused until battle is over. So essentially, the player needs to be near where the battle started to join it.

Here's an option for the list. Check a box to allow the player to join your battle from anywhere on the map as one of your followers (Not with their character). So that they aren't just sitting around waiting for you to finish. They can participate in the battle and have some fun.

 

[Mrhazard1989]

I'd be personally be pretty satisfied to it working like warband's Freelancer mod for the non-host players. That would be the easiest to implement too.

that would be pretty cool

 

[MIKA]

+1

 

[staleturd]

Co-op campaign would be fire.

 

[SpectreSC]

Co-op would be a great idea. Unfortunately they already tried to implement it over the years and decided to ultimately scrap the entire idea.

It won't be happening for Bannerlord, but maybe a mod could make it happen.