Dev Blog 18/01/18

[parsehtml]<p><img class="frame" src="http://www.taleworlds.com/Images/News/blog_post_23_taleworldswebsite_575.jpg" alt="" width="575" height="290" /> Mount & Blade is RPG, strategy, epic battles... and it's also a unique world which acts as the perfect framework for your own adventures and heroic deeds. Calradia, the continent where Mount & Blade takes place, is a low-fantasy setting deeply rooted in history: its past and factions are inspired by real kingdoms and conflicts of old, but it also adds its own doses of imagination. It's a delicate balance: you have to combine creativity and imagination with thorough research and interpretation of historical sources. The result, however, is worth all the efforts: Calradia may be a fictional place, but it feels as alive and real as our world. It takes a lot of talent and hard work to create such a place, and today we want to introduce you to a member of our team who plays an essential role in its creation: our writer and designer Steve Negus.</p></br> [/parsehtml]Read more at: http://www.taleworlds.com/en/Games/Bannerlord/Blog/42

 

[Bailian]

That was far more interesting to read than I was expecting

I wonder what they'll fill their weekly articles with when they run out of departments to interview, Factions to showcase, and features to explain; I fear Bannerlord won't be released before this point though I pray that I'm wrong

 

[Salmonsy]

Yes, but if that counts then every game ever made is fantasy

Well ,it was more of a ****post but I'd say that the Mount&Blade series qualifies as fantasy because it's a fictional setting with a fictional world and fictional characters. As opposed to, say, Kingdom Come: Deliverance that's about fictional characters in a historical setting in the real world.

 

[Dest45]

The fact that Mount and Blade is Fantasy is undeniable lol

Also a lot of the in depth econimical changes being suggested are really good, probably more advanced than th typical player wants to trouble themselves with. I think they would make great mods or even features if TW does happen to include this depth in Bannerlord.

Most players just want to make a big army and conquer Calradia without having to micromanage anything and have everything go smoothly.  In 2000+ hours I have never even attempted that.

 

[Ki-Ok Khan]

I hope that they make those birds use able during battles.

 

[dr4gunov]

Also,

We're also trying to work out a main storyline quest that absorbs the player but complements the sandbox struggle for power rather than seeming like two parallel games

Is there any coordination going on here? That seems like day 1 work whereas the combat footage we've seen looks polished and functional.

Not neccesarly.
The way I understand this main quest, it is somewhat familiar to VC main story line. It gives you additional goals to achieve while playing. This does not mean sandbox part of game is not in advanced state. It just works beside it. If I were to guess, it would revolve around internal struggle for power in Empire giving player a choice wheter to join certain faction and try to destroy or save old powerhouse.

In fact, I assume such storylines could be easily modded. Just story arch to be told for one time entertaiment within given setting and possibly characters. That would be awesome. It would feel like different game in a way.

 

[Narlan]

I hope that they make those birds use able during battles.

Yea... like in ancient warfare. We all remember the Battle of Hastings, were falcons won the battle by droping little rocks on the saxon. I hope they also let us use trebuchets in battle, because it is a credible warefare strategy, just like using falcon. Did you look at the carpet in that screen with the falcon ? I hope that they make those furnitures use able during battle, always dreamed of using them as nets to trap the ennemy troops while the hawks peck their buttocks.

Always bet on warbird !

Spoiler

 

[Ki-Ok Khan]

I hope that they make those birds use able during battles.

Yea... like in ancient warfare. We all remember the Battle of Hastings, were falcons won the battle by droping little rocks on the saxon. I hope they also let us use trebuchets in battle, because it is a credible warefare strategy, just like using falcon. Did you look at the carpet in that screen with the falcon ? I hope that they make those furnitures use able during battle, always dreamed of using them as nets to trap the ennemy troops while the hawks peck their buttocks.

Always bet on warbird !

Spoiler

I know right?
Amazing how nature do that.

Steppe people are known for training eagles and hunting with them. To me it makes sense that they use those during battles.
Something like in this movie . From 0:00 to 0:25.

 

[Narlan]

To me it makes sense that they use those during battles.

Yes, birds were used for hunting and some time in war as messengers. But no, they did not used them in battle. Why ? Because eagles are expensive and very vulnerable.

 

[NPC99]

To me it makes sense that they use those during battles.

Yes, birds were used for hunting and some time in war as messengers. But no, they did not used them in battle. Why ? Because eagles are expensive and very vulnerable.

Crows flying over the battle looked great in Mark7’s Crusaders Way to Expiation mod for Warband even though they were just eye candy.

 

[BlueNeedle]

Very curious and if I missed this in Warband correct me but I wanted to marry one of my companions after I made them a lord. Will this mechanic be implemented or am I only allowed to marry the other lords' daughters?

 

[Koinski]

Anyone else concerned about the future of these blogs after the empire one next week?  I don't see TW revealing any interesting info after that... plus I'm not sure they have many main development departments left to interview (god forbid they start interviewing each individual)

Actually, i had hoped that the faction reveal would more or less work as a countdown for a landmark announcement (Beta, Release date, whatever) . Unless they then go on to present all minor factions, i can't see the communication with the fans devolve from here. So, i really hope that following the last major faction, things move to the next level (whatever it may be).

 

[RoboSenshi]

I'm so exhausted.

 

[Jason L.]

This is turning out to be pretty much the game we all were dreaming of.... Thanks Steve Negus and to all the rest of the team. Make us happy .... soon ....  

 

[Silverthief]

"WHAT'S THE MOST DIFFICULT THING THAT YOU SOLVED SO FAR?
“The game is not out and I don't know if we've solved this problem, but one of the big challenges is to have events that are generated by dynamic sandbox events, and are good strategies for the NPCs to adopt, but that also make sense to the player. An example of what we want to avoid, from Warband: we introduced feasts, which were a way that factions could spend resources to repair relations between lords that were damaged by the ebb and flow of war. The problem, though, was that the strategically ideal time to hold a feast was when you were in the middle of a war, which didn't seem right from a narrative perspective. So there are a lot of moving parts in the game, and we're trying to get them to work together in a way that makes sense from both a strategy and an RPG perspective.”

WHAT DO YOU CURRENTLY WORK ON?
“I'm currently working on dialogs for quests. These can get quite complicated, because we want to have lots of small quests that offer meaningful branching choices but may also be given out by characters with different personalities. We're also trying to work out a main storyline quest that absorbs the player but complements the sandbox struggle for power rather than seeming like two parallel games.”"

Oh dear. That doesn't sound like they are even remotely close. You should have already nailed down a main quest at this point in the production. Yeesh.

I think maybe what he's saying is that they're mainly working to improve the interplay between the campaign and the sandbox, not that they don't have a main quest line in mind. 

 

[Silverthief]

[quote author=Steve Negus]

DO COMPANIONS/HEROES HAVE AN EVEN MORE IN-DEPTH PERSONAL BACKGROUND THAN IN WARBAND?
“In Warband, we concentrated a lot of the elements of a traditional role-playing game into the companion system - they told you the lore, their preferences forced you to make choices, etc. In Bannerlord, we've spread the role-playing elements around more evenly. There are a lot more potential companions in Bannerlord, and they have backstories, but we want the companion system to feel more open-ended. We want for it to be possible for companions to die (and give the player, say, a motivation to avenge them) or, alternately, for a player to appoint lots of companions to lordships. To that end, we've taken out some of the pre-scripted companion interactions in favor of a more dynamic system. Also, more lords have backstories and those backstories matter more in how the game unfolds.”

[/quote]

I'm just gonna assume for a moment that companions can die and because of this nobles can die.  If they'e gonna do a whole heir/claimant system, is the in-game time gonna be sped up?  I don't think that it would maintain even a semblance of realism if it progresses day to day as Warband does.  If they go this route do you think they'll make it so time progresses more quickly like maybe weeks at a time?  Would that also put a more definitive end date on the sandbox since your player would die of old age?  Also, side note, can the player die too, as in Viking Conquest?  To combat this do you think that they'll add a whole character trait and relationship feature similar to CK2?  And if they don't go the heir/claimant route and do randomly generated new lords, how do you think they'll handle the backstories and stuff that Steve is making sound totally badass?  Just a few quick thoughts. 

 

[NPC99]

[quote author=Steve Negus]

DO COMPANIONS/HEROES HAVE AN EVEN MORE IN-DEPTH PERSONAL BACKGROUND THAN IN WARBAND?
“In Warband, we concentrated a lot of the elements of a traditional role-playing game into the companion system - they told you the lore, their preferences forced you to make choices, etc. In Bannerlord, we've spread the role-playing elements around more evenly. There are a lot more potential companions in Bannerlord, and they have backstories, but we want the companion system to feel more open-ended. We want for it to be possible for companions to die (and give the player, say, a motivation to avenge them) or, alternately, for a player to appoint lots of companions to lordships. To that end, we've taken out some of the pre-scripted companion interactions in favor of a more dynamic system. Also, more lords have backstories and those backstories matter more in how the game unfolds.”

I'm just gonna assume for a moment that companions can die and because of this nobles can die.  If they'e gonna do a whole heir/claimant system, is the in-game time gonna be sped up?  I don't think that it would maintain even a semblance of realism if it progresses day to day as Warband does.  If they go this route do you think they'll make it so time progresses more quickly like maybe weeks at a time?  Would that also put a more definitive end date on the sandbox since your player would die of old age?  Also, side note, can the player die too, as in Viking Conquest?  To combat this do you think that they'll add a whole character trait and relationship feature similar to CK2?  And if they don't go the heir/claimant route and do randomly generated new lords, how do you think they'll handle the backstories and stuff that Steve is making sound totally badass?  Just a few quick thoughts. 
[/quote]

TW have already said that a game year in Bannerlord has been reduced to 12 weeks to bring in weather/seasonality in a balanced fashion.

 

[vota dc]

Very curious and if I missed this in Warband correct me but I wanted to marry one of my companions after I made them a lord. Will this mechanic be implemented or am I only allowed to marry the other lords' daughters?

As a woman you could marry the companion you made lord. You couldn't do as a man. Quite sure you won't be allowed to marry any lord anyway as male player  and even less make female companion lord

 

[Dest45]

[quote author=Steve Negus]

DO COMPANIONS/HEROES HAVE AN EVEN MORE IN-DEPTH PERSONAL BACKGROUND THAN IN WARBAND?
“In Warband, we concentrated a lot of the elements of a traditional role-playing game into the companion system - they told you the lore, their preferences forced you to make choices, etc. In Bannerlord, we've spread the role-playing elements around more evenly. There are a lot more potential companions in Bannerlord, and they have backstories, but we want the companion system to feel more open-ended. We want for it to be possible for companions to die (and give the player, say, a motivation to avenge them) or, alternately, for a player to appoint lots of companions to lordships. To that end, we've taken out some of the pre-scripted companion interactions in favor of a more dynamic system. Also, more lords have backstories and those backstories matter more in how the game unfolds.”

I'm just gonna assume for a moment that companions can die and because of this nobles can die.  If they'e gonna do a whole heir/claimant system, is the in-game time gonna be sped up?  I don't think that it would maintain even a semblance of realism if it progresses day to day as Warband does.  If they go this route do you think they'll make it so time progresses more quickly like maybe weeks at a time?  Would that also put a more definitive end date on the sandbox since your player would die of old age?  Also, side note, can the player die too, as in Viking Conquest?  To combat this do you think that they'll add a whole character trait and relationship feature similar to CK2?  And if they don't go the heir/claimant route and do randomly generated new lords, how do you think they'll handle the backstories and stuff that Steve is making sound totally badass?  Just a few quick thoughts. 
[/quote] lords can die and now comps can too. Thats all we know, we don’t know anything about the systems connected to it. Hell next weeks blog could answer a lot of these questions. It is a blog about singleplayer so it seems like a good bet.

We have seen a lord die in a gameplay video btw

 

[vicwiz007]

Steve Negus is a god damn poet. Was this a dev blog, or the Iliad?

 

[Dahvos]

Man I miss Tides of Conquest; Sicily .. one of my most favorite mods for mount and blade by Nijis aka Steve Negus.