Do looters add anything to gameplay?

Users who are viewing this thread

durbal

Sergeant
Serious question: do looters add anything to gameplay? As I think more about them, the only thing they do is cause problems within the game. What's their purpose? Why do they spawn seemingly randomly rather than in response to events such as raids, sieges, prosperity loss, etc?

Are they intended to just be little loot/XP piñatas? If so, can't we accomplish whatever economics or troop/character advancement they might bring through other game mechanics? Passive XP gain through the leadership skill, gold spent on training, etc. can handle the XP issue. As for the loot/cash they provide -- is this of any real benefit outside of the first few battles or maybe first trade haul in the game? Why does the game encourage the anti-gameplay element of hoboslaying? The only other thing they do is occasionally disrupt villagers moving around, but even this rarely occurs and doesn't do much besides alter their pathfinding temporarily.

So with how little benefit they provide to the gameplay and how what they provide can be accomplished better through other means, let's look at how they impoverish gameplay:
  • Increase disparity between AI and player since the AI doesn't hunt looters like players do
  • Require enemy lords to respawn with a retinue of free troops so they don't get captured by looters
  • Encourage tedious hoboslaying
So really, why have them at all in their current state? If they spawned as larger mobs in response to sieges or prosperity loss and could raid villages, attack villagers, etc. and self-promote to full bandit parties over time then that could be a neat feature that'd force lords to clean up their lands and slow down progression from conquest (and at the very least just look cool). But to have them running around all over 100% of the map and endlessly respawning -- what purpose does that serve? Why are they there? Do looters actually add anything to gameplay?
 
I understand people are bored of "Hobo Slaying" and want some form of training back for mid/late game.
Do looters actually add anything to gameplay? Is a pretty crazy question that only come about because of a lack of communication from the devs in addressing the first two issues.
Do i think there should be more of the other types of bandits spawning over looters as the game progresses? Yes.
Do I think ai lords and perhaps patrols should actually hunt looters? Yes.

Along with people not wanting to fight insta respawning lords, from a balance perspective I get, but these posts are starting to sound like people simply bored with the game, specifically with actually doing the combat. I know thats not the point, its how a lack of variety or farness makes the combat more boring but it starts to sound that way ahah.
 
What they add is a low level enemy that you can take on early, that's about it, but very necessary at the same time.

I do however believe having their spawns be influenced by prosperity etc, plus having them slowly become bigger and more dangerous if left unchecked is a pretty good idea, every bandit party type should be more dynamic I think, and there should be a way to eradicate them once and for all (at least for several ingame years)
 
Yeah, I don't know if Taleworlds intended it, but somehow the Looter has become the star of the whole game. They should put that fat guy with the redheaded afro on the box cover because he's probably the one guy you'll fight most often.

Warband's looters were only there for the first week or two as an easy starting enemy but then they mostly disappear from the game as time goes on. But in Bannerlord, they're everywhere and inescapable and they never go away. Forget Rhagaea or Caladog, the looters are the undisputed kings of Calradia.
 
Yeah, I don't know if Taleworlds intended it, but somehow the Looter has become the star of the whole game. They should put that fat guy with the redheaded afro on the box cover because he's probably the one guy you'll fight most often.

Warband's looters were only there for the first week or two as an easy starting enemy but then they mostly disappear from the game as time goes on. But in Bannerlord, they're everywhere and inescapable and they never go away. Forget Rhagaea or Caladog, the looters are the undisputed kings of Calradia.

That Red head guy shows up frequently lol.
 
What they add is a low level enemy that you can take on early, that's about it, but very necessary at the same time.

I do however believe having their spawns be influenced by prosperity etc, plus having them slowly become bigger and more dangerous if left unchecked is a pretty good idea, every bandit party type should be more dynamic I think, and there should be a way to eradicate them once and for all (at least for several ingame years)
I think they should expand if left unchecked, but their spawn totally nullified by prosperity. On the other hand, Bandits should seek to prey upon prosperous areas, within the vicinity of prosperous villages and towns from time to time (not spam spawns, but move there trying to pray on the rich kind of thing)
 
Looters have purpose, they are nice target dummies for Bow and Riding training early.
 
I don’t think Looters should go away.

I feel there should be better variables to avoid them spawning in ones territory, along with other forms of bandits. Whether it’s the ability to tell other parties that bandit hunting is their job, and spawns rates being tied prosperity versus security, the formula to spawn them and options to vet them needs addressing
 
Yeah, I don't know if Taleworlds intended it, but somehow the Looter has become the star of the whole game. They should put that fat guy with the redheaded afro on the box cover because he's probably the one guy you'll fight most often.

rofl. The amount of afros in calradia is crazy. They must be going through a period in their history akin to earth's 1970's. The guy needs a hair pick stuck in the top and some platform shoes.
 
I think the whole, looter, bandit, hideout mechanic needs a rethink. Not sure what the thinking is behind it, i.e. do they spawn after a large battle because they are troops that deserted? Do they spawn near settlements that have no food or are being raided / seiged?

If we knew why they spawn and what conditions creates them we could do something about it. After all to choose a life of looting pretty much means that all positive life choices have disappeared through poverty, hunger, disease or war.

Right now looters / bandits feel arbitrary and random and are nothing more than training fodder. They should definitely be in the game but should have some logic to their existence and a means to counter / control them like militia recruitment, patrols etc...

I'd also like to see more organised bandits and perhaps some NPC characters, bandit leaders, deserters, rebellion leaders etc...
 
So really, why have them at all in their current state? If they spawned as larger mobs in response to sieges or prosperity loss and could raid villages, attack villagers, etc. and self-promote to full bandit parties over time then that could be a neat feature that'd force lords to clean up their lands and slow down progression from conquest (and at the very least just look cool). But to have them running around all over 100% of the map and endlessly respawning -- what purpose does that serve? Why are they there? Do looters actually add anything to gameplay?
Totally agree with this.
 
What they add is a low level enemy that you can take on early, that's about it, but very necessary at the same time.

I would say they're totally unnecessary. Right off the bat you can recruit troops, fight bandits, etc. The tutorial even has you fighting bandits right away!
 
Their only use as far as I can see is training recruits (and for that I would argue that they are necessary from beginning to the end game, unless you want to rely on higher tier units or train recruits on stronger bandit accepting the higher death rate).

I hate the way they work myself. I miss Warband times when looters would basically disappear from the map after a few weeks. If they do that without adding passive training though it would be a disaster.
 
I would say they're totally unnecessary. Right off the bat you can recruit troops, fight bandits, etc. The tutorial even has you fighting bandits right away!

In the tutorial you get some pretty strong mounted units, which are gone when the game proper starts.

Looters are prety much the only thing you can take on with fresh recruits to level them up, because fighting anything else (forest bandits, mountain bandits, sea raiders) they'd get slaughtered pretty much.
 
Looters are nice for gaining rep with locals when you save villagers from them, but they should be considered early game targets at best before you move on to bandits. Imo they need some sort of background progression that upgrades them to regional bandits in some way.
 
In the tutorial you get some pretty strong mounted units, which are gone when the game proper starts.

Looters are prety much the only thing you can take on with fresh recruits to level them up, because fighting anything else (forest bandits, mountain bandits, sea raiders) they'd get slaughtered pretty much.
Recruits being slaughtered is a sacrifice i am willing to make. I find myself ignoring the looters after one point in the game and just going for other types of bandits. Before, i could just auto fight bandits but now, as that sometimes kills my hard earned units(as opposed to recruits as i might loose when fighting manually), i just pass by.
And that creates a problem because the game spawns them ... in great numbers which ends up messing the economy(basic as it is)
Think the best solution would be patrols, as it is not only lords hunt them down and those are usually busy with other stuff.
 
They're basically angry peasants that you can slaughter by the hundreds with no negative repercussion or much risk of losing troops. If it weren't for the odd javelin from Mountain/Sea Raiders snuffing out my good units I'd probably go after them as much, but I don't. Without shield or much armor, even the largest looter band will be mulched by low tier archers.

I admit to relying on them a lot for forming a proper party before joining a faction. Without looters, I would have to level my soldiers against units that might actually kill them --- no fun there.
 
Back
Top Bottom