Do you think the world map needs more features - like roads?

Do you think the world map needs more features?


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Title. I've played bannerlord for a sold 60 hours now, and one thing has stood out to me in this time about the world map:
  • Where are all the roads?
The Empire fractured into 3 parts, how long did it exist for? (I don't think this is mentioned anywhere in game?) One thing all empires do (not just the Romans) is link up their territory with roads and infrastructure to make defence and trade easier.

From the state of things in-game, I'm assuming the empire existed for quite some time, and thus, should have built highways/roads between its held cities (i.e the cities of the 3 empire factions).

Would anyone else want to see roads added to the world map between imperial cities? (But not in any of the other kingdom's territories as they're all less centralised at the start of the game)
  • This would add a road graphic (obviously) to the map
  • But also provide a small speed buff to armies travelling along roads
    • ("+0.xx travelling on roads")
  • Looters/bandits could also be made to spawn away from roads more, to show that roads are safer, or have special "highway men" groups more rarely spawn on roads.
  • Maybe players/lords could use all of their fat stacks of gold to pay for:
    • Expansion of new roads (in non-imperial areas)
    • Daily maintenance of infrastructure
    • For NPC troops to patrol roads and hunt down looters (to keep caravans safe and boost prosperity etc)
Does anyone else think roads are missing from the game?
Or are there any other small map features you'd want to see in addition to/instead of roads?

Edit: formatting.
 
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Roads would be great, for 'other map features' I would like to suggest a small restructure of the Aserai Terrain, take Namibia's Fish River Gorge for exemple :
jaoel.png
I would suggest to put a plateau in the southest part of the map to replace the invisible wall. That plateau would explain where the water that eroded the gorges in the Aserai terrain came from and would allow a more coherent use of the rivers in the eroded paths and the gorges surrounding them.
 
Would anyone else want to see roads added to the world map between imperial cities? (But not in any of the other kingdom's territories as they're all less centralised at the start of the game)


Centralisation has nothing to do with it; roads of some description have been around longer than writing. As a general rule, if trade caravans are moving between two locations you're going to get a road, even if it's just a well worn track through the wilderness. At the very least I'd expect villages to be connected to their relevant town/castle by some means (and as a bit of a bonus, would also give a nice 'at a glance' means of seeing which villages belong to which settlement without needing to hover over each village).
Or are there any other small map features you'd want to see in addition to/instead of roads?
The map is a bit ... stark at the moment. It'd be nice to see some more life to it even if it's just cosmetic - birds scattering from the woods for example.
 
Roads yes, Outposts, as a lawful answer to Hideouts, also yes. Outposts would have Patrols that hunted down Bandits, and the lord of a nearby castle or city could pay to have one built. If not destroyed before the siege, Outposts would reinforce the defenders. They would also reinforce the militia in villages. So if an army is not overwhelmingly large they'd have to reduce the Outposts before taking the holding defenses on
 
  • Looters/bandits could also be made to spawn away from roads more, to show that roads are safer, or have special "highway men" groups more rarely spawn on roads.
Definitely roads, which can guide you quicker through forests and from city to city.
But I think roads are a lot more dangerous as that is where the money is :smile:
This would mean a higher risk of bandit attack/ambush.

But it is easier to control as you know where to put patrols etc.
 
Agree for road implementation. I would really profit from the heat maps that we were told about previously (devblog). By means of a travel simulation where the AI was ordered to go from a point A to a point B passing by all the settlements, a neuralgic system of routes would be generated. Exploiting the routes drawn by the caravans when going from one place to another would also be a good template for drawing a road route on the map.
Therefore, profiting from heat maps to draw roads on the map but with no practical effect; only aesthetics.

On the other hand, it would be interesting (for me) to give a twist to the roads issue. I would like to find a road improvement in the management panel of each city. An improvement that would lead to a paving of the road network between the city and the villages that depend on it (affecting the surrounding castles to some extent). Having a paved road system in the kingdom could give bonuses for transporting goods and troops... going outside the boundaries of these roads could mean a higher probability of being attacked by bandits...but well, it's just an idea similar to the OP.
 
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We talked about this to exhaustion during all the devblogs, we implored them, what makes you think that things will change now that the game is already in EA stage?
 
We talked about this to exhaustion during all the devblogs, we implored them, what makes you think that things will change now that the game is already in EA stage?

We could just try harder now that we actually have some rights over the developers because we paid for their game.
Developers. Please. Listen to us. We want ROADS.
Your map right now looks chaotic and raw.
 
Roads would be great, for 'other map features' I would like to suggest a small restructure of the Aserai Terrain, take Namibia's Fish River Gorge for exemple :
jaoel.png
I would suggest to put a plateau in the southest part of the map to replace the invisible wall. That plateau would explain where the water that eroded the gorges in the Aserai terrain came from and would allow a more coherent use of the rivers in the eroded paths and the gorges surrounding them.
That's a good point, it does look a bit weird now that I look at it ... I've just been assuming the south side of the map, below Aserai, is placeholder as it's got weird riverbed textures that don't line up with the rivers there.
UKHPXbX.png

Part of me also thinks we'll get a DLC waay further down the line in this area I've highlighted as it's quite large, well modelled, and not used ... maybe an Indian or south-east Asian [e.g. Khmer Empire] themed expansion/empire with war elephants? :grin:
 
Roads could be such a massive gameplay element not only in combat and map traversal, but also trade and politics.

Take a caravan for instance. The player purchases a caravan in one town and sends it to another. If a road existed between the two points then the caravan would travel much faster, and be much safer, than if they had to travel through the woods and across mountains. Not only would the caravan be more profitable, the economies of the two towns connected via the road would both benefit - encouraging the player to maintain roads within their fiefdoms.

As a part of having a fiefdom, the lords tasks would involve maintaining the roads in the region. This could be an in-game cost-based mechanic - as part of managing a settlement you can designate a certain amount of manpower and money to ensuring the roads are upkept. That includes workers to maintain the roads and guards to patrol them. It really would change the face of the game and add so much more depth. It could be a central mechanic.

In terms of actual gameplay, I see it like this:

Option 1
Roads are a selectable object on the map - like a training ground or a hideout. This allows them to be upgradeable, as they could have their own properties like wear, speed boost factor, money assigned and even the 3d model. The 3d model would probably have to be unique for each road as well as each upgrade state. That's a lot of assets. Lords can select and manage roads from the castle interface, as each road would be assigned to a fiefdom. Roads connecting two different fiefdoms could be available to be managed from both fiefdoms, as both lords share the responsibility.

I think this option would be the most engaging in terms of gameplay mechanics and knock on effects, but it could create issues. For one, if the map changes then any roads that are in the affected area would need to be re-modelled. It would also present a control scheme change in that the user may need to select a road to travel on it, instead of the freepathing that is in the game at the moment.

I'm not sure how pathfinding has been implemented in Bannerlord - whether it's a navmesh, if there is vertex weighting at all, or if it is node based. There appears to be nodes, as you always approach a capital by its front gate, not being able to enter from the back or sides. Perhaps roads could have nodes assigned to them from within the 3d model, and when the player character is within n units of a road node, they get the benefits of that road. Or perhaps there should be an option to select a road and travel along it, until the player opts to leave the road by clicking on a new destination.

Option 2
Roads are not selectable, nor upgradeable. They are visually part of the overworld mesh itself as opposed to models placed on top of the mesh. As part of managing a fiefdom you designate a sum of money to maintaining and defending your roads within that region, and movement within the fiefdom as a whole is elevated depending on the singular 'roads' property assigned to the fiefdom - ie, there are no individual roads, just a general 'road' value that applies a speed modifier when you are within n units of a bound settlement, castle or capital.

This would be a subtle way to implement roads, but it may have surprising knock on effects. For instance, if caravans within your fiefdom travel faster as a rule, trades will be done faster and the economy will benefit. Another singular value could be 'security' which, when assigned more money, would decrease the spawn rates of bandits within n units of your settlements. Roads would never really have a tight area of effect, rather an entire region would bestow the speed boost whether you're on a road or not.

Option 1 would be way more engaging, but harder to pull off and would present a departure from the current control scheme. Option 2 is more subtle, but would fit in better with the way the game currently works, I think.

Yeah... I'm frothing for roads.
 
Missing roads was one of the very first thing I thought of when playing the game. The world looks a bit barren for being so cultivated as it is. Cobbled roads in empire territory giving say 0,5 speed bonus and dirt roads in less cultivated areas giving say 0.2 speed increase or whatever. Roads should connect the big cities, it's really a no-brainer. Would enable large armies with their inherent speed debuff to rally and rush faster to a castle or town to defend it when an enemy attacks. Could perhaps let the AI defend better since even after the last patch, it seems defense is still harder than attack.
 
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