Early, Middle, and Late Game: Different ways to play.

[Goldfire223]

Hello Everybody!

I've been lurking around the forums for a while and I'd thought I'd make a thread about what we can expect / what we would like to see in the Early, Middle, and Late game in terms of playstyles for the singleplayer campaign. Hopefully, I reviewed the Forums rules correctly and this is in the correct spot and there were no duplicate topics I could find.

On to the down and dirty. As we all know in Warband the stages of the game are clearly defined. You start off as nobody and you decide how you go about your playthrough. Will, you be a bandit, a merchant, leader of a Warband, a noble Knight, or a Superstar Tournament Contestant. The early game had a plethora of options. However, the midgame you could decide to be a Mercenary in service of a King, a Lord or a Merchant albeit hopefully with a bigger caravan guard. Finally, in the late game, you tended to either be a Marshall leading your faction to rule Calradia or a King of your own faction with the same goal.

So my question for you all is what different ways to play would you like to see that you haven't already, or what have you seen in dev blogs or Gamescom footage that gets you excited to play as say a bandit, or merchant, or something new? Is there anything you would like to see expanded upon already existing types of playstyles?

Personally I would like to see merchants extend further into the late game where you could use your immense wealth to influence lord and kings and to ultimately control the balance of power of Calradia in a very Game of Thrones - Iron Bank sort of way. Or toward the early game side of things and just being simple townsfolk taking on tasks to deliver grain to the local town market, or live as a humble farmer and slowly build your industry into a global grain monopoly. And finally, I would like to see being a mercenary as more viable, since a month in-game time in Warband was practically forever, contracts should be shorter in Bannerlord. I'd like to see the ability to negotiate a contract with a lord or King and have those same kings and Lords bid for your employment-based off your companies legendary renown. Let us add some backstabbing and side switching in there as well, with consequences for doing so, you are after all a sellsword, let us sell our swords.

So what would you all like to see?

 

[viocult]

It would be nice to start off as native born in Calradia and have siblings (whenever Napoleon needed to give a kingdom to someone, he had family available). Nationalists don't need fictional examples of conquering immigrants.

I remember a dev blog about taking over a city's underworld. A Grand Theft Horse would be less icky (Taleworlds has standards) and preachy than GTA. Part of this system could use info gathered at the pubs to determine which caravans are worth looting. There would be a balance between killing the golden goose (the town in this case) and keeping him on life support with an effective economic system. You have been very articulate in your start of the thread, but I'm hoping for more information on how running the Iron Bank would be fun (how that would work as a minigame?). I can see how fun it would be to rob it .

Warband did a pretty good job of first feeling bad about going against my oath, and later understanding why the king did not want me to get a third castle when I had to do the cat herding that is vassal happiness management. The one thing that would be nice to change: I took the initiative to conquer the three castles on my own (the large body of mercenaries might have helped a little). It would be nice if my vassals joined together and took castles on their own as well (I don't want a planned story, but if one of my vassals started rivaling me in properties and followers, it might be nice to be a jealous king).

 

[LeChat]

As we could forge weapons (and armours maybe), it would be nice if we could be Armourer or Blacksmith for a living.

At the start we should promote and go selling our products (to towns, castles, lords). A Peddler maybe.

And as we are getting famous, the lords, marshalls may come visit us to buy our products.

 

[KucukEniste]

It would be nice to start off as native born in Calradia and have siblings

Im too lazy to search but you can have relatives at the start of the game, if you choose the option that unlocks death in battle.

 

[vicwiz007]

It would be nice to start off as native born in Calradia and have siblings

Im too lazy to search but you can have relatives at the start of the game, if you choose the option that unlocks death in battle.

Apparently you can. I dont have the source but i just seem to remember armagan saying kt at some point. In any case, the death feature (for the player) is toggleable at any time in the options, so if at any point youre the last family member and you dont want to lose the entire save, turn it off.

Anyway, I would really like the merchant playstyle to be viable as well. Seems theyre giving good attention to it with caravans and such.

Also LeChat mentions crafting; i just had an idea (probably a very unlikely dream) where you can use the weapon crafting system to design the weapons you want to sell as a blacksmith. And then lords and companions (maybe even regular troops but thats a crazy stretch) could be seen using them.

 

[Piconi]

[...]
Hopefully, I reviewed the Forums rules correctly and this is in the correct spot and there were no duplicate topics I could find.
[...]

This sentence, and no less then from a forum newcomer, is so beautiful and rare, i almost shed a tear out of joy ! I love well-headed minds, you have most sincere applause from me

That being said, i think that maritine trading would be my go to for Bannerlord most of the time.

For 1- it is said by TW they will probably incorporate naval trade and warfare
And 2-there are beautiful lagoons, lakes and rivers in Bannerlord which would make us lose track of time while playing in such manner . . .

 

[klinGiii]

Also LeChat mentions crafting; i just had an idea (probably a very unlikely dream) where you can use the weapon crafting system to design the weapons you want to sell as a blacksmith. And then lords and companions (maybe even regular troops but thats a crazy stretch) could be seen using them.

You should suggest this. Seriously , i like that.

 

[John the Roleplayer]

[...]
That being said, i think that maritine trading would be my go to for Bannerlord most of the time.
[...]

That's a great idea for late game merchant content. The high initial cost and upkeep of ships would guarantee that you can't get them too early, and the potential profits from it could have significant economic and strategic impact.

The potential Naval DLC could also include the possibility to send ships on trade missions outside of the map. Those would be risky voyages that take a long time, but of course offer large rewards, especially if they allow access to unique resources and items not otherwise found in Calradia.

 

[Jamin85]

As we could forge weapons (and armours maybe), it would be nice if we could be Armourer or Blacksmith for a living.

At the start we should promote and go selling our products (to towns, castles, lords). A Peddler maybe.

And as we are getting famous, the lords, marshalls may come visit us to buy our products.

This is one of the points I wanted to bring up in my post about armor crafting (https://forums.taleworlds.com/index.php/topic,388323.0.html). We have seen that there is a crafting skill, but I think it will be a complete waste if you can only use it to craft weapons. I think the ability to play as a smith would be a lot of fun and this shouldn't be a problem for realistic economy system they already have in place. I also think it would be a nice feature if you could commission smiths in towns to create specific armor pieces.

Another aspect I would like to see is breeding of horses. We know that you can own stables as an enterprise. It would be a nice feature if you could work on breading better and better horses to produce champions. Along the same lines as armor crafting I think we should be able to commission specific horses. In warband it was very obnoxious to have to go town to town looking for champion horses and lordly armor. If you are well along in the game and a lord or king it is unrealistic that you would have to travel the country side looking for specific items, you would just shell out the cash and tell someone to track it down for you.

 

[Terco_Viejo]

And I ask myself; what options do I have available to carry out my adventure in the late game?
Oh yes, we still don't know anything about it. 

 

[Goldfire223]

This is one of the points I wanted to bring up in my post about armor crafting (https://forums.taleworlds.com/index.php/topic,388323.0.html). We have seen that there is a crafting skill, but I think it will be a complete waste if you can only use it to craft weapons. I think the ability to play as a smith would be a lot of fun and this shouldn't be a problem for realistic economy system they already have in place. I also think it would be a nice feature if you could commission smiths in towns to create specific armor pieces.

Another aspect I would like to see is breeding of horses. We know that you can own stables as an enterprise. It would be a nice feature if you could work on breading better and better horses to produce champions. Along the same lines as armor crafting I think we should be able to commission specific horses. In warband it was very obnoxious to have to go town to town looking for champion horses and lordly armor. If you are well along in the game and a lord or king it is unrealistic that you would have to travel the country side looking for specific items, you would just shell out the cash and tell someone to track it down for you.

I love this train of thought. It ties in so well with the mechanics we already know are in the game, I would be shocked if it wasn't included or included shortly after the initial release. The real question for Taleworlds is why shouldn't we be able to play as tradespeople? If not the Modders know what to do.

That's a great idea for late game merchant content. The high initial cost and upkeep of ships would guarantee that you can't get them too early, and the potential profits from it could have significant economic and strategic impact.

The potential Naval DLC could also include the possibility to send ships on trade missions outside of the map. Those would be risky voyages that take a long time, but of course offer large rewards, especially if they allow access to unique resources and items not otherwise found in Calradia.

I completely agree with all of this. Unfortunately, we haven't heard from Taleworlds about this in a while. And I believe, but I don't remember where I heard it from, but it sounds almost like they scraped it for the initial release for now. Maybe we will see it in a DLC as you say. Fingers crossed. My only issue with the high initial costs for a ship is that I would desperately want to play as a pirate. Maybe there should be a start option where you start off with nothing but a really bad ship or something? Then you could plunder, loot, and recruit your crew until you have enough to afford a new ship. But that's not very pirate-like. Commandeer a new ship?

I'm hoping for more information on how running the Iron Bank would be fun (how that would work as a minigame?). I can see how fun it would be to rob it .

I'm not sure if I would expect them to fully implement banking in the game, though I wouldn't say no, I'm setting my expectations on this really low. I see it being more likely to play as wealthy merchant or noble and loaning money to lords and kings which they could turn around and spend on whatever, in exchange for favors or influence. You could redeem those favors to collect on a defaulted loan or maybe King Harlaus great grandfather insulted you at the last tourney, maybe "persuade" Sturgia to go to war against him and plunder all of his butter. You know, that sort of thing. However, if they actually gave us the ability to open and run a bank I'd have to give that a little more thought on how I'd like to see it work as a minigame or something. Not to say I wouldn't be down for robbing some mid-evil banks in Bannerlord too.

Loving all of your responses so far. Lots of creative ideas I would not have thought of.

 

[John the Roleplayer]

[...]Unfortunately, we haven't heard from Taleworlds about this in a while. And I believe, but I don't remember where I heard it from, but it sounds almost like they scraped it for the initial release for now. Maybe we will see it in a DLC as you say. Fingers crossed. My only issue with the high initial costs for a ship is that I would desperately want to play as a pirate. Maybe there should be a start option where you start off with nothing but a really bad ship or something? Then you could plunder, loot, and recruit your crew until you have enough to afford a new ship. But that's not very pirate-like. Commandeer a new ship?
[...]

They did state definitively that naval travel and combat won't be in the game initially upon full release, but that it would be a possible feature for a future DLC. This was a while ago now, I believe Gamescom 2018. In many discussions here this naval DLC has been treated as a certainty, which it isn't, but regarding what was already in Viking Conquest it seems likely.

Piracy is a good thought. As owning your own ship would make you a pirate captain, I'd consider that mid game content perhaps, even if it's a small one. You're right, buying a ship is not what a pirate would do at all (the somewhat incompetent Stede Bonnet was the only one I know of who ever did that). This is actually a concern of many pirate games, but as being able to steal any ship would probably make it too easy to obtain them, I think it's acceptable to have to buy them.