SP - General Improved Horse A.I.

[Buskwacker]

Not sure if this has been mentioned already, I did try a forum search and couldn't find anything.

It would be amazing if Bannerlord had horse A.I. similar to that seen in The Witcher or recent Zelda games. What I mean is give mounts the ability to steer themselves around small obstacles such as trees that they would otherwise crash into, immediately bringing them to a full stop (and rearing up).

I don't know if this is possible, but I would like to think so judging by how advanced the A.I. is in other areas and it would be a huge QoL improvement.

 

[Dearmad]

As long as they remain somehow hindered or slowed through trees and brush I'd be OK with this- but as it is now they run full speed, forever, all battle, everywhere- that the few times they hit a tree is helpful and bring them back down to reality and not flying carpet level of transport.

 

[Buskwacker]

I feel like even large battles are over relatively quickly, so horse stamina isn't really an issue. However, a terrain modifier for speed when riding up/downhill, or through wooded/brush areas would be a nice addition and add a new level to battle strategy.

 

[Will Greaves]

My understanding is that a warhorse was trained to not halt when running toward obstacles, so that they could be made to charge into enemy shield walls and such. So, if the rider were careless enough to ride his horse into a solid stone wall, the horse would slam into the wall without first slowing. Needless to say, if this were to happen, it would be devastating for both horse and rider. In-game, though, there's no damage taken from hitting obstacles at any speed.

Now, in games, on a standard monitor, we lack much of our real-world FoV, so accidental collisions are much more likely in games than in real life. They're pretty much inevitable here, while IRL a rider (even wearing a helmet) would generally have enough peripheral vision to be aware of obstacles to his front while he is looking sideways at enemies.

So, I think it might be the best compromise to have horse AI automatically avoid obstacles, as suggested. It wouldn't quite make sense, from a logical perspective, that the horse wouldn't balk at an enemy shield wall, but would still balk at trees, but that inconsistency is less than the one we have now, where slamming into a tree at 40 KPH leaves both horse and rider completely unharmed.