Just had a most amazing 10 minute battle I ever had and suggestion to Dev's on how to make more of them

[Hrulj]

I am genuinely sad I haven't recorded it, it was simply put amazing. A 500 vs 500 battle, both sides were hesitant and rather than charge all out kept to their side of the battlefields. Skirmishes broke out in numerous places, 20-30 units fighting each other while the rest of the army stood back. With the river in the map lenghtwise any movement was slow and archers reaped a heavy toll. Sturgian Brigands circled around Vlandians and hit them on the sides, arches were spread out ahead and skirmishing. The river had a large battle of infantry vs infantry but then both commanders pulled back to reorganize. I led the right flank and managed to slip crossbowmen on top of the riverbank while the fight was going on but the AI countered it with a cavalry charge, which I had to countercharge with my own cav, sacrificing them in the process to allow the crossbowmen to retreat. Just watching them pull back while being chased and harrased as I charged in between them and the pursuers to break them up felt incredible. At almost 11 minutes it was also one of the longest non siege battles I had up to date.

With said experience I'd suggest to make AI more hesitant to just charge all out. Keep back and let the battle proceed in phases rather than be decided by a single clash and charge right down the middle.

 

[PenisMightier]

Absolutely. You should actually send them an email instead of posting it on the forums. That's how much I like this idea

 

[Hrulj]

Absolutely. You should actually send them an email instead of posting it on the forums. That's how much I like this idea

Wouldnt mind doing that but I was under impression they read forums as well? What email should I use?

 

[vonbalt]

A bit more hesitant AI on both sides + properly fighting in formation would take these fun battles to a next level, as of now AI is a bit to eager to throw its soldiers in the meat grinder in my view.

Imagine two shieldwalls exchanging blows for a while, retreating, a few skirmishes around and the shieldwalls advancing again untill one side could calculate it had a definitively advantage and only then comiting to a charge to finish the enemy.

 

[Hrulj]

A bit more hesitant AI on both sides + properly fighting in formation would take these fun battles to a next level, as of now AI is a bit to eager to throw its soldiers in the meat grinder in my view.

Imagine two shieldwalls exchanging blows for a while, retreating, a few skirmishes around and the shieldwalls advancing again untill one side could calculate it had a definitively advantage and only then comiting to a charge to finish the enemy.

Definitely and somehow that is what happened to me. Rather than charge the AI was tactical and made deliberate decisions, battle was slow, stretched out and consisted of more than simple charge or follow me order on my part. It was 3 battles within one, cooperation from all army branches saving each other and supporting one another, it simply felt amazing. If battles were like this regularly I don’t think I’d ever get tired of playing. Potential is clearly there, for a minute it genuinely felt real

 

[PenisMightier]

Wouldnt mind doing that but I was under impression they read forums as well? What email should I use?

No clue bruv, just send it out there and hope for the best.

The only reason why I think an email would be better is because I hardly ever see them respond on the forums. The only times I've seen them show up in the threads is when they've received emails about it.

 

[Cspump]

+1. They made a suggestion section for bannerlord. You could always toss it in there, which I assume they have people looking through it.

On top of that would be cool if they divvied up the unit groups into sub unit groups. I.e. infantry is default to 1. If you press shift+1 you take half the infantry and can move them independantly, and ctrl+1 would be the other half. That way you could try and set up traps or send in a portion to test the waters or just keep them together without having to make two separate infantry groups.

 

[Cynoc]

That does sound pretty epic OP! I'm liking some of the follow up suggestions as well. I'm gonna second Cspump's idea as well, the suggestion section is here on the forums just for things like this! ^^

 

[Pahoo]

I find this behavior to be more common than you think and its great.

 

[Swadianborn]

Yeah It definitely makes it more realistic.

 

[mangalore]

Arguably the problem with it is that based on the combat system bum rushing seems to be an entirely optimal tactic to keep casualties low...

Don't get me wrong, I like that. Had a bridge battle which was partially like it where my character led the archers which peppered the enemy, then skirmished around the flank when the enemy forced the bridge (the AI actually sometimes giving sensible orders). I just fear that the underlying problem may be the combat system itself and that fighting in this orderly fashion is actually sub optimal.

But overall the meager formations already there feel already better than anything in Warband (including the obvious capacity of battle size)