Lack of loot

[Seismica]

I got bored the other day and started a new character, but i edited my starting stats in the troops.txt file so i didn't have to grind levels. It wasn't long before i got level 10 looting. Then i started soloing bandit parties and deserters for fun, and for loot. And my aim was (in my edited native module - i used some of Magelords tweaks + others) to make a war party consisting solely of companions and myself. At the start though, i just went solo to build up some cash.

Something started to bug me. Fighting large groups of enemies and not getting any decent items. Sure i understand, some items must get damaged, but the game already compensates for that, by making the majority of looted items damaged (cracked, chipped, battered, rusty etc.). I got so annoyed, i started gathering screenshots and making a note of troop types and numbers to show you what i mean. (all the items from that battle were on the left hand side)

(if the images don't work/load, its because Imageshack sucks. Plus i am using Directx 7 rendering, hence why the weapons look really dull)

Spoiler

This battle was against a deserter party of 12 Nord Archers. Ridiculous to say the least. Not a single bow, nor any arrows. Surely there must have been at least 10 sets of arrows left at the end of the battle? I was fighting solo in this battle, so where did the loot go?

Spoiler

This battle was against 16 Vaegir Infantry (deserters). All of them had Lamellar vests in the battle, none of which were dropped. It is ridiculous, the theory of 'not all armour picked up fits you' does not apply to lamellar vests, as the only part that can't be altered is the lamellar part of it, the rest is just thick cloth like on a nomad robe, which can easily be tailored. I was also fighting this battle solo, where did the loot go?

Spoiler

29 Swadian Militia. 4 items? You're having a laugh. I wasn't solo here, i had 3 companions, but still WTF!

Spoiler

The loot here wasn't too bad, it was only 11 sea raiders. My main objection here is that every single one of the enemies was wearing a byrnie (i checked, because i was gathering screens for this post). What the hell happened? Leather Jerkins now have the ability to change appearence at will. I understand that this will be the game mechanics, a certain enemy has a list of items it can drop as loot, and i guess i just got unlucky. But it should be more tailored to what items they actually used in the battle.

Spoiler

49 Nord Warriors. only 7 of which dropped armour, the best of which was a crude mail shirt... I wasn't expecting better items, just more of them. I got a load of weapons, nordic swords and axes and such, but armour tends to be the most valuable, and it was that which was most lacking. I was fighting this will the full party of 17 (16 companions + me) and i don't know if that made a difference or not.

Do you see what i mean? The items looted from deserter parties in particular are very poor, even with looting level 10. The first couple of images were when i was fighting solo, so theres no excuse for full loot not appearing, but i barely got anything 

I don't know if its the same with lord parties, but i think not. The last lord party i thought was around 45 Vaegirs, and i got around 15-20 armour sets, studded leather coats, leather jerkins etc. It mainly happens with Deserter parties.

Why?

 

[The Wandering Knight]

I always figured the low loot amounts was rationalized as your party members looting stuff first (as part of their pay), but since you were alone and it's unchanged (I rarely solo, I mostly get guys asap) I guess that's an actual problem.  I don't think I've had loot problems THAT bad, though.

M.

 

[Seismica]

I always figured the low loot amounts was rationalized as your party members looting stuff first (as part of their pay), but since you were alone and it's unchanged (I rarely solo, I mostly get guys asap) I guess that's an actual problem.  I don't think I've had loot problems THAT bad, though.

M.

Loot from mountain bandits and sea raiders is on the whole excellent, but deserter parties are notorious for not dropping anything. On another game i fought 14 swadian men at arms and all i got was a bent lance and a cracked lance. Although on that game i only had 4 looting skill that the time, my party was fairly small, 5-10 men.

 

[lovemb]

I've defended solo in sieges 100 vs 600, and the loot was crap afterwards...a few armor items, but you'd think after whacking that many enemy soldiers you'd get some primo items.

 

[Uther]

I usually go for money (besides sea raiders, that is) in the forest that's near Praven.
Forest bandits are easy, and they usually drop at least a couple of ragged/padded armors and black hoods. You can easily sweep several parties in one run and it's a decent alternative to sea raiders.

 

[Seismica]

I've defended solo in sieges 100 vs 600, and the loot was crap afterwards...a few armor items, but you'd think after whacking that many enemy soldiers you'd get some primo items.

The other day, one the Sword of Damocles mod, i was really lucky and got Plate Armour as loot  from a Vaegir war party (around 240 troops in total). I don't know if they fiddled with the drop rates, but it was loot from a Vaegir knight i presume. But i had 140 of my own troops, plus an allied lord with around 80 troops fighting with me, so i'm not convinced that number of allied troops is directly related (if at all) to the number or quality of the drops.

I usually go for money (besides sea raiders, that is) in the forest that's near Praven.
Forest bandits are easy, and they usually drop at least a couple of ragged/padded armors and black hoods. You can easily sweep several parties in one run and it's a decent alternative to sea raiders.

Yeah but Sea raiders, on the whole give good loot. And i hate mountainous, forested battlefields. Sea raiders are much quicker to finish because its normally a flat plain, makes for easy kills with my lance.

My main problem is with Deserters. Often more difficult than raiders/bandits, and in greater numbers, but barely any loot! Just because they give more xp doesn't mean they should hold back on loot. They're harder to kill, naturally you should get more xp regardless of the loot anyway, and because they use better items than raiders/bandits, they should give better loot aswell, but it is not the case.

 

[ponty94]

Sea Raiders have great loot.

Caravans are also good because you sell all the food.

 

[Zalson]

Have you tried your looting escapades in native? Did you notice that you got more cash than stuff? Maybe the edits changed more than just stats of the troops? I don't know anything about modding, just trying to be a helpful ... questioner?

Also, the method you kill your enemies in seems to impact the quality of their dropped equipment. Maybe you beat them to death too much, so everything was destroyed.

Finally, they're deserter parties. They're really poor, or at least that's the way I've always understood. I mean, they deserted a life in the army, but you can pay them off for 150 gold, no matter what.

 

[Fudgynumnums]

That happens. Stop complaining and kill more.

"I'm too lazy to kill hordes of troops. I'm going to take screenshots of 4 battles and then complain of the loot."

Sorry, but that's the impression I'm getting.

 

[Niv]

I picked up a masterwork Nomad bow from a steppe bandit, so I'm not complaining at all

 

[Seismica]

Sea Raiders have great loot.

Caravans are also good because you sell all the food.

Agreed, sea raiders do have good loot. I attack enemy caravans whenever i can, but usually i try to stay neutral before joining a faction.

That happens. Stop complaining and kill more.

"I'm too lazy to kill hordes of troops. I'm going to take screenshots of 4 battles and then complain of the loot."

Sorry, but that's the impression I'm getting.

Well considering each of these happened within the space of about an hour and a half, its no coincidence, yes it happens, but it happens too often for it to be 'bad luck'. Items don't just disolve into the ground, it needs fixing. Its deserter parties, like i stated many times, that are the problem. Large groups of sea raiders give excellent loot, as do mountain bandits and forest bandits, and lord parties, and even looters give better drops than deserters. I killed 5 looters at the start of that game, i had a looting skill of 2, i got a balanced falchion, which sold for more than the loot from the 29 swadian militia put together.

I picked up a masterwork Nomad bow from a steppe bandit, so I'm not complaining at all

I got a masterwork short bow from a bandit party early on, you can see it in my inventory in the first few images, in the top right beside the food (although i eventually sold it).

And i do agree, bandits do give good loot sometimes, i have gotten a Lordly Byrnie and a Lordly Nordic helmet in the past from sea raiders.

 

[Fudgynumnums]

Well considering each of these happened within the space of about an hour and a half, its no coincidence, yes it happens, but it happens too often for it to be 'bad luck'. Items don't just disolve into the ground, it needs fixing. Its deserter parties, like i stated many times, that are the problem. Large groups of sea raiders give excellent loot, as do mountain bandits and forest bandits, and lord parties, and even looters give better drops than deserters. I killed 5 looters at the start of that game, i had a looting skill of 2, i got a balanced falchion, which sold for more than the loot from the 29 swadian militia put together.

Then what does that tell you? go kill large groups of bandits, lord parites ect. Also I'd believe that high tier troops would drop better loot.

 

[Josef_the_Pretender]

That happens. Stop complaining and kill more.

"I'm too lazy to kill hordes of troops. I'm going to take screenshots of 4 battles and then complain of the loot."

Sorry, but that's the impression I'm getting.

You're missing the point. He has Looting of 10. For this experiment, he tweaked the files, but if you went through the game building up your looting to 10, you'd have a right to complain about this. Fact is, looting is broken.

 

[captain lust]

Well surely after you killed them all then the sword slashes and arrow piercings would damage many of their items.

Generally, you don't get much from deserters and lord parties. That's broken.

Bandits give the most loot. Sea Raiders, IMO, are generally the only bandits worth fighting because mountain bandit loot mainly sucks.

Just on a side note: I only loot items of value 100 and above. Just a rule I use so that I don't waste inventory space.

 

[Seismica]

Then what does that tell you? go kill large groups of bandits, lord parites ect. Also I'd believe that high tier troops would drop better loot.

So killing large groups of deserter parties gets you nowhere? One group i noticed, yet did not take a screenshot of, was 14 Rhodok trained crossbowmen, only one of which dropped a crossbow, and none of which dropped a board shield of any kind (though they all seemed to drop bolts, boots and helmets, the least valuable items that they carry). I was soloing them and had a looting skill of 8. So i should just accept that?

You're missing the point. He has Looting of 10. For this experiment, he tweaked the files, but if you went through the game building up your looting to 10, you'd have a right to complain about this. Fact is, looting is broken.

It didn't start out as an experiment, but i guess it sort of turned into one Its just deserters tend to be harder than regular groups of bandits, but they give only a marginal increase in exp, but a huge decrease in the value of the items dropped, regardless of the troop tier. And you're right, looting is broken. I don't notice any increase in the quality or amount of loot from any enemies on this save, compared with my other characters on native.

Well surely after you killed them all then the sword slashes and arrow piercings would damage many of their items.

Generally, you don't get much from deserters and lord parties. That's broken.

Bandits give the most loot. Sea Raiders, IMO, are generally the only bandits worth fighting because mountain bandit loot mainly sucks.

Just on a side note: I only loot items of value 100 and above. Just a rule I use so that I don't waste inventory space.

Mountain bandits are really easy to beat. Their cavalry are really stupid and slow (compared to Khergits for example). Plus i like Fur shields, best covereage for any shield useable on horseback. And their loot is actually quite good, due to the large concentrations of them in the mountains between Dhirim and Reyvadin.

Because lord parties and deserter parties have better equipment, it simply restricts the items they drop so the player doesn't get an advantage, which is... simply wrong. It is an aspect of realism that gives the player an advantage and is therefore not included in the game. If the enemies have better equipped items, logic states that the loot is better and therefore more valuable. But Deserters and lord parties are mysteriously exempt from this rule. I can understand Lord parties, it was 'chivalrous and honourable' to respect the enemy dead (usually the upper classes or experienced soldiers, the richer ones, with the better items - higher tier troops), but when they are deserters, it means the enemy have brought dishonour upon themselves, and deserve to be treat as such. Items of armour should always be dropped. I recommend that pieces of 'unusable' armour be implemented for the purpose of loot. So at least the metal can be melted down, so it is of value to the player, rather than just some broken chainmail leftover on the battlefield.

 

[captain lust]

well you could set all items to always loot.

tbh, though, I think it's fine as it is.

Bandits are for loot. Lords are for ransom money.

Ok maybe deserters should loot more like bandits then.

 

[Ilex]

I think it's made to balance the fact that you can't die in the game.

 

[xXDont-knowXx]

I think it's made to balance the fact that you can't die in the game.

Exactly, If you where able to die I would imagine that you'd obtain much more.

 

[killer-blead]

I think it's made to balance the fact that you can't die in the game.

Exactly, If you where able to die I would imagine that you'd obtain much more.

well at some mods they do feature the "Get rich or die trying" way of gameplay since you are able to die when you reach level 7+ at EGIII

 

[captain lust]

It does make you think alot harder about the consequences of your actions.

but tbh you could easily self-implement it if you had even an ounce of willpower.

(i.e. just stop playing if you're knocked unconcious after level 7)