Resolved Large battles...not?

[Doofus]

I've noticed a problem recently in large battles. Not sure if its just since game switched to 1.5.9 or whether its just the progression of my battles getting bigger. However, here's an example from a couple minutes ago...

I was besieging Balgard with 1400+ troops. I was attacked by 2 armies, plus extras which totaled 1500+ enemies. I expected a long battle. However, after killing/wounding about 550+ troops it announced that the enemy was fleeing. At the end of the battle the stats showed I had killed/wounded a total of 600 troops. I think it showed less than 100 had fled. My personal party had lost a total of 2 troops and my full army had lost less than 100, possibly less than 50. At the prisoner page I had over 600 prisoners. There were no remaining enemy armies on the campaign map after the battle. I play on easy setting (not 'easiest').

I considered maybe that the game was shortening the battle by using a smaller number of troops, but if so its not realistic. Certainly I would have lost more troops and it could have at least made it harder to continue besieging Balgard. It also might make sense if it represented the commander fleeing with his remaining troops and it showed maybe 900 running from me when I got back to the campaign map. It would make it easier for the opponent to regroup and come back at me again soon with more troops. But this appears to be a broken mechanic or possibly a glitch. I think this is the biggest battle I've had it happen to me, but similar results have occurred multiple other times.

 

[Doofus]

May have figured out when this is happening...In big battles, when my troops start spreading out chasing a few fleeing enemies I will call them to me to regroup and get ready for the next wave. I think when I do this it frequently causes the remaining waves of enemies to flee. It doesn't seem to be every time, but it is regularly. It should be easy to recreate. Pretty sure now that it is only since switching to 1.5.9.

I like big battles, even when I dominate them. I hope this isn't a planned thing.

 

[D0c1]

in 1.5.9, leadership was changed to give 0.1 morale per skill point instead of 0.4. it was broken and lords were running around with full morale all the time and armies fought to the last man except for very rare cases.
this happening more frequently means that the morale system is working.

when you kill an enemy, their morale lowers. when it reach below zero, they run away. you not losing any soldiers doesn't grant any morale to the enemy so they run away faster.

why would you want battles to be to the last man standing? it doesn't make sense, isn't fun nor is historical

it needs some more balancing by not making the escaped ones prisoners.and allowing them to escape on the world map as you stated, have them turn into deserters or have them join their faction's garrisons if they're close to a fief. even better if they have lords make an orderly retreat if they're cautious.

 

[Doofus]

it needs some more balancing by not making the escaped ones prisoners.and allowing them to escape on the world map as you stated, have them turn into deserters or have them join their faction's garrisons if they're close to a fief. even better if they have lords make an orderly retreat if they're cautious.

Yep. It either needs to not happen or have the troops trying to run away afterwards. Then its up to me whether to chase them down or let them go. A good example would be my recent siege of Epicrotia. They hit me with 1k troops to my 900. They lost and had nothing left. Then they hit me again with 900+ to my 800+ & lost again with nothing left. When I took Epicrotia they had 23 lords in the dungeon. If the fleeing armies had showed up on the campaign map after the first battle I wouldn't have followed them and they could have joined in the 2nd battle. I likely would have won that also, but their 1500+ vs my 800+ would have been more interesting & I would have lost a significant amount of troops. I probably still would have taken Epicrotia, but likely wouldn't have been able to do much afterwards. Right now I still have enough troops to pretty much do whatever I want.

On a somewhat related issue they need to deal with what the enemy faction would want to do after they've had their asses wiped a few times. If their lords are going to run before the battle is even half over then the peace negotiations need to reflect how cowardly they are. I or my empire's lords seem to be the only ones that put forth a peace negotiation. They need to have enemy rulers offer peace as well.

 

[MArdA TaleWorlds]

Do you have a save file of session that you experienced this issue? With your save file, we can reproduce the issue much easier and faster. For more information regarding how to send us your save files, you can check this thread out. You can find your save file here:
C:\Users\username\Documents\Mount and Blade II Bannerlord\Game Saves

You can send your save files to us via upload.taleworlds.com site. Please write your username and this threads URL into the description box so that we can find it easier. Thanks for reporting and sorry for any inconvenience!

 

[Doofus]

Not sure if I have a save close to that time period, but I uploaded the most recent one after that. How to recreate: Create an army of 1000+ troops. Engage an enemy army of 1000+ troops or, ideally, have them engage you (besiege their town). Upon entering the (non-siege) simulation gather your troops with the F1-F2 (follow me) command and hold them back. Let the enemy army approach & engage. When they are running, pull your troops back using the F1-F2 command. By the 2nd or third time you do this the enemy will likely be fleeing the battle (assuming you have superior troops). Check the following screens for exorbitant number of prisoners and little or no retreating armies on the campaign map.

This will work with less than 1k troops, but having a larger army makes it more likely to work without the enemy even using everyone.

 

[MArdA TaleWorlds]

Got the file. Forwarded to QA. Thanks!

 

[MArdA TaleWorlds]

Can you capture a video of this issue happening? We did not understand whats the problem.

 

[Doofus]

I don't know how or perhaps don't have the capability to video.

Maybe its something planned with the game rather than a glitch/problem, but I'll explain again. Midway through the battle the enemy flees after I've dominated the early portion of the battle. They could have 500+ troops still left that haven't even entered the battle yet. Because of this, my army isn't taking much damage. That would kind of be OK if the enemy army, or at least scattered parties, still appeared on the map after the battle and could regroup to attack me again at another time, or force me to track them down when they are running in different directions. But after the simulation resolves there is nothing left of the enemy on the campaign map. On the prisoner map you generally have more prisoners than you would expect for the number of troops you actually fought and for the summary screen showing troops killed/wounded (more prisoners than were wounded and the amount fleeing shows how many fled during the actual battle; it doesn't include the 500+ that never entered the battle.

Part of your main quest dialogue includes one or two statements from lords saying how they gathered scattered troops and made their way back home. In this situation its not showing scattered parties trying to get away (on the campaign map). Since the 500+ never entered battle, they would be considered reserve troops and should be organized enough to be remaining (on the campaign map) afterwards to try to get away. If this is how its planned...well..I disagree with it, but you can close the thread. If you still don't understand I'm not sure what more I can say. From what Doc1 said I assume I'm not the only one this has happened to so it should be recreatable if it isn't planned.

 

[Doofus]

Here's another screenshot from tonight's play session. http://prntscr.com/11ff6j7

I was besieging Omor. The Sturgians attacked me with 2 big armies and a couple smaller parties. Their total troops were over 1400, mine were a bit over 1000. I regrouped using the 'Follow me' command twice. Then I did it a 3rd time and it said the enemy was fleeing. You'll see from the screen shot that I took down 445 troops in battle and another 199 fled. That accounts for less than 1/2 their troops. I only disabled 445 troops. Yet from the following screenshot, you can see I got 668 prisoners, more than I even faced. http://prntscr.com/11ffxc8 I they were wounded, they should be prisoners. If they fled they shouldn't be prisoners unless I hunted them down. They had about 800 or so troops that never entered battle and I assume were considered reserves. They should have made an organized withdrawal from the battle, which means after the battle they should have been on the map; possibly in 3 or 4 armies/parties. They weren't on the campaign map at all.

Basically, there are a couple problems I see with this...IF they had fought the whole battle, they would have killed/wounded a lot more of my troops, particularly since a lot those currently in the battle are probably already somewhat wounded. they wouldn't have won the battle, but they might have killed/disabled enough troops that I wouldn't have been able to continue the siege on Omor, which has over 600 defenders. IF you think its more logical that they wouldn't have fought to the last man in what they knew was a losing battle...then they should have had 800+ troops on the campaign map in the area after the battle. Then I would have been faced with a decision...A) Break off the siege and try to track down and defeat as many of the remaining troops as I can (as they scattered in varying directions) or, continue the siege, in which case they have 800 more troops that they can try to gather with others out there and attack me again. Because 800 troops just plain disappeared I got the best of both worlds. My troops are hardly injured and I can continue my siege, plaus I just destroyed close to 1500 of their troops. (I'll also add that they had over 100 prisoners that now become my army's troops, so I actually destroyed 1500 of their troops and have a larger army than when they attacked me)

 

[sule]

Hi, I will mark the issue as resolved. If you encounter the same one in the latest version, please let me know. Thanks!