Let's Play - Prophesy of Pendor 3.9.3 - this time in English from the beginning!

[T.L.S.]

Horse Archer AI destroys foot units with very minimal casualties

Depends on army composition actually. If army consists mostly of elite archers (arquebusiers also may work) and shield infantry + you have a hill, HA AI will work against enemies, simply because of accuracy advantage of foot ranged units. Trying this vs Noldor or Doomguides in high numbers may be not best of ideas though.

 

[Gorvex]

@T.L.S.: oh yeah, a good dose of foot archers planted on a hill protected by infantry with sturdy shields will probably manage to fight off horse archers, unless you are against the Noldor (guess that won't happen), Doomguides (Three Seers, obviously) or Omen Seekers (only present in bigger numbers within Burilgi the Usurper's party).

But it may still be annoying as f*ck, since your archers gonna miss a lot of shots, while those horse archers will fire only occasionally, plus they will deplete all of their ammo before charging to you. And if you run out of ammo before they do, then you'll be in big trouble. I guess going for something like an 1:1 ratio of archers:crossbowmen might not be a bad idea, exactly because of these situations plus siege assaults of course.

 

[T.L.S.]

archers:crossbowmen

xbows are terrible against horse archers, because of immobility during reload, thats why i mentioned guns as an option (high ammo, accuracy and reload on the move are all very helpfull)
In current game i run with an army of 120-140 shield infantry (mostly legionares and Mortals + some Krakens, former soon shall be swaped for CKO sergeants), 40-50 2h infantry (Mettenheimers and Immortals), 100-120 archers (Silvermists and RR), 80-100 arquebusiers (to be swaped with CKO knights).
Even without CKO units, with HA AI enabled any spawn (except fresh Noldor lords) and any marshal force can be soloed on right terrain with acceptable losses (and replacing Legionares isn't a problem even with Pendor culture when you have Ethos and Janos + all surrounding villages with 90+ relations...)

 

[Plasquar]

I will just disable HA AI in battles like that.
While there are good suggestion on how to deal with them it's just annoying trying to catch them when running around without a horse. 

 

[lconracl]

I have seen 10 episodes so far and they were quite entertaining. You seem to know game well and constant narration, stream of thoughts, adds a lot to the bare gameplay. Liked your dangerous "dance with Noldors" one the beginning of the series.

I know it is a single player game and everyone can do whatever they want, but as a viewer what I don't like is tampering with game settings in order to achieve quick advantages: reduce battlesize during the battle to get "30 vs 130" spawn wave or switching the "horse archers AI" on just before the battle so your D'Shar friends could have some fun with mostly shieldless Inquisition infantry.

For me, as a viewer, it looks rather cheap and in my opinion it would be better to stick to the initial settings, chosen by you at the beginning of the playthrough (no cavalry etc.). I would set "horse archers AI" to NPC only (as you can't counter many common soldiers with your own cavalry) and battlesize to ~380 (good FPS with still rather full battlefield).

At the end you have asked "... how to make Pendor harder". If you loose one battle from time to time then ... I, as a viewer, am ok with that. Fresh emotions to observe, new situations to deal with - more fun for me.

Ps I may be wrong, but so far I haven't seen you asking companions (hired or not) for special troops (https://pop3.wikia.com/wiki/Companions). Some of the provided warriors may fit your "infantry only" play style pretty well.

 

[Pacific_Salmon]

I made a comment below one of the videos that is exactly the same as part of your comment:

That changing the battlesize during battle so that your reinforcements spawn and then lowering the battlesize so that enemy reinforcements don't come is flat out cheating.  It's not even a case of "abusing AI", it's even worse than that as far as I am concerned.

Destroys the whole purpose of "a harder playthrough".

But all-in-all great playthrough and I am enjoying it very much

 

[Gorvex]

@Plasquar:
I agree with Konrad, even though I enjoy your playthrough as it is, as I always liked to see someone using dirty tricks. Especially because it seems that the majority of video makers don't even know about such opportunities. Btw, the repeated talk to a faster party to make the slower one be able to catch them is also one

Considering troop recruitment from companions, it's a nice source of weekly troops, so keep that in mind. However, you'll only be able to do that from lvl 20 onwards. To not forget to ask for weekly troops, my suggestion is to time it to the weekly budget report, so ask for troops right after that, which is always a sign of a new week.

 

[Plasquar]

I know it is a single player game and everyone can do whatever they want, but as a viewer what I don't like is tampering with game settings in order to achieve quick advantages[...]

I'm going to use dirty tricks like these only in the beginning and only for big armies which I can't deal with early on.
As soon as I have a somewhat decent army (and don't lose it when running into an army by accident) I'm not going to touch these settings again.
Running around weak for 20 episodes could be boring to watch as well. 

Ps I may be wrong, but so far I haven't seen you asking companions (hired or not) for special troops (https://pop3.wikia.com/wiki/Companions). Some of the provided warriors may fit your "infantry only" play style pretty well.

You're right. I forgot about them.

I made a comment below one of the videos that is exactly the same as part of your comment:[...]

I saw your comment on Youtube.
As I said these tricks are only for the beginning to get a better army soon.
If you run around with only a few decent troops and it takes ages to get a good army it may get boring to watch as well. 

[...]Especially because it seems that the majority of video makers don't even know about such opportunities.

Yup. I got a lot of comments on YT/Discord telling me to tell them more tricks like that.
Not all viewers are as experienced with this game as we are. They like seeing things like that. That's just a problem with you showing your playthrough on Youtube.
There are so many different tastes. But I'll still try to find a playstile that suits everyone. 

Considering troop recruitment from companions, it's a nice source of weekly troops, so keep that in mind. However, you'll only be able to do that from lvl 20 onwards. To not forget to ask for weekly troops, my suggestion is to time it to the weekly budget report, so ask for troops right after that, which is always a sign of a new week.

Yup as I said, I completly forgot about that. I'll do it right away (although the next few episodes are already done (to have some free time during the holidays) and thus I won't be doing that anytime soon).

 

[Pacific_Salmon]

Watching this play-through motivated me to play POP again.  Thank you to OP for posting his playthrough

  I have set the following rules:

1)  No mounted units of any type

2)  Will not use bow

3)  Will not do "Int build" and will not have any dedicated Int companion.  All my companions will only ever get increases in AGI or STR

4)  Will not use any rune weapons

5)  No save scumming of any kind

6)  Will not tab out of any combat to get better terrain and will never retreat

7)  Will not start my own kingdom, but will instead support a pretender and then when (if) the rebellion succeeds, I will support him or her until they unite all of Pendor.



In my current play-through, I have already been captured 3 times and it is around day 75. 

I am a veteran POP player and have beaten the game many times, but I don't think I have had this much fun in years.

 

[Plasquar]

[...]I don't think I have had this much fun in years.

My sentiments exactly. Especially meeting the Noldors for the first time and trying to lure them around was funny. 

 

[King Edric]

Watching this play-through motivated me to play POP again.  Thank you to OP for posting his playthrough

  I have set the following rules:

1)  No mounted units of any type

2)  Will not use bow

3)  Will not do "Int build" and will not have any dedicated Int companion.  All my companions will only ever get increases in AGI or STR

4)  Will not use any rune weapons

5)  No save scumming of any kind

6)  Will not tab out of any combat to get better terrain and will never retreat

7)  Will not start my own kingdom, but will instead support a pretender and then when (if) the rebellion succeeds, I will support him or her until they unite all of Pendor.



In my current play-through, I have already been captured 3 times and it is around day 75. 

I am a veteran POP player and have beaten the game many times, but I don't think I have had this much fun in years.

I can only imagine how hard it must be to play like this, I may actually give it a shot myself 

 

[Gorvex]

@Plasquar:
I just watched episode 19. Good stuff as always!

Just a few notes:
- factions with 0 or lower relations won't assist you in battles from the distance (as you could probably tell upon luring that Snake Cult army to Janos)
- Bounty Hunt quest when you have some allies on the field: the bounty points you get in the end are proportional to your party's presence on the battlefield, relative to your allies. So the more allies you have on the map compared to your party size, the less bounty points you'll get.
- I've seen in past episodes that you were sometimes planting your troops in low-ground valleys, rather than on top of hills. This is acceptable early on, but later you should always pick the highest or the steepest ground on battlefields that are not completely flat. Or use a river on flat maps if there is one. That's where you can make the enemy cavalry lose their advantage, where having mounts will be a burden for them.
- Also, you should get used to ordering infantry to stand closer in general (not always needed, but against a cavalry charge, it is). So that cavalry won't be able to trample through your lines.
- You can get an Arquebus from Donavan. You don't need to keep him. Just hire, get the Arquebus and fire him or whatever. Another guaranteed source for the Arquebus comes when you'll unlock the Order Stronghold, and then you'll be able to buy them along with bullets from Quartermaster Kailin.
- You could use further Heretic Writings and Snake Cult Rituals to make relations 0 or higher with the Order of the Dawn and Ebony Gauntlet (in Avendor if there is one) if you'd like. Or repair your relations with any Order beside Eventide that you are enemies with at the moment. KO patrols are rather rare and occasional, so books are a better way to repair relations. But if you'll do so, don't forget to speak to officer knights when you have at least 3 books (doesn't matter in which combination), as then you'll get +5 relation for 3 books, instead of the usual +1 relation per book.
- In tournaments where you get to use a crossbow or bow on horseback against infantry with shields: it can be quite dangerous if you try to make them lower their shields by approaching them head on. One mistake and they'll be able to dehorse and kill you. Instead, I suggest you to ride slowly in front of them, let them come a little bit closer without you stopping, then start turning (so that you can aim at them) and wait for them to lower their shields. Then shoot and increase your riding speed before they could get any closer. Rinse and repeat. It's a much safer method imo. Ofc, watch for the arena walls.

 

[Lag'ier Barlida]

As for dirty tricks, there are mostly 2 kinds of them imo:
1. Wont break the immersion, just like in real world there are always faster and easier ways to achieve things.
Like kicking armies to farm gems.
Like soloing KO knight patrols for good gears.
2. Break the immersion, like change the game setting for temporary advantages, like keep reloading for best results, which can’t happen in the real world.

So as you asked how to make pendor harder, and here the answer goes:
Do not change game setting for temporary advantages, early game being harder is the core for most hardcore games. Even in dark souls late game players could stream Bosses at ease.

Nice work overall btw Hope you can dig out more joy from pendor.

 

[Gorvex]

@Plasquar:
Be extra careful upon luring the Dread Legion, Eyegrim the Devourer, The Three Seers and Wolfbode the Slayer (keep a little bigger distance if possible)! Each can spawn mini-patrols out of themselves quite randomly, which can be faster than you. If they manage to catch you then the spawn will jump in as well, and then RIP.

 

[Savigo]

If you are going to establish CKO you should consider using one tweak (since you can't use cavalry, but in base version of the mod you need pendor knight to get CKO knight):

To make your CKO knights upgrade from Pendor Foot Knight or Pendor Black Archer instead of Pendor Knight - credits to BananaFruit

File: scripts.txt

1) Search for:

5 0 2133 2 72057594037927957 360287970189639877 2133
2) To upgrade from Pendor Foot Knight, change 360287970189639877 to 360287970189639878

2) To upgrade from Pendor Black Archer, change 360287970189639877 to 360287970189639883

From pop3.wikia

Probably the only option for you is Pendor Black Archer, foot knight levels up from cavalry.

 

[Gorvex]

I personally think that getting mounted nobles only to train them and never use them in fights until promoted to KO/CKO units is perfectly fine. Because let's face it, the game has many limitations and all 5 kingdoms have mounted nobles for example, even Empire and Fierdsvain, who are specialized in infantry combat. As a result, Immortals train from Empire Knights and Kraken Riddari train from Fierdsvain Hersirs. It would be a little too unfair, if you could never field the respective infantry KO troops in a greater amount just because you decided to use foot units exclusively. It's actually a contradiction. The same stands for Pendor.

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P.S.: Good to see that there are some people who are aware of the tweaks that I started to collect from various other people and forums lately! Please let me know if you find anything that is wrong or out of place!