Little Helper

[Hamelech]

Huh...

1. Either the highest ranked lord or the one with the biggest force? If there's a king they follow you, if not some other lord. Presumably its the commander of the allied troops, since when you're marshal or a king, you command all the forces, so when you're aiding another group they must have a single commander based on rank.

2. When you have positive relations with the people you're helping? It happens whether you're on foot or mounted (and their damn horse gets in the way). Hmm. Dunno. Or maybe only when the allies have a designated commander?

3. Ok, so apart from guessing about some tactical reason, what I've noticed is that the enemy seems to do it too. In a battle with lots of enemy lords, they all go off together on their own to the side of the battle. And sometimes on the second wave of reinforcements (once all the lords are unconscious), I see a lone soldier from the other team standing away from all the rest. The enemy has a kind of command position and all the lords go there, or a unit if there's no lord.

So, last wild guess, seems a little far fetched - a bodyguard is assigned to the character on the battlefield with the best medical skills, to keep them alive and therefore keep more troops alive? In which case the highest level soldier is the bodyguard?

Ok, time to do some detective work

 

[Faegrin]

So, last wild guess, seems a little far fetched - a bodyguard is assigned to the character on the battlefield with the best medical skills, to keep them alive and therefore keep more troops alive? In which case the highest level soldier is the bodyguard?

Ok, time to do some detective work

My character has 8 surgery 

 

[Tsunami]

it probably has something to do with keeping an individual who can cause the greatest harm to oneself close, where they cannot inflict harm. It was a very common tactic during medieval times, if a lord has strong favour in the kingdom, he may become king quickly. If the current king wants to remain king, he must either strip the lord of all his possessions or keep him in his company to keep a watchful eye on him.

 

[iood]

haven't noticed it myself, but then I have no lords who are fighting for me with relation more than merely cooperative (20 I think), and i always tell them to charge..... I was wondering, if u guys tried to look at him (so his name pops up) and press "f"?

edit:
had a fight were my allied lord has relationship with me of 75 , still no one followed me.....(vicky is on, however i am a king and fight was numerically in my favour)
what is strange to me thou, is that game assigns lords to the infantry

 

[Treebeard]

Huh...

1. Either the highest ranked lord or the one with the biggest force? If there's a king they follow you, if not some other lord. Presumably its the commander of the allied troops, since when you're marshal or a king, you command all the forces, so when you're aiding another group they must have a single commander based on rank.

2. When you have positive relations with the people you're helping? It happens whether you're on foot or mounted (and their damn horse gets in the way). Hmm. Dunno. Or maybe only when the allies have a designated commander?

3. Ok, so apart from guessing about some tactical reason, what I've noticed is that the enemy seems to do it too. In a battle with lots of enemy lords, they all go off together on their own to the side of the battle. And sometimes on the second wave of reinforcements (once all the lords are unconscious), I see a lone soldier from the other team standing away from all the rest. The enemy has a kind of command position and all the lords go there, or a unit if there's no lord.

So, last wild guess, seems a little far fetched - a bodyguard is assigned to the character on the battlefield with the best medical skills, to keep them alive and therefore keep more troops alive? In which case the highest level soldier is the bodyguard?

Ok, time to do some detective work

Good work, you have the first item correct (at least partly ... but it can be considered 100% correct until the other two items are solved).
1. The allied team leader will be the one who will be close to you when certain  conditions are met.

Re #3:
That is unrelated to this particular being close to player "feature". Should this going to the side of the battle behavior be taken out (it may be construed as a bug)?

(By the way thanks for all the guesses so far. They are a source of ideas that could be adapted/added to the existing code).

 

[iood]

Guys, out of interest, do u have allied leader following you:
1)almost any time
2)I can command both my troops and allied troops, but not when i can only command my troops
3)reverse of 2nd option (i can command my troops and my troops only, allied troops act independently)

 

[Sir OnuSetallis]

I'm glad I started such an interesting topic.

 

[Deval4u]

I only really noticed this in a large battle beside a castle, Mamun Legatus was following me, even though I told my Cavalry to charge.
But, in the next fight where there was no renown bonus, nobody followed me...

 

[tbj28]

King Gregory always follow me around in battles that bugger, he probaly wants to kill steal that blue blooded bugger!

 

[Deval4u]

It seems like someone only follows me when there's a Renown Reward for the battle...
And it's not just Counts, I had an ally's Empire Guardian Knight follow me once, when all the Counts were knocked out.

 

[iood]

just spent two hours trying to find where this behaviour is coded for, and I think I did find it.... the problem is I am too lazy to spent next 24 hours in an attempt to decode it

 

[Ascarona]

Yeah I've been noticing this too with my Fierdsvain battles. I'm like 50+ relation with most of the lords and I can get them to do whatever I want, but they always follow me around in battle as if I have honey stuck to my ass.

 

[iood]

well, i have tested it, and yes it look like it depends on renown value for battle (therefore on difference in numbers of ur troops and enemy troops)... same lord as the one i did it before without success this time (exactly same battle i just had all my troops disbanded) did stood apart of all other formations, however he didn't follow me (renown of 17 is too small?!)

so my guess for answer to the second question is:
it happens when u have a lord aiding u in a battle who has more than cooperative relationship with you (haven't tested exact relationship thou), and enemy has considerable numerical advantage over you (determined by renown u will gain for winning the battle, so apart of numbers there are other factors determining it (like ur own renown))

it might be that another requirement is that u r king or a marshal (to test this have to start new game, which i won't do ), but i doubt it is...

(answer to q3)my guess for the reason of it, was already mentioned, they act as ur personal bodyguard, in a way that, if they follow u, u can't be surrounded by enemy from all sides, as on one side from you there will be enemy party commander

my correction to answer to q1, will be that it is commander of every single aiding party, if u meet the requirements from q2, with the leader of that party, not just commander of entire allied force


P.S sorry if i am a bit unclear or hard to follow

 

[Deval4u]

I don't think the actual number of troops matter. I've had guys follow me while we had around 50 more troops than the enemy. I think it's just the Renown Value, not the army sizes.

 

[iood]

I don't think the actual number of troops matter. I've had guys follow me while we had around 50 more troops than the enemy. I think it's just the Renown Value, not the army sizes.

troop numbers - affect the renown u get after battle, u can see that well when u have about the same renown as other mediocre lords... however as I said since it is renown, other factors do matter as well... (my guess is that it is renown so that more advanced characters are not as well protected, while peasant characters who will need protection due to absence of the armor are better protected.... that way battle is more balanced, since unless u r completely stupid, u will survive, and won't have to retreat or auto resolve battle....)

 

[Treebeard]

Keep observing

So far #1 is correctly identified by Hamelech (however it could be complemented with another answer which would also be correct):
#1: The designated team leader(s) of the allied team(s) will be the ones following the player when certain conditions are met.
These team leaders may be lords or the most powerful standard unit.

#2: Good guessing so far, but Renown is not a factor (even though it may seem it was).
This question has two correct factors and so far none of them have been identified. They are hard to observe but one of them should be observable. Deducing or guessing one factor is enough to score a correct answer.

#3: Here I'm getting a lot of good guesses and ideas but so far none has guessed the core correct reason to why it happens. (If you guess or deduce correctly it will also solve the mysterious complement answer to #1 ... or is it the other way around ...

 

[Deval4u]

Keep observing

So far #1 is correctly identified by Hamelech (however it could be complemented with another answer which would also be correct):
#1: The designated team leader(s) of the allied team(s) will be the ones following the player when certain conditions are met.
These team leaders may be lords or the most powerful standard unit.

#2: Good guessing so far, but Renown is not a factor (even though it may seem it was).
This question has two correct factors and so far none of them have been identified. They are hard to observe but one of them should be observable. Deducing or guessing one factor is enough to score a correct answer.

#3: Here I'm getting a lot of good guesses and ideas but so far none has guessed the core correct reason to why it happens. (If you guess or deduce correctly it will also solve the mysterious complement answer to #1 ... or is it the other way around ...

Does #2 have something to do with your Leadership or Charisma skill? Ie: If your Charisma/Leadership skill is equal to or higher than the commander's, he'll follow you?

 

[iood]

or another two suggestions from me (not giving up on this that easily  ):
1) it is to do with balance of mounted/unmounted units on urs and enemy sides (if enemy has more the lord or next high-tier (preferably?) mounted unit will follow u)
2)it is to do with quality and number of commander units on urs and enemy sides. so if u r fighting two lords, one of ur lords will follow u, (or smthing like that, not sure on numbers) so that in theory commander units can do smthing with enemy commander units

oh and Treebeard, is it a bug that lords catch up with me only once i stopped, and do not follow me like they usually would under follow command?
edit:
it also has to be a lords party, otherwise all the troops are just under ur command as it would normally happen(well that whats happened to me anyway)
and I guess u have to be the "main" atttacker

edit2:
checked, u can join battle and still u will be followed....

 

[Treebeard]

@Deval: Charisma and leadership are not factors but your guess provides me with interesting ideas.

@iood:

1) it is to do with balance of mounted/unmounted units on urs and enemy sides (if enemy has more the lord or next high-tier (preferably?) mounted unit will follow u)
2)it is to do with quality and number of commander units on urs and enemy sides. so if u r fighting two lords, one of ur lords will follow u, (or smthing like that, not sure on numbers) so that in theory commander units can do smthing with enemy commander units

Thanks for the good guesses but
1) I have to say no there.
2) I have to say no again.


(The allied team leader not reaching you until you stop is not a bug).

 

[iood]

Keep observing

So far #1 is correctly identified by Hamelech (however it could be complemented with another answer which would also be correct):
#1: The designated team leader(s) of the allied team(s) will be the ones following the player when certain conditions are met.
These team leaders may be lords or the most powerful standard unit.

#2: Good guessing so far, but Renown is not a factor (even though it may seem it was).
This question has two correct factors and so far none of them have been identified. They are hard to observe but one of them should be observable. Deducing or guessing one factor is enough to score a correct answer.

#3: Here I'm getting a lot of good guesses and ideas but so far none has guessed the core correct reason to why it happens. (If you guess or deduce correctly it will also solve the mysterious complement answer to #1 ... or is it the other way around ...

Does #2 have something to do with your Leadership or Charisma skill? Ie: If your Charisma/Leadership skill is equal to or higher than the commander's, he'll follow you?

doesn't look like it... since my lvl1 character was supposed to be followed by one of the jarl (instead the jarl just stood near the spawn flag)