Loot and Horses . . . again . . .

[Xiphos]

I know this has been brought up before, but I feel it's important enough for another topic. I was duking it out with some dark knights when my spirited charger got taken out from under me . . . and crippled. I almost cried. So, after we took care of the first wave, I started against the second wave on a horse that could barely move. Not good when you're up against tigers like these. So I got off, cut an enemy knight off his warhorse, and finished the battle on it. At the end of the battle, (my 50 against their 62) my loot consisted of one bunch of arrows, and a shield.

My point: Is there some way to keep the horses we steal in the battlefield? My ego would have salved if I had only been able to keep that warhorse, and use it while my charger healed up. Additionally, it is crazy to defeat huge numbers of men and have little or no loot afterwards to speak of. I realize that it may be a little off-balance to have 40 sets of black armor after bashing in some black knights (or . . . is it?), but it would be nice to feel rewarded for a battle well-fought.

 

[Camus]

I agree, i think that the horse you ride at the end of battle should always be in the loot screen. (If it is not youre own or one of youre soldiers ofcourse)

 

[Laurence of Arabia]

You should get access to all living horses. And all items, but most of them should be chipped to represent the wear the took in th battle.

 

[Ilex]

So no loot for your soldiers?
EDIT: but if you are soloing then yes... all their goods are belong to you

 

[Laurence of Arabia]

no, you pay the soldiers a wage so they dont get loot.

 

[Xiphos]

Even if your troops do get access to loot, when you engage and destroy forces that are larger than yours, it makes sense that there would be more - especially if not all of your men fought in the battle.

 

[Laurence of Arabia]

yes, more loot please!

 

[Skyrage]

More loot would be nice, but on the other hand the wages you pay your troops really needs to be boosted as well...at least for the higher tier troops...

 

[Ingolifs]

The horse thing may be a bit of an exploit. Say you just started out at level 1 with a 3 in riding. You find a vaegir scout vs river pirate battle and you join. You order the soldiers off their horses and steal their Hunter, and then the foor battle akes place and the vaegirs win easily. You've got yourself a free hunter.

 

[Laurence of Arabia]

ye, but they could make it so that allied ownership overides that of your own

 

[Kniggit]

Yea, there have been several threads about the lack of loot, and they all have different arguments. In one i remember people were a little preturbed that dark hunters werent even worth the risk. One of the arguments (i think) was that not all armour fits all men. This is true, but im content in my hardened leather, i dont want to wear it, i want to sell it. I wanna sell it and find better light armour. Hell, i just wanna seel it so i can feed my massive army. And when i have a large army, and i killed like 50 Dark Hunters, 1 suit at least is bound to fit 1 person in my army. Some knights should appear with good armour after a tough fight with a nasty enemy. If they take all the damn lott where does it go? i pay the bastards, if they take the loots and sell it then there is no reason why i should have to feed them. greedy little bastards, thats why i solo, and i still get bent arrows from swadian crossbowmen they have bolts not arrows........

Ian

 

[Istadan]

How about this: Most, if not all, of the stuff the enemies were using, you get to keep. The exception is projectiles: only sometimes would the leftovers not be broken up too much.
But here's the catch: most of it's broken. Not only would it get a gigantic stat disadvantage, but it'd be worth a lot less. But you can take it to a smithy and get it fixed, for a fee.
That way, you get some broken black armor, bring it to the smith, get it fixed for 5000 denars or so, and still come out on top. That'd also address it not fitting.
I really would prefer if you always got the horse you were riding at the end of the battle, provided it was from an enemy.

 

[armagan]

That would reward players who make sure that they finish the battle on someone else's horse as opposed to players who prefer to fight on foot. One of my design principles is not to leave any exploits that can be used for power-playing, so that players can focus on having fun rather than worrying about maximazing their gain.

 

[Karfir]

I don't think that a stolen horse should automatically be yours, but it would be nice if you at least got the full equipment of one enemy soldier. The wages for your men should be increased, too.

 

[MMAgCh]

The way I see it, all the equipment and mounts your upgraded soldiers magically retrieve from the Dimension of Apparently Infinite Stuff and Horses is the very same stuff that disappears to said dimension after each battle, leaving the player with only a subpar amount of loot.

More seriously, my rationale for finding so little leftovers after battles is that most items are ruined. Armor is rent asunder, weapons are notched and broken, horses are mortally wounded or outright killed; all beyond repair.

If armor- and weaponsmiths had a Repair feature, things might be different. Whether making ALL loot available to the player would be a good thing is another question entirely - even assuming you had the patience to sort through all of it each time, it would still be nigh impossible to lug it to the nearest town for repair - but if you found something particularly neat, you could keep it.

As such, it might be a neat idea if there was a chance to be able to loot all those enemies the player has slain himself. This means, then, that the opponents killed by the player's troops are also looted by them, taking their equipment for their own use and to replace their broken stuff. Someone mentioned a Salvage skill in another thread, and that might work too.

It follows that there could also be a Repair skill, which could work like the Trainer ability in that it repairs, or attempts to repair, troops' broken or otherwise worn equipment at midnight. Something to keep in mind is that this would necessitate a better interface for troop micromanaging - something like allowing the player to view their inventory at least, if only to make the repairing activity more transparent. If that would be a step in the right direction, I don't know; allowing the player to tamper with the equipment of each of his fifty soldiers is one thing, forcing him to do this is another.

Right now the entire troops deal is kept very simple, perhaps a bit too much so, but as the only things you really need to do are hiring new soldiers and upgrading existing ones, it also requires very little time and doesn't get in the way of what M&B is all about - riding down one's inferior opponents.

There you go, some random thoughts of mine.

 

[screwtype]

Well I haven't played the game all that much yet, but my impression is that there is far too MUCH loot in this game. After you reach a certain modest standard, there is little if any incentive to do any more of the trade related stuff like escorting caravans because there's far more money to be had from just killing enemy parties and selling their stuff.

I think loot should be distributed amongst all members of your party. For example I have a party of 26 right now and we are beating up bandit parties of about the same size. After the battle I typically get a couple of shields, three or four helmets, several weapons, arrows and bolts etc etc. On top of that you also get gold for winning. But if there are 26 guys in my party, and we beat up a party of 26, then I should get a maximum of ONE shield, ONE weapon etc - my share of the loot. And that's assuming those items aren't broken.

Edit: Maybe the way it could be done is that at the end of a battle you are presented with a bunch of stuff that has been looted. But you are told you can loot only x amount of this stuff for yourself. As leader, you get the pick
of the loot, but the rest goes to your party.

 

[Xiphos]

I think the combat system in the game almost utterly destroys the trading for me. I'd rather go bandit or dark knight hunting and experience that awesome battle than run ale from town to town. Money, after the first couple of hours, has little weight for me. It's just the battles . . .

Armagan: I understand what you're saying. I s'pose it's just my bruised ego crying out for another horse. I was running all over the place screaming, "A horse, a horse! My kingdom for a horse!"

 

[Ingolifs]

I believe that loot is divided up amongst party members somehow. Like you count as ten people, the npc heroes count as seven and soldiers count as one.

correct me if i'm wrong.