M&B Battlefield. What do you want?

[GonZ]

Lot's of stuff gets posted about the battlefield. Nevertheless; what would changes/additions would you like? What would make the perfect M&B battlefield?

Technology has its limitations... but forget those a while... imagine the battlefield 5 years down the line.

My community influenced initial thoughts:

1. A Multiplayer battlefield is top the list. Teams of soldiers fighting large, online skirmishes. Playing out those arena 3v3's against real opposition.

2. The ability to tactically control your squad. "Footmen > Defend this hill", "Archers > Defend this hill". "Horse! > follow me". Nice and simple, success carrying on the abilities of your squad and your own decisions. I think direct shouted orders would be the most realistic.

3. The sound of sword pulled from scabbard, a settled shield, CHEAAAARARGE... thundering hooves, horns blowing, arrows whooshing and whizzing, the howls of your enemy charging, CRRUNCH of contact, SLAMM into the second row.... then HACK, SLASH. Horse half panicked and panting, you control the beast, turn harsh and charge again. Wails of the wounded and dying. Raven's call, carried on a chill wind. The game needs more depth of sound.

4. Varied terrain and effects of terrain. Battle on the steppes for instance, larger, more barren maps, less cover - let's see how the nomads play on their home turf? Forrest bandits as well; you’ve hunted them to their home woods… smaller map, trees, scrub... silence in the forest. Who is hunting who now?

5. The populated battlefield. Smithy, mill or Inn. Farms and villages. high street and gallows square. Drawbridge and keep. City gate and palace courtyard. Civilians, sheep, horses, crows, vultures and flies.

6. More terrain types. Swamp that’s textured like water but more viscous and skinned in earthy tones you’re fighting your enemy up to your waist in sludge. Mud… clinging to you dragging you and your enemies down…

7. Additional weather. Fog wreathes the valleys. Eerie cries echo across the battlefield. Storms, lightning, snow. Night battle turning slowly into a victorious dawn, sunshine spilling across the hills. "We lived..."

8. Wounds, injuries and blood. Your charge into battle, hacked faces screaming at you, severed arteries - your scimitar turned red.. ride through, then turn... see the consequences. From the slashing point of impact to the drops of blood, dripping from your blade. Tracks, torn up landscapes, trails of blood, smoke drifting.

What do you want?

 

[Ingolifs]

I would like to hear more sounds. Horses do indeed make more than 2 different noises. I want to also hear footsteps, and the sound of moving plate mail.

I'm not sure how easy it would be to do decals on characters. If it can be done, i'd like to see mud and blood splatter, torn clothing, dented armour and ugly wounds.

 

[Berny]

That would make me have absolutley no life at all...

id never stop playing this game

I think Ilex said M&B 2 MIGHT be online Which would also make my love life even worst

 

[Orion]

all of the ideas are great. especialy the sounds and terrain penalties. If you're in a murky swamp, your visibility would decrease, as would your speed. Units wouldn't follow orders as well cause they're afraid the enemy will pop out and slaughter them. However, with new sounds, you could HEAR where your enemy was, so you can position your troops to meet the enemy head on. You would have to use your surroundings to your advantage. You might be out in the open a lot in the steppes, but there are plenty of hills and things, right? Use it to slow down enemy pursuers, and to hide from arrows. The forests would be awesome, as well. A higher Pathfinding skill would increase your speed in dense forested areas, and a higher Spotting skill increase your visibility. Forests are generaly dark places, if they're dense. There are a lot of trees, all cutting out the sun light. It would be soooo cool to set up an ambush in the trees, waiting for the perfect moment to jump out and start throwing my axes in to the backs of the enemy

Blood, mud, and gore can all wait a little bit longer. They aren't necessary for the game to function properly. In fact, they would probably create more bugs and things that would need fixing, so we would have more problems on our hands.

more troop commands has been posted countless times. Armagan has probably considered it, and im almost 100% sure that it's high up on his To-Do List. Just be patient, games take time Speaking of units and such, the whole "populated battlefield" thing would be great for the idea of taking over towns. If you attacked a town, there would be some small farms around the town, with a wall behind those, and then, behind those, the town its self. Winning an assault on a town would give you control over the town, basicaly you get a higher %age of tax money from your townspeople depending on your leadership skill, or something like that.

A few ideas of my own that have to do with combat:

First, idle animations. While in town, your character breathes when not moving. Out on the battlefield, this is not the case. You stand as still as a statue, not breathing (or so it would seem) or moving. I suggest a simple breathing animation for when you're idle, that way we don't look like a bunch of Granite Statues.

Also, Fire Arrows. They would inflict less damage on the first hit, but, if the enemy is not using a metal armor, they would catch on fire. Running in to water (a river, pond, swamp, etc.) would extinguish the fire instantly. Repeatedly pressing a button would put your self out. If you're on fire, you gradualy lose health. Fire Arrows could also be coded to light ground on fire. Simple, just have it so that when the arrow strikes the ground, fire comes up around it. I would just love to set farmer's huts on fire and then martch my army through the village, and engange the enemy halfway through. Some intense urban warfare Make the houses have health, so that if they burned long enough they collapsed. Just a simple thingy..

If object = on fire wait 60 seconds then show animation "collapse" or whatever. I dunno how the coding works. I know pretty much nothing about coding, except some HTML

Some of these ideas are probably already going in to the game, some might be new. Let's just hope armagan can wander on over here and check out some these good ideas.

 

[Berny]

fire arrows were my idea you bastard

haha just kidding

Having much more depth in the battle field would be great
like i said in another post

If the DEVELOOPERS READ THIS I think if we have time to set up a defence like some people said set up fences you should Be able to bring traps with you... like a post fence (it forces the enemy through an area) which could lead the AMBUSHES and have you crossbow men fire away Or Fire arrows (could be used to scare horses or burn poeple up) or you could even build like people said a spike trap If You've ever played the classic game "the horde" It would be a lot like this time limit and so forth And restrictions (like you can only carry 4 sections of fence at once)

Or building time (having more peasants could decrease the building time)

then you could only create so much fence or spikes or traps or ambushing and so forth



This could make the battle in the game more hectic


Im pretty sure someone said this about offenseive and defensive

offense is decided on you chasing the enemy down

If your on offense you must attack the enemys defense position(this would be difficult but fun all the same)

Defense (you have been chased or caught up to or like Tzaeru said you could have scouts) Scouts could be found and killed resulting in instant battle and a couple lost men where no one has a defensive position (you pick what tracks you want your scouts to go along)

If defensive weapons are to strong
Defense weapons could be broken down (wooded pikes mixed with fire arrows for instance)

If your defensive weapons are destryed you must buy new ones ( i have no idea what the cost should be, im thinking pretty darn expensive


Well there you go critisize me all you want

that would be my idea what would make it even better would be the more immerse enviroments like u guys said

 

[Valec SKylien]

How about more storyline and depth!

 

[Ingolifs]

How about more storyline and depth!

That will come in due time. Just be patient.

 

[Berny]

when is the next patch planned to be released?

 

[Tzaeru]

in sites there reads "every few weeks" but now somewhere Armagan (pfft, is that right?) told that they are going to develope mod tools more and only fix some bugs for next patch.
If I am not 100% wrong. like I usually am

 

[Rando]

I should have released one by now, but ipek and I will be on vacation next week and I won't be around to fix problems if there are any. So the new version will have to wait until early july.

 

[GonZ]

Something else I'd like to see on the M&B battlefield...

Scales of height.

Is it my imagination that all adversaries appear to be pretty much the same size?
Now that may well be a technical limitation to the game. But what if it wasn't?
Your own character would appear his/her height - all through the game. The body mass might change... lot's of fighting and training = muscular physique. Lots of time in the tavern might lead to a pot belly...

More important than that... it would give depth to your opponents. For instance; elite troops of an army might be expected to be taller than average, physically broad and tough. Peasantry would be shorter, undernourished etc... I know this kind of works with the game now due to armour and clothing. But I think it would be great to occasionally (in a champion v champion battle for instance) have to fight a eight foot brute, that towers above everyone. I'm thinking like the champion in the film Troy.

What do you think? Any more ideas for the battlefield?

--

I was also thinking more about shouted orders…

There could be two steps.

1. select unit e.g. (key 1)All, (key 2)Cavalry, (key 3 etc)Knights, Men at Arms, Foot, Archers, Rabble

2. Select order e.g. (key 1)To Me! (key 2) Charge, (key 3 etc) Rally, Defend here, Advance slow, Advance, Retreat.

On selection of the order. Your character shouts it out eg. "Rabble, to me!", "Crossbows, advance slowly".

The effectiveness of shouted orders could be limited by distance between character and recipient of order. Or morale of the troops involved perhaps. Or the level of action on the field - orders could get drowned out by the sound of melee.

Of course voice overs in a variety of language would make the game more commercial.

 

[Ilex]

I think Ilex said M&B 2 MIGHT be online Which would also make my love life even worst

I don't remember saying such, but it might be so that I said something like this. Though, I have said my opinion about implenting such in MB (1). I was against it if the combat wasn't made more complex (it works fine in single but human mind works differently compared to a machine) and if one wants a working multiplayer one usually tries to balance things out. In my book balance is equal to bad (atleast in great games like this).
EDIT: Sorry if this turns into another MP discussion.
EDIT2: What I want? I want more complex fighting system (or more complex AI).

 

[JohnathanStrange]

A WISHLIST thread again? Is it that time of year again, for holiday gifts and treats? I'm in the spirit!

Keep in mind though, I also would like everything that could be developed by a team of hundreds working day and nights but I'm limiting my wishes to what I think are within reach of a smaller design team.

My realistic wishlist:

*More & Better Combat Sounds: Weapons, battlecries, taunts, horses neighs, armor, etc.

*More Combat Commands: Infantry commands, Cavalry commands, Missile Commands, just simple commands that could me issued by a commander in the field. Ex: Infantry attack = 5, Cavalry charge=3, etc.

*Battlefields that Reflect World Map: Forest World Map=tree-filled battlefield, Desert World Map=desert battlefield

*Terrain effects: if desert/rolling grassland steppe ponies have advantage, level ground better for warhorses, in general avoiding a generic random maps with rivers and mountains for diverse terrain types.

These are my battlefield wishes.

 

[spamamp;eggs]

I'd be pretty happy if I could just figure out where the bad guys are.

A peasant with pitchfork always seems to know where to find the enemy, while my umpteenth level knight in shining armour must follow the peasant, in order to obtain a clue about where the battle is.

 

[Kestenvarn]

Battlefields that Reflect World Map: Forest World Map=tree-filled battlefield, Desert World Map=desert battlefield

That, rivers that actually have currents and need to be crossed safely at bridges or with horses at fords, and lakes.

And pikemen being able to set a polearm against a charging horse.

 

[BF2 [X]ThePunisher]

I would like to have two-handed swords to be carried diagonal along your back and 1-handed swords to be sheathed at your waist medium shields can be carried on back and add additional armor while there and small daggers at your waist but large shields must be carried by arm and more customizeable facial features and release this game already

 

[Orion]

I like that idea. If you have a weapon that isnt being used, it could be visible on your person while fighting. Like my throwing axes, they could be hung from my person's belt. I realize this would take some complex coding (or not...? im a noob when it comes to programming)

and

i throw my axes, and they miss their mark and hit a tree. this doesnt happen. not the missing thing, but the axes hitting a tree. they go through the tree. this isnt cool. I want to be able to hide behind a tree from incoming arrows, and then come around the tree to see 50 arrows stuck in to it

I'd love to see arrows/axes/javelins sticking out of trees. it looks more realistic

 

[Ingolifs]

That doesn't sound too hard to do. Back along time ago, arrows wouldn't stick to shields, and when someone inquired about this, Armagan fixed it promptly.

 

[Orion]

lol. I just tired to shoot some one through a tree, and it doesn't work. So i change my mind about "arrows going through trees" part in last past. Arrows go in to trees, but show no evidence of doing so

I want my arrows, axes, etc. to stick to trees!

Also, a weird little graphic problem about throwing knives & axes.

If they hit right, they don't appear to be "inside" the victim. They appear to float or rest right outside the victim, appearing not to have hit him at all.

Also, with throwing axes, most of the time.. you just see the handle of it. You don't see the blade at all, because it's completely inside of the victim. I think if the axes spun a bit faster this would happen less. Or, if there is another reason for this, change it so I don't see a bunch of footlong sticks stuck in to people's head, and start seeing axe blades sticking out of heads, with sticks attatched to them.

 

[sheek]

Populated battlefield (inns, bridges, commoners) is a must. What about battles that take place in towns? Strategy would be very different if there's only one way to get into the city through the main gate.