My Observations on the New Version

[UniversalWolf]

I just started playing the new version after a long hiatus, and it's really impressive!  Lots of quality work done from the last version.

A few quick observations:

I've had a little trouble with the companion reading material set up, possibly because I have all the companions at once.  Now and then one of them will finish a book, but his name doesn't reappear in the list so I can't start him reading a new book.  This happened with Artimenner, and I thought maybe it was because he didn't have new books to read, but I gave him three he hadn't read in addition to the one he'd finished, and his name still didn't reappear in the list.

I love the new ability system as the player levels up.  Very cool.  No problems with it at all, so far.

Why don't figs (and ale too, for that matter) count as party rations?  Just curious.

You know what would be insanely great?  If there were a way to sort store inventory by different properties.  I'm thinking of a button or tab to make the inventory resort by, say, condition.  All Masterwork/Lordly items appear at the top of the list, while all the tattered and rusty stuff sinks to the bottom.

Finally, I had a strange thing happen while trying to help an imprisoned lord escape.  I had four companion bodyguards, and one of them would betray me and start attacking my party members.  Every time I reloaded, it was a different companion.  In the end I just disabled bodyguards and it worked right.

All in all, fantastic job!

Thanks.

EDIT: Looks like there's a new version since I downloaded the last one a few days ago!  I'll grab it now.  I'll leave this post up since I'll be playing more and I'll probably have something to say about the new-new version (0.21).

 

[Huillam]

Finally, I had a strange thing happen while trying to help an imprisoned lord escape.  I had four companion bodyguards, and one of them would betray me and start attacking my party members.  Every time I reloaded, it was a different companion.  In the end I just disabled bodyguards and it worked right.

There's a vanilla issue with the prison break where the lord turn hostile as soon as he leaves the prison. The only solution I've found is to restart the game (reloading a save isn't enough). Both issues may be related.

 

[UniversalWolf]

There's a vanilla issue with the prison break where the lord turn hostile as soon as he leaves the prison. The only solution I've found is to restart the game (reloading a save isn't enough). Both issues may be related.

It's possible.  I can't be absolutely certain that the escaping lord didn't start attacking one of my bodyguards, thus making my bodyguard hostile.  Each time I very clearly saw one of my companion bodyguards attacking my party though.

Come to think of it, I'm not sure I ever remember bodyguards coming with me when I tried rescuing lords in the past, so it could be a problem of the Silverstag bodyguard system interacting with the vanilla bug you describe.

 

[Windyplains]

The vanilla bug associated with lords flipping sides should be fixed.  It looks like bodyguards may still suffer from it occasionally so I'll need to add in a fix for them as well.

 

[Windyplains]

I've had a little trouble with the companion reading material set up, possibly because I have all the companions at once.  Now and then one of them will finish a book, but his name doesn't reappear in the list so I can't start him reading a new book.  This happened with Artimenner, and I thought maybe it was because he didn't have new books to read, but I gave him three he hadn't read in addition to the one he'd finished, and his name still didn't reappear in the list.

This is a known issue and is due to menu list limitations.  You simply can't have more than 16 items in a menu in warband so the list is limited to 14 companions leaving room for two "previous menu / go to map" options.  I intend to redesigning the entire companion management menu to be an interface with a lot more information and options (including improving the companion reading setup), but I haven't gotten to that part of the worklist yet.  The ticket is definitely in there though.

I love the new ability system as the player levels up.  Very cool.  No problems with it at all, so far.

Thanks.  I'm always happy to hear suggestions on new abilities as well.

Why don't figs (and ale too, for that matter) count as party rations?  Just curious.

Just a carryover from the Native game.  I haven't altered how these kinds of goods work at all.

You know what would be insanely great?  If there were a way to sort store inventory by different properties.  I'm thinking of a button or tab to make the inventory resort by, say, condition.  All Masterwork/Lordly items appear at the top of the list, while all the tattered and rusty stuff sinks to the bottom.

The autoloot system already has the capacity to do this by sorting via value (modified by quality) which is fairly close to what you're asking for and could be adapted for other uses.  Who's inventory did you want the option to sort and in what context?

 

[UniversalWolf]

Who's inventory did you want the option to sort and in what context?

I want to sort shopkeeper inventories.  If I visit the armor shop in Sargoth, I want to be able to have all the Lordly items appear at the top.  It would save considerable hassle, because there are plenty of lesser items (meaning less expensive) that are very useful if they're lordly quality, but you have to hunt through the entire store inventory to find them.  They don't rise to the top because they're so much less expensive than heavy armors.  A Lordly Segmented Helmet, for example; it's useful for weaker companions, it looks pretty good, and it's so cheap it's buried down low in the list if it's sorted by price.  You'll never find it unless you hover over every single item.

Suggestions for new abilities?  Well, the obvious choice is Sex Appeal, so the lords and ladies of the realm will be tripping over themselves to spend time with your character.
 

 

[UniversalWolf]

I've played the new-new version a bit now.

I like the new items and the horses.  Throwing hammers!  Nice.  May I suggest a few different types of Saddle Horse?  Strawberry Roan Saddle Horse, Buckskin Saddle Horse, that sort of thing.  I don't know whether you want to go this direction, but I don't know why you would have to stick to real-world horses.  No reason you can't have a horse with zebra stripes in a fantasy world.

I haven't figured out the purpose of the knowledge of towns and castles you accumulate while resting there, but I like the idea.  Together with companion book reading, I think you've successfully given incentive to resting.  I wonder whether there should be more penalties for night battles?  Here's a crazy idea: limit the view distance at night.  A simply way would be to have heavy black fog to simulate darkness.

I have a bunch of other ideas, but I got interrupted by a long conversation halfway through writing this post, so I'll have to come back later and finish after I re-organize my thoughts.

UPDATE:  Okay, some new comments.

I had this idea that it would be interesting for a new character to get a job as a caravan guard.  You sign on at, say, Sargoth, and travel with the caravan until it reaches Bariyye or wherever it's going, at which point you get paid.  If something attacks the caravan on the way, you have to fight.

It could be my imagination, but Lordly/Masterwork items and Champion horses seem to be more rare than in previous versions.  A change for the better, if true.

If I win a tournament and Isolla or Arwa are at the feast, I'd like to be able to dedicate my victory to one of them.

I think the wives of the lords who are always sitting at home in the castles when you visit should give more missions.  Sure, they may not need a champion to defend their honor every minute of every day, but I'm sure they need couriers to deliver messages to their husbands and girlfriends.  They've got to be bored being cooped up all the time.  I also can't help thinking some of them would like to have an affair with a handsome young rogue who shows up at the castle...

For the Sex Appeal ability, it could either give an extra +1 bonus to courtship relations that stacks with the one from the book, or a one-time bonus of +10 relations to every opposite sex character you meet.

I was thinking about the poems you learn from the bards...maybe there could be some poems or songs you could only learn by reading books.

Anyway, I'll shut my clam until I play the new version some more.  I like it very much, but I need to try more of the new stuff before I comment.

EDIT 2 - 21 JAN 14:

Have you been tinkering with the dungeons?  The one in Curaw is especially cool.  I don't remember it being that big before.  Some of the other ones seem different, too.  I like them, although they've got me wishing there were monster and treasure filled dungeons in the game.

I wonder whether it would be possible to fit more people into the castles during banquets.  I went to one that was so packed with lords that none of the maidens even showed up.  Some of the rooms might have to be enlarged, and that seems like quite a large undertaking, but maybe more people could be jammed into the existing space.

Have you noticed that many of the tournament arenas are in full shadow most of the time because of the high walls?  I don't know about anyone else, but I have trouble seeing what in the heck is going on sometimes.  Also, the blue and the green tournament colors are too similar IMO.  I humbly request that the blue color be changed to a brighter, lighter shade, like a sky blue.

Tournaments are fun, but it would be awesome to have horse races with a series of gates and jumps.  That could be a nice change.  The player could participate, or simply place bets on the horses.

Currently the Vaegirs are getting squashed in my game.  They were attacked by the Nords and Khergits at the same time, and lost Curaw and Kudan in the war.  If they lose another city I'm going to try and swoop in and grab the last one for myself.

 

[D3monic]

Vaegirs and and Swadians tends to get owned in a lot of people's games, while Nords and Khergits tends to conquer a lot of places...

 

[Theo H]

Vaegirs and and Swadians tends to get owned in a lot of people's games, while Nords and Khergits tends to conquer a lot of places...

Nords and khergits are conquest driven...aren't they?

 

[Leifdin]

Vaegirs and and Swadians tends to get owned in a lot of people's games, while Nords and Khergits tends to conquer a lot of places...

Adding new factions should help this I believe

 

[UniversalWolf]

More Obs...

I haven't played for quite a while before trying this new version, but it seems like siege defenders are much tougher.  It looks like a combination of how the new troops are set for skills, and the fact that the garrison saves up a big surge of it's most lethal melee troops for the end of the battle.  I like it.

The Nords conquered Rivacheg and then moved right on to Reyvadin too quickly for me to get there.  As the Vaegirs were down to four or five castles, I picked the one (Jeribe Castle, between Curaw and Wercheg) owned by a pitiless lord who didn't like me anyway, and snatched it up.  I'm going to try and grab one more (the one in the mountains between Reyvadin and Curaw) from a cunning lord who also doesn't like me.  We'll see how much fight the Vaegirs have left with only three castles.

I could be wrong, but I think Veteran and Elite troops can't be disbanded at cities and castles the way regular troops can.  I wandered around for a long time with some Elite Swadian Milita and couldn't find a place to disband them.

The dungeons are indeed much improved.  I really like them!  But now I want hidden mines, secret tunnels, catacombs, and ruined temples. 

Tournament quests are still a bit odd.  I've gotten a couple of them for cities I just left after having participated in a tournament, and I've gotten a couple where the tournament ended before I got halfway to the location, even though I started out straight away.  At least the stupid relationship penalty is gone.  I like how the lord says, "It's a shame you couldn't come to my tournament," the next time you see him.

 

[D3monic]

I could be wrong, but I think Veteran and Elite troops can't be disbanded at cities and castles the way regular troops can.  I wandered around for a long time with some Elite Swadian Milita and couldn't find a place to disband them.

You can disband them everywhere, you just have to allow your party troops to appear in recruitement page. (button on the top of the screen)

 

[Theo H]

Mmmm me wonder when the cinematic version is getting released...

 

[Huillam]

I imagine that Windy want to release the next version and fix the bugs that rose with 0.21 before uploading the cinematic version (but I could be wrong).

 

[Windyplains]

I imagine that Windy want to release the next version and fix the bugs that rose with 0.21 before uploading the cinematic version (but I could be wrong).

Correct.  There is no need to release a v0.21 cinematic if v0.22 will be coming out shortly.

 

[mikemayday]

Yo, what are the main bugs introduced in 0.21?

EDIT: Also, since it's not fixed in 0.21 I'd like to divert your attention to this little bug as it's driving me insane:

https://www.assembla.com/spaces/windyplains/support/tickets/1140-when-a-gaoler-has-useful-contacts--you-get-a-triple-offloading-message-no-matter-if-you-have-pris---#/activity/ticket:

 

[Theo H]

I imagine that Windy want to release the next version and fix the bugs that rose with 0.21 before uploading the cinematic version (but I could be wrong).

Correct.  There is no need to release a v0.21 cinematic if v0.22 will be coming out shortly.

Makes sense.

 

[kalil]

Yo, what are the main bugs introduced in 0.21?

The most urgent one is that the fix for 'inactive' lords inadvertently caused companions to all join up with the Nords after a few weeks.

 

[Windyplains]

Yo, what are the main bugs introduced in 0.21?

Body-sliding:
* Getting body-sliding back to working normally with regular troops.
* Preventing a standard troop from losing its mount permanently due to the player sliding into it and getting unhorsed.

Companions:
* Preventing companions that are inactive (simply unhired) from being included within the inactive lord reboot which currently causes them all to be promoted to vassals for a random faction.  The fix to this will also be including a retroactive fix to repair save games.

Mod Difficulty:
* Correcting the problems associated with garrison sizes when using the mod on normal difficulty.

Those are the main ones v0.21 introduced.  The next two versions will focus solely on bug resolution with v0.22 being a quick fix and v0.23 going after some longer bugs.

EDIT: Also, since it's not fixed in 0.21 I'd like to divert your attention to this little bug as it's driving me insane:
https://www.assembla.com/spaces/windyplains/support/tickets/1140-when-a-gaoler-has-useful-contacts--you-get-a-triple-offloading-message-no-matter-if-you-have-pris---#/activity/ticket:

This has been corrected for v0.22.

 

[Xenomion]

Your work on trying to get previous saves to still work despite heavy changes, new troop trees, and game breaking bugs is impressive. Thank you.