I'm having tons of fun with the game, but have noticed a very common occurrence in single player campaigns. It seems like one faction, often one of the empires or battania will snowball out of control very quickly. This can really put a hamper on a campaign as it ends very quickly, in one of my games battania controls almost the entire map already and there is nothing I can do to stop them as Sturgia. I don't even have a fief yet and my 120+ troops stand no chance against the multiple 400 stack armies (And one ****-off 900 man army) Battania fields. Whenever Sturgia tries to raise an army it is quickly stomped out. Battania took 3 towns and 4 castles in less than a week.
Campaign AI in warband could be a bit dumb often failing to take easy castles or only taking one castle/town and then disbanding the army. In Bannerlord it appears to have swung very heavily the opposite way. Armies will quickly move from town to town sieging them down. Obviously a balance needs to be struck and getting it perfect will be difficult. But maybe for quick-fix for the time being you wonderful devos could put in a cooldown after a faction successfully captures a town/castle so one faction doesn't just rampage through and control everything in 2 years or so?
Edit: Just wanted to add another issue I'm seeing that contributes to this. If a war starts going even a little badly for a faction all their lords start deserting. So suddenly an already losing faction loses half their troops when lords start leaving. I'm getting one notification a day roughly currently of a lord leaving the sturgia faction.
Edit: It appears a few faction snowballing threads have all been merged together, with my main body post and Lucius Confucius's title/poll. Per his request here are some ideas from his thread.
With the poll I mean that the single player sandbox experience should be able to last forever, with multiple factions always present and able to fight each other. As to the single player quest campaign, it should of course have an end.
1. Feasts and Peace.
Bring it back! Have factions at peace for longer times, right now they're just at peace for a few days at most.
2. Resurrecting fallen nations.
If the right conditions are met, have a fallen nation be able to resurrect itself in a city or a few, perhaps with a large army in its control.
3. Introduce Rebellions asap in Early Access.
This will naturally curb expansive nations. Give larger nations more stability issues.
4. Have multiple weaker nations declare war on the strongest until it is made slightly weaker, then peace time.
This is another way to slow down the big boys.
5. Make Campaign AI prioritise defence rather than offence.
Patrol borders, attack incoming armies.
6. Have Campaign AI focus on raiding more when on the offence, instead of capturing castles/towns constantly, make raiding more profitable.
Make raiding great again! This will also naturally slow down the pace of the campaign.
Updated:
7. Campaigns should be able to go on indefinitely with factions rising, falling, and should always have multiple factions on the campaign at the same time.
This will give actual use for the clan system and inheritance, since now, if one faction conquers all it is game over, and you will have no use for your heirs.
8. Lords should gather in the Capital of the factions for votes on kingdom issues. Thank you @Sithrain
This will act much like a feast and make lords less on the offence. Those who do not show up, do not get to vote.
9. Reinforce all garrisons.
With reinforced and improved garrisons, it will be more difficult for an army to steamroll siege several castles in a row, which is happening right now.
Just my thoughts currently, may add more. What are your thoughts? Please add ways to stop snowballing and I will add them to this topic.
Campaign AI in warband could be a bit dumb often failing to take easy castles or only taking one castle/town and then disbanding the army. In Bannerlord it appears to have swung very heavily the opposite way. Armies will quickly move from town to town sieging them down. Obviously a balance needs to be struck and getting it perfect will be difficult. But maybe for quick-fix for the time being you wonderful devos could put in a cooldown after a faction successfully captures a town/castle so one faction doesn't just rampage through and control everything in 2 years or so?
Edit: Just wanted to add another issue I'm seeing that contributes to this. If a war starts going even a little badly for a faction all their lords start deserting. So suddenly an already losing faction loses half their troops when lords start leaving. I'm getting one notification a day roughly currently of a lord leaving the sturgia faction.
Edit: It appears a few faction snowballing threads have all been merged together, with my main body post and Lucius Confucius's title/poll. Per his request here are some ideas from his thread.
With the poll I mean that the single player sandbox experience should be able to last forever, with multiple factions always present and able to fight each other. As to the single player quest campaign, it should of course have an end.
1. Feasts and Peace.
Bring it back! Have factions at peace for longer times, right now they're just at peace for a few days at most.
2. Resurrecting fallen nations.
If the right conditions are met, have a fallen nation be able to resurrect itself in a city or a few, perhaps with a large army in its control.
3. Introduce Rebellions asap in Early Access.
This will naturally curb expansive nations. Give larger nations more stability issues.
4. Have multiple weaker nations declare war on the strongest until it is made slightly weaker, then peace time.
This is another way to slow down the big boys.
5. Make Campaign AI prioritise defence rather than offence.
Patrol borders, attack incoming armies.
6. Have Campaign AI focus on raiding more when on the offence, instead of capturing castles/towns constantly, make raiding more profitable.
Make raiding great again! This will also naturally slow down the pace of the campaign.
Updated:
7. Campaigns should be able to go on indefinitely with factions rising, falling, and should always have multiple factions on the campaign at the same time.
This will give actual use for the clan system and inheritance, since now, if one faction conquers all it is game over, and you will have no use for your heirs.
8. Lords should gather in the Capital of the factions for votes on kingdom issues. Thank you @Sithrain
This will act much like a feast and make lords less on the offence. Those who do not show up, do not get to vote.
9. Reinforce all garrisons.
With reinforced and improved garrisons, it will be more difficult for an army to steamroll siege several castles in a row, which is happening right now.
Just my thoughts currently, may add more. What are your thoughts? Please add ways to stop snowballing and I will add them to this topic.
Last edited by a moderator: