No-KO challenge

[Yohan]

Hello everyone,

I finally registered to share with you a nice M&B experience I'm having these days. As the name suggests, with this challenge if you are knocked out, game over. You're dead, start over. I tried that because I wanted a bit of extra challenge, and because I usually get bored in late game when I've become virtually invincible.

As I discovered, it doesn't make the game itself harder, but it does make it more intense. Each fight, you're only a few seconds and a bad decision away from death. That makes, in particular, every bandit ambush at night, every attempt to clear a bandit camp and every siege a much more intense experience.

Even if you think it is not for you, I recommend you give it a try the next time you start a new game. Try to hold on as long as possible without being KO'd. If you are knocked out, you are of course free to decide this challenge is not for you/not worth it, and continue playing. Or you can decide to start over and try to do better next time.

This challenge is adaptable to your liking. Note for example that it does allow you to surrender and be captured. (I play the "no KO no capture combo challenge "  , but you don't have to). You can also choose to make an exception for tournament weapons. It would seem counterintuitive to me to NOT do this challenge on hard difficulty (good ai, normal damage etc), but you're free to do as you please. It's also good for roleplaying/immersion as your avatar suddenly becomes more human and vulnerable.

For those interested, I suggest a few pointers that I learned from my mistakes. It may be useful advice whether you're doing this challenge or not.

- at first avoid entering towns/villages at night needlessly until you get better gear.
-do not underestimate taiga bandits or they will show you they can kill you faster than you can say "jarid to the face". 
That's how my last playthrough ended, trying to clear a taiga bandit camp. One-shotted for 63 damage, 40 head armor is NOT enough...
-for this reason, make buying a good helmet (50+)a priority.
-as a general rule, don't be too greedy. To clear taiga and sea raider camps, wait until you and companions have decent armor. And careful when really outnumbered, yes it's great to win against overwhelming forces, and it gives great loot and renown, but one KO and you're done...

Please share your experiences if you've tried this already, and thoughts if you didn't.

 

[Occam]

Ok I am going to give this a try.
I already play captured=dead, this will add more difficulty.

I have been playing as a foot archer but I think I'm gonna need a horse for this.

What type of fighter have you been playing, Yohan?

 

[Vraelomon]

And whatsthe difficulty rating here? Might as well do max difficulty plus realistic saveing.

 

[k61824]

the no KO no surrender + import character is about getting into dynasty warrior territority

 

[Yohan]

I am playing on maximum difficulty settings. Good AI, normal damage, 150 battle size, manual block, hard couch lance. And realistic saving, which makes a difficulty rating of 149%.

I usually play a commander type CHA build. 10 STR, 12 AGI and the rest in CHA until 30. Father merchant, assistant, goods peddler. For me, the bonuses you get for having 30 CHA and 10 leadership (and 10 trade) are just too good to pass up  . And it also helps at the beginning when money is an issue. I recruit 8 companions and 4 of them are dedicated to party skills. 

Same for this challenge, but I'm considering raising STR to 15 or 18. And I'm being more cautious in battle. I  really feel the danger for my (fragile) skin now when seeing a line of taiga bandits or sharpshooters. 

Occam it will be harder without a horse, maybe a lot harder  . But on the other hand if you like and are used to play a foot archer, you may be more comfortable and have more fun playing the way you usually do. Your call. 

 

[Occam]

I rolled a fresh character for a no-ko no-capture play-thru. Max difficulty (149) plain vanilla native.
Trading seems like a much safer way to make money in the beginning so I made one with a merchant background but I am putting my skill points into being a horse archer.
I'm not too worried about surviving field battles but I'm gonna have to be a lot more careful in sieges.

 

[Yohan]

Nice, best wishes.  Keep me posted on how it goes  I also started a new game, going well so far.

 

[Occam]

Blew it before I even got to level 10...stupid of me to ctrl spacebar between Durquba and Ahmerrad without a good escort of leveled up troops =/
I got too impatient with trading.

Anyway, rerolling.
This time I'm going to try foot archer since that's more fun for me.

 

[Yohan]

Yes, I think we both know well enough how the game works, the challenge is to avoid being careless. 

I made that mistake and had a close call yesterday. I was feeling much safer after buying a winged helmet, coat of plates and a charger. I became a bit overconfident and ended up badly wounded in a big battle against khergits (a lancer I didn't see coming). I'm glad I didn't die, I really felt the pressure. A reminder that even wearing high-tier armor, we still are far from invincible  .

 

[EternalSerfdom]

I like this idea because you can still import and export your character and all isnt lost if you die. Also it could have the potential for a neat little mod that does it for you, but doesnt let you bring gold with you to next game. M&B Hardcore Mode

 

[fragonard]

I usually play like this except I make a few exceptions: If I run into a very large group while ctrl/spacing, I give myself the option to alt/F4 out plus, since I have battle continuation, if I get knocked out but my troops win I consider that OK. If I lose a battle I picked, I restart. I guess there are variations on this theme but they probably all add to the WB experience.

 

[Yohan]

Of course you can do what you want, but in my opinion this challenge becomes too easy if you import a character. I start a fresh character to do this.

And fragonard what you describe would be a No-defeat/no capture playthrough. With this challenge, KO = dead, game over.

 

[HenryUnderborn]

Do tournaments/arena training count?

 

[Occam]

In the first post Yohan said you could make and exception for arena but for my playthru I am trying for no KOs at all.
I haven't gone into the arena. I might try going into a tournament but then again probably not. I'd hate to get KOd just because I spawned with some stupid combination like mounted javelins.

Anyway, in my foot archer playthru I've made it to level 14 and have a great helm and some rusty scale armor so I can farm bandits pretty safely. Now it's just a matter of setting up enterprises for income then moving on to the bigger challenge, which is flawless sieges.

 

[Paronomasia12]

I attempted this some time ago. I had survived relatively intact, up at level 31 or there abouts. After some play with defending enemy archers during a seige of Curaw (I think), I attempted to get up a ladder but got hounded off by one of my men. It was an ignominious way to go.

 

[EternalSerfdom]

I wish someone would make a mod with these settings, where your character can get knocked, but if he dies he's dead, with prompt to export if you'd like.

 

[Yohan]

You don't really need a mod, only the will to restart  . If you're knocked out, you can decide to delete your save and reroll a new character, or decide "no way, after playing this long I'm not restarting from scratch".

I'm including wooden weapons in my case, so no tournaments or arena for me ( I never use it anyway).

Angelsachsen indeed, what a way to go... these soldiers have no manners. 

My current game ended with me being killed during the siege of Ergellon castle, defended by rhodoks. This game is not unfair, but on maximum difficulty it will punish you if you get careless/too stubborn to retreat. 
As a side note, rhodok sharpshooters are not overrated, underestimate them at your own risk.