Orientation & tactics on the battle field

[Torborg]

Hier there!

Is it just me or is there really no way to tell where the enemie is comming from once you entered battle?

Maybe a "radar" would spoil the atmosphere, but right now, I'm sometimes rather helpless in finding the enemy.

Yeah, you can give the order "charge" and then follow the direction your men are running to - or wait until your enemies find, no, come to you (there must be a beacon on your head always telling them where you are). It works, okay, but I think there is more potential:

How about....

- a "roughly-painted" map of the surroundings where scouts have marked the believed starting-point of the enemy forces?

- A horn blast - or something like that - when one of your man has discovered the enemy - and/or another one when fighting begins?

- Having scouts in your army, who spread out beginning of battle trying to locate the enemy (or whose presence in your army gives you more details on where it could be at the beginning or during the battle)

- being able to create smaller groups / task forces in your army, who you can order individually (e.g. Group 1: Stay here, Group 2: Charge, Group 3: Get out of sight and wait there - for a latter "surprise") I know the options are limited due to the fact, that you don't go to battle with all of your forces at once and only start with 6 or 7 - but I would love to order my archers to stand on a hill, shooting at the enemy, while my knights follow me luring the enemy to/away from them.

Just a few thoughts...

 

[Ingolifs]

I generally don't have problems finding where the enemies are. Either I watch what my own troops do, or go out scouting on my horse.

 

[Corto]

I don't think the problem is bad since the battle maps are not too large. In a way it might add some sort of roleplaying experience element to ride up a hill and scout for the enemy... although my companions always run/ride like madmen towards the enemy, so the direction of attack is never a mystery anyhow.

 

[radishlaw]

although I would love it if some kind of horns comes when the first member of either party discover each other.....it would be great for immersion

 

[Xiphos]

Battle horns, map, scouts . . . sound awesome. It would also be great to have this crude map be a way of placing troops. If you have an idea of where the enemy will be, it'd be nice to put archers on a hill with cavalry on either flank. It'd be a nice touch.

Edit: Just thought of something. A battle horn when you signal your men to charge . . . You could even see the player put it to their lips and blast.

 

[Keemo]

I think the battlegrounds would need to be atleast 2 or 3 times bigger and the AI have different behavior than their, "Rush headlong into battle!", routine for realtime scouting to be of any use.

Now a crude map to place troops pre-battle would be useful and maybe bring in the spotting skill, or the possesion of "scout" units to determine how much information the map displays. As stated you need the ability to issue commands to specific types of units. I don't really want the ability to command each and every troop individually. (too much micro-managing, takes away from the elegance & simplicity of the game)
The ability to command task forces or archers, footman, and cav as groups would be sufficient and add a lot to the battles.

The horn would be nice too.

 

[OddjobXL]

I've suggested the use of warcries when an enemy is spotted, horns would work too of course. But horns might work even better at signaling (and confirming if sub units are instituted) commands. Keeping the two audio cues distinct might, or might not, be an issue. You'd really have to see, or hear, how it worked out in the final mix.

Personally, I like not knowing where the enemy is coming from and would rather like it if my men didn't either. There are precious few surprises to keep combat interesting over the long term and having to seek out the foe and adjust tactics on the fly once in a while is the only recurring variable so far.