Prisoners, prisoners and more prisoners...

[Fearghus The Killer]

I always laugh out loud when I begin a new game and the dialogue asks if you want to play "realistically" by not allowing quit-without-saving, as if anything in this game has to do with reality. The most laughable thing is the whole system of taking other lords as prisoners, their mangement, etc. I hate to admit to you all that I have been playing this game 8+ hours a day since March 31, and this is the one thing I would definately like the dev's to seriously look into...for "reality's" sake.

The current game I'm playing I decided to take a different tac than going around kissing the other lord's asses, begging them to be favorable to me, and running their stupid little errands.  I decided that I really don't like these characters...these lords...and I would win the game without any of them as vassals (using only my companions). I have a single digit right- to rule and a -135 "honour" rating from not releasing captives.

My strategy is to lock-up and throw away the key on any and all lords I've captured...if the other factions won't make peace with me, then they will never see their fellow bandits again. Actually, I did release one upon capture, who promptly burned one of my villages for my kindness, and I did sell back King Harlous, who promptly beseiged one of my towns.

Anyway, what makes this strategy tough is the ai's tendency to auto-release my prisoners now and then, seemingly the same dudes over and over and over. I have quite the collection now of these critters, including all the kings. Yes, I am one dishonourable mofo.

I suppose I can live with the 5% chance they might escape periodically, but I don't think they should be able to get out of my dungeon, ever, unless the opposing factions storm the place, or by some other means similar to our little jail-breaking missions. And they most certainly should not be able to switch factions and thus free themselves from my dungeon. (Anyone remember "play realistically"?) That's a real gimmie-a-break moment when that message rolls across the bottom of the sceen.

And, I'm also one of those crazy guys who thinks that if my player character personally cracks Count Pukeface in the skull and leaves him a bloody smudge on the battlefield, there is no freaking way he should "manage to escape" Nah. He's right here somewhere, at the bottom of this carnage...

And, I don't understand why I have no opportunity to capture Count Pukeface when I catch him raiding my village. Look, he's right here, cracked in the skull again, by the cabbage garden...I try to avoid engaging anyone in a village anymore because of this and what seems to work is going into the village, clicking the "leave" button, and then running that critter down a little ways from the village.

The dev's might counter that, after all, if my character is captured he's allowed to escape, a process which usually involves losing your horse and boots, and being immediately captured again. Whereas Count Pukeface escapes and teleports to his nearest allied castle and is immediately supplied with fresh troops and a renewed hankering to burn my villages down.

So, those are my initial thoughts on prisoners. I'd appreciate any info, or opinions, on this topic.

 

[Taimat396]

...Just assume the chance of dungeon escape IS them running a jailbreak mission.

 

[Fearghus The Killer]

...Just assume the chance of dungeon escape IS them running a jailbreak mission.

I can't assume that. If Count Pukeface escapes in a "jailbreak" why wouldn't he take King Pompous and his other 25 friends with him?

 

[Parity]

That's what I love about TweakMB, just fix these inaccuracies yourself.

For instance, if I knock out Count Pukeface and I'm standing on top of his unconscious body while my knights kill all his peasants, I DEMAND that I capture him, especially since I was basically sitting on his knocked out head. So, I put the chance to capture to 90%

Also, chance to escape from party: 1%

0% for dungeons.

 

[Rad]

The main problem is that when peace is set with your hostile faction all your captured lords are released and you will get nothing for them. For that reason it is better to free them for ransom. You didn't realize it yet? 

 

[Fearghus The Killer]

The main problem is when peace is set with your hostile faction all your captured lords will be release and you will get nothing for them. For that reason it is better to free them for ransom. You didn't realize it yet? 

What peace are you talking about? There is no peace. It's been total war from the get-go. I don't want peace.

You might want to re-read my initial post. I've played Warband through several times now and know all about freeing prisoners for ransom. It is NOT better for me, in my current game, to release prisoners. I doubt that I could win the game, at this point, if I did. Besides, most of them would have no place to live.

 

[Fearghus The Killer]

That's what I love about TweakMB, just fix these inaccuracies yourself.

For instance, if I knock out Count Pukeface and I'm standing on top of his unconscious body while my knights kill all his peasants, I DEMAND that I capture him, especially since I was basically sitting on his knocked out head. So, I put the chance to capture to 90%

Also, chance to escape from party: 1%

0% for dungeons.

I couldn't get the utility to work for me when I tried it out about a month ago. I did read somewhere, though, that the prisoner capture was a tweakable thing. I'll try it out again and quit crying.

Sounds like you do this in villages? I'm never given the opportunity to capture enemy lords when fighting in a village (or a castle or town, for that matter).

 

[Rad]

You are probably creating your kingdom. I played first my game this way and had captured a lot of lords and I didn't release them too. This way I had maybe 20-30 Sarranids lords captured including sultan. I had almost all Sarranids towns and castles ocupied but in the end I found out I am almost all the time alone and I don't have enough money for expanding my kingdom. This is good tactics but when you play as vassal in peace all captured lords are automatically released but you surely know it. I am curious how long you will be able to proceed without any tweaking or cheating. Game is quire hostile to hero when he create his kingdom from the beginning of game. Constant shortage of money and no good lords to whom to give another fiefs. I overlooked you are playing this way. Now, when I have my game tweaked I would be able to play with my kingdom because now the more fiefs I have the more money they are producing for me.

 

[Fearghus The Killer]

You are probably creating your kingdom. I played first my game this way and had captured a lot of lords and I didn't release them too. This way I had maybe 20-30 Sarranids lords captured including sultan. I had almost all Sarranids towns and castles ocupied but in the end I found out I am almost all the time alone and I don't have enough money for expanding my kingdom. This is good tactics but when you play as vassal in peace all captured lords are automatically released but you surely know it. I am curious how long you will be able to proceed without any tweaking or cheating. Game is quire hostile to hero when he create his kingdom from the beginning of game. Constant shortage of money and no good lords to whom to give another fiefs. I overlooked you are playing this way. Now, when I have my game tweaked I would be able to play with my kingdom because now the more fiefs I have the more money they are producing for me.

I'm about ready to win this game, despite a few setbacks specific to prisoners. It aien't been easy.

I actually began play as a Vaegir vassal and did pretty well in 3 months game-time: 3 towns and their villages (but, oddly enough, no castles). I didn't renounce but was released from my vassalage. It seemed that the wars we were in were largely me fighting anyway, and our enemies attacking me alone. I then proceeded to do some major trading, which I am quite good at. I amassed a small fortune before I started my own kingdom (...don't remember, but something like 4 or 500K. The Khergits were still hostile to me from the last war I fought as a Vaegir, so I started my Kingdom in their terrirtory. Nords were already gone and the Rhoddocks were on the ropes from fighting the Sarrinids and Swadians. Eventually, the Vaegirs declared war on me, as did all the other factions. The Sarrinids gave me the hardest time at the beginning.

I said before that there had been no peace but I forgot that the Vaegirs did make peace with me as they were at war with the Swadians and I was beating them up in the rear. Yaroglek was my only friend in the game at the time. I took this opportunity to take out the Rhodocks and Sarrinids.

Eventually, the Vaegirs made peace with the Swadians so I knew what to expect. They declared war again "out of personal enmity" and all Yaroglek's little vassal fiefless bandits began burning me down, but by perfect chance at the very beginning of the war I ran into the King's big-ass army, killed it, threw him in my dungeon, and then began the process of taking his vassals out one by one, tossing them in the pokey, and hunting down the next one. The Vaegirs sent big armies out to burn down Dirigh Aban and a few other rich villages while I was assaulting their towns and castles at home. Vaegirs never organized any assault on my properties that I couldn't repel. I also continued to fight the Swadians until I took Praven a few game-days ago.

My vassals (former companions) are weak and useless for the most part like you said, spread out all over the place, with a couple of stellar exceptions (Matheld is one badass beatch!). I did use a couple of the game's lords as vassals until they fell into indictment, and then gave their lands to more companion-vassals.

I am now at about day 1100 and the Vaegirs only hold Wercheg, Hrus, Culmarr and Chalbek. The rest of the map is red. When they began their war with me they had Wercheg, Reyvadin, Rivacheg, Sargoth, Tihr, Uxkhal, Curaw and Kudan. The faction log still states that the Vaegirs have had "the upper hand in the fighting." How the heck does the game figure that? I guess they are supposed to have the upper hand, eh?

I need to also mention that this is the Litus module I'm  playing, so I have the ability to"draft" some expensive recruits, although I have good releations with a lot of villages and can get cheap recruits readily.  I've used the draft feature a few times in tight situations, or when I needed to supplement a garrison, but it hasn't been that big of a factor. What has been a factor is the quality of Khergit horsemen in this mod. Much, much better than native. I'd rather be using the Vaegir Klobukis but there is the usual morale problem. Nords on foot are likewise as awesome as native.

Sorry for the long reply.

 

[tyrannicide]

Nice tactic! Tell me, don't you get a banditry problem if there are no lord armies around? Have you paid any attention to how the wealth of towns or villages evolved? Would be interesting to hear.

 

[Fearghus The Killer]

Nice tactic! Tell me, don't you get a banditry problem if there are no lord armies around? Have you paid any attention to how the wealth of towns or villages evolved? Would be interesting to hear.

Big time. Plus, the Litus module spawns even more bandits than native, and they "join-in" battles like regular faction troops. I have gangs of 50 attack my army of 300 all the time, but I'm not sure if that is a feature of the mod or a consequence of my being a dishonorable mofo with no right to rule. The usual hotspot bandit areas (Rivacheg, Ichomar, Uxkhal, Ahmarred) seem to be normal economically at last glance.

I've never thought that Lord armies do that much about bandits in the first place, except by chance or accident. I can clear out more in an afternoon than most Lords do all year.

 

[tyrannicide]

I've never thought that Lord armies do that much about bandits in the first place, except by chance or accident. I can clear out more in an afternoon than most Lords do all year.

Granted, they don't wipe them out, but they drive them away long enough for villagers or caravans to pass through -- which is the important thing for wealth. And they jump in when bandits attack villagers, provided these can last until they arrive.

By the way, the fact that your enemy is undeservedly accredited the "upper hand in the fighting" is due to a bug, as a consequence of which your party's actions don't affect the warscore. AFAIK, this should be fixed in >1.113.

 

[Fearghus The Killer]

By the way, the fact that your enemy is undeservedly accredited the "upper hand in the fighting" is due to a bug, as a consequence of which your party's actions don't affect the warscore. AFAIK, this should be fixed in >1.113.

I think you meant 1.123. I'm running with 1.113.

 

[tyrannicide]

I think you meant 1.123. I'm running with 1.113.

Yes, I meant post 1.113. Sorry, wasn't clear.

 

[Vermin]

Noblemen did escape from dungeons in the medieval era you know. Hugh de Chatillon escaped from Nottingham castle with the help of a Flemish captain(of a merchantman) hired by his wife.
Louis d'Anjou, son of king John II escaped English custody aswell, probably helped by servants.

Although the former eventually paid his ransom and the latter returned into captivity after meeting his father

 

[RalliX]

I'm amazed when I hear about these singleplayers who just rip through years of gameplay in one file.
Frankly, I don't think I've had one file in Warband or Mount & Blade that went passed 365 game days.
I tend to have my load-game screen fill up all 9 slots quickly.

 

[Nordmann]

I'm amazed when I hear about these singleplayers who just rip through years of gameplay in one file.
Frankly, I don't think I've had one file in Warband or Mount & Blade that went passed 365 game days.
I tend to have my load-game screen fill up all 9 slots quickly.

Ditto. They probably take their time, build up slowly, and then go on a rampage. I suppose the highest difficulty settings would also result in a longer game. I've done this before, but it can get very tedious.

As for the OP, see TweakMB in my sig. Very useful utility, with it you can set escape chance and many others options.

 

[Fearghus The Killer]

I'm amazed when I hear about these singleplayers who just rip through years of gameplay in one file.
Frankly, I don't think I've had one file in Warband or Mount & Blade that went passed 365 game days.
I tend to have my load-game screen fill up all 9 slots quickly.

Not sure what you are implying here. I fill up 9 slots too, can do it in less than 365 game days, and then go back to slot 1 and overwrite it.

So, you are saying that there are probs loading big files? You would not believe how old this computer is and what little memory it has. The sound is busted, too.

I just finished the game I've been complaining about on day 1125. I almost finished an unpatched native game at about day 2000 but the thing stop loading...chock full of script errors. I also finished a patched game with the Diplomacy Mod as a vassal at around day 1600.

All on easy setting, so I'm not particularly bragging.

 

[Fearghus The Killer]

Noblemen did escape from dungeons in the medieval era you know. Hugh de Chatillon escaped from Nottingham castle with the help of a Flemish captain(of a merchantman) hired by his wife.
Louis d'Anjou, son of king John II escaped English custody aswell, probably helped by servants.

Although the former eventually paid his ransom and the latter returned into captivity after meeting his father

Wasn't it Richard the Lionhearted returning from the crusades who was taken hostage by some Austrian Count, and his minstrel Blondel went to each castle in those parts singing outside trying to located him? I like medieval history but know little about it.

Like I said, I can live with a 5% chance of them escaping, but when they free themselves by joining my latest enemy's faction, now that's gotta go.