1. Too Much Disparity Between Infantry Movement Speeds
I'm talking specifically about skirmishers (i.e. Imperial Recruits, Sturgian Brigands, Aserai Skirmishers, etc.) vs. all other infantry classes (especially heavy inf). Skirmishers have a huge advantage over all other infantry, with their extremely high movement speed playing a large factor
This is a major problem. There is too much of a gap between the movement speeds of different infantry classes. This is an issue for two reasons:
One, because of the tactical advantages it gives skirmishers when it comes to combat. Being faster by a wide margin, they're able to control distance in a 1v1 melee fight with ease, effortlessly jumping in and out of their opponent's range when attacking and defending. This makes them safe from kicks, and many times they can even simply dart away from their opponent's swings. They can control the pace of the fight from start to finish, and their slower opponent doesn't have much say.
Secondly, and more importantly, the strategic advantage it gives to the team/faction in a round. If one team has much faster infantry than the other, they can always chose when and where the main fight will take place. If the faster team doesn't want to take the fight in a certain area, they don't have to, they can feasibly kite away from the action and re-position themselves somewhere else. Conversely, this same ability allows them to choose where the action will take place. If they want to force the fight here and now, they can just run down their slower opponents and force them to engage.
Thus, the unbalanced distribution of movement speeds creates overwhelming tactical and strategic advantages for certain factions vs. others. This truth cannot be ignored.
I'm not saying all infantry should have the same exact speed, but with some class gaps being 78 vs. 84 movement speed, the difference is too high. I believe anything more than 2-3 points higher is overdoing it.
Plus, I think the movement speeds are getting a little absurd. Just watch a Sturgian Brigand zip around like a hummingbird doing figure 8's and 360s and you'll see what I mean.
2. One-Hit Death Sticks
This too ties in to skirmisher superiority. They come equipped with pilas, jereeds (9 in some cases), and ash throwing spears. All of these are lethal and most have the potential to kill in one shot. We're not playing Mount&Blade anymore, we're playing dodgeball now.
Honestly, these whale-nukes are nothing but cheese, and I'd like to see them banished to the shadow realm, but at the same time I understand why they're there (at least for now), and that is to counter cav (which we will get to later).
3. Skirmish Economy
Oh look, skirmishers again. Yes, the class with the best movement speed and access to a nuclear arsenal also has the ability to triple spawn right from round 1 (Imperial Recruit) or triple spawn for the rest of the match after round 1 (Aserai Skirmisher, Sturgian Brigand, Battanian Wildling). Too many respawns for such powerful classes. These are supposed to be "trash" units, but instead they stand head and shoulders above all others, and are then rewarded with more lives than their infantry counterparts. On what planet is this balanced?
4. No Answer To the Cav Question
The "Cav Question" is this:
Cav is overpowered > One-hit death sticks allows infantry a counterplay option against cav > One-hit death sticks is a terrible meta > If we remove one-hit death sticks, inf will be massacred by cav > One-hit death sticks stay in game > Unhappy, shaky status quo (for now)
Why is cav overpowered? Simply put, it's because they're too fast, have too good of maneuverability, and too strong acceleration/deceleration. This allows cav to wreak havoc on an enemy team while simultaneously being able to avoid any inf aware and trying to melee them (with spear or 1H).Cav can literally snake through a gauntlet of spearmen looking to hit them and go on to still strike their target -that's just how maneuverable these horses are. Plus, S+S allows cav to stop moments out from a waiting spearman and circumvent him, easily dodging any punishment/damage. W+W allows them to escape a hairy situation consequence free. Cav just has way too much ability to maneuver.
Not to mention glances, armor, horse hp, and bumps which they enjoy over melee inf.
Melee infantry is pitifully hopeless against cav, with no counterplay except lay down and die. This is why pilas, ash throwing spears, and a proclivity towards throwing weapons still exists in the game, because as of right now they're still infantry's only hope when fighting against cav.
In short, the horses are just too fast and too maneuverable for infantry to compete with them in a melee fight -and we still don't have an answer for it.
5. Miscellaneous Problems with Combat Mechanics
These bleed over not only into Skirmish, but all Bannerlord game modes.
The forum is rife with discussions on all of these, and I won't waste time trying to name them all. Things like turncap, hold delay, bad animations, poorly synched client-side visuals, and floaty movement are just a few off the top of my head.
This isn't the death knell of Bannerlord by any means, but if we are to ever see a truly copacetic and enjoyable Skirmish Mode, this just shows we still have a long way to go.
I'm talking specifically about skirmishers (i.e. Imperial Recruits, Sturgian Brigands, Aserai Skirmishers, etc.) vs. all other infantry classes (especially heavy inf). Skirmishers have a huge advantage over all other infantry, with their extremely high movement speed playing a large factor
This is a major problem. There is too much of a gap between the movement speeds of different infantry classes. This is an issue for two reasons:
One, because of the tactical advantages it gives skirmishers when it comes to combat. Being faster by a wide margin, they're able to control distance in a 1v1 melee fight with ease, effortlessly jumping in and out of their opponent's range when attacking and defending. This makes them safe from kicks, and many times they can even simply dart away from their opponent's swings. They can control the pace of the fight from start to finish, and their slower opponent doesn't have much say.
Secondly, and more importantly, the strategic advantage it gives to the team/faction in a round. If one team has much faster infantry than the other, they can always chose when and where the main fight will take place. If the faster team doesn't want to take the fight in a certain area, they don't have to, they can feasibly kite away from the action and re-position themselves somewhere else. Conversely, this same ability allows them to choose where the action will take place. If they want to force the fight here and now, they can just run down their slower opponents and force them to engage.
Thus, the unbalanced distribution of movement speeds creates overwhelming tactical and strategic advantages for certain factions vs. others. This truth cannot be ignored.
I'm not saying all infantry should have the same exact speed, but with some class gaps being 78 vs. 84 movement speed, the difference is too high. I believe anything more than 2-3 points higher is overdoing it.
Plus, I think the movement speeds are getting a little absurd. Just watch a Sturgian Brigand zip around like a hummingbird doing figure 8's and 360s and you'll see what I mean.
2. One-Hit Death Sticks
This too ties in to skirmisher superiority. They come equipped with pilas, jereeds (9 in some cases), and ash throwing spears. All of these are lethal and most have the potential to kill in one shot. We're not playing Mount&Blade anymore, we're playing dodgeball now.
Honestly, these whale-nukes are nothing but cheese, and I'd like to see them banished to the shadow realm, but at the same time I understand why they're there (at least for now), and that is to counter cav (which we will get to later).
3. Skirmish Economy
Oh look, skirmishers again. Yes, the class with the best movement speed and access to a nuclear arsenal also has the ability to triple spawn right from round 1 (Imperial Recruit) or triple spawn for the rest of the match after round 1 (Aserai Skirmisher, Sturgian Brigand, Battanian Wildling). Too many respawns for such powerful classes. These are supposed to be "trash" units, but instead they stand head and shoulders above all others, and are then rewarded with more lives than their infantry counterparts. On what planet is this balanced?
4. No Answer To the Cav Question
The "Cav Question" is this:
Cav is overpowered > One-hit death sticks allows infantry a counterplay option against cav > One-hit death sticks is a terrible meta > If we remove one-hit death sticks, inf will be massacred by cav > One-hit death sticks stay in game > Unhappy, shaky status quo (for now)
Why is cav overpowered? Simply put, it's because they're too fast, have too good of maneuverability, and too strong acceleration/deceleration. This allows cav to wreak havoc on an enemy team while simultaneously being able to avoid any inf aware and trying to melee them (with spear or 1H).Cav can literally snake through a gauntlet of spearmen looking to hit them and go on to still strike their target -that's just how maneuverable these horses are. Plus, S+S allows cav to stop moments out from a waiting spearman and circumvent him, easily dodging any punishment/damage. W+W allows them to escape a hairy situation consequence free. Cav just has way too much ability to maneuver.
Not to mention glances, armor, horse hp, and bumps which they enjoy over melee inf.
Melee infantry is pitifully hopeless against cav, with no counterplay except lay down and die. This is why pilas, ash throwing spears, and a proclivity towards throwing weapons still exists in the game, because as of right now they're still infantry's only hope when fighting against cav.
In short, the horses are just too fast and too maneuverable for infantry to compete with them in a melee fight -and we still don't have an answer for it.
5. Miscellaneous Problems with Combat Mechanics
These bleed over not only into Skirmish, but all Bannerlord game modes.
The forum is rife with discussions on all of these, and I won't waste time trying to name them all. Things like turncap, hold delay, bad animations, poorly synched client-side visuals, and floaty movement are just a few off the top of my head.
This isn't the death knell of Bannerlord by any means, but if we are to ever see a truly copacetic and enjoyable Skirmish Mode, this just shows we still have a long way to go.
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