These EASY changes Taleworlds can do to make the game MUCH more fun

[five bucks]

"Doctors HATE him! Make your game actually enjoyable with these FIVE WEIRD TRICKS!"

This game has problems I have seen other people complain about for two years, most recently in @Strat Gaming's "Honest Review".
Here is how Taleworlds can easily solve the biggest problems with simple changes, making Bannerlord
much more fun
&
less frustrating.

Problem: Vassals can repeatedly call a vote, even if you just spent Influence to reject it. This can drain your Influence rapidly and force you to accept very stupid AI decisions that set you back.
Solution: If a policy/war/peace vote has been called in the past 5 days, it goes on "cooldown" and can't be called by the AI.

Problem: Bannerlord is very slow, repetitive and grindy. Unlocking all smithing parts takes 12 hours of clicking. Reaching Clan Rank 4 takes a long time. Companions and heirs take a huge amount of grinding to level up.
Solution: Reduce the renown needed to go up a clan rank, and the weapons you need to smith to unlock a part. Make companions and heirs have better starting stats, so they don't have to grind for so long.

Problem: Most votes can't be changed because lords usually all vote the same way. Even if you spend 150 influence and have 100 relations with them. So voting, a core gameplay mechanic, is usually a waste of time.
Solution: Increase the weighting of relations with the vote caller in the formula that determines the AI's decisions on voting. If that's too hard, just let us spend more than 150 influence in votes so we can change the outcome.

Problem: Even if you take every fief from an AI kingdom, they still get enough free money and tribute to hire all the mercenary clans, constantly raid your fiefs, and demand you pay THEM tribute for peace. This becomes extremely annoying as these already-defeated enemies are not challenging, just slow down your progress.
Solution: Do what Warband did. If a kingdom loses all its fiefs, and fails to retake one in 20 days, its clans all defect or go into exile.

Problem: There is no point doing different tactics, because archers and horse archers can win easily. This is because arrows do too much damage to armor. Also, spears are too weak.
Solution: Increase the protection armor gives against pierce damage by 1.7x. (This will balance ranged attacks.) Increase the base damage of spears by 2.5x (so they become stronger than they were before). Then increase the damage of all other piercing melee attacks by 1.7x (so they stay the same).

@Dejan @Callum @armagan (lol he won't see this)

 

[Roy1012]

@armagan (lol he won't see this)

Love how his last post was promising South American servers 2 and a half years ago, and still nothing

 

[Lucius Confucius]

I agree that some changes are needed, I do not agree with the way you want to make those changes.

 

[five bucks]

I agree that some changes are needed, I do not agree with the way you want to make those changes.

How would you make changes?

 

[SpartanBG]

I'm not arguing with those things as issues, thou i don't agree for example with this:

Problem: Bannerlord is very slow, repetitive and grindy. Unlocking all smithing parts takes 12 hours of clicking. Reaching Clan Rank 4 takes a long time. Companions and heirs take a huge amount of grinding to level up.
Solution: Reduce the renown needed to go up a clan rank, and the weapons you need to smith to unlock a part. Make companions and heirs have better starting stats, so they don't have to grind for so long.


Your solution would just dump down the game, I started playing realistic difficulty after my first few hours from my first campaign, just to feel it harder.
I'd suggest adding another difficulty after realism (Survival) or something where you would really need to mind a lot of stuff, where decisions and stuff will be meaningful. Where you need time to sleep to be battle capable and such.

Regarding the smithing yes its a lot of clicking. but reducing the requirements is just another handy-cap. Wouldn't a better solution be to have the option of mass destruction so you don't have to click 14 000 000 times

 

[FireBlazinCandy]

@five bucks just give up already. They're finished with the game after impleting the items on that ****ty Post Release post.

It's over.

 

[five bucks]

I'm not arguing with those things as issues, thou i don't agree for example with this:

Problem: Bannerlord is very slow, repetitive and grindy. Unlocking all smithing parts takes 12 hours of clicking. Reaching Clan Rank 4 takes a long time. Companions and heirs take a huge amount of grinding to level up.
Solution: Reduce the renown needed to go up a clan rank, and the weapons you need to smith to unlock a part. Make companions and heirs have better starting stats, so they don't have to grind for so long.


Your solution would just dump down the game, I started playing realistic difficulty after my first few hours from my first campaign, just to feel it harder.

Grinding renown isn't actually challenging or hard. It's just slow and grindy. It just means you have to fight 50 looter parties who are all easy to beat but take a long time to beat. And if you fight bigger parties you still only get like 2 renown.

Bannerlord should become more challenging but less grindy. Reducing the amount of grind needed to progress through the game would be a start to that.

Regarding the smithing yes its a lot of clicking. but reducing the requirements is just another handy-cap. Wouldn't a better solution be to have the option of mass destruction so you don't have to click 14 000 000 times

That would be good too, but the point of this suggestion is to make things easy for Taleworlds. Reducing the requirements is as easy as changing a single number.

 

[SpartanBG]

I do agree, and i do agree there is difference between challenging and grinding. I'm just not capable of wording it yet, but it will come in maybe like another 100 h of game time (for me).

Don't give up, never give up. Most great games become great because of their community!

 

[JunKeteer]

Grinding renown isn't actually challenging or hard. It's just slow and grindy. It just means you have to fight 50 looter parties who are all easy to beat but take a long time to beat. And if you fight bigger parties you still only get like 2 renown.

Bannerlord should become more challenging but less grindy. Reducing the amount of grind needed to progress through the game would be a start to that.

What is the point of making this game's late-game approach the player even faster? This is also on the notion/premise that the dynasty system was (and is) a complete waste of time, resources, and doesn't really add depth to the game; that I'm sure TW would not want to acknowledge however 'true' it appears. Especially since clan tier beyond 3+ doesn't really do anything besides giving you another companion/workshop and some party space.
It also eliminates any sense of progression with the player if I can get to T3 in ~3 years or less.

 

[five bucks]

What is the point of making this game's late-game approach the player even faster?

The current grind to kingdom phase isn't fast though. It takes many hours to reach Clan Tier 4, let alone subsequent tiers. If you're not using exploits it can take real-life days to get to T6.

This is also on the notion/premise that the dynasty system was (and is) a complete waste of time, resources, and doesn't really add depth to the game

That's why the other suggestion is to make heirs have better starting stats so that they're worth using once they come of age.

But even in the current state of the game, heirs are almost pointless as you say, so that isn't really an argument against reducing the grind.

It also eliminates any sense of progression with the player if I can get to T3 in ~3 years or less.

The suggestion isn't to reduce the renown grind by an enormous amount, just whatever TW considers reasonable. Maybe by 20-40%. That's not going to eliminate any sense of progression. It will just bring the speed of progression more within a sane scope.

 

[elbanana02]

I do think Bannerlord's leveling is too grindy, but the solution in my opinion would be to add more ways, active and passive, for companions and players to earn XP. Books and Scholars, training events, self-study and apprenticeship between members of the party, all of that would make leveling a much more pleasant experience. Currently leveling companions is so difficult that even with boosted XP gain through mods I still won't play with death enabled, for the simple reason that raising another expert follower would take me a whole game.

 

[JunKeteer]

The current grind to kingdom phase isn't fast though. It takes many hours to reach Clan Tier 4, let alone subsequent tiers. If you're not using exploits it can take real-life days to get to T6.

If it's for the sake of creating your own kingdom, for some, that is grindy; but the 'create own kingdom' aspect isn't tuned/timed well anyways imo.

That's why the other suggestion is to make heirs have better starting stats so that they're worth using once they come of age.

That I can agree with, also wish you can use that stupid influence currency to, you know, 'influence' that further via better education, upbringing, etc...

But even in the current state of the game, heirs are almost pointless as you say, so that isn't really an argument against reducing the grind.

The suggestion isn't to reduce the renown grind by an enormous amount, just whatever TW considers reasonable. Maybe by 20-40%. That's not going to eliminate any sense of progression. It will just bring the speed of progression more within a sane scope.

Or add some better 'rewards' and/or additional tiers, all we get is the notification banner and then now I can have one more companion/workshop and fit some more HA in my party. So yes, as those are the only values/rewards we have for clan tiers, the 'distance' between T4-5 or T5-6 is unnecessarily grindy for essentially the same +1 modifier.
Also, I don't really trust whatever TW considers reasonable, given what we have currently is what they consider reasonable.

 

[five bucks]

I do think Bannerlord's leveling is too grindy, but the solution in my opinion would be to add more ways, active and passive, for companions and players to earn XP. Books and Scholars, training events, self-study and apprenticeship between members of the party, all of that would make leveling a much more pleasant experience. Currently leveling companions is so difficult that even with boosted XP gain through mods I still won't play with death enabled, for the simple reason that raising another expert follower would take me a whole game.

I'd love something like that, I'm just trying to present suggestions to TW that are easy to implement though so they hurry up and get it done.

 

[Lord Grindelvald]

Problem: Even if you take every fief from an AI kingdom, they still get enough free money and tribute to hire all the mercenary clans, constantly raid your fiefs, and demand you pay THEM tribute for peace. This becomes extremely annoying as these already-defeated enemies are not challenging, just slow down your progress.
Solution: Do what Warband did. If a kingdom loses all its fiefs, and fails to retake one in 20 days, its clans all defect or go into exile.

I agree with this one!

I honestly can't think of any reason, gameplay wise, why they'd keep these factions alive. They can not and will not, ever, regain a castle, town or in any other way shape or form pose a threat to anybody. They're incredible frustrating for the player and not in a fun or challenging way. Like a mosquito flying around your bedroom at night, nowhere to be seen but everywhere to be heard.

I can only assume it's impossible to code them out of the game?

 

[Calabanar]

Disagree for smithing solutions.

I'd prefer if the parts were unlocked by tiers, or if we could... you know, buy blueprints like in that one mod.

I'd also prefer if we could make less weapons at the same time... would compensate the greater variety.

Anyway. It's pointless at this point, innit?

 

[thomas13]

I do think Bannerlord's leveling is too grindy, but the solution in my opinion would be to add more ways, active and passive, for companions and players to earn XP. Books and Scholars, training events, self-study and apprenticeship between members of the party, all of that would make leveling a much more pleasant experience. Currently leveling companions is so difficult that even with boosted XP gain through mods I still won't play with death enabled, for the simple reason that raising another expert follower would take me a whole game.

They did add a way to level family members and companions fast. Smithing.

 

[Bluko88]

"Problem: Vassals can repeatedly call a vote, even if you just spent Influence to reject it. This can drain your Influence rapidly and force you to accept very stupid AI decisions that set you back.
Solution: If a policy/war/peace vote has been called in the past 5 days, it goes on "cooldown" and can't be called by the AI.

Not a bad idea, though I've never never been in situation where vassals can really drain my influence.

The way influence is gained/spent just isn't really thought out well. Either everyone's raking it in or A.I. can barely form armies. I don't think TW will address anything thing with influence because it "just works" as is

Problem: Bannerlord is very slow, repetitive and grindy. Unlocking all smithing parts takes 12 hours of clicking. Reaching Clan Rank 4 takes a long time. Companions and heirs take a huge amount of grinding to level up.
Solution: Reduce the renown needed to go up a clan rank, and the weapons you need to smith to unlock a part. Make companions and heirs have better starting stats, so they don't have to grind for so long.

Yeah unlocks are not exactly fair between weapon categories (do I need all these pommels?)

Renown needed these days is a bit silly, but I think it was partly done to slow players from rushing into Kingdom creation before they have adequate money. Though Clan Tier 5/6 are extremely long grinds.

I'm a bit weird: I'd like to see player and A.I. lose both renown/influence when they lose battles. Like if your clan does nothing but fail, it should become irrelevant.

Problem: Most votes can't be changed because lords usually all vote the same way. Even if you spend 150 influence and have 100 relations with them. So voting, a core gameplay mechanic, is usually a waste of time.
Solution: Increase the weighting of relations with the vote caller in the formula that determines the AI's decisions on voting. If that's too hard, just let us spend more than 150 influence in votes so we can change the outcome.

Yep hate voting.

I think your solution makes sense, adds validity to buttering up your fellow Lords via Charm. Honestly more of the game needs to be relation driven, really just kind of meaningless fluff as is, provided not negative.

Problem: Even if you take every fief from an AI kingdom, they still get enough free money and tribute to hire all the mercenary clans, constantly raid your fiefs, and demand you pay THEM tribute for peace. This becomes extremely annoying as these already-defeated enemies are not challenging, just slow down your progress.
Solution: Do what Warband did. If a kingdom loses all its fiefs, and fails to retake one in 20 days, its clans all defect or go into exile.

Agreed

Actually I'd go even further. Soon as last fief is gone, Kingdom is destroyed. Ruler clan becomes a minor clan that can attempt to re-establish Kingdom, all other clans gotta find new homes.

A bit mixed on this one, cause it does sort of make sense they'd become terrorists/freedom fighters basically extorting wealth where they can. Most of this can be solved by making executions a less "evil" mechanic, so you can permanently rid yourself of the menace.

Problem: There is no point doing different tactics, because archers and horse archers can win easily. This is because arrows do too much damage to armor. Also, spears are too weak.
Solution: Increase the protection armor gives against pierce damage by 1.7x. (This will balance ranged attacks.) Increase the base damage of spears by 2.5x (so they become stronger than they were before). Then increase the damage of all other piercing melee attacks by 1.7x (so they stay the same).

I've actually changed my mind on this, I used to think as you.

Reducing all Bows and Crossbows damage by 25% seemed good at first when I tried it, but makes ranged units really ineffectual and they can't even properly counter shock troops. Like they will run out of ammunition too quickly, not do enough damage, and not help enough in melee. They become dead weight in everything but sieges basically. Anything more then 15% reduction would be bad IMO.

Spears are okay damage wise, they are actually starting to grow on me as I fight on foot more.

The issue is using them in close quarters, is well not possible and you can't really keep enemy at bay properly. (Though I've never created pike centered character) IDK if the solution is to give them a special bash/kick attack, have some kind of short bracing that counters sword zerging, or let you adjust length by changing grip.

 

[Bluko88]

There is a late game?

You reach in-game day 1000 and create new character

 

[thomas13]

"Doctors HATE him! Make your game actually enjoyable with these FIVE WEIRD TRICKS!"

This game has problems I have seen other people complain about for two years, most recently in @Strat Gaming's "Honest Review".
Here is how Taleworlds can easily solve the biggest problems with simple changes, making Bannerlord
much more fun
&
less frustrating.

Problem: Vassals can repeatedly call a vote, even if you just spent Influence to reject it. This can drain your Influence rapidly and force you to accept very stupid AI decisions that set you back.
Solution: If a policy/war/peace vote has been called in the past 5 days, it goes on "cooldown" and can't be called by the AI.

Problem: Bannerlord is very slow, repetitive and grindy. Unlocking all smithing parts takes 12 hours of clicking. Reaching Clan Rank 4 takes a long time. Companions and heirs take a huge amount of grinding to level up.
Solution: Reduce the renown needed to go up a clan rank, and the weapons you need to smith to unlock a part. Make companions and heirs have better starting stats, so they don't have to grind for so long.

Problem: Most votes can't be changed because lords usually all vote the same way. Even if you spend 150 influence and have 100 relations with them. So voting, a core gameplay mechanic, is usually a waste of time.
Solution: Increase the weighting of relations with the vote caller in the formula that determines the AI's decisions on voting. If that's too hard, just let us spend more than 150 influence in votes so we can change the outcome.

Problem: Even if you take every fief from an AI kingdom, they still get enough free money and tribute to hire all the mercenary clans, constantly raid your fiefs, and demand you pay THEM tribute for peace. This becomes extremely annoying as these already-defeated enemies are not challenging, just slow down your progress.
Solution: Do what Warband did. If a kingdom loses all its fiefs, and fails to retake one in 20 days, its clans all defect or go into exile.

Problem: There is no point doing different tactics, because archers and horse archers can win easily. This is because arrows do too much damage to armor. Also, spears are too weak.
Solution: Increase the protection armor gives against pierce damage by 1.7x. (This will balance ranged attacks.) Increase the base damage of spears by 2.5x (so they become stronger than they were before). Then increase the damage of all other piercing melee attacks by 1.7x (so they stay the same).

@Dejan @Callum @armagan (lol he won't see this)

1) If your battling your way to the top having enough influence should never be an issue even without charm 275. If anything I think they should nerf influence gain to make creating large armies difficult for the player and the AI. More smaller engagements. The main imbalance with diplomacy is that the player can declare war or peace on demand whenever he wants but the AI can only declare war. This allows the player to trap the AI in a never ending war if he so chooses. Granted if you change this feature it will make conquering the map a little more difficult (grindy) but if done right you could make it work.

2) The only issue I have with smithing is one handed swords are nearly impossible to unlock fully. If you lower the amount of renown needed for clan tiers all your doing is helping the game get over even sooner which makes kids and family members even more of a useless feature than it already is. Personally I think renown for clan tier 1-4 is fine. The only clan tier that's really a grind is 6 but by that point who cares.

3) Agreed. Relations is a road to nowhere in this game. It's an empty feature that doesn't ground the game.

4) I may be in the minority here but I kinda like that clans don't automatically disappear after all fiefs are taken.

Actually I'd go even further. Soon as last fief is gone, Kingdom is destroyed. Ruler clan becomes a minor clan that can attempt to re-establish Kingdom, all other clans gotta find new homes.

A bit mixed on this one, cause it does sort of make sense they'd become terrorists/freedom fighters basically extorting wealth where they can. Most of this can be solved by making executions a less "evil" mechanic, so you can permanently rid yourself of the menace.

Although this is a change I could get on board with.

5) This I do not agree with at all. If you're looking for a way to even the playing field with regards to archers this is the wrong way to go about it.
Archers even fians have counters the problem is the AI never utilizes these counters properly. The only counters to archers are high tier shielded infantry in high numbers and creative use of cavalry with infantry. Considering that Taleworlds has I think explicitly stated the AI we have isn't going to change we're stuck with what we have.

 

[swally0ne]

I agree that some changes are needed, I do not agree with the way you want to make those changes.

+

i completely dont agree with archer nerf. their impact is marginal. you can literally stand in a rain of arrows getting 4-8 damage each hit already. making you look like a christmas tree after a siege and still having half of hitpoints left.
the only strong archers are the noble ones, and that's not a problem about archer damage, but about making ranged units noble. beside that the ranged noble unit strength is comming from their close combat strength/mobility

what an additional change would result in would be armored troops stand in rain of arrows unshielded and unguarded. because armor=invulnerability to arrows. who doesnt want to see himself only getting 1 damage from a total 90745092834 arrow shots. but why using archers then anyway?

if its too much, then lower the difficulty. less damage from archers for you. easy.