What do you want in the expansion

[laminblake]

With the expansion coming this summer, I thought it would be appropriate to have a "what do you want" thread.

Ill start:
- Improved Fief management and goodies
                * more options to upgrade villages, towns and castles like  the ability to upgrade a village to a town when the population reaches a certain point and you have the resources to do it (much like custom settlements mod but more stable). Also the ability to add defenses to your castles like an extra layer of walls that a defender would have to climb over to get to the center of the castle area (defenders would set up position on both layers of walls). This would make archers even more valuable in the fight as if you lose the first section of the castle you still have the second to fall back too and have your archers rain death upon the enemy.

- Improved battle formation management for large scale battles

                * This would be for people like myself who set the battle size to 500+. Add more formations in the game and the ability to customize your own formations to play with, maybe even allow for a pre-battle screen to set up where your troops will spawn by type or by group (aka: group 1 which consists of 20 archers, 30 footsoilders, 5 calvary) in different parts of your side of the battle field. Think of having archers in a flanking position in 2 sides of the forest waiting to ambush the imposing army.

- Improved siege engine

                * Also for large scale battles for 500+ troops mod. its not easy to take a castle that has 200 troops in it when you have to climb 1 little dinky ladder. (lol what a chokepoint) In V 1 i added the improved siege mod which added another ladder to every castle siege, its very nice but i would rather have something like a battering ram at the gate which has to be pushed into place and manned by 6 people to take down the gate. Moreso the speed of which the gate is taken down is based off the highest lvl of engineering of the party and vice versa for the defending team. Also the ram would be easy to add into the game as it can use the same method of movement as the siegetower.

                * Maybe put the trebuche to use, but that may be streaching it alittle.

- other stuff
                * Flaming arrows
                * Fantasy mod with magic
                * Combo attacks (like attack left 2 times and 1 over the head attack can offset a shield strike which does severe damage to shields within a certain radius in front of you) Combo attacks can only be used by melee weapons and the speed of which combo attacks are done and the time you can use them inbetween uses would be based off agility, the damage done by combos would be based off strength. This would be a complicated addition to the game but would make the hack and slash part much more fun!

Hope you guys like my ideas! especially you moderators out there.

 

[007killer555]

I think that there should be a bigger range of items like more horses and more weapons and stuff like that.

 

[kosmik]

I wouldn't want any fantasy stuff it would ruin a good game, but it would be cool if the upgrades that you make in you castles, villages and towns would actually show on the scene for example when you build a manor you could actually see it and enter it.

 

[Heafodban]

Being able to play mods multilayer.
Total war style sieges, getting to chose the siege weapons you want to use, or at least more then one friggen ramp!
A way to crouch apart from reloading your crossbow.
A quest to stop Jews from poisoning the town well. 
And wars really need to feel like wars, instead of random pointless skirmishes.

 

[malthaussen]

Have you read much mediaeval history?  Or even G.R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire?  Most wars of this period were nothing more than pointless skirmishing.  In more depth, what do you mean by "feel more like a real war?"  (I paraphrase)

  -- Mal

 

[Merlkir]

With the expansion coming this summer, I thought it would be appropriate to have a "what do you want" thread.

- other stuff
                * Flaming arrows
                * Fantasy mod with magic
                * Combo attacks (like attack left 2 times and 1 over the head attack can offset a shield strike which does severe damage to shields within a certain radius in front of you) Combo attacks can only be used by melee weapons and the speed of which combo attacks are done and the time you can use them inbetween uses would be based off agility, the damage done by combos would be based off strength. This would be a complicated addition to the game but would make the hack and slash part much more fun!

Hope you guys like my ideas! especially you moderators out there.

die.

 

[Shire]

I want logic

Why do my men turn tail if I get knocked out, but enemy couldn't care less if I take out their leaders?

Why can't I decide in which way my forces from reserve enter the field?

If the battle started as me "defending" as I waited for enemy lord to catch up, my men aren't in a dug in position, but instead start the battle as always, charging headlong into enemy lines. I should have had plenty of time to choose my formations and places I defend.

Why's there only 1 ladder that no defender tries to break?

Why can the castle defenders run out of arrows so easily, surely a fort readying for siege has brough many arrow barrels up in the towers for their archers to use?

Why doesn't the enemy with 400 garrison in a castle not simply rush on to my 50 men at siege, what magical barrier holds them from advancing on the same ladder I do?

Why can I destroy entire armies alone? Sure we're playing the "hero" I guess, but it's still pretty thick. Yay my horse can ride around forever and as long as I have spare arrow bundles in the bags I can keep on going.

Why aren't my knights with lance primarily aiming to couch them when clashing with the enemy line. Surely a knight with so much training realizes that's more efficient than trying to stab with the lance and missing by miles?

Collision detection in a melee rush is so wrong it's not even funny, why can 5 enemies basicly run into each other to bash on me but I can't even tell my men to let me through if I want to enter the fray?

How the heck does a horse from full gallop stop in an instant without breaking something when it hits a tree or a wall? And how come sometimes my footmen are immaterial for my horse to run through?

Formations, battle tactics, decent battle AI, enemy commanders actually commanding, all reported missing.

Shields magically catching arrows from areas they do not visibly cover (like from the side of their head when he is facing another way)

I'm a lord of my king, famed warrior of the land, more wealthier than my superiors, yet I can't just hire an accountant, page, butler, majordomo, whatever you wanna call it, to run my daily "business" and collect my taxes?

If my fief is unbearable poor, yet my own coffers whine at the weight of gold, why can't I simply donate it to the fief so they can build up and get their little village running again? If I want to play a noble good lord, why can't I.

Timeline is pretty weird, it takes hours of play (months of ingame time) to build a watch tower, yet I can somehow gain experience and become Calradia's most famed hero within a week. How does the news even travel that quick?

And after I am that famed hero, feared commander of an elite fighting force, my king still thinks I'm best suited to round up some cattle for his men on a doomed campaign to raid 2 villages.

Why is archer so overpowered? I'm no historian, but were the bows really THAT accurate, I thought it was more about shooting into mass formations than sniping someone's head from a moving horse at full gallop from 100 meters wearing a full plate armor?

There's an entire faction based around spears, pikes, and still none of them knows how to brace the pikes against cavalry. No one in the game knows how to do a proper shield wall.

I can't slam with my shield. Surely that was something that was actually used in battle if you had a shield of the proper size? Or brace it on the shoulder and rush forward?


Take that with a pinch of salt, it isn't a major gaming company developing so ofcourse some things are bound to be missing, but it irks me that some stuff that you go "hey, wouldn't you think this is how it should be?" ain't there. Much like for example borked buff times in NWN2:Storms of Zehir(buff up a 24 hour buff spell that disappears as soon as I enter world map, even though there's even a timer there telling that I only travelled under an hour)

 

[Merlkir]

yeah...and a cookie maybe?

Don't you wanna a cookie? or a bottle of wine. Or a car? or a prostitute to blow you while you play?

Oh, wait!!! It's another "What I think is wrong with the game and has to be added immediately" thread. I thought it was a "Let's be realistic, it's an expansion, what could they possibly add into an expansion with the old engine and ****.." thread. Silly me.

 

[Archelaos]

Timeline is pretty weird, it takes hours of play (months of ingame time) to build a watch tower, yet I can somehow gain experience and become Calradia's most famed hero within a week. How does the news even travel that quick?

Why is archer so overpowered? I'm no historian, but were the bows really THAT accurate, I thought it was more about shooting into mass formations than sniping someone's head from a moving horse at full gallop from 100 meters wearing a full plate armor?

First one: Calradia is kind of small... you can traverse it in 1-1,5 day if you use full cav army - this is about 100-120 km wide.

Second: you cant be that accurate when you use plate armour. You barely could shot a bow if in plate armour. But mail or scale or lammelar is perfectly ok. Horse archery is portrayed accurately - it was THAT deadly. At Carrahe Partian army of HAs and few heavy cavalry defeated 4 times larger Roman infantry/cavalry mixed army.

 

[Diavolo]

we need flying horses
and magic

hehe, just kidding.

to be serious I would be very happy if they just had made the siege engine a bit better. we can leave fish-soldiers to the mods.

 

[Shire]

yeah...and a cookie maybe?

Don't you wanna a cookie? or a bottle of wine. Or a car? or a prostitute to blow you while you play?

Oh, wait!!! It's another "What I think is wrong with the game and has to be added immediately" thread. I thought it was a "Let's be realistic, it's an expansion, what could they possibly add into an expansion with the old engine and ****.." thread. Silly me.

Where did I say any of that? Can you quote me? Excuse me if it's unreasonable to expect that an expansion would correct some major (opinion) flaws in the gameplay, silly of me to think that, clearly expansion should only turn this into another failing mmo to get multiplay in it right?

What's unrealistic about making your army do atleast the autocalc battle if you get knocked out instead of automatic loss? Can you explain why that is unreasonable to assume from the "old engine and ****"? If you've nothing but a flame of other people's suggestions, take it elsewhere, silly of me to list suggestions/concerns in a topic that asks for them!

 

[Penguin1128]

I think they should add realistic battle features like Limping fom Wounds  or having your sword break. I think The Morale factor should change to affecting your troops fighting skill or Attributes should be lowered by bad morale. The Other thing is i can go out on my Charger with A Lordly Plate Armor and all that crap and kill about 50 soldiers Before They Can Even get me to half HEalth Need Troops To Be stronger In A Realistic Way they need to Block More Get Behind Your Shield When Archers Are Raining Arrows down on you.

 

[Merlkir]

yeah...and a cookie maybe?

Don't you wanna a cookie? or a bottle of wine. Or a car? or a prostitute to blow you while you play?

Oh, wait!!! It's another "What I think is wrong with the game and has to be added immediately" thread. I thought it was a "Let's be realistic, it's an expansion, what could they possibly add into an expansion with the old engine and ****.." thread. Silly me.

Where did I say any of that? Can you quote me? Excuse me if it's unreasonable to expect that an expansion would correct some major (opinion) flaws in the gameplay, silly of me to think that, clearly expansion should only turn this into another failing mmo to get multiplay in it right?

What's unrealistic about making your army do atleast the autocalc battle if you get knocked out instead of automatic loss? Can you explain why that is unreasonable to assume from the "old engine and ****"? If you've nothing but a flame of other people's suggestions, take it elsewhere, silly of me to list suggestions/concerns in a topic that asks for them!

Your ideas are mostly good and you're right, I agree with most of them.
But...

- there already is a thread for Expansion suggestions. It might've been a bit (ok, a lot) redundant to create this one.
- it's an expansion, the engine is quite old and many of the things you mentioned would be probably quite hard to fix in it. They're all valid points if they were making MaB 2 on a new engine - "Look, this is pretty bad, don't forget about that when making the new engine".
- the expansion is heavily focused on getting multiplayer working. Which is a pretty big task. imo they won't spend THAT much time working on the fixes, because it would take them another three years to release the expansion.

if they fixed a third of those things you mentioned, I'd be quite happy. If they "just" add multiplayer, I'll be ok..

As for MaB 2, it could be awesome if they started making it with all our ideas in mind. I'm reading the Overgrowth blog by Wolfire (they made Lugaru) and it's amazing how many cool, simple and yet very original gameplay ideas they come up with in every new version of the alpha.
Somehow MaB got sort of rigid as it got older, I wish we had a fresh project to follow and suggest stuff for, because suggesting ideas for MaB is like golfing through trees. It seems there's quite a lot of free space for the balls to go through the branches, but in reality only a very few balls make it to the other side.

So....I was just annoyed by the slightly redundant thread and the fact you just listed all the flaws you could think of with a "they better fix all these or..." tone...
(yeah, I do realize you didn't make the thread..)

 

[Norseman10]

Kudos to the developers of M&B!! This is an awesome game!! There are a lot of good ideas throughout these threads. My only words of advice towards any expansion would be to maintain as much realism as possible. Stick with historical weapons, uniforms, tactics, ect... You all have done a masterful job thus far, please don't muck this up as you move forward! Keep up the good work!!!!

 

[Anxe]

I'd like children in the expansion. Having a realistic world without little kiddies running around is kinda weird. I'd like a way for my character to hook up with one of the Ladies and have a child too. And if my game somehow lasts 15 years after that then the child would be able to follow me around as a companion.

 

[Mabons]

I'd like children in the expansion. Having a realistic world without little kiddies running around is kinda weird. I'd like a way for my character to hook up with one of the Ladies and have a child too. And if my game somehow lasts 15 years after that then the child would be able to follow me around as a companion.

Pedo?

Yes nice idea. Tie it in with the Marriage part coming in the expansion.

 

[Kritzo]

There IS actually a magic mod

 

[Dushatar]

Whores, kiddies, getting your lady (marriage) companions allowed to get married too, killing lords/kings/you/companions, maybe a quest line or just more quests.

 

[LBaeldeth]

The one feature I would most like to see, above all others, is the authority to behead and permanently kill any lord who deserts the Marshall (i.e., me) while under orders on campaign. This is clearly high treason and I won't stand for it.

Failing that, they could alter the lord scripting so they don't desert the marshall while on campaign.

Especially during sieges.

 

[AA0]

There are a lot of things I'd like to see.

-Better empire management on the whole.  From being the leader, to rebeling, to managing your property, it just needs to be filled out better.  I'd like to see more dynamics in the towns you own, right now it feels like I'm renting them.  Being able to get rid of your enemies permanently is important and missing.

-Some improved game play, from fixing the shield bug, to couching, the horrible auto battle, formations and tactics, as well as general balancing is needed.  Also to fix the low budget graphics/sounds.  Cavalry defenses need to be made, better infantry hand combat is needed, and I think archery needs a bit of an overhaul.  There were archer marksmen (but they are too easy to obtain) and there were mass trained inaccurate archers, there seems to be little difference here. 

-A better RPG environment, it seems like the foundation is there but was never filled out.  A story, a path, and a "feel" is missing which is very much needed to increase sales, and cash flow from a business perspective.  Some of this comes from better quests, or a story (at least to start off) or just a better world/map; the way bandits roam and appear randomly without reason seems too blah to me.

-Completely overhaul siege mechanics, and AI intelligence in sieges.  Siege equipment, different attack methods and entry points, better strategies to attack and defend.