Whether it is possible to decrease number of enemy armies?

[wutsky]

Greetings.

Playing for France, I have, as it has already been mentioned here, encountered certain problems with capturing English castles. While doing good vs English in open field, my army still suffer heavy losses during sieges and my NPCs growl
In itself it's ok, as taking castles by storm should not be something easy and bloodless. To do that I would gang with some other french lords, alas most of them rarely leave castles and cities and when they do, they usually loose quickly to some english lord.

That's why I decided to destroy all english mobile armies first, making them sit by their garrisons and let the French forces roam the map

Problem is that defeating 10 or 12 enemy squads this far doesn't seem to bring any difference... When I ask a french lord about war with England, the picture always seems the same: we have 27-30, they have 30-34 armies; once I won three battles in a row (all lords escaped) and even managed to capture a castle alone and still got the same response 30/33.

Here are my questions:

1) How often do defeated lords respawn?

2) When they do, do they instantly get ready-made army, or do they start with lesser and weaker one and have to imrove and enlarge it further?

3) Do lords tend to weaken castles' and towns' garrisons, retrieving soldiers for their needs?


Thanks.

 

[Rad]

I rather invite there is as much as lords as possible because they are quite good source of ransom money. If you want to decrease their number so, don't release them from capturing and let them rot in jail. I do it when I want to finish the game more fast. 

And it seems to me you are too weak yet  if these problems are so cardinal for you. Hire up to 10 companions, do great nights from them and from you of course and in the and you will become ubeateble. You must to be patient and fight and train again and again. 

 

[wutsky]

Thanks for answering, Rad; however, I do believe it is not possible to become unbeatable in this game and I'm happy about it, otherwise where is fun? No matter how strong and well equipped you were, lucky headshot from a longbowman or one backstab with a lance would bring you to an end quickly and that's just how it should be  
I have 29th level by now, 9 points in ironflesh/power strike/power draw and 200+ in most weapon proficies including archery, accomplished with the best coat of plates I could find and balanced battle axe (dmg 53) it's enough for not bothering too much about self-safety in most cases (difficulty level is about 80% I guess,  all settings are normal/100%, good AI).

My army, while not too large (100-110 soldiers usually), consists exceptionally from chevalier bannerets and genoise crossbowmen, thus making it quite mobile and usually victorious with few, if at all casualties, even when outnumbered 2-2,5:1. Bannerets are insane in open field, they just charge straight forward and smash and crush anything; even though they often lose their horses, on foot they are nevertheless by far more deadly than any english troops that may oppose them.

However this doesn't really matter that much during sieges - tons of longbowmen, hiding with infinite ammo behind the walls turn every battle in kind of Agincourt...
Though, I repeat, I do not complain about anything, I rather ask about game mechanics... It appears odd for me that defeated lords tend to respawn instantly like mushrooms after the rain, plus they seem to have about the same troops under their command as they had previously. 

Is it not possible to achieve a radical turn in the war then, no matter how many enemy armies you destroy in wilderness?

Imprisoning lords would work indeed... I have thought about that and I really never let the defeated lord go; but by default the chance for them not to escape is 10% if I'm not mistaken. This far I have only captured 3 and missed God knows how many Be it the fastest way to win the war... *shiver* I fear I'll die a natural death first

 

[Rad]

To tell you the truth I played version 4.3 to the end for English and I liked it very much. This version was the best mod which I ever played. I only started to play version 5 and very good things where removed as all strong war horses, the most plate armors, female companions and so on. So, I am afraid I can't give you fair completely objective opinion about this 5 version because I played it so far for a very short time. 

Anyway if you have 10 companions and you will be playing long enough you must be in the end unbeatable and it is good by my opinion. Because you will be having deserved it. 

As I can see you use two handed axe or axes. So, how do you want to defend against arrows? Equip all your company with one handed weapons, the best with bastard swords 41/38 (I hope they are still in the game) and with the best steel shields, try to ward of against missiles  and develop further attributes shields and athletics at you and all your companions. I always traying to increase my strength and agility simultaneusly into the level 20 and then only strength so you can finish for example with strength 25 and maybe more and agility 20. Your high strength will allow you to kill the most enemies with one good blow in the end.  I believe these two guys who created the mod are very experienced modders so I think it must be playable somehow. And you have to pay attention about your Leadeship and persuasion too so as your companions haven't been abandoning you. Remember you and your companions will become the core of your army in the end. 

If nothing will be working try to decrease difficulty of the game. 

 

[Shatari]

1) How often do defeated lords respawn?

If I recall correctly it's triggered about once a week, but I can't remember the exact number (nor can I find the post that explained it). Sorry.

2) When they do, do they instantly get ready-made army, or do they start with lesser and weaker one and have to imrove and enlarge it further?

They start with nothing and have to recruit new men. They acquire them from one of their faction's reinforcements lines (found in party_templates.txt).
You can use the Troop Editor to modify the numbers if you think they're recovering too fast. Look for "pt_kingdom_X_reinforcements" (the X will be the nation's number). Table A is used 50% of the time, B is used 25% of the time (and is used to reinforce caravans, if I remember correctly), and C is used the other 25% of the time.

3) Do lords tend to weaken castles' and towns' garrisons, retrieving soldiers for their needs?

No, though they don't have to go to a village in order to get new men (which I find to be really cheap).

Also, check out Magelord's tweaks. He's got some helpful ones that can make the game more managable without removing the challenge. (Though make sure you back up any file before you modify it.)

 

[alexthegrand]

I always go pure str and agi.  I get myself 12 agility to use good horses,then go all str up to 30 so i can get 10 power strike,it makes a gigantic difference.

 

[wutsky]

Thanks everybody for answering!

Shatari, this info is exactly what I've been asking for. I supposed such values might be modified with Troop editor, though didn't know where to start looking. Great thanks!