Author Topic: Check this game out... (Read 2592 times)

moot · « **Reply #30 on:** October 28, 2007, 04:28:57 PM »

I don't get it.
How do you set the range-arms troops to stand their line while the enemy closes in?
How do you set groups?
How do you choose the troops' specialties? We don't have to play for a different country just to have troop variety do we?
How do you kill the freakin Lords and Kings? Even sneaking into their castles you can't lay a hand on em..

For those flaws I've found, it looks like it's shaping up to be pretty fun.
The lances never ever break though, that's damn funny... three skewers per pass

No amount of abuse will break them. The shields do break and that's neat, hopefuly they will get around to applying that damage model to everything they can.

So has anyone found any quests? I got one 'unknown adventurer' character up to day 88 but never got a village to myself, nor any quest other than the River Bandits hunt.
I didn't see any way to join into the siege battles either, how does that work?
And which castle hosts jousting tournaments?

But yeah, massive battles in open fields with everything from arrows flying all over to horse fights is awesome hehe

I just finished one that started with the odds against me (something like 35:75) that ended with just me (Lance, no arrows left) and a heavy lance knight vs a few foot soldiers (one pike) and a pair of sword knights... Great suspense in the middle of a ton of corpses.

And raiding villages that won't give in is just great... Like vulching in AH - meat bombs all around.

TPIguy · « **Reply #31 on:** October 28, 2007, 06:12:21 PM »

So far I've taken a few castles, but can't vanquish my enemies because you can't take towns

There are a few other flaws that need some work, but so far its really cool.

Also, I've played around with different types of units. I've found heavy cavalry just owns anything. If you have enough of them you don't need anything else. I took a well defended castle with just 20 hired blades. They just kept chewing through reinforcements and enemy archers couldn't dent em. On the battle field they just mow everything down.

I'm playing around with archers right now but they seem weak and not worth the trouble. I always have a few standing around scratching their tulips or shooting off in the wrong direction. Infantry are usually too slow. Often the battle is over before the get there.

I tried horse archery, couldn't hit a damn thing moving and the damage was crap. So I made another guy. I went sword/shield and a 2handed spear. Works great mounted and on foot.

I'd like to have larger battles but I doubt my 6 year old computer could handle it. The nice thing about smaller battles is it allows you to beat a numerically superior opponent. I've beat parties 3x my size because you only fight 20-25 at a time.

moot · « **Reply #32 on:** October 28, 2007, 07:00:48 PM »

How did you take those castles? I can only get the 'fart in your general direction' reaction from them.

lasersailor184 · « **Reply #33 on:** October 28, 2007, 07:35:01 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by TPIguy
So far I've taken a few castles, but can't vanquish my enemies because you can't take towns

There are a few other flaws that need some work, but so far its really cool.

Also, I've played around with different types of units. I've found heavy cavalry just owns anything. If you have enough of them you don't need anything else. I took a well defended castle with just 20 hired blades. They just kept chewing through reinforcements and enemy archers couldn't dent em. On the battle field they just mow everything down.

I'm playing around with archers right now but they seem weak and not worth the trouble. I always have a few standing around scratching their tulips or shooting off in the wrong direction. Infantry are usually too slow. Often the battle is over before the get there.

I tried horse archery, couldn't hit a damn thing moving and the damage was crap. So I made another guy. I went sword/shield and a 2handed spear. Works great mounted and on foot.

I'd like to have larger battles but I doubt my 6 year old computer could handle it. The nice thing about smaller battles is it allows you to beat a numerically superior opponent. I've beat parties 3x my size because you only fight 20-25 at a time.

Yup, the fight sizes when outnumbered doesn't seem right. When going into the battle, it should be proportional to the forces, but it's not.

Archers recently got a nerf. They all used to be godly. Now, base archery troops aren't good at all, but the top levels are still really good. The trick is getting them from the low levels to the top.

Also, Horse Archery is a refined skill for yourself. Even the top stats can't make you good. You have to know generally where to aim, to expect the arrow to fly, to calculate on the run what your arrow trajectory is going to be.

Like the archers above, it's very hard to overcome that initial difficulty.

Saxman · « **Reply #34 on:** October 28, 2007, 08:20:30 PM »

The tourney in the first town is really pretty fubar. On the one hand, it gives you a great way to practice different combat styles, however I went in expecting something structured like a REAL medieval tournament, 1v1 (except for melees) your best gear vs. your opponent's best gear, winner gets the purse and a ransom. That's what it SHOULD be, a chance to practice with YOUR equipment.

It's REALLY detrimental to the "Fun" factor when your entire team is made up of horse archers and you're thrown against three knights with lances and full kit.

Does anyone else find using the mouse to determine attack angle a bit unintuitive. Almost every game like this uses WASD for this, mouse just sets your aim-point/look. I keep trying to tap right and swing thinking that will give me a cut to the right, and instead my dude just keeps on stabbing!

I just became a minor lord for one of the kingdoms. And immediately upon swearing fealty I found myself in the middle of a pitched battle defending the city where my King had taken refuge, lol. Talk about an initiation.

So far I haven't spent much time in hand-to-hand on the ground. Running people down with the lance is much more fun.

Tac · « **Reply #35 on:** October 28, 2007, 09:40:31 PM »

just spent my weekend playing the demo.

Very interesting little game. Hands down no other game does the combat like this one does.. heck I felt like i was doing FPS in Medieval:Total War.

-Ordering one's troops is great, however you sometimes dont get the chance to set up because the AI opponents just zerg-rush you. Many times I just stared in disbelief as a whole group of farmers charged head on my army of heavy cavalry.

-Terrain has perfect functionality (movement, cover, etc).

- Archer NPC's are practically useless. Arrows barely do any signficant damage (Even to unarmored peasants). However, in the hands of the player who can AIM the thing, its quite deadly. I played a merchant-born archer on foot and at close range anyone that approached me got an arrow on his head *(insta-death). I felt so legolas!

- swordplay (and shield and lances and stuff) .. top notch! Beats Oblivion actually. The only thing I didnt like was that for some odd reason the NPCs could swing 2 times when I could only swing once.. and im talking them having a spear and i have a quick shortsword (I once went roman legion with a shield, javelins and short sword.. man that was fun).

- Trade system could use a little help but its much better than most games out there.

I give this an 9/10

lasersailor184 · « **Reply #36 on:** October 28, 2007, 10:07:14 PM »

By hitting block, you can interrupt your attack and start another attack rather then letting your attack fully play out, and then attacking again. Also, weapon skill speeds up usage, as well as proficiency and damage. I think (haven't verified though) that holding attack increases damage, but I haven't tested this out yet. Of course the counter is that if you are blatantly about to attack, you'll probably be blocked.

The lower troops / non-military units don't really understand tactics. That's why they try to zerg rush.

The problem with Archers in a military sense is that they were only ever really used in Masses as an area effect. Just a couple of versions ago, there wasn't any real tactics, besides telling your troops to stop, attack or follow you, so archers were pretty powerful. With the new tactics, they had to tone them down. I think there will be some fluctuations as they try to balance everything out.

Reschke · « **Reply #37 on:** October 28, 2007, 10:08:32 PM »

Dang it and I leave for Wisconsin in the morning and I don't have my new laptop with me on this trip. FRACK!

Tac · « **Reply #38 on:** October 28, 2007, 11:48:26 PM »

One other big problem with the game is that the AI has ungodly accuracy with thrown and arrows.

It makes the game be almost unplayable as a foot-soldier. If you're not on a horse you will die to an arrow or a javelin that comes from beyond visual range... and not even your own troops (same exact troop type as the AI) can shoot back with such accuracy.

I found i had to tone down the AI damage so it was equivalent to my own troops' damage. Its kinda silly to see the same exact unit type facing each other on the field and the AI's units obliterate the player units with THROWN weapons .. at a distance it takes a horse about 8 seconds to cover in full gallop.

In other news, ive become quite good at throwing knives into their eyes.

B@tfinkV · « **Reply #39 on:** October 29, 2007, 02:33:04 AM »

ive got it tuned down to a difficulty rating of 65%. fun for the battles. running 60 man fights gives me good frames and seems the best fun so far. had a few characters. merchant born archer with horsemanship and archery up high. horse archery is alot like a snapshot in AH. you get aone shot and either make it or get out and evaluate again. packing a large shield and 50+ bodkins can take out 17 infantry by yourself. i got busted by a green army of 111 troops and a leader, they destroyed my 16 hired gaurd and 20 infantry and although we killed then down to 30 troops i was captured and raped of all my butter and my warbow

all the factions are after me it only a matter of time now

i actualy signed up with this game within 24hours, three times quicker than aceshigh.

moot · « **Reply #40 on:** October 29, 2007, 04:17:41 AM »

Anyone run into those black knights mentionned elsewhere? Or are they gone for this version?

thrila · « **Reply #41 on:** October 29, 2007, 04:51:00 AM »

I've not run into them so far but i've only lplayed for a few hours.

Someone else mentioned battle sizer, if you want massive battles here you go. However it does make the tactics skill irrelevant as it changes the proportion of troops out of 40 you start the fight with, allowing you to destroy much larger armies.

Dowding · « **Reply #42 on:** October 29, 2007, 04:54:58 AM »

The black knights won't hurt you. They are pretty armless.

thrila · « **Reply #43 on:** October 29, 2007, 05:20:06 AM »

Though beware the knights that say nee! I'm at home waiting for my new PC to arrive, i'm going to have huge battles and AH is going to look so purdy! Hopefully, it'll arrive this morning because i have stuff to do from midday onwards and wont be in.

Tac, if you think the accuracy with arrows is bad now you would have hated previous versions. Even fully kitted out in plate armour could you die to a single crossbow bolt. I wouldn't expect to survive the charge into an enemy against crossbowmen. Now i can ride in and hack them all to pieces.

I think i've made a mistake of choosing to serve nord. I don't think they have any mounted units, i've not seen a single guy mounted. They do rip enemy infantry to shreds and if i order them to hold ground and group together they do the same to cavalry often enough. What i do like about them is making the halt meters away and watching tens of axes being hurled through the air.

I simply love the combat in M&B, it feels so smooth and free flowing. Riding through a horde and slashing to the right, to the left and then to your front thrusting your sword into a peasant crossbowmen just as he was about to take aim.

Dowding · « **Reply #44 on:** October 29, 2007, 06:27:20 AM »

What it does model quite well is how powerful mounted troops were - when still mobile. As soon as you become entangled however, you are battered quite quickly.