Mount and Blade General

Just a thread where those of us that play Mount And Blade can talk about our various adventures. I'm only playing the Steam demo so far, but I'm starting to like it.

Skip the first mount and blade and go straight to Warband.

What all does it have? I saw that there was a sale but I hadn't really formed an opinion from the demo yet.

Warband is pretty much the original Mount and Blade, but MORE. I've put in 60 hours in Warband all on one character. It's quite fun, starting out as a lowly mercenary fighting petty looters, and slowly transforming into a king that has an army of 200+ that's is cutting out a small kingdom from the wartorn land, having to deal with squabbling vassals, politics, things like that. It's pretty much Idealized Medieval Nobility Simulator, the game.

Plus, the combat sorta rocks.

Been meaning to try out Warbands. I've heard it's set between the first game's The Dung Ages Medieval setting and the most recent's Early Modern, which would place it squarely in the early Renaissance. Is that so?

Warband is pretty much the same setting as the first mount and blade, but they changed the world map and added an arabic-expy faction called the Sarranids.

But anyways, Warband is about the same price as Mount and Blade, but its also improved in every single way, and you would be missing nothing by going to Warband.

I heard Warband has very early firearms, too. Apparently.

That's Fire and Sword, actually, but I heard that was rather mediocre.

Now I would like to see a mod of Warband in the vein of the King Arthur Roleplaying War Game.

I didn't actually raise an army in Warband, instead opting to stay on my own. Proudest achievement is killing more than 20 deserting knights alone, complete with heavy armour and with horses faster than mine, by cantering around them in a circle avoiding their charges and hacking at their horses as I passed (before shooting down the dismounted survivors.)

With Fire And Sword is rather meh. It cuts out some of the better role-playing aspects of Warband, but I love the combat. It's a great representation of the time period. If I had to choose between Warband or WFAS, I would choose warband, and if you have warband you don't really need WFAS.

I wish it was possible to be on the defending side of sieges, because whenever I have to save one of my fiefdoms from capture we fight out in an open field, whereas whenever I lay siege to a castle or town, I have to physically assault it.

If you make it to an in-progression siege battle, you can break through the attackers and help defend, can't you?

... even though it'd be much better to flank the attackers.

You can be. If there's a group besieging one of your castles/towns, just wait for them to attack, THEN join the battle. If you attack them, it counts as you sallying out.

Haven't tried the latest release in the series, so I woudn't know.

Warband: I like that the economics are improved, so that you can actually set up a business in a City that you own. Combat is a bit more involved. Still prety wide open sandbox, so low-levels are spent looking for looters to pick on. Sea Raiders are best avoided if your fighting force are a bunch of recruit and militia types; Raiders don't screw around. Once you scrape together a competent fighting force, Raiders fall easily enough and tend to drop good loot. Hire some officers, build them up, and have fun - not all officers are compatible with one another. You can resolve some of their incompatibilities, but depending on who you have, some just won't get along.

The original demo was so good, I bought the full game after only a few days. That level cap was a real bummer.

If they ever make a true sequel to Mount and Blade, I want them to make it so your troops are organized into cohesive units, rather than a bunch of individuals charging. It's very incoherent.

You can do that as well. Organize them into different control groups, then you can just use 1-0 to control them.

edited 21st Sep '11 12:33:14 PM by YoungMachete

Yes, you can organize them into groups, and give orders. It helps to avoid your troops from running off of favorable terrain and into sucky ground to get trounced.

ALL RANKS, STAND FAST. ARCHERS, FORWARD TEN PACES, HOLD YOUR FIRE. And there you wait for them to come running at you hilly-nilly... ARCHERS, FIRE AT WILL.

Yeah, it involves a bit of forethought to set up your groups, but it pays off.

I'm playing the demo of the original right now on Steam. It's pretty fun, actually. I've made somewhere in the number of around 15 men, rebuilding it to that point after being basically massacred by a group of deserters when I didn't have enough money to persuade them to leave me alone. I've won most of the battles beyond that, though.

I picked up Warband recently on a friend's recommendation, and so far I've clocked about 50 hours into it.

I chose to join the Nords (viking expies, gotta represent the homeland), and watching me and my 70+ heavily armed and armored mix of Nord heavy infantry, mercenary cavalry and Swadian archers from all the provinces we've claimed is so worth it.

Have now almost doubled the size of my...band, "Army" isn't really justifyable until I break 100 though considering I'm level 5 at the last check I probably won't get that far.

Also had an epic Yank the Dog's Chain moment. I like doing the melee fights as a cash source, and on this most recent one I got to the VERY LAST GUY before he beat me. I nearly raged.

It took me awhile to get really good at the arena stuff. Once I got good with those, I started doing tournaments, if I could find them. Far better payout, especially if you bet on yourself. Just don't go losing, or you'll be out however much money you bet. I can take 600 gold and turn it into 3000-something if I win a tournament. Tournaments are a good way to get some credibility with the nobility, too.

I always bet maximum on myself. Tournaments are easy, especially as my character is an omnidisciplinary warrior who can use whatever weapons he starts with in the tournment.

Yeah. Although I did win a tournament by using a dagger instead of a bow.

Also Holy crap I just spent several hours on the demo.

edited 21st Sep '11 10:16:03 PM by stevebat

How the heck did you win a battle with a weapon you can't block with?

When I start with a bow my usual action is to shoot someone down and steal a sword.

edited 22nd Sep '11 5:23:57 AM by GameChainsaw

The one time I got stuck with a bow I was almost immediately swarmed by everyone near me and died without getting anyone.

But for the present, I wiped out a group of 20 Sea Raiders with my 37-or-something group with 4 dead and 2 wounded. And also just then realized that I could take their loot and sell it for more money. I also think we lost all of our (4 including mine) horses but mine due to the cavalry riding on ahead and getting killed. What's the keyboard shortcut for controlling everything?