Mount and Blade v1.003 Released!

[Icy]

So what is it about? like Total war medieval? any mini review?

[Yellow5]

IGN review sums it up well.

"It's difficult to easily describe Mount & Blade, but it's a bit like a medieval version of Sid Meier's Pirates. It is part action game, where you can ride into battle, swinging a sword to hack your opponents. It's part role-playing, as you control a character that can level up, learn more skills, and even climb the ladder of feudal society. It is part strategy game, as you hire and train a company of soldiers that fight alongside you in battles. And it all takes place in an open world where you choose to be as noble or as dastardly as you want to be"

[Eaglesfan27]

I bought the steam version yesterday and have done the tutorial. Is there an instruction manual that I should read before starting the actual game or are things relatively self-explanatory as the game begins?

[Chief Rum]

Is this a joystick recommended game for the action stuff, or is this still fairly easy to play and use with the ole mouse & keyboard?

[Calis]

Originally Posted by Chief Rum

Is this a joystick recommended game for the action stuff, or is this still fairly easy to play and use with the ole mouse & keyboard?

All keyboard and mouse here. In fact I think it'd be very tough to play with a joystick.

[Eaglesfan27]

I'm having fun but I'm not sure what I'm supposed to be doing at this point. I did the training camp area and beat up some bandits that attacked me - 8 vs 1 which was fun Now, I've gotten a few followers from local villages, but I'm just wondering around trying to figure out what to do next.

[FrogMan]

Originally Posted by Eaglesfan27

I'm having fun but I'm not sure what I'm supposed to be doing at this point. I did the training camp area and beat up some bandits that attacked me - 8 vs 1 which was fun Now, I've gotten a few followers from local villages, but I'm just wondering around trying to figure out what to do next.

pretty much ride around, beat on bandits and such to get their stuff to sell it back, then go from castle to castle or town to town and talk to important people asking them if they have a task for you. Sometimes they might ask you to escort a caravan of merchants, this'll give you renown and will help you level even faster. At some point, you can even become mercenary for a king or something and later on even become a vassal. It's very open ended...

FM

[sabotai]

You can move around, finding other bandits to attack to gain experience and loot. You can go to villages or cities and get quests to do (Village Elder in villages, Guild Master in cities). Those are a really good way to get experience at the start of the game, plus it'll increase how much the people like you.

You could also go city to city, buying and selling goods. No experience in that, but if you know where to buy and sell certain items, you can made a lot of money...if bandits don't kill you as you travel.

[FrogMan]

you can also go to the marketplace of a town and try to figure out which goods could give you some profit if you bought them there and sold them elsewhere, then buy some and simply go as a merchant to the village where the best profit will be achieved.

FM

[Chief Rum]

Can you go the vagabond route yourself? Start up a bandit band and rob and pillage and lie?

[Chief Rum]

Originally Posted by EagleFan

Snuff film

This should have gotten more love.

[thesloppy]

Originally Posted by Chief Rum

Can you go the vagabond route yourself? Start up a bandit band and rob and pillage and lie?

I may have robbed a few caravans in my time...

...and looted, pillaged and burned about a half-dozen villages. But I've only done those things to one faction, so while THEY may think I'm a heartless bandit, the rest of the country thinks I'm a swell guy.


I've been having a blast with this game, and was so bummed when I missed the first sale, so getting it for $7.50 makes ME feel like a bandit.

[Izulde]

I really wish this game supported a gamepad. For some reason, keyboard and mouse kills my hands after a half hour or so.

[thesloppy]

Originally Posted by Izulde

I really wish this game supported a gamepad. For some reason, keyboard and mouse kills my hands after a half hour or so.

I have the same problem, I think it's because I really lean into that 'W' key while riding my horse, to keep him at a gallop during battle, and my wrist tries to revolt after an hour or two of that.

[Groundhog]

God damn it, you guys are going to make me buy yet another game, aren't you?

[thesloppy]

Originally Posted by Groundhog

God damn it, you guys are going to make me buy yet another game, aren't you?

If you're going to get it, grab it while it's still $7.50, for the next 3 hours or so. Hell, that's got to be like a 1000th of whatever you pay for a console game in Australia.

[Groundhog]

I'm home in 2 hours, and then this sucker is mine.

[thesloppy]

I unwittingly chose the 'ironman' setting when I started my game, because it's worded kind of oddly (realistic style), so I've been having to make due with out being able to use save games, and I think it's pretty well done for an ironman mode. I don't know if you can truly 'die' but I got trounced in battle by a rival lord, knocked out, and taken prisoner, and in the process I lost my horse and the entirety of my party that I had spent the previous month building up. eventually I escaped after they had trucked me half way across the map, but I was alone on foot, and had to again start building up my party from scratch.

Spoiler

You do appear to keep most of your hired characters though, even if all of your peasants/soldiers/mercenaries get wiped out. I think I lost one hired character in the battle, but found him later in a tavern

[DaddyTorgo]

i should grab this shit tonight. had the demo a while back and it was enjoyable - looking forward to seeing how improved it's gotten since then and all

[Radii]

For $7.50 I'm curious enough to give it a try, woohoo.

[MacroGuru]

Once you get settled with it, the community has developed a bunch of mods, I don't even play the base anymore. There is a mod called the Prophecy of Pendor I am liking.

Although the 100 years war was fun but amazingly tough.

[Eaglesfan27]

Originally Posted by MacroGuru

Once you get settled with it, the community has developed a bunch of mods, I don't even play the base anymore. There is a mod called the Prophecy of Pendor I am liking.

Although the 100 years war was fun but amazingly tough.

Yeah, I forgot the appearance mod that was mentioned on the 1st page. I'll have to install that and restart my character while he is still early in his career.

[MrBug708]

Someone had been working on ASOIAF mod for it at one point, but this game is truly the right game to build a mod for it

[MacroGuru]

Originally Posted by MrBug708

Someone had been working on ASOIAF mod for it at one point, but this game is truly the right game to build a mod for it

yeah I know what you mean I would love to see it. The tolkein mod is supposed to be good but it keeps crashing on my machine.

[Icy]

Just purchased it by steam, don't know when i'll have time to play it, but the price and reviews were great.

[Radii]

I'm having a blast with this today, I got that graphics mod and am just figuring everything out.

How far up do you need to train archery/horse archery to become effective with a bow on a horse(note that as I ask this I'm only level 4 and haven't upgraded any of my items).

So far my favorite thing to do has been the free for all melee's in the various arena's. I haven't gone to one of the tournaments yet.

[MrBug708]

Not sure if you figured it out Radii, but if you hold the shift, you can zoom in with the bow and arrow

[Eaglesfan27]

Originally Posted by MrBug708

Not sure if you figured it out Radii, but if you hold the shift, you can zoom in with the bow and arrow

Thanks, I didn't know that. What difficulty level are most people playing on? After my first big fight against 8 looters, I've been struggling and dying a lot lately. I'm playing on "normal" damage and speed of combat rather than the default and wondering if I should drop back down when I play for a few minutes tonight.

[MrBug708]

How many fellow party members do you have? I've noticed that close combat with a sword is much more effective then having a bow/crossbow

[JPhillips]

IMO nothing beats couched lance damage!

[Yellow5]

Originally Posted by MrBug708

How many fellow party members do you have? I've noticed that close combat with a sword is much more effective then having a bow/crossbow

Close combat is the way to go.

Once you get a decent sized party the game gets pretty fun. And then you can start to do fun things like a castle siege.

[gstelmack]

My key is to take my horse and charge the enemy, breaking up their advance, which makes it much easier for my partymembers to gang up on the strung-out enemy.

[Groundhog]

Bought it and downloaded it last night, itching to get a chance to play it now.

[FrogMan]

Originally Posted by gstelmack

My key is to take my horse and charge the enemy, breaking up their advance, which makes it much easier for my partymembers to gang up on the strung-out enemy.

my party is at about size 30 right now, maybe 15-18 of them on horse, so we this what you describe here a lot.

I forget which of the non-heroes recruit can promote to mounted unit but some of them were simple footman recruited in some tiny town. Some of them were mercenary horsemen though, and of course, the 3-4 heroes I have with me have all been given a horse to ride on.

FM

[Radii]

Originally Posted by Eaglesfan27

Thanks, I didn't know that. What difficulty level are most people playing on? After my first big fight against 8 looters, I've been struggling and dying a lot lately. I'm playing on "normal" damage and speed of combat rather than the default and wondering if I should drop back down when I play for a few minutes tonight.

I left it on the default difficulty which is ridiculously easy. I figure I'm going to learn the units(I got killed by a group of Lancers that I voluntarily took on b/c I had a 15-10 edge in manpower, not realizing that Lancers are highly promoted and very, very good), get better at combat, and get a good feel for the skills that I can train so that I can better plan out my next character. Then I'll check out some of the mods that everyone seems to enjoy and up the difficulty a bit. The easy difficulty is more than enough for me at this point though given the other things there are to learn in this game.

[MrBug708]

I actually charging a group of soldiers on foot and after doing a bit of damage, i dismount and hack away. I actually enjoy my party with a bunch of soldiers on foot and only a few cavalry troops. I send everyone in at charge, then select the mounted troops and have them follow me

[Radii]

Originally Posted by MrBug708

Not sure if you figured it out Radii, but if you hold the shift, you can zoom in with the bow and arrow

Ohh, I didn't know that either. It seems incredibly challenging to try to do this while riding a horse, but I guess killing people with a bow and arrow while on a galloping horse isn't supposed to be easy.

[ozias]

I find using a jousting stick on the horse is a lot more fun than using the sword. And you can do some killer damage when hitting your foes that way.

plus you don't have to click your mouse button, just start galloping, and when you get up to speed, you'll automatically bring the joust to position to hit the enemy, now just guide the horse to the enemy, and then turn slightly to the left of them....walla, your joust strikes the enemy, and he ends up dead or unconscious. I've taken a few Lords this way, plus the King of the Rhodoks as well. Granted his party was not very big, and was already in a duel with the Swadia's when I joined the fray, but hey, I got to capture him, so he was my prisoner. Plus I got 9,700 denars when the Rhodoks offered to "buy" him back.

[thesloppy]

I've been enjoying sieges, as it's one of the only opportunities I have to get out my bow and pick people off, but I've noticed that you don't seem to get any party experience or loot from a siege, which seems like a rip-off, is that correct?

[gstelmack]

I'm looking forward to finding a lance to use on my horse. Have not found one yet...

As for sieges, you gain the respect of your king, who may eventually hand you the castle you just took...

[Radii]

Originally Posted by gstelmack

I'm looking forward to finding a lance to use on my horse. Have not found one yet...

I just recently got one, and also bought a morningstar after a buddy told me he preferred those to slashing weapons. I haven't had a chance to try out the morningstar though b/c the lance is way way too much fun.

[JPhillips]

I believe I got my lance from the Swadians.

[PineTar]

Bought this on Steam and for the life of me could not find a manual. Checking the Steam forums, I did come across this link for the PDF manual. Thought some other Steam purchasers might find it useful...

http://mountandblade.scarletsabers.c...anualEU_1_.rar

[Groundhog]

OK. I've played this waaaaaay too much tonight. Created a steppe archer type, but in truth I've largely just been hacking away (or, at least, letting my men hack away). Getting better at the horseback archery stuff though.

[Eaglesfan27]

Originally Posted by PineTar

Bought this on Steam and for the life of me could not find a manual. Checking the Steam forums, I did come across this link for the PDF manual. Thought some other Steam purchasers might find it useful...

http://mountandblade.scarletsabers.c...anualEU_1_.rar

Thank you! I think this link will significantly increase my enjoyment of the game.

[Radii]

Originally Posted by Eaglesfan27

Thank you! I think this link will significantly increase my enjoyment of the game.

+1, some useful stuff in there that I had not figured out(or didn't completely understand) on my own yet, thanks!

[Groundhog]

Probably spent a solid 6 hours straight on this game last night. I started in the blue kingdom (the Val-something or anothers) and spent the first few hours doing quests and recruiting solely in that location, but after discovering the Mongol-esque kingdom, I wish I'd started there.

Outside of the repetitive "deliver a letter to so-and-so" quests - which are actually pretty handy when you first begin to help you explore the map and learn the controls - I've found a lot of the quests to be pretty well done and sometimes even fun, which is unusual for this type of game.

The combat is a hell of a lot of fun, the best medieval combat engine I've played. As a mounted steppe archer I've slowly been improving, both by way of skill upgrades AND practice, my horseback archery, but with just 30 shots and my still sucky accuracy I usually wind up drawing my sword anyhow.

It wasn't until I helped an ally in combat and watched what he did that I realised you can position your different troops and command different unit types at once. I only wish there was a "point and click" interface for this, rather than having to move your character to a point and hitting "hold this position". Still, it sure beats my early strategy of "charge!" and having all my units just sprint in to combat.

As far as earning cash goes, quests (particularily those from the Guild - I got $12,000 in my 2nd ever Guild Quest last night) are a great way to do it, but the problem is that FINISHING these quests often involves paying off characters, which in itself is expensive. I tried trading which, if you have a high trade rating in your party, works, but is risky due to the distances you have to travel. By far the best way I've found to make money at the moment is to target the villages of the kingdoms we are at war with and demand their supplies. Every 3 or 4 villages I hit nets me around $1,000. Maybe this will come back to bite me later in the game, I'm not sure.

Overall I'm loving this game, especially for $7.50! An absolute steal.

[thesloppy]

Originally Posted by Radii

I just recently got one, and also bought a morningstar after a buddy told me he preferred those to slashing weapons. I haven't had a chance to try out the morningstar though b/c the lance is way way too much fun.

For some reason I thought all one/two-handed weapons behaved much the same as the others, but after reading this I got curious and started playing around with all the different weapon types on the battleground (against overmatched opponents) to see which one I enjoyed the most.

The 'shortened military scythe' is absolutely GREAT fun for chopping down dudes on foot from horseback....but since I have a much greater one-handed skill, and the scythe doesn't seem to do as well against mounted opponents, I have settled on the 'heavy knight's war axe' which packs a mighty wallop for a one-hander (I've been playing the 'prophecy of pendor' mod that MG mentioned earlier, so I'm not sure those weapons even exist in native). I enjoyed the mighty damage you can lay out with a lance, but prefer the work/reward of working in real close to someone and whacking them in the head.

[Radii]

After reading through the manual today, I noticed two things immediately when I started playing:

1) The value of knowing that I can CTRL-Left click on items to sell/buy/loot them instead of having to click and drag each one. Massive time saver.

2) After reading a description of how tracking works, I realized that I didn't have anyone worth a damn in my party for tracking(all I ever saw were white arrows with no additional information). I immediately went tavern hopping until I found a named guy who said he was a tracker and picked him up. Tracking/spotting are HUGE to have around.

[Groundhog]

Me thinks I need to read the manual. Ctrl-Left click FTW.