Mount&Blade

[Qilue]

I DL'ed and tried this last night. Combat is very similiar to Oblivion although somewhat less responsive.

All in all though it seems quite fun.

[Cyclotron]

Originally posted by lord of the mark 1. My big problem fighting mounted is that I dont have the knack of riding in battle, I tend to go to fast, too far, and then get all flumoxed turning around.

The key for mounted combat is to be patient - you'll only get one or two opportunities for a good swing when riding through an enemy force. If you ride at or swing at everyone in sight it will be impossible - get your guys in melee with the enemy, choose a target, and just generally fight the battle one guy at a time. If you simplify the situation it's easier to negotiate the field on horseback.

The key thing is really practice - play more and you'll be an agile little butterfly on a charger.

You might want to buy a high maneuver horse, moderate speed horse, like a steppe horse - they can't outrun too much else, but they're very easy to handle and turn on a dime, especially if you have a decent riding skill. That skill gives a bonus to both speed and maneuverability; never skimp on Riding levels.

Also remember that you turn a lot faster when you're not at a full gallop, so pull back on the "throttle" a bit and you'll out-turn most pursuers.

2. In my last couple of battles Ive won either cause of allies, or my party. Ive finally figured out how to dismiss my party, but havent found a solo battle yet.

Skanky covered this, but if you have a "special" (that is, named) character in your party, you can tell them to leave the party and leave some or all of your men with them. You can also leave an infinite amount of men at a castle you own. If you want to go soloing these are better options than just disbanding everyone.

3. I take it I dont have to stop to rest or eat? Nothing for sale at the tavern?

Taverns are for hiring folks and that's about it.

Really though, look for those river pirate bands around Zendar - they're mostly shirtless and wield clubs and rocks, so they make excellent practice mobs. Also, pick a side and join a lot of fights - you'll get to fight alongside good troops, but it doesn't matter if you personally are knocked out or beaten up since you're just helping a larger party.

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by DrSpike


You are missing that you are a guinea pig.

considering how many games Ive first played years after everyone else moved on, its a nice change.

And I havent actually bought it yet.

[lord of the mark]

[QUOTE] Originally posted by Skanky Burns

Then don't. I generally find a nice defensive area, hop off my horse and then fill the enemies with arrows.

Ah, I thought you meant I should use the river pirates to learn to fight mounted.

If you fight without allies, its a solo battle. You will always be fighting against multiple enemies. The thing is, it isn't too hard to kill 7 sea raiders with your bow and nothing else.

Yes, I understood what a solo battle is, I meant that after dismissing my party, all I found immediately were battles already taking place.

3. Food is automatically eaten if it is in your food slot in the inventory. No sleeping except at taverns to make night become day for trading purposes.

Ok, I havent noticed my starting salmon going down, but maybe I havent played long enough, or watched it closely.

4. Go to the edge of the map? Tab? There are a few ways out of maps, but its been a while.

I'll try tabbing them.

5. Most towns have a trader who buys everything, and armor / weapon smiths who buy everything also. You just need to find them, and they only trade during the day.

I went to the smiths, and I THOUGHT it was day. I think I havent mastered the interface on that part.

6. Work in progress. Two years ago the castle wasn't even a location you could go to.

fair enough.

Thats right. Talk to the person downstairs to rent a room, or hire more people for your party.

At least in Zendar, the tavern keeper wouldnt talk to me.

[Skanky Burns]

Regarding food, your starting salmon is enough to feed an army of 50 for quite a while. Feeding only yourself, it will take ages for it to drop down.

[Cyclotron]

Only the merchant is closed at night. As far as I remember, the smiths are open all day.

Are you playing the newest version?

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by Cyclotron
Only the merchant is closed at night. As far as I remember, the smiths are open all day.

Are you playing the newest version?

the smiths - ok, figured it out. Im used to Infinity Engine RPGs, you give something to the merchant, your gold goes up right away. In M&B your gold only goes up when you leave the sales screen.

Version - .894, which I think is the newest.

[lord of the mark]

Ive now had several solo fights against the river pirates. It seems to go best when I fight dismounted, using my sword. Maybe I put too many points in sword/melee vs bow when I made my character, or maybe for some reason Im not getting the hang of the bow. It seems like I SHOULD have hit them from a distance, but I dont get a message saying theyve been hit. If I come closer, they charge melee, and I have to hit back melee, and I kill them.

It seems that if you fight them solo, you kill but cant capture them? You need to outnumber them to capture them? Makes it hard to make money seliing them, then? Better to go guard a caravan, but for that I need a party anyway.


The game actually looks pretty good, the towns especially, though also the battle areas. The emptiness of the towns and halls is a bit of an annoyance, esp given the time its taking to load.

This game shows great potential, but Im thinking that its gonna take quite a while to get really interesting, and Im not sure its going to sustain my interest that long.

[Cyclotron]

The bow is far and away the hardest weapon in the game to use. You'll only start getting decent accuracy once above 100 skill or so. The other thing is that accuracy is decreased monumentally by riding; the mounted archery (or whatever it's called) skill reduces this somewhat, but you need several ranks of this (at least 4, I'd say) before there's really a big change. A low level character should ride a good distance from the enemy, stop totally, shoot arrows until the enemy is near, and then ride to a new position. Firing while riding with poor archery and low mounted archery skill is a recipe for not hitting a damn thing.

Also remember that you need to shoot when the reticle is smallest - the longer you have the arrow pulled back, the worse your accuracy gets.

If you want an easier time of it, try a crossbow - at low levels they have better accuracy, more damage, and can even be reloaded on horseback (but only hunting or light crossbows). They are, however, just as difficult to fire on a moving horse. Bows are much harder to use early on, but have a huge payoff later, becoming the most effective weapon in the game at high skill levels.

The only way to capture people is to knock them out, and you can only do that with blunt weapons (or trampling). It should say "X knocked unconscious." The only ranged blunt weapons are stones, which are terrible, so you need to get up close and personal to take prisoners.

Men with really heavy armor on will sometimes be knocked unconscious even by bladed weapons because their armor is so thick. Head shots with a longbow and ride-by clotheslines with a morningstar are unlikely to do this, however, even with black plate - a big enough hit, especially to the head, will always kill.

Also, make sure you have at least one rank of prisoner management.

And by the way, you don't have the newest version - .903 came out in December. The game is radically different, with 5 different sides in the war, many more troop types, and the ability to own and control villages and multiple castles.

[Ben Kenobi]

To capture people use blunt weapons like maces.

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by Cyclotron

And by the way, you don't have the newest version - .903 came out in December. The game is radically different, with 5 different sides in the war, many more troop types, and the ability to own and control villages and multiple castles.

But the thing is, Im barely conscious the war is going on. I know troops run around, and I get messages saying a village is burned. But the shopkeepers, when I ask what folks are talking about, say the weather, and the other townsfolk, beautifully presented though they are, dont talk. All I know is I need to improve my fighting skills (both in game terms, and actually improve my mouse/kb skills in fights) and I need to get money to get better equipment, and there are only a few ways to get it. Attacking the river pirates, then maybe getting enough money to hire enough mercs to protect a caravan. Beyond that (and that should take awhile) not much else to do.

[Cyclotron]

Selling slaves and guarding caravans are fine when you first start out, but the real money is in raiding caravans, where the war actually becomes important - you pledge a side and victimize the other side's caravans. That can be tricky because taking loot can slow you down so much that you might get tracked down by the patrols and war parties of the enemy.

It's not in this current version, but previous versions had missions you could perform for your side - capturing noblemen, tracking down raiders, raising troops, and so on. Those were good ways of getting both money and experience, and you could gain rank on your side. It's expected that these will make a comeback in future versions once the whole 5-way war thing is playtested.

There are also numerous mods you can get that have different victory conditions - in the Lord of the Rings mod, for instance, you can destroy other factions (and that's ultimately how you win the game).

I don't think it's really possible to see a lot of those things at 6th level with the demo. The demo is really to experience the tactical play, not the broad scope of the game, like most demos.

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by Cyclotron
Selling slaves and guarding caravans are fine when you first start out, but the real money is in raiding caravans, where the war actually becomes important - you pledge a side and victimize the other side's caravans. That can be tricky because taking loot can slow you down so much that you might get tracked down by the patrols and war parties of the enemy.

It's not in this current version, but previous versions had missions you could perform for your side - capturing noblemen, tracking down raiders, raising troops, and so on. Those were good ways of getting both money and experience, and you could gain rank on your side. It's expected that these will make a comeback in future versions once the whole 5-way war thing is playtested.

There are also numerous mods you can get that have different victory conditions - in the Lord of the Rings mod, for instance, you can destroy other factions (and that's ultimately how you win the game).

I don't think it's really possible to see a lot of those things at 6th level with the demo. The demo is really to experience the tactical play, not the broad scope of the game, like most demos.

Understood. Its easy to be fooled, given all that IS in the demo - Im more used to demos that give you an hour or so of real gameplay. This seems like a game that could be a huge timesink, and deeply rewarding then, but its a little thin while you move up the curve. Except for the (initially) frustrating combat, and the beautiful, but largely empty, towns.

[Cyclotron]

I have a friend who feels a similar way - he was a particularly busy college student and didn't have time to build up a character to high-level play.

But there's a solution for that: M&B is extremely cheat-friendly. There is a built in character export and import system - export your character, and you'll find a text file with all your character's stats that can be easily edited. You can give yourself whatever skills, weapon proficiencies, money, and levels you want, and then import the character. The whole process takes 5 minutes. It's entirely possible to just edit your character to your specifications and enjoy high-level play immediately (though obviously not with the demo).

That way, my friend could get on and play a big, high level battle every now and then, and never felt obligated to sink hours in the game just to get a decent character. If you're the kind of person who likes that whole "rags to riches" progression, M&B has that, and if you'd rather just start out as Medieval Rambo then M&B has that, too.

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by Cyclotron
I have a friend who feels a similar way - he was a particularly busy college student and didn't have time to build up a character to high-level play.

But there's a solution for that: M&B is extremely cheat-friendly. There is a built in character export and import system - export your character, and you'll find a text file with all your character's stats that can be easily edited. You can give yourself whatever skills, weapon proficiencies, money, and levels you want, and then import the character. The whole process takes 5 minutes. It's entirely possible to just edit your character to your specifications and enjoy high-level play immediately (though obviously not with the demo).

That way, my friend could get on and play a big, high level battle every now and then, and never felt obligated to sink hours in the game just to get a decent character. If you're the kind of person who likes that whole "rags to riches" progression, M&B has that, and if you'd rather just start out as Medieval Rambo then M&B has that, too.

I only cheat in FPS's

Actually I think Id be ok with the rags to riches progression, Id just prefer it with more goodies in terms of side quests and/or story along the way. The Infinity Engine games Iv played were very story intensive of course, and i realize this is more open ended. It might be better for me with the side quests you mentioned.