Mount&Blade Warband Catch-all

I also find it a lot easier when I have the sword cocked and ready with a swing from behind, not over the head, if you catch my drift. Usually if I have time, and I ready a swing and he raises the sword over his head, I hit the block button to re-do the swing, aim to the right or left, and that swing hits much easier.

Aim downward. That makes sense.

So, how exactly do you aim down? Is it the camera angle? You hit where you're looking? I'm going to give it a try after I pick up the kid from Girl Scouts.

Thanks!

sithload wrote:

Aim downward. That makes sense.

So, how exactly do you aim down? Is it the camera angle? You hit where you're looking? I'm going to give it a try after I pick up the kid from Girl Scouts.

Thanks!

Yar to camera angle. You can also go into options and adjust how this works, even turning on the auto-aim. Basically, your mouse controls camera angle and swing angle, so to kill someone you must look at them. In the eyes. WATCH AS THEIR HOPE AND DREAMS ABANDON THEM.

Psych wrote:

WATCH AS THEIR HOPE AND DREAMS ABANDON THEM.

I haven't tried it out yet, but I already like this game a whole lot better.

Also are you using lances and couching them? That is the way to ride down your enemies!

For most melee weapons use your cursor as a reference point. For side swings/slashes that's usually where the middle of your swing will go through, note that you can also turn mid swing and get more momentum along with a wider ark. It takes a bit of practice but becomes normal after a bit. Stabs generally stab where the cursor is and overhead strikes usually hit about the cursor point.

And it goes without saying, that you should play through the actual tutorial to learn how to swing your weapons to start with.

This: http://forums.taleworlds.com/index.p...
Is also a good read. It has a lot of good info, some basic stuff along with some advanced stuff and even some helpful videos. This was written for multiplayer for the most part but most of the stuff can apply to singleplayer combat as well.

It was written by a guy I've played quite a bit with and knows his stuff.
Yes, it's long but worth the read if you ask me.

MoonDragon wrote:

And it goes without saying, that you should play through the actual tutorial to learn how to swing your weapons to start with.

Did it, yep

I had more success tonight, thanks for the tips. I'm going to read Fedora's link and give it a shot again tomorrow.

I bought this on steam last night and ended up staying up late playing it. It's such an addictive game. I played a lot of the original mount and blade, but mostly before it was out of beta. I'm finding it a little difficult to hit things with my one-handed melee weapons while mounted. I didn't used to have issues. They either changed how it works slightly or I'm out of practice. Either way, some more practice will have me lopping off heads at speed in no time. The animations look way better during mounted combat. It's nice to see my guy now knows how to bend his elbows.

welcome to Mount & Blade Addicts Support Group.

This mod adds more diplomatic options as a vassal and a king to the game.
It's a separate module but you can play a vanilla save with it!

You just have to copy your save over to the mod save in your documents warband savegames folder (into the diplomacy folder). The folder doesn't create it's self until you have a savegame in the module but you can just manually make the folder. Folder should be named 'Diplomacy_v1.9.4beta' if you do that.

Wembley wrote:

I'm finding it a little difficult to hit things with my one-handed melee weapons while mounted. I didn't used to have issues.

I haven't tried one-hand weapons yet. I improved with the quarterstaff, though. How do you couch lance? I did it accidentally and couldn't figure out how to do it again. It was pretty effective.

I feel a sense of smallness and despair when I see all the towns that are on the map, not knowing where to go or what to do, or what to buy and sell. It's similar to feeling lost in the vastness of Eve Online. It's not a bad thing, but it seems like there's a ton to learn.

Duh, found it right after I posted the question, right in Fedora's link.

"Weapon Mode Toggle - When using a throwing weapon, hit this key (X by default) to toggle between throwing weapon mode, or using the throwing weapon in melee mode. When using nord long axes, this key will swap between a poleaxe mode where you may thrust, and a regular swinging mode. (.850) Also note for the cavalrymen out there, you use this key to switch into couched lance mode while using a lance from horseback."

Looks like a new patch is coming:
http://forums.taleworlds.com/index.p...

Some crafty people actually got a DL link for it too, but it's still a beta patch so you may not want to risk it.

I just finished a 52 hour vanilla campaign in the original. I ended up siding with the Vaegirs and taking over the whole world as the marshall to that kingdom. I think I can finally move on with my life and play some other games. Maybe I'll check out warband eventually.

casual_alcoholic wrote:

I just finished a 52 hour vanilla campaign in the original. I ended up siding with the Vaegirs and taking over the whole world as the marshall to that kingdom. I think I can finally move on with my life and play some other games. Maybe I'll check out warband eventually.

That's a lot of time to put into a game in under a month. I salute you sir!

Citizen86 wrote:
casual_alcoholic wrote:

I just finished a 52 hour vanilla campaign in the original. I ended up siding with the Vaegirs and taking over the whole world as the marshall to that kingdom. I think I can finally move on with my life and play some other games. Maybe I'll check out warband eventually.

That's a lot of time to put into a game in under a month. I salute you sir!

Yeah... god I don't know what happened... I just... started, and then a month was gone....

casual_alcoholic wrote:

Yeah... god I don't know what happened... I just... started, and then a month was gone....

This game does have that effect on people, doesn't it?

MoonDragon wrote:
casual_alcoholic wrote:

Yeah... god I don't know what happened... I just... started, and then a month was gone....

This game does have that effect on people, doesn't it? :)

Well, I puchased this nearly a month ago exactly and I've been meaning to post in here but have been too busy playing. I'm also one of the many who played the original ages ago when it was really nothing more than a combat simulator and picked it up a few months back during a Steam sale. Finally got around to installing it, played about an hour or so, and immediately picked up Warband full price. Ya, so, Steam says I've put 116 hours into it over the last 30 days and I'm 400+ game days into a character. I think the hours may be a bit exaggerated as I have a tendency to pause a game, go do something else, and not come back until the next day.

I feel like I'm doing all right in the game, but after this 400+ days I only own one city, one castle, and 3 villages. My people haven't been at war with anyone for a while so I'm just travelling around doing tournaments and occasionally trading between cities. Is this typical or should I be ruler of all of Calradia after that many days? Though, I am playing with realistic saves so there's no do-overs and I have had the occasional set back or bad decision. I'm also pissed because I was courting this spunky redhead, kicked the ass of her other would-be suitor, and was doing tasks for her father so the old fart would like me. Then he has the nerve to up and defect to one of the other factions taking his daughter with him. Jerk. I'm still sneaking in visits to her in the other city though. I kind of hope we go to war with them so I can fight him, capture him, and throw him in the dungeon of my castle. That'll feel real good, but I'm not quite sure how she would take that.

I was badly addicted to the original M&B last year. So far I've resisted Warband, but I suspect that if it goes on sale and hits the magic $15 mark I will be powerless to resist.

I always feel bad waiting for price drops on indie games, especially when I know I will love it. But times are tight and downloads are expensive. If I had a cheaper data bundle I would probably buy every indie game on Steam at full price.

Holy crap, when did the AI in this game start using tactics? I've had a slow start in my first game, but I jumped into an actual Lord vs. Lord fight to try to boost my reputation with the Nords. I used to be able to just ignore controlling my allies because everyone just charged at each other anyway. I realize this would lead to more casualties then if I handled things properly, but I'm lazy and just want to lop off heads. I think I'm going to have to change that, though. During this lord battle, I charged the other side as per usual. This mostly consists of me riding ahead and harassing the troops with a crossbow while my footmen catch up. This time though, I approached the enemy and found that they had lined their archers up front, and all their footmen were shielding behind a large rock. The archers took shots at my footmen the whole time they charged, and when they got close the enemy footmen flooded out from behind cover and engaged. I'm looking around for my allied lord and his troops and find they're approaching cautiously in formation. I think I'm going to have to learn how to use the unit commands.

That happens pretty much every time the composition of the enemy Lord's force is over 40%/50%? archers.

They'll find a high patch of ground, and hold it until they are either drawn out of their position by a cavalry feint, approached by infantry or take heavy losses after volleys of fire.

One of my chosen tactics is to hold fire on my archers, then set them up on an opposing hill with my infantry directly in front to soak up the bolts/arrows. They'll usually do enough damage to start the enemy charging, and my archers can remain in position.

Another useful one is the cavalry feint. If you can lead a mounted force to relatively close by the enemy position without too much damage, you can usually ride a few of them down, cause a bit of chaos and then pull back to where your lines are waiting.

But frankly, a lot of this depends on you knowing (and loving) your tactical commands. If you're not using them, you definitely should be. Adds a whole new element to the game.
I think I posted a primer on the commands in the other M&B thread, so if you need it, I can find it.

Vega wrote:

I feel like I'm doing all right in the game, but after this 400+ days I only own one city, one castle, and 3 villages. My people haven't been at war with anyone for a while so I'm just travelling around doing tournaments and occasionally trading between cities. Is this typical or should I be ruler of all of Calradia after that many days?

I had trouble holding on to even that much at around the 400+ day mark, so I wouldn't worry about it!

Like you, I'm playing with realistic saves and with the Good Campaign AI. That means the enemy usually shows up in army-sized force after three or four days to recapture lost territory. It becomes manageable when you have enough renown to be appointed Marshal, but until then, I find that support from your faction isn't robust enough to save you from the AI.

Haakon7 wrote:

But frankly, a lot of this depends on you knowing (and loving) your tactical commands. If you're not using them, you definitely should be. Adds a whole new element to the game.
I think I posted a primer on the commands in the other M&B thread, so if you need it, I can find it.

Yeah. I'm realizing now that I should be. I'm just lazy is all. I should start learning them now while I have a small group of guys.

Haakon7 wrote:
Vega wrote:

I feel like I'm doing all right in the game, but after this 400+ days I only own one city, one castle, and 3 villages. My people haven't been at war with anyone for a while so I'm just travelling around doing tournaments and occasionally trading between cities. Is this typical or should I be ruler of all of Calradia after that many days?

I had trouble holding on to even that much at around the 400+ day mark, so I wouldn't worry about it!

Like you, I'm playing with realistic saves and with the Good Campaign AI. That means the enemy usually shows up in army-sized force after three or four days to recapture lost territory. It becomes manageable when you have enough renown to be appointed Marshal, but until then, I find that support from your faction isn't robust enough to save you from the AI.

When I was first awarded the castle the enemy tried several times to retake it. It was given to me with no garrison so I was left scrambling around trying to raise some troops. I could only muster about 40 and left to gather more but the enemy sieged it. I turned back to try to help but they broke the siege themselves and rode off. They did this a few times and I have no idea why. The final time I was patrolling around the castle and saw the enemy coming with a huge army so I rode for the castle. At this point I had a garrison of maybe 60 and the enemy showed up with like 8 or 9 lords and their armies. When they sieged I just did the Wait Here to speed up the inevitable as I was figuring I had no chance but had to try. But out of nowhere our Marshal comes riding up with like 1000 troops and the enemy bugged out. So they do occasionally save the day.

I'm loving the warband port of The Eagle and the Radiant Cross. There are a few bugs but it's an interesting setting and campaign. I'm currently a freelance merc focussing on improving my relations with the Haelmar Union (Musketeers).

I love my new Musket

The mod includes autoloot for companions and has some interesting recruit controls. Recruits from villages only tech up so far more as militias, and you must be aligned with a faction to recruit better troops from the Towns.

I grabbed the latest update to 1257 but haven't given it a full spin yet. Still waiting on 1866 to get ported. Bring on the lonely school marms!

sithload wrote:
MoonDragon wrote:

And it goes without saying, that you should play through the actual tutorial to learn how to swing your weapons to start with.

Did it, yep

I had more success tonight, thanks for the tips. I'm going to read Fedora's link and give it a shot again tomorrow.

I can do the infantry moves in the tutorial okay, but am utterly useless on horseback. I either ride straight into the dummy and my horse protests with a whinny, or I end up too far away from the target and miss completely with my sword.

When you're first starting mounted, I'd suggest you use something stabby and long. Then you mostly only have to worry about timing, not so much direction. Of all the stabby and long things, lances have an additional benefit of being able to couch them. That is a really important benefit while you're first starting out. Smacking infantry with your couched lance is often a one-shot-kill. Once you're more comfortable on your mount, then, and only then, should you try experimenting with other types of weapons.