Mount&Blade Warband Catch-all

Is this targeted to be more of an overhaul/remake of the original game, as opposed to a "standalone expansion" as it is described?

Once this becomes stable, will there be any point to playing the first one?

Yoyoson wrote:

Is this targeted to be more of an overhaul/remake of the original game, as opposed to a "standalone expansion" as it is described?

Once this becomes stable, will there be any point to playing the first one?

It's basically a remake. They're using the same map and countries/races with some additional stuff put in. Outside of overhaul mods that never get ported into Warband, I don't think there will ever be a reason to fire up the original.

Unless Warband turns out to be a permanently buggy mess.

garion333 wrote:

They're using the same map

No, it's different. The basic layout of where each country is still the same, but it's way bigger, a lot of the geography is different, where towns/castles/villages are placed is different, and oh, there's one more kingdom at the very southern end of the map.

Rat Boy wrote:
garion333 wrote:

They're using the same map

No, it's different. The basic layout of where each country is still the same, but it's way bigger, a lot of the geography is different, where towns/castles/villages are placed is different, and oh, there's one more kingdom at the very southern end of the map.

That's what I meant by additional stuff put in. But yes, I was selling it a little short.

It's basically Mount & Blade 2.

Aside from graphical improvements, a new faction, quest updates and map changes, the core is almost exactly the same. So no, I don't think you'll ever need to fire up the origanal again, unless there is a mod you can only get on the original.

garion333 wrote:

That's what I meant by additional stuff put in. But yes, I was selling it a little short.

And from the hour or so I've played of the beta so far, I miss the old map. Can't wait for the modders to improve this one.

What in particular do you find wrong with this map?

--Edit--

I think they improved the battlefield generation algorithm. I have not yet gotten the awfully spiky terrain yet. Doesn't mean it isn't there, just less frequent, in my experience.

I also like what they did with the hideouts. I did a few desert bandit hideouts before, but last night was the first time I did a sea raider landing mission. Holy mother of all that is holy! That was a severe nail-biter. But very cool looking level. The viking long ships are amazingly well detailed. Sacking those hideouts is a mission now, that you can get from lords. And to find out which lords give out missions, you can ask a tavern keep.

MoonDragon wrote:

What in particular do you find wrong with this map?

Mainly because it takes forever to go from the shores of Nord territory all the way south to the Sarranid deserts, which would be especially bothersome if you were a member of one and at war with the other or if you were doing tournaments to make money.

I also like what they did with the hideouts. I did a few desert bandit hideouts before, but last night was the first time I did a sea raider landing mission. Holy mother of all that is holy! That was a severe nail-biter. But very cool looking level. The viking long ships are amazingly well detailed. Sacking those hideouts is a mission now, that you can get from lords. And to find out which lords give out missions, you can ask a tavern keep.

Maybe I really should hang out in Nord territory more.

I sort of like the long treks accross the map. Especially when with a large war party ready for some killin'. It makes the payoff all that much sweeter.

Another thing is it makes it a bit more tactical as well. What's that? The 'nids are in your ally's base, killing his dudes? You can help him, sure. OOOOOOR you can go and backdoor the 'nids while they're busy being jerks and hitting perfect shots from like 50 miles away. This will usually result in the big army pushing your bros around turning back to push you out and you'll usually have enough time to take some land and bunker down.

FedoraMcQuaid wrote:

Another thing is it makes it a bit more tactical as well. What's that? The 'nids are in your ally's base, killing his dudes? You can help him, sure. OOOOOOR you can go and backdoor the 'nids while they're busy being jerks and hitting perfect shots from like 50 miles away. This will usually result in the big army pushing your bros around turning back to push you out and you'll usually have enough time to take some land and bunker down.

I noticed a "significant" Vaegir army (nice that they now tell you about how big the enemies are) heading towards a poorly-defended Swadian castle (one drawback to the new fief distribution system is that it leaves castles and towns vulnerable a lot longer). Since there was no shot in hell of me stopping them by myself, I raided a Vaegir town and when I was about halfway through, guess who dropped by?

Yeah, that'll happen too. That's why I always jack up the pathfinding on a companion so I can cheese it when necessary.

I need to stop playing seeing as the game unlocks in 16 hours.

It was 17 hours left at 2 pm.

MoonDragon wrote:

What in particular do you find wrong with this map?

I'm not as fussed about the size of the map, its the character that I think is lacking. Maybe I'm used to the enhanced map mods that I used for vanilla, but I think this one is a bit bland. Could be that I'm not used to it yet, as I've only played for a couple of hours.

The changes of elevation, geographical features and positions of the cities and castles gave a much more varied feel in the original. It felt like they made use of natural boundaries for the factions and each had variation within their borders. When you traveled from the heights of Curaw to the fields of Jelkala, you felt like you were traveling between different parts of the continent. The Culmarr castle really did guard the pass between Yalen and Suno, and Uxkhal had the threat of Unuzdaq castle looming in the mountains above the city.

Now there's no real division other than arbitrary borders slapped on lots of nondescript fields and forests. Disappointing, but I imagine the modders will fix it. (Or I will.)

All right, Steam, make with the game.

Do we need to uninstall the old version or something?

Haakon7 wrote:

The changes of elevation, geographical features and positions of the cities and castles gave a much more varied feel in the original. It felt like they made use of natural boundaries for the factions and each had variation within their borders.

We must've been playing on the opposite sides of the map or something. I find that in this game there are a lot more funnels between territories that are then guarded by various castles. But then again, I haven't put that much time into it. I've been only playing around Vaegir territories.

On a separate note, I'm quite convinced that bandit hideouts are scaling to your level or something. I attacked a Taiga Bandit hideout last night and it was almost as tough as the Sea Raider one. I was in a valley, while on 3 sides there were 4-6 guys chucking javelins at my party of 8. They also respawn the moment you leave their general area and start chucking stuff at your back. I defeated that one with only one other teammate alive. And I'm running with 1/2 damage to me and 3/4 to teammates. I can't imagine actually beating these guys on full difficulty.

Well, Steam updated the game aaaaaaaand my 0.860 save works. Buuuuuut, I'm thinkin I might start a new character anyway. I can't find any info on the compatibility and I only put ~4 hours into that game so I might as well play it safe so that I don't find a game ending bug 10 hours later.

Let me know if anyone tries multiplayer. That sounds like fantastic amounts of fun.

Faceless Joe wrote:

Let me know if anyone tries multiplayer. That sounds like fantastic amounts of fun.

From the beta, I can tell you that it is. Haven't tried it with the official release yet, though.

Faceless Joe wrote:

Let me know if anyone tries multiplayer. That sounds like fantastic amounts of fun.

Don't want to spoil anybody's fun, but your mileage may definitely vary. There is very little guidance on how to get good, and if you're not good it can be an exercise in frustration.

Well i'm downloading now, but if anyone see's me online for steam shoot me a message, loved the original just gotta get used to the new one now on vanilla.

FYI guys, there is a M&B:W channel on Vent, if you guys want to multiplayer, or just smack talk while singleplayering.

I'll be getting this later in the day, probably will install overnight so I'll be playing tomorrow. Though I'll probably play a lot more single-player as I'm a bit multi'd out from beta.

To be honest with you, I don't know if it's because of an influx of new players or something, but multiplayer is nowhere near as painful as it was a week ago. And I don't think I improved that much, but last night I managed 3:1 - 8:1 kpd. At one point I was 10-0. That NEVER happened during beta.

I can also confirm that ransom based on unit level hack from M&B still works in M&B:W.

Anyone having trouble keeping their morale up in the single player? I'm having real trouble keeping my troops happy, even after glorious victories.

The game seems a bit buggy too, there's a few bits of what look like placeholder text popping up now and then in various places... I'm not really complaining though, I'm having a great time, I think I've put in 8 hours today already.

Redwing wrote:

Anyone having trouble keeping their morale up in the single player? I'm having real trouble keeping my troops happy, even after glorious victories.

The game seems a bit buggy too, there's a few bits of what look like placeholder text popping up now and then in various places... I'm not really complaining though, I'm having a great time, I think I've put in 8 hours today already. :D

During beta my morale was always high. After 4 hours in this release, I'm hovering at 75 when things are going really well. I wouldn't say I'm having trouble keeping my troops happy, but it does seem harder than before.

And yeah, there's going to be bugs until the end of time. It's a sandbox indie game.

garion333 wrote:

And yeah, there's going to be bugs until the end of time. It's a sandbox indie game. ;)

Truer words have never been said

I'd like to see some moral influence by how much troops fear you
Maybe the occasional execution or two at camp to remind them who's boss.

I've also always thought that renown should influence moral, even if just slightly.