This could be really really cool. The one thing I wonder is how reasonable it will be to get 250 different people, most with no idea how Napoleon and his enemies actually fought, stand in-line and not go Napoleonic Rambo.
Features
■Accurate early 19th century weapons, uniforms and environments
■Massive multiplayer battles with up to 250 players
■5 nations with more than 220 unique units to choose from
■A wide range of artillery pieces ranging from field cannons to mortars, capable of firing a variety of missiles such as canister, explosive shells and even rockets - all fully controllable by players
■Finely crafted game balance insuring player skill is the hero of the battlefield, not the gun or the sword
■Construct barricades, dig trenches, and rig explosives with the multi-purpose Engineer class
■Special musician units with drums, fifes, bagpipes or trumpets, able to play historically accurate tunes; all recorded and played by award winning musicians
■Lead squads of soldiers against each other in the new commander battle mode
■More than 40 classical background music tracks
Read more here:
http://www.paradoxplaza.com/press/2012/3/mount-blade-warband-napoleonic-wars-multiplayer-dlc-announced
http://forums.taleworlds.com/index.php/topic,222384.0.html
See more here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPv56deYrsQ
I've blathered on a bit about this over at WG
http://www.wargamer.com/forums/posts.asp?t=583023
Ultimately, its a refinement of the Mount & Musket mod that has been around for quite some time. To get the best out of it, you need a group of folks who are willing to be commanded, disciplined and work as a military fighting unit, if you want to taste proper Napoleonic warfare.
What I didn't know was that there is going to be a commanders mode, where you take control of a formation of AI units, that you can command and order into lines of battle. That sounds like a most enticing mode, since you'll then be able to get a feel for line battles without having to join a regiment and put hours of dedicated marching and training.
It's another step closer to the nirvana that is virtual re-enactment.
If you play infantry and you die? Do you spawn back? Take the role of another infantry that's still living. Do you follow commands from your commander or just do free for all skirmish?
As for being a commander, you don't really go riding and slashing enemies with your sabre because you can just get killed instantly. Or do you?
All good questions jomni.
Quote from: jomni on April 03, 2012, 05:04:06 AM
If you play infantry and you die?
Yes, you die.
Quote from: jomni on April 03, 2012, 05:04:06 AM
Do you spawn back?
Not in a multiplayer match, you have to wait for the next round.
Quote from: jomni on April 03, 2012, 05:04:06 AM
Take the role of another infantry that's still living.
Nope.
Quote from: jomni on April 03, 2012, 05:04:06 AM
Do you follow commands from your commander or just do free for all skirmish?
There are no in-game commands as far as I can remember. Although with this new refined version of the mod, perhaps there are.
Commands where usually organised by your regimental commander, over Teamspeak. In fact we had several formations marching in different directions to perform flanking manoeuvres as well as a small detachment of Lancers and Skirmishers. All had their own Teamspeak room, and leader in charge. It was very disciplined, the regiment I joined. A lot of other regiments are not so military or strict.
Quote from: jomni on April 03, 2012, 05:04:06 AM
As for being a commander, you don't really go riding and slashing enemies with your sabre because you can just get killed instantly. Or do you?
I've not seen this commander mode myself, only in the developer video on YouTube.
http://youtu.be/x9IjJqlr31I (http://youtu.be/x9IjJqlr31I)
I think the idea is that you try to command the AI troops as best you can from an on-foot position. However, you can get stuck in and shoot and fight. I'm not sure what happens when the commander dies, perhaps he does jump into another AI soldier that is still alive? Or just respawns as the commander with his troops remaining.
I would be all over this if there was a single player campaign, or if we could get a nice sized group together here.
I watched a lp of ppl playing Mount and Musket getting 5 life. Or untill flag was capped.
Not my cup of tea but it does sound interesting.
Now what I really want is a LOTR mod or DLC for Mount and Blade!
BTW I used played Battlegrounds mod for Source Egine. Set during the revolutionary war. The line battles were short and fun (no respawn). But part of the fun is if everyone follows the voice commands of the commander. It does get dull really quick.
Quote from: jomni on April 03, 2012, 09:25:40 PM
BTW I used played Battlegrounds mod for Source Egine. Set during the revolutionary war. The line battles were short and fun (no respawn). But part of the fun is if everyone follows the voice commands of the commander. It does get dull really quick.
I played that too a couple of times. But inevitability somebody would just charge forward and start stabbing people with their bayonet and ruin the whole experience.
The is a LOTR mod for the original M&B called Third Age.
Quote from: Bison on April 04, 2012, 01:16:32 AM
The is a LOTR mod for the original M&B called Third Age.
Any idea if one is being made for Warband?
I'm not sure, but not that I know of.
Looks like it's available to buy from GG Now!
http://www.gamersgate.co.uk/DD-MBWNW/mount-and-blade-warband-napoleonic-wars (http://www.gamersgate.co.uk/DD-MBWNW/mount-and-blade-warband-napoleonic-wars)
Is there absolutely no single-player option? The commander mode seems ideal for this.
^It is multiplayer only as far as I've read. Which has stopped me from getting it.
Quote from: Gusington on April 19, 2012, 09:21:23 AM
^It is multiplayer only as far as I've read. Which has stopped me from getting it.
How the heck is it even going to work?
How would you get 200 random idiots from the internet to agree to join your game, take on the roles of petty soldiers, and go around doing drill marches in band uniform? :D
^Better not leak that out :)
JH. There is no single player mod for the DLC. The major concern I had when I read it was to be released was the idea that it was going to be no more than John Rambo wears Nappy gear style multi-player.
There is a commander mode against the AI, I've just had a quick go on it. Not bad.
You are on horseback commanding a line of soldiers, giving them commands on the function keys. Just had a line battle, they followed me in, I lined them up, told them to stand ground, and form a 2 deep line (front soldiers kneeling) - firing left and right flanks independantly. Finally set up a charge, and I hacked some of the French line down with my sabre!
Rather enjoyed it.
Plenty of clan based multiplayer servers up, so I think you'll have the choice to go play with some more disciplined players, rather than being confined to the publics.
This Mount and Blade thread is on fire!
I'm surprised that anyone hasn't mentioned the Game of Thrones Mod yet.
The Game of Thrones Mod is still in alpha I thought.
Quote from: Bison on April 19, 2012, 04:14:43 PM
The Game of Thrones Mod is still in alpha I thought.
It will have SP.
Well I've just played a good hour or two of the Command Battle on multiplayer servers.. excellent stuff. Each player commands a regiment, and you can form them up work together, flank, and defend. Really enjoyed it. They've certainly put some shine on the models from the original Mount and Musket Mod. With these team based tactical battles, the game feels very much like a large line battle, with cavalry and artillery, yet I'm on a server with a load of publics!
Top stuff.
A co-ordinated Groghead side could really do some mopping up.
Maybe I should try it out then...
With enough interest here I would get it to play with you all.
I have been playing nothing but the cRPG mod for Warband for the last two weeks on multiplayer. So much fun.
My credit card finger is getting very itchy reading this thread.
I just realized we're only talking 10 clams here. Picking it up now from Steam...
Also, the Mount and Blade collection (M&B, Warband, Fire and Sword) is on sale right now for $7.50 on Steam.
Pretty cool video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wD_uDUvaQQM&feature=relmfu
Ah thats the mode I was playing last night, and a video from my old Regiment, the 51st!
You issue commands via the Function keys.
F1 has all the basic movement orders, Follow me, Hold position, advance 10 paces, retreat 10 paces , charge.
F2 has the line formation orders, such as single line, double line, line of 3 and line of 4, spread out, close up
F3 has the firing orders, fire at will, fire on my command
F4 has the type of offense, use melee, use ranged, mount horse
You are the leader, and you have a spyglass, a sabre and a pistol. The spyglass is very useful indeed, in spotting and planning your attack. Pistol is useful for a quick shot as the cavalry come in, then its sabre time!
You issue the "follow me" order (F1 then F2) all the sub options in a menu are selected using the function keys too.
Then I set the formation, double line (F2, F2).
Then I set the firing mode, fire at will (F3,F1), although I think it defaults to this one.
Then as I move, the whole company moves with me. They will stop and fire on any enemy in range. Unless you've commanded them to only fire on your command. As I get them into position I want, I quickly order them to hold this position (F1,F1) and they form up in a line wherever I am facing, with two deep the front rank will kneel as the back rank fires. From this point I am free to scout and spy behind the line, as they keep firing at any enemy.
If you can secure a good position, supporting other line infantry, you have a good chance of quite a number of kills. But you do need to react to whats going on on the battlefield. Especially if cavalry are on the way.
I wish there was some sort of box formation to take on the cav, but I think the best you've got is a tight line formation. The men will swivel about to fire behind them, and they will engage the cav with ranged fire and the bayonet as needed. But if lots of cav hit you at once, it usually is a blood bath. Don't forget to put the sabre to any horseman who is unseated.
I can see me playing this mode quite a bit, I was the British Grenadiers with their green jackets and gold and red helmets, or the British Highlanders with busby and kilt! I'll keep practising command with line infantry for a while, till I've got the commands sorted - then it would be time to change tack and practice cavalry. They seemed very popular - the prospect of mowing down infantry men being almost too enticing for some. And afterwards I bet Artillery command is a totally different ball game.
There are no "wheel" commands for the line, which surprised me, but I think you perform a wheel, by issuing Follow Me (F1,F2) then you move forward and turn slightly, then issue the Hold Position (F1,F1) and you've essentially performed a wheel. You and your position is the key to your command. Make sure you're not taken out early. Fire your pistol, sure, but do it from a safer advantage than the front line. And try not to shoot your own men. :)
If anyone is online over the weekend, I'm spelk in Mount & Blade as well. So we'll have to try and suss out a particular server to play on, and get our jiggy on! :)
I spent about 2 hours playing this online in the North American server (full at 200 the entire two hours). I was playing in the mode where everyone online only controlled a single person and if you were killed you were out of the game until the round was over. Rounds were about 8-10 minutes each.
In my opinion, in the mode I was playing, the game plays almost exactly like Call of Duty 4 with Napoleonic weapons. This is a good thing. All of the maps I played on (maybe 3-4) were around some sort of structure, a farmhouse, an intersection, a small village. Generally both teams of 100 would start out just outside of visual range with something in the middle (or several things) to sieze and use to take cover. Both teams would close to long range, find some cover, and start sniping at each other. Inevitably both teams get small groups of skirmishers that will attempt some flanking move and eventually this facilitates street and building fighting in close quarters. On at least one map there seemed to be an objective of capturing the enemy flags; on another it seemed to be a death match type of fight.
Both teams get cavalry, cannons and rockets for artillery. These make a big difference as they can make your position untenable and force you to maneuver.
The lack of line battles worked for me in this type of environment. The engagement maps were not really conducive to lines banging away at each other but were more suited to the close quarters, violent gun and melee type fighting.
The troops look great. I played France, UK and Prussia and they all look different and have multiple uniforms per country. The music is great- a large mix of classical tunes that really enhance the mood. Graphics looked good to me but are still dated compared to modern shooters. There is a ton of destructable terrain and buildings, sandbags, etc. This is great for when your cannon blows a hole in a building and then you rush against the wall and start sniping through the hole. The guns/muskets sound great with an awesome sounding boom when you shoot them, and there seemed to be different sounds for different types of guns or muskets or whatever they are.
Overall, if the idea of street fighting kitted out in Napoleonic gear sounds like fun to you then this is a no-brainer. I had an insanely fun time and I suspect this will eat up my whole weekend. I can't wait to play some more tonight. At $50 I would have said worth it, but definitely if you're into the series; at $30 I would have said this is a great bargain; at $10 I say everyone except folks who absolutely hated CoD should get this. There is a lot of room to exercise tactics at the individual and small unit level: when do I reload? Where do I reload? Who has my flank? Do I have enough friendlies around me to hold this corner against a charge or do I need to fall back? Should I reload or go to melee with saber or clubbed musket?
Two thumbs up. I very highly recommend this mod to everyone who is even remotely interested, provided you aren't looking for a structured, historic, line battle type multiplayer. What I saw just isn't that and you should be realistic at what you can expect with 200 strangers on a server together.
pretty late for you guys, but I'm on the Official US server 1 as Sir_Lorimir. Say hello if you log on.
In Custom Battle mode, you can command your units seperately by selecting their groups, groups are pretty much handled like RTS groups, press 1 for the 1st group, 2 for the 2nd etc.. So this really opens up the AI "single player" battles, by allowing you to place your units around the map, and attempting to hold off or even conquer the enemy. Since you select the troops composition - its a great tool to use to get familiar with Commander Battle mode before going online. Since your commander is usually on horseback, I often use him with a trailing group of heavy dragoons to perform cavalary charges on the enemy rear. Setting up line infantry into a killzone in the center. Multiplayer is good, but the Custom Battle option gives you control over the entire battlefield! Brilliant! You can command group by group advances or retreats, and charges. You can even control fire at your command, or drop back to fire at will. Every command can be issued on every unit group individually or globally. All from horseback, whilst swinging your sabre!
Spelk, with that said, is there some single player piece to this game and if so how would it work?
Grim, there is no single player. Sadly.
But you can play in the Custom Battle sandbox for as long as you would want.
To implement a single player campaign, there'd have to be a lot of scripting, I'd imagine.
Only $5 at Gaamestop/Impulse right now...
http://www.impulsedriven.com/mnbnw
I might just get this out of curiosity. Price of entry is cheap.
I'm ready to buckle.. but I didn't get Warband from Impulse, I got it from GG.
Wonder if the Impulse version would work with mine, even though I don't have an Impulse code for Warband. ... .. ???
I'd be surprised if it did Nefaro. Due to the client wrapping, but you could ask at Paradox or Tales World.
I'm pretty sure you can still get the entire M&B collection for $7.50 and Napoleon is $10 on top of that. I realize that we're talking $17 here, but man alive is that a lot of gaming for less than $20.
And you want to talk about mods? You can't swing a saber without hitting some awesome mod for Warband.
I strongly recommend you spend a little time on youtube, see what it's all about, and then make the right decision and buy everything!
I've sold myself on the Napoleon DLC, and seeing as it's even half-price on Impulse-GS, I'm all about grabbing it on sale while I'm after it.
From what I've seen, Steam is the only one that has a different executable ( as always), and the rest of the retailers have the original TaleWorlds installer, so I should be good mixing a GG version with an Impulse DLC expansion. As long as Impulse didn't add some pre-requisite Impulse-only serial check to it, because it'll even recognize my Warband install - just not my Gamersgate key for it (for update reasons).
Meh.. what am I doing?
I have over $5 worth of blue coins, I'll just buy another $5 and get the GG version of the Napoleonic DLC. After seeing the videos of the multiplayer, I can't keep away. 8)
Impulse still requires a game be updated through it's client. That is were I think the issue would come from in mixed client games.
Yeah, I grabbed the GG version. Like the way they use the unmodified developer's installers so I can get the original patches without having to worry about extra client crap.
I should be getting bayoneted shortly. :)
Our forces assemble.
Soon, we will be commanding armies, on the front.
Who is going to do the Arty?!
I'm not even very good with a bayonet yet, and you want me to learn artillery?!
Dunno.. think I'll have to graduate up to engineer next, or something. Gonna read the manual on arty before jumping into that.
This certainly is a lot of fun. I played for a few hours on some hi-pop servers last night and had a blast, even though my performance ran about even in kills-deaths on all but one. Sitting out 10 minutes, after being hit with a lucky long-distance musket shot or some such, kinda sucks though. I enjoyed the Siege mode, on a private server, that had 30s respawns enabled for both sides, and custom maps - excellent fun. Although those 200 max servers tend to get occasional lag spells when there are lots of ppl in them.
Got a bit more cavalry work in. I still can't hit much of anything from horseback unless perhaps an occasional lance strike or point blank musketoon shot to someone's face. I can handle the horse great, however, and get to dodge a lot of bullets.
My melee skills suck hard. I keep forgetting to hold down the mouse button for attack beforehand, and my timing isn't terribly good (which is what it's all about).
Getting a good block in opens them up a bit, then hold and release, but put a little bit of spin on it. That's how the 51st taught me to melee. I was still rubbish with it, but at least I could last a second or two more. :)
Been playing more commander battles this evening, it's good. I much prefer looking after a bunch of men, to charging around on a hoss, or trying to pot shot the enemy myself. Knowing when to hold fire, and then lay a devastating volley is the key to carnage. I found out that you can more or less make a square with your men, if you set them to 5 row formation, stand close, and use weapons at will. The cav have a lot of trouble breaking through a 5 line group of pointy bayonets. Although if theres enough of them and they attack from lots of sides, it does become a bit of a blood bath.
If theres enough Grogs, at some point we'll have to invade a server and have a jolly good bash! :)
Yeah, I can make melee attacks, it's just timing them on other players that can be a pain. I often forget to click&move early then move into range instead of starting my swing/thrust as I move close. Must be old habits from other games in which a click would swing, and here it's when you let off. Still getting some kills - even a few lance hits the last few games.
The only bad thing about the matches is the long wait after dying. I've found that the Siege mode is the most intense because respawns are on and the fighting gets up close & personal, on a big scale, quite often. Not played much (or any?) Conquest mode.. doesn't seem to be very popular. Mostly Battle and Siege for me... TDM's spawn areas get overrun a bit much at times (spawn killing), not to mention the some of the enemy's team will even spawn in your own at the start of the game (wtf?). Doesn't really have a point to the DM stuff, and not surprising I'd dislike it. CTF doesn't seem to be too popular either, wonder why?
One of the more populated private servers (52e/54e or something?) has some great custom maps for Siege mode but it's often pretty laggy from all the ppl on it.
Lotsa screenshots from official US server earlier tonight. Other than the first, they're from the same battle and fairly often in a row:
(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi48.tinypic.com%2Fftfypw.jpg&hash=d6a4c1110a9c5dcc316755d2b8957c806926a993)
(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi48.tinypic.com%2F68hevm.jpg&hash=40b374e68bd87fdcf0e4bc0f3eba5f8cb62585d7)
(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi50.tinypic.com%2Fse635e.jpg&hash=cc7759130811b4656eb4ac9b674a99eef5cfd25f)
(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi49.tinypic.com%2Fdc8yux.jpg&hash=066bac1c1c6d5604c485fdb691d726f3db04370a)
(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi46.tinypic.com%2F9zn6l3.jpg&hash=334c812175f1cf094791e00f0eaf0bdd778d4d6c)
(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi49.tinypic.com%2F2yy5x7t.jpg&hash=0c4e5ed2db23c44dbc3ba424a1eadfc516054347)
(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi45.tinypic.com%2F1z6xtz6.jpg&hash=f9a2a4b33d06da9af8d7580f7d6d1496573ea05c)
(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi46.tinypic.com%2F2e3pjcy.jpg&hash=af4bd2b4a851e9343c29985d7cade5af767ce1b8)
Its a shame the timezones conspire against us. Otherwise, I'd be well up for a Commander Battle with any Grogheads. Imagine marching into battle with your favourite Nefaro led troops.
I tried a bucketload of Conquest this evening. It's ok, if you want some free-form fighting. Much of it is lone cavalrymen charging and circling around lone infantry men. But I did try and play the bannerman, and the drummer.
I prefer the Commander Battles simply because it's very tactical in its play. You have to think, and try to react to the battlefield surroundings. In most other multiplayer modes its a bit of a free-for-all. Especially when you're on your todd. If only they'd use the tactics of the day, most of them would win every round. If they just stuck together, formed firing lines. Formed bayonet squares. Used artillery properly. etc.
Come on grogheads, surely we've got a contingent playing this game now, to cover my limey time schedules? :)
Well I actually just got done playing a few rounds of Nappy Rambo. Now I spent 97% of the time trying to figure out why my sound wasn't working, which I eventually got sorted out. There is some fun to be had here. I need to try the Commander mode.
I liked Commander mode the few games I tried it. It's a nice change of pace, although I still prefer the big first-person battles. Seemed like I was always one of the first to be killed in Commander mode, and just kept respawning as one of my AI grunts.. dying and respawning like that - even from a very long distance. Makes me wonder if it's programmed that way - I wasn't terribly impressed with that oddness in Commander mode.
I'm called Wallaby on the servers.
They need to fix how the in game chat is displayed. It is honestly one of the worst chat systems to have to deal with in game. I ended up just squelching everyone. Too much douchebaggery conversation going on and it was ruining the awesome vibe of the music and black powder sound effects.
Quote from: Bison on April 27, 2012, 01:20:24 AM
They need to fix how the in game chat is displayed. It is honestly one of the worst chat systems to have to deal with in game. I ended up just squelching everyone. Too much douchebaggery conversation going on and it was ruining the awesome vibe of the music and black powder sound effects.
Yeah, when the kiddies get home they just spam dumbassery as usual. I saw someone type that they'd be happy once the ADD retard kids moved on to the next FPS. :D At times, I see a lot of good tactics-related stuff in Team Chat going on, but the dead kiddies love to talk shit in the "Chat All" channel. Luckily it's a light grey that doesn't stand out. :)
I turned off the Kill notifications in chat because the damn chat bar takes up too much screen space. Much better now, even though I never immediately know if I killed someone, it's a trade-off.
The Commander mode servers are quite tame. I like that mode very much. Much more organized and civil and you don't need to wait a long time after you die. It's a unique experience compared to standard FPS / Action games.
Most important of all, I suck when playing free-for-all battles in this game.
Commander Mode is a lot of fun.
But I often get frustrated because there's a bug that will make your soldiers stop listening to you! Some ppl have said that it happens when you get near the edge of the map, but I've had it nowhere near there, too. :-[ Wish they would squash that damn thing so I could play Commander mode for awhile before ragequitting back to regular battles.
Impulse screwed me all weekend and is still doing so. They have yet to patch up to the latest version so no nappy fun for me. This is the problem I have with impulse they are always slow at releasing patches. I left some hater posts on their forums. I'm done buying from those asshats. The deals you get just aren't worth the freaking hassle.
Quote from: Bison on April 30, 2012, 05:36:03 PM
Impulse screwed me all weekend and is still doing so. They have yet to patch up to the latest version so no nappy fun for me. This is the problem I have with impulse they are always slow at releasing patches. I left some hater posts on their forums. I'm done buying from those asshats. The deals you get just aren't worth the freaking hassle.
Umm... I don't think their software is integrated into the EXE, like Steam is. You can probably d/l the dev's patches from their forum and apply them to your Impulse games.
http://forums.taleworlds.com/index.php/topic,227253.0.html
Quote from: Nefaro on April 30, 2012, 08:56:57 AM
Commander Mode is a lot of fun.
But I often get frustrated because there's a bug that will make your soldiers stop listening to you! Some ppl have said that it happens when you get near the edge of the map, but I've had it nowhere near there, too. :-[ Wish they would squash that damn thing so I could play Commander mode for awhile before ragequitting back to regular battles.
How do you replicate that? I haven't had that bug yet.
AAR is up. Not a nice one since we lost and the battle is quite small.
http://jomnisgames.blogspot.com/2012/05/how-not-to-conduct-cavalry-charge.html
Quote from: jomni on April 30, 2012, 06:29:40 PM
How do you replicate that? I haven't had that bug yet.
Dunno but I managed to do it three times in my last four battles. Must be some obscure command combo sequence or something. The brown frequency..
Theres something going on with line infantry, I must have missed the boat, because from going from a reasonable player - lining up, loosing volleys, and having some success - I now seemed to be constantly sniped and my lines thinned, before I get into range for my muskets to have any effect.
Wether everyone is choosing rifled sniper troops rather than your bog standard line infantry I don't know. But its starting to happen a lot in Commander Battles.
Either I'm doing something wrong - which I wasn't doing at the start of it all... or some tactical shift has happened and I've simply missed out on the memo.
Impulse finally got the patch out. Back to the battle!
Quote from: spelk on May 01, 2012, 02:49:03 PM
Theres something going on with line infantry, I must have missed the boat, because from going from a reasonable player - lining up, loosing volleys, and having some success - I now seemed to be constantly sniped and my lines thinned, before I get into range for my muskets to have any effect.
Wether everyone is choosing rifled sniper troops rather than your bog standard line infantry I don't know. But its starting to happen a lot in Commander Battles.
Either I'm doing something wrong - which I wasn't doing at the start of it all... or some tactical shift has happened and I've simply missed out on the memo.
The best I've ever done in those is break about even in kills-deaths with my unit, over a few matches. I'm not sure if there's a trick, either, because all the matches I've been in only have
one rifle unit available per side. Sitting on top of a hill, and unloading at the other side, just as they are. I had figured perhaps someone took an artillery unit and was pounding me with it, but those were bullets killing my men from that distance, not round shot ripping through the ranks. Hell, I've even managed to flank an enemy inf unit a couple times, by sneaking around & coming up over a hill side-on to them, and ordering a simultaneous volley. That's probably the only reason I tied on that set of matches. But the enemy still out-shot me after that initial surprise, mowing my grenadiers down like grass.
I've tried telling them to hold fire until my command, then volleying at once, and also fire at will. Not much else to change about the firing other than "spread out" which doesn't seem to do anything most of the time I've used it. Perhaps always using single line instead of double line? I dunno. *shrug*
Yes. I noticed a lot of people doing single line now.
I don't like the respawn in battle mode. I usually die within 30 seconds of the battle starting, which means I get to watch for the next 9 1/2 minutes.
Quote from: Bison on May 01, 2012, 11:02:54 PM
I don't like the respawn in battle mode. I usually die within 30 seconds of the battle starting, which means I get to watch for the next 9 1/2 minutes.
That's the reason why I play in Commander Mode. I suck at killing people myself so I just let the AI bots do it for me. :)
Quote from: jomni on May 01, 2012, 11:44:38 PM
Quote from: Bison on May 01, 2012, 11:02:54 PM
I don't like the respawn in battle mode. I usually die within 30 seconds of the battle starting, which means I get to watch for the next 9 1/2 minutes.
That's the reason why I play in Commander Mode. I suck at killing people myself so I just let the AI bots do it for me. :)
Agree Bison, that's why I spend a lot more time playing siege than battle.
However, if you're going to play battle, there is definitely some incentive to wait a minute or so before getting into the thick of it. Allow the crush to subside a bit and then join in the fray. Otherwise, like you, I end up watching the battle for 9 minutes...
I've yet to see a siege server with anyone playing. It's my favorite map type on Warband too, but you hardly ever see them played any more.
Are you sure on that? You might want to try searching again. I only have 4 servers bookmarked, 2 Napoleon servers and 2 cRPG servers, one battle and one siege each. I was on last night (cRPG) and the Nappy server had a lot of people on. I can't remember the exact name but it's the Napoleon "official" server; I use the NA servers since they have the best ping here in Hawaii.
You're in Alaska, right? Maybe the time difference there is such that you're coming online when a lot of the crowd has gone to bed. I definitely see fuller servers on a Saturday afternoon Hawaii time than I do at 10pm Tuesday night.
I'm sure that the time of day has a lot to do with it Toonces. I need to attempt to get on around 7-10 PM EST on a Friday or Saturday night.
Quote from: Bison on May 01, 2012, 11:02:54 PM
I don't like the respawn in battle mode. I usually die within 30 seconds of the battle starting, which means I get to watch for the next 9 1/2 minutes.
Play any of the other modes, and you respawn by default. I don't suggest Team Deathmatch because the spawns are messed up and ppl end up spawning in some of the same areas with enemy soldiers, so spawn kills can happen regularly (even though you just respawn a few seconds later). The good thing about this mode is that it gets you into the action
very quickly after respawn, so if you're just looking to get a lot of practice in with your bayonet or cav (for example), then this will give them a time-concentrated workout.
Conquest is a good one for steady action because it usually has around five different locations, on a big map, with flags to be cap'd by one side or another. You get to choose which one you respawn at. There is often one or two flags being heatedly battled over, and some ninja attempts at others.
Capture the Flag is pretty straightforward - one flag each, capture the other guy's. Note that the big maps will take some time running to the other guy's area, across the whole map, on foot.
Siege is a nice change where one side is advantaged, but has limited total respawns (I think five per person for defender is default). You can get some steady artillery work in on either side, usually without having to worry about cav or flanking infantry constantly assaulting you as in other modes. Assaulting the gate, or via laying a ladder against a wall can be fun if your team can concentrate enough to breach. Speaking of breaches.. artillery can blow holes in those walls, and it's the ideal way of attack because once a wall has been knocked in, there's a wide avenue for a mob of infantry to charge up. This mode is fun because the pace is slower than ones like Team Deathmatch, and it still has infinite respawns (for attacker). If you're a defender and repeatedly die so much that your lives are used up, it could be a very long wait until the end of the match. I usually have lives left when the match ends, however, because I'm not into suicide charges unless my position has become hopeless.
I played on the siege server last evening. I think wasn't seeing it because I'd limited my servers to <150 ping. It was coming in at around 215 or so. Anyway, it was a good time. Like a Nappy visits the Alamo type setup.
The one with the custom maps is excellent. Those two custom siege maps (on 42e server IIRC?) are much better than most of the stock ones. However, their server is obviously hosted in Europe as I always get ~160ms ping to it, as opposed to my 50 to 75 for NA ones. However, I don't notice a lot of warping unless their server is near capacity, and it's limit is set at 200 people also.
They also use the stock siege map that has the big huge wall and city on the inside, but it looks like the pat where you have to get in boats and cross the river, before even running to the walls (as attacker) had been cut out and replaced with land & spawn. So people aren't confused as to how to even pilot a boat across water, and it takes a bit less time for the attacker to get back at it. A good change, IMO.
Those custom siege maps can get pretty intense when the hordes are breaching the walls.
Can't seem to kill anyone during seiges :(.
Question about Engineers. Can they destroy walls? I've tried piling up earth to make it accessible by other infantry. I saw an explosive crate but it seems to be not buildable (lacks build points). Wish I could also build ladders as planks don't work.
Yes, you can plant explosive crates and blow the snot out of stuff - just be very careful not to do it around friendlies as you'll get kicked for team-killing if it goes up with a few.
The "build points" are set on the server. I see mods jump in and adjust them on the fly sometimes. It's a communal hard build limit for the sappers in each match; once someone has used all the build points, then you're SOL until next match. :-\
Occasionally some d*ckhead will join as a sapper and starting building the tower of pisa up into the sky, back in your spawn. So the build point limits are partially to persuade these jerkfaces to go back to playing Minecraft instead of wasting a player slot on a Napoleonic server.