Mount and Blade Napoleonic DLC

[Nefaro]

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.  :)

[spelk]

Our forces assemble.

Soon, we will be commanding armies, on the front.

Who is going to do the Arty?!

[Nefaro]

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.

[Nefaro]

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).

[spelk]

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! :)

[Nefaro]

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.

[Nefaro]

Lotsa screenshots from official US server earlier tonight.  Other than the first, they're from the same battle and fairly often in a row:

[Nefaro]

[Nefaro]

[spelk]

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? :)

[Bison]

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.

[Nefaro]

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.

[Bison]

I'm called Wallaby on the servers.

[Bison]

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.

[Nefaro]

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.