Mount & Blade [Pimping Computer game]

Cafe Society
1

Hola,

I know I’ve probably told you about this game before, but it didn’t really garner any attention and the new version just came out today. (v0.890) I’ve been following this game for two years now, since v0.64, and it’s just getting better and better.

What is it? It’s a medieval action game, in which the developers got sick and tired of the action being basically clicking your opponent and waiting to see the hitpoiints scroll down. In other words, boring. In M&B, you have the control of your sword, bow and arrow, crossbow, axe, dagger, throwing knives, throwing axes, shield and armor, you can fight from horseback and you can lead up to scores of troops as a lieutenant in battle.

It incorporates some small trade functions, sieges, RPG stat elements and so forth, but on a small scale, sandbox scale - the game doesn’t feature a story, but the gameplay is so satisfying that one is left not caring.

It’s got a free trial until level 6, at which point you pay around $20 for the right to full play, as well as all future versions of the beta and the full release.

Have anyone here played this game? What do you think?

It’s site is www.taleworlds.com, but the new version hasn’t been put up on the front page yet. It can be found on the forum, here, and as you can see by the community’s reaction, this is a big thing. The most insane thing is that it’s been made by two turkish developers from literally their bedroom, who have close enough contact with their fanbase that they’ve actually integrated their best mod-makers into the game.

There are also loads and loads of great mods for the game, such as the Battle of Sicily mod, the Long Nights mod, and so forth, and also many mods aiming to improve the realism in the native game to historically accurate levels.

Yeah, I know this kinda comes off as a commercial for the game, and it sorta is, so if that mods want to disappear the thread, go right ahead. But the fact is, it’s a indie game in all respects and it don’t have a big hype machine going for it and I think the SDMB gamer community will enjoy it as much as I have.

2

I’ve been playing M&B for a while now; I actually bought the full version of the game after playing a couple trial versions. I haven’t upgraded to the latest version because I have to figure out how to keep my savegame intact (lots of time and effort gone into this character).

There are few more satisfying gameplay experiences that compare to a well-executed lance charge in M&B. Then again, there are few more furstrating gameplay experiences than when your mount gets killed and you end up chasing around horsemen endlessly on foot while the battle keeps moving every time you get close. Gah!

3

I love love LOVE this game, i so wish it was multiplayer though. Theres really no other way to describe the fighting besides “satisfying”.

4

Oh, I completely misunderstood the title…

I pictured “Mount” to mean something TOTALLY different.

5

Ditto. Especially with the word “pimping” also in the title.

6

It maybe up your alley, but there is no way in hell I’m mounting a blade.

7

Wait, so does “pimping computer game” mean you are pandering the game for us, or is “pimping” now a slang descriptor roughly equivalent to terms more familiar to those of my generation, such as “bad,” “wicked,” or “awesome?”

(I try to keep up with this shit, I really do…)

8

Vinyl he is trying to sell us on the game. He is facilitating the transaction. He is in acting as the pimp for the whore.

But really he is pitching to us a down loadable game at the end of the tiniest tube on the internet. I am downloading it at 12 kbyte/sec. That is a lower data rate than it takes for a cell phone conversation. This had better be a good game.

9

I used the torrent download, it went much faster.

10

I don’t see a link to the torrent on the download page.

11

I might have to check this out soon–last time I delved into it was…version .64, I think or maybe earlier. It was fairly engrossing even then.

12

Use the second link in the OP, its the newer version that just got posted.

13

For those averse to torrents, I downloaded it from Gamershell.com at a reasonable speed. (Note that the different download sources on that page have different line speeds.)

Pretty cool game so far.

14

That’s the .808 version though, the new one is .890 and there’s a marked difference. (Siege engines! Whoo! Hoo! More, new orders! Yeeee!)

15

Yep this looks cool, I like the more realistic games and hand to hand combat. Will probably try it out tonight.

16

It’s kind of a pain to have to track down nobles all over the place (they never seem to be in their castles anymore) and even when I did find one and pledge myself to his faction, I don’t seem to be getting any quests from him. WTF?

17

I’ve been playing this and really enjoying it. It reminds me of Gothic II, which I started but never got into because I found the fighting to get very tedious. Also, I’ve never been a fan of fantasy stuff and magic and creatures and all that stuff - I like Mount and Blade because it’s just strictly a medieval game with no fantasy elements. But I don’t know how to upgrade the farmers and peasants that I hire so they can be better soldiers, and to give them better armor, etc. I want to start up a little group so I have a chance against all the bandits and pirates, but the farmers always get killed right away.

18

I’m just starting out and finding the tournament battles to be very tedious. It’s hard to earn money in this game, although maybe I just need to go out and explore.

19

You have to pick your fights very carefully at first; try to get a horse as soon as you can and build up your pathfinding skill to increase speed of movement in map mode. Run away from encounters where you are outnumbered greatly and look for smaller bands of River Pirates. Take down enough of them and the followers will gain experience until you get a message saying some troops are ready to upgrade. You won’t be able to give them better stuff, though. That only is an option with the named heroes that join you later.

20

The best tip right now (v0.891 or v0.892) is to join up with a faction, so that you’ll get a fief. The fief will pay taxes to you (1000+ gold each week) and you’ll get renown easier by protecting villagers and such, which will open up more quests from your faction. Another way of getting good money is to raid caravans for equipment and loot villages. A looted villages provides 6-700 gold per, and that’s not counting the loot.

Further, if you assault and win an enemy faction’s castle, you’ll also conquer the village that’s attached to it. Most often, your faction leader will make that your fief. I’ve conquered two castles (against the Nords - they mostly posit footmen, which are easy pickings for my all-cavalry band) and now have three fiefs, averaging a good 4000 gold per week. The numbers will probably get tweaked in a later version, or they will add taxes to your king on behalf of your fiefs. (As they did in the Battle of Sicily mod, where this game mechanic comes from)

If you want to upgrade your soldiers, I would advise starting with low-level groupies - Watchmen, Faction Recruits (visit one of your faction’s villages and click the “Recruit Volunteers” if it’s availible) and throwing them in some battles against raiders, or the like. After a few battles, you’ll start getting “Some troops are ready to upgrade” messages afterward. At that point, click P to get to the party menu. You’ll see a + icon next to the names of the troops you can upgrade. Click on them and you’ll get a choice to upgrade them. Sometimes, you have two choices; usually in the Mounted, Infantry or Archer categories.