Better battles!
So, there was a stretch here where videos were coming out pretty grainy in battles... and while it's still not perfect (some secondary tweaks a few episodes later will cure things up), it's much better than we had been working with.
Learning what settings and such to use on OBS has been a challenge. There's a lot of competing information out there - which makes sense, as different needs require different settings - but I think I've finally gotten it all sorted out! (As of the date of this blog post - not the original recording of this video)
But, anyhow, enough of the behind-the-scenes complaints! Today we battle in a unique village map that I've so far never seen before. It's a really cool little setup, built right into the mountains along a natural pass.
The condensed map full of fences and such does pose a problem for my cavalry, but thankfully this isn't a big deal as we greatly outnumber the enemy. Additionally - those of you who are paying attention may note that the bar at the top is green vs blue, and it's normally red. We're supporting a neutral faction right now, the Battanians, against our enemy Sturgians... so we are almost like mercenaries here. Ahh, it's good to come back to our roots.
The rabble that they've sent against us is clearly predominantly made up of recruits, so we're able to waltz in and just start laying about with our glaive.
We do eventually dismount, as this map is just too tight to really take advantage of being on horseback. It lets us flex our one-handed sword a bit, which is a skill path we've basically left to rot... and might very well be at the maximum learning limit for this character.
D-D-D-Duel!
The village is a super fun little spot to battle, and it feels quite unique compared to the general open-field battles I'm used to. It's fun to get right in there and fight as a regular foot-soldier... we so rarely do this!
The Sturgians finally break as my infantry bulks up and pushes into the town. They'd been hanging back in the village outskirts for most of the battle, and the mere show of force seems to crumple the will of our enemies, who run for the river down-hill.
In the event that you're also playing Bannerlord, the village I'm in here is Kargrev, found in the north-central region of the map, just south-west of Varcheg.
After our minor scuffle with the Sturgians, we join up with a nearby army and end up putting Varcheg under siege.
Unfortunately, I manage to trigger a bug as soon as we load in - a tooltip gets stuck on our screen and that's not something I'm going to play an entire battle through.
So, I retreat my army and come back in, thinking we'll just pick up from wherever the battle left off - I'm merely one company of many in this army after all, and certainly not the leader of it.
WRONGO!
When we left the battle, two things happened:
- Our entire army retreated with us
- We poofed our siege equipment into the void
So, entering back into battle... we're going to have to scale these walls with ladders - and nothing else.
Well, that's certainly not what I expected to have happen... but we can still win this!
We do manage to scale the walls without much issue, only to be greeted by a knot of infantry at the top. We lose a chunk pushing through, but some of us manage to get out of the immediate press.
The fighting atop the walls is surprisingly intense. With so few points of access, the defending team is able to bunch up and we're not able to push through as many troops as I would like. Added to this, they've got a huge square of archers in the courtyard below, firing death up at us on the walls. We're losing way more troops than we should to this, but, I do get to throw a giant rock or two at someone so... hey, at least there's that.
Eat boulder, nerd!
They're actually a lot of fun to use and do a TON of damage. It's kind of silly, honestly. Something about the way they're coded assumes you're dropping them onto people so they have a small area of effect when they hit, and throwing them ~3 feet seems to have the same damage as dropping them onto someone 12 feet below you. I highly recommend playing with them a bit when you find the piles of rocks, it's honestly just such a good time.
With the walls more-or-less clear, we push the front gate. Getting this open is useful for when we want to bring archers in, or when we need to pull in reinforcements. Because the AI is stupid, it also helps with general pathing and working out how to do things. (That's foreshadowing, ladies and gents)
Unfortunately for us, we're still taking a ton of arrows. Nothing we can do about it, really. We can either get stabbed by the infantry, or shot by the archers... but there isn't a great way to handle both at once.
Plus, they keep rushing in and closing these gosh-darn gates. UGH. Which keeps us fighting with our backs to the archers. Clever stupid AI.
My fursona is a porkupine
Finally, we end up going down to a wave of arrows and a well-timed axe.
And, now is where the foreshadow comes into play. We have killed almost everyone in this fortress. There's maybe one or two guys left... but my dumb AI can't find them.
In a full minute of real-time, our units have been running back and forth at the top of the walls, clustering looking for... a way down??
The ladders were pushed off, all my units are inside, and the gate is locked and closed.
And yet, someone, somewhere is still standing.
Do you see him? I do!
Just having a lovely time right at the gate.
My troops COULD just march down the stairs and squash him, but they're too stupid to path that way, so I get to sit in this comical hell, debating if I should retreat and lose the battle over ONE FUCKING GUY.
Finally, when all hope is nearly lost, a small group of UTTERLY BRILLIANT soldiers manage to go down the stairs and finish him off. HALLELUJAH!
It took an agonizing 3 full minutes of me being dead to finish this, thanks to terrible AI pathing.. BUT WE DID IT TEAM! Champaign, cocaine, and hookers for everyone!
Until next time friends, Happy Gaming!
