qbot3000

[qbot3000]

Horses. I’ve been playing battle brothers since before the maps were randomized, and every so often I come back to it. Looking very forward to the new DLC coming soon, but always wondered why we don’t have horses. I mean, it seems like the mechanics are there with the goblins, so why can’t we apply them to people and have a few mounted knights?

My thoughts on horses then.

1. They should be expensive enough that you can afford them for a few brothers, but maybe not everyone. Otherwise the game will turn into “Mounted Battle Brothers”. Horses should be expensive to maintain, and moderately difficult to kill. You should not always want to use them, for fear of having them killed in less important battles, but useful enough that you desperately want to use them in larger battles.

2. Horses should provide more mobility – at least twice the mobility of a brother on foot.

3. Maybe make horseback riding a skill that has to be learned before a brother can ride into battle.

4. There could be a horseback charge attack that is particularly devastating, unless the enemy has spears or pikes.

5. Long spears or pikes should be the optimal counter weapon for horses. Horses also present a bigger target, so ranged weapons should have a greater chance of hitting them.

6. You could armor your horse for a little more protection, in exchange for a little less mobility.

7. Horses would improve your speed on the campaign map, but be expensive to maintain. You might even have to eat your horses should your battle brothers run out of food.

What does everyone else think of horses as a possibility? And what I’m really wondering – why are they not already in the game? Technical issues, game design issues, AI issues?

[qbot3000]

Ok, I played again today and am now around day 50. I have more observations:

1. The Goblins are very hard. Several factors come into play here. First, my guys can’t get close without getting shot or netted. And that’s key to beating the goblins, getting close to them. It seems almost impossible to take on a goblin force larger than my own. I can’t get close without losing a quarter of my strength. Second, my archers are no use against them. And third, my chances of actually hitting them when I get close is less than a human opponent.

2. I picked up a crossbow as loot from some bandits, but for the life of me, I can’t find a town that sells a quiver of crossbow bolts. So it’s worthless. Even towns with Fletchers outside of them, which I would expect to sell crossbows maybe, don’t have them. Anyone else encountered this?

3. I love the patrol missions. It’s a license to do what I’ve been doing anyway, which is killing bandit parties of 5-7 thugs, but getting paid 110 crowns per head. I’ve made a killing on these patrol missions.

4. I’m still looking for endgame. I think one of the developers posted an answer to an earlier question of mine regarding establishing your own noble house. The answer was that this is not a world domination game, but a game about a mercenary company. My answer would be this: What has been the traditional end goal of mercenaries in the past? No mercenary has ever wanted to die being a mercenary. The goal is to get rich and retire. So where’s our retirement? Just because a game is sandboxy doesn’t mean it can’t have an endgame. I think the sandbox model is more about HOW you get to the endgame, rather than substituting a perpetual sandbox for an actual ending. I’ll give an example – the game FTL. Great game. You spend the whole game fighting and moving from one star system to another, upgrading your ship and adding crew, all so that you can face the final challenge – a battle with a giant ship at the end. I think Battle Brothers could have a cool endgame like that. Perhaps a series of monumental battles or tasks that lead to an endgame – your retirement as a filthy rich mercenary.

[qbot3000]

First thoughts on playing the new world map update:

1. The world is now more colorful and feels alive.
2. I had a great first experience with a contract to rid a site of graverobbers. Turned out they were undead (anyone actually come up against living graverobbers for this contract?). I had no information on how many there were going into it. I had to retreat. I went back to a town, bulked up my equipment a little, and went back to try again. The second time I succeeded.
3. I was caught in a bandit ambush of a trading caravan. Six of my men fled while one stayed behind to slow down the bandits. Fortunately the bandits took out the caravan before they came for me, so I could escape. It was exciting though.
4. A few small bugs here and there with the text. In one description someone said he would pay me my %amount% or something similar. Just a syntax error probably.

Suggestions for things I’d like to do:
1. Join a side and participate in an all out war between houses. Perhaps have my 12 men participate in a battle with 30 men on one side and 40 on the other. Will my men tip the scale in favor of my side?
2. Have a group of contracts dedicated to helping a new noble house arise, which will then by my friend.
3. Perhaps (and I’m dreaming here) raise an army of more than 12 men and take on a noble house myself.
4. More varied contracts. I know these are coming, but the possibilities are endless. And if contract-writing tools are given to the community, there’s no end to the innovative contracts that could be created. I’m thinking of one where a woman hires you to kill her husband, who she says is cheating on her. Her husband is an important captain for a noble house. You confront the captain and his men, and he claims his wife is lying to protect her lover. So you have the choice of killing the captain, or going to confront the wife and her lover (who also happens to have a band of thugs). If you kill the captain, you’ll attract the bad attention of the noble house. If you confront the wife and her lover, you’ll fight them to the death. If you kill everyone but the lover in battle (so that he’s the last man), he’ll beg you to spare his life in exchange for either information or treasure.

The possibilities for interesting contracts are limitless. I can already picture modders coming up with “contract packets”.

Here I’m interested in a word from the developer maybe. What’s the envisioned end-game here? I heard it once described as fighting off a global invasion of some sort. Is that still the envisioned end-game?

Loving the update so far!

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