Worldmap Update Feedback

[Svaala]

Hello,

I regularly follow the Battle Brothers game development (enjoying the frequent and interesting news updates btw), and decided to do another playthough of Battle Brothers to give the Worldmap Update a try. I really like where the game is going, and I figured I’d give some feedback based on my current game (50-60 days, can’t remember the exact count).

The following suggestions are mostly about what I would like to see improved in the game, but there are many very nice and enjoyable aspects in the game ! Don’t let my post make you think I don’t like the game ;).

1. I could do with some kind of a storyline. I’m all for sandbox gameplay, letting the player decide what he wants to do next and set his own goals, etc, but I think a storyline in the background wouldn’t hurt. As much as seeing my merry band of brothers getting stronger and richer by completing contracts, having some kind of evil guy lurking in the shadows or some plot unfolding as days pass would be really nice and help me define my objectives : get strong enough to beat the evil dude, or make sure I’m ready to help my favorite faction when s*** hits the fan, etc. Is there anything like this planned in the future, or is the game intended as is ?

2. The wilderness should be wilder. When setting a route from a point A to a point B, the only thing that really matters is how long it’s going to take you : will crossing that mountain range be faster than going around by the road or by passing through the forest ? But that’s about it. Not much happens out there, and most importantly, what happens to you doesn’t seem to be dependent on where you are. I think being out there in the wild should have more impact and that passing through a specific area should be a more meaningful decision. I want to be scared of avalanches when crossing a mountain range and fear of losing men to quicksand when marching into a swamp. I want to meet mysterious creatures when delving deeper into a forest, and I want to be ambushed by desert goblins when crossing drylands and by bandits on the forest road. I want my men to die of thirst in the desert, I want their wounds to become infested in the hot jungles, and I want them to really enjoy the safety of roads ! Oh, and I did I mention the weather ? The current random events are nice, but I’d make them a tiny bit more frequent and more tied to the current location of the mercenary group.

3. Injuries should matter more. So far, I’ve never really cared whether my guys were being injured in a fight or not. All that matters is that they survive, so I can rest and heal back up to full before getting into another fight. Only once was I attacked just after setting up camp in the wilderness and had injured men on the field. I do however think that the current healing rate is fine and should not be made slower : maybe it would be worth looking into a permanent injury system, or just make the wilderness dangerous enough so that camping in the middle of nowhere or heading back home after a fight would be really dangerous for the men. Right now, I almost never get sucked into a fight I didn’t want, and I always get to decide when I want to engage into a meaningful combat.

4. More variety in contracts ? I find them a bit repetitive, although that’s probably just a matter of adding more content to the game, and if there was a storyline running in the background + more unplanned wilderness encounters, not all the gameplay would necessarily revolve around contract fights and it would matter less if there wasn’t that many different contract types.

5. I want to be evil ! I can’t seem to attack caravans or peasants on the road. I want to raid them to gain food or resources, and maybe even get lucky enough to kill a noble or two so I can go sell their heads to the rival neighbors. Of course this wouldn’t be very mercenary-like work, so I’d be running the risk of ruining my reputation if my horrendeous acts were made public by someone who managed to escape the massacre …

That’s all I could think of for now that’s more or less tied to the Worldmap Update. Let me know what you think, and sorry if this has been suggested before (I haven’t read much of the forums yet ;)).

o>.
Sv.

[Svaala]

Any thoughts on these points ?

Thanks,
Sv.

[Danubian]

I like everything other than 3. It seems redundant. When you get injured you already pay resources to heal up, what youre proposing is adding another layer of punishment for doing what youre supposed to be doing – surviving.

Now adding some role play elements to various injuries or scars, sure, but adding permanent penalties to brothers…

Making the wilderness more wild otoh, sure.

[SpikeBozzled]

Regarding number 5: I believe that once you get to a certain (bad) reputation with a noble house, their caravans and companies become hostile.

[Svaala]

SpikeBozzled wrote:

Regarding number 5: I believe that once you get to a certain (bad) reputation with a noble house, their caravans and companies become hostile.

It seems a bit odd that you have to be mean to someone and cancel contracts before you can kill its loyal innocent people !

[kingslomein]

I believe once you get high enough rep with a certain Noble house they give you contracts to attack villages and troops of other noble houses. *Note* I am on day 90 something and I haven’t had this happen yet. But I’ve heard it can in the forums.

[Svaala]

Hmm ok, I haven’t got that far yet. I believe it’d be something you should be able to do at any time though. Whenever you run into a caravan / peasants on the road, an encounter window pops up, asking you what you want to do : kill them, ransom them, ignore them, give them something or escort them. Of course, your choice would have a direct impact on your reputation and on your standings with the noble house they belong to.

[Auralianus]

I would like to see a difference in movement speed whether you have tracking mode activated or not.
To me it seems legit, that you cannot travel so fast when you’re trying to follow and find tracks.

The moment the game offers to “cure” or otherwise remove certain negative effects/traits from a character
I’d also agree to have more possible negative effects from wounds. Right now this would be game breaking
for me. In the current state of the game, where you cannot even determine how to initially set up your
troops properly or pre-define a camping/marching formation or a battle setup (in case you forget to swap
back your equipment after each and every battle) such a system would just ruin everything pretty much on
a random basis.

Also I would like to see mounts and carts in the game. Carts could offer more carrying capacity, but could
be also got damaged/destroyed by the enemy. Then you should try to repair it or should carry everything by
hand or leave behind a portion of your stuff that you cannot carry.

[OldGreyBeard]

I’m not sure about difference in speed when tracking. Remember, these are not single individuals you are tracking, and they are also not trying to hide. It’s easy to overlook as single outlaw making a surprise turn, much harder to miss 8-10 people/creatures feeling pretty badass about their place in the world.

In a single player game, there's no such thing as cheating. It's merely "creative manipulation of the default settings"!

[Author]

Posts