Sir CarcassI have been shown the end of my worldRound Rock, TXRegistered Userregular
New patch mostly fixes crashes, but has a few notable changes. No more reloading to restore smithing xp. Removed the 200 denar cap to workshops that they added last patch. Dying in a hideout with troops outside no longer causes you to be taken prisoner.
There also seems to be a mod that removes the troop cap on attacking bandit hideouts.
Really tempted to pick that, and once the game becomes stable enough that i dare to start using mods, that will probably be my first or second pick.
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Sir CarcassI have been shown the end of my worldRound Rock, TXRegistered Userregular
I just saw that apparently a lot of armors in the game are flagged as MP only, so if you're having trouble finding decent armors for sale, that might be why. They apparently can still be looted, but there is now a mod to remove MP restriction.
One thing that just registered on me with the new inventory/cost system is that it's actually profitable to buy, say, 300 packs of grain someplace and sell them at the next town over. I'm trying to get things up to commissioning caravans, but until then my main field army's got enough cargo space that I can run absolutely bonkers amounts of staple goods between towns, with even thin margins on the goods adding up pretty quickly.
Went from struggling to make payroll to having several weeks' buffer in the space of about a week running between two towns that just happened to really want what the other was selling..
One thing I've learned is to look at the price of a trade good when you hover over it. Normally the lettering is in yellow but if it's in green that means the price is lower than average and if it's red it's higher than average. Buying green priced trade goods and selling them even at yellow prices makes a nice chunk of change and I can carry a lot of goods due to looting so many sumpter horses from bandits.
Smelt weapons i think.
There's a perk for a better change for unlocking, but i would not go for it, you will get them anyway in time and the ability to make steel seems lot better to me in the long run.
That's a real shitty perk fork. Reduce the initial part grind vs permanently handicap your ability to use the skill. As far as I've seen, steel+ can only otherwise be acquired via smelting.
Between being a ridiculously abuseable cash machine at entry level, and a miserable grind to advance, I think Blacksmithing as a whole needs a rebalance.
Edit: Crafting weapons will also randomly grant you new parts. It's weird.
Alternatively, gaining skill levels might be what has a chance to grant you new parts. I don't recall ever learning one via refining, but the pop-up fades faster than I can read it, so I could have missed it.
I think the change to learn when crafting is a sound idea, you are making a sword, and come up with an idea while doing it.
It's just part of learning process.
Welp i guess it's time to restart, seems like going back to earlier save does not help because the next save gets corrupted instantly.
On the upside, i have learned things so getting up to speed should be lot easier.
Starting tips:
1. Hardwood to charcoal is a great money maker
2. Do not use "sell all prisoners" pick, go into menu where you pick which ones you do, you get roguery xp that way.
3. Make yourself quartermaster and have more than 1 type of food in inventory for stweard xp.
4. Buy saddle horses when ever you can afford it up to your army size, they are cheap and speed up your army movement.
Did not know 2! In the same vein of seemingly bugged skill ups: Buy and sell your trade goods in separate transactions. You seem to only get Trade XP based on your net profit.
[Edit: Nope, that ain't it, see follow-up. Seems to be bugged goods]
*Reads new patch notes*
...but apparently they just fixed Sell All Prisoners not crediting Roguery, the stamina not saving bug, and changed it so you no longer get kidnapped by five dudes when your legions are literally surrounding their hideout.
They really should have delayed this release a month or two.
I don't mind lot of the stuff, like buggy sidequests, or jumping through some hoops for skill xp.
But the save corruption is bad, like, really bad, if i can't reliable play 10 hours on one save (not counting reloads), then that's a problem in a game where a full playthrough could easily take 100+ hours, assuming there is such a thing as "full" playthrough, instead of a point where you can't think of any challenges left to you and you start over.
That said, as long as they don't just abandon this to sell Mount and Blade 2: Warbannerlord instead, i can see this game becomming really good.
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And the hardwood to charcoal is going to be less of a moneymaker with the stamina fix.
But with enough of the cheapest horses to carry inventory and a small enough army (wages less than 100 gold or so) you will still make decent money.
Hardwood can sell for 30, i have seen charcoal go for 60, and iron is easy 100.
So smelting down equipment for smithing skill will make you easy early money, and if you get smithing high enough to get the less stamina used perk, well that's even more money.
Though i would also recommend getting a workshop as soon as you can without going too low on funds. even a single workshop in an area with good source of materials (eg. brewery in a town with 3 grain producing villages), will soon get you 100+ gold a day, easily helping you deal with daily wages when waiting in town for stamina refils.
Try your corrupted saves again, the patch said it fixed some save corruption issues (and the saves that were corrupted)
Not sure about my trade advice up there. There's another mechanism at play that is now being weird and or the patch voided everything in my inventory as a qualifying trade good as I can't seem to earn a single trade XP regardless of net, gross, or relative profit with amounts greater than 2k. (Up to 10k)
I did try my saves, no luck.
Deleted them and will start over after work, now armed with better knowledge on how to make money and the value of smithing.
The all into int build I tried worked lt better than I thought, insta access to first level perks in trade and smithing are great profit boosters in early game.
And the tutorial gives you some way fights early on to level your riding and fighting so they are not that important to start with.
So I guess this was more similar to the Stamina bug than the Roguery "how you sell it" bug.
It seems as if the original purchase price on trade goods isn't saved, therefore no qualifying profit is assessed from selling goods on hand when you loaded?
Tested with flax bought at 6 (green) sold at 14 (grey). Selling one yielded XP, regardless of the exchange net. Saving, loading, selling yielded none.
Also: All types of iron affect the prices of the others now, which is surely a bug, because the non-final offers adjust the prices. But this can at least be used to launder your metal on hand, with respect to the above bug, if you had
Sold 4 iron, completed sale. Offered 50 wrought iron, bought back iron at now reduced price, retracted wrought iron offer, final sale price was less than I sold it for. Sold iron back, XP credited on profit.
So I guess until they fix that, make sure to complete all trades before logging off if you want Trade credit. Or never log off!
They really should have delayed this release a month or two.
I don't mind lot of the stuff, like buggy sidequests, or jumping through some hoops for skill xp.
But the save corruption is bad, like, really bad, if i can't reliable play 10 hours on one save (not counting reloads), then that's a problem in a game where a full playthrough could easily take 100+ hours, assuming there is such a thing as "full" playthrough, instead of a point where you can't think of any challenges left to you and you start over.
That said, as long as they don't just abandon this to sell Mount and Blade 2: Warbannerlord instead, i can see this game becomming really good.
edit-
And the hardwood to charcoal is going to be less of a moneymaker with the stamina fix.
But with enough of the cheapest horses to carry inventory and a small enough army (wages less than 100 gold or so) you will still make decent money.
Hardwood can sell for 30, i have seen charcoal go for 60, and iron is easy 100.
So smelting down equipment for smithing skill will make you easy early money, and if you get smithing high enough to get the less stamina used perk, well that's even more money.
Though i would also recommend getting a workshop as soon as you can without going too low on funds. even a single workshop in an area with good source of materials (eg. brewery in a town with 3 grain producing villages), will soon get you 100+ gold a day, easily helping you deal with daily wages when waiting in town for stamina refils.
I've got an army of 80ish, including some pretty decent troops like knights. Hitting a group of 10-15 looters usually gets enough bandit giblets between ransom, smelting returns and their other gear to pay a couple of days' wages at a pop pretty consistently.
I'm absolutely rolling with the whole "I'm a really heavily armed caravan" thing though. Go to town, figure out what's best to move in bulk to nearby towns, do that a couple times until the market gets saturated, move a bit down to another town, repeat.
Having companions to help with the smithing will really improve the profits per day.
Especially after you get the the efficient perks as well.
So getting companions asap will pay themselves back in no time, and is worth it just for smithing purposes.
OR try to defend an NPC from four murderous bastards who start surrounding him (hint: this is impossible).
You get your companions with you. Anytime you are in a town you can ask the one companion with you to go get all of the others. The quest type still sucks due to reputation issues, but the defending the guy isn't that bad
They really should have delayed this release a month or two.
I don't mind lot of the stuff, like buggy sidequests, or jumping through some hoops for skill xp.
But the save corruption is bad, like, really bad, if i can't reliable play 10 hours on one save (not counting reloads), then that's a problem in a game where a full playthrough could easily take 100+ hours, assuming there is such a thing as "full" playthrough, instead of a point where you can't think of any challenges left to you and you start over.
That said, as long as they don't just abandon this to sell Mount and Blade 2: Warbannerlord instead, i can see this game becomming really good.
edit-
And the hardwood to charcoal is going to be less of a moneymaker with the stamina fix.
But with enough of the cheapest horses to carry inventory and a small enough army (wages less than 100 gold or so) you will still make decent money.
Hardwood can sell for 30, i have seen charcoal go for 60, and iron is easy 100.
So smelting down equipment for smithing skill will make you easy early money, and if you get smithing high enough to get the less stamina used perk, well that's even more money.
Though i would also recommend getting a workshop as soon as you can without going too low on funds. even a single workshop in an area with good source of materials (eg. brewery in a town with 3 grain producing villages), will soon get you 100+ gold a day, easily helping you deal with daily wages when waiting in town for stamina refils.
I've got an army of 80ish, including some pretty decent troops like knights. Hitting a group of 10-15 looters usually gets enough bandit giblets between ransom, smelting returns and their other gear to pay a couple of days' wages at a pop pretty consistently.
I'm absolutely rolling with the whole "I'm a really heavily armed caravan" thing though. Go to town, figure out what's best to move in bulk to nearby towns, do that a couple times until the market gets saturated, move a bit down to another town, repeat.
I'm at ~230/day in expenses (counting food), so there's definitely a minimum amount of Looters that aren't a net loss to chase, but Sea Raiders always seem like a sound investment. Not that fast, higher ransoms, better gear, and usually have some trade goods.
Incredibly conveniently: There's a Sea Raider camp right next to my main trade hub that just shits them out constantly. I don't think I could take it out if I wanted to, and as long they handily cover my expenses, I can't see why I would.
They really should have delayed this release a month or two.
I don't mind lot of the stuff, like buggy sidequests, or jumping through some hoops for skill xp.
But the save corruption is bad, like, really bad, if i can't reliable play 10 hours on one save (not counting reloads), then that's a problem in a game where a full playthrough could easily take 100+ hours, assuming there is such a thing as "full" playthrough, instead of a point where you can't think of any challenges left to you and you start over.
That said, as long as they don't just abandon this to sell Mount and Blade 2: Warbannerlord instead, i can see this game becomming really good.
edit-
And the hardwood to charcoal is going to be less of a moneymaker with the stamina fix.
But with enough of the cheapest horses to carry inventory and a small enough army (wages less than 100 gold or so) you will still make decent money.
Hardwood can sell for 30, i have seen charcoal go for 60, and iron is easy 100.
So smelting down equipment for smithing skill will make you easy early money, and if you get smithing high enough to get the less stamina used perk, well that's even more money.
Though i would also recommend getting a workshop as soon as you can without going too low on funds. even a single workshop in an area with good source of materials (eg. brewery in a town with 3 grain producing villages), will soon get you 100+ gold a day, easily helping you deal with daily wages when waiting in town for stamina refils.
I've got an army of 80ish, including some pretty decent troops like knights. Hitting a group of 10-15 looters usually gets enough bandit giblets between ransom, smelting returns and their other gear to pay a couple of days' wages at a pop pretty consistently.
I'm absolutely rolling with the whole "I'm a really heavily armed caravan" thing though. Go to town, figure out what's best to move in bulk to nearby towns, do that a couple times until the market gets saturated, move a bit down to another town, repeat.
I'm at ~230/day in expenses (counting food), so there's definitely a minimum amount of Looters that aren't a net loss to chase, but Sea Raiders always seem like a sound investment. Not that fast, higher ransoms, better gear, and usually have some trade goods.
Incredibly conveniently: There's a Sea Raider camp right next to my main trade hub that just shits them out constantly. I don't think I could take it out if I wanted to, and as long they handily cover my expenses, I can't see why I would.
Sustainable bandit farming, the key to longterm prosperity.
One thing that just registered on me with the new inventory/cost system is that it's actually profitable to buy, say, 300 packs of grain someplace and sell them at the next town over. I'm trying to get things up to commissioning caravans, but until then my main field army's got enough cargo space that I can run absolutely bonkers amounts of staple goods between towns, with even thin margins on the goods adding up pretty quickly.
Went from struggling to make payroll to having several weeks' buffer in the space of about a week running between two towns that just happened to really want what the other was selling..
One thing I've learned is to look at the price of a trade good when you hover over it. Normally the lettering is in yellow but if it's in green that means the price is lower than average and if it's red it's higher than average. Buying green priced trade goods and selling them even at yellow prices makes a nice chunk of change and I can carry a lot of goods due to looting so many sumpter horses from bandits.
If you hover your mouse over the price it shows you the exact percentage by which the good is cheaper/more expensive than the average.
One thing that just registered on me with the new inventory/cost system is that it's actually profitable to buy, say, 300 packs of grain someplace and sell them at the next town over. I'm trying to get things up to commissioning caravans, but until then my main field army's got enough cargo space that I can run absolutely bonkers amounts of staple goods between towns, with even thin margins on the goods adding up pretty quickly.
Went from struggling to make payroll to having several weeks' buffer in the space of about a week running between two towns that just happened to really want what the other was selling..
One thing I've learned is to look at the price of a trade good when you hover over it. Normally the lettering is in yellow but if it's in green that means the price is lower than average and if it's red it's higher than average. Buying green priced trade goods and selling them even at yellow prices makes a nice chunk of change and I can carry a lot of goods due to looting so many sumpter horses from bandits.
If you hover your mouse over the price it shows you the exact percentage by which the good is cheaper/more expensive than the average.
One thing that just registered on me with the new inventory/cost system is that it's actually profitable to buy, say, 300 packs of grain someplace and sell them at the next town over. I'm trying to get things up to commissioning caravans, but until then my main field army's got enough cargo space that I can run absolutely bonkers amounts of staple goods between towns, with even thin margins on the goods adding up pretty quickly.
Went from struggling to make payroll to having several weeks' buffer in the space of about a week running between two towns that just happened to really want what the other was selling..
So I'm not sure if I just didn't notice, or if my skills have upgraded, or a companion has said skills; but I now take full advantage of the inventory screen showing the cost of goods in recently visited towns via the tooltip for the individual good. It's almost annoying to have to look between the tooltip and the buying price (why you no just show differential?), but basically any time I ride through a town I have a quick peruse through the shop and can fill my rather large mule fuelled inventory (2.5k and I'm still fairly early game). This turns into a few thousand profit per trip between towns!
Before the tooltips, I found an excellent way to find out which goods to buy was to visit the tavern and talk to a bunch of people. It's a bit tedious, there's very little to the conversation and frequently it just concerns their opinion of some notable character or lord, but every so often they'll give you a hot tip on what to buy and where to sell. Right at the start of the game, before I had much in the way of mules and horses, one or two of these tips could max out my inventory space, so worked really nicely to kickstart my bank account.
Be careful with spending all your denars on inventory though! I almost lost everything at one point thanks to an enemy noble catching me off guard. But thanks to my tough front line and some nicely landed 120 damage throwing spears from horseback I managed to rout their infantry and was able to mop-up the archers and the lord himself. I just ransomed him off at one of the city's, but could I have done something more interesting with him?
I've found silver is the most reliable. There's a town with a silver mine a bit NE of the training grounds in the middle of the Empire (Salagino or something like that, south of Myzea). At which point you can pick it up for 90-105 and head a town or two away and sell it for 190-230 or more.
I do like how the economy is more active (although it be nice to now a bit more about how it's intended to work). It does mess with prices quite a bit. I also got the wholesaler perk but it doesn't show me profits or percentages. That makes it hard to gauge my unit cost and profit with the merchant's overhead.
Luckily, I've found winning tournaments is trivial (unless they saddle you with a horse and spear, in which case you actually have to put work in). So once you have 1200 gold you can bet on yourself and reap all the rewards.
Lord_AsmodeusgoeticSobriquet:Here is your magical cryptic riddle-tumour: I AM A TIME MACHINERegistered Userregular
Is there any reasonable way to catch caravans without having a force made mostly of Cavalry?
Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if Labor had not first existed. Labor is superior to capital, and deserves much the higher consideration. - Lincoln
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Sir CarcassI have been shown the end of my worldRound Rock, TXRegistered Userregular
Hell yes on the master sword. I took a look at the shinies you get at level 5, and man do I want one now.
The smithing system is actually quite neat. Not only do you pick the individual parts with their various stats and appearances, but you can also scale them up or down, which also affects both. Things like a larger pommel causing more weight and therefore piercing damage, or a longer blade giving you more reach at a speed cost.
They really should have delayed this release a month or two.
I'm torn on this. On the one hand, yeah, it's in rougher shape than I expected based on how long it's been in development, but that also makes me wonder just what good a couple of months would have done. They have a pretty large team, so I'm curious why they seem to move so slow. They also appear to mostly have focused on MP in the last year, so maybe it's rock solid, but I have no interest in it. On the other hand, I feel like they've been cranking out fixes and tweaks super quick, so I'm thinking the large influx of beta testers is helping speed things up and expect balance to really start to come together based on that feedback. I'm personally okay with the way things are going at the moment, but the game can certainly be frustrating at times. I'm treating it like a beta and just using cheats to see what all there is to do and how things work currently. I'll focus on a more legit playthrough after things have tightened up.
I will say I've looked into modding a little bit with what little information is currently available, and it seems pretty powerful, so that gives me hope for the future of this game. The scripting is done in C#, and modules are able to only affect specific things, allowing for many mods to work together, unlike Warband. We'll have to see what kind of tools they release.
Hell yes on the master sword. I took a look at the shinies you get at level 5, and man do I want one now.
The smithing system is actually quite neat. Not only do you pick the individual parts with their various stats and appearances, but you can also scale them up or down, which also affects both. Things like a larger pommel causing more weight and therefore piercing damage, or a longer blade giving you more reach at a speed cost.
They really should have delayed this release a month or two.
I'm torn on this. On the one hand, yeah, it's in rougher shape than I expected based on how long it's been in development, but that also makes me wonder just what good a couple of months would have done. They have a pretty large team, so I'm curious why they seem to move so slow. They also appear to mostly have focused on MP in the last year, so maybe it's rock solid, but I have no interest in it. On the other hand, I feel like they've been cranking out fixes and tweaks super quick, so I'm thinking the large influx of beta testers is helping speed things up and expect balance to really start to come together based on that feedback. I'm personally okay with the way things are going at the moment, but the game can certainly be frustrating at times. I'm treating it like a beta and just using cheats to see what all there is to do and how things work currently. I'll focus on a more legit playthrough after things have tightened up.
I will say I've looked into modding a little bit with what little information is currently available, and it seems pretty powerful, so that gives me hope for the future of this game. The scripting is done in C#, and modules are able to only affect specific things, allowing for many mods to work together, unlike Warband. We'll have to see what kind of tools they release.
They might have been able to fix the save corruption issue, or not.
I have no idea why the game is in such a rough shape, but i just don't think they should have released it as it is, even in early access.
Save corruption is a major thing, especially when that save corruption seems to be able to travel backwards to older saves for some reason, that should not have been a thing, or atleast it should have been rare, and most certainly not something that can go to older saves.
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ElldrenIs a woman dammitceterum censeoRegistered Userregular
Smelt weapons i think.
There's a perk for a better change for unlocking, but i would not go for it, you will get them anyway in time and the ability to make steel seems lot better to me in the long run.
That's a real shitty perk fork. Reduce the initial part grind vs permanently handicap your ability to use the skill. As far as I've seen, steel+ can only otherwise be acquired via smelting.
Between being a ridiculously abuseable cash machine at entry level, and a miserable grind to advance, I think Blacksmithing as a whole needs a rebalance.
Edit: Crafting weapons will also randomly grant you new parts. It's weird.
Alternatively, gaining skill levels might be what has a chance to grant you new parts. I don't recall ever learning one via refining, but the pop-up fades faster than I can read it, so I could have missed it.
I think the change to learn when crafting is a sound idea, you are making a sword, and come up with an idea while doing it.
It's just part of learning process.
Welp i guess it's time to restart, seems like going back to earlier save does not help because the next save gets corrupted instantly.
On the upside, i have learned things so getting up to speed should be lot easier.
Starting tips:
1. Hardwood to charcoal is a great money maker
2. Do not use "sell all prisoners" pick, go into menu where you pick which ones you do, you get roguery xp that way.
3. Make yourself quartermaster and have more than 1 type of food in inventory for stweard xp.
4. Buy saddle horses when ever you can afford it up to your army size, they are cheap and speed up your army movement.
Also on 4: upgrading infantry units to cavalry units requires a non-pack horse in inventory, so it's important to have spare cheap horses for this anyways
Things like a larger pommel causing more weight and therefore piercing damage
Did they tweak some unmentioned stuff around Blacksmithing in 1.0.2?
Con: Stamina is now bugged, and won't let you do anything if you have 10 or less stamina remaining. (Smelting costs 10 stamina, and refining costs 6)
Pro: I would have sworn that my non-smith-focused companions were hard limited to 10 skill before 1.0.2, but they started getting skillups again and now those with higher endurance will actually be able to secure a perk or two. Which means I can actually make use of both efficiency recipes, and get the bonus to part unlocks (without missing out on the advanced refining recipes) without finding a low level companion to dedicate to the task.
General Companion question: Are their 'class' templates randomly determined on world gen? I thought I had lucked out in that my first 4 were high level (15+) soldiers, but my needs have changed and I don't see any wanderers with Trade or Leadership skills; some have 10-20 points in Charm, but still no points in Social, so those skills are capped at 0. (Hell, I think they might even be over the legal charm cap with 0 SOC / 20 Charm?)
Further, the lowest character level I've found so far was something like 10, which is still looking like a considerable grind to retrain (I think I'm only up to level 8?).
So is that all just bad luck from the wanderer NPC RNG, or is there some other source of companions that are less combat oriented / much lower level? Can you hire the townie NPCs if you grind up their relations?
Hell yes on the master sword. I took a look at the shinies you get at level 5, and man do I want one now.
The smithing system is actually quite neat. Not only do you pick the individual parts with their various stats and appearances, but you can also scale them up or down, which also affects both. Things like a larger pommel causing more weight and therefore piercing damage, or a longer blade giving you more reach at a speed cost.
They really should have delayed this release a month or two.
I'm torn on this. On the one hand, yeah, it's in rougher shape than I expected based on how long it's been in development, but that also makes me wonder just what good a couple of months would have done. They have a pretty large team, so I'm curious why they seem to move so slow. They also appear to mostly have focused on MP in the last year, so maybe it's rock solid, but I have no interest in it. On the other hand, I feel like they've been cranking out fixes and tweaks super quick, so I'm thinking the large influx of beta testers is helping speed things up and expect balance to really start to come together based on that feedback. I'm personally okay with the way things are going at the moment, but the game can certainly be frustrating at times. I'm treating it like a beta and just using cheats to see what all there is to do and how things work currently. I'll focus on a more legit playthrough after things have tightened up.
I will say I've looked into modding a little bit with what little information is currently available, and it seems pretty powerful, so that gives me hope for the future of this game. The scripting is done in C#, and modules are able to only affect specific things, allowing for many mods to work together, unlike Warband. We'll have to see what kind of tools they release.
They might have been able to fix the save corruption issue, or not.
I have no idea why the game is in such a rough shape, but i just don't think they should have released it as it is, even in early access.
Save corruption is a major thing, especially when that save corruption seems to be able to travel backwards to older saves for some reason, that should not have been a thing, or atleast it should have been rare, and most certainly not something that can go to older saves.
The nature of the save bugs they fixed seem to be errors reading otherwise good data in, as opposed to writing bad data (true save corruption). Since they didn't fix your issue in 1.0.2, it may have been the latter, but it could easily be that they just didn't find your edge case yet.
Looking at the other save issues (Stamina stat, original purchase costs, "being in the middle of certain missions"), it seems like their save-game/world-state data model is still undergoing substantial changes; but that doesn't seem out of spec for a single player game in its first week of public beta.
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Sir CarcassI have been shown the end of my worldRound Rock, TXRegistered Userregular
Things like a larger pommel causing more weight and therefore piercing damage
Did they tweak some unmentioned stuff around Blacksmithing in 1.0.2?
Con: Stamina is now bugged, and won't let you do anything if you have 10 or less stamina remaining. (Smelting costs 10 stamina, and refining costs 6)
Pro: I would have sworn that my non-smith-focused companions were hard limited to 10 skill before 1.0.2, but they started getting skillups again and now those with higher endurance will actually be able to secure a perk or two. Which means I can actually make use of both efficiency recipes, and get the bonus to part unlocks (without missing out on the advanced refining recipes) without finding a low level companion to dedicate to the task.
General Companion question: Are their 'class' templates randomly determined on world gen? I thought I had lucked out in that my first 4 were high level (15+) soldiers, but my needs have changed and I don't see any wanderers with Trade or Leadership skills; some have 10-20 points in Charm, but still no points in Social, so those skills are capped at 0. (Hell, I think they might even be over the legal charm cap with 0 SOC / 20 Charm?)
Further, the lowest character level I've found so far was something like 10, which is still looking like a considerable grind to retrain (I think I'm only up to level 8?).
So is that all just bad luck from the wanderer NPC RNG, or is there some other source of companions that are less combat oriented / much lower level? Can you hire the townie NPCs if you grind up their relations?
No, that was part of the smithing system at release.
As far as I know, the companions are generated when starting a new game. You can view all companions in the encyclopedia to see what stats they have. I think they're completely random, but there may be some sort of quota system in the generation. I haven't really experimented with it yet. I do know their nickname is picked based on their template.
Heh yeah, it's sounding like my impression of what Early Access would be is generally correct. It sounds like there's an awesome game in there, and graphically it looks pretty awesome and fluid which surprised me, but there's also a couple of months of gunk to get out of the way. It does sound like they're being proactive with fixes which I like, and also that it's sold $Texas which gives me lots of hope that it will be great soon.
Things like a larger pommel causing more weight and therefore piercing damage
Did they tweak some unmentioned stuff around Blacksmithing in 1.0.2?
Con: Stamina is now bugged, and won't let you do anything if you have 10 or less stamina remaining. (Smelting costs 10 stamina, and refining costs 6)
Pro: I would have sworn that my non-smith-focused companions were hard limited to 10 skill before 1.0.2, but they started getting skillups again and now those with higher endurance will actually be able to secure a perk or two. Which means I can actually make use of both efficiency recipes, and get the bonus to part unlocks (without missing out on the advanced refining recipes) without finding a low level companion to dedicate to the task.
General Companion question: Are their 'class' templates randomly determined on world gen? I thought I had lucked out in that my first 4 were high level (15+) soldiers, but my needs have changed and I don't see any wanderers with Trade or Leadership skills; some have 10-20 points in Charm, but still no points in Social, so those skills are capped at 0. (Hell, I think they might even be over the legal charm cap with 0 SOC / 20 Charm?)
Further, the lowest character level I've found so far was something like 10, which is still looking like a considerable grind to retrain (I think I'm only up to level 8?).
So is that all just bad luck from the wanderer NPC RNG, or is there some other source of companions that are less combat oriented / much lower level? Can you hire the townie NPCs if you grind up their relations?
No, that was part of the smithing system at release.
As far as I know, the companions are generated when starting a new game. You can view all companions in the encyclopedia to see what stats they have. I think they're completely random, but there may be some sort of quota system in the generation. I haven't really experimented with it yet. I do know their nickname is picked based on their template.
Well that's definitely not the answer I wanted. Are you sure you didn't mean to say: "There's a job board in each town square that you can use to spawn NPCs with desired skills" ?
I'll check the NPC stats on my other character's world, then roll a few more if I still don't see any leader/merchant/admin templates.
Bolded: That name list needs some more synonyms. I've got maybe 20 NPCs and only 12 nicknames.
ArbitraryDescriptor on
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Sir CarcassI have been shown the end of my worldRound Rock, TXRegistered Userregular
Things like a larger pommel causing more weight and therefore piercing damage
Did they tweak some unmentioned stuff around Blacksmithing in 1.0.2?
Con: Stamina is now bugged, and won't let you do anything if you have 10 or less stamina remaining. (Smelting costs 10 stamina, and refining costs 6)
Pro: I would have sworn that my non-smith-focused companions were hard limited to 10 skill before 1.0.2, but they started getting skillups again and now those with higher endurance will actually be able to secure a perk or two. Which means I can actually make use of both efficiency recipes, and get the bonus to part unlocks (without missing out on the advanced refining recipes) without finding a low level companion to dedicate to the task.
General Companion question: Are their 'class' templates randomly determined on world gen? I thought I had lucked out in that my first 4 were high level (15+) soldiers, but my needs have changed and I don't see any wanderers with Trade or Leadership skills; some have 10-20 points in Charm, but still no points in Social, so those skills are capped at 0. (Hell, I think they might even be over the legal charm cap with 0 SOC / 20 Charm?)
Further, the lowest character level I've found so far was something like 10, which is still looking like a considerable grind to retrain (I think I'm only up to level 8?).
So is that all just bad luck from the wanderer NPC RNG, or is there some other source of companions that are less combat oriented / much lower level? Can you hire the townie NPCs if you grind up their relations?
No, that was part of the smithing system at release.
As far as I know, the companions are generated when starting a new game. You can view all companions in the encyclopedia to see what stats they have. I think they're completely random, but there may be some sort of quota system in the generation. I haven't really experimented with it yet. I do know their nickname is picked based on their template.
Well that's definitely not the answer I wanted. Are you sure you didn't mean to say: "There's a job board in each town square that you can use to spawn NPCs with desired skills" ?
I'll check the NPC stats on my other character's world, then roll a few more if I still don't see any leader/merchant/admin templates.
You could always use the developer console mod to shape the companions to how you wish, though I think you can only add points (skill, attribute, and focus) and not take away. I also saw there was a mod to recreate the old export/import character functionality, but I haven't looked at it to see how it works or if it's only for the PC. If they're going the random companion route, I would love a way to create our own, or edit existing ones. I have a feeling that will be a thing, with mods if nothing else.
Things like a larger pommel causing more weight and therefore piercing damage
Did they tweak some unmentioned stuff around Blacksmithing in 1.0.2?
Con: Stamina is now bugged, and won't let you do anything if you have 10 or less stamina remaining. (Smelting costs 10 stamina, and refining costs 6)
Pro: I would have sworn that my non-smith-focused companions were hard limited to 10 skill before 1.0.2, but they started getting skillups again and now those with higher endurance will actually be able to secure a perk or two. Which means I can actually make use of both efficiency recipes, and get the bonus to part unlocks (without missing out on the advanced refining recipes) without finding a low level companion to dedicate to the task.
General Companion question: Are their 'class' templates randomly determined on world gen? I thought I had lucked out in that my first 4 were high level (15+) soldiers, but my needs have changed and I don't see any wanderers with Trade or Leadership skills; some have 10-20 points in Charm, but still no points in Social, so those skills are capped at 0. (Hell, I think they might even be over the legal charm cap with 0 SOC / 20 Charm?)
Further, the lowest character level I've found so far was something like 10, which is still looking like a considerable grind to retrain (I think I'm only up to level 8?).
So is that all just bad luck from the wanderer NPC RNG, or is there some other source of companions that are less combat oriented / much lower level? Can you hire the townie NPCs if you grind up their relations?
No, that was part of the smithing system at release.
As far as I know, the companions are generated when starting a new game. You can view all companions in the encyclopedia to see what stats they have. I think they're completely random, but there may be some sort of quota system in the generation. I haven't really experimented with it yet. I do know their nickname is picked based on their template.
Well that's definitely not the answer I wanted. Are you sure you didn't mean to say: "There's a job board in each town square that you can use to spawn NPCs with desired skills" ?
I'll check the NPC stats on my other character's world, then roll a few more if I still don't see any leader/merchant/admin templates.
You could always use the developer console mod to shape the companions to how you wish, though I think you can only add points (skill, attribute, and focus) and not take away. I also saw there was a mod to recreate the old export/import character functionality, but I haven't looked at it to see how it works or if it's only for the PC. If they're going the random companion route, I would love a way to create our own, or edit existing ones. I have a feeling that will be a thing, with mods if nothing else.
I suspect they're random but without a quota, because Warband had that dedicated architect for the 95% of play styles that didn't have you sinking points in a really niche skill and I don't see their equal.
Also 40% sure there was an entry-level character you could shape however you wanted, and based on skill levels, there's no one less talented than me frequenting the taverns of Calradia.
Things like a larger pommel causing more weight and therefore piercing damage
Did they tweak some unmentioned stuff around Blacksmithing in 1.0.2?
Con: Stamina is now bugged, and won't let you do anything if you have 10 or less stamina remaining. (Smelting costs 10 stamina, and refining costs 6)
Pro: I would have sworn that my non-smith-focused companions were hard limited to 10 skill before 1.0.2, but they started getting skillups again and now those with higher endurance will actually be able to secure a perk or two. Which means I can actually make use of both efficiency recipes, and get the bonus to part unlocks (without missing out on the advanced refining recipes) without finding a low level companion to dedicate to the task.
General Companion question: Are their 'class' templates randomly determined on world gen? I thought I had lucked out in that my first 4 were high level (15+) soldiers, but my needs have changed and I don't see any wanderers with Trade or Leadership skills; some have 10-20 points in Charm, but still no points in Social, so those skills are capped at 0. (Hell, I think they might even be over the legal charm cap with 0 SOC / 20 Charm?)
Further, the lowest character level I've found so far was something like 10, which is still looking like a considerable grind to retrain (I think I'm only up to level 8?).
So is that all just bad luck from the wanderer NPC RNG, or is there some other source of companions that are less combat oriented / much lower level? Can you hire the townie NPCs if you grind up their relations?
No, that was part of the smithing system at release.
As far as I know, the companions are generated when starting a new game. You can view all companions in the encyclopedia to see what stats they have. I think they're completely random, but there may be some sort of quota system in the generation. I haven't really experimented with it yet. I do know their nickname is picked based on their template.
Well that's definitely not the answer I wanted. Are you sure you didn't mean to say: "There's a job board in each town square that you can use to spawn NPCs with desired skills" ?
I'll check the NPC stats on my other character's world, then roll a few more if I still don't see any leader/merchant/admin templates.
You could always use the developer console mod to shape the companions to how you wish, though I think you can only add points (skill, attribute, and focus) and not take away. I also saw there was a mod to recreate the old export/import character functionality, but I haven't looked at it to see how it works or if it's only for the PC. If they're going the random companion route, I would love a way to create our own, or edit existing ones. I have a feeling that will be a thing, with mods if nothing else.
I suspect they're random but without a quota, because Warband had that dedicated architect for the 95% of play styles that didn't have you sinking points in a really niche skill and I don't see their equal.
Also 40% sure there was an entry-level character you could shape however you wanted, and based on skill levels, there's no one less talented than me frequenting the taverns of Calradia.
At the moment there are templates for npcs skilled in medicine and roguery but I don't think there's one for engineering.
I've read that eventually they want to make predefined companions like in Warband but that's obviously not in yet. And I also wonder how you'll get replacements for those if you have character deaths on and some kick the bucket. My hope is that you'll be able to find marriages for them too and be able to put their children into your party so we can really Fire Emblem: Awakening.
Things like a larger pommel causing more weight and therefore piercing damage
Did they tweak some unmentioned stuff around Blacksmithing in 1.0.2?
Con: Stamina is now bugged, and won't let you do anything if you have 10 or less stamina remaining. (Smelting costs 10 stamina, and refining costs 6)
Pro: I would have sworn that my non-smith-focused companions were hard limited to 10 skill before 1.0.2, but they started getting skillups again and now those with higher endurance will actually be able to secure a perk or two. Which means I can actually make use of both efficiency recipes, and get the bonus to part unlocks (without missing out on the advanced refining recipes) without finding a low level companion to dedicate to the task.
General Companion question: Are their 'class' templates randomly determined on world gen? I thought I had lucked out in that my first 4 were high level (15+) soldiers, but my needs have changed and I don't see any wanderers with Trade or Leadership skills; some have 10-20 points in Charm, but still no points in Social, so those skills are capped at 0. (Hell, I think they might even be over the legal charm cap with 0 SOC / 20 Charm?)
Further, the lowest character level I've found so far was something like 10, which is still looking like a considerable grind to retrain (I think I'm only up to level 8?).
So is that all just bad luck from the wanderer NPC RNG, or is there some other source of companions that are less combat oriented / much lower level? Can you hire the townie NPCs if you grind up their relations?
No, that was part of the smithing system at release.
As far as I know, the companions are generated when starting a new game. You can view all companions in the encyclopedia to see what stats they have. I think they're completely random, but there may be some sort of quota system in the generation. I haven't really experimented with it yet. I do know their nickname is picked based on their template.
Well that's definitely not the answer I wanted. Are you sure you didn't mean to say: "There's a job board in each town square that you can use to spawn NPCs with desired skills" ?
I'll check the NPC stats on my other character's world, then roll a few more if I still don't see any leader/merchant/admin templates.
You could always use the developer console mod to shape the companions to how you wish, though I think you can only add points (skill, attribute, and focus) and not take away. I also saw there was a mod to recreate the old export/import character functionality, but I haven't looked at it to see how it works or if it's only for the PC. If they're going the random companion route, I would love a way to create our own, or edit existing ones. I have a feeling that will be a thing, with mods if nothing else.
I suspect they're random but without a quota, because Warband had that dedicated architect for the 95% of play styles that didn't have you sinking points in a really niche skill and I don't see their equal.
Also 40% sure there was an entry-level character you could shape however you wanted, and based on skill levels, there's no one less talented than me frequenting the taverns of Calradia.
At the moment there are templates for npcs skilled in medicine and roguery but I don't think there's one for engineering.
I've read that eventually they want to make predefined companions like in Warband but that's obviously not in yet. And I also wonder how you'll get replacements for those if you have character deaths on and some kick the bucket. My hope is that you'll be able to find marriages for them too and be able to put their children into your party so we can really Fire Emblem: Awakening.
I'm torn on companions, as well. I really like the idea of randomly created ones, so that each game is unique, but I also like having characters that we all know and love/hate. The subreddit just wouldn't be the same without Jeremus memes.
I would like both, honestly, because you bring up a good point about companions dying.
Things like a larger pommel causing more weight and therefore piercing damage
Did they tweak some unmentioned stuff around Blacksmithing in 1.0.2?
Con: Stamina is now bugged, and won't let you do anything if you have 10 or less stamina remaining. (Smelting costs 10 stamina, and refining costs 6)
Pro: I would have sworn that my non-smith-focused companions were hard limited to 10 skill before 1.0.2, but they started getting skillups again and now those with higher endurance will actually be able to secure a perk or two. Which means I can actually make use of both efficiency recipes, and get the bonus to part unlocks (without missing out on the advanced refining recipes) without finding a low level companion to dedicate to the task.
General Companion question: Are their 'class' templates randomly determined on world gen? I thought I had lucked out in that my first 4 were high level (15+) soldiers, but my needs have changed and I don't see any wanderers with Trade or Leadership skills; some have 10-20 points in Charm, but still no points in Social, so those skills are capped at 0. (Hell, I think they might even be over the legal charm cap with 0 SOC / 20 Charm?)
Further, the lowest character level I've found so far was something like 10, which is still looking like a considerable grind to retrain (I think I'm only up to level 8?).
So is that all just bad luck from the wanderer NPC RNG, or is there some other source of companions that are less combat oriented / much lower level? Can you hire the townie NPCs if you grind up their relations?
No, that was part of the smithing system at release.
As far as I know, the companions are generated when starting a new game. You can view all companions in the encyclopedia to see what stats they have. I think they're completely random, but there may be some sort of quota system in the generation. I haven't really experimented with it yet. I do know their nickname is picked based on their template.
Well that's definitely not the answer I wanted. Are you sure you didn't mean to say: "There's a job board in each town square that you can use to spawn NPCs with desired skills" ?
I'll check the NPC stats on my other character's world, then roll a few more if I still don't see any leader/merchant/admin templates.
You could always use the developer console mod to shape the companions to how you wish, though I think you can only add points (skill, attribute, and focus) and not take away. I also saw there was a mod to recreate the old export/import character functionality, but I haven't looked at it to see how it works or if it's only for the PC. If they're going the random companion route, I would love a way to create our own, or edit existing ones. I have a feeling that will be a thing, with mods if nothing else.
I suspect they're random but without a quota, because Warband had that dedicated architect for the 95% of play styles that didn't have you sinking points in a really niche skill and I don't see their equal.
Also 40% sure there was an entry-level character you could shape however you wanted, and based on skill levels, there's no one less talented than me frequenting the taverns of Calradia.
At the moment there are templates for npcs skilled in medicine and roguery but I don't think there's one for engineering.
I've read that eventually they want to make predefined companions like in Warband but that's obviously not in yet. And I also wonder how you'll get replacements for those if you have character deaths on and some kick the bucket. My hope is that you'll be able to find marriages for them too and be able to put their children into your party so we can really Fire Emblem: Awakening.
I wonder if they spawn a new rando when one dies.
*eyes that Sea Raider camp*
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Sir CarcassI have been shown the end of my worldRound Rock, TXRegistered Userregular
edited April 2020
That export/import mod does say it works for you and your companions.
I can't wait to play. Went to bed Saturday thinking about playing this Tuesday night and then work went to shit. Sunday started working 12 hour days so this has been sitting installed on my PC since Tuesday morning, mocking me.
So the game has assigned me an age, and counts the days in game.
Can i die of old age? Can other characters die of old age? What happens if i just keep wandering around for decades?
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Sir CarcassI have been shown the end of my worldRound Rock, TXRegistered Userregular
So the game has assigned me an age, and counts the days in game.
Can i die of old age? Can other characters die of old age? What happens if i just keep wandering around for decades?
My understanding is that yes, all characters age and eventually die. There are even medicine (I believe) perks that give your clan either increased fertility or a longer lifespan. My wife is currently pregnant, so we'll see how that goes. I saw a hilarious bug on the subreddit where the dude's wife died in childbirth while having 14 kids. I think once your character dies that you take over as their heir.
Posts
Really tempted to pick that, and once the game becomes stable enough that i dare to start using mods, that will probably be my first or second pick.
One thing I've learned is to look at the price of a trade good when you hover over it. Normally the lettering is in yellow but if it's in green that means the price is lower than average and if it's red it's higher than average. Buying green priced trade goods and selling them even at yellow prices makes a nice chunk of change and I can carry a lot of goods due to looting so many sumpter horses from bandits.
Steam Profile
3DS: 3454-0268-5595 Battle.net: SteelAngel#1772
Did not know 2! In the same vein of seemingly bugged skill ups: Buy and sell your trade goods in separate transactions. You seem to only get Trade XP based on your net profit.
[Edit: Nope, that ain't it, see follow-up. Seems to be bugged goods]
*Reads new patch notes*
...but apparently they just fixed Sell All Prisoners not crediting Roguery, the stamina not saving bug, and changed it so you no longer get kidnapped by five dudes when your legions are literally surrounding their hideout.
Nice
I don't mind lot of the stuff, like buggy sidequests, or jumping through some hoops for skill xp.
But the save corruption is bad, like, really bad, if i can't reliable play 10 hours on one save (not counting reloads), then that's a problem in a game where a full playthrough could easily take 100+ hours, assuming there is such a thing as "full" playthrough, instead of a point where you can't think of any challenges left to you and you start over.
That said, as long as they don't just abandon this to sell Mount and Blade 2: Warbannerlord instead, i can see this game becomming really good.
edit-
And the hardwood to charcoal is going to be less of a moneymaker with the stamina fix.
But with enough of the cheapest horses to carry inventory and a small enough army (wages less than 100 gold or so) you will still make decent money.
Hardwood can sell for 30, i have seen charcoal go for 60, and iron is easy 100.
So smelting down equipment for smithing skill will make you easy early money, and if you get smithing high enough to get the less stamina used perk, well that's even more money.
Though i would also recommend getting a workshop as soon as you can without going too low on funds. even a single workshop in an area with good source of materials (eg. brewery in a town with 3 grain producing villages), will soon get you 100+ gold a day, easily helping you deal with daily wages when waiting in town for stamina refils.
Not sure about my trade advice up there. There's another mechanism at play that is now being weird and or the patch voided everything in my inventory as a qualifying trade good as I can't seem to earn a single trade XP regardless of net, gross, or relative profit with amounts greater than 2k. (Up to 10k)
Deleted them and will start over after work, now armed with better knowledge on how to make money and the value of smithing.
The all into int build I tried worked lt better than I thought, insta access to first level perks in trade and smithing are great profit boosters in early game.
And the tutorial gives you some way fights early on to level your riding and fighting so they are not that important to start with.
So I guess this was more similar to the Stamina bug than the Roguery "how you sell it" bug.
It seems as if the original purchase price on trade goods isn't saved, therefore no qualifying profit is assessed from selling goods on hand when you loaded?
Tested with flax bought at 6 (green) sold at 14 (grey). Selling one yielded XP, regardless of the exchange net. Saving, loading, selling yielded none.
Also: All types of iron affect the prices of the others now, which is surely a bug, because the non-final offers adjust the prices. But this can at least be used to launder your metal on hand, with respect to the above bug, if you had
Sold 4 iron, completed sale. Offered 50 wrought iron, bought back iron at now reduced price, retracted wrought iron offer, final sale price was less than I sold it for. Sold iron back, XP credited on profit.
So I guess until they fix that, make sure to complete all trades before logging off if you want Trade credit. Or never log off!
I've got an army of 80ish, including some pretty decent troops like knights. Hitting a group of 10-15 looters usually gets enough bandit giblets between ransom, smelting returns and their other gear to pay a couple of days' wages at a pop pretty consistently.
I'm absolutely rolling with the whole "I'm a really heavily armed caravan" thing though. Go to town, figure out what's best to move in bulk to nearby towns, do that a couple times until the market gets saturated, move a bit down to another town, repeat.
Especially after you get the the efficient perks as well.
So getting companions asap will pay themselves back in no time, and is worth it just for smithing purposes.
You get your companions with you. Anytime you are in a town you can ask the one companion with you to go get all of the others. The quest type still sucks due to reputation issues, but the defending the guy isn't that bad
I'm at ~230/day in expenses (counting food), so there's definitely a minimum amount of Looters that aren't a net loss to chase, but Sea Raiders always seem like a sound investment. Not that fast, higher ransoms, better gear, and usually have some trade goods.
Incredibly conveniently: There's a Sea Raider camp right next to my main trade hub that just shits them out constantly. I don't think I could take it out if I wanted to, and as long they handily cover my expenses, I can't see why I would.
Sustainable bandit farming, the key to longterm prosperity.
If you hover your mouse over the price it shows you the exact percentage by which the good is cheaper/more expensive than the average.
Is this with the trading perk or without?
So I'm not sure if I just didn't notice, or if my skills have upgraded, or a companion has said skills; but I now take full advantage of the inventory screen showing the cost of goods in recently visited towns via the tooltip for the individual good. It's almost annoying to have to look between the tooltip and the buying price (why you no just show differential?), but basically any time I ride through a town I have a quick peruse through the shop and can fill my rather large mule fuelled inventory (2.5k and I'm still fairly early game). This turns into a few thousand profit per trip between towns!
Before the tooltips, I found an excellent way to find out which goods to buy was to visit the tavern and talk to a bunch of people. It's a bit tedious, there's very little to the conversation and frequently it just concerns their opinion of some notable character or lord, but every so often they'll give you a hot tip on what to buy and where to sell. Right at the start of the game, before I had much in the way of mules and horses, one or two of these tips could max out my inventory space, so worked really nicely to kickstart my bank account.
Be careful with spending all your denars on inventory though! I almost lost everything at one point thanks to an enemy noble catching me off guard. But thanks to my tough front line and some nicely landed 120 damage throwing spears from horseback I managed to rout their infantry and was able to mop-up the archers and the lord himself. I just ransomed him off at one of the city's, but could I have done something more interesting with him?
http://steamcommunity.com/id/pablocampy
I do like how the economy is more active (although it be nice to now a bit more about how it's intended to work). It does mess with prices quite a bit. I also got the wholesaler perk but it doesn't show me profits or percentages. That makes it hard to gauge my unit cost and profit with the merchant's overhead.
Luckily, I've found winning tournaments is trivial (unless they saddle you with a horse and spear, in which case you actually have to put work in). So once you have 1200 gold you can bet on yourself and reap all the rewards.
http://steamcommunity.com/id/pablocampy
But it does make lot of money.
Main reason I keep going on about hardwood to charcoal method is that the price seems very stable, and you get smithing xp on top of it.
Also, i like the idea of making my own custom masterwork sword once I get smithing high enough.
http://steamcommunity.com/id/pablocampy
The smithing system is actually quite neat. Not only do you pick the individual parts with their various stats and appearances, but you can also scale them up or down, which also affects both. Things like a larger pommel causing more weight and therefore piercing damage, or a longer blade giving you more reach at a speed cost.
I'm torn on this. On the one hand, yeah, it's in rougher shape than I expected based on how long it's been in development, but that also makes me wonder just what good a couple of months would have done. They have a pretty large team, so I'm curious why they seem to move so slow. They also appear to mostly have focused on MP in the last year, so maybe it's rock solid, but I have no interest in it. On the other hand, I feel like they've been cranking out fixes and tweaks super quick, so I'm thinking the large influx of beta testers is helping speed things up and expect balance to really start to come together based on that feedback. I'm personally okay with the way things are going at the moment, but the game can certainly be frustrating at times. I'm treating it like a beta and just using cheats to see what all there is to do and how things work currently. I'll focus on a more legit playthrough after things have tightened up.
I will say I've looked into modding a little bit with what little information is currently available, and it seems pretty powerful, so that gives me hope for the future of this game. The scripting is done in C#, and modules are able to only affect specific things, allowing for many mods to work together, unlike Warband. We'll have to see what kind of tools they release.
They might have been able to fix the save corruption issue, or not.
I have no idea why the game is in such a rough shape, but i just don't think they should have released it as it is, even in early access.
Save corruption is a major thing, especially when that save corruption seems to be able to travel backwards to older saves for some reason, that should not have been a thing, or atleast it should have been rare, and most certainly not something that can go to older saves.
Also on 4: upgrading infantry units to cavalry units requires a non-pack horse in inventory, so it's important to have spare cheap horses for this anyways
Did they tweak some unmentioned stuff around Blacksmithing in 1.0.2?
Con: Stamina is now bugged, and won't let you do anything if you have 10 or less stamina remaining. (Smelting costs 10 stamina, and refining costs 6)
Pro: I would have sworn that my non-smith-focused companions were hard limited to 10 skill before 1.0.2, but they started getting skillups again and now those with higher endurance will actually be able to secure a perk or two. Which means I can actually make use of both efficiency recipes, and get the bonus to part unlocks (without missing out on the advanced refining recipes) without finding a low level companion to dedicate to the task.
General Companion question: Are their 'class' templates randomly determined on world gen? I thought I had lucked out in that my first 4 were high level (15+) soldiers, but my needs have changed and I don't see any wanderers with Trade or Leadership skills; some have 10-20 points in Charm, but still no points in Social, so those skills are capped at 0. (Hell, I think they might even be over the legal charm cap with 0 SOC / 20 Charm?)
Further, the lowest character level I've found so far was something like 10, which is still looking like a considerable grind to retrain (I think I'm only up to level 8?).
So is that all just bad luck from the wanderer NPC RNG, or is there some other source of companions that are less combat oriented / much lower level? Can you hire the townie NPCs if you grind up their relations?
The nature of the save bugs they fixed seem to be errors reading otherwise good data in, as opposed to writing bad data (true save corruption). Since they didn't fix your issue in 1.0.2, it may have been the latter, but it could easily be that they just didn't find your edge case yet.
Looking at the other save issues (Stamina stat, original purchase costs, "being in the middle of certain missions"), it seems like their save-game/world-state data model is still undergoing substantial changes; but that doesn't seem out of spec for a single player game in its first week of public beta.
No, that was part of the smithing system at release.
As far as I know, the companions are generated when starting a new game. You can view all companions in the encyclopedia to see what stats they have. I think they're completely random, but there may be some sort of quota system in the generation. I haven't really experimented with it yet. I do know their nickname is picked based on their template.
I'll check the NPC stats on my other character's world, then roll a few more if I still don't see any leader/merchant/admin templates.
Bolded: That name list needs some more synonyms. I've got maybe 20 NPCs and only 12 nicknames.
You could always use the developer console mod to shape the companions to how you wish, though I think you can only add points (skill, attribute, and focus) and not take away. I also saw there was a mod to recreate the old export/import character functionality, but I haven't looked at it to see how it works or if it's only for the PC. If they're going the random companion route, I would love a way to create our own, or edit existing ones. I have a feeling that will be a thing, with mods if nothing else.
I suspect they're random but without a quota, because Warband had that dedicated architect for the 95% of play styles that didn't have you sinking points in a really niche skill and I don't see their equal.
Also 40% sure there was an entry-level character you could shape however you wanted, and based on skill levels, there's no one less talented than me frequenting the taverns of Calradia.
At the moment there are templates for npcs skilled in medicine and roguery but I don't think there's one for engineering.
I've read that eventually they want to make predefined companions like in Warband but that's obviously not in yet. And I also wonder how you'll get replacements for those if you have character deaths on and some kick the bucket. My hope is that you'll be able to find marriages for them too and be able to put their children into your party so we can really Fire Emblem: Awakening.
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I'm torn on companions, as well. I really like the idea of randomly created ones, so that each game is unique, but I also like having characters that we all know and love/hate. The subreddit just wouldn't be the same without Jeremus memes.
I would like both, honestly, because you bring up a good point about companions dying.
I wonder if they spawn a new rando when one dies.
*eyes that Sea Raider camp*
Can i die of old age? Can other characters die of old age? What happens if i just keep wandering around for decades?
My understanding is that yes, all characters age and eventually die. There are even medicine (I believe) perks that give your clan either increased fertility or a longer lifespan. My wife is currently pregnant, so we'll see how that goes. I saw a hilarious bug on the subreddit where the dude's wife died in childbirth while having 14 kids. I think once your character dies that you take over as their heir.