about 2 years ago - TaleWorlds Entertainment - Direct link

Transcript (by Youtube)


1s Greetings Warriors of Calradia!
3s We are back with the final development update of early access.
6s But just before we move on to take a look at some of the recent changes to the game,
10s we want to start by thanking you all for your incredible support during the development
14s of Bannerlord.
15s Your feedback, suggestions and bug reports have been essential in bringing the game to
19s this point, and we really appreciate your patience, cooperation and input throughout
23s the early access period.
25s Thank you!
26s We also want to take this opportunity to say that this is definitely not the end of the
30s road for Bannerlord; we’ll continue to support the game well into the future, including content
35s updates.
36s You can read more about what we have planned in our Release Plans blog post–there’s
40s a link in the description below.
42s OK, and now on to the game!
44s To start, we have a few combat-related updates to discuss–the first of which is the addition
48s of banners!
50s Banners are equippable items that provide various combat bonuses to your formations.
54s Banner bearers can be promoted from regular troops to carry a formation’s banner into
59s battle, buffing the troops around them.
61s And if the banner bearer happens to fall, other troops from the formation will attempt
64s to recover the banner and continue the fight!
66s There’s a total of 45 different banners across 3 tiers for you to earn by accomplishing
71s various tasks, like defeating enemy nobles, clearing hideouts and reaching certain campaign
76s milestones.
78s A number of impactful changes to the spawning of reinforcements were made to address many
82s of the issues that arose when one side was pulled into their opponent's spawn area, especially
86s during larger battles.
87s With the addition of two extra spawn paths for each side to spawn on, reinforcing waves
92s are now able to select the safest route when joining the fray.
95s Additionally, reinforcements will now always spawn near the initial deployment boundaries
99s and attempt to join a formation that matches their unit type when entering the battle,
103s with the weakest formations being bolstered first.
107s Combat mechanic effects like knockdown, knockback and dismounts are now decided using a standard
112s and deterministic model, making them much more reliable and predictable.
116s You can check the tooltip icons to see each weapon's effect.
121s Armour damage calculations were reworked to make higher-tier armours more effective against
125s blunt attacks, making these armours feel like a much more worthwhile investment, particularly
130s when confronted by looters!
131s And for the final combat-related highlight, the AI movement system was overhauled through
134s a range of physics adjustments, better situational understanding, and by implementing a partial
141s 360-degree input for the AI, massively improving issues with troop congestion and the AI’s
146s ability to deal with more difficult terrain, especially in sieges.
150s Response times for defensive formations moving to position have been improved and the AI
155s is now much more efficient when redeploying troops between formations.
159s Attacker behaviour was also reworked to focus its energy on fewer siege engines and breaches
163s if it has a smaller force.
166s Campaign AI also received a number of notable updates recently, with many of those changes
170s aimed at improving party and army decision-making to make the world more active and dynamic.
175s To achieve this, the weight of party priorities was increased, with defensive parties sticking
180s to protecting their own territory, while those in an aggressive stance will try to raid and
184s siege enemy settlements more often.
186s Also, the threshold for changing party objectives has increased, meaning that parties are now
191s more likely to stick to their current task if it makes sense for them to do so.
194s Parties are more likely to attack settlements that are near their own territory and will
198s try to coordinate with nearby allied parties when engaging the enemy.
202s And parties within armies now take fellow army members and nearby villages into account
206s when sourcing food.
208s The decision score calculation of Patrol, Defend, and Besiege stances was adjusted to
212s increase siege success rates and the overall aggressiveness of AI armies and the cohesion-boosting
217s behaviour of armies has been improved, particularly when undertaking important tasks like defending
222s or besieging.
224s And finally, armies with low cohesion or that are not at war are now automatically disbanded,
228s and each active army decreases the creation chance of a new army.
232s These changes ensure that there are fewer, larger armies on the campaign map, resulting
236s in more significant and decisive battles.
240s Developing your character is one of the most rewarding aspects of any Mount & Blade game,
244s however, the progression system could be a little inflexible when trying to adjust your
247s strategy mid-campaign or experiment with different playstyles.
251s Well, now you can visit an Arena Master to reset the skill perks of you, your family
255s members, and your companions!
257s Additionally, the way that NPC child skill and trait levels are calculated was improved,
262s with children now receiving skills and traits periodically instead of all at once when they
266s reach adulthood.
267s Also, the equipment selection system for newborns now considers different parameters, such as
272s culture, traits and hero type.
275s They say that friends are the family that you get to choose yourself, and that would
278s be an apt description of companions in Bannerlord.
281s But unfortunately, and perhaps a little too realistically, as a playthrough progressed
286s it became harder to find companions in Calradia, especially in the late game.
290s A new companion spawn behaviour was implemented to address this issue by equalising the companions
295s in the game.
296s In addition to this, companion skill traits were rebalanced and many of their backstories
300s were updated to provide some more variety and options for you to choose from.
304s And alongside these changes, you can now ask tavern keepers about available companion candidates,
309s making finding those new friends even easier!
312s In Bannerlord, your duty is to your clan.
314s And as the head of the family, you need to make sure that your clan remembers it!
319s The recent changes to Clan Management allow you to do just that by giving you even greater
323s control over your clan members and parties, including exchanging and assigning party leaders,
328s recalling clan members to your party, and dispatching clan members to your settlements.
334s NPCs will now approach you with various propositions, including mercenary contract offers, marriage
338s offers for clan members, and vassalage offers, building on the game’s existing diplomacy
343s options to make the world feel more active and alive.
345s For some time now, we’ve been working on a number of adjustments and balancing changes
350s to trade goods, caravans, and workshops with the aim of improving the overall health of
355s the economy, particularly into the late game.
358s You can read about the changes in detail over on our forums–there’s a link in the description
362s below–but to summarise: we increased the demand for trade goods, rebalanced luxury
366s demands to make them more relevant, tweaked a few prices here and there, and made some
370s changes to workshop production.
372s Of course, it’s worth remembering that Bannerlord’s economy is huge and has many moving parts,
377s so we will continue to monitor the situation and take feedback onboard to ensure that the
381s economy remains in good health well into the future!
385s For all you crafty crafters out there, changes that aim to provide a little more structure
389s to the crafting path were recently introduced, including separating the unlocking of crafting
393s pieces into their respective weapon types, with crafted weapons now only giving experience
398s for that weapon type alone.
400s Additionally, crafting parts are now unlocked gradually, with Tier 1 parts coming first,
404s then Tier 2, and so on.
406s 14 new heads and 5 new handles were added for you to make two-handed maces with (which
410s are a thing now by the way!) and most pommels are now available to use across other weapon
415s types.
416s Finally, you can find 19 new cloth and fur pieces to attach to your polearms for some
420s added flair.
421s A broad selection of cutscenes was added to highlight and commemorate those special moments
426s during your adventures.
427s From the birth of a child to the death of a comrade, and from joining a kingdom to destroying
432s one, cutscenes give more weight to key events while helping to bring your own unique story
437s to life.
438s A broad selection of err, scene scenes was also added, with 10 new battle terrains, 2
444s hideouts, 2 castles and 16 towns for you to explore and conquer.
449s You can find more information on the new scenes, like their names and locations, in the e1.9.0
454s patch notes–there’s a link in the description below.
458s And for our final singleplayer highlight, we have the, almost obligatory at this stage,
462s additions to the Calradian armoury.
464s But alas, there are simply too many to share in this video so you will have to check them
469s out yourself, in-game!
471s Over in multiplayer we have Battle, an intense single-life game mode intended for organised
476s events.
477s At the start of each round, you select a class to spawn with, with stronger classes requiring
481s more gold.
482s Gold can be gained from kills and assists, and by surviving the round.
486s To win, you must completely destroy the opposing team or break their morale by holding more
491s flags.
493s Custom server files were released to Steam users allowing community members to host their
497s own dedicated servers for others to play on, including modded content, with new scenes,
503s game modes, and more.
505s And speaking of modding, Steam Workshop support is now available, with many user-created modifications
510s already available for you to explore.
513s Elsewhere on the modding front, we recently shared API documentation for Bannerlord to
517s allow modders to effectively use and integrate the API with their creations.
521s And that is all for Development Update #11.
526s We really appreciate you taking the time to check out the video and hope that you enjoy
530s the updates to the game.
531s You can find links to the full patch notes in the video description and, as always, we
536s invite you to share your feedback with us in the comments section below.