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Huh.

Apparently those responsible for Prophesy of Pendor decided to punish players with archer-centric armies by having the defenders 'sally forth' should you siege them. To simulate the 'surprise' this causes all of your shooting units' quivers start with something like 0-2 arrows and you are plunked down in a really bad spot. For certain compositions this *could* work to your favor... but it seems like something they did to punish/balance beating a siege with a lot of archers... Also, a melee-centric siege target is really unfavorable for you as the player to run into like this. Normally these berserkers would be safe in the castle waiting to cleave your dudes down once they get up the ladders... now they're basically dropped straight into melee with no chance for you to soften them up like you could in a normal siege or on the field...

Lame. I spent a fair bit of time setting up this stupid siege and now a weird design choice is really crippling my ability to continue it.

For those of you who have played a lot of skyrim, is there anything about the dwarves in the game, or are their ruins all that is there? They seem quite interesting. I have never played any of the other ES games (and my computer at the time probably wouldn't have been able to play them anyway).

 Co'tor Shas wrote:
For those of you who have played a lot of skyrim, is there anything about the dwarves in the game, or are their ruins all that is there? They seem quite interesting. I have never played any of the other ES games (and my computer at the time probably wouldn't have been able to play them anyway).

Dwarves vanished a long time ago in the timeline. They were gone before the empire was formed. And that's been around since the first game.

A key thing to note, and what bothers me, is that they shouldn't be called dwarves! They're a species of elf who abandoned the gods and magic for science. And lived underground.

Dwemer I think, but a lot of people call them dwarves in game. Unless there are dwaves as well, just to confuse us.

It's too bad, I found the ruins to be some of the more interesting dungeons, much more interesting than the nord ones.

At the moment, I'm back to Arkham Origins and Injustice, after quite a while of playing nothing at all. I also have Arkham City on order, to tide me over until Knight releases. I finised the main quest on Origins the other day, so am now working on tying up loose ends in the Most Wanted file and trying to figure out where the hell Deadshot is supposed to be...

I'm also considering downloading the Battlefield Hardline beta, has anyone played it yet?

 Co'tor Shas wrote:
Dwemer I think, but a lot of people call them dwarves in game. Unless there are dwaves as well, just to confuse us.

It's too bad, I found the ruins to be some of the more interesting dungeons, much more interesting than the nord ones.

They are The Dwemer. But TES has no dwarves. At all.

Sort of. If you really want to find out more about them, pick up a copy of Morrowind for a few bucks and play through that. The main storyline actually has you investigating the history of their culture and civilization, and ties pretty heavily into who they were and what happened to them. Morrowind also has a lot more Dwemer ruins and items, since Vvardenfell was their main home.

And the Dwemer are Dwarves- however, they were only called that at first by the Giants (who I guess the Nords used to talk to?), and the stories of them being tiny technological earth-dwellers was because they were so small compared to the Giants. The stories travelled before the knowledge of them being a race of Deep Elf, and so the traditional idea of Dwarfs got cemented pretty well in Tamrielic culture before serious exploration and excavation of their ruins turned up the truth.

Oh, and in Morrowind, Dwemer armour is bits of Centurions that you wear. It's awesome.

 Co'tor Shas wrote:
For those of you who have played a lot of skyrim, is there anything about the dwarves in the game, or are their ruins all that is there? They seem quite interesting. I have never played any of the other ES games (and my computer at the time probably wouldn't have been able to play them anyway).

Not as people, though there are is a quest series that deals with them in Dawnguard.

There's some Dwemer-focused mods, too, which are pretty nice.

I finished YS1 and have started YSII on steam. These games still play pretty well, despite the age on them. Probably due to the bare bones simplicity of the mechanics, run your dude at the other dudes don't let the other dudes run at you. Not particularly substantive in any way but fun.

The only Ys game I remember playing was the sidescroller on snes...

 Melissia wrote:
The only Ys game I remember playing was the sidescroller on snes...

Sounds like YS3, based on what I know of the series. It's something of the black sheep, with entirely different mechanics than the other games. Think "Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link" vs basically every other Zelda game.

Splitting my time between SR4 on my PS3 and a modded Skyrim on my PC. Having a whale of a time in SR4; laughed so hard I ran out of breath in one recent mission. Loving Skyrim, or more accurately, I'm loving Serana from the Dawnguard expansion. I don't know if it's just Laura Bailey's voice (I *do* use her voice on my Boss in Saint's Row) or if Serana is just that fun of a character, but she and my Imperial werewolf spellsword are fantasy adventure BFFs. I can't imagine using any other NPC as a sidekick in that game...

Guys could we stop with the acronyms please? YS? SR?

squidhills wrote:
Serana is just that fun of a character, but she and my Imperial werewolf spellsword are fantasy adventure BFFs. I can't imagine using any other NPC as a sidekick in that game...

Agreed, she is a contender for the best-written/performed NPC on the game (just beaten by the hilarity of Master Neloth, though!). It helps that the DG questline is the most interesting, to the point where I play it in place of the actual main quest on most games. Pretty handy in a fight too, even at higher levels (although you may get one or two Ice Spears through the back of your skull if you're not careful; her aim can be a bit... vague at times )

 Shadow Captain Edithae wrote:
Guys could we stop with the acronyms please? YS? SR?

SR means Saint's Row. Ys means Ys. That's the whole title. Capital Y lower case s. It's a Japanese thing.

Cheers.

 Chongara wrote:

 Melissia wrote:
The only Ys game I remember playing was the sidescroller on snes...

Sounds like YS3, based on what I know of the series. It's something of the black sheep, with entirely different mechanics than the other games. Think "Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link" vs basically every other Zelda game.

Funny, I liked both Ys3 and Zelda 2.

 GrimDork wrote:
Huh.

Apparently those responsible for Prophesy of Pendor decided to punish players with archer-centric armies by having the defenders 'sally forth' should you siege them. To simulate the 'surprise' this causes all of your shooting units' quivers start with something like 0-2 arrows and you are plunked down in a really bad spot. For certain compositions this *could* work to your favor... but it seems like something they did to punish/balance beating a siege with a lot of archers... Also, a melee-centric siege target is really unfavorable for you as the player to run into like this. Normally these berserkers would be safe in the castle waiting to cleave your dudes down once they get up the ladders... now they're basically dropped straight into melee with no chance for you to soften them up like you could in a normal siege or on the field...

Lame. I spent a fair bit of time setting up this stupid siege and now a weird design choice is really crippling my ability to continue it.

They also sally forth if the garrison is stronger (more men) then the besiegers. Try to keep your force to about 75% archers, and have them hold their fire until the enemy is really close to make the 2-3 arrows count.

Huh. My thoughts were to just disband all of the archers, go solo a couple of jatu raiding parties/warbands (30ish and 50-70ish sized groups) and hire all of the heavier cav and possibly infantry units that they had as prisoners. I had a nasty team built up in just a couple of days before I was doing all of the vassal stuff... then they either won't sally forth and I'll shoot them all to death to escort my lads in, or they'll come out and get krumped by my elite core of melee vets.

Still gonna have to give up being the siege-starter for this town, which means the king will give it to whoever did start it...even though I'll kill all of the enemy archers AND do most of the fighting in the two smaller levels that come after the main siege. Le Sigh.

I guess I don't want that many properties as a vassal anyway... I'll just have to give them back when I choose to go independent I think.

 GrimDork wrote:
Huh. My thoughts were to just disband all of the archers, go solo a couple of jatu raiding parties/warbands (30ish and 50-70ish sized groups) and hire all of the heavier cav and possibly infantry units that they had as prisoners. I had a nasty team built up in just a couple of days before I was doing all of the vassal stuff... then they either won't sally forth and I'll shoot them all to death to escort my lads in, or they'll come out and get krumped by my elite core of melee vets.

Still gonna have to give up being the siege-starter for this town, which means the king will give it to whoever did start it...even though I'll kill all of the enemy archers AND do most of the fighting in the two smaller levels that come after the main siege. Le Sigh.

I guess I don't want that many properties as a vassal anyway... I'll just have to give them back when I choose to go independent I think.

The siege doesn't go to whoever starts it.

It goes down to a lord vote which is influenced by the relations. If more lords like you, more lords vote for you, thus making it easier to get a fief.

The political system is both simple yet awesome.

Yes, but don't you get a slight boost when you personally conquer a fief? (Getting to "Ask that the fief be awarded to you" / Do not ask for a reward).

In my experience the only times I've been awarded towns/castles have been when I lead the siege.

Every time I've asked where a fief should go, the guy says I think X should have it, as he was the guy who took it. Once they said a guy should get one because he didn't have any. And several times the king just takes them for himself. My best chance would be to take it myself.

But again I don't think it really matters in the end because there's no way for me to break ties with a kingdom and keep my lands, right? I can't decided I'm independent I have to go ask to be released (for a 20 or better rep hit with the king) and then lose my lands. Which I could then go siege and retake I guess... Still trying to figure out the best place and way to start my own kingdom at this point.

A strong relationship with a Lord, and several points in the Persuade skill will allow you to try and persuade the Lord to change his mind.

Got Deus Ex, Thief, and some other game called Divine Divinity. Deus Ex is... interesting. Not my favorite older game (that goes to System Shock 2), but the stealth stuff seems pretty cool. I have no idea what Thief is, other than it's supposedly good and also focuses on stealth. Divine Divinity, I have no idea what is at all other than something that looks an awful lot like Diablo.

For anyone looking for those games, each costs as much as a cup of coffee on the current Steam sale.

 Shadow Captain Edithae wrote:
Yes, but don't you get a slight boost when you personally conquer a fief? (Getting to "Ask that the fief be awarded to you" / Do not ask for a reward).

In my experience the only times I've been awarded towns/castles have been when I lead the siege.

Yes, but it's not that much of a boost.

The formula for the vote is:

Take renown and add 500 as a base value.

Divide by the 'ownership factor' which is 1+(owned towns*3)+(owned castles*2)+ owned villages. If you own two castles and three villages, the score would be 1+(0*3)+(2*2)+3=8

Multiply by a random number between 50 and 100.

The one who conquered the fief gets his score multiplied by 1.5.

Add twice the relationship value with the king to the score.

If you captured the fief yourself and did not request that the fief be awarded to you, your score is reduced.


If you persuade other lords to vote for you successfully, their renown may be added to yours.


In PoP type mods, and vanilla(Not sure about Brytenwalda), there is a guaranteed way to net yourself a fief. (Two if you don't resort to cheating.) You capture a fief will not a vassal, then swear loyalty to a faction.

 GrimDork wrote:
Every time I've asked where a fief should go, the guy says I think X should have it, as he was the guy who took it. Once they said a guy should get one because he didn't have any. And several times the king just takes them for himself. My best chance would be to take it myself.

But again I don't think it really matters in the end because there's no way for me to break ties with a kingdom and keep my lands, right? I can't decided I'm independent I have to go ask to be released (for a 20 or better rep hit with the king) and then lose my lands. Which I could then go siege and retake I guess... Still trying to figure out the best place and way to start my own kingdom at this point.

When you ask for a castle/town that you besieged/conquered, if the king turns you down there is 2 options. One is to declare independent with all of your current holdings.

SNAP!

Banesword you have just made my day! Probably not *this* time around... but to know that there is a way to leave a kingdom and keep my holdings.... evilgrin

That way, I just need to find a castle, any castle, preferably near to a town I want to take and then not be given. I can fill the castle with hundreds of archers, many hundreds, remaining easy to pay due to the garrison half-price. Then when I take the town, if it isn't awarded to me... I can dump my entire army in it temporarily, nab large hordes of archers from the keep, and fill the town up with them

Cool, I'm sure something will fail/backfire, but to know that I can potentially break away the way I want to is great. Thanks

Goddammit, I hate exclusives. I finally see an ad for a game that looks vaguely interesting, an it's only on PS4.

Anyone else playing Life is Strange? Damn I love that game.