Suggestion for Army on the March: The Bivouac

[Apothecary]

The early-game is fantastic and the mid-game is pretty good but I find the end game transition to be a little frustrating. There are many reasons but a big one for me is clearing bandit camps. Once I was solidly in the bronze age with about 18-ish settlers I wanted to go on a bandit clear campaign. This involved clearing all of the 2 and 3 star camps in the entire North part of the map. My intention was to establish a bronze smelting operation up there to supply my main settlement and then move to liberate the next two towns.

The issue is, that military action is easily 2-3 days of work stretched over 5-6 days to account for wounded, with most of that time marching your army from your settlement back to the front again. What I want to do is mobilize my 8 highly-trained hand-picked soldiers and then encamp them periodically over an extended multi-day campaign. I feel like the basic house requirements make this much too tedious for something along these lines.

So I have a suggestion: The Bivouac. This structure would be like the field in that it has no (or maybe cheap) material requirements. If I have to load my army with tons of materials then that bogs things down. The bivouac itself would have sleeping spots for 12 soldiers and the player. Then I could drop that down, settle the army in the newly established outpost, place a camp chest, designate items for return to base and items to deliver from base for resupply and sleep for the night. It could even be restricted to a single bivouac on the map at a time.

In the morning break I would break camp and continue on from where I left-off with minimal startup overhead and by fighting my next bandit camp at 10am.

To me this would be a more interesting game-play option than teleporting soldiers when I use a travel point. As much as we all want that I do fear it will break the game as it becomes trivial to move your army around the map and deal with any situation. I think this bivouac solution more closely embodies the feeling of "I have my army stationed to the West of Padstow, so moving them to the Reclamation Party would be no issue" kind of military mindset.

This game is a real gem so I just wanted to offer an idea of what I think would make that transition a little less painful.

[James009]

Good idea!

[tamu1997]

It's not a horrible idea but I bet could also be solved by not trying to carry back every simple cord and onion from the battlefields.

[Apothecary]

Originally posted by tamu1997:

It's not a horrible idea but I bet could also be solved by not trying to carry back every simple cord and onion from the battlefields.

I don't usually return to base due to too much loot. I return because of the hour. If I start my campaign from my base at 8am I reach that first bandit camp by 2pm. That is a lot of time that passes just in walking there. After 5-6 camps it is about 8pm.

[tamu1997]

Originally posted by Apothecary:

Originally posted by tamu1997:

It's not a horrible idea but I bet could also be solved by not trying to carry back every simple cord and onion from the battlefields.

I don't usually return to base due to too much loot. I return because of the hour. If I start my campaign from my base at 8am I reach that first bandit camp by 2pm. That is a lot of time that passes just in walking there. After 5-6 camps it is about 8pm.

Why? Companions don't need to sleep

[Apothecary]

Originally posted by tamu1997:

Originally posted by Apothecary:

I don't usually return to base due to too much loot. I return because of the hour. If I start my campaign from my base at 8am I reach that first bandit camp by 2pm. That is a lot of time that passes just in walking there. After 5-6 camps it is about 8pm.

Why? Companions don't need to sleep

I sleep through every night and make sure my villagers do too. The game has a sleep mechanic so I don't think it is out of the ordinary to expect your troops to sleep. I am aware that there are tons of ways to cheese the game, my suggestion was an alternative to cheesing.

[Tanyon]

Originally posted by Apothecary:

Originally posted by tamu1997:

Why? Companions don't need to sleep

I sleep through every night and make sure my villagers do too. The game has a sleep mechanic so I don't think it is out of the ordinary to expect your troops to sleep. I am aware that there are tons of ways to cheese the game, my suggestion was an alternative to cheesing.

Playing during the night is not cheese.. there IS a ton of cheese in this game and that is not one of them. It is designed the way it is.

With that being said IF I take a raiding party out I usually spend several days wiping out entire sectors.. hey if they implement your idea that's fine it wouldn't bother me I just wouldn't feel the need to use it.

[Apothecary]

Originally posted by Tanyon:

Originally posted by Apothecary:

I sleep through every night and make sure my villagers do too. The game has a sleep mechanic so I don't think it is out of the ordinary to expect your troops to sleep. I am aware that there are tons of ways to cheese the game, my suggestion was an alternative to cheesing.

Playing during the night is not cheese.. there IS a ton of cheese in this game and that is not one of them. It is designed the way it is.

With that being said IF I take a raiding party out I usually spend several days wiping out entire sectors.. hey if they implement your idea that's fine it wouldn't bother me I just wouldn't feel the need to use it.

Yeah maybe using “cheese” was the wrong word, but you are both assuming there will never be an incentive for sleep added to the game. Compare this to eating. You don’t need to eat in the game. Your character can go for an infinite amount of days without eating. Your companions on the other hand cannot. The game is in early access so it is very likely a similar mechanic could be added that incentivizes sleep.

If something like that was added you couldn’t march your army for 5 days and nights without sleep. That is how I play it now for both aesthetic reasons and I don’t like fighting or hunting at night.

How would you see this if companions needed sleep?