1.2.7. What in the world did you do to the AI?

[TinCan_POPS]

The tournaments are rage worthy to the point their not even a viable option for money. The AI tends to block literally everything. And despite my best efforts and skill level being increased the AI still swings faster and hits harder?
Battania is completely irrelevant; the troops are absolute garbage and get crapped on by everyone. The archers I watched get literally pegged with thrown axes from close rage (5ft or less ) and instead of pulling swords and engaging as they normally would they just picked off one-by one. Making Battania's only advantage range, useless. Because not only to they not react correctly the AI shields walls block everything to the point its comical.
Point and case these changes have made the game completely un-enjoyable. Please address this.

[ndbaker74]

I would not be upset if it were somehow fair. Every duel in any area (not just tournaments) one has such a low chance at victory because the AI can magically block everything then somehow after the same number of hits to each others shields, only the player's shield gets destroyed...

Looks like I'll be downgrading back to 1.1.6 until this is resolved. A Taleworlds Dev needs to explain these changes and how they think it makes the game even remotely fun. I know we wanted it to be a little bit more challenging, but this is functionally unplayable now.

[dot]

The AI will swing faster (that is in equal position and movement in which the player can oversmart the ai) if they are higher weapon level than you and others other perks you may get in in athletics or cavalry. Shields get destroyed significantly faster when you are not blocking in the direction of the attack. Idk about the battania, that has been my campaign in 1.2.6, on foot, my main party on fians, sometimes divided in two to flank the enemy shields or to have one a frontliner melee, I`ve never let them go auto not in 1.2 not in 1.1 not ever, just when they get close and im going to melee, F4 -> F1-F3.
Been having a lot of fun with the changes in 1.2, playing in Bannerlord difficulty preset. Remember that you can change the difficulty options in the esc menu and try again.

[Karkona]

Its funny, I came to these discussions with this very point in mind. I noticed that every single opponent I have to fight feels like a 20 minute encounter with a professional dueling champion that is severely defensive and is ready to block everything. It feels weird and crazy, is this what they intended? I feel like each AI opponent gets within 5 feet and is telling me, "Hey Bro, I hope you got a sandwich I'm just gonna hug you and wait for you to attack me and I'm gonna block it its gonna be a while, pull up a chair and be amazed".

The kick range needs to be extended that is so risky trying to break their blocks when they can potential 1 shot you with a two hand weapon. I felt like they were better before when they were more aggressive and sloppy. I'd atleast prefer some drastic variation in it.

[Peppel]

I have a 1h skill of 20 and I still manage to win tourneys. I think its more about figuring out how the AI works now with the blocking.
That being said, I also noticed that they block a ton more, and it is pretty annoying. A tourney does feel like a chore now. Especially if you are on horseback with a polearm and fighting 1v1. Thats a real chore with the constant blocking.

[Clarimonde]

Guess the 250 skill perk in throwing, impale, could be useful in tournaments then.
Impale being- javelins pierce shield like a ballista bolt (personal)

[LKAI]

Tournament a.i got a boost. Shield/weapon bash to stop their swing, kicks to break their block, combo when you land a hit and get the counter off soon as you hear that chamber block sound, player needs to get better now too or lower their difficulty.

[Peppel]

Originally posted by LKAI:

Tournament a.i got a boost. Shield/weapon bash to stop their swing, kicks to break their block, combo when you land a hit and get the counter off soon as you hear that chamber block sound, player needs to get better now too or lower their difficulty.

Can't say I noticed any real change in difficulty. If anything its easier. I just spam left click until the enemy is dead. If they manage to get a hit in, I block the next hit then continue to spam left click.
Fighting is much easier now, but it just takes longer.

[Terra]

Originally posted by LKAI:

Tournament a.i got a boost. Shield/weapon bash to stop their swing, kicks to break their block, combo when you land a hit and get the counter off soon as you hear that chamber block sound, player needs to get better now too or lower their difficulty.

It's not possible to bash to break their block - they'll block it. It's not possible to kick their block - they backpedal out of range. It's not possible to combo - they recover faster than you do.

This is just Shao Kahn from MK2 reading your inputs. Yeah, you can TECHNICALLY win, but it's there to suck 20 dollars in quarters out of you.

[LKAI]

You don't bash to break block, you shield bash/weapon bash when they try to attack, you kick to break their shield block. I have them bound to my mouse side buttons. You can definitely combo, just won three tournaments since i last typed here, only level 4.

[denton91]

I remember watching a video where the guy playing was praising the increased difficulty while trading blows with a legionary for 3 minutes and already thinking:

"good grief that's gonna be annoying"

And here's the update and good grief it's annoying. The player has no reliable tools to break through guards, your only chance to land hits is after you opponent whiffs an overhead or a stab.

So stupid, what does TW think their audience want? Bannerlord doesn't have a combat system suited for dealing with this crap.

EDIT. And the absolutely worst part is that every unit is the same in this regard. Every single worst, most pitiful looter is a sword master who will block 90% of your attacks. Don't even think of engaging in melee without a crush through weapon. Absolutely deranged change.

[TruXurT]

Please specify your game difficulty setting while discussing this point. Specifically AI combat difficulty.

Because if you pick Normal AI combat difficulty and 25% damage to yourself, yes tournaments and other duels are not bad, even though NPCs will block better across the board.

If you picked Challenging AI combat difficulty: Well any duels will be very hard and long.

Without that context there is no point of boasting or criticizing the game.

If it is too hard: use easier setting.

If it is too easy: use harder setting.

If it is too easy on hardest setting: Play Dark Souls.

If it is too hard on easiest setting: Well that is an issue. The only good thing is, that if you let your character grow a bit and get better gear, those fights should become easier.

[TinCan_POPS]

it is on the easiest setting and the AI is literally predicting every swing. Not to mention the fact that a good 9/10ths of the time my team dies off and Im left to come up clutch ( which with the improved AI is close to impossible ) so to respond to your somewhat patronizing inquiry; Im on Warrior difficulty with the combat AI at Normal. Every interaction with the AI is literally a 5 minute affair of swing, - they block , swing , they block .....its not fun not and if anything its incredibly annoying and make the game less enjoyable.

[ShadowFox]

Have you tried getting good?

[Motiv4tion]

Originally posted by TruXurT:

Please specify your game difficulty setting while discussing this point. Specifically AI combat difficulty.

Because if you pick Normal AI combat difficulty and 25% damage to yourself, yes tournaments and other duels are not bad, even though NPCs will block better across the board.

If you picked Challenging AI combat difficulty: Well any duels will be very hard and long.

Without that context there is no point of boasting or criticizing the game.

If it is too hard: use easier setting.

If it is too easy: use harder setting.

If it is too easy on hardest setting: Play Dark Souls.

If it is too hard on easiest setting: Well that is an issue. The only good thing is, that if you let your character grow a bit and get better gear, those fights should become easier.

I've played a thousand something hours with the hardest difficulty. I've never complained or entered any discussion regarding difficulty. I played every single beta and none of them pissed me of as this patch. Every other comment has made the points so I'm not gonna repeat them. I'm just gonna let you know that your "GİT GUD" comment is ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥. Did you even played this new patch? Did you join any tourneys? Check the game before you wrote some stupid ♥♥♥♥ next time.

[TruXurT]

Originally posted by TinCan_POPS:

so to respond to your somewhat patronizing inquiry;

This is absolutely not patronizing. I play the game on custom setting with normal AI myself now (and 25% damage to myself) on a current version, where I used to play on challenging setting and breezing through everything. I do believe that the difficulty range has shifted in such a way that current "normal" setting should be a medium difficulty and truly easy setting is missing.

The game was definitely more enjoyable with older difficulty levels, the challenge was more on strategic aspect of the game than twitch combat. I get that some players wanted greater challenge in that regard and it was delivered. The issue is that the difficulty has shifted completely rather than being expanded. (They could have made "insane difficulty" which is truly impossible, while leaving one with "casual" difficulty as well).

So I do understand those of us that complain about those changes making the game less fun. I am a bit triggered by people saying that the game is still too easy, those people are either trolling or have completely different expectations as to what a game like Mount and Blade is all about. And don't tell us, who played games of this franchise for over a decade with thousands of hours in it to "get good". This is a single player game and everyone should be able to enjoy it at their own pace.