Is Talmberg Horse Race a joke?

[NewbieOne]

I understand the idea of difficult challenge, but in this race the opponents:

- execute all movements flawlessly
- have better horses, notably faster than Zora's, AND with more stamina
- still overtake you on a straight road in full gallop, even if you've been doing everything flawlessly

Having 18 horsemanship skill, good spurs etc. doesn't help.

On top of the above, it's possible to lose health and kill someone during the race — something not normally possible in the game (there is no trampling damage and villagers don't turn hostile if you trample them). Here, it happens without combat.

Of course, you can take shortcuts, i.e. direct routes, but you're always going to have to deal with bushes and other obstacles, so it's easy to lose any advantage.

I'm not a newbie to this kind of racing. I won them all in Witcher 3 and play regular car racers too, so it's not like I can't figure my way around the controls or something.

Any tips? Someone must have managed to win this.

[AfLIcTeD]

Just follow the roads until the last flag, trying to take shortcuts before will most likely end in tragedy. When heading for the last flag that is where you take your shortcut. Just cut straight across the grass to the quarry. Then you can take another shortcut near the finish line.

With 18 horsemanship you should be steaming ahead. I usually do.

Also horses can cause damage so be careful and try not to bash into them.

[NewbieOne]

Thank you. Yes, the second half of the race is a completely different sort of game.

[Ghart]

have you tried shooting arrow to the competitors? they will get down off their horses if you do

[Old Ben]

Easy win, just try to stay second in the pack (follow them), then on the last flag where you started at Talmberg, just cut across the grassy area up the hill (the others go around) and you win.

[n0mad23]

^ I won the race the first time doing this: stay in 2nd place until the last flag.

The 2nd time, I took alternative routes - instead of going N.E. up into the forest outside of Talmberg, I went south of it, and came back this way. I could see the other riders when I hit checkpoints, but had a sizable lead on them throughout.

I suspect there are other ways to win this race as well.

[Jaunitta 🌸]

I grabbed all the flags but then took the shortcut up from quarry back of the Castle and met with Sir Divish who was amazed .

[NewbieOne]

Yes, I took the shortcut from the quarry to the start, which I ironically had found just after starting this frustration thread. ;)

And AfLIcTeD was right in pointing out, which I also realized in-game (but it was too late) that cutting from the mill to the quarry in a straight line actually was at least slightly beneficial.

So, thankfully the quest is doable, but I am still not certain about the design sense of using AI opponents with hyped-up stats and perfect pathfinding. My view is that unless the horse is inferior — which in this case is a possibility — Henry should be able to win without those shortcuts if his stats are high enough, especially close to max, and if the player executes the moves flawlessly.

I realize the opponents are described as the best riders in the county, they are specially summoned and it takes a while to gather them, so this is not a village championship. Plus, the contestants look like some sort of local gentry who ride around as their default mode of transportation rather than for sport, though they ride for sport too, hunting or racing. So no wonder that our Hal, a blacksmith's boy fresh from bootcamp, has not achieved the same level of riding skill within weeks as those guys within their lifetimes. But the game isn't clear on the 20 figure being Henry's max as opposed to anybody's max skill in a given field. Trainers act like 'me teach you? you already know everything' and won't train you after you've taken their masterclasses (level 15 and above). So I'm a bit meh on this.

By contrast, the archery competitions are probably supposed to be tough, but you can actually win a lot of them if you learn a good technique and reload a bunch of times. The opponents are tough but defeatable; they are not flawless unless you go for the master competition with low Henry skill and low player skill. But the Talmberg racers are just too perfect, in a way that's neither interesting, nor challenging.

[Mall Ninja]

I always do this quest by going off road. You don't have to run together with the other riders, it only matters to hit the checkpoints. Go your own way, it's faster. You just have to learn the map a little to find the shortest path.

[MF]

Originally posted by NewbieOne:

I understand the idea of difficult challenge, but in this race the opponents:

- execute all movements flawlessly
- have better horses, notably faster than Zora's, AND with more stamina
- still overtake you on a straight road in full gallop, even if you've been doing everything flawlessly

Having 18 horsemanship skill, good spurs etc. doesn't help.

On top of the above, it's possible to lose health and kill someone during the race — something not normally possible in the game (there is no trampling damage and villagers don't turn hostile if you trample them). Here, it happens without combat.

Of course, you can take shortcuts, i.e. direct routes, but you're always going to have to deal with bushes and other obstacles, so it's easy to lose any advantage.

I'm not a newbie to this kind of racing. I won them all in Witcher 3 and play regular car racers too, so it's not like I can't figure my way around the controls or something.

Any tips? Someone must have managed to win this.

On the last leg you can take a shortcut to the back of Talmberg and gain a ton of distance. Likewise, when heading to the quarry you can cut across diagonally while the others will stick strictly to the roads. i.e. you can cheat a bit and still win.

Additionally, I think it helps to be wearing light armor and carrying minimal gear to lighten the load on your horse. It only makes sense.

[Valden21]

Don't use the road. You're outright told that the route you use doesn't matter as long as you reach the checkpoints.

[Ernavill]

Like others pointed out already, don't follow the road, but take your own route!

To add something of my own, however, I quickly marked my preferred route on a map (don't mind the crosses & shrines, they were for another project).

By using this route I usually encounter the competition on my way to checkpoint 3, while they are still making their way to checkpoint 2. So if you struggle with this race, give it a go.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2613891868

P.S. Where there's just 1 line, I take the same route to and from the checkpoint. So I only diverge from that route where the new line starts.

[dobe0331]

Another way to "win" the race is when the other competitors are at the gathering point at night, unhorse them and then ride their horse to somewhere else. When the gathering point is clear, ride Zora's horse and then wait until 12 pm tomorrow. Sir Davish will announce that Henry wins the game because all the other competitors didn't show up.

[Kai]

Originally posted by dobe0331:

Another way to "win" the race is when the other competitors are at the gathering point at night, unhorse them and then ride their horse to somewhere else. When the gathering point is clear, ride Zora's horse and then wait until 12 pm tomorrow. Sir Davish will announce that Henry wins the game because all the other competitors didn't show up.

Lol... So if you move all their horses and kill them, or put them on top of rocks that are hard to climb up to, they can't access them and get bugged out?

Horses are amazing jumpers, so amazing they can literally get into places they shouldn't.

Fast travel on the map near the competitors until you get a random encounter for a fight, then start the race with the enemies in tow?

[nightwica]

I literally won super easily. I was 2nd and 3rd throughout most of the race, and when I got the task to "go back to the start line", I just took the shortcut over the field and I was easily the first.

[Mora]

i despise all races. in rpg's i mean.