Love the game, except for "Track down bandits" quest

[David]

The quest was supposed to spawn a vikingr party near Ribe. I searched the sea and the land for days, asking every party I met if they had seen it. I couldn't find it. I yielded and revealed the map to look for it. The party was all the way up near Scotland in the middle of the sea. Granted, it might have traveled here from Ribe, but there's no way I could have found it by myself. That was frustrating in a wrong way. If the dev could set the target party to stay around the target city, that would be nice. Or indicate in the quest that it's no use to keep searching after two days.

I had not played warband for years and I had forgotten how ugly it looks. The gameplay still rocks though, thanks for this great expansion.

[Tuidjy]

The quest does not spawn a party. It picks an existing party that has defeated a traveler. The battle is not guaranteed to have been near the point of origin (which the guild master tells you) nor the destination (where the guild master actually is)

So finding the target is anything but simple.

Some people do not accept this quest at all. Or they pick it up, but never give a rat's аss about it. If they run across the target, fine. If not, at least other guild masters aren't offering the quest.

Personally, I like the quest, but I only take it if I like the offered instance. The origin has to be nearby, so that I know what route the traveler was on, and the time of the attack has to be recent, so that the target is not likely to have buggered off.

[White Knight]

I take these quests if I already know where the local bandit camps are. That way, it's just a matter of going there and waiting until the target shows up.

If you wait too long, they wander off and it's just random luck as to whether you ever see them.

It's a persistent world, everyone is doing stuff, including the bandits. Wherever they go, they will be going to visit bandit camps to sell their loot and rest at night, etc.

Good tracking and spotting skills can help but that method is much too slow and won't help you if they get into a boat.

It's a bit like being a cop and getting a call to respond to a report of a purse-snatching. The thief isn't going to just stand there and wait for the cops to show up. If you hang around a nearby pawn shop, there's a good chance the thief will come to you.

[the smoking mค็็็็็n]

huh,funny thing is,whenever i take this quest they are in view just outside the town/fort as i leave(making me think it is a spawn) i even give them a little head start because i have managed to catch them so quick that the quest script has not hooked and i schitz the quest out,causing it not to complete until the script does a passive re-fire in about a minute or so
maybe i have just been RNGucky

[White Knight]

I get that with the "follow the spy" quest and the "troublesome bandits" one (even the looters) but these "track down the bandits" quests always require a bit of searching...as I recall.

[the smoking mค็็็็็n]

yes,maybe i'm confusing it with "troublesome bandits" quest

[Tuidjy]

These are four separate quests, and the strategy is completely different for each.

1) When you are searching for a lair:
- you are guaranteed that the city nearest to the lair is the one owned by whoever gave you the quest. So, you do not have to check any place on the map that is closer to a different city.
- you know what the bandit type is. So, you should know the general area, because each type appears only in some location - do not look for sea raiders in the desert.
- if you spy on a bandit group of the correct type, by staying close enough to see them, but far enough so that they do not follow or avoid you, they will eventually head for the lair. Track them, or get ahead of them.

2) When you are searching for looters:
- any looters will do. Enough to complete the quest will spawn near the city where you got the quest, but you can use other looter gangs to count for your total
- the more looter groups you kill, the more cash you get. This only matter in mods that give you more than a pittance

3) When you are searching for 'troublesome' bandits. Those spawn in sight of the city, and are easy to find... in daylight. Do not take this quest at night unless you have awesome spotting skills. Sleep in the inn, and take it in the morning. Otherwise, you may choose the wrong direction, and the bandits may head in the opposite one.

4) When you are searching for bandits who ambushed a party of travelers.
- note where the travelers came from. The attack probably happened between the city that gave you the quest, and the city of origin. If the quest has been offered for a while, which you could know if you check the taverns religiously, the bandits may have moved on.
- you can ask many of the parties you encounter: lords, villagers, caravans, etc... whether they have seen the bandits in question.
- take your time. This quest takes forever, and there is no penalty for failing. Ask around, do your thing, and if you get on their trail, get them.

[Goweigus]

Everytime i try to find one of these, it says i failed and usually only a single day has passed

[David]

The quest is great since it's triggered dynamically. The real problem is that the location is always super vague.

[White Knight]

Originally posted by Goweigus:

Everytime i try to find one of these, it says i failed and usually only a single day has passed

Any of these tracking down whatever quests end abruptly if the target gets taken out by other npcs. I would guess that this is what is happening to you. Why this would happen "everytime" does sound strange...unless "everytime" means it happened once or twice?

Originally posted by Nemeo:

The real problem is that the location is always super vague.

It's vague because it's irrelevant. The target moves about the map freely, your job is to go find them. The only location that matters is where you catch up to them and kill them.

Camp by the nearest bandit camp and they'll show up there - that's how it works in my games.

You're looking for the bandits who are labeled with blue text.

Tuidgy mentioned how you can ask npcs for information - ask everyone you meet, travel around and keep asking, eventually, you'll meet people with old information. Head in that direction and you'll start to meet people with more recent information. You can track them down no matter where they go.

If you're having no luck and it gets frustrating, just forget about it for a while. They give you like two or three months to get it done. It's only a matter of time before you meet someone with useful information.

Finally, quests are optional - lots of people have certain quests they refuse to do because they find them irritating...like cattle driving quests, for example. If it isn't fun, don't do them. There is enough information in this thread to show you how other players do it.

[David]

This is an awfully long post to repeat what's been said and add "if you don't like it don't do it".

The purpose of the original post is to underline the fact that the quest is not sound gameplay wise. When a player is given a quest, he expects to be able to complete it. If the quest may be impossible to complete, the player should know about it. I went out of the target city with no idea it might be undoable. I spiraled around the city for a week, on sea and land, asking every party I met about the bandits and none had seen them. When the quest failed (a week later), I reloaded an earlier state and cheated to find them a 1/3 of the map away.

This could have been easily fixed by warning the player that the quest may be undoable, or by giving the player a general direction rather than a target city. I know the M&B engine doesn't support that last feature, but a text warning would have been less unnerving.

[White Knight]

Originally posted by Nemeo:

This is an awfully long post to repeat what's been said and add "if you don't like it don't do it".

Yes, well repeating oneself in here is standard operating procedure. When dealing with someone who cannot or will not grasp the simple concepts being offered, the problem is compounded.

The whole point is - you are the problem. It's your assumptions that are causing the difficulties.

Of course the game is imperfect, we all get that. People are offering you advice about how to solve your problems, you are only interested in complaining.

The quest is easy. So don't do it if you can't handle it. The sad part isn't that I used too many characters to say it, it's that it had to be said at all.

[Tuidjy]

Originally posted by Nemeo:

The purpose of the original post is to underline the fact that the quest is not sound gameplay wise. When a player is given a quest, he expects to be able to complete it. If the quest may be impossible to complete, the player should know about it.

You should get used to it.

Many quests in Mount and Blade can end up being impossible. You may be asked to capture troops or lords from a faction that is about to be defeated. You may be asked to eliminate a group that is one hour away from being caught by a superior force. You may be asked to collect taxes from a village whose inhabitants can whip your lonely character's аss. You may be asked to take on bandits whom you won't be able to defeat until long after the quest has expired. You may be asked to steer cattle halfway across the map, through areas infested with bandits that will eat the herd (and your party) for breakfast. You may be asked to broken peace between factions that are about to make peace anyway, and even lose your investment if they do so before you get paid. You may be asked to catch and turn back fugitives that are faster than your party. You may be asked to capture a spy who can evade your spotting and tracking skills with ease.

Some people do not like that. I do.

Some may be better off playing something else. I've been playing M&B for more than a decade.

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By the way, Mount and Blade is far from the only game that gives you quests that you cannot possibly complete or that someone else can complete faster.

[groove]

You can ask people (lords,villagers) around and tell you were they were seen last time. Tracking skill can be really useful (4 or 5 should be good).

If they tell you they didn't saw anyone, keep asking until they give you a hint, some times they will tell you they saw the bandits a few days ago near a certain village or city, it's better than nothing because after that you ask people near that certain village or city and they will tell you they saw the bandits much more recently, like a few hours ago.

Good luck.