Mount & Blade: Warband

Mount & Blade: Warband

The Last Days of the Third Age
lsengard's last stand feels rushed
Hi everyone, first and foremost thank you mod creators for providing us players with such an amazing mod and all this content, I haven't felt that level of immersion in a LOTR experience in a very long time (prob 2006). Also I find amazing the fact that you are still improving the experience after all this years so props to you all. I wasn't going to post this first because I thought you were done adjusting the game after all this time, but seeing as you are still improving the experience, I thought "Why not"

Overall was still really into my campaign as an Imladris commander even after more than 20 hours spent into the game. Some small aspects of the overall experience were rough but nothing to break the experience. Then something unexpected happened (was my first thorough playthrough so didn't expect that at all).

As we triumphed other Dol Guldur and Moria, and as Gondor fell (quite fast tbh, did not expect Minas Tirith to fall after 2 sieges), a huge war was being fought in Rohan theater in order to make sure Rohan didn't crumble. The objective was to hold long enough to have our Western allies joining so we could start pushing back the relentless assaults from Mordor and Isengard forces and start sieging. I completed plenty of quests for Rohan and defended 4-5 sieges. But then, as Isengard faction strength was weakened as the results of Quests and 2 failed sieges, I got the notification that they were sending their last stand party and 2 days later the whole faction was destroyed because Theoden and his goons attacked it twice (they were defeated 1st time, but half a day later they came back with 400 men to finish the job, despite being of average strength at the time).

I will detail the in-game situation for context:
- none of the Uruk-Hai camps were destroyed at the time, all had more than 400-500 troops garrisoned, Dunland was still going strong and Isengard itself had 900 troops garrisoned. So defeating a 600 uruk strong party to wipe out the whole faction felt weird
- Me and my allies could not even conduct a siege because of all the Khand-Umbar-Harad-Dunland-Isengard parties running around the map, Mordor were the one sieging most of the time
- Rohan just got out of their weakened state, and had already lost 3 towns by that time, with 2 other holding on by the skin of their teeth

I just feel like this event was uncalled for and changed the flow of the game too fast. Maybe you could have this event tied up to more than just the faction strength of Isengard, like the state of their outposts and Dunlander camp, and the amount of garrisonned troops in Isengard. As for the last stand party itself, it could be even bulkier (1000 troops) and have it attempt to siege Hornburg instead of having it staying in one place like in my game. Then have Theoden ask you to defend Hornburg (just suggestions)

But all of this is just personal experience with the mod and I would understand you not taking this feedback at face value. Still, had the most fun I have ever had for a while gaming with this mod and thank you for your awesome dedication to the community and to the LOTR universe.

TLDR; amazing experience but lsengard's last stand event felt uncalled for.
< >
Showing 1-9 of 9 comments
boiling pie Apr 4, 2021 @ 11:13am 
I agree. Their last army shouldn't appear yet when all outposts are still up. It feels undeserved.
Last edited by boiling pie; Apr 4, 2021 @ 11:13am
Agreed
[UwG] Slick Apr 5, 2021 @ 8:01am 
with rohan and gondor falling pretty fast i feel like buffing isengard would be one more nail in the coffin , but yeah quite a immersion killer tho
syndicaliman Apr 5, 2021 @ 6:22pm 
If that Last Stand Army went straight to siege (or just straight up attack, without preparation) the Hornburg, that would be a lot more epic. I wouldn't mind Isengard getting wiped out in that case, even if the outer Isengard camps were still up. It would feel more earned if you had to either intercept the Last Stand Army on the way to the Hornburg, or jump into a battle at the Hornburg itself and defeat it there. More like the books (and movies).
Merlkir  [developer] Apr 6, 2021 @ 12:05am 
The last stand mechanic was originally a temporary placeholder for some kind of better design.
We've not gotten to it in a long time, that's true.
IF we ever get to it, it'll likely be replaced by something else entirely.
JebusHeist Apr 15, 2021 @ 10:10am 
Originally posted by Merlkir:
The last stand mechanic was originally a temporary placeholder for some kind of better design.
We've not gotten to it in a long time, that's true.
IF we ever get to it, it'll likely be replaced by something else entirely.
Excited for that IF it ever happens <3<3
LordOfLight Feb 21, 2023 @ 4:43pm 
please implement a new mechanic that solves this issue
Merlkir  [developer] Feb 22, 2023 @ 4:40am 
"IF we ever get to it, it'll likely be replaced by something else entirely."
StonedSliker Feb 22, 2023 @ 2:21pm 
Sick youre still working on (and answering notes) the best project for M&B Bannerlord! Just wanted to declare my interest on this topic too. I still run a campaign on hard difficulty from time to time and I am able to defend Gondor/Rohan every time when started there (not able when starting in the northern realm tho). I agree it would be an immersive improvement when Isengard Outposts must be destroyed first (before replacing of system completely). Also noticed a bug where after deafeating Mordor and Isengard - Rohan and Gondor didnt joing the war in the north after setitng up their camps in the realm between Rohan and Imlardis. Could be only my exp.ofc. I think Gondor needs some mechanic to withstand the oher factions longer - I know, that your goal isnt to balance the game entirely and thats ok. Just see them crumble way fast on hard difficulty and I am
not strong enough to interfer with my army from other factions soon enough. Also I think the wildlife raids in the dark forest are way 2 strong for me and my companions without dmg reduce through options. Strange that the army cant participate in the battles - would be fafour the palyer on the other hand. I see that. But it would still be risky to walk through when youre troops are down.
< >
Showing 1-9 of 9 comments
Per page: 1530 50