By James Carey on May 19th, 2010 at 6:59 pm.
Gird up your loins noble squires, I’m issuing a call to arms! The multiplayer regions of horse ‘n’ biff game Mount & Blade: Warband are just begging for a band of RPS’ merriest men (and women) to take to the field and win the favour of comely maidens (and… mendens?) Yes, that’s right, we’re looking to set up an RPS Warband warband, and we need your help. More details below.
After a few days in the Warband public multiplayer lists I’m convinced a well organised company of free lances could smite a goodly blow to the rabble of hoe-wielding farmers which are in general their inhabitants. I intend to form such a band, develop with them such martial art as may be required, and then go to war!
If you are, or aim to be a Warbandeer, and are interested in developing some strategies, then sign up below. We plan to discuss the effectiveness of our battle-tactics in future posts, along with splendid diagrams, with a view to creating some kind of Sun Tzu-ish Art Of Warband textbook for aspiring knights. You should join us.
We’ll be organising this (and unless anyone cares to donate a Teamspeak server, the voice comms) through a Steam group, so head to http://steamcommunity.com/groups/theforsoothsaga and sign up.
19/05/2010 at 19:03 Metalfish says:
Oh bums, not only have I not yet picked this up, my computer is bjorked are the moment.
19/05/2010 at 19:05 Devan says:
Great, count me in; although I don’t know how my residence in western canada will affect my available play hours.
I haven’t played very much of the multiplayer in warband, but would like to spend the time to get good at it, and there’s certainly a lot of difference that can be made by a well-ordered team.
19/05/2010 at 19:20 user@example.com says:
Just being coordinated enough to form and hold a line, even if it’s not all that useful in the situation, seems to freak people right out.
19/05/2010 at 19:31 Metalfish says:
I’d love to see an attempt at a pike-wall with skirmishers darting in and out of it to harass the enemy.
In the beta I mostly favoured getting the largest two-handed weapon around and unhorseing some of those cheap bastards cavalry. I gather they’ve been balanced slightly?
19/05/2010 at 19:17 Andreas says:
Oh, I’m so there.
19/05/2010 at 19:17 Gurrah says:
I so do want a game with women clad in leather, riding horses, wielding swords and having f*ing shotguns on their backs – you know, just in case sharpened steel ins’t enough to fell a knight.
19/05/2010 at 19:18 Shrike says:
Excellent! I have long been awaiting the appearance of a warband that is worthy of my mighty… well, ego. I’m sure I’ll kill one or two people too though. I take particular pleasure in spearing stealthy lancers off the backs of their four-legged bastards at every opportunity, so if you’re in need of someone who won’t just pick a horse every round, I’m your guy. Well, more actually, I am a guy who hasn’t been disqualified at the very first hurdle, but if we’re being optimists, I’m your guy!
Signing up to the steam group now.
20/05/2010 at 05:08 RedFred says:
Well played. They will be sure to pick you, sir.
19/05/2010 at 19:19 Sobric says:
this might make me pick up warband actua- NO STOP IT – I’ve just bought both Mass Effects and GalCiv II
toooo mannny gammmes
19/05/2010 at 19:28 K.Boogle says:
Ahahahah, I’ve JUST noticed the shotgun.
19/05/2010 at 19:32 bleeters says:
Run the rabble into the ground. Let the stench of their failure seep into the very ground itself.
When I’m not knee deep in exams, that is. And when I don’t suck at Mount and Blade.
19/05/2010 at 19:38 Coins says:
I have to ask. Is that picture of the game itself or just random? If it’s from the game, then I am so getting this game.
19/05/2010 at 19:41 Coins says:
@myself: Oh. RPS. Shotgun. I am dissapointed now. It could’ve been real!
19/05/2010 at 19:39 Nihilille says:
I’d most likely be very interested in this! Lost interest in the warband multi pretty fast since there were no attempts at coordination going on.
19/05/2010 at 20:02 Lack_26 says:
I’ll be interested in joining, my exams finish in a week. I remember the beta, it would certainly be nice to have some coördination in the teams.
19/05/2010 at 20:12 Lemeza says:
I’ll join but I have exams in a few weeks so I might not be active until after that.
I also haven’t played Warband multiplayer but have spent many hours on the original M&B.
19/05/2010 at 20:22 RogB says:
im in (when possible)
i get pummelled so often online it’d be nice to join a (semi) organised posse
19/05/2010 at 20:23 gerafin says:
I’ll be eagerly awaiting some organized medieval badassery!
19/05/2010 at 20:27 DrGonzo says:
When I can afford Warband count me in. Loved the beta, but there’s just too many games I need to buy at the moment.
19/05/2010 at 20:28 westyfield says:
Hmm, I might look into picking this one up once the dreaded exams are over. RPS co-ordinated fighting? Colour me interested!
19/05/2010 at 20:42 laikapants says:
If, unlike most RPS multi thing outings, the events take place when I’m not at work or asleep, then almost certainly be there. Hopefully with a non-PUG I will not end up dead 45 seconds into the round. That was most bothersome, especially when it happened on the 1 Life mode (I forget the proper name). No more mass scatterings!
I should probably find a headset I actually like at some point.
19/05/2010 at 20:43 A-Scale says:
I’d really like to get into this, but I still don’t feel comfortable supporting a Turkish developer. I tried to ask about the issue on the Paradox forums and got shouted down and textually spat upon for even bothering to ask. Not a positive experience.
19/05/2010 at 21:03 El Stevo says:
@ A-Scale:
What?
19/05/2010 at 21:07 laikapants says:
@A-Scale:
Well with that great amount of context you’ve provided I can certainly see why you’d be hurt that people found such viewpoints inflammatory. Yes, tons of sense has been made.
@El Stevo:
I take some solace in knowing I’m not the only one who thought that. Still, what?
19/05/2010 at 21:10 AndrewC says:
I think this is about a protest against the Turkish Government’s continuing refusal to admit the Armenian Genocide ever happened. This is a solid political stance, but rather undermined by Mount & Blade being made by two people who happen to be Turkish, and that America, England, Japan and Ex Soviet Countries all have some spectacularly shoddy histories when it comes to human rights.
But I could be wrong.
19/05/2010 at 21:11 Mo says:
Uhh, what?
What exactly is your issue with the developers being Turkish?
19/05/2010 at 21:13 laikapants says:
@AndrewC:
If that’s the case then I’m severely less quizzical. Thanks for, potentially, clearing that up.
19/05/2010 at 21:19 Mo says:
@AndrewC:
But surely A-Scale would understand that the views of a government do not necessarily reflect on the views of their people? I mean, I don’t agree with everything my government says/does but I’m still a proud Canadian.
19/05/2010 at 21:22 AndrewC says:
I should point out i’m only regurgitating objections to the game that I have previously read on messageboards. A-Scale is perfectly capable of arguing for himself.
19/05/2010 at 21:23 A-Scale says:
The reason I went to the forum was to check on the developer’s stance regarding the Genocide. I don’t have a problem with all Turks, just the ones who deny the slaughter of my family and 1.5 million Armenians. Unfortunately I couldn’t get an answer, and instead got responses along the lines of “I’m glad they killed you. All Armenians should be killed” and “Fuck off idiot we all hate you”. Needless to say my desire to know the Paradox developers’ stance on the issue was not satisfied.
laikapants, I have no idea what you’re talking about.
19/05/2010 at 21:29 laikapants says:
@A-Scale:
I was being facetious as I was unaware (completely and utterly unaware) of the context for your stance and as under the presumption that you raised your query to the Paradox Forum in a similar contextless way. Now I know the context and am no longer facetious. Sorry about that. As you were.
19/05/2010 at 21:39 Mo says:
@A-Scale: Ah, fair enough. Just a thought, perhaps the forums weren’t the best place to ask the developers? Have you considered a PM or email?
19/05/2010 at 21:42 A-Scale says:
Mo
Yes i have. In fact I sought out their email first, but couldn’t find out, so I turned to the forums.
19/05/2010 at 22:15 laikapants says:
@ A-Scale:
You can, theoretically, contact Armağan Yavuz via his LinkedIn page. Which is, here: http://tr.linkedin.com/pub/armagan-yavuz/10/4b/295
How successful you might be, I have no idea.
And again, sorry about my mass confusion.
19/05/2010 at 22:37 freepower says:
If it makes you feel any better, they seem to be firmly egalitarian and come down hard on any racism in the forums. I know because I made an ironic jibe once and they didn’t see the funny side. I very much doubt they would subscribe to the wrongthink regarding humanity’s worst hours that you describe.
One of the few fantasy games where you can play a black, female character and feel at home. :P
19/05/2010 at 23:17 Mo says:
Yeah, it’s worth noting that in the 15 years I lived in the Middle East (Dubai, to be exact) I found that, more often than not, the people are far more sensible and than their governments. The extremist views are only held by stubborn governments and a vocal minority.
19/05/2010 at 23:50 A-Scale says:
Unfortunately Turkey has pushed their lies on the schoolchildren, speaking out about the Genocide is punishable by law, and intellectuals who do speak out are subject to murder at the hands of extremists. Further, the Genocide is an issue of pride and also treasure for the Turks (who would want to believe that their grandfathers were cold blooded murderers and rapers on a scale nearing the Holocaust, and on top of that who would want to give back a part of the country they stole?). It’s a shame, but from what I’ve seen the average Turk is more likely to believe their state’s propaganda than the truth. It is insult to murderous injury, and something which I simply cannot stomach.
20/05/2010 at 01:30 cjlr says:
I was going to say something re: Armenians in the late Ottoman period, but… I’m not going to be the one who ruins the atmosphere here. Hating the ‘infidel Turk’ is just so… 1700s, y’know? And – no. I won’t do it. I must stop myself.
Just this: a private citizen of a country whose quasi-predecessor’s actions during wartime ninety-five years ago were tragic and unfortunate (par for the WWI course, mind) should be in no way judged by said actions. Guilt is not inheritable.
20/05/2010 at 05:09 A-Scale says:
@cjlr
Modern Turks aren’t guilty of genocide, they’re guilty of denial of genocide.
21/05/2010 at 11:08 TeeJay says:
Sorry A-Scale but you are out of order IMO.
You say you “don’t feel comfortable supporting a Turkish developer”. Yet you know nothing about these specific people or their beliefs.
You say you “don’t have a problem with all Turks, just the ones who deny the slaughter of my family and 1.5 million Armenians” – yet in reality you *do* seem to have a problem with these developers.
You also say that “Modern Turks aren’t guilty of genocide, they’re guilty of denial of genocide”. You don’t say ‘some Modern Turks’ – you just say ‘Modern Turks are guilty’ – implying that all of them are guilty, ie bigotted nonsense. You repeate his again with your sweeping comments about what “…the Turks…the average Turk…” think.
Sorry but however angry and disgusted you feel, it doesn’t make it right for you to be bigotted or to lash out at innocent people.
Do you also want to know anyone else thinks about the Armenian genocide, or do you only care about what Turkish passport holders think? Why discriminate, if ‘genocide denial’ is wrong then what has being Turkish or non-Turkish got to do with it?
I also think it is unreasonable to require that videogame developers publically declare their political opinions on such controversial issues, when doing so will obviously draw a lot of hatred and problems towards them from extremists in Turkey (and possibly government attention as well?). Surely they can have their own private opinions and express their beliefs via their own personal behaviour and via their games. You yourself say that “speaking out about the Genocide is punishable by law, and intellectuals who do speak out are subject to murder at the hands of extremists.” How are you being reasonable to expect these video game developers, who have a high profile online and who are involved in a history-based game to pitch themselves ino the midfdle of this debate? They would be crazy to make public statements about it surely?
Fair enough if you are simply undertaking a boycott of all Turkish products (just like people boycotted South African goods during the apartheid period) but this didn’t involve discriminaing against individual Souh African citizens or making assumptions that all white South Africans were racist.
You are not the only person to have had family killed in various europan wars over the years – many people here have had family killed by Nazis in WW2, or who died in Japanese camps. There are people here who have been effected by IRA bombs or Islamic extremists or a vast number of wars all across the world, including people killed by the “good old British and Americans”.
So while you may have a valid campaign about the Amenian genocide, don’t yourself allow this to turn you into exactly the kind of hate-filled, bigotted extremist that feeds off and feeds into all this shit in the first place.
19/05/2010 at 21:01 Farrer says:
Count me In. =D
19/05/2010 at 21:01 Out Reach says:
Our Spectacular shield wall will be quickly destroyed by solo axe murders, Crossbows and that 1 guy who rides around couche lancing EVERYONE.
20/05/2010 at 06:38 user@example.com says:
That’s what crazy pissed-off angry axe mans are for, to break up shield walls. Then the slightly less pissed-off, slightly better organised line of angry mans charges while you’re trying to get your blades out of the dead axe mans and get your shields back together!
History! :D
19/05/2010 at 21:10 Alexander Norris says:
If Warband didn’t cost bloody £27 and I didn’t already own regular M&B, I’d buy it and join you. As it is, my lust for multiplayer medieval combat complete with horse formations will have to go unsated. :(
19/05/2010 at 21:15 Krondonian says:
Well, you can knock a tenner off at amazon, shopto and so on, but yeah.
I think I’ll wait until a Steam sale, or it slides down to my familiar sub-£10 zone of gaming delights.
19/05/2010 at 21:59 DarkNoghri says:
I picked up M&B a while ago in a sale for I dunno, 5$? I played it for about one hour. I was actually in the Warband beta, and never got around to playing it (L4D2!).
But 25-30$? I’d like to join ya’ll, but sorry, no.
19/05/2010 at 21:29 Kid A says:
I’d love to if the multiplayer actually worked for me. It seems to dislike certain very specific combinations of hardware, and if you have that specific combination, you’re screwed.
Also, I don’t have it from Steam, and I assume RPS will stick to VAC servers.
Captcha: YZZZ – RPS, oh how you mock my inability to sleep.
19/05/2010 at 22:03 the army of none says:
Count me in once I get back to real internets tomorrow!
19/05/2010 at 22:18 Isometric says:
Alas I am a knave and have not bought Warband yet. Only just finished with the original really but i’ve joined anyway. Played the beta of Warband for a while and I’ll be purchasing soon.
19/05/2010 at 22:44 Shatners Bassoon says:
You could just register your Mount and Blade Warband key via Steam, then play with RPS in the Steam servers, but keep your non Steam install to play regular servers if you so wish. This also works the other way around, if people own the Steam version but don’t wish to use log in everytime, download the trial version from the Taleworlds website then enter your Steam Warband serial to play. Voila.
19/05/2010 at 22:45 Shatners Bassoon says:
Fail reply. Gah. The above was dedicated to people who purchased the game cheaply from retailers and wish to register upon Steam and also to Kid A.
20/05/2010 at 10:04 D says:
Rest assured it also works as a thread-starting post. Thanks!
20/05/2010 at 10:09 D says:
Not a valid serial! Are you sure you’re correct?
20/05/2010 at 21:07 Shatners Bassoon says:
Very sure, I have both copies running here. I prefer the non steam install to play singleplayer so I don’t get friend bombed to play other games. Guess you just gotta make sure you type em in correctly.
19/05/2010 at 23:29 bit_crusherrr says:
I’d of so bought Warband if it didnt cost £25… I already have M&B and I played the Warband beta, i really didn’t think the multiplayer alone was worth £25 ;<
I was also hoping for some sort of campaign co-op :c
20/05/2010 at 00:54 cjlr says:
A thousand times yea!
20/05/2010 at 00:56 Wednesday says:
Reaction: Is that a shotgun? Why is there a Shot…oh.
20/05/2010 at 02:17 Zyzzi says:
I’ve got regular Mount and Blade, but I don’t want to buy Warband ([insert myriad of excuses here]) and I’m afraid that once it drops in price enough for me to warrant it if I don’t like it, I’ll miss out on all the RPS shenanigans ;_;.
Also, I live in the US so I can never play on any of the RPS TF2 servers. :argh:
20/05/2010 at 07:27 Jeremy says:
Yeah, I’m in Japan and have the same problem. I wake up at 7am and find a bunch of TF2 notifications :( I think I’ve gotten to play once. ‘Twas fun that once, though.
20/05/2010 at 05:08 A-Scale says:
Modern Turks aren’t guilty of genocide, they’re guilty of denial of genocide.
20/05/2010 at 06:18 Archonsod says:
Problem with claiming they’re denying genocide is it’s never been proven to be a genocide. It requires more than simply killing a bunch of people. Although that’s neither here nor there.
Regarding Steam it shouldn’t actually matter which version you have. VAC is optional under the server configuration, if it’s turned off then anyone should be able to join whether they’re running the Steam version or not. Theoretically as long as you have Steam running you should be able to join a VAC enabled server even if you’re not running the game through Steam, but I’ve never found a VAC enabled server to test that on.
20/05/2010 at 06:25 Fitzgamon says:
Forsooth indeed! I have joined your mighty band of merry men and lasses under the moniker of Grot Punter! I am well aware that such activities will not be available in Warband, but I care not! May our enemies tremble before the awesome might of our Pump-action Templar Cavalry! Onward to victory!
20/05/2010 at 08:05 terry says:
Now I’m kicking myself for not picking up Warband when it was on sale a week or so back. £25 seems a bit steep for MP :(
20/05/2010 at 08:35 RogB says:
mount and blade warband is A GOOD GAME. therefore you SHOULD BUY IT.
political views have no part in the argument, im not surprised you got such a poor response on the forums, publically calling them out on something like that.
20/05/2010 at 08:55 mrmud says:
Yea I kind of have to agree with this.
It would be a different story if the developers where mouthpieces for the denial of the armenian genocide and used the money they got from the game to fund some kind of campaign.
But to me it sounds more like boycotting it just because the devs are from Turkey.
20/05/2010 at 08:50 Yargh says:
I think I’ll join in. this will have to wait until Amazon deliver the DVD though…
20/05/2010 at 11:06 Norskov says:
I’d be happy to join, though I’m not sure whether I have the time for it.
20/05/2010 at 12:33 GetOutOfHereStalker says:
remember that time when countless people refused to buy japanese games because of their countless war crimes? no? that’s because it never happened.
21/05/2010 at 11:36 TeeJay says:
There are actually Chinese nationalist, Korean nationalist and anti-Whaling groups that are boycotting of all Japanese products (including videogames, electronics, consoles, cars etc).
20/05/2010 at 15:48 DarkFenix says:
Sounds interesting. I’ve not really clocked any time on M&B:W, but played the original M&B quite a lot (got bored of its singleplayer nature in the end). Count me in.
20/05/2010 at 16:21 Aldehyde says:
About the VOIP and you not having a TS server; you could always set up your own Mumble server. It’s free and quite easy to set-up, especially with their step-by-step guide for just that.
20/05/2010 at 17:36 Paxeh says:
I’m game. Where do I sign up?
20/05/2010 at 19:16 OJ287 says:
What type of games will RPS play? Sign me up if I can be a horse archer sometimes. I played the beta for 10-15 hours and Im not great in melee, but I’ll blame that on getting used to the new animations.
20/05/2010 at 19:20 Reapy says:
Hey just an fyi for some help in terms of formations. I believe some beta testers used to get together once a week and tried to organize formation fighting, not sure how it went but people did keep it up for a few weeks.
For fun, I highly recommend you guys get huge cav line ups and shield walls and have them charge into each other. Having 15+ cav line up on a ridge and charge at you is an experience that you won’t find anywhere else at the moment, if you are organizing you should seriously consider setting stuff up like that just to try it.
In terms of effectiveness though, formations are arrow magnets and tend to quickly fall apart because they get surrounded and the formation breaks at first contact with the enemy. What you really want to do if you are staying in groups is to become mobile and learn to move together as a group, that applies pressure and map control that a pub team will have a hard time adjusting to. It also prevents the threatening formation from being surrounded on all sides taking arrows and cav stab attempts from each angle, not to mention when enemy infantry gets in the middle of the formation it can mess it up.
Formations in warband are almost more about teams of units supporting each other and covering vulnerabilities. Think of it as something simple like having a guy with a shield raised in front, behind him a pike wielder, and as soon as someone tries to attack the shield user, the pike user will stab beyond his teammate with the shield up and score a hit. This is a punishing duo move that in mass would probably be extremly effective. Another demonstration of that concept is as simple as keeping 2 archers about 30 paces from one another, if someone gets in the middle their back is always open to arrow shots and it is a tough situation to wiggle out of.
But the reality of the situation is that a team of even 15/20 people is not enough for a formation to do what they would do in ‘real life’. Though if you guys could get on one team on some of those 100+ servers that might be pretty damn interesting indeed.
Anyway, hope to see all you guys out there on the field!
20/05/2010 at 23:00 WiPa says:
Brilliant idea! I’m in.
One of my personal favourite tactics is sneaking up onto one of the roofs in the Nord village. It’s really high and nobody can see where you are. :D
They run around like berks trying to find where the arrows are coming from haha.
21/05/2010 at 03:51 oatish says:
sheeet im down. maybe survive a match
21/05/2010 at 19:34 Davee says:
Too bad I’m already in a Warband clan then :)
The peasant rabble of the public servers only provide so much resistance. If you feel you guys are up to it you can always ask me for a fight versus the Einherjars!
In any case I would be delighted to teach you guys how to duel properly. Joining :)
21/05/2010 at 20:47 Entropy says:
Well, Amazon tells me I’ll have Warband by the 26th. And then it is pillaging time
22/05/2010 at 04:12 DarkFenix says:
Been clocking some multiplayer hours as practice. Holy crap I suck badly in a brawl, if I survive a melee it’s only through blind luck. Thankfully I’m rather better with a spear, or as cavalry or and archer.
Looking forward to Monday. It’ll be nice to see something at least resembling coordination.