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Good Day, chaps!

In order to fill up my free time, I decided some time ago to create a YouTube channel, focusing on gaming (Me and a thousand other people, I know!). I had originally intended to simply work my way up through word-of-mouth, and not advertise my channel anywhere. However, none of my videos at the moment have triple-digit view counts, and I have a paltry number of subscribers, so I have decided to make Exilian the home of my YouTube work. At least you will all now get to hear what I sound like! 

My first offering to you, is the recently-released Mad Max!

Episode #1:

Spoiler

Episode #2:

Spoiler

Episode #3:

Spoiler

Episode #4:

Spoiler

Episode #5:

Spoiler

Episode #6:

Spoiler

Hi everyone!

As Colossus has already shown, the M&B II: Bannerlord team were at Gamescon in Cologne, Germany, where they demonstrated some new gameplay footage, which is here if you want to see it:

There is a lot of context missing from the video as-is, hence the new blog. There are a lot of things demonstrated in the trailer, some of which are more obvious than others.

https://www.taleworlds.com/en/Games/Bannerlord/Blog/13

Siege Engines - Hooray! Not only are there new Siege Engines (With at least a battering ram and catapult to add on to the returning siege tower and ladders), but the engines themselves are fully player-interactable, meaning that the player can push them in to position and 'use' them. What is also not seen in the video is that all Siege Engines can be placed manually during deployment, and aren't simply static objects with set paths like in M&B I. You can also climb ladders!

Combat - The animations are a lot more fluid and look to be a lot more varied and dynamic. Whereas before, hitting someone in a specific attack direction caused a specific death animation to play, the death animation played in M&B II seems to be based on the attack direction, weapon used, relative positioning and point of contact (Possibly some others as well). The characters also ragdoll a lot earlier in the animation, and do so more logically (Based on momentum and gravity) and more realistically (No stiff corpses). Heavy and large weapons can now also hit multiple targets with one attack! Wounds also look to appear more logically (Appearing where the weapon strikes the flesh, rather than all over the body). Animations in general, both combat and non-combat, also look to have been improved.

Character screen - Massive changes to the UI, which seem to make it look a lot smoother and better looking. Mouse-over on equip-able items brings up a comparison tooltip to allow for easier decision-making for whether to change out your sword for that new one you just picked up.

Seasons - Snow isn't just for the Vaegirs any more! As the game progresses, the changing of the seasons changes both how the game looks and how you need to play it! Waging war in winter is now a strategic decision, as morale is lost quicker, and the soldiers demand more food and fuel for their fires! All scenes change dynamically based upon the season (And presumably, overarching weather conditions) as well as on the World Map. Adds a little bit more immersion and a sense that time is passing.

The new World Map looks gorgeous, by the way, doesn't it?

Villages, Castles and Towns - The various settlements around Calradia are now more than just static objects with an interior scene and lots of menus. The management of settlements is a lot broader than M&B I and the interactions with them and the poeple within them are much more realistic. The settlements themselves can have upgrades built, which will confer various bonuses, but building one upgrade could be at the expense of another (For example, building a village outside a castle would make the village easier to defend, but you could have built a salt or iron mine there). The time taken on projects can also be varied by increasing the number of workers tasked to build, though this could impact the number of fighting men that are trained up in that settlement. Taxes can also be fine-tuned (With obvious morale effects). AI Lords will also undertake management of their settlements, so the face of Calradia will likely change over time.

Game-ception - In the unlikely event that you get bored, or just need some more money, some taverns contain a game host, who will offer you a challenge in a board game based upon the culture of that town. The games can also be played with ladies (Perhaps some enjoy more it than others? Another layer of interaction to woo the lady of your choice?) and other NPCs for role-playing or even diplomatic purposes.

Crafting! - Outgrown your current sword? Don't want to trek across Calradia to try and find a Merchant that actually has something better? Make your own! You can craft a custom sword, axe or polearm, changing various parts on each type of weapon. You can even name your new creation, too! This isn't just a cosmetic feature, either, as each part changes the weight and centre of mass of the weapon, changing the 'feel' of the weapon, the speed of attack and how far it reaches. There is also the very real chance of losing your prized weapon and seeing it among the wares of a Merchant!

Replays - For those of us (Like me) that walk the hallowed halls of YouTube brandishing gaming videos, this is a feature that will come in handy for anyone that goes beyond simple reviews or let's-plays. All battles (Single and Multi-player) are saved and can be watched back from any angle, with several adjustable environmental settings.

That was quite something. I need to rest now...

Hello everyone!

Taleworlds seem to be stepping up the pace with their blogs (Even if only slightly), and they have now released number 10, which covers interactions with NPCs.

https://www.taleworlds.com/en/Games/Bannerlord/Blog/12

In the previous games, interaction between player and non-player characters was pretty lacklustre and predictable. Every item had an assigned base value, which only really changed based on it's quality, and the player party's Trading skill. Under a new "Bartering" system, each item (Including Gold) carries a certain bargaining weight to it, dependent on factors such as the the player's relation to the NPC and the individual needs of that NPC, as well as traditional skill scoring.

In my ideal world, this would lend credence to encounters with NPCs whereby they would be desperate for a particular item (Such as food), and would be willing to trade something disproportionately valuable for it (I once paid £5 for a slice of pizza, because I was hungry ).

The system will also govern your interactions with Lords of other factions, as well as the interactions between the Lords themselves. Lords defecting to a particular faction will now have some logic behind it, and defections will be based upon a specific interaction between a King and a Lord, rather than the algorithmic randomness we saw in Warband. It's logical to assume that the same system will also manage friendships, rivalries and marriages.

See you guys soon!

Hi Guys!

Taleworlds have come out with a new blog, brought to us courtesy of Finn Seliger of Periscope Studio, a German audio design company that will be behind all the lovely, authentic music that will grace our ears as we become aroused by the level of detail in Bannerlord.

The blog goes fairly in depth in describing the types of music they wanted to create, and the instruments they are using to achieve this. It even gives us a little taster (Come on, this is Taleworlds!) of what the music will end up being like.

One of the things that Warband REALLY lacked was a reasonable variety of good music. Many mods did, of course, add music in to the game, but to me it never sounded quite right.

Linky Link
https://www.taleworlds.com/en/Games/Bannerlord/Blog/11

So, what do we think? Does the sample they give show a promising future? Are we hoping for any particular styles for the factions?

Hi guys!

To coincide with the 1-year anniversary of the original announcement of Mount and Blade II: Bannerlord, Taleworlds had been releasing less-than-frequent blogs detailing the progress they had been making on the game and the direction they were taking, all the while tantalising us with super-massive screenshots that are every bit better than Warband!

However, there had been no video footage... Until now! On 27 September, to coincide with the 2-year anniversary of the announcement, Taleworlds have finally released an actual video for us mere mortals to froth over.

Not gameplay footage specifically, but a demonstration of the game engine, how it functions, how it creates scenes and how modders will be able to use the programs, which will be made available upon release of the game.

Obviously, this isn't the most exciting thing that Taleworlds could have put out on the anniversary, but it is still very good nonetheless to see how the game engine looks, how accessible they are planning to make the game, and how much improvement is being made to the graphical fidelity of the game.

[YEEEAAAHHHHH!]

Now that my existence has become somewhat stable, I can now partake in intellectual debate with all the fine gentlemen I once saw every day, to which I do most look forward to.

...

YEEEAAAHHHHH! Where all the women at?! 

That's right!

As of tomorrow (May 23rd) I am officially a Catering Assistant at J. Sainsbury's Supermarkets!

Hopefully it won't be a god-awful as my last job and maybe this time I might earn MORE than the minimum wage of Zimbabwe!

BBC News

Reuters

Well... it's finally happened.

US President Barack Obama made a statement in a national Press Conference stating that the infamous leader of Al-Qaeda had been killed during an operation in Abbottobad, Pakistan.

What are our feelings?

Yes, it is true.

I know that there hasn't been much activity on here, but it is still necessary for me to tender this resignation.

Why? Because I now have a job.

It's good work, but the hours are immense (10:30am - 8:30pm), so I won't be able to go on the website (Or do anything, for that matter.

It's sad to go, but unfortunately I must. I'll miss you guys. It's been a good ride.

It's really inevitable that someone would create a music video using nothing but Machinima*.

However, what I wasn't expecting when I first watched was that it would be such a profound and detailed analysis of one man's perception of human beings.

Ray Koefoed - Sum of a Body

Read the producer's comment (It's currently the highest-rated one).

There are some people who agree with him, and go into slightly more profound depth with their analyses, but I disagree with him using the example of myself. Just view all comments and look for my one (Same name as on here. Look for Ray's post and mine should be underneath that somewhere).

He has started an interesting philosophical debate on Youtube.

*Machinima is a term used to describe videos created using only material from video games.

http://probablybadnews.com/

Enjoy!

Accurately describes how I fell whenever I move my right arm.

Free advice: NEVER, EVER go Paintballing.

I feel like celebrating today.

Friday the 14th of May is officially my last day at Godalming College.

I am no longer a full-time student, and am no longer obliged to get up at 8am every morning to catch a train to College.

Instead, I will now be obliged to get up at 8am every morning to catch a train to work.

I don't have a job yet, but I am hoping to get one at Garland Motors in Aldershot. I have sent an application, and am awaiting a reply.

[Work In Progress Mods for Mount & Blade]

I had to get rid of this section from the original because the topic was too big for editing, so here it is:

Work In Progress Mods for Mount & Blade

Fallout Mod - A mod attempting to recreate the classic adventures in a war-torn hollocaust version of earth. So far, pretty good progress.
Mod official forums: http://mnbfallout.forumotion.com/index.htm

Second Age - A revolutionary mod coming to Mount and Blade, this will seemingly put all other native expansion mods to shame. And so far, that rumor seems to be true.

Lotr - Ak Ela Mod - translated - A mod being translated into english that puts J.R.R Tolkien's wonderful world of LOTR into M&B. However this is only one of the two mods doing this as you shall see.

The Last Days [TLD] - The first and foremost mod attempting to recreate LOTR in the M&B engine. This one is by far the most recognized mod on the Taleworlds site. And by far expected to be the most revolutionary as far as mods go.
Osgiliath Preview of TLD: http://forums.taleworlds.net/index.php/topic,61696.0.html
Christmas Preview (With Music): http://forums.taleworlds.com/index.php/topic,88598.msg2286948.html#msg2286948

Sea Dogs - A mod adding realistic Naval combat and custom battle scenes. Arrrrrgh!!!

The Peninsular War - A Napoleonic mod set in the Iberian Peninsular in 1811

Daydream - fantasy mod

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Work In Progress Mods for Warband

Calradia: Modern Warfare - A complete overhaul of the game with a modern theme based on the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 game.

Crusader: way to expiation - a Russian modification. It's aim is to reconstruct the Fourth Crusade.

The Death of the Renaissance 1524-1546 - a total conversion of Mount and Blade set in the historical 16th century Italy during the Italian Wars of 1524-1546 that marked the zenith and downfall of the Italian Renaissance

Khazad-d

Probably the funniest 5 seconds on the internet. So funny I had to give it it's own thread.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTO5yiN1b-I

Yesterday I completed my application for my Provisional License.

I did a bit of research about Theory and Practical tests.

However, I need some advice about driving lessons.

Who should I get them from?

I know that not many people on this forum drive, but can anyone (from England) give me advice about who would be the best and/or cheapest?

Europe 1080


This summary will be done entirely without screenshots [added screens] , as I can't be bothered to get an ImageShack account.

Mount & Blade: Total War

I felt that the title was appropriate, as that is pretty much exactly what this mod is, minus the family trees, strategic combat, ruling from the outset and generally ruling the world.


But enough of that. Europe 1080 does borrow the map and factions from M2:TW with a few ommissions such as Egypt and Portugal. However, the essential factions are there.

The factions include:
England (Yay)
Scotland
France (Boo)
Holy Roman Empire
Spain
Milan
Venice
Papacy
Denmark
Poland
Hungary
Turks
Moors
The Byzantine Empire
Sicily



This makes for a good variety of troops and wars. However, such is the case with Mount and Blade that with loads of troops comes loads of unbalance.

As an example, I had a group of 5 English Knights that I took against a group of 12 French Knights in a deserter party. Logically, the 12 knights should win, but oh no. My knights vastly overpowered them and took them out in 6 minutes without a loss.

Also, due to the random nature that M&B picks it's wars, you inevitably see that most conflicts have no real reason and, actually, no combat. In my game, England were at war with 2 people. Scotland, which is fine and actually accurate, and then Hungary, which just doesn't make any sense. I know i'm niggling, but it breaks the immersion, and it meant that after Scotland were inevitably defeated after about 40 days I had to trawl all the way to Hungary to find any real challenges, as i had over 100 men by then and fighting deserters was boring.


There were more things that broke immersion for me. Firstly, everything was in english. While that isn't a bad thing, it would be nice to see a bit of French, German, Spanish or Italian in the troop names, but there wasn't with the exception of the Imperial Zweihander. This made the troops start to feel a little bland. Also, despite english being used, it's deployment wasn't very good. Every W was replaced with double v, so you ended up with Norvvich, Warsovv, Glascovv etc. and places such as Edinburg missing letters or places missing accentations such as Lodz (should be

Southern Realms

"This is Mount & Blade as you've NEVER seen it before. Southern Realms adds a lot of variety to the game, giving you more opportunities, skills, and... and I'll let the features list do the talking, since I'm rather chuffed with it myself." ~ Jubal

He's right. I certainly haven't seen it like THAT before.

Southern Realms is more of a massive expansion for Mount and Blade. It doesn't edit the content that is already there, but adds about 5 times more.

23 factions instead of the usual 5 to choose from, covering a map that is nearly twice the size of the original means that there is quite a lot of choice for any player, as each is unique, has their own troop tree and can offer the player different things. Among the new features is the ability to become the Town Watch Commander in any given town. This is good, as it allows one unprecedented control over the defence forces of that town. I haven't been able to try this feature out yet, but it looks to be quite good.

One feature I have been able to try out is the Naval Combat system, which is similar to the system in Europe: 1080 with a few crucial differences. The main difference is that, when a ship takes enough damage (Around 2000), it will "sink" i.e. disappear, after which all people on the boat at the time will simply keel over. This makes it a fairly good strategy to do as much damage to the enemy ship to prevent them destroying yours, and adds an element of risks for even seasoned fighters. This makes this feature a very worthwhile endeavour.

Like many mods, this one borrows quite a bit of popular content, including Foxyman's Formations, and the ability to hunt, also found in the incredibly popular 1866: Western Mod. There is also the ability to join one of 3 churches: Orinite, Varalite and Conirile. These churches give offers to the player of joining them. Once the player has joined them, they get access to the powerful healers and "Battle-hardened Religious warriors". They are considerably powerful troops, and if one joins a church early, they can be invaluable in helping the player develop the status quo.

SR also introduces the ability to use certain special abilities, like healing nearby troops, raising morale or even regenerating ones own health in battle. There are also several new locations independent of thw towns, castles and factions, including country taverns, 2 Universities and and (Uncompleted) Rogue hideout called Jarren's Rock. One of these new places will lead you to General Tataca, who, along with 2 other named characters, will teach you about certain skills (Barbarianism, Command or Assassination) independent from the regular skill set.

In addition, there are a ton of other special features; villages now spawn refugee parties when burned, new bandit types roam the map, several companions require quests to allow you to hire them, and troops can be hired in city marketplaces. There are gamblers and drunks in the Pubs. All these features help to add a new layer of realism and vibrancy to Calradia.

All in all, it was an ambitious project for our resident Administrator and Grand Overlord to undertake (More or less) alone. I believe that he has pulled off quite a feat with this mod, and I hope that it can be improved upon. I wish him the best of luck.

As much as I like snow and the opportunity off College, it's really messing with my work schedule and my attempts at romance (Mock all you want). Plus, it's really f***ing cold in my bedroom.

Information is here.

Release for 5th February 2010.

Pre-Order from Amazon for