Greetings warriors of Calradia!

They came from overseas, mercenaries and adventurers, speaking the tongues of many lands, taking the empire's silver to guard the frontiers against the unsubdued tribes of the interior. They took their name from one of their first warlords, Wilund the Bold - Valandion, in Calradic - and became known as the Vlandians. Their heavy cavalry, second to none, ran down the Emperor's foes from the Aserai wastes to the distant steppes. But the empire never had as much silver as it needed, and treasury officials soon learned that it could pay its mercenaries with land grants and titles. This was perhaps not the most far-sighted of policies. The Vlandians settled, married, planted farms, and built fortresses. It was not difficult, during the recent interregnum, for Osrac Iron-arm to declare himself king, independent in all but name. He seized the imperial capital of Baravenos and the lands along the coast, and that was how the west was lost to the empire.

The Vlandians are based on the feudal states of early medieval Europe, in particular the Normans, the Norse raiders who settled in France then carved out kingdoms for themselves in England, Sicily, and the Holy Land. The Normans stunned their Byzantine and Muslim adversaries with the fury and discipline of cavalry charges with couched lance which, in the words of 12th century chronicler Anna Comnena, "could pierce the walls of Babylon." The knights combined extraordinary discipline in training for war with the tenacious pursuit of any land they could possibly conceive a claim to. Any grey area in feudal inheritance law was grounds for war. The careers of William the Conqueror, Robert Guiscard of Sicily, or the Crusader Bohemond were one of endless conflict: sometimes conquering more lands, but just as often over the relatively petty disputes of vassal against liege, brother against brother, father against son.



The Vlandians control slightly more territory than the other factions, but we've seeded the ground for a lot of internal dissent among them. The world-weary Vlandian king, Derthert, will have to deal with barons who are more interested in pursuing their own agendas than fighting under his banner. Mount and Blade: Warband also tried to model this "herding cats" aspect of medieval warfare, but some people found the implementation, in which lords could wander off on their own accord, to be frustrating. In Bannerlord, the new Influence mechanism will let the player spend influence to keep large armies of quarrelsome vassals in the field - but that resource is limited.

The Vlandians will have their share of minor factions. As with the Battanians and Khuzaits, these serve to emphasize the origins of the kingdom. For example, players who wish to emulate the adventurers who founded the Vlandian (and Norman) kingdoms can seek their fortunes with the Company of the Golden Boar, mercenaries who are based on medieval outfits like the Catalan or Free Companies.



Vlandian arms and armour are based on that of Western Europe from the 9th to the early 12th centuries. This was a period of relatively fast evolution, and leaves us with some balancing issues. For example, there are textual references to what appear to be two-handed swords in this period, notably as wielded by Swabian mercenaries at the 1053 battle of Civitate, but as far as we know no artistic depictions or specimens. Two-handed swords were a popular weapon in Warband, so we're including them - but we're ensuring they're relatively rare, a hero's weapon rather than standard equipment. There's also come controversy about how frequently crossbows were used in the 11th century and before, but we're erring on the side of inclusion. Their use should help the Vlandians be as effective defending fortresses as the Normans were historically.

The couched lance charge is a deadly tactic - as it was, clearly, on the medieval battlefield. But it becomes much more effective when it's performed by a good rider on a powerful horse. In Bannerlord, we're trying to ensure there's a trade-off between specializing as light or heavy cavalry. Light horses will be noticeably more manoeuvrable but also more averse to physical contact. And even the best heavy cavalry should think twice about crashing into a wall of spears - even the Normans could not break the shield wall at Hastings, instead wearing it down with combined arms and feints. Still, used properly, a force of Vlandians can be a steamroller - just be sure to keep them focused on your enemies instead of your own lands.



In next week’s blog we will be speaking with Software Engineers, Dündar Ünsal and Koray Kıyakoğlu. Dündar and Koray work alongside each other to ensure that the front-end (client) and back-end (server) of Bannerlord communicate efficiently and effectively. If you have a question you would like to ask, please leave a reply in the comments section and we will pick one out for them to answer.

Discuss this blog post HERE



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Twitter


Website
Facebook
Twitter
YouTube
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Greetings warriors of Calradia!

They came from overseas, mercenaries and adventurers, speaking the tongues of many lands, taking the empire's silver to guard the frontiers against the unsubdued tribes of the interior. They took their name from one of their first warlords, Wilund the Bold - Valandion, in Calradic - and became known as the Vlandians. Their heavy cavalry, second to none, ran down the Emperor's foes from the Aserai wastes to the distant steppes. But the empire never had as much silver as it needed, and treasury officials soon learned that it could pay its mercenaries with land grants and titles. This was perhaps not the most far-sighted of policies. The Vlandians settled, married, planted farms, and built fortresses. It was not difficult, during the recent interregnum, for Osrac Iron-arm to declare himself king, independent in all but name. He seized the imperial capital of Baravenos and the lands along the coast, and that was how the west was lost to the empire.

The Vlandians are based on the feudal states of early medieval Europe, in particular the Normans, the Norse raiders who settled in France then carved out kingdoms for themselves in England, Sicily, and the Holy Land. The Normans stunned their Byzantine and Muslim adversaries with the fury and discipline of cavalry charges with couched lance which, in the words of 12th century chronicler Anna Comnena, "could pierce the walls of Babylon." The knights combined extraordinary discipline in training for war with the tenacious pursuit of any land they could possibly conceive a claim to. Any grey area in feudal inheritance law was grounds for war. The careers of William the Conqueror, Robert Guiscard of Sicily, or the Crusader Bohemond were one of endless conflict: sometimes conquering more lands, but just as often over the relatively petty disputes of vassal against liege, brother against brother, father against son.



The Vlandians control slightly more territory than the other factions, but we've seeded the ground for a lot of internal dissent among them. The world-weary Vlandian king, Derthert, will have to deal with barons who are more interested in pursuing their own agendas than fighting under his banner. Mount and Blade: Warband also tried to model this "herding cats" aspect of medieval warfare, but some people found the implementation, in which lords could wander off on their own accord, to be frustrating. In Bannerlord, the new Influence mechanism will let the player spend influence to keep large armies of quarrelsome vassals in the field - but that resource is limited.

The Vlandians will have their share of minor factions. As with the Battanians and Khuzaits, these serve to emphasize the origins of the kingdom. For example, players who wish to emulate the adventurers who founded the Vlandian (and Norman) kingdoms can seek their fortunes with the Company of the Golden Boar, mercenaries who are based on medieval outfits like the Catalan or Free Companies.



Vlandian arms and armour are based on that of Western Europe from the 9th to the early 12th centuries. This was a period of relatively fast evolution, and leaves us with some balancing issues. For example, there are textual references to what appear to be two-handed swords in this period, notably as wielded by Swabian mercenaries at the 1053 battle of Civitate, but as far as we know no artistic depictions or specimens. Two-handed swords were a popular weapon in Warband, so we're including them - but we're ensuring they're relatively rare, a hero's weapon rather than standard equipment. There's also come controversy about how frequently crossbows were used in the 11th century and before, but we're erring on the side of inclusion. Their use should help the Vlandians be as effective defending fortresses as the Normans were historically.

The couched lance charge is a deadly tactic - as it was, clearly, on the medieval battlefield. But it becomes much more effective when it's performed by a good rider on a powerful horse. In Bannerlord, we're trying to ensure there's a trade-off between specializing as light or heavy cavalry. Light horses will be noticeably more manoeuvrable but also more averse to physical contact. And even the best heavy cavalry should think twice about crashing into a wall of spears - even the Normans could not break the shield wall at Hastings, instead wearing it down with combined arms and feints. Still, used properly, a force of Vlandians can be a steamroller - just be sure to keep them focused on your enemies instead of your own lands.



In next week’s blog we will be speaking with Software Engineers, Dündar Ünsal and Koray Kıyakoğlu. Dündar and Koray work alongside each other to ensure that the front-end (client) and back-end (server) of Bannerlord communicate efficiently and effectively. If you have a question you would like to ask, please leave a reply in the comments section and we will pick one out for them to answer.

Discuss this blog post HERE



Facebook
Twitter


Website
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Greetings warriors of Calradia!

Every single thing that you see when you look around in a 3D video game is a unique, painstakingly-modelled object. We are not talking only about the flashiest, most important things, such as warriors, weapons or impressive architecture: in order to be realistic, a 3D world needs to take care of its smallest details. 3D modellers do exactly that: they work like sculptors, giving shape to their imagination to create and populate the worlds we will “live” in when we play. In this week’s blog we talk with 3D modeller Ümit Singil, who takes care of such things – but being one of the most veteran members of the TaleWorlds team, he has a history of doing a good number of different tasks for the Mount & Blade games.


Ümit Singil

İzmir, Turkey

2008

Animation

Animator, 3D Modeller, Translator, Web Design, Morale Officer

“I have been involved in a number projects and had many different responsibilities during my time at TaleWorlds, so my daily routine has varied quite a lot over the years. We were a small team in the beginning, so everyone pretty much had to do a bit of everything. I worked on animations for the first Mount & Blade and designed the previous TaleWorlds.com site. I helped out with the Turkish translation for all of the titles (up to and including Napoleonic Wars) and I checked the string tags for the French and Japanese versions to see if they were implemented correctly. I handled the support mail of TaleWorlds for some time and I was responsible for processing Mount & Blade: Warband Beta applicants (and made some great friends during that period!).

Currently, I am responsible for the architectural and prop modelling tasks for the Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord campaign map. I get a great deal of satisfaction from being able to make my contribution to bringing Calradia to life!

When I am asked about the differences between Bannerlord and Warband, I say that Bannerlord is bigger, better, stronger and faster in every way. The rural areas look gorgeous, with vast grassy plains, lush forests and majestic mountains. Cities are full of life and have beautiful authentic architecture. And the combat... THE COMBAT! Charging downhill into enemy lines with a couple of hundred of your fellow cavalrymen is a uniquely invigorating experience.”



“I really enjoy the depth of the game world, where everything (be it riches or troubles) is plenty! I love how I can influence so many things and get an immediate reaction within the game.”

“We set out to create a game that was closer to the "ultimate game" in ours and our players' heads. We knew to achieve our goal we had to rewrite and improve the game engine greatly. The work on the engine and art asset creation have been going on simultaneously and that has meant that sometimes we need to go back and retouch the assets that we have previously created in order for them to work with the newly added features and functions. This particular challenge didn't need to be “solved”, but it was still a challenge nonetheless.”

“I am currently working on the settlement models for the campaign map which represent villages, castles, towns, etc. I mostly use existing scene object models for reference to create the polygon friendly map models.”



“The Empire. The Byzantine empire, which our empire takes its inspiration from, is a hugely underrated empire!”

“The models for both weapons and armour vary a lot, since they come with several pieces. Polygon count for an armour set is usually between 8000-12000 triangles.

In the case of weapons (which are created in multiple parts so that they are compatible with our new weapon crafting system) I will use a sword as an example:”

• Blade: 120-1302
  
• Guard: 320-1396
  
• Handle: 96-928
  
• Pommel: 144-1244

“Yes, you can! You will be able to add particles to pretty much every entity in the game. However, adding dynamic lighting to your fiery sword could be slightly taxing on system resources.”

Discuss this blog post HERE



Facebook
Twitter


Website
Facebook
Twitter
YouTube
Twitch

Greetings warriors of Calradia!

Every single thing that you see when you look around in a 3D video game is a unique, painstakingly-modelled object. We are not talking only about the flashiest, most important things, such as warriors, weapons or impressive architecture: in order to be realistic, a 3D world needs to take care of its smallest details. 3D modellers do exactly that: they work like sculptors, giving shape to their imagination to create and populate the worlds we will “live” in when we play. In this week’s blog we talk with 3D modeller Ümit Singil, who takes care of such things – but being one of the most veteran members of the TaleWorlds team, he has a history of doing a good number of different tasks for the Mount & Blade games.


Ümit Singil

İzmir, Turkey

2008

Animation

Animator, 3D Modeller, Translator, Web Design, Morale Officer

“I have been involved in a number projects and had many different responsibilities during my time at TaleWorlds, so my daily routine has varied quite a lot over the years. We were a small team in the beginning, so everyone pretty much had to do a bit of everything. I worked on animations for the first Mount & Blade and designed the previous TaleWorlds.com site. I helped out with the Turkish translation for all of the titles (up to and including Napoleonic Wars) and I checked the string tags for the French and Japanese versions to see if they were implemented correctly. I handled the support mail of TaleWorlds for some time and I was responsible for processing Mount & Blade: Warband Beta applicants (and made some great friends during that period!).

Currently, I am responsible for the architectural and prop modelling tasks for the Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord campaign map. I get a great deal of satisfaction from being able to make my contribution to bringing Calradia to life!

When I am asked about the differences between Bannerlord and Warband, I say that Bannerlord is bigger, better, stronger and faster in every way. The rural areas look gorgeous, with vast grassy plains, lush forests and majestic mountains. Cities are full of life and have beautiful authentic architecture. And the combat... THE COMBAT! Charging downhill into enemy lines with a couple of hundred of your fellow cavalrymen is a uniquely invigorating experience.”



“I really enjoy the depth of the game world, where everything (be it riches or troubles) is plenty! I love how I can influence so many things and get an immediate reaction within the game.”

“We set out to create a game that was closer to the "ultimate game" in ours and our players' heads. We knew to achieve our goal we had to rewrite and improve the game engine greatly. The work on the engine and art asset creation have been going on simultaneously and that has meant that sometimes we need to go back and retouch the assets that we have previously created in order for them to work with the newly added features and functions. This particular challenge didn't need to be “solved”, but it was still a challenge nonetheless.”

“I am currently working on the settlement models for the campaign map which represent villages, castles, towns, etc. I mostly use existing scene object models for reference to create the polygon friendly map models.”



“The Empire. The Byzantine empire, which our empire takes its inspiration from, is a hugely underrated empire!”

“The models for both weapons and armour vary a lot, since they come with several pieces. Polygon count for an armour set is usually between 8000-12000 triangles.

In the case of weapons (which are created in multiple parts so that they are compatible with our new weapon crafting system) I will use a sword as an example:”

• Blade: 120-1302
  
• Guard: 320-1396
  
• Handle: 96-928
  
• Pommel: 144-1244

“Yes, you can! You will be able to add particles to pretty much every entity in the game. However, adding dynamic lighting to your fiery sword could be slightly taxing on system resources.”

Discuss this blog post HERE



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Twitter


Website
Facebook
Twitter
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Greetings warriors of Calradia!

In the previous blog in this series, we described how Bannerlord’s new weapon physics model derives swing and thrust speeds of weapons from their physical characteristics. We talked about how weapon crafting plays a role in determining these properties and how this gives players the freedom to create a weapon which will complement their own fighting style. In this week’s blog, we would like to expand on this topic and explain the rest of the weapon physics model, showing how we determine the damage that a weapon inflicts and how that works in the game.

Damage is a difficult concept to get right in a computer game. Making the damage model realistic could be desirable since this can help with immersion and depth, on the other hand, what happens in a real-life physical trauma is incredibly complex and trying to replicate that in a computer model could easily get needlessly complicated with little benefit to gameplay.

While working on the system we made great use of an excellent article written by George Turner. The article was an eye opener about the intricacies and fine points of weapon dynamics. Of course, during implementation we had to make several simplifications and assumptions and if there are any unrealistic elements or errors in the end result, the fault lies with us and not the article.

In Bannerlord we tried to come up with a good model that is somewhat based on physics, but is still simple and understandable for players. In our model, damage depends on kinetic energy dissipated during the impact. However, energy is not converted to damage directly as we use several extra steps in our calculations.

A weapon hit can have three different types of damage: cut, pierce or blunt. These three types have different trade-offs.

• A cutting weapon is most efficient in converting kinetic energy of the weapon into hit-point damage. However, it is also least effective against armour.
  
• Blunt weapons may require more hits for taking down an opponent, however, they make up for this by being least affected by armour.
  
• Piercing weapons sit somewhat between cutting and blunt weapons.

Apart from kinetic energy and damage type, weapons also have a damage factor that can increase their effectiveness. Better made, more expensive weapons will inflict more damage.

As our calculations are physically based, we no longer need to calculate an extra “speed bonus” like we do in the previous games in the series. We simply get the attacker’s and target’s velocities and feed these into our equations. This results in a realistic and accurate way where the attack damage is affected by speed.



For swings, damage depends on the location of the impact point on the weapon. When showing weapon statistics in the inventory, we simply show damage as if the attack connected at a point a few centimetres below the tip. During combat we take the impact point from the position of the weapon and the target, so it is not necessarily near the tip. So for example, an axe that advertises itself as having 80 damage can deliver much less if it hits the target near the grip.

Weight and balance of the weapon has significant effect on damage. As we discussed in the first part of the blog, weight and weight distribution basically determines how much kinetic energy accumulated in the weapon’s swing.

• Lighter weapons are faster and more agile.
  
• Heavier weapons can take more time to connect, but this gives more time to increase their energy making them more powerful.

Therefore, during the swing, the muscles work to speed up the weapon increasing its kinetic energy. When the impact happens, this energy can go into three places:

• Some of the energy will stay with the weapon since the weapon will not necessarily come to a complete stop.
  
• A significant portion of the energy will go into the impact with the victim. This is the part of the energy which does the useful stuff that a weapon is supposed to do (inflict damage!). As the attacker, you will generally want this to be as high as possible. Hitting the opponent at an optimal point may ensure that more of the energy goes to the impact rather than being retained by the weapon.
  
• Lastly, a portion of the energy will go to kicking-back the attacker’s hand(s). Not only does this do nothing to the opponent, but it also affects the attacker adversely. In the game, we model this with an “attacker stun”, which means that weapons with high kick-back will make you unable to attack again for a short while after your current attack connects or is blocked. An interesting note is that a pommel with the right weight will reduce kick-back, much like a making a gun heavier will reduce recoil, ensuring that energy goes to the bullet rather than the shooter’s hand.

Overall, for Bannerlord we strived to create a physics based combat system that will give realistic and immersive results without making use of hidden random variables. This allows players to craft different weapons with individual characteristics and strengths. Hopefully, as players become familiar with the system, they will keep creating new weapons and discovering new techniques and this will serve as a good base to make the game’s combat fun and interesting.


In next week’s blog we will talk with 3D Modeller, Ümit Singil. If you have a question you would like to ask him then please leave a reply in the comment section and we will pick one out for him to answer.


Discuss this blog post HERE



Facebook
Twitter


Website
Facebook
Twitter
YouTube
Twitch

Greetings warriors of Calradia!

In the previous blog in this series, we described how Bannerlord’s new weapon physics model derives swing and thrust speeds of weapons from their physical characteristics. We talked about how weapon crafting plays a role in determining these properties and how this gives players the freedom to create a weapon which will complement their own fighting style. In this week’s blog, we would like to expand on this topic and explain the rest of the weapon physics model, showing how we determine the damage that a weapon inflicts and how that works in the game.

Damage is a difficult concept to get right in a computer game. Making the damage model realistic could be desirable since this can help with immersion and depth, on the other hand, what happens in a real-life physical trauma is incredibly complex and trying to replicate that in a computer model could easily get needlessly complicated with little benefit to gameplay.

While working on the system we made great use of an excellent article written by George Turner. The article was an eye opener about the intricacies and fine points of weapon dynamics. Of course, during implementation we had to make several simplifications and assumptions and if there are any unrealistic elements or errors in the end result, the fault lies with us and not the article.

In Bannerlord we tried to come up with a good model that is somewhat based on physics, but is still simple and understandable for players. In our model, damage depends on kinetic energy dissipated during the impact. However, energy is not converted to damage directly as we use several extra steps in our calculations.

A weapon hit can have three different types of damage: cut, pierce or blunt. These three types have different trade-offs.

• A cutting weapon is most efficient in converting kinetic energy of the weapon into hit-point damage. However, it is also least effective against armour.
  
• Blunt weapons may require more hits for taking down an opponent, however, they make up for this by being least affected by armour.
  
• Piercing weapons sit somewhat between cutting and blunt weapons.

Apart from kinetic energy and damage type, weapons also have a damage factor that can increase their effectiveness. Better made, more expensive weapons will inflict more damage.

As our calculations are physically based, we no longer need to calculate an extra “speed bonus” like we do in the previous games in the series. We simply get the attacker’s and target’s velocities and feed these into our equations. This results in a realistic and accurate way where the attack damage is affected by speed.



For swings, damage depends on the location of the impact point on the weapon. When showing weapon statistics in the inventory, we simply show damage as if the attack connected at a point a few centimetres below the tip. During combat we take the impact point from the position of the weapon and the target, so it is not necessarily near the tip. So for example, an axe that advertises itself as having 80 damage can deliver much less if it hits the target near the grip.

Weight and balance of the weapon has significant effect on damage. As we discussed in the first part of the blog, weight and weight distribution basically determines how much kinetic energy accumulated in the weapon’s swing.

• Lighter weapons are faster and more agile.
  
• Heavier weapons can take more time to connect, but this gives more time to increase their energy making them more powerful.

Therefore, during the swing, the muscles work to speed up the weapon increasing its kinetic energy. When the impact happens, this energy can go into three places:

• Some of the energy will stay with the weapon since the weapon will not necessarily come to a complete stop.
  
• A significant portion of the energy will go into the impact with the victim. This is the part of the energy which does the useful stuff that a weapon is supposed to do (inflict damage!). As the attacker, you will generally want this to be as high as possible. Hitting the opponent at an optimal point may ensure that more of the energy goes to the impact rather than being retained by the weapon.
  
• Lastly, a portion of the energy will go to kicking-back the attacker’s hand(s). Not only does this do nothing to the opponent, but it also affects the attacker adversely. In the game, we model this with an “attacker stun”, which means that weapons with high kick-back will make you unable to attack again for a short while after your current attack connects or is blocked. An interesting note is that a pommel with the right weight will reduce kick-back, much like a making a gun heavier will reduce recoil, ensuring that energy goes to the bullet rather than the shooter’s hand.

Overall, for Bannerlord we strived to create a physics based combat system that will give realistic and immersive results without making use of hidden random variables. This allows players to craft different weapons with individual characteristics and strengths. Hopefully, as players become familiar with the system, they will keep creating new weapons and discovering new techniques and this will serve as a good base to make the game’s combat fun and interesting.


In next week’s blog we will talk with 3D Modeller, Ümit Singil. If you have a question you would like to ask him then please leave a reply in the comment section and we will pick one out for him to answer.


Discuss this blog post HERE



Facebook
Twitter


Website
Facebook
Twitter
YouTube
Twitch

Greetings warriors of Calradia!

A century ago, the eastward expansion of the Empire met the great sea of grass in the centre of the continent. Beyond that, with no farmland where the legions could forage, they could conquer no more. They fortified their most recent acquisitions, the great trading cities on the steppe's edge, confident that the disorganized horse tribes beyond the frontier posed no major threat. Khuzaits, Nachaghan, Arkits, Khergits, Karakhergits - imperial officials barely even bothered to learn the names of the various clans and peoples, except when it was necessary to turn one chief against another with a bribe, or remove a rising khan with a vial of poison.

The steppe tribes were well aware how the Empire toyed with them. But they were jealous of each other, and an imperial title, a princess bride, or a chest of gold could give them a slight edge in the endless struggle for prestige and precedence. They raided, traded, took protection money to "escort" caravans across the steppe, and left the game of conquest to the settled peoples. Two generations ago, however, something happened far away to the east - a change in the winds, perhaps, or some terrible but distant conqueror - and the horse clans were set in motion. New tribes pushed westward, seeking fresh pastures. Unwilling to be crushed in the middle, the clans nearest the empire formed a confederacy under Urkhun the Khuzait. They caught the Empire in a moment of overconfidence. A force of legions was annihilated, the trading cities capitulated, and Urkhun's confederacy was now a khanate.



The horse lords now ruled over towns and farmers and counted tariffs and cropland. Urkhun imposed discipline on the unruly clans, forcing them to ride to war on his command instead of simply when they wished. But with the coming of statehood and its burdens, the spirit of unity was lost. Urkhun died, and though his descendants still rule the Khuzait Khanate, the other clans feel that they should be the ones to raise the nine-horsetail banner that symbolizes the supreme authority.

The Khuzait Khanate draws its inspiration from the steppe peoples of central Asia. Genghis Khan's alliance is probably the best known example, thanks largely to the remarkable document, the Secret History of the Mongols, which chronicled the Khan's rise from lone fugitive to the ruler of one of the greatest empires the world has seen. The Khuzaits are based partially on the Mongols but also on their more modest cousins, the Avars, Göktürks, Kipchaks, and Khazars, who were more regional powers than global ones.



The nomads-turned-kings swiftly took on many of the cultural aspects of the peoples they conquered, so that the various Mongol or Turkic dynasties dressed, feasted, worshipped and administered their lands like the Chinese or Persian rulers who came before them. But it's clear that they still fondly remembered their heritage out on great grasslands. Travellers to the Uyghur capital of Ordu-Baliq wrote that the khan built a great yurt on top of his palace, apparently feeling most at ease in the felt tents of his ancestors even as he also enjoyed the protection of walls. We try to make the Khuzaits' settlements reflect this cultural mixing. And for those holdouts who would never submit to a khagan no matter what security or riches he offers, we have a minor faction, the Karakhergits, who keep the old ways.

The Khuzaits' military strength is their horse archers, who combine firepower with mobility. Computer games traditionally have a hard time striking the right balance for mounted bowmen - sometimes they could stay out of reach until the enemy broke, such as when the Parthians wiped out Crassus's legions at Carrhae, but they could also be brought to battle and broken, such as when Attila the Hun was defeated by Aetius at the Catalaunian Fields. There are many reasons why even the swiftest horse archers couldn't just dance away from close combat forever - the endurance of the horses and the supply of arrows, the need to protect baggage and ensure a water source. Usually the horse armies' greatest victories, like Kalka River or Manzikert, ended with a final climactic melee. With this in mind, Bannerlord is working to make control of the battlefield more important, so that skirmishing is usually a prelude to a clash and horse archer armies are exciting both to command and to fight.



Discuss this blog post HERE



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Facebook
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Greetings warriors of Calradia!

A century ago, the eastward expansion of the Empire met the great sea of grass in the centre of the continent. Beyond that, with no farmland where the legions could forage, they could conquer no more. They fortified their most recent acquisitions, the great trading cities on the steppe's edge, confident that the disorganized horse tribes beyond the frontier posed no major threat. Khuzaits, Nachaghan, Arkits, Khergits, Karakhergits - imperial officials barely even bothered to learn the names of the various clans and peoples, except when it was necessary to turn one chief against another with a bribe, or remove a rising khan with a vial of poison.

The steppe tribes were well aware how the Empire toyed with them. But they were jealous of each other, and an imperial title, a princess bride, or a chest of gold could give them a slight edge in the endless struggle for prestige and precedence. They raided, traded, took protection money to "escort" caravans across the steppe, and left the game of conquest to the settled peoples. Two generations ago, however, something happened far away to the east - a change in the winds, perhaps, or some terrible but distant conqueror - and the horse clans were set in motion. New tribes pushed westward, seeking fresh pastures. Unwilling to be crushed in the middle, the clans nearest the empire formed a confederacy under Urkhun the Khuzait. They caught the Empire in a moment of overconfidence. A force of legions was annihilated, the trading cities capitulated, and Urkhun's confederacy was now a khanate.



The horse lords now ruled over towns and farmers and counted tariffs and cropland. Urkhun imposed discipline on the unruly clans, forcing them to ride to war on his command instead of simply when they wished. But with the coming of statehood and its burdens, the spirit of unity was lost. Urkhun died, and though his descendants still rule the Khuzait Khanate, the other clans feel that they should be the ones to raise the nine-horsetail banner that symbolizes the supreme authority.

The Khuzait Khanate draws its inspiration from the steppe peoples of central Asia. Genghis Khan's alliance is probably the best known example, thanks largely to the remarkable document, the Secret History of the Mongols, which chronicled the Khan's rise from lone fugitive to the ruler of one of the greatest empires the world has seen. The Khuzaits are based partially on the Mongols but also on their more modest cousins, the Avars, Göktürks, Kipchaks, and Khazars, who were more regional powers than global ones.



The nomads-turned-kings swiftly took on many of the cultural aspects of the peoples they conquered, so that the various Mongol or Turkic dynasties dressed, feasted, worshipped and administered their lands like the Chinese or Persian rulers who came before them. But it's clear that they still fondly remembered their heritage out on great grasslands. Travellers to the Uyghur capital of Ordu-Baliq wrote that the khan built a great yurt on top of his palace, apparently feeling most at ease in the felt tents of his ancestors even as he also enjoyed the protection of walls. We try to make the Khuzaits' settlements reflect this cultural mixing. And for those holdouts who would never submit to a khagan no matter what security or riches he offers, we have a minor faction, the Karakhergits, who keep the old ways.

The Khuzaits' military strength is their horse archers, who combine firepower with mobility. Computer games traditionally have a hard time striking the right balance for mounted bowmen - sometimes they could stay out of reach until the enemy broke, such as when the Parthians wiped out Crassus's legions at Carrhae, but they could also be brought to battle and broken, such as when Attila the Hun was defeated by Aetius at the Catalaunian Fields. There are many reasons why even the swiftest horse archers couldn't just dance away from close combat forever - the endurance of the horses and the supply of arrows, the need to protect baggage and ensure a water source. Usually the horse armies' greatest victories, like Kalka River or Manzikert, ended with a final climactic melee. With this in mind, Bannerlord is working to make control of the battlefield more important, so that skirmishing is usually a prelude to a clash and horse archer armies are exciting both to command and to fight.



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