At a loss with combat... IT'S STILL TOO EASY!

Gameplay
#1

Even after the patch, even using Immersive Balance… combat is still a joke. I still one shot people, I still take no damage. Are there any other mods out there that make combat like it was in the early game? I’m tired if squaring off against a Knight in full plate and killing him in a few hits. I love, LOVE this game… but the ease of the combat in the mid game is killing it for me.

Outside of not wearing plate armor (I love how it looks - I’m not using the best of the best or anything, just stuff that I think looks really good,) is there anything I can do, any mods out there that make combat a genuine challenge? This was one of the selling points of the game before it came out, that combat would be unique (which it is) but also a real challenge. I miss that feeling from the early game, knowing that any fight could be my last. Now, I walk into a bandit camp and take literally no damage, even without blocking.

As mentioned above, I really love the game in general, and I love the combat system, it’s unique, innovative, and has the potential to be a ton of fun. But the enemies I face are just too weak. With Immersive Balance they certainly dodge more, they block more, which is a great step in the right direction, but when I actually land a hit they still go down like they’re made of straw. Henry was supposed to not be a superhuman. But that’s exactly what he’s ended up becoming, and it’s draining the fun out of the game for me.

So I guess what I’m looking for is something that makes enemy armor equal to the players armor, same with weapons. Something that lets enemies do more damage, have more stamina, and be able to take more hits. Something that puts them on par with the player. I shouldn’t be able to walk into a camp of eight enemies and not fear for my life - again, that was one of the early selling points of the game, and it’s fallen flat.

Can anyone suggest anything to help with all this? Please, Warhorse, I love your game, but as it stands, combat is just too easy for it to be any fun. Please do something.

#2

Easiest method to make it a challenge is to not overtrain with Bernard. Going into Pribislavitz at 15+ skill and stats make it trivial. Also, not quite sure where you are in game, but in late game even with max stats and skill, one shotting combatants is rare unless they are lightly armored. Wouldn’t say combat is as difficult as I would like - but you can’t just run around one shotting everyone at least.

But, if combat is genuinely too easy for you, you can go the “monk” route and just use fists for a non-lethal playthrough. Doable, but most definitely a challenge.

Hoping they add a harder difficulty, though.

#3

Not a real solution since you will still level up by playing. I found this is pretty easy to fix by just not using the best weapons in the game (herods sword, stinger etc)

#4

I made sure to train with Bernard as little as humanly possible specifically to avoid this - it didn’t make much of a difference. I see a lot of people advocating he ‘monk’ playthrough, but that’s absolutely not what I want out of this game - I want to play a Knight in Shining Armor type character. But yeah, I’m really, really hoping for a harder difficulty mode or something. I love the game, but the ease of combat as it stands makes me not want to play.

#5

I think this is probably what I’m going to have to end up doing, which should help with part of the problem, but player armor being OP will still be an issue.

#6

Full plate armor being OP is realistic though

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#7

Absolutely, but it should be OP for both the player and the enemy.

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#8

i agree with this

#9

Absolutely true. Best late middle age plate armor was litteraly impenetrable. The only way to fight it were crossbow, which could pirece it (but still didn’t harm the wearer, unless really lucky) or blunt weapons and axes - armorpiercers of the middle age. Swords became absolutely useless, unless you were hitting weak spots like joints, and were used mostly as a token or decoration and a symbol of chivlary.

Now for the threadstarter.

The KCD system is realistic - a well placed strike with a mace on a head, even in very good helmet - dead or nearly dead. Sword to the unprotected chest - dead. You was referring to bandits - they are wearing a bloody CLOTH in most cases, exept for leaders. Not even mail armor, just some rags - what would you expect? They are robbing villagers, not fighting knights - you’re basically a living tank of that age, especially if you’re on horse. The only thing that I would suggest to WH for helping people like the one who started this thread, is to make enemies use bludgeon wepons more often, as they mostly using swords and sabers, and some of them are using axes (These do the most harm in my experience), and to decrease its pure damage output. Because all in-game armor’s protection from blunt weapons is the lowest. If they will deliver less damage, but will break armor more, it will lead to increasing of damage as the fight goes on. I’m personally using a mace with a shield for well-armored enemies and a longsword against rabble like bandits. And yeah, my mace puts down almost every one with 1-3 well-placed hits or ripostes, so the author is not completely wrong.

And another thing - don’t tell me that in Skyrim (if you palyed it) you didn’t just chop through enemies on the highest levels? Even in Legendary difficulty? Even with combat overhauling mods? And keep in mind that not every player is as experienced as you are. Give this game to someone who knows something about games, but not playing as much as you do and see how it’ll end - you would be surprised how many things you find trivial will be hard for them. That’s why games usually have difficulty slider or options. So be happy - you’re just good, you good at playing, you good at developing your character, you know how things work. Don’t tell me this is the first game you find easy. And don’t tell me about Dark Souls, which (most people fail to realise it) was made with the idea of player dying a lot, it’s not hardcore really, it’s the game you supposed to be dying in (Hence the mechanics of recollectin lost exp/souls) Some player make it hardcore for themselves, like playing with naked character or playing without taking damage during whole playthrough (that’s sick btw). Try and play Severance: Blade of Darkness naked or without taking damage - That’s what hardcore is like.

P.S. I’m not a wepon or middle age expert, unlike many people here, I guesss, I’ve just said what I know. Feel free to correct me if I’m wrong in something about this stuff.

P.P.S. Oh, and I forgot to mention that plate armor, apart from being extremely effective, was really…REALLY bloody expensive. Litteraly, it’s like a nuclear weapon — you have it and nobody wants to mess with you. So another solution would be rise plates’ cost A LOT. I would believe Milanese cuirass being cost like 5k+ Groshen —"you want to buy a nuclear wepon? Be ready to pay 99% of what you’ve earned for your whole life.

#10

I’m pretty sure that the devs said that the true combat balancing would happen in a later patch, with more late game enemies etc. This patch just changed a few things

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#11

With immersion balance installed level I think I am 13 and the combat is not easy at all :grin: Im pretty good now in combat but still I have a huge respect if I encounter like 3/4 well protected guys… The mod now has a better targeting system implemented wich is great but still the combat against more then one enemy is pretty stiff and dificult to manage

#12

That’s what I was talking about. Some people forget that not everybody is hardcore gamer and Developers should understand that.

#13

Couple things - you’re right about the durability of plate armor. And yet I’m still taking out plate-wearing enemies in a few hits with a sword. Realistically speaking, a sword is useless against plate armor, that’s why plate armor was invented, to reduce the viability of slashing weapons. I wasn’t talking about bandits, in fact, in my first paragraph I mentioned squaring off against another plate-wearing opponent. This is my biggest gripe - the PLAYER in plate armor is an invincible tank. An ENEMY in plate armor isn’t even remotely as durable, which is absolutely unrealistic. If we’re strictly talking about realism, there’s almost no way I should be able to kill a plate wearing enemy with a sword, but I can. Easily. As far as player skill, I don’t consider myself some incredibly skilled player at all. The issue isn’t skill, here. It’s the disparity between the damage the player can take and do versus the damage enemies can take and do. As for the Skyrim mention, there, I don’t see how that has any bearing. This isn’t Skyrim. and was touted as NOT being like Skyrim in its development. Henry wasn’t supposed to be a super-human. He was supposed to be a regular guy. Skyrim is a fantasy game, this is a historically accurate title. There’s a pretty big difference there.

So, for a TLDR, enemy plate armor should be just as strong as player armor, enemy weapons should do just as much damage as player weapons, and this isn’t Skyrim. That was one of the selling points.

#14

I think that main problem is that combat is just too much dependent on stats. And mainly damage numbers at weapons… i dont think something like that should be there, only in small portion. And i get personally iritated too that shlashing with sword at oponent in plate armor kills him easily. I never felt need to use mace…

#15

I absolutely agree with this, yeah. Weapon scaling with weapon skill is another huge issue.

#16

Can’t argue with your plate armor stance - the enemy in plates should be as much trouble for you as you for him (but not with bludgeon, for reasons I’ve mentioned). Same goes for the sword vs plate - that’s an issue, and I can’t see a problem with player not being able to kill plated armored enemy with a sword - it would be very realistic. I can’t name any game specificaly, but there are some out there, where you can’t harm enemy at all, unless you find his weakspot OR some special weapon that would prove usefull. I avoid getting as frustrated as you do (as it seems) by NOT using a sword against plates. I understand that I wouldn’t be able to harm my enemy with it - no reason for me to try, and the fact that game gives me the opportunity to use the sword as effectively - means nothing. It’s like all the time using rocks to prevent enemies to come near you and tell Devs taht they should’ve given them ability to climb, which is impossible due to technical reasons, I believe. So, don’t use these “exploits”.

And yes, I understand you would kill him with mace very quickly as well, but it would be at least more realistic.

And again, the idea with less damage - more armor breaking for bludgeon will help with that.

As for the Skyrim referrence, perhaps it’s not the best example, but just because you didn’t get what I meant. What I meant is - you know how to develop your skills and stats, what way you should take, and what weapons to use, that’s why you eventually become a killing machine. It was not about realism, it was about that the game, no matter how hard it was intended to be, should be playable AND passable, and if you really good at it - it will be easy for you. So yeah, difficulty options would be very nice. Like NORMAL and REALISTIC, where you can’t possibly do ANY harm to plate armored knight with a pathetic Hunting sword.

#17

You’re certainly right about sword usage versus unarmored or badly armored enemies. Killing someone who isn’t wearing armor with a single sword blow to the head isn’t unrealistic at all, quite the opposite, and I have no problem with that. My only issue is how easily it is to take on armored opponents with weapons that shouldn’t be able to work against them. There is certainly something to be said about the roleplaying aspect of just not using a sword against an armored opponent because in the real world it wouldn’t work, I can’t argue against that. I also understand that not everyone is going to find the combat as easy as I do, but I know from reading the forums here and the Kingdom Come subreddit that a lot of other people do take issue with it, so differing levels of difficulty would be great for that. For the record, it’s not that I’m hugely frustrated, I simply prefer to be challenged in games, and created this post initially to see if there was anything (mostly regarding mods) that I could do to increase the challenge for myself. The game was advertised as being realistic in its combat, and I suppose I expected a bit MORE realism than has so far been delivered.

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#18

I just don’t wear heavy armor. But I still 1 shot everything I come across with my axe lol.

#19

The game needs balancing indeed and I believe it got a tad harder after the patch. I want to be able to wear full plate armor but alas, I can’t unless I want the game to become too easy. I use the worst longsword I’ve found which is the Thumper and I limit myself in perks. It’s a shame we didn’t get the respec potion with the patch, although I have only a few that makes combat easier like Headcracker.

#20

I can only play this game modded, it really is too easy once you’ve trained with Bernard. I end up nerfing myself by not wearing good armor, but I’d prefer to wear whatever I want.

Now that random encounters are also borked until it gets patch, there’s really no reason to load up the game.

Don’t take the above the the wrong way, it’s a fun game. But it’ll take some time before Warhorse get their act together and get it out of beta and then even more time before modders can fix the remaining issues.

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