I appreciate the advice, and i’m well aware of such by just reading them.
I’m asking about stats and skill level in general. I have a few theories on how this issue is progressing and i’m pretty confident i’m on the right track, but I need more data.
So again, respectfully, would you mind posting your stats/skills or just a quick shot of your character sheet page?
Main 20
Strength 20
Agility 20
Vitality 20
Warfare 16
Sword 19
Defence 5
I think that’s all that really matters
Thanks, it’s what I figured - but I wanted to check.
Now, if you equip a mace (i’m assuming little to no skill with) and go into a fight, do you fare just as well or is it noticeably more difficult to drop an opponent?
One of the things i’ve noticed is the amount of positive damage increase provided by weapons you’re very proficient in seems to be way off as compared to the defense gear can provide. Couple that with the perks that increase your base damage, chance to cause bleeding, added STR when outnumbered, and strength score when you do cause bleeding and your damage is probably 80-100+.
I don’t think the NPC’s have enough stamina + armor to absorb said damage and not take it directly to health.
Long story short, the system regarding swords vs armor is being overridden by too high of damage #'s or too low stamina/armor of NPC’s.
I’ll try with a mace, my mace skill is zero. Give me a bit and see how I fair. First to get a mace.
I’m sure if Henry took direct damage instead of first requiring depletion of stamina the difficulty will increase. Henry essentially has 2 health bars
It depends on different factors. What mace, your level of strength, your perks and combat abilities, if you don’t have the minimum stat to use a particular weapon, its effectiveness is lowered. Also the armor your enemy is wearing plays a role too, if your enemy however does not have a helmet and you land a few head shots with a mace…he is down, but make sure you also equip a shield for protection.
I don’t think you’re following what we’re discussing, but I appreciate your insights.
All you gotta do is press the sprint button + hit button at the same time. The AI never blocks that attack. 100% successful.
I agree with your assessment of the “two HP bars”. I don’t think they have to abandon the mechanic though, they just need to look at how weapon vs armor vs stamina is working in the NPC to PC relationship at different skill levels.
I’m sure they looked into this already and have a “set” idea in their minds what your average skill level/stat level would be at various stages in the game.
Like most RPG’s they likely envisioned 1-20 in 4 stages or acts.
Act 1 - 1-5
Act 2 - 6-10
Act 3 - 11-16
Final Act 16+
I haven’t beaten the game or read any guides at all, but i’m guessing that somewhat aligns with how this game runs.
Such being the case, people are playing early acts with final act builds post power-leveling in the arena and/or that bandit side quests.
@dutch Like some of the above mentioned tactics for large groups I’ve favored some stealth techniques, you don’t necessarily have to wait until nightfall (it does makes sneaking around easier) but if you can sneak close and watch their patterns for a while you figure out when some of the bandits/cumans are separated or far from their main camp. You can either use a bow to pick them off or draw aggro, or if you have a dagger go in for a stealth kill and then hide the body so it doesn’t alert the rest. Usually several of the bandits are resting at any one point, you can also charge in and quickly dispose of any sleeping bandits with a few quick strikes while they’re waking up and reacting to you bursting in on them. Also running away even in armor can help separate and space out the enemies, but it’s easier to do with high stamina/agility (I just run everywhere or gallop everywhere and that’s made a better runner out of me plus the sprinter perks and 7 league boots perk). The other thing to mention that was touched on lightly is not just being able to switch your focus but picking off the weaker fighters first. Yes, the bandit camp leader will be better armored and more skilled in combat but usually the other two or three or four guys are not as skilled at blocking and they have much weaker armor. I’ve had success against groups by moving around and switching focus until I can attack the weaker bandits, killing them first. You intimidate the others and give yourself more breathing room with each foe defeated. More advanced opponents do take practice in blocking, combos, and riposting properly sometimes multiple times in a row before you’ll get a hit in. For those fights if you can start the fight shooting them with an arrow makes it easier or just stealth into the camp and steathly kill the most armored one (usually the leader) and elimiate the most difficult foe at the start, the rest of the bandits are much easier to fight. Really just like the quests there are lots of ways to approach any single camp. Poision, stealth, bow and arrows, full on rush, or even trying to pull aggro (they will stop following you if you run far enough away or you just slow down enough and you can effectively pull off a few at a time) It really depends on your play style, are you an honorable warrior who wants a far fight? Crazy beserker who goes in swinging, stealthy thief poisioning and slitting throats (or stabbing in the chest lol) Lots of options to try, and if it fails just like eveyone has said, you probably need to go practice and train some more then go back at it again.
To my knowledge, the only time you can get some backup troops to help you against bandits is during the questline at Neuhof if you find the bandits in the woods and then run back and tell captain Bernard and he’ll send a couple guys with you, my run through all i found were two bandits and one was dying. I just waited for the other guy to mercy kill his buddy then snuck up and took care of him. All the other camps and bandits i’ve had to fight solo. *possible spoiler alert, I’d be curious on the hunt quest if after the “event” happens and you see what’s going one if you can run back and get help. I just took care of things myself but that might be another time you can get soldiers to help you out in the early game.
Well @anthonylocke since you only read 1/10 of what i wrote and decided to tell me that, I read about 1/10 of what you wrote and now here i am.
Yeah. Thanks for the info. I think there’s 50 other replies saying what you said. Maybe you should read a bit more… in a forum. Just saying
@spada Yeah I usually try to ploy tactics like that. I kind of try to pick off one or two maybe by shady or tricky means. Lol, I’m no coward this game is just so hard. I actually ended up trying exactly what you said here where I would run away a bit and they would aggro. But a few of them would give up and head back and allow me to fight some easier battles.
Same for me, its basically one and done, and no random encounters at various points. I have fast travelled alot over the same roads and areas and nothing new ever happens. I am hoping its a bug, I am waiting to be ambushed…and kick some cuman butt…lol
As mentioned in the above… train, train, train. I just got done killing 6 bandits in mail/plate armor comminations, with skull caps… I actually made a lot of money selling their gear.
Training your weapon and combat skills is definitely important… Also, the game is realistic in how enemies are able to close to an attack range… They can’t fit 30 people around you at once, only a handful will have an actual opening…
Like in reality, you USE that mechanic as part of your combat strategy.
Look for chokepoints… if you can funnel them towards you one at a time, your chances go up. Don’t fight in enclosed spaces with little room to manuever. Always have a way out.
Open ground can also be useful… the 6 I just killed, the camp had no decent chokepoints and too much to trip over or bump into… So I went in, whistled and got their attention then ran outside the gate to the open area of field outside the fence.
That’s where we fought… move so that enemies don’t flank you, keep them in your line of sight… focus your defense and attack on the one in range… Manuever so that they have to go around each other to reach you.
It’s an excellent combat system and it takes a lot from the reality of multiple armed opponents vs one person… train, look for areas of the environment that give you a tactical advantage, keep moving.
Same here… Although… I just discovered if you ask captain Bernard for work he’ll give you bounty quest to clear their camps, finally some action 
But still the random encounters just won’t happen… I mugged a teader and murdered all the guards in a small village in hopes to get ambushed
*To clear bandit camps.
I’ve been ambushed a few times during fast travel. Mostly it’s low level bandits and thieves… There was one occasion though, where Cumans ambushed me… about 4 or 5 of them. I was clearly outmatched, managed to get on my horse and book it.
Now, having a lot more experience, better armor, good training and a longsword that loves fresh meat… I’d welcome it.
I haven’t been attacked as often using fast travel, but if you just run your horse along the roads at night time you will almost always run into a bandit group or cuman ambush
So A. Your first two paragraphs are the only ones that matter because all of your subsequent paragraphs simply restate and riff on your first two, (yeah, I actually did read it, and most of it was a waste of time and unnecessary to get the point across).
And B. Do you not know how forums work? You ask a question, people respond, it doesn’t matter if “50 other people” gave the same response. I’m not gonna read your excruciatingly verbose novel and then everyone else’s response just to go “whelp I guess they said what I was gonna say so I guess I won’t say it…”. That’s not how forums work. if you don’t like that, then find a post where the answer you seek has been given or any of the numerous video and written guides on how to do this stuff. Don’t be an entitled brat about it.
I actually haven’t done much travel at night yet. I DID recently go into a mine during the side quest “The King’s Silver”… and WOW that mine gets dark. I was actually happy that you NEED a torch to travel through it… off topic, but the night travel made me think of it again.
