In their latest Steam update on Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord, Turkish developers TaleWorlds Entertainment shared some more details on how the game's campaign logistics operate. The update opens in fine tone, with a quote from Omar Bradley, a United States Army General during World War II: “Amateurs talk strategy. Professionals talk logistics.” So the update covers supply for your armies in Bannerlord. How do you get food and other materials necessary for survival, and how to prevent your enemies from getting those resources.
The update promises more detailed and realistic interactions for food consumption, and you'll need to carry and make use of other types of resources as well. The larger your army, the more problems with logistics to feed and maintain your army you will have. Whether you have a small party, a mid-sized force, or a large army, you will need to watch how you consume and spend your resources to optimize your chances of victories. And even if you're always prepared, you may often find yourself out of food after a campaign through enemy territory, or during a long siege, which can be disastrous for a campaigning army. This will reduce your army's strength as your men start to die or become too weak or too feeble to fight. Even those in fighting condition will spawn in battle with reduced morale and hit points.
The game will give you options to avoid such situations. First of all, you can get different parties in the same army to pool their resources together, so that the party that runs out of food will spend their influence in exchange for supplies. This settles two problems if your other party is lugging surplus sacks of grain and could use relief. However, to replenish your food reserves you'll need a better method, such as sending forager parties out to scour the countryside for good and confiscate any resources they find. You also have the option to raid villages, which will also wreak havoc in the region and damage the economy. You can also employ scorched earth tactics if your pursuing enemy is benefitting from your fields, so that you deny him the resources to weaken him before striking the final blow.
It's been a very busy year for Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord. Last week we had confirmation that the game will be playable for the first time at Gamescom 2019, which hints at a possible upcoming release soon. Earlier this year we saw some details on a custom battle mode. We also learned more about its crime system, which resembles The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. In March we had an update on the multiplayer skirmish mode as well. And last month we had three updates, including details on the game's trade and economy, how keep battles are structured, and the six different horse breeds available to choose from. Yesterday we published an overall big picture of what we know so far about the game. One of our most prolific writers also wrote a feature on what he would like to see in Bannerlord.
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What do you think of the campaign logistics of Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord? Do you like how realistic it looks like compared to other medieval combat games? Let us know in the comments below!
