Mount and Blade: With Fire & Sword

Overview

Mount and Blade: With Fire and Sword is a standalone expansion for Mount and Blade: Warband that features the same style of RPG progression, realistic medieval combat, and overworld map exploration found in the previous two games in the series. However, unlike the earlier games, Fire and Sword does not take place in the fictional kingdom of Calradia, instead it is set in 17th century Central Europe. Replacing the stand-in factions of previous games are historically accurate kingdoms such as the Crimean Khanate, the Polish Republic, and the Tsardom of Moscow. With the new factions come three possible story arcs, something that is completely new to the M&B series.

As players gain experience and become more powerful, more options will open up and the game moves from simple trading and bandit fighting to political intrigue and epic battles. Will you fight as a steppe warrior? Become wealthy as a scheming trader? Or will you rule as a benevolent lord, administering to your vast kingdom and leading a army of your own creation to victory? All these paths are possible in the world of Mount and Blade: With Fire and Sword.

Features

• Storyline based on nobel winning Henry Sienkiewicz novel With Fire and Sword, with multiple endings over 3 main questlines.
• New weapons that fit the 1600s time period such as muskets and grenades.
• Ability to equip individual soldiers in your player led army with weapons and armor.
• New types of quests.
• A new banking system with loans and deposits.
• Caravan trade, which includes a new kind of defensive battle when attacked by bandits while travelling.
• Deeper town and city management.
• Historically accurate factions, weapons, and events.
• New options for laying siege.

Weapons

Swords, bows, spears, pikes and axes will all make a return, but new weapons will be added such as hand grenades, flintlock muskets and pistols. Each faction will have some weaponry specific to it.

Later in the game you will be granted the ability to gain access to unique, handmade weapons which can not otherwise be found on the battlefield. Some of these weapons includes powerful double-barreled muskets and rifles, which can be crafted by a skilled weapons master.

Factions

The world of Mount & Blade: With Fire and Sword is made up of five, historically accurate, ruling factions; the Cossack Hetmanate, the Polish Republic, the Tsardom of Moscow, the Kingdom of Sweden, and the Crimean Khanate. Each faction is ruled by their own form of hierarchy and government.

Cossack Hetmanate

A Ukrainian Faction made up of fierce Cossack warriors. Led by Bohdan Khmelnytsky, they are locked in a struggle with the Polish Republic, their former rulers and must seek out the aid of Russia (Tsardom of Moscow.)

Polish Republic

Made up of Ukrainians, Poles and Lithuanians, the Polish Republic or Poland Lithuanian Commonwealth is known for its Hussar type cavalry units and its easily disappointed noble gentry class, which may soon spell the demise of the Republic.

Tsardom of Moscow

Led by Tsars and newly reborn, Moscow has a huge army of well trained and equipped troops which its ready to use in order to forge an empire to call its own.

Kingdom of Sweden

A neutral but powerful nation, waiting to claim the losing side in the Poland-Russia conflict. It has a fierce army of well equipped dragoons and musketeers

Crimean Khanate

Remnants of the great Mongol and Tartar hordes. The Khanate is trapped between Moscow and Poland with only the Cossacks to back it up. It may soon need to leave for safer lands with its army of lethal mounted archers.

Multiplayer

The multiplayer mode in Fire and Sword is similar to Warband, with up to 64 players per battle and each player using a custom made avatar. Weapons and armor are bought with gold earned from killing the enemy or completing objectives, and what is available to buy depends on the faction currently being played. Each faction has strengths and weaknesses roughly analogous to their historical counterpart, e.g. the Crimean Khanate relies heavily on mounted archers at the expense of strong infantry.

Fire and Sword introduces two new game modes to multiplayer:

• Conquest - Capture and hold the majority of points on the map to claim victory.
• Captain Team Deathmatch - Up to 16 human players, divided into two teams of eight can lead AI units of up to 24 into combat in this new multiplayer mode. leading to large scale conflicts requiring strong tactics and team work. New squads of troops can be bought using gold earned from the earlier combat.

All six multiplayer modes from Warband were carried over, and they are:

• Deathmatch - Simply kill all other players to win.
• Team Deathmatch - Kill the other team to win
• Battle - Last man standing, team based mode where once your killed, your out until one side claims victory.
• Siege - Capture the enemy flag and hold it in order to claim victory.
• Fight and Destroy - Destroy the enemy emplacements before time runs out while the other team tries to stop you.
• Capture the Flag - Capture the enemy flag and take it to your base while protecting your own flag from capture.

The game also comes with several new maps including:

• Old Castle
• Swamp Delta
• Steppe Farmstead
• Hill Road
• Fields
• Arena
• Marketplace
• Forest Road
• Forest Edge
• River Village

New siege maps include:

• Monastery Castle
• Oreshek
• Hill Fortress
• Vyborg
• Nomad Camp

Development History

This version of Fire and Sword is not the first, but it is the first available to western markets. The original was released using the Mount and Blade engine (pre-Warband), and was only available in Eastern Europe. Taleworlds then updated the series with Warband and decided to remake Fire and Sword for the international market using the new engine. Quote from Mikail Yazbeck, a designer for Taleworlds:

"It was actually released twice over there. The most recent release is this new version of the game that’s been made in the Warband engine(which we’ve since polished even more for the international release). And the first release was inside of the Mount & Blade 1 engine and was released in between M&B 1 and M&B:Warband, but only in Eastern Europe. That older version of course didn’t have all the features that this version has, but was demanded enough for us(and by us I mean Sich Studios/Snowberry along with TaleWorlds) to want to remake it using the Warband engine and bring to an international audience." (From the Taleworlds Forum)

System Requirements

• Operating System: XP/Vista/Windows
• Processor: 2.1 Ghz or higher
• RAM Memory: 1.2 GB
• Hard Disk Space: 900mb
• Video Card: 128 MB+
• Sound Card: DirectX Compatible sound card
• DirectX®: 9.0c