Defense of the Bannerlords

Hey folks,

As you might remember, a few days ago, I mentioned I was working on something else and discovered a hidden feature from TW. Today, I want to show you what I was working on and explain why I’ve decided not to continue with this project.

Behold, Defense of the Bannerlords, or in other words, DotB!

So, what is this exactly, and how did it come about?

Defense of the Bannerlords is basically a MOBA-like game. I was experimenting with different genres for Bannerlord modding, just for fun. After trying out things like a space game or Age of Bannerlords, I had the idea to create a MOBA-like game with Bannerlord mechanics. Now, full disclaimer, I’m not a MOBA player myself, so I didn’t know all the details. I played DotA and similar games for a while, but honestly, I suck at them, and I don’t even remember the last time I played DotA. In some ways, this is more like For Honor than DotA I guess, so maybe I should’ve named it For Banner. Regardless, the idea is very MOBA-like.

As you can probably tell, the mod is far from finished. But I’ll still try to explain what I was planning. First, let’s talk about the basics. I needed a classic MOBA map layout—two bases, three lanes, towers in between. So, I went into the editor and created a map. But, since I’m terrible at map-making (and because the tool is complete crap and crashes every 3 minutes), I did my best to create a map. However, during implementation, I noticed the map was too big. You’ll probably notice this in the video too. And because I was lazy, I didn’t set up the towers on the side lanes—only the mid lane is completed. Most of the mechanics are missing as well.

Here’s how the game mode works:

You start as a “hero” on either the Battania or Imperial side, and your goal is to capture the enemy base. Heroes are special units compared to the minions. Minions come and go—they’re expendable—but heroes are important. Heroes are significantly larger than the minions (as you’ll see in the video). They’re also incredibly powerful, and minions usually don’t stand a chance unless they swarm the hero and overwhelm them with spam attacks. Chunk by chunk, they can manage to defeat a hero. You also have towers that can give you a little boost. Every tower you capture grants you reinforcements, and each tower has its own internal ballista that attacks nearby threats, though not always very accurately. You capture towers by standing next to them, and every minion group always targets the closest enemy tower to their base.

What’s missing?

Well, the endgame is actually missing. Right now, there’s no way to destroy the enemy base. I couldn’t figure out what would be entertaining to do in that scenario. I was planning to add different armors and weapons to the map that the player or enemy hero could capture and use. I also planned to include boosts/skills that you could purchase with gold—for example, killing each minion would earn you gold, which you could then use to buy better armor, explosive arrows, and so on.

Why did I discontinue this?

MOBA games are popular because they’re... online. As you might’ve guessed, I don’t make multiplayer mods, and converting this mod to multiplayer would take an unnecessary amount of time. While I could write my own server logic to make it multiplayer, it would still be an extreme amount of work for something I’m not very confident in. Even if I were okay with all this extra work, I’d need an actual mapper to create a proper map, rather than relying on my lousy map-making skills. So, I decided to stop working on this, but I still wanted to show you what I’ve done so far.

Anyway, that’s all! I hope you enjoy this short video showing the unfinished version of the mod. If you think I should continue with this project, feel free to let me know—I’d love to hear your thoughts. Or if you think I should edit this video (or record another one) for public for YouTube Channel, let me know that too!

**Music is from Udio, by the way. Absolutely amazing tool for creators like me. I'm not affiliated in any capacity but I just like it :)