Relatively new to the new DLC, and I’m just looking through all of the people you can hire into your Retinue… I feel that they may not be well balanced, and may take away more from the overall gameplay than they add.
When I envisioned what the Retinue would bring to the game, I pictured slight specialisations/enhancements to your company, or effects which slightly altered the way you play, but a lot of them seem to be absolute no-brainers: no reason not to choose particular ones.
Surgeon? Everyone gets a ‘lite’ version of Cat-9-Lives and effectively huge savings on medicine? (edit: I figure the Surgeon doesn’t actually do that. If your men die, they get ‘downed’ instead of ‘killed’ – the text is ambiguous). That’s a no-brainer, right?! The Scout? The savings on food, the ability to escape ambushes, & completely avoid injuries from terrain-related-events… how about 50% less likely to suffer terrain-related injuries? So that the (interesting) mechanic is still relevant?
Scavenger? Paymaster? It’s my feeling that there should never be no-brainers in a game like this! I want to have to carefully consider my choices, balance the positives, negatives, what I may lose out on if I choose ‘this guy’ instead of ‘that guy’. I’m not saying they’re obscenely overpowered. I’m focusing solely on the possible threat to player choice & gameplay (by giving him no choice but to pick the best one
It’s definitely open to debate, but there’s gotta be someone who feels the same way!
I wouldn’t say they all fall into this category mind you. The Lookout, The Trader, The Cartographer, The Brigand (to name only a few). I think they’re all very close to what I envisioned the Retinue to be. No blatant, direct buffs. Perhaps a little situational… Flavoursome. Delicious.
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