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hruzaParticipantBefore I thought I did quite good economically but after reading your posts I have now a new point of reference. At day 20 I certainly was not even close to everybody wearing a mail shirt. I had a few padded armors and some gamebesons. So now that I know what should be the standard at day 20 I have to admit I had big economical problems!
I don’t think this is necessarily true. Game scales with your equipment too, so better equipped your brothers are, the more difficult fights will you face. In my experience you can advance slower and game with adjust. Difficulty does not scale with time, at last time does not play major role. I even had first crisis postpone on the play through when I was bit slow in improving my company. It have only kicked on the day 130. Other people had reported the same experience.
From beginner I got the wrong impression that those auxiliaries are kind of the thugs of the undead faction. But man was I wrong.
Auxiliaries are somewhat on par with brigand raiders in difficulty. They have crappy equipment, which is deceiving, but their fighting stile and skills makes up for that. Especially if lot of them have shields.
On some video’s on twitch and youtube I saw some of the players to go to almost excessive amount of planning and rethinking every turn. While this is certainly kind of amazing in it’s own right I hope this is not necessary all time.
No, it certainly isn’t. I don’t spend ours to think each move 10 turns in advance. That said, it’s good to plan at last 1 turn in advance, unless battle is easy and you can use routine.
Good luck :)
hruzaParticipant(At least my tactic looks okay when I compare it to the playthroughs I have watched on youtube.)
Did not see you play so I don’t know if your tactic is good or bad. If your team of 9 mercs with 40-50 armor got wipped out by 10 skeletons then it’s not because your tactic is bad. I would have likely lost that battle to. Your mistake was to fight that battle in the first place.
Direvolves can be pretty dangerous if you fight them unprepared. Even later on in the game. So that was simply bad luck.
One thing that I believe helps in combat is to approach it sort of like a chess: Don’t think just in terms of skills and hit chances. Think in terms of weaknesses too. Try to use your advantage against his weakness. For example in the battle with auxiliaries. First look which of them have shields and which does not. Position your flails against skeletons with shields and concentrate everybody else against skeletons without shields. Take the out first. They are easier to hit and they are more dangerous because they will attack 2x, while those with shields are likely to attack only once and then shield wall.
Also pay attention to the turn order. By using wait order you can manipulate beginning of the battle to maximize your advantage. For example, enemy poachers and marksmen have high initiative and will move first in combat. When enemy turtles, his crossbows will be out of the range, so AI will order wait on them. If you will move on your turn towards his line, they will take a shot at you at the end of the turn. However if you will wait your turn as well, they will run out of their turn right after without being able to fire. Then you can move your units while enemy crossbowmen will get one less turn to fire at you. That one turn might be difference between you taking or not taking casualties in that fight, because enemy will get to fire 2x right in the row. First at the end of the turn one and then at the beginning of the turn two. You won’t be even able to move your badly injured mercs out of the range if they get hit in the turn one.
In general, moving last in the first turns of battle is advantage, because you want to close the distance at the end of the turn and thus deprive enemy of one round of combat. On the other hand you want to have last move in the turn enemy reaches your line. It works both against ranged and melee (ranged obviously does not need to reach your line in order to initiate the fight). Of course there might be exceptions. Anyway, always pay attention to the move order. Try to deprive enemy of the first round of fight if you’re the one attacking and prevent enemy from doing the same to you if you’re defending.
hruzaParticipantI took a contract to recover an artifact and kill some ancient auxiliary in the process. It should pay 420 crowns.
I did really think I could take those 10 skeletons with my 9 brothers easily and got whipped.
The skeletons are enemy which I would not dare to engage unless all my front line have +-100 durability gear and level 2 weapons. They are very dangerous, their “poor” look is deceiving. May be if I had 2:1 advantage, but not otherwise and I still wouldn’t recommend it to player who still does not feel comfortable at the difficulty he is playing.
Trick with retrieve artifact missions is that quest does not require you to fight. You only need to bring artifact. If you pay attention to the text before the battle, it should say that you or one of your mercs got the artifact, then undead appear. If that’s the case, you can just retreat from battle and you will still have artifact and would be able to complete the mission.
be careful, because sometimes you get option to also grab the ancient weapon. If you take it and it results in to battle, you will need to win the battle to complete the mission.
hruzaParticipantI have some advice regarding challenges. These shouldn’t be underestimated and correct selection of right challenges can really help you out at the start of the game. You should select challenges that you know can fulfill fast and are adding something useful to your play. Fulfilling challenges quickly raises your fame and thus getting you better prices for contracts.
Some of the more useful challenges (but not necessarily ones to pick early) are:
-Allying with noble house -unlocks quests from noble houses and turns castles in to sources of the quests. It fulfills when you reach about 950 fame so take it once your already have it.
-Increasing inventory space.
-Getting sergeant -will reward you with sash (bonus to resolve).
-Getting standard.
-Raiding 4 goblin/orc/undead camps -rewards you with very useful trophies. Easiest one is undead one since there are many retrieval quests which send you to undead locations. however you shouldn’t take this challenges too early.
The best starting challenges in my opinion are befriend settlement (takes about 2-3 missions) and raise your company to dozen guys (12 actually).
hruzaParticipant1. Most of the time I gave polearms to my most talented, but at this point weak, recruits. This wasn’t the best of approaches as it seems. Worked in beginner but in veteran you just can’t afford to miss to much of the polearm- damage- output. So I will try to give my best guys the polearms and to abuse the 100% hitchance of the shieldsplit like McKing proposed.
I give polearms almost exclusively to ranged hybrids in my backline. I don’t run dedicated polearm guys. Sometimes I give polearm to one of the new recruits in later stages of the game but you have to be careful with that when you are against enemy with ranged as he is likely without ranged defense and thus primary target for enemy bows and crossbows. I prefer to keep talented recruits in reserve and rotate them in to the easier fights until they get few levels.
Works fine for me so far.
To hunt down what terrorizes villages is also my favorite quest and werwolfs and nachzehrers are by far the easiest enemies at the start. So I try to do as much of those contracts as possible.
Problem with these two is that they give small experience and little loot. In early game, I actually like raider type missions because they are my primary source of 2. tier weapons and 100 durability armors. To get these weapons and armors by buying them would be major pain in the ass as I would struggle to earn enough money while raiders are walking armory.
My usual approach which works for me so far is to recruit 8 squad (including starting brothers) for a fight with Hogart, all equipped with 30-40 class armors and headgear, at last 2 spears and as many shields as I can find. Farmhands, brawlers, daytalers, fisherman, butchers, builders are my picks but I won’t shine away from ratcatcher, apprentice, mason, messenger or vagabond either. However I avoid backgrounds with negative bonuses like cripples, beggars, tailors and so on. If I stumble across cheap poacher, I might consider recruiting him. I buy few knives as well and give it to the best melee fighters to let me strip enemies of those armors I need.
In fight against Hogart, I aim at getting Hogarts armor. Depending on how AI plays, this is quit doable and armor goes to my starting 2H guy. And yes, I do use 2H at the beginning.
After the battle I take a look at the map and try to find region with many civilian settlements close by, with at last one major trade resourse in a small settlement and at last one large city where it can be sold. In ideal case at last one small settlement should have workshop for cheap tools and herbalist grove for cheap meds. I will then made that region my main base of operations for beginning and mid game, running missions around and trading there. Always try to make local mission before buying and selling since it always results in better prices.
Once I know where I will operate I try to raise my squad to 12 while keeping equipping them with 40-50 class armors, helmets and shields. All salvaged from enemies (thug class). I also try to hire second ranged guy. Usually poacher or bowyer but I do keep eye on a talented guy from other backgrounds (40+ ranged attack and 2 or 3 stars will do).
Once that is done, I try to hire few brothers in to reserve while upgrading my armors in the front row to raider class gear (+-100 armor and helmets). As for weapons I tend to run 7 front liners with shields, 2 spears at the flanks, 2 flails, one mace and 2 swords. Mace and flails goes to those with best melee attack. In back row I have 1x 2H and 4 ranged/polearm hybrids. I prefer pikes at the early-mid game due to their hit chance bonus, but I like to have at last 1 long axe for breaking shields. All my non ranged get daggers for armor stripping.
At this point I try to replace really bad brothers with more decent ones and I try to find at last one more future 2H user -that means somebody with ability to reach 85+ attack, 25+ defence, 120+ fatigue and 50+ resolve. I also try to find 1 or two candidates for sergeant. I prefer to use my sergeants as a shield frontliners. I give them banner only during fights against geists.
At the same time I try to raise 10,000 gold as a permanent reserve. Anytime I get more, I buy 200 class armor and helmet for one of my front liners. This seems to be point where many new players tend to make a mistake. Once they equip their squad with top raider class gear (100 armors 2nd tier weapons), they think they are good to go. That’s not the case. You need better armor and few better weapons if you want to regularly take on larger raider groups, goblins and orcs. Otherwise you’ll be constantly loosing brother or two per fight and struggling to move forward. You need to level your brothers to level 7+ (to get battle forged which is probably the most essential perk in this game for heavy melee builds in mid to late game).
Once I get at last 4 200+ armors and helmets in the front row, I start raiding ruins for famed weapons and armors and look for bandit leaders and hedge knights to get higher tier armors and weapons. Having 2x 2H guys with 80+ attack, 300+ armor, battle forged and some good 2H weapons is going to carry you long way in the middle part of the game (great sword is likely the most versatile but you want 2H hammers if greenskins invade). At this point all my melee brothers have dagger and some ranged hybrids have nets to help strip those more dangerous foes of their goodies.
Also fallen heroes are good source of early heavy armors. With their low action points they are somehow less dangerous and while their armors are sub par to their normal equivalents, they still can provide you with very good protection until you can afford something better. Don’t sell their shields either, while they are inferior to kite shields, they are superior to round shields. And it won’t hurt as much when some orc breaks one.
At this point you should be in the mid game, have 2 high level 2H guys in 250-350 armors. Next thing you want to is start hiring more expensive backgrounds, replacing the more useless of your mercs, increasing number of your 2H guys, perhaps adding one or two duelists, finding especially talented ranged character to have him sniping out enemy ranged (he should be able to reach 90+ ranged attack by level 11 and have at last 20 ranged defense). Mid game is also when first crisis kicks out and unless it’s noble war which you can essentially sit out without interfering, you gone face increased challenge as you need to actively prevent settlements to be overrun otherwise your world will shrink.
If greenskins invade, you want to have orc and goblin trophy (from chalenges) and 2 good 2H hammer guys.
If undead invade, you gone need one or two good sergeants and undead trophy.
5. In future encounters I will use falcons and scout out the enemies like hruza does. Never really considered them worth it because at the beginning 700 bucks for a falcon is a lot of money.
Falcons indeed seems like a expensive investment at the beginning of the game and buying one shouldn’t be your first priority. But they are one time investment so you may look for one for a good price (small castles are best bets) once you can afford it.
hruzaParticipantA cripple costs 30 bucks. Not really punishing to lose one.
He also costs food and daily payment. And unless you intend to send him in to combat with bald head and rags, you have to figure in cost of the armor which you are likely to loose when he goes down.
You may still get profit in certain quests but:
-early game is strife against the time with you being on the verge of bankruptcy and every coin counts.
-if you are implementing meatshield tactics in any systematic way, you likely need more then one meatshield in battle. Loosing 3 cripples gone hurt.
-every meatshield in your party jeopardizes your combat ability against the enemy who scales with size of your squad. With limit on size, he occupies place in your squad instead of a somebody who can actually be effective and help you win the fight.
If you use meatshield tactics occasionally, depending on conditions, it can be fine. But as a meaningful tactics for beginner player who struggles with the game -it’s recipe for bankruptcy and disaster.
hruzaParticipantpoacher=bowyer=witchhunter (+5 range skill) < deserter (+10, but lower resolve) < hunter (+10) <=sellsword (+10 and some other bonuses) as i know.
If that’s based on Wikipedia, then it’s outdated info. It have being changed: http://battlebrothersgame.com/dev-blog-49-progress-update-character-backgrounds-visual-makeover-continued/
hruzaParticipantwhat backgrounds, typically have good range skill?
Poachers tend to be the most affordable ranged specialists. Their ranged attack tend to be somewhere around 45-50 range.
Bowyers are probably next. They have similar stats to poachers but in my experience they tend to be slightly more expensive to recruit. Sometimes you can get cheap one however and they have potentially good event when they build you a very good bow (or very bad one).
You may try your lack with Gambler, they have good initiative and ranged defense but tend to lag behind poachers in ranged attack.
The more expensive ranged backgrounds are Witchhunters (ranged attack at par with Poacher but better resolve), Deserter (good for hybrid builds, but lack resolve), Sellswords (best all around background in game but very expensive), Raiders (good all around background, but ranged attack tend to be in 40-45 range). Best ranged specialist in game is Hunter, he tend to have highest ranged attack but falls behind in other fields so it’s best utilized as a pure ranged specialist.
That said, you should always look for talents. If you can find Militia or Caravan Guard with 40-45 ranged attack and 2 or 3 stars in it, you got yourself very good candidate for hybrid build (crossbow/polearm for example).
Also if you have a more then one poacher and/or hunter in your party, they can trigger event when they hold competition -for expending 30 ammo they will both gain 1 skill in ranged.
hruzaParticipant1. I hire 12 people as soon as possible, cheap ones. My talented guys I put in the backline and give them a pitchfork or better, if I find a decent polearm early.
Game difficulty scales with size of your company so this isn’t the best strategy. You will have low skill, badly equipped brothers facing proportionate number of the enemies. You should avoid most useless backgrounds and you shouldn’t recruit new brothers if you can’t give them decent equipment.
hruzaParticipantUse very few (or none) ranged and fight brigands at night (archers get penalty at shooting during the nigh)
Don’t forget that ranged defense get proportionately same penalty during night as ranged attack, so disadvantage of ranged at night isn’t that large. Ranged are still dangerous, especially against targets who rely on ranged defense. So don’t underestimate enemy ranged just because you fight at night.
spears and flails(because you get the best flail weapon soon) are very good, however these weapons are bad in end game so don’t specialize in them (maybe 1 flail but absolutely no spears)
Not really true. Spears can still be used late game effectively. The top tier spears have decent armor damage and high level spear specialists are good at creating mobile obstacles with spearwall to channel enemy, protect against flanking and such. Their bonus attack chance is very useful against enemies with high defense and low health/armor like geists. And you can increase effectivity of spear with duelist.
hruzaParticipant4. Actually, that might be your biggest problem IMO. I focus on getting a LOT of guys. I even recruit cripples. You know why? Meatshields, cannon fodder – every army needs it.
This does not have to be the case. I don’t use meatshields and do fine. Problem with meatshields is that early game, most contract won’t pay you the price of recruiting, feeding, paying and equipping even the cheapest of the conscripts.
hruzaParticipantFirst rule to become successful in Battle Brothers: Know when to fight and when to run. You’re running business -mercenary company. Act accordingly. When you face enemy you can’t beat, retreat. When facing impossible contract, cancel it. Penalties for canceling contract are usually very light. Knowing to asses level of danger enemy pose to you is part of the experience gained by playing the game.
That said there are few tricks you can do to overcome stronger enemy. You can for example lead enemy in to allied group. When attacking strong outpost, you can try finding roaming enemy group and leading it in to enemy outpost you want to attack. Let two groups fight each other then destroy those who remain. Be careful however, two groups have to be hostile to each other for trick to work, otherwise they will gang on you. Also don’t lead too weak enemy in to fight with much stronger enemy. Strong enemy will defeat weak one without sweat and will gain morale instead. Also don’t use direwolves for this, they are too fast and have too high initiative so in the battle they will reach you before you can back away to let two enemies fight.
Second rule, you have to accept that you can and will loose from time to time. There’s no way to avoid it. Keep spare armors and weapons and try to have few brothers in reserve with some experience (rotate them between battles). Keep financial reserve.
As for your questions:
1. I did not experience such thing. Early game single skull missions usually throw at you either thugs, mix of thugs with few raiders or if enemy is composed of raiders only, they are inferior in size.
Game seems to factor size of your company in to difficulty scaling. Don’t try to over-expand too fast early on, make sure that you can outfit every new recruit with decent gear. At the beginning this means 30+ armor and helm and a shield. Thick tunics, aketons, that sort of stuff.
2. If interrupted during delivery mission, you are being given option to surrender the package. You have to consider if 500 bucks is worth fighting well equipped and trained enemy. In the beginning of the game, probably not.
Generally speaking, single skull missions are safe to take. But there’s always element of randomness involved so be prepared to abort and retreat.
Good contract is one involving good pay and little risk. You can’t know exactly what are you going to face until you face it. Again, don’t hesitate to abort or cancel mission if pay is not worth the risk. If risk involves loosing several brothers, pay is likely not worth it.
3. With greater numbers. If you don’t have numbers, don’t fight them. You should use early encounters with raiders as a source of improved armor. Fight them only if you are at the advantage and try to isolate one with best armor by killing everybody else first, surrounding him and stabbing to death with daggers. Les damaged armor is,
higher the chance to appear in the loot screen. Buy yourself few nets to incapacitate dangerous foes. Have few flails in company with competent brothers. Many raiders don’t carry helmets, bash their heads to kill them without damaging their armor.As for hedge knights, don’t ever contemplate engaging one at the beginning of the game.
4. Don’t know exactly, but size of your band, level of brothers and their equipment matters most. There might be other factors, like game days passed and your renown.
5. Experience.
That said, unless you’re get ambushed, you have always time to retreat from human opponents. They have the same movement speed as you and distance at the beginning of the fight is such, that they can’t reach you in just one turn. So unless you do something stupid, you can retreat to the edge.
However you don’t have to be at the edge in order to retreat. You can hit retreat button at any point of the battle. Brothers not on the edge will just get injured. They won’t get killed even if engaged in combat.
Consider buying falcon and give it to one of the back line guys with high initiative. He will help you reveal enemies at the start of the combat so you can decide if to fight or retreat.
When facing roaming groups of the enemies, pay attention to the icon they have. It always shows the highest level and most dangerous character in group. You can asses enemy strength even in cases when tool tip don’t reveal that information (direvolves, nachzehrers).
hruzaParticipantOn the world map you can simply outrun them, since your speed is slightly faster then theirs. Beware however that terrain affects speed, yours and theirs both so choose right path.
On the battle map, you can hit retreat button in the upper right corner. Brothers who are standing at the very border of the map will get away unharmed. Those who don’t, will get injured. Therefore it is preferable to get all your brothers to the edge of the map first. It shouldn’t be difficult given raiders have the same APs and movement speed as you, so unless you do something stupid, they shouldn’t catch you.
Retreating from battle also cost morale, so beware. One retreat on it’s own will not affect much, but retreating while morale of your group is already very low can cause desertions.
hruzaParticipantWell you can always do 2 attacks for less fatigue and use last 3 AP to get closer to new target or just rest
Not using all your APs in a turn won’t help. You’re removed of 15 points of fatigue every turn, no more and no less, regardless it you do something or do nothing.
I do not know how strong this build will be, so wanted to know opinion of someone who used it.
It will be very strong against particular type of the enemy, like nobles, hedge knights or even Orc warriors. Weak against everything else.
Of course you can always switch weapons. Fact that you have dagger specialization does not mean that you can’t use any other weapon. Only disadvantage of this build is that you are using up one perk point.
hruzaParticipantNewer did it myself but I know some players do.
Fearsome is probably useless in this case because you’re doing lot of HP damage already, thus morale checks are triggered anyway.
Personally I don’t see this build so useful. I carry dagger on all my mercs with exception of archers and crossbowmen. When I see it tactically beneficial, I simply switch to dagger. I get only 2 attacks per turn instead of 3, but on the other hand I have much more tactical flexibility and freedom. Even strategically, I don’t have to worry about having dagger specialist taking up place on my team when he is effective only in some fights and against some opponents. And then 3 attacks might not be even option in many situations simply because you would not have enough fatigue to perform them.
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