Update Time!
Battle Brothers is now in a state that we feel comfortable releasing into Early Access. However, before being able to actually sell it there are still some minor business-related and organizational hurdles to be cleared. We’ll let you know as soon as we have the date set!
Until then, maybe we can shorten the wait with some more Let’s Play episodes following the adventures of the “Red Hogs”. Here are two new episodes in which we take on a contract to raze a bandit hideout.
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Wow, the mountains sure take some time to pass. Nicely done!
One thing I keep noticing with the inventory is the knives and daggers always being swapped out asap, which is kind of the progression of most RPGs where people want to thet to the heavy gear quickly, as the light is pretty useless. But historically daggers and light weapons had their place too…
Would there be any incentive for the player to use daggers at all? Light to handle, use hardly any fatigue, can be used instead of a shield as the second parry weapon, good for quick jabs at exposed parts of the enemy, such as the face or the neck, perhaps?
Knives and daggers have a skill that targets an opponent’s armor’s weak spots, effectively ignoring armor and damaging hitpoints directly. This way they have a niche against heavily armored opponents all game long and should remain a viable specialized tool even if you have other weapons available. At the end of the day they’re still knives and daggers, though, and should lose out to swords outside of those specific situations. Using them also builds up considerably less fatigue than some of the heavier weapons.
IF you guys would implement rear-attacks (2 rear hexsides away from facing) then daggers and knives could play a very special role indeed ;D
There is no facing, though.
I don’t like to see this student perk you gave Bumpy. You trade a perk for a little bit more experience, which makes no sense – each perk you get is useful, but experience itself isn’t.
You’re right, if you have two max level characters then the student perk is not useful. But the character with the student perk will level up a lot faster. This will make a gib difference the longer the game lasts so the effect at the beginning is not that big. But of course it is free to all players which perks to use.
But he only levels up faster if you ignore that he wasted a level’s perk to do it. If you consider him a level behind for taking student, only getting 15% more experience he’s probably behind all the way.
Right, considering the mortality rate of most of the mercs we saw in the last lets plays I would rather go with a perk that gives me an advantage right now than a perk that lets my merc level faster without any additional benefits and in the end with only 9 of otherwise 10 useful perks. If he is dead after the next fight while another perk might have saved him it would be even worse.
I’d say the experience perk raises the chance to survive slightly because you can unlock new perks faster.
Assuming your brother survives long enough to reach the level cap (10?) he will end up with 9 useful perks instead of 10. Every single perk in BB is very powerful and has a lot of impact, so even 1 perk less seems like a handicap to me.
It’s true that it might help your brother to develop faster but the mortality is so high. It makes me want to choose a different perk anyway.
So what about this: The student perk doesn’t increase the experience growth, but instead you can raise 4 instead of 3 stats with each level-up.
This way the player can choose if he wants his brother to give 10 perks OR 9 perks and higher stats. Not sure though, if that’s too overpowered, but it enhances the character creation imho.
A increased experience-growth could still be implemented, for example as a “well-rested”-bonus from camping, similar to the Fallout or Elder Scrolls series.
The AI needs to be more aggressive in those battles where they are spread out all over the map. Otherwise the game is going to suffer from Last Sectoid Syndrome a bit.
Agree. Or they’d have to try to flee off the map when the battle is not going their way…
In the latest build we already included a mechanic that makes even isolated enemies aware of your troops so they will come to the battle right from the start.
The build i am using for the LP is not savegame compatible to the new changes so this wont change for the LP : (
I have a question regarding twohanded weapons like the glaive. Can you switch them with weapons in you inventory while in combat in you current build.
I ask this because if the before mentioned is possible they would make a good secondary weapon for one of the archers.
Right now you always try to circle the enemies which doesn´t work out very often in regards of getting a clear shot for the bow. Wouldn´t it be a better idea to give one of these archers with an ok melee rating such a weapon to strike from the second line?
It would be interesting to see how this worked out.
Within this game I think it would make sense. But, is this an exploit?
Cause, realistically, a guy can carry a twohanded sword in his hand, a shield on his back and a mace on his belt. And then he can switch and put the twohander on his back and the shield and mace in his hands.
But, if an archer is carrying a quiver of arrows and a bow, ok, he could also have a shield on his back and a mace on his belt, but where could he have a spear or poleaxe? You can’t just strap a two meter pole on your back (that was one thing that always bothered me in Mount & Blade).
So, yea, an archer with a billhook would be a deadly combo in a fight, but for realism sake I’d advocate limiting what weapons one can carry in inventory, based on size and weight of the weapon.
I had the same thoughts about this. And my question should have also been if this is intended in case it is possible.
It is possible right now and we think we will keep it that way. Of course this is not “realistic” but we have to draw a line somewhere. We want to give the player the freedom to experiment with loadouts, perks, equipments and so on without a lot of restrictions. This freedom is essential to the game.
Of course at some point it may become really gamey and break the immersion of the game. This is the point where we have to do something about it.
If you go all the way with this polearms should not fit into the backpack slots at all but this takes the realism to a point where it obstructs the gameflow so we are careful about this. However, depending on EA feedback we may consider doing something about this.
“If you go all the way with this polearms should not fit into the backpack slots at all but this takes the realism to a point where it obstructs the gameflow so we are careful about this.”
Well, you added helmets limiting visibility, heavy armours increasing fatigue, which is all awesome and all in the name of realism. Personally I don’t see it obstructing gameflow if you have to make these tactical decisions and trade-offs, as the bill-hook or a spear offers some specific tactical advantages (mainly increasing the distance between you and the enemy), but obviously can’t be carried in your pack. You can walk onto the battlefield with it in your hands, then if you choose, you can drop it to the ground (and pick it up again there later) and pull out the secondary weapon. This is pretty much how they handled the use of polearms back then, no?
@ Trig I agree with your post, but lets not forget the weapons like polearms and glaives were largely anti-cavalry weapons, which does not apply here :)
@Asterix You’re right. But they’re in, because you could very well whack someone over the head with them just the same and this game is mainly about whacking dudes over the head, innit? They still couldn’t be carried on the back or in a backpack though :P
Actually i see a little rework of the inventory/backpack system coming some way down the road but pretty low on our list.
Allowing the player to carry a polearm, but drop it to swap for something else during battle, seems like a fair compromise.
Regarding the slog through the mountains, instead of making the player wait when crossing difficult terrain, have him move at the same speed but make the time pass faster. Actually a slider to allow overland travel to move faster might be welcome after ten or twenty hours of play.
Looks really good by the way!