Incline Battle Brothers + Beasts & Exploration, Warriors of the North and Blazing Deserts DLC Thread

[Gord]

I'm a filthy LARPER playing a concerned for his men Mercenary leader.

 

[Alienman]

I'm too much of a softie to sacrifice brothers. Even the most ugly, crippled, plague-ridden beggar gets a chance.

 

[Kuattro]

I care, I am concerned!

I am concerned about their eternal life, and I care to offer them a good future.

Before, they were rabble, failures in everything in life. After a (short) stint in my company, they get Valhalla.

Granted, there they get asked to stand at the back and cheer as the real warriors battle it out, but still, is better than begging.

Besides if they don't like it, they can always walk (instead of asking for compensation, greedy little bastards).

 

[RK47]

On the other hand, you can send this god for nothing hobo forwards in the search of a pike, a sword or an arrow (I mean, to the face), and lose nothing except the shitty armour you gave them.

- You lost one slot in battle just 'pretending' to have a 12th man in your company while the 13th guy is sitting on the reserve.
- The time taken to travel to battle, you've been paying and feeding this corpse. The longer he serves you, the higher the severance pay.
- You waste exp that could've gone to the 3-star melee newbie that's sitting there, mood being penalized for being in reserve. Dead men learns nothing.

 

[Reinhardt]

Got a two skull cargo delivery contact to a city literally beyond the next hills (~30s travel time), which payed ~1200 gold.

High pay delivery contracts usually spawn event, when other merc band will try to rob you.

 

[Alienman]

This is how I see my mercenary companies:

Spoiler

But for some reason it always ends up like this:

Spoiler

 

[miles teg]

Ahh this game really lacks an updated wiki and/or an ingame encyclopedia. I wish to know more about the economy, more about dudes' backgrounds effects, more about internal mechanics.

I'm in my first game, beginner difficulty. My only complain so far is that it's a bit too easy to play safe, never leave your comfort zone, take easy contracts and accept a slow income of money.
I wonder if this is due to the difficulty level I chose or it's just a supported way to play the game.

 

[Darth Roxor]

This is how I see my mercenary companies:

Speaking of which, today it hit me that it's sorta weird that there's no trumpeter role to go TOOT TOOT in battle in dis game.

 

[Raghar]

Why is this in RPG forum? It's a strategy game.

 

[Gord]

Got a two skull cargo delivery contact to a city literally beyond the next hills (~30s travel time), which payed ~1200 gold.

High pay delivery contracts usually spawn event, when other merc band will try to rob you.

Maybe, although that didn't happen. Also I had two more similar payed contracts (~800 gold) with similar setup (close towns separated by mountain range) since.
The thing is, you are not likely to meet many opponents on the very short direct route - if they spawn along the long road around the mountain range, I don't care.

Instead I got great pay for little work with almost no risk.

 

[Kuattro]

accept a slow income of money.

Wait until the end game crisis hits.

Unless you play without them, then yes.

 

[Haba]

But for some reason it always ends up like this:

That's because you go for this

Spoiler

Instead of doing this

Spoiler

 

[Alienman]

One million pikeman is the secret sauce?

 

[Reinhardt]

if they spawn along the long road around the mountain range, I don't care.

It's event. Similar to bounty hunters after brigand leader head.

 

[RK47]

Jumped into a supply caravan being attacked by 21 brigands.
Feels good wiping these buggers out. Two soldiers and the donkey survived.
What to give this guy?

 

[Kuattro]

What to give this guy?

A greatsword, a scale armour and the direction where the enemy is.

I swear to god, 20+ thugs (yes, yes I know), poachers and marksmen in my first battle with a 2H greatsword brother. He gets surrounded by 5 enemies. One swing, one split. Five enemies literally vaporised, and the rest start running. It's like firing a cannonball into their lines.

 

[RK47]

 

[Antigoon]

Jumping right in with veteran ironman was a mistake i think. Now I thought after countless defeats it would be nice to see some end scenario, so I started a normal veteran run, but hell, thats pretty boring without all the suspense. Also for some reason it feels much easier, lost 1 bro after 3 weeks, no save scumming, all others are healthy, happy and well equipped.
Also: Didnt follow all the discussion too closely, always too paranoid for too many spoilers. After how many days can I expect reaching an end scenario?

 

[Antigoon]

I hope the sales are good enough to warrant further development. Has the makings of a classic. But I have a feeling that the game feels too hard for pussy gamers today, and that most of the sales were through Early Access. Can anyone verify?

It's sold about 10K units since leaving early access (early access was at approx. 50k when they launched).

Isnt that really quite disappointing? Havent I read something around here like you usually sell about the same copies post EA than you did during EA? I would be also more than OK if they dont expand BB much further but take their combat system as a base for some totally new game. Hope they will also find the right economical choice for their future.

 

[Prime Junta]

Speaking of which, today it hit me that it's sorta weird that there's no trumpeter role to go TOOT TOOT in battle in dis game.

There is. There's even a sound effect.

 

[Sarissofoi]

I hope the sales are good enough to warrant further development. Has the makings of a classic. But I have a feeling that the game feels too hard for pussy gamers today, and that most of the sales were through Early Access. Can anyone verify?

It's sold about 10K units since leaving early access (early access was at approx. 50k when they launched).

Isnt that really quite disappointing? Havent I read something around here like you usually sell about the same copies post EA than you did during EA? I would be also more than OK if they dont expand BB much further but take their combat system as a base for some totally new game. Hope they will also find the right economical choice for their future.

Niche genre, unknown devs and no funds for hype and adds.
Its was expected. You need money to make money, sadly.

 

[Ezeekiel]

One million pikeman is the secret sauce?

I wish pikes had a spear-wall ability... Maybe even one where you cover only one direction but two hexes deep (for 3 or whatever total hexes). that'd make up for their shit damage. Could ditch the bonus to hit I guess. Sort of make them more like warscythes in a way.
With all pikes right now you'll suck against the better skeleton types but getting 5 bros or whatever to hit one guy without breaking formation is quite something.
Overall dmg output is just not so great compared to 2handed single-tile weapons in front. Nice against bandits and such though.

 

[Ezeekiel]

I hope the sales are good enough to warrant further development. Has the makings of a classic. But I have a feeling that the game feels too hard for pussy gamers today, and that most of the sales were through Early Access. Can anyone verify?

It's sold about 10K units since leaving early access (early access was at approx. 50k when they launched).

Isnt that really quite disappointing? Havent I read something around here like you usually sell about the same copies post EA than you did during EA? I would be also more than OK if they dont expand BB much further but take their combat system as a base for some totally new game. Hope they will also find the right economical choice for their future.

Niche genre, unknown devs and no funds for hype and adds.
Its was expected. You need money to make money, sadly.

Tbh. I think the characters being just busts rather than full bodies probably adds to the issue... It works fine in game of course, but consider what this looks like to your average gamer today when they browse steam...
2d games struggle enough as it is as most folks are long used to 3d.

That being said, the game is quite expensive for what it is (as fun as it can be), maybe that'll help the devs... (or maybe it also hurt the sales)
It was only 3 devs iirc, so even with the long development time, maybe this will work out ok.

 

[Alienman]

It makes me wonder if this system of selling games is still viable for small niche teams like Overhype. I'm wondering if maybe Patreon of something similar would work out better. The guys behind Dwarf Fortress earn 4600 dollar per month. But then again that game has legendary status. Still it is a niche genre.

 

[Ezeekiel]

One thing regarding all the rage over bandit marksmen:

Yeah... One thing I've noticed is that whacky initiative/dodge/unarmored glasscannons work for the a.i. because it's not worried about losing people long-term like you are.
Relying on dodge is worse than relying on heavy armor due to greater RNG influence. With armor you know what you have and what you can take. High dodge char can get one-shotted if he isn't wearing armor, esp. with the sheer volume of ranged fire from some enemies you face.

For the player heaviest armor + strongest weapon + maxed weapon skill, maxed fatigue (at least for frontline) and enough hp and resolve with leftover points dumped into defense is probably the safest bet, but enemies can experiment because they don't care about death. Sure a knight/swordmaster can be a pain to take down, but if you build one they are basically gimped in practice (knight has low damage weapon that's hard on his stamina because of 2-3 swings per turn plus maybe abilities... Swordmaster tends to be glasscannon or just lack at least one critical stat and can get old age debuff if he's an actual swordmaster background)