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

[Darth Roxor]

They do say Veteran-Ironman is "the way the game is supposed to be played" though.

That was what I thought as well, but after trying ironman and then thinking about it some more, I seriously reconsidered. The overall design of this game is greatly incompatible with ironman, unless you are a complete masochistic loony (to a degree even greater than required to play other games on ironman).

 

[Cosmo]

They do say Veteran-Ironman is "the way the game is supposed to be played" though.

Yeah but the cost of balancing it right would be worth it if and only if a majority of players would aknowledge that and apply to it (never gonna happen)...
To expand on Prime Junta's opinion another thing to consider is that ironman players are probably meant to lose a few playthroughs, after all that's the whole spirit of the "retiring" option.

 

[Jimmious]

I think that the main issue is the levels of new recruits. If they are raised somewhat it will make ironman more fun since youll be able to recover from losses faster. Now you can get a bro of max 5-6 level as a replacement for bros that are 10-11-12 level and.... it hurts.

 

[Parabalus]

That was what I thought as well, but after trying ironman and then thinking about it some more, I seriously reconsidered. The overall design of this game is greatly incompatible with ironman, unless you are a complete masochistic loony (to a degree even greater than required to play other games on ironman).

When you can lose someone in scale armor and kite shield to round 1 brigand marksman fire you really have to be a masochist to enjoy it. The game is also very poorly documented, you need several runs just to learn the "GOTCHA!!" stuff.

On the contrary, you can get a lot of accidental hits on dudes adjacent to your target from missed shots.

If you miss your target, you still have to hit vs. ranged defense (easily observed if you have overwhelm) of the new target. Most of the time you are sniping enemy archers/casters though so it's important, when you finally aim at blobs it's mostly over.

 

[Prime Junta]

I guess I'm a masochist then 'cuz I am really enjoying Ironman. Mostly.

I just think it could be even better with some tuning of incentives -- cost of failure and/or rewards for success in the tougher missions.

(I've lost a TON of Ironman campaigns by now. I have enjoyed that, even if it's something of a "One more please SIR!" type of enjoyment.)

 

[Jimmious]

I'm playing Veteran Ironman too. But I admit there have been 3-4 times during my 80 hours of playtime where I Alt-F4ed out of a battle. Mainly Marksman induced rage. You know, combat starts , arrow arrow arrow death. Now play.

 

[RK47]

Why not just add that boast system from Fable?
During negotiation you can get a reputation and reward multiplier.
'I'll leave none alive': Kill all enemies - Not a single live retreat +20% Reward and Reputation
'I'll finish this quickly': Finish the battle in less than 5 rounds.
'I'll finish it flawlessly': No Casualties / Serious injuries
'I'll do it with less than 10 men!': Deploy less than 10 men.

 

[Doma]

I thought I had a very nice run going on my Veteran+Ironman game. Until I ran into Bandit Raiders + Marksmen + a necromancer just to top it off lol.

 

[oneself]

Risk reward is a little screwy. On my first playthrough and I'm still in shit gear at 115 days. Avoiding all missions with the exception of parcel delivery and hunting down parties that would chase you so I can induce big battles to soften my losses. Only fair battle I do is against direwolves because spearwall is very good at that.

Safe method, but tedious and reward isn't there.

I don't think I got my first end game crisis yet. Not sure how. What kind of penalty is there for not resolving it?

 

[Jimmious]

Yeah I mean if you play like that the game will probably get boring fast

 

[oneself]

Yeah I mean if you play like that the game will probably get boring fast

My squad tactic ubersafe playstyle. I tend to loosen up more if the I can beat it in consistently and the rewards are adequate. Problem is, retreat is a 2-5 day setback for a 12 member party, loss of level 5-6 character regardless of background isn't really worth it. All enemies with the exception of direwolves have a lot of variance AKA risk.

I keep hoping of upgrading my team slowly with looted gear, but I haven't been able to harvest armor from raiders. Billhooks just destroys them.

Currently just trading and grinding. I might watch some LPs and see what they are doing that I could do.

I can currently afford a hedge knight, however I don't think a single level 1 hedge knight will make a big difference in the difficulty of the enemies I can tackle(without also investing in gear) and the increased spending will dent on my profits from doing risk-free missions, so sort of stuck in this status quo loop for now.

 

[Stavrophore]

I keep hoping of upgrading my team slowly with looted gear, but I haven't been able to harvest armor from raiders. Billhooks just destroys them.
.

Lol. Just buy some daggers and when enemies are routing/routed attack them with puncture skill. You'll get armor that way. The trick is to kill enemies fast, and then surround the juicy targets, hoping that this will be enough to rout them. Then switch to daggers, and you ll have your armor. It's also a good way to equip your swordmaster[the guy with highest melee, defence, dodge and initiative] with dagger, beside sword, and try to puncture targets, even if they aren't routed. Swordmasters are pretty immune to hit in later parts of the game, and armor aka money is always useful.

 

[oneself]

I keep hoping of upgrading my team slowly with looted gear, but I haven't been able to harvest armor from raiders. Billhooks just destroys them.
.

Lol. Just buy some daggers and when enemies are routing/routed attack them with puncture skill. You'll get armor that way. The trick is to kill enemies fast, and then surround the juicy targets, hoping that this will be enough to rout them. Then switch to daggers, and you ll have your armor. It's also a good way to equip your swordmaster[the guy with highest melee, defence, dodge and initiative] with dagger, beside sword, and try to puncture targets, even if they aren't routed. Swordmasters are pretty immune to hit in later parts of the game, and armor aka money is always useful.

I am, harvest chance is shit lol. I think I got one laminar armor from that(90 durability). I tend to just destroy them before they get routed. Most of my guys are level 6-7, but butchers, poachers, apprentices and other undesirables.

Might just buy some armor very very slowly.

 

[Kuattro]

Says the savescummer who always plays on veteran.

Yeah that.

That's it, I'm playing nothing but ironman from now on!

I hold you personally responsible for any loss of sanity I incur.

Maybe ironman gives a new perspective and tomorrow I'll be eating my words (most probably), but honestly, I still think pushing the retreat button is a get out of jail free card. It's the equivalent to screaming "run for your lives". That's when the line collapses, you show your back to the enemy, and thus get stabbed. That doesn't lead to injury, but death, as I think the previous retreat button behaviour simulated. I never use it, as dire as the situation gets. Either I trust in savescumming (not anymore!), I find it a bit cheesy, or I've been conditioned by getting half your company murdered in old betas not to even look at it.

I think that there's quite some good tools at your disposal to make an orderly retreat. I mentioned shield bash, stuns, footwork/rotation, and I even forgot repel from pikes and pitchforks. And if one or two of your brothers need to stay behind to keep enemies at bay while the rest of the company beats it, isn't it better to lose a couple of them than to get all of them severely injured? 'Tis the mercenary life.

I remember a sentence from one of the veterans on Steam's forums, and I think he was referring to pressing the retreat button (or maybe it was savescumming...), but it was something like: the ability to recognize when a situation is FUBAR, either right at the beggining or during combat, is learnt through experience. I certainly intend to cultivate it

On the other hand...

I dunno, perhaps 3-skull contracts are intended for savescummers. Another option, then, would be to create more variety for one- and two-skull ones

Funny you should mention it. I got an orc contract (I don't remember the skulls) when my band was fairly low level (at least for orcs). A handful of youngs and two warriors. When I saw it, my first instinct was to run like fuck and never look back, but since I could reload, I thought fuck it and went in. I killed them all without casualties. Without almost damage even. And I am not particularly good at this game.

If I had been in ironman, I guess I would have taken the "adiós" option immediately. So yes, I suppose ironman makes you look at things more cautiously.

But on the other hand, I also think BB has implemented quite a lot of options. Immediately retreating, and now caravan escorts don't force you to take on anything that attacks it, you always get the option to run.

Anyway, as I said, I'm going in with ironman. I'll report back with my experience, I guess.

Or I won't, if I end up jumping through a window.

 

[Stavrophore]

I am, harvest chance is shit lol. I think I got one laminar armor from that(90 durability). I tend to just destroy them before they get routed. Most of my guys are level 6-7, but butchers, poachers, apprentices and other undesirables.
.

There's no harvest chance =you will get every armor in the loot, provided you killed the target without destroing said armor. It's good to have swordmaster with dagger mastery and quick hands, just for looting armors. Routing targets, that are surrounded will never regain morale, so its safe to keep such target pinned down, and wait for other soldiers with daggers to come. Ideally every one of your soldiers should carry a dagger,sometimes its not feasible as you have bandages, dogs, and throwing weapons in your BBs equipment.

 

[Jimmious]

I disagree. I've had times where I definetely killed my target without fully destroying armor and still didn't get it. Happened yesterday with a Fallen Hero for example. Unless Fallen Heroes dont drop armor for some reason

 

[Ezeekiel]

I am, harvest chance is shit lol. I think I got one laminar armor from that(90 durability). I tend to just destroy them before they get routed. Most of my guys are level 6-7, but butchers, poachers, apprentices and other undesirables.
.

There's no harvest chance =you will get every armor in the loot, provided you killed the target without destroing said armor. It's good to have swordmaster with dagger mastery and quick hands, just for looting armors. Routing targets, that are surrounded will never regain morale, so its safe to keep such target pinned down, and wait for other soldiers with daggers to come. Ideally every one of your soldiers should carry a dagger,sometimes its not feasible as you have bandages, dogs, and throwing weapons in your BBs equipment.

I'm not sure that's true. I've shanked people with daggers who had full armor still and got only the helmet and weapon. 100% certain. So either bug, or it's more like 75% chance or so.

 

[Stavrophore]

I am, harvest chance is shit lol. I think I got one laminar armor from that(90 durability). I tend to just destroy them before they get routed. Most of my guys are level 6-7, but butchers, poachers, apprentices and other undesirables.
.

There's no harvest chance =you will get every armor in the loot, provided you killed the target without destroing said armor. It's good to have swordmaster with dagger mastery and quick hands, just for looting armors. Routing targets, that are surrounded will never regain morale, so its safe to keep such target pinned down, and wait for other soldiers with daggers to come. Ideally every one of your soldiers should carry a dagger,sometimes its not feasible as you have bandages, dogs, and throwing weapons in your BBs equipment.

I'm not sure that's true. I've shanked people with daggers who had full armor still and got only the helmet and weapon. 100% certain. So either bug, or it's more like 75% chance or so.

I'v read that there's a treshold of some kind, if the armor has 10-20% durability left, it won't drop sometime, but i'm not sure if it was official info. Well for me it always drops when i kill enemy and it has like 50% durability.

 

[Ezeekiel]

I am, harvest chance is shit lol. I think I got one laminar armor from that(90 durability). I tend to just destroy them before they get routed. Most of my guys are level 6-7, but butchers, poachers, apprentices and other undesirables.
.

There's no harvest chance =you will get every armor in the loot, provided you killed the target without destroing said armor. It's good to have swordmaster with dagger mastery and quick hands, just for looting armors. Routing targets, that are surrounded will never regain morale, so its safe to keep such target pinned down, and wait for other soldiers with daggers to come. Ideally every one of your soldiers should carry a dagger,sometimes its not feasible as you have bandages, dogs, and throwing weapons in your BBs equipment.

I'm not sure that's true. I've shanked people with daggers who had full armor still and got only the helmet and weapon. 100% certain. So either bug, or it's more like 75% chance or so.

I'v read that there's a treshold of some kind, if the armor has 10-20% durability left, it won't drop sometime, but i'm not sure if it was official info. Well for me it always drops when i kill enemy and it has like 50% durability.

I think it was supposed to be 15%, but don't quote me on that.

Still, the armor had it's full strength left. Didn't just happen once, either.
Maybe you can loot only the armor OR the helmet? So if you get helmet and armor, one is discarded or something.

 

[Stavrophore]

Maybe you can loot only the armor OR the helmet? So if you get helmet and armor, one is discarded or something.

That might be the case, albeit that would be stupid. Dont think devs could come with such idiocy on their behalf

 

[Ezeekiel]

Maybe you can loot only the armor OR the helmet? So if you get helmet and armor, one is discarded or something.

That might be the case, albeit that would be stupid. Dont think devs could come with such idiocy on their behalf

Hahaha... That's totally something they'd do though, isn't it...

 

[Prime Junta]

Weirdest thing just happened. I wanted to experiment with something and started a new campaign. Went to get Hoggart.

This time he was accompanied, in addition to his usual posse, by a half-dozen raiders and a few marksmen.

It was a short battle.

 

[Sarissofoi]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3G7aH3rN_4

Look by yourself.
My troops facing bunch of wiedergangers. Some are armored. I want loot basic armor shirt, 2 kettle hats and 2 mail coifs(plus worn mail shirts but I have plenty of them already).
First I take defensive position(high ground) to get accuracy and defensive bonus.
Then I kill(and kill again) all enemies that I am not interested or too dangerous to farm.
That leave us with designated 'to loot their stuff' group of five armored zombies.
Then I use puncture to kill them without damaging armor and helmets.
Its tiresome but zombies are easy to hit and they do not hit often(once per turn).
Having Recovery helps a lot(so you can attack more).
Having high ground and shields help you avoid their attacks. Having high ground and surrounding bonus help your own attacks connect.
As you can see it works perfectly. At the end I got all their armor/helmets and some of other stuff. Notice lack of armors or helmets or caps from other zombies - yep their all were destroyed in combat(or heavy damaged).
Its kind of random - even if armor/helmet is full health it still have probability to not drop - the same goes for weapons. Still it have good chance if you do not damage it and non chance if destroyed.

Weirdest thing just happened. I wanted to experiment with something and started a new campaign. Went to get Hoggart.

This time he was accompanied, in addition to his usual posse, by a half-dozen raiders and a few marksmen.

It was a short battle.

It happen because all enemy camps or ruins can and will spawn enemy parties. Which can happen even with Hoggart hideout.

 

[Ezeekiel]

Weirdest thing just happened. I wanted to experiment with something and started a new campaign. Went to get Hoggart.

This time he was accompanied, in addition to his usual posse, by a half-dozen raiders and a few marksmen.

It was a short battle.

? You must have had a raider party nearby or following you?

 

[thesheeep]

Weirdest thing just happened. I wanted to experiment with something and started a new campaign. Went to get Hoggart.

This time he was accompanied, in addition to his usual posse, by a half-dozen raiders and a few marksmen.

It was a short battle.

git gud


Quickly.