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

[Edija]

How are you supposed to deal with Alps

Walk them into the map wall.
Spread your 12 dudes 1 tile out, or just 2 front lines with 1 tile distance, wait out their sleep and wake up sequentially. Walk 2 tiles a turn, keeping formation so that you can always wake up everyone.
In my game everyone has Pathfinder so terrain is not a problem.
I fought 10 alps once, that was the limit that I could not control their sleep anymore without dogos.

I had a "village has nightmares" mission, 4 Alps and a Nachzehrer attacked. 2 in front of me, 2 in the back. Don't really know how to push them against the map if they don't spawn on one side.

 

[Thonius]

Escort caravan and collect heads are worst kind contract.

 

[hivemind]

Fighting Alps:

the virgin perfect formation lockstep vs the chad wild dog chase (while naked)

 

[Murk]

I think building up the bro backgrounds to be more involved would be nice, too. Right now basically there's a chance for an event that results in gain/loss of item or stats, but to flesh it out a bit more would be interesting. Like being able to put your poacher/hunters to gather food but in doing so it stops them from being in combat but takes up a slot of an active bro you can have (so can't just hire a backline of hunters, it reduces how many active combatants you can use while they're out).

Similarly, perhaps some specific skill set mods. So murderer currently has a minor benefit headshot chance, but maybe make it so their dagger mastery is unique and somewhat better (not hugely, just a bit).

Perhaps some backgrounds can go in as a spy when attacking humanoid enemies to 1) scout and allow for a high chance of ambush engagement (you start with better positioning) or even something like that unit starts in enemy ranks and isn't aggro'd until you attack.

There's ton of little options that are doable without requiring a major overhaul, hopefully they continue to do such stuff either in more DLC or in their next game.

 

[Dr Skeleton]

So I just got wiped out by 10 alps because they put everyone except 1 guy and 2 dogs to sleep in 2 turns with aoe sleep spells. The dogs killed one alp (in just 2 hits so it was a dream illusion or something?). What. I tried to wake up but often the turn of the sleeping mercs passed when they were sleeping so even when I awoke them I couldn't do anything with them. It was like my first fight with alps only in reverse, seems either you can awake fast enough to negate the nightmares or you can't awake fast enough to do anything. Seriously, 10 seems like a little much if they can put multiple targets to sleep in one go, it was early day 70-ish, not even 1st crisis time. Is there also a 12 hexen encounter in the game and they just charm everyone on turn one and that's it?

How does the sleep shit even work, tied to resolve? Do high resolve characters resist it? Bad enough you won't have any for 90% of the game.

It's tied to resolve because you sometimes see "x resisted sleep thanks to high resolve" but the check has gotta be very high, I had a 96 resolve banner guy (who resisted it once and never again after that) and everyone else at ~50-60 and it maybe resisted 1 in 10 times.

 

[Murk]

Biggest Hexe crew I saw was 6, which for my 9 man group at the time was a horrifying sight. Was like day 40ish.

 

[hivemind]

>9men at day 40

makes me think

 

[Murk]

>9men at day 40

makes me think

Some apples are sweet, some have a worm. Figured I'd play it through to see what happens (hexes followed by my men murdering each other happened).

 

[Barbarian]

The only beast I haven't fought yet is the schrat.

I like Hexes. I mean, they can be difficult enemies but there is nice strategy involved in defeating them. Unholds are nice too. I agree that alps are the one weak link among the new enemies. They are nice as a concept, but fighting them is just boring as fuck.

 

[Tigranes]

Hexen - I've been getting them here and there since day 30ish? And I like them. Way more fun than Alps. I had one 3-skull where you protect the Lord's son (who comes with you into battle unarmed) from the Hex chasing him, and the Hex spawned with about ten dire wolves. So I had to protect the kid from roaming wolves, while keeping him out of the Hex's line of sight, and fight my way through to her. Great times - proof that DLC really provides some different tactical challenges.

Nimble - I'm only a Level ~7 party with the big invasion yet to fire, but it certainly seems to be viable for many (if not all) fights. I have a Nimble, Dodge, Pathfinder bro that is my problem solver; he starts out on the far wing and will bypass the fray to get at Necromancers, Hexens, archers, what have you without a problem. With the above dire wolves he could just stand surrounded by four, put on Riposte and Shield Wall and let them rip. The combination of higher fatigue & Pathfinder really changes your approach to difficult terrain as well.

Obviously with any dodge character there's a risk, and I imagine with injury-happy opponents he's in for trouble, but I don't expect Nimbles to be the best at everything. But it certainly diversifies the bro cast and I think it's a great change.

 

[Thonius]

Hexen - I've been getting them here and there since day 30ish? And I like them. Way more fun than Alps. I had one 3-skull where you protect the Lord's son (who comes with you into battle unarmed) from the Hex chasing him, and the Hex spawned with about ten dire wolves. So I had to protect the kid from roaming wolves, while keeping him out of the Hex's line of sight, and fight my way through to her. Great times - proof that DLC really provides some different tactical challenges.

Nimble - I'm only a Level ~7 party with the big invasion yet to fire, but it certainly seems to be viable for many (if not all) fights. I have a Nimble, Dodge, Pathfinder bro that is my problem solver; he starts out on the far wing and will bypass the fray to get at Necromancers, Hexens, archers, what have you without a problem. With the above dire wolves he could just stand surrounded by four, put on Riposte and Shield Wall and let them rip. The combination of higher fatigue & Pathfinder really changes your approach to difficult terrain as well.

Obviously with any dodge character there's a risk, and I imagine with injury-happy opponents he's in for trouble, but I don't expect Nimbles to be the best at everything. But it certainly diversifies the bro cast and I think it's a great change.

Day 15 hexes and trolls...shit tough.

 

[Parabalus]

Later on you run into stuff like 5 Hexe or 3 Hexe + 10ish bodyguards, shit's insane.

 

[Barbarian]

One you must say they got right in this expansion is late content. I haven't even seem a kraken after 100 days, let alone the other 2 (as of yet unknown)bosses. You have reason enough to keep going after the first crisis now.

If they do another dlc I hope they add even more mid-late game content. It used to be you would have seem nearly everything too soon.

 

[vazha]

What can you do with poisoned apples and witch hair? I hoarded some of the stuff but have no crafting recipe with them unlocked.

a veeery nice trinket (+res) if you also got some savant ashes if I m not mistaken

 

[Tigranes]

+3 Res for necrosavant amulet, +4 for something else I forget, +5 for the Hex I think?

I haven't yet seen anything beyond res trinkets, armour padding, except a few potions and the Net upgrade. I really like that one - easy to get & really useful. I've had Fallen Heroes become complete nonentities with a upgrade net throw

 

[hivemind]

tfw my starting axe-brother ended up having the most trash stat distribution of my entire frontline

I kinda wanna behead him because he is triggering me with being incompetent beyond having a good mattack but he is also my highest lvl(he has bright) and I cba to grind someone new to lvl 8

^this sort of autism is also the reason why I can't play ironmeme

 

[Tigranes]

Learn to roll with shitty things and make a good story out of it, instead of obsessing about the highest possible number for every single thing

Losing is fun, perfectly savescummed bros winning everything is not

 

[hivemind]

idk I might give ironmeme a try once I actually learn the game and free myself from the clutches of autism

 

[hivemind]

also idk how to feel about nimble, I'm doing like a run in which pretty much everyone has colossus, dodge. overwhelm and high init /fatigue(this is where axetard fails last) and reasonable amount of mdef and around day 85 ish I'm getting to nimble and while wearing comfy 115 prot armors and around 100-120 helmets it gives a solid 50% hp dmg reduction to which my initial reaction is zomg broken but then I'm not sure because like yeah I'm not taking much hp dmg but eventually the 100 odd armour is gone(since the nimble reduction applies only to hp dmg) and my 60-80hp boyes are ded after 2-3 strong hits anyhow and it doesn't scale much from here into the future since fights are becoming longer and the fatigue is ruining my dodge bonuses

like I can bully unholds into oblivion(based overwhelm) and hunting trees is pretty free as well, but its like my axetard has legendary armor(175 total but low fatigue) and i gave him a twohander instead of a shield and put him in the front and he got straight up killed by two pike wielding legionnaires in less time than it took me to cut through the enemy frontline, might have just been unlucky rolls but honestly the survivability doesn't seem that amazing, the main benefit comes from having access to high initiative and overwhelm from the lower amour but again I dont think that matters lategame that much as you get into long fights where eventually those 5% hit chances of honor guards and shit are gonna get to you when you are only working with 100 odd armor

 

[Agesilaus]

Unholds are the bane of my existence. Yes, I hate a lot of other opponents, but this current seed I have roaming bands of 2-4 unholds everywhere. Unless you're packing some nice gear and decent level brothers, even 2 unholds can cause party-wide injuries and significant deaths.

Also, I am an adult who plays ironmeme, so dead means dead (or one of those stupid perma-injuries; terrified can be cured, though, I think).

 

[Vilain Joueur]

>medium and light armor is rarely useful, you either go for heavy battle forged brothers or no armor HP nimble tanks.
It really feel like a waste and immersion breaking. They add all this medium&armors and helmets and I don't even think they are worth buying even if some looks cool.
>try out option is just a wasted opportunity - even lower than Veteran hall, both pretty irrelevant to be honest
>map generation is really even more important than before and on same retarded level
I really wish for some hand made maps or even map editor so people can make and share their own made maps
>most monsters that I fight were pretty good outside hexes, didn't meet kraken yet
On the other hand crafting feel like bullshit. Prices are kind of wonky and crafted items sell for pennies.
>attachments are nice but pricey
Attachments the one you can buy in shops are too pricey to be honest and the same goes for all stuff you buy in shops.
Outside some early cloth armors or 2nd hand mail and shields spears and literally buy only food, supplies and medicines with some one use items. That is all.
Whole economy is just plain bad. All my weapons and armors come from looting enemy and that also works terrible.

DLC add some new content and that is nice. Balance is little shit right now - more in economy and perks that actual fighting.
But things that was bad still are bad and its not look like they are even will to fix them.

I will also add that new Nimble is extremely cheap to run - not only no need for costly armor but you don't sheed tools like crazy.

Yes, that's a good analysis of the problems still in the game.
Anything between 0 Fatigue Armor or Coats of Scales/Plates and better becomes irrelevant very quickly because of how Nimble and Battle Forged benefit from extreme values. Even Named Armors cannot cope with that.
Try Out is useless I agree. The idea was good but in practice it reveals Traits which are not a decisive factor in evaluating the worth of a recruit.
Rather than the world map generation I would say that the combat map generation is bad. There's absolutely no way to control where you will land on a given terrain. So you could end up with height disadvantage against Goblins or Marksmen. And the reverse. This is pure luck. A real problem.
Hexen are all right. You need good Archers though. But Archers are so overpowered that it would be unwise not to get several.
Yes, most of the stuff in shops is just too expensive. I wanted to try the new items like the Noble Mail Armor or the Sallet. But they're not good enough for the price.
So, nothing really has changed. It's just more difficult to make money now. So you either loot equipment or you keep your Crowns for Named Items.

 

[Barbarian]

tfw my starting axe-brother ended up having the most trash stat distribution of my entire frontline

I kinda wanna behead him because he is triggering me with being incompetent beyond having a good mattack but he is also my highest lvl(he has bright) and I cba to grind someone new to lvl 8

^this sort of autism is also the reason why I can't play ironmeme

Do it as I do, play mostly with shitty cheap backgrounds. If you hire some shitstain for 120 coins you will have no regrets, that is money well spent for cannon fodder. Occasionally you will get that loser with good traits and 3/2 stars in the right stats who will become one of your good bros. For a small fraction of the cost of even midtier backgrounds(retired soldier, bastard, etc).

Also new salary mechanics man. My level 7 raider costs me 51 coins per day. My level 5 ratcatcher costs 7. Yes, the raider is better, but for several times the cost? I'm not sure. I also had good luck to get a good raider, with a bad rng he could be worse than the ratcatcher at this level. And if the raider dies all the coins I spend in him goes along. The ratcatcher already paid for himself.

 

[Barbarian]

Unholds are the bane of my existence. Yes, I hate a lot of other opponents, but this current seed I have roaming bands of 2-4 unholds everywhere. Unless you're packing some nice gear and decent level brothers, even 2 unholds can cause party-wide injuries and significant deaths.

Also, I am an adult who plays ironmeme, so dead means dead (or one of those stupid perma-injuries; terrified can be cured, though, I think).

Unholds are not difficult. If facing more than one focus fire on one at a time. Surrounding is a good strategy, you just need bros with good defense for the task(mdef, shield, good armor, whatever). Since they regenerate their hitpoints each round the worst mistake you can make is trying to kill them all at once. Use shieldwall or hit and run to distract the ones you are not currently killing.

I got some permament injuries and even lost some bros against them at lower levels though. Fun fights.

 

[Disgruntled]

I personally like try out and use it extensively. Sure its still a gamble and some mediocre traits might hide perfect stars, but overall its better than blindly spending 500-5000 on some dude who is crippled. Whereas you know the guy with iron lungs or always confident will have those redeeming traits in spite of poor talents.

Im in 2 minds in my current ironman run, on one hand being safe and focusing on raider quests is proving successful. But on the other hand im getting tired of fighting these same bandits as id already got sick of em from a long pre-dlc playthrough a few months ago. Even the good old goblins are giving me tough fights, i dont know how ill ever risk it going for things like hexen, alps and schrat or the boss fights. tab-out party wipe savescumming feels inevitable 115 days deep..
Also i was watching a stream and nimble naked builds looked broken OP at midgame, gonna stick with battle forged till the balance update.

 

[Tigranes]

I find myself using try out a huge amount. I can, on average, test 10 people for the price of hiring one, and considering how it feels to hire someone and see they are utter shit, I think it's worth it.

In the earliest days of playing BB I used to get very discouraged if a bro got a permanent injury, but by now I have many experiences where a crippled fucker goes on to be a superb team member. Much of the time you can continue to get mileage - or at least, you can send those guys to do the most dangerous jobs, knowing you're OK with them dying.

Of course, yesterday my best archer lost a fucking eye. That shit ain't right