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

[Parabalus]

Swords are great because they let you access enemy backline from your front, especially vs ancient dead (black monolith), since they spam shield block and you can just go over it for the squishier polearms.

I guess you mean two handed swords, but I'm asking about one-handed.

I'm no expert, but it seems like once you have the fatigue, melee skill and armour to wield them without losing bros every other fight, two-handers are king. One-handed swords just don't have the damage to keep up. Before that point, though, the ThC bonus and passive skill make them a good all-rounder.

I have a swordmaster on whom I tried Dueling/Noble/Greatswords (with QH), very rarely does the noble sword come into play.
Even with a full surround on him riposte is rarely worth it compared to just 2 sweeps.

I just captured my first two handed sword from some brigand leader. I'll try it out soon and see if it's so great. I've been looking to have the means to switch to weapons which preserve armor better when fighting against humans. At least humans whose armor I would like to steal.

You want daggers for that, give 1 to everyone's bag, fatigue free.

 

[Prime Junta]

How the fuck are you supposed to fight Hexen?

I managed to beat one fight where there was only one with two Unhold, but I got so many injuries from the giants that it must've cost me more than twice the bounty for it. If they're accompanied by anything that requires massing up, I'm fucked by the charms; if I'm fighting four with no other allies, my longaxe guys start decapitating my bros. And they also keep their curses up so effectively that I can't attack them even when I'm in range.

Am I supposed to go with shieldmen only? I suppose that way there would be fewer instant fatalities from the charms at least, although it still wouldn't address the curses.

So far they're clearly the most frustrating of the new enemies...

 

[Parabalus]

How the fuck are you supposed to fight Hexen?

I managed to beat one fight where there was only one with two Unhold, but I got so many injuries from the giants that it must've cost me more than twice the bounty for it. If they're accompanied by anything that requires massing up, I'm fucked by the charms; if I'm fighting four with no other allies, my longaxe guys start decapitating my bros. And they also keep their curses up so effectively that I can't attack them even when I'm in range.

Am I supposed to go with shieldmen only? I suppose that way there would be fewer instant fatalities from the charms at least, although it still wouldn't address the curses.

So far they're clearly the most frustrating of the new enemies...

Archers or adrenaline(or super high init) guys to kill the hexes. You can 4AP kill them later on.

Sergeant with 100+ resolve and an undead trophy guy seems almost mandatory vs 3 or more Hexes.

Had some decent results with giving maces to your guys, since you can both stun and your charmed guys use stuns instead of damage.

 

[Strange Fellow]

Reinforced nets!

 

[Soulstones]

If feels like the game sometimes throws events based on what happened before...
Lost a disgraced noble (good fucking riddance) and his armor (fuck!) and a dog in a 2k contract where I took 900 armor damage (fuck!!) but managed to dagger me a footmans armor and this guy joins.

What a cutie

 

[vazha]

If feels like the game sometimes throws events based on what happened before...
Lost a disgraced noble (good fucking riddance) and his armor (fuck!) and a dog in a 2k contract where I took 900 armor damage (fuck!!) but managed to dagger me a footmans armor and this guy joins.

What a cutie

That's one hell of a vagabond, truly. What state must BB economy be in so that guys like these cant find proper employment? Sounds like straight out from Macron's France.

 

[Whiskeyjack]

I just captured my first two handed sword from some brigand leader. I'll try it out soon and see if it's so great. I've been looking to have the means to switch to weapons which preserve armor better when fighting against humans. At least humans whose armor I would like to steal.

I'd wait until you have Nimble/Battleforged for survivability. The biggest issue with 2H bros is surviving, but once you get those skills your 2H bros can take some hits.

 

[tindrli]

i just got a contract to deliver some stuff to the town north west and in the middle of the road an event with some mercs eager to get theis hands on that package. anyway i started a fight and it went well until this dude showed up

FFS he went with riposte and killed my 4 bros and i didnt even scratch him... best aim was with Billhook 9%.. 9 fuckin % ...

 

[Tigranes]

Net & never get close to him? Guess with that kind of stats he was breaking through nets on the first try too.

 

[Murk]

Completed greenskin invasion, first crisis since DLC launched. Around day 110ish, and now to start again -- tho this time I think I'll rig it to undead crisis.

 

[Whiskeyjack]

Completed greenskin invasion, first crisis since DLC launched. Around day 110ish, and now to start again -- tho this time I think I'll rig it to undead crisis.

Or... keep playing until the other two hit?

 

[Murk]

Completed greenskin invasion, first crisis since DLC launched. Around day 110ish, and now to start again -- tho this time I think I'll rig it to undead crisis.

Or... keep playing until the other two hit?

I want to start over, try a different seed. This one was overloaded with hunters (rare treat for me) but not so much with full army barracks/knights/etc.

Also, not gonna delete this company, just get another one going in tandem.

 

[Whiskeyjack]

God damn I just lost another company. I take too many risks.

 

[Prime Junta]

I'd wait until you have Nimble/Battleforged for survivability. The biggest issue with 2H bros is surviving, but once you get those skills your 2H bros can take some hits.

I’ve had some success using Quick Pockets and carrying a shield to close in for earlier-game 2H bros. Also useful for daggering nice armour.

 

[Haba]

God damn I just lost another company. I take too many risks.

I hear the Malazan army is looking for new officers, maybe try your luck there?

 

[Prime Junta]

Ho, bros. What recruitment strategy do you use?

Back when I played Ironman, I went full Darwin in the early game. Basically I recruited every dirt-cheap cripple and beggar I could find, with the biggest gamble I took being maximum 200 crowns on a brawler, thief, or other ne'er-do-well. Then once I had built up a purse, I went for swordmasters and hedge knights, trying to pick ones that were rocking equipment I needed so at least I got to keep those even if the bro inside turned out to be something of a squib.

When not playing Ironman I try to go for mid-tier bros as early as possible, but I freely admit to savescumming there -- it's just too fucking annoying to spend 1000 or 2000 crowns on some twat who turns out to have 53 melee or something equally retarded. What strategies do you use?

 

[vazha]

Bros I tend to go for are hunters, brawlers, farmhands, lumberjacks, flagellants (superb cheap background, gives you 10 fatique, 10 resolve and its -10 hp malus is eventually remedied if you've got a monk in your party. They are relatively rare though) and late game of course Hedge knights, sellswords thrown in. I tend to steer clear of wildmen, raiders and adventurous nobles for their abysmal ranged defense. A monk is a must, and so is a tailor and a bowyer until you proc their events. And obviously, cultists. You need five of them to get that armor.

 

[AwesomeButton]

You want daggers for that, give 1 to everyone's bag, fatigue free.

Sure thing, I saw this in a developer stream, made my life a lot easier. All my frontliners have daggers.

I'd wait until you have Nimble/Battleforged for survivability. The biggest issue with 2H bros is surviving, but once you get those skills your 2H bros can take some hits.

I equip the best armor and helmets on my two-handers, and only then issue armor and helmets to the shield-bearing tanks. This plus some careful positioning - staying out of range of melee enemies and going in by just one tile so as to be able to hit in the same turn - makes my two-handers effective at level 4-5 while still being able to absorb 2-3 hits. I would never allow them to be surrounded of course.

BTW, this may not be relevant on real difficulty settings, but I'm still playing on Beginner/Beginner for now, learning the game. That's why I'm not posting screens, no use to compare them to Expert/Expert parties I guess.

Ho, bros. What recruitment strategy do you use?

Back when I played Ironman, I went full Darwin in the early game. Basically I recruited every dirt-cheap cripple and beggar I could find, with the biggest gamble I took being maximum 200 crowns on a brawler, thief, or other ne'er-do-well. Then once I had built up a purse, I went for swordmasters and hedge knights, trying to pick ones that were rocking equipment I needed so at least I got to keep those even if the bro inside turned out to be something of a squib.

When not playing Ironman I try to go for mid-tier bros as early as possible, but I freely admit to savescumming there -- it's just too fucking annoying to spend 1000 or 2000 crowns on some twat who turns out to have 53 melee or something equally retarded. What strategies do you use?

No strategy really, I can't afford to have one :D I just buy the cheapest I can find which doesn't have a useless-sounding background or clearly bad traits. I would look for poachers for marksmen, but that's it mostly.

BTW, I recently hired a guy with a priest background, gave him the nickname "The Saint", and I have him wielding the pike/standard from the second line. I took him for his supposedly high resolve, which is 47 at level 2, which I guess is good?

 

[Strange Fellow]

What recruitment strategy do you use?

I hoover up all the cheapest bros, except for obviously terrible ones like cripples, then fire them immediately if they don't have good stats. I keep doing this for every town I visit if I have a few hundred crowns to spare. I suppose I could use even the useless bros as fodder, but that incurs a party-wide resolve penalty mid-battle, which isn't something you want, and calculated sacrifices are risky at the best of times. If you fire them right away you only have to pay 10 crowns in compensation and no one will get upset. This strategy means I get a lot of promising bros with relatively low starting stats, but Gifted and Quick Learner (or whatever those perks are called) bring them up to speed quickly enough.

 

[Parabalus]

BTW, I recently hired a guy with a priest background, gave him the nickname "The Saint", and I have him wielding the pike/standard from the second line. I took him for his supposedly high resolve, which is 47 at level 2, which I guess is good?

Priests and witch hunters make the best sergeants. Ideally you want 1 of those with 3 stars and fearless/brave trait.

Priests also have great background events, they will save you injuries and/or fatalities from your bros infighting, very worthwhile to have one in the party.

 

[Jimmious]

Just going to list some QoL features that I believe could be added in order to improve the game:

• Improve the "scout enemy composition" functionality. At the moment it's entirely ambiguous. I have no idea when and why I can scout an enemy encampment for example. What are the prerequisites? What is approximately my radius? The system should be improved somehow.
• I think I would like a separate screen for all the ego stats of my mercs. I know you can hover over them and see them but I think a list with some more info, sortable etc, would be awesome.
• More world generation options would be greatly appreciated. Like number of settlements, ratio of forests/mountains/sea and stuff along these
• Maybe add a "Wait All" button, like the "End Turn All" one? Because it's often in battles that I want the enemies to move first and then do my thing. Would be nice to automate that and skip to the part that I'm going to actually control
• I'm thinking that drawing the path your company will take to reach the point you clicked at would also be nice. Because currently, especially if the company goes through "unknown territory", you can easily get... surprised. Eg yesterday I randomly discovered the goblin city by going to a northern area. It also spawned a huge army of goblins who promptly chased us away

I'm gonna tag rapsdjff to see it - and I know I do it often even though he doesn't frequently react. I kinda believe he reads the stuff at least

 

[vazha]

BTW, I recently hired a guy with a priest background, gave him the nickname "The Saint", and I have him wielding the pike/standard from the second line. I took him for his supposedly high resolve, which is 47 at level 2, which I guess is good?

Priests and witch hunters make the best sergeants. Ideally you want 1 of those with 3 stars and determined/brave trait.
.

There's also a fearless trait that gives +10 resolve. monks are more utility bros, if you want a decent sarge, go for melee-endowed flagellant ( explained above) & witchhunter or adventurous noble (+15 base resolve, very good melee def and attack which will come handy when you get that banner and specialize in polearms. got a whopping -10 ranged def though so you need to negate that stat wise without enburdening him too much with heavy armor).

P.s. any ideas whats needed for the zomboe hoggart event to proc?

 

[Teut Busnet]

Just going to list some QoL features that I believe could be added in order to improve the game:

• Improve the "scout enemy composition" functionality. At the moment it's entirely ambiguous. I have no idea when and why I can scout an enemy encampment for example. What are the prerequisites? What is approximately my radius? The system should be improved somehow.
• I think I would like a separate screen for all the ego stats of my mercs. I know you can hover over them and see them but I think a list with some more info, sortable etc, would be awesome.
• More world generation options would be greatly appreciated. Like number of settlements, ratio of forests/mountains/sea and stuff along these
• Maybe add a "Wait All" button, like the "End Turn All" one? Because it's often in battles that I want the enemies to move first and then do my thing. Would be nice to automate that and skip to the part that I'm going to actually control
• I'm thinking that drawing the path your company will take to reach the point you clicked at would also be nice. Because currently, especially if the company goes through "unknown territory", you can easily get... surprised. Eg yesterday I randomly discovered the goblin city by going to a northern area. It also spawned a huge army of goblins who promptly chased us away

I'm gonna tag rapsdjff to see it - and I know I do it often even though he doesn't frequently react. I kinda believe he reads the stuff at least

I actually thought they would add a 'Wait All' and the 'End Turn All' button. If I may add my QoL features:

• Change the 'Obituary' to a 'Book of Honour', that also shows Brothers you dismissed (maybe only those who got the pay out). I also second 'more stats' in general
  
• You still can't use a dog and wear a necklace. With all the new necklaces, keep the upper left spot exclusively for those and let us use the bottom two (or four) for everything else without restrictions
• Integrate some kind of 'Chests' in the inventory (don't know if technically possible) that hold 'Potions' and 'Necklaces' etc. With all the new enemies that need special gear, you can either be well prepared or have space in your inventory, not both

 

[tindrli]

AND A WAY TO RENAME OUR DOGS!!!

 

[hivemind]

an immortality button in the settings so you don't have to reload if one of your guys accidentally dies