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

[normie]

But, now I know how to fight Nache-things. They seem to prioritize going for corpses when they can, so I figure (1) kill them isolated from their allies, (2) cover the bodies as you go, and (3) kill the big ones first so they don't grow bigger. One of the very big ones (maybe 2nd biggest size?) was responsible for killing 3/4 of my bros who died even though there were like 20 of them.

do a lot of damage, kill and injure small ones to send their morale cascading, advance to cover bodies and tie them up in your zone of control, use a tauntboy so they prioritise attacking rather than eating when chance presents and when it's the more economical option

I'd rather have a 2hander on my flank than a spearguy unless the spearguy is a god at what he does, better to keep flank clean of living things than merely failing to poke them back

 

[Reinhardt]

Shoot them. After some practice you will know how much exactly you can damage them without killing.

 

[Kaivokz]

I'd rather have a 2hander on my flank than a spearguy unless the spearguy is a god at what he does, better to keep flank clean of living things than merely failing to poke them back

I had two swordsmen on my flanks but there were just too many surrounding them around the sides. I was spearwalling on the front line.

 

[normie]

I'd rather have a 2hander on my flank than a spearguy unless the spearguy is a god at what he does, better to keep flank clean of living things than merely failing to poke them back

I had two swordsmen on my flanks but there were just too many surrounding them around the sides. I was spearwalling on the front line.

spearwalling doesn't apply the spear's 20% boon-to-hit that it does on a normal thrust attack, so any shit melee guys will be truly as shit as they are, doing 50% less damage on any hit they do manage to get in spearwalling and will have spent loads of fatigue

would probably have more luck shieldwalling with the front line, saving fatigue to move up, and doing the damage with the backline

 

[Kaivokz]

Alright, so I had been playing on ironman veteran economy/combat, but I decided veteran economy felt too grindy (as in, I was just doing more 1 skull contracts and farming more low level bandits rather than having more challenging battles). It also seemed to make recovering a company very hard.

I decided to play beginner economy/veteran combat. (Starting on veteran/veteran without playing the tutorial was fun though.) I’m a few weeks in with monster hunter background, have a squad of level 3-6 bros and 3000 gold in my wagon.

I recruited a couple good ranged bros early on and decided to try a play style based around them. Two archers and two crossbowmen. Four shield bros. Two pike bros. Two 2h sword bros.

Working pretty well, but I think I need to recruit some better 2h weapon guys—nobles or sell swords or something. Just unlocked noble contracts for the first time but I haven’t done any yet.

Anyway, I’ve taken down a couple pairs of unholds and monster hunter background gives you tons of materials. Haven’t really found anything good to craft yet except extra large quivers. I fought a fallen hero/necromancer combo, which was pretty fun. The fallen hero had some crazy armor with tons of durability. Too bad it seems like I always destroy the armor so I don’t get to loot it.

There a good way of not destroying the armor? Maybe use flails to hit the head?

 

[Reinhardt]

but I think I need to recruit some better 2h weapon guys

You just need higher level men. Level 3 bros is not when you go 2h.

 

[Eastwood]

There a good way of not destroying the armor? Maybe use flails to hit the head?

Daggers have a puncture attack that can bypass armor. I usually try to stall the fight with fallen heroes until I can surround them with high attack dudes. Then I split their shields, use nets to reduce their melee defense and stun them with maces so they can't do any harm.

 

[AwesomeButton]

There a good way of not destroying the armor? Maybe use flails to hit the head?

Daggers have a puncture attack that can bypass armor. I usually try to stall the fight with fallen heroes until I can surround them with high attack dudes. Then I split their shields, use nets to reduce their melee defense and stun them with maces so they can't do any harm.

Speaking of which, when you get to the right level, try rondels as daggers. Crazy damage

 

[Reinhardt]

Just rondels? Not famed? Peasant.

 

[Darth Canoli]

Do codexers play BB on ironman?

I just lost another company to some nachez-whatevers. Some bad luck (my spearwalls all got broken after 1 or 2 hits, despite some high melee skill), some bad tactics and they got around my flank. (I actually managed to beat them with 8/12 bros left, but right after that a band of very well equipped brigands appeared and chased me down).

But, now I know how to fight Nache-things. They seem to prioritize going for corpses when they can, so I figure (1) kill them isolated from their allies, (2) cover the bodies as you go, and (3) kill the big ones first so they don't grow bigger. One of the very big ones (maybe 2nd biggest size?) was responsible for killing 3/4 of my bros who died even though there were like 20 of them.

Anyway, I'm going to start a beast slayers group and specifically go after monsters because I keep losing my company to not understanding monster mechanics.

Not really ironman because i'm only playing Legends and it'd throw at you some impossible fights every now and then, usually, you get a murderous band of orcs around day 50, Warlords, champions, orcs warriors, even with an elite group, the warlords skill giving raising his troops morale while decreasing yours is just overpowered so if you get 2/3 or these, warriors, behemoths and champions being really hard to kill, you're screwed, you could win (or get wiped out, if you didn't play your cards perfectly) but not without heavy losses.
Sometimes i beat them with only one guy down or i get lucky and he gets a harmless or useful permanent wound and i only lose 1/2 fresh recruits.
Sometimes, i just flee and cancell the mission if it was one.

You need at least 2 elite level 5+ bros with AoE 2H weapons, swords + hammers are my priorities but later, i have one of each, even 2H maces are really good.
By elite, i mean swordmaster, sellsword, hedge knight, good starting guy, ...

Early on, just go for a shieldwall + the best pikes you can afford and the extended range axe + maybe one or two crossbows.

But i think you're getting it, once you understand every monsters mechanics, party wipes don't happen so often, only when you can't recognize a stronger opponent or if you get ambushed by frenzy direwolves early on because they're faster and you can't run away fast enough from them.

Alright, so I had been playing on ironman veteran economy/combat, but I decided veteran economy felt too grindy (as in, I was just doing more 1 skull contracts and farming more low level bandits rather than having more challenging battles). It also seemed to make recovering a company very hard.

I decided to play beginner economy/veteran combat. (Starting on veteran/veteran without playing the tutorial was fun though.) I’m a few weeks in with monster hunter background, have a squad of level 3-6 bros and 3000 gold in my wagon.

I recruited a couple good ranged bros early on and decided to try a play style based around them. Two archers and two crossbowmen. Four shield bros. Two pike bros. Two 2h sword bros.

Working pretty well, but I think I need to recruit some better 2h weapon guys—nobles or sell swords or something. Just unlocked noble contracts for the first time but I haven’t done any yet.

Anyway, I’ve taken down a couple pairs of unholds and monster hunter background gives you tons of materials. Haven’t really found anything good to craft yet except extra large quivers. I fought a fallen hero/necromancer combo, which was pretty fun. The fallen hero had some crazy armor with tons of durability. Too bad it seems like I always destroy the armor so I don’t get to loot it.

There a good way of not destroying the armor? Maybe use flails to hit the head?

Nice, there's a background, northern raider maybe which allow you to get armors even at 0% durability.
Also, Legends now let you get named items even at 0%.

Well, there's still the hexens, the alps, schrats and lindwurm to "look up" to but it looks like you're on a roll.

 

[Kaivokz]

But i think you're getting it, once you understand every monsters mechanics, party wipes don't happen so often, only when you can't recognize a stronger opponent or if you get ambushed by frenzy direwolves early on because they're faster and you can't run away fast enough from them.

Yeah, pretty much every company I’ve lost has been to unknown monsters—finding the right strategy for each battle is probably my favorite part of the game.

The first time I fought unholds, for example, I thought—alright, big lumbering beast, what the best way to kill it? Maybe surround it with shield wall and poke it to death with pikes? Until it grabs a shield bro and gets in melee range with your pikes. So my strategy for the last two pairs of unholds I fought was something like this: surround with shield bros, fill with arrows and slash it (no shield wall) as much as I can until it knocks them back (they don’t seem strong enough to one shot a shield bro with good armor). If that went well it will be between 1/2 and 3/4 health, so then everyone collapses in (including pike bros who were standing one tile away from back line) and I can usually finish it on the second round of combat. My original strategy sounded good, but it was too slow and underestimated the agility of unholds. But if I overwhelm the regen and don’t let it get to the back line, I haven’t lost a bro yet to them.

Well, there's still the hexens, the alps, schrats and lindwurm to "look up" to but it looks like you're on a roll

Hah, I haven’t seen any of those yet... I’m tempted to wiki them since I don’t really want to die and start from the very beginning every time I meet a new enemy.

You just need higher level men. Level 3 bros is not when you go 2h.

Yeah, I have them alternating between dual grip single axes or swords and actual 2h weapons now, depending on the defenses of who I’m fighting. Once I can reliably use 2h weapons things will change...

 

[Darth Canoli]

The first time I fought unholds, for example, I thought—alright, big lumbering beast, what the best way to kill it? Maybe surround it with shield wall and poke it to death with pikes? Until it grabs a shield bro and gets in melee range with your pikes. So my strategy for the last two pairs of unholds I fought was something like this: surround with shield bros, fill with arrows and slash it (no shield wall) as much as I can until it knocks them back (they don’t seem strong enough to one shot a shield bro with good armor). If that went well it will be between 1/2 and 3/4 health, so then everyone collapses in (including pike bros who were standing one tile away from back line) and I can usually finish it on the second round of combat. My original strategy sounded good, but it was too slow and underestimated the agility of unholds. But if I overwhelm the regen and don’t let it get to the back line, I haven’t lost a bro yet to them.

Everyone probably had epic fights with unholds at some point.
Nowadays, i don't fight them until i have at least 2 good 2H bros and 1/2 good archers as long as their numbers are adequate.

Really, nothing beats a full 2H party with ranged support to crush them, you just wait and prepare and bait one, when he bites, you just hit him with everything you have.
Of course, your archers "prepared" him with overwhelm so he misses his attack and you kill him in one turn, two at most.
Raw damage is the only valid answer but a good shield bro with rotate close by to rotate any wounded 2H is a nice security net.

As for the other ones.
Hexens

Spoiler

2/3 god-tier archers with high initiative and you kill one or two before they can even act, best defense is a good offense.

Alps

Spoiler

Full 2H, if you can OS them, the Alps aren't a threat at all.

Schrats

Spoiler

Axes to break their shield (or whatever weapon with a high shield damage) over and over again, high def, nobody behind the close combat attackers, archers far away with overwhelm and a free line of sight.
Best strategy is to avoid them though, they're a real pain.

Lindwurms

Spoiler

I have no idea but i only attack "small" groups (for runes in Legends) and destroy them with the same tactics. Archers + overwhelm, 2H guys doing the work. Hallberds and 2H pikes being useful but AoE 2H + Close combat works well if you have a good defense on a nimble bro and an anti lindwurm acid armor.

 

[Kaivokz]

Thanks for the advice; my company will sing songs in your honor.

The advice of old Canoli,
did surely save our arses, bros

Raise your glass to Darth Canoli,
no need be melancholy, bros


(I don't hire bards, but every company needs some marching and feast songs)

 

[Kaivokz]

I tend to hire every monk who is looking for work if I can fit them in my company because I am partial to men of God (particularly the background of the one who saw corruption in the church and decided to go out and right wrongs with his own hands) and I've had a couple good interactions because of it.

Spoiler

 

[vazha]

Get some random cultist in there to convert god tier bros into cultists. As soon as he does, let him die for it. From now on:
1. The converted cultist bro will convert other bros that fall under convertable condition, thus dramatically reducing wages you'll pay for them *laughs in Shylock*
2. Each and every cultist will pick up a fight with your monk at some point. Let them beat the monk up for juicy +2 resolve. This event spams indefinitely and has a short cooldown.
????
PROFIT

 

[Kaivokz]

I made a bad choice and took on a 3 skull noble contract to hunt down a barbarian king.

Spoiler

Not pretty, but could have been much worse. Lost one of my crossbowmen and the guy I was training up to be a 2h bro. Almost lost one of my shieldmen... or all my men.

I think the only reason I lived is because my bros are awesome and love me. (I hit the tavern between most contracts and these are my first main-group casualties in 60 days of play--plus my standard bearer is my sergeant and has 80 morale or so.) No one broke--Eugen had confident morale even as he was being pummeled to death by two giant skull clubs (only ended up losing an ear though). The barbarians did break and 2 of them fled mid-battle. Ivar, Arnold, Ulrich and Ferdinand managed to take on the Barbarian king by themselves (destroyed his armor ;( )while the rest of my bros fended off the 8 reavers. Barbarian tactic of surrounding with 2h, destroying shield and then clobbering the defenseless person is scary.

With the money I earned from this contract I should be able to hire an adventurous noble to be a 2h bro.

edit- changed my mind, I think I'll go for some squires or militia since I'm sitting around 6k gold. Nobles can come later.

 

[Darth Canoli]

I tend to hire every monk who is looking for work if I can fit them in my company because I am partial to men of God (particularly the background of the one who saw corruption in the church and decided to go out and right wrongs with his own hands) and I've had a couple good interactions because of it.

You should do a Legends Crusader run or a Legends Cultist one for the other side (cultist is way better with legends due to morale camping bonuses).

 

[Kaivokz]

You should do a Legends Crusader run or a Legends Cultist one for the other side (cultist is way better with legends due to morale camping bonuses).

I’ll look more into legends after I exhaust the base game, I think.

I’m getting a pretty good understanding of the economy, what backgrounds to take, to focus on growing and protecting bros with good rolls, and how to fight most kinds of enemies.

Now that my B/V/M ironman run is going well, I want to do some E/E/L ironman runs.

Just have to decide what background to take (poacher? monster hunter seems good late game to get more valuable monster parts, but -10% prices would make early game slower), and then I think I’ll focus on one particular section of the map, try to make as much money as I can and far outclass the enemies I fight generally. Going to try daggers and flails against bandits so I can get their armor early (I almost always destroy it with pole arms, spears and swords).

 

[Darth Canoli]

Poacher isn't worth it because you won't chain hunt high level monsters, firstly, they're rare and secondly, even if they don't kill anyone, you'll need to tend wounds, repair and heal for a while after each decent battle.

And the named weapons are extremely expensive so 10% is a lot, you'll also heavily rely on selling loot for cash by mid/late game.

I don't care much for vanilla backgrounds aside from the northern raiders and cultist but cultist it's a pain without legends camping because half your company will just quit after a sacrifice if you're not extremely close to a tavern.
Never played lonewolf, legends customized "lonewolf" are so much better.

Forgot about the gladiators, it's really fun and powerful, the +1AP per kill thing is just amazing on a berserk 2H (sword, axe, hammer) bro.

 

[Kaivokz]

Man, this game is great. I know I’m late to the party and I’ve said this a few times, but I’ve been having a blast playing it. Started an expert/expert low-funds ironman beast hunter company. On day 60 with about 150 tools stored away.

Clubs + daggers are awesome early game for stripping armor off of brigands. Around day 25 I had 12 suits of mail, something I hadn’t been able to do in 60 days before (relying on pole arms, spears and swords). It’s pretty gruesome to imagine 6 bros clubbing a guy and stabbing him to death through his armor while trying not to damage it—but good gear means my bros will live.

Farmers are awesome early recruits because of how much fatigue matters with heavier armor and longer battles. I still don’t feel great about my company composition; 2 archers, 4 pole-arms and 6 shield bros (2 dagger/flail, 3 mace/dagger, 1 sword/dagger). I haven’t had enough money to buy lots of recruits to try to get good stat allocations. I’ve got a level 6 bro with 70 melee skill, but even in heavy armor playing around the flank with a 2h he was getting smashed pretty hard, especially if the enemy pulled out throwing weapons. Not really sure how to build them survivable on expert w/o a shield.

The -10% price penalty is pretty harsh from beast hunter (I think it only applies to buying, not selling, at least), but with an allied village I can still get 195g tools and cheap food. Sell monster trophies and gear at big cities and I’ve managed to stay on top of my funds. Working on befriending a noble house now since those contracts seem to rake in gold.

Funny, but my company is stronger on expert/expert than they were on beginner/veteran.

 

[Eastwood]

What's the best way to build an archer? Just started my first Poacher run with all the DLC and am wondering in which direction I should take my hunter bro.
Thought of two builds. One is a pure archer that can more easily snipe high value targets and goblins from afar: https://tumult.cc/bb-calc.html?1-1&2-8&2-2&4-11&5-5&6-1&6-3&7-3&1-8&2-1
The other is a throwing archer hybrid that is more flexible and effective against heavy armor: https://tumult.cc/bb-calc.html?1-5&2-7&2-8&4-11&4-12&6-3&6-1&7-2&1-8&5-5

 

[vazha]

Specialist > Hybrid, in 9 out of 10 cases. And even when you've got that one god tier hybridbro, argument could be made that you'd have benefited more from another specialist.

 

[Eastwood]

Specialist > Hybrid, in 9 out of 10 cases. And even when you've got that one god tier hybridbro, argument could be made that you'd benefited more from another specialist.

Good to know, thanks. I think I'll just make the first hunter a ranged specialist and try out the hybrid later, if I get a good candidate.

 

[vazha]

Another quick tip: hunters usually are reserved for bow & crossbow duties, for gunners you'd ideally want a recruit that has inherent resolve bonus. Witchhunters, for example, make great gunners.

 

[Eastwood]

for gunners you'd ideally want a recruit that has inherent resolve bonus. Witchhunters, for example, make great gunners.

This is for the reworked Fearsome right? I'll keep it in mind, thanks!