Battle Brothers Pre-Release Thread

[Dr Skeleton]

I've only encountered vampires once, 4 of them + a horde of skeleton guards. That was on the first EA version, haven't seen them since.

Never seen the zombie noble outside of custom scenarios.

 

[Trash]

Encountered a whole slew of Vampires in a single location a few patches ago. The location had a description of it being the locale of a coven of immortals. Fucked my company up good and proper.

Haven't seen the pike after that one time. Also once had a massive battleaxe that I got off a named bandit enemy in a camp. Only time I saw a named enemy btw. Perhaps because that camp had a banner? Some enemy groups have their own banner. These appear to be much stronger and can spread. I've seen orcs with a banner spread to new locations ingame. When doing well they send out a group labelled scout with a high difficulty and when they apparantly reach a spot they like they spawn a new camp. Southern part of my current game's map is totally overrun with an infestation. Even young orc groups are fully armored up and hell to dispense with.

Dunno what really makes an enemy appear frequently. Guess it's how many spots spawn with them. Undead I've seen only rarely in groups. Werewolves I see plenty of. Bandits are either very prevalent of hardly around. Orcs are a constant.

Methinks they'll do lots of tinkering in all these aspects.

 

[Modron]

Encountered a whole slew of Vampires in a single location a few patches ago. The location had a description of it being the locale of a coven of immortals. Fucked my company up good and proper.

Haven't seen the pike after that one time. Also once had a massive battleaxe that I got off a named bandit enemy in a camp. Only time I saw a named enemy btw. Perhaps because that camp had a banner? Some enemy groups have their own banner. These appear to be much stronger and can spread. I've seen orcs with a banner spread to new locations ingame. When doing well they send out a group labelled scout with a high difficulty and when they apparantly reach a spot they like they spawn a new camp. Southern part of my current game's map is totally overrun with an infestation. Even young orc groups are fully armored up and hell to dispense with.

Dunno what really makes an enemy appear frequently. Guess it's how many spots spawn with them. Undead I've seen only rarely in groups. Werewolves I see plenty of. Bandits are either very prevalent of hardly around. Orcs are a constant.

Methinks they'll do lots of tinkering in all these aspects.

Any leader type tend to be named in my experience eg: Bandit leaders/Orc warlords. Also, as you mention the green orc encampments spawn way more patrols than any other location from what I've seen as well.

 

[Agesilaus]

Wait, there's a pike and a larger, human version of the double handed axe? I only know of two spear weapons, the militia spear and the boar spear, I've never seen a pike. As for axes, I've see the hatchet, handaxe, fighting axe, greataxe, and the man splitter (orc axe). I've never seen a battleaxe.

Also, yep, warlords and bandit leaders are usually named. The warlords are pretty easy to dispatch because they lumber up so slowly. By the time they reach your line, you've ideally beaten the hell out of the other orcs. If not... well, nice knowing you. Also, I love that orcs don't care about hurting their friends with area of effect attacks. I can imagine the debriefing after a successful raid: "Great job, Brian the Berserker, you decapitated that merc in one shot... as well as jim, ralph, and all our other friends..."


I think the orc spawn rate needs to be toned down. I've done constant back to back missions destroying orc settlements, and they just keep respawning quicker than you can kill them. I don't expect one band of mercs to exterminate all orc life, but you should be able to spare a town from constant raids for at least a few weeks.

 

[Helly]

Wait, there's a pike and a larger, human version of the double handed axe? I only know of two spear weapons, the militia spear and the boar spear, I've never seen a pike. As for axes, I've see the hatchet, handaxe, fighting axe, greataxe, and the man splitter (orc axe). I've never seen a battleaxe.

Also, yep, warlords and bandit leaders are usually named. The warlords are pretty easy to dispatch because they lumber up so slowly. By the time they reach your line, you've ideally beaten the hell out of the other orcs. If not... well, nice knowing you. Also, I love that orcs don't care about hurting their friends with area of effect attacks. I can imagine the debriefing after a successful raid: "Great job, Brian the Berserker, you decapitated that merc in one shot... as well as jim, ralph, and all our other friends..."


I think the orc spawn rate needs to be toned down. I've done constant back to back missions destroying orc settlements, and they just keep respawning quicker than you can kill them. I don't expect one band of mercs to exterminate all orc life, but you should be able to spare a town from constant raids for at least a few weeks.

 

[Eyestabber]

^^ Someone said the strongest type of armour has 400 health, but Heraldic Mail only has 320. I'm with you, though; Heraldic Mail is the heaviest armour I've seen (although I imagine the Orc Warlord armour is heavier).

I did, but I was mistaken. Heraldic Mail gives 320, not 400. Best armor in the game so far.

I can't stop playing this raw diamond of a game, brilliant!

31 hours and counting!

 

[Ninjerk]

gib

 

[Essegi]

Dunno if it's a known bug, sometimes it starts without audio. Restarting it is a fix.
Really enjoying the game so far.

 

[ColCol]

So, maybe you already can. I think it would be cool if you could spend money to hire mercenaries to patrol areas for roaming enemies or to protect towns/castle. These mercenaries might also have your banner, this can symbolize your company growing from a small band to a full on military presence.

 

[Eyestabber]

Speaking of banners, I've noticed orc tribes aren't always friendly to each other. Not every orc hideout share the same banner, but I've yet to stumble across orcs fighting each other. The last time I thought I would be fighting a 3-way I ended up with some 20 orcs skull fucking my squad. I think orc-on-orc combat isn't implemented yet or it's somewhat buggy.

 

[Lucky]

Ah, no worries, perhaps it's for the best. I think withered vampires are the most difficult opponent in the game so far. They're not the strongest, and you can take them down with a couple of well placed hits, but their tactics are so infuriating. I've never fought more than one at a time, perhaps they should implement roving vampires like the roving werewolves.

If any of you guys spot the undead duke, let me know. He's the only enemy I haven't found yet.

Just speculating, but I could see the 'normal' vampires turning out to be undead leader types. A nimble kind of leader who can hit and run into your weak points. That would make for an interesting variant on the leaders of other factions, who tend to be relatively slow and heavily armed.

Dunno if it's a known bug, sometimes it starts without audio. Restarting it is a fix.
Really enjoying the game so far.

That's been a recurring bug since the start of EA. Not sure what causes it, though, like you say, restarting fixes it.

Speaking of banners, I've noticed orc tribes aren't always friendly to each other. Not every orc hideout share the same banner, but I've yet to stumble across orcs fighting each other. The last time I thought I would be fighting a 3-way I ended up with some 20 orcs skull fucking my squad. I think orc-on-orc combat isn't implemented yet or it's somewhat buggy.

There are different tribes, but groups of the same faction currently do not attack each other. I haven't seen the devs confirm either way whether this will get implemented or not.

gib

?

 

[Alienman]

Out of interest. What one thing would you like added to the game? Something that you think would make it better/more fun?

I'll start.

Human factions a la Mount & Blade. I understand the current concept of the game - that humans have banded together (except bandits) against monsters and whatnot. But it would be a cool thing to see faction war from a simulation viewpoint. These factions would of course have their own agenda and the game would go on as usual (you being a minor mercenary company in a big world), with the exception that a human war might take place, and that one faction might eventually be the ruler of all the holds.

I'm not 100% sure how it would work out gameplay-wise but owning castles and such would not be it. I would probably keep the game exactly as it is, with the planned features and all, the only difference is that there might possible be a war happening in the background. Think Game of thrones and the white walker thingy going on.

 

[Helly]

Handgonnes.

A scenario mode when you play as Gutts, hunted by demons as you stroll the land while the Hawk capture cities. Honestly this game would make for an awesome Berserk adaptation.

In the same vein, but with less copyright infringement, a Marked background; cheap and powerful, but the mark attracts undeads and worse to the detriment of the other members of the team.

 

[Eyestabber]

Eh, not trying to be a party pooper or anything, but a lot of indie games (and non-indie too) FAIL because the devs bite more than they can chew and end up releasing tons of buggy/underdeveloped features.

So the ONE THING I would like added to the game is....NOTHING. Just have them finish everything they planned and release the game. As many people pointed out, the game ON ITS CURRENT STATE is already quite awesome. All they really need is to wrap it up, release it and LATER ON, after the game is already a niche success we can talk about a "bells and whistles" expansion. Just my 2 cents.

 

[Alienman]

I'm not asking them to add anything, just asking for "fun"

 

[CrimsonAngel]

Eh, not trying to be a party pooper or anything, but a lot of indie games (and non-indie too) FAIL because the devs bite more than they can chew and end up releasing tons of buggy/underdeveloped features.

So the ONE THING I would like added to the game is....NOTHING. Just have them finish everything they planned and release the game. As many people pointed out, the game ON ITS CURRENT STATE is already quite awesome. All they really need is to wrap it up, release it and LATER ON, after the game is already a niche success we can talk about a "bells and whistles" expansion. Just my 2 cents.

That is only if they do not have a good base system. If they keep with in the scope of what is possible then it should be fine becaus right now what is needed for this game.

More content, mission types and some art stuff. All stuff that are in the grand scheme of things easy enough to add and is only labor intensive. They do not have the issue a lot of indies face that they still need to add the "FUN"

 

[Sranchammer]

Meh

 

[Ellef]

How do you guys plan out your opening days? Do you buy all the cheapest guys to get 8-9 right away and chase contracts for gold and loot, or are any of the more expensive guys worth it early on?

 

[Dr Skeleton]

How do you guys plan out your opening days? Do you buy all the cheapest guys to get 8-9 right away and chase contracts for gold and loot, or are any of the more expensive guys worth it early on?

On hard, I get 1-3 more guys, usually the cheap ones I know have good bonuses: farmers, lumberjacks, wildmen, thieves, then I buy budget equipment for everyone: spears, wooden shields, gambesons, padded leather etc. A lot depends on the 3 founding members.
You could in theory spend all on an expensive merc with good stuff, but that would leave everyone else with shitty equipment.

 

[Ellef]

http://steamcommunity.com/games/365360/announcements/detail/240159292070604642

Battle Brothers - Update 0.4.0.40
Changelog

Spoiler

• Fixed some performance issues.
• Fixed some compatibility issues related to sound.
• Fixed crash related to the AI using the Rotation skill at the edge of the screen.
• Fixed pathfinding not always returning the optimal path.
• Fixed issue with villages being placed without any connection to the road network on the worldmap in rare cases.
• Fixed UI label of available stash space not updating correctly.
• Fixed Hammer skill not inflicting a minimum of 10 hitpoint damage in some cases.
• Fixed Bloody Harvest not working correctly with the Split skill.
• Fixed Ghouls feasting on corpses while at the same time being repelled by the spearwall skill.
• Changed worldmap speed of all parties, including the player's, to be slightly higher on default but get reduced by 1.5% per individual unit. This way, the player has an easier time outrunning large armies and can get away easier with few men than the full contingent of twelve. With more different worldspeeds, AI parties also shouldn't chase each other for as long anymore with no chance of either catching up or losing another.
• Changed enemy factions on the worldmap to acquire resources slightly slower via scavenging and hunting animals.
• Changed newly constructed enemy bases to have slightly lower resources to start with.
• Changed Escort Caravan contracts to be more readily available later on in the game.
• Changed bonus hitchance of Bloody Harvest perk to +10% (down from +15%).
• Changed Horrific Scream of Lost Souls to be slightly easier to resist.
• Changed Lost Soul AI to stop trying to shout at characters who are obviously immune to mental attacks.
• Changed Lost Soul AI to more readily engage into melee once everyone in their vicinity is fleeing or immune to their screams.
• Changed a few values around for the difficulty rating system on the worldmap.
• Changed hidden enemies to no longer show up in the tooltip as a factor affecting hitchance when they're in the line of fire between a Battle Brother and a visible target. Actual numbers used still include their presence, however.
• Changed Alt + Rightclick to no longer sell items on the shop screen for those players who are actually trying to set items for repair there.
• Changed retreat confirmation dialog to also be shown when retreating via the ingame menu.
• Added Lost Souls using Horrific Scream to combat log.

 

[jagged-jimmy]

So, is it possible to form a veteran crew if played carefully (as in noone dies ever - or reload and try something else)? Or is it totally impossible to avoid casualties and the gameplay resolves around constantly managing your rooster/casualties?

 

[sser]

So, is it possible to form a veteran crew if played carefully (as in noone dies ever - or reload and try something else)? Or is it totally impossible to avoid casualties and the gameplay resolves around constantly managing your rooster/casualties?

If played very carefully you can get a band of twelve terminators, yes. However, the end game is not entirely in place so you'll bowl right over most threats by that point.

 

[Eyestabber]

How do you guys plan out your opening days? Do you buy all the cheapest guys to get 8-9 right away and chase contracts for gold and loot, or are any of the more expensive guys worth it early on?

Depends on the expensive guy in question. If I can get a Sword Master for some 800 you bet your ass I'm hiring him. But other than that, I usually hire one or two guys and try my best to give everyone a shield and a spear. Cloth armor too, but usually no helmets. Early game enemies are not tanky and your guys won't have amazing melee skill, so CTH >>> damage. Therefore, Spears and Swords are BOSS early on. Top early game priority is forming your Shield Wall, IMO, so every new recruit gets a Shield and an appropriate weapon. And archers are a no-no until you have at least 5 melee dudes.

Anyone willing to do a Background table? Because some backgrounds have amazing cost-to-benefit, whereas others are terribad. I like hiring farmhands, butchers, millers and lumberjacks. Also, don't hire miners (unless you intend them to be a mediocre backrow guy), that -20 fatigue severely limits their ability to use endgame armor. It doesn't matter much early on, but lategame you will clearly see that your miner guy is inferior to his peers due to wearing worse armor (and reaping less benefits from the "Full Force" perk).

So, is it possible to form a veteran crew if played carefully (as in noone dies ever - or reload and try something else)? Or is it totally impossible to avoid casualties and the gameplay resolves around constantly managing your rooster/casualties?

Think Jagged Alliance. Altough I found that early on I take a lot more casualties, so maybe it be best to say "Think Xcom". Something in-between.

Also, expect at least one of your veteran badass dudes to die a glorious death at the hands of a named Orc Chieftan, because those guys are seriosly strong. Hope they don't get nerfed before release.

 

[Dr Skeleton]

Anyone willing to do a Background table? Because some backgrounds have amazing cost-to-benefit, whereas others are terribad. I like hiring farmhands, butchers, millers and lumberjacks. Also, don't hire miners (unless you intend them to be a mediocre backrow guy), that -20 fatigue severely limits their ability to use endgame armor. It doesn't matter much early on, but lategame you will clearly see that your miner guy is inferior to his peers due to wearing worse armor (and reaping less benefits from the "Full Force" perk).

There's a wiki, but it's incomplete. Seems to be updated with patches at least.
http://battlebrothers.wikia.com/wiki/Battle_Brothers_Wikia
Some of the bonuses are pretty weird compared to cost and other backgrounds of the same tier. Not that I expect backgrounds to be balanced, beggars should be terrible compared to sellswords, but for example farmers are vastly superior to most background around the same cost, poachers are just bad hunters (and get a lot more bad traits in my experience). Miners are terrible, -20 fatigue is HUGE. You can use them as archers with light armor, but they're not even good at that.

Also, expect at least one of your veteran badass dudes to die a glorious death at the hands of a named Orc Chieftan, because those guys are seriosly strong. Hope they don't get nerfed before release.

Yeah, you lose most guys in the first ~5 battles, but you're never safe against high level orcs and undead. Werewolves can kill anyone if you let them surround you.

 

[Agesilaus]

I play on hard, and I always hire 3 or 4 scrubs to start with (for a total of 6-7). No merc is too pathetic for my starting group, I grab the cheapest on offer; that 35 gold beggar? welcome to the team! Ideally, I'll have one or two archers in that group, and I'll try to give everyone a shield if there's money left.

I then take the contract to smash the bandit den, and immediately perform the mission.

Usually I have one or two mercs go wide to catch the marksman ASAP, and the rest will just gang up on the 3 or 4 trash mob bandits.


Talking about backgrounds, Dr. Skeleton is right, they're not well balanced right now. All I'll add is that every background should have at least one positive attribute, it makes things more fun and gives the different lifestyles some character. Right now, for example, the Shepherd has no positives and one negative. The negative is fine, keep it, but at least give him something to show what Shepherds are good at; maybe a +1 to vision (keeping an eye on the flock, tracking them down, etc), or maybe a ranged bonus if you add slings (classical hellenic shepherds would use slings to hit wayward sheep), or just something good, anything. Maybe fatigue, shepherds walk around all day.