Battle Brothers Pre-Release Thread

[Overboard]

Warbrand – a hybrid between a one-handed and a two-handed sword.

Why don't you just use a kriegsmesser?

Better name, historically accurate, more choppy...

 

[Copper]

Soon...

It's three god-damn dots! (Also the team could do with tweaking the kerning of the letters a bit more, but that applies to everything, ever)

 

[Alienman]

Interesting discussion on the steam forums. Seems some people don't like this addition, saying that the game is getting harder / negative because of the randomness of these events. I wonder if they even read about the inspirations for this game.

 

[sser]

There is one particularly active dude who doesn't care for it. He's... not especially diplomatic about anything and something of a tin ear to opposing views. The primary debate seems to be between min-maxing and the game's stated goal of managing a mercenary band. Stat crunching vs. role-playing, really. I don't think the game has slighted one for the other, but that's just me.

The events should eventually promote company-diversity, as events typically trigger based on backgrounds (among other things). With time, I'd like to see all the backgrounds have a solid set of events where their backgrounds come into play.

By my estimations, there might even be a grossly overpowered character in the game right now, but nobody is going to find him because they're too busy loading up on Hedge Knights who hate each other

 

[Ninjerk]

Soon...

It's three god-damn dots! (Also the team could do with tweaking the kerning of the letters a bit more, but that applies to everything, ever)

Phil?

 

[Agesilaus]

I don't really bother with the hedge knights and other expensive character types. There are plenty of highly desirable, inexpensive characters to pick from. Farmers are tough and cheap, they make perfect front line fighters.

 

[sser]

I don't really bother with the hedge knights and other expensive character types. There are plenty of highly desirable, inexpensive characters to pick from. Farmers are tough and cheap, they make perfect front line fighters.

Farmers are my go-to. They're hardy and often come with decent enough equipment.

 

[Alienman]

My company mostly consists of lowest in society

Btw. Nice medieval nun-chucks!

 

[Dr Skeleton]

I swear these names were randomly generated. Wtf were you thinking, Rambert.

New fatigue costs for movement seem a little too much.

 

[rapsdjff]

Another update is live.

Dev Blog #44: Retreating Enemies
This week’s update adds a new feature to the game – enemies can now retreat from battle! Also, we’ve added a new weapon, a new armor, and a bunch of new events. Existing events have been tweaked a bit for more balanced outcomes and trigger conditions, and the bugs that surfaced after last week’s larger update have been fixed.

Retreating Enemies
Chasing that last surviving bandit marksman on a forest map isn’t always that fun, so non-undead enemies now have the ability to retreat from the battlefield should they perceive there to be no chance of winning the encounter. Just like the player, the AI has to reach the map border in order to retreat safely, giving you the chance to intercept them if you want to let noone escape, or get all the loot.

Whether an AI combatant retreats or not depends on a few factors, such as how many of his allies are still with him, how many have already fallen, and how many men the player still has. For the time being, the AI will not attempt to flee a battle from the beginning, even if they’re outnumbered. The option of retreat is meant for the last few scattered survivors. The actual thresholds for when individual combatants make use of it may still need some numbers tweaking.

We know that this doesn’t solve the issue of chasing enemy archers across the map in its entirety, but it is a good step in the right direction that makes sense in the context of the game world. We’ll eventually introduce a few more tools that will enable the player to better handle such situations.

New Weapon
This week we introduce the Butcher’s Cleaver, a tool used for hacking through meat and bone. It is a low tier variant of the older Military Cleaver and a possible starting item for characters with the butcher background.



Changelog

• Added ability for non-undead enemies to retreat from battle should they perceive there to be no chance of winning.
• Added 8 new events.
• Added Butcher’s Cleaver as a lower tier variant of the Military Cleaver and a possible starting item for characters with the butcher background.
• Added Werewolf Hide Armor.

• Changed some events for more balanced outcomes and trigger conditions.
• Changed out mood icons for better readable ones.
• Changed Pathfinder perk to now also reduce the fatigue cost for movement to half.
• Changed Necromancer to walk at a slightly less brisk pace across the battlefield.

• Fixed quickload/quicksave unintentionally being disabled.
• Fixed bug that had militia spawned with the Woodcutter’s Axe show as unarmed and unable to take their turn in combat.
• Fixed issue with savegames not loading correctly when the player has a Masterwork Bow. The savegames in question should now load correctly again.
• Fixed time not pausing correctly when switching tasks.

 

[Eyestabber]

First time I saw bandit marksmen running after their melee counterparts got rekt by my guys I KNEW an AI retreat mechanic was coming. Nice to see it being implemented at last. Chasing that one last bandit really isn't fun.

And also...

 

[Andnjord]

I really want to play this game but my old toaster died, leaving me with only my Mac Pro. It's gonna be some time before I can justify buying a PC which I would only use for gaming, so are there any plans for a Mac port?

 

[Ninjerk]

rapsdjff

Spoiler

 

[rapsdjff]

I really want to play this game but my old toaster died, leaving me with only my Mac Pro. It's gonna be some time before I can justify buying a PC which I would only use for gaming, so are there any plans for a Mac port?

Yes, we'd like to do both Mac and Linux eventually. Unfortunately it's something we'll not be able to tackle until after the game has left Early Access.

rapsdjff

Spoiler

This will be fixed with tomorrow's update.

 

[Ninjerk]

I really want to play this game but my old toaster died, leaving me with only my Mac Pro. It's gonna be some time before I can justify buying a PC which I would only use for gaming, so are there any plans for a Mac port?

Yes, we'd like to do both Mac and Linux eventually. Unfortunately it's something we'll not be able to tackle until after the game has left Early Access.

rapsdjff

Spoiler

This will be fixed with tomorrow's update.

Any content tomorrow?

 

[rapsdjff]

Yeah, named weapons and shields with slightly randomized stats and looks of their own as rare loot for the more powerful opponents. Different Greataxes for example.

 

[Ninjerk]

Cosmetic for the greataxes or are different graphics for slightly different stats?

 

[Eyestabber]

Moar fun ways of murdering stuff, can't wait!

 

[Andnjord]

Yes, we'd like to do both Mac and Linux eventually. Unfortunately it's something we'll not be able to tackle until after the game has left Early Access.

Thanks for the answer. I guess it just means I'll have to play only once it's finished and perfected in all its glory.

 

[rapsdjff]

Update time. This should answer your question, Ninjerk.

Dev Blog #45: Named Items
This week’s update adds named items with unique looks and randomized stats as rare loot for the most powerful opponents, fixes a critical bug with last week’s retreat mechanic, adds some new events and includes quite a few balancing changes.

Named Items
As we see it, there are two problems with the item progression currently. Firstly, the player very quickly skips the lower tiers of weapons after just the first few battles because higher tier weapons generally drop as loot and are widely available for reasonable prices. And because mid to high tier equipment is available so soon, there is also little to buy or save for later in the game. This will be addressed with the next big update. Secondly, although the selection of weapons, shields and armor is ever-increasing, there is a distinct lack of reward when prevailing against the strongest of opponents, and little excitement in the looting phase after battle. This update aims to address this.

The strongest opponents now have a small chance to both use and drop as loot named weapons and shields that offer some advantages over their nameless counterparts and come with looks of their own. Their stats are slightly randomized to excel in different areas and some of them are plain better than others. To be clear, named items are not the legendary items we plan on adding eventually – they’re just very well crafted weapons and shields and should make looting in the game a bit more interesting for now, as well as allow you to customize your brothers better with their unique look.

Looking for a Sound Designer!
Going forward we’re looking for a dedicated hobbyist or professional sound designer to join us in making the game come alive. Your responsibilities would include designing the sound effects for various fantasy creatures, general battle sounds, footsteps, ambient noise and user interface sounds. If you’re a fan of Battle Brothers and would love to work on the game yourself, read our full job posting and apply at contact@overhypestudios.com!

What’s next?
Next up is the biggest update to date – the one introducing Goblins and changing quite a few mechanics around. Getting all this done will take us several weeks, so there will not be an update to the game for a while. However, we will keep you posted on our progress and will give you some sneak peeks into the coming green menace along the way.

Unfortunately the Goblin update will break save game compatibility – you will have to start a new campaign.

Changelog

• Added named weapons and shields with slightly randomized stats as rare loot for the more powerful opponents.
• Added 4 new events.

• Changed Rally the Troops skill so that a single character can only be rallied once per round. A single character being rallied multiple times, especially in combination with Perfect Focus, proved to be way too powerful in dealing with almost any threat, which was not how it was intended.
• Changed fatigue costs of Perfect Focus skill to 30 (down from 40).
• Changed Ghouls to make use of the retreat mechanics as well.
• Changed prices of some supplies to be higher.
• Changed movement speed on mountainous terrain to be slightly higher.
• Changed the waiting action to reduce initiative by 25% for the purpose of determining turn order the following turn. This is to lessen the problem of taking double-turns, i.e. two turns in quick succession.
• Changed the Shield Bash perk to have the Knock Back skill cost 10 Fatigue less to use in order to make it more of a viable choice until it gets either reworked or replaced.
• Changed Javelins so that they can be thrown twice per turn and cost less fatigue to use, also reduced their damage and effectiveness against armor with each throw.

• Fixed retreating enemies crashing the game in some instances.
• Fixed orcs potentially charging to tiles they shouldn’t be able to reach.

 

[Zdzisiu]

Update time. This should answer your question, Ninjerk.

Dev Blog #45: Named Items
This week’s update adds named items with unique looks and randomized stats as rare loot for the most powerful opponents, fixes a critical bug with last week’s retreat mechanic, adds some new events and includes quite a few balancing changes.

Named Items
As we see it, there are two problems with the item progression currently. Firstly, the player very quickly skips the lower tiers of weapons after just the first few battles because higher tier weapons generally drop as loot and are widely available for reasonable prices. And because mid to high tier equipment is available so soon, there is also little to buy or save for later in the game. This will be addressed with the next big update. Secondly, although the selection of weapons, shields and armor is ever-increasing, there is a distinct lack of reward when prevailing against the strongest of opponents, and little excitement in the looting phase after battle. This update aims to address this.

The strongest opponents now have a small chance to both use and drop as loot named weapons and shields that offer some advantages over their nameless counterparts and come with looks of their own. Their stats are slightly randomized to excel in different areas and some of them are plain better than others. To be clear, named items are not the legendary items we plan on adding eventually – they’re just very well crafted weapons and shields and should make looting in the game a bit more interesting for now, as well as allow you to customize your brothers better with their unique look.

Looking for a Sound Designer!
Going forward we’re looking for a dedicated hobbyist or professional sound designer to join us in making the game come alive. Your responsibilities would include designing the sound effects for various fantasy creatures, general battle sounds, footsteps, ambient noise and user interface sounds. If you’re a fan of Battle Brothers and would love to work on the game yourself, read our full job posting and apply at contact@overhypestudios.com!

What’s next?
Next up is the biggest update to date – the one introducing Goblins and changing quite a few mechanics around. Getting all this done will take us several weeks, so there will not be an update to the game for a while. However, we will keep you posted on our progress and will give you some sneak peeks into the coming green menace along the way.

Unfortunately the Goblin update will break save game compatibility – you will have to start a new campaign.

Changelog

• Added named weapons and shields with slightly randomized stats as rare loot for the more powerful opponents.
• Added 4 new events.

• Changed Rally the Troops skill so that a single character can only be rallied once per round. A single character being rallied multiple times, especially in combination with Perfect Focus, proved to be way too powerful in dealing with almost any threat, which was not how it was intended.
• Changed fatigue costs of Perfect Focus skill to 30 (down from 40).
• Changed Ghouls to make use of the retreat mechanics as well.
• Changed prices of some supplies to be higher.
• Changed movement speed on mountainous terrain to be slightly higher.
• Changed the waiting action to reduce initiative by 25% for the purpose of determining turn order the following turn. This is to lessen the problem of taking double-turns, i.e. two turns in quick succession.
• Changed the Shield Bash perk to have the Knock Back skill cost 10 Fatigue less to use in order to make it more of a viable choice until it gets either reworked or replaced.
• Changed Javelins so that they can be thrown twice per turn and cost less fatigue to use, also reduced their damage and effectiveness against armor with each throw.

• Fixed retreating enemies crashing the game in some instances.
• Fixed orcs potentially charging to tiles they shouldn’t be able to reach.

I dont know who is responsible for the graphics in your team, but please hug that bastard because those are beautiful

 

[Crabcakes]

I am the graphics guy, thanks for the compliment!
By the way, the patch included a lot more items than those shown in the Blog pictures

Cheers

 

[Ulminati]

I am the graphics guy, thanks for the compliment!
By the way, the patch included a lot more items than those shown in the Blog pictures

Cheers

Your graphics are a thing of beauty man. So easy to parse what's going on, but still atmospheric.

I hope you figure out a better way to handle terrain height though. The current solution is a little fiddly with people being hidden behind terrain or invisible when you lower it.

 

[Ulminati]

Crabcakes rapsdjff

While I'm at it, I would like to see the actual path enemies move between two points rather than have the avatar jump directly from start->end tile. Bonus points if you allow me to mouse over units and get an overlay that shows me how far they can walk in a turn.

And is there any chance the small platform the busts stand on could contain a hp, armor or fatigue bar? I'd be especially interested in being able to gague my opponents fatigue so I know if they're going to activate some ancy ability next turn

 

[Overboard]

I am the graphics guy, thanks for the compliment!
By the way, the patch included a lot more items than those shown in the Blog pictures

Cheers

So...you would be the graphics pimp then.