Battle Brothers Pre-Release Thread

[Zanzoken]

Note to self -- fighting orcs with level 2 bros is a really bad idea.

Spoiler

I love this game <3

 

[Reinhardt]

I need late game crisis. Right now, after 40-50 days of game time, i'm just looking for a good place to die in glorious battle and start over a new band.

Also i appoint one of the starting bros as captain and if he dies - it's game over.

 

[Reinhardt]

And still it's almost game of my dreams. Bigger map and slower exp and equipment progression and my inner autist will be happy at last.

 

[Norfleet]

If you read the Steam BB forum, most seem to play Veteran + Ironman, yes. (I think the majority of complaints come as a consequence of new players starting on Veteran instead of using Beginner as a tutorial).

That's because everyone knows ONLY CHILDREN PLAY EASYMODE.

 

[Blackmill]

Is there any more that can be said about whether mods will be supported?

I've read that it's not a guaranteed feature -- instead it's on the wish list -- but maybe things have changed since then.

I'd love to see mod support. BB seems like the perfect game to mod, since the open ended gameplay should allow for great variety in modding, while its depth and polish means mods can focus on adding niche content rather than fixing flaws.

 

[Teut Busnet]

That's because everyone knows ONLY CHILDREN PLAY EASYMODE.

Reading all the whining on Steam shows that many 'Children' also play Veteran - they just can't handle it and then blame the game for beeing too punishing.

 

[rapsdjff]

Dev Blog #94: New Weapons & Tools
Work is progressing well on the late game crises – all new contracts and twists are in the game now, and next up is implementing events and some remaining mechanics. So while we’re busy doing that, let’s take a look at some of the new weapons and tools that the upcoming update will bring to the table. Read on!

New Weapons
The upcoming update will bring a total of at least 13 new weapons to the game. While some are unique to the Ancient Dead and come with unique skills, others are there to fill the remaining gaps in progression.

Hooked Blade

An agricultural tool adapted for use in battle, the Hooked Blade is a mid-tier variant of the Billhook. We’re handing it out to bandit raiders as we speak, for two purposes: first, to smoothen the difficulty spike experienced when meeting them in the early game, and second, to smoothen the power spike when looting these in the early game. The Billhook is still sometimes wielded by your enemies, of course, but it’s more rare now, and more often found on well-equipped noble troops or other mercenaries.

Rondel Dagger

A long, quadrangular spike designed to pierce through weak points in armor, the Rondel Dagger is a high-tier variant of the existing dagger. It’s there to make daggers more viable as niche weapons later on, and it’s what named daggers are now based on in terms of stats. Note that the upcoming update will also bring a minor change to how the Puncture skill works!

Military Pick

An evolution of the classic pickaxe, the Military Pick has been adapted for use in combat to puncture the sturdiest of armors. It fills the gap between the low-tier Pickaxe and the high-tier Warhammer, and by being both more affordable and common than the latter, will give you the means to successfully engage heavily armored opponents, such as Orc Warriors, earlier in the game.

Heavy Crossbow

The heavy crossbow is the new high tier variant of the crossbow, and is effective even against heavily armored targets. It’s roughly equivalent to the high-tier Warbow, and should make the use of crossbows more viable later on in the game if you favor armor-piercing qualities and ease of use over range and rate of fire. Named crossbows are now also based on the Heavy Crossbow in terms of stats.


New Tools
The update won’t just add new weapons, but also several new tools and accessories. Some of these can be unlocked as rewards for fulfilling ambitions, while others can simply be bought at the right place.

Falcon

A trained falcon can be taken into battle similar to wardogs. It doesn’t fight, but can at any time be let loose to uncover a large area of the map surrounding you and lift the fog of war for the remainder of the current round. Useful, for example, when you’re ambushed in deep forest, or looking for that necromancer that keeps evading you.

Sergeant’s Sash

The Sergeant’s Sash can be earned by fulfilling a specific ambition, and it’s to be worn by your second-in-command in the accessory slot. Not only does it make him visually stand out, it also grants a bonus to the Resolve stat, which in turn synergizes with the ability to rally the men and raise their morale.

 

[Cyberarmy]

Oh heavy crossbows

 

[AMG]

Not really a fan of these accessories. The falcon doesn't make much sense and feels too much like a magic spell, and the sash seems like a no brainer for the resolve bot.

 

[Alienman]

Got to wonder how the Falcon works though. You let it loose and all of a sudden you see the map, how? Does the Falcon come back and report what it sees?

"Brother Wolfgang, there is a zombie behind a tree to the northwest *Squawk*"

 

[Teut Busnet]

Maybe he comes from the island of helpful TV animals, like Flipper, Fury or Lassie.

'What do you say, Nightwing, the Militia Veteran got stuck in the swamp? To the rescue!'

(Edit: I like the Update, especially the heavy crossbow, keep it up guys!)

 

[Reinhardt]

Not really a fan of these accessories. The falcon doesn't make much sense and feels too much like a magic spell, and the sash seems like a no brainer for the resolve bot.

Not really fan of falcon myself, but sash is unique reward for ambition, so it depends on available options and your choices.

 

[Zanzoken]

Hooked blade looks like a nice addition. I have been trying to get billhooks but they are hard to find and too expensive to buy.

Also to experienced players -- thoughts on equipping frontline guys with throwing weapons and launching an opening salvo while enemies close? It seems like a decent strategy since you can take the free item switch perk and be back to melee without wasting AP.

 

[Thonius]

Well falcon can screech I ques or circle high above target hence reveling it to you. So it makes sense just to show enemy,without map portion.

 

[Skittles]

Hooked blade looks like a nice addition. I have been trying to get billhooks but they are hard to find and too expensive to buy.

Also to experienced players -- thoughts on equipping frontline guys with throwing weapons and launching an opening salvo while enemies close? It seems like a decent strategy since you can take the free item switch perk and be back to melee without wasting AP.

I never have much space in my perk line-up for that one on melee guys nor have I found throwing weapons super effective when used by someone without much invested in the right skill. Besides, dedicated archers in a leveled company are already going to be laying waste to targets dumb enough to show up without a shield and/or helmet. It's not a bad idea, especially if you have someone with a decent starting skill level, but you should try it out a bit before investing in the perk, IMO.

 

[Teut Busnet]

Hooked blade looks like a nice addition. I have been trying to get billhooks but they are hard to find and too expensive to buy.

Also to experienced players -- thoughts on equipping frontline guys with throwing weapons and launching an opening salvo while enemies close? It seems like a decent strategy since you can take the free item switch perk and be back to melee without wasting AP.

The problem with throwing weapons is not that they're bad, it's the points you have to invest in ranged skill. Your frontline Brothers should have Melee Skill, Melee Defense and Fatigue as high as possible, maybe some Hitpoints if you have bad rolls on the other ones or some Resolve for your captain. Try to create specialists.

Like Skittles said, your dedicated archers should handle the ranged combat just fine. I take up to 4, depending on the scenario.

 

[Dr Skeleton]

Also to experienced players -- thoughts on equipping frontline guys with throwing weapons and launching an opening salvo while enemies close? It seems like a decent strategy since you can take the free item switch perk and be back to melee without wasting AP.

I sometimes have mercs like this, usually when they start with average to good melee and no talent in it but a good talent in ranged (but not so good that they can be dedicated archers with pike backup), they end up as throwing -> switch to sword/spear shieldwall, it can work but throwing and having two weapons takes a lot of fatigue and leveling up both melee and ranged skill eats into your other stats. Throwing weapons have their moments, especially in difficult terrain if you can take a hill and defend suddenly you have twice as much ranged attacks, young orcs or raiders can be effectively wiped out before they even reach you, but I would never deliberately level up all my frontliners as throwers, they're just not very reliable in most situations, in a fight vs adult orcs or skeletons on plains you'll be lucky if you can throw one salvo and it won't do you much good even if you do.

 

[Norfleet]

I think this neatly illustrates the weakness in the "gain skill by levelling up to a finite cap" system: No human in real life deliberately avoids learning a skill in passing because it would interfere with his ability to be good at his job. If throwing something at your enemy's face in closing benefits you, you don't simply NOT do it, and therefore, improve at it, because it would make you worse at everything else. I, for one, have never gotten the sense of being worse at my job because I learned something outside of it.

While it is true that you have a finite amount of space in your brain, there's all kinds of inconsequential useless bullshit you can forget to make room for it, like peoples' names and birthdays. This is why when you get older, you start dumping unimportant things like your kids' birthdays, their names, your birthday, your name...

 

[Reinhardt]

Well, throwing feces at enemies is not only "brain" thing. To be succesful, you need training. Intensive one.
If you good in weightlifting it doesn't mean you automatically good in long distance running and just need to "remember".

 

[Reinhardt]

I don't know - were he was just born lucky or totally opposite

 

[holla_cabezas_de_mierda]

I think this neatly illustrates the weakness in the "gain skill by levelling up to a finite cap" system: No human in real life deliberately avoids learning a skill in passing because it would interfere with his ability to be good at his job. If throwing something at your enemy's face in closing benefits you, you don't simply NOT do it, and therefore, improve at it, because it would make you worse at everything else. I, for one, have never gotten the sense of being worse at my job because I learned something outside of it.

While it is true that you have a finite amount of space in your brain, there's all kinds of inconsequential useless bullshit you can forget to make room for it, like peoples' names and birthdays. This is why when you get older, you start dumping unimportant things like your kids' birthdays, their names, your birthday, your name...

Maybe think of it like specialization that exists in actual military- or a sports example might be NFL football. Offensive linemen can catch a football and run with it, but they will likely spend almost zero time practicing these skills since their role does not involve doing those things in an actual game.

Of course they could practice those things, but generally do not. Every so often there will be a player so talented he actually does practice and use skills outside of his specialization like Deion Sanders who was mostly a Cornerback but was so fast and athletically gifted that he sometimes would play offense a little bit too.

In any event, most players practice a specific set of skills and train their bodies in ways that enhance their ability to accomplish their specific role and do not have time nor is it beneficial to try and go very far outside their role. Not practicing throwing could be seen as similar type of trade off. A battle bro could throw something or practice throwing, but it may not be as good a use of his time/ability as focusing on a few other skills instead.

 

[Zanzoken]

What are the exact mechanics behind the star system? Is it just that attributes with stars roll better?

Also what types of shields do you typically give to your shield guys? Now that I have the cash I am leaning toward kite shields since archers tend to give me more trouble than melee. But the extra melee defense from heater shields looks good too.

Third I wanna give props to the devs on the game's AI. The bad guys can be pretty crafty sometimes, especially with swarming. If you mess up and leave a bro without teammates he is pretty much a goner.

 

[Skittles]

What are the exact mechanics behind the star system? Is it just that attributes with stars roll better?

Also what types of shields do you typically give to your shield guys? Now that I have the cash I am leaning toward kite shields since archers tend to give me more trouble than melee. But the extra melee defense from heater shields looks good too.

Third I wanna give props to the devs on the game's AI. The bad guys can be pretty crafty sometimes, especially with swarming. If you mess up and leave a bro without teammates he is pretty much a goner.

Normal rolls (except for initiative) are either 2 - 4 or 1 - 3. One star makes it 3 - 4 or 2 - 3. Two: always 4 or 3. Three: 4 - 5 or 3 - 4. Initiative rolls go higher than normal (I think I've seen 5s with no talents, so I suspect it's 3 - 5).

I almost always go kite just to minimize shield destruction in combat. In practice, I don't notice a big difference in ranged defense between the two, TBH, but I do notice when my shields go down. The real impact of higher ranged defense is that archers will not target that bro--it's got to be the single most important factor in their targeting decisions.

 

[Teut Busnet]

I second kite shields > heater shields. Orc warriors with axes will split a heater shield in one round.

If you can afford the fatigue penalty I would even recommend the 'heavy metal' orc shields. Every enemy with an axe will try to split the shield before he attacks the brother directly, wich pretty much takes him out of the fight.

Stability is underrated.

 

[rapsdjff]

Dev Blog #95: Contract Changes
Time to take a look at some changes on how contracts work this week. Negotiations have changed, and we’re introducing a new minor feature to make contracts and your actions within the world of Battle Brothers have more of an impact: situations. Let’s find out what that’s about!

Situations
With your actions in the world should come consequences. As we’ve mentioned in a previous dev blog, contracts are now based more on what is actually happening around settlements and less on artificially spawning things for you to fight. Lots of greenskin activity in the neighborhood? Then there’s a good chance people want to hire you to take care of them. There’s direwolves roaming nearby? People are likely to want to hire you to hunt them down.

We want to take this a step further. You know how the village burgomeister is telling you of how people are disappearing and that’s why he wants you to hunt down those beasts? It’s no longer just flavor as we’re introducing situations for settlements.



A settlement can find itself in any number of different situations. If there’s something roaming about, such as direwolves, villagers can be disappearing, which influences both the number of recruits available and the prices you get. As you take on the contract and rid the village of this terror, you’ll resolve the situation and the village can prosper again. Depending on your actions and success in fulfilling contracts, settlements can also find themselves in new situations. For example, your action of escorting an important caravan can result in a castle being freshly supplied, which grants you and everyone else a better selection of goods to shop for. On the other hand, if things don’t go as planned, a settlement can find its granaries raided or burned down, which makes food more rare and more expensive.

While just a small feature by itself, introducing these situations contributes to your actions having more of an impact in the world of Battle Brothers, and it makes the economy feel less static as settlements have actual problems to deal with and benefits to gain from hiring you. In addition, having this system in place will allow us to potentially extend it in the future with situations not linked to contracts, such as the outbreak of a disease, for a more dynamic world.

Negotiations
Here’s the thing: Negotiating contracts should be a part of gameplay, but the way it works now, you just ask for more money until the employer denies, and that’s it. It’s automatic, there’s little thought behind it, it’s not an interesting mechanic. So yeah, something needs to change. There’s two ways we could have gone about it: Either turn this into a more complex minigame of negotiating for better pay, or change it into something different. While the idea of creating a complex and fun minigame may be intriguing, it’s also not feasible within a limited timeframe and an already packed roadmap, so we went with the second option.


Contract negotiations are now no longer about how much crowns you are to get, at least not directly, but about when and for what. There’s now a set amount of crowns per contract, depending on the type of contract, its difficulty, your renown and a small random factor. What you’re actually negotiating are payment modalities. What percentage is to be paid in advance? How much per head you return with and how much flat payment? Employers have their own thoughts on the matter, and you can ask them to pay out slices of the contract money in different ways. It’s no longer about getting a few crowns more or less in advance, it’s about whether you get half in advance or not. Sure you may not negotiate as often as before anymore, but if you do, it’ll be a much more deliberate action now.