Warhammer Total War: Warhammer 2

[Parabalus]

But as long as it can enter marching mode, burn a settlement, enter marching mode again and escape all in one turn, anyone claiming it's not cheating deserves all the retarded ratings they get.

Walls/Garrison.
The first building you build in every single settlement.
Might not stop every stack, but certainly the smaller raiding ones. And can still do significant damage against bigger stacks if manually controlled.

Working around bullshit mechanics doesn't stop them being bullshit. You're right, I could, and did, build a wall in every single settlement to win the game, but forcing that is terrible game design.

I don't disagree.
It's just standard for me anyway as I prefer the way of the turtle.

Okay, again: The AI does not cheat in Warhammer. AI gets boosts in base income, growth and recruitment capacity depending in the difficulty seting you chosoe. The AI cannot spawn units out of thin air, wich is why you see armies consisting of only catapults or charriots. The only way to spawn units is via script, that is used in horde respawn (orcs/beastmen) and in the chaos invasion event.

The AI nevertheless literally and actually cheats, well beyond mere bonuses, and you're a fucking idiot both for not noticing this yourself and also for ignoring any and all evidence of cheating uncovered by players over the years. Fuck off, retard.

Tbf I didn't see anything in WH that isn't explained by the massive bonuses it gets.

How are massive bonuses that they get and you don't not cheats?

They are, but look at the quote above.

In regards to the the march-attack-march stuff, I've seen that happen, but only when the AI sacks, not razes, that's something you can do too though.

 

[rashiakas]

Okay, again: The AI does not cheat in Warhammer. AI gets boosts in base income, growth and recruitment capacity depending in the difficulty seting you chosoe. The AI cannot spawn units out of thin air, wich is why you see armies consisting of only catapults or charriots. The only way to spawn units is via script, that is used in horde respawn (orcs/beastmen) and in the chaos invasion event.

I already agreed with you that the AI won't spawn units out of thin air.

The AI nevertheless literally and actually cheats, well beyond mere bonuses, and you're a fucking idiot both for not noticing this yourself and also for ignoring any and all evidence of cheating uncovered by players over the years. Fuck off, retard.

Players like you who have no clue, eh. But whatever, believe what you want. Insert edgy insult like all the cool bois do here.

 

[Maculo]

Basically they thought about people who played the game as about paying customers. And they were afraid of keeping stuff that would cause grievances. They got lord to level 20, and assassin could murder him. Lets prevent assassins to murder lords.
People might be crying when they would lose theirs level 25 lord in fight, so let add ability that would allow a normal lord to be just wounded as legendary lord... Well, I lost two lords one just before he got terrorgeist mount. I didn't spend money to make third army in the area, because I didn't want to overspend by concentrating to the North too much. Archeon was running in South and I would be in danger of losing. Now with "immortal" trait, there is basically no danger of using a lord in hellish situation. Yup you lose units, army, enemy would burn city or two, but lord would get better, and would be kickass again in new army, which would take it back easily.

6. They forgot to make selection short campaign, medium campaign, epic campaign for mortal empires. All factions are basically required to conquer majority of map for victory.

The lord assassinations went both ways though. If I recall correctly, players could spam agents and completely screw over the AI with assassinations. At certain points (or for certain factions), agent spam seemed more efficient than battle.

As for #6, there are short and long campaigns, it is just not explicit. If I recall correctly, the chapter objectives show what you need for short victory vs. long or total victory.

 

[Lone Wolf]

FYI, small factions (1-2 settlements) can support large armies because of their 2,500 background income, AI bonuses and going into 'last stand' mode.

Most players maintain a positive income to build new buildings, units and expand settlements, but a one settlement AI will spend all available positive cash flow on upkeep. Theoretically, that's 3,200+ available for unit upkeep for most factions.

But no, outside of some ridiculous situations, I've never seen an AI (with one settlement) below VH maintaining anything more than two low tier stacks simultaneously.

 

[v1rus]

What campaign and faction would you recommend to an absolute beginner?

Im totally gay for elves.

 

[Lone Wolf]

Then Tyrion's High Elves are a good choice for you. Extremely forgiving start, with immediate expansion and early combat (in the form of the Dark Elves occupying settlements in your home province).

H-Elves are also very flexible, with answers to pretty much any tactical question. They have some of the best light, medium and heavy infantry in the game, alongside the best heavy cavalry, flying monsters, effective artillery and excellent archers. They're essentially easy mode in campaign.

Another popular newbie choice would be Thorgrim's Dwarves. Absolutely rock solid infantry coupled with strong artillery (making for straightforward defensive combat), with easy early expansion means that you snowball pretty quick.

 

[Parabalus]

What campaign and faction would you recommend to an absolute beginner?

Im totally gay for elves.

The difficulty rating in-game is pretty spot-on mostly. HE, DE and Empire have a varied roster so you'll pick up a lot of stuff by playing them. In battle, the most braindead to pilot is probably Wood Elves, but their campaign is a bit tricky.

Another popular newbie choice would be Thorgrim's Dwarves. Absolutely rock solid infantry coupled with strong artillery (making for straightforward defensive combat), with easy early expansion means that you snowball pretty quick.

If going Dwarfs don't take Thorgrim, but Grombrindal. Exact same start, but Grom basically has cheats available, in the form of the blessings.

 

[Lone Wolf]

You're right. I guess what I meant was the Dwarves of Karaz-a-Karak, rather than Karak Kadrin or Belegar. But Grombrindal is certainly the best choice to start with - although the correct answer with the blessings is almost always the upkeep/research bonus.

 

[thesheeep]

What campaign and faction would you recommend to an absolute beginner?

Im totally gay for elves.

From my own experience when playing for the first time:
Do NOT take Goblins

 

[Fedora Master]

I don't know how they did it, but SFO made flamethrower units (Warpfire Throwers at least) really fucking fun to use now. BURN-BURN THE LIZARD THINGS.

 

[Parabalus]

You're right. I guess what I meant was the Dwarves of Karaz-a-Karak, rather than Karak Kadrin or Belegar. But Grombrindal is certainly the best choice to start with - although the correct answer with the blessings is almost always the upkeep/research bonus.

That's horrible advice tbh, you use the +10 MA/MD for the entire army to turn your dwarf warriors into superheroes, especially early game. If going after VC/later you use the +20 Cleanse/+20% replenishment.

The +15 stats for Grombindal or the +research are very weak compared to the other two.

I don't know how they did it, but SFO made flamethrower units (Warpfire Throwers at least) really fucking fun to use now. BURN-BURN THE LIZARD THINGS.

I didn't get to SFO yet but even in base game flamethrowers are great. Grombindal and Queek start with them, in the early battles you can easly get 200+ kills on each of them. Need to micro them a bit though.

 

[v1rus]

Now, the question remains - Vortex Campaign or Mortal Empires?

Because, i just did this:

Then Tyrion's High Elves are a good choice for you. Extremely forgiving start, with immediate expansion and early combat (in the form of the Dark Elves occupying settlements in your home province).

And got absolutely devastated in my first Dark Elf battle.

Granted, i should probably go Vortex Campaign with the introduction, since i dont what half the freaking stuff does.

 

[Lone Wolf]

That's horrible advice tbh, you use the +10 MA/MD for the entire army to turn your dwarf warriors into superheroes, especially early game. If going after VC/later you use the +20 Cleanse/+20% replenishment

Nah, that's horrible advice, tbh, that +10 MA/MD means nothing to the best T1 infantry (and missile infantry) in the game, considering what it's up against in the first 20-40 turns. Meanwhile, the -20% upkeep and +20% research bonus means you're going to start snowballing early. You can field that 2nd stack five turns ahead of schedule and have it strong enough to hold off Grimgor while you push for Mt. Gunbad.

The army bonuses are there for the mid/late game, not the early game, where every gold piece matters.

And got absolutely devastated in my first Dark Elf battle.

I'm assuming you're talking about a battle against the minor faction in your home province.

You must have not have done one (or more) of the following:

1) Concentrate on the Darkshards with your Archers. This is a must.
2) Use your starting chariot for its intended purpose; devastating flanking maneuvers.
3) Build up your starting army to 14-16 units (1:1 archers/spearmen).
4) Tyrion is a murder machine who should be beelining to the nearest enemy lord and leading from the front.

The H-Elves early gameplan is simple:

1) Line up your spearmen, with Tyrion just in front of them
2) Put the archers behind, and toggle off skirmishing (which is on by default)
3) Have your cavalry/chariots on the flanks
4) Wait for the enemy to push through your massed archery
5) Flank with cavalry
6) Win

 

[Parabalus]

That's horrible advice tbh, you use the +10 MA/MD for the entire army to turn your dwarf warriors into superheroes, especially early game. If going after VC/later you use the +20 Cleanse/+20% replenishment

Nah, that's horrible advice, tbh, that +10 MA/MD means nothing to the best T1 infantry (and missile infantry) in the game, considering what it's up against in the first 20-40 turns. Meanwhile, the -20% upkeep and +20% research bonus means you're going to start snowballing early. You can field that 2nd stack five turns ahead of schedule and have it strong enough to hold off Grimgor while you push for Mt. Gunbad.

The army bonuses are there for the mid/late game, not the early game, where every gold piece matters.

Talking about snowballing and yet claiming that turning your dwarf warriors into longbeards is worse than 400ish gold per turn? It's barely 20 gold per unit.
Even looking at only gold per turn it's not worth it, never mind that you get them instantly. Or that the entire tech tree gives less combat bonuses on a unit than +10/10.

You can kill Grimgor&take Black Crag in the first 10 turns easily, since you hit his gate with 40/60 Dwarf Warriors, he can't do anything against that early.

 

[Lone Wolf]

As far as the Boyz are concerned, your vanilla DWs might as well be Longbeards. Functionally, there's little difference. You're not losing 1v1s, either way. You're not losing battles against comparable stacks.

And why would you rush Black Crag before Mt. Gunbad? The GS up there have a nasty habit of dropping a full stack on your head around T10-15. You take the -20% upkeep, and suddenly you have the ability to hold off Grimgor with a second lord, a six unit stack and unwalled T2 settlements with a basic garrison building, while your northern flank is permanently taken care of by Grombrindal, and you acquire the most profitable single settlement in the game early, which adds to your snowball. Yes, BC has a gold mine, too, but it's exposed - whereas Mt. Gunbad is safe as houses.

And what do you mean 'since you hit his gate with 40/60 Dwarf Warriors, he can't do anything against that early'? T2 BC has 2x Black Orcs, with Grimgor adding his Immortulz and some of the best artillery in the game. Good luck to your 5-6 shielded Dwarf units, they'll need it during a wall/gate assault. Sure, you can game it and exploit AI, but you're giving advice to a new player, who's not likely to be pulling off tricks in assaulting BC.

 

[Seethe]

Now, the question remains - Vortex Campaign or Mortal Empires?

Because, i just did this:

Then Tyrion's High Elves are a good choice for you. Extremely forgiving start, with immediate expansion and early combat (in the form of the Dark Elves occupying settlements in your home province).

And got absolutely devastated in my first Dark Elf battle.

Granted, i should probably go Vortex Campaign with the introduction, since i dont what half the freaking stuff does.

Tyrion's start is SUPER easy on the Mortal Campaign. Here is what you do: take your hero and embed it into Tyrion's army, take Tyrion's army and garrison it in the city(the AI will be reluctant to attack you, if you're garrisoned). Then spend two turns recruiting spearmen and archers. Then take the stack and go to the left upper settlement and take it, and then go to the right settlement, while regenerating in Lothern for a turn. In turn 7 or so, you can secure the whole province. Try to recruit every single turn for the first few turns, the terrain is easy to navigate in the Lothern area. Then, be careful because there's going to be one or two incoming stacks from the right of the outer ring. Garrison them in the settlement to the right of Lothern, recruit more units (you can actually demolish the Lothern barracks after you capture the settlement to the right of Lothern since it will probably have an already built in barracks, which maxes out at Tier 3 small settlement upgrade, the biggest a minor settlement can reach. Therefore, try to avoid building stuff that reaches only tier three in the major settlements, and save those slots for buildings that require tier 4 or 5).

After you recruit more units, regenerate, and you see an army incoming from the right side of the outer ring(you can also go after it yourself), go closer to it and go ambush stance (look for trees on the map, the ambush chance is higher there, and make sure you have at least 25% movement points left with high elves, otherwise you cannot enter ambush stance). Bait armies with weak settlements or other weak armies by using ambush stance with your main army, in the path of the weak settlements , always. After you defeat one of the armies, you can make peace with that high elf faction, or steamroll them, your choice.

And ALWAYS build walls in your settlements as soon as you can, no excuses. If you can't defeat a strong army with a walled settlement's garrison, you can definitely take some of its most important units.

Bonus advice: recruit a lord early(a crappy one that requires no influence to recruit), and send him out at sea. Explore the sea, and look out mainly for giant Skulls, they award 10k gold each.

 

[Parabalus]

As far as the Boyz are concerned, your vanilla DWs might as well be Longbeards. Functionally, there's little difference. You're not losing 1v1s, either way. You're not losing battles against comparable stacks.

And why would you rush Black Crag before Mt. Gunbad? The GS up there have a nasty habit of dropping a full stack on your head around T10-15. You take the -20% upkeep, and suddenly you have the ability to hold off Grimgor with a second lord, a six unit stack and unwalled T2 settlements with a basic garrison building, while your northern flank is permanently taken care of by Grombrindal, and you acquire the most profitable single settlement in the game early, which adds to your snowball. Yes, BC has a gold mine, too, but it's exposed - whereas Mt. Gunbad is safe as houses.

And what do you mean 'since you hit his gate with 40/60 Dwarf Warriors, he can't do anything against that early'? T2 BC has 2x Black Orcs, with Grimgor adding his Immortulz and some of the best artillery in the game. Good luck to your 5-6 shielded Dwarf units, they'll need it during a wall/gate assault. Sure, you can game it and exploit AI, but you're giving advice to a new player, who's not likely to be pulling off tricks in assaulting BC.

I don't think you realize how little 20% upkeep on early stacks is. Even if you wanted 2 early armies, a Grom with 16 basic units with +10MA/MD/10%RS is stronger than a 20/20 without, for the same gold cost. It's like giving 9 chevrons to them, sans LS.

The buff is massive. If e.g. Black crag doesn't have a full garrisoned lord (you killed him earlier) you can literally attack move on the walls and you'll win. No tricks are needed when the enemy army has troops with mostly 30 MA.

You don't have to go for BC, I just wanted to paint a picture of how ridiculous it is, Gunbad is fine too.

 

[Lone Wolf]

The point wasn't that your army wouldn't be stronger - obviously it would.

The point was that when you consider your early game enemies, you don't need the boost. You just don't. A 20/20 Grombrindal army beats any turn 10-40 Grimgor stack. Meanwhile, the ~300 in extra income, in the first 10-20 turns, is a God-send. What's your extra 10MA/10MD getting you? Which unwinnable battle is it winning? Black Crag is very winnable for an unbuffed Grom army, if Grimgor is not in the field.

Campaign buffs are what you want, early.

But, hey, play it your way.

 

[Raghar]

Bonus advice: recruit a lord early(a crappy one that requires no influence to recruit), and send him out at sea. Explore the sea, and look out mainly for giant Skulls, they award 10k gold each.

Well, this kills Beastmen campaign. No worries about gold, send crappy lord to sea, and run like crazy from one treasure to another...

 

[Parabalus]

Bonus advice: recruit a lord early(a crappy one that requires no influence to recruit), and send him out at sea. Explore the sea, and look out mainly for giant Skulls, they award 10k gold each.

Well, this kills Beastmen campaign. No worries about gold, send crappy lord to sea, and run like crazy from one treasure to another...

Especially good on the races which have no +% upkeep for additional lords. Also, if you meet HE early, before too much Great Power malus, you'll get trade for free.

On that note, is Norsca supposed to have it? It applies but doesn't show up in the UI, so it's bugged but I'm not sure in which direction, didn't play WH1.

 

[tabacila]

Fuckers always getting witty when they don't want to say what they are working on.
Can't understand why they can't just say the next race pack will be Southern Realms and the Beastmen will get an update.

 

[Seethe]

Fuckers always getting witty when they don't want to say what they are working on.
Can't understand why they can't just say the next race pack will be Southern Realms and the Beastmen will get an update.

CA are some of the dumbest devs I've seen when presenting their games and future content. The complete opposite of Paradox. They hype shit, they don't say what it is, they underperform, and a lot of people end up disappointed.

 

[tabacila]

It's getting worse, especially since this stupid policy of tying bug-fixes to content updates. For WH1 nobody felt a thing because there was so much DLC of all kinds and at a steady rate.
With WH2 now on the backburner because of that abomination that will be 3 Kingdoms there are bugs that can stay in the game for close to half an year.

 

[Parabalus]

And the epic fail that was ToB.

And the Rome 2 DLCs.

TW:WH is their biggest cash cow and somehow it gets put on the backburner.

 

[LizardWizard]

WH2 was a disaster at release with the Norsca fuck up and they're already actively developing 3rd game. I'd imagine after the trilogy is released with the complete ME map they'll start milking overpriced faction/lord packs for the next 5+ years like they are currently doing with Rome 2.