Battle Brothers Hits Early Access

I did it this way as well and it largely worked out well.

I think the concern here is there is a “right” series of ambitions to take, and some that are just way harder to pull off (usually) than other.

Ok, so at about day 130 and renown maxed out, the power curve finally caught up with me.

It was the ambition of fighting the war against the orcs. There were several orc camps in the map, and one of them had 7 Orc Youngs, 4 Berserkers, 5 warriors and an Orc Wardlord (named).

That one I cleared without issue (well, some bruises), but the second one with the same setup (I found three of these) got one of my best guys killed, and from there on it was hard to keep up, eventually deciding I was done. But those battles were indeed more interesting. And I think I now have a grasp on the game and why people like it so much.

So I’m taking a break from the game now. I will try a Veteran Ironman run once it finally releases, I think, but I’m not really excited about that.

I also have a wall of text with my impressions, in case anyone cares :P

The takeaway is: I like it quite a lot, but perhaps more in principle than in execution.

It’s a game I really appretiate, but due to some baffling (to me ) design decision, one I’m not going to play too often, if at all. I still do think it shares a lot of the design paradigms of games like Darkest Dungeon, and that’s both a good thing and a horrible one. That is: tight, interesting mechanics and a really cool art style tied in mobile-game style progression grinding. Darkest Dungeon did ameliorate that issue with their latest gameplay mode, but it’s still too long for what it is.

It’s baffling. the format of gameplay is definitely hardcore, and the structure and emphasis on ironman mode and permadeath makes you think the game is meant to be replayed several times (different end game crisis and such) but what they give you is a 30+hour campaign with very minor, very granular progression that just kills the joy of trying to get a new guy up to par with your squad. You have procedural world generation and random crises, so why not a tight, 10 hour campaign that ends in a bag, instead of a whimpering endless stroll that ends when you stop to care?

This slow progression seeps through all the mechanics, with very few tiers of weapons and armor (the loot is really uninteresting) and with a lot of stuff just being numbers being shuffled around (you do get some different strikes and skills, but very few of them change gameplay significantly). Darkest Dungeon did this better, I think, think different classes having really different abilities and overall mixing this up much more (within a soul crushing 100 hours grind, of course).

It does a better job regarding enemies, though. Wolf Riders and Necrosavants (plus regular undead and necromancers) have some interesting mechanics that change the game a little. Still, most variation comes from equipment, just giving regular enemies higher DPS and making then bullet sponges with over 400 armor. But I do wish some of these gameplay changes present in enemies could be translated to your squad. Right now every squad member is too samey. Skill diversity is minor and equipment based and most of the changes between party members are just shifted stats and different progression odds.

Also, as I said before, the battlefields are really samey, which coupled with a relative lack of mobility due to the mechanics of the game, makes that part of the game uninteresting. In very few battle you move more than 10 spaces from the starting point. I am assaulting a castle in the strategic map. Give me a castle to assault in the tactical game!

But, all that said, the core mechanics of the game are very well done and the combat is satisfying in its brutality and tactical (if attritional). The mechanics show some space for breath and development into a much bigger whole, even if it isn’t followed through in the implementation of the design. When you find unique items that sort of break the progression rules, or when you find enemies with unique new abilities, you wish there were more of that all along. It’s a problem both of pace, as I said above, and content. And that’s the baffling thing. While the art style is wonderful, it’s also eminently cheap to produce. This is a game that could have had much more content (mechanic diversity) with little expense. I know its supposed to be low fantasy, but if I can’t have a magic sword surely I could have undead destroying steel or something more fitting? Make it very rare, but give me one or two powerful (within the context of the mechanics) items per game.

To me, and this is very subjective, this feels like a really good game that is lacking a comprehensive design pass (it is my understanding there’s no dedicated designer in the team?). But also it might be due to the development mode of very early Early Access, shared with Darkest Dungeon. Maybe the kind of player you attract at those early stages pushes you design (due to feedback received) towards super grindy, gameplay lengthening progression? It’s just weird, because the core mechanic design points to a lean, direct experience and the the overall structure goes exactly in the oposite direction.

I get the appeal of that, and I do think it’s a good game (like I think Darkest Dungeon is a really good game), but it isn’t for me, given my amount of free time, and it’s not a game I would recommend to my tactics loving friends due to them sharing the same free time issues. It just feels I’m not getting as much variety and choice from my time compared to tighter, better designed stuff like the new XCOMs (which, to be honest, probably have a team of dedicated designers several times the size of this game’s team). Ultimately, it felt I was repeating the same stuff over and over again, instead of trying and discovering new exciting things.

Spears are also good for stopping orc stun spam. But then you can switch to a second weapon to finish them off.

Question: Are the huge upkeep costs of the Swordmaster worth it? Similarly with the hedge knights and to a lesser extent sellswords, adventurous nobles and squires.

They cost a ton to maintain with upwards of 20++ maintenance. That is basically 2-3 “normal” units.

From my limited samples of hiring higher level / priced guys it seems that what you’re getting is a guy with higher base skills (and better equipment which who cares at higher levels) but a similar random chance for * ratings which to me is what really matters. I’d rather a low level guy with 3* melee and some defense / fatigue *'s than a hedge knight that started at 60 but has no melee *.

Don’t be afraid to hire those more expensive guys then fire them right away if they have bad stats.

Do the more expensive mercs come with better traits, like Iron Lungs or Athletic? If so then they are worth it in my opinion.

Eventually since the company size is limited I want the best mercs I can hire. Having an adept merc with stars in the right skills is important, but traits help make the man.

That being said, the pricy retired soldier I hired on day 60 got one shorted the day I hired him.

Big patch out. Lots of skill balance changes. Highlights:

Added 12 new events.
Added one new music track.

Changed line of fire for ranged attacks to no longer be blocked by allies directly adjacent to the attacker. In effect, ranged weapons can now be used more effectively from the backline and behind a shieldwall.
Changed ‘Hold Out’ perk to be available earlier.
Changed ‘Rotation’ perk to be available earlier.
Changed ‘Underdog’ perk to completely ignore the surrounded penalty again, and to be available later.
Changed ‘Head Hunter’ to give a stacking +15% chance to hit the head, up from +10%, and be available later.
Changed ‘Dodge’ perk to no longer deactivate once hit by an attack.
Changed ‘Nimble’ perk to have new mechanics and provide damage reduction instead of increased defensive attributes. See tooltip for detailed information.
Changed ‘Rally’ skill success chance to scale better with Resolve of the character using the skill.
Changed AP cost for ‘Rally’ skill to 6, down from 7.
Changed contract payments to be lower in the very late game.
Changed initiative of Ancient Dead to be slightly lower.
Changed Geists to have a high ranged defense, but no longer be virtually on-hittable with ranged weapons.
Changed combat against caravans to no longer require killing the donkeys at the end.
Changed combat against Greenskin Catapults to no longer require destroying the siege engines manually at the end.

http://store.steampowered.com/news/externalpost/steam_community_announcements/75838332259879324

this three man team has some work ethic.

Especially like:

Changed ‘Head Hunter’ to give a stacking +15% chance to hit the head, up from +10%, and be available later.
Changed ‘Dodge’ perk to no longer deactivate once hit by an attack.

I’m experimenting with high initiative Dodgers who can ignore the Brawny perk and expensive armor.

Not always. They generally come with better starting stats and already having a couple of levels for which you can choose the perks.

The release trailer just came out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5h0RhOdKdY

Release date is March 24th.

I dug a little more and I can’t find anything to indicate that traits are assigned other than in a random way. If a merc has a title, like “The Pig” he is likely to be fat or a glutton. Other than that it’s a crap shoot as far as I can tell.

Looking forward to the official release

Yeah, Head Hunter is going to be amazing!

I also really like this one: “Changed line of fire for ranged attacks to no longer be blocked by allies directly adjacent to the attacker. In effect, ranged weapons can now be used more effectively from the backline and behind a shieldwall.

Assuming I’m interpreting this correctly (have not tested yet), archers can now target enemies right up on the front line troops. This is great since the archers can focus on what they do best and not be forced to switch to pikes/long axes/etc. although smashing shields is still going to a solid tactic when necessary. More options is a good thing.

is the economy dynamic with price fluctuations or are prices ‘static’ in all the cities? I’m going through the do I buy or not to buy stage…thanks for the answer

Dynamic. Prices change based on a variety of factors (bandit raids, reputation with the town, etc.).

I might be reading what you wrote backwards, but I think you might be reading the patchnote backwards. From what I gather, it means if the archer is adjacent to a friendly it doesn’t affect it. I think LOS is still affected if the ally is next to the target. I suppose if all three are in a line touching it would work though.

An ally adjacent to the archer but not to the target did not affect accuracy before, iirc.

So that means you can shoot right through allies in front of you without hitting them? Sounds like a cool mechanic.

I’ve been assuming it worked like that this entire time.

Marching under the sun banner, the Sun Bitches took a one skull contract around day 65. Wolfgang of Thurn had his ceremonial staff pilfered and offered to pay our guys a contract of 600 crowns retrieve it. Our heroes set out that morning hot on the tracks of the thieves. The Sun Bitches quickly spot the six brigands and just as they close to attack at mid day another band of heavily armed brigands suddenly appear and the three groups clash. Both brigand bands attack our heroes and things turned ugly. Three Sun Bitches went down, and another suffered a crushed wind pipe.

The Sun Bitches limped back to Thurn to collect their paltry fee.

The second band of brigands appeared out of nowhere. Anyone seen this happen? Normally I can see enemies some distance away but in this case they spawned immediately before my guys caught the first group. Have they added an ambush mechanic?