Here we see day 2 on a road.
Cause of course we do.
They appeared from nowhere and I had no option to avoid the fight.
Here we see day 2 on a road.
Cause of course we do.
I believe that in their masochistic way the Devs intended you to enjoy the tragi-comic story of being ambushed by a vastly superior force at a point where you had no ability to do anything about it, and enjoy the pathos of defeat, telling stories about your amazing experience.
As for me, I got cheatz.
Are you playing in easy? Highly recommend for your first play though.
Highly recommend Easy until you think it is too easy. I’m still playing on Easy, but the masochist in me makes me play Ironman.
My Peasants got wiped out by a couple of Hexen and their Unhold. Morale really is important. Also, if playing on Ironman, you really should learn when to retreat. I don’t retreat nearly enough. I really don’t retreat nearly early enough. I actually had two guys limp out of that fight. And I think that is the storytelling the devs are going for, but I Retired. Despite 5K crowns, I only got a score of 45.
My Poachers are having a hell of a time. Attrition has been terrible. I’m finally starting to make a little progress, but none of my guys are strong enough to even wear good armor. Not that I have any yet. I’m also completely melee now that all my ranged characters were killed.
I have over 100 hours in the game, it’s just that in the mid-game everyone randomly dies and I don’t have enough money to recover. And since the world is leveled up you just die more once that happens.
And all the issues with builds and the like.
There’s a gap in the market for a game like Battle Brothers but less lethal, and with better graphics. :D
Happened to me too.
That sort of situation is perilously close to a BS gotcha moment.
That sounds like XCOM, pretty much. Much as it has its problems, it does a really good job of making the tactical battles dangerous but winnable. And squad wipes tend to mostly happen in the early game (if you’re playing well, anyway) when they can be recovered from.
As for Battle Brothers, the loading screen tip “Losing is Fun” certainly explains the developers’ philosophy.
For my first game I’m playing beginner with reloading when something spectacularly unfair happens. It’s working fine for me right now though I hope to play a harder level without reloading once I’m ready for it.
For what it’s worth, I feel that most of us tend to repeat the same mistakes over and over again until we start thinking outside the box and start noticing certain things.
Like:
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You brothers are really a pathetic bunch. They are really thugs when they start off. If you think killing thugs are easy, then you are right. Thugs die really easy. That means you, as a thug, dies really really easy.
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The hit probabilities are accurate. Meaning 50% chance to hit is REALLY a toss! If you think that you’re going to nail that other thug because your hit chance is 50%, then you’re going to be extremely disappointed because your hit will most probably NOT land when you need it most!
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The enemies who are higher tier are REALLY higher tiered. And not just with better weapons and armours. But they come with much higher hit chances and morale as well. Not to mention perks! They are dangerous!
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To the computer, the units are infinite in supply and disposable. To us, each and every unit counts! This huge disparity is never in our own perspective when we evaluate the risks to take. Life is unfair in Battle Brothers!
That is how the game is. It’s a struggle to train up a gang of ex-thugs into a uber gang of supermen who can take on the toughest monsters in the game. Some like the sado-masochistic nature of the game.
Those that stick with it build up a sense of what can be tackled and what cant. There are very few situations, apart from those fluke encounters where you get ganked by 2 groups of invisible roaming monsters hiding behind the treelines, that you cannot avoid. Either from choosing of missions, or throwing your pride away and running to live another day.
Hope you guys stick with it. As advised above, pick beginner/beginner/high starting funds. It makes for a much easier learning curve and enjoyable time.
Battle Brothers, where Easy is actually Hard, and Veteran is Extremely Hard!
Here is a tip that is easy to do AND also make things enjoyable.
- Specialize your brothers as early as possible.
- Make some shield guy right from the start. Meaning, he’ll always be the one in front with the most hit points and the highest resolve and defence.
- Make some bro with crippling strikes (he should have relatively high melee)
- Make some bro with executioner and/or backstabber
This way, you are forced to think about how to position to make use of your different perks right from the get go! It makes things much more fun and train you up tactically.
In a sense, it becomes like XCOM where you make use of the perks differently. One of the worst things that can happen is that the whole team goes for a cookie cutter build, e.g. everyone selects Colossus or Student or whatever. The whole team becomes 1 generic type (or 2 if you have archers), yes the build may be the best for an individual, but as a team, it severely restricts the tactics available.
Take Backstabber, you get +10% bonus to hit for each unit surround an enemy! Even if some thugs get into the correct position, a knight can be stunned and daggered to death with just 1 or 2 of the bros with this skill, with some boosts from their teammates!
Or Fast Adaptation, which is never picked by experts in their uber markman build. But it’s a life saver for the lowly poacher! With +8% per missed shot, even goblins can be killed with enough tries!
Personally, I feel that some of the build guides have actually made the game harder for beginners. Because those builds meant for late game are not useful for the bad quality recruits we tend to start off with.
So, try out some of the less selected skills. They can convert a useless recruit into something useful until you get the team into a decent shape.
I cheat and give myself a little extra money at that point.
This is my 1st purchase for practically everyone unless they start with an unnaturally high combat skill. There’s really nothing more frustrating or deadly than missing those all important early attacks!
So I picked the normal start, I. E. The regular one that isn’t losing your captain.
So far so good.
I’ve been milking the 1 star quests and sprinkling in 2 star quests.
Turn 35 or so, 1500 gold and 10 brothers.
Mostly it’s the same start without the tutorial fight/mission. I like it because that whole experience had gotten tiresome.
Most of the other options are interesting at least, though usually you suffer from not having enough cash to really outfit a good starting group so the first 1-3 jobs are often lethal or so close to lethal that it cripples you before you can get started.
Still more options is always a good thing and it’s a great idea that plays pretty well overall.
Yeah my current map is really terrible, long distances between cities, not many harbours or trade opportunities etc.
Still, I have made it to turn 55 or so, in mostly good shape, and am handling contracts well enough.
One thing though, Goblins are far too much work for what you get.
I did one goblin contract and it almost bankrupted me because the quest giving city was the other side of the map from where the goblins were, and I bought some dogs as well, because they are useful against Goblins. 5 out of 6 dogs died, no Brothers.
My 2nd goblin contract saw me too poor to buy dogs, so 2 brothers died, and a 3rd died but returned (passed out in battle) and is not effectively a cripple.
I think that is my run done then :(
Note to self:
- Check where the contract is, before accepting
- Bring dogs for Goblins
- Attack Goblins at night
I also managed to take down some Alps, but they are not much fun. Really tedious fight to be honest. I had to google help for that (go naked and keep your forces together.)
Also, it seems truly odd to me to have a 1 contract limitation.
I’m just tired of Barbarians ambushing me on roads in groups of like 12 in the first two weeks.
If they have dogs you just die, there is no way to win or escape.
Good for the devs if they can make some additional money selling DLC. For me the base game is plenty hard enough and I’ll pass on paying for DLC that provide for additional and more gruesome ways for my bros to die.
I don’t need any help sending them to their graves. And some of these new monsters scare me quite frankly.
What made me decide to buy it was:
- Someone gifted me €10 on Steam
- I heard about the new origins/company starts
That’s what I’m enjoying about it. I had a great start playing Lone Wolf for first time but got cocky and wiped in the early teen days when I took on a bandit leader.
Right now my caravan hands/trader is up and running on 5th attempt. One of my 2 original caravan hands has a permanent disability but I have a good mix of troops, decent money.
I do think I have a fundamental mistake of accepting the visit every village ambition. I think it takes too long instead of carving out a solid area. Even by trading, I’m losing money while trying to complete this,
I think that is the worst ambition tbh.
My current lone wolf playthrough came to a glorious, nailbiting end when I accepted single combat against a Barbarian Chosen.
He hit me, I hit him.
I poisoned my weapon first, so I got 40 free damage.
Then he missed me, and I him, for about 5 turns, then a hit each, and we were both down to no armour and a sliver o health, and attacking each other for 52% chance to hit.
Then he hit me, and I died.