Depends on the character for me. Often seems I will only get 1-2 points for a point spent on defense, so I tend to go with HPs instead. Basically I look at what will give them the biggest gains, compared to what I feel is acceptable level. I try to balance it out, but unless they have a star or two in defense, the small gain never seems worth it to me. Now if they are a 3 star in melee defense? I will pump points into it every level.
Fatigue is a major factor in melee especially against foes that don’t fatigue, like undead so I tend to always spend a point to increase action points for the first few level ups.
Some perks, like “quick hands,” mitigate fatigue at higher levels.
My first priority is to always put points in melee attack and ranged attack (for melee and archers respectively). Pretty much on every level up. It’s hard to win battles if you can’t reliably hit the enemy. Early on I may put some points in ranged defense for archers and increase their initiative. For melee, I also put points in fatigue (this is critical if they are low there to start). If I have guys with low resolve, I’ll raise that when I can. Morale is hugely more important in this latest update.
I don’t worry that much about HP unless the melee guy has a 2 or 3 star rating there. If he does I give him the Colossus perk and raise HP when the rolls there are really good. Ranged I don’t usually put anything much in HP at all. The reason I don’t worry as much about HP in general is that your armor is a damage soak. So as long as you have decent armor, you won’t get one-shot.
If your primary attack skill (relative to if you’re melee or archer) is 50 or below, get the Fast Adaptation perk on your first level up. It’s golden. For melee with low attack, also give them a spear which has a bonus to hit. It makes a big difference. Later, when you get the attack skills up, you can switch to better melee weapons.
Always have one guy carry a 2-hand axe to smash shields. Give him your best armor and helmet because he can’t carry a shield.
Give everyone a good shield ASAP. Not the crappy little, tiny shields either, the bigger ones. Those add a LOT to defense and will save your life. Shields are why I don’t put all that much into defense skills. The exception there is the 2-hand melee guys that don’t have a shield. Look at the Dodge perk for them if they have good initiative. It’s a great boot to defense.
If you have someone with good melee AND ranged stats, give them some javelins. Those are incredibly strong in the early game. They’re kind of expensive but sometimes you’ll get them as loot. If you do, don’t forget to use them.
For archers, don’t forget to put a club in their backpack so they can switch to it if surrounded. The quick hands perk is useful there.
In general, look at the stats of a brother when you hire them and see what their strong and weak points are, then create a role for them that accentuates their strengths and minimizes their weaknesses.
Agreed. It’s also hard to ignore the +4 and +5 on the level-ups on less attractive stats if everything else gets a crappy roll.
For perks, I like grabbing Nine Lives for my favorite mercs, as life insurance. Colossus and Dodge for my 2-handers. Quick Hands for my front-line javeliners/axe-throwers. I haven’t gotten into the 3rd tier yet…
My first impression of the game is rather negative, but maybe it was just a bad run. I feel like I can play the exact same (early game) battles over multiple times and completely dominate or get my ass kicked based on how the all the 50% attacks break, which makes it feel like the roll of the dice is far more important to my success than anything I’m doing.
Granted, I can see the weapons do different things, you can surround guys, there’s morale, etc… but I feel like many options are limited at the start based on how few guys I have, and their starting equipment.
One of the first battles, I got absolutely wrecked because I kept missing every 50% shot I took. I died. I just reloaded the autosave, played the battle pretty much the same way, and came out with nothing but light wounds. Meh.
I’m certainly going to keep digging in, but I’m really bouncing off this hard right now. I’m hoping I can get into it, because it looks like it has some really cool stuff to it.
Yeah, you’ll get many unlucky rolls but you can certainly increase your chances of hitting and not getting hit. Get as many shields and spears (and helmets) as you can afford starting out. Don’t get fancy, just poke em and use shield wall. Spears have a higher chance to hit than your other early options and make sure you get the high ground when you can. Sure, sometimes things won’t go your way but that’s part of the life of a merc…
I got really into this last night and didn’t want to stop playing. It felt really good to not think about things for a while. @coldsteel and everyone thanks for the amazing advice. Some more easy :) questions if you don’t mind.
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What difficulty level is supposed to be default? And to get the most enjoyment out of this game do you have to play ironman? I’m not feeling the stress of food shortages, money etc on normal difficulty but maybe that’s because it’s early and I’m limiting myself to 10 people?
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Above normal do the enemies get boosts, or do you start with worse stats by default? Or is it just the basic things listed in the tooltip?
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The stars by stats. Does this mean they level up faster? For the first 4 hours of play I thought it was suggesting what you should put stats in and only later did it dawn on me it might be something else like a specialization.
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If you hire someone who turns out to be awful, do you release him right away to not be a drain on your money and food? I have tons of people to recruit and choose from so this would not be an issue.
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Is the perk to not get brain damage a good one to choose? Does it also not let you head get lopped off? Or are there always better perks to choose over that?
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Archers seems pretty wonky. It is extremely difficult to get a shot on people. In fact I’ve had to move them to the front line to get a shot because all too often in line two they can never shoot due to the front line obstructing them. If I’m lucky and there’s a hill around I use that. Is there some other technique I’m not thinking of?
Normal difficulty level is considered default. The developer has said ironman mode was designed to give the player the fullest experience. I’ve just started a new campaign and selected ironman for the first time so I don’t have an informed opinion. If you want to experience shortages, try the latest beta which introduces “ambitions” as Coldsteel alluded to. One of the early ambitions is to create a party of 12 BBs in the first 20 days. That is a challenge and my guys are living hand to mouth initially, no helmets, crappy weapons, etc.
The stars thing allows you to specialize your BB a little easier. When leveling up the BB will get a random number for upgrading each attribute. With each additional star the randomization is reduced or eliminated ensuring you can build up that attribute faster.
I had to hire a bunch of duds to fulfill the initial ambition, then I gave them the heave ho and slowly am replacing them with better quality guys. though I’m new to the beta and I don’t know if firing BBs causes a morale dip, but that’s what taverns are for. Coldsteel knows his stuff and likely knows more about the impact of giving BBs the boot.
Three BBs to watch out for: the Tailor allows you to make a cool suit of armor out of direwolve hides. The Witchhunter is a very good ranged unit, and the Bowyer allows you to make a Masterwork Bow assuming you have the right materials.
But eventually you will want Hedgeknights, Sellswords, Nobles and the other high end mercenaries when you can afford them as they become very powerful over time compared to daytalers, farm hands, etc.and they start with good armor and weapons.
I’m not sure about the perk you are referring to. In the latest beta the perks that seem of higher priority are student, headhunter, brawny, weapon mastery, footwork, battle forged and fearsome for your melee guys. Pathfinder is really good for traversing rough terrain. I used to take the Colossus perk to increase HPs by 25% but I’ve opted for the “don’t let my guys get hit” strategy and use my attribute points for higher DPS and my loot for better armor.
Archers are inaccurate initially. Equip them with a polearm as they will spend more time using them than ranged weapons so I build up their melee attribute, too. With the right perks, equipment and building their attributes they can become quite lethal but they require steady investment.
I equip my front line guys with javelins or throwing axes to whittle down the foe as they approach.
And axes are awesome, bring a few to destroy the enemy shields and watch the heads fly!
Early game, when your best brothers have 50ish melee/ranged skill, it’s very much RNG on hits. However, as @GuildBoss says, there are a lot of things you can do tactically to minimize RNG. Keep a line since your brothers reinforce each other with their shieldwalls and morale. Make use of spears early on because they hit much more often. And spearwall can be amazing and just wipe out certain enemies without you taking a scratch. Don’t rely so much on ranged early on because at first your archers will be fairly crap. It’s basically like starting with a brand new squad in original X-Com and the RNG is about the same. I hope you will stick with it because it’s an amazing game.
The “Normal” level is the old “Easy” level in earlier beta versions. I recommend you start with that and move to “Veteran” once you get a good feel for the game and want a stiffer challenge. “Veteran” was the previous “Normal”.
What version are you playing? You should opt into the beta of the final update if you’re not playing that version because it adds a lot of stuff.
The level up stats are random. The stars mean you have a better chance of a high roll in that stat every level up. One star is a somewhat higher chance and 3 star is much higher chance.
Personal play style decision. Many people do just that and are always looking for that perfect recruit and will fire any they deem inferior. Others will accept them into their ranks like an ugly puppy and morn their deaths when they can’t hack it in battle. It’s power playing it vs. role playing it I guess.
Let’s just say I’ve rarely, if ever, chosen it.
Yes. Always use the wait (space) command on all your troops first to let the enemy come to you on the first turn. Then, when your archers come around in the battle order again that turn, they will have nearer targets that aren’t blocked and that they can fire at with much better chances of hitting. And your melee brothers can move forward after that and get an essentially free first turn hit in. Then on the second turn, your high initiative troops will be able to get a second hit in before then enemy acts. At that point your archer will be blocked by your own troops most likely. So, either circle around the side where you can get a free shot (the pathfinder perk is of much use here) OR swap to a pitchfork or other polearm with a 2 hex strike range and position them behind your front line. Then they can strike over the top of your men and provide useful melee support from the back rank.
Forgot to reply to this one. Not in my opinion. Others may feel differently.
Also, it’s not easy to notice but you can rename your brothers. Just click on the name when you have him selected in the inventory screen and you can change the name and his title. This is a lot of fun for AARs and roleplaying in general.
Here’s an example of one of my renamed men. This guy was struck down on the battlefield and everyone thought he was dead. After the battle it was determined that he was still miraculously alive somehow. He eventually made a full recovery physically but was left with permanent PTSD. He’ll run like a jackrabbit as soon as things start to go south a little bit in a battle. So, naturally I had to rename him to this:
He’s still a really good fighter so I keep him close to my banner carrier to boost his resolve and I gave him the resolve boosting perk as well. He still has very low initiative but there are worse things than going last in the line of battle. I love how you can come up with workarounds for challenges like this in the game.
Wow, the thoroughness of your answers is awesome. Yep I’m playing the latest betas and sticking with the game. Really love it as I’ve become quite attached to my merry band of mercenaries.
Btw - I have a tailor I was just amount to can, I had no idea you could craft stuff. Am I blind, I didn’t see an option for that (not at computer).
It will happen automatically at some point as long as the Tailor is in your party and you have two wolf pelts in your inventory. You get a notice and the armor will be in your inventory. He does not need to carry the pelts.
The armor looks great it’s lightweight it’s tough it increases the wearers resolve.
Meet Lars. He’s fat, cocky and absurdly he is also content. Lars has a broken elbow joint, a crushed finger and a broken arm after his first victorious battle. The elbow is a permanent injury, which significantly reduces his melee skill and defense and ranged skill. The other injuries will heal in 2 or 3 days though a trip to a temple can speed the healing process.
Bummer about the elbow, Big Guy, guess you were too big a target. It’s off to the minor leagues for you.
Thanks, @Coldsteel and @GuildBoss. I’ll try again later today. This game looks like it would be one I’d really if I can get past my initial annoyances (feeling like my actions aren’t nearly as important as a dice roll is just one of my biggest pet peeves in games and my first two attempts were extremely streaky).
What I do is tell myself that it’s not me doing the fighting, it’s my castoff dregs-of-society mercs who are a useless bunch of civilian greenhorns that can’t hit the side of a barn if they’re standing right next to it. Sure, I can give them brilliant tactical orders but they’ll still find some way to FUBAR it anyway by swinging weapons like a rusty gate and missing half the time. At least, that is, until I whip them all into hardened veterans later in the game who then will go all Seal Team 6 on my enemies. The game is very satisfying when you get to that point. So, for me it helps to role-play it a bit on the RNG, which does simulate greenhorns pretty well, IMO.
Well, alas Hudson, it really is game over, man. We had a contract to bring back the head of a bandit leader and he had a military cleaver and a kite shield. Ol’ Hudson got in there and gave him the business pretty good with his own khopesh cleaver. Unfortunately, he took a hit that started him bleeding 10 HP a turn and he didn’t have any bandages. I frantically tried to kill the last 2 bandits before he bled out but one was an archer and kept running away. So, Hudson went down with a gurgle and a last gasped “game over, man, game over”.
The good news is that the bandit leader dropped the military cleaver and kite shield.
Oh, so you put bandages in their bags and they can heal during battle? Did not know that lol. Was wondering what I’d use the bag-space for past a dagger backup for archers. Sure hope I find more wolves. Sold off all my pelts before I read the post. Doh!
I’m at an indecisive point. I want to restart on veteran, but at the same time don’t want to give up my crew. I like them, they have great stats, but I’m not feeling much worry about anything. Will that change in time (without spoiling?) I’m only on day 13. Tell me what to do cause I am as indecisive as they come :)
@coldsteel sorry to hear about Hudson. Looked like he was fairly close to leveling up again if he’d survived that battle.
You need to put your bandages in the utility slot on the upper left where the wardog is in the image below (wardogs are awesome to run down archers, btw).
If you’re on day 13 you’ve barely begun. As you keep playing the game the enemies you face will become more and more difficult. Also, you will eventually run into the endgame crisis which could be very tough depending on which one you selected.
I’d keep playing the game you’re on until you get a real feel for all the game mechanics, tactics, weapon/armor technology levels and start running into enemies that field much heavier armor and weapons. Also, you won’t complain about easy once you run into the non-human races. There is a lot of tough stuff out there you haven’t run into yet, trust me.
If things are going well for you that’s good, level up and save up while you can. Buying just one relic weapon from a shop will cost you 15,000 crowns so you really can’t get too much money. Higher level recruits are also really expensive to hire and support. And you’ll need those all stats and perks to handle the tougher enemies ahead. Also, don’t forget to explore off the beaten path to find hideout and citadels with tougher enemies and better loot, if that’s what you’re looking for. Higher risk usually equals higher reward.
Once you’ve seen everything around day 90 or so and still feel you need more challenge, then start on veteran mode.
Awesome response, thank you! I will continue my fun adventure and not fret about difficulty level :)