1884

This could be the most epic game I’ve ever played. I started a ME game as Repanse to try out Bretonnia but I got stuck balancing my economy. I decided to go back to my old reliable Empire in order to re-learn economic balance. The amount of options (how many different races/factions?), items (from followers to weapons), units (regular, regiments of renown, AND state troops!?) is borderline intimidating, and seeing all the comments about how to play the Tomb Kings makes me realize that they play so much differently than any of the other dozen factions. This could be my desert island game… just so much to do and I’ve barely scratched the surface after 100 hours of playing.

1885

Rite of Primeval Glory is silly. I don’t usually mind it but he fires it 100% of the time on like turn 28-30 or something apparently.

I have a second army, but it’s literally just skeletons and it takes time to recruit them.

They wont really do anything to dinos anyway, they just get thrown around constantly. The problem is the Rite of Primeval Glory and it being popped, consistently, by Kroq around turn 30 every game. That and him always declaring war around the same time. Like my relations are literally 0 and he instantly declares war. Queek at 0 offers a NAP. Same for the Orcs nearby. The Dwarfs NW of me offer trade/NAP at 0 relations. Kroq? Instantly declares war and marches in with his first army of sauruses.

The reason I didn’t have 2 armies is because of that first army, which was Kroq leading a full stack of Sauruses, his starting units and like a couple skinks. Beating that took two armies because Saurus with shields shrug off archers pretty well and not much can really wear them down. Then 5 turns or so later, the Rite Army shows up and just rolfstomps everything in sight since nothing I could possibly field can touch it.

Like… this is turn 36. Apparently the only way to win is to follow a specific chain of events. You have to let him capture the settlement S of where you start, then when his army is low because of the colonize, declare war and hit him with everything you have. Then run as fast as you can at his settlements.

Meh. It ends up feeling like a crappy old wargame where you had to “solve the puzzle” or whatever and that’s not the game I want to play.

1886

I mean, I’m at like 1000 hours between the first game and the second and still don’t have a clue how to play Tomb Kings. It doesn’t help that their early game is such a pain, though. But yeah, it’s a game with legs and that’s before you get into insane mods like SFO that change the whole thing. There is a ton of game here. Just an insane amount.

1887

I haven’t played Khalida in a long time, so I can’t comment on that specific start position, but I can make a general observation that may be relevant. If all the neighbors are declaring war and invading simultaneously the problem is looking weak. The AI loves to pick on perceived weakness and generally an empire that has expanded too quickly looks weak to the AI. Too many towns with damaged walls or no walls, too many beat up army stacks, etc. To avoid that sudden you-vs-everyone unwinnable war, expand at a more measured pace and make sure to build walls and keep armies replenished so that the AI will be more cautious about picking fights.

1889

Also, I know you, and you have probably never thought of this - try playing on Normal instead of Hard or Very Hard, or Shiva Hard or whatever difficult you are trying this on. :)

1890

So I’ve been really enjoying PartyElite’s Warhammer videos. The beginners videos are pretty quick, and I picked up a couple tricks (ctrl right click and drag!), but the total breakdown series is fantastic. People submit MP battle replays and he does a great play-by-play and color commentary. I feel like I’ve learned a ton.

1891

oh, crap - yeah, if you’re playing Khalida on a harder difficulty level, that’s … tough.

1893

Haha yup! Though I think I learned more from the battle replays, but the beginner’s guides would be great for, well, beginners.

1894

I have 3 settlements, just the starting province. As far as armies… uh… I’m TK. I have everything I can possibly have. Like there isn’t more I can make because of their mechanics. As far as building walls, that means weaker armies because, again, TK mechanics. I need those slots and money to have troops. It’s not a thing I’m doing, it’s a well known issue with Khalida from what I can tell. The only new wrinkle seems to be him firing off the Rite immediately (and sometimes Malus shows up, but that’s actually good cause his AI is terrible so he just gives you much needed money and XP).

I’ve tried but I just played Repanse so I was hoping to hit a newer area. I could try what’s his face, but that campaign was always a nightmare to me because of the terrain. 3 turns to get from one town to another in the same province is annoying, maybe with faster turns it will be less painful though. And it’s not a bug, it’s Rite of Primeval Glory.

Difficulty doesn’t matter really. I play with Normal battle difficulty. You just can’t win against Dinos that early with Tomb Kings really. Hell, I’m not sure you can win against him just running it down with Saurus’ with Shields. Khalida is the most interesting TK to me, but her starting area is garbage and she gets basically nothing to help her out. No special sites, no Heirotitans or Sphinx. Of course ever suggesting something might not be balanced on the forums or Reddit gets one attacked by the Total War masochists who would be happy if every LL was a single Skavenslave with massive penalties to every thing.

I just gave up and played Malus a bit. I’m pretty sure his quests are bugged though. I got a “reward” of like 12k gold. Only afterwards I had like 3k. So… meh.

Maybe it’s time to revisit the Empire or Ikit. I just need a good gun line.

1895

I’ve got an embarrassing amount of hours into the two WH games and they are some of the few games I can reliably beat on the hardest difficulty setting. Here’s my best advice about how to make the game easier.

Understand why the AI declares wars - The AI decides to attack when it feels like you are vulnerable, either because you have an undefended settlement they can sack, or your military is merely outmatched. It is also biased to like or dislike certain factions, understanding which of your neighbors is most likely to attack is important. There is also a large hidden modifier based on your “Trustworthiness” state.

In a perfect world situation, the player will be the only one declaring war when the time is right and they are in position for it. Preventing needless war declarations on yourself makes the game far easier. Knowing this, we can make a quick list of things to follow to avoid needless war declarations -

  • Build walls in every settlement. Every one. Level two walls. This has a massive impact on enemy war declarations. You are buying a lot more security with those walls than the garrison they provide. Once you become very comfortable with how the AI works, you will learn when to skip walls and when to replace them with other buildings. But you can’t go wrong building walls in every settlement.

  • Don’t take any actions that damage your Trustworthiness. Don’t make NAP’s or Trade Deals with a faction you want to be at war with within 15 turns. It takes 7 turns after breaking a NAP or Trade Deal before you can attack without destroying your Trust. Low Trust will give you as many if not more War Declarations than un-garrisoned, un-walled towns will.

  • Read the NPC faction’s list of diplo traits under their lord’s picture. Don’t bother with NAP’s with Devious/Schemer NPC types, they will attack you if they think they can sack your settlement NAP or no.

When you play this way you can plan your expansion ahead of time, expanding towards either campaign goals or areas of the map you can take and then no longer to need worrying about defending.

Several people have mentioned it but Lightning Strike does kind of trivialize a portion of the game. I often play without it because the temptation to abuse it is too strong.

And lastly, if you can’t win a battle, try to force it at a siege. The AI is hopelessly bad at siege battles and you can win battles on siege maps that you could never hope to win on an open field, even when the AI is defending the siege and allegedly has some sort of defenders advantage. They don’t.

1896

I am having an absolute blast playing Balthasar Gelt in a Mortal Empires camaign, fwiw. I like the changes to the Empire, seems smoother and more interesting than before, I think. So far, at least.

1897

Is that the green martian that gives basic pikemen 120 armor?

1898

No, it’s the iron-mask wizard guy. I did record a little footage of my game, but it didn’t turn out great. Eh.

1899

Amusingly, you are both correct.

1900

Oh! I … uh, wouldn’t have described him as green, I guess. Or a … martian?

1901

I believe those statements are mutually contradictory. TW games above normal difficulty are very much about knowing the strategic level mechanics and AI quirks well and exploiting them correctly.

1902

Not really. I’m not playing on VH or Legendary. And I’m not even playing Hard battles.

The difference between Normal and Hard isn’t much at all.

1903

Just a handful of factors -
Hard campaign AI vs Normal:
building cost: -60% vs. -50%
recruitment cost: -50% vs. -30%
local recruitment slots: 3 vs. 2
global recruitment slots: 4 vs. 3
unit upkeep: -10% vs. -0%

Combined together, that’s going to spit out armies at you significantly faster. That said, it’s true Lizardmen are tough matchups early on for Tomb Kings.

1904

Agreed here. I actually play on normal/hard. I hate having the CPU troops having advantages. I may hunt up that chart and post it here. I do not mind playing a harder campaign, or if harder battle setting made the ai better. But I hate advantages to troops as a difficulty.

BATTLE ai is where the adjustment should be made. Let me look for it… but trying to kill dinos on VH or something… ouch!
This looks right on reddit.

Easy
Player +4 morale
AI -4 morale
-20% charge bonus
-20% melee attack
-10% melee defence
-10% melee damage

Normal - No changes

Hard
Player -2 morale
AI +4 morale
+10% charge bonus
+10% melee attack
+10% melee defence
+10% melee damage
+10 reload speed

Very Hard
Player -4 morale
AI +10 morale
+15% charge bonus
+15% melee attack
+20% melee defence
+15% melee damage
+20 reload speed

Just to make sure I am being clear there is a “battle” difficulty (which makes a TON of difference) and “CAMPAIGN” difficulty that makes some difference, but not as much.
A little more research indicates the ai may get a hidden accuracy advantage as well. Ouch!
(Dan I think you know this, it was more for Shiva).

1905

Hmm, would need to buy Tomb Kings to give the Khalida start a try. Maybe in the future.