Warhammer: Total War

ancapailldorcha

Ah right. The Skaven lord was definitely the better of the two.

Playing Clan Mors at the moment and their lack of RoR is annoying. They also seem to be missing something to cement them as a great faction. I don't play Warhammer Fantasy so I've no idea which factions are lacking in units.

I think Bretonnia are awfully weak at the moment with Kemmler getting his own faction. The Dwarves could do with a little buffing to prevent being streamrolled by the Greenskins as well.

Gbear

ancapailldorcha wrote: »

Ah right. The Skaven lord was definitely the better of the two.

Playing Clan Mors at the moment and their lack of RoR is annoying. They also seem to be missing something to cement them as a great faction. I don't play Warhammer Fantasy so I've no idea which factions are lacking in units.

I think Bretonnia are awfully weak at the moment with Kemmler getting his own faction. The Dwarves could do with a little buffing to prevent being streamrolled by the Greenskins as well.

I suppose there's a difference between weak to play and weak when being used by the AI.

The AI doesn't really know how to handle corruption. It has a tendency to just sit there for too long, It also doesn't beeline lightning strike, it doesn't set enough ambushes, it doesn't attack behind enemy forces at their untended settlements to hamper supply lines and so on.
And Bretonnia is sandwiched between both Kemmler and Mousillon in the North, and the Dreadfleet or Clan Skryre to the South.

So the undead build up too much of a head of steam. So if you're Ulthuan or the Empire you usually have to march over, kill a bunch of Undead armies so the Bretonnians can get a foothold and guard your flank.

Incidentally, if that's where Ikit Claw starts in ME it'll only add to the cluster**** - they'd really need to try to send Count Noctilus towards Ulthuan instead of Estalia. As it is you have Clan Angrund, Wood Elves, Carcassone, Dreadfleet, Sartosa, and Bordelaux, Mousillion and Crooked Moon lurking about on the outskirts as well. Throwing in a top tier Skaven LL in there as well will make a very mucky theatre even worse.

But as for playing Bretonnia, I find them to be both very enjoyable and hugely powerful.

Their cavalry are very very strong, obviously, but Grail units just murder everything forvever, never losing any potency because they have perfect vigour. It sounds like they're going to get a buff with no upkeep for peasant units below the peasant unit cap, a change to their vows system (which will effect upkeep), improved garrisons, which will stymie the flow of undead, for AI or human players, and hopefully some economy tweaks.

I really hope that later on, when they tweak Greenskins, they bin off Waagh armies, because the AI can't deal with them either, which is why Dwarves are getting caned, and they're mostly just annoying to use.
I'd like to see a global Waagh bar, that is filled by doing various orc-related activities like plundering and fighting, and when you do that, you get bonuses that encourage you to go on the offensive and give you combat, recruitment and upkeep bonuses. Then you can have big cheap armies you train yourself and can control, but then you'd need to downsize when Waagh's aren't active, and revert to low-level raiding.

Remouad

So just watched the trailer and my first impression is that whoever scripted it is a big fan of predator.:D

ancapailldorcha

Gbear wrote: »

I suppose there's a difference between weak to play and weak when being used by the AI.

The AI doesn't really know how to handle corruption. It has a tendency to just sit there for too long, It also doesn't beeline lightning strike, it doesn't set enough ambushes, it doesn't attack behind enemy forces at their untended settlements to hamper supply lines and so on.
And Bretonnia is sandwiched between both Kemmler and Mousillon in the North, and the Dreadfleet or Clan Skryre to the South.

So the undead build up too much of a head of steam. So if you're Ulthuan or the Empire you usually have to march over, kill a bunch of Undead armies so the Bretonnians can get a foothold and guard your flank.

Incidentally, if that's where Ikit Claw starts in ME it'll only add to the cluster**** - they'd really need to try to send Count Noctilus towards Ulthuan instead of Estalia. As it is you have Clan Angrund, Wood Elves, Carcassone, Dreadfleet, Sartosa, and Bordelaux, Mousillion and Crooked Moon lurking about on the outskirts as well. Throwing in a top tier Skaven LL in there as well will make a very mucky theatre even worse.

But as for playing Bretonnia, I find them to be both very enjoyable and hugely powerful.

Their cavalry are very very strong, obviously, but Grail units just murder everything forvever, never losing any potency because they have perfect vigour. It sounds like they're going to get a buff with no upkeep for peasant units below the peasant unit cap, a change to their vows system (which will effect upkeep), improved garrisons, which will stymie the flow of undead, for AI or human players, and hopefully some economy tweaks.

I really hope that later on, when they tweak Greenskins, they bin off Waagh armies, because the AI can't deal with them either, which is why Dwarves are getting caned, and they're mostly just annoying to use.
I'd like to see a global Waagh bar, that is filled by doing various orc-related activities like plundering and fighting, and when you do that, you get bonuses that encourage you to go on the offensive and give you combat, recruitment and upkeep bonuses. Then you can have big cheap armies you train yourself and can control, but then you'd need to downsize when Waagh's aren't active, and revert to low-level raiding.

While it is very possible to create very powerful stacks with Bretonnia of units like Grail Knights, Grail Guardians and Royal Hippogriff Knights I do think they are still a bit weak. I don't really know what they need the AI might not be able to use the vow system properly. Hopefully this gets fixed with the patch.

It's only Peasant Mob units who get free upkeep, not the archers unfortunately who are very useful through the whole campaign.

I've no real interest in Greenskins but there does seem to be a clamour for them to get an update. Nice that CA are still doing this alongside the DLC.

Gbear

ancapailldorcha wrote: »

While it is very possible to create very powerful stacks with Bretonnia of units like Grail Knights, Grail Guardians and Royal Hippogriff Knights I do think they are still a bit weak. I don't really know what they need the AI might not be able to use the vow system properly. Hopefully this gets fixed with the patch.

It's only Peasant Mob units who get free upkeep, not the archers unfortunately who are very useful through the whole campaign.

I've no real interest in Greenskins but there does seem to be a clamour for them to get an update. Nice that CA are still doing this alongside the DLC.

Bretonnia probably aren't as balanced a faction as some of the others, even in tabletop, so I don't think there's much more content they can add to them. I enjoy their campaigns though, and will even more so if they make the early game flow a bit better and better integrate their unique campaign mechanics (chivalry, peasant economy and so on).

You're correct about the vows, which is why they seldom have any decent armies outside of Leoncoeur who has them all unlocked. Hopefully the new systems will aid that. Of course, you don't want it to go the other way either, with Mousillon and Kemmler dead by turn 20.

I guess they're a bit more simplistic in that they don't have the same breadth of units for the sort of combined arms warfare you see with the Elves, the Empire, the non Vampire Counts undead factions, but sometimes that's nice for a change. I'm happy bouncing between more micro-oriented, more horde-oriented, balanced, or cavalry-focused armies. They have a nice niche, I feel.
They're the comfort food faction to me, alongside Alith Anar and Durthu.

On the peasants thing, I hope they'll have learned from the flexibility of the undead with their free chaff armies and that's where they're going with it. I'd like a real redoing of their economy and peasant units, with a similar system to raise dead (eg, raise levies), that would give you crappy peasant and peasant archer units for free that suffer heavy attrition outside of friendly territory, and then have the barracks units, minus the peasant mob the same as before.

It doesn't seem like they're going those lengths, but having a free peasant mob army with a free Lord (the spellcaster lords have no upkeep, IIRC), will be enough to stamp down on rebellions and fend off chaff undead armies with the help of a garrison. That should allow you to be more on the front foot earlier on and make the game less monotonous early game with them, and that's an improvement at least.

I find the greenskins fun to play with on the battlefield but their campaign mechanics make the game a chore to me. Too much busywork and not enough orcy flavour or stompin'.

It's really satisfying to start off with Grimgor and his Black Orcs, but they just get left further and further behind. They've poor heavy cavalry, poor anti-large, poor ranged, no flying options.

They're missing half a dozen units (black orcs with sword and shield, quick anti-infantry monsters like giant cave squigs, more troll variants, anti-large, from either spear chukka siege unit or better cavalry, a decent flying option like a feral wyvern), a couple of heroes (Orc Big Boss - tanky, Black Orc Big Boss - piercing DPS) and another 2 generic lords (Black orc warboss, Orc Shaman Lord). They're by far the most undercooked faction in the campaign IMO.

ancapailldorcha

I love Bretonnia. Grail Knights and Grail Guardians are some of my favourite units in the game. I'd just hesitate to rank them a top faction as the High Elves, Dark Elves and Vampire Counts have that sewn up.

I think the Damsel lords did have upkeep but I'm not sure. The Lore of Beasts allows for the summoning of a Feral Manticore twice in a battle though which would help.

Balancing is tricky, no doubt.

Have you played tabletop? I've never been too interested in the Greenskins but I do like the look of some of their units though like the Arachnarok Spider and the Giants. Never played Wood Elves. LegendofTotalWar did a livestream with them yesterday. Their settlement system looks less than ideal but I like Durthu and destroying my enemies with missiles.

Gbear

ancapailldorcha wrote: »

I love Bretonnia. Grail Knights and Grail Guardians are some of my favourite units in the game. I'd just hesitate to rank them a top faction as the High Elves, Dark Elves and Vampire Counts have that sewn up.

I think the Damsel lords did have upkeep but I'm not sure. The Lore of Beasts allows for the summoning of a Feral Manticore twice in a battle though which would help.

Balancing is tricky, no doubt.

Have you played tabletop? I've never been too interested in the Greenskins but I do like the look of some of their units though like the Arachnarok Spider and the Giants. Never played Wood Elves. LegendofTotalWar did a livestream with them yesterday. Their settlement system looks less than ideal but I like Durthu and destroying my enemies with missiles.

Nah I was never really into tabletop. I collected blood angels space marines when I was a wee tyke but the intricacies of the game were beyond me at that age. I think my older brother collected High Elves. I seem to recall some sort of elf lord on a dragon sitting on his desk.

Wood elves are great fun to play in campaign, but again they have a really slow start. I think Durthu is better because he starts with siege attacker, gets amber-free access to their T5 units, and has better lord and faction bonuses. And he himself is a bit of a beast, especially early game.

ancapailldorcha

Durthu looks really cool. I enjoy the "Rage of Nature" vibe he has.

Gbear

ancapailldorcha wrote: »

Durthu looks really cool. I enjoy the "Rage of Nature" vibe he has.

It's the perfect expression of Tolkien through a grimdark lens.

Treebeard a hundred years after the war of the ring, where the ring wasn't destroyed, but Sauron never had a final victory, and the world has just steadily declined into more and more evil, without wholly dying.

ancapailldorcha

Looks like Orion needs Amber to recruit Forest Spirits while Durthu needs it for elven units. Decisions, decisions...

Gbear

ancapailldorcha wrote: »

Looks like Orion needs Amber to recruit Forest Spirits while Durthu needs it for elven units. Decisions, decisions...

I think the only elven one you'd miss are the waywatchers which, granted, are the best archers in the game, but in return you get Forest Dragons and Treemen.

Also, he gets half upkeep for Dryads, Tree Kin and possibly Tree Men.
You can field a very tanky army on the cheap and max out Durthu's army very early on, and Deepwood scouts or glade guard are still very good early game.

It's only really late game that you miss the piercing of the waywatcher.

They're both fun, but Durthu being able to attack without siege equipment, cheaper, tougher armies, no attrition for his army make it more flexible and allows you to get more aggressive earlier. Ther'es a bit in the middle where you can't get really overpowered archers, but then later on, you'll have enough amber to max out your army anyway you like.

ancapailldorcha

I love archers. On the Vortex campaign, I had so much fun watching the Sisters of Avelorn melt Chaos units.

But yeah, think I might go with Durthu. Have you touched the mini-campaigns from the first game?

Gbear

ancapailldorcha wrote: »

I love archers. On the Vortex campaign, I had so much fun watching the Sisters of Avelorn melt Chaos units.

But yeah, think I might go with Durthu. Have you touched the mini-campaigns from the first game?

Never did bother with them. If you want piercing with Durthu you can still get the glade guard with Starfire shafts.

Because you'll have limited slots until you unlock confederation (Tree of eternity level 3) you'll probably want to plan out what you want to build. Maybe emphasise economy and don't build all your recruitment buildings in your starting settlement.

ancapailldorcha

Thanks Gbear. Sound advice.

What difficulty do you play on? I usually go H/H. Was thinking of bumping both up but not to keen on being drowned in AI doomstacks with extra buffs.

Gbear

ancapailldorcha wrote: »

Thanks Gbear. Sound advice.

What difficulty do you play on? I usually go H/H. Was thinking of bumping both up but not to keen on being drowned in AI doomstacks with extra buffs.

VH/N

I find the buffs they get in battle to just be obnoxious.

ancapailldorcha

Gbear wrote: »

VH/N

I find the buffs they get in battle to just be obnoxious.

I've not really noticed on hard battles. I find the game gets quite easy once you pass a certain points.

I save scum a fair bit but I might try an ME campaign with no scumming.

Gbear

ancapailldorcha wrote: »

I've not really noticed on hard battles. I find the game gets quite easy once you pass a certain points.

I save scum a fair bit but I might try an ME campaign with no scumming.

I mostly role play to be honest.

I enjoy a challenge well enough, but I don't like to be taken out of the game just for the sake of it.

So VH pits you against farily hefty opposition who have much stronger forces than they would ordinarily, but Normal battles means you can get to feel really powerful and dominant in battle and seemingly pull off massive victories.

I'm not really interested in losing a campaign I put maybe 30+ hours into.
I don't see the appeal.

The Everchosen Spring Invitational is on, being casted from Total War's youtube channel.

Gbear

Just got to see a bit of Lord Kroak in action.

His spell Deliverance of Itza looks phenomenally powerful. It's a huge explosion spell that doesn't damage your units, so you can just sucker in a load of infantry, get surrounded, and then kill them all.

Really looking forward to starting off a new Lizardmen campaign.

ancapailldorcha

Was tempted by a Kroq-Gar campaign the other day. Dinos. 'Nuff said but might wait for the DLC. I thought I'd have ditched the Vortex by now but I've three campaigns to wrap up.

Gbear

Everchosen Invitational finals kicking off.

It's probably one of the better games as a spectator sport things I've seen. Total War is extremely cinematic and there's quite a lot of strategic depth going on, and there's enough micro to appeciate, but it's not so frenetic and at the same sort of level of something like Starcraft so it's a bit easier to get to grips with.

Gbear

Somewhat disappointingly, the FLC Lord for Lizardmen has been announced as Tiqtak'To (yes, his name is like naughts and crosses).

He's going to be a flying-focused Lord for a faction with only 1 flying unit available by default (the other being added by the new DLC).

Total War Reddit is in meltdown, given that they wanted one of the more established characters.

I'm looking forward to trying him, but he's way down list.

ancapailldorcha

That's a bit disappointing. We have two fairly bland Lizardman LL's now. Was hoping there'd be only the one skink.

Gunmonkey

Yeah have to say CA dropped the ball a bit with the Skaven and Lizzies LL. TicTac (one of the only LM heroes I know) is a bit...out there and doesnt sound massively interesting. And Tretch for the Skaven is a bit...."really!" with so many great characters to choose from.

And the layout of new starting spots in Mortal Empires...Tennehuani stuffed into an already crowded region right beside the Vampire Coast when so much of the Lustrian continent is AI Lizardmen in a big splodge with no unique factions to break them up until Skrolk snowballs. And TicTac starting out in the southern Tomb Kings turf...ok....I guess...

killanena

I don't really care for either races, both table top and in-game. But I'll still get the dlc. I have all of CA's content, not going to stop now lol.

I actually started a new ME campaign last night. First one in a couple of months. I was reading up on some lore and it got me in the mood.

Playing as the Greenskins as grimgor which was actually my very first start in the first game.

15 turns in and I've already made friends with all local Ork races (except the blood spears) and have wiped out the dwarfs and taken their starting region. Waaaghs are so overpowered if used right. I never knew the troops of a Waaagh regenerate even in enemy territory.

Now making my way north to take on the blood spears and smaller Dawi factions. My Ork friends can fight over the badlands, ill keep friendly with then and Confederate them all eventually.



Regarding the Bretonnia update, while being my favourite faction don't need the update as much as Chaos IMO. Sure Bretonnia campaign factions could do with some buffs for the AI and maybe a few new units but in multi player I find them to be fairly competent.

Chaos don't feel like chaos at all. I find they're campaign to be the most boring and they are not viable in multi player due to the high tier cost of their mid tier units.

But I think they might be saving the big Chaos changes for the 3rd game.

Gbear

killanena wrote: »

Regarding the Bretonnia update, while being my favourite faction don't need the update as much as Chaos IMO. Sure Bretonnia campaign factions could do with some buffs for the AI and maybe a few new units but in multi player I find them to be fairly competent.

I think it was probably easier to sort this out and produce something of higher quality than it would've been with, for example, Greenskins, who I think need a an absolute bucket of work.

They'll have them boxed off and can move on. Not entirely sure why they picked them over the Empire, who surely aren't that far off either - a new start position for one or both of Gelt and Volkmar and a few tweaks to their systems would probably be grand. They could even add Toddy in without too much hassle you'd think. Hopefully that's what we see over the summer.

They're one of my favourites as well and I'm interested to see what they do.

They've added a new region in the mountains next to Carcassone and Parravon according to the new maps they've released, so they might have a new Orc faction there, or possibly Skaven.

There's actually still quite a lot of empty space on the map, that should benefit from either being compressed for Mortal Empires in game 3 to allow more eastern content, or the addition of new settlements. They've pushed up some of the jungle/savanna for Tictaq'To into the bottom of the Arabian desert as well.

It's also been suggested on reddit that new settlements have been added to Talabecland (the region to the North of the Vampire Counts), although I can't make them out as clearly as the other additions they've added to the map.

killanena wrote: »

Chaos don't feel like chaos at all. I find they're campaign to be the most boring and they are not viable in multi player due to the high tier cost of their mid tier units.

But I think they might be saving the big Chaos changes for the 3rd game.

I would imagine so. They're missing an enormous amount of content and flavour, as well as the new developments made to Horde factions that leave them feeling woefully underdeveloped.
Hopefully Beastmen get a lick of paint then as well, because they're garbage in campaign.

Maybe they'll roll some of the new systems live in advance of game 3 being released, but I don't think they're going to be actually doing the work and adding, for example, new god-aligned units like Daemons or Pestigors for Beastmen until game 3.

killanena

I think the greenskins have a very decent roster and play in multiplayer fairly well but I do think they have it easy when it comes to campaigns.

Empire is missing ALOT but to be fair, they would have to focus on each province more individually. They could add more features to do with things like the Elector Counts etc. I feel they will do something with the Empire soon. Kislev also need to be their own faction.

Chaos dwarfs would be nice, I know there is a mod thats decent considering the restrictions but I would prefer a more polished experience.

What I would like to see in the last game too, similar to what they have in other total war games is a mini campaign for major legendary lords. Each being the story or legacy of that particular character. How they came to be what they are now as the end times encroaches.

Gbear

The new DLC has been released.

Patch notes here.

Remouad

With the new update I decided to give Bretonnia a spin.

Not enjoying the start at all.
Peasant Economy is bad enough but that -20 order penalty for the Ork incursion is vicious.
Also with the Calvary focus makes sieges completely different to any other race.

Hoping it gets better in the later game.

ancapailldorcha

Remouad wrote: »

With the new update I decided to give Bretonnia a spin.

Not enjoying the start at all.
Peasant Economy is bad enough but that -20 order penalty for the Ork incursion is vicious.
Also with the Calvary focus makes sieges completely different to any other race.

Hoping it gets better in the later game.

All of this was there pre-patch. The Greenskin incursions are there to give you something to do while you research the confederation technologies.

Gbear

Remouad wrote: »

With the new update I decided to give Bretonnia a spin.

Not enjoying the start at all.
Peasant Economy is bad enough but that -20 order penalty for the Ork incursion is vicious.
Also with the Calvary focus makes sieges completely different to any other race.

Hoping it gets better in the later game.

That's always been there.

I've found it grand as a means to level up your hero and get a bit of extra cash. It does force you to play defensively for 20 turns though.

Importantly though, you can just stop it entirely if you raze or occupy any greenskin settlement.
That's why they added Massif Orcal. Now Carcassone and Bordeleaux have a pretty easy time of it.

Other than that it's playing similar enough, to be honest. The vow system is decent, and much better than wasting skill points on the vows, but ultimately doesn't radically change how you play the game.

I'm a bit disappointed wit the changes to the economy. The removal of tech buildings as requirements for units helps, but their economy is still fiddly and uninteresting. It was buffed a bit, but I never had much trouble with money with them before.

Remouad

So I've shelved the Bretonnia campaign for now.

Decided to start a Von Carstein campaign instead and having way more fun with it.

Think infantry and monsters are more my style.

ancapailldorcha

Remouad wrote: »

So I've shelved the Bretonnia campaign for now.

Decided to start a Von Carstein campaign instead and having way more fun with it.

Think infantry and monsters are more my style.

Are you going to confederate Manfred?

I've banned myself from this 'til the end of May. Think I've been playing it too much.

Gbear

Remouad wrote: »

So I've shelved the Bretonnia campaign for now.

Decided to start a Von Carstein campaign instead and having way more fun with it.

Think infantry and monsters are more my style.

I just started one recently as well.

I think they've tweaked the AI a bit and I'm snowballing less.
Because the minor Empire factions are a lot more stable now, I'm getting more meaningful wars against them.

I used to routinely have control of most of the Empire by around turn 50 but now I'm just conquering the provinces adjacent to Sylvania and really don't want to take on Karl just yet.

On the whole, after a fair bit of rumination I like the game now better than before, but there's still work to be done.

Bretonnia has become too easy. Whereas before you had to fight to stablise, now you can confederate the whole of Bretonnia by turn 50 easily, and the Dreadfleet, Kemmler, Mousillion and the Beastmen are far less of a threat (because they struggle to win early engagements and gain any momentum).
Ikit Claw can't be leveraged half as well by the AI as by a human player, so he mostly seems to be getting killed by Estalia.

I've really enjoyed playing as Ikit Claw. It's like a weird twist on playing as Space Marines vs hordes of monsters, except you're the monsters and you have the guns, and the hordes are of desperate humans getting mowed down in neat ranks.

I've been surprised to find that Tehenhauin has been the most disappointing to play. It's challenging, but the skinks aren't really that entertaining to play with. That said the engine of the gods is a good addition, as is the ancient salamander, and Lord Kroak is an absolute god. Good heavens. I nuked half a chaos army with him in one shot and it didn't so much as singe an eyebrow of of one of my lizard bois.

Surprisingly, or perhaps not, Tiktaqto has apparently been quite a big success, although I haven't played him yet. Dropping rocks is surprisingly effective, and he can do it twice, and his rocks are on fire.

killanena

I can't bring myself to finish campaigns anymore because after doing so many and playing total war sense I was 8 I just find it too easy.

Even on legendary I find the first 100 or so turns a bit challenging but after that I'm just steamrolling the map.

Must try some mods again see if o can change it up a bit because the AI was gotten too predictable.

(I shouldn't be able to take on 3 full stacks vs just one of mine in a realtime battle)

Remouad

ancapailldorcha wrote: »

Are you going to confederate Manfred?

Yep. Confederated with Manfred. was available really early on so just went for it.

About 40 turns in now and I've also confederated with the barrow legion.
They only had one region and are miles away from my other provinces but the challenge will be craic.

Was interested to see that Heinrich Kemmler was still available even though he was wounded.

Gbear wrote: »

I just started one recently as well.

I think they've tweaked the AI a bit and I'm snowballing less.
Because the minor Empire factions are a lot more stable now, I'm getting more meaningful wars against them.

I used to routinely have control of most of the Empire by around turn 50 but now I'm just conquering the provinces adjacent to Sylvania and really don't want to take on Karl just yet.

Seeing similar.
Quite happy consolidating my position and slowly expanding.
Dwarf and Empire factions are starting to confederate now so going to have to get a move on taking out the smaller factions.

Loving the End turn times.
Once I click that end turn button I have enough time to make a cup of tea, get the dishwasher on, do some gardening, read a book on Greek philosophy and prepare a 6 course meal all before my next turn.:rolleyes:

Gbear

Remouad wrote: »

Yep. Confederated with Manfred. was available really early on so just went for it.

About 40 turns in now and I've also confederated with the barrow legion.
They only had one region and are miles away from my other provinces but the challenge will be craic.

Was interested to see that Heinrich Kemmler was still available even though he was wounded.



Seeing similar.
Quite happy consolidating my position and slowly expanding.
Dwarf and Empire factions are starting to confederate now so going to have to get a move on taking out the smaller factions.

Loving the End turn times.
Once I click that end turn button I have enough time to make a cup of tea, get the dishwasher on, do some gardening, read a book on Greek philosophy and prepare a 6 course meal all before my next turn.:rolleyes:

Honestly, it's a bit daft but I don't mind having that time. My house has never been so clean, nor my drawers so full of clean clothes!

Also, I found recently playing Factorio that having a game that's always going full steam ahead is exhausting and leaves my brain addled after a couple of hours.

I quite like having a podcast on and faffing about while waiting for end turn to finish it's great calculations.

ancapailldorcha

Remouad wrote: »

Yep. Confederated with Manfred. was available really early on so just went for it.

About 40 turns in now and I've also confederated with the barrow legion.
They only had one region and are miles away from my other provinces but the challenge will be craic.

Was interested to see that Heinrich Kemmler was still available even though he was wounded.

Was there any difficulty confederating with Mannfred? I've never played the VC's. I was thinking of upping my difficulty to VH/VH but I'm not very keen on the AI getting insane combat bonuses.

Twenty Grand

Tried playing as Brettonia.

Honestly can't get over how crap their infantry is.

Tried to take over Mousillon early but I can't stop the lads routing at the first sign of the Red Duke and a Vargulf.

Hard to watch an entire army just run away while the Lord and Paladin fight on.

ancapailldorcha

Twenty Grand wrote: »

Tried playing as Brettonia.

Honestly can't get over how crap their infantry is.

Tried to take over Mousillon early but I can't stop the lads routing at the first sign of the Red Duke and a Vargulf.

Hard to watch an entire army just run away while the Lord and Paladin fight on.

I'd be churning out lots and lots of archers if I were you. Your Knights of the Realm should fare well against the Varghulf with its poor leadership.

You could try supporting your infantry with a Grail Reliquae which confers +16 leadership and an immunity to psychology to nearby units.

Twenty Grand

ancapailldorcha wrote: »

I'd be churning out lots and lots of archers if I were you. Your Knights of the Realm should fare well against the Varghulf with its poor leadership.

You could try supporting your infantry with a Grail Reliquae which confers +16 leadership and an immunity to psychology to nearby units.

I'm in the early game. Can't get lots of archers because of feudal cap.
Can't get grail reliquae yet either.

I'm just hanging around, letting cities rebel so I can upgrade my Lord and get leadership and Chevron buffs.

Remouad

ancapailldorcha wrote: »

Was there any difficulty confederating with Mannfred? I've never played the VC's. I was thinking of upping my difficulty to VH/VH but I'm not very keen on the AI getting insane combat bonuses.

No difficulty.
Just did the diplomatic approach, went for each treaty as they came up (except for military alliance of course).
was very early that the confederation option popped up - <20 turns

Give it a go. They're good craic.

ancapailldorcha

Remouad wrote: »

No difficulty.
Just did the diplomatic approach, went for each treaty as they came up (except for military alliance of course).
was very early that the confederation option popped up - <20 turns

Give it a go. They're good craic.

Ahhh... There are guides on the internet. Thought it was quite onerous.

The Vampires seem to be very powerful. I was thinking of waiting until I was brave enough to up the difficulty.

Gbear

You might have to wait until he loses a battle, but he'll do that a fair bit. The AI is quite dumb about wandering around corrupt/untainted land getting pilloried by attrition until they get mulched by a passing army.

Mannfred's army got killed and he went from power rank 20 to 100+ and then I confederated him no problem.

Remouad

ancapailldorcha wrote: »

Ahhh... There are guides on the internet. Thought it was quite onerous.

The Vampires seem to be very powerful. I was thinking of waiting until I was brave enough to up the difficulty.

Might have helped that he went to war with Zhufbar and I ranked up quickly by taking over templehof and the other vampire regions around him.
Vlad is a beast in melee which is good because he doesn't get a mount.

ancapailldorcha

There's a patch for this out today. Only FLC is a lore of death wizard for the empire. Apparently, the DLC had some bugs.

degrassinoel

Edit: wrong thread whoops

Gbear

New DLC/FLC announced for September 11 and it's a doozie.

https://www.totalwar.com/blog/total-war-warhammer-ii-the-hunter-the-beast-faq/

The Hunter & The Beast is the latest Lords Pack for Total War: WARHAMMER II. Introducing two rival Legendary Lords from the world of Warhammer Fantasy Battles, each with their own objectives, mechanics, units and playstyle, for use in both the Eye of the Vortex and Mortal Empires campaigns, and custom/multiplayer battles.

The Hunter & The Beast includes:

Two richly themed new Legendary Lords: Markus Wulfhart leads the Huntsmarshal’s Expedition (Empire), and Nakai the Wanderer opposes him as the leader of the Spirit of the Jungle (Lizardmen)
Two new Lord types: Hunter Generals and Ancient Kroxigors
Four new unique Hero units for Empire (see Wulfhart’s Hunters)
New unique faction mechanics, quest chains, legendary items, skill trees and campaign narrative (Vortex Campaign only)
New units for the Empire: Archers, Huntsmen and War Wagons
New units for the Lizardmen: Dread Saurians, Sacred Kroxigors and Razordon Hunting packs
New Regiments of Renown for both the Empire and the Lizardmen
For full details on all you’ll get in The Hunter & The Beast, head over to Steam to read more (and get 10% off if you pre-order).

FAQ
WHEN WILL THE HUNTER & THE BEAST BE RELEASED?
The Hunter & The Beast will be released on the 11th of September 2019.

IS THERE A PRE-PURCHASE DISCOUNT?
You’ll get a 10% discount if you pre-purchase The Hunter & The Beast via Steam before its release.

WILL THE NEW LEGENDARY LORDS BE FIGHTING FOR CONTROL OF THE VORTEX?
Both Markus Wulfhart and Nakai will be playable in the Eye of the Vortex campaign, but our new Legendary Lords have their own destinies to fulfil and do not fight for control of the Vortex itself.

WILL THE NEW LEGENDARY LORDS BE AVAILABLE IN THE BOTH THE EYE OF THE VORTEX AND MORTAL EMPIRES CAMPAIGN?
Yes, The Hunter & The Beast will be available to play in both the Eye of the Vortex and Mortal Empires Campaign.

WHAT NEW UNITS WILL BE IN THE HUNTER & THE BEAST?
The Hunter and the Beast will feature the following new units for the Empire: Archers, Huntsmen and War Wagons and Dread Saurians, Sacred Kroxigors and Razordon Hunting packs for the Lizardmen.

For the full details on these and to see them in action, keep an eye on our YouTube and Twitch announcements.

WHAT NEW MECHANICS WILL MARKUS WULFHART BRING TO THE HUNTER & THE BEAST?
Markus Wulfhart will bring with him the following brand-new mechanics:

WULFHART’S HUNTERS

Scattered throughout Lustria are four of the finest Hunters that ever lived. Wulfhart may attempt to track them down and acquire their services to aid in the expedition’s success, and subsequently developing each Hunter’s unique attributes and learning the tales of their past deeds.

Jorek Grimm is a brilliant Master Engineer. Shunned for his eccentric ideas, he has struck out alone to seek his fortune in Lustria…
Rodrik L’Anguille was once a renowned Paladin. Disgraced and exiled however, he is haunted by a past he cannot escape…
Hertwig Van Hal, a skilled physician and Witch Hunter, has travelled far from home on his quest for ultimate vengeance…
Kalara of Wydrioth, the eminent Waystalker, has traded the forests of Avelorn for the jungles of Lustria in pursuit of redemption…
EMPEROR’S MANDATE

Wulfhart’s campaign progress is measured by how effectively he fulfils the Emperor’s Mandate. Expansion, successful military operations, and other campaign activities increase his Acclaim, which is tracked on the Emperor’s Mandate bar.

This will dictate the quality of units available to Wulfhart via the Imperial Supplies system, which dispatches higher quality units that can be recruited. As the Mandate bar fills, he will also unlock bonuses to further improve these units, plus higher tiered recruitment buildings not initially available to Wulfhart’s faction. This also increases diplomatic tension and resentment from the Lizardmen.

In the Eye of the Vortex campaign, filling the Emperor’s Mandate bar will cause Nakai the Wanderer to issue a final challenge to Markus Wulfhart! With Mortal Empires being a sandbox experience, we like to leave how you complete the campaign up to you.

HOSTILITY

Wulfhart’s plundering will inevitably stir up hostility and prompt retaliation from the natives. Prolonged aggressive activities, such as military actions and raiding, can raise Hostility through five levels. Conversely, a more passive approach to the campaign will cause Hostility to fall.

Each level has a negative effect on Wulfhart’s campaign, but Hostility is also a measure of his aggression against the local inhabitants. As he ascends through the Hostility levels, reinforcements are dispatched more frequently via the Imperial Supplies system. The strength of these reinforcements is still dictated by the Emperor’s Mandate bar.

When peak Hostility is reached, a variety of penalties will be imposed on Markus along with the dispatch of a special Lizardmen taskforce with the sole aim of defeating the expedition. He will instantly receive an Imperial Supplies drop and will need to survive for a number of turns before the Hostility bar resets.

WHAT NEW MECHANICS WILL NAKAI THE WANDERER BRING TO THE HUNTER & THE BEAST?
Nakai the Wanderer will bring with him the following brand-new mechanics:

WARMBLOOD INVADERS

In the Eye of the Vortex campaign, Nakai must fight to keep Lustria in the rightful hands of the Lizardmen. Several Empire colonies have been established, and each is encroaching on the jungle. They must be dealt with!

Four extremely dangerous Hunters co-ordinate the efforts of the warmbloods. Hunt them down to draw out their leader, then defeat them all in a final, epic confrontation (Vortex campaign only)!

NEW HORDE MECHANICS

Nakai’s faction, the Spirit of the Jungle, offers a unique variation on Horde gameplay. Each army in his faction, when placed in the Encampment stance, may develop its settlement infrastructure much as a standard settlement would. That infrastructure is preserved when the horde moves off, and may be further developed during future periods of Encampment. If a horde is destroyed in battle, all its infrastructure is lost along with the army.

However, only Nakai’s personal horde can unlock units for recruitment. Other hordes in his faction may then recruit unit types Nakai has unlocked using the Global Recruitment option. These ‘minor’ hordes still have their own infrastructure and building trees, though some of these are focused on reducing Global Recruitment times rather than unlocking units.

These changes are designed as a quality of life improvement for horde gameplay. Unifying recruitment-building choices under Nakai saves the repetition, cost, and time that would otherwise be required to construct the same recruitment buildings across multiple hordes.

DEFENCE OF THE GREAT PLAN

Nakai begins play with a vassal faction called the Defenders of the Great Plan – the caretakers of the great Temple Cities. When one of Nakai’s armies captures a region, it may be gifted to the Defenders. When a region is gifted thus, Nakai must choose which Old One that region’s temple should be dedicated to.

As more temples are dedicated to a specific Old One, the more powerful the rewards bestowed upon Nakai and his faction.

These temples generate a unique resource called Old Ones’ Favour. Nakai may expend this Favour to provide assistance to his vassals through unique Rites, boost the income the vassals provide and visibility over them, and recruit Blessed Spawning units or Heroes and Slanns at higher ranks.

UNIQUE RITES

Nakai has a selection of new Rites focused around his units, faction mechanics and campaign focus.

Rite of Allegiance: Performing this Rite will cause attrition to the enemies of Nakai’s vassals – the Defenders of the Great Plan – when in their regions
Rite of Rebirth: This Rite spawns an army for Nakai’s vassals – the Defenders of the Great Plan – at their capital to help protect the Lizardmen
Rite of Mastery: This Rite increases the recruitment rank of Kroxigors, Sacred Kroxigors and Kroxigor Ancients, while improving their weapon strength and armour
WHAT’S THE FREE CONTENT THAT WILL BE RELEASED ALONGSIDE THE DLC?
The free content that will be released alongside The Hunter & The Beast DLC includes the Lizardmen Legendary Lord Gor-Rok, a campaign map region rework for Mortal Empires, Empire Fort Battles, a new starting position for Balthasar Gelt and an Old World update for the Empire. Keep an eye on our social channels in the coming weeks for more info.

WHAT’S IN THE FREE OLD WORLD UPDATE THAT WILL BE RELEASED ALONGSIDE THE DLC?
CAMPAIGN MAP REGION REWORKS

Various parts of the Mortal Empires campaign map have been reworked and improved, focused mainly on the regions within the Empire.

New provinces (Solland) and regions have been added within the boundaries of the Empire
New mountain pass regions have been added between the Empire and its neighbours, complete with all new Empire Fort settlement battlefields similar to High Elf gates
New province and regions have been added for Albion
New Greenskins and Wood Elves factions have been added in the Drakwald and Wasteland area of The Empire
NEW EMPIRE FORTS

New spectacular settlement battlefields exclusively for the new forts added in the mountain passes on the borders of the Empire.

NEW START POSITION

Balthasar Gelt has a new starting position of Solland in the south of the Empire and a new faction – The Golden Order to command.

EMPIRE CO-OP CAMPAIGN

Empire co-op campaign is now available.

EMPIRE OLD WORLD FEATURE UPDATE

The Empire Office system is being replaced with the new Elector Counts system. This new political feature will make it possible to confederate the Empire without going to war with the other counts if you play your cards right.

New resources of Prestige and Imperial Authority will be used to improve Fealty with other Elector Counts via Electoral Machinations and imperial dilemma’s and to exert your command over the Empire
13 Elector Count positions to command (Includes the Wastelands and Sylvania)
Unique rewards (Runefangs) and exclusive units when commanding a state’s capital
THE PREVIOUS OFFICER SYSTEM IS NOW DEFUNCT IN ALL OLDER SAVES
WHEN WILL THE FREE CONTENT BE AVAILABLE?
On the release day of The Hunter & The Beast – the 11th of September 2019.

WILL THE HUNTER & THE BEAST BE RELEASED ON MACOS AND LINUX?
This will be coming shortly after the release of The Hunter & The Beast – stay tuned!

Gbear

Interesting to see Lizardmen go from having only 2 Lords to 6 within a few months.
There was a bit of uproar after neither GorRok nor Nakai were the DLC last time but now all will presumably be satisfied.
The addition of the Dread Saurian is an interesting one, because as far as I can tell it's massively overpowered in comparison to all other units in the game, at least in the fluff.

I guess Lord Kroak had already set a new standard for super-units. He mightn't be big but when you can nuke enemies without any friendly fire you don't need to be.

Nakai's faction is trialing a new Horde mechanic, that will presumably pave the way for the revamped Chaos faction that is to come in WH3.

DEFENCE OF THE GREAT PLAN

Nakai begins play with a vassal faction called the Defenders of the Great Plan – the caretakers of the great Temple Cities. When one of Nakai’s armies captures a region, it may be gifted to the Defenders. When a region is gifted thus, Nakai must choose which Old One that region’s temple should be dedicated to.

As more temples are dedicated to a specific Old One, the more powerful the rewards bestowed upon Nakai and his faction.

These temples generate a unique resource called Old Ones’ Favour. Nakai may expend this Favour to provide assistance to his vassals through unique Rites, boost the income the vassals provide and visibility over them, and recruit Blessed Spawning units or Heroes and Slanns at higher ranks.

One could easily see how this could be switched with a vassal chaos faction and chaos gods. There's also further QOL improvements with regards to how units are trained, with all training being centralised to Nakai, and secondary armies getting to access them via global recruitment, so you won't get the situation where you have to start from scratch with each army.

It seems like a clever way to wrap the Empire revamp into a FLC with a faction that will have a presence on the Vortex map as well as ME, and presumably sets the stage for something similar with the Greenskins and Grom the Paunch to arrive, probably over Christmas.

So in summary, 2 Lizardmen Lords, 1 Human, Empire revamp, including Elector Count diplomacy features and unique bonuses from each Province, new position and faction for Blathasar Gelt, 6 new units.
There'll be a stream, probably during the weekend, to showcase them.

Gunmonkey

All looks good to me. Currently half way through a Lokhir/Teheneuain coop campaign with my friend, we msg me saying we might be playing more scalies in coop sooner than we thought

Though the now 6 lords for Lizardmen does bode well for Skaven, they really needed someone better than Tretch for that 4th slot (Throt in Clan Moulder/Hell Pit or Thanquol) so hope to see another added soon.

Gbear

Gunmonkey wrote: »

All looks good to me. Currently half way through a Lokhir/Teheneuain coop campaign with my friend, we msg me saying we might be playing more scalies in coop sooner than we thought

Though the now 6 lords for Lizardmen does bode well for Skaven, they really needed someone better than Tretch for that 4th slot (Throt in Clan Moulder/Hell Pit or Thanquol) so hope to see another added soon.

I think the corner of the map by Kislev will be included in WH3, so i think it'll make sense to add Throt as a pre-order bonus, playable in ME, WH3 campaign and ME 2.0.

If they ever add Cathay (which would make sense financially for them in asian markets, i would assume) perhaps they could add Clan Eshin then as well.