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sassassin posted:What is this dark elf spell I'm getting hit with that instantly reduces a fresh unit of spearmen to ~0 health? Dark conduit? Malekith has an ability called Gaze of Malice which can completely destroy fairly weak units. The dark magic spell bladewind is fairly killy to infantry units too. As for the eagles as Trujillo says it was probably Soulstealer.
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Nov 3, 2017 17:32
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No it was dark conduit both times. What the gently caress? Just got hit again and 57 spearmen became 1 on 7 health. And the unit next to it took some significant splash. There goes my battle line.
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Nov 3, 2017 17:37
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Is there a mod that opens up diplomacy so you can see what the hell is going on? I just had High Elves turn on me in 3 turns after wiping out a small two settlement faction that no one had any treaties with. Normally that wouldn't be a problem but it's turn 50 and Tyrion has already confederated the entire island leaving him with a ton of resources and at least five armies that are at my doorstep. I'm assuming there has to be some sort of hidden modifier that made them go from Defensive Alliance and +80 relations to -11 and war, but it's ridiculous that there is nothing to suggest that. Also think I may start playing with a no confederation mod, because gently caress that whole situation.
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Nov 3, 2017 17:41
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Sounds like I need to start putting points into spells for Malekith. I really like the idea of the stuff further down his red line, where if a unit reaches level 7 it gets significant buffs. With the other red line buffs and the technology buff stacking as well, Malekith's Darkshards are going to shoot the poo poo out of everything even more than they do already  That doom countdown mod is a great idea too, itd be really interesting to fight a powerful late game enemy other than Chaos or Dwarves.
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Nov 3, 2017 17:46
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nessin posted:Is there a mod that opens up diplomacy so you can see what the hell is going on? If you hold the mouse over the relations face it'll give you the modifiers and numbers. sassassin posted:No it was dark conduit both times. What the gently caress? Just got hit again and 57 spearmen became 1 on 7 health. And the unit next to it took some significant splash. I got dark conduit mixed up with power of darkness. They get dark conduit from one of their rituals. Not sure how it works.
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Nov 3, 2017 17:48
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Random scourge of kaine dreadlord escaped the battle with her life, fled to the phoenix gate, and is now my nemesis.
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Nov 3, 2017 17:50
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Trujillo posted:I got dark conduit mixed up with power of darkness. They get dark conduit from one of their rituals. Not sure how it works.
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Nov 3, 2017 17:51
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Trujillo posted:If you hold the mouse over the relations face it'll give you the modifiers and numbers. I know that, but it doesn't have anything to explain what happened. Tyrion did his drastic change of heart all with the modifiers I had with him staying exactly the same except for the loss of each treaty as he broke it.
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Nov 3, 2017 17:52
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nessin posted:I know that, but it doesn't have anything to explain what happened. Tyrion did his drastic change of heart all with the modifiers I had with him staying exactly the same except for the loss of each treaty as he broke it. Major factions automatically enter a war with all other major factions when they complete the fourth ritual. Could that be it?
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Nov 3, 2017 17:59
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ZearothK posted:Major factions automatically enter a war with all other major factions when they complete the fourth ritual. Could that be it? Mortal Empires campaign, and I'm Lizardman so we're not natural enemies.
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Nov 3, 2017 18:05
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sassassin posted:Random scourge of kaine dreadlord escaped the battle with her life, fled to the phoenix gate, and is now my nemesis. I never realized how much I want a Shadow of Mordor/War style Nemesis system in a Total War game until now. Especially if they taunt you every time your armies clash.
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Nov 3, 2017 18:10
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a really unfair mod I've been enjoying is the one the unlocks all lord skills. So you can put three names of power on your Dreadlord, for example.
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Nov 3, 2017 18:42
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The Shadowdart name of power is stupidly good. With that, techs, and lord skills you can get Shades with 200+ range or some crazy poo poo like that. Stealthy AP ninja archers with a range greater than all other elves? Yes please. 
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Nov 3, 2017 19:01
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Ra Ra Rasputin posted:You could just buddy up with mannfred, give him a occasional gift of gold now and then, then once he is up for a confederation get a fully grown and built up capital later. That building is so vital to get early on though. It lets you get out like 9 vampires by turn 10 or something. I had manfred as a vanguard force just tying up everyone with chaff while isabella and her vampire horde swooped in as reinforcements and devoured everything. It was an unstoppable, dirt cheap wrecking ball that you can only start swinging with that building. If you don't have that, it's just like any other VC campaign 
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Nov 3, 2017 19:26
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Gonkish posted:The Shadowdart name of power is stupidly good. With that, techs, and lord skills you can get Shades with 200+ range or some crazy poo poo like that. Stealthy AP ninja archers with a range greater than all other elves? Yes please. IIRC if you have a pair of lords/heroes with Talon of Kuronos, you can get Waywatchers, Deepwood scouts, Waystalkers, and Glade Lords with 200+ range as well (and still retain 360 degree cone of fire on the former three as well), and that's far less dependent on Surname RNG. I forget, is it Waywatchers/stalkers who can also fire without breaking stealth as well?
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Nov 3, 2017 20:03
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Thanks to everyone with the advice on Empire campaign strategy, I appreciate it. It's such a fascinating start compared to the (mostly new world races) ones I've done at this difficulty so far. Far more variety in how things can play out, and a lot more tension. Unfortunately it kind of highlights one of the weakest parts of the game, and that's the diplomacy. Despite the many, many modifiers that can affect your relationship with another faction, it sheds almost no light on what motivates the AI to do the things it does. It boggles the mind how hard trade agreements are to make, or why someone will sign a NAP but another guy who likes you more won't, or what circumstances you can get a confederation under, or what the AI personalities actually do, considering how many "defensive" AIs start wars of aggression with me. I think I need to take a break from Empire or maybe just WH2 for a while until the patch drops. I've conquered reikland and marienburg only to have everything crumble around me in ways I can't predict or control a few times too many and I'm burning out.
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Nov 3, 2017 20:05
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DeathSandwich posted:I forget, is it Waywatchers/stalkers who can also fire without breaking stealth as well? I know deepwood scouts can, not sure about the rest
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Nov 3, 2017 20:09
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The best thing is night goblins having stalk and bows. I do enjoy me some sneaky stabin followed by a fanatic popin out. Or sneaky shamans.
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Nov 3, 2017 20:14
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The Bramble posted:Thanks to everyone with the advice on Empire campaign strategy, I appreciate it. It's such a fascinating start compared to the (mostly new world races) ones I've done at this difficulty so far. Far more variety in how things can play out, and a lot more tension. Unfortunately it kind of highlights one of the weakest parts of the game, and that's the diplomacy. Despite the many, many modifiers that can affect your relationship with another faction, it sheds almost no light on what motivates the AI to do the things it does. It boggles the mind how hard trade agreements are to make, or why someone will sign a NAP but another guy who likes you more won't, or what circumstances you can get a confederation under, or what the AI personalities actually do, considering how many "defensive" AIs start wars of aggression with me. For what it's worth, on the harder difficulties even the defensive AI will take any opportunity it can to strike if it feels you are sufficiently weak. If you have an unprotected border or your main armies just ate a lot of casualties (like what probably happened when you took Marienburg for instance) and your strength rating goes down, the AI is way more likely to gently caress with you. Strength rating plays a big factor in how the AI views you, If your neighbor is stronger than you they will be less inclined to treat with you and ones weaker (especially *significantly* weaker) will try to ally with you in order to keep the bigger fish at bay. It may be confirmation bias, but on harder difficulties the AI isn't just more aggressive with you, they are aggressive to all their neighbors and you wind up seeing wilder territory swings as the game goes on, even outside of the major powers who confederate up.
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Nov 3, 2017 20:17
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Yeah, that makes sense. Hard to compete in the power calcs when they have 3 stacks supported by 2 settlements compared to your one, even if you can consistently beat them in the field. I'm just complaining though, I'm too proud to turn the difficulty down after my much easier Mazda and Queek vortex campaigns!
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Nov 3, 2017 20:25
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Very Hard is probably my favorite to play at. Still challenging but doesn't skew battle stats in the AI's favor since you can set it to normal, and being able to save is good even though I very rarely save scum (usually only to re-try a particularly hard battle). On the other hand, I like getting those legendary achievements, which are worth nothing.
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Nov 3, 2017 20:32
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Fighting Morathi now and got done by the same spell ffs. Two thirds of a unit of Reavers gone in an instant, and only that few because they were spread out from charging. I shouldn't complain as I don't take many casualties otherwise. The deaths of my brave soldiers keep things "interesting"...
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Nov 3, 2017 21:21
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Jamwad Hilder posted:Very Hard is probably my favorite to play at. Still challenging but doesn't skew battle stats in the AI's favor since you can set it to normal, and being able to save is good even though I very rarely save scum (usually only to re-try a particularly hard battle). On the other hand, I like getting those legendary achievements, which are worth nothing. I'm a little conflicted on the difficulty settings in this game. I'd like it to be tougher, but I don't enjoy the a lot of the ways in which CA goes about doing this. Cheated money for the AI so they can afford more stuff? I'm okay with it. Drastically more upkeep for my forces with every additional army that I make, making it nearly impossible to protect my entire territory and heavily incentivizing few elite armies instead of many mid-tier ones? Not such a big fan. I also hate how higher difficulty AI just completely ignores game mechanics like attrition and public order, especially with the new settling rules where they don't give a poo poo about taking 20 red climate cities because they get so much free PO. Vargs fucked around with this message at 21:34 on Nov 3, 2017 |
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Nov 3, 2017 21:29
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this is why you get cheater money mods that increase background income or cheater money mods that increase trade / money buildings
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Nov 3, 2017 21:31
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sassassin posted:Fighting Morathi now and got done by the same spell ffs. Two thirds of a unit of Reavers gone in an instant, and only that few because they were spread out from charging. It is an amazing spell to use on the other end but iirc it is a once a battle use or has a stupid high cool down.
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Nov 3, 2017 21:32
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I have a feeling that we're getting Chaos Dwarves this game, not game 3, since the Mortal Empires map has a huge chunk of blank space where the badlands would be
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Nov 3, 2017 21:36
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most likely the races we get for WH2 fit on the WH2 map not the WH1+WH2 map.
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Nov 3, 2017 21:38
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Scrub-Niggurath posted:I have a feeling that we're getting Chaos Dwarves this game, not game 3, since the Mortal Empires map has a huge chunk of blank space where the badlands would be Mortal Empires isn't the focus though, the Vortex is. Any DLC will be integrated there primarily so...
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Nov 3, 2017 21:39
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I don't know if it was intentional or a quirk of the Skaven AI, but the AI actually did something that impressed me. Playing the Dwarves I started moving south with three stacks to begin clear out Queek after kicking the vampires in the teeth and pushing back Varg/Chaos. His stacks acted really evasive. Constantly running away or trying to do an end-run around my stacks to sack my south-most settlements. Eventually, I separated out Grombrindal's stack and chased down one Skaven general I'd racked up a grudge against and got ready to pounce, only for that stack to turn around and ambush me. Except they'd had two other stacks shadowing nearby hidden that I wasn't able to see. So instead of what I thought was an easy battle, I got bounced by three full stacks of Skaven. Mostly clanrats, but 5000 clanrats is a hell of a lot of rats. The AI actually suckered me into an ambush and effectively nuked one of my best stacks. Lost hard but my one organ gun got something like 750 kills 
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Nov 3, 2017 21:41
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Start em in the spine of sotek or karak zorn, add some unique buildings around the map, there's your start
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Nov 3, 2017 21:43
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Scrub-Niggurath posted:Start em in the spine of sotek or karak zorn, add some unique buildings around the map, there's your start They already committed to WH3 though. Robbing one of the races from that when you have a bunch of untapped stuff that already fits on the Vortex map seems short-sighted.
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Nov 3, 2017 21:45
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Zore posted:They already committed to WH3 though. Robbing one of the races from that when you have a bunch of untapped stuff that already fits on the Vortex map seems short-sighted. WH1 added 4 new factions over its lifespan, we're on the docket for Tomb Kings and likely Araby. Southern Realms are also a chance, but they are in the same boat of having a much more impressive presence on the ME map than the vortex map. Who else are we expecting? No more factions until game 3 in two years? That seems a little silly
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Nov 3, 2017 21:50
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Tomb Kings were the army I was super interested in as a kid but never touched. I'll probably lose two days as soon as the DLC is released.
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Nov 3, 2017 21:55
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Scrub-Niggurath posted:WH1 added 4 new factions over its lifespan, we're on the docket for Tomb Kings and likely Araby. Southern Realms are also a chance, but they are in the same boat of having a much more impressive presence on the ME map than the vortex map. Who else are we expecting? No more factions until game 3 in two years? That seems a little silly Honestly I wouldn't be surprised if they did Kislev and the Southern Realms as DLC and threw in Mortal Empires access with it. Like you still need TW1 to use the old world factions but you would be able to play ME as Kislev and the TW2 factions if you just buy that DLC.
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Nov 3, 2017 21:58
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The Bramble posted:Thanks to everyone with the advice on Empire campaign strategy, I appreciate it. It's such a fascinating start compared to the (mostly new world races) ones I've done at this difficulty so far. Far more variety in how things can play out, and a lot more tension. Unfortunately it kind of highlights one of the weakest parts of the game, and that's the diplomacy. Despite the many, many modifiers that can affect your relationship with another faction, it sheds almost no light on what motivates the AI to do the things it does. It boggles the mind how hard trade agreements are to make, or why someone will sign a NAP but another guy who likes you more won't, or what circumstances you can get a confederation under, or what the AI personalities actually do, considering how many "defensive" AIs start wars of aggression with me. Diplomacy is actually fairly straightforward and should be fairly predictable after a point. - Most important modifier is your relative strength rank to the AI faction you're dealing with. It's mainly based on model count (not how good those models actually are), so people do things like stuff armies full of zombies. A good example with Dwarves is that you can so some fun quarreller gimmick armies (Lord + free hero from the quest, then fill the rest of the army with them). Model counts for quarreller units are lower than warriors, so you'll instantly find it harder to get good diplomatic outcomes than if you used a normal army composition. Belegar's start can be extra hard because he needs to fill out his army to give him diplomatic protection from the fairly powerful local factions, but he's extra poor due to the upkeep penalty. In an early Empire campaign it's good to fill a lord's stack as quickly as possible and have at least half an army in reserve, even if it's costly in terms of upkeep. - Diplomacy is kind of snowbally and paying large amounts for trade/NAPs is worth it, because relationship modifiers for having long-term positive relations tend to be fairly strong. If you can get a trade agreement with Bretonia, then at worst you'll probably have to deal with a war declaration from a minor Bret faction (that won't do much anyway and should be swallowed by a confederation eventually). First action in the first few turns should always be to open the diplomacy menu and having a look at how relationships are developing. - People try to offer the AI things it doesn't want and then get frustrated because it keeps saying no. Check for things you wouldn't normally think of, like agreeing to declare war on far away factions in exchange for agreements. - Declare war on factions nobody likes. Beastmen, Crooked Moon, Mousillon, etc - What does confederation actually give you? Can you defend this new territory you're taking? Does the faction have an army left and is it fighting a mutual enemy? Is there an important strategic reason to confederate now (like grabbing Stirland to provide a corridor to Sylvania)? It's not easy to confederate and you can't really reliably do it unless you're playing a faction with funky diplomatic bonuses. Nice if the option appears, but not really worth putting much effort into getting in many cases. e: Also be very wary about defensive/military agreements, especially with minor factions. Most diplomatic action between turns tends to be them begging for it and you telling them to gently caress off. Beer Hall Putz fucked around with this message at 22:26 on Nov 3, 2017 |
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Nov 3, 2017 21:59
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Scrub-Niggurath posted:WH1 added 4 new factions over its lifespan, we're on the docket for Tomb Kings and likely Araby. Southern Realms are also a chance, but they are in the same boat of having a much more impressive presence on the ME map than the vortex map. Who else are we expecting? No more factions until game 3 in two years? That seems a little silly Araby and Tomb Kings are the only probable (certain in the case of the TKs) DLC factions with real estate in both maps. Southern Realms could still be possible, though Sartosa existing in the Vortex but not in ME does put a blanket over them, on the other hand Norsca does have a tech specifically about fighting Tileans, who are otherwise a two-region minor faction. Vampire Coast could be a scarce possibility, I guess? Their current leader is not their "historical" faction leader, which points that way, but they would need even more work than Norsca had in terms of creating new units, but at least they should play very different from the other vampires. Another possibility could be a horde faction that wouldn't take the territory. Amazons? Slim chances. Daemons of Chaos to go off the Lizardmen epilogue? If that somehow happens then Cathay is confirmed for game 3, so probably not.
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Nov 3, 2017 22:02
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SunshineDanceParty posted:Tomb Kings were the army I was super interested in as a kid but never touched. I'll probably lose two days as soon as the DLC is released. I was the only kid at my shop who played them back in 6e, I totally picked them because skeletons were easier to paint
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Nov 3, 2017 22:05
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They can still make DLC for one, you know.
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Nov 3, 2017 22:07
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Scrub-Niggurath posted:WH1 added 4 new factions over its lifespan, we're on the docket for Tomb Kings and likely Araby. Southern Realms are also a chance, but they are in the same boat of having a much more impressive presence on the ME map than the vortex map. Who else are we expecting? No more factions until game 3 in two years? That seems a little silly I figure either they spread it out or we get a wildcard faction. Amazons, a horde human mercenary faction built around looting abandoned cities, or Vampire Coast would be my guesses for a third DLC faction. The problem with Chorfs is you're robbing Peter to pay Paul. You still need 4 launch races for WH3 and DLC races and I'm already predicting Halflings or something to shore everything up.
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Nov 3, 2017 22:12
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I'm wondering if an alternative to making certain groups full fledged factions (such as the Amazons) would be creating a handful of units that can be recruited only at certain settlements by any race. Probably wouldn't make a lot of sense in some situations, like skaven recruiting Amazons, but would be preferable to some groups being left out of the game entirely. Tilea and Kislev would also be good for this kind of thing. Oh and halflings from The Moot.
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