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botany posted:what are everyone's typical late game empire army compositions? Lord Mage, usually Fire or Grey, sometimes Celestial or Light 6 x halberds 2 x greatswords 4 x ranged (usually all handgunners, sometimes crossbows mixed in) 2 x reiksguard / knights of blazing sun 2 x artillery (mortar and helstorm) Last two slots are for utility. Steam tank, extra hero, another artillery piece (volley gun is a strong contender), more cavalry, outrider grenadiers, depending on where they’ll be going.
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Jul 4, 2018 12:49
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botany posted:what are everyone's typical late game empire army compositions? Depends on the lord, I like to make thematic armies Karl Franz leads a mix of state troops, elite cavalry, at least one wizard and a few other agents and an artillery piece or two 2 Swordsmen 4 Halberds 2 Crossbows 2 Handgunners 2 Demigryph w/ Halberd 2 Reiksguard 2 Hellstorm or Hellblaster Bright Wizard Warrior Priest x2 Volkmar goes full heavy metal with nothing but flagellents, knights of the blazing sun, armor-piercing artillery, and a few supporting units 7 Flagellants 2 Halberds 4 Knights OTBS 3 Cannons 2 Helblasters Shadow Wizard Gelt gets an elite stack of Greatswords, Empire Captains, and specialty units 5 Greatswords 3 Halberds 2 Handgunners 2 Empire Captains 2 Witch Hunters 3 Steam Tanks 2 Outriders with Grenade Launchers
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Jul 4, 2018 13:04
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My end game main army ends up being an idiosyncratic mix of RoR's and high level cavalry/heroes. The standard setups ya'll are discussing are also often pretty typical manifestations of alternate armies (basically what 420 gank mid uses with Karl Franz) but I can never predict really how my main army will end up other than it will have the first four or five regiments of renown. Speaking of RoR, I've been reading the fluff book "Sigmar's Blood", a campaign with three scenarios for WHFB players chronicling Volkmar the Grim's crusade against Mannfred von Carstein's curse of eternal night or whatever, and its pretty cool that the CA writers clearly read all of this stuff, since the RoR in-game for both the Empire and the Vampire Counts have a bunch of units from this book. Stirland's Revenge, The Tattersouls, the Devils of Schwartzhafen, The Tithe, and The Devils of Konigstein all initially appeared in this book. Also a few characters who would make dope unique heroes or lords.
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Jul 4, 2018 14:25
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I'm playing as von Carstein and for some reason Isabella's stack can't attack the same turn she begins sieging? Why?
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Jul 4, 2018 14:44
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Azran posted:I'm playing as von Carstein and for some reason Isabella's stack can't attack the same turn she begins sieging? Why? she doesn't have siege attacker, he does.
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Jul 4, 2018 14:47
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botany posted:she doesn't have siege attacker, he does. How have I never paid attention to that being a requisite??? This is like my 10th playthrough, holy poo poo. Thanks!
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Jul 4, 2018 15:28
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So I've been screwing around with a background income mod for the AI. I've alternately read that money doesn't matter to them because they get free gold for whatever they need and that they actually do rely on income from buildings but it gets buffed. I don't know how it really works, but the background income mod has had a fantastic effect on my campaign. Small, lovely factions that normally dont impact the world at all have done their own interesting things and made it pretty far (out of all of Bretonnia, only Artois survived my initial campaigns to spread vampiric corruption at least along the coast of Bretonnia, and they ended up expanding deep into the Empire which is renamed Reikland in this mod I guess). So all the nonsense factions are holding their own and fielding decent armies, the major factions are still contending with them but not steamrolling, and hilariously, I guess the faction unlocker just plops all the rogue armies down on the map at the very beginning. They're absurdly badass compared to starting armies for everyone so they were doing a lot of damage, taking city after city and being generally unfair, so I downloaded a mod that disables their recruitment and now they're like these bedraggled, thinning bands of elite units wandering the land as mercenaries, which is much cooler. I also downloaded one that claims to balance public order for the AI in a way similar to the player experience and it's made them more susceptible to rebellions, but because of the background income mod, even 1 region factions are able to maintain 1-3 stacks of decent units (and majors had 4-6) so they could put down most rebellions unless they overextended or went raiding, just like a player. As a result, my southernmost neighbor is the rebel faction of Brionne, Bilbali, that took over Parvonne and booted out all the rogue armies, now they're rich and pretty powerful.
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Jul 4, 2018 15:34
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Azran posted:How have I never paid attention to that being a requisite??? This is like my 10th playthrough, holy poo poo. Thanks! there's so much small stuff in this game, it's easy to overlook some things. i remember the freakout in the thread the last time somebody casually mentioned that you can attack with garrison forces.
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Jul 4, 2018 15:50
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botany posted:there's so much small stuff in this game, it's easy to overlook some things. i remember the freakout in the thread the last time somebody casually mentioned that you can attack with garrison forces. ... What
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Jul 4, 2018 15:59
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You can attack with garrisons? also is there any consensus on Corpse Carts (all the variants) and Mortis Engines? Mixu's Mousillon gives you the ability to raise a few from outside Bordeleoux after you take it but they're very expensive and the return seems lovely. From what I've read, the Corpse Cart is a good thing to include in an army of zombies/garrisons because it increases zombie damage by 50% and health regen considerably, but the Unholy Lodestone one is good for any force. Nobody mentioned balefire but I assume thats for fighting other undead? I'm just trying to figure out what the right proportion of badass stuff to filler should be in my undead armies, especially since my lords can all raise zombies mid fight and I don't tend to carry them along anymore.
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Jul 4, 2018 16:05
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So is the only way to get this game to load campaigns/battles quicker is to use an SSD?
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Jul 4, 2018 16:11
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To SSD from platter drive is likely to make the most significant difference in terms of upgrades.
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Jul 4, 2018 16:15
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420 Gank Mid posted:Depends on the lord, I like to make thematic armies I know this doesn't loving matter at all but I would change Volkmar's build to a Fire Wizard because Knights of the Blazing Sun benefit from an extra 22% damage boost every time your fire mage casts a spell (Kindleflame Passive). Then you can also imbue your Flagellants with the Flaming Sword and they can receive the bonus, or even your artillery. Warrior Priests are also super thematic here and after their new buffs they can give good damage resistance and attack to your frontline, to help those Flagellants tarpit even better. Also, fire magic looks baller and Flaming Skull is real good now. Aaaand I think I have to go start another Empire campaign now.
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Jul 4, 2018 16:16
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For Empire I usually just get 2-4 reiksguard, a couple cannons then check box my infantry and range. Late game maybe more reiksguard, those are really my heavy lift units. Great swords are ok vs VC, but I usually dive them early or ally them, they're difficult to fight late game. Best army is all cannon/handgunner. It sucks, it's amazing, I love it. Edit: SSD makes the game playable, and ME is still... rough.
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Jul 4, 2018 16:16
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I love the rocket battery, last game I played I devastated Skarsnik's army without taking a single casualty when I encountered him in the mountains and was blessed with a battle map that put me on a giant hill overlooking a choked pass I could cover with my two rocket batteries and great cannon. Both batteries got over a thousand kills because for whatever reason Skarsnik had almost all just goblin spearmen ed: these mods are great, a rogue army named Bernhoff the Butcher is wandering around the Empire liberating provinces, he just freed Marienburg from Hochland by liberating Gorsel, and then another rogue army swept out of the hills and killed off the last wandering Artois force, leaving them with a full stack in a mountain fortress they took from the dwarves. this is the most interesting campaign I've tried in terms of AI activity Frog Act fucked around with this message at 16:50 on Jul 4, 2018 |
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Jul 4, 2018 16:18
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victrix posted:... What
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Jul 4, 2018 16:58
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I'm playing Warriors of Chaos. I'm having trouble keeping the Empire and Kislev from backfilling as I move down through their lands. Are the Norscans meant to come down after me and take some of that land? I just recently vassalized them, but they are fighting invading Brets and the Empire have a foothold up north too. What's the gameplan with Chaos? I feel like I'm spinning my wheels.
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Jul 4, 2018 17:15
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botany posted:what are everyone's typical late game empire army compositions? With who and against what? Also have I taken Middenland? Because I always like including warrior priests recruited at a ridiculous level (and normally on barded warhorses) in any army. Karl Franz' anti-large Reiksguard Knights are awesome. So I tend to play him as a hammer and anvil. Karl on Deathclaw, a mage of some sort, one more combat hero, a pair of Hellstorm rocket batteries (to force the enemy to close), a simple hammer of at least four Reiksguard, and a simple anvil of at least six greatswords. Fairly fluffy and not something I'll do with anyone else. Gelt is more normal; it's armour and shooting all the way, and some assassination. Gelt, a steam tank and normally a second (but sometimes a Luminark - especially the legendary one), a Witch Hunter, a Hero on a pegasus, at least two cavalry (I only ever buy Reiksguard or Demigryphs with halberds but will keep his Outriders if I can) in part to turn routs into massacres, four handgunners, and a greatsword line. Volkmar can be literally anything. I don't find it worth trying the pure fanatic game with him, but often use them as chaff; his composition is whatever I feel like at that time, and with a lot more counter-picking than the other two. I try to get the Knights of the Blazing Sun (or whatever they are called) as his cavalry and always include a witch hunter and a wizard. And always something that will knock down walls of course; I don't like waiting to build siege equipment. Anyone else is using a "One turn army"; an army that takes only a single turn to recruit thanks to my massive global recruitment. That's, as mentioned, mostly halberds and handguns normally with a mortar - but if I'm recruiting from a level 5 city it includes a few greatswords and replaces the cannon with a mortar (and if from Altdorf I actually get cavalry in the form of Reiksguard). Against Norsca I might use crossbows instead of handguns, and I may be cheap and get swordmen. These armies spring up fast where I think I'm about to need them, generally have two battles (one to wreck the enemy doomstack and one to finish them off) or one to two as a support army for one of my legendary lords - and then they simply get disbanded and the money keeps rolling in allowing me to build very tall.
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Jul 4, 2018 18:17
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Scandalous posted:Settlement garrisons can sally out when being actively besieged/encircled, even without a friendly army stationed in the settlement. It’s been a while since last I needed to, but if memory serves I believe you select the besieged settlement and right-click the besieging force. they don’t even need to be under siege; I’ve picked off beastmen warbands that were world rooting right next to walled settlements by declaring war on them with the garrison
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Jul 4, 2018 18:26
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Due to me never having the patience to wait more than 2 turns for any unit recruitment i never build up a perfect doomstack and my late game Empire army is approximately 75% the same as my early game armies. Only difference is some extra mid and high tier armor piercing units, wizards, RoR and artillery semi randomly mixed in. However, I have two of those armies instead. 
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Jul 4, 2018 21:29
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I've been running C&C with old world landmarks and T4 settlements. It makes for a really interesting Belegar campaign. The mods give him +100% post battle income and there's now a few landmarks in Karak Izor that actually make it a nice starting area. The bonus income from fights is really fun since it encourages you to be a quarrelsome rear end in a top hat to anyone you can reach. Also got lucky in that I was able to liberate the entire Blood River Valley province from greenskins as that province is a major moneymaker. I like to focus on rangers with Belegar's army since he gets +10% damage on them and the two skills you can pick to buff them are each equally good.
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Jul 4, 2018 21:59
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I tried a thorgrim campaign for the first time since, well probably installing Tww2. I played em a ton in 1. They're really, really far behind everyone else simply due to their lack of magic. The rune-crafting is a neat idea but what you can create is really underwhelming.Zudgemud posted:Due to me never having the patience to wait more than 2 turns for any unit recruitment i never build up a perfect doomstack and my late game Empire army is approximately 75% the same as my early game armies. Only difference is some extra mid and high tier armor piercing units, wizards, RoR and artillery semi randomly mixed in. However, I have two of those armies instead. Fully buffed spearmen get melted in approximately 3 seconds against Chaos armies, it's great
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Jul 4, 2018 23:28
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I'm about 150 turns into a Dwarf campaign in Mortal Empires, started with Thorgrim, and really, who needs magic when you have massed Dawi firepower? I have yet to meet something that I cannot kill with enough Thunderers and Organ guns.
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Jul 5, 2018 00:13
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faction unlocker has a great horde faction that starts with all ranged artillery and handgunners + some gyros. They start at sea between lothern and the vamp coast and its a fun time blasting level 1 chaff and tyrion turn 3.
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Jul 5, 2018 00:20
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I get bored with melee troops with Empire and just go full ranged formations with a few units of cavalry with most lords except for Franz. Lord Mage 3 Steam Tanks 4 Helblaster Volley Guns 2 Cannons 2 Demigryph (or Reiksgard) 2 Demigrpyh w/ Halberd (or Knights of the Blazing Sun) 5 Handgunners
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Jul 5, 2018 00:34
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I find that standard state troops will comfortably carry me through most of the game. -A standard stack will be the lord -A Warrior Priest or Captain depending on lord type -A Wizard, usually shadow or fire -Two Demigryph Knights with halberds -Four handgunners -Two Great Cannon -One Hellstorm Rocket battery -Two Greatswords -Two Halberds -Four Swordsmen That’s my standard generalist stack that will do reasonably well against most opponents while remaining relatively affordable. The infantry mix may end up getting tweaked in the field depending on precisely what I’m facing. I also tend to have a at least one more elite stack per theater that’s full of more expensive stuff like steam tanks and is usually more focused on dealing with the enemies in the region.
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Jul 5, 2018 01:01
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MilitantBlackGuy posted:I know this doesn't loving matter at all but I would change Volkmar's build to a Fire Wizard because Knights of the Blazing Sun benefit from an extra 22% damage boost every time your fire mage casts a spell (Kindleflame Passive). Then you can also imbue your Flagellants with the Flaming Sword and they can receive the bonus, or even your artillery. Warrior Priests are also super thematic here and after their new buffs they can give good damage resistance and attack to your frontline, to help those Flagellants tarpit even better. Also, fire magic looks baller and Flaming Skull is real good now. Volkmar already gets magic damage out the rear end from his banishment and knights doing fire, what I always find I'm lacking with him is AP damage because flagellents and knights have almost none. If you bring a fire mage the only thing you get is more non-AP damage which you already have loads of, and flaming sword of rhuin. Shadows gets you Penumbral Pendulum and Pit of Shades which give massive massive AP damage and some amazing debuffs
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Jul 5, 2018 01:17
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How often are you all overcharging spells? Is it worth the extra magic goo?
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Jul 5, 2018 01:27
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Excelsiortothemax posted:How often are you all overcharging spells? Is it worth the extra magic goo? Sometimes. Turning single-target healing spells into AoEs pretty much always is.
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Jul 5, 2018 01:32
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Excelsiortothemax posted:How often are you all overcharging spells? Is it worth the extra magic goo? If it increases the intensity or duration of the spell almost always.
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Jul 5, 2018 01:48
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Ammanas posted:If it increases the intensity or duration of the spell almost always. Ravenfood posted:Sometimes. Turning single-target healing spells into AoEs pretty much always is.
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Jul 5, 2018 02:02
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Does anyone else use Cataph's Southern Lands, the big mod that adds whole new things for Border Princes/Tilea/Estalia? They seem pretty unbalanced, the AI faction in Brionne is one of them by default and their full stack army of regular infantry and some smattered better stuff was registering as much more powerful than my main death stack with all kinds of badass stuff. Their crossbowmen have like...30 infantry attack. Everything they have is at least 30/30 defense. What the heck
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Jul 5, 2018 02:04
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Frog Act posted:Does anyone else use Cataph's Southern Lands, the big mod that adds whole new things for Border Princes/Tilea/Estalia? They seem pretty unbalanced, the AI faction in Brionne is one of them by default and their full stack army of regular infantry and some smattered better stuff was registering as much more powerful than my main death stack with all kinds of badass stuff. Their crossbowmen have like...30 infantry attack. Everything they have is at least 30/30 defense. What the heck I thought Brionne was owned by Carcassonne
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Jul 5, 2018 03:34
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Excelsiortothemax posted:How often are you all overcharging spells? Is it worth the extra magic goo? That definitely depends on the spell and the situation. As vampires for example, Invocation of nehek becomes an aoe heal when overcast, so it’s really really helpful and I only cast it regularly if I have no magic points left. zombie summons become skeletons when overcast which is really situational. Most times I just cast it to tie up a unit until I can deal with it with something else, and neither zombies or skellingtons are going to kill the target. Occasionally though there are peasant bowmen or soft arty crews(not hellcannons) that skeletons might be able to wipe out so i overcast it. Some damage spells just add armor piercing damage when overcast. Not that important vs chaff armies, but can be very helpful vs dwarves and chaos. Buffs that become AOEs when overcast generally get overcast unless you really need to save mana or the other units around the target won’t really benefit from it. So basically no hard and fast rule, you just have to know your spells and read the situation well.
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Jul 5, 2018 03:53
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Excelsiortothemax posted:How often are you all overcharging spells? Is it worth the extra magic goo? Some damaging spells do much more armor piercing damage when overcast, so if you are targeting a unit of Harganeth Executioners with a Comet, Pit of Shades, or Lighting you'll want to overcast it, but against low armor chumps its unnecessary. Then there are spells like Miasma, Spirit Leech, or Apotheosis which when overcast get more range which is...garbage pretty much entirely useless garbage
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Jul 5, 2018 04:07
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Scrub-Niggurath posted:I thought Brionne was owned by Carcassonne Yeah it is but carcassone pooped the bed early and got replaced by a sort of parade of minor factions
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Jul 5, 2018 13:48
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Excelsiortothemax posted:How often are you all overcharging spells? Is it worth the extra magic goo? In addition to all the reasons posted above, another is to break a frontline. A bigger HP hit will often cause a unit to break that otherwise wouldn't, letting you fold the entire line against certain races. This is especially useful if fighting orcs or skaven, as they tend to stack several infantry units on top of eachother when they slam into your line and have relatively low leadership.
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Jul 5, 2018 14:38
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I'm bad at using magic because I'm so used to playing TW games with no special abilities beyond maybe rally and that one other skill, so I often forget about it, and when I remember I forget to overcast because I'm rushing to drop a spell in the right place. Playing as Mousillon has made me pause and focus on it a lot more, though, because most undead units are essentially garbage until you drop Vahel's Danse Macabre on them, up to and including Grave Guard. I'm at war with Bilbali now and I'm having to bring two stacks to fight each of theirs, which are composed exclusively of their version of state troops, because their individual units are so loving badass they tear through virtually everything I have except cavalry, but I can't make much use of my Knights against their formations of pikemen and spearmen they have so fuckin many of.
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Jul 5, 2018 15:10
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I never really cared for magic in the game (and the original), dumb extra micro for little reward i thought until my second Dark Elves game where i decided on a whim to bring with me a fire sorceress. And that tiny little girl on her flying horse would routinely break every frontline, rack up 300-600ish kills and win me every battle i fought with her AoE fire spells. I respect magic a bit more now 
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Jul 5, 2018 16:08
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drat I've been avoiding getting sorceresses going during my Hellebron run, I'm gonna have to change all that for my attempt at the HE mainland push.. I've never managed to effectively use a spellcaster but a flying fire horse is extremely my poo poo
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Jul 5, 2018 16:10
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