-Loki-Don't pee in my mouth and tell me it's raining.Registered Userregular
edited October 2018
Ah right. It’s been a while since I’ve read that particular fluff.
Either way they’re a Warhammer Vampire (already ludicrously powerful in melee, even caster heavy Vampires wrecked equivalent melee heroes from other armies) that’s put a lot of effort into knowing how to fight. I’m not seeing a problem.
Yeah. Super-human undead monstrosities that have dedicated hundreds of years to becoming the most badass killing machines of the Warhammer world. Yes, it's not a problem. I'm just saying that they're pretty darn badass, even by warhammer lord standards.
"The western world sips from a poisonous cocktail: Polarisation, populism, protectionism and post-truth"
-Antje Jackelén, Archbishop of the Church of Sweden
Tuned in late. Noctilus looks fucking awesome. Just implacably walking through all the Empire's shit and blasting away chunks of infantry with some sort of crazy looking unique spell.
Brettonia, the only faction where you go "It's turn 30 and I still only control two settlements while I'm under attack from orcs and at least two enemy factions. This is going great and I'm well on my way to victory!"
Fiendishrabbit on
"The western world sips from a poisonous cocktail: Polarisation, populism, protectionism and post-truth"
-Antje Jackelén, Archbishop of the Church of Sweden
Caught up on some of the tournament backlog. Looks like they did some work on the Sartosan Free Company and they also implied they're working on a second living unit for Aranessa.
Sartosan gunner mob with repeater handguns or Hochland long rifles.
No, wait. That was that weird dream I had...
"The western world sips from a poisonous cocktail: Polarisation, populism, protectionism and post-truth"
-Antje Jackelén, Archbishop of the Church of Sweden
Would be cool. They didn't end up saying too much. Turin (I think) basically said that there's another unit currently in development for her, then realized he might not have been supposed to say that.
Some general Vampire Coast stuff from the stream. Harkon is looking good, he was able to take on the Red Duke and put him down without much fuss. Harkon was on his terrogheist and the Red Duke was on his zombie dragon. His Slann Gold item does seem to weaken the enemy's spellcasting capability (slows the recharge speed of winds of magic) and he seemed to have a pretty decent debuff called hornswoggle, which just makes me happy. Noctilus is actually beefier on foot than on his mount, and he got wiped pretty early in one game because empire cannons (buffed with fire damage) obliterated his poor Necrofex. On foot there doesn't seem to be much to stop him from slowly wading up and slaughtering whatever he gets near though. That crazy spell I mentioned earlier is called Wraith Storm, and is a bound spell. It looks awesome! This fucking swirling vortex of storm clouds forms and balls of lightning launch out and home in on the target. Aside from that I was able to catch that his available spells are invocation of nehek, the drowned dead (Coast version of raise dead), wind of death, melkoth's mystifying miasma, the withering, and pit of shades. Cylostra appeared in one game on her rotten leviathan, though the player went very conservative with her spells and only took an accuracy buff. Did get to see her knight summon, which is awesome looking. A sphere of water forms and opens up as a portal while the knights charge forth. She also just debuffs enemies periodically in melee. Aranessa didn't get used, though someone did play her faction using a generic lord.
As far as units go, depth guard stole the show. They just absolutely mulch through enemy infantry and heal up while doing so since they have The Hunger. Mourngul haunters also kicked some Dwarf ass pretty hard in one fight. The Hunger gave them some pretty great staying power and they seem to deal pretty significant damage. Deck droppers were super fun in a couple match ups, with the bomber variant mulching up some greenskins and the standard droppers flanking and chewing up grave guard. Zombie handgunners were the mainstay as far as ranged units go, didn't really see the variants. Wasn't a huge amount of artillery use, though Queen Bess did get deployed in one match. Did some heavy damage, but hard to say if it was worth it without costs known. Rotten promethians got used a bunch, but as a defensive unit wasn't super flashy. Did not see Lore of the Deeps too much. Lore of Vampires was taken a lot for invocation of nehek as well as the drowned dead, the vampire coast version of raise dead. Calls in zombie deck hands and can be overcast for zombies with pistols. It was mentioned it has a lot of powerful AoE, a decent-sized AoE slow, and the ability to summon rotten promethians. Vangheist's Revenge got used in a two vs two exhibition and did some pretty significant damage.
Saw a couple of regiments of renown too. A depth guard RoR called the Blood Reaver's Deck Guard which has an ability that temporarily gives them a 44% ward save, a zombie handgunners RoR called the Black Spot which come with bayonets for increased anti-large melee, and a Deck Gunner RoR called the Shadewraith Gunners which are ethereal and cause leadership debuffs when they hit.
-Loki-Don't pee in my mouth and tell me it's raining.Registered Userregular
Watching the Everchosen Invitational games and the Vampire Coast stuff looks fantastic. Depth Guard visually are some of the best Undead stuff I've seen. They just looks so mean.
Depth Guard are super cool. It's awesome to be able to field a small squad of vampires to shred enemies. It was always strange that the Vampire Counts had some generic vampires, but only as cavalry. Ends up being a much cooler elite than just better skeletons.
-Loki-Don't pee in my mouth and tell me it's raining.Registered Userregular
Blood Knights are essentially what you'd expect a bunch of Vampires that value martial prowess doing. They were originally a Knight order until turned. Von Carsteins and Lahmians see themselves as nobility, getting human peasantry and various Undead to do the heavy lifting. Necrarchs and Strigoi are solitary, for different reasons. Necrarchs wiling away the hours studying magic, and Strigoi reverting to their bestial habits, being the Alpha predators among the Crypt denizens. There's not much room in Vampire Counts fluff for a unit like the Depth Guard aside from Blood Knights.
It was pretty great for the final to be SETTRA THE IMPERISHABLE vs Kholek Suneater. Not something I was expecting! Lohkir did appear in one match, though mainly got brutalized by Harkon. Lohkir does get a mount though! A unique black dragon called Maelstrom. Got to see that depth guard do have some counters, they couldn't really handle a (now buffed) mammoth charging into them. Harkon was overall the most popular Vampire Coast lord, as he's very good at killing high priority targets. He's very sticky on his terrorgheist, and even if he's not catching you in melee he can chunk you down with his really strong pistol. Plus his hornswoggle debuffs defenses and slows enemies down.
SpectrumArcher of InfernoChaldea Rec RoomRegistered Userregular
edited October 2018
I don't think I'm ever going to do a ME campaign again...or maybe Skarsnik just fucking blows. I'm 130 or so turns in and I have like 3.5 provinces+3 solo large settlements secured. Maybe I'm not in the right mindset for the way their econ is supposed to work and I should just give up and spam armies and try to artificially start the snowball or something. A 30k capital sack -does- pay for the army that does it for like 10-15 turns...enough time to recover and get to another sack theoretically...
But then again I had a 90 turn Hexoatl ME save that had like 8 provinces secured and were firmly trolololing their way around...
Spectrum on
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-Loki-Don't pee in my mouth and tell me it's raining.Registered Userregular
I got pretty far in ME with Kroq'gar. Got kinda spread thin when I broke out into the Badlands, I mostly stopped because I was bored of Queek constantly raiding me then running away when I got close enough to engage. After spending a dozen turns cornering him in a canyon with 2 armies and pumelling him with half a dozen Stegadons, I got kinda fed up.
I think that's how most ME campaigns probably end - 'I got far enough, good enough for me'. It's a fantastic campaign idea, but the engine isn't well suited for it so it takes forever to play one campaign.
I actually like Khatep's start. It's tough since the Titan is no necrokittie and the start position is very difficult but his magic is great and if you can hold out until you get a second or third army you can snowball without much trouble.
Early to Mid game is definitely the most difficult of any campaign. If they gave more money early it would just result in you snowballing earlier.
I'm about 200 turns in a ME run as Beastmen. I have 5 stacks, with my starting 2 just about fully decked out with buildings (I don't really need giants or chaos hounds, but everything else is useful).
Chaos is my military ally (and they have just dragged me to war against Vampires), Empire is dead, and I'm slowly working my way through Estalia and Brittania to finish the long victory condition.
I actually like Khatep's start. It's tough since the Titan is no necrokittie and the start position is very difficult but his magic is great and if you can hold out until you get a second or third army you can snowball without much trouble.
The hierotitan is also hurt by the fact that dark elves start with a really strong anti-armor ranged unit. Gotta be very careful or it could end up a pin-cushion.
I found Khalida's start the most painful since you have to fight a bunch of lizardmen and once it becomes saurus vs skeletons things become kind of a pain. Probably will be helped when Harkon and Lohkir start out in Lustria.
I never end up taking the Warsphinx as Tomb Kings, because the Titan and the Scorpion are both cooler and roughly as effective at anti-infantry (I haven't run tests, but there's not much that can take either of them down so if it's not optimal I don't really mind) and the Necrosphinx fills a similar role while also being a fantastic anti-large unit.
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SpectrumArcher of InfernoChaldea Rec RoomRegistered Userregular
Sun Jian and also notes on seemingly how they're forcing a historical vs dream split:
Early on in your campaign, each playable Warlord will have an initial dilemma they are faced with once they fulfil certain prerequisite actions. These dilemmas will put the player at a fork in the road at a pivotal moment in that Warlord’s story. One of the options available to you is the historical choice, reflecting what actually happened and the outcomes will follow how the events of the period unfolded. The other lets you forge a story down the path of what could have been. Total War is all about giving players the freedom to create their own stories at the fulcrum of some of the most exciting moments in human history, and these initial dilemmas epitomise that spirit.
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That_GuyI don't wanna be that guyRegistered Userregular
I never end up taking the Warsphinx as Tomb Kings, because the Titan and the Scorpion are both cooler and roughly as effective at anti-infantry (I haven't run tests, but there's not much that can take either of them down so if it's not optimal I don't really mind) and the Necrosphinx fills a similar role while also being a fantastic anti-large unit.
A Warsphinx has far better mobility than a Hirotitan. I've found a Hirotitan tends to get bogged down with chaff and are especially prone to losing attack orders on single units. A Warsphinx can get around the battlefield to where he's needed when a Hirotitan would just flounder about.
That's a very good point. I lean on the scorpion for mobility, generally. Tomb Kings in campaign do have a bit of a problem with "why do I use this instead of that", but all the constructs are powerful enough that it doesn't make a huge difference.
My last army makeup was something like
2 Tomb Guards
2 Tomb Guards (Halberds)
2 Ushabti
4 Archers
2 Great Bow Ushabti
2 Necropolis Knights (Halberds)
1 Scorpion
1 Titan
1 Necrosphinx
Heroes
I have found that the warsphinx will kill more units in a fight (probably spends more time doing aoe melee hits than the random flailing/unit disruption that the scorpions do). However, its weakness is that its a much larger target.
Sun Jian and also notes on seemingly how they're forcing a historical vs dream split:
Early on in your campaign, each playable Warlord will have an initial dilemma they are faced with once they fulfil certain prerequisite actions. These dilemmas will put the player at a fork in the road at a pivotal moment in that Warlord’s story. One of the options available to you is the historical choice, reflecting what actually happened and the outcomes will follow how the events of the period unfolded. The other lets you forge a story down the path of what could have been. Total War is all about giving players the freedom to create their own stories at the fulcrum of some of the most exciting moments in human history, and these initial dilemmas epitomise that spirit.
Well I know who I'm starting as.
I have always been a big fan of the Wu characters in the Three Kingdoms games.
So Warhammer 1 got Bretonnia, Norsca, Beastmen and Wood Elves as DLC factions? Along with several sub factions like Skarsnik etc
So far Warhammer 2 has Tomb Kings and Vampire Coast.
I'd imagine Ogre Kingdoms will make an appearance which would cover all the main factions of the tabletop not including dedicated armies for the Chaos Gods.
Be interesting to see what new factions CA come up with.
There's also Chaos Daemons, which with Ogre Kingdoms are the last two "big" armies supported in the tabletop. Then there's Chaos Dwarves which have some forge world models and shit and are in the same neck of the woods as Ogres, so presumably they'll be a Game 3 race. Aside from that there's Dogs of War which wasn't an army in the more recent editions, but was a force previously.
My hunch is that this is the last race DLC for two and that ogre kingdoms etc will be in the next game.
I had really high hopes for Araby, but I'm worried you're right.
It's a bit of a blow against my theory that TWW3 will include Cathay and/or Ind as factions, but ah well.
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-Loki-Don't pee in my mouth and tell me it's raining.Registered Userregular
edited October 2018
Warhammer 1 also had Chaos Warriors. So 5 full race packs to compared to 2.
I think what slowed down DLC races for Warhammer 2 so much was Norsca. Rather than have another team do it, they probably had the same team that works on DLC races rebuild Norsca for Warhammer 2 to fit it in Mortal Empires, which they had to do because they offered it as a Warhammer 2 pre order incentive. That 6 months rebuilding it for Mortal Empires must have taken a huge chunk of time away from any potential race packs, essentially building the one pack twice for the one cost.
It's not like the New World is short of potential race pack options, though they're hardly the most up to date options in Warhammer fluff. Araby at least had to be on the cards at some point, having had a Warmaster army released.
A recent blog post they said Warhammer 3 is in pre production, so yeah it's not likely we'll get another full race. They also said pre production was 'complete Chaos' which is obviously intentional capitalization, even if we don't get all 4 daemon factions in the base game I'm guessing one or two, plus Chaos Dwarves and Ogre Kingdoms. That leaves another 2 daemon packs and Hobgoblins for race DLC. Their recent excursions back to Rome 2 show we could maybe expect the odd race pack for one of the Warhammer games at later dates, the various human empires are prime candidates.
I would really be surprised to see one more faction not make it into warhammer 2, if for no other reason than there will have to be one more dlc/patch cycle after the next lord pack to fit in the greenskins revamp.
I personally think we get one more racepak but I could be wrong. It feels to me like we're going to get lizards and scaven when they do the green skin revamp, and I think we'll get Dogs of War when they revamp the empire. Just my two cents.
I personally think we get one more racepak but I could be wrong. It feels to me like we're going to get lizards and scaven when they do the green skin revamp, and I think we'll get Dogs of War when they revamp the empire. Just my two cents.
I beleive they already said empire was coming with skaven and lizardmen in early 2019, unless something has beeen shifted. There was a big leak of empire and skaven audio clips, and they said they were coming but not to expect them until 19.
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FreiA French Prometheus UnboundDeadwoodRegistered Userregular
edited October 2018
The Counts have always been my favorite faction, so the bloodline system on top of the new DLC tickles all of my respective fancies in regards to this game. I had always wondered why the Vampires had no low-tier human troops to use, given what (little) I know about their background/lore, so it's cool and makes sense to see the von Carstein line get that. Also, I wouldn't be surprised if they had something like lower morale or something compared to their Empire counterparts, given that while they are fighting for their Lords and it is to their benefit to do so, it isn't entirely... not under duress, in all cases, and even if I was totally assured I wouldn't be eaten, fighting next to a bunch of damn bats and ghouls wouldn't exactly psych me up. Could be wrong, though!
And to echo everyone else, damn, the Depth Guards look MEAN and awesome, easily my favorite infantry design now, or they probably will be once I see their animations. The Coast units have great design all around (the gunner team units actually having a teammate is great and well animated, and the fact that they have zombies with guns being flown around by bats is some forward thinking stuff, they should award the zombie inventor that came up with that a medal. I didn't know anything about Vampire Coast before this was announced as DLC so I wasn't pumped about it upon hearing about it, but after looking into their stuff and seeing them I see that they aren't all comic relief or anything (even though some of their stuff is very funny at face value) I'm way more excited, because they took what sounds like it would be comic relief and turned it into something menacing and insane, which describes a lot of the game if I'm thinking about it.
I'd be a little disappointed not to get something fairly out-there as a final paid DLC.
I'd love to see Amazons, they're the only other New World race so they're fit right in and help break up the elf/lizard monotony of that continent a bit more.
Steam / Xbox Live: WSDX NNID: W-S-D-X 3DS FC: 2637-9461-8549
Posts
Either way they’re a Warhammer Vampire (already ludicrously powerful in melee, even caster heavy Vampires wrecked equivalent melee heroes from other armies) that’s put a lot of effort into knowing how to fight. I’m not seeing a problem.
-Antje Jackelén, Archbishop of the Church of Sweden
They released the short story on Cylostra.
Hallowe'en Everchosen with a lot of Vampire Coast and also new Vampire Count Lords.
-Antje Jackelén, Archbishop of the Church of Sweden
No, wait. That was that weird dream I had...
-Antje Jackelén, Archbishop of the Church of Sweden
Some general Vampire Coast stuff from the stream. Harkon is looking good, he was able to take on the Red Duke and put him down without much fuss. Harkon was on his terrogheist and the Red Duke was on his zombie dragon. His Slann Gold item does seem to weaken the enemy's spellcasting capability (slows the recharge speed of winds of magic) and he seemed to have a pretty decent debuff called hornswoggle, which just makes me happy. Noctilus is actually beefier on foot than on his mount, and he got wiped pretty early in one game because empire cannons (buffed with fire damage) obliterated his poor Necrofex. On foot there doesn't seem to be much to stop him from slowly wading up and slaughtering whatever he gets near though. That crazy spell I mentioned earlier is called Wraith Storm, and is a bound spell. It looks awesome! This fucking swirling vortex of storm clouds forms and balls of lightning launch out and home in on the target. Aside from that I was able to catch that his available spells are invocation of nehek, the drowned dead (Coast version of raise dead), wind of death, melkoth's mystifying miasma, the withering, and pit of shades. Cylostra appeared in one game on her rotten leviathan, though the player went very conservative with her spells and only took an accuracy buff. Did get to see her knight summon, which is awesome looking. A sphere of water forms and opens up as a portal while the knights charge forth. She also just debuffs enemies periodically in melee. Aranessa didn't get used, though someone did play her faction using a generic lord.
As far as units go, depth guard stole the show. They just absolutely mulch through enemy infantry and heal up while doing so since they have The Hunger. Mourngul haunters also kicked some Dwarf ass pretty hard in one fight. The Hunger gave them some pretty great staying power and they seem to deal pretty significant damage. Deck droppers were super fun in a couple match ups, with the bomber variant mulching up some greenskins and the standard droppers flanking and chewing up grave guard. Zombie handgunners were the mainstay as far as ranged units go, didn't really see the variants. Wasn't a huge amount of artillery use, though Queen Bess did get deployed in one match. Did some heavy damage, but hard to say if it was worth it without costs known. Rotten promethians got used a bunch, but as a defensive unit wasn't super flashy. Did not see Lore of the Deeps too much. Lore of Vampires was taken a lot for invocation of nehek as well as the drowned dead, the vampire coast version of raise dead. Calls in zombie deck hands and can be overcast for zombies with pistols. It was mentioned it has a lot of powerful AoE, a decent-sized AoE slow, and the ability to summon rotten promethians. Vangheist's Revenge got used in a two vs two exhibition and did some pretty significant damage.
Saw a couple of regiments of renown too. A depth guard RoR called the Blood Reaver's Deck Guard which has an ability that temporarily gives them a 44% ward save, a zombie handgunners RoR called the Black Spot which come with bayonets for increased anti-large melee, and a Deck Gunner RoR called the Shadewraith Gunners which are ethereal and cause leadership debuffs when they hit.
I still have only done one Tomb Kings campaign and zero elves campaigns...so business as usual.
Probably do a Khalida playthrough next.
But then again I had a 90 turn Hexoatl ME save that had like 8 provinces secured and were firmly trolololing their way around...
I think that's how most ME campaigns probably end - 'I got far enough, good enough for me'. It's a fantastic campaign idea, but the engine isn't well suited for it so it takes forever to play one campaign.
I'm about 200 turns in a ME run as Beastmen. I have 5 stacks, with my starting 2 just about fully decked out with buildings (I don't really need giants or chaos hounds, but everything else is useful).
Chaos is my military ally (and they have just dragged me to war against Vampires), Empire is dead, and I'm slowly working my way through Estalia and Brittania to finish the long victory condition.
The hierotitan is also hurt by the fact that dark elves start with a really strong anti-armor ranged unit. Gotta be very careful or it could end up a pin-cushion.
I found Khalida's start the most painful since you have to fight a bunch of lizardmen and once it becomes saurus vs skeletons things become kind of a pain. Probably will be helped when Harkon and Lohkir start out in Lustria.
Sun Jian and also notes on seemingly how they're forcing a historical vs dream split:
A Warsphinx has far better mobility than a Hirotitan. I've found a Hirotitan tends to get bogged down with chaff and are especially prone to losing attack orders on single units. A Warsphinx can get around the battlefield to where he's needed when a Hirotitan would just flounder about.
My last army makeup was something like
2 Tomb Guards
2 Tomb Guards (Halberds)
2 Ushabti
4 Archers
2 Great Bow Ushabti
2 Necropolis Knights (Halberds)
1 Scorpion
1 Titan
1 Necrosphinx
Heroes
Well I know who I'm starting as.
I have always been a big fan of the Wu characters in the Three Kingdoms games.
So far Warhammer 2 has Tomb Kings and Vampire Coast.
I'd imagine Ogre Kingdoms will make an appearance which would cover all the main factions of the tabletop not including dedicated armies for the Chaos Gods.
Be interesting to see what new factions CA come up with.
I had really high hopes for Araby, but I'm worried you're right.
It's a bit of a blow against my theory that TWW3 will include Cathay and/or Ind as factions, but ah well.
I think what slowed down DLC races for Warhammer 2 so much was Norsca. Rather than have another team do it, they probably had the same team that works on DLC races rebuild Norsca for Warhammer 2 to fit it in Mortal Empires, which they had to do because they offered it as a Warhammer 2 pre order incentive. That 6 months rebuilding it for Mortal Empires must have taken a huge chunk of time away from any potential race packs, essentially building the one pack twice for the one cost.
It's not like the New World is short of potential race pack options, though they're hardly the most up to date options in Warhammer fluff. Araby at least had to be on the cards at some point, having had a Warmaster army released.
A recent blog post they said Warhammer 3 is in pre production, so yeah it's not likely we'll get another full race. They also said pre production was 'complete Chaos' which is obviously intentional capitalization, even if we don't get all 4 daemon factions in the base game I'm guessing one or two, plus Chaos Dwarves and Ogre Kingdoms. That leaves another 2 daemon packs and Hobgoblins for race DLC. Their recent excursions back to Rome 2 show we could maybe expect the odd race pack for one of the Warhammer games at later dates, the various human empires are prime candidates.
I beleive they already said empire was coming with skaven and lizardmen in early 2019, unless something has beeen shifted. There was a big leak of empire and skaven audio clips, and they said they were coming but not to expect them until 19.
And to echo everyone else, damn, the Depth Guards look MEAN and awesome, easily my favorite infantry design now, or they probably will be once I see their animations. The Coast units have great design all around (the gunner team units actually having a teammate is great and well animated, and the fact that they have zombies with guns being flown around by bats is some forward thinking stuff, they should award the zombie inventor that came up with that a medal. I didn't know anything about Vampire Coast before this was announced as DLC so I wasn't pumped about it upon hearing about it, but after looking into their stuff and seeing them I see that they aren't all comic relief or anything (even though some of their stuff is very funny at face value) I'm way more excited, because they took what sounds like it would be comic relief and turned it into something menacing and insane, which describes a lot of the game if I'm thinking about it.
I'd love to see Amazons, they're the only other New World race so they're fit right in and help break up the elf/lizard monotony of that continent a bit more.