As an example. Greatswords have 32 MA, 30 MD, and 9/23 + 9 damage. 6840 Hp, 95 armor. Swordsmen have 32/32, 21/7, 6210, 30
If my greatswords hit a VH swordsmen. Then the greatswords have 41 MA, 30 MD vs AI swordsmen and the AI has 37/38 at 24/8 damage. So to hits are 43 for the greatswords and 47 for the swordsmen. And damage is 15 vs 32. Greatswords(pretty significantly) still win but only due to the huge anti-infantry bonus. Prior to the anti-infantry attack change they would have lost(Swordsmen are more dense and so this may not get a proper accounting if more swordsmen are able to attack for the same width)
While I never do 100% melee only (even my norsca have 4 units of javelins with them) It definitely works. You just have to pit your elites against their crap units and dogpile them, gain a numerical superiority and then exploit that to sandwich and break more enemy units. Also, AI is absolutely shit at handling magic. Any form of wind or bombardment magic will sway so much of the battle in your favor.
"The western world sips from a poisonous cocktail: Polarisation, populism, protectionism and post-truth"
-Antje Jackelén, Archbishop of the Church of Sweden
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FencingsaxIt is difficult to get a man to understand, when his salary depends upon his not understandingGNU Terry PratchettRegistered Userregular
While I never do 100% melee only (even my norsca have 4 units of javelins with them) It definitely works. You just have to pit your elites against their crap units and dogpile them, gain a numerical superiority and then exploit that to sandwich and break more enemy units. Also, AI is absolutely shit at handling magic. Any form of wind or bombardment magic will sway so much of the battle in your favor.
But late in the game the enemy will end up fielding armies with no crap units. At which point combat becomes a slog where you either exploit all of the campaign map mechanics suuuuper hard or you have no chance to win. I could see playing Normal/Very Hard but VH/VH just isn't fun.
This is what I usually do. I'm generally of the opinion that Normal is what developers set as the optimal experience. Also I'm not a fan of games where difficulty comes from just giving the AI cheats.
I don’t think the campaign difficulty is too bad, it just gives a public order penalty (usually pretty trivial to overcome)and ai income bonus and public order bonus to make up for ai lack of optimization.
Battle is where it gets really cheaty, with units beating their theoretical counters and the like.
Edit: I just tend to be philosophically opposed in games with a multiplayer component from making things work too different in single player. Like an example is the old street fighter 2 games where the ai got extra invulnerability frames and quicker start up for slow moves. Which meant getting really good against ai meant you got worse as a competitive player because you didn’t know certain moves were punishable or got in the habit of playing too conservatively because you were watching for AI reversals that were not actually possible for a player to do.
The same with total war, I am willing to accept easier battles to keep the proper match ups intact, I don’t want to get used to thinking Greatswords lose 1:1 against tomb guard or saurus warriors when in fact they are a counter to those units, or whatever.
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BethrynUnhappiness is MandatoryRegistered Userregular
VH/VH.
I've done Legendary and I actually prefer a lot of things about it as you get cooler battles... but no slow motion for those times where you have to micromanage 40+ vs 60+ kills it for me. Also, occasionally getting screwed by AR on what should be safe resolves murdering heroes or wounded units.
...and of course, as always, Kill Hitler.
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-Loki-Don't pee in my mouth and tell me it's raining.Registered Userregular
edited September 2019
Played with Kroak and it made me want more Legendary Heroes. There’s so many they could add that are in the fluff already, if not with actual models and rules.
Skaven could have a quest to recruit Deathmaster Sniktch. Prince Apophas could make one for Tomb Kings. Vampire Counts could track down Aborash. Could even have fun with it and have Warrior of Chaos recruit Harry the Hammer.
If my units didnt randomly drop orders i would be a hell of a lot more forgiving of no pause legendary but they do so f that
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BethrynUnhappiness is MandatoryRegistered Userregular
Yeah, I think there's loads of potential for Legendary Heroes. They don't require a campaign startpos or anything like that, just a model and maybe some unique spells where applicable. And they add so much flavour, and are appropriate to the old Warhammer codices that had named heroes that weren't lord level but were still hefty fighters.
...and of course, as always, Kill Hitler.
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BethrynUnhappiness is MandatoryRegistered Userregular
edited September 2019
I've been meaning to regale you all with this story for a while now, and since I've written it up elsewhere I can just c&p it here, so enjoy a cursed tale about those bastard dwarfs living in Karak Ziflin.
Alright, so Karak Ziflin. The hard rule of "Never enter into diplomatic relations with Karak Ziflin" is something I learnt over the course of three campaigns. I don't know what it is about them, I don't know if they just hate everybody or if they just have a knack for getting the player, or even other factions who ally with them, into intractable, bloody wars with otherwise would-be allies.
The first experience I had with Karak Ziflin was playing Empire. Chaos had arrived in full force, Archaon had steamrolled through Kislev and was busy murdering and razing his way through Ostland and Ostermark. I had taken military alliances with every Order faction that would take one. Military alliances mean that if an ally declares war, either you have to join them in war, or break the alliance (an act of untrustworthiness). At that time, I'd eliminated all the classic enemies of the Empire except for Norsca, who were largely irrelevant after losing to Bretonnia badly, and a small Vampire holdout in Bretonnia: Mousillon.
So I'm there with all my armies in the east of the Empire, desperately holding the line against the forces of Chaos, and Karak Ziflin suddenly decides "oh, those disgusting Undead have been around too long. Let's finish them off!" and declares war on them. I assume, well, the Dwarfs can handle them, and if not, they're quite a distance from my settlements, so I'm probably okay. That was absolutely not the case. Mousillon force marched three armies directly into the heart of the Reikland. Karak Ziflin does nothing, sitting in their mountain holds, watching the Undead pillage my minor settlements.
So, while Karl and some random generals try to hold off a Chaos force that is growing stronger by the turn, I send Gelt back to defend the homeland. After a few gruelling turns and a lot of Gold Magic and zombies turned into statues, the armies are dead, the settlements are reclaimed, and Gelt returns to the front. Because I assumed Mousillon would not repeat this aggression.
That was a mistake, as six or seven turns later, another couple of full stacks of Undead are back in the Reikland. So I ended up fighting a war on two fronts against a super powerful Chaos force, and an Undead force that would not go away, while I didn't have the military might necessary to cut off the head of the snake by actually razing the Mousillon settlement itself.
But one bad experience alone does not by itself make for a rule that begins with never.
My next experience was playing as Bretonnia. Karak Ziflin seemed like an obvious ally to defend against Skarsnik's repeated incursions into our fair lands. And for a while, Ziflin held strong, even against the extreme auto-resolve bonuses major AI factions like Skarsnik got in those days. After many turns of running down thousands of goblins under hundreds of heavy cavalry, Skarsnik was vanquished and my slightly more cautious defensive alliance with Karak Ziflin had proven fruitful.
No small amount of help was also gotten from the Wood Elves in this battle, and I think it was Durthu who eventually razed the goblin nest to the ground, while I finished off the actual invading horde itself. So it was something of a surprise about ten turns afterwards to suddenly find those same Elves declared war on Karak Ziflin, and by extension, me. How exactly did Ziflin manage to piss off the elves enough for them to declare war on us both after being such erstwhile allies? I'll never know for sure, but I'm going to guess it involves the dwarfs probably getting drunk and pissing on some leaves or something.
The next thirty or so turns were spent fending off some extremely angry elves and trying to smooth things over with Orion, on account of my very much not wanting to re-enact the Klendathu drop by attempting to cleanse Athel Loren. Eventually, I left the alliance with Karak Ziflin, and that was appeasement enough to sue for peace with the Asrai. Elven arrows had, however, by that point claimed many noble lives and a huge chunk of the campaign, as well as, rather less importantly, many thousands of peasants.
The final nail in the coffin of why you never enter any sort of diplomatic relations whatsoever with Ziflin came during a Clan Angrund playthrough several campaigns later. Naturally, dwarfs get along like a house on fire, emphasis on the fire part, but I felt that eventually old grudges could be smoothed over, and an early diplomatic relation would help my confederation chances in the long run. So after failing to save Karak Norn, but nevertheless reclaiming their dwarfholds from Skarsnik, I made non-aggression and military access pacts with Karak Ziflin. After the previous experiences of actual alliances, I wasn't going to risk anything more than that. I had managed to get onto relatively good terms with the Wood Elves, and didn't want any trouble.
So with the northwestern front pacified, I set to work on the campaign goal of reclaiming Karak Eight Peaks, far to the east. Around the time I had reached Barak Varr and was starting to get bogged down fighting Grimgor and Wurrzag, I received a slightly odd diplomacy message. Bretonnia - not the entirety of Bretonnia, as I was on good terms with Carcassone and Parravon, having murdered Skarsnik, but Louen himself whom I'd barely met all campaign - had declared war on me.
This seemed a little out of character. After all, I had done nothing to him, and hadn't even been to Couronne in that campaign. We only knew of each other through diplomatic relations. So, as I look at this rather unfortunately timed act of aggression, my sole army being half the map away from my lands, I wonder to myself why this happened. And I noticed our relations are at -30 or so; hovering over them reveals the cause. My treaties with Karak Ziflin had amplified his distrust for my being a great power to actual casus belli levels.
Now, as to why Louen hated Ziflin so much, I can't tell you. They weren't at war, they just despised each other. Claims that the dwarfs had loaded weak beer into a grudge thrower, and landed it squarely in Louen's face were never substantiated. Ziflin themselves were not, in fact, involved in this war, as they were dug into their dwarfhold deep as a tick, and Leoncoeur probably realised it would be a bloody siege. My lands, however, undefended were a juicy target.
Fortunately, as it happened, attemping to trek through Athel Loren took a toll on Louen's armies, and eventually led him into a war with Orion through multiple trespasses. Which then splintered into all-out aggression between every elf and every Bretonnian across the land. Even after I'd reclaimed Karak Eight Peaks, and was busy killing every orc and goblin I could find in the Badlands, the war raged on in Bretonnia.
The first armies of Chaos arrived, and the war didn't stop. The elves' repeated incursions and razing of Bretonnian cities made it a juicy targets for the Chaos armies that spawn between Ulthuan and the west coast of Bretonnia, so quite quickly they joined in. The elves, diplomatically, were quite pleased with Chaos for this, and made an actual alliance (I wasn't aware this could happen until now, but apparently only the final wave of Chaos shuts down diplomacy options).
So the armies of Chaos who normally die on Ulthuan or the east coast of the New World razed about half of Bretonnia and were moving towards the apparently Slaneeshi-loving Wood Elves and probably onto either Estalia or more problematically my cities. I marched back and started the long work of cleaning up the chaos faction (fortunately the elves themselves never declared war on me).
However, when Archaon did finally show up, and the Wood Elves realised the error of their ways/wars, Bretonnia was still largely fielding peasant yeomen as its cavalry options, or worse, no cavalry at all. And this being back in the day when the Chaos armies were a serious threat, and would often wipe the floor with the Empire if it was left unassisted, and with my plan to finish off the Greenskins beforehand very much flummoxed, the last half of the campaign was a nightmare.
I believe that campaign ended with an unholy alliance between me as Clan Angrund, Thorgrim (who refused to confederate come hell or high water), and in a slightly unlikely twist, Vlad Von Carstein, who had done rather well for himself reclaiming the ruins of the Empire after Bretonnia failed to help protect it from Norsca's raiding while Chaos cut a swathe across the rest of it.
And why did all of this happen, when we look back at it? Because I signed a bloody NAP with Karak Ziflin. Who were still alive at the end of it, sitting with two full armies in their capital city, having never lifted a finger to help whatsoever, laughing at everyone else.
Never enter into diplomatic relations with Karak Ziflin.
Going back to battle difficulty. Greatswords 950 cost anti infantry infantry vs Halberdiers, 650 cost anti-large infantry
To hit: normal difficulty
Player greatswords atk: 39 - AI Halberdiers def: 42 = 37%
AI Halberdiers: 25 - player greatsword def: 32 = 33%
To hit: vh difficulty
Player greatswords atk: 39 - AI Halberdiers def: 50.4 = 28.6
AI Halberdiers: 28.75 - player greatsword def: 32 = 36.25
Dmg
Player Greatswords 38.4
Ai Halberdiers 19.3
VH AI Halberdiers 22.2
Greatswords barely eak it out but i suspect this swaps once you add ranks
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BethrynUnhappiness is MandatoryRegistered Userregular
edited September 2019
You remove/ignore the red line bonuses and possibly veterancy for your games don't you though Goumindong? Or something like that, I remember you made a mod for it?
VH difficulty favours Melee Def troops for the player certainly, although some Melee Atk end-game troops like Chosenw/GW or BlOrcs or GGw/GW are still best in class. In general it's weighted towards hammer and anvil/oblique/wand and anvil strategies with some exceptions.
But yeah, I find the player gets so many buffs to their units that if you don't give the AI something, it's struggling past turn 30 and you can just walk across the map. For me, VH not only makes up for the battle AI not really knowing how to abuse things (and AR preventing most AI from building up proper armies), but the LD buffs also make battles a much more bloody affair. I find on Normal, enemy AI routs with half their forces remaining, which isn't very satisfying, while on L/VH, you fight to around 20%, maybe even 10% if you're outnumbered, and it makes the battles generally much more tense and climactic. Especially when you get a high level wizard or lord, it's nice to have something that can take a few hits rather than routing almost after the initial charge in the late game.
I dont remove vererancy but i do remove red skills. End game enemy armies are all basically max rank anyway
Edit: So the end effect is basically that my regular troops don't beat their regular troops unless they should.
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That_GuyI don't wanna be that guyRegistered Userregular
edited September 2019
I usually put all my points into the bottom blue tree. It really makes a difference on the campaign early on. Recruitment discounts mean more money free for building upgrades. Public order is useful early on when you don't have a lot of heros and buffs like in late game. The 2 jewels are lighting strike and upkeep reduction. Lighting strike makes fighting several armies at once with 1 army a lot more doable, especially if you can heal on the end screen. Some factions have upkeep reduction on the first half, others on the second half, and some none at all. Depending on my faction and situation I might put some levels into red before I max out upkeep. Lighting strike is civilization, though. Once you have it and start using it, you find all sorts of situations that can be resolved more easily.
Lightning strike is so good i often don't use it (and attempt other tricks to gain advantages). It leaves me more open to my tricks failing. The bottom line usually is pretty good but only if red is removed. Red is just way way too good
I agree red is pretty much the clear choice for most builds unless you have a good reason to go somewhere else.
The bottom line is virtually required for hordes, though.
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-Loki-Don't pee in my mouth and tell me it's raining.Registered Userregular
I always grab the red choices that buff my basic guys right away, like Skeletons and Zombines for VC for Saurus for Lizardmen.
But after that I end up leaving the red line for more fun abilities because I’d rather be dropping cool spells and stuff than just winning an infantry grind.
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BethrynUnhappiness is MandatoryRegistered Userregular
The only time the red line isn't the best is when you've got a spellcaster lord basically.
There is some merit to blue line economic style, especially on the lower difficulties when you can cover the map in armies if that's your preferred style. On VH, the -23% upkeep is applied after the generic +15%/army, so it doesn't really offset it by that much.
That said, for actually completing the campaign over winning battles, blue line can be good just because it gives you a lot of spare cash to spend on minor gifts and quick alliances and trade agreements.
Oh I’m on mortal empires, so its probably just a timed thing. I just pretty much forgot they exist because before I had generally been playing a non-Lustria faction and the ai just killed them in short order.
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That_GuyI don't wanna be that guyRegistered Userregular
Has anyone noticed that Lothern is much more likely to get absolutely shreked by hostiles these days? It seems like the last few campaigns I've played I'm either the one doing the brutalizing or one of the AI powers is. In my Wulfhart campaign Teclis got wiped out by Ratmen and Tyrion was down to just a handful of regions. Even after sending him around 100k in gifts over a few turns he was still only number 6 in power a dozen turns later. IDK if that area is just too hot now or what but it's getting kind of ridiculous. I feel like I need to play an Alarielle campaign next to get the stink off the island.
In my VH campaigns Lothern will still be the no.1 faction in 90% of all campaigns.
"The western world sips from a poisonous cocktail: Polarisation, populism, protectionism and post-truth"
-Antje Jackelén, Archbishop of the Church of Sweden
My current campaign lothern isn’t a huge power but thats just because Alarielle has taken the mantle.
She’s no 5 in strength, just above me. Given that I hold most of Lustria and she holds ulthuan+most of Naggaroth, I am afraid of what I will find in the old world if I ever go over there.
In my current campaign Lothern is mostly elves, with some of the eastern coast conquered by Aranessa. Lothern is still generally a powerhouse in most games I've played. Lizardmen on the other hand haven't been fairing super well in Lustria without player involvement in my two recent campaigns. In my Nakai campaign, Itza only had three settlements by the time I completed the campaign and was getting their shit pushed in by Harkon before I stepped in. Tehenhaiun was not doing super well vs Pestilens and the Blessed Dread. Maz did have the little area surrounding Hexoatl under control at least. Comparatively in my Wulfhart campaign, Itza has been wiped out by Clan Pestilens who control most of the southern half of Lustria, except the south-western coastline which is held mostly by Khalida allied with Teclis and Tehenhaiun. North of me Maz had Skeggi down to just their capital early on and I didn't think much of it until I took out the Blue Vipers and started colonizing all the ruins near them only to find that Skeggi and The Drowned had pushed Maz back to just Hexoatl itself.
So amusingly enough my current Wulfhart campaign is just the mostly wiped out Lizardmen sending their remaining forces after me while I fight off the undead and skaven squatting in their cities.
Huh, since the game doesn't give you any idea what supporting a particular imperial province as Wulfhart will do, I started supporting Stirland at random. I got to the point where they gave me their runefang, but it doesn't seem to be an item or a buff so I don't know what that did for me?
Its an item(a weapon). You may have to equip it or it may automatically get equipped to wulfhart
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That_GuyI don't wanna be that guyRegistered Userregular
I usually pick the option that raises the threat level. At one point I had 3 retaliation armies on the board at once. I was alternating reducing the movement range of 2 of them with the dwarf character when the 3rd showed up and I had to put my war with the Skavin on hold to have an epic siege defence.
Its an item(a weapon). You may have to equip it or it may automatically get equipped to wulfhart
Oh, it's not available for anyone. Looked online and apparently some other people reporting they didn't actually get it from Stirland. I'll blame the Halflings.
Edit: Though I do wish there was a UI for this. Not sure if I should keep supporting them or start on someone else now.
Hmm, was messing around a bit a tried Khalida in ME - that little bit of land that her and Kroqgar start on is kind of weird. You kill the other and then its a big mass of dwarves, skaven, wood elves, and greenskins until you get to some more decent territory to expand into.
It would be great of them to add some stuff in that area. Isn’t the silver pinnacle just north of that? Or Ghorst would probably fit in that area, but that doesn’t solve the problem of nowhere to go once you take over the local area.
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-Loki-Don't pee in my mouth and tell me it's raining.Registered Userregular
The Silver Pinnacle is currently, or was last time I played ME in that area, Vampire Counts. If they add Neferata, that’ll be her start.
The silver pinnacle is north of Lamia isn’t it? I don’t think its on the map.
The silver host is the remnants of Neferata’s people but IIRC she herself is north of that and has a seperate base.
Edit: Actually looking it up the silver pinnacle is like way the hell up just east of where ungrim starts. Which is where she currently is in lore at the beginning of the end times. I could see her start in Lahmia, or start up there in a new province and have a mission to take it skarsnik style.
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SpectrumArcher of InfernoChaldea Rec RoomRegistered Userregular
Guo Jia, Huang Gai, Jia Xu, Pang Tong are now legendary characters
They will appear with unique artwork in campaign and battles
They are also now accessible in custom and multiplayer battles
Guo Jia and Jia Xu now have unique recruitment events with unique trigger events
Guo Jia has a chance to join the player if they currently employ Xun Yu
Jia Xu has a chance to join the player’s faction if it is considerably more prestigious than his current faction
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Xun Yu is sick of being beaten up by Zheng Jiang and has joined Han Fu’s faction
Xun Yu has gained a fondness for Cao Cao’s faction, making him more likely to appear in his recruitment pool
Xun Yu now starts with Guo Jia as an acquaintance
Added recruitment event for Yue Jin when playing as Cao Cao
I really like the sound of the commander improvements.
I know its a lost cause, but I would really like some more legendary characters added to the 8 princes campaign. At least some of the major generals, and adding some of the major barbarian factions as playable would be nice.
I’m probably the only person in the world that gives a crap about 8 princes though.
Finished up my Huntsmarshal Campaign. Quite fun, appreciate the empire's roster more than when I played the first game ages ago. I do think hostility escalates a little quickly, and it gets a little ridiculous after a point to have it go up as I take regions back from Clan Pestilens. Oh, and there should be a UI for earning the favor of empire provinces. Still, lot of fun.
Started up an Ikit campaign since I never finished mine when he released and I ended up fighting him a bunch in my Wulfhart campaign after Skrolk absorbed him. Definitely feeling the nerfs to fuel gain, but that makes sense. It was nuts before. Itza seems to have a lot of get up and go in this campaign, not sure if it was random chance or because the addition of Gor-Rok, but very early on they declared war on me and used the Rite of Primeval Glory to summon a stack of dinosaurs to throw against my... stack of clanrats/slaves, two plagueclaws. and Ikit's starting units. They also had two partial armies of mostly Saurus. Thankfully ambush attack is kind of busted, so I was able to isolate and eliminate them. Then I said fuck it and attacked Itza head on, and won after one grinding and meticulous siege battle. I conquered the rest of their territory, wiping Itza off the board, and then inexplicably Skrolk wanted to confederate despite having nine territories and no majority threats nearby, so now I've got him too. That was a fast turn around.
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Campaign depends on the start and what I expect. Gor-rok or Tyrion would probably be very hard, someone like Lorkhir I would probably do normal.
If my greatswords hit a VH swordsmen. Then the greatswords have 41 MA, 30 MD vs AI swordsmen and the AI has 37/38 at 24/8 damage. So to hits are 43 for the greatswords and 47 for the swordsmen. And damage is 15 vs 32. Greatswords(pretty significantly) still win but only due to the huge anti-infantry bonus. Prior to the anti-infantry attack change they would have lost(Swordsmen are more dense and so this may not get a proper accounting if more swordsmen are able to attack for the same width)
-Antje Jackelén, Archbishop of the Church of Sweden
But late in the game the enemy will end up fielding armies with no crap units. At which point combat becomes a slog where you either exploit all of the campaign map mechanics suuuuper hard or you have no chance to win. I could see playing Normal/Very Hard but VH/VH just isn't fun.
This is what I usually do. I'm generally of the opinion that Normal is what developers set as the optimal experience. Also I'm not a fan of games where difficulty comes from just giving the AI cheats.
Battle is where it gets really cheaty, with units beating their theoretical counters and the like.
Edit: I just tend to be philosophically opposed in games with a multiplayer component from making things work too different in single player. Like an example is the old street fighter 2 games where the ai got extra invulnerability frames and quicker start up for slow moves. Which meant getting really good against ai meant you got worse as a competitive player because you didn’t know certain moves were punishable or got in the habit of playing too conservatively because you were watching for AI reversals that were not actually possible for a player to do.
The same with total war, I am willing to accept easier battles to keep the proper match ups intact, I don’t want to get used to thinking Greatswords lose 1:1 against tomb guard or saurus warriors when in fact they are a counter to those units, or whatever.
I've done Legendary and I actually prefer a lot of things about it as you get cooler battles... but no slow motion for those times where you have to micromanage 40+ vs 60+ kills it for me. Also, occasionally getting screwed by AR on what should be safe resolves murdering heroes or wounded units.
Skaven could have a quest to recruit Deathmaster Sniktch. Prince Apophas could make one for Tomb Kings. Vampire Counts could track down Aborash. Could even have fun with it and have Warrior of Chaos recruit Harry the Hammer.
Just give me more CA. More.
The first experience I had with Karak Ziflin was playing Empire. Chaos had arrived in full force, Archaon had steamrolled through Kislev and was busy murdering and razing his way through Ostland and Ostermark. I had taken military alliances with every Order faction that would take one. Military alliances mean that if an ally declares war, either you have to join them in war, or break the alliance (an act of untrustworthiness). At that time, I'd eliminated all the classic enemies of the Empire except for Norsca, who were largely irrelevant after losing to Bretonnia badly, and a small Vampire holdout in Bretonnia: Mousillon.
So I'm there with all my armies in the east of the Empire, desperately holding the line against the forces of Chaos, and Karak Ziflin suddenly decides "oh, those disgusting Undead have been around too long. Let's finish them off!" and declares war on them. I assume, well, the Dwarfs can handle them, and if not, they're quite a distance from my settlements, so I'm probably okay. That was absolutely not the case. Mousillon force marched three armies directly into the heart of the Reikland. Karak Ziflin does nothing, sitting in their mountain holds, watching the Undead pillage my minor settlements.
So, while Karl and some random generals try to hold off a Chaos force that is growing stronger by the turn, I send Gelt back to defend the homeland. After a few gruelling turns and a lot of Gold Magic and zombies turned into statues, the armies are dead, the settlements are reclaimed, and Gelt returns to the front. Because I assumed Mousillon would not repeat this aggression.
That was a mistake, as six or seven turns later, another couple of full stacks of Undead are back in the Reikland. So I ended up fighting a war on two fronts against a super powerful Chaos force, and an Undead force that would not go away, while I didn't have the military might necessary to cut off the head of the snake by actually razing the Mousillon settlement itself.
But one bad experience alone does not by itself make for a rule that begins with never.
My next experience was playing as Bretonnia. Karak Ziflin seemed like an obvious ally to defend against Skarsnik's repeated incursions into our fair lands. And for a while, Ziflin held strong, even against the extreme auto-resolve bonuses major AI factions like Skarsnik got in those days. After many turns of running down thousands of goblins under hundreds of heavy cavalry, Skarsnik was vanquished and my slightly more cautious defensive alliance with Karak Ziflin had proven fruitful.
No small amount of help was also gotten from the Wood Elves in this battle, and I think it was Durthu who eventually razed the goblin nest to the ground, while I finished off the actual invading horde itself. So it was something of a surprise about ten turns afterwards to suddenly find those same Elves declared war on Karak Ziflin, and by extension, me. How exactly did Ziflin manage to piss off the elves enough for them to declare war on us both after being such erstwhile allies? I'll never know for sure, but I'm going to guess it involves the dwarfs probably getting drunk and pissing on some leaves or something.
The next thirty or so turns were spent fending off some extremely angry elves and trying to smooth things over with Orion, on account of my very much not wanting to re-enact the Klendathu drop by attempting to cleanse Athel Loren. Eventually, I left the alliance with Karak Ziflin, and that was appeasement enough to sue for peace with the Asrai. Elven arrows had, however, by that point claimed many noble lives and a huge chunk of the campaign, as well as, rather less importantly, many thousands of peasants.
The final nail in the coffin of why you never enter any sort of diplomatic relations whatsoever with Ziflin came during a Clan Angrund playthrough several campaigns later. Naturally, dwarfs get along like a house on fire, emphasis on the fire part, but I felt that eventually old grudges could be smoothed over, and an early diplomatic relation would help my confederation chances in the long run. So after failing to save Karak Norn, but nevertheless reclaiming their dwarfholds from Skarsnik, I made non-aggression and military access pacts with Karak Ziflin. After the previous experiences of actual alliances, I wasn't going to risk anything more than that. I had managed to get onto relatively good terms with the Wood Elves, and didn't want any trouble.
So with the northwestern front pacified, I set to work on the campaign goal of reclaiming Karak Eight Peaks, far to the east. Around the time I had reached Barak Varr and was starting to get bogged down fighting Grimgor and Wurrzag, I received a slightly odd diplomacy message. Bretonnia - not the entirety of Bretonnia, as I was on good terms with Carcassone and Parravon, having murdered Skarsnik, but Louen himself whom I'd barely met all campaign - had declared war on me.
This seemed a little out of character. After all, I had done nothing to him, and hadn't even been to Couronne in that campaign. We only knew of each other through diplomatic relations. So, as I look at this rather unfortunately timed act of aggression, my sole army being half the map away from my lands, I wonder to myself why this happened. And I noticed our relations are at -30 or so; hovering over them reveals the cause. My treaties with Karak Ziflin had amplified his distrust for my being a great power to actual casus belli levels.
Now, as to why Louen hated Ziflin so much, I can't tell you. They weren't at war, they just despised each other. Claims that the dwarfs had loaded weak beer into a grudge thrower, and landed it squarely in Louen's face were never substantiated. Ziflin themselves were not, in fact, involved in this war, as they were dug into their dwarfhold deep as a tick, and Leoncoeur probably realised it would be a bloody siege. My lands, however, undefended were a juicy target.
Fortunately, as it happened, attemping to trek through Athel Loren took a toll on Louen's armies, and eventually led him into a war with Orion through multiple trespasses. Which then splintered into all-out aggression between every elf and every Bretonnian across the land. Even after I'd reclaimed Karak Eight Peaks, and was busy killing every orc and goblin I could find in the Badlands, the war raged on in Bretonnia.
The first armies of Chaos arrived, and the war didn't stop. The elves' repeated incursions and razing of Bretonnian cities made it a juicy targets for the Chaos armies that spawn between Ulthuan and the west coast of Bretonnia, so quite quickly they joined in. The elves, diplomatically, were quite pleased with Chaos for this, and made an actual alliance (I wasn't aware this could happen until now, but apparently only the final wave of Chaos shuts down diplomacy options).
So the armies of Chaos who normally die on Ulthuan or the east coast of the New World razed about half of Bretonnia and were moving towards the apparently Slaneeshi-loving Wood Elves and probably onto either Estalia or more problematically my cities. I marched back and started the long work of cleaning up the chaos faction (fortunately the elves themselves never declared war on me).
However, when Archaon did finally show up, and the Wood Elves realised the error of their ways/wars, Bretonnia was still largely fielding peasant yeomen as its cavalry options, or worse, no cavalry at all. And this being back in the day when the Chaos armies were a serious threat, and would often wipe the floor with the Empire if it was left unassisted, and with my plan to finish off the Greenskins beforehand very much flummoxed, the last half of the campaign was a nightmare.
I believe that campaign ended with an unholy alliance between me as Clan Angrund, Thorgrim (who refused to confederate come hell or high water), and in a slightly unlikely twist, Vlad Von Carstein, who had done rather well for himself reclaiming the ruins of the Empire after Bretonnia failed to help protect it from Norsca's raiding while Chaos cut a swathe across the rest of it.
And why did all of this happen, when we look back at it? Because I signed a bloody NAP with Karak Ziflin. Who were still alive at the end of it, sitting with two full armies in their capital city, having never lifted a finger to help whatsoever, laughing at everyone else.
Never enter into diplomatic relations with Karak Ziflin.
To hit: normal difficulty
Player greatswords atk: 39 - AI Halberdiers def: 42 = 37%
AI Halberdiers: 25 - player greatsword def: 32 = 33%
To hit: vh difficulty
Player greatswords atk: 39 - AI Halberdiers def: 50.4 = 28.6
AI Halberdiers: 28.75 - player greatsword def: 32 = 36.25
Dmg
Player Greatswords 38.4
Ai Halberdiers 19.3
VH AI Halberdiers 22.2
DPS normal: Greatswords 14.2 Halberdiers: 6.369
DPS VH: Greatswords: 10.98 Halberdiers : 8.04
Greatswords barely eak it out but i suspect this swaps once you add ranks
VH difficulty favours Melee Def troops for the player certainly, although some Melee Atk end-game troops like Chosenw/GW or BlOrcs or GGw/GW are still best in class. In general it's weighted towards hammer and anvil/oblique/wand and anvil strategies with some exceptions.
But yeah, I find the player gets so many buffs to their units that if you don't give the AI something, it's struggling past turn 30 and you can just walk across the map. For me, VH not only makes up for the battle AI not really knowing how to abuse things (and AR preventing most AI from building up proper armies), but the LD buffs also make battles a much more bloody affair. I find on Normal, enemy AI routs with half their forces remaining, which isn't very satisfying, while on L/VH, you fight to around 20%, maybe even 10% if you're outnumbered, and it makes the battles generally much more tense and climactic. Especially when you get a high level wizard or lord, it's nice to have something that can take a few hits rather than routing almost after the initial charge in the late game.
Edit: So the end effect is basically that my regular troops don't beat their regular troops unless they should.
The bottom line is virtually required for hordes, though.
But after that I end up leaving the red line for more fun abilities because I’d rather be dropping cool spells and stuff than just winning an infantry grind.
There is some merit to blue line economic style, especially on the lower difficulties when you can cover the map in armies if that's your preferred style. On VH, the -23% upkeep is applied after the generic +15%/army, so it doesn't really offset it by that much.
That said, for actually completing the campaign over winning battles, blue line can be good just because it gives you a lot of spare cash to spend on minor gifts and quick alliances and trade agreements.
I didn’t realize the puppets of chaos faction was so big, they have 4 stacks, is this a constant respawning thing or a just once or twice thing?
-Antje Jackelén, Archbishop of the Church of Sweden
She’s no 5 in strength, just above me. Given that I hold most of Lustria and she holds ulthuan+most of Naggaroth, I am afraid of what I will find in the old world if I ever go over there.
So amusingly enough my current Wulfhart campaign is just the mostly wiped out Lizardmen sending their remaining forces after me while I fight off the undead and skaven squatting in their cities.
Oh, it's not available for anyone. Looked online and apparently some other people reporting they didn't actually get it from Stirland. I'll blame the Halflings.
Edit: Though I do wish there was a UI for this. Not sure if I should keep supporting them or start on someone else now.
It would be great of them to add some stuff in that area. Isn’t the silver pinnacle just north of that? Or Ghorst would probably fit in that area, but that doesn’t solve the problem of nowhere to go once you take over the local area.
The silver host is the remnants of Neferata’s people but IIRC she herself is north of that and has a seperate base.
Edit: Actually looking it up the silver pinnacle is like way the hell up just east of where ungrim starts. Which is where she currently is in lore at the beginning of the end times. I could see her start in Lahmia, or start up there in a new province and have a mission to take it skarsnik style.
I know its a lost cause, but I would really like some more legendary characters added to the 8 princes campaign. At least some of the major generals, and adding some of the major barbarian factions as playable would be nice.
I’m probably the only person in the world that gives a crap about 8 princes though.
Started up an Ikit campaign since I never finished mine when he released and I ended up fighting him a bunch in my Wulfhart campaign after Skrolk absorbed him. Definitely feeling the nerfs to fuel gain, but that makes sense. It was nuts before. Itza seems to have a lot of get up and go in this campaign, not sure if it was random chance or because the addition of Gor-Rok, but very early on they declared war on me and used the Rite of Primeval Glory to summon a stack of dinosaurs to throw against my... stack of clanrats/slaves, two plagueclaws. and Ikit's starting units. They also had two partial armies of mostly Saurus. Thankfully ambush attack is kind of busted, so I was able to isolate and eliminate them. Then I said fuck it and attacked Itza head on, and won after one grinding and meticulous siege battle. I conquered the rest of their territory, wiping Itza off the board, and then inexplicably Skrolk wanted to confederate despite having nine territories and no majority threats nearby, so now I've got him too. That was a fast turn around.