Total War: Warhammer 2

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Max Peck
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Re: Total War: Warhammer 2

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Alongside the DLC that drops tomorrow, the Wood Elf faction is getting an overhaul.

Exploring the Wood Elves Rework
As you may already know, the Wood Elves faction will be getting a substantial rework as part of the Old World Update being released alongside the latest Total War: WARHAMMER II DLC – The Twisted & The Twilight.

Join us as we chat with Will Wright, a designer on the WARHAMMER new content team, about the changes being made to Wood Elves as part of The Twisted & The Twilight Old World Update including Amber, Forest Encounters, and the brand-new travelling the Deeproots mechanic.
CA: What was the rationale behind the Wood Elves reworks included as part of the latest Old World Update?

Will Wright: The key thing we wanted to preserve was the sense that the Wood Elves aren’t out there to paint the map green. They’re not complete isolationists, but they try to avoid interacting with the outside world when they can. In fact, a lot of their time is spent trying to stop the forest spreading too far!

This is a bit of a challenge as most Total War games are all about expansion – and in WARHAMMER, fighting various cultures is a core part of the appeal. How do you make a faction that, on the surface, pulls against those tendencies fun and enjoyable?

As a result, we really had to go back and rethink pretty much everything about the faction: how their economy works, their victory conditions, even the way they move around the map. It’s a pretty fundamental rethink of the whole race – much more extensive than any previous reworks.
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Re: Total War: Warhammer 2

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Prologue: While I've seen a lot of Warhammer references, I've never much delved into the universe or games or tabletop. I've simply enjoyed a lot of the artwork and even watched a couple YouTube videos of people playing the TT against each other. It looked intimidating to get into, like anything with decades of history and lore behind it.

After playing Warhammer 40000: Mechanicus for ~30 combats over several nights and getting to a point where every fight (even the hardest ones) became a formula, I found I was getting into the setting and themes quite a bit and liked it. I wanted to see what else there was aside from Machine-crazed human priests and Undead robots. I remembered that I picked this title up a while back on a big sale (because I traditionally like Total War games). I'm a handful of turns into the first Elven Campaign (Tutorial) right now.

I've really liked my delve into this Total War title so far. I appreciate that it doesn't feel like a standard rock-paper-scissors combat game where having the high ground is the most important thing around. Being able to fly my eagles behind enemy lines to harass archers or split forces is really nice. I imagine there's a lot of that in different factions.

Coolest moment of the night was exploring a sunken ship and engaging with a zombie army, complete with a giant undead hermit crab wearing a broken ship as a shell. My soldiers were outnumbered, but it seems that archers can shred the "meat shield" forces of Zombies while my flankers (3 Eagles) kept them from ever getting a chance to settle in their own artillery and ranged gunner units. When things were in enough disarray, those Eagles swooped in and shredded the enemy commander, too. The hermit crab was brutal, though. That thing tossed my soldiers around like ragdolls, mowing through my spearmen and into my archers all too easily. Cool battle!

As someone almost completely unware of the lore and mechanics at work, are there any tips or tricks a more experienced Warhammer player might offer? I grabbed all the 'free' DLC (adding generals) but none of the paid stuff since I wasn't sure if I'd get into the game. I still have a lot of content to get through before I'm out of things to do and need DLC to spice it up.
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Re: Total War: Warhammer 2

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Start here. Make sure you watch the stats guide. It's more important than most realize. Pay special attention large/anti-large and armor/armor piercing. Understanding those is pretty vital when you're choosing your match ups. FWIW, you'll usually take different army compositions against different enemies to counter their strengths and exploit their weaknesses (like anti-large and armor piercing vs Brettonia, or fast units against the dwarves to hit their artillery, etc.)

Then read up on your army, and if you're facing an enemy that's giving you trouble, watch theirs, here.

And if you want to up it even more, watch some of these.

Also, this.
Last edited by Blackhawk on Mon Jan 11, 2021 9:29 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Total War: Warhammer 2

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This guy is the go to guy for my immersion. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWqIHk ... al2mQbZn0Q
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Re: Total War: Warhammer 2

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Blackhawk wrote: Mon Jan 11, 2021 9:26 amStart here.
I had to go back one additional step: Why you suck at Total War (same channel), because I didn't actually understand the unit card. The words they use are not the words they mean.

Top to bottom:
  • Unit count & health, gives you an idea of how much health each individual unit in the squad has.
  • Armor: non-piercing damage avoidance if hit; shield icon means there's a chance to avoid missiles
  • Leadership: Should be called Morale
  • Speed: Duh
  • Melee Attack: Chance to hit an enemy
  • Melee Defense: Should be called Dodge, chance to avoid being hit entirely
  • Weapon strength: Should be called Damage; base and armor piercing
  • Charge bonus: Buff both Attack and Strength for ~15 seconds when charging into an enemy. Be sure to hit and run, hit and run with units that can.
See, I was ramming my Cavalry into groups of archers and letting them fight it out without pulling back and charging a second and third time. I also didn't know that Defense was actually Dodge.

I'll give these videos a listen today. Thanks!
Last edited by Paingod on Mon Jan 11, 2021 9:44 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Total War: Warhammer 2

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The Why You Suck series are great, but they're best if you understand the basics first, as they're good guides to how to apply those strategies to actual play.
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Re: Total War: Warhammer 2

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Blackhawk wrote: Mon Jan 11, 2021 9:33 am The Why You Suck series are great, but they're best if you understand the basics first, as they're good guides to how to apply those strategies to actual play.
I'm not entirely new to Total War, though I'll admit I usually suck. In Shogun 2, I'm pretty sure I spent an inordinate amount of time circling the AI as we both kept trying to get advantage with hills and neither wanted to be the first to charge at an enemy on a hill.

I know the basics of hiding units, scouting, flanking, and disrupting the back lines while holding the front. I didn't understand the unit stats, though. If I hear something that makes me go "Huh?" I'll skip backwards further to tactics videos.

Another thing I didn't know: "Large Unit" includes any "big" unit - low unit count, high health - like Cavalry or Centaurs.
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Re: Total War: Warhammer 2

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With the varied unit types in WTW, it's pretty important to know that stuff. In most other TW games, the forces are more or less the same with minor variations (slightly better cavalry, slightly better archer), while in Total War two nearby races may be completely different. You'll find that out the first time you face a full on Chaos invasion (!) or the Vampire Counts (hint - if you kill the general, the army falls to pieces. Literally.) For instance, when a force of unarmored footmen, two fear-causing armored cavalry units, and a pack of monsters with magical attacks are charging your lines, you have to know not just to counter-charge, but which units to counter charge each of the enemy unit types with. Just having your strongest troops in the front line won't work anymore when a unit of Cairn Wraiths shows up with Ethereal and Causes Terror, and you suddenly watch your entire front line run away from them while your archers aren't able to damage them.
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Re: Total War: Warhammer 2

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One enemy army I ran into had "axe" wielders, which were a shock to the system for my Spearmen. Didn't know what they were at the time. I sent my Spearmen in two vs. one while chasing my Eagles around to play with archers. I cam back to find my Spearmen hosed and the Infantry-killers were just fine. It made me :hawk:

It sounds like there's a lot of learning the enemies as well as myself, and re-learning dealing with different types of enemies.

Having playing the Medieval, Rome, and Shogun versions of Total War it's actually really nice to see some monstrous units and wild visuals.
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Re: Total War: Warhammer 2

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Some pro tips:

Artillery units are actually not that great in defensive siege battles, especially "direct-fire" stuff like ballistae and cannons. Catapult/mortar type units are ok because they shoot over the walls, but artillery with low firing arcs are just as likely to hit your walls as they are to hit the bad guys. And you can't place artillery on the walls, unfortunately.

When laying siege to a place, you don't actually have to build siege engines. Your guys come with ladders by default, so as long as you have at least one wall/gate breaker unit in your army (e.g. hero, artillery piece, or monster), you can launch the assault right away.

Friendly fire is a thing with ranged units, so don't fire into a melee from the back, even if they're archers with a high firing arc.

When on the attack, bring at least one artillery piece - otherwise, the AI will turtle up and wait for you. You want the AI to come to you so that you can pick where the actual fighting takes place - whether it be on top of a hill or with something anchoring your flank or on with your guys on the far side of a bridge/river ford/etc.

Unless you're completely fed up or don't care, try to resolve battles manually, you'll generally do better than the AI.

Your heroes have a lot of spells and special abilities, remember to make use of them. My favorite tactic is to wait until a crowd of bad guys engages in melee then let loose with a couple of fireballs from one of my heros. Again, watch the friendly fire, though.
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Re: Total War: Warhammer 2

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Re: Artillery in sieges: Very good to know! I'm not there yet, but when I am I'll try and remember not to shoot my own walls.

Re: Siege engines: I lacked anyone with wall/gate breaker in the beginning of the Elven campaign - but as soon as I had just one tower built, I started the siege and succeeded as there were only a handful of enemies left after they foolishly came out to engage me.

Re: Friendly fire: I suspected after watching my Spearmen die quickly in some fights, but it's good to confirm that and I'll be more careful with my archers.

Re: Artillery: So far, I've always had at least one - or Eagles - and no enemy has ever tried to turtle me. I'll be sure to bring one. Thanks!

Re: Auto-Resolve: I tried this once. It stung and I didn't do it again. I'm used to these generally being crappier options, but may be okay when you wildly outgun your enemies and it's a wipe no matter how you cut it.

Re: Hero Abilities: My main character/hero has a skill he can trigger, but I'm not sure why it comes and goes. Sometimes it's there for me to trigger, sometimes it's not. I assume it's just a missing trigger/status. I do use it when I can. He also had a potion until I gave it to my second Lord to use. It looks like it has a cooldown and isn't just consumed - but I'm not sure.
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Re: Total War: Warhammer 2

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Archers into melee from the back of your own line is acceptable in two situations. One, if the archers are at a higher elevation and can fire over the friendlies. Second, if the two melee units are evenly matched. You will suffer friendly fire, but disproportionate to what the enemy will suffer, which can tilt the fight in your favor.

Usually, though, I like move my ranged to the flanks just before the front lines engage, then wheel them around into straight lines on the flanks so that they shoot into the enemy rear. The also decimate routers.

And I always run down routing units, even after the victory pop up. Fewer survivors means less to deal with later.
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Re: Total War: Warhammer 2

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Blackhawk wrote: Mon Jan 11, 2021 1:45 pmI always run down routing units, even after the victory pop up. Fewer survivors means less to deal with later.
I've been letting straggling normal units run as long as there's a more pressing target around, assuming the AI just gets as many units as it wants - but I have been eliminating generals if I can catch them fleeing. This is something my Eagles excel at. Two or three of them (the most I've used in one army) have been able wipe the floor with just about any Hero I've bumped into.
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Re: Total War: Warhammer 2

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Blackhawk wrote: Mon Jan 11, 2021 1:45 pm And I always run down routing units, even after the victory pop up. Fewer survivors means less to deal with later.
Especially after the victory popup.
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Re: Total War: Warhammer 2

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I don't put a lot of effort into it if there is still fighting going on unless I have troops that aren't doing anything. The AI armies can reform and slowly reinforce each unit back to full strength, but if you kill enough of a unit, it'll just disband instead.

The exception is tough units that I want to make sure keep fleeing. Those I'll assign a cavalry unit or cavalry skirmishers to in order to make sure they keep on truckin'.
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Re: Total War: Warhammer 2

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Okay, so Vampires. Kill the leader and the army collapses?

I bumped into an unusual composition last night and had to reload a couple times just because I had no idea how to cope with their units and didn't want a complete wipe to an evenly opposed force.

The issue I had were the Fell Bats, Weak vs. armor but able to swarm a group of archers in a heartbeat. The enemy composition was like 10 units of Fell Bats and a smattering of other things. At first my standard tactics utterly failed and my archers ran from the field waving their hands around their heads in futility while my spearmen got mowed down. My second attempt included layering archers so one group covered another and it ended about the same. My third attempt had me embed my archers inside my Spearmen lines, just a few from the front so the units were packed tight, and the Spearmen seemed to help kill the bats. In that one, the bats all got murdered by Spearmen they weren't trying to attack while I concentrated the archer's long range fire on the anti-infantry and Meat Shields coming in... but just before I was getting ready to mop up, everything suddenly died - and it looks like my hero had killed the enemy leader.

My Spearmen are indicated to be "Anti-Large" but I still feel very badly sticking them up against giant monsters and huge rotting hermit crabs.

One big problem I'm having is the economy of the game. I'm running two armies, each with about 16 to 18 units, and in a deficit regularly - only staying afloat by raiding and exploring ruins. I really need to spend more time working to bring down costs.

I also want to know what kind of brain worms the developers and Steam have. The original Total War: Warhammer is $59.99 on Steam. The second Total War: Warhammer II is $59.99 on Steam. It's a little shameless.
Last edited by Paingod on Tue Jan 12, 2021 9:01 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Total War: Warhammer 2

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Wait for sales. About a year ago I got them both for about $10 each. Then the DLCs came on sale.
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Re: Total War: Warhammer 2

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dbt1949 wrote: Tue Jan 12, 2021 8:59 am Wait for sales. About a year ago I got them both for about $10 each. Then the DLCs came on sale.
Is it worth it to get the first one if you have the second - or are they basically the same game with different factions in each?
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Re: Total War: Warhammer 2

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Paingod wrote: Tue Jan 12, 2021 7:55 am Okay, so Vampires. Kill the leader and the army collapses?
Yup. I usually find that I have to form armies specifically to counter the Vampires. Depending on the faction, that often includes a couple of cheap units to guard the ranged, and a couple of artillery units plus heroes built specifically to kill characters. Later in the game I'll make them fliers. As soon as the general exposes himself, the artillery focuses on him while the hero killer flies over/rides around.

What faction are you playing? You said elves, but that only narrows it down to three. FWIW, the counter to the high/dark elves is armies with numbers.

One big weakness of the Vampire Counts is they have is that they have zero ranged. You don't have to worry about them shooting at you. That's why fell bats exist. Their whole purpose is to counter ranged and artillery to allow the VC to close into melee range without being picked apart. They fell bats usually die in the process, but by then the front lines are in contact. VC also tend to be predictable - they charge straight in and stay there. You can use that. Set up way back and make them come to you. The AI will often send their fliers way, way out in front, allowing you to deal with them before their front line is even in sight ( if the VC cooperate, have your melee near your ranged, shoot at the bats as they approach, then have your front line units charge in to help kill them when they land, then reform your front line before their regular troops get to you.) Another alternative is to reform with fewer ranged - and Fell Bats can't do much of anything against armored units. But be careful - VC have some very, very strong anti-armor units in there.

Another tip is to go all Sun Tzu and beat them before the battle. Read up on vampiric corruption and counter it so that they're taking damage before they get to you. Have assassins picking at their heroes and generals. And if you aren't, take advantage of the reinforcement mechanic.

And here's a tip to save you some headaches in the future: Have a couple of leaders with Lightning Strike unlocked early, before you need it (it's an ability in the skill trees.) Use it when Chaos shows up.

The Total War games prices are kept high (their core audience tends to buy them the way train sim people do - they go all in), but they go on sale all the time. I've seen both of them in $10-$20 range multiple times.
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Re: Total War: Warhammer 2

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Paingod wrote: Tue Jan 12, 2021 9:01 am
dbt1949 wrote: Tue Jan 12, 2021 8:59 am Wait for sales. About a year ago I got them both for about $10 each. Then the DLCs came on sale.
Is it worth it to get the first one if you have the second - or are they basically the same game with different factions in each?
Different games with different maps, different campaigns, and different factions, plus you get free access to the Mortal Empires campaign, a super-campaign that combines the maps and units from both games.
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Re: Total War: Warhammer 2

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Blackhawk wrote: Tue Jan 12, 2021 9:36 am
Paingod wrote: Tue Jan 12, 2021 9:01 am
dbt1949 wrote: Tue Jan 12, 2021 8:59 am Wait for sales. About a year ago I got them both for about $10 each. Then the DLCs came on sale.
Is it worth it to get the first one if you have the second - or are they basically the same game with different factions in each?
Different games with different maps, different campaigns, and different factions, plus you get free access to the Mortal Empires campaign, a super-campaign that combines the maps and units from both games.
So Total War: Warhammer II is like a mega DLC on Total War: Warhammer

Visually/mechanically are the mostly identical? Like would I be shocked to step backwards into Warhammer I from II?
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Re: Total War: Warhammer 2

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No, they II is a complete sequel. You wouldn't be shocked, but you'd notice a few differences. They're different maps in different regions of the world (if you look at a Warhammer map, it's based on our own globe. WH1 covers Europe and the middle east. WH2 covers Africa plus North and South America (plus Ulthuan, which is Atlantis.) See the image. Red is WH1, blue is WH2. The actual in-game map sizes are the same (the same way that both Rome and Shogun have full scale maps despite covering different sized areas.) Ignore the purple lines (it's WH3 speculation.)

Image
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Re: Total War: Warhammer 2

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I don't feel overly compelled to drop big money on this, not even for the $100 in expansion materials - let alone a $60 predecessor and its expansions, but I appreciate that they've tied in a reward for people who have it all.

I didn't even realize it was a map of future Earth I was playing on. I didn't realize how much land mass there was to work with. I occupy a small section of the Ulthuan area, just the southern edge of it.

I'm currently playing the "Recommended First Campaign" - High Elves. True to form with complex games that involve economy and combat, I've focused too much on combat and not enough on economy - so now I'm lacking the economy to excel at combat. :roll: I don't yet feel like I need to start over, but I certainly need to find some way to pull out of my nosedive.

I started with my first city and quickly took back two towns attached to it. Then I waffled with chasing enemies for a while until I was being left alone, and finally pushed to get a second city - which only came with one town unless I want to attack a peaceful neighbor while I'm dealing with vampires up my ass. Wars on two fronts tend to go poorly. The tutorial then directed me to attack other High Elves that were in my way and capture another city with another town (and yet another peaceful person occupying the other town). So I've got three cities, but missing two towns from them.

... and just before I went to bed, a Vampire bastard started running across my map attacking towns, raiding and leaving them in ruin. I've tried chasing him, but he moves as far as my own units do so I never catch up. I figure he's got to eventually get stuck somewhere and I'll pin him down, but he's occupying half of my two armies.

My military strength is rated "2" - which I'm hoping means "second best" and not "way way way down on the bottom"

I see AI High Elven armies running around with 5 units in them, but they're Elite units. I'm not sure how they're winning fights against the pirate vampires. I need 16 units to achieve a decisive victory over an equal force.
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Re: Total War: Warhammer 2

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Paingod wrote: Tue Jan 12, 2021 10:22 am I don't feel overly compelled to drop big money on this, not even for the $100 in expansion materials - let alone a $60 predecessor and its expansions, but I appreciate that they've tied in a reward for people who have it all.

I didn't even realize it was a map of future Earth I was playing on. I didn't realize how much land mass there was to work with. I occupy a small section of the Ulthuan area, just the southern edge of it.
To be clear, the super campaign only requires the base game, and the DLC goes on sale often enough to be a good deal when it does. Almost all of the DLC includes complete campaigns.

And it isn't future earth, just an earth analog. Warhammer's been around a long time. The first Warhammer product (a fantasy tabletop wargame) was published in '83, almost 40 years ago, by a small British shop that got it's start making wooden game boards until it became the British distributor for an up-and-coming game called Dungeons & Dragons. At this point, Warhammer's had something like 20+ tabletop games (counting editions), huge numbers of video games (strategy games, RPGs, action games, multiplayer games, MMOs, etc), and something like 150 novels. And that's just the fantasy setting - the 40k universe is just as big if not bigger.
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Re: Total War: Warhammer 2

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Paingod wrote: Tue Jan 12, 2021 10:22 am I see AI High Elven armies running around with 5 units in them, but they're Elite units. I'm not sure how they're winning fights against the pirate vampires. I need 16 units to achieve a decisive victory over an equal force.
What you want is to go visit the diplomacy screen and start confederating with the elven factions. Confederating brings the other nation under your direct control. While you do take a substantial unrest penalty while things are "settling down", you wind up with a bunch of free cities and units, and elves are positively biased towards each other. While you're there, load up on trade agreements, non agression pacts, defensive alliances, etc. Just scroll down the list and bug everyone (other than dark elves and skaven, those guys hate your guts). On later turns, you can skip anyone who's in orange or red for relations.
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Re: Total War: Warhammer 2

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NickAragua wrote: Tue Jan 12, 2021 11:18 amWhile you're there, load up on trade agreements, non agression pacts, defensive alliances, etc. Just scroll down the list and bug everyone (other than dark elves and skaven, those guys hate your guts). On later turns, you can skip anyone who's in orange or red for relations.
The Tutorial prompted me to do some basic Diplomacy. Once I started that, other factions started poking me for things. I've largely been amiable to them and agreed to a lot. The two largest are in full trade and defensive pact agreements, but not "under my wing" ... I'll have to go check that out. It sounds a lot easier than killing my own overall faction.
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Re: Total War: Warhammer 2

Post by Blackhawk »

Trade agreements are huge.

Confederation is a big deal, too, but make sure you review the armies when you take control of a faction, as they'll often have absurd armies of hugely expensive units. Make sure you aren't paying upkeep for an army consisting of eight chariots and four bolt throwers. I'll often find five armies of 1/3 stacks, combine them into a single army and disband the rif-raf and excess units (or use a spare general to move them to my main armies), then put the generals and other characters (who often have terrible skill choices) out to pasture.

One additional hint about diplomacy: Military alliances and defensive alliances. Don't do it. Unless you have a really, really good strategic reason, don't do it. Invariably the AI ally will then declare war on everything and everybody and you'll end up either dragged into a dozen wars, having your ally pissed and your reliability dropping. That goes double for alliances with the dwarves, who can declare a grudge against you for not following up on your commitments, leading to wars with powerful factions you had thought were solid walls against enemies.

Next hint: If you have vampire, chaos, or skaven factions nearby, make sure you build anti-corruption structures. Don't neglect this. You can lose whole provinces in a heartbeat if you aren't careful.
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Paingod
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Re: Total War: Warhammer 2

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Blackhawk wrote: Tue Jan 12, 2021 12:32 pmwho often have terrible skill choices
This is a concern for me personally. All of the skill choices seem "Okay" but none are earth-shatteringly impactful except maybe the mount choices at the top. My main character is kind of in three different places depending on how my army knowledge has evolved. It doesn't seem like it can gimp me, but I would certainly be missing out on some things, like enhanced local trade from one skill.
Blackhawk wrote: Tue Jan 12, 2021 12:32 pmOne additional hint about diplomacy: Military alliances and defensive alliances. Don't do it. Unless you have a really, really good strategic reason, don't do it. Invariably the AI ally will then declare war on everything and everybody and you'll end up either dragged into a dozen wars, having your ally pissed and your reliability dropping.
That ship has sailed. It'll be worth noting for later campaigns, though. I should have suspected this would happen as it happens in every game with diplomacy.
Blackhawk wrote: Tue Jan 12, 2021 12:32 pmNext hint: If you have vampire, chaos, or skaven factions nearby, make sure you build anti-corruption structures. Don't neglect this. You can lose whole provinces in a heartbeat if you aren't careful.
I've noticed that one city I took over is at like 40% corruption. I assumed that as I took over and expanded, this would settle down. Vampires keep landing from the oceans, though, and running across the land to attack things. I'll have to look for anti-corruption buildings.
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Re: Total War: Warhammer 2

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Most factions also have a unit that can do a 'cleanse corruption' action. It's a good way to help clear up your own regions, and it's a great prelude to attacking an enemy area that depends on corruption (those factions that spread corruption require corrupted lands to function, and can even take damage if they're not in it.)
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Re: Total War: Warhammer 2

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Paingod wrote: Tue Jan 12, 2021 12:41 pm
Blackhawk wrote: Tue Jan 12, 2021 12:32 pmwho often have terrible skill choices
This is a concern for me personally. All of the skill choices seem "Okay" but none are earth-shatteringly impactful except maybe the mount choices at the top. My main character is kind of in three different places depending on how my army knowledge has evolved. It doesn't seem like it can gimp me, but I would certainly be missing out on some things, like enhanced local trade from one skill.
I usually focus characters on either support (boosting the army), offense (fighting the enemy near a unit) or hunting (going after enemy characters.) One tip to make the skill points go further is to not unlock the lower level mounts unless they're a prerequisite for something. If you go from horse -> armored horse -> flying mount, once you unlock flying mount the two points in horses are just wasted.
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Re: Total War: Warhammer 2

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Blackhawk wrote: Tue Jan 12, 2021 1:13 pm If you go from horse -> armored horse -> flying mount, once you unlock flying mount the two points in horses are just wasted.
I had noticed that they weren't part of a progression, so I wasn't planning on getting a wasted mount - but I appreciate that tip. I've been "struggling" with even choosing a mount (I'm nowhere near anything other than a basic horse). They all change the stats on the hero unit, sometimes in a big way. It seems some units are almost better without mounts because their armor or damage gets lowered in exchange for speed.
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Re: Total War: Warhammer 2

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Blackhawk wrote: Tue Jan 12, 2021 12:32 pm One additional hint about diplomacy: Military alliances and defensive alliances. Don't do it. Unless you have a really, really good strategic reason, don't do it. Invariably the AI ally will then declare war on everything and everybody and you'll end up either dragged into a dozen wars, having your ally pissed and your reliability dropping. That goes double for alliances with the dwarves, who can declare a grudge against you for not following up on your commitments, leading to wars with powerful factions you had thought were solid walls against enemies.
And half the time, your military allies won't actually join you when you call on them, thus breaking the alliance. However, having an alliance with a faction will also build up your relations with allies of that faction, so if you're trying to butter one of those guys up, it may be worth it.
Blackhawk wrote: Tue Jan 12, 2021 12:32 pm Next hint: If you have vampire, chaos, or skaven factions nearby, make sure you build anti-corruption structures. Don't neglect this. You can lose whole provinces in a heartbeat if you aren't careful.
Absolutely. Corruption is awful, and if you don't manage it, it eats into your income and province happiness, and probably other stuff.
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Re: Total War: Warhammer 2

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And it can eventually lead to your own cities rebelling against you.
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Re: Total War: Warhammer 2

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Well, that's delightful.

Reminds me of Total War: Shogun (not 2), where I'd lock down a whole country only to have my cities rebel one after another in rapid succession and spawn armies larger than my own in each. I think the first time that happened, I quit and didn't go back to the game.
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Re: Total War: Warhammer 2

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Just pay attention to the corruption and keep it knocked down. It isn't just unrest. It's the land and the populace being actively corrupted, twisted into something other.
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Re: Total War: Warhammer 2

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Of course, one of my favorite techniques for bringing unrest down is to let the 20-stack of rebels form. This brings unrest down to 0%, then I quickly crush the rebels with one or two of my armies for extra loot and XP.

Less convenient when all your armies are out fighting a war, though.
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Re: Total War: Warhammer 2

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Are there methods of gaining income I might be missing? I know there's trade, but may not fully understand it aside from "More is better" - and I know there's taxes, which I can't find a place to adjust. I know there's a reward for beating down enemies, and I hauled in a massive $20,000 reward for exploring a sunken ship, so I'll be doing a little more of that (I was able to splurge on a series of buildings I had pending).

Lots of the money that's kept me out of debt has been from accomplishing tasks, not taxes or combat.

One mission I have directs me to Explore a Ruin. I can't find any Ruins, and info online seems to indicate I need to Raze a town to the ground to make it a Ruin and then wait to explore it... and then I can routinely explore it every so often for different rewards. Is that a thing, or am I misreading it?
NickAragua wrote: Tue Jan 12, 2021 2:26 pm Of course, one of my favorite techniques for bringing unrest down is to let the 20-stack of rebels form. This brings unrest down to 0%, then I quickly crush the rebels with one or two of my armies for extra loot and XP.
Waiting until the rebellion takes over the city seems like a bad idea, but it must be cathartic to reset the scale by removing them afterwards.
Last edited by Paingod on Tue Jan 12, 2021 2:52 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Total War: Warhammer 2

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Technically, they don't take over the city. They just form an army of all of the malcontents nearby (which may then choose to attack the city.)

As to taxes, once you control every region in a province (region = land associated with a settlment, province = a group of regions lumped together) you can set a commandment for that province that gives a variety of bonuses. I often designate one province for recruitment (more as I expand), newly acquired provinces for growth, and established provinces for money.

As to trade, the more resources you have available (from building specific buildings), the more you get from trade agreements. Then look for constructions (such as roads) that boost trade.
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Re: Total War: Warhammer 2

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Blackhawk wrote: Tue Jan 12, 2021 2:52 pmThen look for constructions (such as roads) that boost trade.
Hol' up. Roads? Like Civ roads that speed up unit movement? Or just a clickie in the city building grid for "Roads"
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Re: Total War: Warhammer 2

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Paingod wrote: Tue Jan 12, 2021 2:37 pm Are there methods of gaining income I might be missing? I know there's trade, but may not fully understand it aside from "More is better" - and I know there's taxes, which I can't find a place to adjust. I know there's a reward for beating down enemies, and I hauled in a massive $20,000 reward for exploring a sunken ship, so I'll be doing a little more of that (I was able to splurge on a series of buildings I had pending).
If you're taking over a city, you should sack it first for mucho dollars. It takes an extra turn, but the first time you sack a city, the amount of money you get is incredible.
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