Octopus Overlords

dbt1949 wrote:I find the lack of documentation...................disturbing.

Malacheye wrote:-Having dedicated bowmen doesnt seem to be a good idea. My melee guys always get in the way and get all the kills, so that the bowmen are constantly running around trying to get LOS without hitting their own brothers and not getting as much experience. It seems to me that having the quick hands skill and a crossbow for everyone to fire at the start of a battle and then using a melee weapon is the best way to go...any thoughts?

-Is it a good idea to wait, save your gold, and buy a few decent warriors instead of filling up me ranks with fishermen, peasants and thieves. Caravan protectors followed next by Retired soldiers seem better, but even these might eventually be replaced by veteran soldiers with more skills...any suggestions here?

-So far, a hound master, tailor, bowyer seem worthless. How do i get them to use their skills and make some armor or bows that are better than what im using or get me some more coin. I bought a dog, put him into battle against a bandit thug and in one turn, dog was dead. 130gold for the dog down the drain. Its not like it saved my life, cuz I won the battle easily.

-Is it worth it to save and buy the expensive armor and/or weapons or save the money to buy better men?

-Do i have to equip broken weapons in order to repair them or is there a command to repair whatever is in my stash?

LordMortis wrote:Is there a way to follow enemies? I hate clicking on someone, going to their spot and only to have them move and me stop or have them change direction and me not course correct and lose ground.

Malacheye wrote:-Having dedicated bowmen doesnt seem to be a good idea. My melee guys always get in the way and get all the kills, so that the bowmen are constantly running around trying to get LOS without hitting their own brothers and not getting as much experience. It seems to me that having the quick hands skill and a crossbow for everyone to fire at the start of a battle and then using a melee weapon is the best way to go...any thoughts?

LordMortis wrote:Does morale really affect anything? I put points into it when it's +4 and that's about it.

LordMortis wrote:Do i have to equip broken weapons in order to repair them or is there a command to repair whatever is in my stash?

Malacheye wrote:Is it worth it to save and buy the expensive armor and/or weapons or save the money to buy better men?

Malacheye wrote:I bought a dog, put him into battle against a bandit thug and in one turn, dog was dead. 130gold for the dog down the drain. Its not like it saved my life, cuz I won the battle easily.

LordMortis wrote:Is there an end game?

LordMortis wrote:

-So far, a hound master, tailor, bowyer seem worthless. How do i get them to use their skills and make some armor or bows that are better than what im using or get me some more coin. I bought a dog, put him into battle against a bandit thug and in one turn, dog was dead. 130gold for the dog down the drain. Its not like it saved my life, cuz I won the battle easily.

I didn't even know crafting was part of the game until I looked at the wiki and saw that a tailor could make wolf hide armor. I have no idea how they work and I've never even noticed a bowyer or hound master. Such is the life of early release I guess.

Stuie wrote:There's crafting?

Q: Will there be magic for the Battle Brothers like spells or enchanted items?

The player won’t be able to command a magic-user in the sense of a wizard or similar. However, there will be some items with magical properties to be found in the world. They’ll be rare and hard to get, but some will come with unique active skills that allow for otherworldly feats. In addition, some enemies also drop crafting materials (e.g. vampire dust) which can be crafted into a variety of accessory items, sometimes with magical properties.

Generally, we want to keep things down to low power fantasy and promote a certain asymmetry between the player and the opponents in the game; Battle Brothers will always be common humans in a pseudo-medieval setting that sometimes have to go up against non-human and supernatural foes. It is for this reason also that we try to avoid skills for the player that feel clearly unrealistic and superpowery (e.g. shooting 3 arrows at once) to keep things grounded a bit.

The game consists of a strategical layer, or worldmap, and a tactical combat layer. On the worldmap you can choose where to travel next in order to find places worth looting, enemies worth pursuing or towns to resupply and hire men at. This is also where you manage, level up and equip your troops, craft equipment and engage in discovering ancient mysteries through study of dusty tomes. Once you move close to an enemy force or potentially dangerous place you will switch to the tactical combat map where the actual fighting takes place. Both the worldmap and the combat maps will be procedurally generated so no two playthroughs will ever be alike.

I've been going the cheap fodder route on my mercs, and building them up over time. I could have hired better guys, but that cheap beggar and the brawler next to him seemed so much more attractive than the ex-Caravan Guards and such. Less of an investment if they die, too. lol

I'm up to four archers, all with the quick hands/billhook build. Loving it. The other seven (I have one axeman who fills in where needed) make a shield wall, and the archers can whack away from the second row.

Dogs... I found town with a kennel in one (aborted) playthrough, and I had dogs for half my men. They were great at distracting enemies to keep my guys alive, rushing archers, and basically reeking havoc. They just need to be held back until the time is right or they will meet a quick end.

LordMortis wrote: Edit:

Now I really want to start over. I found the list of characters and what they do

http://battlebrothers.wikia.com/wiki/Br ... ackgrounds

LordMortis wrote:

Stuie wrote:There's crafting?

No idea how it works. I just read a bowyer can make a wonky bow and a tailor can make wolfhide armor in the wiki when I was trying to learn about crafts and to see if there were any special items I should be aware of. Looking up crafting battle brothers on Google I come to.

http://battlebrothersgame.com/dev-blog- ... thers-faq/

(From 2014)

Q: Will there be magic for the Battle Brothers like spells or enchanted items?

The player won’t be able to command a magic-user in the sense of a wizard or similar. However, there will be some items with magical properties to be found in the world. They’ll be rare and hard to get, but some will come with unique active skills that allow for otherworldly feats. In addition, some enemies also drop crafting materials (e.g. vampire dust) which can be crafted into a variety of accessory items, sometimes with magical properties.

Generally, we want to keep things down to low power fantasy and promote a certain asymmetry between the player and the opponents in the game; Battle Brothers will always be common humans in a pseudo-medieval setting that sometimes have to go up against non-human and supernatural foes. It is for this reason also that we try to avoid skills for the player that feel clearly unrealistic and superpowery (e.g. shooting 3 arrows at once) to keep things grounded a bit.

http://battlebrothersgame.com/what-is-battle-brothers/

The game consists of a strategical layer, or worldmap, and a tactical combat layer. On the worldmap you can choose where to travel next in order to find places worth looting, enemies worth pursuing or towns to resupply and hire men at. This is also where you manage, level up and equip your troops, craft equipment and engage in discovering ancient mysteries through study of dusty tomes. Once you move close to an enemy force or potentially dangerous place you will switch to the tactical combat map where the actual fighting takes place. Both the worldmap and the combat maps will be procedurally generated so no two playthroughs will ever be alike.

Apparently studying tomes and crafting are integral parts of the game I have seen nothing of so far.

Makes me wish even more that I better understood classes. Sadly the wiki was of no real help.

I've been going the cheap fodder route on my mercs, and building them up over time. I could have hired better guys, but that cheap beggar and the brawler next to him seemed so much more attractive than the ex-Caravan Guards and such. Less of an investment if they die, too. lol

I'm up to four archers, all with the quick hands/billhook build. Loving it. The other seven (I have one axeman who fills in where needed) make a shield wall, and the archers can whack away from the second row.

Dogs... I found town with a kennel in one (aborted) playthrough, and I had dogs for half my men. They were great at distracting enemies to keep my guys alive, rushing archers, and basically reeking havoc. They just need to be held back until the time is right or they will meet a quick end.

Now you make me want to start over so I can make all my archers and billhook users dual purposed.

Edit:

Now I really want to start over. I found the list of characters and what they do

http://battlebrothers.wikia.com/wiki/Br ... ackgrounds

LordMortis wrote:And now the game crashes after the current update.

ColdSteel wrote:

LordMortis wrote:And now the game crashes after the current update.

Did you report it on Steam? The devs are super fast to fix any issues like that.

dbt1949 wrote:No more beggers!

dbt1949 wrote:How do you contend with an "army" of archers.
I mean you're sitting there with your heavy infantry and maybe 2-3 archers.
The heavy inf is going to tire quickly chasing these light armored archers and becoming pin cushions in the mean time.

ColdSteel wrote:

dbt1949 wrote:How do you contend with an "army" of archers.
I mean you're sitting there with your heavy infantry and maybe 2-3 archers.
The heavy inf is going to tire quickly chasing these light armored archers and becoming pin cushions in the mean time.

Wardogs are for just this situation. Unleash the hounds and they'll run those archers down in a hurry. Barring having any of those, you can chase them by using any available cover. A lot of battlefields have concealment hexes and you can always get LOS relief behind trees and bushes. Also, use a man with a kite shield to chase. Those give extra protection against ranged attacks.

dbt1949 wrote:Unfortunately Goblins won't chase you when you go into hiding.

dbt1949 wrote:Wardogs are good for a broken enemy but ain't worth a shit otherwise

LordMortis wrote:I buy them when I see them but I don't usually slot them because I don't want fatigue hit.

LordMortis wrote:Does the paper doll slot in the upper left hold anything but war dogs?

Update released to Beta Branch!
AUGUST 24 - RAPSDJFF

Here we go – the new update is now live for the beta branch of Battle Brothers!

What’s new?
This update started out with two major goals: reworking the perk system and introducing more complex injury mechanics. Both are included in this update, and while were were at it, we’ve also included lots of other changes and additions. Here’s the shortlist of features.
A new contract
25 new illustrated events
18 new and detailed mercenary banners to pick from for your company
3 new character traits
2 new character backgrounds
An ironman mode
A reworked perk system, less constricted and with more perks to choose from
New injury mechanics with different types of injuries and usable temple buildings
A talent system whereby more talented characters regardless of their background can reliably reach high skill
More powerful but also more rare named weapons, armor, helmets and shields of every type hidden across the world
More tools to use in combat, like bandages and poison
Changed shield mechanics in combat
Changes to weapon progression and balance
New sounds for humans; every character uses one of six different voices now to shout and scream. More sounds for all voices incoming.
Various bugfixes and smaller improvements, such as to AI

Note that this update is not compatible with older savegames. You will have to start a new campaign!

Why put this in a beta branch first?
This update makes changes to many of the game’s mechanics with a rework of the perk system, the introduction of temporary and permanent injuries, and lots of smaller things all over. Extensive changes like these will inevitably upset the game’s balance and introduce new issues. Participating in the beta is optional for everyone that wants to experience the new content now and doesn’t mind a few hiccups – we’re thankful for your feedback and bug reports! Everyone else may want to wait a few weeks until the game is more balanced and any issues that popped up have been ironed out.

Please report any issues you encounter in the forums here. Do not leave them as comments to this dev blog, they’d only get buried and lost.

How do I access the beta branch?
In order to access the beta branch of Battle Brothers you need to do as follows:
Go to your Steam library.
Right-click on ‘Battle Brothers’ and select ‘Properties’.
Go to the tab labeled ‘BETAS’.
Select ‘beta’ from the drop down menu.

Steam should now download the beta branch and once it is finished you can normally run it via your Steam library.

tgb wrote:Sounds good and I'll be checking it out tonight, but I really wish they'd put this much effort into fleshing out the world. Last time I played it still seemed very barren and empty.

LordMortis wrote:Physically it didn't feel that way for me. Emotionally, I felt barren and empty, as if there needed to be a point. Like it was meant for something different than being a sandbox game but that's all it aspired toward.

Victory conditions and final score

I've seen some comments on a gaming forum I belong to saying that the game feels empty to them because there are no overarching goals to strive for in the game. While games with similar tactical play such as X-Com have a story, BB is a pure sandbox currently. Playing the game I can see why some might feel it is kind of empty of big goals.

Fortunately, I think this could be very easily fixed by adding a few victory conditions and a final game score. This would provide goals for those that want and need them while preserving the sandbox experience. I also think implementing both of these things would not be that hard to do from a development perspective.

A few possible victory conditions:
- Your company accumulates a certain amount of gold.
- Your company wins a certain number of battles.
- Your captain earns estates of his own and a noble title.
- Your company eliminates a certain rival company.

Alrmost everyone likes end game scores and graphs to see how they did and to compare how they did with others. It allows you to compete with your friends for a high score and for bragging rights and provides a strong goal when playing.

I think adding these things would provide that final "something" that the game still seems to be missing.

rapsdjff [developer] 22 minutes ago
It's a good suggestion. The game will receive several long-term goals to work towards, different ending screens and a kind of rating with the last big update later this year.

Dev Blog #82: Roadmap to the Finish Line
Battle Brothers has come a long way since it entered Early Access over a year ago, in April of 2015. Every update has brought it a step closer towards being a finished game – and there’s still a few more steps to take. Read on to learn what changes and additions are yet to come!

What’s still to come?
With the perk & injury update live and stable, we’ll now start working on the last big update to the game before it leaves Early Access. This is going to be the second-biggest update after the big worldmap update earlier this year and will take us several months to complete.

Here’s the list of major points we’ll be working on:

- Three different ‘Greater Evil’ end game crises for you to get involved in – a war between noble houses, a greenskin invasion and an undead invasion. Each will come with its own set of contracts, events and changes to the world.
- An overarching goal to work towards throughout your campaign, and the ability to retire at any point to receive an illustrated ending screen telling of your accomplishments.
- A more lively and dynamic world, with more opportunities for you to shape it, and more relation between what is going on in the world and contracts on offer.
- A memorial wall screen where your fallen Battle Brothers are listed with their deeds.
- An overhaul of the mood and desertion mechanics on the worldmap.
- An overhaul of the undead faction with new visuals and lore, unique lootable weapons and armor, and the introduction of new enemy types with their own fighting style.
- An overhaul of ghouls as independent beasts that are more interesting and challenging to fight.
- More contracts and events to change things up.
- Various improvements to usability in both combat and on the worldmap.
- Steam achievements.

Not included in that list are the countless smaller additions and improvements we’ll be doing along the way. As usual, all the major points and most of the minor ones will be explained in detail in future dev blogs as we go along, so you’ll always know what we’re working on and why.