A Tactical Guide (of sorts)

[UR|Dialetheia]

I find it in good taste to break up my whining a bit with proper feedback and advice from time to time, so as to not appear completely useless, so here's a relatively lengthy guide in how to employ counter-measures on a per-opponent-type basis. I thought about sticking this up directly into Guides community section, but then, as the game is changing rapidly(good thing), any advice here can become obsolete in a matter of months, so no point in littering up the space – better let this topic slide down when it becomes irrelevant.

“Victorious warriors first win, and then go to war; defeated warriors first go to war, and then seek to win”

The particular thing about current meta is that for almost every enemy type out there – there exists a character skill, a weapon, a piece of equipment or the combination thereof, which will either completely negate said opponent's strength, use their strength against them, or attack their weaknesses in a manner that will leave them no chance. To reflect that, I will break up this guide in sections, for each opponent(that I can think of), listing their strengths, their weaknesses, their tactics and also counter-measures for those, and where to obtain those, where applicable.

General advice.

*Due to outstanding anti-armor stats, crossbows are a good way of obtaining body armor from low HP enemies early on, which will save you money. Hunt bandits, as they're both a source of free crossbows and a source of good early-game body armor. Failing that, even at their most expensive, crossbows cost only 600(usually between 480-520) crowns in Castles and Cities. Get them. Get as many as you can.

*Overwhelm and high ground. Ganging up on enemies and attaining high ground are the most important tactical considerations throughout the game. Engaging an enemy on higher ground is dangerous even in the late game and outright suicidal in the early game. Ganging up will afford you a chance of hurting otherwise insurmountable opponents. Throughout this guide, I frequently list “overwhelm and high ground” as counter-measures – that's when a particular opponent does not have any kind of clearly exploitable weakness, but those two are still effective even against such opponents. That's how important they are.

*Prior to the recent update, if memory serves, the player could engage in some marauding, picking up dropped gear from dead militia-men and men-at-arms during battles. This is no longer the case. Let us publicly and vocally bemoan this terrible injustice together.

*Upon spawning, try to work your way towards the western part of the map. That's where the Bandits are and, for the first, say, 4-5 levels, they are the only kind of opponent you can wage war upon with any semblance of reliability.

*As you work towards the endgame, don't forget to phase out your starting recruits with professional combatants. Yes, you might be very fond of that guy that you hired before the very first tutorial quest, and he's now 11 level, but the thing is, a 5 level Sellsword will wipe the floor with two 11 level Farmhands without breaking a sweat. You need real soldiers. Hire Sellswords to fill out your shieldwall and skirmisher roles, Hedgeknights for linebreakers, Nobles for captains, Hunters for snipers. I frequently read on the forums about someone's "top level warband with good gear" being wiped out by puny orc warrior patrols. That's because a bunch of leveled ratcatchers and caravan hands is not "top level".

*The exception to the above are Tailors, Bowyers and Apprentices.
**Tailor can fashion an armor from two werewolf hides. The armor is 100 Durability, +5 Resolve.
**Bowyer can make a masterwork bow, provided you have ~300 crowns.
**Apprentices can be taught by mercs of other (military) backgrounds(one each, i believe), which, in theory, might bring an Apprentice to suprass the military prowess of other backgrounds. RIsky, takes time, but kinda cool.

*You can make a tough battle easier, or an easy battle more exciting, by making enemy factions fight each other. Beyond leading one mobile enemy party into another, there is this "trick": Upon encountering an enemy party that you don't want to fight alone, determine it's Faction. Then look around for a dwelling housing another faction: if you're running from Goblins - search for an Orc cave, if you're running from Bandits - search for a Goblin camp, and so on. Make a beeline towards that dwelling and stand ON it, without attacking it, and wait for the aforementioned enemy party to catch up to you. There, you're now in a three-way battle.

[UR|Dialetheia]

Bandits.
Usually inhabit forests in the western part of the map, rarely expand to the north and south, almost never dare expand to the east(for fear of competition with the greenskins, one assumes)

Bandit Thugs.
Strengths: in numbers
Weaknesses:
*rarely have more than 65 body armor, frequently forgo head protection, rarely use shields.
*stat-wise are comparable to freshly hired low-mid tier battle-brother
*appear to not have any skills whatsoever
*use low-tier equipment almost exclusively
*don't have ranged capacity at all when not supported by other bandit troops

Tactics: rush one of your flanks in an attempt to get to your ranged troops; their flanking maneuvers, however, usually don't have a wide enough arc, so they will almost certainly get bogged down on the edge of your formation.

Counter-measures:
*weapons and battle-brothers with “+% to hit the head”
*ranged weapons of all kinds(bar Short Bow), especially Crossbows
*extend one of your flanks forward, preferably to high ground, so as to bait their advance; prepare the rest of your formation to encircle theirs and mop 'em down.
*prioritize pitchfork- and two-handed-axe-wielding ones over the rest.

Bandit Marksmen.
Strengths:
*Respectable Ranged Skill
*Hunting Bows and Crossbows(!)

Weaknesses:
*same armor as on the Thugs
*don't use shields at all
*don't have Quick Hands to switch to the sidearm when engaged in melee in an expedient manner
*sidearms are limited to low-mid tier weapons: usually daggers, seaxes, hatchets and bludgeons, very rarely will have a handaxe or a shortsword.

Tactics: will prioritize getting the high ground; will target the most vulnerable(no shield, low armor, already damaged) mercs if possible, will target the closest merc if threatened. Will try to retreat if they detect one of your mercs within one-turn-walking distance of themselves.

Counter-measures:
*Anticipation skill
*Kite shields
*when engaging a bandit formation supported by Marksmen, retreat straight to the western edge of the map for two turns – thus you will, hopefully, attain the high ground and at the same time force Marksmen to abandon theirs, giving you superior range and the opportunity to pick them out(Crossbow-wielding ones must go down first).

Bandit Raiders
Strengths:
*Respectable Melee and Ranged Skills(one assumes, consistent with the Raider background)
*Up to ~110 body armor and up to ~110 head armor
*Mid-tier weapons: handaxes, boar spears, arming swords, flails, billhooks, morgensterns, warswords etc.
*Often use shields, know how Shield Wall works
*Easily half of them are equipped with throwing weapons(axes and javelins)
*Have overall superior gear, in terms of fatigue.
*Have Rotation skill, which they will use to cover their wounded troops behind their formation

Weaknesses:
*Sometimes forgo head protection
*Rarely forgo using shields(mixed blessing, really, as those will either use two-handed weapons, or will get +25% damage bonus on their good one-handed weapons)
*Use only Round Shields, which can be destroyed with just two hits from a handaxe.

Tactics: same as Bandit Thugs, except, some of their number will stay behind to pelt you with throwing weapons, especially if you try to block them with spearwalls or Riposte. That quality can be exploited, to lower the number of Raiders you have to contend with in melee.

Counter-measures:
*Mostly the same as with Bandit Thugs, just riskier, due to higher stats and better gear on Raiders.
*Pathfinder skill – by crossing as much difficult terrain as you can while falling back, you can give yourself one-two extra turns to take some Raiders out with ranged weapons

Addendum: Bandit Leaders
Same as Raiders except:
*Have mid-top tier equipment: advanced mail armor, scale armor, heater and kite shields.
*Have mid-top tier weapons: battle axes, maces, military cleavers, rarely – noble swords, warhammers.
*Occasionally will have named equipment(weapons), which are, generally, mid-top tier with additional stats. A named weapon will be, stat-wise, the best of it's class.

Counter-measures: Don't try to melee them, instead, deal with supporting troops(they prefer to stay back), fall back, circle around and bring them down with crossbows. Nets are also good.

Summary:
In the battle against bandits you will do wise to organize a false retreat, thereby forcing them from advantageous starting positions, and then pick them up one by one, working by a priority list: crossbow-wielding marksmen first, then two-handers, then anybody who happen to not have a shield and/or headgear. Their propensity towards semi-flanking maneuvers can afford you an opportunity to achieve local numbers superiority, and therefore use Overwhelm mechanic to it's fullest potential. Their main danger comes from crossbow-wielding marksmen first, and Raiders who managed to organize a shieldwall second – bring crossbows of your own and axes.

[UR|Dialetheia]

The Undead and the Unclean
Werewolves are not a part of that Faction, but as they're currently all by themselves, I thought I include them here. They inhabit dark forests across the map, particularly near remote settlements and roads leading through forests.

FIX: Disregard the above, they are TOTALLY in cahoots with Undead. Tested by engaging a Hunting Pack over a dwelling containing an undead army. If they were from different factions, they would be attacking each other, as well as your mercs. Werewolves and undead work together.

The Undead come from the north.


Werewolves.
Strengths:
*High mobility
*Three+ attacks per turn
*Will gain additional attacks(i presume via bonus AP) for each kill(a dead head icon will momentarily pop up on their model to represent the fact, akin to Berserkers)
*EDIT: Okay, screw it, they just have the Berserk skill which, combined with already cheap attacks(AP-wise). Now, at last, i hope i got it right
*Respectable damage
*Respectable melee skill

Weaknesses:
*Manageable melee and ranged defense
*Relatively low armor
*Relatively low Resolve
*Not very smart

Tactics: will rush straight towards weakest members of the group, disregarding obstacles(including stronger members of the group). While their high mobility might occasionally make them difficult to intercept, those occurrences are rare. Don't mind charging into spearwalls.

Counter-measures:
*Riposte + heater shields
*Spearwalls
*Tight, diamond-shaped formations to stack shieldwall bonuses to feed Riposte.

Ghouls.
Strengths:
*Relatively high mobility
*Can consume corpses(including their own) to regain health, increase in size(presumably buffs their stats) and gain Confident morale.

Weaknesses:
*Low armor
*Relatively low melee skill and defenses
*Low Resolve and weak morale.
*Outright dumb.

Tactics: will rush your formation in disorderly manner, occasionally attempting clumsy flanking maneuvers. At the first opportunity, regardless of current HP, will attempt to feed on corpses.
Counter-measures:
*Spearwalls, especially spearwall “traps” placed to cover tiles with corpses on them.
*Cleavers, military cleavers and battle-brothers with Bloodthirsty trait, to force as much Resolve checks upon ghouls as possible.
*Fearsome skill

Zombies
Strengths:
*Will get up once killed, potentially with no limit
*Relatively high HP
*Have no fatigue
*Have no morale
*Occasionally have pretty high-grade armor, up to chainmails and kettle-hats.
*Human foes(not sure about orc/werewolf/goblin zombies) slain in battle with them will return as a zombie, somehow with full armor(take note!)

Weaknesses:
*Slow
*Attack only once per turn, regardless of weapon
*Low defenses and low melee skill
*No ranged capacity whatsoever
*No shields unless they zombify someone with a shield
*Outright dumb

Tactics: shuffle towards closest target, attempt to gang up on it, proceed once/if it's dead. Don't understand how spear- and shield-walls work.

Counter-measures:
*Axes, two-handed axes, cleavers and military cleavers – basically all weapons with an increased chance to decapitate on kill
*Battle brothers with Bloodthirsty perk
*Use their low mobility to outpace them towards high ground.
*Bring high-durability weapons or spare equipment, so as to not fall victim to attrition. Of note: militia spears will fail you in a battle against zombies.

Lost Souls.
Strengths:
*Relatively high mobility(i believe something akin to what the Pathfinder skill would provide)
*High melee defense
*Ridiculously high ranged defense
*AoE ability targeting Resolve and directly hurting Morale
*Attacks bypass armor
*Have no fatigue
*Have no morale

Weaknesses:
*Laughable amount of HP
*Predictable attack pattern

Tactics: will circle your formation and pound you with their wails until they break the morale of some of your battle-brothers. Once someone is broken, they will move in to encircle him and wait for him to start fleeing, thus, combined with their armor-bypassing attacks, almost guaranteeing a kill for them. If you manage to resist their wails for some time, approximately half will charge in regardless, while the rest will stay back to continue trying to break you.

Counter-measures
*Hold Out skill, combined with
*A Battle-brother with high resolve and a Captain skill, preferably also with Inspiring Presence skill
*To a lesser degree – Fortified Mind skill. While a hard counter to their main threat, wasting a skill point for the sake of battling only one enemy type seems counter-productive.
*Swords(+10 to hit) and spears(+20 to hit)
*Reach weapons if you intend to charge them. Unless several(2-3) attempts to break a character have already failed, they will not approach an unbroken character, so having a reach weapon will give you 2-3 free turns of attacking with impunity
*Their scream increases in effectiveness with proximity: a point-blank scream will most likely break even a veteran of the noble stock, while three-four tiles away will hardly faze a peasant(if he can see his Captain). Use this to defeat theam with proper footwork. Consider: a spear- or sword-wielding merc can move two tile and attack, a billman may move one tile and attack. Set up your formation in the way that will ensure that, come next turn, everyone(or most) of your mercs could reach a target by walking no further than 2-1(respectively) tiles, and attack while stacking overwhelm bonuses. It dies in one hit from basically any weapon.

Skeletons and Skeletal Warriors
Strengths:
*High resistance to piercing damage, which is another way of saying that you can't kill them with arrows, bolts and, presumably, spears, or at least will have a rather hard time doing so.
*Occasionally will have head protection, to the tune of Nasal Helmets or around.
*Have no fatigue
*Have no morale

Weaknesses:
*Barely have any body armor at all
*Rarely use shields
*Seem to be equivalent to Bandit Thugs, stat-wise.

Tactics: identical to Bandit Thugs

Counter-measures: identical to Bandit Thugs, replacing Crossbows with throwing axes. Also, due to more limited array of weapons at their disposal, target priority is less of an issue.

Skeletal Archers.
Strengths:
*Respectable ranged skill(seems to be higher than that of Bandit Marksmen)
*High resistance to piercing damage, which is another way of saying that you can't kill them with arrows, bolts and, presumably, spears, or at least will have a rather hard time doing so.
*Have no fatigue
*Have no morale

Weaknesses:
*Barely have any armor at all
*Don't use shields at all
*don't have Quick Hands to switch to the sidearm when engaged in melee in an expedient manner
*sidearms are limited to low-mid tier weapons: usually daggers, seaxes, hatchets and bludgeons, very rarely will have a handaxe or a shortsword.

Tactics: identical to Bandit Marksmen

Counter-measures:
*You will have to send flankers to bypass the enemy formation and get to the archers, as outshooting them is a dim prospect.
*Wardogs. Wait until melee undead engage your formation, and then release the hounds, as the hound AI is scripted to go for un-engaged enemies. Beware of undead wielding reach weapons and standing behind their formation, get rid of those before releasing the hounds, as otherwise the hounds will go for them and most likely die.
*As your own ranged weapons are mostly useless against skeletal undead, it might be prudent to attack them at night, to somewhat even the playing field.

Skeletal Guards
Strengths:
*Usual kit of undead/skeleton traits
*Wear mid-tier armor: chainmails and mail hoods, so, up to 110-120 body armor and 80-90 head armor.
*Usually employ two-handed weapons, seem to prefer billhooks and two-handed swords above all else.
*Respectable melee skill

Weaknesses:
*Ostensibly, none.

Tactics: depending on the weapon, will either charge you alongside lesser skeletons, or stay behind their formation and swing billhooks from there.

Counter-measures:
*Overwhelm and high-ground
*Bludgeons, morgensterns and maces – they are not immune to Stun attacks, which can give you necessary window of opportunity to bring them down safely.

Undead Heroes
Strengths:
*Usual kit of undead/skeleton traits
*Have high-grade armor and weapons, comparable to that of Bandit Leaders( INCLUDING having the potential to have named weapons and named shields, which are awesome)
*Know how Shieldwalls work
*Have Deflect
*Have Fearsome skill, so their attacks will hurt your Morale much more than you might expect, especially now, after the Armor system rework.

Weaknesses:
*Ostensibly, none.

Tactics: same as Undead Guards and Bandit Raiders. Seemingly, also have a higher awareness of the use of Knock Back attack, do disrupt your formation even further. Also, pay attention: they carry big, sometimes named shields, they don't have fatigue and they have Deflect. Undead Hero Shieldwall is, perhaps, the scariest formation in the game, as it never runs out of steam. To boot, they prefer wielding Battle Axes, which, while makes them very profitable to loot, also means that your own shield wall might crumble in just one or two rounds.

Counter-measures:
*Hold Out skill, combined with
*A Battle-brother with high resolve and a Captain skill, preferably also with Inspiring Presence skill
*Flails, to bypass shields and claim them for yourself.
*Maces, to hopefully keep them Stunned.
*Warhammers, to strip armor.
*They are, stats- and gear-wise, one of the strongest opponents you can encounter in the game(from the player perspective). Consequently, it might be prudent to avoid them alltogether until your warband itself has top-notch equipment and levels.
*Whatever it takes, try your hardest to not allow them to form a shieldwall: disperse and extend your flanks to bait them into also dispersing, false-retreat through difficult terrain with Pathfinder, have plenty of Knock Backs and Shoves at the ready.

Vampires
Strengths:
*Armed with high-grade weaponry, usually Noble Swords
*High melee skill and melee defense
*Have Nine Lives skill

*Have a special attack that drains health(and has a rather surprising effectiveness against armor rating)

Disregard the above, seems like their drain-health attack is just a function of their usual attack, which activates when they are not at full health.

*Can teleport, seemingly with no limit to range.

Weaknesses:
*All being said, Swords are not the most effective anti-armor option
*Frequently forgo head protection
*Don't use shields
*Predictable attack pattern

Tactics: will teleport to targets of opportunity, which include: obviously isolated battle-brothers, wounded battle-brothers, battle-brothers will low armor and no shield. Will then proceed to attack said target. If considerably outnumbered locally, and there are other targets of opportunity around, will teleport out of engagement to assault those targets instead.

Counter-measures:
*Overwhelm and high-ground.
*Maces, to hopefully keep them stunned.
*Weapons and battle-brothers with “+% to hit the head”
*Axes, two-handed axes, military cleavers and battle-brothers with Bloodthirsty trait(at least, I assume it works that way). Tested: it sadly does not work that way.
*Use Billhooks and Pikes to concentrate as many Overwhelm attacks on a single Vampire as possible.
*Use Delays to concentrate your turns at the end of the initiative order and attack all at once, so as to overwhelm their Nine Lives skill.
*”Camouflage” your stronger melee battle brothers as crossbowmen and billmen, to bait Vampires into teleporting to them, then switch to main weapon(see above) and lay the hurt hard on them.
*Use Nets to bring their Defenses to manageable numbers.

Necromancers
Strengths:
*Will resurrect fallen undead troops and (seemingly) summon simple Skeletons, if there are no fallen undead around.

Weaknesses:
*Are old men with tattered robes and kitchen knives.

Tactics: will hang far back among skeletal archers and support the undead host advance with resurrections.

Counter-measures:
*Akin to dealing with Bandit Marksmen, if you encounter an Undead band supported by Necromancers, fall back for the first two turns to bait Necromancers closer, while attaining high ground , then snipe them.
*Wardogs my also be an option, with usual considerations.


Summary:
In the battle against Undead, you will do wise by forming a strong, shield-wall-capable formation and rushing them, to, hopefully, prevent them from forming a shield-wall of their own, while maintaining a certain number of flanking troops to engage/chase away archers. If a particular Undead band has Necromancer support, instead behave as if fighting Bandits. If you suspect serious numbers of Skeletal Archers, try to engage at night.

[UR|Dialetheia]

Orcs.
Come from swampy regions in the East and South-East.

Orc Young.
Strengths:
*High damage racial weapons
*Frequently use tribal shields(a lighter version of Kite shields, both in regards to fatigue penalty and ranged defense)
*Have a stunning charge attack, covering ~4 tiles at seemingly reduced AP cost.
*Occasionally use throwing weapons
*Know how Shielwalls work
*Relatively high HP, compared to humans.

Weaknesses:
*Weak armor or, occasionally, no armor at all.
*Low defenses and relatively low melee and ranged skills.
*Relatively low Resolve

Tactics: usually, the center of their formation will rush headlong into yours, while one or two small groups will break away and try to flank in you in a relatively wide arc, to then charge your formation from the sides and back. Watch out for that maneuver, as it can prove extremely deadly. Will frequently use their charge-stun attack to cover distances and weaken your frontline.

Counter-measures:
*Spearwalls can prevent their charge-stun from connecting.
*Having a shield increases your chance to resist the stun, while maintaining the Shield Wall will increase it further.
*Crossbows easily bypass their weak armor. You can expect to bring down any orc young with three or less crossbow shots.
*All of the options forcing frequent Resolve checks on the enemy(mentioned in previous sections) are also effective here, especially against orcs with no armor. A single lucky turn of working with a cleaver has a decent chance of collapsing orc young formation.
*While spears are good for their spearwall ability, they lack the damage to bring orcs down quickly, and are, therefore, a rather unsafe option for prolonged combat. Have your spearmen carry other weapons, preferably axes and cleavers, to switch to if their spearwall is bypassed.

Orc Berserkers
Strengths:
*High damage racial weapons.
*Extremely high damage two-handed flail, exclusive to them.
*Will gain considerable buffs on every kill. EDIT: on every SUCCESSFUL STRIKE, actually. On kills they just a get a much more powerfull buff.
*Also have Berserk skill(naturally)
*High HP
*Immune to Stun
*Relatively high melee skill(for an orc)
*Also have the Charge+Stun attack of Orc Young.

Weaknesses:
*Almost never wear armor
*Relatively low melee and ranged defenses
*Not very smart

Tactics: depending on their initial place in the orc formation, will join one of the groups of orc young to either charge you headlong or attempt a flank(see above). However, their AI has a bit of Goblin Wolfrider/Werewolf to it, they will almost always avoid engagement and try to maneuver to where you keep your less protected(no shields, low melee defense, low armor) mercs. They, however, do not have the mobility of either of those flanking troops, thus giving you ample time to turn them into pincushions.

Counter-measures:
*Crossbows, high-grade bows, nets, throwing axes. That damnable thing SHOULD NOT reach your frontline, ever. In a pinch, use pikes and pitchforks to shove it away.
*Only a very competent battle-brother with high-grade gear can hope to engage it in melee and expect to last any kind of time. If you're absolutely forced to melee it, due to failing to prioritize it prior, do so from high ground or, if the battle takes place in a swamp – from dry land, after shoving it into the swamp terrain.
*To restate the above: if an Orc Berserker engages a battle-brother who wasn't specifically built to engage Orc Berserkers, that battle-brother is dead, and, quite possibly, the one next to him is also dead.

Orc Warriors
Strengths:
*High damage racial weapons
*Extremely tough armor and shields
*High HP
*Immune to Stun
*Immune to relocating skills and effects - Knock Pack, Shove, skiped impaler push, etc.
*Have a special attack that combines Knock Back with moving one tile forward.
*Can have named weapons, it seems (at least i think that the one i've found is unique).

Weaknesses:
*Relatively low defenses and attack skills
*Surprisingly manageable Resolve

Tactics: due to lower Initiative, will form a “second wave” going behind orc young charge, to arrive at your formation already softened, and then use their special attack to dislodge your strong points and get to your bill/pikemen and archers.

Counter-measures:
*Crossbows and Warhammers/Picks, especially coupled with the Fearsome skill.
*Fearsome skill, especially coupled with Crossbows and Warhammers/Picks
*Don't bother trying to break their shields, that's a waste of time. Use flails on everyone who didn't get to use a warhammer/pick or crossbow.
*Their low Initiative might provide you with an opportunity to, after dealing with orc young and berserkers, fall back, circle around and pelt them with ranged attacks.

Orc Warlord
Strengths:
*Is an Orc Warrior with all-around better stats and gear.
*Usually uses a two-handed weapon, which is, as all orc weapons, very damaging.
*Very high HP
*Has a special AoE move, akin to that of Lost Souls, which will attack your troops Resolve, while bolstering the surrounding orcs.

Tactics: will move forward with an escort of Orc Warriors. Upon reaching the frontline will hang back for a turn or two, screaming at you, and then join the charge.

Counter-measures:
*Hold Out skill, combined with
*A Battle-brother with high resolve and a Captain skill, preferably also with Inspiring Presence skill
*Treat as a high-armor berserker. Try to avoid engaging in melee, and especially don't try to gang-up on him – that two-handed axe AoE attack can instantly diminish your numbers in half.
*He will use Orc Warrior knock-back move to break most kinds of proper formations you arrange against him so, instead, if the ranged route failed, try to combine pikes and billhooks to reach him from afar.

Summary:
Mobility is key in the battle against Orcs. While you can defeat Orc Young groups by maintaining a defensive formation, if that group has Orc Warrior support, they will make short work of any semblance of a battle line you might have. Your goal, therefore, is to quickly dispatch the initial wave of Orc Young(making certain to bring down Berserkers first), and then break away, spread out, and stuff Orc Warriors and Warlords full of crossbow bolts. Remember that, due to consistently high damage of their weapons, any kind of melee with Orcs is always extremely risky. Also note that axes are a prevalent weapon type in orc arsenal(even after the update introduced several other orcish weapon types), so even if you manage to emerge unscathed, melee combat with orcs WILL inevitably introduce a gold bleed to your party economics as you struggle to replace all those broken shields. If you must engage them with your shieldwall, and you forsee that you will have to again sometime, take care to loot Orc Warrior shields. They're not ideal, they weight a ton, but even the orcs themselves with their axes will have a rather hard time breaking through those.

[UR|Dialetheia]

Goblins
Seem to be rather widespread, competing with Bandits in the central and western part of the map and the Orcs in the eastern. Somewhat more rare in the North.

Goblin Skirmishers
Strengths:
*Have respectable melee and ranged skills, and rather high melee and ranged defenses
*Frequently use shields(an intermediate between a buckler and a round shield)
*Universally have throwing weapons and/or Nets.
*Have access to a unique reach weapon(an intermediate between a pitchfork and a pike, with a 10 HP bleed on basic attack)
*Know how Shieldwalls work

Weaknesses:
*Low health
*Relatively weak armor, often forgo head protection
*Extremely low Resolve(even lower than that of Ghouls, it seems)

Tactics: will usually wait for you to come to them, and if you do – intercept you with nets and then pelt with throwing weapons. Can and will raise somewhat competent spearwalls, covered by pikes. Will, naturally, strive to take high-ground. The only occurrence when they will try to storm your position is if they detect that you have ranged superiority over them(which you should) and they are without support of Ambushers.

Counter-measures:
*Crossbows.
*Pathfinder skill. Without it, you will never manage to catch them nor run away from them.
*Sudden charges. If they decided to advance upon you, they will do so rather reluctantly and, quite often, without maintaining formation. Wait till they are within your move distance, and then rapidly advance, trying to place at least two battle-brothers per goblin.
*If their initial band included Ambushers, they will stand and wait for you almost indefinitely, so after you've (hopefully, with luck) dealt with Ambushers, you can stuff them with crossbow bolts without any semblance of resistance.
*Options forcing a Resolve-test upon the enemy are even more effective here than against Orc Young or Ghouls. If you can down several Goblins in one turn, the rest WILL flee, if they were close enough to witness it.

Goblin Ambushers
Strengths:
*Stat-wise, their bow is akin to a Short Bow, but has the range of a Hunting Bow.
*Their poison triggers on any attack that managed to deal certain(i believe 15+) damage after armor. Poison hurts your AP, Vision, and Initiative.
*Very respectable ranged and melee skills and defenses.
*Obnoxiously high Initiative
*Have Quick Hands skill, so if engaged in melee, they will be at full capacity immediately.

Weaknesses:
*Low health
*Armor is laughable
*Extremely low Resolve
*Don't use shields

Tactics: will first move to take high ground or a concealing tile(take note!), and then pelt you with poisoned arrows, effectively preventing you from rushing them at the outset of battle. Targeting priority seems to be no different from other ranged enemies. As all other ranged enemies, will attempt to fall back if they detect your merc within one-turn-walking distance from them, although, alternatively, they may elect to try and Aimed Shot him to death before he closes in.

Counter-measures:
*Anticipation skill. Ambushers prefer to engage at max. range, so that's 18 ranged defense for you right there.
*Kite shields are paramount on the frontline.
*Engaging at night may be an inviting prospect, but do take care when doing so. First, night time lowers the Ranged Skill of combatants by -50%, which, seeing how high the ranged skill of Goblin Ambushers is – gives no guarantee that they will be unable to land a hit. Second, ranged superiority is your only way to safely dispatch Goblin Skirmishers, who always accompany Ambushers.
*As with Bandit Marksmen, organize a false retreat to lure Ambushers in without their Skirmisher escort, outrange them from high-ground.
*Try to leave some of your spear/sword-wielding, kite-shield-equipped battle-brothers in concealing tiles along the way of your false retreat. As the Ambushers tend to favor those tiles, some will inevitably fall for that trap, which will allow you to melee them without the risk of being stuffed full of poisoned arrows first.
*Due to their high Initiative, it is almost inevitable that some of your battle-brothers will be poisoned at the very outset of combat. Don't try to engage the enemy with those, they are better suited to hole up way back in concealing tiles.

Goblin Wolfriders
Strengths:
*Extreme mobility
*Surprisingly high ranged defense, for a mounted target.
*Three attacks per turn.
*Are a Goblin Skirmisher mounted on a wolf, so same stats.
*When “killed”, will leave behind either a Goblin Skirmisher or a wolf(a somewhat buffed wardog, it seems), at half health, which you will also have to kill
*Have Footwork skill to escape unfavorable engagements

Weaknesses:
*Never use shields.
*Have limited arsenal compared to stock Goblin Skirmishers.
*Predictable attack pattern
*Separately, both wolf and rider, have very low HP

Tactics: will invariably go for your archers and other shield-less low-armor troops, to the point of attempting half-map wide flanks, and disengaging from your interceptors via Footwork to retreat and attempt yet another flank towards their chosen targets.

Counter-measures:
*Nets.
*Swords(+10 to hit) and spears(+20 to hit)
*Overwhelm and high ground.
*Riposte + Heater shields.
*Tactically, you can engage in a prolonged bait-n-switch game, making them go over and around your formation, just for you to then move your archers to the other side of your formation(which they will try to circle over again), all the while showering them with ranged attacks and engaging stragglers.

Goblin Overseers
Strengths:
*High HP(for a goblin, approaching Orc Young, I presume)
*High powered crossbow, somewhat better even than human one(lacks the magnitude of To Hit bonus of the human one, however.)
*Have an ability to bring fleeing Goblins back to normal morale
*High combat skills and defenses(higher than other goblins, so that's saying something)

Weaknesses:
*Still Orc Young grade armor, at best

Disregard the above, actually have an uncharacteristically(for a goblin) tough armor.

*No shield

Tactics: will hang back and use his ability to bring any Goblins you broke back into formation. The rest of the time, will pick your least protected troops with his crossbow. General behavior pattern is akin to Goblin Ambusher, just with less poison and more damage.

Counter-measures:
*Anticipation and Kite shields.
*If you can pick him out via the usual false retreat maneuver detailed above, the rest of the goblins will have a hard time maintaining their fighting spirit, as his death SEEMS to have a profound effect on them.
*Because of goblin reluctance to advance and maintain coherent formation, it might be possible to “rush” him with your Kite-shield wielding diamond-shaped shield-wall, although it is a rather far-fetched prospect.
*As with all high-defense enemies, you should take any opportunity to Overwhelm or engage from high-ground, should that ever present itself.

Goblin Shamans
Strengths:
*Has a variety of spells to root or debilitate your mercs.
*Alarming range of those spells
*Usual Goblin defenses

Weaknesses:
*Necromancer-grade armor
*Necromancer-grade melee capability

Tactics: as a part of Goblin dwelling defensive force, will support his troops by disrupting your formation with spells, either halting your advance/retreat, or debilitating your strong points. Retreats when threatened, just as a Necromancer would.

Counter-measures:
*False-retreat-based sniping.
*On a rare occasion where all other goblin troops are engaged – wardogs.

Summary: As can be inferred from the above, goblins operating at full force(in defense of their dwelling, for example), where all their unit types are present, are very close to unbeatable, as their strengths do a very good job of covering for their weaknesses, and beating each of their unit types separately requires different, often incompatible, tactics. Luckily, you will only ever encounter their full force when assaulting high-level dwellings or strongholds, so that is easily avoided until you have top-notch gear and levels. As of current meta, Goblin army is the most tactically varied and capable, while the player barely has enough tools to overcome it with any kind of certainty. If you do intend to fight Goblins, consider forming a dedicated warband – which, incidentally, would be rather effective against all other enemy Factions(unlike, say, an Orc-hunting warband would be). To that end, here's a list of considerations on the way to building such a warband:

Equipment:
Boar spears – respectable damage and those all-important +20 to hit.
Kite shields – the main threat of Goblin military comes from their ranged capacity, those +25 ranged defense will come in handy.
140+ Armors and helmets – no amount of investing into Initiative on level-ups will make you outpace the Goblins, so you might as well go all-out on armor – this will afford you the chance to withstand the hail of throwing weapons on approach.
Crossbows – ideally, each member of your warband will have at least 45-50 Ranged Skill, which, when combined with high ground and distance boni, might prove enough to overcome even Goblin ranged defense.
Throwing axes and javelins – same reason as above.
Nets – hire cheap Fishermen and Ratcatchers to obtain those, and then fire 'em. Those will help you overcome outstanding defense scores and combat mobility-based tactics Goblins so enjoy.

Skills:
Pathfinder – they have it, so you should have it too, otherwise you won't catch them.
Anticipation – same reason as Kite shields.
Shield Expert – Goblins have no tools to dispose of shields, so you're safe In the knowledge that this bonus will stay with you for the whole fight.

Overall:
Don't even think of engaging goblins prior to your warband reaching 5 level across the board(minimal level to get Anticipation). If they engage you with any kind of composite force (skirmishers+ambushers) – run.

So, there. If you have something to add, or if missed some enemy types – feel free to add, criticize and correct!

[Sarissofoi]

Great job man.
Really nice insight. Make sure to put it into the Guides.
Do you plan to make a weapon&armor guide too?

BTW I find goblins full force(Overseer, Shaman, half dozen ambushers, dozen and half skirishers) easier to deafat with no losses with medium level company(mid tier weapons and armor, 5-7level) than a dozen of Orc warriors.. I would say Orcs definitly need optimized company and tactics to fight when Goblins can be beaten with just enough levels and equipments.
Especially that Orc axes make tanking them a nightmare.

[Jolly]

The short version (granted, from a noob, so more of a first impression):

Make a wall, use spears and spear wall to let enemies weaken themselves and to delay real melee while your ranged plink away. Under no circumstances do anything stupid like break formation to actually engage in fighting without odds being completely in your favor. If anything does get up on your troops, destroy it asap so they can return to turtle stance. Mop up damaged enemies when it's safe to do so.

Kinda boring but perfecting the patience of it all and winning with no/minimal damage taken is kind of makes one feel good.

I like the mechanics of this game (the tactical part at least, clicky click to escort caravans isn't that thrilling and delivering packages isn't much better) but it's not like there are all that many viable tactics available to you (that keep your dudes alive, healthy, and with minimal gear damage).

[WithinTheFire]

Should definitly stick this in the guide section , so much usefull info for new players and older players alike , great job man .

[Sarissofoi]

The most profitable is to fight bandits. Either they are easy to slaughter(thugs) or you can get decent equipment from them(raiders/marksmen) and their bosses can drop some high tier or masterwork items. Low threat - best items.

Undead are kinda tricky.
Zombies are easy and you can get some good stuff from them.
Vampires are bloody bastards but they drop high quality swords.
Fallen heroes and Guards drop good weapons.
Overall they are not so great to farm but it can be profitable.

Goblins are pain in the ass to deal with them.
You need to take tactical approach and outgoblin the goblins.
High grounds, long range weapons or fake retreat and ambush their ambushers.
When their Goblin Texan Rangers are dead rest is easy. Shoot them to oblivion.
Wolfriders are just buffed werefolks and easy to deal with decent arms.
Battles are long but you can get some xbow from them. Rest items are inferior to what you can get.

ORCS are just no go.
Bersekers can one shoot your guys.
Orc warriors can just stomp you(especially when they have axes).
Little profit big risk big cost.
Full optimized 11lv squad with top tier weapons and armor.
Just run.

[WithinTheFire]

Originally posted by Sarissofoi:

The most profitable is to fight bandits. Either they are easy to slaughter(thugs) or you can get decent equipment from them(raiders/marksmen) and their bosses can drop some high tier or masterwork items. Low threat - best items.

Undead are kinda tricky.
Zombies are easy and you can get some good stuff from them.
Vampires are bloody bastards but they drop high quality swords.
Fallen heroes and Guards drop good weapons.
Overall they are not so great to farm but it can be profitable.

Goblins are pain in the ass to deal with them.
You need to take tactical approach and outgoblin the goblins.
High grounds, long range weapons or fake retreat and ambush their ambushers.
When their Goblin Texan Rangers are dead rest is easy. Shoot them to oblivion.
Wolfriders are just buffed werefolks and easy to deal with decent arms.
Battles are long but you can get some xbow from them. Rest items are inferior to what you can get.

ORCS are just no go.
Bersekers can one shoot your guys.
Orc warriors can just stomp you(especially when they have axes).
Little profit big risk big cost.
Full optimized 11lv squad with top tier weapons and armor.
Just run.

Yup , orc warriors , no words can i use to describe the unholy buffs they have received , i find it hard to believe they received only a small buff as was stated , a full squad of lvl 11 guys with top tier weapons and armour can easily be ripped apart like nothing , hence why in my games the orcs can go and do what they want i aint messing with them lol .

[UR|Dialetheia]

Updated the werewolf section, as i, at long last, understood how they work, after mowing down three werewolf armies with the help of friendly neighbourhood milita test subjects.

[holy-death]

I've got a question - I happened to run into a deadly fort full of bandits. I already killed a few raiding parties, but the camp's strength didn't go down. Should I hunt more bandits or is it a lost cause?

[willsama974]

Originally posted by UR|Dialetheia:

Updated the werewolf section, as i, at long last, understood how they work, after mowing down three werewolf armies with the help of friendly neighbourhood milita test subjects.

Lol. Great wall casting again by the way ;)

[UR|Dialetheia]

Updated sections on general advice, Werewolves(again), Undead Heroes, Orc Berserkers, Orc Warriors, Goblin Overseers.

[Wiley]

thanks for you time and energy on this

[UR|Dialetheia]

Updated sections on Werewolves(AGAIN), Lost Souls, Vampires.