Reikland - to confederate or not ?

[MF]

Things seem to be a tad different here in WH3 land, as opposed to my previous truncated Franz campaign in WH2. I can't figure out if I should even worry about these butthole counts or not. Thus far (although admittedly less than 30 turns in) they've been of absolutely no use to me whatsoever. Why should I give a settlement back to a dude, confederate him for his one sh*tty little army when it simply pisses off all the other counts ?

There seemed to be way more opportunities in WH2 to curry favor with these guys. I'm not sure if it's scripted or completely random but I'm leaning towards just doing my own thing and if they get in my way or kvetch too loudly, stomp'em into the dust.

I'm about to take on the Vampire Counts and if these elector dickwads think I'm going to go thru all that crap just to hand them back their settlements that they were dumb enough to lose............... I need to be convinced that it's in my better interest.

Can anyone with more XP in WH3 advise ?

[Immortalis]

Aside from the legendary lords (Elspeth, Wulfhart, Gelt and Volkmar - the latter generally being killed before you can reach them), the only one that is worthy of a confederation is Todbringer, since he gets a unique model, at the very least.

The rest of the elector counts are just your standard empire generals, to the point that you can just rename your own in order to respect the lore (or throw it out of the window as “you didn’t protect your land, now I’m putting someone else in charge).

Since imperial authority is now calculated on the basis of how many of the empire settlement are under imperial control, no, having an elector control a particular settlement doesn’t harm you in the slightest.

[MF]

Originally posted by Immortalis:

Since imperial authority is now calculated on the basis of how many of the empire settlement are under imperial control, no, having an elector control a particular settlement doesn’t harm you in the slightest.

But isn't there an argument to be made that those settlements would be better off making $$ for uncle Franz ?

Also, I recall from WH2 that putting my own generals in as electors netted them some bonus gear.

[Basarab Laiota]

take the settlements for yourself and don't be afraid to declare Casus Belli on your elector counts. allies are useless in this game.

[Skiptro]

you can confederate or, wait for them to get wiped out and reclaim their settlements for yourself, or you can declare war on them and take their settlements that way. The win condition is to reunite the empire but each approach has its own traps. confederate takes long, elector counts getting wiped out is bad for the imperial order mechanic in the short/mid term, and civil war is bad for public order, so pick your poison.

The most pragmatic and efficient approach is probably a mix of all three, but i prefer to have karl live up to his statesmen reputation.

[pascal.difolco]

Originally posted by MF:

Originally posted by Immortalis:

Since imperial authority is now calculated on the basis of how many of the empire settlement are under imperial control, no, having an elector control a particular settlement doesn’t harm you in the slightest.

But isn't there an argument to be made that those settlements would be better off making $$ for uncle Franz ?

Also, I recall from WH2 that putting my own generals in as electors netted them some bonus gear.

Depends
Independent counts can field a couple of crappy armies, that you can't keep if you confed them because their revenues don't allow it
So if you're still defensive they may be useful, AI has difficulties overrunning a settlement with a full army in, even if it's crap
For example I keep the northern counts independent early game to defend againts the weak Norscan invasions
Also AI develop settlement faster than you, and it's free
But when their territory is safe, their settlements are T3+, confed them and use the $$$ for your armies

[MF]

Originally posted by pascal.difolco:

Originally posted by MF:

But isn't there an argument to be made that those settlements would be better off making $$ for uncle Franz ?

Also, I recall from WH2 that putting my own generals in as electors netted them some bonus gear.

Also AI develop settlement faster than you, and it's free

yeah - different faction but sorta related - I discovered the joys of confederating other dwarven factions last night at turn 100. Netted me 26 settlements and a buttload of armies. All top tier equipment but as you say - the AI is retarded. Does one really need an army with 9 flamethrower units ?????? The rest of that particular army was flame cannons and, I kid you not, miners. WTH ???

[Skiptro]

or they build baracks that can upgrade to tier 5 in minor settlements and normal baracks in capitals, there is a lot of strategy layer stuff to sort out when you confederate.

[MF]

Originally posted by Skiptro:

or they build baracks that can upgrade to tier 5 in minor settlements and normal baracks in capitals, there is a lot of strategy layer stuff to sort out when you confederate.

LOL I know. I son't mind trying to plan 8 steps ahead when playing games like DOS or BG3, but for Warhammer I just want to go smashy smashy with my artillery and run over things with my cav. Too much thinking is hard on my wee brain.

[Darklordnj]

Originally posted by MF:

Originally posted by pascal.difolco:

Also AI develop settlement faster than you, and it's free

yeah - different faction but sorta related - I discovered the joys of confederating other dwarven factions last night at turn 100. Netted me 26 settlements and a buttload of armies. All top tier equipment but as you say - the AI is retarded. Does one really need an army with 9 flamethrower units ?????? The rest of that particular army was flame cannons and, I kid you not, miners. WTH ???

Gotta dig deep and burn dem rats outta their hole.

[identity]

It depends on how I want to play if I decide to confederate. For Empire, I usually try to keep most of them alive as buffers until I'm ready to move in that direction, in which case I will either confederate that faction, or feed them more territory as I conquer. In the end, it doesn't actually matter if you own everything or not, and I prefer to have some automated AI allies doing some of the lifting. Defensive alliances most of the time, I only do military alliances when I'm ready for the win condition.

[MF]

Originally posted by Darklordnj:

Gotta dig deep and burn dem rats outta their hole.

Yes - it was perfect for fighting in the ruins of Moria.

[StrangestEcho]

Todd has a strong unique passive ability in addition to a normal randomized trait and is Pseudo-Legendary. As for the rest; their main value is in distracting the many hostile factions around the empire. Sharing a border with one of those factions will massively increase the chance of a war declaration, so it's often not worth taking Nordland for yourself until you are ready to invade Norsca, for example.