Wolves (updated)

[Robin of Spiritwood]

Some finding from last playthrough, with a Beastmaster.

Wolf Needs-Hungry as a Wolf

4 food per day. Regular wolf
8 food per day. Alpha wolf
1 unit needs to be meat, not all of it has to be meat. A single piece of jerky will do.
No money needed. Capture with rope. Rope is not refunded on release. Alphas need 3 rope.

*New: Optional Gear
Ether Belt Item. Equip before capturing. Improved odds of Animal capture.
Plans in Tildren Jail.
Gurney Camp Item The Gurney will work on Wolves to heal them for free, just assign them to it.
Plans are available from Arthes County Abbey, in exchange for some Snow Iris.
Bacon Infused collar. This Collar will simulate Beastmaster level control of any equipped animal.
Vertruse has a quest for the retrieval of Buddy the wolf, and the reward is the
plans. Start at the Jugglers Camp.
Tooth Collar. This item boosts Crit Damage, suitable for wolf attacks.
Plans sold at Tildren Tracker Camp

COMBAT: The Howling Commandos

Wolves cannot be armed or armored. You have to tank for them, and heal where needed.
They do not get a dying state like humans, so once the HP is done, so are they.
* new: Willpower over 12 works the same as humans now.

Licking Wounds upgrade heals 30% max HP, and removes all debuffs.
Carnivorous upgrade heals 50% Hp on kill.
They can learn First Aid from skillbooks.,

Upgraded level 5 Beastmaster skill will give a 5% max health heal at the end of the Archer's turn- so MOVE the Beastmaster guy LAST to heal all the wolves. Consider a second Beastmaster if you want to focus on wolves, as a 10% heal/turn is fairly good.

You can level them up. They have a skill tree.
Good things to focus on are Movement (for combat) and *New: Willpower( up to 12).
NOT Strength/Crits. WHY: Pack perk gives 50% to crit hit, and Alphas will autocrit vs bleeding targets.

Wolves ( both variants) cause bleeding if they hit unarmored enemies.
Alphas will autocrit if they hit a bleeding enemy.
This is significant. Pair them with an Assassin, to kill faster- double damage for Right Between the Eyes. Or *New: Attack with a crocswine first to get the bleed

Base tile for wolves is 1 and a half the size of a human's. They are easier to block off but conversely, can be better at making a barricade.
Application-
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2782902137

Larger size base tile also has wider view, so exploring fog is better done with an expendable wolf.

Pack Strategy

How to use them- If they actually hunt like real wolves, they work well.
They need prey, not an opponent, and they need to operate in a pack. Use vs enemy Archers - especially isolated ones. Fast moving( High Movement) wolves can shred Archers, and tank the punches, if they can get to target before the shooting. This saves the Mercs a job, and removes a damage source off the field.

You will want to take the PAck Crit perk for best results once you have 3 or more wolves.
This raises Base Crit Hit by 50%. Add in Wrath skillbooks to increase the damage output per turn: Wrathful wolves get Fury for 50% boosted damage next turn.

Self-Sacrifice support wolves-
This perk grants 30% off damage to allies in contact with the wolf base tile, at the cost of Fragility to the wolf. Because of the bigger base tile, wolves can support several humans.
A good perk to use on disposable common wolves.

* New: Elite Alpha Squad
Because the Alphas get Autocrit vs bleeding targets, they do not need the Pack Crit perk, and can be assigned as Self Sacrificers with little loss. They do well with the Tooth Collar items for extra punch, and have a high kill rate, making Carnivorous a better choice than Licking Wounds.

Wolf Officers
You can make Wolves your Lieutenants. Keeping them in close contact with the troops allows them to use Tactical Orders, and works with Self-Sacrifice, plus First Aid as a support wolf. Acting as a companion, wolves permit VP generation for mercs with the Valor generating contact perk. Good choice for your Alphas, as they can tell each other to do additional attacks.
Lieutenant Wolves do not get Paid extra!

https://i.imgur.com/cwjE26v.jpg

Wolf Utility uses

Transport
Wolves can use Saddlebags for 20 pounds of cargo.
*New: They can use Horseshoes, speeding up travel. 3% faster per equipped wolf.
The new pony Skill Tree and the Cart Boar perk make wolves poor choices for transport, but if you get stuck with extra loads to carry- pop on those saddlebags.

Having your Wolf and Eating it too
Wolf Meat plus Salt = Sausages, relatively light compared to pork.
Sausages plus Meat Drying Rack = Jerky
Jerky is way lighter than the raw meat. Way Way lighter than the carcasses.

[Dorim]

İlk olarak Unic tarafından gönderildi:

Hi so, the difference of wolves and alphas are mostly the "always crit" on blooding, or are they a lot stronger? I mean 4 vs 8 food means that you can get 2 times more normal wolves.

Alpha wolves have about 40% higher stats. So they're more likely to confirm a kill with the higher damage, and survive a hit with the higher health.

[funkmonster7]

Is this in region-locked mode or scaling mode? I actually like the scaling mode more these days, but I wonder if wolves can work well in this mode.

[blindseye]

I ended up trading in 1 wolf (Buddy) and 3 alphas for 3 bears, one of which is dead now, so have 2 bears left. I think bears are much better than wolves.

[funkmonster7]

Bears better be better than wolves, they eat 12 food. Alphas only eat 8. Buddy is worth much more giving him to the circus than keeping him as a fighting pet. You get a collar recipe. Plus Buddy had no traits when I caught him.

[blindseye]

Food not an issue if you get pack horses and train them for carrying capacity. I only have one beast master and one blocker (who can heal animals), and I always deploy them with the bears. I have about 46-48 mercenaries now, plus 2 bears and 8 ponies. When not in combat I can put carry capacity saddle-packs on the bears too. All of my mercs are lvl 13 and the two bears are lvl 9.

[funkmonster7]

Wait what? Are merc max levels now 13? I thought it was 11.

[blindseye]

My bad, you are correct, I haven't played in a few weeks and I was going from memory (which is obviously not great). I just checked and I have 33 mercenaries. I had around 39 but I loss some in the new city after rescuing an ambassador from the mobs. The mobs kept following, blocking and attacking as I headed back to the police station. I had to fight 4 battles against mobs and I lost a bear and several mercenaries... my biggest losses to date. Currently, all my mercenaries are level 9 and about 1/4 of the way to level 10. I have 3 bears left (two 9's and one 8), and I have 7 ponies (five 9's, one 8, and one 7). And I have four level 9 prisoners which I hope to recruit to replace my recent losses. It's a great game. I am a little played out at the moment, as I put about 250 hours into it when i first started. Don't be afraid to try different things, mercs, builds, trading, etc. Save frequently if you are nervous about screwing up, but I think I have reverted to save games like twice.

[funkmonster7]

Wow, you have 33 mercs and only 7 ponies. I have 14 mercs now, and 11 ponies (in need of a 12th). No war pets.