Question about region locked enemy party sizes scaling and some adaptive questions

[Bronthir]

Hey guys. I'm playing for some time now. My guys are mostly level 7, Im in third region right now (Tilrtren>Vertruse>Arthes) but I found out that enemy party size is not scaling with my group. I like to have unique companions and not be limited to 1 guy per class. If I find an interesting build that differs from my first guy and a nice, unique weapon, I'd like to add it to my arsenal. Thats why while I had good aoe axe guy, when I found a legendary, nice one, I recruited another one and give him another role. But after some time with this approach my group size increased to 13ppl +2 animals but enemy groups I face are mostly 8-10 people. And while most of my guys can easily handle more than 1 enemy I realized that in most of the fight I could use like half of my men and win easily (and I have another nice legendary weapon waiting for promising recruit, lol).

Im playing region locked so maybe thats the culprit here. Fight for now are trivial and feel efortless. I know that Ludern is 8 lvl and when i go there I'll face stronger enemies than myself (maybe 4 of my guys will be level 8 or maybe even less) but what about enemy group size? Should I excpect increase? Im asking because till the end of the game I'll p[robably add more people with secret classess or some nice, new weapons but I dont want to feel like Im swarming every enemy without challege.

Or maybe I should try new game with adaptive? But I heard that with adaptive mode enemies are always like 2 levels above me? Is that true? If yes, I wont like that. I'd like to face the same number or enemies like I have (or biggers groups than myself, even few people more) with the same level as me. Can I get it with adaptive? Or maybe region locked with later regions will provide enough challenge?

[Ventus]

I am playing adaptive and from the starting 4 people up to now 7people and 3alpha wolves, the number of enemies in Tilrtren (starting place) and Arthes(i think? the place west with 2 free recruits) has always had 'tough' fights.

Usually they have 2-3 more units than me, and are as tough (hp and armor). 'Special' fights with unique units are really hard. I think if there was an AI button where the AI took over my units too (attacking nearest, being a little silly about aoe, etc) then I would lose most fights on adaptive.

Dunno if any of that helps. I would say that enemies are only 1 level higher than my average or about par but there are more of them. It feels like my average 4.3 lvl party gets lvl 5 parties with the same number of people or like 1-3 more. I would say give it a go, seems like its what you want (though no idea if gear matters, my gear is middling at best).

[warrgood]

On region locked, the order should be Tiltren, Arthes then Vertruse. You've gone back to an easier area, which is why the enemy hasn't quite scaled to your level. However, you had the option to go either way after Tiltren, and it doesn't hurt to go to Vertruse second.
You could also have gone through Mt Altis and the bandit crossing into Ludern, but that might have been very painful at level 4 or so.
But if you feel the fights aren't challenging enough, steal a bunch of stuff and refuse to pay the fine when the guards catch you. They scale to your level regardless of region lock/adaptive, and they always call reinforcements. Sometimes more than one wave.

You should absolutely try out the adaptive mode- see if you find it more fun. That's the "sandbox" part of the game.
I've tried different things with every team I've run: once I had two archers and a bunch of bears and wolves- cheap wages but keeping them fed! Another run I had 30 mercs and 8 horses- very expensive and looong battles!
I've even seen a post where one player was using a one merc/ one pony team, acting primarily as a thief!
Some players want to play highest difficulty survival and combat on Ironman, others want easy/easy infinite saves. Find what makes you happy- and you can always save another team under different rules.

[Bronthir]

Thx guys for answers :) I'll try adaptive then :D

[Klarum]

I am having the same question as the OP and I really don't see it answered anywhere.
We all understand adaptive by now. Great. Please do not reply about it as there are hundreds of posts on it.

This question is specifically for REGION LOCKED. Are the enemy group SIZES adapting to your group or do they have a set progression? In later regions are groups bigger no matter your numbers? Or do they adapt so if I play region locked and limit my party to 5 people I will be facing similar numbers? Or will I play 5v20 for example?

As anyone tried different compositions in Region locked?

[Torpex]

Region locked mode has a set difficulty for enemies. So it is the mode where the larger your party the easier are the battles.

I had troubles in Ludern with 10 mercs + 2 bears. Adding 2 new mercs made a huge difference. The last region required me to not only hire another 4 mercs, but also replace the bears with lvl 12 ones.

[Caveira]

I am in the last region, Dronbach I think is called, playing on region locked, my party is 12+1 bear, all level 8 with only one guy level 9, all the enemies in this region are level 10 -12 and have group size of 18 most of the time.

[Torpex]

There are two NPCs in the prison lvl 11. You can also capture a couple of inquisitors.

The regions is doable with lvl 9 + 2 lvl 12 bears and 4 lvl 11 mercs.

But it is much much easier if your party is lvl 10. lvl 11 is advisable as you will be able to use lvl 12 crafted armor with 3 layer slots.

[Klarum]

Ursprungligen skrivet av Totenkopf:

I am in the last region, Dronbach I think is called, playing on region locked, my party is 12+1 bear, all level 8 with only one guy level 9, all the enemies in this region are level 10 -12 and have group size of 18 most of the time.

Thank you. All I needed to know.

[mitina.e]

Interesting. I've tried the region-locked mode and the enemy numbers were indeed scaling to the number of mercs, which was a big disappointment.

[Torpex]

In region locked enemy numbers and party levels are hard coded per region.

In adaptive/free exploration they are always 2 levels above you, which translates into inflated enemy party numbers, but you can go anywhere right away. Liek go get a lute in Ludren.

I can't even imagine what the peasant fight is in Grinmeer in adaptive. Region locked had something like 80+ in 3 waves of 24-30.