Amount of companions

[cjdcorwin]

What would y'all say is a good amount to have, I have 8 guys all different weapons, but how many guys should I have for end game?

[Tlewnipla]

I have 6. More than enough in my opinion.

[MudCrab]

Ummm... I have 31 all up including beasties.... They are sort of fun to collect. Don't Judge Me!

You probably can get away without a Bard from a professions point of view, but nearly all the others are either constantly useful or required for some sub quests.

You need a miner for example to finish the Tomb missions.

[ruessel]

I usually played with 10. Just to cover the professions. Now I added the 2 newer classes and it works well with 12. The more fighters you have, the longer the fights become, but also the fights get more tactical.

[nordstern]

Originally posted by ruessel:

I usually played with 10. Just to cover the professions. Now I added the 2 newer classes and it works well with 12. The more fighters you have, the longer the fights become, but also the fights get more tactical.

And the more overhead you have before even starting the fight. Unit placement is a huge hassle and Shiro should add features to make this easier (just like improving global map path finding!!)

[Andrey]

Originally posted by cjdcorwin:

What would y'all say is a good amount to have, I have 8 guys all different weapons, but how many guys should I have for end game?

I finished the game with 4 starting mercs without hiring.
But the comfort amount is 8-12 I believe.
Just for use all purple weapons and all interesting abilities.

If you have more then every battle takes a lot of time.

[chimpoforevah]

Originally posted by Andrey:

Originally posted by cjdcorwin:

What would y'all say is a good amount to have, I have 8 guys all different weapons, but how many guys should I have for end game?

I finished the game with 4 starting mercs without hiring.
But the comfort amount is 8-12 I believe.
Just for use all purple weapons and all interesting abilities.

If you have more then every battle takes a lot of time.

With only 4 mercs, which I'm planning to do, what are the best 4 professions as not to miss out on any quests/content?

[LeBurns]

I've got 14, one troop for each profession so each can master theirs, two extra's as I wanted some more spearmen (and to man the many camp features I have), and a polar bear who is a major meat shield and route blocker. I've mixed up the classes well enough, and also chose professions that benefit the classes the most.

Been thinking about adding one of the new crossbowmen, just because.

I just beat the MQ and am starting the Pirate DLC.

[Queremos pausa durante la pausa]

Originally posted by chimpoforevah:

Originally posted by Andrey:

I finished the game with 4 starting mercs without hiring.
But the comfort amount is 8-12 I believe.
Just for use all purple weapons and all interesting abilities.

If you have more then every battle takes a lot of time.

With only 4 mercs, which I'm planning to do, what are the best 4 professions as not to miss out on any quests/content?

Scholar, Miner, Woodcutter and possibly Thief are the professions that are most often required during quests, but remember that you can always give your mercs a temporary different profession if you need it. So you will never truly be locked out of certain content.

Also if you're really going with a group of 4 I'd strongly recommend to use slaves/prisoners to fill out most of the other professions, like Cook, Tinkerer, Alchemist and Blacksmith.

With the exception of Cook and Brewer, every profession is required at least once if you want to complete all the quests in the game.

[halcyan2]

Originally posted by chimpoforevah:

Originally posted by Andrey:

I finished the game with 4 starting mercs without hiring.
But the comfort amount is 8-12 I believe.
Just for use all purple weapons and all interesting abilities.

If you have more then every battle takes a lot of time.

With only 4 mercs, which I'm planning to do, what are the best 4 professions as not to miss out on any quests/content?

I mainly play with a core 4, but sometimes add in extra companions. There are some situations when it is required, such as for certain Pit battles. The other times it is not to make battles easier (my core 4 can handle most battles even large scale ones), but adding extra companions REDUCES the XP gained by each combatant and it SLOWS down level progression for my core group of 4 (I prefer to take my campaign nice and slow and I don't want to level too quickly).

You can handle most/all professions even with just 4 characters if you are judiciously about switching and training everyone up (Masters & Apprentices really helps out). For big battles, I usually have my two STR fighters use Blacksmith and my two DEX characters use Thief or Alchemist.

As for my personal assessment/ranking of professions:

Most important professions:
- Thief. Good DEX bonus. Needed to some degree to open locked containers. Really important if you want to progress in the Crime and Chaos path because stealing lets you steadily gain suspicion.
- Blacksmith. Good STR bonus. You need at least Experienced level to alter equipment (i.e. improve the star rating).

Important professions:
- Tinkerer. The critical hit bonus is okay. Some basic tinkering is essential for many functions of the game (craft rope/pitons/lockpicks/fish hooks. Needed to craft camp tools) however most of these can be done by a part-time Tinkerer rather than a specialist. However, at Master level you can obtain stamps when dissembling helms/shields.
- Scholar. Weak bonus (willpower is not so useful). Not that helpful in the early game. But mid/late game has a bunch of stuff that requires Scholar, particularly with Tombs and Antiquities.

Average profession:
- Alchemist. Good DEX bonus. Can be useful crafting certain things. However, most oils can be bought if you don't want to craft it. Most valuable use is crafting rimesteel is you want it for forging/altering. Pre-Pirates, was also needed to craft Ahkedian Steel.

Less valuable professions:
- Miner. Ore can be picked up on the ground, though not as plentiful as wood. Profession XP gained limited to specific respawning locations. Prior to Pirates of Belerion, Miner was really crucial to get Akhedian Steel but with Pirates DLC you can just buy small amounts of it.
- Woodcutting. Wood is plentiful. Profession XP gained limited to specific respawning locations.
(There are a few quests which require a miner/woodcutter but you can just temporarily switch to them, complete the task, and then switch back).

Least important professions:
- Bard, but really easy to train up because you get lots of profession XP from singing. It can generate krowns or influence regularly. Tombs may need a Bard but you can just temporarily switch to one.
- Cook, but really easy to train up if you have enough Krowns you can buy lots of ingredients and cook lots of food for profession XP
- Brewer is not really that helpful. You can buy alcohol instead. Gaining profession XP is slow unless you have them work in your tavern. Comes with a Willpower PENALTY, though improved speed of relationships is good
- Angler. Plenty of other ways to get food. You are also dependent on specific locations that slowly respawn (as opposed to Cook where you can just buy the ingredients). You also need to continually craft fish hooks.

[Andrey]

Originally posted by chimpoforevah:

Originally posted by Andrey:

I finished the game with 4 starting mercs without hiring.
But the comfort amount is 8-12 I believe.
Just for use all purple weapons and all interesting abilities.

If you have more then every battle takes a lot of time.

With only 4 mercs, which I'm planning to do, what are the best 4 professions as not to miss out on any quests/content?

You mercs could have multiply professions.
I have 1 merc, a master's in 4 professions, and I switch it on request.

There I described in detail:
https://steamcommunity.com/app/1527950/discussions/0/715609968122793492/#c715610102638318679

[Stardustfire]

start question woud be: adaptive or region locked? because the answer differs hard based on that. adaptive is whatever ppl want in numbers, the adaptive part cathers for the needed resources, no matter how bloated your teamnumbers are.
region locked is a total different can of worms because you must juggle betwen a number that dont get overrun in the higher regions and the fact that the game dont delivers food/gold/equipment in a mass equial to your numbers, that even the most overblown horde coud be supported. what means you must find the edge betwen needed teamstrength and running upkeep costs.

[cjdcorwin]

Adaptive, sorry shoulda clarified

[Maal]

Since I couldn't ever make my mind, I decided that my "main run" will be the starting crew and all unique companion, including animals.

For unique companions, there is:
3 axe
2 mace
2 sword
3 dagger
1 lance
0 bow
1 crossbow
1 fist
alongside like 4 unique horse

So in my attempt to balance it out, I went for the 1 mace 2 spear 1 bow starters. I kind-of wanted more bow but there's none and I wanted to avoid adding more axe and dagger.

[Molotova]

I have 45-50 one of each archetype plus a couple of bears and whatnot