Removing Beastmen faction/tribes from SP campaign

[terminal_]

Is there any way (checkbox, config file setting, mod, combination of mods, email to CA employee, prayer to baby jeezus etc.) to remove the Beastmen from the single player campaign? I only found mods to remove respawning hordes (like this one or this one).

Failing that, is there any way to remove the offensive ambush stance from the Beastmen?

[SerBlackKnight]

And why would you want to remove the beastmen?

[Helhammer]

You have to use armies to remove them.

[somekindofpast]

Looks like removing respawning hordes is the closest thing to what you want. Next to nonexistent is pretty close, no?

[terminal_]

Originally posted by SerBlackKnight:

And why would you want to remove the beastmen?

Because I despise dice-roll-based binary heads: you live, tails: you get roflstomped mechanics. Case in point, their offensive ambushes.
For this campaign I'm going to have to deal with them, but I find they make the end game tedious and not fun.

[Captainbeastfeast (Rat-ee-JiK)]

yes everything must be predictable and under control, because thats SOO much fun.. I want CA to add skaven spawning armies too.

but you could always play pong or chess I suppose :P

[terminal_]

I sense a hint of sarcasm in your post, suggesting that you have a very strong opinion on how other people should play their single player games.
Do tell me more.

[Wyvern]

The answer is no, there are no mods for it, though you might be able to make your own.

Plus its hardly a 50-50 win-lose diceroll, given how trashy AI is, the beastmen offensive ambushes are almost always an opportunity to rake in a bunch of money on an easy win unless youre running around with stacks of all shooting or 5 units or something.

[Loligo Vulgaris]

Are you auto-resolving on ambushes?

[terminal_]

I'm not autoresolving, but it's also very difficult to succesfully defend against an offensive ambush from something like 2-3 Giants, 4-5 Minotaurs, 3 chariots and assorted axemen/raiders/cygors, when playing with the Empire and their subpar anti-large infantry. Most low tier or even mid tier units seem completely useless, anything less than Demigryphs gets stomped by Minotaurs. There's certainly room to improve on my army composition, I need to work on that (I had no artillery). It's still a tough fight for the Empire, even if you manage to hold for the first charge and then flank with cavalry.
However.
I got pissed off because I had my main 2 stacks tied up away from Altdorf, trying to help Stirland survive against Chaos, when 3 Beastmen stacks stroll in. I gang up on one of them, win the fight (with pretty heavy losses, even if I had 2 full stacks), leave the two stacks one next to the other and in Encamp stance (the Internet told me later that I should've went with Ambush for the ambush detection bonus, but such is life). In the next turn, I get 3 offensive ambushes (and a fourth one in the following turn), I ♥♥♥♥ you not, I got totally ass blasted, 2 full stacks wiped and Franz on an express ride back to Altdorf.

So here's the problem: this is ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥. There is no hard counter against this crap, all you can do is decrease the chances of getting ambushed while your army is not moving. You can stay away and wait for the beastmen stacks to separate. Or stay away and wait for the scraps that are left of your allies to actually take a step outside their cities (that you are actively defending). Or go in, kill a stack and march out of there, as far away as possible, rinse and repeat. The thing is, I don't find that fun. I also don't find it particularly entertaining to chase randomly spawning beastmen stacks around your own territory, while they merrily set fire to your lvl 5 fortresses like they're nothing.
Difficulty spikes based on coin tosses are ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥.

In the meantime I went back and wiped them out and won the campaign. For the next one I'll prepare a bit better for their big units, but I still think there needs to be a hard counter for offensive ambushes.

[somekindofpast]

wow, I have never seen a coordinated beastmen attack before. I have also never seen 2-3 Giants, 4-5 Minotaurs, 3 chariots in a vanilla army before. Beastmen usually roam around in a single stack, only attacking weak factions. Are these subordinate beast armies that spawn with the chaos hordes? Cause they might behave differently, I guess.

Overall, I'm certain it was just bad luck to run into them like that. Norsca and chaos usually pose far more of a threat than beastmen.

[terminal_]

It was the very last Hordes of Chaos wave spawn and I think only one of the stacks was stupidly heavy on high tier monsters, the others were mostly armored halberd or axe infantry.
It's interesting that you say Norsca should be more of a threat, I didn't really get to fight them a lot because they were tied up fighting (and wiping the floor with) Bretonnia and Kislev. Chaos was rampaging through Greenskin territory (for some reason all their stacks made a beeling to the mountains behind Undead territory and going South), so I just sniped their armies one by one as they were passing south.

I didn't even know the Beastmen could do the offensive ambush thing, otherwise I would've played more cautiously. After I defeated these guys (btw, each stack had a 20+ lvl Lord leading it), the Dwarves and Bretonnia killed Archaon (I had them as allies and set his army as a war target) and within a couple of turns the whole thing was over. I got to build my first steam tank but didn't get to deploy it, so now I'll take the time to play a few more turns and use it to wipe the Orcs from the map :P

Anyway, from these comments I understand that I got particularly unlucky (and on my very first campaign), so I'll give it another chance before hardcoding the Beastmen out.

[somekindofpast]

Back in the day before the foundation update, the norscan tribes were the menace of the game. Not because of quality, but quantity. They could pump out more troops than orcs and beastmen combined. People started nerfing their economy to keep them at bay. 4-6 stacks of Varg and Skaeling with chariots and horse javellins were all too common. I hear they are back in Mortal Empires, since Norsca hasn't been implemented in game 2 yet....:D:D

[seabo_76]

Currently playing the Empire in the Campaign and the Beasts are a pain yes but I'm dealing.
First couple playthroughs they wrecked my ♥♥♥♥ but have figured them out now.
What I've learned from watching strategy vids and my own games, live the Empire

Max out Garrisons, especially Helmsgart as they love that Invasion Route

Always have a Reserve Stack hanging around the Reik and keep close to towns for support

Counter Ambush, this is tons of fun when you turn the tables.

Craploads of Crossbows and Spears with a unit or 2 of Mortars and Knights for Counterpunch. Just brick up and wait for them to come to you.

If ambushed pause as soon as Battle starts and assess the best defensive position. Throw a couple sacrificial units forward to the them up and pull back into a square as quickly as possible.

Good luck!