so... how to prevent half your company from dying every battle?

[Petrothian]

I am just curious when starting out, how to prevent your guys dying to 1 hit from bows or axes the npcs love to carry.

[uni2eal]

I hear good helmets are one prevenitive way from getting the deadly crit strikes. I am still trying to figure out this myself.

[Vilehydra]

head coverage is a must. Even if it's just cloth, although you should at least try and get aketon caps for anyone you care about.

[Trapmaker]

Proper gear and tactics, RNG can and will screw you over but using a good early game setup for your mercs is a good way to launch into success, Spearwall + shield + armor (30/35) + hat (30/35) that can get you very far and will keep your guys from getting 1 shot.

[David]

Helmets, but you can always get unlucky. The AI loves to focus down the weakest (easiest to hit) link and the wounded too, so always bear that in mind and closing to melee with ranged troops can reduce their ability to pick off troops somewhat. Also, obviously you want to prioritise anyone with nasty weapons and weak armor.

It's okay to take losses, because in general your equipment and gold will increase, along with overall squad experience. It does suck when your best soldier clad in the best gear goes down, but it happens.

[Imperialus]

Helmets help. A really good early game strategy is to rely heavy on spears and swords. They get outclassed by specialist weapons later on, but until you've got 60+ melee skill they are insanely valuable.

Spearwall will turn the tide of a lot of early game battles.

[doomsday649]

Spearwall has worked well for me, place your beginner xbow guy in second row and if necessary curve your line around to stop enemies from flanking.

I wont say its foolproof but its allowed me to survive x2 my previous Veteran ironman best =)

[red255]

....the 10 fatigue shields + helmets, of any sort help alot.

you got like a 25/30% chance to hit head, head does increased damage, means anyone without a helmet is gonna die 30% odds to every hit.

the shields help vs the ranged attacks, also the melee, but really help vs ranged.

[Pezant]

id also recommend to use shields and keep ones without behind the shieldwall to protect from arrows.

[numsei]

how many brothers are good to start running around early game? right now i have 8 guys and strugling to keep everyone in good shape with equipment condition, afraid to go to 2 skulls contracts, almost wiped out on a 1 skull caravan run..... 3 fights in a row, last fight 6 nasty guys with flails and morning stars...... omfg it was close, permanent damage on 3 guys and 1 death

[revjwh]

This is what frustrates me - on Veteran at the beginning you go on a 1 skull 200-300 gold run and end up fighting 10 men...... the randomness of the game is killing the fun. Beginner is ok but too easy. The curve doesn't seem balanced in this game at all. I have 5 friends waiting on my recommendation to buy this or not .... I really love the concept and execution of it as a game but cannot recommend right now b/c it seems over the top 'hardcore' which translates to repetitive in my opinion. I like a challenge but not a ridiculous crawl through the game and having to start over again and again.

[MrMurLock]

Shieldwall, Polearms, Focus fire and Terrain are some of the things havent been mentioned yet.

Shieldwall gets more effective the more people use it, therefore try to have a solid line of shieldmen as your center.

A few polearms in your 2nd line makes for a very versatile force. Pikes are very accurate AND can potentially save a brother from death with its push ability. Long axes can break shields from the 2nd line and hooks deal a great amount of damage to armor.

Focus fire! Eliminate the weakest link in an enemy force be it low armored / no helmeted or lowest health enemy. The AI will definately attempt to do so against your side when allowed to.

Terrain! Being higher up not only increases chance to hit, it also lowers the chance to get hit from those down below. Trees and bushes provide cover and can potentially make chokepoints you could take advantage of. Tall grass can potentially save a brother being targetted by an archer by hiding them from sight.

[David]

Try to roll with 12 guys when you can, there is strength in numbers, even if you just give a dwarf a club and a buckler and tell him to stun people.

[red255]

yeah get cheap dudes, brawlers, miners, fishermen. hopefully they get good aptitudes. give the good ones your best gear, the bad ones... they can suck up some blows.

[Barahur]

The key to early success is to gank bandits and try to outnumber them then loot their gear. Use the stuff that is upgrades, and repair and sell the rest for a profit.

Numbers matter. Spears get a big bonus to hit so they're good when your men are low level and don't have good melee skill yet. Shields are essential as your men will start with almost no melee defense at all. Armour and helmets (even cloth) are a must.

You win battles against bandits easily if you can trigger morale checks by surrounding them, killing a few and then just keeping the pressure on them and keep forcing morale checks. They will waver, break, then finally rout. Once they're breaking, their combat effectiveness is reduced and it won't take much to make them rout (fleeing morale state).

The combat in this game is a bit tough to get at first but once you learn the nuances, you'll have a much easier time with battles and you will lose far fewer men. RNG is RNG so you will inevitably lose someone from time to time due to bad luck, but you will have a lot more control over the flow of battle and mitigating risk to your men once you understand the tactics.

There are some good "let's play" type videos out there explaining tactics. It might help to give those a view and see if they can give you any good tips.

[Neiker]

Its very simple...You just need planing

You start a small mercenary band, then get sad as lots of your soldiers are dying...Sick of it all you then proceed to let a disgusting old man fill your back end with his love in exchange for money. buy everyone better gear. Keep participating in ♥♥♥♥♥ wars until one edgy-badass ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ appears, beat him in duel. he's your ♥♥♥♥♥ now. Proceed being carried in every battle by your new soldier. Gets promoted to ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ nobility. ♥♥♥♥♥ ass princess wants your D. Oh no. ♥♥♥♥♥♥ princess uncle is jelly of ya. Send edgy-badass soldeir to kill the ♥♥♥♥♥♥. Meanwhile there is a castle party, you want to bang ♥♥♥♥♥♥-princess, but you know that chivalry BS are for scruby nobles. Proceed to be edgy af and talk to her like "I dont have friendos kiddo, muh friends need to be kool as me...no one is kool as meh". ♥♥♥♥♥ is wet af. Surprise, your badass-edgy ♥♥♥♥♥ wants to gfo of your army...beat the ♥♥♥♥ out of that lil ♥♥♥♥ again soo he fall in line.

♥♥♥♥ you forgot you lvld the ♥♥♥♥ out of that ♥♥♥, he kicks your ass hard. Screw that ♥♥♥. Im banging ♥♥♥♥♥♥ princess now. Got caught by her daddy, you ♥♥♥...u ♥♥♥♥♥♥ now. Gets rescued eventualy by that badass-edgy soldier that betrayed you, you always knew he was your ♥♥♥♥♥. Go to river...proceed to sacrefice everyone to demons from hell. Be god.

Woops...everyone still died.