[Guide] How to survive Expert Iron-Man mode

[Nitroglycerine]

I'll probably convert this to an offical guide eventually.

There seems to be lots of struggles with the early-stages of this game, so I thought I would put together a guide to help people. I just started a brand new game to demonstrate how it would work.

The key point to early-game comes down to money management. Expert mode means you earn much less gold, and items generally cost more. Everything boils down to managing your income properly, while remaining combat effective. Thus, understanding the battle brothers system is instrumental to success.


The Beginning (Hoggart Battle)
- purchase 2-3 pitchforks
- get 7-9 characters.
- your 2* melee companion, and ranged companion absolutely must survive (they will form the backbone of your company in the future).

In the early-game, characters are hard to keep alive. In fact, until characters have 210 armour, you can't guarantee that they will survive. Thus, you should expect to lose characters left and right.

However, there is a way to keep characters alive, and that is by putting them in the second line with 2-range weapons.

Thus, you recruit characters, and good ones (i.e. 2* or 3* melee attack, or have iron lungs) will be equipped with pitchforks, while bad ones get placed on the frontline (to do damage and die).

Therefore, your aim for an early-game party is:
12 characters asap.
1 archer (companion)
3-4 pitchforks (try to get hooked blades, or pikes asap)
everyone else is shield + weapon (spear & swords are ideal for +% hit chance).


Hoggart battle:
Here is my party for the hoggart battle:
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=896875319
I recruited 4 characters, purchased 3 pitchforks, and a 54% wooden shield.
I had around 240 remaining gold.

For the fight, because mine was in hilly terrain, I was able to go up on a hill (increase my hit chances, reduce their archer effectiveness). I could then use the pitchforks to push enemies off, while killing off others.

The battle ended with no losses, and I got his Falchion which was great.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=896875351
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=896875381
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=896875409
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=896875430
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=896875455


Early Game:
So there are some key concepts to managing your money to succeed in growing your mercenary company.

1. Buy your tools and food at cheap locations. Some towns have cheap food, some have cheap tools, and others have cheap healing items, or ammunition, etc. Saving 50-100g per purchase goes a long way, in the early game.

2. You need to choose an area with lots of small villages (so you can travel between them for quests). Choose an area with a citadel or large town, so you can sell trading goods as you move back and forth between the locations.

Now, this game, I got a good starting position (granted not ideal). I just need to run back and forth along a road, and didn't need to change positions.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=896890260

I started in Weitblick, and Erlachfeste to the west is a Citadel.
Schwertburg is a castle (which is kind of useless to me, as I can't get quests from it until much later).
Still, with 4 smaller towns, I can get lots of quests.

3. Whenever possible, buy your items from the market damaged.
The cost seems to be completely linked to how much damage it has.. For example, a 100% billhook may cost 1800, but a 50% one may cost 900!

4. The friendlier a settlement is to you, the lower the price of goods there. So quests earn you gold and reduce the cost of items!

5. [Probably the most important] Bandit raiders are your friends. Fighting them is guaranteed to drop some 105/110 helmets, some great melee weapons (and maybe even a longaxe/pike), and potentially some 90/110 armour. They are the best early-game targets.

6. Try to avoid werewolves at all cost in early-game. Werewolves kill your character easily, and don't provide very much gold in return. Generally speaking, at best you break even. At worst, you'll lose the critical back-line characters you were leveling up, and then you also have to pay $$$ to recruit replacements!

7. Recruit cheap characters as much as possible. Try to keep the cost per character below 300g, but cheaper is better! Most of these characters are temporary and will die anyways (due to lack of armour).

Character leveling:
You should level your 3 companions as if they will survive to end-game. So the perks and stats they pick should be focused on end-game content.

For mine, I did the following:
Pathfinding & http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=896888510
Pathfinding & http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=896888489
(I gnored melee attack because it was +1) Pathfinding & http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=896888468

your back-line pitchfork characters should be the same. Level them planning on them surviving.

Now, your front-line characters are different. Since they have poor growth (all your good picks are in the back-line after all!)
They should be leveled in a way that enhances survivability and effectiveness, since they won't be kept.
I suggest the following perks:
Colossus / Nine Lives / Pathfinder (if you like to use terrain as much as I do)
Steel Brow / Gifted

Now, I highly doubt they'll get that they'll get past level 4 given their lack of equipment, but you never know :)

I'll cover what I've been doing from days 2 to 7 in the next post.

[Nitroglycerine]

So after Hoggart's quest is done, I head west and pick up my first quest in Otterndorf.

Kill a UD lair for 340g.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=897008893

The battle was simple; retreat back to some hill terrain, and fight them from above.
Armourless skeletons have high initiative though, and did kill 2 melee guys.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=897008928
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=897008954

While marching back to Otterndorf, 8 bandits show up!
I quickly run into the nearby town (Weitblick, my starting location), hire a miner for 240g, and then fight them.

I used the exact same tactic:
Retreated back to high terrain, engaged in an archer duel (my crossbow beat their archer as I was shooting from above), and then they charged me (and died).
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=897008981
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=897009008
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=897009028
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=897009042
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=897009063

A bladed hook, 3 good helmets, and a 95 armour!
My party has been signifcantly improved, and I can be more confident about some of my frontline characters' survivability.

The loot from bandit fights in the early-game honestly make or break your party :)

From these 2 battles, my 3 companions are now level 3.
2 other characters level up too
I start assigning roles to them:
- Rambert the Younger will be a duelist or 2Her (so melee att, melee def, and a mix of HP/stamina/ranged def).
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=897020710

- Anton will be a shield character (melee att, melee def, and a mix of HP/stamina/ranged def)
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=897020803

- Leif was obviously destined to be a polearm/bowman hybrid (melee att, melee def, and then HP/stamina/ranged def, and melee def if all the other stats are +2).

- Asbjorn the Thief also has the makings of a shield character, as thieves start with very high melee def and ranged def. Since he reached level 2, I start building him planning for that. Key stats would be: melee def, stamina, and then melee attack / HP / ranged def (other choices if melee attack is only +1).
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=897020770

Tobjoern will make a good sergeant with 2* melee and 2* morale, so I begin leveling him focused on that (assuming he survives). If not, sergeants are fairly easy to groom :)
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=897020744

The other 2 are sacrifical type characters, built with the perks mentioned in the previous post:
Nine Lives
Gifted
Colossus / Steel Brow / pathfinder

[Nitroglycerine]

Citadels always buy things at a high price.

With Ottendorf in high spirits from the completed mission, I was able to buy and sell the copper trade goods for 60 profit per item.
Since I don't have that much gold on hand, I make the trip 3x back and forth, and make 180 extra gold.

Then I head to the next city on the road, Erzberg, which gives me another UD killing quest for 340g.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=897044117

Since I'm down to 7 characters from the previous 2 fights, I recruit 3 new characters, re-equip them with all the loot that has dropped, and my party is now 10 characters, with 1 hooked blade and 3 pitchforks:
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=897044165


It turns out the lair is filled with bandit thugs, not undead!
Thugs are easy prey.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=897044194

Basic strategy:
- Turn 1: waited all my characters, let their archer fire, and then marched pitchforks 3 tiles in front of their 2H axes, shield characters to the side.
- Turn 2: they charged my lines. Their 2H axes were unable to attack this turn, and I killed them and most of thier non-shielded characters.
- Turn 3: mop-up remaining characters
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=897044214

Easy 340g.

Travel northwards some more, and get an 1* escort caravan quest for 230g back to Ottendorf.
Accept it, no fights, easy money!
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=897044257

Back in Ottendorf, the quests have refreshed, and there's a new bandit killing quest (yay!).
I fill my recruitment to a full 12 members (get that achievement), and then attack. It turns out to be 5 bandit raiders (profit!)
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=897044283

Strategy:
- Let them charge my lines. Use shieldwall or spear strikes as required. pitchforks, hooked blade, and crossbow work down the enemy targets.

Loot was some more helmets (no armours sadly), flail (not using yet since melee skills are still low) and a boar spear for a nice damage increase.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=897044308
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=897044308

Only 1 new recruit dies (to the flail which countered shieldwall), but he manages to survive.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=897044331
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=897044352


Grab my rewards, travel back to Erzberg. I hire another recruit (to bring it up to 13 - I have 3 characters who need time to heal upl).
So it is now day 7 dawn, and my "area of influence" has been set.

829g, 54food, 17 tools, 4 ammo, and 0 bandages.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=897049241

Continuing from here, I'll be marching back and forth in this area, doing quests and earning $$$.

Equipment has improved signficantly (courtesy of the bandits), and the company is already in a very good state, although they are very lacking in armour (key point: avoid werewolves!).

The only weapons and armour I've purchased thus far were:
3 pitchforks
1 54% shield.
1 38% (or so) 50 armour.

Everything else was looted from battles (mainly from bandits), or came from recruits.

All gold thus far was spent on:
recruiting characters, food, repair tools, ammo, and healing items.

[Nitroglycerine]

Transition to Mid-game
To transitioning to mid-game, your key purchases are:
- 1 or 2 pikes, billhooks and longaxes if available damaged in the market (reduced cost). You should loot the rest that you need from battles.
- Primary focus: 210 defense armours (each costs approximately 2500-3000).

There are several reasons why I avoid mid-tier armour unless they're on discount:
- [Most important] It's very easy to lose them. If your character is killed and the armour is also reduced to 0, you lose it permanently. Armour in the 80-130 defense range frequently get reduced to 0, and the character killed after that.
So you paid all that gold for nothing.
- Enemies frequently run around with these types of armour. They're very common loot, once you have a flail user (lash can guarantee hits to the head), or get some billhooks and longaxes (when you crit hit the head rather than damage the armour, you're almost guaranteed to get a damaged armour),

By comparison, it's hard for 210 defense armour characters to die (Unless you completely expose the character). Essentially, each one you is equivalent to a guarantee that you have a character that will reach max level. So the mid-game's primary focus is on purchasing 6-8 sets of 210 defense armours, while continuing to loot weapons on the battlefield, and recruiting characters as needed to replace people who fall in battle.

[无聊]

no one had replied? I think your guide is very good and clear, but there is one thing that we can not be sure...
ironman mode = fate mode, flankly speaking in ironman mode your're resisting your fate and RNG god, so not even two ironman mode are the same, and the experience is not so important for ironman

[malibu]

Good reading. While your advices are useful and work in general, they are very subjective and much of them are exactly opposite of what can be done for another way of success in expert ironman.

Here are some examples which I tested a lot and can confirm that (for me) they work very good and lead to best expert ironman start with no losses or very few losses:

- get exactly 6 men for hoggart fight or skip the fight completely.

- do not hire anyone after the hoggart and start trading. You will have about 1000g and its enough to buy from villages and sell in towns.

- get easy fighting contracts and mostly delivery. Do not afraid to retreat from battle, its better than losing people if you utilize trading a lot.

- grow your party slowly, making 12 people around day 20. By that time you will complete 3-5 ambitions already.

- buy 65+ armour if you did not get enough from the battle. This will save your party.

- focus on equipment in general keeping about 2000 - 3000g of free money for trading.

- make couple dedicated tanks right from the start. Utilize taunt.

- take steel brow for every party member to deal with RNG.

Those advices above tend to give me very smooth start which is not relied on starting fights and RNG that much (cause of trading) and allows to make it to day 20-30 without losses.