How to play Lone Wolf?

[Lampros]

I've finally hit day 100; but I am struggling. The biggest problem is obviously the reduced roster size to 12. As a result, I am never fielding the full roster, because someone is always hurt, so I almost always end up with 7-9 on field out of the 10 I've been carrying the last few weeks. This also means I fight much less often, and thus I earn less. For instance, my Lone Wolf has only been in 73 fights in 100 days - even though he's been injured only twice (nearly died once with like 3 HPs left due to bleeding; one more tick, and I think he was a goner). It also means I am too scary to take on risky fights, and thus less reward. I do not think I will attempt any challenging fights until everyone is level 25-plus! ;)

This is a separate topic, but I also think recruits have been nerfed. Seldom do I see truly excellent recruits any more; and Iron Lungs recruits are almost extinct. I cannot find ranged Hunters with three stars in Ranged Attack either. I only have maybe two recruits that are "keepers" so far on day 100. Perhaps the problem is that the lack of cash makes me recruit less often, and hence the perception of lower quality recruits - though I do not think so.

So how do I make it any easier? Or have you guys run into the same issues I have as well? I mean, I can sort of limp along like this for now and be choosy about fights, but I am really worried once difficulty ramps up, and I face 30-plus Orcs and dozen-plus Unholds, or other nasty combinations.

[TimThomasCrown]

https://steamcommunity.com/app/365360/discussions/0/1649918058737005339/

The idea is to have only top tier units

[Lampros]

Originally posted by TimThomasCrown:

https://steamcommunity.com/app/365360/discussions/0/1649918058737005339/

The idea is to have only top tier units

Missed this. Thanks.

[xtxownage]

Initially I got spooned a lot as a lone wolf. then I realized I just needed to spoon thugs for some lackeys and up my melee def since devs were kind to give you two stars. Now I have a demigod who turns 80% into a laughable 10%

[filipov.petar]

My advice is to restart and try playing it slow. What I mean by this is - get your hedge to 11 and then get a second recruit (a good one, preferably second hedge), then level him to 11 and then get a 3rd recruit and so on. The game difficulty depends a lot on the number of brothers in your party. In my play though currently I'm at day 150 with only 4 brothers (all lvl 11+) and still looking for the next near-perfect guy to recruit. I'm doing 3 skull missions without problem, facing almost trivial fights (expert difficulty of course), but for good money 2-3k per mission. It's scary if you go in the wilderness, because camps and random roamers do not scale with you, but missions do. Lone wolf is supposed to be played with less brothers IMO, thus the 12 total restriction. Also keep looking for those legendary 2 handed weapons in the shops. Getting your hands on couple of those makes the progress much easier. Don't hurry with the banner/cart money ambitions, save up for legendary weapons.

[peterebbesen]

"The idea is to only have top tier units?" I must disagree with that sentiment.

That may be the ultimate goal, but there is no need for me to cripple my early game by adhering to such an arbitrary restriction.

I just kept one or two cheap ill equipped brothers in each fight together with the hedge knight until he reached level 7, replacing them when they were killed, then started slowly building up the company. I see no reason to rush leveling the hedge knight by taking risks.

Even with that conservative approach, he hit level 11 by day 29 (167 kills) at which time he was accompanied by 5 brothers of lowborn origins slowly leveling and being replaced as needed or when killed.

Then I started building up to a full company of 12 using one open spot to test recruits, and whenever I found somebody with better stats than one of my 10 I replaced that guy and left the old for the open slot/firing when next looking for recruits.

By day 50 my knight was level 12 and roughly half his band was level 7-8 (the survivors of the early levels, all of them with gifted, and all of whom will be replaced in time), the other levels 4-5, and I'd gotten my first true quality recruit: a second hedge knight with iron lungs and stars in melee attack.

For what it is worth, I made my PC knight a Bardiche user rather than sticking to swords and am happy I did.

The ability to do either Split or Split Man as the situation demands is awesome, and since the PC is a point-failure I use him in the center of the formation rather than on the flanks to avoid the risk of him being swarmed, so the loss of the sword Sweep doesn't hurt much.


Using seed VKBYRFAAGB which gives iron lung + dexterous and awesome starting stats, the level 11 stats including Colossus were 95 HP, 143 FAT, 57 RES, 106 MA, 35 MD, and my perk choices were Colossus -> Student -> Recover -> Axe Specialization -> Underdog -> Battle Forged, Indomitable -> Berserk -> Killing Frenzy -> Reach Advantage + Pathfinder

No Footwork/Rotation: If he's in trouble he hunkers down with indomitable and another brother rotates him out.

No Brawny: Between max high fatigue, iron lung and using Bardiche rather than Great Sword (so less AOE) I didn't really need that extra fatigue.

He's a bit low on resolve and Fortified Mind or Gifted (MA/MD/Res) were considered instead of Pathfinder, but I do so love the fatigue/AP savings of Pathfinder in general and this map has a lot of forests and mountains.

I give every brother Colossus and aim at having 90-100 hitpoints after a few levels; Whether intended for Battle Forged or Nimble, everybody must be healthy since injuries can seriously slow down the band's progress when I have no reserves, so preventing injuries is a must and high hitpoints accomplish that. (I also give every brother Pathfinder. Nobody gets bogged down.)

[Lampros]

Originally posted by Preston Garvey:

Initially I got spooned a lot as a lone wolf. then I realized I just needed to spoon thugs for some lackeys and up my melee def since devs were kind to give you two stars. Now I have a demigod who turns 80% into a laughable 10%

Day, level, and Perks? And how many support guys are you running?

Originally posted by filipov.petar:

My advice is to restart and try playing it slow. What I mean by this is - get your hedge to 11 and then get a second recruit (a good one, preferably second hedge), then level him to 11 and then get a 3rd recruit and so on. The game difficulty depends a lot on the number of brothers in your party. In my play though currently I'm at day 150 with only 4 brothers (all lvl 11+) and still looking for the next near-perfect guy to recruit. I'm doing 3 skull missions without problem, facing almost trivial fights (expert difficulty of course), but for good money 2-3k per mission. It's scary if you go in the wilderness, because camps and random roamers do not scale with you, but missions do. Lone wolf is supposed to be played with less brothers IMO, thus the 12 total restriction. Also keep looking for those legendary 2 handed weapons in the shops. Getting your hands on couple of those makes the progress much easier. Don't hurry with the banner/cart money ambitions, save up for legendary weapons.

Isn't "soloing" to level 11 even more difficult?

Also, how are you building your characters?

Originally posted by peterebbesen:

Using seed VKBYRFAAGB which gives iron lung + dexterous and awesome starting stats, the level 11 stats including Colossus were 95 HP, 143 FAT, 57 RES, 106 MA, 35 MD, and my perk choices were Colossus -> Student -> Recover -> Axe Specialization -> Underdog -> Battle Forged, Indomitable -> Berserk -> Killing Frenzy -> Reach Advantage + Pathfinder

No Footwork/Rotation: If he's in trouble he hunkers down with indomitable and another brother rotates him out.

No Brawny: Between max high fatigue, iron lung and using Bardiche rather than Great Sword (so less AOE) I didn't really need that extra fatigue.

He's a bit low on resolve and Fortified Mind or Gifted (MA/MD/Res) were considered instead of Pathfinder, but I do so love the fatigue/AP savings of Pathfinder in general and this map has a lot of forests and mountains.

I give every brother Colossus and aim at having 90-100 hitpoints after a few levels; Whether intended for Battle Forged or Nimble, everybody must be healthy since injuries can seriously slow down the band's progress when I have no reserves, so preventing injuries is a must and high hitpoints accomplish that. (I also give every brother Pathfinder. Nobody gets bogged down.)

That's pretty nuts - stat-wise. I still elected not to play the map you recommended, because you said the map itself was subpar.

On specific Perks, my three questions on your choices are:

1. Is Recover really necessary when you have so much Fatigue?

2. Is Reach Advantage - especially post-nerf a while ago - useful on a guy who will at max hit 2 targets and more likely 1 without a some sort of "round" attack?

3. Would you put Colossus even on archers?

[filipov.petar]

Originally posted by filipov.petar:

My advice is to restart and try playing it slow. What I mean by this is - get your hedge to 11 and then get a second recruit (a good one, preferably second hedge), then level him to 11 and then get a 3rd recruit and so on. The game difficulty depends a lot on the number of brothers in your party. In my play though currently I'm at day 150 with only 4 brothers (all lvl 11+) and still looking for the next near-perfect guy to recruit. I'm doing 3 skull missions without problem, facing almost trivial fights (expert difficulty of course), but for good money 2-3k per mission. It's scary if you go in the wilderness, because camps and random roamers do not scale with you, but missions do. Lone wolf is supposed to be played with less brothers IMO, thus the 12 total restriction. Also keep looking for those legendary 2 handed weapons in the shops. Getting your hands on couple of those makes the progress much easier. Don't hurry with the banner/cart money ambitions, save up for legendary weapons.

Isn't "soloing" to level 11 even more difficult?

Also, how are you building your characters?

Depends on how you take on it. You can solo to 11 with doing only 7 thugs fights, yes it will take you a few dozen days but who cares, it's a new way to play BB, and you will be swimming in cash since your starting brother asks for NO wage.
About the new recruits, I stick to 2 handed weapons and avoid ranged opponents. Your low number of brothers is thus balanced with hitting a few units with each BB.
With 4 brothers I got 3 of them with 2 handed weapons - 2 with swords 1 with hammer. The forth one is currently a cultist with a shield and a 1h mace whom I will fire the moment he converts someone else to cultist.
The 2 handers have the following perks - student/colossus/brawny/weapon spec/fortified mind/berserk/killing frenzy/underdog/battle forged/footwork + recover for bros w/o iron lungs, gifted or perk of choice for bros with iron lungs and good fatigue. (not in that order ofc, but too lazy to check up the order)
The shield bro has similar tanky talents but rotate instead of footwork. He rorates the heavy hitters and shield walls whenever needed. Also you can use him as a portable wall vs ranged oponents.
The key for footwork and 2h - you need it to position for the massive 2/3 enemy hit attacks, so perfect fatigue is a must to keep this a few rounds in succession, especially after you get berserk (basically 2 attacks most rounds).Keep your group in a diamond shape always close to each other, pick elevation spots and you are set. Also try to take on only human fights. Run away from orcs and undead with necro. Orcs will stun lock you and undead will tire you to death since it will be hard to reach the necro. Get dogs for those bandit poachers/marksmen

[peterebbesen]

Originally posted by Lampros:

That's pretty nuts - stat-wise. I still elected not to play the map you recommended, because you said the map itself was subpar.

On specific Perks, my three questions on your choices are:

1. Is Recover really necessary when you have so much Fatigue?

2. Is Reach Advantage - especially post-nerf a while ago - useful on a guy who will at max hit 2 targets and more likely 1 without a some sort of "round" attack?

3. Would you put Colossus even on archers?

The map is definitely subpar if one wants easy trade routes, good harbours, a circular road network, citadels for shopping in good locations, balanced factions, etc. :D

But if one wants a map with an awesome hedge knight, and some good trade goods (even found gems, which I hadn't noticed first I looked), and a map that overall works though nowhere near as easily as top maps, it is pretty darn awesome. Pathfinder strongly recommended.


To your questions:

1) In all likelihood not. I've only found myself using it once (or was it twice?) so far, and none of the times were in situations where it would have crippled my control of the battle not to have the option. On the other hand, I haven't had many ancient dead fights yet and those tend to drag out.

Since this character is a point failure for the game, I decided to play it safe, so to speak. It is entirely possible I'll end up deciding I should have picked something else.

On thing to note: I do have a banner sergeant with the banner out at the start of all fights, so the hedge knight starts out around 70 resolve in battles rather than 57.


2) Yes, it is useful. 45 MD is much, much, better than 35 MD against most dangerous enemies. (And 55 MD for those situations where I can do 2 splits in a row because the first split killed somebody is positively awesome. Yes, MD suffers from diminishing returns at high values, but it still matters a lot)


3) Probably yes. So far I'm all melee, with hybrid crossbow/polearm providing ranged firepower and encouraging enemies to advance.

I don't have any dedicated archers yet and won't get any until and unless I find an awesome hunter with 2-3 stars in RA and otherwise excellent stats, but when I do, I think I'll still spare a perk for the hitpoints. Nimble will do a lot to prevent injuries even with a medium HP brother, so I guess I could do without, but better safe than sorry. Having a larger hitpoint buffer doesn't only help survival in battles starting from full hitpoints, after all - the larger buffer also helps reduce the risks when fighting multiple fights in succession without time to heal to full.

[Nukoolamukmuk]

I tried Lone Wolf and got murked for my efforts. I like that character though and will do it again. I was doing caravans and had 1 big fight and lost my low level lackeys I had hired but my lone wolf was fine, but then the caravan blundered into another fight straight after and my character wasn't enough by himself to survive and was surrounded by thugs and barely lost the fight with one wounded badguy left when mine dropped but it probably didn't matter at that point cause my dude would have bled out soon after. The caravan guards were cut down as well and the donkeys turned into stew meat. It was a grisly end to a short and unepic career.

I am thinking it would be nice to be able to camp the caravan when we want to cause in real life caravans stopped at night for camping for people to rest and heal and enjoy the campfire under the stars.

[Lampros]

Originally posted by filipov.petar:

With 4 brothers I got 3 of them with 2 handed weapons - 2 with swords 1 with hammer. The forth one is currently a cultist with a shield and a 1h mace whom I will fire the moment he converts someone else to cultist.

The 2 handers have the following perks - student/colossus/brawny/weapon spec/fortified mind/berserk/killing frenzy/underdog/battle forged/footwork + recover for bros w/o iron lungs, gifted or perk of choice for bros with iron lungs and good fatigue. (not in that order ofc, but too lazy to check up the order)....
[/quote]

Why fire the Cultist? I thought several original Cultists are needed for at least one of the Davkul Events?

On the 2-handers: It looks like you are going the path I am going almost precisely.

Also, can you give the Background and the rough raw stats for the 2H characters you would make permanent members? I want to get an idea of what I will have to "settle for" - given that I am having extreme difficulty finding good recruits.

Originally posted by peterebbesen:

[Much useful information!]

Thanks for the comprehensive reply!

Originally posted by peterebbesen:

2) Yes, it is useful. 45 MD is much, much, better than 35 MD against most dangerous enemies. (And 55 MD for those situations where I can do 2 splits in a row because the first split killed somebody is positively awesome. Yes, MD suffers from diminishing returns at high values, but it still matters a lot)

3) Probably yes. So far I'm all melee, with hybrid crossbow/polearm providing ranged firepower and encouraging enemies to advance.

I don't have any dedicated archers yet and won't get any until and unless I find an awesome hunter with 2-3 stars in RA and otherwise excellent stats, but when I do, I think I'll still spare a perk for the hitpoints. Nimble will do a lot to prevent injuries even with a medium HP brother, so I guess I could do without, but better safe than sorry. Having a larger hitpoint buffer doesn't only help survival in battles starting from full hitpoints, after all - the larger buffer also helps reduce the risks when fighting multiple fights in succession without time to heal to full.

On Reach Advantage: Hmm, good point; I suppose it depends on how long you plan to campaign though. And I expect I won't be tackling the tough stuff till level 20-plus, LOL. So I feel less of a need.

(Yes, I am a ImzFrozen disciple, LOL!)

On ranged and Colossus: I am going use both hybrid crossbows and true archers - and use Colossus only on the hybrids - though ImzFrozen's videos have given me ideas of hybridizing archers in the way you plan as well (but that build seems to come alive only after post-20, since you need so many stats).

One more question, the same one I asked filipov:

With your roster being restricted 12, what kind of recruits would satisfy you for permanent 2H spots (I care less about 1H shield guys, and I have some ideas regarding what ranged guys would need). Like, general Fatigue, Melee Attack, Melee Defense - and other key stat range? And what Backgrounds are you fishing mostly?

[Lampros]

Originally posted by RodentDung:

I tried Lone Wolf and got murked for my efforts. I like that character though and will do it again. I was doing caravans and had 1 big fight and lost my low level lackeys I had hired but my lone wolf was fine, but then the caravan blundered into another fight straight after and my character wasn't enough by himself to survive and was surrounded by thugs and barely lost the fight with one wounded badguy left when mine dropped but it probably didn't matter at that point cause my dude would have bled out soon after. The caravan guards were cut down as well and the donkeys turned into stew meat. It was a grisly end to a short and unepic career.

I am thinking it would be nice to be able to camp the caravan when we want to cause in real life caravans stopped at night for camping for people to rest and heal and enjoy the campfire under the stars.

Yeah, caravans are iffy propositions in the early game due to potential dangers. And the payout is not really worth it for me except to fish for those named items ("well-supplied" towns often have restocked gear that are named).

[Nukoolamukmuk]

Lampros, definitely caravans are risky in early game but caravans the only first 2 contracts that were available and I had no money after hiring and equipping a couple lackeys so I completed 1 caravan run and the second was my doom. And there were no other towns near enough I think. What do you do in that kind of start? Do you wander around and fight some random badguys? But I think getting a paid contract is better than that and take the risk of the mission.

[Nukoolamukmuk]

What difficulty settings is normal for everyone? I set it to veteran for both battle and campaign and on ironman mode. Is that usual or you set it to expert levels? I think the settings will bias our impression of Lone Wolf.

[filipov.petar]

Originally posted by Lampros:

Originally posted by filipov.petar:

With 4 brothers I got 3 of them with 2 handed weapons - 2 with swords 1 with hammer. The forth one is currently a cultist with a shield and a 1h mace whom I will fire the moment he converts someone else to cultist.

The 2 handers have the following perks - student/colossus/brawny/weapon spec/fortified mind/berserk/killing frenzy/underdog/battle forged/footwork + recover for bros w/o iron lungs, gifted or perk of choice for bros with iron lungs and good fatigue. (not in that order ofc, but too lazy to check up the order)....

Why fire the Cultist? I thought several original Cultists are needed for at least one of the Davkul Events?

On the 2-handers: It looks like you are going the path I am going almost precisely.

Also, can you give the Background and the rough raw stats for the 2H characters you would make permanent members? I want to get an idea of what I will have to "settle for" - given that I am having extreme difficulty finding good recruits.

Originally posted by peterebbesen:

[Much useful information!]

Thanks for the comprehensive reply!

Originally posted by peterebbesen:

2) Yes, it is useful. 45 MD is much, much, better than 35 MD against most dangerous enemies. (And 55 MD for those situations where I can do 2 splits in a row because the first split killed somebody is positively awesome. Yes, MD suffers from diminishing returns at high values, but it still matters a lot)

3) Probably yes. So far I'm all melee, with hybrid crossbow/polearm providing ranged firepower and encouraging enemies to advance.

I don't have any dedicated archers yet and won't get any until and unless I find an awesome hunter with 2-3 stars in RA and otherwise excellent stats, but when I do, I think I'll still spare a perk for the hitpoints. Nimble will do a lot to prevent injuries even with a medium HP brother, so I guess I could do without, but better safe than sorry. Having a larger hitpoint buffer doesn't only help survival in battles starting from full hitpoints, after all - the larger buffer also helps reduce the risks when fighting multiple fights in succession without time to heal to full.

On Reach Advantage: Hmm, good point; I suppose it depends on how long you plan to campaign though. And I expect I won't be tackling the tough stuff till level 20-plus, LOL. So I feel less of a need.

(Yes, I am a ImzFrozen disciple, LOL!)

On ranged and Colossus: I am going use both hybrid crossbows and true archers - and use Colossus only on the hybrids - though ImzFrozen's videos have given me ideas of hybridizing archers in the way you plan as well (but that build seems to come alive only after post-20, since you need so many stats).

One more question, the same one I asked filipov:

With your roster being restricted 12, what kind of recruits would satisfy you for permanent 2H spots (I care less about 1H shield guys, and I have some ideas regarding what ranged guys would need). Like, general Fatigue, Melee Attack, Melee Defense - and other key stat range? And what Backgrounds are you fishing mostly?

[/quote]
In general I'd consider only hedges with at least average rolls or sellswords/squires/wildmen with extremely good rolls/traits. Hedges are the best because of their good hp/fatigue rolls. You aim for stars in melee attack/fatigue and as a bonus in melee defence.
Check this up for the average rolls:
https://battlebrothers.fandom.com/wiki/Character_Backgrounds

Also here is a good seed with Iron lungs + Tough Lone Wolf start. The town positioning kinda sucks but the initial brother is pretty good.
BRMVNKVYZW

[Lampros]

Originally posted by filipov.petar:

In general I'd consider only hedges with at least average rolls or sellswords/squires/wildmen with extremely good rolls/traits. Hedges are the best because of their good hp/fatigue rolls. You aim for stars in melee attack/fatigue and as a bonus in melee defence.
Check this up for the average rolls:
https://battlebrothers.fandom.com/wiki/Character_Backgrounds

Also here is a good seed with Iron lungs + Tough Lone Wolf start. The town positioning kinda sucks but the initial brother is pretty good.
BRMVNKVYZW

Okay, then your recruiting pool is similar to mine - except that I never ever recruit Sellswords due to their escalating wage demands. Since I plan on going strong level 20-past, I don't want one guy demanding more salary than the rest of the team! ;)

Thanks for the seed. But as you say, the town positioning is really bad :(