This is game is way too hard

[Hopeless Knight]

After like 5 to 8 campaigns on normal difficulty with Ironman mode, I feel like I'm not making any progress past day 20/30. Are there any cheats to win gold, gear or xp so I can enjoy the rest of the content? Already wasted 60h with barely any progression and want to enjoy the remaining content and then move on.
Thanks.

[Gresh]

Drop the difficulty and turn off Ironman?

There are various mods available here[www.nexusmods.com] that can potentially make your life a bit easier.

[A5G_Reaper]

You need to avoid losses to keep developing your company, but most new encounters will wipe you if you dont know what to expect. Ironman isn't really great to start off with unless you're masochist (still doable, but stressful af).

Gold: Most weapons that isn't the worst makeshift stuff will net much larger profit if you repair them before selling them. This is a major part of your income throughout the game, and isn't immediately obvious from the get-go.

Gear: To get good weapon, you will need to either buy them or kill someone who wield them. Amassing armored dogs is a good way to punch way above your weight class early on. Once you have good weapons you can start thinking about hats and shirts, which tend to be so much more expensive. A 1h flail's secondary attack autohit the head, which could allow you to loot the armor intact. A dagger's secondary attack ignores armor altogether, netting both the hat and the shirt, but the accuracy penalty means you'll probably only get to shank one guy at the end of a fight.

XP: Dont die and take as many fights as you can safely do.

[turtle225]

Play on beginner and don't play on ironman is the simplest in game change you can do to make your time easier. Beginner gives +5 hit/avoid to all your bros, an xp boost, and you'll face less enemies. Beginner economy and high funds gives you more money. Game isn't well suited to learning on ironman, so don't do that and reload if you find yourself in a fight you weren't prepared for.

There are mods on Nexus that would allow you to cheat in infinite money, give your bros infinite stats, give yourself infinite famed items, or probably whatever other cheat you may think of. It would of course remove any challenge of the game, but I guess if you want the enjoyment of just rolling over everything then the mods would enable that.

[Banzai]

Originally posted by turtle225:

Play on beginner and don't play on ironman is the simplest in game change you can do to make your time easier. Beginner gives +5 hit/avoid to all your bros, an xp boost, and you'll face less enemies. Beginner economy and high funds gives you more money. Game isn't well suited to learning on ironman, so don't do that and reload if you find yourself in a fight you weren't prepared for.

There are mods on Nexus that would allow you to cheat in infinite money, give your bros infinite stats, give yourself infinite famed items, or probably whatever other cheat you may think of. It would of course remove any challenge of the game, but I guess if you want the enjoyment of just rolling over everything then the mods would enable that.

With that in mind, surely it wouldnt hurt to actually add workshop support on Steam for the game rather than having to go to a third party for mods? If someone has bought the game then its upto them how they play it and honestly the amount of people you see posting "game is too hard" comments on these forums shows that its just off-putting for some. Those people being met with "git gud" type replies is also less than constructive.

I would have thought that a game such as this that has been out for quite a long time would actually benefit from having an active modding community increasing its accessibility and longevity. No idea how possible it would be from a modding point of view, but playing as Orcs/Goblins or a Necromancer would also be a major reason to reinstall. Seems a strange business decision to basically set it in stone that the game will be too hard for some so they shouldnt play it, and if they already bought it then tough luck.

[Heron]

@Banzai

There are lots of mods! Even mods where you can play as Necromancer and a huge amount of mods that lower difficulty in some way. BB's modding community is very healthy.

https://www.nexusmods.com/battlebrothers

Steam Workshop wasn't implemented because the devs had to cut lots of corners due to financial constraints when the base game was made. But Nexus is super easy to use, just download modhooks, download your mods and drop the folders in

steamapps\common\Battle Brothers\data

[Kunic]

I think legends mods makes easy a bit easier.

Militia is a good start if you haven´t tried.

Ironman is generally not a good idea I guess.

[turtle225]

Originally posted by Banzai:

Originally posted by turtle225:

Play on beginner and don't play on ironman is the simplest in game change you can do to make your time easier. Beginner gives +5 hit/avoid to all your bros, an xp boost, and you'll face less enemies. Beginner economy and high funds gives you more money. Game isn't well suited to learning on ironman, so don't do that and reload if you find yourself in a fight you weren't prepared for.

There are mods on Nexus that would allow you to cheat in infinite money, give your bros infinite stats, give yourself infinite famed items, or probably whatever other cheat you may think of. It would of course remove any challenge of the game, but I guess if you want the enjoyment of just rolling over everything then the mods would enable that.

With that in mind, surely it wouldnt hurt to actually add workshop support on Steam for the game rather than having to go to a third party for mods? If someone has bought the game then its upto them how they play it and honestly the amount of people you see posting "game is too hard" comments on these forums shows that its just off-putting for some. Those people being met with "git gud" type replies is also less than constructive.

I would have thought that a game such as this that has been out for quite a long time would actually benefit from having an active modding community increasing its accessibility and longevity. No idea how possible it would be from a modding point of view, but playing as Orcs/Goblins or a Necromancer would also be a major reason to reinstall. Seems a strange business decision to basically set it in stone that the game will be too hard for some so they shouldnt play it, and if they already bought it then tough luck.

Workshop support would of course by ideal, but it is what it is. The game was made by a couple of dudes in their spare time. Thankfully, Nexus is easy to navigate and installing mods is as simple as just downloading the zips from Nexus and putting them into the data folder of the game. There is actually a very thriving mod community.

C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Battle Brothers\data

As for the game being too hard for new players, it is a common criticism. Beginner has even been made easier twice since the game was first released. The game would probably benefit a lot from a much more expanded tutorial that explains more things. It also doesn't help that the game's hardest part is the beginning of each campaign. Things get easier as you build up your team and eventually the player has to go seek challenges by their own volition. It's not a great difficulty curve.

That said, the game doesn't hide that it is difficult. It says so right on the opening screen and a consumer looking to buy the game can easily learn that it is difficult with even a few minutes of research before purchasing. Simply reading a couple of reviews would be enough. In the OPs case, they are playing Veteran Ironman, which is a difficult setting not intended for a player who hasn't fully learned the game yet. The ironman tooltip says as much. The title screen recommends to play on beginner.

Idk what I'm trying to say. I agree that the game could benefit from having a better new player experience, and it could do a much better job at explaining various game mechanics to better aid the player at formulating their strategies. But I guess I don't think that there should necessarily be a setting so easy that anyone can play the game. There should be some expectation that you learn how to play, and consumers should have some responsibility to look into games before purchasing to make sure it is something that suits them. It's not like Dark Souls gives an invincibility option for players that don't want to learn dodge timings and attack patterns, but you wouldn't buy Dark Souls if you aren't into that kind of game play.

[WadeStar]

To succeed on Ironman you basically have to grind and always take combat/challenges that are beneath you. In other words, fight where the risk is negligible. You'll still have rare moments where someone you've invested in dies and you'll be set back, but your run won't be ruined and you can continue. Best move here is to make sure you have no attachment to your first round of recruits and intend to either retire/fire/get-them-killed to replace with better recruits. It's kinda tedious and the main challenge at this point comes from economics, rather than combat.

Unfortunately, this way of playing the game isn't very fun for most people. I often even "lose" the first campaign challenge because I'm not geared up or leveled up enough. This isn't such a big deal if it's the noble crisis.

Other aspects of the game are just tedious and I wouldn't bother trying on ironman/expert. Like the Kraken fight. Why bother? It's unfun. Do it on easy. Skip on hard. You want Steam achievements? That's a war lost by winning.

[Sparky]

if it's hard just play on a lower difficulty, if it's still hard get a mod to make it easier.

i don't think the game is hard, you just need to know which battles to fight and which not to.
usually, if you see the enemy is too strong and you are at serious risk of losing a brother - run away. either don't fight or run away as soon as you loaded into the battle.
the current campaign i had two unlucky caravan escort missions where in the first i have been attacked 3 or 4 times, and i had to just give up and escape in the last battle because my bros were injured and practically naked. the other got ambushed by a double barbarian band - two at the same time. i gave up both missions - lost some rep and money, but my bros survived which means i actually saved A LOT on buying new bros and equipment.

run away. it's a smart tactic, you wont win every fight and not every fight is worth taking.

[Dragonrubi]

People usually concentrate on the fact that battles are hard, but not only that; it is also about money and income. Even when I saw some tips about hiring cheaper men and blah blah...

You should buy food, ammunition, tools, medicine, etc.

The pool of missions is horrible; you get into a town and, if lucky, get one "easy" skull mission (and often that skull system is broken, so you may end up with a more difficult mission than it looks), and perhaps nothing; traveling to other towns to find more missions costs money.

And after finishing the mission, if one guy is killed, for example, I feel it is much more the expenses than the income.

So even with a lot of starting income, you end slowly or very quickly in red numbers.

[Heron]

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2549815780

Let me copy paste JCSato's brilliant new player FAQ on how to make money:

The single dirtiest secret in Battle Brothers is that you don't make money by completing contracts; you make money by being an arms dealer. If it ever seems like you aren't getting paid enough, remember that you get battle loot and salvaged enemy equipment on top of that payment.

At a certain durability/value ratio, you make more money by repairing items before selling them. You can fine tune exact values and come up with formulas, but here's an easy guideline: Repair "tier 2" weapons and above before selling them.

If you're not sure what a "tier 2" weapon is, don't worry - there aren't explicit weapon tiers in the game, it's just nomenclature the player base has adopted. Basically, if it's a purpose built weapon and not just a farm tool, it's worth repairing. Handaxes, not hatchets. Scramasaxes, not Meat Cleavers. That sort of thing.

Also, where you sell matters. Every town has its own price modifiers that adjust up and down over the course of the game. You'll make very little money selling in a tiny village with the Terrified Villagers situation - you'll make much more selling in a large city with the Ambushed Trade Routes situation.

There are other ways to fill your coffers, of course. Contracts will net you money and selling trade goods (and food) can absolutely turn a profit - but in my experience these are for managing your recurring expenses. If you want to grow your company by investing in particular gear or highly trained mercs or what have you, those funds come from selling weapons.

This probably goes without saying, but you should keep the best weapons for yourself to use.

[Banzai]

Thanks for the replies regarding mods. I will have a look although im always wary of third party sites for these sorts of things. The fact that many have mentioned Nexus shows its safe I guess so will be interested to give it a try.

[View The Phenom]

Stop playing on Iron Man, you're still in a learning phase (based on your struggles) and being locked into your choices while trying to figure things out is counter-intuitive.

Get used to reloading and trying different strategies if you get stuck, that's how you'll learn. Instead of being forced to start over on every failure, you can save time and take different approaches. There's always a better option when you're stuck, even if that option is just abandoning the contract; don't try to brute force your way through.

Turn down the difficulty as well, especially if your only interest is experiencing the content and moving on. It sounds like you're punching above your weight, tone things down to a more manageable level; you don't need mods for this.

After 60 hours and 8 campaigns, it should be clear that what you're trying doesn't work. Try something else.

[Melkolf]

Originally posted by Banzai:

Thanks for the replies regarding mods. I will have a look although im always wary of third party sites for these sorts of things. The fact that many have mentioned Nexus shows its safe I guess so will be interested to give it a try.

I can assure you Nexus is safe. I've used it for many games' mods over a long period of time.

Unfortunately I can't say that about all the mods on it. Simply check the posts before downloading any that catch your eye because if there are problems with individual mods the community is extremely quick to point it out.

[GwanGwanish]

The game is all about "daggering down" opponents that the community even came up with the slang "daggering down." The term doesn't exist anywhere else in the known universe.

Use only daggers to kill opponent with fancy equipment. Daggers will not destroy fancy equipment. Sell said fancy equipment that would otherwise disappear when combat concludes. If you do not take this approach, you'll struggle to make a profit. The downside of said approach is that combat that would usually take five minutes stretches on into monotony as your band of fierce, battle tested warriors jab your opponents to death with tiny, tiny knives.

Death by a thousand papercuts.