What I know about the stats

[Eranak]

Got sort of hooked on the game again.

Trying to get better at the game so wrote down what I know about the stats.

Wrote down a bunch of stuff but it's a bit dense and mostly for myself. I'll summarize it here though:

The actual starting values of the stats matter more than the stars.
For the stars 2 stars make a huge difference, 3 is a tiny bit better.
1 star barely matters.

Things that make the stats obscure.
Stats have different scales.
Stats have different max increases, 4 is standard.
Non 'attribute' stats are mixed in among the stats (example 'Action Points')
The stars aren't exactly obvious what they do.
There's no indication of if a stat is above or below average or what the average should be.

The stars:
1 star - slightly better low rolls. (min roll increases by +1)
Only helps for stats you were already taking.

2 star - max rolls every time
Massive boost, indicates you might want to focus on that stat.

3 star - max rolls over time, +1 if you would have rolled the max normally
Small bonus

Best idea of the stats values

Stat / Common Starting Value Early Game / Minimum Preferred Value / Preferred Value for different builds)

Health - 55-60 / 80+ / (100+, as much as possible for nimble, or tanks)
Fatigue - Don't know / 70-90 seems okay depending on how much your bro uses / don't know
Resolve - 40-45 / 50 (used to go lower 50+ seems more reliable) / Probably 50 still
Initiative - No idea, but presumable as much as possible for builds that want it and irrelevant otherwise. Can substitute melee defense or health due to dodge. Necessary for overwhelm? Arguable good with crippling strikes and consumables such as poison or pots.
Melee Skill - Around 50 / 70-90 seems okay, ms on low end can be helped by perks / don't know, Probably as much as possible for two handers/duellists
Ranged skill - 45-55 / Don't know / As much as possible for ranged units, don't know for hybrids
Melee Defense - 0 / 15-30 (shields can help) / As much as possible for frontline, don't know preferred minimum late game, backline can have a lot less (none?)
Ranged Defense - 0 / Don't know / Don't know

Just writing it down seems to have helped a lot, even if there is a lot of holes it sort of makes it easier to plan a build.

[UnluckyNoob]

Stars are most important for core stats which you pick at every level up no matter what. That's usually attack, defence and sometimes fatigue. Each star on core stat = 5 stat points on average.

Stars on auxiliary stats(stats you pick from time to time depending on roll quality) are less important and depend on a number of auxiliary stats. I usually use builds with 2 core and 3 auxiliary stats and in that case star(s) in one auxiliary stat worth roughly 2 stat points per star. If you have stars in second auxiliary stat that stars will worth even less stat points, very roughly 1 stat point per star.

[A5G_Reaper]

You'll get used to what's good and what's bad as you play more. The thing about stars is that it make the final stats reliable as compared to gambling and hoping for big fat rolls.

Health: A few backgrounds can go as high as 70 base HP. You'll want as much of this as possible without sacrificing primary stats.

Fatigue: Varied starting point, highest base is around 120. How much you want depends on the bros' role. Some needs as much as 140+, some can function at 105. Generally tanks and berserk users want 70+ after all their equipment, which is affected by whether they use light or heavy armor. And then there's the fatigue neutral heavy armor with 20 available fatigue. All in all, up to your build discretion.

Resolve: Aim for 50, yes. If bannerman, as much as possible.

Initiative: You got it mostly right. Most build doesn't care for initiative. Fencer specifically want it as close to 175+ as possible. There's a breakpoint for overwhelm build where they're guaranteed to outspeed most enemies, around 130 with hyena pelt iirc? It's generally not a great substitute for HP or melee defense though, even 5 initiative translate to 0.75 dodge value which is less than minroll melee defense. Some weapons do benefit more from going early, such as 2h hammer to knock someone to the end of the queue or a 2h mace to set up for your qatal users.

Melee skill: This is a primary stats for bros that mainly use melee weapons. Generally 80 is bare minimum for them to be good, and some players only consider 90+ to be worthy of lategame content. Otherwise you'll really feel how often a 80 skill bro misses compared to a 90 one. Range-leaning hybrid can afford to have it lower, they can wield spear/sword to substitute for less skill because if enemies reached them odds are there's less armor to worry about.

Melee defense: Another primary stats for melee bros, and can be considered secondary stats for everyone else. It's honestly not a blanket statement, but aim for 20 at least. Below that you'll need to pay attention to their positioning or they'll die to focus fire. Anyone with over 35 are pretty much independent. Battleforged can afford to function with less since they can tank a few hits, it'll just cost you tools to fix their stuff. Also, keep in mind that backliners WANT this stats. It's fine to just take occasional +3, but there will be enemies that punch through or otherwise bypass your frontline. HP and mdef investment in your backline is the answer to that.

Ranged skill: Primary stats for ranged bros, secondary stats on melee-leaning hybrid. 70-80 is enough for crossbow or javelin, 90 for gunner, and if it goes even higher archers. There's only select few backgrounds that could feasibly build into gunner or archer without feeling bad about all those missed attacks, I recommend checking the wiki for those that can roll 50+ ranged skill. Hunters are best by far for ranged role. Hybrids generally uses crossbow and could work with as few as 50 ranged skill, but those on lower end usually just wield the crossbow menacingly and only shoot once per battle when the enemies get in their face.

Ranged defense: Ignore. The only build that feasibly level this is either cheese archers or cheese tanks, basically bros built specifically to trade hit with range-heavy composition that camp in their side of the map and tries to shoot your team full of holes.

[Melkolf]

I don't crunch the numbers but in game I've found high Ini very useful on dodge/nimble, far more useful than low star/roll MDef and even pushing HP too far on these bros. The problem comes with Fat on these guys to keep them going. In short, for me, there's no set template; I tend to go with the flow of the rolls and always grab a high Ini starred bro every time provided the MAtt/MRng looks promising.

[Eranak]

Originally posted by A5G_Reaper:

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Thanks for the info, it actually helped clear up some stuff. I'm gonna look at backgrounds next, I've got a good grip on the early ones but I'm not so sure about mid and late game ones.

Originally posted by Melkolf:

I don't crunch the numbers but in game I've found high Ini very useful on dodge/nimble, far more useful than low star/roll MDef and even pushing HP too far on these bros. The problem comes with Fat on these guys to keep them going. In short, for me, there's no set template; I tend to go with the flow of the rolls and always grab a high Ini starred bro every time provided the MAtt/MRng looks promising.

Sometimes it's fun to dig into things a bit more but I also like playing by feel a lot.