Is it possible to not lose any brother ?

[TheMcMiller]

I'm new to the game and I was wondering if it was possible to not lose any brothers during a campaign because everytime I reach the day 20-30 my whole team get completely wiped out no matter the ennemies I encounter. The first days of the game are really fun and likable, but the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ levelscaling in this game is really frustrating for me, I inflict only 20-35 damage per hit even with better weapon than at the start while the ennemies inflict 40-50 damage per hit to my troops even if I have a better armor than at the start of the game... (And this is when I'm able to hit the ennemy, wich is less than 50% of the time even if I get good % chance to hit).

Maybe there is something that I don't understand about this game but damn... It's really hard and discouraging. And i'm playing on easy mode, i don't even want to imagine what it look like on higher difficulty.. So can anyone tell me if the game is all about being bullied during the whole time or not ? And if not, what's the solution ? I've read mutiple guides on steam, but it changed nothing (maybe i'm really bad at this game haha). I manage to survive the first 20-30 days, but after that the levelscaling happen and I get completely wiped out. I know that every fight or contract is not worth the risk, but in my case it's almost all of them...

[Santo]

Possible, yes, but it's not really the point of the game. As you keep playing and learn more advanced tactics you'll minimize the effect of the scaling -- and actually, getting early bros wiped out every now and then is kinda good for your campaign, as it makes you move on to high-tier recruits, more suited to the challenges of the late game.

It sounds like you're managing to survive the first days (which is no small feat) but having some trouble in the next steps. We'll be happy to help you out with you have specific questions; you can also read this fantastic guide that will give you useful insights without telling you exactly what to do: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2549815780

[TheMcMiller]

That was the guide I've read before jumping in the game, but thanks for the answer it's kind :)

[The Duck Knight]

yeah, pretty much not a real problem, if you don't play meta.
Playing rather save and defensive, it should be possible to finish at least the first crisis without a corpse on your side. Depends a bit on the crisis and how much you involve yourself.

[kevin_63643221]

Originally posted by TheMcMiller:

That was the guide I've read before jumping in the game, but thanks for the answer it's kind :)

Pretty sure theres a no death run on youtube.

[ecb2]

Sure... It's called save-scumming. Just kidding (but not really).

[suejak]

Yeah, someweirdsins on Twitch used to do no deaths runs. Maybe he still does?

[turtle225]

The amount of damage you inflict and enemies inflict follow the same rules, and doesn't really have to do with the amount of armor (though more armor does factor into how armor ignoring damage works).

But your bro with a Militia Spear will do the same damage as a Thug with a Militia Spear.

If the enemies are dealing more damage than you are then they have better weapons then you do, (in an oversimplified sense since some enemies have damage related bonuses).

Raiders (and Wolves) do have Executioner, so getting injured will buff them (ie one reason why Colossus is very good early). Orcs have global damage bonuses but I'm guessing you aren't fighting Orcs yet.

You mention you are dying around day 20-30, but what are you dying to? What does your team look like around that time? What perks and weapons have you been using?

We can try and offer advice, but it's kind of hard when only having the vague understanding that you are struggling in general. The game is not about being bullied all of the time. You will eventually get strong enough that you can roll over Brigand groups without thinking and then look elsewhere in the world for new challenges.

[TheMcMiller]

Originally posted by turtle225:

The amount of damage you inflict and enemies inflict follow the same rules, and doesn't really have to do with the amount of armor (though more armor does factor into how armor ignoring damage works).

But your bro with a Militia Spear will do the same damage as a Thug with a Militia Spear.

If the enemies are dealing more damage than you are then they have better weapons then you do, (in an oversimplified sense since some enemies have damage related bonuses).

Raiders (and Wolves) do have Executioner, so getting injured will buff them (ie one reason why Colossus is very good early). Orcs have global damage bonuses but I'm guessing you aren't fighting Orcs yet.

You mention you are dying around day 20-30, but what are you dying to? What does your team look like around that time? What perks and weapons have you been using?

We can try and offer advice, but it's kind of hard when only having the vague understanding that you are struggling in general. The game is not about being bullied all of the time. You will eventually get strong enough that you can roll over Brigand groups without thinking and then look elsewhere in the world for new challenges.

Well, at the start i was fighting against bandits who had some peasant weapon, so that was... I'm not going to say that it was 'easy', but it was managable. When my company get wiped out, it's usually when I encounter wolfs (and the other angry animals that I don't have the name, i'm sorry.), bandit raiders (the armored ones), I also had to fight against some orcs (same fight that I almost instantanly fled haha), and even against one mercenary troops during a caravan contract (and with no surprise, all my soldiers died in a 12v6 fight haha)

The basic bandits with low life / low tier weapons or low tier armors are managable for me, but when it get to fight against better raiders, against some wolfs (I really hate these one haha), or against a mercenary troops, it's impossible for me... My brothers get constantly wiped out no matter the strategy I try and no matter the equipement I have. (My troops are usually lvl 5-7 equipped with better armors and weapons when it come to that point of torture for me)

[Estieukua]

Certain types of contracts feature more deadly enemies than others, and some of the more challenging ones don't become available until your company reaches a certain level of renown. So possibly you're reaching a renown threshold around day 20-30 and then taking on newly unlocked, more deadly contracts that weren't available before and that you weren't prepared for. There are also certain twists to contracts that don't become available until you reach a certain renown threshold (e.g. another mercenary band wants to take the item you've been contracted to deliver).

[TheMcMiller]

Originally posted by Estieukua:

Certain types of contracts feature more deadly enemies than others, and some of the more challenging ones don't become available until your company reaches a certain level of renown. So possibly you're reaching a renown threshold around day 20-30 and then taking on newly unlocked, more deadly contracts that weren't available before and that you weren't prepared for. There are also certain twists to contracts that don't become available until you reach a certain renown threshold (e.g. another mercenary band wants to take the item you've been contracted to deliver).

Given that I know i'm extremly bad at this game, I always try to take the 1 skull contracts. 2 skulls contracts was the max I accepted and I have never accepted a 3 skulls contract. That said, I know that this is not a 100% reliable indicator for the difficulty of a contract

[Heron]

The badly equipped bandits are called "thugs", the well equipped ones "raiders".

Are your men equipped with thug gear? In that case, you need to get better equipment equal to raiders, often referred to as "raider gear" on this forum. Getting raider gear for your frontline and pikes or similar for the backline is where I draw the line to reach early midgame. You'll be much stronger in raider gear and the game will open up.

So how to get that stuff? You have basically two options (do both):
1) Buy it! Preferably for cheap. Look for damaged armors and weapons you need on markets! Watch out for cheap pikes and billhooks (or even longaxes) especially.
2) Loot it! To do that, you need to kill raiders when your men are partly in thug gear. Damn it, right? But you don't need to fight large groups of just raiders at the start! Look for groups of thugs with just a few raiders mixed in, or small groups of raiders that you outnumber 2:1.

Two more tips to get raider gear:
- Some of them have no helmet. Bring a flail or two to headshot those for easy kills and undamaged body armors.
- When the battle is won and a raider with intact armor tries to flee, fully surround him and spam puncture dagger attacks to get the armor. Equip some guys with pocket knives / daggers to have that option.

Mercenaries are risky business. They drop very nice gear, so it can be worth it, but always consider to run if your band isn't ready.

[TheMcMiller]

Originally posted by Heron:

The badly equipped bandits are called "thugs", the well equipped ones "raiders".

Are your men equipped with thug gear? In that case, you need to get better equipment equal to raiders, often referred to as "raider gear" on this forum. Getting raider gear for your frontline and pikes or similar for the backline is where I draw the line to reach early midgame. You'll be much stronger in raider gear and the game will open up.

So how to get that stuff? You have basically two options (do both):
1) Buy it! Preferably for cheap. Look for damaged armors and equipment on markets!
2) Loot it! To do that, you need to kill raiders partly in thug gear. Damn it, right? But you don't need to fight large groups of just raiders at the start! Look for groups of thugs with just a few raiders mixed in, or small groups of raiders that you outnumber 2:1.

Two more tips to get raider gear:
- Some of them have no helmet. Bring a flail or two to headshot those for easy kills and undamaged body armors.
- When the battle is won and a raider with intact armor tries to flee, fully surround him and spam puncture dagger attacks to get the armor. Equip some guys with pocket knives / daggers to have that option.

Yeah I already got better equipement (like torso armor with 100 armor point, or head armor with 100 armor point), same with weapon. But that change nothing to the fate of my soldiers unfortunately. I can win a fight against less well equipped ennemies than me, but when they have armor or weapon as good as I have, I get wiped out... (Except in the begining of a campaign)

[Heron]

Originally posted by TheMcMiller:

Yeah I already got better equipement (like torso armor with 100 armor point, or head armor with 100 armor point), same with weapon. But that change nothing to the fate of my soldiers unfortunately. I can win a fight against less well equipped ennemies than me, but when they have armor or weapon as good as I have, I get wiped out... (Except in the begining of a campaign)

In that case you're already on the right track and will succeed eventually.

What weapons are you running on frontliners and backliners? What perks do you typically pick on front / back and what stats do you level primarily? Do you have a banner bro? Do you use the surround bonus?

[Wobbliest]

So, for me the first 10 days can be rough and I lose more bros due to not having the equipment/RNG gods hating me. But to reduce my risk I usually do this:

I try to get 5-6 Bros and gear them in at least padded armor/helmet, shield, and spear/sword IF able to. (usually have to compromise). If not able to afford/selection then having a shield is top priority for me as it gives melee def and I can avoid more hits. Avoiding hits is better than armor for me, Armor is still important because you can't avoid them all. I try to have 1-2 bro with a pole arm in 2nd line depending on my starting scenario.

Then I work on getting those bros quality equipment before hiring 2 more bros. This is because the game scales with the number of bros. If you have 12 poorly equipped bros the game will be harder than with 6 good equipped.

Then as I get loot/level up my Mel Atk, Mel Def, Fat I start looking to get swords or axes and diversify my weapons. Swords preferred around day 20 as they give a +% to hit.

I take 1 skull contracts and AVOID any parties that try to chase me as they are likely stronger than my team. If they run from you then likely weaker, if they chase you then it'll be a tough fight. The game intentionally will have roving parties stronger than you that you MUST avoid or be wiped out. This is not a "your the hero" game where you out scale the NPC/intended to beat them all.

Once I get mail shirts/kite shields for about 8 bros can I take on the brigands (raiders) that have better armor. Even then be cautious.

Eventually I cycle out my Bros for more high tier recruits and specialize in 2h weapons, hammers, flails, and 1-2 archers.

Avoid caravan contracts if you can. Seems like good money but can't avoid those dangerous parties.

In combat I try to keep formation as best a I can until enemy morale is broke. Shields in front, spears on my flanks with spear well to make the enemy waste moves avoiding or risk getting poked closing in. Polarms in 2nd line on the flanks, archers if I have them in middle with standard bearer. Careful with your advance and focus down enemies as best you can.

Remember for stats Armor =/= hit avoidance, it just take most of the damage first depending on the weapon type until depleted. Mel Def is how you avoid melee attacks (thus damage) and Range Def is how you avoid arrows.

I hope this helps.

[Estieukua]

Originally posted by Heron:

The badly equipped bandits are called "thugs", the well equipped ones "raiders".

There are also the "low" raiders (only named as "low" behind the scenes) that tend to be more common in the early game and that tend to have lesser armour and poorer weapons and shields (although they can still have some quite good items, including pikes and wooden 2H hammers and woodcutter axes, but not longaxes or arming swords or military picks or scramasaxes, and not kite shields). The "low" ones are easier to beat because they have slightly lower melee and defence skills, don't have weapon masteries, and don't recover 20 fatigue per turn. Also, they have more chance to spawn without a shield or helmet, and their shield might just be a small buckler (never carried by the better raiders).

Possibly OP gets taken unaware when larger contingents of non-low raiders become more common ...

Originally posted by Heron:

Watch out for cheap pikes and billhooks (or even longaxes) especially.

It's reasonably common for damaged pikes or bills or polehammers (but sadly not longaxes) to be available at fairly cheap prices from the markets of medium-to-large strongholds. Damaged military cleavers may also be available at the same markets, along with damaged mail shirts. Also, any civilian settlement with a leather tanner is likely (so long as it doesn't have a poor settlement status) to have several cheap padded leather armours.