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My favourite BB YouTuber is deducter: https://www.youtube.com/user/deducter
You will see him blitz through random seeds on ironman and maybe learn a thing or two. Not necessarily about how to play, but how to enjoy Battle Brothers.
What's fun about this game differs from person to person. You talk about being locked into missions, but that's not true - it's not uncommon to go into the wilds after 20ish days (if not earlier) and smash camps, looking for famed weapons or armour. There's also pretty good mission variety against a wide range of enemies, especially if you have all three paid DLCs.
Some missions may seem the same on the surface, but they often have unexpected twists and turns that will keep you off guard. For example, your average brigand contract may end up involving an extra hero unit whose head is wanted by bounty hunters, and then if you kill him, you may end up having the bounty hunters coming for you instead... There are all sorts of twists like this.
You also will find that your company takes on a unique feel based on the specific backgrounds you end up hiring. There will be events along the road, in town, and after battles that will make every playthrough unique.
It's impossible to describe everything that's awesome about Battle Brothers. For me, it's probably how well the procedural systems gel together. I love jumping into a new world and seeing how things develop over the next 100 days. You never know exactly what kinds of men you'll recruit, what their builds will be, what your gear progression will be, what famed weapons/armour you'll find, what enemies you'll end up fighting the most. That's why I played so damn much of this game.
Your frustration with the mechanics is coloring your view of the missions since the mission types are the same core as every other strategy game or even almost all RPG's.
- Go kill something
- Go find something
- Protect something
There are a ton of variations on these seen here and in other games, but ultimately they boil down to this. Some do not like an overarching quest, but this game is about surviving and building a mercenary company, not saving the world.
The combat is brutal, especially at low levels and when you first start playing. There are good guides out there for starting out, but here are some basics:
- Give front line shield + spear (nice plus to hit that early bro's really need)
- No ranged. They SUCK for many levels. Wait until you have a sturdy front line.
- breaking formation = death.
also, axes break shields
This is just mid-game achievements. You haven't even scraped the surface of the game. Try to develop a company that can make it past the initial delivery and bandit hunts and then you'll see a rich an varied world full of challenge, complexity, and two-handed weapons galore.
It's a slow burn, from what you've described you take issue with I think most of that melts away as the game progresses. Of course, the people who like this game probably liked the game before getting past the delivery contracts as well, but if you're looking to get your money's worth you still have a lot to harvest. Don't be dissuaded, it's tough, but shivving hobos for bags and sticks is not the game, that's just the start.
Also, recommend not to play on ironman if you want to learn how to get out of the early-game quickly.
Experienced players often recommend rushing unexplored locations early on in order to dig up later-game equipment, and they tend to have highly accelerated schedules that see you raise up an endgame company within a hundred or so ingame days.
For more sedate players, yeah, the early-game can be just a matter of repeating low-level contracts until you feel ready to get hired by noble houses or to tackle camps out in the wilderness. I usually play like that, but I'm in no hurry.
BB campaigns can go on for a fairly long time. They probably seem very slow when you first start playing. I like the very gradual progression, but I can see how it feel a little boring.
Early-game archers are somewhat unreliable. All brothers early on will have low attack stats, but in melee combat you can improve your odds by surrounding enemies. In ranged combat that's not an option, and shields tend to be better against ranged attacks than against melee, and then most enemies will be obstructed by their foes and allies. Shields are especially an issue when dealing with bandits, which I'm guessing are you opponents most of the time.
You can approach this in multiple ways. You could hire more archers and improve your chance to hit by simply firing more arrows. It may seem a little wasteful, but if you happen to stumble across good ranged recruits, it may be worth it since some of them might grow up to be good mid-game sharpshooters. You could also take contracts against beasts, which don't use shields and are easy pickings for archers. Later on the problem will disappear on its own as your archers will be more skilled and will be able to hit even most shielded enemies fairly reliably.
Early on using shields is a very good idea. Your brothers have low defense skills, and a shield gives you a flat bonus there. You really can't tank any hits because your HP are middling at best and you have little armor. Later on your brothers will have higher skills, more HP, better armor and the flat bonus provided by a shield will begin to appear somewhat less valuable - and that's where two-handed weapons or duelist loadouts will become more interesting.
But for low-end recruits, early in the game? Shields are just the smart thing to bring.
I damn well love BB. If you want to know what's good about it, go read the reviews.
Pretty much yes. If you don't enjoy the battle gameplay aspect than this game won't really entertain you.
like i said, i really start to struggle finding a goal to persue. just doing this basic missions with zero rewarding feeling cause the gold is not enough to buy any of the good stuff gets frustrating.
i still dont get the hit chances in the game and yes i watched guides. 5% hit chance with my archers, no matter what, during a night ambush...thats just bs
If you want to make use of ranged units early, try throwing javelins at close range! They are very strong against lightly armored units which make up the bulk of early game enemies and don't require high ranged skill to have decent hitchances. Ranged are less efficient at night. (Makes sense, doesn't it?)
Mixing in an early 2h bro can be pretty strong, but it's rather advanced stuff because they die so very easily. Once your bros can tank some hits however with either heavy armor or the nimble perk, shieldless frontliners become the meta because higher damage.
The single most important trick to make money and a lot of other good advise can be found here:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2549815780
How do I 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.
You're not reading what people are saying. What do you mean "starting area"? There is no starting area, the map is yours to explore from the onset. In fact, you're much better off heading south and hitting the Blazing Deserts content earlier, before nomads get dodge.
I can tell you that I almost never do delivery missions unless it is right on the path I'm heading, or caravan missions unless it's late game and I'm hoping for an armorer/blacksmith to be selling famed items.
Doing missions is NOT the purpose of the game, building you company is. Focus on going out and finding enemies, getting gear and keeping the good stuff while selling the rest. If you're running around doing nothing but delivery missions, you really are doing it wrong.
1. True, there aren't a whole lot of different missions types but that's just the nature of the game. What else might you expect besides kill stuff, retrieve stuff, protect stuff, and deliver stuff? Anyway, you should always prioritize the kill and retrieve quests. Combat is where you'll get all the XP to make your bros stronger and are also the main source of you gear either directly through loot or indirectly by selling unneeded loot. However, beware of retrieve contracts that send you to ruins because those locations are usually guarded by ancient dead and you won't be ready to fight them until later. Only take caravan or delivery missions if nothing else is available and they won't send you too far away from other settlements where you can pick up contracts. Experienced players will advise seeking out and busting camps but I'd suggest avoiding them as a newbie until you have a solid party.
2. Hit chance with ranged weapons is primarily determined by the ranged attack stat. It needs to be at least 50 to be decent. What are your archer's stats like? What backgrounds were they? You should only make archers out of a few backgrounds: poachers, bowyers, and hunters. Bowyers and hunters are a little expensive in the early game so look out for poachers. They're the least skilled of the three but they'll do ok against beasts and brigands. Some people will tell you not to use archers at all early game because they think you need to level them up a fair bit before they can be decent. I may not be as experienced as they are but I think they're wrong. My archers were routinely getting kills even at low levels and just having them in the party is advantageous because if you have more ranged units than the enemy they'll be forced to charge you, enabling you to fight on ground of your choosing. 3-4 archers is good for most scenarios.
3. Early on all the rest of your men (8-9) should be equipped with spear and shield with a knife or dagger in their belt slot for armor stealing at the end of a battle against human or undead enemies. With low health and weak armor unshielded bros wielding 2H weapons will likely get themselves killed. Other weapons may have more raw damage than spears but the +20% to hit chance that spears have is a big help for low level bros who still have mediocre melee skill. The spearwall ability is also highly effective against beasts and undead because unlike humans they'll just mindlessly charge into it. Brigands will often attempt to flank you but not always so it can help against them too. You can gradually reequip your best melee skill bros with stronger 1H weapons as they level up and eventually transition to 2H weapons once you also acquire good armor for them.
I'll give you some advice on things you should learn early on. It took me 300 hours of campaigns to learn these things piecemeal.
- - -
Most tasks towns and villages give you are repetitive. They are there to help you grind through the early game reputation, equipment and skills.
Mid game you start to get small variations to those quests and when you are near 1000 rep (Professional) you will get the ambition to unlock noble contracts.
When the late-game crisis starts around day 73, that's when you will start getting unique contracts, the goal of which is to tilt the balance against the crisis and beat it.
Now about mechanics and some early-game advice
First off - archers early game are trash. Your ranged bro will be utterly useless and unreliable with a crossbow that can pump out 1 shot a round. I always look for cheap throwing spears in villages - 180-210 crowns is the ideal buying price. That allows you to throw 2 spears a turn for two turns and then swap for crossbow.
During battle I always pull all my guy back if I don't see a high ground hex I can put the archer on, just so I can reveal the map behind me and see if I can mount him there (don't do this when fighting direwolves, they cover ground quickly).
I also use the spears once the enemy is 1 tile away, engaging my melee bros. Ranged bros also benefit from surround bonus on enemies so exploit it for extra hit chance!
When you level your ranged bro you MUST give him ranged attack and ranged defense on every single level so that he becomes viable late game. Give them Student for extra exp gain, Gifted for extra points and Bullseye, so you can snipe targets behind cover later on.
Economy:
The level of a settlement (indicated by hexes with houses) dictates the prices of goods and equipment in its market. Early on I would advise against buying from Lvl 3-5 Castles and Towns.
Additionally making money from contracts alone is not viable. You end up in a perpetual grind for the whole campaign.
The real money-maker is selling looted Tier II (or higher) weapons but I will come back to this again when I mention knives.
You must never buy full-durability equipment unless absolutely necessary, because you short yourself on funds drastically. Always buy equipment with low durability because it's a lot cheaper to fix it with tools than to buy it at market price.
When you start getting Tier II weapons you need to repair them and sell them to high-level towns, which have the highest price increase for goods.
Hold off on selling gooss like Iron Ingots, Wood, Furs, Salt etc until you find a town that has Ambushed Roads - you can make massive profit when the town is desperate for goods.
Early game strats:
Every campaign I look for the closest castle / town and look at its market - I'm looking for weapons and armor with low durability (30-60%) so I can give my guys a decent start.
If you can get axes and spears for around 100 crowns you should buy them.
Any Aketon Caps or Leather padded armors you can find at 40-60% durability are a steal and will benefit you greatly.
If you see a fort (with blue rooftops) there's a huge chance it has a kennel master - buy a couple of dogs from there because they sell them for cheap at around 170 crowns or less.
If you don't have bros with good melee atk rolls (50 or higher) then dogs will benefit you greatly because you can deploy them to delay enemies, add to surround bonus and get extra attacks.
Unequip the 2H axe from your melee bro and sell it at a high level town. Replace it with a 1H axe - early game your melee bros have crap hit chance so you need the extra attacks.
Give shields only to your least armored melee guys and those with the highest melee defense.
I usually have 2, maximum 3 shields, which I send forward to meet the enemy and immediately shield wall, so I can bait the first hits. Once the enemy does their first hits I send my high melee atk bros to start doing damage.
Your high m.atk bros should not carry a shield - only their 1H weapon, because they get +25% damage from the Two-handed grip passive and lets you massacre enemies quicker in combat.
Avoid fighting Raiders in the first 10 days because you need to level the stats of your guys.
I usually go for Student as first perk on all of them to get faster leveling through the campaign.
Avoid fighting Nachtzehrers early on because they will destroy you. If you find yourself in an engagement with them you should spear wall, let them jump and wound themselves and when you kill them you must send your bros to step onto their corpses, otherwise the surviving ones will feed on them and get stronger.
ALWAYS wait on turns in stead of ending them. You can get an opportunity to do something after the enemy takes action and you can sometimes get your bros to shake off a stun before the turn ends.
During combat early game you must prioritize the most dangerous enemy weapons.
A thug wearing a rag and a 2H axe is the first one you should kill. He is the easiest target and will potentially drop the morale of his friends when he dies.
Thugs with metal flails are absolutely lethal early-game, so be very careful not to send a bro with no head armor to fight them. They also need to die first.
Thugs with pickaxes are also some of the first enemies you should kill early if you're equipped with decent armor. They will destroy it and make your bros targets for other thugs.
Give knives to as many melee bros as possible as an inventory weapon. The knife's second attack allows you to attack HP directly, bypassing the armor. This preserves the armor on your enemy and allows you to grab it from the loot screen at the end of battle.
Durability percentage = Chance to drop in the loot screen.
A 60% durability armor has 60% chance to appear as loot.
This is a must-do early and mid-game where you need to get better equipment.
You can completely encircle an enemy with 8 bros to prevent it from running away. You can use this strat to farm exp on low-level bros or farm armors.
Tier II weapons or higher are you best money-maker. You get great value from fixing high-tier weapons and selling them in high-level towns.
Don't do this for armors though, because the value is lost from their high durability requirements. Only repair those if you want to use the armor on your bros.
When you want to run away ALWAYS do it manually until your guys have the map border in sight. If you click Retreat in the first round, the AI could screw over some of your bros and let the enemy reach them.
Be very careful not to get ambushed by an enemy inside a forest hex. When an enemy engages you from a forest hex you will start the battle surrounded from all sides.
If you spot an enemy going for you and they are in a forest hex - attack them so that you have the engagement initiative and you get a live VS line positioning start. It will allow you to run away.
Avoid fighting spiders in pine forests until mid game. Fighting them in orange fall forests is fine, because those woods are sparse.
If you find yourself in a fight with rotting undead, you need to bring cleavers as inventory weapons for your melee bros. The 2nd cleaver attack decapitates enemies when they are at very low health and that prevents zombies from resurrecting.
Ancient dead are extremely dangerous early-game, so avoid them until get a grip on the game's mechanics.
This is all I can think of from the top of my head but i will comment again if something important comes to mind.
PS: Recruitment price =/= skill. You can get huge value from cheap recruits and trash value from high-priced recruits.
The equipment on the recruit is what drives the price up.