Looking for a bit of info about the game

[Jayded]

Hey everyone, I'm thinking of diving into this game as it looks right up my alley, I'm just curious about how unforgiving it is. I'm completely fine with a challenging game, but I've read some posts about how I should be savescumming if I lose more than 1 brother in a match, things like that.

On the easiest difficulty, is it expected I'll be losing people pretty often? If I lose a bunch, can I recover or is it game over? Does the game always scale against the number of troops you have?

[bunies]

the problem is not necessary the game difficulty the problem is that its all up to dice rolls and you can go full ♥♥♥♥♥♥ and win a fight or you can have the best strategy possible and play perfectly and still get completely decimated because the game decided to give you bad rolls and the enemy good rolls

simply put this game is more of a degen gambling simulator then an actual strategy game

[Slice]

While I somewhat agree with @bunies, the trick is to learn how to mitigate bad rolls and run away when prudent. If you aren't sure if you should take a fight, don't. Look at how much the contract is paying you. If it seems like a lot, you're probably going to have issues.

[revenantsknight]

Originally posted by Jayded:

On the easiest difficulty, is it expected I'll be losing people pretty often?

In the early game, probably. At low difficulty it's possible to outscale the game, and therefore risk of death should go down over time for your best bros, all else being equal.

Originally posted by Jayded:

If I lose a bunch, can I recover or is it game over?

Again, probably recoverable, but depends on what you have left. Some bros are much more expendable than others. Needing to recover repeatedly will eventually leave you behind, though.

Originally posted by Jayded:

Does the game always scale against the number of troops you have?

Not an expert, but my understanding is it scales up to a 12 man party, since that's the maximum number of troops you can put on the field. In addition to those 12, you can have up to 8 more in reserve, and those are not counted in scaling. There is also some scaling for your average level and renown, but importantly not for your items or wealth. I'm sure if any of this is wrong someone will be along shortly.

[turtle225]

Once you get experienced with the game you can consistently win without too many deaths, but losing a bro occasionally is completely fine, especially in the early game.

Learning the game is challenging though. There's no hand holding. Expect to struggle initially. You should probably be savescumming as you are learning, to make the learning process easier. Do a run on beginner or veteran difficulty, savescum when you take major losses. Get a feel for things. Experiment. Learn how the enemies work and learn how to evaluate when your team can handle which enemies or when you need to run and fight them later. Once you get comfortable you can play a higher difficulty and/or stop savescumming.

[gvandinteren]

Do not listen to bunies.

This game is 99% skill and 1% luck. You must know which fights to pick, which fights to avoid, which brothers to put into risky spots and which brothers to play safe with.

Check out playthroughs on YouTube. You will learn loads from guys like Feedingfriendly or Deducter.

[fistleaf]

If you play on the easiest difficulty and pick the easiest contracts (1 skull), you will probably do fine. It is only when you get cocky and pick hard contracts, then you start losing brothers.

[bunies]

Originally posted by gvandinteren:

Do not listen to bunies.

This game is 99% skill and 1% luck. You must know which fights to pick, which fights to avoid, which brothers to put into risky spots and which brothers to play safe with.

Check out playthroughs on YouTube. You will learn loads from guys like Feedingfriendly or Deducter.

no game that has a dice roll is anywhere near 99% skill, stop lying to yourself

hell HoMM games aren't 99% skill and they are far less RNG dependent then this game

[Kill'em ALL]

Originally posted by bunies:

the game decided to give you bad rolls and the enemy good rolls

You're in the wrong thread, brother.
https://steamcommunity.com/app/365360/discussions/0/604154270792626996/

[Santo]

Let's not turn this into a pointless argument about RNG.

@Jayded, the game is tough as nails and doesn't hold any hands, but it's very rewarding when you start getting the hang of it. I'd recommend this FAQ as a good starting point: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2549815780

[UnluckyNoob]

Originally posted by bunies:

no game that has a dice roll is anywhere near 99% skill, stop lying to yourself

hell HoMM games aren't 99% skill and they are far less RNG dependent then this game

Competitive HoMM 3 games are probably only 10-30% skill and are much more RNG based than BB. BB is 0.01% - 10% luck depending on game day. Early game is somewhat RNG-dependant, but later RNG mainly define progression speed. For example without looting enough named armours/recruiting enough good bros(which is RNG) you'll be unable to handle Monolith safely.

[Jean-Maurice Nya]

It goes in the category of games where the lowest difficulty is challenging for a beginner. But once you've understood the mechanics, bad rolls won't be much of an issue. Bros are expandables, this is a mercenary company. It can be wiped out and you can still continue playing as your its leader and don't fight yourself.

The more you'll play, the more you'll learn what you can do with ease, and what present a risk of stopping your progression.

Globally, it's quite sandboxy. The main goal is to reach the first crisis which occurs around day 60 and survive it. Then you can continue as long as you wish or start a new company.
There's a wide variety of viable strategies to achieve it. Then, you can try the hard challenges the game has in legendary locations, those will require more specific builds and synergies for you to beat them.

Failing is part of the game, so an Ironman run from the start isn't recommended for example. Save, reload, try different stuff, learn. Then you can set things for harder challenges if you wish, it'll depend on your own ability to cope with frustration because you've made choices that rely too much on luck, or just be satisfy by knowing your limitations and avoid this frustration.

[StyxFlame]

Losing a brother here and there is not a big deal really. But it's probably not wise to put your high potential brothers in a spot where they might die. In terms of positioning, those positions should be reserved for your more expendable bros.

[Jayded]

Thank you! I really appreciate all the feedback and advice. I definitely think this game will be for me, and it almost seems to have a rogue-like element to it? I'll give it a go and give it the time it deserves to try and learn.

[StyxFlame]

Originally posted by Jayded:

Thank you! I really appreciate all the feedback and advice. I definitely think this game will be for me, and it almost seems to have a rogue-like element to it? I'll give it a go and give it the time it deserves to try and learn.

When I started playing, my first 100 hours or so, I did play it like a roguelike. I personally really enjoy that kind of game, and it was part of the appeal. It took me longer than that to realize just how brilliant Battle Brothers is. The more I started to see just how many strategic advantages one can create, and how to adapt to the hand that you are dealt, the game also started to change. It is no longer a roguelike for me, but something even better. I'd say take it step by step and enjoy the journey!

[bunies]

Originally posted by UnluckyNoob:

Originally posted by bunies:

no game that has a dice roll is anywhere near 99% skill, stop lying to yourself

hell HoMM games aren't 99% skill and they are far less RNG dependent then this game

Competitive HoMM 3 games are probably only 10-30% skill and are much more RNG based than BB. BB is 0.01% - 10% luck depending on game day. Early game is somewhat RNG-dependant, but later RNG mainly define progression speed. For example without looting enough named armours/recruiting enough good bros(which is RNG) you'll be unable to handle Monolith safely.

can we please stop lying ? HOM3 does have so luck involved but no where near that much, hell wc3 has more luck involved them HOM3. and if you think BB is anywhere near that low luck dependent then you are flat out delusional. Like seriously, just be honest.