I got the 50% off offer from Total War Access so I guess I'm buying this today. I'll also probably buy 1 piece of DLC. Which would you guys recommend? H&B or one of the DLC races first?
Do you have WH1? It really depends on who you wish to play first, since you'd get the most out of that specific pack/race. I started with Tyrion/High Elves and would have loved the Queen & Crone for the units that unlocked the Regiment of Renown units for the High Elf faction. So if you know what race you're gonna start your first playthrough with, I'd buy that corresponding pack.
I got the 50% off offer from Total War Access so I guess I'm buying this today. I'll also probably buy 1 piece of DLC. Which would you guys recommend? H&B or one of the DLC races first?
I got the 50% off offer from Total War Access so I guess I'm buying this today. I'll also probably buy 1 piece of DLC. Which would you guys recommend? H&B or one of the DLC races first?
The rule of thumb for DLC in Total war is buy what you want to play.
All DLC is present on the campaign map whether you own it or not. Buying the DLC just unlocks the ability to play as that faction/with those units. Pretty much all DLC is of decent quality too. The lord packs do enhance a faction quite a bit.
Two caveats to that: Owning both, Warhammer I and II unlocks the mortal empire map where both campaign maps are combined. That's certainly the most bang you can get for your buck.
warhammer II faction DLC tends to have more interesting campaign mechanics than those in 1. Still, i'd buy the faction you think is coolest, there's not really a "bad" one.
I got the 50% off offer from Total War Access so I guess I'm buying this today. I'll also probably buy 1 piece of DLC. Which would you guys recommend? H&B or one of the DLC races first?
It mostly depends on what you want. Lord packs expand the base game races as well as empire. Races DLC add completely new ways to play the game.
For me Races DLC are more fun because they have
A new roster to explore
4LL in usually very different starting positions
Completely new mechanics to explore
That said i really enjoy the lord packs for wh2 then those of wh1. The Queen & The Crone - Hellebron has vested interest in picking fights with ulthuan and Morathi; Arielle has access to some tree units from the WE and is rewarded for keeping ulthuan safe The Prophet & The Warlock - Skaven get a viable ranged firepower as well as one of the best chars ever made, ikit claw has some of the most amazing animations in the game; also he has nukes. Tehehauin is fanatic zealous enforcer of the great plan. He sacrificies his enemies for buffs/banner/RoR,etc. His campaign is a bit hard but what could I say? warmbloods just keep resisting the inevitable, they will all be sacrifices to Sotek; specially those rats. The Hunter & The Beast - Wulfhart has a very different take on an empire campaign specially due to the limitation of his army. Nakai has the best horde gameplay but it still is less fun then a settlement faction. IMO WE and norsca are the factions that feel like a "horde". That said Nakai and the new lizardmen units are a lot of fun to use, Nakai is specially strong for a foot monster lord, he gives me kholek vibes in my campaign.
All this said i want to add that FLC are also pretty good, unlike wh1 where FLC usually felt much cheaper then payed LL.
Tretch Craventail - bring skaven to nagoroth and its an hard campaign where betrayal is the order of the day.
Alith Anar - brings the HE to nagaroth. Has an unique unit as well an unique mechanic.
Lokhir Fellheart - brings the DE to lustria. Has heavy focus on black arks (special ship units). He really needs it since fighting in lustria is an absolute nightmare
Tiktaq'to - brings the lizardmen to the southlands. heavy focus on air units. benefits quite a bit with the prohet and warlock DLC. He complemetly changes the way lizardmen play with a much bigger focus on air units instead of the ussual big dinos. He has says Tik -taq -TO. which is a lot of fun.
Gor-Rok - The easiest campaign in the game. not only is gor-rok brutally strong but you start with lord kroak (slan hero that has 1 spell with 3 variations, that spell essentially works like a nuke that doesn't hurt frendly troops). he also buffs a LOT the sauros warriors. Sauros warriors are like chosen in the sense that they are generally unbeatable on 1-1 fights. This is the campaign to choose when you want to destroy the AI.
Personally i'd play the base game then after 2-3 campaigns go look for a sale on what you want on the above.
In case you didn't notice by my avatar but lizardmen are my fav race. There might be some bias there. Just in case you didn't notice.
Thanks for the replies, guys. I think I'll play around a bit with each of the races first. If I get really invested in one I'll buy the lord pack for it. Otherwise I'm kind of eyeing the Vampire Coast.
Also I don't have to have all the WH1 DLC to play Mortal Empires right? I just won't be able to play as the ones I haven't bought?
Edit: Oh, just noticed that the lord packs are half the price of the new races. So I guess I could either get 2 lord packs or 1 faction DLC.
Thanks for the replies, guys. I think I'll play around a bit with each of the races first. If I get really invested in one I'll buy the lord pack for it. Otherwise I'm kind of eyeing the Vampire Coast.
Also I don't have to have all the WH1 DLC to play Mortal Empires right? I just won't be able to play as the ones I haven't bought?
Correct. You only need the base game. That gives you access to Empire, Orcs, Dwarves, Vampires and Bretonnia. Wood Elves, Beastmen, Norsca and Chaos are DLC.
Thanks for the replies, guys. I think I'll play around a bit with each of the races first. If I get really invested in one I'll buy the lord pack for it. Otherwise I'm kind of eyeing the Vampire Coast.
Also I don't have to have all the WH1 DLC to play Mortal Empires right? I just won't be able to play as the ones I haven't bought?
Edit: Oh, just noticed that the lord packs are half the price of the new races. So I guess I could either get 2 lord packs or 1 faction DLC.
obviously the only correct choice is buying both the profect and the warlock and the beast and the hunter. This way you can have half a football team of lizardmen LL and so many dinos that there is no way a simple zoologic park can stop nature from finding its way following the great plan!
Joke aside you should also give a look at my OT which has most of the changes made to the old world races when playing them on ME.
Yep, Mortal Empires is kinda rough.I really think that turn times have to be high up on their lists of things to work on, especially looking toward the full trilogy map.
Though I just recently played a ME campaign with Grimgor of all factions and still enjoyed it tons. I'm getting all giddy just thinking about how awesome the Greenskins will be once the Update hits.
I'd certainly be happy with better turn times but I don't want them to actively sacrifice anything for them. My hope would be that by the end there are just more campaign options for people to tailor so that I can have my giga-campaign with a huge map and a million factions, 5 minute load times be damned.
I have been playing wiht the reikmarshall in vortex and he is pretty cool. The game quickly reminded me how crapy empire line infantry truly is. gotrek and felix are a lot of fun too.
The only problem is that everyone and i do really mean EVERY SINGLE FACTION in lustria wants to kill you. Its like i'm the huns again. Even as chaos I never received so many DoW.
I hope that if there is an end turn time reduction nothing is sacrificed for it. I think the best course of action is having someting akin to football manager or xcom2 where there are setting on the start of the campaign where it clearly says that if you want everything there will be a lot of waiting.
I play football manager with ALL the leagues and its amazing! I don't want wh3 super-mega campaign having wierd stuff just that its end turn time is aceptable.
I do think that i'm probably a minority.
Re-spec is also one of my wishlists because nothing make me feel sad then confederating a LL for him to have spent 20+ points on the red and blue tree. When playing ikit I had queek with full red tree and 0 points in his unique skill tree, its disgusting. Queek the general... /sigh
I'd certainly be happy with better turn times but I don't want them to actively sacrifice anything for them. My hope would be that by the end there are just more campaign options for people to tailor so that I can have my giga-campaign with a huge map and a million factions, 5 minute load times be damned.
Yep, Mortal Empires is kinda rough.I really think that turn times have to be high up on their lists of things to work on, especially looking toward the full trilogy map.
Though I just recently played a ME campaign with Grimgor of all factions and still enjoyed it tons. I'm getting all giddy just thinking about how awesome the Greenskins will be once the Update hits.
I haven't played with the GS since wh1 norsca patch. I don't enjoy their first 100s or so turns where you just fight GS and dwarves. I hope when they are reworked they divide karak azul and Red fags* while adding more races to the badlands.
*not sure if this is the right tribe.
Also you need 50-80 turns to be able to get the building to research the beautiful pet Nok and the playful Giant. It is absolutely mind blowing to have such cool units locked by tech in a race that focus on raiding/sacking.
I also hope they add more savage stuff as it is weird (from an immersive point of view) to have only wurzaag as a savage Lord.
Wurzzag also gets really weird bugs when he is confederated. (i don't think CA has ever corrected this bug)
Anyone else play with a no increased upkeep per lord mod?
I have and..it feels nice being able to have 5 armies without being super poor. You still gotta pay for the units bit its..nice. super useful for Empire too.
I do feel a bit guilty but getting 10k+ gold a turn is nice for my ever expanding empire.
Anyone else play with a no increased upkeep per lord mod?
I have and..it feels nice being able to have 5 armies without being super poor. You still gotta pay for the units bit its..nice. super useful for Empire too.
I do feel a bit guilty but getting 10k+ gold a turn is nice for my ever expanding empire.
I can understand the allure but i personally don't use it.
The main reason being I think it would make the game far too easy for me. I have around 1100h (if you count both wh as a single game) this makes me quite formidable agianst the AI.
I have to play in hard/very hard for the AI to have a chance against me in battle/campaign. In normal i don't think I'd ever lose a battle unless the odds are really really against me.
This is also the reason i don't use the maps of that great mod. THe AI is super easy to exploit on those maps and makes the campaign a breeze unless i actively don't chose complex strategies.
The only mods i enjoye are mostly re-skined stuff and the new content ones like TEB and the new lords mod.
The supply line mechanic is poor design if you ask me. It significantly limits your strategic options and unit choices. I hope CA can come up with something better in the future.
But removing it without a replacement does feel like a chest to me.
Finished my first vortex campaign. I did High Elves, Tyrion specifically, which is cool because I've always kinda wanted to play them on the tabletop. Things were a bit rough at first until I managed to drive back the Pirates of Sartosa and take their capital for good measure. Then I went ahead and conquered/confederated the rest of Ulthuan. I don't have the DLC yet so unfortunately Alarielle had to die. I kept Alith Anar unconfederated so he could keep the Dark Elves at bay until I went over to Naggarond to personally wipe them out. At the end I just left an army around there to deal with the Skaven/Lizardmen/rogue armies while the rest of my forces stayed in Ulthuan to take care of the Chaos spawns.
Trying out mortal empires now. I'm using Heinrich Kemmler. The Brettonians aren't posing much of a problem yet since they're still fielding mostly peasants.
Kemmler is a lot of fun imo. Especially if you want someone who can just sail off somewhere at be kind of a wanderer. But you can make stacks and stacks and stacks of absurdly cheap chaff and just slowly zombie/skeleton the world to death in a fun way.
I've decided to dabble with it while waiting for Luckey's Overhaul's DLC compatibility patch. Time to WAAAAGH (like, a proper WAAAAGH as Greenskins!) once more.
I used it a lot in Warhammer 1 but it was a different mod back then and the game had a ton of issues.
In Warhammer 2 I don't feel the need for an overhaul mod. SFO may have some good additions but the way units are designed just isn't my cup of tea.
Picked this up having been a long time casual Warhammer fan. I don't really play strategy games at all, either Civilisation stuff like the campaign map in this or indeed the micromanagement of battles. I've started as High Elf, the easier difficulty Lord (can't recall the name). Hopefully I can learn on my feet and not be totally overwhelmed with the strategy/enormity of it all. I've handled the first few battles nicely with decisive victories by essentially repeating the same tactic over and over lol:
Deploy melee in a big horizontal line
Deploy range behind melee in a big horizontal line
Deploy artillery off to the side slightly
Deploy cavalry in trees/out of sight
Use artillery and range to soften up approaching units
Charge melee in when the enemy are close enough
Cavalry sneak around and smash in from behind/the side
Have cavalry retreat out then smash into something else again
Picked this up having been a long time casual Warhammer fan. I don't really play strategy games at all, either Civilisation stuff like the campaign map in this or indeed the micromanagement of battles. I've started as High Elf, the easier difficulty Lord (can't recall the name). Hopefully I can learn on my feet and not be totally overwhelmed with the strategy/enormity of it all. I've handled the first few battles nicely with decisive victories by essentially repeating the same tactic over and over lol:
Deploy melee in a big horizontal line
Deploy range behind melee in a big horizontal line
Deploy artillery off to the side slightly
Deploy cavalry in trees/out of sight
Use artillery and range to soften up approaching units
Charge melee in when the enemy are close enough
Cavalry sneak around and smash in from behind/the side
Have cavalry retreat out then smash into something else again
That's a good tactic. It is called hammer and anvil. High elves having a very rounded and powerfull roster make it possible to use that tactic against most foes. (Also note that this is one of the best tactics for historic total ear titles.)
The cool thing about Warhammer is the variety. Lizardmen for example have very limited ranged and cavalry so you can't do that tactic as easily, on the other hand lizardmen have a very strong melee line and access to powerful monsters.
If you have wh1, dwarves have literally 0 cavalry units and the vampire counts have 0 ranged units. 2 very weird ways to play but quite fun once we get used to those weakness.
If you need help with any mechanic or have any questions do aks
Yeah for as much talk as the Empire get about being the jack-of-all-trades faction I feel like Helfs can be right there with them. Different strengths for sure but access to at least some of everything if you're able to afford it. I like being able to run anything from 20-dragon memestacks to well-rounded combined arms setups.
So Grimhammer 2 feels kinda overwrought in some respects (there's a lot of additional stats and decisions flying around that kinda zero each other out) but it does end up feeling a lot deeper than vanilla--though perhaps not as balanced. The strategic side is closer to historical Total Wars, with several valid options for how to grow a single province to benefit your playstyle & empire. Army comps and hero/lord progression are equally varied, with lords and heroes able to radically alter how effective certain units are. But as an overhaul, the most interesting part is how willing GH2 is to embrace the feel of Warhammer.
Like, it allows a few broad changes that you opt-in to early in your campaign. Firstly: unit and/or army caps, which constrain the availability of elite units a la Tomb Kings; secondly: you can prevent Kislev and the Imperial provinces from fighting; and thirdly: you can allow mini-invasions by the Beastmen, as a precursor to the Chaos Invasion itself. Now I haven't seen the latter two's full effects yet, but I like the idea of the Empire as this huge power bloc that can only be whittled away at until Chaos arrives, where it then fights for its life.
I should also mention that campaign balance has been altered a lot. Things like public order, stances, buildings, and post-battle decisions can now swing campaign effects a lot--some alter upkeep, others affect units faction-wide or in-province, leading to more strategic decisions when confronted with all of them. The AI has also lost its difficulty bonuses, and no longer treats thep layer differently, but builds its armies and settlements more sensibly. And biggest of all, there is now imperium--as your empire grows, so too does its inefficiency (increased upkeep) and threat. So far it feels fair, but it could snowball badly later on; not sure yet.
Now, in my game I've been playing as Greenskins and I'm really impressed by the scope of the overhaul. The greenskin factions are built on momentum--with a new 'Greentide' mechanic, and pop-based buildings (like hordes, but for settlements) that makes them collectively stronger the longer they can conquer unchallenged... but they can lose a lot when pressed. There's also a lot of new events, sort of Beastmen moon-cycle like, as you progress in Greentide, that strengthens their tenacity. Everything with them hinges on their aggression and it's proper WAAAGH-y goodness.
There's a lot more to everything but I think I've gone on enough for now, lol. I'll just end this by saying I'm really liking Grimhammer 2 so far, and that anyone interested in MORE WAAAGH should try it out.
Though, I read the list of changes before jumping in, I'd recommend giving it a look so you know what you're getting into (and be warned, there's some omissions rn due to the new update):
Yeah for as much talk as the Empire get about being the jack-of-all-trades faction I feel like Helfs can be right there with them. Different strengths for sure but access to at least some of everything if you're able to afford it. I like being able to run anything from 20-dragon memestacks to well-rounded combined arms setups.
Ive never seen Empire as a jack of all trades faction. Their infantry units are leagues below everyone elses imo. Good cavalry and best artillery easily. Their hero units make up the difference especially the variety of mages.
Then again I spam their rockets and usually my fights end up being a shit show the second my frontline is broken. So its always tense!
I think the reason the Empire's always been seen as the 'all-arounder' is because during Total Warhammer 1, they were always the most traditional faction. Unlike the Greenskins, they can trade; unlike the Vampire Counts, they have archers and artillery; and unlike the Dwarves, they have cavalry. They were the one faction that had it all.
With Total Warhammer 2--and now, the Empire overhaul--the waters are as muddied as ever. None of the factions, save the Greenskins, have any passing resemblance to historical Total War factions.
Ive never seen Empire as a jack of all trades faction. Their infantry units are leagues below everyone elses imo. Good cavalry and best artillery easily. Their hero units make up the difference especially the variety of mages.
Then again I spam their rockets and usually my fights end up being a shit show the second my frontline is broken. So its always tense!
I think that's a pretty common thought both here and in tabletop? They have at least good of everything, basically. I think state troops are generally extremely cost efficient, especially with even one support hero/lord to help them out. Obviously cost efficiency only matters so much in campaign, though.
I think that's a pretty common thought both here and in tabletop? They have at least good of everything, basically. I think state troops are generally extremely cost efficient, especially with even one support hero/lord to help them out. Obviously cost efficiency only matters so much in campaign, though.
Managed to take all of Bretonnia sans Mousillon since I'm trying to confederate them. I got the tech that eliminates upkeep for skeleton, so my main force was 2 full stacks skeleton spearmen and Kemmler with the big stuff. Vampiric corruption is increasing a bit too slow for my liking, though.
Now I can't decide where to expand. I want to keep the Empire alive for now so they can hopefully take on Chaos when they come. So maybe southwards, or Ulthuan.
So another Lizardmen DLC is highly unlikely which leaves Dark Elves, High Elves and Skaven.
Some people are certain that the High Elves will be saved for a HE vs Greenskins pack with Grom the Paunch and Eltharion the Grim.
Which would leave us with the Dark Elves vs Skaven as paid DLC and a Dark Elf lord as free DLC.
Apparently there is a Dark Elves Beastlord called Rakarth, would actually make a lot of sense to pair him with Throt the Unclean in the DLC, since he is the Skaven Beastmaster of sorts. FLC lord will probably be… Malus Darkblade?
I'd like to see more game 1 stuff but part of me also thinks it's best to get everything possible into the new world during game 2 since it'll probably be relatively hard to add them to the game 3 map but any of the game 1 races should be possible. I don't really feel any affinity for DElves but I'm always up for more things to fight with dinosaurs.
I'd like to see more game 1 stuff but part of me also thinks it's best to get everything possible into the new world during game 2 since it'll probably be relatively hard to add them to the game 3 map but any of the game 1 races should be possible. I don't really feel any affinity for DElves but I'm always up for more things to fight with dinosaurs.
Any reccomended mods that make combat last longer yet stay balanced? I don't know why CA decided to make all battles over in the blink of an eye across all their titles.
So another Lizardmen DLC is highly unlikely which leaves Dark Elves, High Elves and Skaven.
Some people are certain that the High Elves will be saved for a HE vs Greenskins pack with Grom the Paunch and Eltharion the Grim.
Which would leave us with the Dark Elves vs Skaven as paid DLC and a Dark Elf lord as free DLC.
Apparently there is a Dark Elves Beastlord called Rakarth, would actually make a lot of sense to pair him with Throt the Unclean in the DLC, since he is the Skaven Beastmaster of sorts. FLC lord will probably be… Malus Darkblade?
VC have a couple units, and notably quite a few meaningful characters. But I think it'll be quite some time before we see anything else going by one of their AMA answers.
TK I think lack a melee bone giant and a swarm-type unit, so nothing really important.
Any reccomended mods that make combat last longer yet stay balanced? I don't know why CA decided to make all battles over in the blink of an eye across all their titles.
I tried out a handful of these recently and settled on Longer Battles. It's not really what I'd called "balanced," but I still enjoy it more than the vanilla battle speed.
The best change I've found is just using Lucky's Overhaul, but obviously that changes way more than just battle length.
Any reccomended mods that make combat last longer yet stay balanced? I don't know why CA decided to make all battles over in the blink of an eye across all their titles.
Both Lucky's Overhaul and Grimhammer II (also an overhaul) extend battles by making HP pools (and damage) higher. Grimhammer is roughly 1.25x HP pools, while Lucky's is 2x.
I'd recommend 'em both, they're a really fun change from vanilla. They feel balanced in terms of each respective overhaul (from what I've seen), but compared to vanilla it's quite a change.
I think Nagash makes more sense for game 3. Assuming game 3 is all about destroying (or saving) the world, i think Nagash makes it an easy DLC for game 3. From my little understading of the lore (so correct me if i'm wrong) nagash should start weak then grow to become one of the strongest caster in the warhammer world; him being able to supposedly command all undead factions would make him very OP in the game, thus being a good end-game boss.
I think Nagash makes more sense for game 3. Assuming game 3 is all about destroying (or saving) the world, i think Nagash makes it an easy DLC for game 3. From my little understading of the lore (so correct me if i'm wrong) nagash should start weak then grow to become one of the strongest caster in the warhammer world; him being able to supposedly command all undead factions would make him very OP in the game, thus being a good end-game boss.
I'd like Nagash as an end-game threat from the South as he goes off to ravage Nehekhara. Hopefully the chaos invasion will be way more fleshed out, but it can still feel kind of distant depending where you are on the map.
And yeah it'd be cool if to play as Nagash you had to start as Arkhan or Nefferata or something and somehow resurrect him first. Kind of a lord-level Kroak.
I think Nagash makes more sense for game 3. Assuming game 3 is all about destroying (or saving) the world, i think Nagash makes it an easy DLC for game 3. From my little understading of the lore (so correct me if i'm wrong) nagash should start weak then grow to become one of the strongest caster in the warhammer world; him being able to supposedly command all undead factions would make him very OP in the game, thus being a good end-game boss.
Sorta. Nagash was never weak. By the time the game starts, he's got a strong claim on being the strongest wizard in the setting, albeit in a Saturday Morning Cartoon villain kinda way. He was the very first Necromancer. He's the reason the Tomb Kings are, well, Tomb Kings. His magic is what created the Vampires. He went mano a mano with Sigmar, and nearly killed him. He fought the Skaven, as a faction, to a standstill, pretty much by himself. His ascension to godhood is what kicks off the End Times.
In short, I don't think you could make him a Lord in a regular campaign game without seriously depowering him. He'd have to have a special game mode.
I feel like CA have done a pretty good job making Kroak/Mazda/Teclis into casters of playable-but-still-super-powerful quality. I think they'll find a way to make Nagash a cool addition eventually.
Nagash would probably get strategic level spells or something. Wouldn't surprise me if that was one of the big new additions for the Chaos factions, too, actually.
Borrowing ideas from Age of Wonders is the next logical step to campaign progression.
I can see them making Nagash a faction onto himself, and his faction perks would be choosing what powers to unlock next and his research could be his ascension to godhood.
After Ikit Claw, they definitely have the imagination to make a lord within a faction unique
Sorta. Nagash was never weak. By the time the game starts, he's got a strong claim on being the strongest wizard in the setting, albeit in a Saturday Morning Cartoon villain kinda way. He was the very first Necromancer. He's the reason the Tomb Kings are, well, Tomb Kings. His magic is what created the Vampires. He went mano a mano with Sigmar, and nearly killed him. He fought the Skaven, as a faction, to a standstill, pretty much by himself. His ascension to godhood is what kicks off the End Times.
In short, I don't think you could make him a Lord in a regular campaign game without seriously depowering him. He'd have to have a special game mode.
I'd like Nagash as an end-game threat from the South as he goes off to ravage Nehekhara. Hopefully the chaos invasion will be way more fleshed out, but it can still feel kind of distant depending where you are on the map.
And yeah it'd be cool if to play as Nagash you had to start as Arkhan or Nefferata or something and somehow resurrect him first. Kind of a lord-level Kroak.
Yes you need to buy the lord pack DLC if you want the units added by the lord packs. WHen you buy the pack the new units are available for all LL, not just the DLC LL.
Do note that the AI has acces to those units, which means that you should only buy the pack if you want to those those units.
Lastly i want mention the "are some units specific to one Lord?" part of your comment. While lizardmen don't have this features some LL do have unique units for their faction; for example alith anar has an unique unit, Arkhan has acees to some vampire counts units. This feature needs to be seen in a case by case basis.
Thanks very much for the info! I got the FLC and started a co-op campaign as Gor Rok recently. I hope I can still use the new units in that campaign if I buy the DLC now, that's been hit and miss for me in the past.
I've been playing SFO as well and enjoying it much more than I remember about a year ago. The campaign layer is quite a bit more interesting. Also all the little pop up options you get at the beginning of the game for customizing the campaign would be great to see in vanilla.
