Total War: WARHAMMER

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Discussion

Squirrelofwoe

3,181 posts

175 months

Wednesday 25th May 2016
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Well I've just bought it- £32.90 on CDkeys.com, not that I'll get the chance to download it until the weekend mind!

Arklight

891 posts

188 months

Wednesday 25th May 2016
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Guvernator said:
In fact I've never worked out why they haven't done an Epic W40k game?
They have, it was great!

https://www.gog.com/game/final_liberation_warhamme...

Squirrelofwoe

3,181 posts

175 months

Wednesday 25th May 2016
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Arklight said:
I'd forgot that!! Wow that brings back memories!

Guvernator

13,105 posts

164 months

Thursday 26th May 2016
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Uurrgh, hex based games. Not for me thanks.

Squirrel, would be interested to hear your thoughts on TW so please let us know how you get on with the game.

Squirrelofwoe

3,181 posts

175 months

Thursday 26th May 2016
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Guvernator said:
Squirrel, would be interested to hear your thoughts on TW so please let us know how you get on with the game.
Yeah no problem I'll keep you posted, I'll hopefully get around to starting it tomorrow evening.

As a Total War newbie I'm not entirely sure what to expect but the reviews & gameplay I've seen persuaded me it was worth shelling out for on release, lets hope I wasn't wrong!

FunkyNige

8,859 posts

274 months

Thursday 26th May 2016
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Squirrelofwoe said:
Yeah no problem I'll keep you posted, I'll hopefully get around to starting it tomorrow evening.

As a Total War newbie I'm not entirely sure what to expect but the reviews & gameplay I've seen persuaded me it was worth shelling out for on release, lets hope I wasn't wrong!
As a Total War "veteran" (I've been playing a long time, not necessarily any good...) I'd say don't start with Chaos as the non-battle bits of the game are completely different to everyone else.

They are a horde race which means you don't take control of any settlements but take all the buildings around with your army constantly raiding in other people's regions. Fun but not the normal Total War way of doing things!

Squirrelofwoe

3,181 posts

175 months

Thursday 26th May 2016
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FunkyNige said:
As a Total War "veteran" (I've been playing a long time, not necessarily any good...) I'd say don't start with Chaos as the non-battle bits of the game are completely different to everyone else.

They are a horde race which means you don't take control of any settlements but take all the buildings around with your army constantly raiding in other people's regions. Fun but not the normal Total War way of doing things!
Cheers for the heads up thumbup

It will be interesting coming to the game knowing loads about the races/background/units etc, but very little about the actual game mechanics- I suspect there are a fair few players who are coming to the game 'the other way around', those who have maybe played loads of the Total War games but who perhaps don't know much about the Warhammer stuff!

Rick_1138

3,656 posts

177 months

Thursday 26th May 2016
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Just got it installed last night.

I started the vampire counts but only got a couple of minutes in but was just seeing if it ran okay. Ill play more on friday.

Looks good so far though.

Squirrelofwoe

3,181 posts

175 months

Friday 27th May 2016
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Ok so first impressions:

-The sound, Oh My God it is good. Seriously good! Anyone with even a passing interest in the Warhammer setting would have to admit they have nailed this brilliantly. With a decent pair of surround sound over-ear headphones I was sat watching the intro movies slack-jawed like I was watching an epic film for the first time at the cinema, simply brilliant!

-The camera, this is going to take some getting used to- in fact I am already looking at the improved camera mod on the Steam Workshop! - Edit: I have now been using this mod almost from the start and it's great, lets you zoom out much further as well as giving you a few other options, well worth it.

-The interface, holy st there is a lot going on! yikes I've never played a Total War game before so I was kind of expecting this to be a bit overwhelming, but there is a LOT of stuff going on outside of the battles, numbers/stats everywhere. I feel like a primary school kid looking at a degree level maths textbook! I am hoping this will all become a lot clearer as I spend more time with it. I had a similar experience the first time I played Endless Space- I thought there was no way I'd ever get a handle on all of the systems in the game, but within a few hours I was flying through everything no problem, so I have hope on that front.

-The split between the real-time action of the battles and the turn-based action of the strategic map is very reminiscent of games like Endless Space, accept the real-time parts in this are far far better. I wasn't expecting full control over all the units, as well as deployment options etc- I can see battles with some of the faster races (currently playing as Dwarfs) getting extremely tactical with flanks etc, all very true to the tabletop game. Definitely a big win here. Oh and the real-time battles look amazing, from the zoomed out view of the battlefield right down to seeing individual soldiers fighting in a huge melee, almost to the point of distraction!

So yeah, first impressions are that it looks and sounds incredible, and I have to say the real-time battles are even more evocative of the Warhammer universe than Dawn of War was to 40K. The scale and style of the Total War mechanics is absolutely perfect for the Warhammer setting.

I have a TON of stuff to learn though. Outside of the real-time battles I currently feel like scrabbling around in the dark- I can see tons of things I could be doing, but don't yet have anywhere near enough of an idea of what I should be doing! Also, even just playing the one faction so far this feels like a monster of a game- but with the other 3 factions + Chaos all being in the game (not to mention all of the other races as inevitable DLC), coupled with each race being so unique compared with historical armies, I can see this having the potential to be a HUGE time sink...

Anyway, back I go!

Any hints/tips/advice from Total War veterans, particularly regarding stuff I should/shouldn't be doing on the Strategic map, will be gratefully received!

Edited by Squirrelofwoe on Tuesday 31st May 12:37

Squirrelofwoe

3,181 posts

175 months

Tuesday 31st May 2016
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Well I got to put a fair few hours into this over the weekend, and the word I can best use to describe it is 'addictive'! Both evenings I was playing it I found myself saying 'one more turn' followed by 'I'll just fight this battle', then 'I'll just get this settlement started', and 'I'll just wait for this research to unlock'... And then another hour has disappeared in the blink of an eye.

As I guessed, a lot of the systems are now making a lot more sense (there is still loads I've yet to make use of mind), and I finally feel like I'm getting a bit of a handle on what I'm doing.

Due to trying to work out what everything means/does, I've not been particularly aggressive or adventurous- having captured just the starting province and 3 settlements in adjoining provinces, despite being near turn 100... But at the same time I reckon this suits the character of the dwarfs so I'm not too bothered by my cautiousness so far!

The real-time battles are fantastic and look amazing, like the tabletop game scaled up to 'realistic' levels- so tens of units of 100+ troops, rather than a couple of units of 30 or so. The Dwarfs are pretty tactically one-dimensional in these battles- it largely being a case of letting the enemy close whilst hammering them with ranged units/artillery then sending in the very strong infantry once they reach your lines, but this is still huge fun- particularly taking into account the terrain considerations at deployment to give your units the best advantage or funnel the enemy down a bottleneck where they can be ambushed by hidden units of Dwarf miners.

That said, I am looking forward to trying the other more mobile factions that will obviously play very differently.

I also like how all the settlement building & research works, having to balance population growth (to unlock higher tiers of buildings and consequently units) whilst keeping a handle on Chaos corruption etc. Not to mention the random events that pop up, requiring you to choose a specific option, either of which will have very different immediate/long lasting effects, it makes the world feel very dynamic.

Overall though I am loving this so far, and I've barely scratched the surface (I've seen around 5% of the campaign map and I've only fought the greenskins so far)- I've still hardly used any of the hero abilities or experienced any siege battles, and the diplomacy side of it is like an entire game in itself.

Dave Hedgehog

14,541 posts

203 months

Tuesday 31st May 2016
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i am now on turn 80 of my first campaign (dworfs in easy mode) and here are some observations

enemy heros are pretty much gods with no way to stop them, they just attck you every round until they get a lucky kill

i have attacked pretty much everything i can, my lord is lvl 12, i am now stuck as everything around me is owned by allied dworfs apart from the south which is greenskins, but they have 3 armies all led by lvl 20+s that just destroy me (i get the feeling the lvl20 could solo my whole army).

there is no way that easy mode could ever be described as easy

my first game is going to last months at this rate ...


Cerberus90

1,553 posts

212 months

Tuesday 31st May 2016
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Dave Hedgehog said:
i am now on turn 80 of my first campaign (dworfs in easy mode) and here are some observations

enemy heros are pretty much gods with no way to stop them, they just attck you every round until they get a lucky kill

i have attacked pretty much everything i can, my lord is lvl 12, i am now stuck as everything around me is owned by allied dworfs apart from the south which is greenskins, but they have 3 armies all led by lvl 20+s that just destroy me (i get the feeling the lvl20 could solo my whole army).

there is no way that easy mode could ever be described as easy

my first game is going to last months at this rate ...
Try and get one of the dwarf realms to join your confederation. You basically abosrb them then, they're lands become yours.

Did you go North or West to start with? I started by going south and destroying greenskins as they get harder if you're not constantly hitting them.


I'm on turn 90 something and I've got everything from Mount Gunbad/grom peak all the way down to the bottom of the map, Deff gorge. Moving on to top knotz now and then I'll probably have to await Chaos at the passes. 10k gold income per turn and 160k in the bank.


I'd also highly recommend reading the "How to Dorf" community guide on steam, gave me some very good tips on what to do, especially in the early game.

Squirrelofwoe

3,181 posts

175 months

Wednesday 1st June 2016
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Cerberus90 said:
Dave Hedgehog said:
i am now on turn 80 of my first campaign (dworfs in easy mode) and here are some observations

enemy heros are pretty much gods with no way to stop them, they just attck you every round until they get a lucky kill

i have attacked pretty much everything i can, my lord is lvl 12, i am now stuck as everything around me is owned by allied dworfs apart from the south which is greenskins, but they have 3 armies all led by lvl 20+s that just destroy me (i get the feeling the lvl20 could solo my whole army).

there is no way that easy mode could ever be described as easy

my first game is going to last months at this rate ...
Try and get one of the dwarf realms to join your confederation. You basically abosrb them then, they're lands become yours.

Did you go North or West to start with? I started by going south and destroying greenskins as they get harder if you're not constantly hitting them.


I'm on turn 90 something and I've got everything from Mount Gunbad/grom peak all the way down to the bottom of the map, Deff gorge. Moving on to top knotz now and then I'll probably have to await Chaos at the passes. 10k gold income per turn and 160k in the bank.


I'd also highly recommend reading the "How to Dorf" community guide on steam, gave me some very good tips on what to do, especially in the early game.
That guide is very useful.

I started a new campaign last night (again as Dwarfs) now that I've got a much better handle on the mechanics and I'm having a LOT more success! Rather than simply experimenting with everything seeing what does what.

I'm on around turn 35 or so and have already taken a chunk of the land south of the starting province, and currently have a sizeable army camped outside Mount Gunbad having just spanked another Greenskin army (significantly larger than my own) that was sat outside.

This was one of the toughest battles I've fought so far, but I've realised just how insanely good the Quarrelers are vs the largely unarmoured Greenskins- with 4 units of them along with a Grudge-thrower I managed to route the majority of the much larger army before it even made contact with my other combat units! Using the Slayer king kitted out fully for combat, I then chucked him in with a couple of units of warriors to finish off the remaining units. The only significant casualties I suffered were due to my anticipation that the entire enemy were coming from the front- only to have 50% of it appear right into my flank, which took a bit of adjustment to get my shooty units re-positioned to deal with. I lost 1 unit of Slayers and around 300 casualties total- vs 800ish for the enemy, including their leader thumbup

But the red/orange bar prior to the battle suggested 2 to 1 odds in favour of the enemy so extremely pleased with that result- in my previous campaign I wouldn't even have fought the battle, so definitely making progress!

Rick_1138

3,656 posts

177 months

Wednesday 1st June 2016
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Played a few 'games' now, always as dwarfs on normal difficulty.

First game i had taken the silver road and a couple of western badlands settlements but by turn 65 i was poor and orks were just taking the piss taking turns to walk up to my big army and kick it hard.

Tried again, did a bit better, by turn 50 i had taken the main orc stronghold just south of my starting zone, but new that i was on a sownward spiral as i too found that 'how to dorf' guide and saw that i was screwed if i didnt have more provinces hurling cash into my coffers.

Now at turn 10 of game using that guide, and have more cash coming in, and the eternal king boy and his army ar about to hit the first northern settlement, to capture them, my second army is about to hit the first settlement west of my starting province too.

Hopefully i can avoid having 2 20 stack orc armies ready to batter me this time, as dwarfs basically sit still and have armies break on them with shooty guys behind, this has helped immensly knowing this.

Very addictive though, mrs has not commented yet but walking not coming to bed before 12am wasnt too popular hehe.

EDIT: I have heard talk about a few Mods that can be applied, one of them basically stopping the AI hero's being stupidly good and the RNG roll algorithm being off, meaning the AI wins about 8 times out of 10.

How do i find such mods, are these something in the steam site??

Edited by Rick_1138 on Wednesday 1st June 15:15

Squirrelofwoe

3,181 posts

175 months

Wednesday 1st June 2016
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Rick_1138 said:
How do i find such mods, are these something in the steam site??
Yeah check out the "Steam Workshop" for the game, the icon appears on the right when you click on the game in your Steam library. Find whatever mod you want and simply click 'subscribe' and the mod is applied. Click 'unsubscribe' to remove the mod. All the technical stuff is done behind the scenes so it's as easy as clicking a button- absolutely awesome.

I'm currently using a couple of the camera mods (which let you zoom out much further etc), as well as one that re-sizes the lords/heroes in line with the rest of the unit models making them look a bit more 'realistic' in the battles. It bugged me having the king a much bigger scale than the troops he was leading- this mod sorts it.

I've yet to experience that problem with the enemy forces (probably because I am playing on easy!) but it's cropped up numerous times in stuff I've read, so that mod could be well worth it.

The thing I've noticed fighting the Greenskins is that you have to attack them quickly and often, otherwise their armies very quickly build up to unstoppable sizes. It's the mistake I made on my first playthrough- I figured I'd sit back in my mountains and build up, but without the multiple settlements you gain from attacking, you simply don't have the income to match the enemy's build up.

Cerberus90

1,553 posts

212 months

Friday 3rd June 2016
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Once they get a Waaaagh going it gets even worse too, biggrin.

I'm now on turn 120 something, Chaos have arrived, I've got the entire southland and some of the westland dwarf factions. All umgies are allied with me with trade agreements so total income is 20k per turn.


Waiting for Arachron (or whatever he's called biggrin ) to come down a bit more, then I might start engaging. Already razed half the northlands/empire.


Really hating the Orc cavalry, especially the savage orcs on bears, they always manage to sneak around behind me and charge before I can get some units turned. Usually means artillery goes down as they have to deal with the charge while I move some units back.

Really looking forward to trying some of the other races.

FunkyNige

8,859 posts

274 months

Friday 15th July 2016
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I see Beastmen have been leaked as the next playable race which surprised me a bit as I assumed they would be extra units for Chaos if anything...
Do we know what the other races could be? Wikipedia gives the full list as
( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Races_and_nations_of... )
Realms of Men
1.1 Kingdom of Bretonnia - in the game, not yet playable
1.2 The Empire - playable
1.3 Smaller states of the Old World - assume we won't be able to play these?
1.4 The North, East, and South - assume we won't be able to play these?
2 Elves - maybe we'll get a big DLC for these with them split into 3
3 Dwarfs - chaos dwarfs in the future?
4 Lizardmen - guess this one is fairly low on the list of things to do!
5 Orcs and Goblins (Greenskins) - playable
6 Chaos - looking at Wiki they're split into Beastmen, Charos warriors and Daemons so maybe we'll get daemons as either a race or extra units for the other 2 chaos races
7 Skaven - seems a sensible one to add
8 The Undead - again split in 2, Vampires and Tomb Kings so maybe the normal undead will be added as playable. I've had a quest to do attack an undead (not Vampire)character so are they already in the game but not playable like the Bretonnians?
9 The Ogres - are Ogre units in the game already? Seems a bit limited as a whole race...

Squirrelofwoe

3,181 posts

175 months

Friday 15th July 2016
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FunkyNige said:
I see Beastmen have been leaked as the next playable race which surprised me a bit as I assumed they would be extra units for Chaos if anything...
Do we know what the other races could be? Wikipedia gives the full list as
( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Races_and_nations_of... )
Realms of Men
1.1 Kingdom of Bretonnia - in the game, not yet playable
1.2 The Empire - playable
1.3 Smaller states of the Old World - assume we won't be able to play these?
1.4 The North, East, and South - assume we won't be able to play these?
2 Elves - maybe we'll get a big DLC for these with them split into 3
3 Dwarfs - chaos dwarfs in the future?
4 Lizardmen - guess this one is fairly low on the list of things to do!
5 Orcs and Goblins (Greenskins) - playable
6 Chaos - looking at Wiki they're split into Beastmen, Charos warriors and Daemons so maybe we'll get daemons as either a race or extra units for the other 2 chaos races
7 Skaven - seems a sensible one to add
8 The Undead - again split in 2, Vampires and Tomb Kings so maybe the normal undead will be added as playable. I've had a quest to do attack an undead (not Vampire)character so are they already in the game but not playable like the Bretonnians?
9 The Ogres - are Ogre units in the game already? Seems a bit limited as a whole race...
The Beastmen were very much a separate army (and quite different) to Chaos for as far back as I can remember, so I can understand them being released as a separate army.

The big one for me though, which I am very surprised were not in the initial release, is the High Elves. They are one of the main (and certainly most popular) armies in the entire setting, and also play a huge role in all of the supporting narrative too.

I always assumed they would be one of the first armies to come with any dlc, and likewise I would suspect them to be very much a standalone army rather than grouped with the Dark Elves & Wood Elves- from a backstory point of view it just wouldn't make any sense to have them as a combined force, particularly considering the eternal hatred between the High & Dark Elves!

The main armies I would love to see added, purely because I think they would suit the game so well with very distinct units & playstyles are the High Elves, Skaven, and Lizardmen.

I would also have said Bretonnia alongside those 3, but they are technically already in the initial release, and there are mods out that let you play them in the campaign and add in a ton of units for them.

FunkyNige

8,859 posts

274 months

Friday 15th July 2016
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Squirrelofwoe said:
I always assumed they would be one of the first armies to come with any dlc, and likewise I would suspect them to be very much a standalone army rather than grouped with the Dark Elves & Wood Elves- from a backstory point of view it just wouldn't make any sense to have them as a combined force, particularly considering the eternal hatred between the High & Dark Elves!
Sorry, I meant 3 separate races in one DLC. I can imagine an 'Elves' DLC combining all 3 races, we've had similar in previous Total War games - for example there was a Celts pack to Atilla that added Picts, Caledonians and Ebdanians.

Squirrelofwoe

3,181 posts

175 months

Friday 15th July 2016
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FunkyNige said:
Sorry, I meant 3 separate races in one DLC. I can imagine an 'Elves' DLC combining all 3 races, we've had similar in previous Total War games - for example there was a Celts pack to Atilla that added Picts, Caledonians and Ebdanians.
Ah yeah that makes sense, I mis-understood you- I blame it on it being Friday! drink