Source
r/WarTalesGame•
demandred_zero

Am I doing it wrong?

Gameplay Question

I see most people on here saying that they run with a crew of 8 or 12 or less. I roll with a horde, 15 people, 4 bears to tank/pull aggro off my weaklings/find fish, 4 Alphas for their insane crit bonus, and 4 mole rats to find cheese and since they self replicate I use the pups to blame things on if I get caught by the guard. And as many ponies as I need to carry all the food. I am close to 40 total in my company. But man oh man do I love this game.

Posted May 1, 2023, 6:13 PM UTC

6876
3dKleetus•

if you are having fun then youre doing it right.

edit: I run a party of 20 right now

82
vouchasfed•

OP, Having fun is doing it right. I run a 24 man ship right now even though I prefer smaller party size. I want one of each class with no animals. But I can’t get myself to dismiss great characters.

85 hours in. Only 1 character death so far and it was preventable because I got greedy and autopiloted with a new recruit ranger that was not level 6 with the movement ability. RIP bloodthirsty solitary ranger. Gosh I hate long battles.

Dismissed so many animals and benched free recruitable NPCs like Hackert. Actually salty that my 2 amazing brown bears don’t die even with double damage taken injury. I got 3 rows of work ponies that have constitution and or carrying capacity up trait. How do I sustain that and actually have funds to buy all those ponies? I actually wonder myself. Maybe because I’m cheap and lucky. My current food upkeep is ridiculous.

9
Canadian-Sea-Gypsy•

Concur. I personally run a crew of 12 but the point is: whatever makes you happy.

7
Miserable-Ad3196•

This idea of blaming a mole rat for the theft i can get behind. Good tip.

59
Sean_Brady•

Did something change? I thought you couldn’t pick who was blamed for your crimes

3
WilsonHanks•

It's random but it can land on an animal

1
Miserable-Ad3196•

It’s random? Egads I don’t like that at all.

1
Miserable-Ad3196•

You can, but I thought it had to be a human companion, it seems it is not. I ended up paying the fine instead. After paying a fine you do keep whatever you stole or whoever you kidnapped.

1
Mintimperial69•

It’s already the Mole Rats….

2
DJ2wyce•

I didn't know you could blame animals for crimes. That's a hilariously great idea

1
trengilly•

Large parties are fine . . But the battles take a long time. Most people are just trying to play faster.

24
swats831•

I run with like 10 people and 4 ponies. I’ve never added animals to my party though because when I tried it was food expensive and underwhelming. I could be sold on it though if someone wants to explain animals to a dum dum who uses only melee humans.

Edit: autocorrect is not my friend.

12
Danjiano•

Try an army of Mole Rats. They only cost 2 food, and they have a passive that causes them to find cheese at random whenever you enter any scene, covering their own food costs.

Warning: use at own risk in Adaptive.

8
swats831•

Huh, that’s pretty wicked. Thank you!

2
zomgilost•

What do you use the kids for? I have 4 and then they have level 1 children which I don't have the plan of leveling up so I ended up just dismissing

2
Danjiano•

I don't pick Survival of the Species for that reason. It sounded more useful than it actually is.

That, and in Coop, every time a new mole rat is born the coop player's game freezes.

2
MELLONcholly1•

I have a level 8 bear that I managed to tame when I was level 4 bc I wandered into the wrong area. Over 800 health and 80 damage per turn, with a skill that doubles his movement for 2 turns in exchange for 1 valor point, plus a skill that gives a valor point for having one companion next to him during rests. Level 7 now, and still a solid companion

8
giabao0110•

Bears are both so tanky and powerful it's like cheating the low level areas.

6
GeologistEnough8215•

I got one at level 4 with like 60 CON. Their stats are wild and the grit boost for alphas is amazing.

I just found out about fast travel today and also have made my way into Vertruse or however it’s spelled and almost have enough for the travel point there. I didn’t do much of anything in the spymaster tree, even though I always play evil characters. So I’m trying to catch up now by stealing lotsa shit, killing merchants, but the battles with guards take sooooo freaking long and when you’re above 300 wanred it’s actually a decent party. No longer havig to run into the woods every 15 seconds and burn more time till the next rest (when I have to feed 3 bears and 3 alphas plus 11 units) is a wonderful thing to have.

As others have said this game is Cocaine in a can.

3
griminald•

Yeah I have 2 White Bears. Knowing they can absorb an opening turn worth of damage from several baddies has been great.

And it's upped my beastmaster archer's DPS with her "Attack!" skill giving a bear another swipe.

I don't know if the brown bears have this, but the white ones get 2 stacks of Rage when they hit or get hit, and with enough Rage stacked (16, 18, I forget), they go Berserk. Plus a roar that inflicts Fragility.

On Adaptive I roll with 8 companions + the 2 bears, and I noticed since getting the bears I'm starting to get outnumbered in fights -- 10 vs 11-12, usually.

Still largely a cakewalk with these two bears, except I freak out a bit when fighting anything that can make them bleed.

3
Djebeo•

10 people 2 ponies here, but added a bear and I don't regret it at all.

I purposefully leave him feral, he's the loose canon of the band

7
theblasphemer•

My warband is the same size. I added a bear recently too but ended up respecced one of my archers for beastmaster. The bears sole purpose is to use the skill that doubles his movement and one-shot most archers. I love him.

6
VolpeLorem•

I have a beastmaster that fly everytime the moral is too low. That's often carry me because I have no more need to use VP with my bear.

2
TheRealG43•

Animals are great for engaging and tying up enemy archers. I try to keep a few wolves around for just that purpose.

6
giabao0110•

I use 2-3 war ponies to occupy the enemy archers and for a bit of tanking if necessary. No wage, low food cost, and the extra carrying weight is nice.

2
VolpeLorem•

Pony army !

2
rpgnovels•

Boars are great in region-locked mode. They don’t offer much in a fight aside from maybe engaging enemies so your other units can go for the back. However, they have a level 3 skill that lessens their food consumption. After about 4 rests, they will become fat which makes them give more meat when slaughtered. They more than pay for themselves in terms of food. Moreover, you can make them wear saddlebags so you can carry more while you wait for them to get fat.

2
Pretend_Shelter_7089•

The white bears in the new mountain area are kinda op tho. With the health regen collar + speeced archer mmmmmm kinda silly honestly

1
BrannorMcThife•

I have 14 humans (9-11), 13 White Bears (12), 5 mole-rats (9-10), 2 CrocSwine (9), 2 Plague RATs (9/12), 1 Dominant Sow (10), and 1 Creeper (11).

38 combat crew.

Then 9 ponies for carrying (I respec'd out of war ponies)

47 all up.

10
demandred_zeroOP•

My man.

6
Sharblue•

Don’t you eventually run out of « storage space » in the camp?

And do you still manage your crew placement at the beginning of a fight? Or do you just go along?

2
BrannorMcThife•
  1. Yes, There isn't much space left in the camp to move people/pets around.
  2. Very much so. Placing the 13 bears and humans to the best spots takes a bit of time, but allows for sequential deaths of most enemies within the first round.
  3. And yes, my battles (of one round) can be quite long. :P
3
Kambeidono•

If you're having fun, you're doing it right :)

9
BRompre•

I currently have 13 men, 3 wolves, one bear, and 3 ponies. I am thinking of getting more men just to make up for the ones with bad traits I picked up at the beginning before I knew everything about traits. Figure I might leave a few men at the post if need be.

8
TonightsWhiteKnight•

If you can pay and feed the army, you aren't doing a single thing wrong. I think most people just haven't figured out ho0w to handle logistics well.
I currently have 12 humans, and 8 animals. I am still expanding. And unless I am not careful by accident cause I bank roll a town for their supply of iron or something, I always have money and plenty of food for my crew.

7
demandred_zeroOP•

Since I found the perk that lets me negotiate the contracts at the expense of Influence, money hasn't really been an issue. I do wish the salt spoon(?) still worked like it did in Early Access however, it definitely made it less likely to run low on cooked food, since most recipes cost 0 salt.

4
simplejack89•

I have 12 mercs, 2 for each type. Currently I have 1 bear, 5 horses and on the hunt for a rat for that sweet cheese... cheese. I might add a couple boars to the party to fatten up, but this is a nice balance. Big group, but still small eno7gh that every fight doesn't take an hour to finish

5
demandred_zeroOP•

Is that an adaptive thing you're talking about, because I've only played on fixed, so most enemy groups are less than 10 units, and when I outnumber them 3 or more to 1, most fights only last 1 round anyway, unless someone is physically out of reach, normally by me blocking a chokepoint with a bear, or if there is a lot of mud or seemingly invisible fences on the farm maps. Actually, since I can see when the enemies are going to take their turn, most of them don't even get a chance to do anything.

5
simplejack89•

I'm on locked. True while you eventually outpower them, it's still a grind in new areas

4
Greedy_Pound9054•

Even with my 8 merc party (no animals) fights usually end in round 1. Which makes the encounters much more enjoyable for me, only taking 5-10 mins per battle.

1
AnswerNeither•

6 units for me 2 horsies

5
joeDUBstep•

You do you, it's single player and you tailor the game to your tastes.

People only complain about length of battles for big battles, but if you're having fun, keep at it.

5
k-nuj•

I want to try a massive group next go around; sounds like it could be fun balancing that group management. Right now, just limiting myself to 'unique' recruits only.

4
demandred_zeroOP•

I would highly recommend the cheese finder and expert fisher skills for bears and mole/plague rats, as it helps find food just walking the map early. And I even stop to talk to every merchant/deserter/refugee I see because they'll even find cheese in those encounters. I believe that boars can get truffle locator skill to find mushrooms in forest, but I believe that doesn't unlock till level 8.

2
ncguthwulf•

2 spear, beast master archer and bear, 2 axe, 2 sword, 2 brute, 2 ranger, 4 ponies.

2
baltarin•

Im running two bears, 2 rangers, 2 archers, 1 swordsman, 2 warriors and 3 brutes (i think) and 2 spearmen with two ponies. At this point i just add people if i find a good weapon for them. I capture alphas as cannon fodder occasionally too.

2
oldmayor•

Sounds fun! I am currently running with a party of 24. I don't use animals (other than pack ponies) because they tend to get in the way for me. My main objective is just to be able to kill everything before they get a chance to act, and that's been working out just great for me! For the record, I'm playing on experienced/adaptive. But I learned during early access what are some of the more broken classes to double/triple up on.

2
feibie•

Interesting as I have a party of 10, 3 wolves, 3 bears, 2 ponies. Got rid of the wolves because the bears did as much damage while not dying in 2 hits. Also wanted to speed up the game

2
TheZebrawizard•

I would have a larger party if only you could choose who to bring into battle.

I wouldn't mind having some camp helpers/animals.

2
YuiYuukiII•

Archer Tinker - Lvl 6 Ranger Thief - Lvl 6 Brute Blacksmith - Lvl 6 Swordsman Cook - Lvl 6

Warrior Woodcutter (the infected one) - Lvl 7 Ranger Alchemist (the one I rescued from be burning) - Lvl 6

2 Cargo Pony - Lvl 4/5

2 Bears - Lvl 5/7

I'll take the Ranger next to Matthias to be my Scholar.

2
atlasunchained•

Bigger parties best parties. I love having a true company.

2
LogicalCoconut3381•

Lvl 12 polar bears are great. They carry extra gear. Have 2000hp and single hit kill rat nests.with the natural sprinter feat they get the far ones. I have a parry of 38, 4 polar bears, 4 normal bears 4 ponies and 4 alpha wolves. Roughly 200 food each rest.

2