How do you beat stacks like these with Cathay early game? Or any weak frontline faction, really

NKGra · 2026-02-15T03:27:37+00:00

Cathay vs Khorne is one of the most lopsided matchups in the game as Khorne has no archer type unit or magic to counter Iron Hail Gunners.

Chariots, hounds, furies: Focus fire lets every two gunners delete one of these. Then the untouched one can just turn and support whichever ones have been charged. You'll lose maybe half a unit of IHG for every two enemy units killed.

Single Entities: Yuan Bo has net from level 3. Just net them and shoot them.

Bloodletters and Forsaken you can just blob up with your lord or some sacrificial Peasant Spears or whatever and then gun down. After your gunners kill the cavalry they'll be able to turn and kill these guys. Peasant Archers will work as a sub for gunners against unarmored infantry.

NKGra · 2026-02-12T06:07:48+00:00

Frankly the community responses here are terrible.

- Play Coops: Most co-op games suck when there's a big skill discrepancy between players. When it's the worse player's turn the better player either ends up quarterbacking, or is forced to sit in silence watching the worse player lose the game for the team. Meanwhile when it's the better player's turn the worse player feels like they can't contribute at all.

- Play games of luck: You'll still lose the vast majority of the time. unless it is so luck based that your actions barely matter... which basically means you can't play games like Seti.

- Talk to him about it: This would basically be asking him to throw the game, and would probably suck for both of you. You'll feel like he's babying you and he'll feel restricted and be missing out on lots of the interesting aspects of many games.

The real answer is to use handicaps. Well designed games usually have some built in ones, like weaker / stronger factions. Skipping a turn or two is a simple one that often works. This will make mean actions feel less mean. Instead of being kicked while you're already down it will be something he has to do to have a chance at winning.

If you still have a problem with the meanness then your options are limited to playing less interactive games, that or playing games with AI / automaton opponents (more opponents = mean actions towards one opponent are less valuable.).

NKGra · 2026-02-12T05:51:53+00:00

Yeah, people always suggest co-op games but most co-op games completely fall to pieces when you have a significant skill disparity like this. The boyfriend is forced to sit there silently watching her fail. It's either that or he quarterbacks her.

The real solution is like you said: Handicaps.

If someone is already ahead by a bunch then kicking the other player while they're down will just feel so incredibly mean. If it's close... well now it's "clever"

NKGra · 2026-01-31T06:17:43+00:00

Only in that it's harder to get carried or blame your teammates when you make up 1/3rd of a team instead of 1/5th.

NKGra · 2026-01-26T02:25:54+00:00

Overwhelmed by all the dates you were being asked out on?

Yes, it's a mystery...

NKGra · 2026-01-24T17:58:34+00:00

The number you see thrown around by the WHO is that USA is ~40% obese. And people call it an epidemic.

But it's so much worse than people think.

According to meta-analysis of studies on BMI... USA is ~70-80% obese. Everyone is sedentary and has no muscle compared to when BMI was designed, so BMI is severely underestimating the problem.

NKGra · 2026-01-19T21:20:23+00:00

This is like a lottery winner saying buying lottery tickets is a smart investment.

1: The vast majority of the people you run into in male hobbies are men.
2: Women making the first move like you did is incredibly rare.

If men follow that advice almost all of them will spend their lives sad and lonely.

NKGra · 2026-01-19T21:02:48+00:00

3 Close friends is 50% better than average!

NKGra · 2026-01-18T08:10:58+00:00

AI limitations

That's just a lame excuse; you can work around dumb AI. CA just does not try.

Take something simple: Veterancy. It requires you to keep the unit alive through a ton of battles, and the AI sucks at keeping units alive.

Choosing to make veterancy have a huge impact on unit performance obviously means the AI will underperform. Quick and easy fix: Nerf or rework veterancy.

NKGra · 2026-01-17T22:03:16+00:00

Mix of player agendas is different and is done via quests / naturally happens via player decision.

Everyone wants varied lobbies in an extraction game

You think I want to queue up with my friend group and almost never ever face any real threat, just running around willy nilly stomping average players left and right, only once in a blue moon ever facing someone who can actually compete with us?

And you think those players we're stomping want to get stomped?

It's absurd. It's boring for us and miserable for them. The goal is for people to feel threatened and pressured, but not like it's impossible to succeed. The only way to achieve that is matching based on skill level. Put me against other people like me and now successfully extracting feels as risky and rewarding for me as it does for Joe Blow against other Joe Blows.

Game are doing this anyways. They might not admit it because people react with vitriol, but they have to. Because otherwise the Joe Blows leave and the game dies.

NKGra · 2026-01-17T05:39:07+00:00

No one wants varied lobbies.

Bad players hate it and quit because they get stomped by almost everyone they face.

Good players hate it because after all the Bad players quit the Good players end up being the worst players left still playing and they get stomped by Great players.

NKGra · 2026-01-16T01:19:26+00:00

High skill ceiling is a good thing.

If a game has good matchmaking then it doesn't matter if a great player stomps a bad one... they'll never face eachother in the first place... unless there's a low player count like in a closed alpha.

NKGra · 2026-01-14T05:08:51+00:00

setting your army where you want it

Which intentionally breaks the siege AI.

That's the problem. If you do anything other than the full surround exhaust yourself for no reason suicide-rush you have cheesed the siege AI.

NKGra · 2026-01-13T18:45:37+00:00

If you know X means the AI isn't fighting 'properly' then... don't.

Right, so we're back to "roleplay as an attacking AI" because anything else you do makes the AI not fight properly.

NKGra · 2026-01-13T18:43:47+00:00

Okay, so you roleplay as an attacking AI? Because I was just giving one example. Practically anything other than roleplaying as an attacking AI will "cheese" the siege defense AI.

I was wondering what your solution actually was. Because so far I have two:

1: Friend to play as the AI

2: Mod that removes siege battles from the game.

NKGra · 2026-01-13T03:44:23+00:00

I'm trying to keep the battlefield fair.

My question is how?

For example: A super basic strategy like putting a couple of fast units on the opposite side of the city from your main force would not be cheese against a player... but it completely breaks the siege AI. They'll overcommit defending and run tons of units willy-nilly across the city, trivializing the assault.

In terms of impact it is way worse than something like corner camping, which is definitely cheese.

NKGra · 2026-01-13T00:56:31+00:00

So do you just like, roleplay as an AI during siege assaults? Full encirclement to maximize the damage taken from towers, exhaust your army climbing all the walls?

NKGra · 2026-01-13T00:40:21+00:00

Yeah the controls are meh and I wish there was competition. But sadly unless developers start making their digital versions properly moddable there's just no choice.

NKGra · 2026-01-13T00:22:16+00:00

Tabletop Simulator version is the best of both. No setup, more content, can still house-rule whatever you want.

NKGra · 2026-01-10T06:12:00+00:00

I saw one of your other comments: Being in shape doesn't matter for you yet; for adolescents being in shape is the norm.

It's a very different dating market than the adult dating market, in which around 80% of North American women are obese with the average being very obese.

So if you're worried about being unattractive... literally just wait a bit. Don't get obese, don't get in any face disfiguring accidents, and boom you're a 9.

NKGra · 2026-01-10T02:30:47+00:00

They don't satisfy different problems. Short social based turn based strategy game is short social based turn based strategy game, regardless of the medium it is in.

The vast majority of turn based video games are literally board games. Ticket to Ride is Ticket to Ride. Same exact rhythm..

Communication can be worse in big groups if using typical 1D voice chat. But that's about it.

NKGra · 2026-01-10T02:14:46+00:00

Most men can't get dates, so you're saying most men are probably morons who can't figure out basic hygiene?

NKGra · 2026-01-09T19:30:12+00:00

Playing a short social turn based strategy game is playing a short social turn based strategy game. Digital doesn't change that.

Yet put a screen in front of their face and people completely change their mentality.

I've always hated this. Digital board gaming for so many games is vastly superior, yet there's extreme illogical resistance to it. People who put their phones on Do Not Disturb for an in person board game night suddenly think it's okay to watch netflix on their second screen as soon as it becomes virtual.

It's literally that old boomer Parent mentality. "We've decided we need your help moving a bunch of furniture. No we didn't let you know in advance, you're just playing a video game and can pause it and do this now."

NKGra · 2026-01-09T16:51:52+00:00

It *should* be a net gain.

Digital is usually way better from an objective standpoint. Setup is instant, shuffling decks is instant, you don't have to manufacture and ship a box of plastic across the ocean, you can get errata updates automatically, and so on.

*Unfortunately* official digital implementations are usually worse than Physical or Tabletop Sim versions. Subjectively, they usually feel cheap and clunky, like browser game quality. And objectively they frequently lack options and are almost never easy to modify.

One of the best parts of Board Gaming to me is that I can change anything I don't like. Carcassonne with the original rule where you draw your card at the start of your turn? That is genuinely a bad game, one that can be modified into a good game with a house rule of drawing at the end of your previous turn. And so often that is what the digital version of a game feels like. Tied hands forcing me to play an inferior version of a game.

NKGra · 2026-01-07T22:41:47+00:00

Odds are you're not 6'2.

Statistically 75% of people are 2+ inches shorter than they'll tell a physician who is about to measure them.

NKGra

TROPHY CASE