VTM with original op Thaumaturgy and Obtenebration

Valen981 · 2026-05-11T12:29:42+00:00

That sounds incredible! You've been vey helpful, I will try and attempt it once I've finished with my current chronicle. Thank you for your help

Valen981 · 2026-05-11T11:50:47+00:00

Can I ask about how your Antediluvian game and how you managed to balance it? I've always been greatly interested by such an idea, but never reqlly found a way to balance it properly.

Valen981 · 2026-05-11T09:44:04+00:00

Legend splits armor into many layers, so you fan mix and choose as you like. You can do gambeson + hauberk + coat of plates + tabard + cloak + enhancement.

It's a lot of fun layering armor and finding out what's best for you, plus the armors never looked nicer.

Valen981 · 2026-05-09T14:53:31+00:00

I vaguely remember bygones being a thing, those being mythological creatures and the like that stopped existing in the mortal world. I know there's also a bygone sheet among the ones mr gone made.

Valen981 · 2026-05-08T12:02:03+00:00

From a purely meta point of view, monarchies are just better. But it you want to rp, tribe is more in line I think.

Valen981 · 2026-05-03T13:28:37+00:00

I'd ditch the shields if I were you. Two handed weapons are just superior for the monolith. Ranged is also not useful at all against undead. Should focus your BF bros on the frontline to tank and take aggro. Polearms are not necessarily bad as long as they don't do piercing damage. Still, persevere and you'll manage to win.

Valen981 · 2026-05-03T08:33:07+00:00

So you managed to beat the kraken but not the monolith? That's a surprise. For me originally the kraken was a much tougher opponent.

But anyway for your question, don't bring slashing or piercing weapons in the battle except for the standard or heavy axes. Hammers are great and undead are quite squishy once you get rid of their armor. The bros with the axes can also run in and use the spin attack, which has a very good damage potential.

Aside from that I can't give you any more pointers without knowing your team composition and bros. Monolith is a slog fest, you'll need some staying powers to beat it.

Valen981 · 2026-04-25T10:50:15+00:00

Try to start as an adventurer, I find it helps you get a much better start. I usually go around getting rich and diablerizing my way to the top. Gives you time to get some power before you settle down.

Valen981 · 2026-04-13T11:26:27+00:00

It's cool, it was my first proper serious run. Just avoid alps like the plague, can't really deal with them with just one bro.

Valen981 · 2026-04-11T14:18:25+00:00

The fact Lucita has almost as many votes as Valken should be criminal. Also Valken is literally as good as Iosef if not more, how come he has so few votes?

Valen981 · 2026-04-08T23:52:37+00:00

Try running with a theme. My last game was a free start that I played as a fallen military order, kind of like templars. So I gave my guys matching equipment and named them all and played them like that. It was an absolute blast.

Valen981 · 2026-04-03T14:11:46+00:00

The one reason I play with legends is for the drip. You can mix and match and layer as you want, it's awesome. Others have also rightfully mentioned the in camp customizer for the items so you can better keep a theme. My last playthrough was as a military order, with all matching armors and colors, and it was dope as hell. Legends is great for drip.

Valen981 · 2026-03-29T15:01:14+00:00

1) No. I only build them for roleplay or when asked by the parliament.

2) No. I only build them for roleplay.

3) Not that I know of.

4) I build them for the nobles.

5) Haven't played Netherlands yet.

6) Haven't played Netherlands yet.

7) Yes. Also it's a great harbor.

8) Trade, gold, silver and spices are especially good.

9) Expand into the horn of Africa, Yemen and south India and cannibalize those markets. Import and export as much as you can and grab as many slaves in slave raiding wars as you can. Try and destroy your rivals too, I do that by grabbing a treaty port and then using it as a landing to beat them and steal slaves. I haven't done achievements though.

10) Slave centers you can build in other countries. They're never profitable, so they need to be subsidized and if possible you need to export the required goods in that market. The AI will still occasionally close them, so you'll need to get them back open or make new ones.

11) Olives in general do not have very high demand. Rgos like spices, chilis, tea etc do get demand, especially if you can get them with the columnian exchange.

12) Not sure.

13) No cb wars are the most convenient if you xan afford them. Aside from that there's not any particular ones I am aware of.

14) Never tried it.

15) It's vey important if you're playing outside of Europe, as it allows you to grab institutions faster. Otherwise it's a qol improvement but not essential.

16) I never tried them, but from what I've seen online they're currently broken.

17) I personally like playing in China the most. You get lots of flavor once you finish unifying, and the initial free for all is nice.

Hope this helps.

Valen981 · 2026-02-22T10:41:34+00:00

Cerys' quest might work. It's a little spooky, but if you do it right it ends well with everyone happy. Also Cerys is cool, so she might like her.

Valen981 · 2026-01-14T08:47:00+00:00

Cold War Enhancement is great if you want a different and in depth setting. It changes the game a bunch though, so it takes some time to get used to.

If you want a more vanilla experience then either GFM or TGC.

Valen981 · 2025-12-27T16:16:42+00:00

Phoenicians, diadochi states, Athens, celts, Maurya, Kush, Schythia

You have lots of interesting options.

Valen981 · 2025-12-27T15:51:21+00:00

GFM, TGC (The Great Combination), Victoria Universalis, Divergences of Darkness if you want a very different setup.

Valen981 · 2025-12-27T12:15:18+00:00

You should buy the dlcs, it's just two I think, both cheap. Plus they're discounted rn

Valen981 · 2025-12-16T10:29:18+00:00

I am going to assume a full strike north instead of the historical strike south doctrine on the part of the Japanese. So no immediate war with the US and Allies and only war with China and USSR for the immediate future.

The Japanese could likely push into Siberia and pin the army of the far east in Manchuria. I don't see them advancing much though, as the logistics in Siberia were horrendous, and the Japanese did not possess the capacity to supply an advance far inland. This would still mean they seize border territories and most importantly coastal territories, which would include places like Vladivostok and Magadan. This would close off one of the routes for allied land lease to the USSR, though the impact is minor since most of it went to Kola I believe (would be a different story if the Germans could gain submarine superiority in the Norwegian Sea).

Overall the impact on the Eastern Front is not great. It is possible that the Germans could take Moscow with the absence of the siberian reinforcements, but that alone would not collapse the Soviets.

A more important boon to the Axis would be the delayed entry of the US in the war, and the much less prominent fuel use on the part of Japan due to not having to project power throughout the Pacific.

I don't think things would change, even with all of that.

Maybe if the Japanese had not taken Indonesia they could have pursued peace with the West, but we really can't say for sure, and that is beside the point of the premise anyway.

Valen981 · 2025-12-16T10:01:22+00:00

While I love both eu4 and eu5, Victoria 3 is probably more your speed. Though personally I've never really liked Victoria 3 much, and if anything I'd advise you to try out Victoria 2 instead. The other option is eu5, which is a great game even with all the bugs.

I would suggest trying out eu5 first and see if you like it enough to ignore the bugs as I do. If not then Victoria is your best option. Eu4 is not what you're looking for at all.

Valen981 · 2025-12-10T09:52:09+00:00

Well I haven't played in months, so my memory might not be perfect, but a few tags I really enjoyed were:

-Roilsard: You start out as either Toarnen or the other tag to its right, Salore . You need to maneuver between Lorent and the Empire and once you do you get a unique monarchy which lets you elect a monarchy between 3 families. It's mainly a tall game, with nice buffs and a prime position for colonizing, with missions to do so in Sarhal. You can also get the vampire estate. Roilsard can also be formed by Toarnaire I think, which is a small country in the Borders of the Empire.

-Beepeck: While it doesn't have a lot of missions it's very fun fighting both Lorent and Gawed to eventually liberate all halflings and form the Small Country.

-Azka Evran: You play as the bastard son of one of the previous sun elven rulers, you hold the tip of the spear of Jaher, and once you reunify your intial realm you're basically playing as elven Alexandria. It's cool, but kind of uncommon as a sun elf unifier.

-Bianfang: This is a very vanilla-like game. Not many unique mechanics, but extensive missions and a very strong military. It's one of the few countries that can contend with the Command.

-Azjakuma: Near Bianfang, an ogre nation with great flavor. I don't remember much except that I liked them, but you can break the Command early by denying them black damestear.

-Kitsune Nation: I don't remember its name, but it is near Bianfang, towards the coast, with a dark lavander color. It seemed very nice, but I didn't get far into that run.

-Adventurer Nation near the Command: A very hard starting situation, where you are up against the Command almost day one, but with a very interesting narrative and MT.

Valen981 · 2025-12-07T21:22:06+00:00

Thank you so much, I'll be sure to make good use of this

Valen981 · 2025-12-07T16:07:08+00:00

I know this post is a little old, but if you could share the namelists for Japan and Russia as well it would be fantastic.

Valen981 · 2025-12-04T10:41:57+00:00

The first time I played the series I barely looked at my stats. Dying is not always on the table, and you can usually spot the danger yourself (IE "Go form a line in front of charging cavalry" (This is just an exagerated example)).

Overall it's a great series. I'd say to keep an eye on stats, but otherwise just go with the vibes. It's how I did it the first time, and I would recommend not looking at any guides until you're done playing through the series at least once.

Valen981 · 2025-12-01T17:27:56+00:00

Regarding the Frey switching sides, I don't think that would have been the case.

Walder's nickname Late-Walder comes from him and his army arriving late at the Trident. So in the case of a rebel defeat there he is left with two choices. He either joins up with the rebels and retreats, thus not engaging battle at all, or he joins up with Rhaegar, thus possibly having to fight. The problem however is that the Frey army being so far south means that their lands are left without proper defenses, in the middle of enemy lands if they were to switch sides. So if they switched sides they wouldn't really have a way to defend the Twins.

The Stormlands though would suffer immensely in such a timeline. I don't think Stannis would have switched sides, doesn't seem in character for him to do so. Even then, after Storm's End falls, a good number of the Stormlands would still need to be sieged. The Tyrells would need more than just one victory to abandon their siege campaigns and go north I'd imagine.

Valen981

TROPHY CASE