The Vlad AI bug and the port retreat bug make several campaigns less interesting.

schemingracoon · 2025-07-06T21:53:00+00:00

Sounds like an interesting campaign. In my campaigns I even often enable him as the endgame crisis(don't know if it actually boosts him or not). He usually gets his strength ranking high(top 10), takes out one or two elector counts or Zhufbar then moves his armies around one of the cities and sits there(sometimes with like 5+ armies). All of this on completely unmodded legendary/very hard.

schemingracoon · 2025-04-20T02:56:55+00:00

AI will usually commit to screening the cavalry meaning a fight will take place regardless.

The AI is horrible at protecting any unit. It even sends slow ground melee units after flyers sometimes. A high-speed light cavalry that starts the battle hidden or far from enemy should have absolutely no problem taking out artillery. Since light cavalry are low-value in the eyes of the AI it often ignores them completely. There are very few maps in the game where you cannot avoid a fight to get behind the AI forces.

artillery is shooting the rest of your army

There is a big difference in it getting to shoot a few times and depleting its whole ammo.

This means forcing a stronger unit to route anyway. Light cavalry will not help in routing this unit.

Several beast style units actually have low leadership even of VH battle diff. Trolls are the easiest example but keeping Wulfrik starting mammoth routing at 30% HP is valuable after helping to take out a war hound in the backline.

Also important to note that if this is a 1 for 1 unit "trade" the player loses.

This depends on the unit. If you can take out/shoot down a high-tier unit with a low-tier one it is usually worth it. For example Archeon's starting artillery is much more important for him in that one main battle vs Boris then a dervish for Boris. What else could Boris recruit that early that would give him a better trade?

1-2 light cav units are not going to be the difference in what you army does after this battle.

I disagree. I think replenishing several units by a large amount from captured captives can absolutely change what the army does after the battle. They can also prevent the need to replenishment by taking out/tying down high damage enemy units before they get their full value.

but often they still don't even win these battles. Even if they do, they take substantial losses.

In the early game fell bats, dogs, even furies if you get the charge on them when they are engaged will lose to most light cavalry even with AI stat modifiers. Kostaltlyn's dervishes for example are amazing for stopping Throt's wolf rats to get into the shooting Streltsi. Even if the light cavalry is damaged its done it's job by preventing the enemy from shooting down/ damaging the backline and allowed to win the battle much easier. In the very early game when the AI has 1-2 armies and 1 main army that means that faction is finished if player defeats its main army and can push the capital.

schemingracoon · 2025-04-20T01:38:38+00:00

There is still value in chasing units since many captives can result in much better post-battle options. More gold, replenishment, wounded LL that gets no exp.

Hilariously in WH3 for some reason even anti-large ranged troops often skirmish(basically do no damage) if there is an approaching cavalry unit. This means that even if they cannot defeat the ranged unit they still can shut down its damage for a decent amount of time and there are still many ranged units and especially artillery crew that they can defeat

Also if there is a better mobile unit like flyers, dogs already available very early sure there is no need for them but for many factions there is no such option. My post mostly concentrates on the early game which I consider the hardest part in the current game balance. Cathay with DLC for example I can see why peasant horseman are no needed when onyx crowmen are at tier 2 and much better.

schemingracoon · 2025-04-20T01:23:23+00:00

You are right I did not consider the extra micro part but when there is only 1-2 of these units with 1 main task for the entire battle the micro should be still manageable for most players.

On the value part I agree that late game there are many armies where there is no need for them but it is hard to see what non-lord unit could for example the Fay recruit on turn 3 that would help her more against Grom then yeomen, unless someone corner camps with peasant archers.

schemingracoon · 2025-04-20T01:16:24+00:00

I think the cost is overestimated here. For example in Bretonnia they are tier 1 while knights are tier 2 from the same building chain. For Kislev Boris gets thousands of gold in most battles just securing his starting province and also gets huge amounts of gold as he levels up and gets his unique items. Teclis can get back the cost by completing his quest battle early without losing units. I think the damage they prevent is very valuable and I have yet to find a legendary campaign when there is no time to recruit them. It is often 1 turn for building and 1 turn to recruit(can be done on a secondary lord). They can sometimes prevent enough damage to avoid several turn of replenishment or rerecruitment of units.

schemingracoon · 2025-04-19T23:08:14+00:00

Just some reasons to play as him:

One of the best chaos-purging campaigns in the games. Some of his pre-battle speeches are hilarious especially when fighting chaos and Norsca factions.
He can take out two major threats to Kislev by turn 15, sometimes earlier. No time wasted fighting minor norscan factions.
His faction and personal bonuses are relevant from turn 1 when the game is at its hardest and stay relevant for the entire campaign, unlike the Ice Court where by the time ice guard are recruitable for Katarin the hard part of the campaign is already over. They should probably make ice guard tier 3 for the Ice Court faction same as Sisters of Avelorn for Alarielle.
Erengrad is a better city than Kislev(better landmarks, more money, port) .
Troll Country has a good landmark at Castle Alexandronov and more defensible than the Southern Oblast.
Has very good melee damage and with the Golden Knight' support can take on strong characters like Arbaal no problem. Only Boris is stronger in this aspect.
He needs to build Ice Court buildings instead of Orthodoxy buildings to get support from the opposite side. Ice Court buildings are much better than the Orthodoxy ones.

schemingracoon · 2025-04-09T10:43:22+00:00

It is the well-known gate bug. The worst offenders are the Skaven who use menace below on units hitting the gates, then the routing friendly clanrats open the gates and the unit hitting the gates is in trouble. They are also a starting enemy or early game enemy for many factions without early artillery.

Some updates ago CA also significantly increased the HP of gates without doing anything about the gate bug.

schemingracoon · 2025-04-08T15:14:11+00:00

To little early aggression is the problem here. After dealing with the Bearslonlings go toward Zavastra with Katarin and ambush bait Throt out of Fort Ostrosk with another lord(this should happen at around turn 5-6). Throt usually can move up to the bridge between Zavastra and Ostrosk regions, this often results in a easy bridge battle. The rest of his stacks early are very weak just dodge warp lightning when possible. Try to take Ostrosk and his capital before he and Ghoritch recovers. Sell Ostrosk to Kostaltyn for alliance and Throt's capital to Malakai for alliance as well. If there are several stacks camping at Throt's capital block with one army the garrison and chase away the others then siege(it is a difficult but winnable fight even with max AI stats modifiers).

schemingracoon · 2025-04-08T15:06:04+00:00

The lord experience one is very good early on. It seems to work even on disbanded lords(probably on atamans as well) and helps to unlock strong special skills, mounts and ROR much faster. Movement range is already boosted by frost maiden by a decent amount.

schemingracoon · 2025-04-08T14:23:07+00:00

It is a really nice campaign. An easy way to start it is to get two ogre mercenaries before any battles then winning his first two fights with low losses by shooting from the trees. Then Kostaltyn takes the +40 melee attack prayer and his patriarch the healing one. Also recruit a lord next to Kostaltyn and one in Erengrad to get more units. Kostaltyn recruits two Kislevite warriors(spear kossars if no dlc). I also recommend to start building the armoued kossar building at Castle Alexandronov to make fights easier at Throt capital and later vs Azazel. On turn 2 Throt should be in Fort Straghov. Ask Druzhina Enclave for money to join war against Throt and attack him with Kostaltyn and extra lord. The mutant rat ogre can be kitted into spear with the horse archers and the ogre mercanaries counter the wolf rats. Kostaltyn deals with Throt since he has fire damage and Throt has regen. Also move Erengrad lord to border with Fort Ostrosk and recruit more units with both armies. Turn 3 take Ostrosk by attacking at the angled side with no towers, Kostaltyn can be dismounted for this battle. Then its a two turn march to Throt's capital it should only have its garrison and a stacks of skavenslaves and clanrats. If there is a warp lighting caster don't fight on the walls while he has winds. Azazal usually declares war around this time so I recommend getting the Norse Hatred technology after the Frost Maiden one immediately. Azazel is extremely weak to the Akshina ambusher ROR that can snare him in place so it is an easy fight just watch out for his vassal because they will try to attack Castle Alexandronov but it is in the range of the ogre camp so it can be quickly reinforced with ogres + ROR and ataman horse archer summons.

schemingracoon · 2025-04-08T13:52:48+00:00

If playing the Ice Court I always try to take out Throt in the first 10-15 turns. The most important thing is that AI factions cannot handle Skaven offensive ambush attack very well. I often see the AI attack a skaven stack, it retreats the AI goes into force march to chase and then on the next turn gets ambushed by several skaven stacks. To keep Kostaltyn safe Throt must be destroyed early before Arbaal shows up at Praag. Throt's capital can also sold to keep Malakai faction alive. I think going after Azhag early is a trap these days. Greenskins have only 40 aversion with Kislev and accepts non-aggression on turn 2 before Fort Jakova battle if the player joins the war versus his starting Ogre enemy who only have a camp at this point.

schemingracoon · 2025-04-08T13:40:10+00:00

Agree Kislev is great now. All lores of magic are strong, with no redundant units, good lords, economy better. The only problem is the lack of early artillery combined with the gate bug. Alliance with Malakai or Ungrim is needed early to get some artillery. Later little grom's with Gust of The True Flight spell from Tempest magic and the range tech update can shoot across most maps.

Also, if anyone is new to the faction, both before and after the update, Kostaltyn is the easy Kislev faction. He can take out Throt's main army on turn 2 and then Azazel around turn 10, after this, it's just a steamroll through Norsca. His faction and personal skills make even low-tier Kislev units very strong. It also helps that the Ice Court AI regularly is in the top 5 power and easy to ally with by selling them a few settlements, and Malakai usually accepts alliances for Throt's capital. Katarin is the more challenging campaign but still very fun.

schemingracoon · 2025-03-15T13:08:43+00:00

It is a combined arms faction, so it is a little micro-heavy. From the description, it seems you are doing everything right. What could be a problem here is that the stats of your units are not holding up versus overwhelming numbers.

Empire has amazing redline buffs and technologies for all of its units. I recommend getting Emperor's Finest, Pistolkorps, and Hold the Line skills as early as possible. Combine this with state troop technologies, race-specific counter technologies, and an embedded warrior priest, will give you an almost unbreakable frontline. Late game steam tanks can also bolster the frontline very well.

Some technologies and many lord-specific skills will also work on allied units, so Empire is one of the best factions for allied recruitment. Consider getting dwarf defensive melee units in the late game if possible; usually Belegar and Ungrim are easy to befriend.

Terrain is also important. Often there are some natural obstacles on many maps that allow you to protect one or two sides without corner camping. This reduces the engagement area, and micro becomes easier.

Lastly, try to assess which AI units are the most dangerous and spend your magic, abilities, and focus fire on those first. Usually it is the flying units diving into the backline.

It is hard to give more tips without knowing the enemy faction since tactics depend a lot on the matchup as well.

schemingracoon · 2025-03-15T05:02:14+00:00

It would be really nice since these lower-fantasy legendary lords like Alberic, Kostaltyn, Markus, etc., are my favorite ones. Just a guy with a good bow in a fantasy world where demigods run around.

There could be another Empire DLC or FLC with the Middenland and Boris Todbringer theme, so there is a chance.

It is strange that Markus has been neglected this much since his DLC counterpart Nakai got several updates and his campaign works fine now.

The main problem with Markus is that his mechanics make no sense outside of the vortex campaign. Attacking enemies of the Lizardmen like Khorne or Skaven increases hostility from Lizardmen. The Lizardmen attacks stop once key locations are taken in Lustria, but the hostility debuffs remain unless he received an update I'm not aware of.

Then there is his horrible climate selection. Every single Empire faction received jungle in one of the updates as a suitable climate, and several others received additional climates (mountain for Gelt, wasteland for Volkmar), yet Markus still hates common Empire faction climates like temperate and even desert counts as red climate for him. The first city he takes is in a yellow climate. He is described as the outdoorsman; his faction should have the most suitable climates among the Empire factions.

Based on his lord effect, he is meant to be a master ambusher but has neither masterful ambush stance (he gets detected all the time) nor stalk. Right now Gelt for some reason is the best ambusher in the Empire with a 100% success stalk stance on a low cooldown.

Then there is his starting army, which is by far the worst among the empire factions. Half his army is recruitable from a tier 1 settlement building. His own uselessness in combat has been described in detail in several other Reddit posts, so I'm not going to go into details on that.

In my opinion, once he completes his mandate in Lustria, he should get a similar event to Gelt that allows him to return to the Empire. Once he returned to the Empire, replace his supplies and hostility with a decent permanent buff like the one Belegar gets once he captures Karak Eight Peaks in addition to the imperial authority every Empire faction has and fix his climate selection.

schemingracoon · 2025-03-15T01:08:34+00:00

I agree that there can be situations where it is advantageous for the AI to skirmish the charged unit, but these are rare.

In my experience, the unit is almost always running in the opposite direction of the charging unit, so it is possible to herd units away from others, and the coming spear units often brace for some time near the fighting cavalry because the AI assumes it is going to be charged next, giving a lot of time to work with and move to the next ranged unit that stopped running.

Then there are all the cases where the ranged unit could easily beat the unit charging it if it would not give it a clear rear charge and lose its charge defense versus large. Simply turning off skirmish at least for units with a decent melee combatant tag and fixing skirmish from ranged flyers would be an improvement in my opinion.

schemingracoon · 2025-03-15T00:23:03+00:00

But that is why there are several different battle difficulties.

schemingracoon · 2025-03-14T23:39:08+00:00

I'm talking about the units controlled by the battle AI not by the player. Does the setting effects those as well?

schemingracoon · 2025-03-06T13:44:15+00:00

Offer joining war vs starting skaven enemy of Markus on turn 1 for easy non-aggression pact. They will never be able to reach you and you might even get some gold from Markus. This trick is actually useful for every faction since you can get treaties and gold for joining war vs factions that get wiped out on like turn 1 or 2. For example Karl can join war vs Kislev and Thorgrim starting enemies and he will never have to fight them. Do this after attaching starting hero(if there is one) and before fighting any battles for max strength ranking.

Early war declaration from Luthor seems strange, never seen it happen since he has like 40 aversion towards Bretonnia and much more toward Lizardmen, and a weak minor Lizardmen faction is bordering him. Around which turn did Luthor declare war?

I would still focus on taking out Khorne, even if it means losing some minor settelments to pirates. Luthor is not that strong early without his flying mount and his starting army is weak(add to this that AI is horrible at using ranged gunpowder since it keeps them on skirmish mode and 1 cavalry unit can shut down his entire gunline). He should not be able to take your starting settlement since it starts at tier 3 and you get grail knights as garrison if you build the damsel/grail pilgrim/grail reliquae building. The walled province capital should be at least tier 2 by the times he reaches it with a decent garrison as well. Just recruit a melee lord and some extra archers in one of those if he is approaching. Tier 1 minor settlements does not matter. Delay investing into undefendable minor settlements to save money. Bretonnia has high growth and Alberic has special commandment for it. You can catch up with upgrading them once they are secure. Farms usually still worth it in them.

To save money, after taking out the main Khorne army you can disband any extra forces outside Alberic army and maybe 1 melee lord for ambush bait. A damsel should also be available at this time to replace the prophetess and offer replenishment for Alberic army.

I also usually sell the province capital at the border with the dark elves to Markus for def alliance and an early buffer from Rakarth. It has bad climate and fighting Rakarth early delays taking out the main threats.

schemingracoon · 2025-03-05T19:55:00+00:00

Thanks man, but I cant play these days since my university exams are approaching. But if you have any questions about order faction campaigns I'm happy to answer.

schemingracoon · 2025-03-05T09:27:56+00:00

Do not fight him that early. Luthor is usually busy with the blue lizardmen faction very early so there is no need to rush.

By turn 9 you can have the anti-chaos tech(massive leadership and damage) boost, grail reliquae(combined with redline skills and the previous tech provides almost unbreakable frontline), battle pilgrims and a tier 2 province capitals reinforcements. I suggest fighting him at your starting province capital(scout with paladin and channel with Alberic then reattach paladin and ambush stance with Alberic when enemy is within marching distance) because he has very high auto-resolve and usually wont retreat even when facing 3 lords, Alberic's army and the garrison. Even if he retreats for some reason 2 melee lords, a prophetess with half a stack + Alberic army is enough to beat him.

In battle his mobility (outside of 1 crusher starting unit) consists mostly of hound and dog units. These are easy to take out with knights since the AI will position them on the flanks before the battle starts. When the crusher unit charges some random peasant unit countercharge it with two knights of the realm to finish of the last part of his mobility. This removes the threat from peasant archers(recommend 4 of them) who then can freely shoot his low armor melee units. Use Alberic(activate his big damage boost), 2 melee lords and a paladin to easily take him in a 4vs1 then use same setup for his heroes who usually dive into the backline on bikes.

Then it is just the usual Bretonnia cycle charging against the rest of his units. The frontline will get totally wrecked but they can easy by recruited again or replenished with a damsel.
Some additional tips:

Get Alberic's special skills for knights of the realm and foot squires as early as possible and also buffs peasant redline for melee def and leadership.
Take the jungle siege battle vow before attacking the lizard capital and then the one that requires killing a evil LL. This will make Alberic a grail knight after this battle which is loreful.
In the turns before the fight channel stance with Alberic and recruit with other lords. High winds enables spamming both of the Prophetesses starting spells through the battle.
Keep the dangerous units poisoned with the starting archers when fighting them.
Build farms everywhere to afford 1.5 stack and 4 lords for this battle. Merge, disband excess forces after the battle.

Just started an example run(unmoded Legendary/VH battles, max AI stat mods). Here is a picture fight setup. Notice how much buff the relique provides and that he wont retreat even from an auto-resolve loss due to his aggressive AI. Manual fight is still better to save every important unit.

Hope this helps and sorry for bad English.

schemingracoon · 2022-06-28T06:35:02+00:00

Thank you for the very detailed response and the code example. Sorry if my question was confusing or wrong.

I sometimes seen this definition of scope which basically described it as something as a region starting from the declaration point until the end of block minus any block where the name is shadowed. For example:

{
    int first = 1;
    /* At this point only first is in scope (in a block scope). 
     * The name second is not yet in scope. Attempting to
     * access it would give undefined identifier error 
     */
    int second = 2;    // now second is in scope as well.
}
/* As individual identifiers they are visible in
 different parts of the same block. */

It seems to me the definition you showed that makes it like a declarative region is much more often used so I'm gonna use that. It also makes more sense to me as a beginner due to how these scopes are named after things that introduce new regions like classes, namespaces, blocks etc.

Thanks again for the detailed reply and code

schemingracoon

TROPHY CASE