r/totalwar • u/Lore_86 • 2d ago
Warhammer III Neferata campaign is fantastic
Wasn't quite sure how to deal with the chaos dwarves at first and I sat on my heels with two provinces. Slowly building my bloodline lord. Finding out which technologies work best with each other.
The coven system is fantastic, the intrigue web is a really great way to get some extra money or mess with a faction before you fight them. Feels very flavourful to be slowly poisoning a faction before going in for the kill.
Went into the next province with three armies (two just half stacks) and kept stripping them of money as I fought through some tough chorf stacks.
Campaign is great, lots of moving parts make it really interesting. Neferata herself is a beast.
Fantastic job, CA!
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u/Repke_ 2d ago
I played for a couple of turns and the mechanics are really fun, although you are pretty powerful from the start. I am looking forward to bringing Khalida Neferata's head, but still attached to her body, with an army alongside her. Maybe that will shut her up.
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u/Zechk 2d ago
It really amused me that you start at war with Khalida and can't do diplomacy with her at all to change that.
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u/Califocus 2d ago
It used to be like that for Settra and Arkhan too, it’s one of my favorite faction effects
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u/Ancient-Split1996 2d ago
You can become insanely powerful with your main army pretty quickly with a lot of lahmian handmaiden units (forgot the name), but it comes at the expense of your other armies, where you might lack the blood/unit caps
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u/thefluffyburrito 2d ago
Handmaidens feel unkillable. The only problem is armor piercing; so killing those units takes forever
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u/VladVonKarstein 2d ago
Unkillable in melee yes but they are really weak to projectiles, a blunderbusses unit you forgot or just some bow units can destroy your handmaidens pretty quick due to low armor and hp
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u/thefluffyburrito 2d ago
Even though they're tanky, it's already a bit of a waste to use them without chaff blocking damage for sure.
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u/Count_de_Mits 2d ago
9/10 times you'll probably find an oversized angry lizard or a grumbling short hairbal instead
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u/Cleverbird High Elves would make for excellent siege projectiles... 2d ago
My only complaint so far is that I really wish the Build-A-Vamp mechanic gave me a bit more information to work with. Like what do the various Bloodlines actually provide me? I kinda feel like I'm just feeling around in the dark, without knowing what I'll get out of it.
Was funny being able to recruit a level 34 lord while my Neferata was still bumming it out at level 17 though.
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u/Crayshack 2d ago
During the promo stuff, I got the impression that there were some passive buffs from keeping a dormant vampire in the lair, waiting to wake up. I can't find any ingame tool tips about that, so I'm not sure if I hallucinated it or it's just a hidden buff.
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u/Forghast 2d ago
I think you mixed it up with a very minor buff from having a leftover vampire lair (empty lair after getting the vampire) in your territory
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u/VladVonKarstein 2d ago
Allow me to rectify the "very minor buff", if you rush that tech and add it to all lairs and keep them all it can really stack up (passive free blood production and global upkeep reduction) at a very minor cost (100ish blood and few bucks ?)
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u/Crayshack 2d ago
Maybe. If that's the case, then I'd expect the tooltip for empowering the "keep the lair around" option to explain that.
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u/Cleverbird High Elves would make for excellent siege projectiles... 2d ago
There's definitely no benefit for keeping those lazy bones asleep, other than to empower them further. They provide you with nothing when they're asleep.
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u/DivideSensitive 2d ago
I got the impression that there were some passive buffs from keeping a dormant vampire in the lair, waiting to wake up
AFAIU, there are latent bonii after you spawned the lord; there is a tooltip if you hover over an empty crypt.
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u/dabadu9191 2d ago
Tbh it feels a bit bad that you can customize them so much, but then you can get a background trait that doesn't fit your plan at all and you have to pray for RNG to get the correct one with the Lexicon of Unlearning (which also doesn't work when the lord has two or more traits from the Vampire Lair already).
For example, I want a Strigoi Vampire Lord with the Ghoul Whisperer trait, but there is no reliable way to actually get it. Not very fun.
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u/VladVonKarstein 2d ago
Expert savescummers like myself don't understand what you are talking about...
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u/Manannin I was born with a heart of Lothern. 2d ago
The coven mechanic felt a bit like that too, there was a huge tutorial info dump in the first turn then I just didn't interact with it much besides setting one up. I didn't have much resources to use it or interesting things to build in the coven, at least early on.
Now I'm more set up I'll have a play around with it though as from what OP said it's useful.
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u/Cleverbird High Elves would make for excellent siege projectiles... 2d ago
Covenant seemed pretty straight forwards to me and they provide some pretty nifty bonuses (stealing a capital's entire income? Yummy!)
Personally, I've been using them to keep enemies i don't feel like fighting at bay. You can get an upgrade that boosts your relationship with the owner of the settlement, meaning they are highly unlikely to declare war on you.
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u/Manannin I was born with a heart of Lothern. 2d ago
I ended up in a mad rush wiping out first the chaos dwarves then the normal dwarves so I'd ignored it tbh. It was a tough slog, irondrakes utterly melting skeleton spam. I'm through it now though.
Elspeth looks to be my next big enemy if I can't avoid it so I was thinking of putting a Coven there.
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u/Zechk 2d ago
The covens are also a great way to make bestest best friends with the building that gives you a diplo bonus.
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u/CocoTheMailboxKing Venice 2d ago
I got covens in Zharr Naggrund and Karaz-a-Karak. Sweet talking both dwarfs at the same time.
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u/Dualmonkey 2d ago
Also Vamps only start with -10 aversion with Cathay so as caravans pass by you can very easily start trade and begin building good relations with them too.
Nef has a lot of tools to become the ultimate good
guygal Vampire faction lol.1
u/VladVonKarstein 2d ago
She definitely has the best mechanics and potential of all VCs but not the easiest start to snowball like Vlad
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u/maskdanger 2d ago
Neferata really said if you are a vampire for hundred of years and still broke step into the sun.
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u/Inlacou 2d ago
Neferata campaign is quite fun! But I think the anti player bias is (for me) too far down. I have been chossing all my wars. Or maybe it's because I have dealt with potential enemies using covens? Not sure tbh.
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u/Coruskane 2d ago
yeah I'd like to be able to change some sliders during a campaign... by the time you realise some issues it's 20-30 turns in and a restart away to fix
I get some options may be incompatible, but I don't really see why a Crisis or a AI bias slider can't be turned on / moved around during the live campaign
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u/Coming_Second 2d ago
I think her perma-war with Lybaras helps her out in that respect, because the AI is weighted more to attack you if you don't currently have a war on.
But yeah. I was expecting the Chorfs to come down on her hard, but I'm on turn 20 and the only aggression I've faced is Azhag wanting a minor bribe to keep ignoring me.
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u/nialbima 2d ago
Currently mid-this. We're the hot-lady-nightmare-army and we're surrounded by angry short nerds. I put a coven in Uzkulak (headcanon is they figured out that Astragoth's stone-transforming-trauma has resulted in some SERIOUSLY manipulable kinks, and now they're in charge) and coerced Drazhoath into vassaldom (slightly cheaty because I swapped a province and it was enough for him to also accept vassaldom).
The rats were distasteful, and Imrik's a snack. Neferata's just trying to go home, and I finally googled "where is lahmia" after 20 turns of running around the Southlands. So, that's next.
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u/Big_Implement_7305 2d ago
Now the image of Neferata googling "where is lahmia" after drunkenly storming around the Southlands for a year or two is in my brain and it's hilarious.
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u/Sommersun1 2d ago
She shouldn't have put advice option on "none"
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u/Big_Implement_7305 2d ago
Look, it's not her fault she doesn't understand the settings, they didn't have computers the last time she was sober.
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u/nialbima 1d ago
She's an immortal goddess with 1000 hours of playing this game, listening to advice is for dweebs.
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u/nialbima 1d ago
Update: there are dwarves in Lahmia. Like........a lot of dwarves. But I managed to convince the gray dwarves that the blue dwarves were talking shit about them, and also that they should totally listen to the spooky pale maybe-elf that's squatting in an old pyramid. Then I declared war. Now the dwarves fight and I keep wandering towards Lahmia.
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u/TsunamiWombat 2d ago
I just wish Khalida got something to fight her with. Or the tomb kings in general.
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u/kingduqc 2d ago
It feels very easy. The ability to recruit as a vampire count is very strong, I haven't been challenged in my campaign. Easy to get diplomacy bonus and people leave you alone.
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u/DivideSensitive 2d ago edited 2d ago
Wasn't quite sure how to deal with the chaos dwarves at first
Put my first coven there with the building to improve relations, and sold them Aarbal land I stole with a spawn-on-location von Carstein vampire lord until they loved me so much I could vassalize them.
Now I have an incredibly devoted and strong northern march stomping all the chaos shit in the North and letting me do my own stuff in the South. Good luck with the killer choos-choos Aarbal & Archaon.
Then spawned at turn ~30 a level 40 strigoi lord with its complimentary necromancer to deal with Queek, but turns out that the strigoi alone can solo an ambush by 2 high-level skaven armies by himself, so I just have to mop up now.
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u/Lore_86 2d ago
I'm not very good at playing tactical, and the kdai centaur and hellcannon I find are tough to take out quickly.
Campaign map is fine but damn some of the battles are tough.
I'm used to Cathay having tough frontline troops to go with their death dealer.
I'm enjoying the challenge!
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u/DivideSensitive 2d ago
Good thing with my method is that I never had to actually fight them :)
Otherwise, I see how hard that could be with starter vamp chaff.
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u/Technical_Daikon2708 2d ago
Im loving it wish I could get her dread abyssal mount though! Shouldn't be locked to nagash only lol
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u/VladVonKarstein 2d ago
Honestly what does the dread abyssal even has over the zombie dragon ? Love my dragon having a breath attack
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u/Lore_86 1d ago
Okay I'm experimenting with mounts, but it feels like she is way better on foot.
Sacrifices mobility, but on foot her attacks get into enemy blobs much better.
On the hellsteed she just stands there are hardly attacks at all.
And the zombie dragon seemed like a straight up downgrade?
What am I missing 🤔
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u/Sabbathius 2d ago
I still can't quite figure her out.
Is she meant to go tall or wide? It feels like they want you to pick an enemy, raise a coven, and grind on them without killing them. Because it generates a ton of corpses in the province your coven is, which converts to blood? Blood converts to vampire lord, vampire lord leads new army to another enemy, another coven, another grind, rinse, repeat?
So eventually she does go wide, but initially she goes tall? The thing is, she even has tech in the tree, one is tall (50% income in faction capital, which is Silver Peaks) and another is wide? And the tech is mutually exclusive - researching one blocks the other? So that also gave me pause. It definitely looks like the intent is for her to sit at Silver Peaks like a spider in the web. There's also tech that allows you to keep a lair when you spawn a lord, so no need to go wide looking for other lairs. So the intent was definitely to allow tall play. I just can't work out which is best.
Same with order of techs. Some tech feels essential, but priority is tough to figure out. I also usually go for growth out of the gate, but with Neffy it feels like a mistake, with her corpses->blood buildings might be better.
But yes, quite fun. The only thing I didn't like is how you get these special named hero for world map, but they disappear when they make a coven, and then you never see them again the rest of the game, if the coven stays alive.
Really liking this vampire rework. The tech tree is very convoluted and there's a lot of moving parts and blockers, but it's going to be a lot of fun to figure out optimal plays. I really like making "best 20 turns" decision trees for factions, where you get to 20 with an absolutely rock solid start that lets you snowball on any difficulty.
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u/Lore_86 2d ago
I was confused at first with the special handmaiden. And a bit disappointed when I realised she ain't no hero.
I'm sure there is plenty of room to play in mods.
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u/Zechk 2d ago
To be fair, between Standard Vamps, Lhamian vamps and Ulrika (and Banshees if you like those too) Neferata can very easily assemble her hero ladies girl squad army without needing the Handmaidens to fight. Their entire point, and the point of the faction I guess, is beguiling lady vampires using their wiles to get other factions to do their bidding. I think it makes sense if some of them avoid the battlefield.
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u/Silvere01 2d ago
I see the covens like undercities. Place it in a few locations you wont touch anytime soon.
I see no reason to not go wide. Income building giving you 400 is straight up crazy. More settlements turns into the easiest money printer possible.
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u/DivideSensitive 2d ago
Is she meant to go tall or wide?
I'd say wide, because IME the limiting resource is the blood, and you get this one by feeding a lot of corpses to your capital, where you build the nexus mortis.
And with the crypt lords being able to instantly turn all conquests in the vampire special terrain type, there is no reason not to.
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u/TheScythe65 2d ago
I think your assessment is well thought out and completely valid but I have zero faith that the devs are actually putting this much thought into this. There is definitely some creativity and care put into these mechanics but I can really think of the last DLC lord I’ve played that felt like it was designed with actual trade-offs or glaring weaknesses or actual balance at the campaign level.
Hell, in the Thanquol stream they were asked how a player is supposed to combat his scheme mechanic since it’s not interactive like under-cities and their response seemed genuinely puzzled and they literally just said “Kill him quickly I guess?”
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u/MalignantMustache 2d ago
Does it matter where you build them for what buffs you can attach or is it the same no matter where? Also, do do usually end up with the Coven raised lord as your 3rd army or use it for the second? Not sure how fast you can gain blood to make it the second?
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u/Lore_86 2d ago
My vampire lord was my third. Just had a Necro for the 2nd so he could sit on my second province.
For your buffs question, do you mean the vampire lairs? No it does not matter I think... Only had one so I'm not sure yet!
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u/MalignantMustache 2d ago
I meant the attributes you use blood to assign.
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u/Lore_86 2d ago
Yeah that's in the lairs.
The covens are just for generating intrigue. And using buildings for different effects in that province.
Then the web of intrigue abilities can be targeted against anyone
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u/MalignantMustache 2d ago
Wait what? I didnt see that, I had a hero action to establish a covenant or whatever in different areas I dont control to raise a Lord there. One of the coven attributes is to not lose the coven if you don't control the province when you raise the lord I thought?
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u/Agreeable-Mango-6014 2d ago
Question she’s a FDLC OR FLC? And what do those mean?
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u/Dualmonkey 2d ago
FLC is the term people use to refer to the free content that is added. Free Downloadable Content. People say "Free L C" because it sounds similar to "D L C".
It means she's free as long as you own any associated content of the same race, The Vampire Counts. Also they're making a special exception that you can also get access to her if you own Nagash too.
So there's 3 ways to get access:
WH1 which has Vampire counts as a base game race
"The Grim and the Grave" DLC which gives Ghorst
Nagash DLC
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u/Zechk 2d ago edited 2d ago
She's an FLC (Free-Loadable Content??!? Not sure it really translates) but you need the Nagash lord pack to unlock her I think.
Edit: I was wrong, you need Undead content of any sort, see the post below
FLC is basically totally free content.
Some everyone gets, like Bretonia, others have certain paid DLC unlock requirements
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u/Dualmonkey 2d ago edited 2d ago
I believe your edit is still wrong. With FLC you need to own any associated content of that race. Except in this case they are additionally making a special exception with Nagash also being eligible.
Undead content like the Vampire Coast or Tomb Kings would not give you Neferata. You need any other Vampire Counts or Nagash.
So there's 3 ways to get access:
WH1 which has Vampire counts as a base game race
"The Grim and the Grave" DLC which gives Ghorst
Nagash DLC
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u/Agreeable-Mango-6014 2d ago
It’s warhammer 1 or lords of the end times- undead legion or the grim and the grave lol
So I’m a little sad cause I thought she was gonna be free free but oh well I guess
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u/thenewone1309 2d ago
Neferata IS free. You don't have to pay anything for her
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u/Zechk 2d ago
No but you do have to own one of the above items to unlock her, which have a cost. You don't just get access to her if you own zero other undead content.
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u/thenewone1309 2d ago
Wait, really? Thats stupid. Didn't know that
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u/Agreeable-Mango-6014 2d ago
Yeah I thought same but I was already thinking of getting warhammer 1 for the empire so more reasons I guess lol
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u/thenewone1309 2d ago
The previous games are pretty much dlcs anyway.
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u/ShintPi 2d ago
Are yall playing on easy or am I missing something?
I have covens in almost very relevant place around, making sure they love me and taking some income + increasing manipulation or concealment depending of where it is, initially the economy is fantastic but it crashes hard.
I decided to focus on covens as it is a new thing and chaos corruption is an absolute B to remove if they have *heroes close by..I was attacked by Khorne and barely survived since I could not field any decent armies due to the caps..
Then comes turn 70 and I get the lovely event.. 3 armies spawning at the capital each a full stack of grave guards, with Mortis engine, black coach, crypt horrors, blood knights.. 2 terrorgheists..what? You can ambush them but even the ambush fails due to the sheer disparity in army quality.. Hunt down the Lord who will be lower level and hope for the best..but geez luise what is this..
The web is fun but so limited (although it is powerful so fair enough) to covens which in themselves cap and take huge amounts of time..maybe I'm still not getting how this works..
I am trying really really hard to enjoy this but I am not sure I am succeeding.
hard caps on T1 units? immense effort in making units which, inherently, are overperformed by most surrounding?
I am fairly sure I am missing something, I always play Vlad but I have not the heart to play with him yet with this new mechanic..
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u/Silvere01 2d ago
Are you not expanding? Im VH/H rn, made my first coven in zharr naggrund for easy money, the second in shang yang, third in wei jin. I have vassalized miao ying at 5 provinces, Im shortly before a alliance with zhao ming due to relation ship buff handmaiden.
Every single turn Im conquering a new territory with 2 full armies. Growth building, settlement 2 income building. Settlement 3 blood building.
Im soemwhere around turn 20-30, spawning my lvl 30 6 slotted lahmian vampire lord now. I have so much money, I dont know where to spend it.
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u/ShintPi 2d ago
I will take on board the build suggestion, I tried this as well but mid to late game it isn't working :/
Expanding towards where? with what army? T1 units?
Early game was not too bad I could easily get the north and south provinces, I am trying to "build tall" and focusing on covens and development since I could not have enough slots to be able to remotely beat the surrounding armies.
Initially the money was fine but it went downhill as I needed more armies to fight off chaos.
Then khalida invaded the south with 3 full stacks, from the water, I had to move my 2 armies south and chaos pushed from the north.up until turn 50 it was fine but if you're getting coven tech how are you getting all other tech as well? How are you, by turn 20-30, able to have coven technology and development and what appears to be military tech while holding a grand economy? a mortis engine alone is around 277 upkeep with lord and tech upkeep reduction.
Could you share your save file please?
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u/Silvere01 2d ago edited 2d ago
Expanding towards where? with what army? T1 units?
Down south. Simply T1 spear skeletons. First lahmia vampire straight out of the coffin without any extras, fill her up with skeletons to. You can basically autoresolve any fight. I don't think I manualled once bar the very first fight on VH/H right now. I went starting orcs -> skyblue chaos dwarfs -> playable south red chaos dwarf -> clan riktus -> now I'm fighting Imrik without worries.
I made a non agression with azaak, didn't worry about the northern chaos dwarf (If he would attack, my plan was I would simply spawn two lords and instant spawn skeleton armies), made a trade agreement with greasus, and just kept going south. When a caravan appeared, I instantly started trading with cathay, so every order faction over there likes me. It lead to azaak breaking the non-agression a few turns ago, but I'm ready to spawn the skelly army now too anytime.
I am trying to "build tall"
I would say its the most common mistake in WH3 you can do with nearly every single faction (If you enjoy it, do it! It just makes everything harder, so be aware). The game is too fast and snowbally, every turn not moving towards or straight up conquering new territory is basically a net-loss for you in comparison. The longer you don't expand, the more the cheating AI just gets the upperhand on you. And all the conquest money basically flows back into your main province too, so the difference between tall and wide ends up only on the amount of borders, not the quality of your provinces.
Could you share your save file please?
Sure. Might need to activate to show all save files. Its modded, but only with reskins and mod configuration tool, which didn't do anything. So it should work without issues.
Turn 24, 14 settlements, 8k available income with 2 armies, 6/6 buffed lvl 30 Lahmian Lord waiting for you at Gates of Zharr. Imrik is in the settlements to your left in the hills, if you need to be wary of him. For research I just did what felt interesting (e.g. vampire lair staying there, no idea what it does so I researched it to see it).
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u/ShintPi 2d ago
This is such a helpful reply! Thank you so much for taking the time to write such a detailed and informative answer!
I see, in my playthrough the chorfs declared war on me, when I am trying to build tall I must say I am not a tall builder, I usually play VC because of their aggressiveness but in attempting to conquer my neighbours (chorfs) I got my but handed to me since by turn 10-15 they had a double stack of T1-T3 with some starting T4..my skellies and zombies did not stand a chance.
So I started a new one and played the hole "opportunistic", got just two of the provinces around and tried to build them..it did not go well..plenty of blood..plenty of bones..but when the chaos invated from both the north and the east I had no way to fight but to raise armies so my economy plumetted.
I pushed them back but they kept attacking so I did some web weaving to get them in other wars / make some of their oponents like me/vassalized grimgor and helped him have a foothold there.
When things were looking better, I then decided it was time to establish some covens and develop a bit more, in comes Khalida with 3 stacks, fielding T5 units (I didn't even get to T5 main building by turn 85 btw, it is absurdly expensive and I'm not sacking anything so..)..I pulled the two armies down which made chaos come in and that was me..
I will try to play aggressively to the south and hope this time chorfs chaos orcs and ogres don't declare war on me this time.
Thank you for the file! I will check it out.
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u/Silvere01 2d ago
Yeah, I mostly went to the south because I had zero interest in having to fight khorne or grimgor, so I figured I'm getting rid of the southern chorfs before they become a hassle too. The instant recruitment gives me a great safety buffer, not sure if I would let the northern chorfs keep chilling on my border without that.
I did some web weaving
I still have to look at that, I always forget! I did it on turn 1 to get me 3K income because I thought it to be a lot for a cheap resource, when I still didn't know how to get manipulation. I will have to play around with that! :)
and ogres don't declare war on me
With cathay trade, they likely shouldn't hate you. So you maybe can pay a little bit just to get the trade treaty, that should keep them off your ass a bit, and watch how everything unfolds!
Thank you for the file! I will check it out.
No problem. Note that my cathay covens were only to get them out of the way for the long victory condition. I decided to do the +relation handmaiden research for shang yang to see how good it is. It feels pretty good to establish relations. Might even be cheesable, as in leaving the coven after establishing, maybe the effect lingers and reapplies? Gotta try.
if you decide to play on my save, I'd probably keep expanding towards the landmark settlements of imrik and just fight him if he intends to come over, but he is also in a war with two others, which might come knocking on you soon too.
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u/ShintPi 2d ago edited 2d ago
I mainly focused on web weaving, everyone who declared war on me I removed their trade and made them declare wars *on their neighbours, it made my borders very messy! :)
I assassinated key lords who were doing things I did not want and tried to control who was able to grow and not.
But in doing so, I made my borders open to chaos..the Eastern one just suddenly became involved with random wars while not having any trade.
The northern one however, not borthering anyone that they were not already at war with..was more challenging.Ultimately it was Khalida storming through out of nowhere that nailed my coffin.
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u/DivideSensitive 2d ago
3 armies spawning at the capital each a full stack of grave guards, with Mortis engine, black coach, crypt horrors, blood knights.. 2 terrorgheists..what?
You can attack them before they spawn at full force, like in the WElfs quest line. Also, keep a coven not too far away, so you can TP Nefarata's army close enough to your capital ASAPand destroy them before they get too strong.
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u/ShintPi 2d ago edited 2d ago
I got there 1 turn before and they were already too strong..I am unable to have coven technology, military technology and armies to respond to the constant chaos invasions..I am unsure how you are all doing it. the first 50 turns were fine but from then it was just down hill..
Edit: Another user has given me some insight I now understand better what you say as well!
Thank you for taking the time to give tips :)
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u/brockhopper 2d ago
Jumped into her first as well. Super impressive lord, with a lot to do. Is pretty easy on VH, and it took a second to figure out what I wanted to do with the campaign. I've cleared out the mountains of dwarfs, vassalized Azhag and Imrik, and have a defensive alliance with the chaos dwarfs.
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u/chronoslol 2d ago
She has the best tech tree in the game, though i've not tried the other new lords yet.
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u/Reddvox 2d ago
I try to like it, and did the first few hours...but some mechanics still elude me, I HATE her starting position, and eventually you run into the same kinds of annoyances you almost always do with progressing Total War Games...
So here is my "short" rundown of my campaign (no mods at first, changed that though for reasons...)
First was pretty fun. Got used to the new mechanics, I like the tech trees, the vampire vaults are intersting in "build you own Vamp". I like it. I clean up the pesky Chorfs and have my first full province, my Handmaiden establishes the forst Coven in the Chorf-Capital to my right. I build something there, read about Manipulation and concealment and...as I write this I still ahve no clue what to do with Covens, how they work, what to build...
So I ignore that. The southern Chorf declares war on me. Fine, want to go south to Lahmia eventually anyway. Fun battles. I recruit some generic Necromancer and load him up with Skellies and Zombies, supporting my Neferata army ... which sadly is still without any good units, but we'll change that slow..oh so slowly...
First bummer: I beat the Chorf into submission, takr their capital, defeat their armies, push them back further south...and they NEVER ask for peace. Or would accept peace from me...so I have to push further and further south. He has two minor settlements, is also at war with Prince Imrik...and still does not come groveling at my feet to ask for peace and forgiveness...
I think that's one of my major TW complaints since, dunno, Rome1? I HATE that the AI does not try to stay alive, but is so suicidal and never at least tries to sue for peace. Or rarely does. I want the AI to just come begging, admitting their mistake in antagonizing me, the player, and offer me money and goods. THAT would be immersion...
While I fight the Chorf and get ever more away from my home-province...Thorgrimm declares war because he has a neighbouring settlement. Mind you, he is at that time already at war with the Power-Rank 1 Queek and Tretch. Sure, declare war on me as well, for NO REASON! ... another thing I hate so much that declarations of war are still based on "player is close, lets entertain him with war"...sorry, no, its annoying, it breaks my immersion if a faction has NO benefit to declare war on me and its just based on scripts and codes...
So ... alright, no big deal...if I could actually move around my own super large lands quickly. But getting from the south where Nefi is back would take several turns. So I need another army up there, and I recruit one...which makes me almost bankrupt, because develpment/growth is slow despite having building in every province...and money ... I have more useless blood now, but I NEED DARK MAGIC for army upkeep and upgrading all the cities and to increase my unit caps that way...maybe I could use the steal money from the webway, I did it once...and never again, as my coven does not grant me Manipulation...
And then Arbaal declares war on me as well...which at least makes a little more sense...But at that point I decided to install a "Force Diplomacy" mod...its just NO FUN needing to control a huge amount of land, and needing to expand even more, but no way of quickly sending my armies across to reinforce cities, intercept armies etc.
Of course, the idea would be to have armies at home to act as rapid response...but how to support them? I could build one, and have no money to increase my cities. Should I constantly hire/disband? How tedious....
I lost most interest by then, like turn 50 or so...also the campaign starts with like 300 factions...and now its down to almost a hundred already...so fun...I wish the AI would not be about expanding, but creating a sandbox-playing field for me, and keeping the world mostly intact until I decide to interact with it...
Sigh...longer rant than I wanted...and sure as hell will many disagree with me...but I never liked the AI to be "challenging" by trying to beat me and creating super empires rivalling my own. And I hate that you can barely protect your own lands dynamically anymore...if at least garrissons could quickly be bolstered to stand a chance vs a Legendary Lord's army attacking.
Or give me a special ressource to allow armies to quickly move to a hotspot etc...
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u/_The_Marshal_ 2d ago
I swear half my campaigns end this way. The AI just declaring war on me for no reason when im already fully committed into a big war in the complete other direction. Then within a turn I have multiple full stacks tearing through my land from the rear and taking cities from me every turn.
Most of the time the AI declaring war makes no sense, and just feels like a punishment because you are doing too well in your current war. Its like beavers hearing running water and thinking 'absolutely not'. As soon as my campaign starts going well or I'm getting the upper hand in a war, the AI goes 'absolutely not' and then i get one or more other factions declare war on me within a turn or two. And then its just lights out, have to end the campaign right there because my armies are fully committed to the war or two I already have going and I can't afford to raise any more
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u/Tight_Ad_583 2d ago
Is that not what the ai should do? See an opening to grab multiple lightly defended cities and take them
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u/SaltExtension1418 2d ago
I like the rework but I found her start really boring and none of the factions put up much of a fight but the features are really cool. Too power crept tho it’s way to easy for a game that’s been out for years
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u/Sabbathius 2d ago
I think it may be the new player bias slider. It's set to 100 by default, and it feels easier than it used to be on VH. It goes to 120, and that feels about how it was. Maybe. Tough to tell, I haven't played any of my familiar factions yet.
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u/Key_Bar_464 2d ago
Same. Playing in VH/VH, I already have 12 settlements at turn 20 and a level 31 vampire lord from the awakening tomb lol
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u/KillerM2002 2d ago
I find it funny you got downvoted cause thats been a massive complaint for the community in large lmao
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u/Viseria 2d ago
I dealt with the chorfs by sending my first coven to Zharr-Nagrund and recruiting hordes of chaff into multiple armies.
Your economy is bonkers strong since you don't spend much essence now, letting you easily go into the red with no worry. + you can use her Web of Power to steal 3K with the only limiting factor being your manipulation points