Warhammer 3 Immortal Empires Thorgrim Grudgebearer - Dwarfs overview, guide and second thoughts

Warhammer 3 Immortal Empires Thorgrim Grudgebearer - Dwarfs overview, guide and second thoughts

Warhammer 3 Immortal Empires Thorgrim Grudgebearer - Dwarfs Overview, Guide And Second Thoughts


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Hello everyone. In this guide I will cover:

- Victory conditions, faction and climate;

- Starting location;

- Diplomacy and outposts;

- Mechanics of the race and faction;

- Province edicts and army stances;

- Buildings and research;

- Lords and skills;

- Army compositions;

And give you my final notes on the specific faction. Hope you enjoy it.

For those that prefer to see the video:

https://youtu.be/qInXVFTdK5g

For those that prefer to read:

VICTORY CONDITION:

Less than long victory:

- Complete at least one major grudge from the Great Book of Grudges.

- Occupy, loot, raze or sack 30 different settlements.

The reward is +3 hero capacity for all heroes. Great to ensure you do not need a lot of buildings to have some scouts and heroes within your armies.

This is a fairly welcome change in terms of less than long victory objectives, simply because it is quite open and in a sort of sandbox idea, which I love.

Long victory:

- Achieve the short victory conditions;

- Occupy, loot, raze or sack 70 different settlements;

- Ensure that the total severity of grudges in the Great Book of Grudges is no greater than 9.

The reward is +10 hero recruit rank, good to ensure our heroes continue to be strong as you recruit them for higher tier armies.

In general, the campaign feels quite good because of its replay value, but do not by any means think that you will have no directions. The grudges will do that, and it will feel less sandbox; still better in that regard that other campaigns, though.

Thorgrim has the Age of Retribution and has:

- a chance to receive additional random rewards after every Grudge is resolved;

- improved diplomatic relations with the Dwarfs;

- has less upkeep (-15%) for Longbeards and Hammerers;

- Recruit rank +3 for Hammerers;

- All commandments have more powerful effects.

All are very good, specially the last one because it will greatly enhance your overall income or growth.

Climate is average to good, basically, there are a lot of unpleasant and uninhabitable climates nearby, so be wary of your intended expansion going into those types. For the most part you can stick to the badlands and mountains for a great sprawling empire.

STARTING LOCATION:

Your initial province is comprised of 3 settlements, and it is highly defensible with nearly 2 avenues of attack.

There are almost no 4 settlement provinces nearby. This implies you may always have to use two provinces for access to your full military.

Typical expansion will go into the north or south. Most other options run the risk of overexpansion or just creating more issues, so be mindful. There are also great mines in the mountains that you should take advantage of for good income.

First enemy is rather easy, and then crooked moon and skaven will become the main threats. As you expand so will the number of enemies, so be careful with overextending and plan wisely.

DIPLOMACY:

You are part of the order tide. Empire, Bretonnia, Kislev, Cathay, and even the High Elves, will prove to be good allies.

Your typical enemies will be Greenskins and Skaven early on, with Tomb Kings, Vampire Counts and others as you expand.

Most Greenskins and Skaven will naturally declare war the second you meet them. Be prepared and have none of them as neighbors.

As for Outposts, anything with cavalry is good. Try Empire, Bretonnia for it, but Kislev may prove interesting too.

MECHANICS:

- The Forge is basically a crafting mechanic, using your unique currency, Oathgold. You collect this via various means, mostly fighting or skills, and you can craft items that reshape your heroes and lords. One of the main types of items is runes, either for characters or for units. These can drastically change a unit encouraging different compositions and more variety.

- The Great Book of Grudges provides missions in the form of Grudges to be settled. Having too many grudges will incur bonuses and penalties, having too little and you have mostly very good bonuses to research rate, control, construction cost reduction, and just a lower chance of getting Slayers.

NOTE: Do not forget that this value is important to be low in order to obtain the long campaign victory.

- Another specific "mechanic" of sorts is how the Dwarfs have no magic but a specific lore of Runes. Instead of costing Winds of Magic it just has cooldowns, and you should study the effects to ensure that you can use it effectively.

PROVINCE EDICTS AND ARMY STANCES:

-Edicts:

Control +4 and corruption -8;

Income from all buildings +10%;

Recruitment cost reduced -25% and local recruit capacity increased +1;

Growth +25, construction cost reduced -10% and trade resources increased (factionwide) +5%;

All are very good specially under Thorgrim, who enhances them very well.

-Army stances:

Underway is excellent, requires your full movement, but allows great tactical advantages since you ignore terrain;

Encamp requires 50% movement and enables replenishment and access to Global recruitment. It also denies attrition;

Raiding requires 50% movement and gives immunity to most attrition;

Ambush cost 25% movement

Forced march, exactly as all;

BUILDINGS AND RESEARCH:

Karaz-a-Karak has 3 special buildings, including a mine, with buffs to Gyrocopters and factionwide stuff like control and lord recruit rank.

You need 6 buildings for maximum military, and only 2 can be built in minor settlements. Most likely you need two provinces for full military;

There are no tier 5 units, which implies that the Dwarfs actually reach their elite top units much earlier than other factions.

In addition, they have great tier 2 and 3 choices, including Quarrellers, Grudge throwers, Longbeards, Thunderers, Slayers... Very good alternatives here.

Infrastructure:

1 - Growth and replenishment;

2 - Income (great one);

3 - Control and resource (beer) producing;

4 - Oathgold production, income from trade tariffs and trade resources, income from all buildings.

All of these are great solutions and alternatives for your provinces to keep controlled and productive.

Mount Gunbad's (close, to the North) special building might provide a great place to recruit artillery from, while Karak Eight Peaks should act as a nice replenishment area as you conquer the surrounding area.

Research is one of the best around, but time consuming. Mostly, it will buff income and campaign stuff, or army. Choose wisely and invest on research reduction for maximizing your army and possibilities.

Warhammer 3 Immortal Empires Thorgrim Grudgebearer - Dwarfs Overview, Guide And Second Thoughts (continuation)


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LORDS, SKILLS:

Thorgrim adds some nice buffs to Hammerers and artillery, and Longbeards cost a bit less.

The blue line is rather expensive and has little to offer besides replenishment in the late part, and the very last one with research (!) and upkeep. You may just wish Lightning Strike and research, though, and that is still a good idea overall.

Redline is one of the best in the game, offering great alternatives for unit compositions without having to spend too many skill points.

As for other lords, the fact that Runelords require their Rune Magic to be effective implies some more skills being allocated; therefore, a Runesmith and using a Lord may yet be the better alternative, but nothing wrong with you choosing one or another.

There are no heroes that offer replenishment, although all of them have specific abilities that help specific units or the entire army. Master Engineers, for example, can replenish your units' ammunition, and give buffs to their damage, ammunition and accuracy. Perfect to stand them in the middle of your artillery or gunline.

ARMY COMPOSITIONS:

I typically like to have a runesmith and a master engineer in my armies, but you can adapt to your own playstyle, of course.

Thorgrim gets hammerers, longbeards and artillery; we can also go with a more standard line of Ironbreakers with some Thunderers and Giant Slayers for anything large coming up.

Considering the Redline skills, you can choose to have the basic Longbeards as frontline, or Ironbreakers with Giant Slayers/Hammerers builds. In terms of ranged units, between Irondrakes and Quarrelers/Thunderers. In the pics below are a few compositions that play around with that idea. Note how cost effective in terms of redline skills those are, with barely none reaching 15 skillpoints.

There is a lot of variety to be found, but nothing wrong with a good army of ironbreakers, hammerers, with missile support.

Longbeards will however surprise you even lategame, specially after all the research and redline buffs. They are still tier 3, though, remember that. Use these armies as Sweeper armies, engaging softer targets.

Gyrocopters are nice to fight with but terrible versus other flyers. Be wary engaging enemies with tough flying units like the Vampire Counts or Elves.

FINAL CONCLUSION:

Possibly one of the richest factions in the game, due to the nearby mines and edicts. Take the mines early, enhance with the edicts and some research and bam, you can call yourself Uncle Scrooge.

Rune magic is quite interesting, cool buffs and debuffs, but does lack some damage unfortunately.

The army itself suffers from being quite slow. It is difficult to flank, and if you have to advance on the enemy you may take casualties. One of the best armies to benefit from outposts.

Your army consists of:

Tough and reliable infantry;

Good artillery and missiles;

No cavalry;

No typical magic;

No single entities.

Plenty of replay value just because of the location and somewhat sandbox oriented faction, as you can always replay and go into another location. Certainly one that shall give you guys plenty of fun for many hours. Now, go play with Thorgrim Grudgebearer, people.

Source: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2940453404					

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