Wartales A New Player's Guide to Wartales Early Access

Introduction

Last Update: 2022-08-09

Wartales is a game about survival, exploration, and making both tactical and strategic choices.

At the beginning of the game, players will struggle with feeding and paying for their recruits. New locations, professions, and recipes are unlocked via exploration and talking with characters. For example, at the start, the only available profession is Tinkerer. The first time you come upon items in a container, you have the option to steal them. Clicking "Steal" unlocks the Thief profession. Later on, you will gain a Knowledge point. Do you spend it on a new cooking recipe, or a passive special ability?

Similarly, equipment choices matter. For sword and axe users for example, do you equip a one-handed weapon, or a two-handed weapon? The latter deals more damage and is capable of dealing area damage, but this can hurt your allies as well if caught in a suboptimal position, and there's no way to make your attack single target.

A lot of the game is intentionally opaque, and while there are objectives, the game has no definite "ending"--at least at this point in time. One of the game's themes is survival and navigation through an unknown world.

This guide isn't intended to circumvent those philosophies, but rather to explain concepts and game mechanics, so that players will be able to find the fun in the game.

Starting A New Game

At the beginning of the game, you are asked three questions.

The first question determines your initial roster of characters and bonuses. This choice is always the same, although individual characters might have different sets of starting skills and equipment.

The second question determines a global bonus unique to your playthrough. This choice is always the same.

The third question determines a global penalty unique to your playthrough.

You are then taken to a menu indicating the following:

Starting Region

Difficulty (Combat)

Difficulty (Simulation)

Save Mode

Exploration

This is a critical choice that will affect your playthrough so it's best to carefully consider your choices.

Starting Region

At the beginning of the game, Tiltren County is your only option. This is also recommended for new players as it's probably an "easy" region that covers all the basic necessities.

When you complete the other regions, those regions will be available in subsequent playthroughs. Each region though tends to have unique changes that sets them apart from other regions, so they are not necessarily beginner friendly. For example, Vertruse lacks a functioning Apothecary and Ancient Ruins, but features an Arena and two taverns.

Difficulty (Combat)

This is solely focused on combat and determines the bonus to stats from the enemies you will face.

If you are having problems specifically with combat, you can tweak this setting along with Exploration (which will be explained below).

Difficulty (Simulation)

During the game, three factors you will have to balance are:

Tiredness

Hunger

WagesThis setting changes how fast those variables accumulate.

If you have no problems with the combat but find it difficult to pay your "upkeep" costs, you can tweak this setting.

Save Mode

As a survival-type game, Wartales tries to encapsulate this atmosphere with its default Save Mode. Your options are:

Normal (you only have one save)

Free (you can have multiple saves)

Ironmen (basically you can't reload)

Exploration

By default, Wartales starts out with Free Exploration, which means the enemy level and party sizes matches your party (e.g. level-scaling).

One advantage of this is that you do not need to grind in order to beat enemies. And in the late game, finding level-appropriate gear is easy since you can just fight anyone.

The disadvantage is that for inexperienced players, every fight could be a challenge and they'll never feel "powerful".

The alternative is Region-Locked, which is more akin to traditional RPGs. Your starting region has low-level enemies, but the further you stray from your starting area, the more difficult your encounters are.

One advantage of this in the early game is that you can easily defeat enemies you encounter since they're lower-level and not properly equipped.

The disadvantage is that combat can become stale as it becomes too easy, and in the late game, finding level-appropriate gear is difficult unless you fight the guards. Also, you won't necessarily be able to immediately explore other regions as enemies might be too high-level for you.

Regardless of your choice, the guards you encounter in the game are level-scaled.

Character Customization

Once the options above are confirmed, you will be then taken to a character customization screen. Here, you can customize their appearance and preview the various character's starting skills.

You have the option of selecting one positive Trait for each character. Traits are modifiers to the character's basic stats and abilities and can either be positive or negative.

You have the option of selecting a second positive Trait for them, but this brings up a third (negative) Trait which you can select.

You also have a Pony character which you can customize. The Pony is an animal, which means they do not have Wages, and only consume food.

Animals can also be used in combat but Ponies are an exception. Currently they will be excluded from combat (but will consume XP), but at 3rd-level, you have the option of allowing them to participate in combat. Please note that animals act on their own initiative and not under your control, unless you have special abilities or items that let you do so.

Character Stats

Romain has a detailed Advanced Character Stats Guide but if you want something more basic, you can continue reading.

Each character will have the following stats, in addition to Traits and Statuses they might have:

Strength

Dexterity

Constitution

Movement

Willpower

Critical Hit

Damage is based on the character's classes: Archers and Rangers use Dexterity, while the rest use Strength. This is reflected in the weapons equipped, which has a damage range based on their corresponding stats (e.g. a weapon will say 40% ~ 60% Strength damage).

In general, characters have a fixed stat progression. For example, if you exclude Aptitude Points, Traits, and equipment, all 9th-level Archers will have the same stats.

Willpower is an exception as characters can have a starting Will of anywhere from 5 to 15 and will never increase outside of any modifiers mentioned above. (Your starting characters all start with a Willpower of 10.)

The Strength-based classes can also have two different stat progressions: Strength is the highest stat for characters proficient with Medium Armor while Constitution is the highest stat for characters proficient with Heavy Armor. This is a decision you make upon reaching Level 2 or Level 3.

Below is a breakdown of each stat:

Strength

Determines Critical Hit damage (i.e. the higher your Strength, the more damage you deal on a critical hit).

Dexterity

Determines Critical Hit chance (i.e. the higher your Dexterity, the more likely you will score a critical hit).

Constitution

Determines Hit Points (HP) and your Carrying Capacity.

Movement

Determines how far you can move. Archers start out with 6 Movement while the other classes start out with 10 Movement. Animals will also have their corresponding starting Movement speed.

This stat does not increase outside of Aptitude Points, Traits, equipment, and food.

Willpower

Determines Critical Hit chance and Morale. Morale affects how soon you trigger Galvanization (deal extra damage against the enemy) and how soon your opponents run away.

Humans can start out anywhere from 5 to 15 Willpower (Animals have a different range). This stat does not increase outside of Aptitude Points, Traits, Professions, and equipment.

Critical Hit

Determines both Critical Hit damage and Critical Hit chance.

This stat does not increase outside of Aptitude Points, Traits, Professions, equipment, and food, but also be aware that this number can fluctuate as it is affected by the other stats mentioned above.

Aptitude Points

One way of customizing each character's stats is via Aptitude Points. They can be earned via the following methods:

Leveling Up

Camp Interactions

Obtaining a Title (titles are unique and rewarded for accomplishing a specific condition, such as Killing X number of Boars or spending X Valor Points)

Upgrades (you can spend 1 Knowledge Point for a passive ability to bestow a non-retroactive Aptitude Point to new recruits)

Aptitude Points will always give you three options, one of which will be twice as potent as the other options. (For example, it might give you the option to increase Strength by two points, or either Will or Movement by 1 point.)

For Archers and Rangers, Strength will never be an option, while for the other classes, Dexterity will never be an option.

What's been mentioned above can be circumvented by a specific Knowledge upgrade which lets you spend Renown to boost specific attributes when provided with an Aptitude Point.

Critical Hits

Attacks from behind has a bonus to Critical Hit chance.

Critical Hit damage can be computed as the following:

Maximum Weapon Damage + (Maximum Weapon Damage x Critical Hit damage modifier)

For example, if your weapon deals 10-20 damage, and you have a 30% Critical Hit damage modifier, the damage it would deal on a critical hit would be:

20 + (20 x .30) = 26 damage.

Team Building

Professions

Each character can acquire any Profession that's already known.

Professions have 3 levels and they provide Stat bonuses as well as the ability to craft specific items or provide bonuses.

You can switch Professions at any time but you lose all XP progress you learned for the previous Profession. However, you still retain the levels.

For example, a Level 2 Tinkerer with 200 XP can switch to a Level 1 Cook. If they switch back to Tinkerer, they will be a Level 2 Tinkerer with 0 XP in the Profession.

For Professions like Blacksmith, Cook, Herbalist, and Tinkerer, you want to level up as soon as possible as this determines what kind of items you are able to craft.

Leaders and Lieutenants

At a certain point in the game, you will be given the opportunity to assign one of the characters as Leaders. Depending on party size, you may get several opportunities to promote other characters as Lieutenants.

Leaders gain the special ability to generate Valor Points based on the number of allies in the area once per combat. They also have a chance to gain the Natural Born Leader trait, which increases your maximum Valor Points.

Lieutenants gain the ability to let adjacent allies make an Opportunity Attack against enemies they are currently engaged with.

Party Composition

Due to level-scaling, players are free to customize their party composition and size to suit their playstyle.

However, bear in mind the following:

Having an axe-user lets you chop for Wood.

More characters means more Food and/or Wages to pay.

More characters also means more enemies/rewards from level-scaled enemies.

More characters mean more non-overlapping Professions.

More characters means more tasks you can assign when camping.

All the characters (including those not capable of combat) have to share the XP.

There is a maximum amount of XP (255) that can be earned per combat encounter.

Profit from trading and Quest rewards are static.

The game has a finite selection of Legendary Weapons (which in turn can be upgraded as you level up).

Your party can have only one Leader but you will have more Lieutenants the larger your roster.

Animals do not have wages, but consume food (sometimes a lot of food).

Unless specifically stated (such as Ponies), animals do not have a Carrying Capacity.

In-Game Currencies

Much of the game will be micromanaging and balancing three (five if you count Renown and Happiness) economic factors:

Your ability to carry items (e.g. your Carrying Capacity).

Your wealth (Krowns is the currency used in the game).

The amount of food specific items contribute.

Carrying Capacity

Carrying Capacity is self-explanatory. You are only able to carry a certain amount of items without slowing to a crawl. This problem can be alleviated by either increasing your team roster (which in turn might increase your Wages and Food requirements), equipping/choosing specific items or abilities that increase your Carrying Capacity, or simply discarding items you don't have an immediate need for.

If you are having problems with Carrying Capacity, try:

Hiring more Ponies.

Use/purchase/craft more weight-efficient food.

Get rid of items/ingredients you're not immediately using (e.g. don't be a hoarder).

Krowns

Wages are the primary money sink in the game (they occur every three days), but other common expenses can include buying better equipment, recruiting new units, or simply buying items/food/ingredients.

Wages only need to be paid whenever you rest at camp. (They otherwise accumulate over time.) Not paying wages results in unhappiness, which in turn can result in characters leaving your party.

If you are having problems having a sustainable amount of Krowns, consider:

Reducing the number of characters in your party that have wages until it's sustainable to increase them.

Consider hunting for food instead of purchasing them.

Crafting your own items instead of purchasing them.There are several ways of earning money (aside from looting them from enemies) which include:

Completing quests that are available in taverns.

Turning over Outlaws and Prisoners to jails.

Earning a profit by selling Trade goods from one region to another.

Food

Whenever you rest, you need to feed your troops or else it will result in unhappiness.

Like Krowns, this is just another currency you need to juggle but unlike Krowns which do not take up any weight, Food can make up a significant portion of your Carrying Capacity, especially if you're traveling long distances.

In general, Food can be obtained either as post-combat rewards from fighting enemies, or bought at markets.

However, not all food is equal.

On one hand, you have Animal Carcasses which provide 1 Food and weigh 2 pounds. This in general is relatively easy to obtain, but is not weight efficient. (Even more common and heavier are human corpses.)

On the other extreme is Cured Meat, which also provides 1 food, but weighs 0.1 pounds. However, this is more difficult to obtain (you either need a Meat Drying Rack or purchase them from vendors).

In general, if you want cost- or weight-efficient, you need to invest Knowledge points or acquire the appropriate Scrolls so that you learn the corresponding recipes. Raw wolf meat for example provides 4 Food and weighs 1 pound but if you turn them into Wolf Sausages (1 Knowledge Point), the same amount now provides 6 food and weighs 0.7 pounds.

If you're subsisting on just the Bread recipe or whatever is dropped during combat, you will soon run into food/weight problems.

Animals also tend to consume more food than humans (with some exceptions, such as Boars with the corresponding upgrade) so another way to solve your food problems is to have less troops/animals in general.

Renown

Unlike the currencies above which are interdependent one each other, Renown is more straightforward. You earn it as rewards for combat or accomplishing quests, and you can spend it to either persuade people, recruit new units, or to modify your stats whenever you gain an Aptitude point.

Happiness

Like Renown, this is fairly straightforward. In general, as long as units are happy, they will not leave your team. Happiness caps at 15, and excess happiness is converted into Renown. Going into the negatives leads to chances of allies leaving your troop.

How To Level Up Properly

In general, XP is divided equally among all your party members, including animals that didn't participate in combat.

Your starting characters begin with different XP amounts, so some will level up faster than others.

There is no bonus XP for "last hitting" enemies.

In general, the more enemies you fight, the more XP is rewarded, but there is also an XP reward cap, so at a certain point, fighting 10 max-level enemies ends up rewarding you with the same amount of XP as fighting 100 max-level enemies.

Your character's potency is also not determined by levels alone. You also need equipment of the corresponding level. A level 5 character still using Level 1 equipment is probably more comparable to a Level 2 or Level 3 character for example.

A lot of new players typically complain about fights with the Guards and the reason for this is that Guards usually have some of the best equipment in the game. Contrast this to Refugees who have some of the worst equipment in the game so even with Level Scaling turned on, fighting a troop of Level 5 Refugees is significantly easier than fighting a troop of Level 5 Guards.

Knowledge Points

Experience for Knowledge accumulates in several ways:

Finding new locations.

Crafting items for the first time.

Assigning a Scholar to the Lectern at camp.

Equipping a specific item.

Once you get enough experience, you gain a Knowledge Point.

Knowledge Points can also be acquired by reading various manuals hidden throughout the game.

These Knowledge Points can be spent in the following ways:

To unlock Passive special abilities.

To unlock new items for the Blacksmith.

To unlock new items for the Tinkerer.

To unlock new items for the Herbalist.

To unlock new items for the Cook.

A lot of early-game challenges can be solved by strategic expenditure of Knowledge Points.

For example, if you are having problems with food, learning recipes like Wolf Sausages and/or Grilled Pork gives you a more cost- and weight-efficient food source.

On the other hand, you also don't want to invest too much points into things you won't necessarily use all the time. For example, after Level 5, a lot of armors and weapons a Blacksmith can craft will be outpaced by items you can obtain from enemies.

Skills

Your starting character starts out with their class's special abilities and comes with one generic Skill.

Generic skills can be used by any character.

You can obtain new generic Skills from the Companions camp (for 300 Krowns) or from the Bandit vendor (unlocked when you reach Level 4 in the Crime and Chaos path) at half the price.

As for Class-specific skills, the Companions camp offers retraining and a method of enhancing your class skills.

Legendary Weapons

The game features Legendary Weapons. These are color Purple and what makes them stand out is that they can be upgraded at the Companions camps.

In order to upgrade them, you need a character who can use the said weapon and you can upgrade it up to their level +1 (i.e. a Level 5 character can upgrade/use a Level 6 weapon).

Currently Legendary Weapons can be found from the following sources:

Rewards for beating the Region bosses.

Reward from the Arena.

Artifacts you discover (using the camp Lectern) from Ruins..

Reward for a quest in Ludern.

Paths

The Paths behaves like an Achievement List but each achievement has an in-game reward.

For example, if you repair enough armor, you end up getting a bonus to the amount of Armor Points repaired.

Selling Trade goods gets a discount (either in buying or selling) them.

So while you don't have to be constantly aware of them, it's good to keep it in mind.

Camp And Resting

Camp is where your troops are able to rest. Click on the bonfire, pay their wages, and assign which food to feed them that day. This will determine their happiness.

Every 2 rests results in an event for one of your characters. Each event provides one of three choices.

Camp is also where you are able to assign characters to do tasks, such as generating happiness or more Valor Points.

If you are interrupted while you are camping, you will not progress with the tasks characters are assigned to and thus will not recover Valor Points. However, you do not to feed your troops or pay their wages again.

It is possible to Camp (and thus sleep) at towns and certain castles where you have 0% of being interrupted.

Also just because Camping says you have X% chance of being interrupted, this is not an accurate measurement as there are other factors that might cause you to be interrupted while camping, such as animals/bandits nearby.

Camp is where the Tinkerer profession comes into play and where you can craft their corresponding items.

Combat

At the start of combat, before any of your characters move, you will see blue squares on the map. This is where you can reposition characters or swap their positions.

You have the flexibility of choosing which characters act first, while enemies must act corresponding to their icon at the bottom of the screen.

It's also possible not to "see" all of the enemies currently involved in combat, such as in darkness or when they are hidden by mists.

Please note that Animals and Allies (usually Green units) cannot be controlled and will act on their own initiative.

If the total Willpower of your party reaches 70% of the total Willpower of all the units participating in the battle (this is achieved by killing enemies, so that the total Willpower is reduced), Galvanization occurs and you gain a bonus to damage. If you continue further, the enemy's morale will be shattered and you will also be given a choice to let them flee (combat ends but you get less XP/rewards). This is not applicable in some combat scenarios.

Combat can also start with Ambushes. If you are interrupted while you are camping, you get an Ambush debuff (enemies deal more damage to you).

You can ambush enemies in one or two ways. If both of you are in a forest and you collide with them outside of their line of sight, enemies gain the Ambush debuff.

If you manage to collide with enemies while you are in a forest and they are barely outside of it, you get a free turn where enemies don't get to act.

Advance Tricks

Merchants

Merchants at markets sell two types of items: items that consistently respawn, and items that "rotate" out once they are emptied. For example, at the Tildren market, Salt is an item that will constantly refresh even if you buy all of them, while Eel might be replaced with a different type of food if you buy all of it.

Experienced players should be aware of this as you can "lose" access to certain items if you buy all of them (you'll have to hope you get lucky when they respawn) so it's best to leave them at 1 quantity and wait for them to respawn at their full rate.

Alternatively, you can also use this mechanic to "create" a merchant that sells the goods you want. For example, in Tildren, the main merchant that sells trade goods can be induced to sell Grain (if they aren't already selling it) by emptying the items they sell that aren't trade goods.

Storage

Containers in the game "remember" what's stored in them for as long as you don't completely empty them.

Some players use this opportunity to store items that are too heavy for them. Shrines for example are common temporary storage choices some players make.

Level 11 Characters

The current soft level cap is Level 9, but it is possible to have characters up to Level 11.

In Free Exploration mode, enemies you fight are Level-Scaled, so certain encounters (e.g. guards, Hard quests) result in you facing enemies of higher level. You can capture these higher-level enemies and if you have enough of these characters, will affect your total party level, which in turn affects the enemies you face and the levels of your new recruits.

In Free Exploration mode (does not work in Region-Locked mode), there are five characters which you can recruit that are automatically level-scaled (i.e. if you a Level 11 party, they will start out at Level 11).

Source: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2846784226

A New Player's Guide to Wartales Early Access