Wartales Kruppe's Crucial Clues for Wartales

In The Beginning

In the beginning: Creating your party.

1. Choose whatever classes you fancy - all six character classes have strengths and weaknesses.

2. Traits - Recognize that Warriors, Swordsmen, Brutes, and Spearman have Strength as their characteristic that drives damage, Archers and Rangers use Dexterity to drive damage. If you choose 2 positive traits choose carefully - the weakness in having 2 is you MUST have one negative trait. There are many schools of thought on which negative trait to select - know ahead of time that carrying capacity is a negative trait that can be counter-balanced by gear and/or traveling ponies.

Crucial Clue - At some point in the game you're going to be able to recruit new party members, to include either adding a variety of animals, prisoners who wish to join you, or other characters you can recruit in taverns or through encounters along the way. If you want to 'be attached' (emotionally) to your first four mercenaries - fine - but seeing one or two of them die along the way is just not a big deal.

To Be Free Mode Or Not To Be Free Mode - That Is The Question.

In either option the early part of the game is difficult - even when choosing 'easy - easy' or 'normal - normal'. It'll feel hard.

The primary difference in the two selections comes down to locking enemy levels within the various counties - meaning >>> if you've progressed to a level 6 or 7 mercenary party and you started in Tiltren County - when you return to Tiltren County (at level 6 or 7 after visiting other counties) those encounters will be with level 1, 2, or 3 level enemies. Some folks like that - some don't. Your choice.

Crucial Clue - it doesn't matter what difficulty you select nor which 'game style option' you select (Free Mode or Region Locked) there is one basic premise you NEED to understand - Earning krowns (the money) and gaining knowledge (the paths of character and party professional experience and wisdom if you will) are FAR more important than simply pushing your mercenaries to gain 'levels'.

Scaling - this is a word you should understand, it means the enemy 'scales' to your party size and strength - in Free Mode all encounters will scale to your party size and strength; in Region Locked they won't - they will scale to the county you are in. More to follow on that a bit later. Also, while I'll cover 'Suspicion' a bit later - it's good to know, up front, Guards will 'scale' to your party size and strength playing Region Locked too.

The Counties

At the time of publication there are five counties in the world of Wartales - with one more expected later this year.

There are (in order of difficulty?): Tiltren, Arthes, Vertruse, Ludern, and Grinmeer. Some believe Grinmeer is more difficult (when playing Region Locked) than Ludern. Both counties have unusual encounters - especially Ludern.

I'm not going to elaborate on the 'lore' of those counties - if you want that read elsewhere. As for the basics:

Each county, will, eventually, have an Arena, at least one Town or Village, a Rouste pitch, Tomb, Tracker quest, and Champion. They do not all have Arena's, Rouste pitches, or Tombs at this time.

A county might have a Jail cell or... might not. Each county will have a main quest - no - at this time - they are not linked to a bigger, overall, game 'end-state'; but they could be > eventually?

Crucial Clue - wherever you are recognize that stealing/doing dodgy stuff (may?) be part of the game - and earning krowns is critical to success - the sooner you recognize this the better. When starting the game in Tiltren County (or any other County) understand there are ways to earn krowns.

1. Capture bandits and turn them in at the jail; - not an option in Arthes.

2. Complete bounties that are offered in the local town;

3. Strike a deal with the Slavers at the Tiltren Lumbermill;

4. You can steal stuff and then sell that stuff in the Black Market - problem with this one is you first need to defeat the Bandits that control the county black market.

5. Trading goods with other counties opens up as an option when you begin to explore other counties.

What's the single, best, source of income? My list above is not in order of first to worst. You'll figure that out on your own.

The Professions

There are ten possible professions; they are offered in no particular order - I will not prioritize them for you.

Thief, Tinkerer, Alchemist, Miner, Blacksmith, Fisher, Scholar, Bard, Cook, and a "player" to be named later; rumor has it being a Doctor.

Each has their strengths - as you explore, fight, die, win, etc... know that each will be needed at some point or another. There are levels for each profession; Novice, Apprentice, Experience, and Journeyman. It is expected. but not known for sure, there will be a fifth level for each profession.

Crucial Clue - prisoners can take on mercenary party professions just like your regular mercenaries; treat them how you like.

The Classes

There are six different classes, Warrior, Brute, Swordsman, Spearman, Archer, and Ranger. Within each of those main classes they have sub-classes that you can select as you progress. At other points in the game a fourth sub-class will be made available for each of those classes; not all of those are available at this time. And no, I'm not telling you which ones are available - you'll have to find that out yourself.

Crucial Clue - there are multiple options available to you on which sub-class to select. As time passes and you gain experience - figure that out yourself or read someone else's guide - just know this - within the mechanics of the game there is a thing called "Valour Points". However you build your team understand that you need sub-classes within your team that 'generate' VP and then recognize that you want sub-classes that 'use' VP. Figure out your balance that works best - also - know that at later points in the game - if you believe you've selected the wrong sub-classes earlier - you can change them by visiting your local Companion Camp.

The Attribute Points Of Characters

There are six primary attributes; Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Willpower, Critical Hit, and Movement. i'm not going to give you my opinion on which ones you should 'build-up' - that is your choice.

Crucial clue - recognize that weapons (as you progress in level for Brutes, Warriors, Swordsmen, and

Spearman) benefit those characters Strength - and therefore their damage given; the same holds true for Archers and Rangers with respect to Dexterity. In some cases you'll find other items that increase Movement, Willpower, or Critical Hit - I have yet to find any item that increases a characters' Constitution.

All that said - some key aspects to the game are 1) kill or be killed - meaning adding Movement adds value - the quicker you 'engage' and maybe kill your enemy the better. This same logic also applies to Willpower since Willpower drives what is called 'Galvanization' - which drives how quickly you gain psychological dominance over your enemies on the battle field - the quicker you become Galvanized the quicker the enemy will want to flee.

The Grist - Playing The Game

Traveling - Throughout the various counties there will be numerous places to visit and some serious challenges - some of the best include fighting in Arena's and the newly created Rouste Pitches - Rouste is a cross between Rugby and Football (kind of) think Ausie Rules football in a way. In Ludern, and maybe other counties sometime in the future you'll encounter abandoned villages where silence in golden - another Crucial Clue - if you will - related to increasing your Willpower as time passes.

Suspicion - Well, if you steal there are consequences; the Guard are always standing ready (and moving quite fast) to catch thieves - so beware. Lest you forget, there's a whole category called Crime and Chaos in the game that offers worthy bonuses; it's a part of the game - so being a goody-two-shoes really isn't proper cricket, is it?

Septelle - A much maligned malicious, malingerer with malice and malcontent that breeds mischievous maleficence; if you're not prepared to take on Guards don't add Septelle. On the flip side - if you want a good challenge to help gauge whether or not you're a Wartales 'div' - add her and take on the task with gusto!

Champions - Across the counties vary in strength and in how they attack and defend - while the 'easier' counties like Arthes, Tiltren, and Vertruse might not pose much of a threat figure Ludern and Grinmeer Champions will present quite a reasonable challenge - as for the next Champion in the upcoming update - well... will have to wait and see won't we.

Arenas - They present a good challenge in how well you've been able to put together a mini team of four. It's a good idea to peruse the enemy strengths and weaknesses before making your first move.

Money - I've offered this before and I'll be redundant for a reason - it's important - don't lose sight of the need to earn krowns and feed your companions - while it's not entirely 'pedantic' it can be 'pedestrian' at times.

Alchemy - Eventually there WILL be value in learning how to make oils and other stuff - there are some worthy oils to add to weapons and not-so-worthy oils - I'm not here to tell you which are good or bad - that's your choice. Just recognize oils you apply to weapons should add value - that value (could?) be relative to how you set up mini-teams within your larger team. Some work well together - some don't.

Fighting - combat, as of now, is pretty pedestrian in that you get to see which enemies move first, second, third, etc; while you have the ability to select which of your mercenaries move first, second, third, etc. Shiro has acknowledged the AI will be improved - that (may?) mean the turn-order bar gets removed or we, as players, have the option to hide it. I don't know, we'll see. For now, it really is - kill or be killed. 'Engaging the enemy' has value - as does not 'engaging the enemy' - it depends on what character sub-classes you choose. I'll be redundant here - earning and burning VP is critical to attacking and defending success - the better you are in this 'concept' the better your results will be.

Camp Gear - every piece of camp gear adds value to your camp - some camp gear has greater value than other camp gear. I'll offer this - the things that you 'think or feel' make sense in adding value are the things that add value.

Closing Thoughts

However you progress - enjoy the challenge before you. What's intriguing about this game is that some decisions have consequences and some don't - those consequences or lack of consequences are not clear. There is considerable 'grey area' in this game.

When fighting - consider approaches that see your mercenary team supporting each other in mini-teams as part of your larger team - for example: if you have 8 mercenaries develop 2 sub-teams of four each where you're pairing up your VP generators with your VP burners.

When camping - consider camp set-ups that have your mercenaries 'side-by-side' with their other mini-team compatriots so those mercenaries are developing relationships both on and off the battle field - this will help them gain more trust with each other and help drive greater happiness and greater build-up in influence.

It's these intangibles that build strong teams.

As for mini-team combinations - all the character sub-classes have strengths and weaknesses - try different combinations that work better together. I can give you a list of 'great builds' that do massive damage - the downside in doing that is me limiting you to what "I feel or think" is best - I'm not playing your game - you are.

Suggestions and Bug Reporting - Shiro has done a worthy job by providing Community Updates that take these 'concepts' into account on ways to improve the game. A solid and worthy part of playing this game includes providing feedback - like any reasonable brain-storming session - ideas from others are just that - ideas - if you've got an idea - submit it as appropriate - if you read someone else's idea and have positive thoughts to add - by all means - add them. What makes bad form is criticizing others ideas, so, If you're going to be a 'negative nelly' about someone else's idea, don't, you'll just look like an idjit.

Missing concepts/thoughts - I'm sure there's some thoughts not offered here I've offered elsewhere - so be it - I'll edit as appropriate when time permits. Thanks to all for taking time out of your day to read these ramblings.

If you have any suggestions or ideas that add value - please send me your thoughts.

Best, Kruppe

Source: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2905859910

Kruppe's Crucial Clues for Wartales