Battle Brothers - Tools of Death

HiddenX

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The new DLC Warriors of the North introduces some new weapons to Battle Brothers:

Dev Blog #123: Tools of Death

The 'Warriors of the North' DLC for Battle Brothers will be released on May 9th with a whole bunch of features. You can read up on those and add the DLC to your wishlist here. In the meantime, let's talk about an important topic we haven't touched on yet: New weapons! With the DLC, you'll also get your hands on new tools of death, including hybrid and niche weapons to create new builds and tactics with. Let's take a look!

Bardiche
The Bardiche is a variant of the Greataxe with a differently shaped head and a longer shaft. Like the Greataxe, it comes with the 'Split Man' skill for great single-target damage. But while the Greataxe has more damage potential against up to six targets with its 'Round Swing' skill, the Bardiche instead comes with the 'Split' skill of Greatswords for more surgical precision and hitting two targets in a straight line at once. Like the Greataxe, the Bardiche is excellent in destroying shields and penetrating armor.

Staff Sling
A simple weapon used since ancient times, and the favorite of many a shepherd, the Staff Sling is used to hurl stones towards the enemy. It's not particularly accurate or damaging, but it's cheap, and with stones abundant everywhere, it will never run out of ammunition. Two stones can be hurled each turn, and on hitting a target in the head it will inflict the 'Dazed' status effect.

Scimitar
An exotic curved sword from the south, the Scimitar and its higher tier cousin, the Shamshir, are excellent for cutting deep wounds. They're less suited for thrusting than straight swords, however, and therefore have a harder time penetrating armor. Like other swords, they come with the 'Slash' skill, but unlike those, they don't have the 'Riposte' skill as a second. Instead, they have the 'Decapitate' skill of cleavers.

Heavy Javelins & Heavy Throwing Axe
For users of throwing weapons that long for an extra bit of oomph, the DLC adds the Heavy Javelin and Heavy Throwing Axe. They're sometimes used by barbarians and can be looted off of their cold dead hands.

Warfork
A pitchfork re-forged into a battlefield weapon, the Warfork is the pride of any militiaman, and looks right at home with the new 'Peasant Militia' company origin. It's a lower tier variant of the Spetum, which has in turn been slightly buffed. Like the Spetum, it is a specialized polearm that can be used to form a more deadly yet more fatiguing 'Spearwall' than with a one-handed spear. Particularly useful against non-sentient beasts, but also against humans if your battle line is long enough.

Battle Whip
The Battle Whip is a specialized weapon with plenty of strengths, but also a clear weakness. Covering a whole 3 tiles, it has the longest range of any melee weapon currently in the game. Hitting an enemy with the 'Whip' skill will inflict two stacks of the 'Bleeding' status effect at once, and because the weapon is classified as a cleaver, this skill also benefits from taking the 'Cleaver Mastery' perk for further bleeding damage. However, the weapon doesn't have a high base damage, and while it can be deadly against unarmored or lightly armored targets, it performs dismally against armored ones.

Luckily, it brings another bit of utility to the table. Its second skill is called 'Disarm' and on a hit will inflict the new 'Disarmed' status effect on a target, preventing it from using any weapon skills for one turn. Some targets which are immune to being stunned, like Orc Warriors, can still be controlled this way, but unarmed targets, like Direwolves, can of course not be disarmed. Disarmed targets can still move and use non-weapon skills freely, just not attack. Barbarians also have their own variant of the Battle Whip, called the Thorned Whip, which has slightly different stats.
DLC Supporter Edition

Thanks to the overwhelmingly positive response to our announcement of the 'Warriors of the North' DLC, and many people expressing their desire to support us again even beyond the asking price, we've decided to also offer it as a special Supporter Edition again. This Supporter Edition includes the 'Warriors of the North' DLC, as well as an additional new player banner and shields with a nordic motif as a thank you from us to you. The bundle will be priced at $18.99, and you can already add the second part of it to your wishlist here as well.
More information.
 
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Yes, I will be buying a few supporter editions. One for Steam and one for GoG. Will also buy one for a friend. Why give money to a kickstarter when there is something I love and can play right now?

This isn't a DLC, it's an expansion. I thought they were done announcing new features. I love the Bardiche. I remember getting one in Might and Magic 1 and wondering what it was when I was young. Also, wondered what a Flamberge was.

Will be making a bardiche master on my next campaign.
 
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The game has changed a lot since I last played it. Looking forward seeing all the changes. One change will definitely be my main character weilding a whip. :)
 
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Dilution of an already lacking gameplay into content.
 
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Hard to believe the devs strongly resisted doing *any* DLC for over a year. Now it's like an ongoing festival of content!
 
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Sounds pretty awesome. Hastar was kind enough to gift me this game but I haven't played much. I didn't see much happening in the game beyond combat, but that might not be a bad thing. I also heard they added more open-world random events and things like that. Might have to eventually pick up the DLC and give it a real college try.
 
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Sounds pretty awesome. Hastar was kind enough to gift me this game but I haven't played much. I didn't see much happening in the game beyond combat, but that might not be a bad thing. I also heard they added more open-world random events and things like that. Might have to eventually pick up the DLC and give it a real college try.

I think you'd like it. Yes, your trade is combat, and the combat is very well done. But the world itself is an open sandbox. You travel around a huge open world with different factions, in search of interesting ways to improve your group and constantly choosing goals to follow. In many ways it reminds me of Kenshi without the crafting.
 
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I think you'd like it. Yes, your trade is combat, and the combat is very well done. But the world itself is an open sandbox. You travel around a huge open world with different factions, in search of interesting ways to improve your group and constantly choosing goals to follow. In many ways it reminds me of Kenshi without the crafting.

That does sound great. When I played the world seemed empty with no direction, but I didn't think to approach it like Kenshi. This is turning into a must-play for me, I'm pretty sure I'll like it a lot, especially since they added monsters to the mix.
 
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In many ways it reminds me of Kenshi without the crafting.

No. Kenshi was built toward storytelling, with work made to ensure players are fed with narrative material they piece together to craft a story.

BB's original direction was an end of times scenario, players playing against the clock to prepare for an ominous threat that would lead the world to collapse eventually.

Players did not like it and forced its removal. A removal does not mean additional features.
Nothing supports storytelling. Nothing binds pawns together to fit the BB label. It is empty. Content browser. Companies no longer work with contracts, they hop on anything, to get XP and money.

Dilution of a mind that watches too much streaming ;)

Far from enough to picture BB in a different way.
 
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I don't generally find the interaction with the world in BB to be all that interesting, it's generally kind of small and I don't find different areas to be all that distinct. Actions you take seem to have short term effects on the game world, but I don't find all that much of an overall story taking place, at least until the big game event occurs.

But the combat is top notch. There are so many different enemies that use incredibly different tactics. Also so many different weapons and options, and there is just an really satisfying feel to having your guys lined up in formation and seeing your plan come together against whatever horrible thing your facing.

I'm hopeful that the new DLC will make the map seem a little more interesting with those barbarians in the northern part. The different origin stories should help create the feel of more of a story as well.
 
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For people that like more roleplaying, I think the origins is something the roleplayers will enjoy. Lets be clear though, if you don't like combat and tactical battles, than BB is not for you.

I'm more of a tactician than roleplayer. I play D&D 5e the same way. Do some roleplaying but my main focus is how to kill the monsters and take their loot. Just like Gary Gygax would want. May Woden rest his soul ;)
 
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Yeah I'm a more of story focused roleplayer myself.:)

Glad to see they added some and for your reply.:handshake:
 
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But the combat is top notch. There are so many different enemies that use incredibly different tactics. Also so many different weapons and options, and there is just an really satisfying feel to having your guys lined up in formation and seeing your plan come together against whatever horrible thing your facing.
Combat is best, not an ounce of repetition.
 
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It felt incredible shallow unfortunately, and i'm someone who doesn't really care for story, I like my own little adventures more - for story i have books, its a so much better medium for that than games, imho.

Unfortunately i did not think combat after combat was a fun "adventure", it's more like a straight combat simulator with some stuff added around that (so that it can't be called "a combat simulator"). It's still pretty much what it is though.

I guess i'm more of a "walking simulator" fan (if we have to be on the harsh side of how to describe certain games). The landscape, the lore, the characters, the adventure, the quests - it did absolutely nothing for me, in the games that i play at least they're decent (e.g skyrim, morrowind, fallouts, dragon's dogma etc)

It's like FO tactics.. it leaves you with a very empty feeling. I'd say even games like HOMM does i better, immersion wise, presentation, world design, even quests (silly as they might be).
 
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Hmm, bashing both HoMM and Battle Brothers in one post. You sir are the :devil:. Now make me some mods for HoMM and BB ;)
 
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How am i bashing HOMM, i said it was generally better :) I also thought BB had kind of a cool dark fantasy theme going on, it does seem to stray away from that more and more. For a cool and quite unique style they should've really embraced that darker style and emphasize it even more, not less.
 
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We all stream for I stream.
 
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