Aranessa Saltspite Immortal Empires Campaign Review

If you want to send me your disaster campaigns email it here. [e-mail]
Please only send campaigns on the verge of defeat or battles you can't win. Auto resolve wins won't be accepted. Modded campaigns are not currently accepted. Please only send campaigns/battles on large or ultra unit scale. Normal and small unit scale will not be accepted. Not currently accepting Realm of Chaos campaigns/battles.
Please keep in mind the volume of emails I receive and that not all disaster submissions will receive a response. I will try to get to as many as possible. Feel free to "bump" your email once every 24 hours by responding to your submission with bump. Do not resend the save file multiple times as it will clog up my inbox storage.
gyazo.com/68c0fe6179bedc4ebab...
This link will show you where your save file should be located. Replace Legend with whatever your user ID is in documents.
Check out Instant Gaming for some great deals on Total War products. www.instant-gaming.com/igr/le... Remember to check if the key is region locked before purchasing!
Please note this is an unofficial video and is not endorsed by SEGA or the Creative Assembly in any way. For more information on Total War, please visit www.totalwar.com

[@blodstainer]

Aranessa should just be a pirate/border prince mercenary faction imo, I think that would fit better than marauders.

[@josepharmstrong6502]

if dogs of war are added, she should be moved to them

[@ZoMbi5lAy3r]

They seem to be slowly changing her to reflect her nature as a non-undead pirate, like the Ogre Man-eaters being part of her faction now.

[@SnappyGW]

i totally agree. i do think that she might get a big overhaul when dogs of war comes. Maybe she can change faction or belong to more than one like Siggy?

[@Grivehn]

Doesnt Aranessa HATES Norscans? Like thats her entire lore. She'd still make more sense with human units, but not norscan monke, me dont thinks.

[@dannyshadbolt229]

I wish they would just go crazy down the pirate route. Just empire style ( She hates Norcans). I think it would add alot having an empire/ VC hybrid

[@dragour8723]

The Rotting Prometheans only seem useful for the Gunnery Wights, they stay out of enemy range and they become elevated to shoot over their own infantry. And Aranessa being a Norscan herself who was kicked out of Norsca feels more like a Dogs of War pirate faction rather than vampires

[@Hexley_Vexley]

There is an extensive mod called "Nanu's Pirates of Sartosa Overhaul" which pretty much allows that and more.

[@Limrasson]

What if you could change allegiences like...a pirate? So you could go to multiple factions and recruit units from here or there, but every time you do the factions you left sends an army after you. (And they drop fat loot)

[@reiteration6273]

Considering hating Norsca is a big part of her personality, I think making her lead Norscans would be even weirder than leading vampirates. The best way to deal with her would probably be if a Southern Realms/Dogs of War DLC got released, to move her into that faction (but allow her to keep the shipbuilding mechanic).

[@alextalionis4845]

You could kind of think of it like Drycha, a kind of separatist movement.

[@SnappyGW]

Imagine her with Jango Roth from Empire, I do totally agree with your dlc inclusion though. I think she has some pretty interesting design space for the future

[@Awesomeman204]

​@@alextalionis4845 yeah or like arkhan the black (who has a similar reduction to TK relations) where you get cross-faction recruitment. Vampire coast/norsca units for her roster would make a little more sense and she could still keep the pirate theme. Honestly even just reskins of some vampire coast units so she feels more thematic would be nice.

[@mighij]

Like other have said before, you have drycha, arkhan the black and then you also have Skarbrand. So it's not unusual to have leaders who are traitors/rebels/outsiders of their faction. Now moving here into dogs of war/southern realm to make her more interesting would definitely work.

[@torquevonthorne948]

Nanu's overhaul solves the issue. It turns her faction in what is should be, a versatile assembly of old world humans, norscans, dwarfs and ogres. With LIVING sea monsters.

[@Badassmcawsome009]

I remember seeing Aranessa for ages and thinking nah she looks lame, then just recently I did a campaign with her and I ended up loving it. Her and Noctilus definitely feel like the TRUE pirate factions in Vampire Coast, both have super strong starting positions and are encouraged to just go off into the ocean. Her skill giving you an extra 7000 gold a pop per ocean treasure you pick up can also make some serious bank. Then the fact that you have Ogre maneaters plus Depth Guard as defensive melee options to protect your gunners also seriously helps. I also think her being a Norscan faction would be a terrible idea, since she hates Norscans more than anythig in the lore. When you view her faction as less of her being some undead fleet admiral like Noctilus and just as a nefarious pirate who's had all these vampires flock to her after she fought Noctilus her being part of the Vampire Coast makes a lot more sense.

[@Nr4747]

It's so true that Noctilus and Aranessa are the true pirates, at least in terms of how the campaigns are designed. I love Harkon, but it felt super weird to start on the coast of Lustria with explicit missions to capture territory further inside the continent and with him saying that he wants to conquer all of Lustria. Don't get me wrong, that's still a fine campaign, but I thought that the self-proclaimed Pirate King would want to rule the high seas instead of a continent.

[@Jeryyyyyy875]

But she is norscan. And other factions have lords dedicated to hating their own faction, it has solid precedent

[@shorewall]

@@Jeryyyyyy875 Yeah, like Drycha. Maybe make Aranessa have frozen climate as red territory, so she won't want to go to Norsca, but she will be trying to call Wandering Norscans to her banner in the wider world.

[@samfire3067]

​@@Nr4747and in the lore his army is mostly made of norscan and other bodys in the coast.

[@AshenVictor]

Aranessa is in a super weird place as a melee character. She's got a pretty good bonus vs large but she's one of the few infantry characters whose splash attacks target large, so she's only actually good at fighting individual large targets. Putting her into monstrous infantry or cavalry she'll kill them super slow because her damage will split between them. Also because her splash only hits 4 targets she kills normal infantry super slow as well.

[@shigerufan1]

The upside is when she's against other factions with range she'll increase the friendly fire caused by jumping all over the place with each attack.

[@toggle3927]

I can't get over the fact you put her against an Empire General or Captain and she slightly wins/loses or fights evenly to draw. She is a duelist that struggles to effectively duel lol.

[@simonyj]

The best thing about Aranessa is her opponent variation is immense and coupled with her enhanced movement allows you to have a varied campaign each playthrough.

[@faeezf]

Arenessa should be in her own “Mutant-Pirate Faction”. Instead of rotting promethean/leviathan, she recruits a living promethean/leviathan. And her pirate crews are the sartosans/dwarves/elves who have sold their souls to mannan, they become fused with fish-mutations, but still a living creature, not undead. And instead of necrofex collosus, she recruits a giant crab with mounted cannons.

[@jacobsampsonis7782]

Part of the ship, part of the crew Part of the ship, part of the crew

[@samfire3067]

​@@jacobsampsonis7782pirates of the caribian reference?

[@EveloGrave]

Something I really like to do as Aranessa is defeat the first army, head back to Sartosa. Recruit some free company melee then sail straight to the graveyard. Once there declare war and capture it for free. The dread fleet will quickly crumble since they are at war with the high elves and you got yourself a free settlement. You can do this by like turn 5. From there the ocean is yours and you've already completed part of your victory condition.

[@jacobsampsonis7782]

And if you have the recruit defeated LL mod you'll bag noctilus as well

[@waterzoip]

I did exactly that. Then while I was finishing of dreadfleet, Wurzaag strength rank 2 declared war to me and destroyed all my land settlements with 4 almost full armies with whaaags with em. Turn 20 btw lol I lost Sartosa and everything. Unlucky I guess, didn't do shit to trigger him diplomacy wise either ^^"

[@HiddenEvilStudios]

Aranessa is my go-to Coast character. Her faction effect is enhanced through her position in office and can lead to absurd amounts of gold from sea encounters and battles. The access to Maneaters is a nice addition. I recommend a mod that expands on this and also hope that we'll see her Ogre first mate, Ogg Half-Heart(?) eventually added as a legendary hero. I'm also glad CA returned Sartosa to a 10-slot settlement!

[@Kopse101]

You didnt mention the most important thing that makes Aranessas faction special. Maneaters, she gets to recruit Maneaters and ME with pistols.

[@XarkoCZ]

They should have upgraded her passive bonuses to include them into "Sartosan" units.

[@whatacruelchoice]

He hasn't done his research orused the map mechanic in tww3. If he had hed know you get additional rewards to use in your armies not just money and infamy.

[@jacobsampsonis7782]

That's not unique to her faction. That's satosa the place itself. I've captured the settlement and noticed you can recruit those

[@grandzario5972]

​@@jacobsampsonis7782it is unique to her faction , at any dock aranessa can recruit sartosan pirates and maneaters

[@SWtaervdesn]

I love Queen Aranessa for her animations, abilities, "Kraken's Bane", "The Saw-Shark's Blade", fighting skill - She obtains excellent melee statistics in addition to accumulating resistances and can forego a mount -, artillary boosts, Rotting Promethean and Leviathan boosts and cost reductions compared to all other lords, accessible maneater recruitment, increased sea encounter loot, adjacentcy to two to four other racial capitals, proximity to the Black Pyramid of Nagash and Nagshizzar compared to other Vampire Coast factions, character design and personality ÒwÓ

[@vladtheinhaler9744]

I played an Aranessa Campaign with the Nanu's Sartosa Mod recently, it adds alot of living pirate units, not just reskins either. It shows the huge potential for her faction. Another potential buff for her would be to give her more synergy with Ogre Mercs, especially Maneaters, seeing as she starts next to one. All in all, need more living Pirates/Mercenaries

[@BlemmiganGallivanter]

I really want CA to give her Morathi-like faction specific corruption (or uncorrupted in Aranessa's case) and an additional micro-roster like Drycha and Eltharion, probably removing some of the undead units in the process. Having like a 60% living, 40% undead roster, encouraging you to mix undead and living units could be really interesting.

[@Fastwinstondoom]

Definitely the odd one out in the vampire coast dlc, she's just so much weaker than the other 3. They gave her ogre maneaters to recruit, which helps, but she definitely needs more stuff. Rotting Leviathan mount would help, maybe access to more "pirate themed" units from other races. Black Ark corsairs, hobgoblins, maybe some kislev troops.

[@jacobsampsonis7782]

The ME's aren't even unique to her, anyone who holds her first settlement can get them

[@Fastwinstondoom]

@@jacobsampsonis7782 Bretonnia defintely cannot recruit them, I loaded up one of my saves just to check. I guess any faction that doesn't change the dock building into their own will be able to recruit ogres at Sartosa maybe?

[@quadg5296]

she has the highest campaign movement of all the vampire coast. and campaign movement is king. in a world where enemy armies like to run away..... "have you ever been pressganged before"?

[@kilamandaros]

Check out nanu's enhanced Sartosa mod, turns them into a proper pirate faction and makes it a brilliant campaign. Loads of extra units, legendary lords and RoRs. I limit myself to just having Sartosa and Galleon's Graveyard and then getting my income purely from pirate coves.

[@eduardoribeiroucv9630]

I'll try it out! Thanks

[@boomerix]

I "liberated" Estalia from the Beastmen and Skaven and created a sort of Spanish armada faction.

[@brandonHines76]

It's also worth mentioning she can recruit Maneaters, pistols and I think eventually lead beltchers as a normal unit from ports Idk when they changed that but it cool and fitting. Would be cool if they maybe added more stuff for her since she's technically just a pirate gang of mercs rather than specifically vampire coast She needs unique buildings for taking norsca or something

[@bebop417]

this series has been my daily dose for the past month, much appreciate. I know it can't last obviously but its alot of fun thx ^_^

[@lilpotayto]

I've only ever played Aranessa with the Nanu's Pirates overhaul mod. Anything else feels wrong given her only affiliation with the vampires is that she fought against them that one time. xD

[@darthtom100]

That's a fun mod but it goes a little too "overboard" in my opinion. It adds a little too much different unit types and I would like it better if it stuck to Sartosan and Ogre units. Maybe keep the priest of Manaan. Side note, is there a mod like this that I'm missing?

[@moldy_lunchbox3213]

​@@darthtom100 I use the Better Sartosa mod. It allows you to recruit handgunners, some stronger militia, and more ogres (leadbelchers, maneaters, etc.). It doesn't go too far and it encourages you to utilize human/ogre units with her redline buffs

[@darthtom100]

@@moldy_lunchbox3213 hmm this sounds fun, I'll check it out! Hopefully it gets updated for the patch soon ..

[@WhichWazzockWantedEmailHandles]

That's my favourite mod, though I avoid recruiting undead.

[@Esehe]

The only challenging campaign I had was as Aranessa, as of recent. Playing on legendary. I migrated down to Arabia while holding my ground around north. Was super fun.

[@stinkenderhirsch]

Aranessa being a Norscan Faction Leader would go against the lore, but I agree with your opinion

[@Outside85]

It is a curious direction they have gone with Aranessa, and one I also wouldn't mind them redoing to better reflect what and who she is. Like how about keeping her in the VC faction, give her the shipbuilding mechanic, give her limited access to parts of the Empire (lower end stuff like Free Company) and VC (higher end stuff and artillery) rooster and ofc retool her tech tree to reflect what units she actually has access to... and get rid of the Undead mechanic since she is not a necromancer and everything under her command is still alive, for the time being. Then Maybe to spice things up, add a Norscan Lord (Eric the Lost or his Son) that starts off in Skeggi who will be a Norse/VC mix that will build a fleet of his own and come after you.

[@elodrian]

re: 8:20 - Norsca Raiding stance requires no movement. Raiding Camp stance requires 25% moving. Changed in IE.

[@vargknight]

I agree Aranessa doesn't fit as a vampire coast faction, but she can't really be Norscan as part of her lore is that she hates Norscans, hence the 100% bad diplomacy with them. She should really be like a hybrid faction, add in a couple more types of Sartosan units, like even if it's just you get some with great weapons, or rifles instead of the duel wielding and handguns. Then allow her to recruit some of the Empire/Border Princes units as well, as in the lore there are plenty of mercenary groups and individuals within the Empire. Only issue is that she would likely end up with a severely depleted unit roster compared to all other factions

[@maxxam4665]

Aranessa deserves a much better campaign, I love her character.

[@ssrgioz]

She is one of the best at running enemies, once they break

[@kingslothii8557]

I mostly liked how you could recruit ogres in Sartosa

[@Tutel0093]

I played Aranesa with a mod for expanding Sartosa roster with pirate units. Dark elves, Maneaters, Marauders... I think I was close to complete Long Term Victory conditions but WoC dlc went out and... I had to play it haha Great games with Sartosa expanded

[@tedculbertson6320]

It's obvious why they put Aranessa in the Vampire Coast: because pirates. But it's absolutely true that she doesn't belong there. But you can't put her in any other race without losing some of the pirate stuff, so this is probably where she's going to stay.

[@gregoryshinn9805]

Thanks for the video

[@asdfhjgasfd12]

ngl these videos are keeping me going these days legend great idea

[@bathroomlew983]

CORRECTION: You've forgotten that now, in WH3, she has the Ogre Maneaters as well (you can even recruit them from her as an ally). I'm not sure if they are also considered Sartossa units, but if they are then your point of her unique buffing skills being useful only in the early game is invalid. Saltspite should be in Vampire Coast since her factions curse makes sense lore-wise in that regard, but CA should have given her norscan campaign mechanics and a bit more cursed pirate units. Perhaps she'll receive a small overhaul once Nippon gets introduced since Sartossa has a guild of (ninja) mercenary assassins as well.

[@DaKillerChipmunk]

Aranessa is a whole lot more fun to play if you just trade miragliano to Ikit Claw in return for an alliance. Then you're free to just go do pirate stuff and eventually you can just pretty much field 3 full stacks (legendary admirals) with a bunch off heroes on just Sartosa and trade alone. Ikit Claw protects you from the north for the most part once he starts recruiting weapon teams, you just need to help him deal with Belegar.

[@friedipar]

I like to play Aranessa like Noctylus in that i just keep my starting settlement and don't conquer more land. Just pillaging and establishimg pirate coves for the hero recruitment cap. This worked realy well on the vortex map, since you didn't have to worry about any factions voming at you from the mainland

[@sup1602]

I really love the sartosa free company units, their rowdy ability allows them to have perfect vigour as long as their leadership is high. You stick Aranessa near with with the red trait and they never lose their rowdy ability due to leadership loss. In my campaigns they always end up getting levels like mad which also increases their leadership. I hated them in WH 2 because melee units were just really ass. Now since melee units are viable now, the sartosa units can really shine.

[@tiagojoao1827]

You could make a tier list about best or worse mounts

[@ximbabwe0228]

Nessie! The bearded lady! She's so fun. I usually ally with clan angrund

[@dargot3540]

PLEASE CA give aranesa regeneration and sartosan unit with rifles at least please

[@bludgerabled]

I would love it if they could replace the zombie models in the roster with Sartosan people, the way Legend argues that Aranessa isn't a vampire.

[@jetsrule07748]

@@bludgerabled I know Legend doesn't like to play with mods, but if you don't mind it then Nanu's Pirates of Sartosa overhaul is a good way to make Aranessa interesting. Gives her a a bunch of new living units and Jaego Roth as a new Lord.

[@bludgerabled]

@@jetsrule07748 I think the last time I tried it it was out of date and made my game crash. Is it currently up to date?

[@jetsrule07748]

@@bludgerabled ehh I haven't used it in sometime either so perhaps not

[@noobbones]

There is a mod entirely devoted to expand the Sartosa-Roster. So its possible to play a pure (living) pirate campaign

[@dmitriyk.2890]

Ironically, my longest campaign as Vampirates was with her. Simply because I was trying to make a vampire doomstuck and it is such a pain to rise their cap.

[@croquedead3926]

She should be a mix between VC & Norsca. She should have the Norscan raiding stance to make use out of her faction bonus, she should have better higher tier Sartosan units and maybe even some Norscan units. I think that would make her more interesting.

[@giantnerd14]

She needs to be leading a Dogs of War army, her capitol is where the mercs would often congregate.

[@benb4557]

I really hope if they ever do a Southern Realms DLC/FLC they bring her over or make her a hybrid faction. Would go a long way to helping her have a fun roster.

[@dreadgear9683]

here we are, we reached the 11 minute mark!

[@DvsLucas1088]

The grimhammer mod gives you alot more Sartosan and Norscan units to match her Lore if you do like her.

[@KazeKoichi]

Her lore is that she hates Norscan

[@BaxstabberzZ]

​@@KazeKoichi Yeah but nobody hates the norscans more than the norscans. 😂

[@mcguineapig]

Aranessa is a super cool character but she is implemented really badly unfortunately, it's a shame.

[@FoxForce149]

From my experience playing as Vampire Coast and Vampire Counts in WH3, every campaign feels like a TW campaign, because everyone hates you

[@dan7564]

If you play vlad, beeline research the plus ten relations tech, then get vlads plus fourty relations tech with the human factions, and get the lahmian bloodline that gives diplomatic bonus and you can do an order playthrough.

[@FoxForce149]

@@dan7564 Unless they patched it, Vlad has 40+ Empire relations and the techs are nothing

[@ilari90]

@@FoxForce149 "Infiltrate Noble Houses" gives 10, but quite low though. Also if you start to research for it straight from the start, it's 35 turns, ofc a little less if you up your research rate. Although with the Lahmian bloodline you go from -40 to +40, so quite good eventually.

[@svenbrede6151]

The worst thing about the rotting promethean is that you loose physical resistance for missile resistance

[@angrypirate1094]

I think Aranessa's faction should focus on trading. She's got the building for it in her home province and immediate access to a lot of different factions. Noctilus's faction should focus on naval battles because he starts on a solitary island. Luthor Harkon should focus on building an empire. Cylostra's faction should be the raiding faction because ghosts like to make a nuisance of themselves. That would make the playstyle of each faction different and add replayability. Each of the LL should focus on a few types of units to incentivise giving them a bit more of a unique army from the rest of your armies, especially if you confederate them (which you should be able to do).

[@Adoak1]

Her character is all about rejecting her Norscan roots. I think she should get more pirate/merc units, not Norscan specifically. Adding Ogre Maneaters was great, I think she needs more stuff/redline/yellowline stuff to compliment those traits.

[@Aikohitoshi]

Nice! Some vampiric representation!

[@psychologicalpsocks7459]

I like Aranessa. Everything you said is true.

[@BigBoneBusiness]

Aranessa boosting Sartosan units so much almost feels like she's supposed to play the opposite of how you might normally play a legendary lord: I assume for most people, you end up putting your best units in your first army as they become available to recruit, and secondary armies tend to be a little worse until you can afford putting more of those good units in there. Aranessa having buffs for Sartosans and having such huge leadership aura buffs makes it feel like she's supposed to be a crapstack of Sartosans and zombies to stay cheap and effective and make your OTHER early armies more advanced and powerful.

[@SaltyStufon]

what if the queen of tides trade also gives those bonus sartosan stats to the maneaters she can recruit? would that be OP?

[@lucynamarzec8000]

Doesn't Aranessa also get Sartossan Maneaters? I believe they gave her something along those lines in WH3?

[@ninjapirate47]

Anyone know why CA put her in the VC in the first place, given her history? I'm assuming it was simply to fit in with the pirate shenannigans.

[@theacut]

+1 to speed with rotting promethean mount. Yeah, they might as well have not bothered with that.

[@Guderidin]

Faction effects tier list?

[@MegaNever2010]

I wouldnt say she fits as a norscan faction, considering she was shunned and thrown into the sea by her birth father, a norscan, and then taken in by Manaan. She definitely shouldnt be an undead faction leader, but more of a mercenary/human faction. Not Dogs of War, as they arent pirates, but a roster similar to the, with units from all sorts of places.

[@ryanfoster2869]

I always felt like they should have their starting areas as their pirate base and then everything else is setting up coves and the like

[@DeMause]

I'm hopeful that Aranessa will get fixed if/when they add a boarder princes as a faction.

[@sanderleander3367]

They should make her zombie recruitment turn into mercenary recruitment. So say enter empire territory you can recruit empire mercs. Normal soldiers whatnot. Bretonnian peasant units since knights being in a pirate army doesnt really make sense. Give her skill tree bonuses to all merc units. That also means Ogres, since she can recruit maneaters. Would help her out way more. And set her apart, because she really doesn't fit vampire coast which is true. Maybe add some more lategame Sartosan units. But i doubt they will do anything with her TBH.

[@flinchsohn2912]

Some Bretonnian Lords did command their Galleons. The crew was mostly peasants, and the posting was considered unfavorable for many lords, as you achieved glory from a distance (as they had trebuchets and giant catapults on their ships). So while doable, it would be a dismounted knight, mostly defeating the purpose of them as a fantastic cavalry lord.

[@hyper_5pace902]

I don’t know if they changed it recently but doesn’t the raiding encamp stance as norsca cost 25% movement range? It’s only the greenskins, khorne and VC who have no movement cost for encampments.

[@soulsoulsoul634]

Can you review cylostra next there are some bugs in the starting location i think people could use some insight in i have found my own workarounds but its still a pain

[@erensametkaratas6593]

Could you turn up your mic a bit for your future videos? I'm not sure if it's just me but it sounds a little bit low

[@torquevonthorne948]

Aranessa despises her kin, she would becer have norscan raiders aboard, but in Sartosa there are norscan and other pirate admiral shoud be able to recruit them (Nanu solved the problem). When the bruiser hero will be release for the ogre factions Aranessa should get Ogg Halfheart as a legendary hero. Also if you are playing Purates of Sartosa without Sartosa's overhaul by Nanu and the resking that turn their banner from yellow to badass black, you cannot fully live the full human pirates experience

[@Boingy420]

Oh I would love for CA to revamp the Vampires in preparation for a Nagash DLC. You have Vampire Coast, Vampire Counts, Tomb Kings, and a Nagash - Lord of all Undead. Aranessa doesn't make sense to me either. A mortal that hunts vampires, that works with vampires? She kills Noculus during the End Times too.

[@flinchsohn2912]

IIRC, she gets killed in the assault in the Galleon's Graveyard, but isn't the one who killed him. On top of that, she should have access to Jaego Roth as another Unique Lord, or he could double as the second Legendary Lord in a Sartosan Pirate Faction. Until they update the southern realms, most of the units they would have access to would be a mix of multiple factions: Empire, Norsca (keep Aranessa's penalty in Grimhammer where they all get like -30 Leadership in her Army, but not the faction), Ogres, Dwarves, Dark Elf Corsairs, and even some Bretonnian Peasants. Hell, even a few Kossars from Kislev probably would work as early game archers. Just a reskin and rename, maybe slight alterations, and you have an eclectic faction that can do most things, but would probably rely heavily on its Ogres to hold the front line. Keep the deep sea monstrous creatures, and the Empire Artillery and you have a very rounded out faction. Another interesting mechanic that could be done would be to have a wider variety of Lords for the faction, they could all be either melee or hybrid but of different races, with an affinity for hiring troops of their race (a la Skaven mechanics). But given the hyper diverse roster (and lack of core things, like not having Greatswords or Halbrediers for an Empire-hailing pirate lord), they would still need to rely on the other races to build something that could actually cover weaknesses. Give a pirate council recruitment mechanic like the Ice Court for Kislev to elevate and select a Pirate Captain to sit on the "council" to be one of your Lords, and now you've got a really interesting combination faction that will either be fantastic or absolute dog shit. This would allow them to bring in aspects from Man of War, and could be interesting to see more of the Bretonnian Galleons with their damned catapults, or even more the Empire Greatships. Because of Noctilus' raid on Sartosa, the faction would have the biggest hate-boner for him in particular, and probably the rest the Vampire Coast as a result. Outside of the Priest of Manaan potentially being their only caster (locked to Lore of the Deeps, most likely), the faction would hurt in the magical area, but being able to field potentially great frontline troops and great ranged troops, it could be interesting. Lack of cavalry could be the biggest weakness, as well as their upkeep. Not sure what all you do for Heroes; Coast had 3. Vampire Captain could be replaced with a Captain, probably a Hybrid Lord on par with an Empire Captain, sans mount. Might be lighter on armor, but a dedicated tank hero. Priest of Manaan would be your caster, and logically your healer (akin to Damsels from Bretonnia). As for an equivalent to the Mourngal Hunter, probably an Ogre Hunter is your best bet. Also gives Aranessa her Legendary Hero for first mate. Deck Gunner equivalent could just be the Dwarven Engineer. Bam, better faction figured out in like, 20 minutes.

[@DesevPostMortem]

I kinda disagree, Vampire coast is about vampires/undeads sure, but also about depth creatures. Aranessa may not be an undead but she have been mutated by the god of sea Mathlann with a fish tail at birth wich is why the norscans throw her at the frozen sea to die. I think what could've been great for her is a bit more variations for sartosans units and a bigger emphasize on depth monsters like rothing promethean, leviathan to make them better in the faction wide bonus. Maybe even unique unit like a Leviathan wearing carronades handled by sartosans ?

[@BailensdeLykenos]

The Vampire Coast as a whole are really left behind in terms of development, i wish that they would do a little more tailoring towards player experiences and less on the actual playstyle of the A.I. fighting itself most of the time. All of the races in the game have a nice niche and area they specialize in, but the Vampire Coast are like, a tumor on the side of the Vampire Counts. Their magic isnt very good, theyre units arent very good, but they get some nice monsters and their ranged ability is on par with Avelorn towards the late game, assuming the A.I. will last that long, because most Vamp Coast factions are dead by turn 30. I think they could turn all the Vampire Coast factions into a Skaven-type playstyle, where they dont actually hold settlements or can survive totally at sea, occasionally setting up pirate coves after sacking your port settlements.

[@hobowithashotgun48]

Do Rakath next!

[@mattandrews2594]

Stop demanding the order, it was set months ago.

[@Harbyz]

It would be perfect if she had 2 units from multiple factions. Sortoff like Rakarth from the dark elves has Artilery and heroes from vampire coast Black arc corsairs from the elves Norkan raiders from norska A couple of ogres

[@FreakOnFrets]

Interestingly enough, as Aranessa is not undead, spells that buff or heal undead units or characters don't work on her either, if I recall correctly.

[@katieheys3007]

I really wanted to enjoy her campaign as she's such a cool looking character but everything felt weak and unimpressive to me. Like a few others on here, a lot better with some mods.

[@eduardoribeiroucv9630]

Its possible to make a doomstack with sartosan units?

[@Morris_Minor]

Aranessa should've been a living vampire coast faction. I don't get why she's living and has 2 special living units and ogres, but still basically only buffs zombies

[@Bowielicius]

Nanu’s mod is a most for this campaign

[@samwright8895]

Skrolk next please!

[@mattandrews2594]

Stop demanding the order, it was set months ago.

[@DeadlyGrub]

The other thing thats bad about her mount is she looses the phys resistance when she is placed on it...

[@XarkoCZ]

Is she getting a buff with the DLC? His Aranessa has 400 dmg but when I start a campaign she only has 300.

[@akumaking1]

Nanu’s mod makes her campaign better

[@MiguelSanchezDelVillar]

Aranessa needs to be a mix of Vampire Coast and Dogs of War when they get released, she is a pirate so she needs the VC mechanics and since the DoW are italian mercs they dont fit with her, but if she can become a mix of both she will be much better

[@Nightmare_52]

I have played aranessa a grand total of 12 turns before I quit in disgust, a mortal leading a vampire army is just so stupid, hope we get a southern realms dlc and she gets moved there with a changed roster

[@KudCom77]

Isn t aranessa a norscan women, who was influenced by chaos? I think, i read this in her lore. Always thought, she didn t really fit in the pirate coast fraction. CA have to make a new fraction, chaos pirates 😄

[@Dokkalfar969]

She’s a mutant from norsca who got cast out of the tribe because she’s … well a mutant. So she became a pirate and eventually got her own ship I think.

[@FractalSpiral1]

@@Dokkalfar969 Pretty sure she's Manaan's adopted child. Aranessa was a cast out norscan mutant that got raised by sea nymphs on a paradise island. She cut off her own mutated conjoined legs too. She's pretty dope.

[@robbiemoore2884]

I kinda like the treasure maps because I like sending heroes around the world to see what's happening so I get to pick up money along the way

[@Turdman12]

I use the Pirates of Saratosa overhaul Southern Realms mod, so this campaign plays so differently for me. Oh well, my choice to use mods... At least it adds Norscan units, which is a complaint Legend has for this faction.

[@bluntlyhonest6803]

She wouldn't actually want to fight alongside Norscans, She may be Norscan, but she despises her country of birth. I frankly just think she needs to be her own "Unique" faction in a sense, taking a bit from a few and then being her own thing, kind of like Be'lakor but not that extreme, it really comes down to that she should only sail with Mortal pirates, and give her some truly unique mechanics. They got so much opportunity with Aranessa and Sartosa.

[@Firefocus-fz2we]

Being next to Tilea is an easy mode on its own

[@wallraven55]

They need to make a dlc of sartosa versus Tilia

[@alagass6466]

If they do a Southlands I hope they rework her into a living pirate

[@WARHOUND556]

Vampirates are hands down my favourite race in the games, and I agree that Aranessa is fun early on, but she fades quickly. I also don't see them doing anything to correct the lore implementation like shifting her to Norsca - people paid for this race pack and you can imagine the absolute meltdown they'd have if one of their LL's was moved elsewhere. Even if she's the weakest offering in said pack. *Forgot to mention her starting city - Sartosa is awesome. Easily defended, and the unique lighthouse building is fantastic. Again, though... I'd just sail over there with Noctilus and take it, not really worth playing Aranessa just to start with it.

[@Zebo12345678]

You've got a good point as far as people paying for this race pack, but perhaps I can suggest an alternative? Remove Aranessa from Vampire Coast, but implement a new character to fill her gap, maintaining the half living, half undead themes. Aranessa can then be moved to either Norsca, or a new Sartosan faction. I know adding Sartosan pirates as a faction is a big ask, but it would at least give them an excuse to add many more sartosan pirate units, some of which could be added to the vampire coast character that would replace Saltspite. In that way, it's a win/win. The people who paid for Vampire Coast gets a rework for what was once Aranessa which incorporates some units from a new DLC, and we get another new race out of it. The two main problems with his idea that I can immediately see are... for one, there's a _lot_ of good ideas for new factions/races, and Sartosans is pretty low on the list. And two, Sartosans as a faction might not have distinct enough gameplay to make them worth adding in a new race DLC. We already have one seafaring pirate faction in the form of Vampire Coast, and a second seafaring pirate faction might just not add enough to the table to be worthwhile.

[@sanguisbumb6138]

If I want to play an Aranessa campaign, I get her mod which gives living units for her to use.

[@blodstainer]

wait everyone can get 20k from the sea battle events, but the pirate coast only get a max of 5k from treasures?

[@SnappyGW]

coast also get the massive gold from sea battles. the treasures are something different

[@xi3968]

She was my favorite Lord in WH2. I loved her story and campaign, seeing her in WH3 makes me very sad to see how far she has fallen

[@rexterrisier7268]

I find her better in WH3. You get maneater ogres, and idk if it's intentional or not, but the TEB factions only have a -10 aversion to you, so I almost always ally with them instead of wiping them out.

[@stephenkellett7836]

Aranessa needs reworked with a Dogs of War DLC to no longer be an undead faction. She should function like Arkhan or Alarielle where she has access to select units from other factions, and then give her access to unique living Prometheans and Leviathans because she's Mathlann's daughter.

[@AlwaysBetOnVoid]

In the lore, doesn't Aranessa hate Norscans since her norscan dad yeeted her into the ocean when she was a baby?

[@orums2606]

Sartosa has never been an easy one. One of the greatest strengths I’ve found in the last two games is her ability to farm up maps regardless of the battle size. Each turn She poops out heroes and they disperse to grab money to fuel chaff armies and build her economy. Raiding with her is ok but even then she’s still a hard sell.

[@cutezachie]

make video about pirates, talk about norsca

[@francescobianchi595]

They didnt even gave her regeneration to compensate she' alive. I hope CA will rework her soon or later

[@Deailon]

Aranessa is extremely interesting character lorewise and it is shame the mechanics do not show that. With Ulrika Magdova we get Legendary Hero that is better in realising similar concept in the game itself. CA shuold update Aranessa accordingly.

[@chadroy16]

she should be an ogre kingdom LL

[@bjack1547]

Missing legs: 44 speed

[@ProduccionesPaquito]

Do you want to really enjoy her campaign? Play with sartossa as your only settlement, getting your gold from coves all around the world