On Accelerating Company Growth: The Importance of Attacking Nobles and Mercenaries

In this video I argue that the way to pass raider gear is to attack nobles and mercenaries. While daunting, especially to newer players, these fights grant lots of xp, weapons, and armor that you need to progress. While not mandatory, attacking nobles and mercs is a great strategy for the early game and (imo) should be done as soon as you're comfortable.

[@axios7603]

instructions unclear got peasants gear instead and 1 bro left

[@aymanelkadouri8235]

Hahahahahah

[@crog2003]

Let's be honest, which decorated helm I get is the number one factor for which house I attack lol

[@CarveaHole]

You want my channel password? You're clearly more tactical than I.

[@crog2003]

@@CarveaHole First video will be "Throwing strategy to the wind: Expert Guide to ruining your run" For a cool helmet, might be worth it... Especially the dragon one!

[@CarveaHole]

@@crog2003 👀👀

[@ricksanchez5584]

gotta style on em

[@mralpaca2150]

This used to be the biggest problem indeed. But now with the new nimble you can just go nimble and it requires no advanced gear. Another development was the low stam build which can wear zombie fallen hero gear. The combination of these 2 means no high pressure in mid game any more.

[@CarveaHole]

That solves the armor problem, you're absolutely right, but you still need weapons. Billhooks in particular are amazing power spikes compared to hooked blades.

[@aseed89]

What was changed about nimble

[@SnowmanV2]

@@aseed89 it used to be chance to reduce damage, now it is rough 0.4 hit points damage only modifier

[@aseed89]

@@SnowmanV2 if i remember nimbles been like that for like years.... reduce damage based on armor weight

[@SnowmanV2]

@@aseed89 yup haven't seen it too. Heard it in one of those vids. It's some old vanilla stuff

[@commonpepe2270]

This is why the first campaign i did really well in was a northern raiders campaign. Taking out supply caravans early gets you some great gear.

[@randomsmuck312]

Agreed, my first enjoyable campaign was a northern raiders one. Besides supply caravans, trade caravans provide the occasional trading goods for early game money and slaughtering peasants is a great way to keep morale up.

[@andreslam5851]

How early are you taking out supply caravans (days, lvl, gear)? Just curious because there are usually 7-10 arbalests/footmen defending.

[@pachiroth7848]

@@andreslam5851 noble house caravan are guarded by footmen, normal trade caravans just have at best a few guards, easy pickings When raiding, keep an eye on hostile watchposts

[@shadowcatX2000]

I started Battle Brothers about a month ago, give or take. I'd been playing on beginner/beginner and was unable to figure out why I couldn't keep up with gear other people showed. I switched to beginner/expert and attacked a caravan and a mercenary company and now my company is better equipped than my best play through and I'm 30 or 40 days earlier in the campaign. Thank you for these tips.

[@CarveaHole]

Glad to hear they're helping!

[@Neored9]

If your Battlefield Nuance video is your best work this is as important. I just got so much advanced gear. Thanks.

[@CarveaHole]

That means a lot to me. Thank you :)

[@babaganoush9237]

8:05 for some the button is left alt or right alt if it's not working for anyone. For me it used to be left alt but then changed to right alt for some reason.

[@er4din903]

Hey, I’m not sure why here or not it is possible to share Battke Brother campaign save files, but if it is, I reckon it would be fun if you made a saving your disaster campaigns series, where you take a BBcampaign file from your viewers and do your best to fix whatever the shit has happened to it.

[@CarveaHole]

That sounds really funny actually, not sure how to go about doing that.

[@fynnkwast2745]

Totally forgot you can play without Ironman 😅

[@er4din903]

It’s still possible to manually backup an ironman file as it is possible to share it over discord

[@AC-hj9tv]

Lolol cool

[@andreslam5851]

Northern raiders campaign over here and I'm doing terrible without having to save/reload all the time. Taking out trade caravans early is a great way to get food. But how can you beat supply caravans early game? The guys defending are footmen with 140 chainmails lmao. Great video overall!

[@CarveaHole]

Footmen aren't too dangerous as they spend half their turn shieldwalling. You'd need a small caravan but it's possible if you can pummel them enough

[@jacobrussell8037]

I recently read that the scaling stops at 12 bros and that is the biggest adv of peasant militia. Expendable even through the late game.

[@CarveaHole]

Scales to 14 for militia, but you still get 16 bros.

[@redhongkong]

I think playing caravanhand origin really give lots money in return. That play through really means easy purchase from shops

[@EvocatusMajin]

nice video. can you make a specific video like a part 2 where you do 2 or 3 examples on how exactly you raid and what is your approach. at around what level would you start rading with what starting gear etc.

[@CarveaHole]

I have a video of that sort, called "How I Plan My Battle Formations". It goes over how to approach many types of fights. I'd say take any fight you can reasonably win, no matter the time of campaign.

[@EvocatusMajin]

@@CarveaHole thank you, will look into it. also, do you have some sort of sub/patreon system ?

[@CarveaHole]

@@EvocatusMajin I do not. I'm extremely flattered if you'd consider it :) Maybe in the future.

[@Veldazandtea]

First I start with the good leather armor for early game with militia spears. After that I aim for 4 frontline units with sword and heater shields with 2 on the backline armed with pikes. Mail armor and chain mail helmets for everyone. After that I get a frontline fighter in plate armor and a great healm. 1 more backline with a pike. 1 more on the frontline. I also get arming swords and at least one noble sword. Shortswords get phased out. Eventually I get everyone in plate armor and great helms. I keep the number of recruits smaller but the number I have I can work with. Less money on recruits and more money on gear. If I can get the gear for a new recruit then I will. But only after I tech up.

[@cruzaider5339]

I never played battle brothers but this will come in handy one day

[@CarveaHole]

You definitely should!

[@zabumbaman1828]

Choosing weak noble house to raid caravans and guards early game (

[@Shadow.24772]

what really strikes me is you, mentioning trade goods...other then quality wood(which also is needed for that amazing clunky bow) can be sold at very good price where ruins exist. i mean, i'm allied with a house and still have to pay over 50-100 gold value for stuff like dyes, spices, gems.

[@CarveaHole]

Usually the good prices are at the smaller villages, probably 1-2 great towns per map.

[@avienated]

I don't know if they changed the scaling after they added peasant militia, but it used to be that the game scales to the level of your 12 highest brothers iirc.

[@CarveaHole]

Goes to 14 with militia, so if you have 14 you should have 16 because it won't change enemy scaling at that point.

[@avienated]

@@CarveaHole ok, gotcha.

[@jacobbronsky464]

Caravan escort missions ? How do they help improve gear ? I never do those, that's probably a mistake. Really like the bounty hunter though !

[@CarveaHole]

The well supplied bonus that results from a caravan mission can generate named items at a high rate.

[@jacobbronsky464]

@@CarveaHole Oh OK. Thanks !

[@dirtyharry2029]

What is the best playthroughs to watch as a noob. I have tried repeatedly to get started in BB and just get smashed over and over. I had one playthrough where I felt I was doing ok then it just fell to pieces. I would like to watch someone do a full playthrough but not sure who to watch. Any help would be greatly appriciated.

[@deducter]

I think Carve's content is good, also Filthyrobot who is probably even more friendly to beginners. Especially if you follow Filthy's advice you will get exactly his results.

[@CarveaHole]

Not to glamorize myself, but I do often explain my thinking in fights with the goal of being helpful for newer players. Not sure challenge runs are the best way to learn lol, but the campaign I watched first was a Filthy challenge run lol so maybe it's okay.

[@therealsabin]

Would love to see how you tackle early mercenaries. I sure would trade like 2-3 early average bros for some good gear, but is it doable at like lv4 with adrenaline (or fast adaptation?), gifted, backstabber on a 7 vs 5? Is that too early? I feel like there is a lot of rng since mercenaries gear vary a lot and are hard to predict. You say enemy group scale with yours but when is it done? Can you spot a group of 5 merc track them down while recruiting 3-4 fodder or value pick with nets and bum rush them 12 vs 5? Is it worth spending an early game half week and 1k (paycheck + recruit) to do so? I've done it few time before playing ironman, had to reload most time once or twice, sometime just leave them. I would not feel confortable taking a 40% chance of speeding my growth 60% ending my run bet, but if you have insight to up my chances i'd love to hear them out.

[@CarveaHole]

In the third episode of my coop campaign with Sins, we fight both early footmen and then mercenaries at the end. Getting into specifics about this and that level / perk may not be helpful because then you're gonna checklist stuff when it's really more holistic than that. It's worth it if you can win without major losses, is the short of it, as with basically everything in BB. I would suggest watching our conversation before that mercenary fight and then the fight and come back!

[@therealsabin]

@@CarveaHole You certainly have a better understanding of the AI. The first few turns of tactical retreat to split the billmen I would not have tought of. Same for removing the shield from one brother to make him a more attractive target to save an injured one. I enjoyed watching your coop serie. Kinda sad that when searching on youtube for some battle brothers EEL it doesnt show up.

[@CarveaHole]

@@therealsabin Knowing the AI comes with 1000 hours of experience lol. If you're looking for EEL, watch Deducter. He's a beast and is way better than me. He's linked on my channel, and we've done some videos together (even a co-op stream! Series 9 challenge on his channel I think)

[@Dogman262]

Hey Carveahole, I recently got back into the game and would love if you could do an updated weapon and armor guide/rating

[@CarveaHole]

Heyo! As much as that old video is rough, I think much of it still stands. I'm very busy so a new video will take some time to come out. Do you have any specific questions right now?

[@Dogman262]

@@CarveaHole no I don't, I just went back to your old video and noticed that you changed your opinion on a few of the weapons so I brought it up. Thanks for taking the time to respond

[@CarveaHole]

@@Dogman262 I try to respond as much as I can :)

[@dlight6880]

you can also do these fights day 20 and it gives you a huge snowball just get a few nets and you can kill them but you will lose some bros on bigger fights and thats ok cause you dont need 70% of your erly game party

[@CarveaHole]

Well said.

[@GrimaldiJ]

The key is accepting that Brothers (even good ones) can die, without destroying the run. In a lot of similar games (say, the newer Xcoms), permadeath is touted as a thing to manage, but losing a high-level character late game is devastating. In Battle Bros, though, it's more of a pain in the ass inconvenience.

[@pycckueopexu9043]

How did you find Golden Goose so early? It takes me forever to find any legendary locations...

[@CarveaHole]

Luck

[@JimBananas]

I love Battle Brothers and suggest other fans try 'Rising Lords' as the battles are similar but it adds city / empire building and resource management to the mix.

[@jeana8224]

Rising lords is shit and a scam. Worth 2,5 €, nothing more.

[@JimBananas]

@Jean A Do you find Rising Lords too easy or too hard?

[@jeana8224]

@@JimBananas simplist, extremely boring, empty, without explanations about troop stat, etc.... And almost 20€. For some ok cartoons and childish mechanisms. Whereas you have battle for wesnoth, 0 AD, DaC (médiéval tw mod) totally free and which are 100 times better.

[@JimBananas]

@Jean A Ahh ok. I like it as you need a strong economy with the right resources and the combat is really good until the mid to late game when the enemy seem to be mostly peasants. I find a 4 player with 20 regions about right. I liked Wesnoth too but I find it nowhere near as fun but each to their own 😊

[@jeana8224]

@@JimBananas well, if u enjoy Rising Lords, good for you 😉 But it is still an empty shell imo, lacking of many features.

[@ABryanskiy]

useful information for productive campaings. Not for roleplaying(as i do)

[@CarveaHole]

Well the good thing about roleplaying is that you virtually can't do it wrong. What's been your favorite campaign?

[@joearnold6881]

Depends how you’re roleplaying, but yeah. Otherwise you can just buy good gear, if that fots your rp. It’s expensive, but you’ll pick up some as you earn money to buy the rest. I for one can’t imagine the names people use. Like, I might give a guy a title based on something that happens (he becomes sergeant, loses an ear, etc) Naming people “Mid-Game Nimble Backline” or “trash tank” etc would take me right out of the game

[@ABryanskiy]

@@joearnold6881 its about giving names too. Roleplaying barbarians start mostly suits for carvey show here

[@ABryanskiy]

@@CarveaHole i can choose the first campaign i ever played(beginner start). I didnt know what i actually did, exploring the world, types of quests, random issues, improvised builds. True medieval mercenary experience. Now playing gladiators start on 4th endgame crisis, lost 5 men on day 400 and its roleplaying still

[@ABryanskiy]

@@CarveaHole still im using some tactics from your vids

[@miguelarturog]

how you get those so called decorated healms??? I NEED TO HAVE A GOOZE IN MY BROS HEAD PLEASE

[@CarveaHole]

You have to kill knights that wear them.

[@Leverquin]

i use to play this not sure why did i stop. ah yes.

[@elleryhorton8434]

Your brothers probably missed all their attacks and then got summarily decapitated on the following turn.

[@modernraider5124]

PLay on expert dif can give you gear champs appear much earlier!

[@CarveaHole]

You mean economic difficulty? That doesn't sound like it would affect it. Already on expert combat of course.

[@modernraider5124]

@@CarveaHole no no battle difficulty. Battle difficulty affects the level of enemys. For exp instead thugs you can find mostly raiders early on. So I had bandits leaders or knighs roaming day 60 and Champs in every big bandit camp.

[@kaydens6964]

To be honest, I dont find the potential loot worth it for an early conflict, your caravan route is gonna be limited, cant trade well, less good contracts, and the heavy armour you got aren't that relevant considering you are facing raiders, personally I don't think they are good without battle forge and brawny support. Billhooks are great, yes, but you can get them cheap on the market second hand, bad relation = less market sale opportunities. All that is assuming you survive all those mercs/armies with war dogs they send in your way, your early bros are going to struggle vs them even with good equipment, they can just end the game if you are unlucky. Maintaining good relationship with the noble is quite important in my own games, worst thing I do is to save my bro or caravan event (They provoked me). I always side with them during holy war even though the southern armies is a lot harder to deal with lol Just my 2 cents, great video.

[@robfus]

You know i feel like if you ride individual caravans leaving no witness and no other company is around. You shouldn't get reputation deterioment because c'mon. None was there to see it how they know? It could be anything.

[@corsonforcas]

How you get more than 12 bros in fight!?!

[@CarveaHole]

Peasant militia origin

[@MrQwebek]

I remember video where 1 fighter killed army of nobles) nice game. True

[@lv83bloodknight]

I dont really bother with intermediary gear really, just use Nimble bros till you can afford Coat of Scale/Plate then start building BF bros with expensive backgrounds

[@CarveaHole]

If you find a BF bro early I'd like to give him something better than 110 mail. A good 210 or 230 from a mercenary can help a lot when you only have the mdef to armor tank.

[@user-rk5eh2sh9v]

Bounty hunter don’t work before day 100, because champions don’t spawn before that day

[@jonathangayas]

It would be great if you can get a video on HOW TO DEFEAT nobles and mercenaries. Like this does not help me at all since I am already struggling vs raiders with marksmen even with raider gear and flails. Like what kind of tactics do you do? What kind of weapons and armor do you need? Cause otherwise 10/10 people watching this video will immediately get wiped fighting nobles

[@CarveaHole]

Those videos have existed for over half a year, you can find them in my Battle Brothers Fight Guide series. There also videos for nobles and mercenaries in my Live Gameplay and Strategy playlist.

[@jonathangayas]

@@CarveaHole thanks for replying. I will watch them. Also thanks for the content!

[@jonathangayas]

@@CarveaHole I have watched your videos regarding battle nobles and mercenaries. The problem is, the fights you are showing, your brothers are on par with the nobles/mercenaries in terms of weapons and armor, if not slightly less. From what I understood from this video, I should be fighting nobles and mercenaries after I get raider gear and can do it as early as possible. But the problem is, like I said, I only have raider weapons such as flails, one H swords and spears and I doubt these tactics will work since they can one shot me, while I can only scratch them. Is there an in-between step I am missing? It's not like I can chess and save-scum a battle to get some drops which will exponentially help my growth, however, I have to win a battle first. Do you advise buying some weapons, if so then what?

[@CarveaHole]

@@jonathangayas Early game (with a small enough roster) you can find small bands of mercs/nobles to take on. In the "Official Adren Guide" as background footage I have a day 14 merc fight. In one of the early episodes of Horrible Hybrids (between 5-10 I think, just skip around) you can see me fight another early merc company. These small companies of mercs/nobles can be won with raider gear and good positioning. Decent odds of losing a bro but the trade is probably worth it. Arming swords (and t3 flails) are probably your best friends because they do good damage and have +acc. If you spam adren enough you can act and hopefully kill footmen before they shieldwall. You could also drag nobles into a third party. The "Battlefield Nuances" video may help with positioning, but these fights kinda come with experience. You could say "I will save-load this battle until I get it with no/few losses as a learning tool" to gain that experience. Yeah, buying early billhooks is a great power step for your company. That's kind of the point of this video, to get that gear as early as possible. Spending money is worse than winning it in a fight, but if you need to spend to win those fights then that's the move.

[@trevoravery9270]

Same here, he talked for twenty minutes and didnt say anything.

[@juangodoy1072]

Miro tus videos aunque no entiendo bien lo que decís XD ya tendría que ir aprendiendo a hablar en inglés

[@CarveaHole]

¡Gracias, Juan! Desafortunadamente, yo no hube hablado Español desde el año pasado, por lo tanto mis habilidades son flojas. ¡Estoy muy alegre que tú estás disfrutando mis videos!

[@serogaiusufir9615]

i got better stuff in day 30 than day 100+ thx for the advice

[@juliancorrales395]

Yea nobility wars end game is the best

[@emprerking1684]

Get a greatsword but it in your Main dd and fuck them up

[@emprerking1684]

put

[@imanrobota4849]

It's all about save scumming. There is literally no way to get far without it.

[@davidguzman5818]

I beat the game on ironman, on expert expert

[@confidential5743]

If you need to save scum that just means you’re taking fights you can’t reliably handle. I do it too, but save scumming roots from issues before the battle/micro in the battle

[@GrimaldiJ]

I know it feels that way at times, but it isn't required. You do have to play much more cautiously, though, and pick fights carefully. Actually, there's a mod out there (can't recall the name) that automatically pauses the game when a new enemy is spotted...THAT is one of the biggest helps, as accidentally stumbling into enemies while trying to move quickly across the map is an issue.

[@elleryhorton8434]

I saw one guy only joining fights in progress so that there'd be higher odds of the enemy force splitting up or dying by other assailant.

[@elleryhorton8434]

@@xplicitfishin or culturing/scavenging kills

[@jaygibbs8248]

What is this and why am I here

[@CarveaHole]

Consider staying?

[@williamsingman6906]

20 min ... 2 min explain, 18 min, repeat it

[@alainjarre1484]

Are you kidding me? Your battles tutorials is a joke because they are not Expert/Legendary runs...pffff I can wipe 50 orcs in beginner/veteran

[@CarveaHole]

It's expert combat, beginner/veteran economy.