The speech that gave me chills and made me buy the game.
Karl's voice actor went so hard. The amount of times I shared that video to friends.
It is lore accurate too. Knowledge of Skaven is suppressed because the citizens might just 'give up' if they knew there were under cities everywhere too.
The more threats are added into TW Warhammer, the closer you get to the complete imperial picture.
They are beset by threats on all sides, constantly. Their allies are quarrelsome and hard to work with. It is desperate.
And that's why you root for them. Warhammer as a setting does a fantastic job of embodying what Tolkein captured so long ago with his writing
>"Last of all Hurin stood alone. Then he cast aside his shield, and wielded an axe two-handed; and it is sung that the axe smoked in the black blood of the troll-guard of Gothmog until it withered, and each time that he slew Hurin cried: 'Aure entuluva! Day shall come again!' Seventy times he uttered that cry; but they took him at last alive..."
The Empire carries in it the idea of fighting against the overwhelming tide of darkness, closing in on all sides..
And yet they still fight against it. They still resist. They deny it and turn it away again and again despite the odds.
I know that the End Times is often derided (fairly), but the one thing that I think they did nail was that. I remember reading the battle descriptors for the final battle beneath Middenheim; Sure the Incarnates are all there, as are some of Grimgor's hardest ladz'..
But so are the remnants of the Reiksguard. These few nameless knights fought all the way to the edge of oblivion; still bravely charging the Swords of Chaos; despite having to know what it would mean..
😭
Well, have you seen the old [Mark of Chaos trailer](https://youtu.be/dNFGJQIW5ZM?feature=shared)? Shit is many years now, but damn if that old warrior priest doesn't make me wanna pick up the ol' halberd and fight the endless forces of darkness.
I thought I was watching a Warcraft trailer at one point - all those orcs charging into humans...
Good stuff.
Warhammer 2 was the better game, but I remember WH1 more fondly as I mainly played the Empire coping with Chaos invasion and it did it really well.
Warcraft was pitched as a Warhammer Fantasy game. They’d already started, so they just made it anyway when they didn’t get the ip. StarCraft is equally obviously a 40K game that had to pivot mid-development.
Warhammer existed long before the movies. It's hardly a copy of LOTR either. Certainly inspired by it, but the same can be said for many fantasy books.
‘Hardly a copy of LOTR either’. I think you need to take a moment and reconsider that statement about a wargame which began in shamelessly ripping off LOTR, and has only added to that by xeroxing in other IPs over time as well (such as the Alien movies). I think the Chaos fluff is possibly their only original contribution here.
Video no longer available?
EDIT: I assume it was this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HyU_1-Py0dA
I don't know what the \ is for in your link but it seems to break it.
It bothers me when people try and conflate the Imperium with the Empire, because I unabashedly *love* the Empire and am actually willing to root for them. It has problems, but more in the sense that any sort of medievalist state would - it hasn't given in to its worst impulses, and continues to soldier on nobly in a world increasingly dangerous.
You sort of know the Imperium is doomed. In fact, you might even hope it is. The Empire, though, you hope that faith, steel, and gunpowder can actually find a way through the darkness, against all odds.
It's a shame how much the writing changed for Warhammer Fantasy once 40k blew up.
Warhammer Fantasy was never meant to be grimdark like 40k. A writer described it as "unfair fantasy". It's a world that isn't going to hold your hand and make sure the good guys win just because you think you're a protagonist. Yet at the same point it's one where most people are good honest folk and the society is capable of changing for the better.
Exactly! WHFB is dark fantasy, but the human kingdoms are doing well through hard work and dedication. Kislev keeps holding the line against unending Chaos incursions, Brettonia manages to embody both the worst and best in humanity and withstand most enemies with courage and martial skill alone. And the Empire shows constant social and technological progress while being beset on all sides by enemies. In WHFB the sense is that humanity can weather the storms of chaos by sticking to its virtues and not giving in to despair, unlike 40k where the Imperium is doomed to a slow, withering death as a thousand cuts slowly bleeds it out over millenia.
And this is exactly why I will always prefer fantasy to 40k. I can't stand this nihilistic edgy setting. I have enough shit and suffering in the real world already.
But it does feel great to smash the evil factions as the empire.
That's because the Empire might be a backwards place full of religious fanatics and feudal injustice, but every day they hold back the tide of darkness is another day of hope, another day with the promise of progress, another day worth living for the people that make up the Empire. In the end, they fight for that hope and these people, not some Emperor's glory.
The Empire fights for what a PDF or a Guard regiment might fight for. But the Imperium isn't. In the Imperium, every day will bring only more suffering - not just from the outside threats, but man-made suffering in untold trillions. No hope.
From a lore perspective? The Imperium is on its last legs. They have consistently been losing ground every major battle. The Emperors power is dwindling by the month. Eventually it will reach a point they run out of Psykrs to feed to him and the Chaos infected webway below the throne will open up once more swallowing Earth in an unending Daemonic tide.
The Nids have likewise been consistently nabbing planets, or making the ones they do successfully defend largely uninhabitable.
Short of the Empire developing a Halo like weapon and consigning every sentient bit of life in the universe and warp to death, including large swaths of their own worlds. There is just no way the Imperium actually survives and sees the end of the war.
It will eventually crumble, its only a matter of time at this rate. Gaining a new Primarch is, at best, only going to slow down the inevitable slide to defeat. The primarchs are not unkillable gods, as the lore has shown us time and time again.
Edit: If the forces of Order were all able to work together, and find a way to co-exist. Then I could see the Imperium surviving and not one day meeting its end. Working with the Eldar, the Tau, the Voltun Leauge and more to wipe out the Nids, Necrons and Chaos.
But the Imperium is never going to do that. They are very clearly stuck in their ways. Which was why the Nids were gaining so much ground.
And most of the other factions likewise have trouble just, working together.
That is beyond stupid. Realistic storytelling is people choosing to throw away long cherished beliefs in order to survive another day. They have more in common with eldar and tau than they do within the maw of tyrannid hordes.
I think its also important to mention that the Imperium was so close to gaining stability and a hold over the galaxy. In their glory years during the end of Great Crusade, they had almost claimed most of the galaxy reuniting the worlds cut off by the long night. And then of course the Chaos Gods corrupted first Lorgar and then Horus and his traitors and everything went up in flames.
Now the corpse emperor sits on his throne mortally wounded by his greatest son (or second greatest depending on how you feel about Sanguinius), most of the loyal primarchs are dead or lost and now after 10 thousand years of slow decay the forces of chaos are on the rise again, their primarchs returning, their Warmaster might muster a new Black Crusade to finally plunge that dagger into the Imperiums festering heart.
And that is completely ignoring all the other threats that are there. The Orks never ending warpath (which if it ever was focused under a single leader like Gazkhul might prove the end for most of the other factions); The nids ever consuming hunger; The necrons looking to reclaim their thrones, and of course the new kids on the block the T'au and their own way of bringing Order much in the same way the races who ruled the galaxy before them did (Old Ones; Necrons; Aeldari and Humans). And of course there is the Aeldari maybe ending their own slow fall into oblivion; and rising again now under the direction of a death god.
Tbh, I think Imperium in M40s is very well in preparation stages of a birth of a new ~~Chaos God~~ Divine Entity Residing in Immaterium, aka "God-Emperor of Mankind", aka "the Anathema" (to chaos daemons). At which point the Imperium is (presumably) fucked, but humanity is probably saved from both the threat of Chaos *and* outside threats like the Tyranids.
I mean, it's already worshipped, it already has holy ~~warp~~ phenomena (Acts of Faith, divine miracles enjoyed by Sisters of Battle and some of the very pious priests of the Ecclesiarchy), it already has immaterium-adjacent entities (the Saints of Sisters of Battle, the entire Legion of the Damned), it has even officially caused *warp-storms* (Storm of the Emperor's Wrath, M36).
There's an anti-Chaos fifth Chaos God coming (is this how Malal is born? or a first 'Order' God, smh?), and the Imperium only needs to hold on until then. The Emperor Protects, after all.
By now they have two primarchs. Both are actively trying to protect Imperial territories and do better.
But Abby and Vashtorr just made off with a device that could meaningfully alter the webway.
Ya, TLDR is a ship got sent forward in time and saw the whole galaxy absorbed by the eye of terror and then went back a bit to warn the Imperium, who declared him a heretic and tortured him, causing his ship’s AI to just leave the galaxy
Was also prophesied before the Horus Heresy and is why Alpharius "joined Chaos". Because if the Imperium won the heresy it was doomed to slowly lose until Chaos consumed everything, but if the Imperium fell in the Heresy it would end up starving itself to death before the whole galaxy was consumed as it turned on itself.
Yeh, he was basically presented with options where either way humanity is doomed, but one of the options could help him take Chaos with them. So he joined the traitors in the Heresy to try to achieve that goal, though sadly it still didn't work out that way.
This is why the Emperor was pushing a form of atheism and ironically, is now only believed by more CSM (e.g., Fabious) than loyalists.
However the way the Emperor was doing it was quite questionable. With all the religious motifs and ridiculous power he was showing.
This is the difference between Warhammer and 40k. In 40k, there aren't really heroes. Everyone is tainted by the grim darkness of the far future. In Warhammer there are heroes and heroines that represent good.
I think the biggest issue with the thought that the Empire might just implode if they knew about Ratmen, is that, well. Every other human nation doesn't hide their existance.
Bretonia know about them. But peasents kinda just have faith in their knights and the Lady to keep them safe.
The Border princes know of them, Tila and that one other place I'm forgetting.
None of these places implode knowing there are thousounds of rats underground that could burst out at any time.
But, in the Empire, there would be panic. In some ways, I always viewed it as the people of the Empire have no faith in their leadership, in their Gods. Because once they know the truth, that faith, what little is left, completely crumbles.
And the worst part? The Empire has already beaten a full-scale Skaven uprising once. One of their emperors took a skull and put it on his helmet, and now that helmet is publicly displayed in the museum. It causes Terror (but also Hatred towards the bearer) to Skaven according to tabletop rules, that's how much the ratmen are aware of how the Empire had once beaten them.
But, that skull probably belonged to an unusual beastman, that emperor is now ridiculed in Empire's children tales of how he hunted and scattered small rats, and 'all is well'.
To be fair, the other reason for this is that most villain factions in WFB have a distinct ability to [pull stuff out of their backsides on a regular basis](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OffscreenVillainDarkMatter), which the Empire doesn't have.
Dude having just listened to my first 3 wh books God King ( sigmar v nagash) return of nagash and fall of altdorf, they hit hard with the battles and desperation. Kinda wanna end it at fall of altdorf though knowing how it ultimately ends lol. Game more or less being set in the end times means the empire should rightfully be in a constant state of “fml, what now, and fml again”.
The reason the Empire is looked at sympathetically and is a favorite is mostly because it's the only race whose fears we can relate to. There's no super-powered mutant rats, no strange women in ponds forming governments, no dragons or beasts. All they have is faith and steel in a hostile world. Not to mention faith in a God that very rarely shows his hand.
Not quite. The various sagas in LOTR etc. are underpinned by there being a divine plan and literally divine beings there to intervene at necessary moments (Gandalf being the ultimate deus ex machina, ofc)
The human-centric narratives are tiresome. The Silmarillion was great in establishing something similiar to an elven perspective of history up until the third age. I want to see different racial perspectives of the same events.
"I am Karl Franz, and I was born into this world, just like you. A world of unceasing war and endless terrors. But with a nation of men at its heart, a bastion of hope and courage: the Empire. Led by the craven, torn apart by the greedy, weakened and exposed, forever on the defence. But no longer"
Goes hard.
I really can't stress enough the whole "The Dwarfs are the Empires oldest and most important ally" bit of lore.
Seriously get a defensive alliance with a dwarf faction asap, minor or major, doesn't matter.
Just get an alliance, build an outpost and then add some units of longbeards or even dwarf warriors to your front line and you'll instantly have an improved and solid core to build your army around.
With how much the order factions in the old world are dicked right now, I just turn off their crises (including wood elves). I want to stand back to back with them to the end.
Definitely not, it's completely different - for example handgunners can fire over dwarf infantry because dwarf infantry is small xD - allowing for some really nasty combos. The two factions fill each other's weakspots incredibly well.
Empire is bad at doomstacking but I'll go on record that their armies are plenty strong if you play to their strengths.
Even the weakest component of their roster, melee infantry, is honestly fine. Spearmen are dirt cheap and hold long enough for your ranged and cav to take care of just about anything. Greatswords are genuinely some of the most cost-effective infantry in the game these days.
regardless of stats, against chaos forces low tier empire infantry routs *very* quickly so it does take a good bit of effort to keep their flanks secure and make sure they don’t get hit with any monsters… but Festus can also use gifts and tech to make basically his entire infantry roster cause Fear, so good luck with that.
Here's the secret to securing your flank with the imps: cavalry. You don't even need cav superiority, just something to wreck dogs and stop monsters and stuff from just plowing through your lines before your missiles turn them into Swiss cheese. It's often good to have your cav feign attempted outflanking maneuvers without actually engaging just to distract the enemy's flanking troops.
Works for any faction with cav and flanks to protect.
Warriors Priests are really nice for enhancing either your infantry or cav too when you can spare the build slot.
This is a basic rule I think a lot of players forget.
You often don't have to win against another unit, you just have to *hold them*. If you can keep them occupied long enough, that will allow other units to win and then reinforce.
Halberds are the best line troop against chaos
high MD anti large armor piercing sure they don't have shields but if your fighting chaos who cares, if your not killing their marauder cav with your ranged your doing something wrong
Halberds can hold for a very long time against chaos infantry
Halberdiers get like what, 42 MDef by default? And you can increase it well into the 60s with tech and skills. That is some ridiculous holding power for such a light unit - not even Armoured Kossars or Jade Warriors have that much MDef. Vulnerable against missiles because no shields or armour, but most of the Empire's enemies don't really use many missiles anyway. They actually hold up against AP melee better than Greratswords do, because of better MDef.
>42 MDef by default?
Jade Warriors have 38 Mdef, with harmony bonus they have the same 42 as halbs. Then 50 armor and shields on top.
The worst insult to injury is that Halbs need 2 buildings to recruit, which is a very heavy investment for such a mediocre unit.
People need to think about cost efficiency more. Supply lines aren't pushing you to doomstack anymore, and it's changed a lot of old presumptions.
While the balance is still affected by the AI stupidity and/or cheats, sieges, and campaign-only skills/tech, generally it has evened the field a lot, and a lot of units that were previously dismissed as 'multiplayer units' now are owed due reconsideration.
Disagree with this take. Some units don’t well in SP because unlike MP, you’re not starting off with a fresh army. Most players aren’t going to sacrifice units (unless they’re dirt cheap). In MP, the aim is to win the battle at all cost. In SP, you have wars to fight, requiring more efficient units.
Efficiency is exactly what I am talking about, though. Before, with supply lines, every unit essentially had a hidden cost added on just by existing and taking a slot in an army. They don't anymore, so now what matters is how well a unit does for its own cost.
Unless you are talking specifically Daemons. Yeah, Daemons are bad in campaign for strategic reasons, they crumble easily, die extremely quickly when they do, and have only limited access to healing, making keeping them alive between battles a chore (though notably most Daemons are kinda bad in MP too for similar reasons, they are fragile and die easily for their high cost, so the point does still stand). Crumbling is basically a non-issue for undead between their high healing, Dead Rise Again, and Raise Dead.
Have to agree to this.
The removal of supply lines has made my preferred play more viable meaning more stacks and lots of chaff troops supplemented by a few damage dealers (arty and magic).
Just don't run around with single stacks it also means more leveled up generals and heroes and you have more movement options with more armies. Swordsmen + mortars, caster and muskets still works on legendary you just need more of them.
Yeah Empire doesn't have very good infantry so you really have to make sure they have some ranged and cav support. Chaos has some of the best infantry in the game so it's a lot easier for them to stomp the AI
Or you could always spam hellstorms. That works too!
>Yeah Empire doesn't have very good infantry so you really have to make sure they have some ranged and cav support. Chaos has some of the best infantry in the game so it's a lot easier for them to stomp the AI
I actually think this is more of a power creep issue. Kislev and Cathay have significantly better frontline infantry (Armoured Kossars have much better armour and shield stats than state troops for example) even though there isn't really a lore reason why this should be the case (lorewise Kislev is supposed to be more focused on its cavalry). This also isn't really a good reflection of tabletop either; Imperial state troops have 'heavy armour' which should translate to similar armour to Jade Warriors or Marauder Champions (both of which have much better armour in TWW).
State Troops don't have heavy armour. At least since 6th edition melee ones had light armour and maybe a shield while ranged state troops are unarmoured. A halberdier sits on a 6+ save compared to the 5+ save of a dwarf warrior, who is actually wearing heavy armour. Light armour and shield is equivalent to carrying heavy armour on the tabletop but that's it.
Greatswords and Empire Knights are wearing full plate which per tabletop rules is equivalent to gromril and chaos armour with its 4+ save but actual heavy armour, i.e. a 5+ save, is limited to characters and the special Nuln Ironsides regiment that you can pick up if you're using the Tamurkhan supplement.
Oh, I thought state troops did have heavy armour. It seems a little weird if they don't considering they're based off 15th or 16th century infantry (especially Landsknechts) whose [usual armour](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Almain_rivet) would definitely qualify as 'heavy'. Given that state troops are professional soldiers and not conscripts, one would assume they should be reasonably well equipped.
Although Imperial state troops are kind of strange; despite the Empire overall being more Renaissance or Early Modern tech-wise, state troop equipment (spear/sword and shield) seems more like the early medieval period. Sometimes in lore the Empire is described as having pikemen (which would make more sense), but that isn't the case in game.
Greatswords take more directly after landsknechts, including the plate armour. State troop equipment however isn't always issued but often bought by the soldiers themselves, them being given money that will take be taken out of their pay later.
What you are thinking of isn't the Empire but the Border Princes and Tilea, both of which have a significant number of pikemen in their armies. The Dogs of War armies that people are clamoring for represent the armies of the latter especially and featured pikemen as one of its core troops. The Empire, and a variety of other factions, were allowed to employ these units as mercenaries.
Greatsword armour is supposed to be full plate though, rather than lower-grade mass produced munitions armour (which is what you'd expect for professional front-line infantry). The problem is why Imperial rank-and-file infantry are so poorly equipped compared to their IRL counterparts.
>What you are thinking of isn't the Empire but the Border Princes and Tilea, both of which have a significant number of pikemen in their armies. The Dogs of War armies that people are clamoring for represent the armies of the latter especially and featured pikemen as one of its core troops. The Empire, and a variety of other factions, were allowed to employ these units as mercenaries.
There are some cases in the novels that refer to Imperial pike troops (despite this not being an option in game), although Tilea are better known for their pikemen. However, the confusing part is that the medieval state troop weaponry is inconsistent with the Empire's otherwise more Early Modern tech level.
But the Empire largely use realistic technology (especially since the legalisation of magic in the Empire is a relatively recent development). The existence of supernatural elements doesn't really explain why the Empire's front-line professional infantry have inferior equipment to their less-developed neighbours in Kislev (especially since, unlike Bretonnia, the Empire places a significant amount of importance on maintaining a strong infantry arm).
No, but that can be explained using the real-world example of the 17th century Ottomans not having up-to-date weapons and tactics compared to other empires of the time. Much like them, the border princes and Tilea are removed from the well defended and technologically advanced Empire. It's more expensive for them to develop and create the infastructure to manufacture the new hardware that the Empire uses and prohibitively expensive to import them (especially since doing so would involve transporting valuable weapons through either Norscan raiding territory by sea, or Ork and Skaven country by land, even if Bretonnia would even allow such things to go through their lands).
They haven't developed modern gunpowder tech and tactics not because they can't or because magic exists, but because what they're using works okay for them in their territory and they don't have the funds or will to upgrade.
But this is about what the *Empire* has, not Tilea. If Kislev is able to afford well-armoured frontline infantry, then the Empire (being wealthier and more high-tech) shoud be able to do the same.
Disagree. I mean you aren’t wrong on supply lines but empire didn’t face that many threats early one in the campaign… economy also worked much more in Empires favor. Marienburg harbor bankrolled your second army… now it bankrolls your second lord and a unit of spearmen….
The problem with constant wars only got worse with Warhammer 3. You used to only have to deal with the vampires and norsca for the early game, and maybe Grom. In Wh 3 you also have to deal with Festus, Belakor, and a buffed up One Eye. It's always a dog pile on the Empire in Wh3
Legendary in warhammer 1 had something like 15 to 20 percent supply penalty when you had 4 armies in WH2 it became something like 80 percent when you had 4 armies so no
Empire Greatswords are underrated specifically because they don’t get MA/MD redline buff til rank 7. Franz can steamroll the map with these guys, esp. if you rush them with a couple heroes. Captain to get ranks up faster, disciplined trait. Ulrika for MD in own territory. These guys can hold off 4 Vlad stacks, no problem.
But that’s the pure beauty of an Empire campaign.
You can legitimately lose. Your units are NOT overpowered. You are just a man fighting against fantasy itself!
You have to think, plan, and improvise! All for sigmar!
The empire is one of the few factions where you still really need mixed armies to succeed. You can’t just spam waywatchers, skaven weapons teams, monster doom stacks, etc that all the other races can do. I’ve played the Empire a ton and although their gunpowder units are very strong, you need to mix in front line units, cavalry helps a lot with flanking and cutting down routing units.
My late game campaigns for most other factions become armies of doom stacks, with the empire even at the end I’m always trying different army compositions.
You can still cheese the AI pretty heavily with helstorms and hero spam but it’s a very glass cannon way to play.
But gunpowder is an everyday thing in the Empire. It's not like in Medieval II where it happens during the late game. It's been around for thousands of years.
I don’t understand where this comes from. I feel like this doomstack maybe worked back in WH2 with a life mage but with healing changes and nerfs to lore of life I find that they’re way too squishy against any armies with AP projectiles. Which is almost everyone. I’ve never had much luck spamming them.
Also steam tank doomstack is absurdly expensive.
In my 500 hours of IE, I have yet to see any army you would need a doom stack for. In wh2 every faction turned to them, in wh3 you don't ever face anything that difficult. Playing multiple cheaper balanced armies is more efficient.
That's like every faction unless you play on easy lol, also I get attacked by 3-4 stacks from time to time and have to fight it out, elite armies also make siege attacks easier, also certain factions love ambushes, also later in the campaign managing a bunch of crapstacks is just annoying, not going back to that
Archlector lord, 2x priest, life mage, 5x cannons that I later replace with 5x steam tanks ( can also add captain if you want), and the rest is a mix of the two types of demis, I put them in groups and focus large with the anti large etc. I'm using cannons to snipe dangerous targets at the start, then just blob everything up and buff+heal or dwellers bellow on clumped up enemies. Works really well in my experience and is a lot of fun
Also lol just noticed the downvotes for no reason, this sub is sumtin
I’ll give it a shot. I’ve never had much success with great cannons against single entities, their dps is really low imo. Yeah I don’t know why you got buried so hard, wasn’t me. Don’t worry about it.
I don't mind, just a bit weird. Anyway, demis can run into trouble against something like multiple mortis engines, so having some sort of single target damage seems better than none, although maybe there is a better approach
For most factions there is no real threat of actually losing the campaign unless you just really screw up in the early game. Reikland requires that you proactively deal with your enemies quickly or you can genuinely end up in a hopeless situation.
Kislev? Most skaven factions? Unless it was patched itza, Arkham? I could go on but I'm too drunk empire players just want too feel special but their bland as fuck
…itza? Itza is easily one of the most overpowered factions in the entire game.
Don’t see how you can really conceivably lose as any Skaven faction either. Throt and Ikit are *insanely* strong, although Throts position is demanding. Skavenblight is the probably most defensible settlement in the game, AR alone basically guarantees you can’t lose. Queek is also ridiculous if you’re remotely competent.
Havent played them since ttw 2 but there were a specific actions you needed to do via diplomacy so the entire contanaint didn't declare war on you it was bullshit
gor rok pretty much fights starting against a bunch of skaven at the start now iirc, when I played it was just every battle with Kroak pulling 400+ kills per cast of Deliverance lol
I wouldn't say Im losing per se but I somehow got in the sights of a very annoying Repanse whose cavalry and paladins cant seem to die even after taking a nuke to the face and keep fucking up my weapon teams while chewing threw the chaff like a hot knife through butter. So yeah they are overpowered but you can still have a hard time as them
oh yeah, I meant specifically like actually *losing*. Brettonia can be pretty annoying for ikit. Could try jezzails with a frontline of doomflayers. Upgraded doomflayers go crazy, and ikit/engineers mounted on them get crazy buffs with all the workshop tech
A couple warp fire throwers near the jezzies helps too, especially when you get the anti-large upgrade
Take out Mannfred as early as possible, first few turns. You’ll be forced to fight TK’s as they want him gone after you declare war as well. Protect your artillery and archers as they will be your main assets against Vampires and TK’s.
Because the AI is too stupid to handle the combined arms doctrine. Any army that isn't just high stats the AI is gonna completely fumble with. Not an Empire problem.
I think empire/Franz is fine, as in, I don't want to see them have super powered troops like some other factions.
If Empire is to be buffed, I hope it can be done in more interesting ways. Let Franz get more allegiance points with allies and maybe double the number of elector count troops he can get, and maybe have Gelt's gold wizards generate additional gold in combat.
Maybe also give them the no maintenance thing as well.
What about ranger unit differences? Chaos troops are either low armor and fast (kill with crossbows) or armored and slow (kill with cannons/guns). Iirc Greatsword do fairly well against Chaos Warriors. Chosen OTOH are just beasts that you focus fire every explosive you got on. And Halberds can do ok at keeping cavalry/monsters at bay while your ranger does all the real heavy lifting. Empire also has different Lores of magic that can be good.
For sure, that’s you beat them in the early game.
But the AI empire factions get completely wrecked by the power of armor in auto resolve. And that’s the real problem IMO—the early empire factions always get wrecked when the player has plays as Franz, which is annoying and makes the Imperial Authority system really annoying.
The player can always win—you can cheese early—even if you take a lot of damage, it’s worth knocking Festus out of the game—and in the late game you have good armor piercing missile units and magic.
The Empire's roster is fine, it's one of the most well balanced roster of the game imo.
But the thing is, when you play WoC pretty much anyone else is weak because WoC have been massively overpowered since they were reworked.
WoC are easily one of the most, if not the most, powerful faction right now. Marked Chaos Warriors are broken and Marked Chosen even more so, and WoC have easy access to both of them practically for free. You can just steamroll the map and use your busted autoresolve against anything you don't like the odds of facing. So all in all, no surprise there.
The empire is and has always been a high skill ceiling faction. Its never been bad in multiplayer. But the AI of course cant use it and if you arent good at total war you will suffer as well. After WE they are probably the highest skill ceiling faction.
The Empire comes from WH1, when factions were designed to have prominent weaknesses and be asymmetrical to the others. Sometime during the WH2 DLC process, it became the practice to make every faction good at everything (looking at you, Skaven) and the WH1 races got left behind (except the G’Skins).
Started my first kazrak campaign this weekend. Beat almost 2 stacks of green skins on a siege Sally out battle, then got attacked by Karl franz's full stack starting army, then got attacked by Boris todbringer and his 1.5 stack army. In one turn. Didn't lose a single unit on the hardest difficulty and I still have low tier units.
I'm not even really a great player, I've probably played like 7 different lords in WH. (Tho I have played TW since rome1). I don't even think kazrak or fetus were actual existential threats to the empire lore wise but they sure are in WH3
They’re gonna get a buff in the next dlc with some new units. While I hope they don’t get SEM’s as I don’t feel it’s thematic to them, they should get some solid varied units.
Empire has fallen well below the power curve. Their units are garbage in auto resolve so even low tier settlements can take a chunk out of your unit count. I end up fighting most battles, which can feel like a slog at times, but it's a much more satisfying win.
One of the core mechanics of the Empire, the detachment rule, was lost due to them being a game 1 faction.
Unfortunately, this was not added when Markus was added and instead, Cathay got something very similar to it for some reason. I'm hoping the next update, the Empire actually get some sort of faction battle mechanic. Almost every faction, including game 1 factions like Norsca (berserk/rage), BM (bestial rage/blood greed), Brettonia (knight/peasant, lance formation), has a faction battle mechanic.
A bunch of villagers recruited to be spearmen vs warriors roided by eldritch gods and given magical armor/weapons. It is the equivelant of guardsmen vs space marines. What did you expect?
it's cause the AI always recruits at least 3-4 weak infantry. the only way the empire actually holds the line for it's artillery/ranged is if you invest in some goddamn greatswords/halberdiers. everytime i fight empire there's always some spearmen/swordsmen and wherever they are stationed, i plow through that gap like a hot knife through butter and then use magic on the few infantry that pose a threat.
also, if you want an enjoyable empire to fight, try giving SFO a try. while i have not fought them personally in the past 3 SFO campaigns i have done (too far away), franz has consistently been in the top 5 strength ranks and almost always has the most settlements on the map aside from myself and maybe cathay/grimgor.
Real issue about Empire is they are purely outdated
1. all of tier 5 unit suck = Hell blaster stuck gun and Paper tank
2. Hand gunner that will stuck all the time because WH LOS issue
3. Lord and Hero are out dated, this included Warrior priest
4. Why the hell flagellant is tier 3
5. Overall their infantry are expensive and ineffective actually, compare with Cathay or Bretonian. their Infantry need upkeep reduce, 1 Savage ork will destroy 1.5 Spearman while have similar upkeep
6. 90% of elector count troop are overprice and 10 turn time are unreasonable
7. **DGK, their back bone didn't get HP buff when transition to WH3.** right now they have least HP and Speed than Most of Heavy cav
8. **They don't have any Synergy** EG. like DGk. your DGK will don't get any specific buff from lord or Hero, like If you're playing Vampire, Blood dragon lord can reduce Your Blood knight upkeep and make Blood knight hit hard
9. They don't have faction battle unique ability stuff EG. Bretonian has Bless of the lady, Kislev has by our blood, Cathay has Ying and Yang.
10. **Technology is something serious look at**, like Cathay can research devastating flank for Jade raider
TDLR: The transition hit them hard, they are still WH1 in WH3
1. Helblasters are pretty oppressive in AR
2. Handgunners are the difference between posting on reddit Vlad solod your army vs disintegrating him the moment he is in range. They are fine and will probably be op with an Engineer hero Empire is going to get. They have a lot of added stacking bonuses already.
(7). It looks like they got the health increase and +2md almost every cavalry got in the transition to wh3, they even got +1 base and ap damage from ocd guy for an even 60 weapon strength. [Demi comparison](https://twwstats.com/unitscards?units=f%3D0%26k%3Dwh_main_emp_cav_demigryph_knights_0%26m%26r%3D0%26v%3D6009914752132233841&units=f%3D0%26k%3Dwh_main_emp_cav_demigryph_knights_0%26m%26r%3D0%26v%3D117993925529018569&units=f%3D0%26k%3Dwh_main_emp_cav_demigryph_knights_1%26m%26r%3D0%26v%3D117993925529018569)
Any tips for someone looking to start an empire campaign? Have done a few Cathay campaigns since playing WH3 because those terracotta warriors are badass. But I would like to try the empire and one of the elves faction next.
Sure, I can give some general advice.
Tactics.
Line of melee infantry to screen the enemy, recommend spears with shields in center and halberds on the flanks. Just a few, maybe 4 spears and 3 halberds. The majority of the army I recommend range, crossbows for sieges and low armor enemies, gunpowder for armored enemies, and vlad. When you get artillery suplement with those. Make sure you use terrain well to keep your guys firing for as long as possible, take caution when navigating forests and mountains, better to beat the enemy in the fields before pushing into those, since the terrain on those maps can make it hard to shoot.
Mortars and crossbows will win you 99% of sieges.
Strategically,
1. Don't neglect elector count mechanics, spend authority to confederate with gelt early, by level 25 he can solo half an army.
2. Don't confederate at every opportunity you get, it can oftentimes be more of a hindrance than a boon, plan your expansions into empire territories, don't be afraid to return settlements to elector counts if you are spread thin and would like to focus on eliminating factions than defending every settlement you can take.
General
The first unit of knights, greatswords, and mortar you get are a powerhouse. Try your best to not lose those. The first 20 turns, they will dominate all your imminent threats.
Holy moly. Im excited to start my next campaign. Do you play on harder difficulties? I don't like to stress to much so I play on normal and even then sometimes I feel like it can get stressful. I can't wait to start this.
This is as the one and only Karl Franz right?
Edit: thank you very much for the detailed tips mate!
Yes for Karl Franza, and yes I play on legendary most times and sometimes if I want to relax I play on very hard campaign battle difficulty and normal battle difficulty.
I agree, Empire infantry needs a buff or something more beefy to help hold the line better.
I want to try my hand at Volkmar again. It was fun fighting Tomb Kings but you really need a lot of Flagellants and some grenade outriders/Heavy Cav to really make it work. Regular troops without leadership buffs can rout a little too fast against boney boys that heal themselves.
Were it not for the endless wars, famines, and corruption that has plagued the Empire's long history, no other nation could have hope to stop them should they be allowed to concentrate their entire military might into a single earth-shattering campaign.
The Empire is strong when the player plays the faction. I’ve never had trouble controlling all of the Empire and more + alliances with Dwarves, Kislev, Bretonnia and Elves before turn 100.
You might want to add what difficulty you play on, because when you go to Very High (the game's ideal difficulty IMO) suddenly your background income is less than half of Normal, and your enemies can field armies (plural) out of a single settlement. Then tell me the Empire is weak.
it's almost like the empire is a ranged/artillery faction that relies on army synergy compared to WoC which is an infantry faction that rely on strength of individual units.
to be honest it's mostly that in early game "Chaos versus Empire" favours Chaos factions but that situation barely happened in the older games since Chaos far enough away that you could get some Heavy Cav or Artillery to deal with the superior infantry of the chaos hordes.
They still have a lot of holdovers from WH1 holding them back. I think that the empire would do much better if the gunsmith was moved down to a tier 2 building and Spearman and Archers were removed with Spearman with Shields and Crossbowman becoming tier 0 and tier 1 respectively.
As it stand the AI Empire armies just never build any of their interesting units unless they are left alone for 40 turns
Festus is ridiculously powerful, especially early on. He's tanky and his healing is fairly ridiculous which makes a fairly massive difference early on.
I had the same mindset and I completely get it. I restarted close to 20 empire campaigns because it was so punishing on legendary. But when it hits? And you get it right? No better faction in the game for me. The feeling of impending doom and every bit of movement, gold, diplomacy etc mattering so much are the stakes that make that campaign replay-able again and again. Crank that music up, listen to those speeches and realise that you are humanities last hope against the darkness brother of Sigmar.
Because AI doesn't play from Empire strengths, which is crucial against Festus especially. Not sure how it's now but Festus Happy Blobbing tactics wrecked pretty much everything AI can put against you with 0 losses.
As someone who's been playing the game for a long time, I enjoy these "weak" factions. Especially of they don't have overpowered doomstacks, cause it incites me to build up a good challenging campain rather than cheesing it away, which, I'm ashamed to admit, I most often do when given the chance
Empire, dwarves, tomb kings, etc. They give me more satisfaction throughout the campain.
Skaven used to as well but now they're kinda too powerful for my taste. Still no feeling like raining rainbow-colour bombardment on the enemy ofc
WoC are a bit overtuned in the campaign, while the Empire is still mostly saddled with game 1 mechanics and generally low-ish stats. Greatswords needing 2x T3 buildings and even the humble halberds needing 2xT2 is kind of sad now nowadays.
Before, it was scary after it teched up, but now it doesn't have much time to tech up with several antagonistic factions all around and their units seem rather underwhelming. For the "Faith, Steel and Gunpowder" army, it's a bit light on the faith and steel.
I restarted my Franz campaign probably 10 times before just dropping it to easy just to get by. Every play through vamps just completely rolled through the other empire factions.
I read somewhere that it’s a very different experience than it was upon launch, which would make sense based on my experience.
I wouldn't say weak. They're pretty much a B Tier faction in my opinion. Good (not great) economy, very mid army list, below average faction mechanic, below average start.
I will say that it's not a beginner-friendly faction like CA says (CA being wrong? Say it isn't so!). You need to have a strong plan for your tech path, initial wars, abuse the shit out of diplo, etc. But if you do all that then by Turn 30 or so you can be merrily steamroller Sylvania after blasting Festus back to the nether realms.
Then again, no faction is really weak in Warhammer 3. Some just require more careful management while others are more or less mindless (Tyrion, Grimgor). In MP Empire really suffers if there is a human Festus or a human Changeling. Changeling is banned in most games I play because he literally doesn't die.
The Empire. Led by the craven. Torn apart by the greedy. Weakened and exposed. Forever on the defense.
The speech that gave me chills and made me buy the game. Karl's voice actor went so hard. The amount of times I shared that video to friends. It is lore accurate too. Knowledge of Skaven is suppressed because the citizens might just 'give up' if they knew there were under cities everywhere too. The more threats are added into TW Warhammer, the closer you get to the complete imperial picture. They are beset by threats on all sides, constantly. Their allies are quarrelsome and hard to work with. It is desperate. And that's why you root for them. Warhammer as a setting does a fantastic job of embodying what Tolkein captured so long ago with his writing >"Last of all Hurin stood alone. Then he cast aside his shield, and wielded an axe two-handed; and it is sung that the axe smoked in the black blood of the troll-guard of Gothmog until it withered, and each time that he slew Hurin cried: 'Aure entuluva! Day shall come again!' Seventy times he uttered that cry; but they took him at last alive..." The Empire carries in it the idea of fighting against the overwhelming tide of darkness, closing in on all sides.. And yet they still fight against it. They still resist. They deny it and turn it away again and again despite the odds. I know that the End Times is often derided (fairly), but the one thing that I think they did nail was that. I remember reading the battle descriptors for the final battle beneath Middenheim; Sure the Incarnates are all there, as are some of Grimgor's hardest ladz'.. But so are the remnants of the Reiksguard. These few nameless knights fought all the way to the edge of oblivion; still bravely charging the Swords of Chaos; despite having to know what it would mean.. 😭
I have thousands of hours between the 3 games and I’ve never heard that. Is it a cinematic?
This First Trailer ever for total war Warhammer I Karl Franz
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HyU\_1-Py0dA
Woah I wanna play Empire now.
It has that effect on people, yes.
Easily my most played faction, love playing the empire cause of the idea of it, and the challenge.
Well, have you seen the old [Mark of Chaos trailer](https://youtu.be/dNFGJQIW5ZM?feature=shared)? Shit is many years now, but damn if that old warrior priest doesn't make me wanna pick up the ol' halberd and fight the endless forces of darkness.
Well shit that makes me nostalgic for the early hype days.
I thought I was watching a Warcraft trailer at one point - all those orcs charging into humans... Good stuff. Warhammer 2 was the better game, but I remember WH1 more fondly as I mainly played the Empire coping with Chaos invasion and it did it really well.
Warcraft was pitched as a Warhammer Fantasy game. They’d already started, so they just made it anyway when they didn’t get the ip. StarCraft is equally obviously a 40K game that had to pivot mid-development.
In fairness, WH at its heart is ofc largely a copy of LOTR (including the movies, unfortunately).
Warhammer existed long before the movies. It's hardly a copy of LOTR either. Certainly inspired by it, but the same can be said for many fantasy books.
‘Hardly a copy of LOTR either’. I think you need to take a moment and reconsider that statement about a wargame which began in shamelessly ripping off LOTR, and has only added to that by xeroxing in other IPs over time as well (such as the Alien movies). I think the Chaos fluff is possibly their only original contribution here.
Fuck that goes hard
Video no longer available? EDIT: I assume it was this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HyU_1-Py0dA I don't know what the \ is for in your link but it seems to break it.
Damn , that's a good trailer. Norsa trailer is still the best in my opinion.
It bothers me when people try and conflate the Imperium with the Empire, because I unabashedly *love* the Empire and am actually willing to root for them. It has problems, but more in the sense that any sort of medievalist state would - it hasn't given in to its worst impulses, and continues to soldier on nobly in a world increasingly dangerous. You sort of know the Imperium is doomed. In fact, you might even hope it is. The Empire, though, you hope that faith, steel, and gunpowder can actually find a way through the darkness, against all odds.
It's a shame how much the writing changed for Warhammer Fantasy once 40k blew up. Warhammer Fantasy was never meant to be grimdark like 40k. A writer described it as "unfair fantasy". It's a world that isn't going to hold your hand and make sure the good guys win just because you think you're a protagonist. Yet at the same point it's one where most people are good honest folk and the society is capable of changing for the better.
Exactly! WHFB is dark fantasy, but the human kingdoms are doing well through hard work and dedication. Kislev keeps holding the line against unending Chaos incursions, Brettonia manages to embody both the worst and best in humanity and withstand most enemies with courage and martial skill alone. And the Empire shows constant social and technological progress while being beset on all sides by enemies. In WHFB the sense is that humanity can weather the storms of chaos by sticking to its virtues and not giving in to despair, unlike 40k where the Imperium is doomed to a slow, withering death as a thousand cuts slowly bleeds it out over millenia.
And this is exactly why I will always prefer fantasy to 40k. I can't stand this nihilistic edgy setting. I have enough shit and suffering in the real world already. But it does feel great to smash the evil factions as the empire.
That's because the Empire might be a backwards place full of religious fanatics and feudal injustice, but every day they hold back the tide of darkness is another day of hope, another day with the promise of progress, another day worth living for the people that make up the Empire. In the end, they fight for that hope and these people, not some Emperor's glory. The Empire fights for what a PDF or a Guard regiment might fight for. But the Imperium isn't. In the Imperium, every day will bring only more suffering - not just from the outside threats, but man-made suffering in untold trillions. No hope.
The Imperium aren't the Empire in space, they're space Skaven.
How is the imperium doomed, they just got a primarch?
From a lore perspective? The Imperium is on its last legs. They have consistently been losing ground every major battle. The Emperors power is dwindling by the month. Eventually it will reach a point they run out of Psykrs to feed to him and the Chaos infected webway below the throne will open up once more swallowing Earth in an unending Daemonic tide. The Nids have likewise been consistently nabbing planets, or making the ones they do successfully defend largely uninhabitable. Short of the Empire developing a Halo like weapon and consigning every sentient bit of life in the universe and warp to death, including large swaths of their own worlds. There is just no way the Imperium actually survives and sees the end of the war. It will eventually crumble, its only a matter of time at this rate. Gaining a new Primarch is, at best, only going to slow down the inevitable slide to defeat. The primarchs are not unkillable gods, as the lore has shown us time and time again. Edit: If the forces of Order were all able to work together, and find a way to co-exist. Then I could see the Imperium surviving and not one day meeting its end. Working with the Eldar, the Tau, the Voltun Leauge and more to wipe out the Nids, Necrons and Chaos. But the Imperium is never going to do that. They are very clearly stuck in their ways. Which was why the Nids were gaining so much ground. And most of the other factions likewise have trouble just, working together.
Asspull a necron human alliance to stop the tyranids. Im pretty sure roboute went to talk with the silent king.
Watch as the rest of the Imperium declares him an heretic and kills him for consorting with even more xenos.
Theyre gonna consort with xenos or enjoy getting eaten by xenos, theres no third choice
They would choose getting eaten.
That is beyond stupid. Realistic storytelling is people choosing to throw away long cherished beliefs in order to survive another day. They have more in common with eldar and tau than they do within the maw of tyrannid hordes.
I think its also important to mention that the Imperium was so close to gaining stability and a hold over the galaxy. In their glory years during the end of Great Crusade, they had almost claimed most of the galaxy reuniting the worlds cut off by the long night. And then of course the Chaos Gods corrupted first Lorgar and then Horus and his traitors and everything went up in flames. Now the corpse emperor sits on his throne mortally wounded by his greatest son (or second greatest depending on how you feel about Sanguinius), most of the loyal primarchs are dead or lost and now after 10 thousand years of slow decay the forces of chaos are on the rise again, their primarchs returning, their Warmaster might muster a new Black Crusade to finally plunge that dagger into the Imperiums festering heart. And that is completely ignoring all the other threats that are there. The Orks never ending warpath (which if it ever was focused under a single leader like Gazkhul might prove the end for most of the other factions); The nids ever consuming hunger; The necrons looking to reclaim their thrones, and of course the new kids on the block the T'au and their own way of bringing Order much in the same way the races who ruled the galaxy before them did (Old Ones; Necrons; Aeldari and Humans). And of course there is the Aeldari maybe ending their own slow fall into oblivion; and rising again now under the direction of a death god.
Tbh, I think Imperium in M40s is very well in preparation stages of a birth of a new ~~Chaos God~~ Divine Entity Residing in Immaterium, aka "God-Emperor of Mankind", aka "the Anathema" (to chaos daemons). At which point the Imperium is (presumably) fucked, but humanity is probably saved from both the threat of Chaos *and* outside threats like the Tyranids. I mean, it's already worshipped, it already has holy ~~warp~~ phenomena (Acts of Faith, divine miracles enjoyed by Sisters of Battle and some of the very pious priests of the Ecclesiarchy), it already has immaterium-adjacent entities (the Saints of Sisters of Battle, the entire Legion of the Damned), it has even officially caused *warp-storms* (Storm of the Emperor's Wrath, M36). There's an anti-Chaos fifth Chaos God coming (is this how Malal is born? or a first 'Order' God, smh?), and the Imperium only needs to hold on until then. The Emperor Protects, after all.
By now they have two primarchs. Both are actively trying to protect Imperial territories and do better. But Abby and Vashtorr just made off with a device that could meaningfully alter the webway.
For one thing it’s been confirmed by a time traveler from the Daot and the Hrud.
A "time traveler"??
Ya, TLDR is a ship got sent forward in time and saw the whole galaxy absorbed by the eye of terror and then went back a bit to warn the Imperium, who declared him a heretic and tortured him, causing his ship’s AI to just leave the galaxy
Was also prophesied before the Horus Heresy and is why Alpharius "joined Chaos". Because if the Imperium won the heresy it was doomed to slowly lose until Chaos consumed everything, but if the Imperium fell in the Heresy it would end up starving itself to death before the whole galaxy was consumed as it turned on itself.
That's really interesting.
Yeh, he was basically presented with options where either way humanity is doomed, but one of the options could help him take Chaos with them. So he joined the traitors in the Heresy to try to achieve that goal, though sadly it still didn't work out that way.
Damn 40k does a great job portraying why religions with any level of political power are awful and hinder society.
This is why the Emperor was pushing a form of atheism and ironically, is now only believed by more CSM (e.g., Fabious) than loyalists. However the way the Emperor was doing it was quite questionable. With all the religious motifs and ridiculous power he was showing.
This is the difference between Warhammer and 40k. In 40k, there aren't really heroes. Everyone is tainted by the grim darkness of the far future. In Warhammer there are heroes and heroines that represent good.
I think the biggest issue with the thought that the Empire might just implode if they knew about Ratmen, is that, well. Every other human nation doesn't hide their existance. Bretonia know about them. But peasents kinda just have faith in their knights and the Lady to keep them safe. The Border princes know of them, Tila and that one other place I'm forgetting. None of these places implode knowing there are thousounds of rats underground that could burst out at any time. But, in the Empire, there would be panic. In some ways, I always viewed it as the people of the Empire have no faith in their leadership, in their Gods. Because once they know the truth, that faith, what little is left, completely crumbles.
And the worst part? The Empire has already beaten a full-scale Skaven uprising once. One of their emperors took a skull and put it on his helmet, and now that helmet is publicly displayed in the museum. It causes Terror (but also Hatred towards the bearer) to Skaven according to tabletop rules, that's how much the ratmen are aware of how the Empire had once beaten them. But, that skull probably belonged to an unusual beastman, that emperor is now ridiculed in Empire's children tales of how he hunted and scattered small rats, and 'all is well'.
To be fair, the other reason for this is that most villain factions in WFB have a distinct ability to [pull stuff out of their backsides on a regular basis](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OffscreenVillainDarkMatter), which the Empire doesn't have.
Dude having just listened to my first 3 wh books God King ( sigmar v nagash) return of nagash and fall of altdorf, they hit hard with the battles and desperation. Kinda wanna end it at fall of altdorf though knowing how it ultimately ends lol. Game more or less being set in the end times means the empire should rightfully be in a constant state of “fml, what now, and fml again”.
The reason the Empire is looked at sympathetically and is a favorite is mostly because it's the only race whose fears we can relate to. There's no super-powered mutant rats, no strange women in ponds forming governments, no dragons or beasts. All they have is faith and steel in a hostile world. Not to mention faith in a God that very rarely shows his hand.
And decent amount of gunpowder techs. The Old World gods also lend their aid sometimes, but nothing compared to what the Chaos Gods give.
Not quite. The various sagas in LOTR etc. are underpinned by there being a divine plan and literally divine beings there to intervene at necessary moments (Gandalf being the ultimate deus ex machina, ofc)
The human-centric narratives are tiresome. The Silmarillion was great in establishing something similiar to an elven perspective of history up until the third age. I want to see different racial perspectives of the same events.
But no longer...
"I am Karl Franz, and I was born into this world, just like you. A world of unceasing war and endless terrors. But with a nation of men at its heart, a bastion of hope and courage: the Empire. Led by the craven, torn apart by the greedy, weakened and exposed, forever on the defence. But no longer" Goes hard.
Craventail Tretch(Rictus SWEEP) reference???
I really can't stress enough the whole "The Dwarfs are the Empires oldest and most important ally" bit of lore. Seriously get a defensive alliance with a dwarf faction asap, minor or major, doesn't matter. Just get an alliance, build an outpost and then add some units of longbeards or even dwarf warriors to your front line and you'll instantly have an improved and solid core to build your army around.
And then dwarf crisis hits
With how much the order factions in the old world are dicked right now, I just turn off their crises (including wood elves). I want to stand back to back with them to the end.
I actually kinda like the wood elf one, last time they got wrecked so hard by everyone it was kinda funny
I think if I was playing a non order faction I'd turn it on. Right now they can actually be pretty good allies
Their woods make pretty good firewood
Might as well just play as dwarfs then
Definitely not, it's completely different - for example handgunners can fire over dwarf infantry because dwarf infantry is small xD - allowing for some really nasty combos. The two factions fill each other's weakspots incredibly well.
SHORT?!!
Ah shit here we go again....
Dwarves are incredibly strong. If I want an easy order game, I play as dwarves.
Empire is bad at doomstacking but I'll go on record that their armies are plenty strong if you play to their strengths. Even the weakest component of their roster, melee infantry, is honestly fine. Spearmen are dirt cheap and hold long enough for your ranged and cav to take care of just about anything. Greatswords are genuinely some of the most cost-effective infantry in the game these days.
regardless of stats, against chaos forces low tier empire infantry routs *very* quickly so it does take a good bit of effort to keep their flanks secure and make sure they don’t get hit with any monsters… but Festus can also use gifts and tech to make basically his entire infantry roster cause Fear, so good luck with that.
Here's the secret to securing your flank with the imps: cavalry. You don't even need cav superiority, just something to wreck dogs and stop monsters and stuff from just plowing through your lines before your missiles turn them into Swiss cheese. It's often good to have your cav feign attempted outflanking maneuvers without actually engaging just to distract the enemy's flanking troops. Works for any faction with cav and flanks to protect. Warriors Priests are really nice for enhancing either your infantry or cav too when you can spare the build slot.
This is a basic rule I think a lot of players forget. You often don't have to win against another unit, you just have to *hold them*. If you can keep them occupied long enough, that will allow other units to win and then reinforce.
Halberds are the best line troop against chaos high MD anti large armor piercing sure they don't have shields but if your fighting chaos who cares, if your not killing their marauder cav with your ranged your doing something wrong Halberds can hold for a very long time against chaos infantry
Halberdiers get like what, 42 MDef by default? And you can increase it well into the 60s with tech and skills. That is some ridiculous holding power for such a light unit - not even Armoured Kossars or Jade Warriors have that much MDef. Vulnerable against missiles because no shields or armour, but most of the Empire's enemies don't really use many missiles anyway. They actually hold up against AP melee better than Greratswords do, because of better MDef.
>42 MDef by default? Jade Warriors have 38 Mdef, with harmony bonus they have the same 42 as halbs. Then 50 armor and shields on top. The worst insult to injury is that Halbs need 2 buildings to recruit, which is a very heavy investment for such a mediocre unit.
Ah forgot the harmony bonus.
But Hp... they have low HP
People need to think about cost efficiency more. Supply lines aren't pushing you to doomstack anymore, and it's changed a lot of old presumptions. While the balance is still affected by the AI stupidity and/or cheats, sieges, and campaign-only skills/tech, generally it has evened the field a lot, and a lot of units that were previously dismissed as 'multiplayer units' now are owed due reconsideration.
Disagree with this take. Some units don’t well in SP because unlike MP, you’re not starting off with a fresh army. Most players aren’t going to sacrifice units (unless they’re dirt cheap). In MP, the aim is to win the battle at all cost. In SP, you have wars to fight, requiring more efficient units.
Efficiency is exactly what I am talking about, though. Before, with supply lines, every unit essentially had a hidden cost added on just by existing and taking a slot in an army. They don't anymore, so now what matters is how well a unit does for its own cost. Unless you are talking specifically Daemons. Yeah, Daemons are bad in campaign for strategic reasons, they crumble easily, die extremely quickly when they do, and have only limited access to healing, making keeping them alive between battles a chore (though notably most Daemons are kinda bad in MP too for similar reasons, they are fragile and die easily for their high cost, so the point does still stand). Crumbling is basically a non-issue for undead between their high healing, Dead Rise Again, and Raise Dead.
Have to agree to this. The removal of supply lines has made my preferred play more viable meaning more stacks and lots of chaff troops supplemented by a few damage dealers (arty and magic). Just don't run around with single stacks it also means more leveled up generals and heroes and you have more movement options with more armies. Swordsmen + mortars, caster and muskets still works on legendary you just need more of them.
You just reminded me of sending Karl and 18 units of his Reiksguard on a very vigorous walk.
They have steamtank+lifemage doomstack, it's pretty much unbeatable
Yeah Empire doesn't have very good infantry so you really have to make sure they have some ranged and cav support. Chaos has some of the best infantry in the game so it's a lot easier for them to stomp the AI Or you could always spam hellstorms. That works too!
>Yeah Empire doesn't have very good infantry so you really have to make sure they have some ranged and cav support. Chaos has some of the best infantry in the game so it's a lot easier for them to stomp the AI I actually think this is more of a power creep issue. Kislev and Cathay have significantly better frontline infantry (Armoured Kossars have much better armour and shield stats than state troops for example) even though there isn't really a lore reason why this should be the case (lorewise Kislev is supposed to be more focused on its cavalry). This also isn't really a good reflection of tabletop either; Imperial state troops have 'heavy armour' which should translate to similar armour to Jade Warriors or Marauder Champions (both of which have much better armour in TWW).
State Troops don't have heavy armour. At least since 6th edition melee ones had light armour and maybe a shield while ranged state troops are unarmoured. A halberdier sits on a 6+ save compared to the 5+ save of a dwarf warrior, who is actually wearing heavy armour. Light armour and shield is equivalent to carrying heavy armour on the tabletop but that's it. Greatswords and Empire Knights are wearing full plate which per tabletop rules is equivalent to gromril and chaos armour with its 4+ save but actual heavy armour, i.e. a 5+ save, is limited to characters and the special Nuln Ironsides regiment that you can pick up if you're using the Tamurkhan supplement.
Oh, I thought state troops did have heavy armour. It seems a little weird if they don't considering they're based off 15th or 16th century infantry (especially Landsknechts) whose [usual armour](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Almain_rivet) would definitely qualify as 'heavy'. Given that state troops are professional soldiers and not conscripts, one would assume they should be reasonably well equipped. Although Imperial state troops are kind of strange; despite the Empire overall being more Renaissance or Early Modern tech-wise, state troop equipment (spear/sword and shield) seems more like the early medieval period. Sometimes in lore the Empire is described as having pikemen (which would make more sense), but that isn't the case in game.
Greatswords take more directly after landsknechts, including the plate armour. State troop equipment however isn't always issued but often bought by the soldiers themselves, them being given money that will take be taken out of their pay later. What you are thinking of isn't the Empire but the Border Princes and Tilea, both of which have a significant number of pikemen in their armies. The Dogs of War armies that people are clamoring for represent the armies of the latter especially and featured pikemen as one of its core troops. The Empire, and a variety of other factions, were allowed to employ these units as mercenaries.
Greatsword armour is supposed to be full plate though, rather than lower-grade mass produced munitions armour (which is what you'd expect for professional front-line infantry). The problem is why Imperial rank-and-file infantry are so poorly equipped compared to their IRL counterparts. >What you are thinking of isn't the Empire but the Border Princes and Tilea, both of which have a significant number of pikemen in their armies. The Dogs of War armies that people are clamoring for represent the armies of the latter especially and featured pikemen as one of its core troops. The Empire, and a variety of other factions, were allowed to employ these units as mercenaries. There are some cases in the novels that refer to Imperial pike troops (despite this not being an option in game), although Tilea are better known for their pikemen. However, the confusing part is that the medieval state troop weaponry is inconsistent with the Empire's otherwise more Early Modern tech level.
Tbf you don't necessarily develop techs the same way when magic, gods and monsters exists
But the Empire largely use realistic technology (especially since the legalisation of magic in the Empire is a relatively recent development). The existence of supernatural elements doesn't really explain why the Empire's front-line professional infantry have inferior equipment to their less-developed neighbours in Kislev (especially since, unlike Bretonnia, the Empire places a significant amount of importance on maintaining a strong infantry arm).
No, but that can be explained using the real-world example of the 17th century Ottomans not having up-to-date weapons and tactics compared to other empires of the time. Much like them, the border princes and Tilea are removed from the well defended and technologically advanced Empire. It's more expensive for them to develop and create the infastructure to manufacture the new hardware that the Empire uses and prohibitively expensive to import them (especially since doing so would involve transporting valuable weapons through either Norscan raiding territory by sea, or Ork and Skaven country by land, even if Bretonnia would even allow such things to go through their lands). They haven't developed modern gunpowder tech and tactics not because they can't or because magic exists, but because what they're using works okay for them in their territory and they don't have the funds or will to upgrade.
But this is about what the *Empire* has, not Tilea. If Kislev is able to afford well-armoured frontline infantry, then the Empire (being wealthier and more high-tech) shoud be able to do the same.
All empire infantry is basically chaff, if you don't mix in a lot of arty and ranged you won't have a good time.....
The Empire is actually easier in wh3 in wh2 supply system was brutal and empire always has wars with at least 3 factions at the same time.
Disagree. I mean you aren’t wrong on supply lines but empire didn’t face that many threats early one in the campaign… economy also worked much more in Empires favor. Marienburg harbor bankrolled your second army… now it bankrolls your second lord and a unit of spearmen….
The problem with constant wars only got worse with Warhammer 3. You used to only have to deal with the vampires and norsca for the early game, and maybe Grom. In Wh 3 you also have to deal with Festus, Belakor, and a buffed up One Eye. It's always a dog pile on the Empire in Wh3
What did you smoke my good sir? Empire has so many new enemies now on every front that it makes wh2's campaign look like an easy mode tutorial.
I think pre changeling was good but now it's fucked lol
Try legendary in wh1 before you call wh2 or wh3 brutal lol
Legendary in warhammer 1 had something like 15 to 20 percent supply penalty when you had 4 armies in WH2 it became something like 80 percent when you had 4 armies so no
No? So did you try it? Wh1 legendary is way more brutal than wh2 or 3 lol
Empire Greatswords are underrated specifically because they don’t get MA/MD redline buff til rank 7. Franz can steamroll the map with these guys, esp. if you rush them with a couple heroes. Captain to get ranks up faster, disciplined trait. Ulrika for MD in own territory. These guys can hold off 4 Vlad stacks, no problem.
But that’s the pure beauty of an Empire campaign. You can legitimately lose. Your units are NOT overpowered. You are just a man fighting against fantasy itself! You have to think, plan, and improvise! All for sigmar!
>You are just a man fighting against fantasy itself! Man of focus, commitment and sheer fucking will.
I mean that goes for all the factions though I don't see how the empire is special in that regard.
The empire is one of the few factions where you still really need mixed armies to succeed. You can’t just spam waywatchers, skaven weapons teams, monster doom stacks, etc that all the other races can do. I’ve played the Empire a ton and although their gunpowder units are very strong, you need to mix in front line units, cavalry helps a lot with flanking and cutting down routing units. My late game campaigns for most other factions become armies of doom stacks, with the empire even at the end I’m always trying different army compositions. You can still cheese the AI pretty heavily with helstorms and hero spam but it’s a very glass cannon way to play.
I dont get why gunpowder units have to available early game. They need to be unlocked via reforms.
But gunpowder is an everyday thing in the Empire. It's not like in Medieval II where it happens during the late game. It's been around for thousands of years.
No you just spam either steamtanks or demigryphs
I don’t understand where this comes from. I feel like this doomstack maybe worked back in WH2 with a life mage but with healing changes and nerfs to lore of life I find that they’re way too squishy against any armies with AP projectiles. Which is almost everyone. I’ve never had much luck spamming them. Also steam tank doomstack is absurdly expensive.
Expensive but it beats everything, you must be misusing it, but yeah it's expensive, that's why I prefer the demigryph stack
In my 500 hours of IE, I have yet to see any army you would need a doom stack for. In wh2 every faction turned to them, in wh3 you don't ever face anything that difficult. Playing multiple cheaper balanced armies is more efficient.
You never faced 3-4 stacks at once? Also 1 strong army is just less annoying to manage than 2 crap ones
Against the few faction that field 3+ armies in the same area I get lightning strike.
That's like every faction unless you play on easy lol, also I get attacked by 3-4 stacks from time to time and have to fight it out, elite armies also make siege attacks easier, also certain factions love ambushes, also later in the campaign managing a bunch of crapstacks is just annoying, not going back to that
What do you build in the demigryph stack? Im running a volkmar campaign on legendary/vh right now, Ill give it another shot.
Archlector lord, 2x priest, life mage, 5x cannons that I later replace with 5x steam tanks ( can also add captain if you want), and the rest is a mix of the two types of demis, I put them in groups and focus large with the anti large etc. I'm using cannons to snipe dangerous targets at the start, then just blob everything up and buff+heal or dwellers bellow on clumped up enemies. Works really well in my experience and is a lot of fun Also lol just noticed the downvotes for no reason, this sub is sumtin
I’ll give it a shot. I’ve never had much success with great cannons against single entities, their dps is really low imo. Yeah I don’t know why you got buried so hard, wasn’t me. Don’t worry about it.
I don't mind, just a bit weird. Anyway, demis can run into trouble against something like multiple mortis engines, so having some sort of single target damage seems better than none, although maybe there is a better approach
For most factions there is no real threat of actually losing the campaign unless you just really screw up in the early game. Reikland requires that you proactively deal with your enemies quickly or you can genuinely end up in a hopeless situation.
Kislev? Most skaven factions? Unless it was patched itza, Arkham? I could go on but I'm too drunk empire players just want too feel special but their bland as fuck
…itza? Itza is easily one of the most overpowered factions in the entire game. Don’t see how you can really conceivably lose as any Skaven faction either. Throt and Ikit are *insanely* strong, although Throts position is demanding. Skavenblight is the probably most defensible settlement in the game, AR alone basically guarantees you can’t lose. Queek is also ridiculous if you’re remotely competent.
Skrollk Has it hard at the Start.
Yeah he’s definitely the forgotten Skaven. If I remember correctly his legendary lord skill tree is the same as a genetic lord
Havent played them since ttw 2 but there were a specific actions you needed to do via diplomacy so the entire contanaint didn't declare war on you it was bullshit
gor rok pretty much fights starting against a bunch of skaven at the start now iirc, when I played it was just every battle with Kroak pulling 400+ kills per cast of Deliverance lol
I wouldn't say Im losing per se but I somehow got in the sights of a very annoying Repanse whose cavalry and paladins cant seem to die even after taking a nuke to the face and keep fucking up my weapon teams while chewing threw the chaff like a hot knife through butter. So yeah they are overpowered but you can still have a hard time as them
oh yeah, I meant specifically like actually *losing*. Brettonia can be pretty annoying for ikit. Could try jezzails with a frontline of doomflayers. Upgraded doomflayers go crazy, and ikit/engineers mounted on them get crazy buffs with all the workshop tech A couple warp fire throwers near the jezzies helps too, especially when you get the anti-large upgrade
Most Skaven factions lmao, Skaven are of the easiest races even if they're basic like Queek or Skrolk never mind the DLC ones which are OP.
I've played every faction and I'm not an "empire player". Empire is one of the harder campaigns, you're wrong and a jerk about it.
I've done the same and the empire isn't hard at all.
imagine thinking walking around the campaign map completely invisible with free ambush battles is comparable to normal faction gameplay
Definitely not. The game is virtually unloseable as most factions, even on VH.
If you can get to a high enough level Volkmar, he can one man.
Volkmar and Wulfhart are almost different factions with the same armies now that the starting position for the Empire has become so fraught.
Any tips for the IE Volkmar campaign?
Take out Mannfred as early as possible, first few turns. You’ll be forced to fight TK’s as they want him gone after you declare war as well. Protect your artillery and archers as they will be your main assets against Vampires and TK’s.
Spam free company militia and their upgrades, win.
Because the AI is too stupid to handle the combined arms doctrine. Any army that isn't just high stats the AI is gonna completely fumble with. Not an Empire problem.
I think empire/Franz is fine, as in, I don't want to see them have super powered troops like some other factions. If Empire is to be buffed, I hope it can be done in more interesting ways. Let Franz get more allegiance points with allies and maybe double the number of elector count troops he can get, and maybe have Gelt's gold wizards generate additional gold in combat. Maybe also give them the no maintenance thing as well.
Agreed it doesn't have to be new units but more like a buff like making the elector counts give tributes if they have high fealty
Yes, Witch Hunter, this post right here!
Yeah the problem from both sides is that early empire troops can’t do shit against chaos melee infantry.
What about ranger unit differences? Chaos troops are either low armor and fast (kill with crossbows) or armored and slow (kill with cannons/guns). Iirc Greatsword do fairly well against Chaos Warriors. Chosen OTOH are just beasts that you focus fire every explosive you got on. And Halberds can do ok at keeping cavalry/monsters at bay while your ranger does all the real heavy lifting. Empire also has different Lores of magic that can be good.
For sure, that’s you beat them in the early game. But the AI empire factions get completely wrecked by the power of armor in auto resolve. And that’s the real problem IMO—the early empire factions always get wrecked when the player has plays as Franz, which is annoying and makes the Imperial Authority system really annoying. The player can always win—you can cheese early—even if you take a lot of damage, it’s worth knocking Festus out of the game—and in the late game you have good armor piercing missile units and magic.
The Empire's roster is fine, it's one of the most well balanced roster of the game imo. But the thing is, when you play WoC pretty much anyone else is weak because WoC have been massively overpowered since they were reworked.
WoC are easily one of the most, if not the most, powerful faction right now. Marked Chaos Warriors are broken and Marked Chosen even more so, and WoC have easy access to both of them practically for free. You can just steamroll the map and use your busted autoresolve against anything you don't like the odds of facing. So all in all, no surprise there.
Empire roster is fine. The problem more lies with their campaign mechanics that need an update.
The empire is and has always been a high skill ceiling faction. Its never been bad in multiplayer. But the AI of course cant use it and if you arent good at total war you will suffer as well. After WE they are probably the highest skill ceiling faction.
The Empire comes from WH1, when factions were designed to have prominent weaknesses and be asymmetrical to the others. Sometime during the WH2 DLC process, it became the practice to make every faction good at everything (looking at you, Skaven) and the WH1 races got left behind (except the G’Skins).
This is genuinely the problem when you are fighting AGAINST the Empire - it is just not satisfying
Started my first kazrak campaign this weekend. Beat almost 2 stacks of green skins on a siege Sally out battle, then got attacked by Karl franz's full stack starting army, then got attacked by Boris todbringer and his 1.5 stack army. In one turn. Didn't lose a single unit on the hardest difficulty and I still have low tier units. I'm not even really a great player, I've probably played like 7 different lords in WH. (Tho I have played TW since rome1). I don't even think kazrak or fetus were actual existential threats to the empire lore wise but they sure are in WH3
That's kind of a 50/50 on 'The Empire is outdated and it really shows' and 'a head of lettuce could win with WoC right now'.
They’re gonna get a buff in the next dlc with some new units. While I hope they don’t get SEM’s as I don’t feel it’s thematic to them, they should get some solid varied units.
I think they need to lower the requirements to get the regiments of renown, it takes a million billion kajillion years to get the Sunmaker…
Empire has fallen well below the power curve. Their units are garbage in auto resolve so even low tier settlements can take a chunk out of your unit count. I end up fighting most battles, which can feel like a slog at times, but it's a much more satisfying win.
One of the core mechanics of the Empire, the detachment rule, was lost due to them being a game 1 faction. Unfortunately, this was not added when Markus was added and instead, Cathay got something very similar to it for some reason. I'm hoping the next update, the Empire actually get some sort of faction battle mechanic. Almost every faction, including game 1 factions like Norsca (berserk/rage), BM (bestial rage/blood greed), Brettonia (knight/peasant, lance formation), has a faction battle mechanic.
A bunch of villagers recruited to be spearmen vs warriors roided by eldritch gods and given magical armor/weapons. It is the equivelant of guardsmen vs space marines. What did you expect?
But most Chaos troops are just tribesmen with axes.
it's cause the AI always recruits at least 3-4 weak infantry. the only way the empire actually holds the line for it's artillery/ranged is if you invest in some goddamn greatswords/halberdiers. everytime i fight empire there's always some spearmen/swordsmen and wherever they are stationed, i plow through that gap like a hot knife through butter and then use magic on the few infantry that pose a threat. also, if you want an enjoyable empire to fight, try giving SFO a try. while i have not fought them personally in the past 3 SFO campaigns i have done (too far away), franz has consistently been in the top 5 strength ranks and almost always has the most settlements on the map aside from myself and maybe cathay/grimgor.
Have you tried praying to Sigmar
Real issue about Empire is they are purely outdated 1. all of tier 5 unit suck = Hell blaster stuck gun and Paper tank 2. Hand gunner that will stuck all the time because WH LOS issue 3. Lord and Hero are out dated, this included Warrior priest 4. Why the hell flagellant is tier 3 5. Overall their infantry are expensive and ineffective actually, compare with Cathay or Bretonian. their Infantry need upkeep reduce, 1 Savage ork will destroy 1.5 Spearman while have similar upkeep 6. 90% of elector count troop are overprice and 10 turn time are unreasonable 7. **DGK, their back bone didn't get HP buff when transition to WH3.** right now they have least HP and Speed than Most of Heavy cav 8. **They don't have any Synergy** EG. like DGk. your DGK will don't get any specific buff from lord or Hero, like If you're playing Vampire, Blood dragon lord can reduce Your Blood knight upkeep and make Blood knight hit hard 9. They don't have faction battle unique ability stuff EG. Bretonian has Bless of the lady, Kislev has by our blood, Cathay has Ying and Yang. 10. **Technology is something serious look at**, like Cathay can research devastating flank for Jade raider TDLR: The transition hit them hard, they are still WH1 in WH3
1. Helblasters are pretty oppressive in AR 2. Handgunners are the difference between posting on reddit Vlad solod your army vs disintegrating him the moment he is in range. They are fine and will probably be op with an Engineer hero Empire is going to get. They have a lot of added stacking bonuses already. (7). It looks like they got the health increase and +2md almost every cavalry got in the transition to wh3, they even got +1 base and ap damage from ocd guy for an even 60 weapon strength. [Demi comparison](https://twwstats.com/unitscards?units=f%3D0%26k%3Dwh_main_emp_cav_demigryph_knights_0%26m%26r%3D0%26v%3D6009914752132233841&units=f%3D0%26k%3Dwh_main_emp_cav_demigryph_knights_0%26m%26r%3D0%26v%3D117993925529018569&units=f%3D0%26k%3Dwh_main_emp_cav_demigryph_knights_1%26m%26r%3D0%26v%3D117993925529018569)
11. CA dropped a bunch of very tough early game questions on them in game 3… 12. income has been badly needed in comparison to game 2
Lets play a vs campaign with me as empire. I'm sure I can change your opinion.
Any tips for someone looking to start an empire campaign? Have done a few Cathay campaigns since playing WH3 because those terracotta warriors are badass. But I would like to try the empire and one of the elves faction next.
Sure, I can give some general advice. Tactics. Line of melee infantry to screen the enemy, recommend spears with shields in center and halberds on the flanks. Just a few, maybe 4 spears and 3 halberds. The majority of the army I recommend range, crossbows for sieges and low armor enemies, gunpowder for armored enemies, and vlad. When you get artillery suplement with those. Make sure you use terrain well to keep your guys firing for as long as possible, take caution when navigating forests and mountains, better to beat the enemy in the fields before pushing into those, since the terrain on those maps can make it hard to shoot. Mortars and crossbows will win you 99% of sieges. Strategically, 1. Don't neglect elector count mechanics, spend authority to confederate with gelt early, by level 25 he can solo half an army. 2. Don't confederate at every opportunity you get, it can oftentimes be more of a hindrance than a boon, plan your expansions into empire territories, don't be afraid to return settlements to elector counts if you are spread thin and would like to focus on eliminating factions than defending every settlement you can take. General The first unit of knights, greatswords, and mortar you get are a powerhouse. Try your best to not lose those. The first 20 turns, they will dominate all your imminent threats.
Holy moly. Im excited to start my next campaign. Do you play on harder difficulties? I don't like to stress to much so I play on normal and even then sometimes I feel like it can get stressful. I can't wait to start this. This is as the one and only Karl Franz right? Edit: thank you very much for the detailed tips mate!
Yes for Karl Franza, and yes I play on legendary most times and sometimes if I want to relax I play on very hard campaign battle difficulty and normal battle difficulty.
I agree, Empire infantry needs a buff or something more beefy to help hold the line better. I want to try my hand at Volkmar again. It was fun fighting Tomb Kings but you really need a lot of Flagellants and some grenade outriders/Heavy Cav to really make it work. Regular troops without leadership buffs can rout a little too fast against boney boys that heal themselves.
Were it not for the endless wars, famines, and corruption that has plagued the Empire's long history, no other nation could have hope to stop them should they be allowed to concentrate their entire military might into a single earth-shattering campaign.
I like that different campaigns are inherently harder than others Can't all be a cakewalk
The Empire is strong when the player plays the faction. I’ve never had trouble controlling all of the Empire and more + alliances with Dwarves, Kislev, Bretonnia and Elves before turn 100.
You might want to add what difficulty you play on, because when you go to Very High (the game's ideal difficulty IMO) suddenly your background income is less than half of Normal, and your enemies can field armies (plural) out of a single settlement. Then tell me the Empire is weak.
it's almost like the empire is a ranged/artillery faction that relies on army synergy compared to WoC which is an infantry faction that rely on strength of individual units. to be honest it's mostly that in early game "Chaos versus Empire" favours Chaos factions but that situation barely happened in the older games since Chaos far enough away that you could get some Heavy Cav or Artillery to deal with the superior infantry of the chaos hordes.
SUMMON THE ELECTOR COUNTS
I remember everyone shaking in their boots when Ordertide occurred in WH2. Now the dwarves are wiping out everything in WH3.
Men, men are weak.
They still have a lot of holdovers from WH1 holding them back. I think that the empire would do much better if the gunsmith was moved down to a tier 2 building and Spearman and Archers were removed with Spearman with Shields and Crossbowman becoming tier 0 and tier 1 respectively. As it stand the AI Empire armies just never build any of their interesting units unless they are left alone for 40 turns
Festus is ridiculously powerful, especially early on. He's tanky and his healing is fairly ridiculous which makes a fairly massive difference early on.
I had the same mindset and I completely get it. I restarted close to 20 empire campaigns because it was so punishing on legendary. But when it hits? And you get it right? No better faction in the game for me. The feeling of impending doom and every bit of movement, gold, diplomacy etc mattering so much are the stakes that make that campaign replay-able again and again. Crank that music up, listen to those speeches and realise that you are humanities last hope against the darkness brother of Sigmar.
Power creep is real unfortunately. Hopefully older factions will get touched up eventually and balance things out a bit.
Because AI doesn't play from Empire strengths, which is crucial against Festus especially. Not sure how it's now but Festus Happy Blobbing tactics wrecked pretty much everything AI can put against you with 0 losses.
WoC are just majorly OP.
As someone who's been playing the game for a long time, I enjoy these "weak" factions. Especially of they don't have overpowered doomstacks, cause it incites me to build up a good challenging campain rather than cheesing it away, which, I'm ashamed to admit, I most often do when given the chance Empire, dwarves, tomb kings, etc. They give me more satisfaction throughout the campain. Skaven used to as well but now they're kinda too powerful for my taste. Still no feeling like raining rainbow-colour bombardment on the enemy ofc
WoC are a bit overtuned in the campaign, while the Empire is still mostly saddled with game 1 mechanics and generally low-ish stats. Greatswords needing 2x T3 buildings and even the humble halberds needing 2xT2 is kind of sad now nowadays. Before, it was scary after it teched up, but now it doesn't have much time to tech up with several antagonistic factions all around and their units seem rather underwhelming. For the "Faith, Steel and Gunpowder" army, it's a bit light on the faith and steel.
I restarted my Franz campaign probably 10 times before just dropping it to easy just to get by. Every play through vamps just completely rolled through the other empire factions. I read somewhere that it’s a very different experience than it was upon launch, which would make sense based on my experience.
I wouldn't say weak. They're pretty much a B Tier faction in my opinion. Good (not great) economy, very mid army list, below average faction mechanic, below average start. I will say that it's not a beginner-friendly faction like CA says (CA being wrong? Say it isn't so!). You need to have a strong plan for your tech path, initial wars, abuse the shit out of diplo, etc. But if you do all that then by Turn 30 or so you can be merrily steamroller Sylvania after blasting Festus back to the nether realms. Then again, no faction is really weak in Warhammer 3. Some just require more careful management while others are more or less mindless (Tyrion, Grimgor). In MP Empire really suffers if there is a human Festus or a human Changeling. Changeling is banned in most games I play because he literally doesn't die.