I'm a beginning player, currently stuck on Gonens Bridge. I enjoy watching the many amazing soulblighter videos on youtube made by players capable of making legendary and heroic difficulty look like a casual walk in the park with a few buddies..
Not so casual when I play. I use presets, but I'm still busier than a one legged man in an ass kicking contest. I furiously select units, click where I want then to so, about 50-100 yards at a time, move the camera all over the place, select formation click and set directions, etc. etc. In the meantime a slow moving bunch of Thralls has massacred a unit I haven't gotten to yet, facing the wrong way while being totally oblivious to their surroundings. Oh, and a couple of the archers have shot the others because the enemy moved perpendicular to their line. Sigh.
The thing is, when I watch those youtube videos, you never, ever see the player do this. The players are never seen selecting spots for the units to go, they just do it.
It's as if the units are self-aware and only need a little direction - Archers ! take care of those soullesss on the right. Everyone, form up and advance around the bend. Dwarf, lay down a line of satchels and wait for those thralls to mass up and waste them.
That's the feeling I get when I watch those videos, and I can't figure out how they make the game work without all the tedious micromanagement, or at least how they micromanage "effectively"
As I mentioned, I use presets, but how is it done without all the manual directions and placements of units ? I know that such players would have a staple of very experienced units, which I assume add "smarts" and combat efficiency, but mine are not novices either.
So, I guess I'm asking for Soulblighter 201 and 301 kind of postings if anyone is kind enough to share.
Thanks
Kent
I
Soulblighter 201 class ?
Re: Soulblighter 201 class ?
You might also try playing COOP online, I know there'd be a lot of people willing to help you learn via COOP.
Mod edit: fixed unclosed quote tag.
Mod edit: fixed unclosed quote tag.
PSN: Jon_God
XBL: J0N GOD
Re: Soulblighter 201 class ?
Sometimes it helps to play a map in a lower difficulty. One of the reasons other players can play it in legendary, is because they have played the map enough times that they understand where the enemies will come from and when they will. The films probably show the best or good enough outcomes for the player that recorded them. So if they failed, they might not have recorded to begin with.
If you can't handle fighting two battles at once, then try not to do that. Fight from a distance and retreat when needed. When fighting against ranged enemies like Soulless, then try to fight them from the high ground and dodge their attacks when possible. Some players that play in single player take advantage of Saved Games and slowing down the game speed.
Jon, I don't think you need to keep quoting really long posts. Does not seem useful.
If you can't handle fighting two battles at once, then try not to do that. Fight from a distance and retreat when needed. When fighting against ranged enemies like Soulless, then try to fight them from the high ground and dodge their attacks when possible. Some players that play in single player take advantage of Saved Games and slowing down the game speed.
Jon, I don't think you need to keep quoting really long posts. Does not seem useful.
Re: Soulblighter 201 class ?
F1 is your friend.
Re: Soulblighter 201 class ?
Yes, of course these movies are from that one perfect game, the one where everything goes your way, the one you can play once you thoroughly learn the pattern of the enemy attacks through many replaysPyro wrote:Sometimes it helps to play a map in a lower difficulty. One of the reasons other players can play it in legendary, is because they have played the map enough times that they understand where the enemies will come from and when they will. The films probably show the best or good enough outcomes for the player that recorded them. So if they failed, they might not have recorded to begin with.
I know that.What I'm looking for is more the "mechanics" of making the units move efficiently. I try to use the limited set of keyboard directives, like fight and hold, but I simply can't work out how the experts do it, is. make units form up on a battle line, archers in the middle , dwarves to the side, warriors for backup, without endless and time consuming selecting and clicking. They simply don't do this in the movies, and I know there is a way, most likely thorough the keyboard but it's escaping me....
Re: Soulblighter 201 class ?
You mean use formations? Have you played the tutorial yet?
Re: Soulblighter 201 class ?
Yes, of course. I can use formations. The question is how to do it _efficiently_ and fast.
Re: Soulblighter 201 class ?
Well, if you use presets to separate the units it might help. You could select all your bowmen and then make preset 1 with them. Anytime you need to give an order to the bowmen you switch to that preset instead of double clicking on them or shift clicking to add them to your selection.
Formation 2 works well with bowmen since its a longer line than formation 1. You can use the left and right arrow keys to rotate the units. So they all face the direction you want them. You can also gesture click which is a hold click and short drag in the direction you want the units to face. You will know it works when you see arrows coming out of the location the unit is suppose to move to (the yellow circles on the ground).
As for the dwarf, when targetting a group of enemies it helps to target behind the first enemy. Since bottles are area of effect attacks, why target the closest thrall when you can toss it in the center and cause damage to other thrall. This is useful for clumped up enemies.
Do you know how to dodge attacks from Soulless? When they toss their javlin, move your unit that they targetted. You can keep moving one direction and after they toss, you move the other in a zig zag type of movement. This can help you live longer to kill them faster. It also helps to make your bowmen all target the same soulless at once so you kill them off sooner one by one.
As for your melee like your warriors. Keep the really damaged ones back and have the healthier ones forward. Target small groups of enemies you can overcome, don't take on too many or you will take casualties.
Also, since you are playng Gonen's Bridge... you do know you don't have to attack the waves coming after you right? They are meant to keep you moving.
Formation 2 works well with bowmen since its a longer line than formation 1. You can use the left and right arrow keys to rotate the units. So they all face the direction you want them. You can also gesture click which is a hold click and short drag in the direction you want the units to face. You will know it works when you see arrows coming out of the location the unit is suppose to move to (the yellow circles on the ground).
As for the dwarf, when targetting a group of enemies it helps to target behind the first enemy. Since bottles are area of effect attacks, why target the closest thrall when you can toss it in the center and cause damage to other thrall. This is useful for clumped up enemies.
Do you know how to dodge attacks from Soulless? When they toss their javlin, move your unit that they targetted. You can keep moving one direction and after they toss, you move the other in a zig zag type of movement. This can help you live longer to kill them faster. It also helps to make your bowmen all target the same soulless at once so you kill them off sooner one by one.
As for your melee like your warriors. Keep the really damaged ones back and have the healthier ones forward. Target small groups of enemies you can overcome, don't take on too many or you will take casualties.
Also, since you are playng Gonen's Bridge... you do know you don't have to attack the waves coming after you right? They are meant to keep you moving.
Re: Soulblighter 201 class ?
Thanks for the reply. I appreciate the effort but I know all this, and as I said initially I use presets.... This is all gameplay tips.
As mentioned before I'm looking for the "mechanics" of efficiently moving units around that does not involve using the mouse to precisely select where they should go and where they should face. The players in the movies, simply _does_ _not_ appear to click on a spot to indicate where the unit should go - you never see the circles that would appear if you do this. Their units move in unison, and you rarely see any selection rectangles to indicate an unit is targeted. for directions.
When you play, do you use the mouse almost exclusively, except for preset selection via the keyboard, or do you play predominately using the keyboard, hardly using the mouse ?
You mention the zig-zag movement. To do that, do you start the unit in one direction and use the arrow keys, or do you use the mouse to click where to zig and where to zag ? This is what I mean with mechanics.
As mentioned before I'm looking for the "mechanics" of efficiently moving units around that does not involve using the mouse to precisely select where they should go and where they should face. The players in the movies, simply _does_ _not_ appear to click on a spot to indicate where the unit should go - you never see the circles that would appear if you do this. Their units move in unison, and you rarely see any selection rectangles to indicate an unit is targeted. for directions.
When you play, do you use the mouse almost exclusively, except for preset selection via the keyboard, or do you play predominately using the keyboard, hardly using the mouse ?
You mention the zig-zag movement. To do that, do you start the unit in one direction and use the arrow keys, or do you use the mouse to click where to zig and where to zag ? This is what I mean with mechanics.
Re: Soulblighter 201 class ?
When you are watch films of multiplayer games you don't see unit selection boxes or ground-click-actions.
Re: Soulblighter 201 class ?
Good players are clicking all the time and adjusting where units go.
Re: Soulblighter 201 class ?
Yeah, the films just don't show the actions, I assure you the players actually were clicking furiously. The "perfect" films were likely done at 1/2 or even 1/4 speed, and making use of the save/load function so that each battle can be redone as many times as needed.
That said, beating the game on legendary without cheating, and with minimal casualties is quite doable with practice.
One important thing which I don't think has been mentioned is the use of custom formations. Most advanced players will use the the editor tool "Fear" to tighten up their box formation for more effective melee, and loosen up their line long line formation for more effective archers.
Some other random tips:
-Height advantage makes a huge difference for your ranged units.
-As an AOE attack, dwarf bottles should always be targeted to hit as many units as possible to maximize damage dealt. Explosions that hit the ground tend to be more effective than the ones that detonate 'on' the enemy in the air. If you have multiple dwarves, consider how each bottle's damage will be distributed.
-Exploit the AI. If you want the enemy to be clumped up so your dwarf bottles do more damage, position your units so the enemies have to approach you on a trajectory that causes them to clump. Maneuvering them into bottlenecks or around sharp corners or obstacles can be very effective.
-Manual targeting [Ctrl click] can sometimes be more effective for aiming dwarf bottles in some situations. You need to have a very good feel for the physics for this though.
-"Veteran" units with 5 kills are much more effective than green units. More than 5 makes no difference, so try to spread the kills out to get as many veterans as possible.
-If you have 2-3 melee units on a single enemy melee unit, you can often "flinch lock" the enemy and destroy it without taking damage.
-When moving forward dodging arrows, there is an optimal zig-zag angle to use, which I believe is around 90 degrees. This lets you zigzag without stopping to turn.
That said, beating the game on legendary without cheating, and with minimal casualties is quite doable with practice.
One important thing which I don't think has been mentioned is the use of custom formations. Most advanced players will use the the editor tool "Fear" to tighten up their box formation for more effective melee, and loosen up their line long line formation for more effective archers.
Some other random tips:
-Height advantage makes a huge difference for your ranged units.
-As an AOE attack, dwarf bottles should always be targeted to hit as many units as possible to maximize damage dealt. Explosions that hit the ground tend to be more effective than the ones that detonate 'on' the enemy in the air. If you have multiple dwarves, consider how each bottle's damage will be distributed.
-Exploit the AI. If you want the enemy to be clumped up so your dwarf bottles do more damage, position your units so the enemies have to approach you on a trajectory that causes them to clump. Maneuvering them into bottlenecks or around sharp corners or obstacles can be very effective.
-Manual targeting [Ctrl click] can sometimes be more effective for aiming dwarf bottles in some situations. You need to have a very good feel for the physics for this though.
-"Veteran" units with 5 kills are much more effective than green units. More than 5 makes no difference, so try to spread the kills out to get as many veterans as possible.
-If you have 2-3 melee units on a single enemy melee unit, you can often "flinch lock" the enemy and destroy it without taking damage.
-When moving forward dodging arrows, there is an optimal zig-zag angle to use, which I believe is around 90 degrees. This lets you zigzag without stopping to turn.
Re: Soulblighter 201 class ?
You need a mouse to move and select units. No way around it. I use the keyboard for the camera, formations, presets, chat, etc. There is no AI for your units. As VR stated, films won't show you what the player clicked.
You can use waypoints. Say you can't have your units move from their current spot to their destination without getting stuck or something. You select the units, hold shift and click on the points they will go to. You can make up to 4 waypoints for the units. Make 3 waypoints then let go of shift and select the 4th spot which will be their destination. The units will follow those points until the end. If you made a 4th waypoint and clicked anywhere you will see that waypoint selected. This will make the units go through them (1, 2, 3, 4) and then back to the start (4, 3, 2, 1). If you select the first waypoint after making the others than the units will loop (1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4, etc).
As for the zig zag. You make a unit go one direction... a straight path. Then you click to a side so the unit has to turn that direction. If you keep doing this back and forth, you see the unit walking a zig zag path towards the enemy or to safety.
You can use waypoints. Say you can't have your units move from their current spot to their destination without getting stuck or something. You select the units, hold shift and click on the points they will go to. You can make up to 4 waypoints for the units. Make 3 waypoints then let go of shift and select the 4th spot which will be their destination. The units will follow those points until the end. If you made a 4th waypoint and clicked anywhere you will see that waypoint selected. This will make the units go through them (1, 2, 3, 4) and then back to the start (4, 3, 2, 1). If you select the first waypoint after making the others than the units will loop (1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4, etc).
As for the zig zag. You make a unit go one direction... a straight path. Then you click to a side so the unit has to turn that direction. If you keep doing this back and forth, you see the unit walking a zig zag path towards the enemy or to safety.
Re: Soulblighter 201 class ?
Thanks for the replies. I guess I was expecting the game to work in a different way and kept trying to use my forehead to hammer in the nail.
A simple thing like a keyboard command to start the selected unit walking forward until stopped without having to click on a destination would make a world of difference though.
It would also be awfully nice to be able to make units switch formations without having to click somewhere. Oh well. Why pine for what you can't have. I now know that my assumptions about the methods used by experienced players are incorrect.
A simple thing like a keyboard command to start the selected unit walking forward until stopped without having to click on a destination would make a world of difference though.
It would also be awfully nice to be able to make units switch formations without having to click somewhere. Oh well. Why pine for what you can't have. I now know that my assumptions about the methods used by experienced players are incorrect.
Re: Soulblighter 201 class ?
My favorite dwarf trick that I learned from watching old films is to cross bottles as a last resort. If you have two ghols rushing two dwarves and the ghols might get just inside the minimum range of your next throw (i.e. your dwarf will turn and run instead of throwing), target the left ghol with the right dwarf and vice versa. You're more likely to take out both ghols that way, and your dwarves might get hurt but you're likely to save one or both.