Scout, its not that you run from your enemies faster. Its that you move faster. You arrive faster to cities, you arrive faster to places where they are bandits, you went faster to enemies camps and you coming back also faster to get the payment and/or to sell before night. That's time that you save, and in this game, time is money. Also if the scout, only had 5% movement rate, still gonna be a good perk.
@@diobrando7774 You use ports all game if you are smart. But also, ports don't help you get to places that aren't cities with ports. And not every map has useful port placement.
Something that wasn't mentioned about the Scout: in a full 24 hours day of walking, he shortens the walk by 3,6 hours. And walking is all you do in this game. So the way I look at him is that in roughly 6,7 days he will have saved me 24 hours of walking, therefore not paying the Brothers's wages once a week you would have had to pay without him for that extra day of march.
There are no 2 ways about it. I didn't know it didn't, but then again, I don't watch BB content or rarely check reddit. If it doesn't work, then I never noticed, and from my point of view, the order is correct. I will message devs
I really like how you bring up the roleplay aspects with each too. For me personally, roleplaying out my decisions and thinking what this character would do rather than what is optimal 24/7 is half the fun with games like this. Most BB videos I have found always are very cold and calculating with their decision making for rankings, which there is nothing wrong with pure min/maxing, I just don't get as much enjoyment out of the game doing so, so this was a nice change of pace.
Scout is obviously the best, especially for ironman: The best way to always win a battle is to never take a battle you cannot win, and the way to achieve that is to always be able to outrun an army you cannot beat. I also like the trader a lot if I have a map with good trade routes, for example, a large city near a southern city, where I can just go back and forth between two neighbouring cities. Having 1 more trade good is definitely noticeable if you want to make money by trading, and are not limited by the amount of money you can invest into trade goods. Of course, it depends a lot on your playing style. If you want to play a slow game where you focus a lot on trade and fight less often, then trader is great. If you're very good at tactics and can win almost any battle (or don't care about restarting or loading a save) then you might not care about the scout as much, as you don't care about running away anyway.
Great video, I would have loved to have a quick "early / mid / late game" roster example. I know you hint at it, but that with a few more words on synergies would've made it perfect. Because with my limited playtime of 430hs I rank the scout higher. It is so powerful to traverse the map exploring/hunting/fleeing faster (early on).
IMO you underrate the Recruiter. He is a very valuable boost early game to building your company. You will replace him when you have a decent dozen men. I like the Agent, but she is a pain to get. You need like 2-3 weeks of spamming contracts to suck up on a side. Scout and Blacksmith are my first hires and never get replaced.
I pretty much agree with most of your video, pretty good points overall. Recently I have been hiring minstrel for my campaigns, and perhaps there was luck involved, but i was basically swimming in famed items. Also, one more thing, minstrel also functions like a less reliable agent, there are rumours apart form location rumours that will tell you town statuses like ambushed trade routs, greenskins etc. There are also contract rumours and event that one rumour about which knight you should bet on in an event. Great value overall. Oh, and another thing, minstrel is also good for grinding renown, more renown more cash, not much but a bit, but most importantly makes the grind for the achievement easier. Very good retinue member in my oppinion.
I agree with a lot of your ranking. The Quartermaster doesn't seem to give enough benefit for the slot, and I find the Brigand isn't all that necessary or helpful, unless you only want to attack caravans, which will get dull after a while. The Trader is definitely useful, but it depends a bit on origin and playstyle. There's no point in him with Beastslayers, and he's most useful with Trading Caravan, or someone who tends to spend a lot of time around cities and doing contracts. Personally, I value the Scout much higher, basically a required pickup at some point. You just spend so much time moving around the map, so doing that 15% faster is very useful. The Scout will allow you to scale faster by getting more things done in less time. The Minstrel is quite a bit better than he appears at first. Tavern rumours can be extremely valuable, and higher renown will allow you to get higher-paying contracts. The Negotiator I find is a good stepping stone to the Agent, as increasing relations with factions and towns will get you her faster, and he'll also earn you a good chunk of extra on contracts along the way. He's definitely more useful for a contract-focused playstyle though. I haven't really messed around with the Alchemist, perhaps because I tend to favour fighting humanoids over beasts. He seems like he'd could be alright, but mostly for Beastslayers. The Recruiter is useful, especially if you're looking for specific recruits, like high-end ones, or cultists or something. I tend to not be as picky for a large part of the game, so I don't value him as highly as many probably do. Paymaster is alright, but it almost feels he doesn't bring enough to the table for the valuable slot he takes up, so I struggle to justify taking him too often. Scavenger is incredibly useful, both for value and quality of life. It's nice to not run out of tools nearly as quickly. I haven't used the Cartographer too much. Sounds a bit like the Trader, just a moneymaker, would like him bringing a bit more for his slot. Lookout is extremely useful, sight range is very important for finding enemies and locations, and reading the footprints is nice too. I find it difficult to pass her up. I don't value the drill sergeant nearly as highly. I guess I view my men as fairly replaceable, and the experience boost, while nice, isn't a requirement for me, especially with how it drops off heavily when they the experience requirements become larger. The Surgeon is helpful, but most useful for the origins with limited party size, as is the Cook. I don't mind having a decent number of backup brothers to sub in. The Agent to me brings so much quality of life, probably my number one overall. I'm not sure how you could not take her if given the option. Bounty Hunter is also super useful, though he does technically make the game a bit more difficult, probably my number 2 overall. I also find the Blacksmith is necessary once you start getting named items, but other than the insurance policy for equipment, I'm not sure I'd bother taking him too often. Great video!
Agree on all points here. What's not mentioned in video are when and where a particular retinue has the most value. Cartographer and lookout combo is based when fog busting with lots of cash rolling in. Effectiveness drops off once the map is mostly cleared. The lookout and scout works well with beast slayers. Sight range and speed in spotting monsters means more kills and drops. Haven't taken to the minstrel yet. By the time i get him I'm usually close to having the agent.
Agent is my girl friday. Getting her by day 100 is possible. She is my personal no 1. Because she is more reliable in generating shinies than the BH retinue. I use BH I get swarmed by goblin chumps. Most of their gear is functionality useless
No hate, and everyone is entitled to their own opinion, specially if it's argued and supported, but those players new to the game coming for advice should know that this tier, albeit recent, doesn't even acknoweledge that the general consensus is that the Cook and Blacksmith (top 3 for the streamer) are bugged and don't even do what the description makes. So take that into account when considering this tier credibilty. I was surprised because I had heard good things about Puggo and he's hosted great players in a ¿podcast? but this tier is far far away from the best players and my own experience suggestis, honestly.
I honestly didn't know about the issue. I stay away from Reddit page and other RUclipsrs. To be fair, I have beaten the game more times than I can count and have taken the route that makes the game effective and fun. To each their own
Lolwat. Free cash for moving around. Low on cash? Just sightsee for a bit and get paid. Invaluable early on, if you find a legendary and save up a bit. And still valuable low to low-mid midgame. First or second dude I get, after scout.
A cartographer basic bounty is equal to 3 nets. 3 nets is equal to 3 daggered enemies. Or 3 orc warriors getting a giant axe to face. 3 full suits of armour at 100% durability that's a tier upgrade or enough cash for an early billhook. Ensuing power snowball from free money early game cannot be understated. It's the sort of acceleration that takes a band from beating bandits to clearing orcs camps before day 20. Edit. At game start cartographer is prime. He's the easiest to get with ice cave and sunken library spawning in near similar locations. Bonus received is immense and immediate. More if full map fog is enabled. That trickle of free cash allows for equalizer purchases. That's a net, bombs, first javalin or bait. Without using some sort of cheese trick this follower is the most broken. Followed by agent then bounty hunter. Travel the realm and get money. Everyone else requires risk and at times brutal effort. Eg. A nomad executioner bounty spawn. In a 1 skull contract. Not very likely but a 4% universal spawn chance is not inconceivable after thousands of rolls.
It's crazy to me this guy is talking about how long until profitability yet shits on the paymaster. Most of the time you will have at least a few expensive backgrounds and I know in many of my runs my daily wage an easily break 600 gilder once I get a few months in. Taking a straight 15% off of that daily cost is significant.
Bruh. By the time you get to such bills, that 15% is peanut crumbs, especially considering his hire cost. You, to paraphrase you, shit on cartographer and praise qm? Cannot into economics much?
Scout is the best retinue and its not close. Getting to places in less amount of days is insanely strong.
Scout, its not that you run from your enemies faster. Its that you move faster. You arrive faster to cities, you arrive faster to places where they are bandits, you went faster to enemies camps and you coming back also faster to get the payment and/or to sell before night. That's time that you save, and in this game, time is money. Also if the scout, only had 5% movement rate, still gonna be a good perk.
Scout also because im console and got no mods lol
In lategame you use ports though
@@diobrando7774 You use ports all game if you are smart.
But also, ports don't help you get to places that aren't cities with ports. And not every map has useful port placement.
Something that wasn't mentioned about the Scout:
in a full 24 hours day of walking, he shortens the walk by 3,6 hours. And walking is all you do in this game.
So the way I look at him is that in roughly 6,7 days he will have saved me 24 hours of walking, therefore not paying the Brothers's wages once a week you would have had to pay without him for that extra day of march.
And then you learn that cook does not heal and blacksmith helps only when camped. Changed my whole retinue.
There are no 2 ways about it. I didn't know it didn't, but then again, I don't watch BB content or rarely check reddit. If it doesn't work, then I never noticed, and from my point of view, the order is correct. I will message devs
Making videos again, right on!
I really like how you bring up the roleplay aspects with each too. For me personally, roleplaying out my decisions and thinking what this character would do rather than what is optimal 24/7 is half the fun with games like this. Most BB videos I have found always are very cold and calculating with their decision making for rankings, which there is nothing wrong with pure min/maxing, I just don't get as much enjoyment out of the game doing so, so this was a nice change of pace.
100% agree
Scout is obviously the best, especially for ironman: The best way to always win a battle is to never take a battle you cannot win, and the way to achieve that is to always be able to outrun an army you cannot beat. I also like the trader a lot if I have a map with good trade routes, for example, a large city near a southern city, where I can just go back and forth between two neighbouring cities. Having 1 more trade good is definitely noticeable if you want to make money by trading, and are not limited by the amount of money you can invest into trade goods.
Of course, it depends a lot on your playing style. If you want to play a slow game where you focus a lot on trade and fight less often, then trader is great. If you're very good at tactics and can win almost any battle (or don't care about restarting or loading a save) then you might not care about the scout as much, as you don't care about running away anyway.
It never occurred to me that the scavenger would be underrated. He's my first pick every playthrough
Good list! I really like the idea of famed caravans, I think that would be really fun to come across.
Great video, I would have loved to have a quick "early / mid / late game" roster example.
I know you hint at it, but that with a few more words on synergies would've made it perfect.
Because with my limited playtime of 430hs I rank the scout higher. It is so powerful to traverse the map exploring/hunting/fleeing faster (early on).
I will keep this in mind. Thank you!
IMO you underrate the Recruiter. He is a very valuable boost early game to building your company. You will replace him when you have a decent dozen men. I like the Agent, but she is a pain to get. You need like 2-3 weeks of spamming contracts to suck up on a side. Scout and Blacksmith are my first hires and never get replaced.
I pretty much agree with most of your video, pretty good points overall. Recently I have been hiring minstrel for my campaigns, and perhaps there was luck involved, but i was basically swimming in famed items. Also, one more thing, minstrel also functions like a less reliable agent, there are rumours apart form location rumours that will tell you town statuses like ambushed trade routs, greenskins etc. There are also contract rumours and event that one rumour about which knight you should bet on in an event. Great value overall. Oh, and another thing, minstrel is also good for grinding renown, more renown more cash, not much but a bit, but most importantly makes the grind for the achievement easier. Very good retinue member in my oppinion.
Thanks, this is helpful
I agree with a lot of your ranking. The Quartermaster doesn't seem to give enough benefit for the slot, and I find the Brigand isn't all that necessary or helpful, unless you only want to attack caravans, which will get dull after a while. The Trader is definitely useful, but it depends a bit on origin and playstyle. There's no point in him with Beastslayers, and he's most useful with Trading Caravan, or someone who tends to spend a lot of time around cities and doing contracts. Personally, I value the Scout much higher, basically a required pickup at some point. You just spend so much time moving around the map, so doing that 15% faster is very useful.
The Scout will allow you to scale faster by getting more things done in less time. The Minstrel is quite a bit better than he appears at first. Tavern rumours can be extremely valuable, and higher renown will allow you to get higher-paying contracts. The Negotiator I find is a good stepping stone to the Agent, as increasing relations with factions and towns will get you her faster, and he'll also earn you a good chunk of extra on contracts along the way. He's definitely more useful for a contract-focused playstyle though. I haven't really messed around with the Alchemist, perhaps because I tend to favour fighting humanoids over beasts. He seems like he'd could be alright, but mostly for Beastslayers. The Recruiter is useful, especially if you're looking for specific recruits, like high-end ones, or cultists or something. I tend to not be as picky for a large part of the game, so I don't value him as highly as many probably do.
Paymaster is alright, but it almost feels he doesn't bring enough to the table for the valuable slot he takes up, so I struggle to justify taking him too often. Scavenger is incredibly useful, both for value and quality of life. It's nice to not run out of tools nearly as quickly. I haven't used the Cartographer too much. Sounds a bit like the Trader, just a moneymaker, would like him bringing a bit more for his slot. Lookout is extremely useful, sight range is very important for finding enemies and locations, and reading the footprints is nice too. I find it difficult to pass her up. I don't value the drill sergeant nearly as highly. I guess I view my men as fairly replaceable, and the experience boost, while nice, isn't a requirement for me, especially with how it drops off heavily when they the experience requirements become larger.
The Surgeon is helpful, but most useful for the origins with limited party size, as is the Cook. I don't mind having a decent number of backup brothers to sub in. The Agent to me brings so much quality of life, probably my number one overall. I'm not sure how you could not take her if given the option. Bounty Hunter is also super useful, though he does technically make the game a bit more difficult, probably my number 2 overall. I also find the Blacksmith is necessary once you start getting named items, but other than the insurance policy for equipment, I'm not sure I'd bother taking him too often.
Great video!
Agree on all points here. What's not mentioned in video are when and where a particular retinue has the most value. Cartographer and lookout combo is based when fog busting with lots of cash rolling in. Effectiveness drops off once the map is mostly cleared. The lookout and scout works well with beast slayers. Sight range and speed in spotting monsters means more kills and drops. Haven't taken to the minstrel yet. By the time i get him I'm usually close to having the agent.
Can we confirm the healing rate for the cook works? Sins recently claimed it was bugged and not functioning
I honestly didn't know about this issue. I stand firm if everything is unchanged. I would need a word from a dev to be sure
Paymaster takes care of sellswords, that's his role!
It’s a feel bad event, doesn’t really matter actually.
Agent is my girl friday. Getting her by day 100 is possible. She is my personal no 1. Because she is more reliable in generating shinies than the BH retinue. I use BH I get swarmed by goblin chumps. Most of their gear is functionality useless
Thank you! Idk why ppl are so indifferent
I see a lot of goblin champs as well, but if you find a famed goblin weapon with extra damage and extra armor pen, it will be very useful.
snake oil only ever sells for 650, it's fixed.
You idea of legendary caravans is really cool actually.
No hate, and everyone is entitled to their own opinion, specially if it's argued and supported, but those players new to the game coming for advice should know that this tier, albeit recent, doesn't even acknoweledge that the general consensus is that the Cook and Blacksmith (top 3 for the streamer) are bugged and don't even do what the description makes. So take that into account when considering this tier credibilty.
I was surprised because I had heard good things about Puggo and he's hosted great players in a ¿podcast? but this tier is far far away from the best players and my own experience suggestis, honestly.
I honestly didn't know about the issue. I stay away from Reddit page and other RUclipsrs. To be fair, I have beaten the game more times than I can count and have taken the route that makes the game effective and fun. To each their own
Comeback season
Blacksmith is one of the most useless I feel like, only good thing he does is save famed shields, the least useful famed item type.
Imagine acting like the blacksmith is useless, lmao We found the save scum guy 🎉 so hard
@@stanleyhemington6975 Who hurt you Stanley?
Imagine going through all that pain to build the Kraken Shield and then lose it Vs Chosen or Orcs. Not me.
The cartographer is straight trash. Only take in the very early game if you take him at all.
To each their own, but I would be as bold to make definitive statements
Lolwat. Free cash for moving around. Low on cash? Just sightsee for a bit and get paid. Invaluable early on, if you find a legendary and save up a bit. And still valuable low to low-mid midgame. First or second dude I get, after scout.
A cartographer basic bounty is equal to 3 nets. 3 nets is equal to 3 daggered enemies. Or 3 orc warriors getting a giant axe to face. 3 full suits of armour at 100% durability that's a tier upgrade or enough cash for an early billhook. Ensuing power snowball from free money early game cannot be understated. It's the sort of acceleration that takes a band from beating bandits to clearing orcs camps before day 20.
Edit. At game start cartographer is prime. He's the easiest to get with ice cave and sunken library spawning in near similar locations. Bonus received is immense and immediate. More if full map fog is enabled. That trickle of free cash allows for equalizer purchases. That's a net, bombs, first javalin or bait. Without using some sort of cheese trick this follower is the most broken. Followed by agent then bounty hunter. Travel the realm and get money. Everyone else requires risk and at times brutal effort. Eg. A nomad executioner bounty spawn. In a 1 skull contract. Not very likely but a 4% universal spawn chance is not inconceivable after thousands of rolls.
It's crazy to me this guy is talking about how long until profitability yet shits on the paymaster. Most of the time you will have at least a few expensive backgrounds and I know in many of my runs my daily wage an easily break 600 gilder once I get a few months in. Taking a straight 15% off of that daily cost is significant.
Not my favorite 🤷 never said it was bad
Bruh. By the time you get to such bills, that 15% is peanut crumbs, especially considering his hire cost. You, to paraphrase you, shit on cartographer and praise qm? Cannot into economics much?
@@PuggoRebornChannel It's fine, I'm not trying to give you grief, just engaging in the topic of discussion.