

Play to your faction’s strengths, and exploit the opposing faction’s weaknessesĬompared to past Total War games, the playable factions are much more distinct in Total War: Warhammer. If you don’t turn on the debug camera, attempting to zoom out will just push you to the tactical map, which is alright, but I prefer this. Now in battles, you can go extremely high above the map to get a better view of the battlefield. In the file, look for the value labeled default_battle_camera_type and change the value next to it to “2”. Just navigate to C:\Users\\AppData\Roaming\The Creative Assembly\Warhammer\Scripts and open the file labeled “preferences.script”. If so, then you can dive into the game’s script files on your computer and turn on the debug camera, which unlocks the limit to which you can zoom out. If you’re like me, you might have found that the default battle camera in Total War: Warhammer left something to be desired. Whatever you do, don’t have multiple units selected when hitting J. This is useful for having archers turn to face a flanking cavalry charge, for instance. Hitting the J key will have a unit do a 180 degree turn where they stand. You can rotate selected troops around the point they’re standing on by holding L-CTRL and using the arrow keys to slightly reposition them handy for rotating your army to face enemy reinforcements. Now, whenever you move that group of troops, they will remain in that order, no matter where you put them. You would hold L-CTRL, select the first group of spears, then the four infantry units in the middle, then the final group of spears, and hit the G key to create a group. Say you want a front line of six units, with two spearmen units on either side to protect against flanking cavalry. It’s good for making small adjustments on the fly.Īnother helpful hotkey tip is using L-CTRL and the grouping mechanic to determine the order of any given group. For example, after selecting a group of units, you can hold L-ALT, then click and drag the left mouse button to reposition those troops somewhere else on the battlefield without breaking formation. The tip I just gave about troop formation and movement can be made a whole lot easier with a couple of hotkeys that the game doesn’t tell you about. It’s up to you to make maneuvers like this easier… Learn movement hotkeys For example, I usually like to put my archers in front of my melee infantry, at least to start, in order to get a couple of volleys off on the advancing enemy front line before pulling them back. You can adjust this basic setup to fit your playstyle, but this is a good starting template.

Having good long-range artillery will often force the enemy to move first, allowing you to react and shift your army to how they move. Then put your artillery all the way in the back, so it can take pot shots at the enemy army as they advance. In turn, position your anti-large units (spears/halberds) on your flanks to protect against the opposing army’s cavalry. Put your bread and butter infantry (read: swords/shields) on your front line, with your basic ranged troops (archers/hand gunners/riflemen) right behind them to pepper the enemy’s ranged units or rear guard, and cavalry out on your flanks to run out and flank the enemy infantry whenever possible. Second to that is how you set up your army initially during the deployment phase at the start of every battle. If you can’t move your army around the battlefield in an organized and efficient manner to outmaneuver the opposing army, you will lose even the easiest of battles. Troop formation is how you will win (or lose) battles There are some small caveats here and there between different factions, but in general this system is consistent. And artillery can obliterate all three (at range). In this context, that means: infantry slice up spears, spears impale cavalry, and cavalry decimates infantry. However, the real-time battles you fight in Total War: Warhammer, no matter how big or small, can be distilled down to a simple rock-papers-scissors mechanic. I know that I just made a big deal about how complicated Total War’s systems are. I’ll divide them into battle tips for the tactical RTS gameplay and campaign tips for the turn-based strategic gameplay.īattle Tips Understand the rock-papers-scissors system So, I’ve put together a few hints and tips for stuff that I wish I’d known going in. Even so, there are a lot of concepts that the game just leaves you to figure out. Developer Creative Assembly’s latest installment in their grand strategy franchise, Total War: Warhammer does a decent job at lowering the barrier for new players. However, I know the word that I wouldn’t use: accessible. If someone asked me to describe the Total War franchise in one word, I would be at a loss.
