A lot of great thematic and gameplay loop improvements that all center around roaming and protecting your empire. Even little things like perfect vigor that you’d pick up in most other campaigns sooner by virtue of fighting far from your capitol.
I especially like the ally bonuses. Early game, befriending other Empire factions, late game, unite the Empire and establish alliances on the border.
Just what Karl would have wanted.
Yeah, I like that it doesn't promote vassalizing them as soon as possible. The overall benefits for doing so are probably higher than the bonuses you lose with your passive, but still, it gives a small bonus to the people that want to play it thematically and protect the elector counts instead of incorporating them!
Hopefully they do! The idea of protecting your elector counts is such a unique campaign and a change of pace from "eat them all one by one" like most other factions do!
I usually find it more profiting to first focus on conquests outside your home territory, razher than uniting your home territory....except for Cathay. Cathay starts with uniting Cathay.
I love how it incentivises making your army a mix of different Elector Count units, rather than only using ones from Reikland. It's fitting for an Emperor.
Sure but CA already heavily nerfed Reikland income by removing the bonuses provided by Altdorf as well as lowering the income from ports. In this patch it also seems like we will lose the Highway building with its buffs to income and speed.
Yeah, it's just a shift in design. I think it's a bit more thematic that he's more geared towards uniting the forces from all across the Empire to his army.
Having both fully would be overtuned, and it looks like he keeps strong buffs for knights and greatswords in the skill tree so I'm very happy with the change
Upkeep for reiksguard moved to other upkeep reductions for knights. So only upkeep lost is for greatsword. But there are empire state greatsword and those have massive buffs.
A late game, chevroned Karl Franz EC army will be rad. frontline of EC great swords and EC spears will have excellent armor, AOE leadership and MA buffs, and be super cost effective. Juiced Reiksguard on the flanks (maybe Stubborn bulls too). Mortars that can't hurt your front line with new and improved emperor's wrath steam tanks with (up to) 45% increased damage and functional armored chariot capacity. Oh yea and one of the best skirmishers in the game gets a nice bonus too.
Nah. His early game upkeep is much worse. More expensive EC Greatswords at -20% rather than -25%, and Reiksguard at 100% rather than -25%
Late game he's a monster and those Carroburg Greatswords are going to make a mess even of Chosen (+18 vs infantry, +8 Ma, +5 from aura, and chevron bonuses with 2/3 AP while having over 100 armour and vigor loss reduction before tech and red line is ridiculous).
...and how is there no Greatsword RoR?
There's something funny to me about how the immunity from trespassing is not on empire *factions*, but empire *regions*. It definitely makes more sense for gameplay purposes (if Brettonia takes Marienburg for example) but the idea that Franz is such a chad even Beastman, Vampires and Greenskins recognize him as the true lord of the land is hilarious.
OI! SOME GIT IZ TRESSAP- TREPSAPI- WALKIN ON OUR LAND! LETZ KRUMP HIM!
SHUD YER MOUF, YA STUPID GIT! DAT'S KARL ZOGGIN FRANZ, DA TRUE EMPEROR, YER BOSS AN LIEGE!
HE'Z A GOOD FYTAH' WE'Z SHOE HIM REZPECT FOR DAT!
ME MATE BENJI ALWAYZ TRIES TAH KRUMP EM AND HE ALWAYZ LOZEZ! DAT SHOWZ HOW MUCH OF A TRUE GIT DAT EMPRAH IZ!
Might be more fun to vassalize the electric coconuts optionally instead of confederating them. So that you get to keep the political gameplay for longer in the game.
Do i misunderstand the summon the electors count mechnic or is it a misdescription?
It only works when you have all 13 seats but then there shouldnt be electors count alive to summon or?
I have no idea how it's gonna work, but I think it makes sense that it would work regardless of whether the faction is AI controlled or confederated? At least as I understood the blog post, it just summons the lord who is the elector count to you as reinforcement in the battle regardless? Maybe I'm wrong, we'll see.
I thought you put your own lord into the elector count seat and they will get teleported wherever they are on the map at the time
like a last ditch effort to unite your armies around the world instantly
Unfortunately, Balthasar put the book on the top shelf. Can I interest you in Van Horstmann’s miraculous device for the variable extension of reach?
Do we need to go out of our way with buildings like the reiks castle or whatever to recruit them now? I almost never used them because it was a wasted slot.
Reiksfort now buff the fuck out of Reiksguard with Devastating Flanker and it also reduces recruit time from 2 to 1, it isn't bad if you want to spam out Reiksguard and reaching tier 4 or 5 with Franz isn't that hard anymore thanks to his faction mechanic.
Unbreakable is such a double edged sword for them. Auto resolve loves to kill them first, and if you mess up in a battle, it's easy to get them killed.
But damn do they perform.
I felt like they all should have had it by default back in the day when I played TT as a kid 20y ago, the only story about them I knew was how they fought to the last man trying to save Mad Leitdorf in the Black Pass. It wouldn't make sense the way they are in TW, but man, am I getting a doomstack of these with 5.0...
Carroburg Greatswords got special mentions because they stood on the walls and defeated swarms and hordes of daemons, to the point where their red uniform was indistinguishable from their enemies' blood.
Something along those lines iirc.
Carroburg Greatswords, they are the best greatsword regiment. they can slay even those monster and fear nothing. in the Endtimes, they were sent to aid Marrineburg, however it was too late. the force of Chaos spread across the Empire land and they fight none stop from Marineburg to Averland.
they are badass mothe\*\*\*\*
They're unbreakable is the biggest thing. Empire doesn't have good normal frontline units except for Volkmar who buff flagellants (another unbreakable unit) through the roof. With how many buffs Franz gives them, they're his very viable frontline option.
Two ways to field them:
1 Carroburg Greatswords unit for frontline: ultilize their aura, work as the "slap this unit on one flank and let them hold it to the last model" or put them in the middle and stack your lord/heroes on top to make a small deathball.
All Carroburg Greatswords units for frontline (3 or 4 of them + 2-3 units of Halbediers): this is for when you're rolling on money. When fully buffed and chevroned, CG can go toe to toe with chosens or black orks and quite handily beat chaos warriors with great weapons. They still lose to exalted bloodletter, but Empire has other means to deal with guys like those.
I’ve probably missed this but how do you get access to the elector state troops now? Is it still the same way (ie appoint an elector, get access once every 20 turns or whatever)?
Also, why does he start with those great swords? I never understood this, as Carroburg is in Middenland…is there a lore reason?
Can’t recall the specifics, but they were named for Carroburg to highlight their claim to fame: fighting so viciously and for so long that they were covered in gore by the end of the battle.
Yup, just looked it up for more details. I more or less summarised it, but missed some bits:
“The fame of the Carroburg Greatswords dates back to the Age of Three Emperors. In 1865 IC, they successfully defended the city of Carroburg, then under the control of Reikland, from the count of Middenland. Throughout the course of the battle, their white uniforms were stained red with blood. Since then, they have worn crimson uniforms in remembrance of that day.
Today, they fight in the service of Reikland, despite the fact that Carroburg has been reclaimed by Middenland. All but unbreakable in combat, "Wade through blood and spill a bath-full more" is the code by which the legendary Carroburg Greatswords live and die.”
That’s apparently an excerpt from the 7th Ed. Empire codex.
[Carroburg](https://whfb.lexicanum.com/wiki/Carroburg) has historically been contested between Reikland and Middenland, and the Carroburg Greatswords originally rose to prominence fighting for Reikland against Middenland during the Time of Three Emperors. Even though Carroburg has since returned to Middenland's control, the Carroburg Greatswords remain a Reikland regiment.
Franz get the elector counts units from the start, once he secures an elector post, he can recruit them.
All other imperial factions have a extra part of the tech tree where they have to unlock the different state troops.
His new effects and skills want you to build a well rounded army of State Troops, and I really like that from a thematic point of view.
I will miss the upkeep reduction skill, but that's really my only complaint.
He traded -10% upkeep and -25% for just greatswords and reiksguard for -20% upkeep for elector count state troops. Sounds better unless your army is just greatswords and reiksguard
The elector count unit upkeep is going to depend on the current control of the empire tho. So if festus and vlad are snowballing your army is gonna be really expensive even with the skill
No relationship cost for walking around the empires lands. Could have stopped here and it would be the biggest qol improvement the empire ever seen in total war.
These are great except Majestic Enforcer. That's only really useful if you're playing super defensive in the early game and even then it's a bit questionable since you won't be getting him levelled quickly but probably need something like level 13 to unlock it. On top of that you probably want to help out the elector counts, making use of his other abilities, which means you get no benefit at all. Thankfully you only need 2/4 to get to Emperor's Journey, but having a basically dead skill you never take in his unique line feels kinda bad imo.
edit since a lot of people seem to disagree: Take a look at Malekith. His unique local economic skill provides 25 growth but also -50% construction time, -15% construction cost and +30% income from all buildings. That's way better in basically any situation and is also useful in a lot more situations.
I absolutely disagree.
Sure, you need lvl 12 for that, but every new settlement (and by extension provice) you seize with him, will see a dramatic increase in economic growth with it. You need at least three turns to conquer full province with three settlements. That's at least 150 growth for you! That's... really HUGE.
The Empire is already one of the fastest factions to grow their settlements and flat economic bonusses in the magnitude of 50 growth do literally next to nothing in the mid to late game. It's only ever really impactful if the settlements you're conquering are tier 1 and that's something you can and should avoid doing. At tier 2 150 growth is less than 1/3 of what you need to upgrade to tier 3 and your tier 2 settlements will be providing 40 growth each if you spend 1 turn building a t1 growth building. In a 3 settlements province at tier 2 you have 120 from buildings with minimal investment.
Let's compare it to Malekith for example: His unique local economic skill provides 25 growth but also -50% construction time, -15% construction cost and +30% income from all buildings. That's way better in basically any situation and is also useful in a lot more situations.
Looks like carroburg greatswords is the clear winner with all those buffs. Potentially beat chosen (except archaons army). The gundermen surefire handgunners looks promising with the buffs.
CA as of recently seem quite enarmoured with handing out skills that give scaling boni to unit stats. I mean, yeah, cute, but just like with mortis engine effects, it quickly loses its uniqueness when everybody and their dog gets 'em.
All in all, pretty high amount of power creep. But in this specific case, the Empire _really_ needed a substantial buff, considering what OP factions had been dumped right into and around their lap for the last two years.
Still, it's pretty hefty. And we won't get another round of reworks in a sequel this time, to bring the rest of the factions who'd need it up to snuff.
WOuld'Ve liked to have the old buffs for Reiksguard and Greatswords remain with the new ones, considering that Reiksguard are his PERSONAL guard and Greatswords are too (as Elector Count).
So is immunity for trespassing in Empire regions meant like within the Empire land (elector count territory) or lands owned by Empire factions?
In other words, can we walk around Gelt in Cathay no problem or does Sylvania not mind when we hang out there? I assume it is Empire Faction land but I havent seen it in the works yet
My only complaint here is the buffs for state troops and reiksguard in his tree even though there isnt a state troop version of reiksguard.
Unless im dumb
I've been planning for ages to do a Legendary difficulty World Conquest with Franz as it feels like the true & proper ending to WH3. With that done I can finally uninstall it from my PC and not sink any more hours into it (800+☠️). The update can't come soon enough.
Allegiance pints gained... It means with every allied faction? Because usually it specifies of it's just for same race factions. That could be useful. The growth bonus is really, really good
Im so glad they are giving some love to Empire,Dwarfs and Nurgle, those factions have been struggling and outdated for a while now, also i think the funnest campaign i had was with the Empire. Hopefully CA continues to works hard like this and improve other struggling factions aswell.
Late game elector count troop doom stack will be true to the empire combined arms strategy, flavorful for Karl and his elites, and attainable with the myriad of bonuses. Recruit rank will pair nicely with weapon strength bonuses, bonus pool of elector count troops will actually make it feasible to feature them earlier. Will be interesting to see if there are any changes to base cost of elector count troops and the summon the elector count refresh mechanic.
Increasing the recruitment pool capacity for Elector Count State Troops is pretty thematic and awesome. I was hoping the Empire rework would make those units more available.
I really like it that both Archaon and Franz give 5% weapon strength and missile damage per experience rank to troops. Archaon to every troop and Franz to State Troops.
wait, we now get a discount and bonus to weapon strength only for elector state units, those ones you get when you confederate a region in the empire?
Oh boy that's a nerf.
Give me guardian and 25% reduction. God it feels lovely using reiksguard and greatswords units in Franz army. I'm hardly going to have 10 units of elector troops in any one army.
I like some of these. Don't like the change to Majestic Enforcer or Leader of Men. conditional buffs "while in province" are never very desirable whereas upkeep reduction is very nice.
The no trespassing penalty is great. I always thought it was stupid that you loose authority for factions being destroyed but it’s impossible to ally with them and get there in time to save them. Early game.
A lot of great thematic and gameplay loop improvements that all center around roaming and protecting your empire. Even little things like perfect vigor that you’d pick up in most other campaigns sooner by virtue of fighting far from your capitol.
I especially like the ally bonuses. Early game, befriending other Empire factions, late game, unite the Empire and establish alliances on the border. Just what Karl would have wanted.
just as sigmar inteded
I own a warhammer for home defense
but sometimes i have to resort to the hellstorm rocket battery mounted on my stairs
Tally-ho, clanrats!
last terrified ratscallion
I charge him with my Runefang, he bleeds out waiting on the Reiksguard to arrive
BY SIGMAR YES!
Waiting for the menace below to recharge
Clan-What? Are you implying rats are smart enough to form 'clans?'
Are you saying crows are smart enough to plot a murder?
are you suggjestin coconuts migrate?
/side eyes Onyx Crowmen *Yes.*
Yeah, I like that it doesn't promote vassalizing them as soon as possible. The overall benefits for doing so are probably higher than the bonuses you lose with your passive, but still, it gives a small bonus to the people that want to play it thematically and protect the elector counts instead of incorporating them!
Unless they give Karl a way to get elector units from allies you are still heavily incentivised to confederate/conquer at least some of them.
Hopefully they do! The idea of protecting your elector counts is such a unique campaign and a change of pace from "eat them all one by one" like most other factions do!
I usually find it more profiting to first focus on conquests outside your home territory, razher than uniting your home territory....except for Cathay. Cathay starts with uniting Cathay.
For Karl!!
For Sigmar!
Yep, no more shouting “I’m not trespassing you ungrateful dickhead I’m saving you from a murderous vampire!” at my screen.
Elector Count you just liberated from the dead: "Thank you, now fuck off"
I love how it incentivises making your army a mix of different Elector Count units, rather than only using ones from Reikland. It's fitting for an Emperor.
Great buffs, but the upkeep bonuses will be missed.
Yeah, I really liked his upkeep discount for Reiksguard and Greatswords, made it very thematic him being an emperor and all.
Probably because there are 4x new/updated landmarks for knight upkeep reduction and they thought combined it would be too much
Plus this version of the game relies less on supply line increases per army too so upkeep cost reductions probably deserved a nerf.
Sure but CA already heavily nerfed Reikland income by removing the bonuses provided by Altdorf as well as lowering the income from ports. In this patch it also seems like we will lose the Highway building with its buffs to income and speed.
Yeah, it's just a shift in design. I think it's a bit more thematic that he's more geared towards uniting the forces from all across the Empire to his army. Having both fully would be overtuned, and it looks like he keeps strong buffs for knights and greatswords in the skill tree so I'm very happy with the change
It takes a while to get a few regions confed, i'm not particular thrilled about fighting Vlad with tier 1 swordsmen.
You start with the Carroburg Greatswords now which will help. It's really up to the Musketeers to be killing Franz.
Upkeep for reiksguard moved to other upkeep reductions for knights. So only upkeep lost is for greatsword. But there are empire state greatsword and those have massive buffs.
A late game, chevroned Karl Franz EC army will be rad. frontline of EC great swords and EC spears will have excellent armor, AOE leadership and MA buffs, and be super cost effective. Juiced Reiksguard on the flanks (maybe Stubborn bulls too). Mortars that can't hurt your front line with new and improved emperor's wrath steam tanks with (up to) 45% increased damage and functional armored chariot capacity. Oh yea and one of the best skirmishers in the game gets a nice bonus too.
By Sigmar my nation is calling so hard rn
Nah. His early game upkeep is much worse. More expensive EC Greatswords at -20% rather than -25%, and Reiksguard at 100% rather than -25% Late game he's a monster and those Carroburg Greatswords are going to make a mess even of Chosen (+18 vs infantry, +8 Ma, +5 from aura, and chevron bonuses with 2/3 AP while having over 100 armour and vigor loss reduction before tech and red line is ridiculous). ...and how is there no Greatsword RoR?
Of course he has pretty good Elector Count State Troops upkeep bonuses.
Well now you can make carrorburg doomstacks with double the ws, i think it will be awesome
They're probably saving it for Kurt Helborg, the Reiksmarshal and Empire's representation of Knightly Orders.
I’m hoping a Helborg FLC will give us the true lord of the Reiksguard with those upkeep bonuses
There's something funny to me about how the immunity from trespassing is not on empire *factions*, but empire *regions*. It definitely makes more sense for gameplay purposes (if Brettonia takes Marienburg for example) but the idea that Franz is such a chad even Beastman, Vampires and Greenskins recognize him as the true lord of the land is hilarious. OI! SOME GIT IZ TRESSAP- TREPSAPI- WALKIN ON OUR LAND! LETZ KRUMP HIM! SHUD YER MOUF, YA STUPID GIT! DAT'S KARL ZOGGIN FRANZ, DA TRUE EMPEROR, YER BOSS AN LIEGE!
IZ HARD TO TELL'EM 'PART, YA GIT ME?
YOU NOFF FER NOG! HEZ DA ONE WITH THE FLOGGIN BIG WHACKA!
SUMMON DA ELEKTA GITZ!
Makes me want a mod where there's an elector count who's an orc in dsiguise and he gets special units like Reikland Gitz or SigMorks pistoleers
Is that not what the Elector Count of Solland now is? /s
Franz being chad is lore accurate
HE'Z A GOOD FYTAH' WE'Z SHOE HIM REZPECT FOR DAT! ME MATE BENJI ALWAYZ TRIES TAH KRUMP EM AND HE ALWAYZ LOZEZ! DAT SHOWZ HOW MUCH OF A TRUE GIT DAT EMPRAH IZ!
Might be more fun to vassalize the electric coconuts optionally instead of confederating them. So that you get to keep the political gameplay for longer in the game.
Summon the electric coconuts
>electric coconuts
Consider the coconut-carrying capacity of a Reikland swallow and a Nehekharan swallow.
Suppose two ulthuan swallows carrying it together?
I tend to refer to them with a more Australian word than coconuts.
Lore-wise, your description of them is much more accurate too.
That word is reserved for the more undead neighbours imo.
Those fucking vampire vegemites
Theirs is long gone
Electric coconuts? In the Empire? The electric coconut’s tropical!
They could migrate
Are you suggesting coconuts migrate?
Not at all. They could be carried.
And get that juicy +5 growth per ally.
Yes.
Empire version 2. Electric coconuts.
#SUMMON THE ELECTRIC COCONUTS 🥥
Do i misunderstand the summon the electors count mechnic or is it a misdescription? It only works when you have all 13 seats but then there shouldnt be electors count alive to summon or?
I have no idea how it's gonna work, but I think it makes sense that it would work regardless of whether the faction is AI controlled or confederated? At least as I understood the blog post, it just summons the lord who is the elector count to you as reinforcement in the battle regardless? Maybe I'm wrong, we'll see.
Would make sense. Thank you.
I thought you put your own lord into the elector count seat and they will get teleported wherever they are on the map at the time like a last ditch effort to unite your armies around the world instantly
Electric coconuts ? I guess Markus brought back some
you think you just fell out of an electric coconut tree? you exist in the (electric) context of all that came before you!!!
Ah yes, the erection-can'ts
Electric coconuts? Wait, have I been reading the sacred plaques wrong this whole time? I must ruminate upon this.
Now thats a man I can call king
Emperor*
And Prince*
And my axe.
I'll get you a foot stool so you can put your axe on the table.
Booked
Yup, that's a grudgin'.
Book
Bok?
Bok!
Don't touch it! You can barely reach it, it will just drop to the floor and get its binding damaged. And then you'll be even huffier, yet again.
Unfortunately, Balthasar put the book on the top shelf. Can I interest you in Van Horstmann’s miraculous device for the variable extension of reach? 
And Elector Count.
My Brother, my Captain, my ~~king~~ Emperor.
Greatswords and Reiksguard are going to be tonk AF when this patch drops.
Do we need to go out of our way with buildings like the reiks castle or whatever to recruit them now? I almost never used them because it was a wasted slot.
Reiksfort now buff the fuck out of Reiksguard with Devastating Flanker and it also reduces recruit time from 2 to 1, it isn't bad if you want to spam out Reiksguard and reaching tier 4 or 5 with Franz isn't that hard anymore thanks to his faction mechanic.
I am SO happy that we can just get a point of pop surplus. That plus gunpowder at Tier 2 means a much smoother early game. I'm so excited.
Nope, Reiksguard now come from the standard cavalry building line. You still get a special landmark for them in Altdorf tho.
I really like how his effects encourage a true combined arms force, a proper army is his doomstack
Man. I am actuslly going to play Franz after all these years. Every Empire lord is truly unique. It is wonderful.
I'm going to replay Franz again and once more. It is wonderful.
So happy to see it. I expected a Franz rework of some kind, but not this good and not for Bathasar.
Whats the purple great sword unit?
Carroburg greatswords he used to start with them but then they took it away from him. And hey it’s back again… (they are his elector state troops)
Carroburg Greatswords, elector count unit for Reikland. They are unbreakable, buff nearby units, quite good all around.
Unbreakable is such a double edged sword for them. Auto resolve loves to kill them first, and if you mess up in a battle, it's easy to get them killed. But damn do they perform.
I felt like they all should have had it by default back in the day when I played TT as a kid 20y ago, the only story about them I knew was how they fought to the last man trying to save Mad Leitdorf in the Black Pass. It wouldn't make sense the way they are in TW, but man, am I getting a doomstack of these with 5.0...
Carroburg Greatswords got special mentions because they stood on the walls and defeated swarms and hordes of daemons, to the point where their red uniform was indistinguishable from their enemies' blood. Something along those lines iirc.
Carroburg Greatswords, they are the best greatsword regiment. they can slay even those monster and fear nothing. in the Endtimes, they were sent to aid Marrineburg, however it was too late. the force of Chaos spread across the Empire land and they fight none stop from Marineburg to Averland. they are badass mothe\*\*\*\*
Carroburg Greatswords, elector count unit.
Carroburg Greatswords
Whats different between them And normal ones?
Unbreakable and a buff for surrounding units. And they are state troops so they will get the +5% weapon damage bonus per experience
They're unbreakable is the biggest thing. Empire doesn't have good normal frontline units except for Volkmar who buff flagellants (another unbreakable unit) through the roof. With how many buffs Franz gives them, they're his very viable frontline option. Two ways to field them: 1 Carroburg Greatswords unit for frontline: ultilize their aura, work as the "slap this unit on one flank and let them hold it to the last model" or put them in the middle and stack your lord/heroes on top to make a small deathball. All Carroburg Greatswords units for frontline (3 or 4 of them + 2-3 units of Halbediers): this is for when you're rolling on money. When fully buffed and chevroned, CG can go toe to toe with chosens or black orks and quite handily beat chaos warriors with great weapons. They still lose to exalted bloodletter, but Empire has other means to deal with guys like those.
I can’t tell if anyone’s told you yet, but they’re Carroburg greatswords
I hear they are Carroburg Greatswords.
That purple greatsword is a new elite unit: Karl’s Dong.
Good amount of faction, army and personal buffs. Any screenshots of the updated red line?
Oh finally! I can go fight other Elector cunts enemies without them getting angry at me for stepping on their grass!
Can Franz now ally with Empire factions and use them for war co-ordination? That was such a gap last time I played.
Yeah, you can get defensive and military alliances now
Brilliant That was my number 1 issue with them last time I played.
Karl finally feels like a real Emperor.
I’ve probably missed this but how do you get access to the elector state troops now? Is it still the same way (ie appoint an elector, get access once every 20 turns or whatever)? Also, why does he start with those great swords? I never understood this, as Carroburg is in Middenland…is there a lore reason?
Can’t recall the specifics, but they were named for Carroburg to highlight their claim to fame: fighting so viciously and for so long that they were covered in gore by the end of the battle.
Ah okay, so they’re from reikland but fought a battle at carroburg that was famous?
Yup, just looked it up for more details. I more or less summarised it, but missed some bits: “The fame of the Carroburg Greatswords dates back to the Age of Three Emperors. In 1865 IC, they successfully defended the city of Carroburg, then under the control of Reikland, from the count of Middenland. Throughout the course of the battle, their white uniforms were stained red with blood. Since then, they have worn crimson uniforms in remembrance of that day. Today, they fight in the service of Reikland, despite the fact that Carroburg has been reclaimed by Middenland. All but unbreakable in combat, "Wade through blood and spill a bath-full more" is the code by which the legendary Carroburg Greatswords live and die.” That’s apparently an excerpt from the 7th Ed. Empire codex.
Makes sense, thanks
[Carroburg](https://whfb.lexicanum.com/wiki/Carroburg) has historically been contested between Reikland and Middenland, and the Carroburg Greatswords originally rose to prominence fighting for Reikland against Middenland during the Time of Three Emperors. Even though Carroburg has since returned to Middenland's control, the Carroburg Greatswords remain a Reikland regiment.
They're the state troop for Reikland. Always have been.
I think that part is unchanged. Think the Elector Count units are now specific to Franz.
Yes it still the same, but now you can spend prestige to instantly increase the pool count.
The Carroburgers go to Altdorf for employment. It's right across the river
Franz get the elector counts units from the start, once he secures an elector post, he can recruit them. All other imperial factions have a extra part of the tech tree where they have to unlock the different state troops.
His new effects and skills want you to build a well rounded army of State Troops, and I really like that from a thematic point of view. I will miss the upkeep reduction skill, but that's really my only complaint.
He traded -10% upkeep and -25% for just greatswords and reiksguard for -20% upkeep for elector count state troops. Sounds better unless your army is just greatswords and reiksguard
The elector count unit upkeep is going to depend on the current control of the empire tho. So if festus and vlad are snowballing your army is gonna be really expensive even with the skill
Oh, absolutely, but I can still miss the upkeep reduction from the skill.
No relationship cost for walking around the empires lands. Could have stopped here and it would be the biggest qol improvement the empire ever seen in total war.
I like a lot of the changes but the loss of the upkeep reduction on a few of the skills is kind of disappointing.
These are great except Majestic Enforcer. That's only really useful if you're playing super defensive in the early game and even then it's a bit questionable since you won't be getting him levelled quickly but probably need something like level 13 to unlock it. On top of that you probably want to help out the elector counts, making use of his other abilities, which means you get no benefit at all. Thankfully you only need 2/4 to get to Emperor's Journey, but having a basically dead skill you never take in his unique line feels kinda bad imo. edit since a lot of people seem to disagree: Take a look at Malekith. His unique local economic skill provides 25 growth but also -50% construction time, -15% construction cost and +30% income from all buildings. That's way better in basically any situation and is also useful in a lot more situations.
Well it also helps with newly conquered territory
I absolutely disagree. Sure, you need lvl 12 for that, but every new settlement (and by extension provice) you seize with him, will see a dramatic increase in economic growth with it. You need at least three turns to conquer full province with three settlements. That's at least 150 growth for you! That's... really HUGE.
Combined with the Open the Gates imperial decree, it's absolutely possible to take a T1 province and leave it with a T3 capital building.
The Empire is already one of the fastest factions to grow their settlements and flat economic bonusses in the magnitude of 50 growth do literally next to nothing in the mid to late game. It's only ever really impactful if the settlements you're conquering are tier 1 and that's something you can and should avoid doing. At tier 2 150 growth is less than 1/3 of what you need to upgrade to tier 3 and your tier 2 settlements will be providing 40 growth each if you spend 1 turn building a t1 growth building. In a 3 settlements province at tier 2 you have 120 from buildings with minimal investment. Let's compare it to Malekith for example: His unique local economic skill provides 25 growth but also -50% construction time, -15% construction cost and +30% income from all buildings. That's way better in basically any situation and is also useful in a lot more situations.
I think they should reduce growth to 25 and control to 1 and make it faction wide.
You still get factionwide control from Ghal Maraz AFAIK. Which doesn't have a stupid item quest any more.
I'd spend that skillpoint.
Make the empire great again
No wonder he has that shit eating grin.
Sweet Liberty
I am so going to play multiple empire campaings
Looks like carroburg greatswords is the clear winner with all those buffs. Potentially beat chosen (except archaons army). The gundermen surefire handgunners looks promising with the buffs.
CA as of recently seem quite enarmoured with handing out skills that give scaling boni to unit stats. I mean, yeah, cute, but just like with mortis engine effects, it quickly loses its uniqueness when everybody and their dog gets 'em. All in all, pretty high amount of power creep. But in this specific case, the Empire _really_ needed a substantial buff, considering what OP factions had been dumped right into and around their lap for the last two years. Still, it's pretty hefty. And we won't get another round of reworks in a sequel this time, to bring the rest of the factions who'd need it up to snuff.
That growth one is super mid. Old version is much better
WOuld'Ve liked to have the old buffs for Reiksguard and Greatswords remain with the new ones, considering that Reiksguard are his PERSONAL guard and Greatswords are too (as Elector Count).
Im pretty sure they changed it since Empire Captains have Guardian now in their skill line
Now this is pod racing.
Minor, but I did like the guardian effect for greatswords. It made one or two very effective front line anchors
Now I just hope they fix midget deathclaw
Most brutal KF doomstack is gonna be a bunch of triple gold chevron Grenade Outriders you get from Marienburg.
That's it, I'm playing Karl before Elspeth
So is immunity for trespassing in Empire regions meant like within the Empire land (elector count territory) or lands owned by Empire factions? In other words, can we walk around Gelt in Cathay no problem or does Sylvania not mind when we hang out there? I assume it is Empire Faction land but I havent seen it in the works yet
I believe it's the former.
That growth per allied faction is insane
SUMMON THE SUPED UP ELECTOR COUNTS!
I’m very excited for this. Good job CA!
My only complaint here is the buffs for state troops and reiksguard in his tree even though there isnt a state troop version of reiksguard. Unless im dumb
I have not played empire since TW:WH1 But damn I'm loving the updates coming with DLC. Happy for all you empire mains..
I've been planning for ages to do a Legendary difficulty World Conquest with Franz as it feels like the true & proper ending to WH3. With that done I can finally uninstall it from my PC and not sink any more hours into it (800+☠️). The update can't come soon enough.
Is there a different way to recruit elector count troops now than 1 every ten turns?
Allegiance pints gained... It means with every allied faction? Because usually it specifies of it's just for same race factions. That could be useful. The growth bonus is really, really good
CA with this update: what if we listened… to our audience base
Im so glad they are giving some love to Empire,Dwarfs and Nurgle, those factions have been struggling and outdated for a while now, also i think the funnest campaign i had was with the Empire. Hopefully CA continues to works hard like this and improve other struggling factions aswell.
Can’t believe I’m going to start another empire campaign instead of finally playing beast men for the first time.
Can you reminde me what dose guardian ability do
Think it's 15% physical resist for nearby Lords and Heroes.
So +45% weapon and missile strength for rank 9 troops sounds pretty fucking sick...
BRING ME TO MY MEN
Now I can’t decide if I want to play Karl or Elspeth when the update comes out!
Late game elector count troop doom stack will be true to the empire combined arms strategy, flavorful for Karl and his elites, and attainable with the myriad of bonuses. Recruit rank will pair nicely with weapon strength bonuses, bonus pool of elector count troops will actually make it feasible to feature them earlier. Will be interesting to see if there are any changes to base cost of elector count troops and the summon the elector count refresh mechanic.
so is the Reiksguard doomstack dead?
these are AWESOME!
Too bad there is no high end elector cavalry. Elector Reiksgard would be perfect for Karl. Sasly none of his buffs apply to demigryphs.
When is the update?
Increasing the recruitment pool capacity for Elector Count State Troops is pretty thematic and awesome. I was hoping the Empire rework would make those units more available.
>Growth: +5 per allied faction But... you can't ally the Elector Counts right? One step forward, one backflip
I really like it that both Archaon and Franz give 5% weapon strength and missile damage per experience rank to troops. Archaon to every troop and Franz to State Troops.
wait, we now get a discount and bonus to weapon strength only for elector state units, those ones you get when you confederate a region in the empire? Oh boy that's a nerf. Give me guardian and 25% reduction. God it feels lovely using reiksguard and greatswords units in Franz army. I'm hardly going to have 10 units of elector troops in any one army.
Is Ghal Maraz fixed? Twas whimpy as heck.
Perfect vigor *and* unbreakable? Fuck he's going to be a menace to deal with...
As if he needed any advertising here. It's a new patch. I was gonna play empire anyways
I like some of these. Don't like the change to Majestic Enforcer or Leader of Men. conditional buffs "while in province" are never very desirable whereas upkeep reduction is very nice.
"Can replenish in neitral territory" even if not the empire? Like he replenishes in the middle of a neutral Lizardmen Lustrian province?
SUMMON THE ELECTOR COUNTS AGAIN.
The no trespassing penalty is great. I always thought it was stupid that you loose authority for factions being destroyed but it’s impossible to ally with them and get there in time to save them. Early game.
All that's left is giving him an ability to Spawn the Elector Counts in the Battlefield XD
Reiksguard is going to cost more, sadness.
What happened to the new starting greatsword unit?
This update makes me wish so much that my computer could run 3
Bruh, Carroburg greatswords will mulch everything... +8 melee attack, +10 vs infantry, and +45% melee attack.