Baptism By Rage Inducing, Controller smashing, FIRE!

Gameplay
#1

Ok, So I’ve had this game in my library for about 2 months now. Played it for an hour or so, but found the initial game play terrible.

However, I gave it another chance and liked it enough to toss in 30 hours (23hr over a 3 day span) and began to like it a little more. The game is good on story and “Lore”, however there are too many bugs and plain awful glitches about the game that make it clunky and almost unplayable for someone like myself who can never get over that stuff. But here I am, fighting through the pain.

So right now, I’m in the the last battle of the Runt story line (Baptism by fire, Defeat Runt), However, as this game likes to do and is terrible at it…it starts me at that battle with 1…ONE…ONE!!! God dam health…! How did i get one health? Well, on the last group battle outside the wall, the last 3secs before the cut scene I start to lose health and my screen is shaking from me getting hit with something, its the randomly spawned archers, on the wall, shooting at me…and me only. So i get to the last scene and i have one health and i’m bleeding. good thing i can hot pause and go through and use bandages…But i’m always one hit from death.

I know what most people are going say “go back and restart from the beginning” and that i will do. however, i feel like this battle will end up the same. I see people on here say “Don’t use swords, use maces or axes” and that is another center issue with the game…the dam sword battles. way to often when i feel like im doing good, i get in close and the cpu just grabs me and punches me and i stagger 20ft backwards, or they dodge and block hit, even if i do the fakeout the first trainer teaches you, they see it coming 99% of the time.

I want to play the game, I want to get to the end, but there are way too many things in the way of me doing so.
I’ve made it this far without jumping on the forums and cursing everyone out flat out uninstalling it.

What is best preparation for the entire battle?
Please don’t say " use maces or axes" I want to build my character as a swordsman and that only, which should be enough (its an rpg)
What armor should I get and where do i get it?
is there any missions besides the sabotage missions i should do first?
Whats the best way to get leveled up quicker?

#2

I found it is most beneficial to train with Captain Bernard every chance you get until you learn the Master move. Also take the savage perk since most of your fights are outside of the city. Learn Henry to read and have him make potions as they can be very beneficial as well. Loving KCD and still learning new things, hope this helps you some.

1 Like
#3

After you pass your day as a town guard, don’t actually go hunting with Sir Capon, but take your time to make some money one way or another, train yourself,get equipment… Well, stuff like that. I play as a stealthy character, so my best friends are bow and dagger. Still, from time to time I pay a visit to Bernard in order to train my swordsmanship - just as again “from time to time” not stealthy kill every single man in the ambush, but leave one or two guys to train.

Surprisingly, you don’t need to buy equipment at all. For starters, loot from simple bandits and marauders may work just great, then come cumans and finally - high level bandits, roaming in north-west of the map, usually near Skalitz, and a bit - Sasau. All you need - to have decent repairing skill and repair kits. Skill is simple to level up by using a sharpening stone near smith traders. Other way is to go insane in the prologue, level up stealth and lockpicking, while making a lot of loot as clothes. You take that clothes and repair them with the kits, you buy from traders, which gives you pretty high repair skill level for the beginning of the game.

Actually, this game is sometimes too easy, when it comes for the money. Hardcore mode doesn’t solve the issue - you just take more time to grind “starter investment sum” to get some equipment and a horse, but as soon as you make this - you are already rich. Well, anyway - you have the money - you have potions, lessons from teachers, equipment, whatever else. Just don’t hurry up to run through main quest - it’s a crappy one, honestly, with small number of worthy moments here and there. Take your time to enjoy freeplay wandering in the world.

#4

@Trashcan
best thing to do is to avoid progressing too far in story
(1) my preference has been to delay meeting up with Sir Radzig in the lower castle. patrol the country side. early on, lurk near battle sites. loot what you can^. sell it off. buy a horse. farm remaining enemies at battle sites^^. rinse repeat (git gud).

this can be tricky if bad vs bad (bandits vs Cumans) battles encountered as one side usually has some remaining troops. if one or two are left standing, you can often sneak in, loot a high value dead guy and then run away. sometimes, the enemy NPCs will walk off… leaving the spoils. recent patches have meant that dropped weapons will get picked up. but, at least armor remains. dead guards can be looted if guards win the day but you have to be careful. if they’re nearby, you’ll get into trouble. if you sneak and loot whilst they’re (turned) away, you can get by with it.

if you steal or buy a horse, you can race in, dismount, loot and ride off before you get hit. if you feel more adventurous, arm yourself with a bow. and do a bit of hit and run. it’s not easy in the beginning. and, each bow upgrade means you’ll have to adjust your shooting technique. but, if you embrace this, you can kill everything in KCD. Cuman bows come in different levels. it takes awhile to get stats high enough to use them, but once you can they are the best for this horse archery technique.

(2) use a short sword and shield^^^. try stab (jab). misses expose you less. the rabbit strike perk makes it powerful. if you hit an opponent in the head with a stab, you can get a one strike kill. managed to do this myself one time with Runt in hardcore mode. can’t spam stab though as the NPCs will adjust. mix strikes up some but be ready to stab.

(3) longsword. if you want to go this route, it’s not easy in the beginning. watch your stamina like crazy and avoid getting out flanked. i got St Michael’s sword after saving Sir Hans’s bacon. if you struggle with baptism but want to battle with a longsword, i’d use this time to practice with Sir Bernard and to explore as described above

^ - looting : if you don’t want to repurpose items, you’re in for a long haul. if you navigate the more morally ambiguous space of Miller Peshek, you’ve got tons of options.

^^ - battle sites: there a good number distributed around KCD. they don’t spawn all the time, but some spawn at least 25-33% of the time (if not more). my favorites are:

  • Ledetchko, S side of river, path heading W - the clearing near the bandit camp. premium equipment often lootable. Sasau guards sometimes battle.
  • Rattay-Vranik loop - take path around (avoiding bandit ambushes… or not) going W. after some distance, you’ll reach point were you go up an incline, hill side on left and then get to a clearing. premium equipment often lootable. Sasau guards sometimes battle. downside is that a number of hostile NPCs will sometimes survive making it difficult to sneak in and loot. for instance when traders-merchants battle bandits, the bandits often remain strong in numbers (relative to you by yourself). so, although the dead traders have high value loot, getting that loot can be dangerous.
  • Talmberg-Uzhitz bowl - take N path out of Uzhitz to W and into forest towards Talmberg. after passing the marker at the entrance to forest, you’ll do a quick swerve and then approach a depression that i call a bowl. good equipment can be looted. Talmberg guards sometimes battle. possible to get swarmed if not careful. but, if measured, this location can be harvested for lots of loot.
    .

^^^ - short sword and shield: Stinger is the premier short sword imo. it can be purchased (forget from whom), and some NPCs carry it. enemy NPCs often carry a heavy heater (shield). use it until you find or can buy a better looking heavy shield. Rattay guard post next to church (southern part) has some decent ‘free’ ones. be careful of patrolling guards. before that, the Talmberg castle has some decent weaponry and shields. just need to buy some lock picks from Voltava (Talmberg trader)

#5

How are you “dealing with the archers”? The haypile obscures sight and reduces the amount of shooting that the cuman and upper camp archers will deliver.

Use your bow to kill any archers on the inner wall who stay there, despite the smoke.
Work on the left edge of the entrance, near the tents, as the bulk of combatants between you and the wall will reduce the amount of shots you will take. Avoid being in the area just under the wall, with your back to the archers.

Shield and sword in one hand, or axe or mace/hammer give a bit more protection vs arrows, compared to sword in two hands.

A lot of combat success comes down to timing, position and place, rather than speed or skill, as long as minimal standards are met. Look for enemies without shields, and with open face helmets to attack first, and lock onto them, defending against others with perfect parry/dodge/parry-riposte or masterstrike as you see fit, but returning to a single ‘vulnerable’ enemy until he is dead, and then moving to the next. Enemies on the fringe, or who are ‘busy’ with other combatants are more vulnerable to a violent assault than one who is facing you directly. Don’t over extend. Be ready to move to a better place and position to avoid being in a similarly poor surrounded position. Change your locked target for a similar ‘weak’ opponent if needed. Against the strongest opponents, fight carefully, waiting for an ally to distract if needed.
If all you accomplish in the fight is a distraction - so your allies can attack into your opponent, then you will win. It isn’t necessary to kill anyone in the fight at all (and this is required for a ‘merciful’ run. But you can still interfere and ‘help’).

#6

Agree with all you said. Aside from sabotaging the arrows during nest, one can stay on flank opposite archers. Stay on the flank and wreck the enemies as they engage troops next to you. To me, it’s akin to crossing the T in naval warfare (ie easiest way to kill enemy). If you keep doing so, you should have plenty of health and armor left to battle Runt

#7

2 things from the above advice:

How do you effectively loot and sell? I feel like i’ve done good, however (another frustration) i can usually only loot one person. the carry amount for my character right now is 102 ( i think im lvl8 main). I tend to leave food and arrows behind, and even then, a single fully looted npc usually puts me in oberbearer. It kinda disturbs me that in a big battle (like the first two stages of BBF) you and your army kill about 20 enemies and you really only have enough space to fully loot two of them and you waste tons of time looting and fast traveling and slipping time to sell off items.

Also (Sticking to the BBF theme), in that battle i find 2 things that make it not worth the effort.
“Deal with the archers” phase comes up and it doesn’t really tell you that YOUR the one thats supposed to deal with them. even though i haven’t had any major trouble with them. the one time i did something, all i did was go up the steps and fight one of them and it said i was successful. i didn’t kill him and definitely not all 4 of them on the road.
Also in that battle, its just a gigantic cluster****. Theres no plan of action from a battle standpoint whatsoever. Its A 9ON9 BATTLE with the cpu just standing around stabbing each other with 1 or 2 random “im going get of the stab circle and flank” moments.

#8

Looting: get a :racehorse:… in the earlier days of KCD, you could carry off the whole battlefield on a horse. Can’t anymore but you can still make off with a hefty amount. Load up the horse. And then, load up yourself until you can just mount your horse.

Items lifted off guards and traders can be sold to Miller Peshek (and other fences). Or, you can let the goods cool off in your chest or horse.

Pre-horse. Focus on value per weight. Dead NPCs often have food so no need to load up on food even in hardcore with tapeworm debuff. Gloves/gauntlets usually have relatively good value. Dead traders have the highest value per weight stuff. If you fancy rare stuff (eg you might like aesthetics of Polish cuirass… worn by some Sasau guards) that’s been badly damaged, store it. Once you gather enough coin later in the game, take it to a tailor, cobbler or smithy for repair. If damage isn’t severe, buy kits and fix them yourself. It’s easy XP. The return isn’t that good imo for resale. So, I primarily use kits for stuff I intend to keep. Always try to use grindstone to repair swords and axes before you resell them. You do this for the money and XP.

The Ledetchko smithy is pretty close to the battle spawn point mentioned above. Overloaded walking to him is slow, but the reward is worth it. After that, buy a long term room at the Ledetchko inn, and you can dump high value and heavy items in your chest. The tailor is next door and has good coin. Take the clothes, etc to him. Then, if you still have stuff to get rid of, run over to Miller Peshek. Take your stuff out of the chest. Sell what you can. After that, take anything remaining and sell in town among Rattay traders. Do this a few-several (don’t remember exact number) times and you should have enough to buy a horse. (I’m always partial to Warhorse Jenda… to me, aside from his smell that you can’t smell, the only down side to him is the torch glare off his ears at night.) Impatient? ‘Borrow’ a horse until you can pay for your own. The Sasau barn (where Johanka sleeps) is a good place to borrow one. As is one of the Neuhof homes, WSW of stable.

Trader wealth. In earlier versions, I found that you need to prime the pump. Lag too much time between sell-offs and the traders don’t have much money.

#9

Squad battle formation, techniques, AI are underwhelming. (You’ll find in one of the latter battles that KCD added bushes just for the battle in order to bracket the flanks and force some semblance of line integrity.) It starts off with a line and then the magnetism effects take over and the line integrity decays. The moments of NPC combatants disengaging one enemy and turning around to attack another (thereby exposing themselves to mortal risk) are too numerous to count. I reported it in the early days. No change (bigger issues to deal with). I hope mods can improve the situation

Just need to avoid getting too deep into the mayhem and avoid depleting your stamina. There’s no other secret. And, if you think about, it’s sensible

One of the primary keys to baptism is nest. Sabotage as much as you can (everything if possible - if you hit and run, you can kill the whole of Pribyslavitz) and make sure you bring at least a medium sized army

killing off all bandits and Cumans in nest. if you’re patient, have a horse and don’t mind playing cat-and-mouse, it’s not difficult to kill everyone. go to the main bridge. cross. there’s usually 1-3 enemies stationed at the bridge-camp site. draw them to you. shoot them. ride. shoot. rinse repeat. if you don’t like that, draw them away. get off your horse and use melee.

after the first batch is dead, cross the bridge and draw another group. (silly programming never triggers all in camp to come out after you.) repeat. you should then be left with the Cuman stronghold and the bandit one. i usually draw out the Cumans first.

once everyone is dead in the area, i sabotage the pots and barrels of arrows. one or more of the chests in the Cuman stronghold has poison. so bring lockpicks if you don’t have a good amount of poison.

after you’re done, you can try the painful task of looting all and then walking to the Talmberg inn (assuming you bought a long term room; i pick Talmberg inn because easier to sell off all the goods there than Uzhitz). drop off all gear minus the stuff you want to wear-use in baptism. might be too slow. alternative? store what you can’t carry on horse in chest in shed on E side of Cuman stronghold. you should be able to make at least a couple trips before the clock to get back to Sir Radzig expires.

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