I love the new trait system and where that whole idea is going.
However, what about more tactical flexibility by being able to choose which weapons your hearthlings use.
Instead of them just grabbing whichever weapon, what if each weapon had benefits as well as drawbacks
against certain enemies. For anyone who says that the amount of multitasking would be silly. I get that from a
casual player with no more than 20+ hrs into the game. But for the people who enjoy the game and can see there
is still plenty of room for innovation, why cant we have a bit more customization with our little soldiers.
Just an Idea 
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For example, heavier armor provides addition protection but negatives for movement speed. Swords may give you a
chance to parry an attack if paired with a shield. A hammer has a small chance to cause a “stun” debuff.
Does this make sense? 
1 Like
Maybe if it could be done in a inovative way? But if what you are suggesting is just yet another lets build an ui with armor slots and put enchants on our gear kinda thing… i would see it as nothing special added to the game. The fact that the heartlings go for the weapon with highest damage at the moment is a concern and it would be nice to design how our troops uniform should look in a broader way.
I do agree that the logical benefits and negatives with different armor and weapons could be interesting, but do the current combat mechanics support that? Already we have footmen storming ahead of the knights and clerics only to end up dying before the rest catch up? Hope you have a great weekend @stevenvilla
2 Likes
We already have the mechanic with the Archers quiver. The slowing effect and fire effect for 2 different weapons. Why cant we have that same principle but with items. Idk, maybe make like a TEQ TREE for each hearthling so they could specialize in a job. And you can equip them accordingly
I whole heartedly agree with this suggestion
or more simply
+1
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I think combat should always be a little deeper than how high the Attack stat of a weapon is. Damage in real life depends on what you’re fighting. For example hitting a stone golem with an iron sword wouldn’t do jack squat. But equip a hearthling with a maul and then you’re getting results.
This would add reason to actually keep and use the wide variety of weapons and armors you can build, rather than never building them again once your blacksmith starts making longswords. Also it would give even more incentive to build a balanced army to fight off the different kinds of enemies in the game.
If all we had to worry about was the attack stat then there would be no point in having different weapons at all. And as for your group storming ahead, you should set a rally point for them to assemble and then attack as a group.
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I am not sure if you read my reply as i was against logic and deeper combat mechanics? If so, i might need to put more thought into my replies.
Nothing you have written goes against what i want to see in the game and the tactic with a rally point is alredy something i use. All these mechanics will hopefully be worked on in the future, when the devs return to them as a priority.
If anything I’d like to “Specialize” my hearthlings.
IE; One footman uses a shield and mace while the other uses a two-handed sword. That way I can keep some balanced ones while also having some focus more on attack and not as much on defense.
I do like how they go;“Ooh, shield!” and pick it up, but sometimes I don’t want them to drop the shields since I don’t have the best armour for them yet just because I got one of the bone maces/axes from the goblins.
Something to specialize your soldiers for fighting would definitely allow fo more control over your army/squadrons.
2 Likes
Oh… why not go for a system similar to Dwarf Fortress, where a high level crafter can have a stroke of inspiration/madness and create a super special version of any item, including weapons, which would have different effects.
Here’s hoping eventually we get a uniform system for our squads, as well as a barracks/waypoint system.
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I just recently found out that Hearthlings are not making the choice based on damage, but a hidden value called iLevel. Of course the weapons an armors with higher stats have higher iLevels too. But that is done as a basic way for the hearthling to equip better gear.