How to Lead an Army in Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous - A Guide to Consolidating, Recruiting, Moving, Resources and Building

 

At a certain point in the Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous storyline, you will be able to control your own army and go on a crusade. This is a big part of the game, which has its own rules and characteristics. In this guide, we have collected all the available information about armies, how to manage them and how to successfully defeat opponents.

Why do we need an army. How to manage an army

The armies in Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous are an important part of the adventure. You need to recruit different types of troops - infantry, archers, cavalry and others. In addition, you will have to monitor the morale, calculate the movement on the global map and help the generals gain experience to upgrade their skills. The outcome of the crusade depends on how strategically you approach the task - you can lose.

For those who do not want to complicate their life, the game provides an automatic mode - you will completely skip this part of the story, and the AI ​​will take over the control of the crusade. The inclusion of this mode is irreversible, however, without the participation of the player, no important plot decisions will be made, and it will become impossible to lose in the campaign.

The game also has a Mythic Path mechanic for the protagonist. In certain tasks, you can choose a path that has its own levels of development, skills, and also influence on the plot. Depending on your actions, alignment and mythical path, some allies may join or leave the troops, which will lead to certain consequences in the future. Relations with fellow party members, who will take on the role of advisers, will also be affected.

The crusade is divided into two parts - before the capture of Dresen and after. The first part is rather introductory - enemy armies stand still, limited choice of soldiers, lack of construction. After the capture of Dresen, the range of your possibilities will expand, but at the same time the complexity will also increase.

When you first appear on the global map, explore the interface. At the top in the center there will be a stylized dial, and immediately below it there are two flags - red and blue. The blue flag will show the location of your group, and the red flag will show all the crusader armies in the region. You can navigate by clicking on the direction arrows. When you find a new location, it will immediately be added to the global map.

In the upper right corner of the screen there will be a button "skip the day" - you will have to click on it when you decide for some reason not to move the army, or if you want to wait for reinforcements.

Each army is marked with a shield with a number that indicates the strength of the legion - it shows the total number of units in the army. The demon legions also have numbers.

In the upper left corner, you can open the resources of the crusade. Financial points are the main resource used for recruiting generals and units. At first, money can only be obtained for successes in battles. Subsequently, they will be brought by various buildings, buffs and events. Your hero's personal funds can also be exchanged for war funds. Material points are used in the construction of normal buildings, and energy points are used for magical or high-grade structures.

At the bottom left, you can see a large icon of a knight - click on this button to hire fighters.

For a quick recruitment of resources, the following buildings are suitable:

• Shrine: increases energy gain by 1 and money by 10;
• Sanctuary: increases the number of energy points by 4;
• Salvager's Post: Increases income from materials and energy points by 1;
• Palace (Palace): increases the growth of money, materials and energy by 25%; only one palace can be built;
• Market (Market): increases the growth of money by 20 and materials by 1;
• Inn: Increases money growth by 200 if there are no growth-generating buildings in the fort; only one can be built in each fort;
• Infernal Forge: Increases the amount of materials by 3 and money by 100; only one infernal forge can be built in each fort;
• Engineers' Workshop: Reduces the cost of building a building by 10%;
• Supply Center: Increases Material Points by 3; only one can be built in each fort;
• Warehouse: Increases income by 100 if built next to the hotel; increase in materials by 1, if it is built near the supply center; energy gain by 1 if built next to a shelter.

How to recruit an army

You can spend money to recruit more units. Financial resources are generated over time, and can also be obtained as a reward for completing crusader quests (defeating demon armies, capturing forts, and others). Later, it will be possible to build buildings to increase the constant flow of money. You can only hire a limited number of certain units each week. The new units unite into a legion that appears in Kenabres (a little later in Dresen, when you return the city).

When recruiting most units, you will see a special slider that allows you to choose how many soldiers you want to recruit. Regarding regular mercenaries, they are recruited en masse (you pay for a group, not for a specific number of soldiers). In some cases, you may encounter events or dialogues that will lead to the appearance of new units. After the capture of Dresen, you will be actively involved in politics and construction. This, together with the already indicated mythical path, will greatly affect the composition of the army. It all depends only on your decisions.

There are several buildings that will increase your rental opportunities:

• Mercenary Guild: increases the number of available mercenary units by 1; only one mercenary guild can be built in each fort;
• Stronghold: Reduces the cost of recruiting mercenaries by 3%; only one can be built in total;
• Hall of Glory: Reduces the cost of recruiting mercenaries by 5%; only one can be built in each fort;
• Main Hall of Champions: Allows you to recruit and provides weekly recruitment growth for Hardened Veterans, Ozema Knights Sorcerers, Dragonslayers, and Honor Guard (if available); only one can be built in total;
• Garrison Hall of Champions: Increases the recruitment rate for the Main Hall of Champions by 25%. only one garrison hall of champions can be built in each fort;
• Main Barracks: Allows you to recruit and provide weekly recruitment growth for conscripts, infantry, spearmen, convicts, champions and shield bearers (if available); in total can be built only once;
• Garrison Barracks: Increase the recruitment rate for the main barracks by 25%; only one can be built in each fort;
• Main Archery Range: Allows you to recruit archers, rangers, bandits, archers, slingers and bounty hunters (if available), and also provides a weekly recruitment growth; only one can be built in total;
• Shooting Range (Garrison Archery Range): in the garrison, increases the recruitment growth for the main shooting range by 25%; only one can be built in each fort;
• Garrison Spellcasters' Lodge: Increases the recruitment rate for main spellcasters by 25%; only one can be built in each fort;
• Main Spellcasters' Lodge: Allows recruitment and provides weekly recruitment growth for Church Guards, War Priests, Monks, Assassins, Witches, and Bards (if available); only one can be built in total;
• Spiritual Garden: gives a +25 bonus to the morale of all units and increases the general's energy recovery by 50%; the growth in the recruitment of mythical units is increased by 20%; only one can be built in total;
• Garrison Stables: Increases recruitment growth for main stables by 25%; each fort can only be built once;
• Main Stables: Allows you to recruit and provide weekly recruitment growth for mounted scouts, paladins, cuirassiers, hedge knights, raiders and light cavalry (if available); can only be built once.

How to unite armies

Your newly recruited army occupies a specific place on the strategic map. If you send another to the same point, they can be combined. This will be signaled by the arrow button. Please note that there can be no more than 3 units of any type in an army. This limit is increased if the leader (general) of the army has a suitable skill - "Master of maneuver", the pumped version of which expands the number of units to six.

How to move armies

When you are in strategic map mode, the army legions and your characters are independent. This means that you can send one of your squads to attack the fort, the other to hold the defense, and your character will visit an interesting place. However, if the road is blocked by an enemy fort, the hero will not be able to continue traveling along it until your army is victorious. Each legion has a limited number of movement points (40 by default), which determines how far they can march. Movement points are restored every day.

The speed and range of movement can be affected by the skills of generals: "Finding the way" (Pathfinding), "Traveler" (Traveler). In addition, some decisions of the war council also affect movement points.

What is the fighting spirit of the army and the crusade

Every army and your crusade as a whole has a fighting spirit. A single legion is influenced by the events that happen to it. If you lose a lot, the morale of the army will drop and vice versa.

The morale of an army affects the readiness of soldiers to fight enemies. The attack rolls a d100 die plus the army's current morale. This will determine how much additional damage the troops will deal.

• The morale of the Crusade affects the recruitment growth, resource income, and morale of the Crusader armies. It consists of three indicators: the banner of victories, the banner of conquest, the banner of protection.
• Banner of victories: after defeating any army of demons, the banner of victories will turn green for seven days, then yellow for four days, and then red;
• Banner of Conquest: After capturing the Demon Hold, the Banner of Conquest will turn green for 30 days, then yellow for seven, and then red. Re-capturing old forts does not affect the banner;
• Banner of Defense: While no Crusader fort is under siege, the banner of defense remains green; if the siege does begin, the banner of protection will turn yellow for three days, and then red; as long as at least one Crusader fort is captured by demons, the banner of protection will remain red.

Morale can be influenced by some buildings:

• Brewery: provides a +10 bonus to the morale of the crusade and a bonus of +1 to the maximum morale of the crusade, and also provides a +5 bonus to the morale of all units; troops get a 5% chance to perform a random action instead of the one chosen in battle; only one can be built in each fort;
• Tavern: reduces all morale effects in battle by 10%;

How to fight with an army correctly

Every army, regardless of whether it belongs to the crusader faction or the demons, has a power indicator that tells you how strong it is. Battles should be avoided if the enemies have higher power than you. Try to find another way to get to your destination, otherwise you risk losing valuable soldiers. With the right build and a well-thought-out strategy, it is possible to defeat stronger enemies, but it will be more difficult to calculate your actions in advance.

Certain types of enemies can be more deadly than the strength of the army shows. For example, gargoyles are flying units. Without a special anti-aircraft upgrade, your more powerful troops will be practically helpless against such enemies. Therefore, it is worth paying special attention to special units and their properties.

When your legion encounters an army of a hostile faction, the game enters a combat mode, reminiscent of the battle style from Heroes of Might and Magic .

All units move around the cells. You can place your melee soldiers in the first lane and your ranged soldiers in the second lane for better defense. If you have large units, you can divide them into several smaller ones. Fighters attack only nearby enemies, while archers can shoot at any cell of the field. Use this for the fastest wins possible.

When you have a high squad limit, you can split the group of the cheapest melee fighters into 1 person. Use them as shields to protect valuable soldiers. Lure enemies in pursuit of cheap cannon fodder, while archers can attack from a safe distance. Most demon armies lack ranged units, so the longer you hold them, the more damage they will deal from afar.

After the battle, some of your fallen units can be healed. Healing abilities are pumped by the skills of leaders.

Don't end the battle prematurely until you've raised all of your fallen warriors or used up all your energy. Just weaken the enemy down to a few small units, then choose a defense and revive all the lost troops. This way you can defeat most of the demon army without losing a single unit.

Buildings that affect the combat performance of armies:

• Smithy: Gives a +1 attack bonus to all trainable units in adjacent buildings. In each fort, except for Dresen, you can build only one forge;
• Reliquary: Gives a +3 bonus to attack, defense, saving throws, and initiative for all mythical creatures; only one reliquary can be built in each fort;
• Pathfinder Society Lodge: Grants +1 bonus to attack, defense, and saving throws for all trainable units;
• Monument: Gives all units a + 5% bonus to the chance to act twice due to a positive morale;
• Military Academy: gives a +1 bonus to attack, defense, and saving throws for all trainable units;
• Gallows: Reduces the chance of missing an action due to negative morale by 3% for all units.
• Fighting Pit: gives a +1 initiative bonus to all trainable units in adjacent buildings;
• Inner Castle (Citadel): increases the time of the siege of the fort by 3 days; only one can be built in each fort;
• Cathedral (Cathedral): Grants all units + 15% bonus to health, +3 bonus to attack and defense, as well as + 10% bonus to damage against demonic units; only one cathedral can be built in total;
• Bulletin Board: grants all units a + 3% bonus to the chance to act twice due to a positive morale and a -2% bonus to the chance to skip an action due to a negative morale;
• Shelter: allows the commander's squad to rest in the fort without increasing the corruption effect;
• Arsenal (Arsenal): gives a bonus +1 to defense for all trainable units in adjacent buildings; in each fort, except for Dresen, you can build only one;
• Apothecary: gives + 10% health bonus to all trainable units in adjacent buildings; in each fort, except for Dresen, you can build only one;
• Training Grounds: Gives + 10% damage bonus to all trainable units in adjacent buildings; in each fort, except for Dresen, you can build only one;
• Watchtower: Grants all allied units in the fort's area of ​​control a +1 bonus to attack, defense, saving throws, and initiative.
• Scouts' Headquarters: Grants all allied units in the fort's area of ​​control a +1 speed bonus, a +10 morale bonus, and a +4 initiative bonus; the effects of several scout headquarters are not cumulative;
• Saboteurs' Headquarters: Gives all enemy units in the fort's zone of control a -1 speed penalty, -10 morale penalty, and -4 initiative penalty; effects are not cumulative.
• Teleportation Circle: Allows the commander's group to teleport to this fort from anywhere on the map.
• Hospital (Hospital): gives all generals a bonus + 5% to the size of the hospital;
• Alchemist's Laboratory: gives all generals a +10 bonus to energy;
• Hall of Strategy: Gives all generals a +1 bonus to attack, defense, and strength.

Who are the leaders (generals) of the armies. What are they needed for

While an army can fight on its own, its efficiency can be greatly improved by purchasing and appointing a leader (general). As with regular hiring, financial resources must be spent. Army leaders earn experience after each victory won and can unlock useful traits (skills) to strengthen the army. Generals are also able to cast spells to injure an enemy or raise the fallen.

Leader skills:

• Leadership: the morale of the army is considered 10 units higher per rank during combat;
• Pathfinding: all units in the army receive +1 to maneuver, and the army regains another 10 movement points every day (per rank);
• Traveler: the army regains 10 additional movement points every day for the level of this skill (per rank);
• Defensive Training: All units in the army receive a +1 defense bonus; the army gains a +1 bonus to saving throw during combat, which greatly increases the chance to take a more advantageous position (per rank);
• Intimidation: the morale of all enemy units is reduced by 10 per level of this skill;
• Offensive Training: all units in the army receive a +1 bonus to their attack for each level of this skill;
• Curse (Bane): all units of the enemy army receive a -1 penalty to their attack; the curse dissipates the blessing;
• Blessing (Bless): all allied units receive a +1 bonus to their attack; the blessing dispels the curse;
• Cause Fear: reduces the morale of the target unit;
• Healing wounds (Cure Wounds): restores the health of the unit; can return dead creatures to a unit, but cannot be applied to a destroyed unit;
• Heroism: target unit gains +2 attack bonus and recovers morale;
• Shield of Faith: Target unit gains a defense bonus.

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The strategic mechanics of the Crusade add variety to the well-established Pathfinder system. Do not be too lazy to delve into all the features and get a lot of interesting situations where you will have to show yourself not only as a smart diplomat, but also as a far-sighted commander.