Is Total War: Warhammer 1 Beginner Friendly?
Yes, Total War: Warhammer 1 is an excellent entry point into the vast world of Warhammer fantasy strategy, even for complete newcomers to the genre. While it has a steep initial learning curve, the game provides accessible factions, difficulties, and tools to smoothly onboard those willing to learn.
Learning Curve and Gameplay Complexity
Make no mistake – mastering Total War: Warhammer is no small feat. As PC Gamer puts it:
"There’s a lot to Total War: from economy to army composition to diplomacy. Throw Warhammer’s dwarfs, vampiric counts, and gibbering hordes into the mix and the resulting cocktail is intoxicatingly complex. No wonder so many find Total War: Warhammer’s campaign overwhelming."
You need to balance building construction, research trees, economy, army recruitment and management, diplomacy, espionage, and province control – in addition to controlling spectacular real-time battles. That breadth of strategic choice is incredibly rewarding, but has a learning cliff that intimidates new players.
However, according to Polygon the Warhammer series stands out as:
"uniquely great at easing players into its many complex, interconnected systems without ever limiting the potential complexity on offer."
While complex overall, Total Warhammer succeeds at making that complexity manageable for newcomers. Let‘s explore why:
Difficulty Settings
Total War: Warhammer features five difficulty levels, ranging from Easy to Legendary. This way, whether or not you have previous experience with Total War games and other strategy games, you can play the game you want to, be it easy to approach or extremely challenging.
Table 1: Difficulty Settings and Effects
| Difficulty | Campaign Effects | Battle Effects |
|---|---|---|
| Easy | Faster growth and tech research; reduced upkeep costs | Player morale boosts; AI morale/leadership penalties |
| Normal | Balanced campaign pacing and costs | – |
| Hard | Slower growth and tech research; increased upkeep | AI melee attack/defense bonuses |
| Very Hard | Severely reduced growth/research; high upkeep | Additional AI bonuses |
| Legendary | Extreme campaign challenge | Extreme AI bonuses |
With abundant settings to fine-tune the experience, Warhammer 1 checks the box for approachability through raw accessibility options.
Beginner-Friendly Faction Choice
While some races like the undead Vampire Counts have complex corruption and bloodline mechanics, others offer more straightforward, beginner-friendly playstyles. PC Gamer recommends The Empire in particular as:
"A well-rounded, versatile faction perfect for new players…a jack-of-all-trades roster and central starting position makes them superb for getting started."
Their defensible territory, balanced troop composition, and Imperial Authority mechanic easing confederation give a smooth onboarding campaign.
Dwarfs also rate highly as an introductory pick thanks to straightforward building chains, infantry-focused roster, and reduced cavalry micro-management. Their Book of Grudges quest-lines help guide expansion goals early on as well.
Early Game Expansion Goals
As YouTuber ItalianSpartacus excellently covers, early expansion in Total War: Warhammer should avoid drastic land grabs:
"New players have the tendency to want to expand way too quickly…they leave themselves overextended, their lands impossible to defend, and their armies out of position…Consolidate what you have first before moving on."
Instead, he recommends focusing on building up your starting province economically and technologically before pushing out. Secure your borders with allied factions or buffers between you and enemies. Sign non-aggression pacts to enable trade as well. This slower but steady start sets you up sustainably for the later stages.
Mid and Late Game Considerations
Once you‘ve established your core territory and rank 3/4 main settlement buildings, bringing nearby regions into the fold becomes advisable.
Be opportunistic and strike enemies when their armies are distracted elsewhere or recovering from a previous battle. Lightning strike skills for your lords let you pick apart enemy stacks one-by-one. Employ hammer and anvil tactics coordinating infantry lines, flanking cavary and missiles for best results.
Into the late game, focusing on researching top-tier troops, establishing rich trade networks, and building legendary lord items leads to mighty forces capable of steamrolling the opposition!
Helpful Resources In-Game and Online
You need not navigate Total War‘s steep learning curve alone. The game contains excellent assistant tools explaining core mechanics, from camera controls to managing provinces and everything in between. Reddit communities like /r/totalwar offer newcomer guides and build orders. Popular YouTubers like Zerkovich also host beginner-oriented content and playthroughs.
Leverage these exceptional community resources when hitting an obstacle, not if. We‘ve all been beginners once too!
Final Verdict: Start Your Conquest
While retaining incredible depth, Total War: Warhammer 1 takes commendable steps to smooth the onboarding process through difficulty settings, faction variety, pacing guidance, and robust learning tools.
Approach with an openness to failure and learning over rushing victories, and the game rewards you handsomely. Few titles can match the spectacle and strategy playing out vibrant fantasy battles with thousands of units clashing before your eyes. The time to lead mighty armies and build legendary empires is now!
