Immortal Empires is perhaps the biggest adaptation for the Warhammer Fantasy universe and in a game like Total War: Warhammer 3 nonetheless. This ambitious project will surely sate Warhammer fans and intimidate franchise newcomers due to its complexity and scope.

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Needless to say, it's not the friendliest introduction for newbies. There's a total of 86 playable factions (sub-factions included) in Immortal Empires in a campaign map so huge that even franchise veterans might find themselves dizzy just by looking at it. A few pointers are necessary, for that matter, in case things fall into chaos.

9 Don't Skip The Realms Of Chaos Campaign

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Speaking of Chaos, franchise newcomers will do well to avoid playing Immortal Empires until they've had a taste of the Total War and Warhammer Fantasy experience through the main campaign, which is the Realms of Chaos story. It's a more familiar setting complete with tutorials and an on-rails story.

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Whereas Immortal Empires is just one huge sandbox where players can do whatever they want. Think of the main campaign as an extended tutorial so that newbie players can familiarize themselves with the mechanics and faction interactions.

8 Start With The Simple Factions

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Even then, players will still want to be careful with which factions they pick. Some factions start surrounded by enemies while others are a little too intricate for newcomers. To stay on the safe side, beginners will want to start with these factions:

  • Grand Cathay
  • High Elves (Tyrion)
  • Vampire Counts (Helman Ghorst)
  • Greenskins (Skarsnik)
  • Lizardmen (Nakai The Wanderer)
  • Skaven (Ikit Claw)

Others have mechanics that are a bit too advanced for a smooth first faction or have too many enemies around them. If beginners want to avoid frustration and feeling lost, these factions will provide some figurative training wheels.

7 Don't Overextend/Overexpand

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One of the earliest mistakes that even veterans tend to commit in a Total War campaign is expanding too much and too fast. Having a big territory can be just as much a liability as it is a success. That means players will have to defend a bigger territory and might waste too much time playing whack-a-mole with invading armies.

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This is an annoying affair since the enemy AI tends to abuse raiding and fast march stances, leading to some wasted turns trying to chase them. Hence, painting the map with one's own colors is best reserved for more experienced players.

6 Set Up Chokepoints

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If players must expand fast (either to secure provinces or to obtain more income), then they should at least be strategic about it. Chokepoints are areas on the campaign map where there's only one entry or exit point. This way, players usually only need to anticipate threats in just one direction.

The best examples are the mountains in the south of Grand Cathay's starting region. They only have mountain pass areas as traversable paths. These regions initially belong to the Ogre Kingdoms, however, but that's a good incentive to wage war with them as Grand Cathay.

5 Avoid War On Multiple Fronts

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In addition to being conservative with taking territories, players will also want to make sure to avoid stepping on too many toes. Being at war with too many factions means multiple sources of threats and armies surrounding one's territory.

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In real life, a country starting wars on multiple fronts almost always loses (like Germany during WW2). The same logic applies here. Players might need to broker a peace treaty with their current enemy or finish a war before starting another. Otherwise, the armies will be stretched too thin.

4 Check The Faction Politics

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Politics in Total War: Warhammer 3 is easier and more accessible than ever before. Still, players will need to be aware of their allies' requests. They might have brokered a non-aggression pact with a certain faction only for their ally to request players to join the war with the aforementioned faction.

Accepting that request means betraying the non-aggression pact, tanking the player's reliability rating. Also, players will want to check a faction's friends and enemies before declaring war with them as this might erode some alliances or further worsen relations with potential enemies. Simply clicking the enemy icon will show who they're at war or allies with.

3 Auto-Resolve Is Usually Inaccurate

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When it comes to fighting battles, controlling the army and fighting it manually is more rewarding and will yield better results compared to just clicking "auto-resolve." Sadly, this has been a problem with previous Total War games, and it got carried over here.

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The auto-resolve AI is wildly inaccurate most of the time with predictions and can lead to more casualties than usual or some lopsided victories or defeats. So for battles that look evenly matched or even some losing battles, players will be rewarded more by manually fighting the enemy.

2 Prioritize The Blue Skill Branch For Lords

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As for building up lords and Legendary Lords, it's best to ignore their combat abilities and prioritize the blue skill tree first. It's usually the one at the bottom, starting with "Route Marcher." This skill tree or branch offers massive campaign map and logistical improvements. The most important skills to grab in this branch are anything with:

  • Casualty Replenishment
  • Upkeep Reduction
  • Plus Campaign Movement
  • Lightning Strike
  • Attrition Reduction

Those nodes ensure that the army stays in top fighting shape as often as possible. Lightning Strike is incredibly crucial when fighting multiple enemy armies. After grabbing the important skills in the blue branch, players can focus on the spells and the battle skills or passives.

1 Focus On Securing Whole Provinces

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If players want to avoid some territory headaches such as rebellions and limited buildings, then expanding to complete the provinces is a good mini-goal during wars. Clicking on settlements thankfully shows which other settlements they need in order to become a whole province.

The benefits of securing a whole province are substantial for the economy and do wonders for curbing rebellions. For most of the factions, this methodical method of expansion should be how players handle their aggression against enemy factions. Save the mindless pillaging and burning for the angrier demon factions later on. There's plenty of time for that in Immortal Empires.

Total War: Warhammer 3 is available on PC.

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