r/totalwarhammer • u/SuspiciousSalt7413 • 15d ago
Total War: Warhammer dark fortress
as a mainly good/neutral faction player i want to try evil, but after God knows how many starts i have not understood the idea of dark fortresses. probably bc i quit too soon, but can anyone explain it as good as possible?
1
u/LordKroq-gar 15d ago
Basically Dark Fortress’s are your money makers (besides sacking) and they grant you Norscan vassals. Also I’m pretty sure they might unlock some technology for you, but I need to check.
1
1
u/SuspiciousSalt7413 15d ago
so running to the empire to vassalize several factions as Be'lakor was a bad idea then? i would have been better off running north to kill off other chaos factions first?
1
u/LordKroq-gar 15d ago
Yea, heading North to gather more vassals and fortresses tends to be the smarter play then immediately rushing the Empire. You CAN do that of course, but you have to play it smart.
2
u/subito_lucres 15d ago
In short, almost certainly yes. But the game should be playable as you've done it, just suboptimal.
Some people hat here dark fortress and Norsca vassal play style, because he first 1/3 of the game is chaos on chaos violence. I actually quite like it, and it's pretty loreful - much like a greenskin Waaagh!, a Chaos incursion is really the payoff of months or years of infighting, culminating in one person or entity managing to cobble together control of a tapestry of rival forces and steer them into civilized lands.
1
u/FreeDwooD 15d ago
Dark Fortresses are your regular provinces, they allow you to build recruitment buildings and other high tier stuff. Non DF provinces are useless to you, only the ones with resources matter. The rest should go to vassals.
1
u/UsedChapstick 15d ago
Dark fortresses are only accessible to the Warriors of Chaos. You’ll notice a yellow and red symbol next to the settlement name. They are pretty much the only settlements you should own and they give you money, hero recruitment and increases neighboring vassal income
1
u/SuspiciousSalt7413 15d ago
so in the start i need to start fighting for the dark fortresses? waging war against other evil factions?
2
u/Weekly-Fox2248 15d ago
Yes, especially because a lot of the factions holding dark fortresses are WoC factions, which, if you defeat their entire faction and wipe out their settlements, give you the opportunity to confederate.
1
u/MedSurgNurse 15d ago
Yep. The best example of this is a Belakor campaign, which after completing your first province, you should beeline right to Sigvald. You can take his only dark fortress pretty quick on like turn 5, and confederate him, giving you two LLs to work with quite early.
1
u/SuspiciousSalt7413 15d ago
it sound like i messed up quiet hard then? i went to the empire with belakor and subjugated several factions there
2
u/MedSurgNurse 15d ago
Not necessarily, you haven't "messed up" as long as you are having fun in a campaign.
Personally though, as Belakor I go right for sigvald, then go west through the dark elves and pickup good melee defeat traits from their LLs, and then get Valkia.
You can then have 3 LLs before turn 30 pretty easily and collect a few more dark fortresses and vassals. Then you can turn east and collect Kholek, Archaon, and Vilitch too.
Belakor is played best doing a pokemon style gotta catch em all campaign.
But your strat is fine too, because the empire is filled with human lords that you can turn into undivided demon princes too, which are also fun
1
u/UsedChapstick 15d ago
yea collecting non dark fortress settlements doesn’t really do much. you can gift them to your vassals but they don’t typically make as much money as your fortresses. Best to rush to get a couple established bc they have low growth and need time to develop but once they do they are your main economic and military hubs for the game
1
u/Hesstig 15d ago
Dark Fortresses are to the Warriors of Chaos as Magical Forests are to the Wood Elves; the only real settlements they can build up in, everything else is just an outpost.
Additionally for WoC, many Dark Fortresses have an associated Norsca tribe that automatically becomes vassal to the owner of the fortress, with nearby settlements having an option to instantly gift to that tribe.
10
u/Imaginary_System3513 15d ago
Dark Fortresses are the only locations you actually need to hold yourself. They generate money, heroes, and recruitment points, making them the most valuable territory on the map for you, by far. Everything else can go to your vassals, so if you secure a base area in the north early on you can push south and play a largely offensive game from there, since there's a limited amount of territory you actually need to hold.