Considering that the "end-game crisis" occurs between 80-100 of in-game days, it definitely takes much longer than 10 hours. I guess you could hit it at around 30 hours, but then I'd assume your band to be unprepared to handle it, since it would suggest you did not aggressively pursue either contract or exploration battles.

I guess that's just the nature of procgen games - sooner or later "new" things will run out.

Although there are quite a lot of different contract types, and they are further varied by enemies you'll encounter (which ties to both contract difficulty and game progression).

To be honest, I've never seen it that way. More like soft-cap on your ability to access more difficult content.

You can still easily explore within a few days' range from settlements (assuming, of course, that you are already past the early-days "must get money to feed everybody and repair things and equip them a bit better and oh I'm out of money and food" trap :)

Considering that exploration was already better rewarded than contracts even without the DLC, I would switch to it between 30-40 days in (or, if RNGesus was with me, in mid-20s on occasion). Anything close to settlements was usually pretty low-level in terms of enemies, anyway. I usually end up looking for and raiding bandit camps to get Mail for my brothers, especially since Worn Mail is unlikely to be found in stores, and works quite well as mid-level armor for ranged support types.

But it's not entirely "blind" exploration, either. I generally go by rumors, or do a short sweep through wilderness if I see several bandit groups roaming about.

I've restarted the game after installing the DLC and played it for 10 hours. You're right, you don't reach endgame in 10 hours (I'm on day ~35), but I'm at a point where I already visited all towns and it starts feeling swallow because I figured out what to do and now it's just running around trying to get more money to be able to get better equip.

I never really explored outside contracts because I thought I need the money more than rare equip, but since you're saying it's more rewarding, I guess I should give it a try.

So far not too fond of the DLC though. The Alps and Hexen enemies seem to be outright impossible to beat (Alps just make all my characters fall asleep and die before I even get anywhere close to them and the Hexen converts my allies so they fight each other, blocking me from advancing and guaranteeing at least some character deaths), so it's just two events I just run from.

Eh... it's kind of like saying after you visit for the first time all the settlements in Warband the game becomes stale.

It can be disastrous to blindly explore early on. Use tavern rumors, and hightened enemy presence as an indicator of area worth exploring. Don't go further than 1 day worth of travel time.

Bandit camps make great targets, though. I wouldn't go after anything else but some weiders or easy undead locations, though - and anything further away from settlements will have higher difficulty.

It's not about unique equips, though, it's simply the fact that the combination of sellable gear and reasonably easy enemies makes for that much more gold infusion.

I'm pretty sure both will see some kind of balancing patch - you are hardly the only person who thinks their abilities are far too overpowered. Hopefully sometime soon.

I think it's just fine as it is, no rebalancing required.

From my experience with Alps and Hexen so far (on Veteran difficulty) it all comes down to having at least 50 or close to 50 Resolve on everyone in the company (for decent odds to either completely withstand or shorten the duration of the abilities' effects) and smart positioning.

In both cases I found that splitting the company into smaller groups (two or, at most three) and then slowly but steadily work your way towards the Alps or Hexen always resulted in an acceptable outcome. With, in the worst case scenario 1 or 2 casualties (mostly new recruits with low Resolve, go figure) but hey, that's Battle Brothers.

You could always resort to getting dogs on everyone in the company but that's just too cheap for me personally.

Dogs don't work for Hexen as the Dogs will go for your turned party members.

Does the Sergeant help against Alps and Hexen? He is the only character I usually raise Resolve on. I guess I should put more into resolve in the future (so melee attack, fatigue and resolve on all melee characters?).

If the Resolve bonus is applicable, it affects any "vs resolve" abilities, including sleep and charm.

Huh. How did you handle Geists (or Ancient Priests) before the DLC if you left Resolve untouched?

Running battles without morale bonus (or just penalty negation) completely aside.

Never fought those. I followed the Beginner's Guide (so selected War as disaster as suggested) and did only contracts when I played last time. I hardly ever encountered undead. Sometimes goblins and orcs, but mostly humans.

With the DLC I decided to give it another try, but first need to figure out how to play it so it doesn't feel so repetitive. I'll try exploring more now.

Can't help you there, I strictly run campaigns without sergeants, because having one doesn't fit my idea of a mercenary company exclusively consisting of dishonourable rejects of society who don't accept anyone leading them. Yes, there are actually people playing Battle Brothers primarily for the roleplaying part.

That's also why I always focus on getting Resolve to at least 50 on everybody as soon as possible. And it pays off, now more than ever.

I found that good spacing (ideally more than four tiles, but two can suffice) in fast advancing skirmish line took care of one Hexe and one charmed Unhold. Enveloping and surrounding both monsters, and in case of Hexe approaching her from different directions, does the job. If you have enough brothers, that is. I would send ideally four at Hexe and six at Unhold. Less would be too risky. Swift action is the key. If a brother is charmed, outrun him, or approach him with another brother, preferably with shield – the rest can advance and promptly dispatch the witch.