No books
Posted: Thu Mar 13, 2008 7:55 pm
Ah yes - the myrran, alchemy, warlord, channeler, famous, charismatic setup. This is the hardest setup, I think. I won a game with the trolls after 3 losses, lost 3 or 4 with beastmen, and Im now going for the draconian. And its a bitch.
The problem with the trolls was movement, and with the dracos its a lack of melee power - when you have no spells you gain a new respect for some previously easy foes (like earth elementals). Ranged units are key, as are pathfinding/mountaineer/wind walk heroes. Taking nodes/lairs/ruins is harder of course, but not that much. Fighting a wizard with 150+ skill is a hateful affair however. Have never lost so many games as with this setup, so its a blast for me. I keep thinking if I can just find ONE book in time, then I will rule like a god, but it hasnt happened yet - I keep finding all the arcane spells in lairs too fast, so am forced to research the SOM, and THEN i find a book - arrggghhh. Great setup for the strategic side of play though - terrain becomes much more important, as does everything that affects your troops (deposits, food, corruption, etc) - since you will have ONLY regular troops. Draco bowmen + drakes seem to be working so far, but I thought that about minotaurs/preists and they failed me miserably. One thing is for sure - you will be USING heroes in this setup, as they are the only way to cast spells and improve movement. Too bad you cannot protect them from enemy wizards (bring shamans and priests for the AI to kill , or kiss that hero goodbye). Different kind of game - very hard to predict fights with other wizards when you have no magic......
Edit: Much easier when you refrain from taking any ruins and instead just
grind the nodes down with halberdiers/bowmen (takes a lot of em though ). With all those retorts, once you get any books at all you become a deadly force. I read where Implode said he just built 9 war trolls and never lost a fight - I have not found this to be the usual case. Paladins and griffins murder them, and elite pikemen are actually an even fight vs elite war trolls. The AI makes a lot of pikemen. Iron Nature nodes are definitely the easiest (no flyers usually), and of course the sky drakes are the worst, but as long as you get an armsmaster hero (so you can quickly level up your troops to ultra-elite), you can piecemeal-kill about anything. Draconians are definitely the easiest race for this - not only the movement but the ability to hit drakes with cheap foot troops is priceless. 3 ultra-elite doom drakes or halberdiers can take a drake (usually), so figure a couple stacks for the average sorcery node. Fun game type, very different from the usual. Defending cities is the hardest part, since the AI can send just a couple units and flamestrike/call lightning/confusion/wrack your entire garrison to death without breaking a sweat. You will fear the chaos wizards o yes....
The problem with the trolls was movement, and with the dracos its a lack of melee power - when you have no spells you gain a new respect for some previously easy foes (like earth elementals). Ranged units are key, as are pathfinding/mountaineer/wind walk heroes. Taking nodes/lairs/ruins is harder of course, but not that much. Fighting a wizard with 150+ skill is a hateful affair however. Have never lost so many games as with this setup, so its a blast for me. I keep thinking if I can just find ONE book in time, then I will rule like a god, but it hasnt happened yet - I keep finding all the arcane spells in lairs too fast, so am forced to research the SOM, and THEN i find a book - arrggghhh. Great setup for the strategic side of play though - terrain becomes much more important, as does everything that affects your troops (deposits, food, corruption, etc) - since you will have ONLY regular troops. Draco bowmen + drakes seem to be working so far, but I thought that about minotaurs/preists and they failed me miserably. One thing is for sure - you will be USING heroes in this setup, as they are the only way to cast spells and improve movement. Too bad you cannot protect them from enemy wizards (bring shamans and priests for the AI to kill , or kiss that hero goodbye). Different kind of game - very hard to predict fights with other wizards when you have no magic......
Edit: Much easier when you refrain from taking any ruins and instead just
grind the nodes down with halberdiers/bowmen (takes a lot of em though ). With all those retorts, once you get any books at all you become a deadly force. I read where Implode said he just built 9 war trolls and never lost a fight - I have not found this to be the usual case. Paladins and griffins murder them, and elite pikemen are actually an even fight vs elite war trolls. The AI makes a lot of pikemen. Iron Nature nodes are definitely the easiest (no flyers usually), and of course the sky drakes are the worst, but as long as you get an armsmaster hero (so you can quickly level up your troops to ultra-elite), you can piecemeal-kill about anything. Draconians are definitely the easiest race for this - not only the movement but the ability to hit drakes with cheap foot troops is priceless. 3 ultra-elite doom drakes or halberdiers can take a drake (usually), so figure a couple stacks for the average sorcery node. Fun game type, very different from the usual. Defending cities is the hardest part, since the AI can send just a couple units and flamestrike/call lightning/confusion/wrack your entire garrison to death without breaking a sweat. You will fear the chaos wizards o yes....