'Growing Strong' is ridiculous

[Ironsabbath88]

Seriously. Has anybody done this challenge pretty successfully? If so, what was your strategy for this stupid challenge?

I've even tried completely wiping out the Lannisters and taking Lannisport, the problem is either I don't have enough influence to bid on anything so I get hosed on all the tracks or I don't have enough supply to successfully recruit all the land units and to make matters worse, the Tyrell lands are AWFUL for gaining more influence and Martell starts off easily able to muster a ton of units and dominate you no problem down south. The AI also NEVER picks to update supply so if that card never shows up or that option is never picked, well tough luck for you, good luck recruiting any units.

Annoying, to say the least.

[sergselin]

I managed this one today from 3rd attempt, my strategy was to start conservatively and collect barrels to ensure that later I could nuster enough troops, then after round 4 started expanding. I got myself high on KC track and tried to use special consolidate order every round, but I should say you have to be also a bit lucky to draw mustering and supply cards in right order.

[holy-death]

Originally posted by Ironsabbath88:

Seriously. Has anybody done this challenge pretty successfully? If so, what was your strategy for this stupid challenge?

General guide (or "How I did it"):

1) Ignore Starks and Greyjoys.

2) Get a Footman to Old Town and get him out. Early on you don't have Consolidate Power Special Order, so you will have to rely on Muster to happen anyway.

3) Sending 1 Footman to The Arbor is adviseable, because it's a safe way of farming Power from there.

4) Get Siege Tower and keep it rolling between The Reach, King's Landing, Crackclaw Point and Harrenhal. And I mean it literally. As long as it attacks it's at strength 4, and you will benefit from any Muster that will happen.

5) Holding Prince's Pass is good way to keep Martell contained.

6) Take King's Landing with your Siege Tower. It's worth it. Look point 3).

7) Consider pushing Baratheon out of Shipbreaker Bay, so he can't ride and your ships in Blackwater Bay will safely support EVERY surrounding area (King's Landing, Crackclaw Point and Shipbreaker Bay) from that point on. My advice would be to start with 2 ships after you take King's Landing with your first Siege Tower.

8) After you capture King's Landing you can get your Siege Tower to The Eyrie (through Crackclaw Point) and go back to plan in point 3). Just keep rolling. Starks ignore the Narrow Sea in my experience, so having an extra safe keep goes a long way in helping you fulfill the victory condition.

9) Try not to lose battles when enemies have swords. You can lose battles, but you generally can't afford to lose troops as such.

10) Do count points before battles (including Fiefdom advantage and the Valyrian Sword). It's very important to leverage anything you can when making plans. On that note the Queen of Thorns can be very useful card when enemy has high-value support from somewhere, since she can cancel that order during the battle. Or - if enemy has no swords left - she can cancel another order.

11) Get lucky. Yes. It took me 7 or so attempts to win this scenario. It's one of the three hardest scenarios in my opinion - although arguably the easiest one - (the others are Death Marches and Capture Winterfell).

[Gut]

Good advises above.

On my side I managed to achieve it after several attempts. Sometimes I lost it in the last round due to the CP forbid event, or because I had only one muster event happening (!). I finally did it going full scale on the Martels and obliterating them, but it was not easy and I needed all the 10 rounds to achieve the 15 units.

Growing Strong is not an easy one, the rng can litteraly screws you, but it is a good one, espescially for new players as it forces them to learn how to optimize muster and supply.

[WorldWielder]

Yes, this challenge is ridiculous and depends a lot on luck....If you dont draw supply or muster you can't effectively grow your army.

***One thing I notice is that the other houses seem to generate a fair amount of Power. Any suggestions on to get more power other than strategically placing raids and consolidate....Is there any other way to generate/steal power - Holding the Iron Throne an other influence tracks allow you to choose mustering or supply when those cards are drawn.

I'm on my 8th attempt still havent got it lol - keep getting 13.....so close

[holy-death]

Originally posted by christopher.macdonald:

***One thing I notice is that the other houses seem to generate a fair amount of Power. Any suggestions on to get more power other than strategically placing raids and consolidate....Is there any other way to generate/steal power - Holding the Iron Throne an other influence tracks allow you to choose mustering or supply when those cards are drawn.

There are two event cards for generating Power.

1) Game of Thrones event card - Each player collects one Power for each Power icon on an area he controls and each controlled Port without an adjacent enemy ship (the second part is bugged at the moment though, so ships in ports don't give you Power yet).

2) Dark Wings, Dark Words event card - the current holder of the Raven can pick option b), which states "everyone collects one Power token for every power icon present in areas they control".

Big part of why Power is scarce is because Power is always in use (bidding, the Wildlings' attacks, maintaining control in areas with no troops), but the AI very rarely takes option b) for Dark Wings, Dark Words event, even if nobody has much/any Power left.

It really likes to spam option a) (bidding for influence tracks) and very rarely it picks c) (nothing happens). I think in all my time I saw the AI pick option b) maybe once.

[Ironsabbath88]

Thanks for the tips.

I'm sure I'll hit this eventually it's just frustrating as hell. I got 14 out of 15 in the final round but that's the closest I've come.

[leonardonabreu]

Got it on 3rd try, end up with 17/15 thanks to a Muster card when I was sitting on 7 or 8 castles. I left Martell alone and took over the middle of the map. I believe I had Highgarden, Oldtown, Reach, Lannisport, Riverun, Harrenhal, Crackclaw and Kingslanding by the end (not sure about Riverun).
Took some tries to get the capture ports right as well, and have still to win the Wildfire tokens one, the last Baratheon, and the Greyjoy that I have not tried yet.

[Ironsabbath88]

Originally posted by leonardonabreu:

Took some tries to get the capture ports right as well, and have still to win the Wildfire tokens one, the last Baratheon, and the Greyjoy that I have not tried yet.

See, I got that wildfire one easily on my second try.

Anyways, I finally got this challenge done last night. It took a lot of luck. I ended up taking Lannisport and completely dominating the left side of the map.

[Usher]

this was relatively easy for me. I ignored water supremacy and stayed with 1 ship unit. quickly expanded towards Kings landing, secured 5 barrels so i could have units in armies of
4
3
2
2
2
1
1
and that's it, you have 15 units within just 7 regions. Of course, you have to be lucky with mustering and have at least one starred order is a must to keep mustering units in Oldtown and Highgarden alternatively. You can ignore the iron throne and fiefdoms completely.
One more thing, avoid siege units here. They die too easily.

[OldManBoom]

I did it after 4 or 5 attempts. My advice would be that Tyrell has really good, untouchable support points for pushing out. One knight supporting from three towers will stop Martell trying anything against princes pass or dornish marshes. A knight in highgarden will stop anyone trying anything against dornish marshes, the reach or searoad marches. Advance and support most turns where possible, using 1's or 2's supported by 1's for defence to slowly eat up lanister and baratheon territory whilst staying spread out enough to muster enough single units to win.


Like I say, it took me 4 or 5 goes so you also need favourable Westeros cards to come out, but it's doable. One of my favourite challenges actually because it's tricky.

[Darq_Amin]

Don't muster too many ships. My first time I did that and it took up my army space. Just play conservatively at start, get enough supply and territory, and keep using consolidate * every turn once you are able to use it.

[WorldWielder]

Originally posted by Usher:

this was relatively easy for me. I ignored water supremacy and stayed with 1 ship unit. quickly expanded towards Kings landing, secured 5 barrels so i could have units in armies of
4
3
2
2
2
1
1
and that's it, you have 15 units within just 7 regions. Of course, you have to be lucky with mustering and have at least one starred order is a must to keep mustering units in Oldtown and Highgarden alternatively. You can ignore the iron throne and fiefdoms completely.
One more thing, avoid siege units here. They die too easily.

Followed this strat and was victorious with 16 units on turn 6 no problem - first try!

**Don't bother with ships and snatch Blackwater with the two barrels ASAP

[Ironsabbath88]

Originally posted by FROST01:

Originally posted by Usher:

this was relatively easy for me. I ignored water supremacy and stayed with 1 ship unit. quickly expanded towards Kings landing, secured 5 barrels so i could have units in armies of
4
3
2
2
2
1
1
and that's it, you have 15 units within just 7 regions. Of course, you have to be lucky with mustering and have at least one starred order is a must to keep mustering units in Oldtown and Highgarden alternatively. You can ignore the iron throne and fiefdoms completely.
One more thing, avoid siege units here. They die too easily.

Followed this strat and was victorious with 16 units on turn 6 no problem - first try!

**Don't bother with ships and snatch Blackwater with the two barrels ASAP

Yeah Lannisport has two barrels as well AND a stronghold so if you can hold it it's great for completing this challenge. It also cripples the Lannisters a lot and they're one of your biggest threats along with Martell.

[leonardonabreu]

Got the wildfire one last night on the last turn. Almost won the capture winterfell, but miscalculated, and on my 7th castle move... I had no power to keep the eyrie as I moved away. Now I’m in the middle of a 3rd or 4th try. Tried a couple of times the last Baratheon one, I think that may be the hardest one? With the isolated Dragonstone and Storms End.

[Artanis]

Made it from the 2nd attempt. Also tried not to mess up with Martells. It wasn't very difficult. I remember taking King's Landing, that's for sure. Pushed Lannisters out of the way. I even managed to build 3 ships.
Dead Marches was much more challenging. It took me about 8 times to be lucky enough to finish it with more castles than other Houses (only 5) after defeating Wildlings. Mostly because of tricky positions of Baratheon forces. Sometimes I was able to take 7 castles but other Houses didn't really want to defeat Wildlings. Even managed to take Sunspear once beside taking Winterfell all the time. You'd better defeat Wildlings at their first assault when they are at 4. Later on you may fail the Night's Watch, but not as lowest bidder. It may even help sometimes to deal with your enemies when you leave them at the mercy of Wildlings depending on the consequences.
All other "challenges" were pretty easy to calculate. Completed from the 1st or 2nd attempt.
AI seems to be quite predictable. I won all skirmish games for each House from the 1st attempt on Medium difficulty. Easy-peasy. Hope that Hard difficulty really matches its name.