Grexolis...

[Phoenix]

Edit:
Thanks for the replies. Nothing works, I am done. Uninstalled. This is only frustrating me and I don't play games to get frustrated.

So... are you supposed to get absolutely stomped around turn ~40 by stacks and stacks of 1000+ strength armies? There is literally no way for me to beat this stupid story mission, I keep getting absolutely molested, even on easy.

Things I have tried:
Above ground:
- Last atttempt: Barbarians, trying to expand and continously makes armies: get's murdered at turn 30
- Frost mages: nope, they just get insta killed by his units.

Various attempts starting underground:
- Trying magic victory, as some have suggested: But get murdered around turn 60 by 18 stacks of 1000+ armies, consisting of dragons, T4 angels etc.
- New Eldritch lord: yea, no, absolutely worthless, gets murdered super fast too.

I usually use the buff that spawns magic minions (mirror?), that way you can at least have a little bit of repouc per killed unit.

I have never encountered something *this* broken in gaming... on EASY!
Is there a trick to beating this stupid mission or is it just broken beyond belief?

I come from CiV (5 and 6) and I can beat Deity there without too mush hassle.
The previous story missions where very doable and manageble, but in this one... I simply can't create an army that is capable of withstanding this spam of endgame tier units.

Any tips and tricks that might help beat this one, I am at a loss...

[aclyte]

A bit of luck involved there, unfortunately.
Angel guy is very powerful indeed and it's almost impossible to beat him at start so your #1 priority to not aggro his main armies and try to expand.
Probably i should replay it in current patch - maybe it's much more harder now than on release with all this AI buffs and improvements.

[Phoenix]

Originally posted by aclyte:

A bit of luck involved there, unfortunately.
Angel guy is very powerful indeed and it's almost impossible to beat him at start so your #1 priority to not aggro his main armies and try to expand.
Probably i should replay it in current patch - maybe it's much more harder now than on release with all this AI buffs and improvements.

It's insane!

I feel it goes against the idea of 4X, as you can't really Expand, as it'll leave you too spread out and he will just take your cities/outpost.
Explore, sorta works until he slaughters your poor scout.
Which leads to issues with Exploit, as there isn't much to do so xD

[aclyte]

But maybe it's the point of story realms (and "campaign" in games in general) - to give you "non usual" challenges.
So if you want to play "typical" 4X - you just play custom maps but in story realms you are put in non-equal conditions and have to think your way out of it.

As i remember i just tried to found new cities in opposite side of angel guy and after maybe turn 30-40 i finally had 1-2 stacks powerful enough to at least defend against his "roaming" stacks.

In general, you have to survive first 50 turns and build your economy - after that you should be able to build army strong enough to oppose angel guy or other leaders.

[TriumphJordi]

It's probably a bit of scuffed priorities. Turiel will be your biggest problem early on, his angels are weak to Blight and Frost Damage, so focusing on those two damage types will prove beneficial. Nimue's Ritual is similarly a strong help as the Armies you get have some overlap there and have Morale reductions. They're also more reliable than the Mirror Curse as they get summoned at your Throne City instead of all over the map.

Early on I'd rush down his Vassal cities so you don't get overwhelmed and have switched his defences to yours.

[Niko]

I just finished it the other day on Hard, some things that helped me:

- Get some kind of camouflage for your scouts, so you can explore without getting killed in the early game. I went with Forest Camouflage from Sylvan Wolf Primal culture, so my scouts were able to hide in the forests.
- Expand immediately! Space is limited, so you need to grab the valuable resources around you asap. I actually restarted the game once, because I took too long and everything was already taken.
- Don't engage the angel guy directly in the early game. Instead post bounties, so your allies attack him, keep him occupied and his armies smaller.

Imo it's all about having a good start, and distracting the angel guy until you're ready to engage him.

[Phoenix]

Originally posted by TriumphJordi:

It's probably a bit of scuffed priorities. Turiel will be your biggest problem early on, his angels are weak to Blight and Frost Damage, so focusing on those two damage types will prove beneficial. Nimue's Ritual is similarly a strong help as the Armies you get have some overlap there and have Morale reductions. They're also more reliable than the Mirror Curse as they get summoned at your Throne City instead of all over the map.

Early on I'd rush down his Vassal cities so you don't get overwhelmed and have switched his defences to yours.

Thanks!
I am now trying with goblin shamans ;P
Goblins with stench + poisonous, the idea being if he slaps my guys, his guys will (hopefully) take a lot of damage too.

So far so good, turn 21 ish :)

Originally posted by aclyte:

But maybe it's the point of story realms (and "campaign" in games in general) - to give you "non usual" challenges.
So if you want to play "typical" 4X - you just play custom maps but in story realms you are put in non-equal conditions and have to think your way out of it.

As i remember i just tried to found new cities in opposite side of angel guy and after maybe turn 30-40 i finally had 1-2 stacks powerful enough to at least defend against his "roaming" stacks.

In general, you have to survive first 50 turns and build your economy - after that you should be able to build army strong enough to oppose angel guy or other leaders.

I love challenge modes! It's why I still replay CnC Zero hour! It's so unique to be in a tough spot and work your way out. But this one is *rough*, even on easy!

Originally posted by Niko:

I just finished it the other day on Hard, some things that helped me:

- Get some kind of camouflage for your scouts, so you can explore without getting killed in the early game. I went with Forest Camouflage from Sylvan Wolf Primal culture, so my scouts were able to hide in the forests.
- Expand immediately! Space is limited, so you need to grab the valuable resources around you asap. I actually restarted the game once, because I took too long and everything was already taken.
- Don't engage the angel guy directly in the early game. Instead post bounties, so your allies attack him, keep him occupied and his armies smaller.

Imo it's all about having a good start, and distracting the angel guy until you're ready to engage him.

Ohhh bounties... good idea! Haven't really dabbled in those too much (yet)

[Green Raven]

I won with a full on frost mage build. White Witches from the Tome of Cryomancy led the way to victory.

Important: Dont choose Yaka's fire support magic; it'll interfere with your ability to freeze the enemy.

[Phoenix]

And got instant murdered again at ~turn 50, where he shows up with a full stack of 1000+ armies, kills my capital + leader. What is this!?

https://imgur.com/a/qtdwzBP

On EASY mind you... "an easy and forgiving experience for newcomers"?

[Green Raven]

I also spam summoned Frost Elementals. Every turn, sending in another frost elemental, while the White Witches trained at every city.

[Pantagruel]

Originally posted by Phoenix:

On EASY mind you... "an easy and forgiving experience for newcomers"?

The way difficulty works in AoW4 is kind of odd, because it affects world difficulty as well as enemy AI difficulty, and high world difficulty is bad for the AI factions, and also has a side effect of there being less experience available on the map, meaning your heroes are lower level.

[Midas]

I just played reavers and went super aggro on turiel while my allies fought off the other godir.

[titanopteryx]

I forget the mission names, is this the final story mission in the vanilla story missions? One thing you can do to defend an underground throne city is park 3 armies on and next to the entrance to the surface. The opponent armies should try to come through 1 at a time and you eliminate each one 3v1. Though I don't remember if that's what i did. i did this mission before they changed the magic difficulty and just made 3 cities in the initial cavern and turtled my way to a magic victory. Can't do that anymore.

[Saxon]

Grexolis is my fantasy Stalingrad. So many of my armies have gone to ♥♥♥♥ there because of angel guy.

[Sifer2]

Surprised some people say not to engage the Angelic Orc immediately. That's kind of the key to victory. You want to hit his vassal cities early then keep that momentum, and hit him hard after that. His other 3 allies are not that big of a threat unless they spawn right next to you. Like was mentioned you want to focus on Frost/Blight damage since all the angelic armies are weak to it. If you ignore the Orc though then you end up in the situation of the TC where eventually he is going to come for you with doom stacks.

[Cindeerella]

Originally posted by Phoenix:

And got instant murdered again at ~turn 50, where he shows up with a full stack of 1000+ armies, kills my capital + leader. What is this!?

https://imgur.com/a/qtdwzBP

On EASY mind you... "an easy and forgiving experience for newcomers"?

Honestly doesn’t look scary at if THIS is stack with his rulers. His army looks pretty weak, the reason why y lost - you had no heroes in your stacks. 2 heroes with blight heavy magelock and celestial slayer (if you would be lucky with materials) would kill 4 his units per turn. He alao isn’t mystic and isn’t Astral, so his spells sucks.

I’m planning to replay mission on hard again in future, will see what is this will be.