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I saved my game in the campaign a lot and reloaded a lot from earlier when things had gone badly wrong. Some missions i even restarted from the beginning - but i enjoyed it a lot
You certainly can't afford to be slow or mostly defensive in most of the campaign missions - you do have to be on the offensive to take several cities and found some more early on or else you're likely to lose.
Yes that is true - and that is the opposite from my normal playstyle :D But right now I see it in a random game as well - I have 2 cities permanently making Manticores and a great hero stack and now still the enemy AI spams me with Tier 4 units so I will eventually loose that scenario as well :D
This is definitely true for the campaigns, even more so for the DLC ones. It's a bit sad that the only viable playstyle is to learn the map (via cheats or playing through the level once) then restart with that knowledge and just rush him in order to have a chance. Otherwise, if you try to play "normally" the AI just steamrolls you. Also, any AI above Knight level gets bonuses to everything. For example, in the second mission of the halfling campaign, the one I couldn't pass no matter what, there are two King-level AIs who also start with more stuff than you. If you let them build up they become practically unbeatable.
That's basically what happened to me. I held on for a while, but eventually lost to nonstop spam of tier III and IV units from 2 separate sources. They were supposed to be at war with each other, but they were both attacking me and mostly ignoring each other. Funny, that.
Same as what a smart human would do. Except perhaps if you know you're edging out on the other strong guy, where you'd want to go his way and beat him up before he can absort the stuff of the smaller guy. If you don't know, get the smaller guy yourself.
The first part is definitely NOT true. You do not need prior knowledge to win the campaign. I have played all the campaigns in this game, some on release, some after the latest patches, most on hard difficulty, without any pre-knowledge, and in some cases without any prior experience with this game.
Early on, I had to reload a LOT because I kept getting my heroes killed. But other than that, I've never lost a map.
The difference? I'm a fairly aggressive player who keeps moving, a playstyle I adopted in earlier Age of Wonders games that suited me well here. Also, because of my familiarity with the earlier titles, I had an easier learning curve than some of you.
This depends on what you mean by playing "normally." I'd say it's impossible to win the game on harder difficulties if you waste time.
What is wasting time? Turns in which you do not do much of anything. Waiting around to heal. Moving around the map inefficiently. Not fighting treasure guards early enough. Not building enough roads and new cities. Not putting pressure on the enemy when they declare war.
A defensive playstyle in which you wait for the AI to attack you WILL fail, because the AI will only attack you once it's stronger than you.
It is quite possible to have a (somewhat) defensive playstyle in which you build the largest, strongest realm possible by expanding quickly into neutral territory, but you never attack the AI directly. On random maps with the Seals of Power victory condition you don't even need to attack the AI at all. (Though it definitely helps to NOT take the lead in seal-score early, as that'll make everyone gang up on you. Much smarter to let an AI take the lead and wait until everyone gangs up on THEM.)
This playstyle is possible in some campaign maps, though not others. I'd actually say it's easier in the Serpent River map (second Halfling campaign) than in the later original campaign scenarios, because you can have 3 cities by turn 5 (when your settlers reach the ruins) and you can use floating units to defend the rivers: Naga's swim, but Halflings don't, and will be easy pickings.
Yeah, fighting a two-front war is a losing proposition. And the AIs on this map have a hard time attacking one another, because there are impassable mountains between them.
I thought you said you'd beaten the Orc, though? Those same impassable mountains make it very easy to defend the Orc lands once you've taken them, and will get you the income you need to beat a King AI. Plus, once you move on the Orc land, you get a free stack of tier 2-3 troops including a Shadow Stalker. It's not just the AI who gets free troops out of nowhere sometimes. :-)
Anyway, like I mentioned a few posts back, I replayed the map recently, and indeed it wasn't really difficult at all - for me.
Why? As we discussed earlier, I explored the treasure sites early. This gave me a Summon Obsidian Dragon spell, as well as a Great Stoning spell and tons of free research so I could get my casting points up. This really made the big difference, as without it I would have needed a dozen more turns (easily) to get a much weaker army.
I first explored every treasure site around my starting position, and then encountered the Orcs around the point where I had two good stacks of troops, mostly apprentices and winged serpents, which together with those free reinforcements I mentioned were more than enough to beat the Orcs, who didn't have high tier units yet.
The halflings did indeed start to attack with Naga's and Gluttons around turn 30, but by that time I had many tier 3 and 4 units of my own, as well as Stunning apprentices. I lost a few cities here and there, but managed to take them back with summoned reinforcements.
At one point, I sent my leader with just one stack to attack the halflings, and she came across some 3 (not quite full-strength) stacks of tier 2-4 Naga units defending a city, which she beat, and then was attacked by 4 more stacks (again not quite full-strength) of mostly lower tier Halfling units which she ALSO beat, without suffering any casualties. Partially due to tactics, but in large part because my hero was level 12 with good spells and had a couple of dragons, winged serpents and that Shadow Stalker, all champion level.
Getting the dragon spell was definitely a stroke of luck, but the previous time I played the map I didn't get that, and so used other tools to win. It is quite possible. You just need to press the attack and make sure you have high quality troops to beat superior AI numbers.
Yeah, on my first attempt I beat the orc, but was still overwhelmed later by the other guy. Second attempt, I left the orc with 3 cities, which were somehow enough for him to spam full stacks of warbreeds and manticores every turn for the remainder of the game.
Just wondering, could you send me a savegame of the second mission at some point when you've started beating the AI? I'm genuinely curious as to how it can be done. Even better if it's on hard difficulty.
I played a few more turns of that game. This time I found a Fire Elemental summoning spell instead of an Obsidian Dragon, but that's not a problem since I like Fire Elementals much better. (Cheaper to summon, and they hit like a truck once they get gold medal and get Killing Momentum.) Naga's are fire resistant, which is a pity, but they were also resistant to the dragon's blight damage, so it all equals out.
The game I uploaded is turn 22. I have not yet started to beat the AI: in fact, I only just met them this very turn. (All three of them in the same turn, actually.)
The situation is as follows: You have 3 good cities producing Apprentices and Winged Serpents, as well as a small outpost I settled to the south that will eventually produce even better Apprentices. (But don't count on that happening in time to make a difference...)
I have researched a whole bunch of casting point upgrades, as well as the Stun ability and Phase ability for your apprentices. Not too many combat spells or summoning spells, since I found Great Stoning and Summon Fire Elemental in treasure sites and those are better than your own spells anyway.
I've summoned a bunch of Fire Elementals as well as a Wyvern mount for Ham. Ally is level 12 and has pretty good stats: use her to stun and spirit break the toughest enemy, but keep her out of harm's way. Ham is only level 8 (I think) which means you have a ways to go before he gets Divine Justiciars. (Everyone in his stack will become effectively immortal with that ablity.) Be sure to save up his skillpoints on level 10 so you can take it straight away on level 11. (It costs 10 skillpoints.)
At the time the savegame starts, you have a quest from the Naga dwelling to the south, which you ideally want to do... but the Orcs just declared war on you, which is more important.
You have two good stacks of Apprentices, Fire Elementals and Winged Serpents standing right at the borders of the Orc town.
If you attack the Orcs with these, take care not to lose any of these units if you can help it (they're all really good, and it should be quite doable to keep them all alive with Ham's and the serpents' healing) and keep building/summoning more, you should be able to take the Orcs out before turn 30. (Especially once those reinforcements showed up.) From there on out, the war against the Halflings should be very doable.
Just keep summoning Fire Elementals, and also more eggs. Ideally you want a gryphon for Ally. Gryphons are awesome. Oh, and cast Dread Omen on any city before you attack it. You have enough casting points to cast it in one turn.
Linky: https://we.tl/DRR4uFdWOK
Do note that the campaign is set to hard difficulty, so expect to face a lot of enemies.
edit: Note that I have a bunch of mods, mostly cosmetic and a few minor rule changes. You might get some warnings when trying to load the savegame, but it shouldn't cause any crashes. I hope.
Edit: Oh, and one further sneaky trick: Ham has the Convert ability. The Orc city just ahead has a settler. If you can convert the settler (and it has a good chance of success) you get an extra city for free. You can put it on the fort I build in the middle of no-man's land between you and the Orcs.
You also have a LOT of equipment on your heroes, and a lot of useful spells (Great stoning? Summon fire elemental? A kraken? I never got stuff like that. All I usually find is like 3 copies of the same low-level item.) Not saying that's how you won, but it does make a big difference, especially at the start.
Anyway, thanks again. Although to be fair, I was also doing well at the beginning. It was after round 35 or so that Karl started coming after me with mega-stacks and I just couldn't keep up anymore. I guess I'll give it another try since I reinstalled the game anyway to look at your save.
What mods are you using, by the way? I might give those "minor rule changes" a try.
Yeah, I always built a Builder first thing (roads are the best, forts are the second best) and storehouses/mana/research structures second, when playing a Sorcerer. You need those spells and casting points.
I did build a bunch of other mllitary units, noticably Pony Riders, but I got them all killed clearing those treasure sites. (Eh, they were expendable.) Apprentices and Winged Serpents are much better, and fire elementals out-punch anything you can build by a huge margin.
Halfling racial units kind of suck, and a sorcerer's version don't get any kind of bonuses to help you.
In comparison, on the first map as a Warlord, I was pumping out upgraded Mounted Archers and Monster Hunters like nobody's business. I had hardly any casting points, but had tons of great upgrades like Martial Arts Training and Thorougbred Mounts. You have to adapt your playstyle to the race and class you're playing.
That's where the treasure sites come in. Those are the big game changer. On this map, you get a bunch of bonus gold and mana on TOP of the other stuff you get from beating them, and they will boost your research, gold and population growth by a huge amount too, so taking those out ASAP really is the very first priority on this map.
A lot of the equipment I actually brought from the previous map, where I also was clearing out sites early. It's unfortunate, but in the campaign your activities on the early maps make a big difference on the later one. When I leave this map, for example, I make sure to not just have good mounts for Ally and Ham, but also have a bunch of spare Wyverns or Griffons for the heroes you'll find on the next map.
(And no, you still don't need prior knowledge of the campaign to do that. I always stock up on extra equipment just in case I'll need it later.)
That said, luck DOES play a role. If I had found, say, Shock Missile instead of Summon Fire Elemental I'd be playing a quite different game at this point. I'd have fewer casting points, since I'd have researched Summon Node Serpent instead. I would still have won, of course, but it would have been harder.
You're welcome.
As for longer term plans: What I find really helpful is to vassalise but NOT absorb the Naga's on the island to the south, and then keep the Kraken (backed up by some Winged Serpents to heal it) patrolling the river to pick off small Naga invasion forces.
The vassal city acts like a nice speedbump you don't need to pay to defend, and the rivers likewise slow down most of the halfling forces. This will buy you time to take out the Orcs. By the time you're done fighting those you should have many more stacks and can move to attack the Halflings.
Well, some of them actually help Archdruids, so it wouldn't exactly help YOU on this map...
The rule-changing ones are:
Terrain Dependent Animal Summoning - a cool mod that makes it more likely you'll get a Spider if you cast Summon Animal in a cave, a snake if you cast it in a swamp, a penguin if you cast it on the arctic, etc.
Expanded Beast Horde - archdruids can summon more varied animals with their beast horde spell.
FLIR equipped Spy drone - Dreadnought drones get night vision. It just makes sense to me.
Triumphant Heroes - More heroes on random maps to choose from. Not relevant in the campaign.
Devout Heroes - A theocrat can make his other heroes devout. Not relevant on this map, though it'd help you on the next.
AI governance - the AI actually uses its racial governance points more often, making it tougher. Not relevant in this campaign since racial governance is disabled, but it'll work in the Eternal Lords campaign.
The rest I have is cosmetics.
Ok, I see. But you actually get different heroes on this map than the previous one. Except Allie, who leaves the first map at turn 25. Are you saying you loaded her up with equipment before that?
Anyway, some helpful hints here (I never thought about building roads before, for example).
I still think that especially for the DLC campaigns, the difficulty levels should be renamed to Normal, Hard and Masochistic. ;)
True, so this is less relevant on this map than on most. In my case, she didn't have that much equipment. But she still had those nifty Ice Arrows (which make her ranged attack much nastier, especially since Naga's are vulnerable to ice), some armour, helmet, magic ring, magic knife and of course she was level 6. Oh, and those boots that cut her stack's upkeep by half. That's a very nice item to have early on.
If you start the map with a level 3 Ally without equipment, getting a good start becomes much harder.
Heh. No argument from me.
You see, normal reasearch is limited to 1 spell per turn. Doesn't matter if you have 300 research and are researching a 60 point dispel spell: those other 240 points will be wasted.
Bonus research does NOT work this way. With 300 bonus research, you could research 5 spells worth 60 points instantaneously. You want to use this to your advantage.
So generally, when researching I try to waste as little of my regular research as possible. Don't research a spell worth 80 points if you have 75 knowledge income. Wait until you have 80 and research it in a single turn, or set a single city to producing knowledge so you can get it in one turn.
Managing your research economy like this can give you a big leg up early on.
Also, I played a few more turns in that save I sent, and by turn 32 I had indeed defeated the Orcs and am starting to come into contact with the Halflings. Karl tried to invade that central Naga vassal island, but he backed off as I sent in some reinforcements. (And then my kraken picked off a bunch of stragglers. I imagine Karl's troops are telling horror stories about the lone monster prowling the sea lanes, at this point.)
At this point my economy is nearly broken, since I've built and covnerted many units, and also gotten those scripted reinforcements, but I suspect my army must be at least as strong as Karl's, if not stronger. He probably still has the numbers, but my troops have the edge in quality.
At this point I have a strong defense on the central island, while my heroes are securing the northern half of the map. Once that is cleared out and the heroes join up with the rest of the forces, a direct attack on the halflings will almost certainly succeed.
Linky: https://we.tl/KEcDn6Vmyq
One thing I really need to work on is my movement. It doesn't help that nearly the entire map in this mission (as was the case with the first one as well) is almost nothing but jungle, mountains and water. I waste a lot of time moving my units around. I've already started building roads and I dunno, I guess I'll focus more on flying/floating units.
The other thing I have major trouble with is keeping my armies alive. The AI has this annoying tendency to focus all of its attacks on one, and only one of your units until it's dead. It's almost like they don't care whether they win or lose as long as they kill at least one of your units. This means that I can defeat it easily, but I've lost one unit from my army. Next battle, I lose another one. And so on... and this applies to independents as well. I've actually lost heroes before due to being harassed by independents. Need more healers or something.