Commonwealth campaign

[ajrobyram]

What a pain! In scene 2 Machinations I can get nowhere against 3 enemies. I get one but am completely overwhelmed soon. They have more magic, more heroes, more everything from the start! Once, when I was already all but defeated I reached the other elven city who allied but too late! Every other time they don't even talk to me. WTF?!

[Iguana-on-a-stick]

That's pretty much the case in all scenario's in the original 2 campaigns.

It's why I always recommend people who are just starting out with the game play random maps or one-off scenario's instead. More fun, more balanced, more of an opportunity to actually build an empire and an army and use them. Once you get some tactical battle experience under your belt, the campaigns become more fun and less frustrating.

That said, I can certainly give some tips for winning this scenario. It is quite tricky, but I personally rather enjoyed it because of the plot twist. Still, the basic strategy is the same as in all campaign maps: Attack immediately with your heroes to get the upper hand before the AI can overwhelm you.

You start with only 2 heroes: Edward and Valery. Dreadnought and Warlord, not the best force multipliers, but pretty tough. I hope you levelled them up well and got them some good magic items. (If Valery is low level, this scenario will be a bit harder.) Hopefully you also have some good magic items. If not, it might be a good idea to go back to the previous map to see if you can loot some more, if possible.

The twist for this map, of course, is that your "allies" soon betray you. That can take you by surprise the first time, but you know it's coming now, so you can prepare.

The way I played this scenario: I spent the first few turns exploring and levelling my heroes. (Play all battles manually and make sure your heroes get as much XP as possible.) Then, when the betrayal hit, I sent Valery and Edward against the brown Dwarves while fighting a holding action against the yellow ones. I took out the brown faction quickly and then came back to deal with the yellow faction, who had taken my first cities at this point.

Once those two factions were beaten, I controlled the entire eastern sector of the map and I could face the final Dwarf on equal terms.

Now, as you say, your "allies" start with more and better cities and bigger armies. But don't be intimidated by their numbers. You will lose a war of attrition, but you can beat them if you attack them immediately. Your heroes start at level 8 with full equipment, theirs start at level 1 with nothing. They may have more troops, but they are spread out and mostly cannon fodder. You start with a Phalanx, Monster Hunter and Berserker, as well as some Elven archers. (All excellent troops.) You also start next to an Inn you can use to hire more Warlord units. This means you start with 2 concentrated high-quality hero-led stacks.

Keep those troops alive, level them with medals, and crush your former allies in a few big decisive battles. If you lose too many units or take too much damage in a fight, reload. You can almost always win without losing anyone.

[ajrobyram]

Thanks, did you ever ally with the other elves? The only time that happened for me I was already beaten. I thought about going back to first scenario like you said. My Valery is starting much too weak.

[Iguana-on-a-stick]

The Elven cities on the map start neutral, so I think it's a bit random whether you can ally with them.

Honestly, the whole "vassal" mechanic didn't even exist when they designed this campaign.

Allying with the Elves might help, but taking over the Dwarven cities helps much more.

As for starting with weak heroes: it makes things more difficult, but not impossible. I checked my oldest save-game for this map, and it turns out my Valery also started at level 3.

I did have a level 8 Edward with a Cockatrice mount, though. That helped a lot.

[jaersavo]

Because there is so much complaint abot the campaings i just wanted to say that I really enjoyed the campaigns and this map was may be my most exciting and challenging map i ever played (but scince I don't have regular time that I play a lot single player but never mp).
I love the challenge and the plot twist and facing off the deadly onslaught.
Scenarios and random maps don't give that.

[ajrobyram]

@jaersavo I'm not really complaining just frustrated. Other commentator may be right about sharpening up tactical skills, and because I don't have a lot of time, I tend not to fight battles manually trusting AI to be neutral. Silly I know.

[Iguana-on-a-stick]

Ah, yes. I always forget to ask if players are fighting their battles manually because I always do. If you don't, the game becomes much harder in general, and the campaigns become pretty much impossible, I think.

(For me, the battles are the most fun in this game. I play the game primarily to play the battles, the strategy layer is so the battles have stakes and purpose)

Now, the auto-resolve AI in this game isn't bad. It's much better than pretty much any other game I've played, actually. At first it will probably be better than a new player, and even after I had played many hours the AI could sometimes win battles I'd lose.

But it also has some severe limitations. In particular, if you don't play battles manually your heroes will be underpowered, since the AI is very careful about not getting them killed (good) meaning they don't get much XP. (Bad.) Since the campaigns are all about relying on powerful heroes, that's really bad.

The AI is also much worse at keeping units alive, which is very bad in the campaign because you don't have the time to build more.

All this means you'll have a much easier time if you play even the easy battles manually. (On random maps I start auto-resolving the boring ones after my armies have gotten strong enough I won't lose units, and my heroes are high enough levels they don't need as much babysitting anymore, but anything stronger than mines, mana nodes, etc. I still do manually until the late game.)

[BB Shockwave]

So I crossed the river to the west and there is a giant High Elf city there, with a settler and gryphon rider even, but there is absolutely no dialogue option with these independents. Are they scripted to only join you later?
Btw, you only get Valery at the very end of the second map, however, after you beat the attacking wraiths with her, here is a hint - go to the southeast beyond the teleporter. Then dig through the walls there. There is a cave guarded by an Obsidian Dragon, Wraiths and Wyverns, and beyond them is a Mythical scythe weapon that gives good extra damage plus Fearsome. Plus, you can level Valery up to at least level 2-3 there.

As for the betrayal, it is actually triggered by you taking that small fort of Svegnir south of Irdendal, the Dwarf city below the middle island. So... you can just delay that by not going there. I am at turn 19 and Svegnir never even came up to attack me through there. I aim to build up my armies before triggering the betrayal.
And agreed, always fight battles manually. Especially here useful with High Elves. I make a point to always attack a lot with my Initiates and level them up to get cheap Storm Sisters.

[Raymond]

dude, that mission could not get any easier. The AI only start attacking you when you attack the small fort in the South. Just build up as much as you can before you trigger the betrayal. Only the AI in the South West actually pose a threat, the other two barely have any army to speak off, even on hard difficulty. Just march on those 2 first and then sweep the AI in the South West and then you win, piece of cake.