The RTS part of the game is broken :(

[Helmet Hair]

First, I just want to say that I love the game in general. The story is really good and well written, and so are the characters. The questing and roaming around is fun, and I find the RTS combat fun as well, when it works.

But overall regarding these RTS missions - the only way I have been managed to complete these missions is by using my RPG squad and attack the AI from the get go. I have tried to build bases, I have tried to turtle, I have tried everything in between, but the only viable tactic has been to rush with your four man squad, or else get swamped by a huge amount of enemy troopers eventually. And it dosen't matter how many bases I take out, the enemy will ramp up and attack with a unlimited supply of men it seems.

I just refuse to believe it was intended to be played this way. I don't even make it past tier 2 buildings on these missions. I might get to tier 2 troopers, but I'm so busy controlling my RPG squad that I neglect the main base - so often that I don't even produce any units at all. I have never reached tier 3 and used its units. The missions has been long over by then. Another reason I believe I don't think the game was supposed to be played like this is how the quests are designed. They don't really follow the progress you have made, and often in further quests down the line they refer to the enemy as alive but the enemy has been crushed by your RPG squad a long time ago.

What the hell happened here? Just to add, I'm playing on "hard".

[Omni]

Originally posted by tomme25:

But overall regarding these RTS missions - the only way I have been managed to complete these missions is by using my RPG squad and attack the AI from the get go. I have tried to build bases, I have tried to turtle, I have tried everything in between, but the only viable tactic has been to rush with your four man squad, or else get swamped by a huge amount of enemy troopers eventually. And it doesn’t matter how many bases I take out, the enemy will ramp up and attack with a unlimited supply of men it seems.

This has been my experience as well playing on Hard and then switching to Circle Mage later in the campaign. Sitting back and playing "honestly" from the get go leads to the AI overrunning me with way more units than is humanly possible with perfect macro/micro starting around the ~10-minute mark.

The only way I've managed to beat the harder RTS missions is by storming the enemy from the start in their one or two territories with my OP heroes (and whatever troops I've been given) in order to neuter the AI. Even if I cannot storm their main base due to the static defenses and troops they start off with, I prevent them from ever expanding. The sad thing is this trivializes the challenge as I am basically free to build up my forces in peace and then attack with a sizable enough army.

I imagine that for most, the RTS sections on the harder diffiiculties are all-or-nothing: stomp immediately or inevitably get stomped.

[Trouser_Dune_Worm]

Agree...the AI just keeps swarming you with waves even if you killed all their resources lol

[Grakor]

Originally posted by Trouser_Dune_Worm:

Agree...the AI just keeps swarming you with waves even if you killed all their resources lol

Which makes the resource-destroying ability in Leadership effectively pointless.

In the first two games, enemies attacked in waves and along predictable paths. Here, they seem to make use of skirmish AI and attack you on multiple fronts simultaneously. While good on paper, this system doesn't work well in a game where you're also trying to do multiple side objectives on the map, complete with dialogue trees.

One of the first examples of this is the first visit to the Foot of Barga Gor, to try to recruit the orcs. You're given no less than five different objective points, each with potential dialogue. All the while, you're on a wide open map where the only choke-points are held in the AI's home sector, where you're playing the race with garbage towers, and you don't have the opportunity to clear out neutral mobs before the RTS section starts. In short, defense on Circle Mage difficulty would be a micromanagement nightmare even if I wasn't having to also go hunting down clan chiefs. You just don't have time to defend your sectors and also complete the objectives. It's just far easier to rush the enemy base with your hero team and accept that you'll have The Betrayal on your failed quests list.

So, there needs to be a point where you can hold your sectors with minimal hero intervention, or enemy attacks come in waves so you can complete objectives between enemy attacks.

[Kronus]

Honestly the issue is the fact the towers take units to man, therefore you cannot properly defend ,especially since most units are squishy and die fast.

[Gatt]

Originally posted by Grakor:

Originally posted by Trouser_Dune_Worm:

Agree...the AI just keeps swarming you with waves even if you killed all their resources lol

Which makes the resource-destroying ability in Leadership effectively pointless.

In the first two games, enemies attacked in waves and along predictable paths. Here, they seem to make use of skirmish AI and attack you on multiple fronts simultaneously. While good on paper, this system doesn't work well in a game where you're also trying to do multiple side objectives on the map, complete with dialogue trees.

One of the first examples of this is the first visit to the Foot of Barga Gor, to try to recruit the orcs. You're given no less than five different objective points, each with potential dialogue. All the while, you're on a wide open map where the only choke-points are held in the AI's home sector, where you're playing the race with garbage towers, and you don't have the opportunity to clear out neutral mobs before the RTS section starts. In short, defense on Circle Mage difficulty would be a micromanagement nightmare even if I wasn't having to also go hunting down clan chiefs. You just don't have time to defend your sectors and also complete the objectives. It's just far easier to rush the enemy base with your hero team and accept that you'll have The Betrayal on your failed quests list.

So, there needs to be a point where you can hold your sectors with minimal hero intervention, or enemy attacks come in waves so you can complete objectives between enemy attacks.

im currently on this mission and finding this very problem!
i managed to open all bottom of the map and managed to get the spear clan on board, then the long run all the way to the archer clan all the while having to goto the main settlement and defend against the endless mobs attacking.
soon as i get to building T2 buildings to get the metal to make spearman im swarmed on 3 fronts on my main base and then theres a 4th mob trashing all other sectors.
im well versed in RTS tatics and played other titles where once defences are set properly the AI becomes less problematic.
there is no way the AI can produce the amount of units it does under the same conditions the player has.