Any advice for Conquest (Extreme)

[XtReMz98]

Hello,

I'm asking for advice from more experienced players out there. I'm looking forward to attempt an Extreme Conquest with either Wolf or Goat clans. I'm curious to which "small" bonuses I should go for. I like to min-max every decisions I make, but it's difficult to weight-in things such as "Axe throwers gain 15% more attack" or "X building don't cost any building slots". The only one that seems like a no-brainer is Warchief/relic ability CD -25% on clan of the wolf for faster free colonisation. So the question is what do you usually prioritise on the extreme playthrough?

Also, if my medium/hard attempts are any indications of the chaos to come, I'm always out of food, wood, gold and happiness while my 3 opponents can sustain a 6-8 units armies while colonising the whole map with what seems no food costs. I often resort to farm wolf dens with Wolf clan just to keep my food economy from collapsing during the winter. If I focus on economy to avoid famines and the like, I can only start fielding a small army on 804, which by this time the enemy snowballs out of control. Is it my lore choice that fail me? My population being too high? Is there a streamer that you know that I should watch to fine tune my gameplay to afford an earlier army without killing my tribe in the process?

Thanks

[Soho]

I have completed the Goat Conquest on Extreme (working on Wolf, have done some other clans on Extreme), the bonuses I find to be the most beneficial are the ones that give a flat, constant bonus e.g. "+whatever resource" followed by ones that give a reduced cost for war-chief/relics

I had these bonuses by the final mission:

-10% cost on Ax Throwers
+10% attack on Ax Throwers
+5% production on merchants

Those were the 'grey' bonuses, which are typically not great compared to the gold ones, I picked these because the 2 ax-thrower bonuses would work together and you can always use more gold (the +production on merchants) - it is going to depend of course on what is actually available for bonuses on the 'grey' missions, the ones leading up to the Middle Mission

I skipped one grey mission (Winter is Here) as the bonuses available didnt seem worth the agony of trying this mission (its the one where there is a blizzard every winter and you need a Fame victory- this is one of the more difficult missions IMO so I skipped it)

The 'Gold' bonuses I got were:

-60% cost & revive time on War-Chief
+3 krowns
+1 iron every 2 months
-50% relic cost and time to tech

So you can see these bonuses pretty much guaranteed I would have a war-chief pretty quick regardless of mining or concentrating on gold, and I could go to buffed ax-throwers with war chief for aggressive play early on. Helped a lot with Goat as they do not have as much issue with food when you manage your sheep well, which in turn helps to have constant feasts going once you have the Goat relic... which in turn makes your population/happiness easier to manage... the only thing left really is to have a big krowns income coming in to keep arming villagers to fight

I think a bonus that would be useful for Wolf would be any of the "x-military building does not take a build slot" - at least one of these (you might get one as a grey bonus) so that you can have a large army (with the field rations tech) even on just 5-6 tiles, without having to develop tiles (save krowns for more arms)

I've completed Goat, Horse, Stag and Raven on Extreme so far, everything else I have done on Hard... I'm trying an Extreme Wolf play-through though I am admittedly not very strong with Wolf (Goat and Horse are probably my strongest personally for Conquests)

Hope this helps! I've found that with the Extreme mode there are some clans that really have a difficult time (Boar and Kraken for example, I am stuck at a couple Extreme grey missions that I just can't get past yet... enjoying the challenge however)

[Heim]

I've done all but Wolf, Stag, Raven (in progress), Squirrel and Goat on extreme. I'm waiting for the giga lag to get fixed before I get back and do some more.

In general, I agree with Soho. They're extremely rare to see (maybe seen them 3 times in 8 11/11 conquests), but the flat production bonuses are really good. Stacking the bonuses you find to only one type of military unit, also really good, but I'd still take flat generation of any resource other than wood over a military bonus most of the time. If you can, maybe avoid taking a military bonus from a battle instantly and unlock a few more battles so you know if you're likely to get more of them for that same unit type. If you take an axe thrower bonus, and then get 3 more warrior bonuses, you're going to make warriors all the time and the axe thrower upgrade will go to waste. Flat happiness also nice if like me, you have happiness struggles in the 13-18 pop area. Expanding can be hard, and you don't have the production (and some times, space) to make a brewery, which will reduce your kröwn and food net amounts. So flat happiness can help you get a bit higher pop before you start to stall, and bide you over until you hit Feeling Safe. Less relevant if you are playing a clan with an easy to acquire happiness lore which is on the way to something else you want.

In regards to people to watch, I'm pretty sure MisterTamer has a few different conquests on extreme on youtube. It's good to be able to see how someone else has completed a battle if you're struggling. Also, don't be afraid to save scum if you can't figure out the battle. The AI usually follow similar patterns on the same map each time you reload, so if you feel you're really close or just have a really good map, don't be afraid to restart entirely or reload from an earlier point where you feel like if you were just a bit more efficient and faster, you could get ahead of the AI enough to clinch the win.

For PvE in Northgard, and especially for extreme conquests, you have to change your mindset. It's a challenge; everything in there is there to be challenging. The AI are rapacious cheaters and that's to increase the challenge. You have to figure out how to beat the missions despite that. It's no different to how blizzards are longer and neutral monsters attack more frequently and are in larger numbers.

Soho, a little hijack, but I imagine Boar and Kraken should be easier than ever. Kraken are straight up REALLY strong at the moment, and they've had their conquest made easier as well. When I completed my first conquest last year, Kraken's missions were harder and they hadn't had any of the several (IIRC) buffs they've had since then; they used to be by far the hardest conquest clan. I'm not sure what the correct way to play them is, but once you get there, they should reach pre nerf dragon levels of ease (first time every battle with no difficulty). Boar are, I believe, stronger now too. At the time, not sure exactly when, but before the boar relic changes at least, I was going altar rush and the legacy tech beeline most games and it made things feel so much easier once I did. Not sure if it still works, but maybe worth a try? People might be trading with neutrals for happiness, handiwork and then osmosis at the moment, though. IDK. Can't utilise bartering if you don't have enough res to trade, though.

[Soho]

I don't mind the hijack at all, thank you Heim- good suggestions

I took a break from the game for the last year, getting back into doing Conquests

While I agree with your point that the AI are 'rapacious cheaters' I think there are some vulnerabilities there too, for instance I notice the AI will sometimes split up their force as long as you retreat before their army gets to where you are attacking. You can then circle back and destroy their force in pieces while it is split up. The AI doesn't do so well against hit-and-run attacks and pincer moves (e.g. attack in two spots at once) as long as you are on the attack. If the AI has initiative against you it can be fatal

Playing some Wolf today (trying to complete it on extreme) - wow that 'plunder' and 'invader' tech is really effective even against the double-tower on the AI home-tile, and the Wolf hero is a beast

I will try Boar and Kraken again too- like you said, if they got buffed then it may be easier this time around. Thank you for your thoughtful reply

[XtReMz98]

Thanks to both of you. On my playthroughs, I do agree that flat bonuses to a resource is the best one out there. If you combine gold/iron and cheaper warchiefs, you can basically paid for him without doing anything but plop down a training camp. But these bonuses always come in the 2nd half of the conquest it seems, making the first few map actually the hardest one to conquer. I'll have to wing it for the silver bonuses, more likely opting to boost a military unit or improve gold production somehow to simply field more of them.

I'll go check Mr tamer and for the AI being a lousy cheater I guess I'll try to "git gud". :)