How do you .. play the wood elves?

[Lucipurr, The Silly One.]

Im playing sisters of twilight on vortex but im just a bit confused, I understand the whole heal the forests thing. But how do I get stronger? 90% of settlements are completely useless. I can only have 4 settlements that can do anything useful. Id like to defend multiple forests but I cant because I have no way to get a better economy.
Expansion doesnt do anything. I should just... sit in the forest for 100+ turns until I win?
Should I just ignore 90% of the map that isnt a forest/heathland?

Its kinda disappointing when you capture a city like Quintex which is capable of generating quite a bit of money only for it to be a 5+ growth building like everything else. Im just really confused on what direction im supposed to go in with this.

[BaronWilhelm]

WE have always been this way, since Warhammer 1. They rely on building up the forest settlements, with any conquered territories just acting as supplemental income or providing campaign resources; like amber, when it was still a thing.

most of their income is brought from raiding/sacking/razing, and with the worldroots stance it makes staying mobile super easy, to that end. most mid-late game recruitment will use global recruitment tab.

invest in skills/tech that boost post battle income or raze/sack bonuses, if any of the characters have them..

[Adeptus]

Originally posted by BaronWilhelm:

WE have always been this way, since Warhammer 1. They rely on building up the forest settlements, with any conquered territories just acting as supplemental income or providing campaign resources; like amber, when it was still a thing.

most of their income is brought from raiding/sacking/razing, and with the worldroots stance it makes staying mobile super easy, to that end. most mid-late game recruitment will use global recruitment tab.

invest in skills/tech that boost post battle income or raze/sack bonuses, if any of the characters have them..

^
this

[pierce]

Think of the Wood Elves as Eco-Terrorists. Your job is to destroy all polluters AKA the other settlements on the map. Develop forest, heathlands, and consider taking advantage of other outpost building adjacencies when useful. You're ALMOST a horde faction. Oh also, get as many trade agreements as possible, you'll have a ton of trade goods.

[The Coal Man]

You get 3 buildings in the economy tab that get you like 600 gold each, with nothing boosting it. Thats a bit more than anyone else gets. Im playing Drycha right now and money is the farthest thing from an issue if you play smart, just sack your neighbors when their armies arent around. I can field 2 full 20 stacks with only 2 wood cities (gryphon and laurelon) and im sitting on 40,000 gold on vh from an effortless walk through the vampire lands.

The very, very beginning is a little rough moneywise but your in athel loren, it should be rediculously easy with no real enemies around (instead of surrounded by disgusting humans, orcs, undead, and dwarfs). Dont field armies for no reason and dont buy units you cant afford, your base units are as good as tier 2 or 3 for other races. And dont waste money on upgrading buildings you dont need because they are very expensive.

Besides that just wander around sacking the expensive bretonnian/dwarf cities that are conveniently located nearby. Once they hit like tier 3 each one is an easy 10k at least, just be smart and build your armies to fight cav because obviously your gonna be doing that a lot. And dont upgrade the oak when your stretched thin because you will be attacked (which is more easy gold/xp)

For an early lead you can declare war on 1 of the elves and take their city, but you have to be able to win a fair fight and probably ambush their army.

[A.Pot]

Hit and run. Only occupy settlements you know you can defend while abandoning the rest.

[The Coal Man]

Originally posted by A.Pot:

Hit and run. Only occupy settlements you know you can defend while abandoning the rest.

they changed the settlements, they pretty much useless now except as buffer or as the requirement to rebirth the forest. Take them if its forest adjacent or you need sight or replenishment, raze everything else. Theyre absolutely useless for anything else, the most you can get is 50 gold per turn from one if it happens to have a trade good on it. 2 of the building options come with a decent garrison though so I wouldnt worry about wasting a 2,000 gold per turn army on defending a settlement that cost you 200g to build and you can instantly rebuild when they leave.

Also be very very careful when you reawaken a forest, even if you intercept you are in for multiple fights with 20 stacks of top tier units and artillery. Beastmen raids are a fart compared to them.

[Garatgh Deloi]

From my experience (playing on very hard mind you, not legendary):

You should be able to afford 2 low-mid tier armies from the starter settlement alone since the forest wood elf settlements has great income even if their outposts has no income. They also have great garrisons so you don't really need to babysit them that much.

So id advice taking the other forests somewhat early and then just juggling your armies between the forests as needed (note that only the witch woods in the vortex need to grow to 500, the other forests just need a 100 growth and then they are finished, aka you can then ignore the Heathlands on the other forests as soon as they reach 100 and you do the ritual of regrowth).


P.s that said, i haven't finished the campaign yet, but it seems to be going fine at turn ~50.

[The Coal Man]

^careful with spreading through forest paths too early because you can meet new factions and very few people actually like the WEs

[yuzhonglu]

Get an army of hawk riders.

Teleport to Forest of Gloom.

Declare war on all your neighbors [All six of them].

Build the post-battle income buildings in the settlements around it. Get the blue line extra battle income promotions.

Never worry about money again.