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[Pex]

Well, so far playing on Hard level was more frustrating than challenging...

I realised what you meant by AI cheats - opponent wizards have more 'starting' points than me, they seem to generate more mana than what is possible considering the size of their cities and the buildings within them - they have heaps of summoned creatures on their side.

But the general AI remains the same - they would pass by my city with absolutely no troops in it only to attack a bunch of my troops that they have no chance defeating in the first place, and obviously because those troops are in their way. It turned out that the land mass was formed so there is a bottleneck/causeway connecting two bigger parts and I made a point of guarding it. The wizard ignores my cities on his side of the bottleneck and keeps throwing away their troops by trying to attack those guarding it. Funny enough, he doesn't consider just flying around my troops with several units of sprites that he has, probably because he grouped them with land units and can't think of separating them.

Yet, that is not the frustrating part about game. What annoyed me was that I literally had to raise a small army to capture a node guarded by a single unit of giant spiders and even then I suffered considerable losses. I couldn't even consider conquering nodes with more units present and that's where the unfair advantage of my opponent generating more mana than possible comes into play.

Like I said, it's just wishful thinking for AI that would challenge you by mimicing a real opponent rather than making it difficult by having those unfair advantages. But I'm not giving up, though. I'll try some different wizard combos to counter difficulty, or maybe I get lucky by having no opponents too close at the beginning

[Scatty]

Originally Posted by Pex

Yet, that is not the frustrating part about game. What annoyed me was that I literally had to raise a small army to capture a node guarded by a single unit of giant spiders and even then I suffered considerable losses. I couldn't even consider conquering nodes with more units present and that's where the unfair advantage of my opponent generating more mana than possible comes into play.

Attack the single unit of giant spiders with a single unit of paladins and the spiders should stand no chance. With elven lords it should work too but while they have additionally a natural +1 bonus to hit, paladins have magic immunity. It's all a question of right units vs. certain units.

[Pex]

Originally Posted by Scatty

Attack the single unit of giant spiders with a single unit of paladins and the spiders should stand no chance. With elven lords it should work too but while they have additionally a natural +1 bonus to hit, paladins have magic immunity. It's all a question of right units vs. certain units.

That's a fair call, but it takes a while to develop the city enough to produce paladins or elven lords, while a node is something I desperately need as soon as possible to be competitive with computer opponents that (as we agreed) obviously cheat on the higher level. Also, sometimes you don't have the option to produce every single unit if the race is not present on the world.

I started another game this time at hard level but with only two wizard opponents. I was lucky that both of them had Myrran as the speciall ability so I was left alone to conquer, hmm, can't remember the name of that normal plane. So, my position is very strong now before I move to the other plane. Just wished more heroes offered their services to me - for the first time I actually had to summon them

Originally Posted by Pex

while a node is something I desperately need as soon as possible to be competitive with computer opponents that (as we agreed) obviously cheat on the higher level.
....
Just wished more heroes offered their services to me - for the first time I actually had to summon them

There are a few important tricks that make the game much easier (you probably know them already) :

1. Immediately after the beginning set the tax to 2.0 gold per population and put it down only if the unrest is unsupportable.

2. Use Alchemy a lot to get a) 100 or even 150 quids early, to have a lot of offers of heroes. b) a lot of mana in the mid / late game. Alchemy trait feels almost like an exploit here. Heroes are crucial.

3. Use Magic spirit as a scout + use F1 surveyor reports to find out where are located the nearby cities. Attack neutral towns as soon as possible to overtake them and use their stregth for expansion.

....

555. Diplomacy - Use spell gifts if you need to maintain good relations (works until turn 100, than useless due to a bug). Avoid nearing cities for 3 turns = war. After turn 100 you can usually be closer to the AIs in terms of economy.

999. (This are no real tricks) + Build Granary, Marketplace, Farmer's market early in all your cities. Nothing beats the utility of these buildings. + try using shooters a lot, they are THE power of the game. + Every spell colour has some "must have" early spell(s) that make your life much easier, Heroism, Confusion, Web, Hell hounds, Phantom warriors.

Oh I forgot this one:


5. Power distribution: early on, forget about research (if you have some starting spells already), concentrate on building up your skill quickly and (secondary) to have enough mana to cover the upkeep! Later move it slowly into the research. - Investing in the mana on the power screen is generally not much reccommended, you can have tons of mana later thanks to alchemy.

....

779. For nodes, Node mastery is incredibly useful trait, because it allows casting your powerful early spell at the node. Much much better.

[Pex]

Originally Posted by kyrubb

1. Immediately after the beginning set the tax to 2.0 gold per population and put it down only if the unrest is unsupportable.

Actually, I didn't know about this one. I kept the tax on default 1gp for the whole game. But I can see logic behind it early in the game when you don't have as many pop per city to worry about unrest.

2. Use Alchemy a lot to get a) 100 or even 150 quids early, to have a lot of offers of heroes. b) a lot of mana in the mid / late game. Alchemy trait feels almost like an exploit here. Heroes are crucial.

Doesn't seem to always work. Like usually as soon as I get up to 150gp a hero approaches me, but then after that I can have heaps of gold and it may take ages for the next hero to come. That's why I like to choose 'famous' trait, but it costs 2 points and on hard level there's so many things you want/need. It's hard to strike the balance.

3. Use Magic spirit as a scout + use F1 surveyor reports to find out where are located the nearby cities. Attack neutral towns as soon as possible to overtake them and use their stregth for expansion.

Yep, that's given. F1 rocks when it comes to scouting Unfortunate bit is that many of those cities are often in such a stupid place - not only they don't use the local resource (being just a square too far) but spoil the location for the better city. Then there's a dilema - raze them and get the better location, but have to start from the beginning + build settlers and wait as many turns as the settlers need to get to the location, or keep the city that will never grow to be as efficient as you'd like it to be? If I choose to raze it, I save the game before the 'siege' and proceed with razing only if it costs me no fame. Fame is precious. Hmm, I sound like a celebrity here

555. Diplomacy - Use spell gifts if you need to maintain good relations (works until turn 100, than useless due to a bug). Avoid nearing cities for 3 turns = war. After turn 100 you can usually be closer to the AIs in terms of economy.

Haven't been much of a diplomat really. I like exchaning spells (especially if I have a useless spell to offer ), but turns out that enemy will attack me sooner or later anyway, if I'm in their way (litterally, like in that example I used). And even then they won't consider being at war.

999. (This are no real tricks) + Build Granary, Marketplace, Farmer's market early in all your cities. Nothing beats the utility of these buildings. + try using shooters a lot, they are THE power of the game. + Every spell colour has some "must have" early spell(s) that make your life much easier, Heroism, Confusion, Web, Hell hounds, Phantom warriors.

Yup, been doing that, though I usually fit in a sawmill before marketplace - makes building faster and of course allows production of bowmen. I normally use high elfs as the starting race - they generate more power and their longbowmen rock. Nomad horsebowman are also good cause they can deal some damage in close combat as well and they move 2 squares, so if your army has pathfinding (either from hero or combining mountaineer and forester unit) and is consisted from 2 moves units, you can cover 4 squares per turn.

As for spells, I have to admit that I've only recently realised full value of Phantom warriors - I conquered more cities by using them than with any direct damage spells. Though if the city has walls, they get a bit useless.

Originally Posted by kyrubb

5. Power distribution: early on, forget about research (if you have some starting spells already), concentrate on building up your skill quickly and (secondary) to have enough mana to cover the upkeep! Later move it slowly into the research. - Investing in the mana on the power screen is generally not much reccommended, you can have tons of mana later thanks to alchemy.

Can't believe I never thought of this one. Thanks for the tip.

779. For nodes, Node mastery is incredibly useful trait, because it allows casting your powerful early spell at the node. Much much better.

Can't agree more, but again it means more points for traits... and you have only 11...

Thanks for reply. As you can see, I didn't know all of those tactics.

Btw, why don't you join?

[Scatty]

Originally Posted by Pex

Can't agree more, but again it means more points for traits... and you have only 11...

Thanks for reply. As you can see, I didn't know all of those tactics.

Btw, why don't you join?

Node Mastery though also increases the mana you get from nodes under your control, by 15% if I remember correctly, so it is a priceless trait in any case.

[another_guest]

In addition to the tips below, once your cities start growing, keep a close eye on the distribution of your population between farmers and workers: once you produce the minimum required food, it becomes a trade-off between income and production.

In terms of magic, I usually do some spell research early on because some spells allow you to change the tide of battle, especially useful when you're conquering nodes and it's a tough fight.
I don't summon too many creatures or cast too many spells with upkeep though, as the upkeep takes quite a bite out of your mana pool. Instead I rely a lot on solid units such as berserkers.

Agreed. Normal units + spell enhancements >> fantastic units.

7. Use a combo of push-up spells on units with a lot of figures (6-8). This is another winning formula of the game. That is why the white magic is the easiest route to victory on any difficulty level, with any race.

(Again, later you may want to avoid this as a too simple way to win.)

----

Btw, why don't you join?

I joined ages ago, then forgot password. Now I have tried to retreive it (via email), but it somehow does not work. Mind you, I am still receiving the Abandonia newsletter. I cannot rejoin under the name, or rejoin with my email address, because "someone is already using it". Grrr.
... So I have added one more "b" at the end and have become a part-timer. This works.

[Pex]

Originally Posted by another_guest

In terms of magic, I usually do some spell research early on because some spells allow you to change the tide of battle, especially useful when you're conquering nodes and it's a tough fight.
I don't summon too many creatures or cast too many spells with upkeep though, as the upkeep takes quite a bite out of your mana pool. Instead I rely a lot on solid units such as berserkers.

I often select conjuring as a trait, so it makes both summoning and upkeep cheaper. Hell hounds rock early in the game. An 'army' of nine sprites can defeat phantom beasts, wyrms and other monsters than can't attack flying units. Plus they have forrester rule, so combining them with a mountaneering hero, you get pathfinding. To be honest, I don't summon anything else except those two (and of course magic spirits) until late in the game when I have heaps of mana so I don't really mind having a drake of some kind, just for the sake of having it

But I agree that your normal units with enough exp and some chosen enchantments can top any summoned one.

Originally Posted by kyrubb

I joined ages ago, then forgot password. Now I have tried to retreive it (via email), but it somehow does not work. Mind you, I am still receiving the Abandonia newsletter. I cannot rejoin under the name, or rejoin with my email address, because "someone is already using it". Grrr.
... So I have added one more "b" at the end and have become a part-timer. This works.

I'm sure one of the admins can fix it for you.

I started a new game, on hard level, selecting node mastery, alchemy and conjurer as traits and it works really well. I've already defeated one wizard and I'm holding an upper hand against two more. The forth is obviously Myrran so I'll deal with him/her after I finish these ones off.

Although I have to admit a bit of 'cheating' I guess. I had to restart the game (I usually save one game called 'beginning' for that purpose as soon as I start), because I choose to explore in the wrong direction at the start and all I came up against was a single petty city and some nodes and lairs I couldn't conquer anyway. So when I restarted, I knew where to go, which gave me that advantage.

I still got only one hero offering me services, but thanks to the alchemy trait and lot of mana that way, I'm was quite capable of summoning more.

After I finish this one, I'm planing to start another, but using some other magic realm. So far I've been concentrating on Chaos, Sorcery and Nature.