It's impossible to play on Hard

[eXeel]

Maybe an overstatement, but alas I feel troubled in my mage-game.

I've reached the 4th island, and killed a few troops there. But the rest are lethal.
On the 3rd island, I still have the cave with sentry robots in it, and maybe a ship too.
On the second island, I almost cleared it.
First island is all clean.

I find it hard to progress. Moving around to find just one to beat. Am I too safe, when I don't attack if I'll lose 10 percent or more of my army? I have around 70,000 gold and it slowly rises.

Should I accept more loses or continue to try and lose under 10 percent?
I have no ressurection spell found...

[eXeel]

I have 1,843 points to recruit off...
My lineup is:
1 of the cyclop-like monsters found on the 3rd island. Who has on melee penalty as archer, can push back and stun.
18 or so Inquisitors.
11 or so polar bears.
27 royal snakes or so.
36 of the human archers from the main keep.

Soon I can get a green emerald dragon. That is my goal, I think.

[mare911]

I am not an expert but i can say from my experience (currently finishing impossible mage game):

As mage you will have hard time until the middle of Verona (in terms of progression)
Once you get more powerful res (paladins) and access to high tier spells game will be walk in the park (most enemies will be shown as lethal/invincible anyway)

P.S. try to get no-lose and trap medals in early game, they are great benefit later

[Urbz]

I am not an expert but i can say from my experience (currently finishing impossible mage game):

As mage you will have hard time until the middle of Verona (in terms of progression)
Once you get more powerful res (paladins) and access to high tier spells game will be walk in the park (most enemies will be shown as lethal/invincible anyway)

P.S. try to get no-lose and trap medals in early game, they are great benefit later

This.

Also I would maybe try to switch out a melee unit ( the bears? ) and use for example archmages instead.( their magic shield will help reduce losses on tanks aswell ) Have your gotten the stone from the cave with sentry robots yet? ( you can kite away the boss robot if you're not bothered doing so. Since you will get some leadership bonusses, once from using the item and one after you turn it in and you get access to some new units in some buildings ( maybe paladins if lucky )
Get a main tank unit, cyclops can work ( i quite liked them in my last game ) but for example red or emerald dragons work too, you can let them soak up most hits especially if you buff them with some spells to make them even tougher.
Also in the cave behind zig zag there is a free emerald dragon if you can access it.
If you manage to get another map ( on rusty? ) you will get the map to Verona which is pretty big and has alot of shops where you might get new nice items/units.

Hope this helps you.
Good luck!

[jake21]

My mage game on hard also petered out when I got to verona. The problem is that I couldn't kill the sentries at the edges of verona to get into it; at least not without huge losses.

My chioces on skills might have been poor. I spent most of my runes to up mana regen; now I wonder if i shoudl have spent more runes on things like +int +defense and leadership.

Anyways at the end of the day it wasn't much fun (though I saved it) and restarted on normal. I'll probably do another run on hard later or try to edge on in my current game.

(i've done impossible for all classes with kb-tl).

[ivra]

I have some comments on your troop setup that might help. I always find that the game becomes much easier if you can create some cannon-fodder units that you can place between your 5 stacks and the enemy. There might be more ways of doing this, but currently I can think of the following two:

- Use troops that can summon up new units, like Royal Thorns, Royal Griffins, Necromancers, Choshas, Demons, or Demonologists. I think there are always 3 or 4 Royal Thorns in Debir. At least that has been the case in all the 4 games I have played. Advance the summoned unit as close to the enemy as possible. One of my 5 stacks are always a unit that can summon up a new unit. That ability is too good to be without.
- The Phantom spell is great too. If it is used on the first round on your quickest unit, the phantom unit can normally reach the enemy and if you are lucky the enemy will spend all their firepower on it.

I have found the ability to create more stacks of units useful in all stages of the game. I am currently midway in an impossible mage game and have manged to do it without a single loss so far.

The use of the necromancer is a little tricky but really fun when playing an offencive mage. If your mage is tough enough (high int and 2 spells per round helps) I find that I can normally take out one of the enemy stacks in the first round. Then I can use the necromancer to create an undead stack of that unit. Now I have a cannon-fodder unit in the middle of the enemy, which will guarantied be the target of all their troops. Ranged unit have a tendency of attacking the unit closest to them. Next round I love to place Kamikaze on this unit (if it did not survive, just reraise it) for a good amount of damage to all the surrounding enemies. Up to mid game, the Kamikaze is one of the most potent damage spells.

[eXeel]

mare911,
I had 2 paladins on Bola or what it is called, but haven't found any other. They were great, though! Inquisitors just can't do much ressing alone!

Urbz,
I love the bears a lot for their HP, but I guess my Royal snakes with no retaliation makes up for that. I'll consider this...
I don't feel my archers are that strong either, though. Better ranged than Inqs and the slow is nice, but nothing GREAT. Just lack other ranged...
Will keep Dragons in mind.

The robot underground didn't follow me, maybe I need to get VERY close. Will try! Note to self.

Will try and go to the cave behind Zag Zag, didn't think of that. Just thought it would require a fight, but guess not.

jake21,
I hope I don't have to restart, but I did the same as you. Went fast to one point in Transmute, and then to one point in Meditation. But I don't think more leadership or int/def will help, more like another level for a spell school for more effecient spells!

ivra,
I have 4 Royal Thorns yes, just read they'll die fast to ranged fire. And if I buy them, I can't resupply them for long and when I get more leadership. So it would be only for a short while = waste of money? Unless of course they make me not lose so many troops! Then a good investment :)

Didn't stumble upon any other summoners, not even royal griffins! Will try and get the the 5th island and the other tips here, let me know if you get more tips!

By the way, how can ANYONE get no losses on impossible?! Isn't it harder than Hard, and even that seems impossible to not lose ANYTHING on?!

[Elwin]

well answer for last qiestion is veeery long and was answered on this forum mant times .. read impossible challenge topic. I did it on hard with not even a single problem ~~

[eXeel]

I found out I had the bowmen (the archers from the first castle), I thought they were the upgrade of the normal archers. So I turned in 50 of the needed, for the key to the cave, where I got some items and the free dragon and enough leadership to use it.

Then I kited a pirate away on Rusty to get the map for Tekron, so now I'm there, running around gathering stuff.
My bears went away for the green dragon, so I'm up and running!

By the way, the dwarf that's been everywhere in the world on Tekron, is selling two dragon eggs of red, green (?) and black for 2.000 each. That is a great price, isnt it?! 10.000 normally?

EDIT: Oh, just read they were chickens:
http://forum.1cpublishing.eu/showthread.php?t=12159

[Elwin]

not realy, you wont get dragons from this eggs its fake

[eXeel]

Yeah, read that. But also read they sell for more than they cost, so bought them. Hope that is for all the eggs, not just the black! :)

I managed to earn the Submarine by mastering the instruments. That gave me 2 level ups in a row, now I'm lvl 12! So things are changing...

EDIT: Gray Mendel, in the canals under Tekran, sold me the ressurection spell!! Wee...

EDIT #2: Okay, now it almost got too easy. I found Teleport, Blind and Phantom, got lots of runes and gold. And found three more maps. Umkar, Reha and Nameless island. Think I won't investigate those islands, before I get back and see how well I fight in my current islands :)

EDIT #3: My 1 Green Dragon, 2 Cyclops, 62 Royal Snakes, 30 or so Inqs and 72 or so Bowmen are doing very well at the moment. Two fights versus ranged and magicians, with no losses. Ressurection and mana regen to be thanked :)

[jake21]

I played a bit more this weekend. What I am finding is that on normal the game is too easy and on hard I'm sort of stuck (this is for mage). I'll probably check the maps again with my mage on hard and see if it can make any more progress. I think it is level 16 but unable to kill the orc @ rusty anchor. It has a full set of troups (but not much in extra coins); BUT every group on rusty anchor and verona is either lethal or invincibal (scarlet island and bola are 100% cleared). So this is a problem :(

[eXeel]

Annoying... What skills have you chosen? How is your mana and mana regeneration + what spells do you have, that you use?
I found that I just met a milestone, where as a mage I can actually cast some spells that make a difference. Not just slow!

Try to kite away one of the groups guarding a map, so you can progress a few more islands, just gathering stuff.

[loreangelicus]

...every group on rusty anchor and verona is either lethal or invincibal (scarlet island and bola are 100% cleared). So this is a problem :(

My experience with my impossible paladin game is that given spell and pet dragon support, you should be able to take out up to lethal enemies without any losses; even some "weak" invincible enemies could be taken out. You just need a decent tank and archmage ability mage shield to keep their large stacks busy.

Another much neglected pet dragon ability is Ball Lightning. On hard and impossible, this is probably the best damaging spell of the pet dragon since it scales with the size of the enemy stack, and attacks 3 times per cast. Casting 2-3 Ball Lightning at the first 3 turns of a battle would greatly whittle down the lethal and invincible enemy stacks.

[cabal2k]

I play through the game in hard today as warrior princess and found it to easy, only 2 times killed. Now i play impossible.

Importand Stats after ending the Game in Hard:
Level 56 (Dragon 59)
33 Days (35:07 hours playtime)
80 Quests completed
353,133 Monsters killed
3993 Casualitis
75 Enemy Heroes killed
6 Bosses killed

39760 Leadership

68% Damage Troops
1% Magic
31% Dragon

Rank 1 with 1119 Points

[jake21]

Mana regen is very good (i forget but i dont' run out); spell selection is poor (fireball, phantom, call of nature, slow are the best ones). My mage (hard) has 20 assins; 24 inquistors; 44 royal snake; 9 royal griffons and 2 cyclops. I'm totally stuck at this point (i think).

I do not understand how archmage shield spell keeps the enemy busy. As far as I can tell that spell has little effect on my buffer (they still suffer large losses).

Annoying... What skills have you chosen? How is your mana and mana regeneration + what spells do you have, that you use?
I found that I just met a milestone, where as a mage I can actually cast some spells that make a difference. Not just slow!

Try to kite away one of the groups guarding a map, so you can progress a few more islands, just gathering stuff.

[cabal2k]

I forgot a Unit Tipp:

No One can say thats a unit is best or perfect, its all about what items you have and what skills you skill, but the most important thing is what enemies you fight against!

But for me the important Units Ingame are
- Inquisitors (95% never missed them cause resurrect and rage are strong partners for DragonPetfightstyle)
- Demonlogist (can resurrect every unit ingame except black dragons and summon demons or executeners....very strong later ingame)
- Tirex (can cause fear after bite and eat the dead to fill up own life...and you can resurrect them with the 2 above...strongest lvl 5 unit i found)

[Urbz]

I do not understand how archmage shield spell keeps the enemy busy. As far as I can tell that spell has little effect on my buffer (they still suffer large losses).

it gives 50% to all damage reduction. ( apart from astral maybe? )
Anyhow tihs is quite alot i'd say + the magic shield couts for the damage reduce medal.

[Zechnophobe]

I am fairly certain Magic Shield is a 'halving' effect AFTER damage resistance, so it isn't as awesome as it could be. That is to say that for physical resistance on a knight (30%) the calculation is:

total damage = base damage * (.7 for resistance) * (.5 for shield)

which is different from

total damage = base damage * (.2)... .7-.5

The former is not as strong as the later, but still nice.

[jake21]

Anyways if anyone has any suggestions how I can continue this game please express them :) My guess at this point is that if hte game can be continue the only options are switching troups (but to what?) or trying to kilt the dersu map on rusty anchor; any other options ?

Mana regen is very good (i forget but i dont' run out); spell selection is poor (fireball, phantom, call of nature, slow are the best ones). My mage (hard) has 20 assins; 24 inquistors; 44 royal snake; 9 royal griffons and 2 cyclops. I'm totally stuck at this point (i think).

I do not understand how archmage shield spell keeps the enemy busy. As far as I can tell that spell has little effect on my buffer (they still suffer large losses).

[Zechnophobe]

So, you have phantom, and Royal Griffons. This is generally a good combination. Try phantoming out some griffons, and have the phantom summon some Guard griffons.

Use your cyclopses as tanks. Run them out into combat, and use their melee skills when you can. Put stone skin on them if you have to, and they'll soak up a lot.

A good question though... have you pillaged Verona well? There is a lot of stuff you should be able to pick up there. If you win ONE fight, it would be with the stack guarding the bridge to Montero. It isn't too big, is on an easy arena, and will unlock another huge continent to loot (which will also unlock at least 3 no-fight battles).

It is almost always worth it to sneak around enemies and pick up loot when you can't fight them. A good way to 'catch up' if you are falling behind.

Lastly, make sure in combat that you are developing a good plan. Who is the enemy going to attack? How are you going to keep that unit alive? How do you control stacks that are too strong? Get good answers to these (especially as a mage) and you'll start doing a lot better.

[jake21]

No kidding of course I tried that. How long do you think 2 griffons (phantom on stack of 8 ) last against 45 unicorns ?


So, you have phantom, and Royal Griffons. This is generally a good combination. Try phantoming out some griffons, and have the phantom summon some Guard griffons.

Use your cyclopses as tanks. Run them out into combat, and use their melee skills when you can. Put stone skin on them if you have to, and they'll soak up a lot.

A good question though... have you pillaged Verona well? There is a lot of stuff you should be able to pick up there. If you win ONE fight, it would be with the stack guarding the bridge to Montero. It isn't too big, is on an easy arena, and will unlock another huge continent to loot (which will also unlock at least 3 no-fight battles).

It is almost always worth it to sneak around enemies and pick up loot when you can't fight them. A good way to 'catch up' if you are falling behind.

Lastly, make sure in combat that you are developing a good plan. Who is the enemy going to attack? How are you going to keep that unit alive? How do you control stacks that are too strong? Get good answers to these (especially as a mage) and you'll start doing a lot better.

[TemjinGold]

Would you mind posting your save game? I think the best way to assess how you could continue would be if I could load your game up and have a look around at how you've built your guy, what's available to you, etc.

[loreangelicus]

Hmmm... given that you are a mage, what offensive spells do you have at your disposal?

Try this lineup: archmage (verona), paladin (verona), guard droid (bolo), repair droid (bolo).

This is a survival lineup, with the only real damage-dealers being the paladin and guard droid. Given that you are on Hard, I assume you have either (or both) Ball Lightning or Dragon Dive. Split the repair droids into two stacks (since they can't repair themselves if only one stack). Guard droid and paladin as tanks, archmage casts mage shield on whoever is being attacked more. If necessary, even the two stacks of repair droids could do some minor tanking since you can "resurrect" them with their repair ability (which is a reload ability, thus could continue ad infinitum).

[jake21]

Unfortunately my verona did not pop paladin. I do have 15 from debir but that's all that is available so far. The only decent troups I've found on verona are royal griffons, archmages and assassin. I made some progress last night and am level 18 but still in a rather bad position but at least I have a few coins (90K) (current troups are cyclops (2), royal griffon (up to 11), archmage (around 19), assassin (aruond 21), paladin (15; leadership allows 16 but cant' find anymore for sale). I've not done any of the castles on verona (the one with the fence might be doable if I want to suffer huge (80-90%) losses as well the as the orc on Rusty anchor under the same condition). I did return lady what her name to debir so I might be able to do her castle (not sure; haven't gone back yet). I was hoping to up leadership enough to get 3 cyclops but still a bit short.
--
if I buy a 20k shield (3int/2d my int willl reach 20 and I can pick up what his face on verona whcih will up int to 24; tempted to do that but not sure it is safe to risk the coins yet).
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spell selection kind of sucks; I have fireball, fire arrow, phantom, resurrection and a few utilities like slow, trap and stone skin. I've seen lighting for sale on verona and might try that (shock effect is good at slowing enemy).
--

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I might try dropping the cyclop and assassin for the driods; not sure how well that will work. You think that would help ?
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I can make a save available (other guy who posted) but not sure where I can put it to be accessible.
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I have ok items (sword that gives 10 runes and banner that gives 10 runes) but I'm unable to upgrade any of them (mana ring, cloak, boots) without high losses. In reserve I currently have inquistors (I swap them with assassin and 22 royal snakes (no more snakes for sale either).
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In my normal game (which is a breeze) by this stage of the game (i've been switching back and forth) I have fire rain and tons of good mobs for sale in verona (paladin, royal snakes, royal griffons, archmages, royal thorns, and a few others).
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Well let me know if you think driod1/driod2 will work better than cyclop/assassin - my guess is they might esp if i phantom the repair driods.

Hmmm... given that you are a mage, what offensive spells do you have at your disposal?

Try this lineup: archmage (verona), paladin (verona), guard droid (bolo), repair droid (bolo).

This is a survival lineup, with the only real damage-dealers being the paladin and guard droid. Given that you are on Hard, I assume you have either (or both) Ball Lightning or Dragon Dive. Split the repair droids into two stacks (since they can't repair themselves if only one stack). Guard droid and paladin as tanks, archmage casts mage shield on whoever is being attacked more. If necessary, even the two stacks of repair droids could do some minor tanking since you can "resurrect" them with their repair ability (which is a reload ability, thus could continue ad infinitum).

[TemjinGold]

Edit: Check your PM.

[aghiuta]

You could try using the Army shop mod from the russian forum. You have to pay double the price for the troops but I think it is a fair deal.
I am currently using a summoning army: royal griffins (with 2 phantom spells in first turn due to lvl 2 higher magic), royal thorns, dryads (from song of the wind scroll), demonologists and red dragons.
In first turn my initial 5 stacks army becomes a 13 stacks army with the added 2 stacks of phantom royal griffins, 3 stacks of summoned heavenly guards, 2 stakcs of summoned thorns and 1 demon stack.
This way I have a lot of tanks and the griffins and the demons are furious so always retaliating.
Now I can win lethal fights with no or minimal losses.

[loreangelicus]

--
I might try dropping the cyclop and assassin for the driods; not sure how well that will work. You think that would help ?
--
Well let me know if you think driod1/driod2 will work better than cyclop/assassin - my guess is they might esp if i phantom the repair droids.

The droid team only works if you have a stack of guard droids and split the stack of repair droids in two. As such, they would occupy 3 slots, not just 2. Just having two stacks of repair droids and forgoing the guard droids is not advisable since the main tactic is to tank with the guard droid, and continually do powerful repairs on it via the repair droids.

For your current lineup (cyclops, assassins, paladins, archmages, royal griffins), if you are hesitant to drop the royal griffins along with the cyclops and assassins for the 3 droid slots, then another good change would be to drop the cyclops for either beholders or evil beholders. At that stage of the game I'm assuming you could no longer let your cyclops tank since enemy stacks could do massive damage to them (even with archmage magic shield) and there is no way for you to heal them (unless you have time back). If you are just using them as range attackers, then you are better off with the beholder types who have the added benefit of consistently putting to sleep low level enemy stacks; you can resurrect them too if needed, via spell or the paladin.

[jake21]

No evil beholder available either; but lots of regular beholder.

Why wont't he driods work if I use phantom instead of two stacks of repairs ?
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I currently only get one spell per turn but will get higher magic (first level) next level (i drove chaos spells to level 3 which might have been a mistake); other two are level 1).


The droid team only works if you have a stack of guard droids and split the stack of repair droids in two. As such, they would occupy 3 slots, not just 2. Just having two stacks of repair droids and forgoing the guard droids is not advisable since the main tactic is to tank with the guard droid, and continually do powerful repairs on it via the repair droids.

For your current lineup (cyclops, assassins, paladins, archmages, royal griffins), if you are hesitant to drop the royal griffins along with the cyclops and assassins for the 3 droid slots, then another good change would be to drop the cyclops for either beholders or evil beholders. At that stage of the game I'm assuming you could no longer let your cyclops tank since enemy stacks could do massive damage to them (even with archmage magic shield) and there is no way for you to heal them (unless you have time back). If you are just using them as range attackers, then you are better off with the beholder types who have the added benefit of consistently putting to sleep low level enemy stacks; you can resurrect them too if needed, via spell or the paladin.

[loreangelicus]

No evil beholder available either; but lots of regular beholder.

Why wont't he driods work if I use phantom instead of two stacks of repairs ?
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I currently only get one spell per turn but will get higher magic (first level) next level (i drove chaos spells to level 3 which might have been a mistake); other two are level 1).

I misunderstood your intent on the application of Phantom on the repair droid in your original post. That is indeed a powerful solution to their only weakness... if Phantom works on them.

I am not yet in a position in my impossible paladin game to try out spells on the droids as I am just at the 3rd island (Debir-Scarlet-Bolo) and sometimes replay battles simply with the intent of grinding "useful" wanderer scrolls (Ancient Knowledge, Call of Death, etc.).

Can anyone confirm if Phantom works on droids? Also, does Sacrifice on other (living) units to "top up" droid stacks work? KBScanner on my current game shows Engineer's Badge somewhere in future islands; right now, I consider droids at Bolo as "near-perfect"; perfect if Phantom and Sacrifice works to support them.

[jake21]

phantom works on droid but my spell level was too low to be effective so that apporach didn't work.

I misunderstood your intent on the application of Phantom on the repair droid in your original post. That is indeed a powerful solution to their only weakness... if Phantom works on them.

I am not yet in a position in my impossible paladin game to try out spells on the droids as I am just at the 3rd island (Debir-Scarlet-Bolo) and sometimes replay battles simply with the intent of grinding "useful" wanderer scrolls (Ancient Knowledge, Call of Death, etc.).

Can anyone confirm if Phantom works on droids? Also, does Sacrifice on other (living) units to "top up" droid stacks work? KBScanner on my current game shows Engineer's Badge somewhere in future islands; right now, I consider droids at Bolo as "near-perfect"; perfect if Phantom and Sacrifice works to support them.