Quick Run Through updates

[Zechnophobe]

I didn't want to clog up the High Score Thread anymore, since I may not have a particularly high one, but am enjoying the cataloging of the attempt.

So, here's the parameters of the run through:

1) Visit each island a minimum number of times
2) Mage
3) No losses
4) Impossible.
5) No map Kiting
6) No replaying fights just to get better Digs.
7) No Savegame Scanner (Though I have saved, gone running around a map looking for stuff, and then loaded again.)

The last three are just my style. Currently I am at Rusty Anchor with 2 Green Dragons, 9 engineers, 2 Cyclopses, 1 Rune Mage, and 43 Repair Droids. and just over 4k leadership.

I have not found any Call scrolls yet (colossus, death, wind) but rusty was selling 3 Green Dragons! I left no fights un-done in Bolo, but Rusty is looking to be very difficult to do. I DO have target and Stoneskin, and higher magic one, so I think I should be able to do well. Did defeat the Dragon in the cave. The fight against Grinskin has an.. unfortunate number of Orc Veterans that are giving me a problem. And I think I may just skip Zag-zag for now. We'll see. I won't be back until after NAMELESS so I have to get most everything done here.

Picked up a Verona Scroll on bolo, so I don't need to unlock that one here (though I did anyway) and can leave at any time. The real question will be what fights can I get away with before I leave? Hopefully the grinskin gang will go down, since that one will potentially give new and good items.

[Zechnophobe]

I made a really amusing mistake. I saved on rusty, and then left to explore verona (before finishing rusty) just to see what was there.

Accept, I then over-wrote the save I made on rusty :(. So I either had to reload from Bolo, or just finish verona/Montero as if I'd meant to do that all along.

Sigh, so I tried doing the latter, and it actually has worked out pretty well. I found Call Phoenix, and with Order 3 and Summoning 3, it has become a combat swinger of epic proportions. Holy cow does that thing dish out damage. Found maps for Dersu and Umkas so far, but no Necro Call Scroll, which Is not a good thing. I'll need that before going to Umkas. I have found the Mechanical Blade and Optimization module, so good odds I can get that set if I want it. Oh, and found 3 trolls, so I think Driller is going down before I leave!

[ckdamascus]

I made a really amusing mistake. I saved on rusty, and then left to explore verona (before finishing rusty) just to see what was there.

Accept, I then over-wrote the save I made on rusty :(. So I either had to reload from Bolo, or just finish verona/Montero as if I'd meant to do that all along.

Sigh, so I tried doing the latter, and it actually has worked out pretty well. I found Call Phoenix, and with Order 3 and Summoning 3, it has become a combat swinger of epic proportions. Holy cow does that thing dish out damage. Found maps for Dersu and Umkas so far, but no Necro Call Scroll, which Is not a good thing. I'll need that before going to Umkas. I have found the Mechanical Blade and Optimization module, so good odds I can get that set if I want it. Oh, and found 3 trolls, so I think Driller is going down before I leave!

:) Call Phoenix rocks and typically far more efficient for damage + tanking. :)

You don't have to kill everything since you can come back later. You need to go back to Rusty for the Elon quest, antidote quest.

The only critical thing you need to do for say Montero is getting those Pegasus wings.

Yeah, Necro Call is necessary. One time I dug it up while I was at Umkas itself. :) Ooh the irony.

Ugh. I hate fighting driller at a low level. It also isn't really necessary either.

[Zechnophobe]

Uggh, Just realized that the Scrounger quest requires: Dersu-Verona-Tekron. Meaning I have to go to Dersu and then BACK TO VERONA. Since there isn't really much else to do it is pretty much a one island loop, and since I don't get back to Dersu until after cleaning out Elon... I have to do most of Dersu While I"m there. This will add like 8 hours of time to my game... though I guess it is unavoidable.

I just saved and scouted out dersu, tekron and Umkas... no necro call scroll in any of them! This is very VERY vexing. Pet Dragon, don't fail me now!

[Zechnophobe]

I haven't found any resistance items except the salamander banner (still in Montero). This is a bad sign, to be sure. Hopefully they are just hiding and I will find them elsewhere. Hagni needs to die before I leave I think, though since I have to detour to Dersu and back, I could probably do much of Dersu first.

[ckdamascus]

I haven't found any resistance items except the salamander banner (still in Montero). This is a bad sign, to be sure. Hopefully they are just hiding and I will find them elsewhere. Hagni needs to die before I leave I think, though since I have to detour to Dersu and back, I could probably do much of Dersu first.

Despite having access to the Slippery Cuirass, I didn't really need it with my pure Summoner build.

I was a little scared that I would not have enough fire resistance to survive the Tower of Power in Debir, but I somehow prevailed. I can't quite remember if I used Dragon of Chaos and Ancient Phoenix there, to buy time for the Mystic Eggs.

You sort of might need it against Ktahu, but I find the key there is to keep hitting with the Black Knights (teleport/stoneskin, etc).

I've been playing other games lately, so my King's Bounty power might be decreasing rapidly. ;)

[Zechnophobe]

Despite having access to the Slippery Cuirass, I didn't really need it with my pure Summoner build.

I was a little scared that I would not have enough fire resistance to survive the Tower of Power in Debir, but I somehow prevailed. I can't quite remember if I used Dragon of Chaos and Ancient Phoenix there, to buy time for the Mystic Eggs.

You sort of might need it against Ktahu, but I find the key there is to keep hitting with the Black Knights (teleport/stoneskin, etc).

I've been playing other games lately, so my King's Bounty power might be decreasing rapidly. ;)

Yeah, Eventus may be a problem, but I'm more worried about Ktahu and Baal. I was not planning to use Black Knights... actually I'm not sure what I was planning to do for that yet. As for Eventus, I'm hoping a Phoenix and maybe a black dragon will do the work. I'll likely need to get Onslaught (bonus initiative) before heading over there.

My last game I really started to appreciate onslaught more than the dragon buffing abilities. Going first is VERY IMPORTANT to a mage! Even more so with this setup.

[ckdamascus]

Yeah, Eventus may be a problem, but I'm more worried about Ktahu and Baal. I was not planning to use Black Knights... actually I'm not sure what I was planning to do for that yet. As for Eventus, I'm hoping a Phoenix and maybe a black dragon will do the work. I'll likely need to get Onslaught (bonus initiative) before heading over there.

My last game I really started to appreciate onslaught more than the dragon buffing abilities. Going first is VERY IMPORTANT to a mage! Even more so with this setup.

It was strange. One time against Eventus, he just went 3 stacks against my black dragon stack. BIG mistake for him. I just did Ball of Lightning to whittle him down to nothing. When the enemy stacks were sizable, I dropped Dragon of Chaos to help finish the job. Surprisingly very easy.

There is probably a way, but it seems very hard to win without black knights. In fact, besides verrry strange combinations, I don't think I've ever beaten Ktahu or Baal as a Mage without the power of black knights.

I suppose Baal might have been beatable with rune mages, but it just seemed too insane.

Ktahu's AoE attack is just too grizzly.

Yeah, onslaught is good, but it is only for the first round though and unless you got quickdraw or something else, it seems that arch demons will still out-init you?

I usually have the Black Dragon around as my "interdictor" and he tends to help me win initiative most of the time.

[Zechnophobe]

It was strange. One time against Eventus, he just went 3 stacks against my black dragon stack. BIG mistake for him. I just did Ball of Lightning to whittle him down to nothing. When the enemy stacks were sizable, I dropped Dragon of Chaos to help finish the job. Surprisingly very easy.

There is probably a way, but it seems very hard to win without black knights. In fact, besides verrry strange combinations, I don't think I've ever beaten Ktahu or Baal as a Mage without the power of black knights.

I suppose Baal might have been beatable with rune mages, but it just seemed too insane.

Ktahu's AoE attack is just too grizzly.

Yeah, onslaught is good, but it is only for the first round though and unless you got quickdraw or something else, it seems that arch demons will still out-init you?

I usually have the Black Dragon around as my "interdictor" and he tends to help me win initiative most of the time.

I generally Beat Ktahu with Bone Dragons, actually, since in many run throughs I use a dragon army. Same rough strategy, less need to teleport.

Onslaught gives you up to +3 init. Archdemons have 8, so a 6 init thing will go first. I'm not AS worried about turn 2, as I am about turn 1. Also, onslaught gives up to 10 Rage. Basically the question is "Go after dragon training and rage generation, or go after onslaught" and I think onslaught is better. Maybe 1 point in Dragon Training.

Edit: Anyhow, a lot of this is really the issue with the QUICK game I'm running. No red dragons, no bone dragons, only Greens for now, and the foreseeable future (no call colossus yet!). In fact, my highest init unit at the moment is 6, until I start pulling out the Phoenix, and that doesn't help me the first turn. It has been causing no end of troubles, let me tell ya. I may end up using Guard Droids just because they are init 6! (Good all around, but I'm not sure if I want them more than my other army right now...)

[Zechnophobe]

Rakush, the Goblin leader on Uzala... I just scouted him out because I was thinking about assasinating him at about level 26 while doing: Dersue-Verona-Tekron.

Turns out though, that his army of goblins kills mine... before I get to take an action! Now, this is mainly due to my army selection at the moment, but I just wanted to scout him out to remind myself what stat boosts he gets. I guess One of them is initiative. I don't know exactly HOW MUCH initiative though, but more than 6 for sure.

It is all level 3 and lower stuff, so I just need to win init, and then dryad storm him. But man, those Goblin Shamans are broken strong. One stack can kill three of mine just by casting that stupid spell...

[ckdamascus]

Rakush, the Goblin leader on Uzala... I just scouted him out because I was thinking about assasinating him at about level 26 while doing: Dersue-Verona-Tekron.

Turns out though, that his army of goblins kills mine... before I get to take an action! Now, this is mainly due to my army selection at the moment, but I just wanted to scout him out to remind myself what stat boosts he gets. I guess One of them is initiative. I don't know exactly HOW MUCH initiative though, but more than 6 for sure.

It is all level 3 and lower stuff, so I just need to win init, and then dryad storm him. But man, those Goblin Shamans are broken strong. One stack can kill three of mine just by casting that stupid spell...

Yeah, he definitely gets an initiative boost. It doesn't help that he loves to cast geyser too.

Yup. He has destroyed or nearly destroyed my entire army in one turn before.

Sometimes I wonder if those guys who insist on "no saving/reloading" have ever played the game normally on Impossible mode. :)

[Zechnophobe]

Well, joy of joys, I seem to have lost another save game, under the same circumstances as before. I saved before leaving Montero to 'scout out' Uzala, came back the next day and the save game is gone. I have a save from 4 levels ago (level 20) or the autosave from Dersu. I kinda need to clean out most of Dersu in one go though, or I'm going to have severe problems being strong enough to do Tekron (Which has some hard fights, unlike Umkas).

So... try an even slightly MORE impossible challenge, or replay 4 hours of game? Uggh.

[Zechnophobe]

Hah.. So, I started over, since I lost so much time from same games going away, and wanted to try a few things different.

I have encountered on Debir, two DIFFERENT enemy armies containing level 5 units! I've *never* seen this before. One contained a RuneMage (not too bad, since it spent most of its time not attacking).

The other contained TWO Cyclopses! That was the army in the little cave near the snake hut. Two Cyclopses. I'm pretty sure that is just straight up not beatable without losses this early. You can't control them, you can't really even do much damage to them with spells. And then... they attack and kill some things.

Has anyone else seen this happen before?

[ckdamascus]

Hah.. So, I started over, since I lost so much time from same games going away, and wanted to try a few things different.

I have encountered on Debir, two DIFFERENT enemy armies containing level 5 units! I've *never* seen this before. One contained a RuneMage (not too bad, since it spent most of its time not attacking).

The other contained TWO Cyclopses! That was the army in the little cave near the snake hut. Two Cyclopses. I'm pretty sure that is just straight up not beatable without losses this early. You can't control them, you can't really even do much damage to them with spells. And then... they attack and kill some things.

Has anyone else seen this happen before?

Yup, I've seen that happen before. That's also why I say sometimes a dose of luck is a factor for the "7-day" run. Either that or everyone else is much better than I.

[Zechnophobe]

So, uggh. Uggh and double uggh. I have been trying to use High level orc units for the early parts here, and it just doesn't work. As awesome as orcs are when they START with 10 to 20 rage, they really just stink without any. Blood Shamans, Orc Veterans, Trackers... they all look like they could be awesome. But so far they've just been really bad. I've wasted too much money on them now, I think I may just restart back from Debir and not do a more traditional Bowmen, Priest, Inquisitor type thing instead. Maybe just Orc Trackers as a tank since they have lots of HP.

[atlatea]

Unless you're a warrior or paladin, using orc at early game is disaster indeed.

Or you could try the weirdest mage build, going asap to get onslaught or adrenaline.

However as warrior or paladin, as soon as you have onslaught 2 or adrenaline 2, or both, those orcs are some of the best, especially orc veterans. Goblins begin to show their overpoweredness at this point tho.

[Zechnophobe]

Well, I'm now level 33, and things are looking good. I managed to Dryad stomp Rakush on Uzala, which I needed to do since it was the only place in the game that a necro call scroll existed.

Not only that, but I've realized I have a LOT of sets in this game.

Dragon toy? I've put it together already!
Ogre Set? Have it!
Scale Set? Scouting Shows it is there!
Engineer Set? Got that one too!

What an incredibly lucky game. Also, Gladiator sword was on Bolo, meaning it existed right when I finally had enough money to buy it, and then made a lot of fights in that area and immediately after easier.

Current lineup: GDroids-RDroids-Engineers-Alchemists-Green Dragons-Red Dragons. Depending on the situation I either use: Guards, Repairs, Engineer, Alchemist, Reds or Guards, Repairs1, Repairs2, Red, Green (This is the boss battle lineup)

Been working exceptionally well so far. Just cleaning up the Montero underground fights I didn't do before, then Hagni goes down, then we do Umkas-Tekron (And pick up an optimization module there!).

[Zechnophobe]

Tekron, Dersu and Montero down. Defeated Hagni with basically no trouble. Umkas is next, and I just did the two hard fights there (nameless scroll and grog ripper). Didn't even need wings for the chest quest here. Level 38. I'm thinking I might be able to just go straight for Reha now. Scale set is there. Hmm, so Take out Ktahu with Guard and Repair droids alone? I've never done that before, but with massive physical resist it may be possible.

Another option would be to skip it entirely for now, and when I go back to get the meteor tools from Montero, swing by there on the way. I feel that will waste more time.

Ultimately I haven't been all that fast here, It's almost done with day 6 and I've still got a fair bit left to do. I guess I spent too much time dilly-dallying around in verona-montero. All that normal travel time adds up too! Oh well, still pretty pleased with it.

[ckdamascus]

Tekron, Dersu and Montero down. Defeated Hagni with basically no trouble. Umkas is next, and I just did the two hard fights there (nameless scroll and grog ripper). Didn't even need wings for the chest quest here. Level 38. I'm thinking I might be able to just go straight for Reha now. Scale set is there. Hmm, so Take out Ktahu with Guard and Repair droids alone? I've never done that before, but with massive physical resist it may be possible.

Another option would be to skip it entirely for now, and when I go back to get the meteor tools from Montero, swing by there on the way. I feel that will waste more time.

Ultimately I haven't been all that fast here, It's almost done with day 6 and I've still got a fair bit left to do. I guess I spent too much time dilly-dallying around in verona-montero. All that normal travel time adds up too! Oh well, still pretty pleased with it.

I just hate how Ktahu can slow you down with that imba AoE scream.

I also keep forgetting that the summons get zero bonus stats since Ktahu, while a Boss, is not a real Hero. :) Haha.

So I guess it is possible. I just feel they would do too little damage and get overwhelmed.

Then again, you are a mage though... so who knows what nifty tricks you got up your sleeve.

While I loathe to do it, I just use black knights to beat the bosses if I am a mage. :(

Yes, going back and forth sucks a lot of time away. It is hard to get the dream army too, since you can beat some armies with an "ok" army, but then you need to get a few more troops in that far away castle, etc. Bleh.

[Zechnophobe]

It'll be interesting to see.
5% (guardian angel) + 10% (cuirass) + 20% (droid) +20%(scale set) = 55% physical resist. 95% with Stone skin. So as usual the big dinger will be the ever accursed gorguanas. I'll have helm of chaos to reduce damage back down to ~100% base, but won't have diploma for any more than that.

If I move repair droids adjacent to gorguana's while the guard droids focus on Ktahu himself, it might workout. Stoneskin lasts more than 4 turns, so I can easily stagger casts of that to each turn, and throw in mana spring now and then for more.

Dunno, it could work. I just don't know if I'll do enough damage. Luckily the playing field often gets cluttered with weak heyterant stacks after a while.

[Zechnophobe]

Sigh, almost finished, but... I kept forgetting to do some of the end game quests. Like, I went to Scarlet to find the chest and turnint he blade, and forgot to give Timeback to the guy. I forgot to go to verona to tell the guy about the dead person. I forgot to give the owl the Necro Call scroll. It's very frustrating. Going to end up with like, 11 or 12 days of run because of it.

I just wasn't being careful because I felt so close to the end.

[DGDobrev]

I would have to say - this is quite all right. You did a really good job under the circumstances of you overall challenge :)

It's inconvenient to forget about quests, but I know where you're coming from. I always did a quest less because I didn't know that starting off the submarine is actully a quest - and paying 30k for it forfeits it :)