Level 17: What units?

[eXeel]

I'm now a lvl 17½ paladin. I asked earlier, at lvl 11, what units I should be having. Now I'm just done with making peace between Humans and Dwarfs, got an option to take to the Elven lands and I need to reconsider...
Here is my lineup:

1) Inquisitors.
I make these myself, so almost infinite.

2) Royal Snakes.
Between these and Griffins, these work great for me as a defense-offensive melee unit.

3) Cannoneers.
A little low dps, but I got the telescope with 100% more dps. Consider keeping these.

4) Shaman.
Tough and good dps melee, their ranged spell is great too, but only works every other turn, sadly. So not a pure ranged unit.

5) Evil Beholder.
Somehow I feel the dps of these are a little low, but might just be me? I have been glad for them the past 17 levels, especially their spell to "spend" a turn for an enemy ranged stack. Maybe I'll keep liking them?

As I just got a chance to buy the telescope, I wonder if I should replace Evil Beholders or Shaman with Bowmen or Hunters (when I can get them), since only they get the 100% damage benefit. But I really like my lineup!

What do you guys think?

[Koki]

If you really like your lineup and it works... don't change it.

Go to Demonis, sneak around the "heaven" section and check out the shops.
Go to Ellinia, sneak around(Get a ship!) and check out the shops.

We can't really tell you what to get if we don't know what you have available.

Oh, and at this point you should start worrying about morale - i.e. exchanging Shamans for Hunters will mean you will have both Elf and Dwarf unit in your army, which means trouble.

[Zonc]

Replace Cannoneers with Elves, they are avaible at elven capital. Cannoneers - Salvo is good but if not salvo'ing they're poor. Cost 200 leadership and just 5-10 dmg. Replace 'em (oh and with Elves morale is deacreased so that is one more reason to do that). Elves - the best archer in the game, no range penalty and Double Shot every two turns. If you have Order Magic lvl2/3, you can get Bowmen. Yes, they're crap normally but with Dragon Arrows thay do wonders. Actually, Skeleton Archers would be even better, so if you have access to them, go and buy.

I personally don't like Shaman but it's just me.
If you're using snakes, snake ring is necesarry.

[Ryastar]

Hunters are better than elves, always getting that double damage, and with higher stats to boot. All this for only twice the leadership, but since they have ~double the health of a regular elf, and do more than twice the damage, the doubled leadership is worth it. So if you can find them, they are clearly better, but both of them is even better. I would also recommend dryads, sprites and lake fairies, though only if you use the item anga's ruby (which you should have gotten from the holy indulgence quest). Note that sprites are better than lake fairies, and dryads are only really useful as support units (their damage STINKS). Personally, i have found an all-elf army to be superior to all others, but this is personal opinion, and depends on all those troops actually being available.

[eXeel]

I can understand about morale, that dwarf and elf might be trouble. I haven't experienced anything with morale yet, hence not thinking about it :)

I will look into Hunters/Elves, when I meet them. Bowmen seems a little weak, don't you guys think so? Or do you advice me to replace my Cannoneers with them?

As alternative to my 1-5 lineup, I have all the units you encounter up to heading to Elven lands for the first time. Hard to recall them all :)

[Zonc]

Bowmen seems a little weak, don't you guys think so? Or do you advice me to replace my Cannoneers with them?

Just as I said. They're crap w/o Dragon Arrows, but excellent with. That's always my first spell in battle, but if you have Order Magic lower than 2 than don't bother (each level gives more DA up to 3 on level 3)

I've been comparing Evil Beholders, Cannoneers and Catapults (availble in Demonis) and found Cannoneers least useful. Well, they didn't suck completely, I think the worst thing was decreasing morale of my Elves.