running out of troops

[gmjapan]

Serious need of some suggestions... lvl5 paladin and totally new to this type of game and I was having a blast but now i seem to be out of troops to buy to make a functional army.
There is 1 Archmage left to get, 10 archers, 2 swordmen and i think a dozen priests.
Theres plants to buy from the little village and i found wolves but neither of these seem to have any punch. I found Marauders and Barbarians and witches that sell snakes and spiders but I have no ranged to support them so after a few more battles they will be depleted too. I dont mean my unit stacks i mean the shops. I just lost a battle against a 'slightly weaker' gang coz they happily picked me off from a distance without any ranged of my own. I really dont see an army i could buy and take to the next fight.

I looked in the hits & tips and everyone talks of ressing and sacrifice and inquisitors but i dont have these things.

I've lost my numbers to heavy losses in lots of battles; one battle im wiping the floor with puny flowers and the next my full Archer unit is 1-shot by goblin towers or a cave i maybe shouldnt have been in. It all adds up to needing help, or pointing to help or some suggestions if possible.

[lokiju]

You need to make sure you are not fighting anything labeled more than "weak" for a few levels. Take Scouting 1 asap to see how the enemy ranks. You will have to avoid many mobs for a while.

[DGDobrev]

I would strongly suggest you start over and try to minimize your losses. Here's one way of doing that:

1. Scout all free resources (money, crystals, flags, chests) in Greenwort and the adjacent maps. Save VERY often and run away from the enemies or try to get them stuck somewhere and get past them.
2. After you have all the money you can get, go to the abandoned castle in velarion forest and do the skeleton quest and the treasure quest. It takes a few tries to do it without dying (the enemy usually catches up to you quickly in the small room with the treasure, so save before entering the painting portal in the throne room). If you manage to do this successfully, you will have like 50-60k (at least) in gold and 1-2 levels up (depending on the difficulty), which will net you some runesto advance in some skills, as well as some leadership, if you decide to start taking the upgrades from lvl 2.
3. There are a few more easy-to-do quests that do not involve fighting like some in the mage's school in Greenwort, the old chvakha quest (the one for the alchemist - you can evade the enemies along the way). Do them, if you can.
4. Now for the hard part. Recruit as many units as you can. Go to the horsemen's camp in Greenwort and save. Kill the enemies and save. Then kite the mages away from the camp, then go past them and recruit as many units as you can. There will be horsemen there (almost guaranteed) and Knights (rarely). Both make very good tanker units in the early game and will get you through every battle without any problems (magic shield on them, some heal and ranged units work on every difficulty without losses even versus better armies than your own). Same strat works on the turtle.

This will be enough to get you through the starting areas and up until the time to go to the freedom isles. Before you get there, kite the mages again and get everything in the camp. With a good tank and decent support units, the islands will be a breeze, even on impossible.

[gmjapan]

Excellent, thanks for the fast replies!
I can try these out tonight.

[calnon]

I actually put of buying the game I hate to admit its just when I played the game at a friend this is the exact problem I had, however now that I know about scouting 1 well I think I am close to buying, got 20 bucks in pocket to burn so I have a few games short listed.

In terms of avoiding mobs I kinda figured all the lowest level mobs would be in the starting areas so maybe I need to explore more?

Not meaning to hijack the thread its just I was told to read the sticky which I am now doing and plus the problem the OP has highlighted is what has made me put off buying

[easytarget]

You can buy it through Steam this weekend for 14.99, that's how/why I became the new owner of it. And having a great time too.

You never know when you'll stumble across an inexpensive gem amongst the weekend deals running on Steam.

This one has turned out to be a great buy, I'd say snag it while it's such a great deal. :cool: