Level 10 is cool I'm not sure I'll do it in my current mage game. I'd be a little bellow level 5.5 before the turtle. But my current game is a terrible error, I tested superficial stuff of first area and select this game because it has Sacrifice, except that this spell is totally useless for a mage and that soon without Hypnotize, or Gift, or perhaps Resurrect. My stack are too low to ensure a good resurrect from inqui. Lol, I had play it and face it to realize it but numbers are obvious.

it isn't because you defeat a boss
it's because u become a baron

viscount>baron=+500 leadership

if u get the treaty from the dwarves
u get from baron>lord IIRC( dunno exactly how much leadership u get but maybe someone else can post it)

why would that be a problem?
u get +500 from killing turtle that should mean 1-2 extra level 4 units

and most likely the banners throughout darion should also make up for a 250+ leadership

and cash problems?

do the quest from the dwarf/fishing tackles/priest/garden infestation

u get free cash and xp(all involves no fighting :)

I like doing the quests in the old castle (headless skeleton and the chest). It is dodgy, you may have to save/load a bunch of times till you get it right without dying, but the XP reward is the best there. Kicks you a level and something up just like that, maybe even 2 levels.

And since velarion forest has some nice chests and runes you can easily steal, that's my preferred start of the game. Always :)

that depends on class rather than having a good start

for a mage i would just use the last hero strat on turtle at level 2 then steamroll darion

but for pala or warrior your option might be better since warrior or paladin won't have enough mana too substain the turtle with last hero

Exactly my point :) It is very important from refraining to make serious generalizations, because the three chars have different play styles. I know your strategy is just terrific, but it's applicable with a mage, since you can easily get concentration to a decent level and compensate for the -5 mana per 1-2 turns. The other classes can't do that so easily. I personally get concentration at lvl 6-7, depending on whether I can get that many magic runes available. That's why I like using healing + priests + horsemen to compensate for the lack of mana regen in combat.

they can i just tested this :)

a warrior and paladin have higher leadership at start and thus have more units in their stacks which easily compensates the mana cost

a mage needs like 35/40 mana(WITHOUT concentration) and maybe 1-2 scrolls of last hero but that shouldn't be too hard to find..

however a warrior can do this with 30/35 mana with 1 scroll

keep in mind that a warrior got way more units

and thus would do more damage to a turtle

with my mage i did like 200 damage a turn(rougly based)

around 40~80 from archimage
20~50 inqi
20~50 bowman
50~96 from thorn hunter


but all units were below 10 except for thorn and bowman i think
bowman 14
thorn hunters 102

(i picked up all leaderships flags before going into the turtle island :>

I got money problem in that game only, and that was quite before the turtle ie quite before 7AM day 2. Later and before the turtle I could fill stacks if I want.

Roughly for a mage my current best rough route for the beginning is, before Day 2 6AM ie before taking care of the turtle:

• All Greenwort but 3 stacks close to Rogues dean and stuff on sea.
• Then half part of Verlon and take care to conclude quests started in Greenwort and start all possible quests and finish those possible.
• Then sea part of Greenwort but not always ships but always to get access to Rogues dean from sea and continue the paused quest of zombie.
• Then Arlania except the mage tower, the underground, (often) one hero, the sea stuff including Griffins. Take care start or finish quests here.
• Then the swamp (not the cemetery) to erase fully except if there's a hero too strong so soon.
• Then at 6AM rush to prepare and do the turtle.

Currently my path isn't enough optimized so I always need rush to the turtle before to have finish the swamps.

After the turtle it's still unorganized. Also I don't quote the details but it's a little complicate to organize all walks.

why do you fight battles before battling turtle?

that is a riddle for me
i just clean sweep the area's and do the quest to get rage box(then turtle)

so after the battle with turtle i get enough leadership to steamroll all
and use my ragebox on every battle with maximised efficiency
:>
money is never a problem ^^
i hardly lose troops
last hero can work wonders ^^

The pala and the warrior may do more damage, but the general idea is that you need to drop down the turtle from 4000 HP to 0 without losses. Besides, on lower levels, the leadership difference for a mage vs. warrior isn't that decisive, since it's from 40 to 120 (levels 2-6). And keeping in mind that a horseman takes like 50-65 damage from a regular hit with a shield from the archmage, you need last hero every 2-3 turns (provided you have lvl 3 last hero), and any other unit should have quite a bunch of HP to survive a hit without you needing to recast last hero every turn. If you can drop 4000 HP in 12 turns (that's 20 mana or 15+scroll), it's doable.

On impossible the warrior has 10 mana at start, the paladin has 15 and the mage 20. So you need 25 mana for a warrior till you get to the turtle and 20 for the paladin. That's not easy to do without an artifact or selecting mana upgrades. You may get lucky with enough +4 mana objects in the starting areas, but that's doubtful :)

Also if you're playing on impossible, the more leadership you have, the better, so you may want to start picking up the leadership upgrades from lvl 2. That would leave few picks for mana upgrades, provided you get them.