Crazy Game
 

I started out bemoaning my poor luck, no cool units on verona (just ordinary griffins, barbs, pirates, bears - the usual) and no cool artifacts.

I played on without a scanner. Then i decided to use droids, got the Axe of Elements that gives +7 defence and no retaliation for repair droids. Got 2 -leadership requirements for Dwarves, now near the end i have around 600 repair droids.. But then then really amazing lucky streak began.

Found 2 Belts of the Victor (and wearing both) that's +100% defence all Units, Mithril Shield (+8 def), Magicians's Cape, Crown of Chaos + Magical Diploma gives my Engineers Droids and Shamans 95% Mag res (Gremlion fight was trivially easy) - and even my droids now have 60% mag res! My base defence for the Rune Mages is 121! To top it all i have found 6 Ancient Knowledge Scrolls in this game!

Now i have found both Eye of the Dragon and Draconix (between them that is -30% requirements for all dragons!) But i am not even using a Dragon army, so now i have a dilemma - what a waste not to use the dragon artifacts - but the Droids + Engineers are also working out so well for me, so not sure what i will do.

Dude, two belts of the victor? What class and difficulty? Can you save your initial saved game for me if it is Impossible mode? :)

Do you mean Heart of the Dragon? Eye of the Dragon is +500 leadership and -50% attack rating for enemy dragons.

Belt of the Victor works MUCH better with units that have a high base level of defense. You could almost argue that it is overkill though since damage reduction is capped to 1/3 total damage once you get +60 defense over the opponent.

However, to gain +2 speed is fanastic! Paladins are finally mega deadly, ogres are mega fast, etc. Hmmm.

I don't know what you mean by asking for an initial savegame, but here is a snapshot of the character in the last island (Reha) to visit before Baal, it is impossible no-loss warrior (and i am making ok speed with the game too - Day 13)

http://img63.imageshack.us/img63/3695/image2ip.jpg

Yes, mistake i meant Heart of the Dragon (another mistake in my OP is that the Draconix bonus of -20% ldrship only applies to Reds).

It almost makes me sorry i didn't start down the skill tree to get Voice of the Dragon +3 as a skill for extra morale for the Reds too! When i read my Flaming Eyes scroll it will probably go past 30 Dragons going into the final battle.

One Belt was the reward for Scrounger and the other was found piecemeal.

I also found the rare bracelet of fury and completed the Demon Set as well if i wanted to go with demons. Only dissapointing slots have been boots and the dress for the mage companion.

I always save my "initial" game right as the game starts in Greenwort (yes, the first place).

That way you can "give me" your initial saved game so I can replay your game, knowing that it contains all of those nice items, but I want to play it with my style of characters and armies. :)

I agree, saving initial save is good, even for blind game (no scanner used).

Yeah voice of dragon 3 is definately a must for dragons user.

I bet you have fun with those droids, 2 -ldrship arties for dwarft really turn those things to super powerhouse.

Whoa, 2 belt of victor? I never got one, let alone two :(

But wait, scrounger can give another artifact than that ring? :confused:

I though she can only give that ring, which happen to me several times already.

Those dragons look Fuc**** ridiculous strong !! With 154 defense it will be necessary to cast Helplesness Lv 3 (now imagine BD with 2 belts and voice of the dragon lv3 plus another item that gives +1 moral to dragon (is there any?), that should give 'em 161 defense without taking into account the hero defense!!

Perhaps someone else can confirm for me that it does sometimes give out a different reward to the ring? I was expecting the ring myself (got it in the last game) and the belt was a nice surprise.

Most of the best artifacts only came very late in the game, especially in Elon which i visited near the end - and the first island when i returned very late in the game having not visited in a very long time... Maybe staying away from Frederick until you are very powerful and have accomplished a great deal (including getting him his kingdom back) in the interum since you saw him last is a key to getting those shops on the first island restocked with the best gear?

I wish i had a savegame for ckdamascus but i always overwrite.

The battle with K'Tahu went trickier than i expected, i may have high defence but i do have low phys resistance, ah well... up to 28 Dragins now. :-)

I can't hard confirm, but I say with some certainty, Scounger can probably spawn different items as a reward. I think one of my games, the item she gave me was ... get this... Crown of Chaos. :)

What is her ring anyway? If you mean the Holy Ring, pretty sure she can spawn different items.

If you really want, I can pull up my old saved game and beat her to find out what item she gave me.

Unfortunately, this is NOT the case. The items are 100% pre-generated by the time you press "Start New Game". That is why some players use a saved game scanner to detect the item distribution before they start, to ensure the times match their planned strategy.

Yeah, in one of my saved games I needed to basically beat Demenion to get the Dagger of Judgement. I thought... at that point, I can't even really USE the dagger for much longer. :)

Incidentally, in this very saved game, I have tons of great intellect items too, so I recycled the game (since I saved the initial game) and replayed using a different strategy.

Yeah, I just realized Ktahu's minions have ZERO "heroic" buffs to their stats, so high defense helps a lot. High defense and high physical resist is really handy against Ktahu. There was a huge difference in survivability for me once I equipped the Slippery Cuirass. (I was trying to be macho and not use it :) )

Darn. Double Belt of the Victor is sooo rare. <sniffles> Although, it is VERY possible it has slipped past me becase you got it as a special reward. The scanner does not pick up all special rewards.

Ironic, eh? Because you didn't use the scanner and rely on it, that is why you ended up with it (eventually). :) Because if I was really gunning for it, I probably would have discarded that saved game. :)

i got the Glove of Destroyer item from Scrounger
so it seems that the game generates a random combined artifact there

There is an item that does it! The Heart of the Dragon does +1 morale to dragons (and dragonflies)!

@Rudi, ah ha, I do remember getting the Gloves from Scrounger as well. I think you might be right. She gives a random composite item. Hmm... while the odds of procuring the Belt of the Victor, twice, naturally by components maybe like winning a lottery, with Scrounger the odds are back to the realms of mortals. :)