Two Things
 

I really like King's Bounty: The Legend, but there are a couple of things that drive me so crazy, I'm ready to give up on the game. Before I consider buying Armored Princess, I want to know if these things have been addressed.

1. No Constant, Guaranteed Supply of Troops
I was afraid to fight pretty much anything in The Legend, because I knew I'd inevitably lose troops. At first I didn't think anything of it, until I realized the vendors I was buying from had a limited supply. After that point, I resorted to using weaker, more easily replaceable units and started avoiding every possible battle I could to conserve troops.

2. Major Jumps in Difficulty in Main Quest
I think this one might be partially as a result of my first concern, but it's the main reason I'm stuck in The Legend. Every time I finally start to make progress in the story, they send me to a new area where everything is suddenly "Overpowering" or "Impossible" and I'm left wondering what I need to do to catch up. I'm definitely going to play Armored Princess on easy if I get it, that's for sure.

By the way, if anyone has advice for those problems in The Legend, I'd appreciate it. :-P

- Try not to lose troops at all! :) Now there are two spells in the game to let you achieve this (Time Back and Resurrection) plus two units (Paladin and Inquisitor).

-But if you are not into no-loss games: Frankly, the game is still very random, but there are so many places where you can recruit units that you are bound to find all units you need. There are also a lot of Castles and places that sell "Hordes" of units from level 1 to 4! (I found Hordes from Dragonflies to Guardsman to Hyterrants).

-On the other hand, some units can still be rare. I only found one place that sells Demonologists and Hyterrants were only at Sammael's castle (albeit as Horde). Also, even without losing a single Gargoyle, I did buy up all the avaliable ones as there were only two sellers selling them on Reha.

Well, good news is - you can get to any island you want without even starting the main quest. Bad news is... the Maps that lead to new areas are guarded by killers stacks. Sometimes, you can lure them away and grab the map - sometimes you can't. I was around Level 30 when I got to Reha, the Lizardman island, for example. But there is a "dificulty order" of the islands, so if you go through them in the correct order you won't have any serious problems. (First few: Debir -> Scarlet Wind -> Bolo -> Rusty Anchor -> Verona)

Also - to get the Pegasus wings, you need to defeat a strong stack to cross the bridge to Montero, and then kill an enemy hero (strong mage) in a castle to get the wings. But once you get them, life becomes much easier.

Originally I tried not losing troops (I try that in a lot of games), but I found it far too difficult. Resurrection costs too much mana to use more than around twice a battle for me (I left it at level two because I decided using lower level troops is better than making it cost even more mana). Inquisitors can only resurrect once per battle (as far as I'm aware), so they only barely help me there. I decided to take Necromancy, which helps a little bit.

I just can't help but feel that I've gotten as far as I have due to pure luck, as opposed to actual knowledge of the game.

Overall though, it does sound like Armored Princess fixes some of my issues with The Legend. The demo didn't really give me too good of an impression, because I could tell by the number of runes you start with and some loading screen messages that the demo gave you stuff you normally have to earn the hard way.

Well... It all depends on your gameplay and your tactical thinking. In general, the game's not that difficult, even on impossible. All you need to do is to carefully consider your strenghts and weaknesses and the enemy's strenghts and weaknesses. Even battles with Impossible enemies on impossible difficulty can result in no-loss victories, provided you are careful and considerate.

Besides, once you make an army that is worth the effort, it usually pays off to stick with it. For example, My favorite army is mostly humans - as they are the easiest to achieve high morale. Paladins, Inquisitors, Knights, Demonologists and another unit of your choice (I usually get priests with paladin, cannoneers/elf hunters with warrior, or another summoner unit with a mage, as more summoned stacks mean more occupied enemies) and you can easily rock the game.

Which difficulty did you play in KB:TL?

If easy or normal, you shouldn't have suffered such great losses so as to be chronically running out troops, and my advice would be to read some threads on these boards that discuss game strategies/tactics. Or ask questions of your own, perhaps describe a battle of yours in details and others will tell you what you are doing wrong.

If hard or impossible, why be shocked at meeting overpowering troops in a new area? It's not like you have to fight everything that crosses your path. You have to pick your battles: grab free leadership banners and treasure chests, analyze an enemy army before you attack them, i.e. is your army composition suitable for fighting your enemy's army, etc.

I'm playing on Normal.

Part of my problem is that I don't even exactly know what my problem is. I've moved through the game at a decent pace so far, but I continually get held up in ways that make me feel like I'm missing something important. This might partially be a result of the fact that the only games I have played that is anything close to this is the Disciples series, which still has significant differences.

I have a level 14 paladin, and my army is as follows:
101 Inquisitors
120 Elves
247 Swordsmen
48 Horsemen
50 Archmages

The quest I'm on is to break the spell on the elf queen, but many of the enemies in the elf area are strong enough that I know I will sustain heavy losses, and the land of the dead has enemies that are outright impossible.

I try my best to avoid losses, but it seems almost every enemy group now has ranged attacks the blow away chunks of my troops at a time.

To be frank, your problem is your own tactics, not the game being too hard. The game isn't that hard, as others have said. Try clicking autobattle once in a while and see how badly the AI does. What happens? The AI sucks. It will lose far more of your units than you should be able to do yourself. Why? Because the AI plunges straight forward, engaging with the enemy in the style of the film 'Braveheart.' You don't want to do that, unless you have an overwhelming advantage in troops. To cut down on troop losses, there are a number of things you can do:

1. Create cannon fodder

- the Phantom spell, Royal Thorns spawning Thorns, Royal Griffins (in Armored Princess) spawning Griffins, and many more. Use these summoned troops to slow the enemy while you pick them off with your real army.

2. Have a super tough 'tank' stack, and other ranged stacks.

- Choose one type of unit that is suited to melee combat. Griffins were good for this in The Legend, but I also used Horsemen a lot because of their speed. You want to 'buff' this unit as much as possible using spells like Stone Skin or Magic Spring. You could use Target instead if you want to draw the enemy's attention, but I usually didn't do this. Apparently Giants + Target is an awesome combination. You can also use other units to supplement this unit, e.g. Archmage's Magic Shield ability. Then you have a super strong tank that absorbs hits for you with a minimum of losses. Glot's Armor is your friend too in The Legend.

3. Slow the enemy

Trap is great for this, because the enemy loses all action points and takes damage too. Great for grids where there are chokepoints. I didn't use Slow much, but there's always that. Anything that freezes the enemy can be useful here. Basically, you don't want the enemy engaging your troops en masse in melee fighting. Every time you lose 1 unit from 1 stack you should regard this as a failure that needs to be fixed next time.

Wait a minute, at level 14 you shouldn't necessarily be clearing out the elven lands, still less the undead ones. Have you cleared out (and thus leveled up sufficiently) Freedom Isles and Kordar, not counting extra strong units that you might have left for later (e.g. the demoness hero in Taron Mines next to the king's son's castle)? Have you finished most quests to get the experience for level up?

Also, to remind you once more that just because something's in your path, doesn't mean you should (or can) defeat it. Try sneaking around, getting some quests complete -- like the Egnum the evilns eater quest that you get in the House by the waterfall place in Magic Valley, not far from where you disembark -- or recruiting useful new units. Have you got the Anga's Ruby artifact? It's a quest item, so you can get it in every game. Try equipping that and then recruiting some sprites, lake fairies and dryads and despair no more. ;) In any case, ditch those swordsmen right away and get royal snakes or some other superior unit. Take a boat and grab some free stuff around the elven lands (another possible replacement for swordsmen - emerald green dragons whose dwelling is accessible by sea only in the Valley of a Thousand Rivers).

This site has some good information on the game: http://gamebanshee.com/kingsbountythelegend/

BTW is this your first time playing the game? If so, you really shouldn't feel bad as there are tons of things to learn and consider, which is one of the biggest reasons why this game rocks so much. I remember in my first game I came to complain to these boards that the demon lands were too hard. Turned out I had completely missed Ellinia and the Undead Lands (wasn't paying much attention to dialogues).:oops:

I always did feel that it was me and not the game, and you proved it here. I pretty much do Rambo through most battles myself, and it's because I'm used to this being true of most games: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.ph...essUsefulSpell

Come to think of it, the Ice Orb has done me some good in distracting my opponents in the past. I really didn't think of using those strategies very much; I feel really stupid now that I know it actually works.

This is my first time playing this game, and my first time playing a game in this exact genre (as I said before, Disciples is close, but differs in key areas like combat).

Thanks for the advice everyone. I'll check back here, but next time I go into the game I'll try to take this stuff into account.

UPDATE: I just replaced my Swordsmen and Horsemen with Lake Fairies and Dryads. I was on my way to getting Sprites and the Dragons you mentioned (neither of which I could find yet), when I was caught by surprise by a tough enemy. At first I was going to load it because I wasn't ready to fight anything, but I decided to try new tactics. I made it through with no losses! I filled the field with Thorns and the Ice Orb, and they never got to me. The only thing I would have done different next time is focus a bit more on their ranged guys, which caused me to have to use a lot of Resurrections.

UPDATE 2: Found the dragons. Right now I'm still experimenting with different combinations, but using thorns, phantoms, and ice orbs as distractions has already saved me a lot.

Put ranged to sleep (assuming they're elves, not hunters) with dryad's lullaby along with other level 1-3 units. Got the phantom spell? Cast it on dryads in the third round (when lullaby wears off) and cast lullaby again with phantom dryads, while you pick off any remaining level 4/5 enemies (assuming any are left). By the time the second lullaby wears off, lullaby will become available again to the original dryad stack. Get my drift...? ;)

Also, you got Anga's Ruby, right? It's a must have for a girl army. Hopefully you find sprites, too.

Yeah, I found sprites. :)

I'm finally starting to get the hang of this I think. I'm blowing through some older quests and leveling up. That Giant Spider boss sure scared me, but he was pretty easy.

These questions are unrelated, but I thought I might as well ask them here. I just went to the Underground Sea and was swallowed by the fish. If I leave, is there any way to go back? Also, can I sell scrolls? I want to buy some, but I have too many.

No returning to the fish.

You can sell them. When in a castle, go to your spell book.

Good stuff. Now if you can get Anga's Ruby from the quest with the pirates in the Freedom Islands, your female units will be unstoppable. Sprites and Lake Fairies are among the best direct damage units in the game (no retaliation, among other things) and Dryads are so powerful against enemies they can put to sleep it's not funny.

BTW, if you get the Target spell and a good tank - Knights, Horsemen, Giants, or Red/Green dragons - you'll rock. Target lvl 3 keeps the enemies occupied while your female cuties take them out at will :)

Yeah, I have the ring, and I just recently found Target, but I can't level it up yet.

At the moment, I'm level 18 now and I'm using Archmages, Dryads, Emerald Green Dragons, Elves, and Inquisitors. It's worked pretty well unless there's a lot of ranged or level 4-5 guys.

I'm kind of afraid to use Lake Fairies and Sprites because if they do get hit, they'll get blown away. How exactly should I use them safely?

Oh, and is there anything important in Mehgard? It's one of a few areas I haven't run around much yet.

Mehgard is required in story line, or was it a side quest to close deamon gate??

About fairys: I have used various tactics with them. If u dont have timeback you should mostly do wait on their turn, so they will be last, then you hit with them and after tht there is another round and (wth angas ruby )they are first so you can go back safely. Shortly : play hit and run.
Or with timeback you can just rush with them, phantom spell is also good idea, most of the units will atack phantom first.

When i played both lake fairy and sprite i combined both strats. One rushing with timeback and phantom and second doing hit and run

The girls are best used with a tough unit + magic shield + target. When you hit a lvl 3 on the target spell, any unit lvl 1-4 will attack it AS LONG AS IT IS IN ITS RANGE - meaning as long as with its move points. If it's outside them, it will attack the first closest target, and if that's the fairies, that's a problem. Ranged units will always attack the unit with target spell on it, AS LONG AS THERE'S NO ENEMY UNIT NEXT TO THEM (like your fairies who are taking them out).

With a little care and a little tactical planning, you can rock with the girl party. The only type of enemy you can't use them against is dragons. They'll simply eat up the fairies, so keep 2 strong units in reserve.

As for Mehgard, go there. A few enemies to kill for some more XP never hurts :)

You all have been a huge help. I looked for help in the past, but I could only find abandoned forums or vague hints.

That group and the ring is pretty powerful. :-P

Unfortunately, I still feel stuck. I've cleared out a good chunk of most areas before the elf area now and I'm now level 18 and a half. My ultimate goal at the moment, the Land of the Dead, is made primarily up of enemies immune to this strategy (whether that be because they're immune to mind spells or that they're higher than level 3).

One problem is that I feel like I really messed up my skills, and maybe made some bad decisions at level up. My skills are all over the place because I picked what fit my playstyle at the time (like getting the one that gives archers, swordsmen, etc. new abilities), and now I don't have enough runes for things like Distortion magic so I can level up Target.

I feel like I should have more mana at this point, because Resurrection level 3 would be really useful, but it wouldn't be efficient enough for the rest of my army.

It still drives me crazy that I was allowed to get to this point in the story fairly easily, and yet I feel like I've almost doubled my playtime since then and it's still seems beyond my ability.

I hope I'm not being too annoying or anything. I am pretty new to this whole thing, and overall I think I've been catching on pretty quickly, but there still seems to be so much more to learn.

It's quite all right.

You should check demonis and other areas you haven't visited yet. Demonis usually has a few XP shrines and you may luck out with a few levels that may give you the edge you need. If you got up to lvl 18, this means you're doing ok, even if the skill choices were poor.

General rule of thumb for KBTL and KBAP - there's always a way out, provided you want to look for it :)

Would it be wise to sell scrolls? There's one I want to buy off a vendor but I need to clear my spellbook first. Honestly, I've never used a scroll outside of putting it in my spellbook.

And are all the Obelisks of Fandor available to me? According to the pyramid's diagram, I'm missing two right next to each other. I've found the eight to the left and the three to the right of them.

Yes you can get pretty much cash from selling scrolls. The last obelisks are in undead land. I dont know where in the game you are but if you reach undeads u can have them all

Yes, sell them, preferably with the level 3 Trade skill.

All the obelisk locations are listed on the gamebanshee.com site, where they have lots of useful info on the game.

2. Major Jumps in Difficulty in Main Quest
I think this one might be partially as a result of my first concern, but it's the main reason I'm stuck in The Legend. Every time I finally start to make progress in the story, they send me to a new area where everything is suddenly "Overpowering" or "Impossible" and I'm left wondering what I need to do to catch up. I'm definitely going to play Armored Princess on easy if I get it, that's for sure.

The first four Islands in AP are easy, but most people who have played it note that there is a vast jump in enemy army difficulties from the fifth Island on with;)

There is no main quest in ap at all :p you can do whatever order. For begginer it might be hard indeed but if you got familair with game it wont. Personally i played on imposssible difficutly and i decided that after rusty i did not go to Verona, would be too easy. I went to Nameless ^^ 3 times harder than Verona xD.Enemies armies wiere 15-20 times larger than mine but stil i could win :>
With just one unit, not 5. And cleraed all. Even few fights without any unit lost :P