Beating the game with no losses (Paladin)

[sector24]

I wanted to try and make a difficult challenge for myself, so I'm going through the game trying not to lose a single unit. I'm playing a Paladin on Hard for my first try, and I'm level 10 heading for the Islands of Freedom for the first time. I'd like to share some strategies, but also ask other people if this challenge is even possible when you get to the more difficult areas.

Early strategies:

My early army consists of:
Bowmen
Royal Snakes
Inquisitors
Archmages
Griffins/Guardsmen

The game is somewhat random, so before you buy a single unit, you should check the Furious Paladin and the tavern in the Marsh, the animal menagerie in Greenwort, and the mage academy and tavern in Verlon Forest. I was very lucky to get 6 Griffins in the Verlon Forest tavern, Royal Snakes at the menagerie, and 2 places to recruit Inquisitors (Furious Paladin and Mage Academy). You can also get horsemen if you abuse the pathing of the guards there. I chose not to, but if I were playing on Impossible I might.

As a Paladin you begin the game with Resurrect, but with the above setup you can only use it on Bowmen until you get Order 2. Therefore you need to save your Inquisitor's resurrect for emergencies. You should use your griffins to snatch treasure chests, and with the Archmage's Magic Shield harass ranged units. Royal snakes almost always go first, so you should use scorched earth tactics against enemies with move 3 or less. Basically you wait, let the enemy move to you, then at the end of the turn move forward and lunge. On turn 2, retreat back 2 squares and wait. The enemy will come forward 3 squares (1 square short of hitting you) then at the end of turn 2 strike them. At the beginning of turn 3, move back 1 square and lunge. You should also bless them with your Inquisitors, they benefit the most from the bless (6-10 damage becomes 10-10). Three free hits before the enemy gets a chance to hit you knocks out most stacks. Use your freezing arrow and Archmage's shock ability to slow the largest stacks, or to turn a move 4 enemy into a move 3 enemy so you can use the Royal Snake tactic.

With the above strategy, I was able to kill anything up to "match" with no rage, or anything up to "strong" (sometimes very strong) with an evil shoal at the start of battle.

For the really hard fights (very strong/overpowering), I relied heavily on trap and magic spring. Magic spring in particular is the most amazingly awesome and broken spell in the early game. Any time you weren't planning on casting a spell, you should cast magic spring on your griffins and have them hit something. They get the defense bonus, and you immediately get your mana back, with the chance of getting 10 more mana if creatures attack them during the turn. This is the primary method of using resurrect more than once in a battle because paladins don't typically have a large mana pool.

Other spells of note are Gift which resets your Inquisitors resurrect skill, Magic Pole Axe which is your only direct damage spell, and healing is very handy on your high HP units like Archmages and Griffins.

In the marsh I was overjoyed to find 2 Royal Thorns in one of the frog castles. These guys are perfect for a no losses challenge because they summon a stack of disposable units that the AI likes to attack. I use magic spring on them a lot to recover mana for resurrections.

For the Lyaro Island battle, I prevented the enemy from stomping my entire army by putting a stack of griffins in melee range and then defending with them. The Archmage's Magic Shield + Stoneskin + Magic Shield + Healing on the Griffins will allow you to survive indefinitely without losing anyone.

So I've cleared all of Darion except the abandoned castle, Rezo's Tower (I cleared all the way up to the staff), the mage trial, and the undead castle in the marsh. I took a peek at Freedom Islands, and I will have access to Devilfish, Cannoneers, Alchemists, and Sea Dogs from the starting area. I also have access to Cursed Ghosts, so I could switch to Griffins, Royal Snakes, Inquisitors, Cursed Ghosts, ???, but I don't have Sacrifice yet so I don't see any reason to.

I will probably switch out the bowmen for Cannoneers, but I doubt I'll use Devilfish and Sea Dogs due to their low hit points. Just doesn't fit with my strategy until I get access to higher level skills/spells. I'll be sure to add more strategies when/if I get Sacrifice, Hypnotize, etc.

So, has anyone beaten the game without losing any units? Is it even possible? What strategies did you find helpful? Feel free to provide knight and mage strategies as well, I can imagine a no losses knight challenge would be really tough.

[Metathron]

Ummm...so you've defeated the giant turtle with no losses?

[sector24]

Yeah, the turtle is no big deal, I think I could beat him 1 Archmage and 2 Griffins if necessary.

Turn 1, move your Griffins forward 4 squares, separate, then move the new group into melee range and defend. Cast Stoneskin on the Griffins. Archmage puts Magic Shield on the Griffins. Turtle deals about 40 damage and pushes them back 1 square.

Turn 2, move your Stoneskin Griffins back into melee range and defend. Cast Magic Spring on the Griffins. Turtle deals about 25-30 damage and pushes them back one square. You gain 5 mana.

Turn 3, move your Griffins back into melee and defend. Cast Healing on them. Turtle deals about 25-30 damage and pushes them back one square. You gain 5 mana.

Repeat turns 1 - 3 until the turtle is dead.

----

I've cleared about half of Freedom Islands now, the Orc Embassy looks like it's going to be very tough to beat. I have replaced my Archmages with Beholders and found 4 more Royal Thorns. No change in strategy yet.

[Zhuangzi]

Wow, sector24, I'm impressed.

Basically, this game is too easy once you learn how to use spells properly. I am winning on Impossible without many losses at all (not zero losses though). I wonder how you will be able to ensure zero losses against battles where the enemy has lots of mana and offensive spells to boot. I suspect that this will prove impossible in the end, but I'd like to hear how you progress.

[sector24]

I'm up to level 12 now, cleared the western isles minus the orc embassy and a some heroes. (I left a few weak armies lying around as rage boosters)

I also beat the Kraken. Royal Thorns makes this fight a breeze. If you regrow the devilfish stacks into thorns, and put magic spring on them, the Kraken will not spawn more devilfish. Since each stack of thorns you spawn can raise more thorns, there's always enough thorns to convince the Kraken to attack. I usually had to place 3 stacks in harm's way each turn to keep him from spawning devilfish, but I was able to whittle him down comfortably over 20 or so turns.

I'm in a tough spot now, I can try to conquer the Orc Embassy but I don't think I can do it with my current leadership (4700) and no losses. I bought an army specifically for that fight and my best so far is -14 Cursed Ghosts, which was pretty damned close. All the enemy heroes sailing around are strong to overpowering, I can try those but I'd rather just wait until I get some more leadership. My other option is to go back to Darion and grab more Royal Snakes, I can fit about 17 more which is quite a bit of extra damage.

I'm really itching to get some shamans! If I can crack the embassy I think I can wipe out all the heroes sailing around no problem. If I'm lucky I'll get a +600 leadership choice at level 13 and I'll give it another go.

[Namel]

Originally Posted by sector24

If I'm lucky I'll get a +600 leadership choice at level 13 and I'll give it another go.

Nothing to do with luck. If you took leadership at 12 it won't be offered. Leadership is offered if you did not take it last level.

[ThyrsaM]

Nice story, keep us posted.

[reed]

I was a warrior and doing like that before but then it led me into a frustation

[Xelian]

Originally Posted by Metathron

Ummm...so you've defeated the giant turtle with no losses?

I've done that too. But later on it is impossible to do it. So far you are managing to kill almost everything fast enough but later on you will be unable to do it. You won't have enough mana and intellect to resurrect everyone. Also you can't beat your Future Double You can barely beat him without losing your whole army.

[Kings Bounty Hunter]

Originally Posted by Xelian

I've done that too. But later on it is impossible to do it. So far you are managing to kill almost everything fast enough but later on you will be unable to do it. You won't have enough mana and intellect to resurrect everyone. Also you can't beat your Future Double You can barely beat him without losing your whole army.

Use the most pathetic unhits you have against your double and "smash him up" with rage and majic, if you're a mage that is.