Orcs on the March thread

[Zhuangzi]

I know there's plenty of threads on issues relating to this campaign already, but I thought this could be specifically a gameplay thread.

So, it's like Armored Princess, but with orcs. On Debir I notice a few changes, such as the orc guy on the pier and the island with the mysterious lights. Haven't finished Debir yet but I'm very pleased with a couple of the new units.

Blood Shaman - probably prefer the old Shaman, but I haven't got my adrenaline high enough yet.
Orc Tracker - pretty nice, can spawn units
Engineer- my favourite new unit so far. Very useful. Shock Grenade can potentially blind most of the enemy, and spawning droids is fantastic. Great.

Not having a problem with no-losses so far (level 3 Paladin) but I'll need some Paladin units soon. I think I can turn Guardsmen into Paladins or something, using the new scroll thingy?

[karabaja]

i started to play it too. i'm playing impossible warrior and i've just defeated "monster from abyss"

i'm using engineers/droids combo (i sneaked to Bolo to steal 'em ) and they are really powerful together, have no losses so far. i tried rune mage too, but since i can have right now only one, it isn't very impressive, but in greater numbers and more unspent runes, they could be powerful as well.

i'm planning switch to orcs later when they become available in greater numbers. they seem very interesting with their new adrenalin related abilities.

[BluePhoenix]

Been a long time since I played Armored Princess, so I started again at Normal difficulty. No complaints though. The game never gets boring.

I'm playing as a Mage as it has been my most favorite class since KB:TL.

I like the changes in some units. Orc Trackers are nice. Specially at low levels since they have nice health and can spawn units, as Zhuangzi said. Blood Shaman would be nice in an all-orc army. Have to try it sometime at higher levels. Engineer would be very nice for anyone who likes droids. Rune Mages make up their lack of damage with summon and healing / revive.

I'll post more when I get to higher levels.

[BB Shockwave]

Originally Posted by Zhuangzi

Not having a problem with no-losses so far (level 3 Paladin) but I'll need some Paladin units soon. I think I can turn Guardsmen into Paladins or something, using the new scroll thingy?

I'm level 7 Paladin, but no-loss is getting problematic now, due to all those darn stacks with bears in them. My line-up is: Rune Mage (1), Sea Dogs (61), Guardsmen (51), Inquisitors (27), Witch Hunters (21). And yeah, you could upgrade Guardsman to Paladins, but that'd cost 2000 trophies at the training center - I only have 1200 or so, considering I used up a lot to get Guardsmen from peasants (Debir soon ran out of Swordsmen).

[Zhuangzi]

Originally Posted by BB Shockwave

I'm level 7 Paladin, but no-loss is getting problematic now, due to all those darn stacks with bears in them. My line-up is: Rune Mage (1), Sea Dogs (61), Guardsmen (51), Inquisitors (27), Witch Hunters (21). And yeah, you could upgrade Guardsman to Paladins, but that'd cost 2000 trophies at the training center - I only have 1200 or so, considering I used up a lot to get Guardsmen from peasants (Debir soon ran out of Swordsmen).

Okay, you definitely need Paladins (the unit). There's a cool trick that you might not be aware of; you can get the first stone on Bolo without having to fight at all. You will need to get into the underground cavern with the droids, click on the head droid that you are supposed to defeat for the stone. He'll attack - you run away. Kite around him and get the item which you return to the place on Debir for the stone. It's an amulet and you can use it for +50 leadership as well. Once you've done that, you should be able to buy Paladins at the Mage tower on Debir. Normally there's only 11 or so, which should be fine for your current leadership.

With Paladins, your job of clearing Bolo without losses should be much easier. You need spawned units (I can highly recommend the Engineer for this) and maybe Slow spells on the strongest bear stack. The Engineer kicks ass in that he has a shock grenade which blinds troops too.

EDIT: just in general, you don't need to grind your way through Bolo at this stage. What you need is the map to Rusty Anchor or better yet Verona. This may involve a difficult fight but with the Paladins you should be able to manage. Once you've got the Verona map you're golden. There's a ton of loot there that you can kite and normally access to Paladins and Royal Griffins, which were my two staple units for Armored Princess campaigns. It's a bit boring and I'm sure that there are different ways to ensure no-losses, but Paladins are pretty much essential I believe, unless you're going for a single unit attempt, and you would do that as a Mage, not a Paladin.

[Zhuangzi]

I spent a couple of hours on my Paladin game this morning, and managed to get up to level 7 very easily by clearing out most of Scarlet Wind. A lot of people don't like Glory but as a Paladin you have a lot of green runes to spend, so I've maxed that out already, and with the second level of Grand Strategy, I'm up to 2700 leadership already. Consequently I'm ahead of what I think of as the 'difficulty curve' in that the enemies on this island are mainly listed as Weak or Slightly Weaker, which is not something you'd normally see on Impossible.

I've had in with the Blood Shaman so I've switched them out for good old Inquisitors. The Engineer on the other hand is a very useful unit for strategic play. Coupled with Paladin's Second Wind ability, you can get two stacks of droids out on turn 1, and then Shock Grenade on turn 2. Orc Trackers are my only orc unit now due to their toughness and ability to summon. Royal Thorns are always useful and you can turn 50 of the green thorns into 1 on Debir. This is a kickass team for the early game and there's little or not chance of ending up with losses. I've discussed how to play this style before so I won't go through it all again, but suffice to say that Engineers are a very welcome addition to the mix.

Scarlet Wind has about 4-5 of the harder fights left on it, and I'm nearly at level 8. I'll mop up all but 2 of those fights easily (the map fights will be left) and then it's on to Bolo for the easier fights there. Then it will be necessary to take on the map guardians for access to Rusty Anchor/Verona.

[Zhuangzi]

A couple more things I should mention for those of you who are newer to the game.

- You should always be using the baby dragon's Treasure Searcher ability twice per turn. You'll need the gold on Impossible and you might dig up an Ancient Scroll or two. You also get the Treasure Hunter medal for this over time, which is nice.

- As soon as you get the Trap spell (not until level 6 for me) you should start trying to work toward the Trapper medal. This is harder for the Paladin than it is for a Mage, and it can be frustrating too, but it's useful once completed. Again, this is better for a Mage because of more mana and higher Intellect.

- You can manipulate rage and mana using a number of easily accessible spells and abilities. Inquisitors are great for creating rage, Mana Spring is a godsend for increasing mana, and Mana Accelerator turns rage into mana. I use all of these all of the time. In my current game I've got Distortion 2 and it could even have been Distortion 3 had I wanted (in hindsight maybe I should have gone for it - I picked up the trap spell shortly after).

[Kings Bounty Hunter]

Just starting our with Paladin on hard, hope to find some lvl 5 units as soon as poss

[BB Shockwave]

Originally Posted by Zhuangzi

Okay, you definitely need Paladins (the unit). There's a cool trick that you might not be aware of; you can get the first stone on Bolo without having to fight at all. You will need to get into the underground cavern with the droids, click on the head droid that you are supposed to defeat for the stone. He'll attack - you run away. Kite around him and get the item which you return to the place on Debir for the stone. It's an amulet and you can use it for +50 leadership as well. Once you've done that, you should be able to buy Paladins at the Mage tower on Debir. Normally there's only 11 or so, which should be fine for your current leadership.

With Paladins, your job of clearing Bolo without losses should be much easier. You need spawned units (I can highly recommend the Engineer for this) and maybe Slow spells on the strongest bear stack. The Engineer kicks ass in that he has a shock grenade which blinds troops too.

EDIT: just in general, you don't need to grind your way through Bolo at this stage. What you need is the map to Rusty Anchor or better yet Verona. This may involve a difficult fight but with the Paladins you should be able to manage. Once you've got the Verona map you're golden. There's a ton of loot there that you can kite and normally access to Paladins and Royal Griffins, which were my two staple units for Armored Princess campaigns. It's a bit boring and I'm sure that there are different ways to ensure no-losses, but Paladins are pretty much essential I believe, unless you're going for a single unit attempt, and you would do that as a Mage, not a Paladin.

Thanks, I know that trick - I always get the first stone that way (sometimes I have to reload before entering the catacombs, as the boss droid is not always kite-able.

I got the stone back, but they have only 6 paladins (and I could recruit much more). But no problems - I found 18+5 Horsemen on Rusty Anchor and Scarlet Wind, so they are standing in for the Paladins for now (I can use 12 now). Even got 7 Royal Griffins with a Wind Walker scroll.

I'm doing Bolo now, and it's much easier - my Rune Mage and Royal Griffins spawn summons, Inquisitors/Rune Mages resurrect, and Horsemen and Royal Griffins tank. I use Guardsmen too or Witch Hunters -depending on the enemy troops, sometimes that magic lock comes very handy.

I agree with you about Verona - it is like a sweets-shop for units and items. But, the troops guarding the map are still "lethal" or "very strong" so I'll clean out everyone I can before trying to attack them (and unfortunately, sometimes they are guarding a map I already have).

And yep, Paladins/Royal Griffins rock. On my first walkthrough of AP, I deliberately tried out all the new units first, then went with an all-Lizardmen army when I got to Reha. My initial army was: Trolls, Paladins, Royal Griffins, Guard Droids and Repair Droids. Never lost a unit with that combo.

[Zhuangzi]

Originally Posted by BB Shockwave

Thanks, I know that trick - I always get the first stone that way (sometimes I have to reload before entering the catacombs, as the boss droid is not always kite-able.

I got the stone back, but they have only 6 paladins (and I could recruit much more). But no problems - I found 18+5 Horsemen on Rusty Anchor and Scarlet Wind, so they are standing in for the Paladins for now (I can use 12 now). Even got 7 Royal Griffins with a Wind Walker scroll.

I'm doing Bolo now, and it's much easier - my Rune Mage and Royal Griffins spawn summons, Inquisitors/Rune Mages resurrect, and Horsemen and Royal Griffins tank. I use Guardsmen too or Witch Hunters -depending on the enemy troops, sometimes that magic lock comes very handy.

I agree with you about Verona - it is like a sweets-shop for units and items. But, the troops guarding the map are still "lethal" or "very strong" so I'll clean out everyone I can before trying to attack them (and unfortunately, sometimes they are guarding a map I already have).

And yep, Paladins/Royal Griffins rock. On my first walkthrough of AP, I deliberately tried out all the new units first, then went with an all-Lizardmen army when I got to Reha. My initial army was: Trolls, Paladins, Royal Griffins, Guard Droids and Repair Droids. Never lost a unit with that combo.

That's kinda my problem with this game now in that some units are so strong that I just continue to use them even when I want to try something else. I started off using the Orcs a bit, but I never had my adrenaline high enough to see much of their best abilities, so I traded them out for good old Paladins, Royal Griffins and Inquisitors. These three are awesome every time. Royal Thorns are great except for the problem in resurrecting them, and so I'll probably trade them out for Knights or Horsemen at some point. The only new unit that I have actually used extensively is the Engineer, which they are some outstanding unit items for.