Spell Book > Troops? Completely viable alternative!

[DGDobrev]

Well, just finished a playthrough in which I set myself a goal to try and outmatch the general troop damage by offensive spell from the spellbook. Suffice it to say, it is a brilliant alternative and it works like a charm.

I started the game with basic kiting to get to Elon (Debir-Scarlet-Bolo-Rusty-Verona-Umkas-Uzala-Elon-Sheterra-Debir), because I really needed Moro right from the start. Freeing him ASAP is really good (even though I didn't use Black Knights up until lvl 43, but more on that later), because it allows you to take Elenhel quickly and utilize his scroll-making abilities.

I know some people may jump on me because of the kiting. Well - it is a real shame that I didn't save the game after I got a Call Collosus spell in the Training mission. That spell alone may could have made a 7-8 day playthrough completely possible (especially if I get a Troll or a Red Dragon). But it is entirely my fault... If there was a way to restart the game, I would have, because I found a second Call Collosus scroll on Scarlet, and a third on Bolo. That would have made the early game way, way too easy without kiting... Not to mention that by the time I decided to spawn myself some trolls and beat up the Driller, I had 8 (!) Call Collosus scrolls. On the other hand, I had only 4 Ancient Knowledge scrolls in my game, which prevented me from reaching higher levels.

Well, I found a black dragon egg in Elon and spawned it right away. That single black dragon was my entire army up until lvl 43 when I managed to beat the dragons in the dragon lair in Montero and bought a few more.. I didn't require another unit at all. With the spellbook (mainly flaming arrow and fireball, along with an occasional geyser or death star) doing most of the damage, I didn't need any other troops. It was in the Dragon Lair siege that the Black Knights had the opportunity to draw first blood. I started using them more extensively from lvl 50 upwards, where enemies are numerous and an army of 4000+ gobots (fear doesn't work on them), 400+ brontors, 400+ Shamans and such can easily drop down a Black Dragon. In the battles where there would be no danger for the Black Dragons, I used them without remorse, because the Black Knights are bound to get surrounded and will start dishing the damage, which should not be a part of a game where the spellbook is dominant

Playing with the spellbook required a small tactical change, which is worth noting. Lvl 1 transmute is enough for quite a while, and lvl 3 Concentration should be learned ASAP. Since I had to count on the spells to do the trick, there was barely any time for a last hit in order for transmutation to take effect.

Battles were very easy after I got the stronger spells, but still, it's very interesting to point out that Fireball and Flaming arrow were my main weapon of choice, backed up by Poison Skull (really good against demons and dragons). These 3 spells are cheap and can be spammed easily without running out of mana. Alternating between Flaming Arrow and Poison skull is also good, because it slaps up 2 post-effects on the mob which will drain him quite a bit (and if the stack is huge, the carnage is complete).

Bosses were also easy. The Dersu Frog and the Spider fell down very quickly to the Black Knights. The Driller lost to a stack of Trolls with Stone Skin and Magic Spring on all the time (which allowed me to slap a full-power fireball in the free turns, thus improving the damage done by the spellbook). Gremlion was very easy (I had 50% magic resistance), K'Tahu was easy too. Baal proved to be a small problem due to summoning demons over and over, but that's nothing some Stone Skin, Evlin, Magic Spring and an occasional Poison Skull can't handle. Poor Baal was doing the awesome 200-250 damage on the Black Knights when he threw his sword. Pitiful. I did restart that battle once, though. I used phantoms a lot, which was a bad idea, as they count to the current Amelie's leadership on the battlefield, which forced Baal to summon Archdemons over and over, in the end outweighing my Black Knight stack's leadership, and you know what that means - Half!, Half!, Half! ....

So, I'm adding the end screens and the save just before I finished the game. You will notice a wicked amount of crystals on it, as well as more runes than the usual. That's the result of buying almost every item in the game (I think I missed only 2-3 on Tekron, but there was no time to go back) and utilizing Neatness lvl 3 to its fullest. It is a great skill, one that I easily overlooked. For the price of 27 Mind runes and 6 magic runes I got over 20 of each type (not to mention some 350+ crystals) from breaking the unnecessary items - which also explains why my inventory is so empty. Neatness can easily replace the Alchemy skill, and it should, as skipping alchemy would save you 3 Mind and 15 Magic runes.
You should also check out how many casts I have on the Fire Mage medal (1906) and how many poisoned/burned stacks (2999) there are in the Alchemy medal - a clear example that the spellbook can be utilized to its fullest extent and that the mage description that she will command few units, but her spells can win the battle is completely true.

In the end, Spellbook vs. Troops - 80:20. Could be more, if you're willing to work on it.

In a nutshell:
- Spellbook playthrough is completely viable
- A Call Collosus spell at start helps greatly and saves you from kiting
- Utilizing spells that add post-effects and alternating between burning-poisoning is great to reduce enemy stack size
- Cheap spells work really well, because the mana can be easily gained through Mana Accelerator, Concentration, Transmutation or Magic Spring
- Concentration should be picked over Transmutation for this style of play
- Neatness should be picked over Alchemy, and you should get crystals through breaking items, as it is a lot cheaper
- Treasure Hunter, Mana Accelerator and Ball of Lightning are the only pet dragon skills that this kind of play requires, and should be maximized
- Mana consuming spells like Geyser and Death Star should be used only when there are enough enemies to hit
- Always keep track of you rage and mana reserves, especially in the late game, when you will need to recover units through Resurrection or Evlin
- This playthrough is easily made by using Black Dragons vs. slow armies and heroes and Black Knights against large stacks of ranged units. Trolls vs. Driller are great, because Black Knights can't be resurrected there
- Against bosses keep cool, conserve mana and use mainly stone skin, evlin, magic spring.

[impy]

wonderful achievement indeed mr dobrev.
I just wonder how far in the game one can get with single black dragon only. I guess one would have to help himself with nature call + demon portal etc. to keep dragon alive. It proves how strong mage character can be.
It somehow puts my ultimate challenge (separate thread) in shade.
Once finished with mage, which is doable, i'll go for warrior.

[DGDobrev]

I went as far as lvl 43 (starting from lvl 12 - the end of my kiting-get moro run) with 1 black dragon and then I made them 6 because I managed to beat up the dragons in the dragon lair in montero. The black dragon is great against heroes and melee units because he's way too fast and cannot be "geysered" or shocked. This is why I have only lvl 1 Guardian Angel medal - you can't stone skin the black dragons

EDIT: BTW, the lone dragon can do it for quite a while without ANY backup. Backup is worth spawning if you're certain that your spells can't finish the remaining enemies off.

The same can be achieved with a call collosus spell and 1 red dragon or 1 troll and no kiting. I guess 1 bone dragon can cut it as well.

[Smash]

So you did it.
Well i am shocked, congratulations overall but have few questions.

Sadly for some reason i cannot load your sav file probably version are not same. My build version is 5730. Anywa if you would be so kindly and made inventory screenshot and wrote items list.

First and most important did u used mod scan to check if you get mage items and spells you will need like evlin?

So versus slow no ranged armies you where flying with 1 black and trying to get everything burned /poisoned from spells?
How long average battle was?
Hmm i am eager to try but i am too afraid of randomness in this game.

Ps. Summoned troops by spells count as spellbook damage or no?

[DGDobrev]

Oh... My version is the Gift bag. You should download it and install it from the stickied post by Nike-it. It is an official 1c Christmas bonus to the game's supporters, it doesn't hurt the game at all and it adds a few more interesting items - nothing too groundbreaking, I can assure you.
EDIT: besides, collecting the new items is a lot of fun I even managed to get a composite artifact, and I was very happy about it. Some more fun and some extra content (as long as it doesn't favor a class or hurt the game) is always a good thing.

As for the scan, I did. I had to ensure I get some basic items and spells (and since this is my first playthrough with the Gift Bag, I wanted to see how many new items were there) if I am to do such a playthrough. Well, that's not the first one - back in the russian version 1.2 I did one with 46% spellbook usage, no kiting, 15 days, and still got the spells I needed. The thing is, you can go very far on poison skull, flaming arrow and fireball alone, and 2 of those you already have at start. They are extremely cheap (flaming arrow is 5 mana on lvl 3, Fireball is 20 mana on lvl 3, Poison Skull is 10 mana on lvl 3) and can be spammed without much of a worry. I actually started using geyser around lvl 35 (even though I had it earlier), because it is 20-30-40 mana and that was a bit too much for my liking - hence the wicked number of flaming arrow/fireball casts in the Fire Mage medal (actually, they are a lot more, because the game stops counting after round 10).

Well, even if an enemy army has ranged units, it isn't that much of a grief, you just need to prioritize. If they inflict physical damage, you need to start bashing them with spells right away (because the BD has 20% physical resistance). If they are 2 stacks - flaming arrow on each one on round 1, so that they can suffer even more when the burning post-effect triggers. On round 2, poison skull on each of them, so that their numbers get reduced even further by the 2 post effects. Against ranged units with magic damage, simply check the enemy army and prioritize again. With the high magic resistance of the black dragon, even if the enemy stack is big, the damage will be quite low (maybe less than 100), which gives you more than enough time to deal with the enemy army as you see fit.

As for the turns, I never had an ordinary battle go above turn 25. Only the boss battles went way too far.

The summoned troops do not seem to count as spellbook damage and they show in the end as my own army (if you check the screens you will see undead spiders, ghosts, bone dragons and such - I never bought such troops, but I was experimenting with necro call a little). I used Black Dragons + Black Knights + 1 Emerald Green Dragon you get for free, who barely saw any fighting - I offloaded it straight away in Verona, Duke Delaware's Castle, as it compromised my tactics and I had to babysit it all the time.

You should try it. It won't hurt to scan your file to ensure some challenge and good time. A game is supposed to be fun and it is supposed to help you relax. This is why I have no remorse using the scanner - since my spare time is short, I'd rather do a game in which I know everything's going to work than waste 30-40 hours for naught and feel ripped off in the end... It's unproductive

[Smash]

Eh, that is main problem, on one side using scanner destroy "kinder suprise" effect which i enjoy on other hand bad luck can kill you a fun even more.

Like my impossible warrior now, 90% game explored no evling spell found and i wanted play as dark commander... plus i found so many mage items that if i wear them my warrior would had higher int and mana than my mage last game...

You know what i would want to see ? More dynamic world, shops should really change/add new troops/items/spells every several days this way sooner or later you would get what you want without need of using scanner mod and restarting game countless times. maybe new heroes invading lands from time to time, heroes should drop items when killed not only gold, faction wars and plenty more.

Anyway really good job. I am amuse by your patience.

[Hento]

1 Black Dragon army is a classic for mage, especially when upgrading and suppressing items.
Otherwise when engaging large stack armies using 1 high initiative unit and casting invisibility on them is also a viable no loss strategy with using only spellbook(you can't cast anything on Black Dragons).

[GodClone]

Yes , it is very viable . I did that, whole game i had either 1 dragon, 1 archdemon, some trolls , or paladins (for some bosses ) 100% (almost ) spellbook dmg, no summoning spells either . MAde a thread about it, you can read more info there .