Teach me, expert players of Armored Princess

[kcwong]

Now I'm up to 5 trolls, and the above ground Montero is mostly cleared, I can go anywhere I want. The underground is still fully populated, but I can kite them all.

I found out I left Terkkon while the hero ship was right at the entrance (I hate this "feature"!), so I couldn't go back right now.

Opened up Dersu... but that's didn't do much for me except a few flags and crystals.

I may need to swap out 25 paladins and 3 cyclops for some repair droids if I want to move on.

Spell-wise I got Phantom III and Lightning I, plus I can buy Death Star, but no Time back, Geyser and Resurrection yet.

Skill-wise I have some runes saved up... I can get Training II, Anger I, Transmute II, Magic Light II, Destruction II and Thesis II. Give me 1 more magic rune and I can choose High Magic II as well. Sword of Gladiator is 19 battles away from the 10 might runes reward.

I have no problem with mana (max 69) at the moment; rage (25 max) is only used for digging and mana ball, so that's fine too. I think I should choose Thesis II... since I'm not really using a lot of damage spells. All my mana are used on healing, stoneskin, fear, target, slow, and magic spring, and I don't really have time to cast anything else.

Edit: A breakthrough! With repair droids I went back to a map guard on Verona and got my first Call Colosuss - received 2 red dragons. So my line up is now:
2 Black Dragons
2 Red Dragons
1 EGD
4 Cyclops
5 Trolls

And I'm back in business!

[Petwin]

You can sacrifice 2 Trolls to get another EGD. With a few demonologist (and 1x phantom) you can grow back your Trolls.

[kcwong]

Originally Posted by Petwin

You can sacrifice 2 Trolls to get another EGD. With a few demonologist (and 1x phantom) you can grow back your Trolls.

I can grow a stack beyond actual size with sacrifice? I don't know that... Thanks for the tip!

I don't have any demonologist or Time back though, so that'll have to wait.

[Saiko Kila]

Originally Posted by kcwong

I can grow a stack beyond actual size with sacrifice? I don't know that... Thanks for the tip!

I don't have any demonologist or Time back though, so that'll have to wait.

If you like lightning, and don't have time for casting it, and have such high-HP troops - maybe you'd consider using Avenging Angel? It's one of the most awesome spells in the game, very good when it comes to both damage/mana ratio and damage/time. It can damage all targets, including black dragons - and with high Intellect and high level (II and III) even kill some. It would be perfect for demonologists and they summons if you had said demonologists... Demons and executioners with AA are true destroyers.

Another, more tricky spell to consider is "suicide bomber" a.k.a. Kamikaze, which, despite its description, can be cast on most enemies, including summons (for example of goblin tower...) and ranged units (which tend to stay away from you, so are usually safe to be blown out).

Also be careful with sacrifice - it can replenish your troops beyond your leadership limit. Actually it is very useful near the end of fighting, with hard to come troops, you can then store these redundant troops in any free castle and wait for the leadership to go up. You can sacrifice enemy units charmed by demonesses and hypnotised, but unfortunately not summons. I had only one case of unit which went out of control and attacked my other units, usually they either attack random enemies or simply stay put.

[kcwong]

Originally Posted by Saiko Kila

Another, more tricky spell to consider is "suicide bomber" a.k.a. Kamikaze, which, despite its description, can be cast on most enemies, including summons (for example of goblin tower...) and ranged units (which tend to stay away from you, so are usually safe to be blown out).

In my current game I have trouble upgrading most of my items (valued 4000 and up). I tried again today, and remembered your tip about Kamikaze... turns out you cannot use it on those towers.

Perhaps it can only be used with those summoned into play during the lizard boss fight?

Edit:

I finally managed to beat a huge stack on Verona and got the Elon map... but sadly no red dragons for me in both dragon lairs.

Currently my army is:
Cyclops 6/6
Red Dragon 2/4
Black Dragon 3/3
Emerald Green Dragon 4/4
Troll 8/8
Paladin 41/41

I switch cyclops with paladin if I can foresee taking more damage from level 5 enemies (I can't limit them with target).

[Saiko Kila]

Originally Posted by kcwong

In my current game I have trouble upgrading most of my items (valued 4000 and up). I tried again today, and remembered your tip about Kamikaze... turns out you cannot use it on those towers.

Perhaps it can only be used with those summoned into play during the lizard boss fight?

My wording can be a bit misleading but what I meant was that you can use it on summons of goblin towers, not goblin towers proper. Summons often stay next to the tower to protect it and to be as far from you as possible, so they're a perfect target of Kamikaze.

As for spells against Goblin Towers, the best spell is Death Star, and then much weaker but mana conserving Magic Axe. Tactics is a must for using Death Star. With high Intelligence DS will kill any goblin tower(s) in game, so it's best for mages. Other good one for high-level mage with items strengthening damage spells is common Fire Arrow - it doesn't make them burn, but can be quite deadly, almost like Magic Axe III and it costs three times less mana.

My best anti-gremlin, ranged units are Demonologists - I always have much luck with them and their availability though. Actually I call them "demo" for "demolition" and not for "demon" They have unique damage (fire, magic and physical) and are quite sturdy. I don't use close combat units against evil gremlin towers, and friendly gremlins are non-issue.

Originally Posted by kcwong

I finally managed to beat a huge stack on Verona and got the Elon map... but sadly no red dragons for me in both dragon lairs.

Currently my army is:
Cyclops 6/6
Red Dragon 2/4
Black Dragon 3/3
Emerald Green Dragon 4/4
Troll 8/8
Paladin 41/41

I switch cyclops with paladin if I can foresee taking more damage from level 5 enemies (I can't limit them with target).

Personally I prefer tactics where I can resurrect easily my troops, so for most of the game I use only EGD (always) and trolls (I change them for other units, like evil beholders, during day) from Level 5.

And while I get red dragons late, usually it's from eggs or from Wanderer Scroll named Call Colossus. Save before using, if you got some crap then use it again later, after feeding some Pseudorandom Numbers to other actions, for example by using different summoning scroll.

[Quelthos]

I am up to level 21, currently. Mostly clearing Verona at the moment. Right now I am using 3/3 giants, 1/3 EGD, 5/5 trolls and 4/4 cyclops.

I have level 3 distortion, level 2 order magic. I mostly use geyser, mana spring, fear, healing and slow, with exorcism for undead as needed. I have level 2 higher magic and concentration, level 3 alchemy, the left side of the mind tree and the dragon skills in the might tree at level 1, among others. I'll probably take level 1 in Thesis next.

As far as the dragon, I use ball of lightning and mana accelerator almost exclusively until the fight is out of hand, where I'll dig up my treasure. The giants + geyser are fantastic for maxing out my rage repeatedly. This is very similar to the setup I used in the first game, though I'd like to eventually find some dragons to round out my army. I may settle for ogres in the meantime.

[impy]

Originally Posted by kcwong

In my current game I have trouble upgrading most of my items (valued 4000 and up). I tried again today, and remembered your tip about Kamikaze... turns out you cannot use it on those towers.

Perhaps it can only be used with those summoned into play during the lizard boss fight?

Edit:

I finally managed to beat a huge stack on Verona and got the Elon map... but sadly no red dragons for me in both dragon lairs.

Currently my army is:
Cyclops 6/6
Red Dragon 2/4
Black Dragon 3/3
Emerald Green Dragon 4/4
Troll 8/8
Paladin 41/41

I switch cyclops with paladin if I can foresee taking more damage from level 5 enemies (I can't limit them with target).

with your army set up i wonder why you carry paladins with you. paladins ressurect units up to level 4, so not for that, they give second turn again up to level 4, so not for that. they are not exactly heavy hitters and are terribly slow speed and initiative wise, you would have to teleport them. They are also used as "damage soaker" with target and stoneskin cast on them, in order to protect other units but with heavy 5th level units you have, there is not need. Looking at your set up, if you insist on keeping those level 5 units, i would replace paladins with some elf range units

[kcwong]

I use cyclops most of the time. But some battles have multiple level 5 stacks (e.g. 2 black dragon stacks and 1 red) and they just love frying my cyclops so much that even Divine Shield can't handle it.

So in those fights I use paladins instead, which I can easily resurrect with Phantom I-III.

Turn Back Time works on everything, but I must cast the level III version for level five creatures, and it must be right after the damage happens. That makes it much harder to use when there are still plenty of enemies around.