Teach me, expert players of Armored Princess

[kcwong]

I went to Verona and snatched all I could. Then I saw a stack of peasants ranked at invincible.

I tried to take it on with Fear and this army:
1 EGD
2 Cyclops
15 Paladins
33 Inquisitors
3 Archmage

There was an obstacle near to the top of the map, which I used together with Fear. Unfortunately I do not have enough mana to last the whole fight (53 max with Transmute 1), and ended up losing 3 Paladins because I don't have time to resurrect.

I decided to switch to a more offensive setup, and switched in 22 Assassins. That didn't go well either, losing 6 Assassins and 1 Paladins at the end.

Finally I kited, using the small plaza near the dock... and found 3 Trolls in the bar!


Waiting for night is sooooooo boring... yet I feel insecure to use fight very strong+ during the day. :/

[Zechnophobe]

Originally Posted by kcwong

But they will go for my tiny stack of archmages... ranged and fast moving enemies like berserker love to do that, since they know they will do very small damage on a buffed EGD.

My current army forms a meat shield - I put inquisitors and archmages on one side, and then EGD, paladins and cyclops block them off from harm.

Maybe I can try a single EGD with stoneskin/mana spring/healing...

Edit: Got Bolo map.

Cast slow on fast moving units so they get 'stuck' to the EGD
Place the EGD at melee range with archers to prevent them from shooting
If you have Target, that is of course the best option, then lure the melee units into the middle of map, and slow them there so you can kill archers with ease.

Use cyclops to pick up medium strength stacks. They can do a *ton* of damage at melee range, but you can't heal them so they are harder to keep alive. Stone skinning them makes them almost impervious to physical damage though.

[kcwong]

I'm clearing Rusty now with the same army... at night stoneskined trolls are absolutely fantastic.

Then I saw the map guard... 70-ish Assassins, 3 stacks of 300-ish Devilfish, 1 stack of 100-ish furious goblins.

"Those assassins would be troublesome, but with fear and trolls I should be able to take it on... "

And then I saw the timer changed to day just as the assassins lunged at me.

>_>

<_<

*loads save*

[kcwong]

Save uploaded to Box.net (no registration required).

But I'm owing it all to the utter overpowered-ness of one single unit - troll.




My next destination is Montero Dungeon. I kited some loot during previous visit, but was unable to kill most of the stacks (annoying alchemists and a stack of 14 trolls). Now I have Magic Shackle III to deal with them, I'll go back and try again.

The map guard on Rusty turns out to be still out of my abilities - too many fishes! I cannot keep stoneskin & target while still fearing them. High Magic II or III is needed here.


Edit: Oh boy. Alchemists cannot be controlled easily with just Target... I need to teleport my trolls into their faces, or they will just use their annoying bombs on my other stacks.

Also Montero above ground is hell to kite. Too congested! I'll need to wait for a blue moon to get to the shops on the left side of the island.

Took Learning III to switch to the mage companion, and took out the fatal stack of wolves near the bridge in Verona during the day.

[N3MES1S]

With only 1 stack of 3 trolls, u can kill everyone u want.

[kcwong]

Originally Posted by N3MES1S

With only 1 stack of 3 trolls, u can kill everyone u want.

No I can't... there is a stack of alchemist near the entrance of Montero Dungeon. It consists of 9 beholders, two stacks of alchemists (30-ish), 14 trolls and about 100 dwarfs. I don't have divine armor, and that army is too much for just stoneskin/magic spring/target to handle.

[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.