Cannonneers or Alchemists?

[trentjaspar]

Discuss.

[trentjaspar]

I'm sure there are battles where one prevails over the other (presence of undead, thorns, gremlins, etc.) but is there any consensus of one being better, on average, than the other? It sounds like an opportunity for having both with one in reserve, though that's one less troop that can be kept in reserve...

Personally, I like the high Def and HPs of the Alchemist, as I try not to lose troops, but it can be troublesome to get them in position to use their basic attack. And from what I read, poison damage is bad-- though maybe that's more of an endgame phenomenon?

The range and talent of the Cannonneer seems attractive...

[Fatt_Shade]

After all time spent on this game, i came to conclusion that this is game of numbers, possibilities and percentages. Early game absolute bonus is much better then %bonus : +250/+500 leadership banner regalia is great at start, but later lets say -20% lds requirements for whole demon race gives you 25% larger demon army to lead. But it`s useless if you want to play elf build, so it all also depends of situation you`re in and what is you`re play style.
So i`ll compare this 2 units in my way of viewing : alchem 18% more Lds, 20% more Hp, lower attack, but much higher defense. With high poison up to 3 units hit area dmg are great vs all units except plants/undead but gain no bonuses from any skills/items and have horrible crit%, cannoners on other hand physical dmg, bonus from quick draw for archers, and archer crit% items, and 2x dmg to towers, so they are great in item suppressing battles. In pure numbers alchem win - higher stats, easier to keep alive, higher dmg output overall(give them fire breath spell and see great dmg), cannoner are like special assignment unit - for item battles, and for full archer 100% crit build.
All in all my vote goes to alchem ( every game i played first thing i do is go to swamps and buy all available alchemists from dwarf alchemist laboratory, because they are probably best 4th lvl unit available at that time).

[trentjaspar]

Thanks for the analysis, Fatt_Shade. I don't currently have any items that help one troop or another, but I've only been to Darion so far. I do have an item that gives +3 Attack to Dwarves. But chances are I'll bring the Alchemists with me to Freedom Isles and swap them as necessary.

[Fatt_Shade]

If you have battle hammer, it`s great weapon item, keep it unless you find gladiator sword for +10 might runes/50 battle. And it gives +3 attack to all, and +3 more to dwarves (+6 total to dwarf race, great for them).

[trentjaspar]

So now we add Catapult to the discussion.

Leadership is so low that I can get more than twice as many Catapults as Alchemists, and almost twice as many as Cannonneers. I love the AOE fire as I don't have many AOE options as a Paladin. And unlike Alchemists, they can shoot every round. The low initiative certainly hurts as you want your archers to fire before theirs, but I do have the Pandemonic Mask which gives all enemies -1 initiative. They won't benefit from the Battle Hammer, but I haven't been using it (been using mostly +1 poison or +2 int weapon).

I suppose for suppression battles they can still be useful, but the low init and fire vulnerability makes them a bit of a liability vs Gremlin Towers. And their low def and HP means I'll be using an Inquisitor res on them a lot (or I can upgrade Res spell to level 2, but that's 15 crystals and 20 mana a pop).

Since I don't like to take losses, I guess the catapults might not be the best idea, unless maybe I'm doing an all-archer build or something.