Need some help against dragons

[Brakiri]

Hi,

i've reached a point where my strategy, to use only archer units is beginning to fail me.

I'm a mage, Lvl 14, and i'm in Kardor. In the mines there are some enemies with dragons in it.

Because of their stupid ini of 7, there are always first, and i lose a lot of units just in the first round.

My army: beholders, evil beholders, cyclops, archmages and cannoneers.

My leadership score is 8260.

Can anyone tell me, how to proceed against dragons and demon armies, without losing so much units?

Until now i was able to win any battle with no or minimal casualties(0-5 units).

And one more question: I have cannoneers in my army. But every time, the enemy (without heroes) also has cannoneers, they can act first. Why? That seems rather unfair. I would ad least expect a random decision who is first.

Thanks!

[Shd]

So... initiative 7 in Kardor....

I suppose green ones?

depends on how many stacks and how many dragons in stack. Anyway, try to use trap (to prevent them to hit you in first turn. If they are greens, then put trap 2 hexes from your unit because they usually trying to use their ability to drag your units and hit them). If there is one stack then use trap+dragon killer spell (as a mage you must have talent to cast 2 spells in round) to your unit with most damage. Try to change cyclops for knights (they have increased damage to dragons). Sorry, but for more info more info from you is needed

[Brakiri]

Hi,

there are black dragons and red dragons. There are all in stacks of 2 to 4.
Trap would be a good idea, but as i said earlier, they have the higher ini, so they have the first move. Traps are impossible.

Should i use other units?
I tried giants, but they are incredible slow, extremly expensive in regard to leadership, and very rare.

In addition i don't have enough mana runes fpr high magic.

Any other ideas?

[kennec]

giants very bad against dragons and their specials doesnt work on dragons at all.

try get alot of melee units and have spell dragon slayer on them. dont stack up your units in rows so they can shoot at 2 the same time.

i would suggest slow sturdy melee units in gangs for those battles. the time when u can destroy all enemys with same 5 mobs are simply over.

i played through game as mage and at that point i used same tactic as u with nukes and archers. at the points when u meet fast units and they can fly all over before u can nuke destroy that tactic.

get some units with high initative and try slow the dragons if u still wanna use archer mobs.

a way to get a super good mob with 7 initative is to clean gremlin castle otherwise they are not avaible until end of elven lands at lvl 23-25.

i think i used giants (5),cyklops(6)cannoners,tough slow dwarf fighters lvl 3 many,and orc shamans.

i used the orc shamans untill endgame when i couldnt replace losses and they didnt sell em more in orc castle.

rage skill drain souls is good agaisnt dragons , kills of 20-30% of their total hp in a stack. very very usefull when u start meeting dragons in stacks of 50-100 hehe

[Tuplis]

I get to take most dragons down even before they can act using onslaught and when I can't, I make sure to move the archers to places the dragons cant reach on the first turn (though this is not always possible). With tactics I can also help Gryphons or other melee units with a speed of 5+ to be able to reach the enemy on the first round to neutralize them.

I do realize the points I just made might not be applicable in your case because as a mage you probably don't have enough might points at the moment to push your way through the whole might tree. Still, others may find this useful.

[kennec]

Originally Posted by Tuplis

I get to take most dragons down even before they can act using onslaught and when I can't, I make sure to move the archers to places the dragons cant reach on the first turn (though this is not always possible). With tactics I can also help Gryphons or other melee units with a speed of 5+ to be able to reach the enemy on the first round to neutralize them.

I do realize the points I just made might not be applicable in your case because as a mage you probably don't have enough might points at the moment to push your way through the whole might tree. Still, others may find this useful.

mages can have all might thread but not this early in game.saving money and buying might rune scrolls for 300000 each make it possible if u dont waste alot of units.