Confirm a few things

[bucazaurus]

If you have KB Armored Princess , you have to unzip them in data\mods folder.
If you have KB Crossworlds you have to unzip them in session\orcs\mods.

[Wazat]

I'll try that when I get home. I only intended to have AP installed, but if I remember right steam had me install crossworlds too for some reason. I'll drop it in session\orcs\mods to see if that works.

[bucazaurus]

If you do that , then you need to play Orcs on the March campaign
Witch is the extended version of Armored Princess campaign but with new troops,spells,items,skills,etc.

[Zechnophobe]

He may have linked you to the Armored Princess mods, and not the Crossworlds Mods, or vice versa, which version do you have?

Also, The challenge ratings of bad guys go:

Very Easy
Easy
Equal
Slightly Stronger
Strong
Very Strong
Lethal
Invincible

This is a comparison of their leadership to yours. Considering you have spells, and a dragon, and items, 'equal' strength fights shouldn't actually be anything but a cake walk, and this becomes MORE true as you go through the game. Don't be too shy from trying Strong or Very Strong, especially if you start getting some good tactics down.

One of the things that makes this game amazing, is that there are some strategies that you can attempt that are VASTLY better than others. Try things out, look for combo's where you can.

Also, don't be afraid to play with your wanderer's scrolls a bit, especially the 'summon' ones. You can get some very advanced units with them early on, that can be amazing. A stack of Dryads or Royal Griffons from Song of the Wind or... just about anything from Call Colossus. It can really bootstrap you.

[bucazaurus]

Originally Posted by Zechnophobe

He may have linked you to the Armored Princess mods, and not the Crossworlds Mods, or vice versa, which version do you have?

The mod works with both , Armored Princess and Crossworlds.

[Wazat]

I'm playing AP and the mods still do nothing, but when I get some free time I'll try fighting with it again.

As for tactics, I've actually recently taken on some enemies that were marked as very strong or brutal and won w/o losses. The important thing is keeping my 2 cyclops in the front lines with my knights and paladins, letting the stone absorb most of the hits, so the inquisitors are in the back protected. Inquisitors make good snipers and rage builders, are perfect emergency revivers, and they do tons of damage, but they're a vulnerable stack that must be kept safe (enemy spells and range attacks are pretty nasty). When the paladins or knights take losses, I revive them with the inquisitor or paladin. This is very limited though so I have to be super-careful. Likewise, the stone hulks cannot be healed or revived, so I need to pull them back when they start looking hurt.

I rarely do summons with mystery egg, royal thorns or call of nature anymore. Call of nature is pricey in mana and gives very little -- the summoned stack can absorb 1 hit and waste 1 enemy's turn or counterattack, and that's all. Mystery egg is an amazing skill and the summons can absorb a brutal beating, and make an exceptional decoy or path blocker... but lately I've been using dragon dive every chance I get until the enemy has been nuked into whimpering submission. Even at levels 1 and 2 the dive has been a life saver. I just can't afford to have my dragon sleeping all that time [from mystery egg] when I could have dropped several stacks by 3-5 attacks worth.

I stopped using royal thorns for now. I've been making do with ONLY TWO of them the whole game. I'm likewise severely short on knights and paladins, using less than 1/2 or 1/3 capacity because nobody sells them, but they're still worth while because they can absorb hits like you wouldn't believe. Royal thorns take a beating too, but less so, and I cannot heal or revive them. Their summons were amazingly useful, but when they're my biggest weak point (especially vs enemy hero spells) it's best to shove them in reserve and split up my 2 cyclops instead.

Still trying new tactics. I have enough potential item bonuses to sea dogs and pirates that I'd consider using them... but... well, no losses battles are pretty tough when the slightest tickle slaughters 4-5 in the stack. I'm liking my army of level 4 and 5 killers.

BTW, you recommend using my wanderer summon scrolls now? I have been saving the "lovers of the wind" one until late game when I get the most out of it with higher leadership, but your talk of getting a leg up has a good ring to it. Sounds to me like I'd get better use out of the scroll now than later, even with the higher late-game leadership.

Here's hoping for some royal griffins.

[Zechnophobe]

Thing is, later on in the game, you won't NEED to summon troops, you can just buy them. The hardest point in the game is generally around level 15, when you are trying to bust your way into Verona and the fertile lands beyond.

You will run out of Royal thorns, since they are likely only available in Debir (2 to 5) and your best unit is likely a cyclops. Maybe archmages, inquisitors, paladins or Royal Snakes. But that stops cutting it against the tougher fights, and Rusty and Verona are a lot harder than the first 3.

Getting some really nice troops to help you get onto these islands, which opens up huge numbers of stores and items, and money, is really important!

(My current no loss game, I got dryads early from a scroll. I beat some invincible stacks to unlock Verona and Elon using them).

[Wazat]

Hey, that's basically where I am. I've got Verona opened up but unvisited. I've cleaned out everything on Debir and Bolo, and Scarlet Wind only has 1 enemy (in the cave) left, and he's next on my hitlist (tried fighting him once but had to quit partway for time reasons; he won't stand a chance on round 2).

Most stuff on Rusty Anchor is still marked "Lethal", "Invincible", or "Dropped Soap in a Prison Shower". Admittedly I haven't checked yet whether I can defeat them anyway, and a few that I did fight by accident (dang they're fast) actually went down surprisingly fast, so I'm pleased by that. Still, I'm hoping to find a shop on Verona with some really good units, or at least some reinforcements to top off my current troops. I imagine a completely full stack of knights or paladins would be really powerful. Even at only 8 each, they both pack a decent punch.

I think some of the bonuses I've recently gotten to Attack and Defense (items and skills) have been making a significant difference. I also picked up Mr. Whiny Scarface and he's holding some items for me, which helps a lot. But I still have trouble keeping my units alive because of the sheer volume of damage some enemies can dish out while their stacks are still high.

I wish the dragon's wall skill was worth something, but spending 2 turns asleep to build a barrier that will die in one hit isn't as effective as other options, including spawning more summons. Maybe as an emergency measure it would work (delay enemy 1 turn, or maybe even redirect them).

[MaroonMaurader]

A few small points.

Units per merchant are limited. That said, if you can get at least one unit of a given type in your squad and are feeling cheesy, you can make use of Sacrifice to "create" more of that unit - Sacrifice can be used to bring a stack total to above the number you started the battle with, and if so then when you end the battle you keep the extra units.

There is a limited number of enemies, which puts a cap on the amount of experience available. That's why high-level challenges in this forum tend to focus on two things: ancient knowledge scrolls and other experience multipliers, and item suppression battles. While item suppression battles are also limited, you can get about ~10% more fights out of the game if you play to try and get as many of those fights as possible.

Distortion magic is, in my opinion, by far the best spell school. You could write a whole article on strategic uses of slow. Or haste. Or trap, or stoneskin, or phantom, or any of a number of other spells in that school. It just gives you a lot of powerful options.

Scrolls can also be "stored" if you want at castles - you can sell scrolls at castles, at which point they'll go out of your spellbook and into the castle shop (just open your spellbook while in the castle screen). Then you can buy that scroll back at a later date when you have room for it if you still want it.

Regarding dying... it will negatively effect your end-game score, if you care about that.

Keeping units alive is often an issue of directing their damage. The "Target" spell helps quite a bit there, as does simply knowing how the AI chooses who to attack. Stoneskin can be quite useful (particularly on a unit that already has high physical damage resistance, like knights or paladins). Don't feel compelled to enter a battle with 5 stacks - sometimes the best approach really is just one stack if you're trying to avoid losses (plus it levels your pet dragon faster).

Oh - and the wall is actually quite excellent if used strategically. Don't try to use it to totally wall off your troops; instead, try to use it to direct enemies away from your fragile ranged units, towards your buff tank units. If they can still reach some of your troops this turn or the next, odds are good that they'll ignore the wall and walk for the vulnerable units.

[Wazat]

I'll consider Sacrifice. I think it's an amusing exploit. I may save it for a second play-through though.

I found it especially disturbing that there's a limited number of enemies. No way to level up beyond what they give you, no recurring spawns. It means someone cannot level grind to make the game easy (which adds a new element to the game), but it also means the player is easily screwed. This is definitely a niche game.

I'm liking distortion too. However, I use the Heal spell very often too to top off one of my paladins or knights. For a while it was the only spell I used. It would be nice if there was a revive spell... is there?

Regarding selling scrolls, do you lose any money selling and re-buying them?

Thankfully I'm not concerned about end-game score. If this game ends up being worth a second play-through, I can try maximizing score then.

Thanks!