Shall we start a new high score/info thread? (Spoilers inside)

[Metathron]

Ah, I suspected it was the google translator mod.

Z, two more days? Isn't it the 20th? Perhaps it's a time zone thing my puny mind cannot fathom.

[DGDobrev]

Well, Calinda did it in 10, on impossible, without any losses.

The thing is to try and do the first few the islands in one go (AND without losses!!!), avoiding only a few battles that can't be win right now (Norb, Impossible map guardians). It's really hard. At this point the warrior gets the easiest time, the paladin is in the middle, and the mage goes through hell.

There is also the matter of traveling. Tekron must be done last, and on one go. This means you need to go to Dersu first (there is a quest leading to Tekron) before any other island. The worst thing is that you need to go back to Debir a couple of times and I couldn't find the best options...

Oh, and of course... You need to start with some decent items on Debir. On impossible, you can spare some cash to buy an officer's batton (+250 leadership, 8000 gold) and maybe something else that's cheap and adds leadership. Also, a belt with +100 leadership helps a lot as a reward from the first tutorial battle. Sell anything you won't use - like eggs, sprouts, etc. That helps a lot on impossible.

[Zhuangzi]

Originally Posted by Metathron

Ah, I suspected it was the google translator mod.

Z, two more days? Isn't it the 20th? Perhaps it's a time zone thing my puny mind cannot fathom.

If you preorder from Gamersgate you get to download it a day early, i.e. Thursday the 19th. What time on Thursday, I wonder?

[BB Shockwave]

Originally Posted by Zhuangzi

BB Shockwave, I can see that you love the reptile race as I do. I get the feeling that Hyterrants are the most useful/versatile of them, but you've shown here that a reptile army is more than useful. I have been playing with the reptiles a fair bit in the demo and they seem very promising. But I wasn't using the Gargoyles, thinking them to be inferior to the Gorguans. I can see now that this is a mistake.

Did you get the reptile kit, i.e. the combination of items that buff the reptiles in some way? I missed out on it in my only completed game of AP. And yes, BB is playing with the English mod on the Russian version, as I did. But in two more days I can download the real thing!

Hehe, yes I love them - pretty much all of their units are very usefull - though I did not use the worms that much. I kept the Chosa in my reserves and used them a few times, but they are mostly effective when you are low level. I prefer to be able to attack with all my units in the first round (with a Warrior) and the Chosa's summoned Gobots can only do that in the next round. They were still usefull in the Giant Spider and Toad boss fights.

Sorry about the Gargoyles/Gorguls translation. On the Official KB AP english site, they are still mentioned as Gargoyles, so I used that name. I know, it's very inappropriate as they look nothing like real gargoyles. (Speaking of whom, I'd love to get a real Gargoyle unit in KB - a flying Level II-III creature with high defense, low initiative and the same "Stone" ability as the Cyclops.)

I only got the Squamata Bracelet from the Reptile kit, sadly. But the Singing dagger is awesome with the +15% damage increase for all reptiles.

I also kept the Demon Bracelet in my backpack - if the Lizards have a weakness it's the -10% Fire resistance, I had to wear that item for a few fights, especially against imps or fireball using heroes.

I downloaded the english demo yesterday and must say, I did not like the translation that much. It can still use some tailoring. Also, in the demo the mini-map doesn't show objects which the full game does, I hope this is only for the demo...

[Elwin]

also demo doesnt show damage done by units aftr battle. i saw this on screens of full version Polish.

[Mandea]

Originally Posted by BB Shockwave

Also, in the demo the mini-map doesn't show objects which the full game does, I hope this is only for the demo...

Yes it does show them. it just doesn't do it on hard or impossible levels. on normal it shows them.

[DGDobrev]

Well, the most wickedly entertaining playthrough I have ever had with the Mage in KBAP has come to an end.

It took a while, since I was lingering a lot. But in the end, all went as I thought it would. It is all about knowing the game, knowing the game mechanics and knowing what works best and when does it work best.

The Mage gets a really tough time throughout the game and starts to shine around lvl 40 when you can upgrade most of the equipment and get spells like geyser and death star. To remedy that, the best you can do is to make a playthrough where there's a Verona map on Scarlet wind and start kiting the map guards till you open up the entire map. This usually means at least 5 hours of uninterrupted loading, saving, swearing, anger, and so on. But in the end it's worth it, as it provides a very strong and stable playing environment from level 10 to 40.

So I did the same. I did all the quests that do not require fighting (except the ones on elon and nameless) and started the fighting on lvl 18 with a bunch of items already purchased as well as a very strong lineup - Tirexes, Archmagi, Paladins, Inquisitors and Gorguanas, backed up by Knights and Demonologists. With this setup it's impossible to suffer casualties up until lvl 30 or so. After than, some enemies start posing a little trouble. However, having opened up all maps, I had target, stone skin, fire rain and that was more than enough to get me through the harder battles. Starting powerful also gives you the opportunity to use higher damage traps right from the start. In the beginning, there were battles where I raised the trap counter by 3-5 points in one go, as it was a snap.

The game was a breeze, actually. The only tough spots are as usual, the castles and the bosses. Another tough "spot" was Elenhel. On Impossible, he's simply wickedly overpowered and you have to confront him on lvl 40. 115 necros, 187 Archmagi, 250+ Demonologists, 328 Druids... They hurt a lot, and his geyser was dropping my stacks by 1/4 per cast. In the end, the Paladins prevailed. The tactic was simple - target + stone skin on the paladins so that they suffer as less damage as possible from attacks and geysers and then making sure that no other unit dies. Even if in the end you end up with just a few units, this means you did it good, and the resurrecting can begin. I also kept mu back line units very close and used paladin phantoms to do quick resurrections when I saw things were going bad.

Before I start on the bosses, you should know that there is one extremely useful item in the battles with them. That is the rage eater, so if you see it, buy it! Since you can't summon the dragon, you can't transform rage to mana. Well, this little toy will do that for you. It's 5 for 5, but it's better than nothing.
I also made sure I have a +20% leadership scroll for the last 3 boss battles, as well as any other stat-boosting scroll available. Since I was digging all the time, I had plenty.
For the bosses... Spider is a snap. Demonologists spawn demons, Knight with stone skin + magic shield near his left legs, Paladins with stone skin near his right ones. Paladins hack the Giant spider all the time, Knights help from time to time against the growing spider stacks.
Driller was a pain in the first go. But then I got inspired and made this party - Paladins, Knights, Archmagi, Inquisitors. 4 units, the width of the bridge. If there are 2 units in a row, that's simply begging for a gun shot that usually results in a lot of damage. So, like the spider - Knights with stone skin and magic shield near his driller hand, Paladins near his other hand. When he summons droids, I used the archmagi and inquisitors to beat them up. When he summoned Repair Droids, I left them be, simply reduced them to smaller stacks so that they don't pose that much trouble. Then, when the driller was down, I could ress at will.
The tactic against the Dersu-Kumatu Frog is the same. If you have the Healer's Jacket (pretty common item), put it on without thinking! That will reduce the damage your units take from the frog's spits. After that it was the same. I left a royal snakes stack alive after I killed the frog and went on resurrecting. Since royal snakes have no retaliation, you have a lot of time to do that.
Zilgadis was easy. Equip items that provide magic resistance and/or stock up on troops with decent magic resistance. That will deal with his mass attack, since it inflicts magic damage. I used the mirror shield + anti magic diploma and that was more than sufficient. Then it was simple - Knights with Stone skin near his left arm, Paladins with stone skin near his right one, the other 3 units (Archmagi, Guardsmen, Horsemen) hack at the towers and/or anything they spawn. I finally left one evil gremlin (he simply didn't spawn a friendly one later on) tower and ressed everything.
K'Tahu was another deal. All his attacks are physically based, so you need high physical resistance. I did it with this lineup: Knights, Paladins, Horsemen, Guardsmen, Demonologists. It was really tough, but with the rage eater, phantoms and protecting the demonologists and guardsmen from suffering major losses (stone skin help a lot here) I did it. I also had Knights on his weak spot and Paladins (higher def) on his protected side. Paladins had Stone skin on them all the time so that they take as few damage as possible. Regretfully, I had to swap the companion for this battle - BB Elenhel, hello Agvares. You NEED both the Singing dagger and the Inquisitor's Sword equipped, so that you have more paladins available. You will suffer casualties, but when K'tahu is low on HP, wait will he summons a stack with Gorguanas with it, then kill him. Finish off the summons, and leave a few gorguanas alive, then start resurrecting. The rage eater will provide sufficient mana for the task (NOTE: works until rage falls below 10, not 5! Also when the rage and mana income becomes 0, it stops working. So plan accordingly).
Baal was another matter. If he starts summoning stack after stack, you'd better restart, because after summoning a stack he won't be able to hit you directly, so he'll throw his sword, which is HIGHLY undesirable.
What you can do, is to be aware of his capabilities and his behavior. If there are 2 stacks one behind another on his line swinging there is a big chance that he will do just that. So I used stone skin only on the Knights, Paldins and Horsemen, while the Archmagi and Demonologists provided cover with magic shield and summoning. Then I put the Knights and Paladins right in front of him and put the Horsemen behind the Paladins or Knights, whatever was available. Believe me, losing 5-10 horsemen in such attack is highly preferable to having Baal summon a ton of Archdemons, Executioners, Demons, and so on - besides, you can always buff them up with magic shield and lose only 3-4 of them. I also made sure that the Knights and Horsemen in Bill Gilbert's army had Stone skin on them as much rounds as possible. When I exhausted my dual casts, I left his horsemen to die and concentrated on doing this: 3x stone skin for my paladins, knights and horsemen and 2x 15-mana phantoms so that there is always a unit behind unit to tempt Baal to hit them both rather than throwing his sword or summoning enemies. Well, both of the latter actions cannot be avoided from time to time, but that provides valuable rounds to hack at him with more than 1-2 units. I also made sure that when Bill Gilberts' units died and Baal was low on HP, to leave an Imp stack alive so that there is something on the battlefield (especially one with no-retaliation!) before I start resurrecting. In the end, that tactic worked perfectly.

And there it is. Mage, Impossible, lvl 57, no losses whatsoever

I've added screens of the build and the result, as well as the save game just before finishing the game to show that everything is fair and square

[travelingoz]

"Since you can't summon the dragon, you can't transform rage to mana. Well, this little toy will do that for you. It's 5 for 5, but it's better than nothing."

DGD what about the Order Magic spell that converts Rage into Mana? Not quite as efficient as a mana ball but only costs 1 mana to use and on level 3 is about 75% efficient from memory.

Anyways, great result! I'm trying a Mage no-loss play through at the moment as well as a Warrior and i completely agree about the need to do some serious sneaking first.

[Elwin]

Exactly, i was using calm rage like crazy during ktahu and ball fight

[DGDobrev]

Originally Posted by travelingoz

"Since you can't summon the dragon, you can't transform rage to mana. Well, this little toy will do that for you. It's 5 for 5, but it's better than nothing."

DGD what about the Order Magic spell that converts Rage into Mana? Not quite as efficient as a mana ball but only costs 1 mana to use and on level 3 is about 75% efficient from memory.

Anyways, great result! I'm trying a Mage no-loss play through at the moment as well as a Warrior and i completely agree about the need to do some serious sneaking first.

That is a very good question! Now you can ask me why I sold it without thinking I would not have a proper answer.