droids are NOT overpowered:-)

[impy]

cca (or ca) from Latin circa meaning "around"

[Zechnophobe]

No Optimization module for Gremlion? Those give +25% magic resistence each, and some defense. Would seem to be perfect for you!

Engineers badge, Optimization Module x2, Horn, Hammer... should be one heck of a maxed out stack of droids.

I'm curious what you could do with Black Knights. Can they get the counter attack ability from Crossworlds? Can you even find the knights or whatnot you need to kill to unlock the ability? (Maybe on verona bridge)?

I'm curious to hear how Bhaal goes. Sure, ktahu with 95% physical resist is just a matter of defending vs gorguanas.. but Bhaal does fire damage in there too... and his archdemon stacks are going to be larger than your droid stacks I suspect.

[Jatekos]

Funny idea to solve the game with the less battle as possible.
One of your "compulsory" seems avoidable for me, but I have to check first.
And what's the next "craziness"? ?
Finishing the no-loss game using only peasants?
Or without using any spell?
Or with using only one type of runes?
Or even without using any runes?

[impy]

regarding Optimization module. Yes, the bonuses are great, unfortunately it requires 2 fights to upgrade it & unlock its better bonuses. Those two extra is something you do not want if you aim for minimum number of fights. From this point of view upgrading Magician cowl = 30% magic resist + 20 mana is better since mana management is difficult here.
Baal. his fire attack, which is also not very often does only 500-1000 fire damage. In Baal fight I had two stacks of 268 droids at more than 17000 hitpoints each. So 500-1000 fire damage was not a problem. Yes , archdemons had a chance to cast their halving attack in this battle. That's why they had to be destroyed first (axe of ice gives droids non-retaliation ability). That's also why I kept casting stoneskin on knights & horsemen, so there are more targets for archdemons, since loss of Gilbert units is not an issue here. Also, majority of received damage in this fight was physical, therefore negligible and therefore I could "save" repairs for moments like when being halved.

Jatekos: one fight may be avoidable? both uchkuk and shenobi must be killed in order to enter mirror tower, marquis cannot be moved, the only thing i can think of is kite montero bridge guardian..I think he is unmovable.
From your suggestions : if you read one of my earlier threads, you find out I already managed to get all the way to k'tahu with only investment in Distorsion 1
Hmm. I never played with black knights. I only joined kings bounty community well after The legend and Armored princess were on the market, so once i read they are overpowered i never touched them. But it sound interesting to go for minimum fights with black knights only..

[Jatekos]

I still didn't have time to check -and it will not be easy, because in all of my runs killed the Marquis earlier than Hagni (wings)-, but probably You knows the answer, is it impossible to fly behind the Marquis? (To kill Demenion).
Yes I agree, he is unmovable, but perhaps possible to bypass.
Yes, I've seen your level 1 distortion trial, but You didn't finished the whole game, aren't You? and also seen the thinking about only peasents game, but haven't seen the end.
I almost sure, if You were able to do this 14 fight finishing only with droids, You are able to repeat it only with Black Knights, they are really very powerfull with eviln (Zlogn). I think it's not a bigger challenge, than the droids trial. (You have to take care only one single stack)
One more thing, You mentioned that the runes from artifacts via Neatness can changable.
I've tried it earlier in several ways to get different runes-crystals, but I always failed.
How it be possible??

[ckdamascus]

To beat the game no-loss with peasants would be a challenge indeed. Perhaps summoner mage can do it, but at that point it woudl be all about making sure there was enough disposable cannon fodder to keep the peasants alive rather than the peasants doing anything useful.

Not to mention the poor initiative hmmm....

[plin500]

Originally Posted by ckdamascus

To beat the game no-loss with peasants would be a challenge indeed. Perhaps summoner mage can do it, but at that point it woudl be all about making sure there was enough disposable cannon fodder to keep the peasants alive rather than the peasants doing anything useful.

Not to mention the poor initiative hmmm....

Well, with Onslaught 3 and Adrenaline 3 you're initiative will be 8, equal to archdemons.

So in order to achieve that playing Mage, you'll need to be about lv 20. It's doable. But the problem is keeping them alive... Invisibility?

[impy]

I can confirm that you cannot bypass Marquis and fight Demenion straight away. Just tried it with wings..
Regarding getting runes from level 4-5 items via neatness skill. It is a misunderstanding. I said - "if you get crystals, reload". What i meant by this was load a savegame before you bought the particular items which when destroyed gave you crystals. That would be a waste of money. Just buy a different one. I'm not aware that by reloading or breaking the item on different island would make any difference, as with call colosus scroll for example .
Impossible no loss with peasants only. I think I mentioned somewhere that only possible way in my opinion would be very high intellect mage which casts invisibility first turn and then there are two ways - creating bucketloads of summons or unleash hell via death star for example.
Black knight game with minimum fights. I've not played them yet, but I do not think it would be that easy. Remember, you will not have staff of acolyte (-15% leadership req.) since it is a result of some fights and also no splinter of darkness. I see the following problem. You will be constantly surrounded by enemies. The moment you kill someone (and finish your turn) hoping to cast eviln, the empty slot next to you would be immediately filled in by another enemy stack attacking you. So i guess one would need to use teleporting to lure the enemies away from standing on the dead bodies...

[Jatekos]

Yes, I confirm as well: the Marquis can't be bypassed (although there are pretty big places between him and the castle ), so You are right: 14 is the minimum.
Call Colossus works (I mean you can change the result with several methods), but neatness always gives the same result. (But now I understand your idea, regarding this).
Impossible no loss with peasants only. It seems extreme hard. (Till sy do it! )
I think the invisibility, and death star and so on tricks could be work, but will You have enough recources to build up the hero before the very first battle??

BK. I have had splinter of darkness only once, and just in that game I haven't used BKs at all. BK is very very strong without any leadership modification.
And yes, You need teleport lvl1, and if You want to get sure chance, You need to be a Mage to put eviln and make teleportation in the same turn.
Lvl 3 eviln gives back 30% of the original HP of the stack, which means with four eviln you would get back more than the whole HP. I don't remember any in my games using eviln more than 4-5 in a battle. As I remember even Baal was killing only about 10-12 BKs in a turn (with lvl3 stoneskin), so with a +100 BK stack seems doable. I like droids very much (very good in noloss games, quick and tough), and I like BK as well (bit slow), but my opinion (without trying what You did): BK is easier way, than droids.
Perhaps some weeks later You will settle this issue?

[Zechnophobe]

You don't really need the -15% leadership. -20% is good enough from the helm. Also, splinter is cool, but maybe the Fighter retaliation ability for humanoids would work?