Time ago I thought Baal was hard to kill... then I saw the power of the repair droid!

[Hento]

and +7 defense, and when Repair Droids "melee" attack they also shock.

[loreangelicus]

Originally Posted by Hento

and +7 defense, and when Repair Droids "melee" attack they also shock.

Currently playing warrior on impossible, going for no-loss high-score/7-day game.

Attached is a current screenshot of my soon-to-be undead-droid build. Here, I have taken the Debir-Scarlet-Bolo-Verona-Rusty-Scarlet route.

XP items are a must, so the 2 hand of necropolis and sharks tooth should be there no matter what. KBScanner shows me having memoirs of the marshal at Montero, so I already have the tough but necessary choice of dropping the amulet of death (it's either that, or I drop the soon-to-be skull of death).

Royal Hammer is a definite shoo-in, and I wouldn't mind dropping one of the soon-to-be dress of the magess for the engineer's badge (warrior has dress/regalia slot at top-right corner slot).

So the question now is, is the Axe of Ice (class 3) better than getting Staff of the Acolyte Necromancer (+4 INT, -15% leadership of undead)? With Black Helmet (+3 DEF, -20% leadership of undead) that would be -35% to the leadership of my target units, bone dragons and black knights (would drop the black dragon and red dragon).

Also, would Horn of King Borg (yes, KBScanner shows I have all 3 of the dwarf-droid items) be better for my build than the skull of death?

SIDE NOTE:

Despite the droids' vulnerability to magic, they are still no pushovers against an all-magic enemy. Case in point, I could actually upgrade my 2 novice dresses to dress of the magesses. My guard droid stack could take out a tower in 2-3 attacks, and the repair droids (of which I have less than my leadership due to lack of supply) do more damage to the towers than the black dragon. I did the upgrade without loss despite going against 4 evil gremlins and a bunch of archmages, priests and inquisitors. Postponed the upgrade when I found out that memoirs of the marshal was at Montero.

The only problem I see with them is that there is no way to replenish them except buying more of them, so your 2 reserve slots would always be filled up with extra droids (in preparation for an increase in leadership) if you choose to get both repair and guard droids.

[DGDobrev]

Great minds think alike

I'm going for something similar right now. It's a slow going, but it most certainly provides good results. However, problem is I don't have the Black Helmet available (but I have other useful items, like belt of luck, dagger of judgment, twinkling boots, etc.), so I guess I'll either still do Black Knights or go for Bone Dragons - or even both. We'll see.

As for the question, I think the horn will do nicely. +5 to droid's attack is pretty nice if you're bent on using the droids. The trouble is that it is an artifact and the warrior gets only 1 artifact slot unless she gets Agvares or Elenhel as companions, but still, it is a decent addition if you go the droid way. I'm considering taking Trigger with me (something I have never done) - he boosts the crit of all rangers, which includes the droids and has a gloves/belt slot, so I won't be missing out on the second necropolis gloves pair.

So many options and so many choices Certainly makes for a fun game.

[Hento]

I have to start using that scanner you are all talking about, I miss all the stuff!

too bad the game is not more dynamic store-wise.

[loreangelicus]

Originally Posted by Hento

I have to start using that scanner you are all talking about, I miss all the stuff!

too bad the game is not more dynamic store-wise.

For a "just for fun" run, the KBScanner is not essential. But for a game that targets a high score? Ancient Knowledge is VITAL, and you need to make sure you at least have 3 of them via the KBScanner.

I know, items and units are too random for my liking, but I guess it adds some fun factor in its own way. In my game, I don't have any Demonologists at all, and the wanderer scrolls can't generate them. Sad that I don't get to experiment with them in this run, but I did get 2 hand of necropolis and amulet of death at Verona, twinkling boots at Bolo, and skull of pain and slippery cuirass at rusty, so its all good randomness overall.

[Zechnophobe]

I think the gripe about the scanner, is that it rather diminishes the value of your high score. Sure you did well, but you kinda rigged things in your favor a bit, know what I mean?

However, if you are just doing it for the sake of seeing how high you can possibly get a score, that's different. The goal here is not to show off how well you did, but just to explore the possibilities.

Anyhow, just my two peasants worth.

[Hento]

Peasants are actually quite useful and deadly if you have damage dealing items like +1 poison and fire and high morale.

[loreangelicus]

Originally Posted by Zechnophobe

I think the gripe about the scanner, is that it rather diminishes the value of your high score. Sure you did well, but you kinda rigged things in your favor a bit, know what I mean?

However, if you are just doing it for the sake of seeing how high you can possibly get a score, that's different. The goal here is not to show off how well you did, but just to explore the possibilities.

Anyhow, just my two peasants worth.

The problem with the high score is that it is unachievable if you don't get enough Ancient Knowledge scrolls. I actually hate the fact that KBAP NEEDS AKs to get to level 60. In KBTL everyone could reach level 30, so the max possible level was within reach by everyone and you didn't need to "rig" the game.

I know you are "rigging" the game to your favor by using the KBScanner to assure 3+ AKs, but if you are going for a high score, would you actually do a random game, do the long process of going no-loss, engage tough battles just to bring down your time to around 7-days, and if by mid to late game you don't have AKs enough to reach level 60 just start a new game?

It should also be noted that 3 AKs is not even enough. As per other players who have already achieved level 60, you need around 5-6 AKs. You probably need even more since you can't go around killing the low XP enemies, then kill 5 high XP enemies with a single AK; not using an optimal path would waste time, which could lower your score.

[loreangelicus]

Originally Posted by DGDobrev

Great minds think alike

I'm going for something similar right now. It's a slow going, but it most certainly provides good results. However, problem is I don't have the Black Helmet available (but I have other useful items, like belt of luck, dagger of judgment, twinkling boots, etc.), so I guess I'll either still do Black Knights or go for Bone Dragons - or even both. We'll see.

As for the question, I think the horn will do nicely. +5 to droid's attack is pretty nice if you're bent on using the droids. The trouble is that it is an artifact and the warrior gets only 1 artifact slot unless she gets Agvares or Elenhel as companions, but still, it is a decent addition if you go the droid way. I'm considering taking Trigger with me (something I have never done) - he boosts the crit of all rangers, which includes the droids and has a gloves/belt slot, so I won't be missing out on the second necropolis gloves pair.

So many options and so many choices Certainly makes for a fun game.

Warrior should get Elenhel, and mage should get Trigger so that the companion item slots complements the hero slots. This is for an undead-droid army though, other builds may demand other companions.

Yes, I'm certainly looking forward to mid to late game, when my army and items get completed. As you can see in the screenshot I attached before, I got very early Elenhel via intelligence boost items and Depth of Thought. I also got the 2 Hand of Necropolis as early as my initial visit of Verona (shipwreck and a very tough battle of Castle Tront).

Speaking of the undead-droid build, I think adding a non-undead/droid unit could give it more flexibility. Adding emerald green dragon adds a high initiative, high movement tank via Phantom level 3; the phantom recovers the 25 mana spent for it by landing in the middle of the enemy and doing the mana blast ability. It would be a bit hard to resurrect if it incurs casualties though, since Turn Back Time is your only solution (Distortion level 3, but all classes go for this anyways), but the original EGD stack doesn't do battle anyways, and you would spam Phantom till the enemy is dominated, giving you 3 extra scapegoat units to tank. Another alternative is Royal Griffins. Transmute level 3 gives you 10 mana per enemy that dies, but more importantly gives you 20 mana per ally that dies. So you could actually spam Phantom level 1 (at 15 mana) so that your summons are relatively weak (guarantees that the phantomed royal griffin dies and not expires) and the resulting two summons (phantom royal griffin and its heavely guard) gives you back 40 mana total, a net gain of 25 mana. RG needs Resurrect level 3 though, and thus Order level 3 which I was hoping to skip.

But if you do get either EGDs or RGs, what do you drop? Bone Dragons or Guard Droids? sigh... RGs add high magic resistance, EGDs add good magic resistance and high fire resistance, and these resistances are what the undead-droid army lack. Then again, who needs resistances when you could easily bring back your losses? Sigh... even more decisions.

I just want to build the ultimate killer army. I know black knights, bone dragons and even repair droids could solo the enemies and even bosses, but if I wanted solo tactics I would have played mage. Overkill perhaps, but doesn't everyone like to overkill?

This build is good for PvP as well, if ever that gets added in.

[Hento]

Eh, don't you have to have an impossibly high intellect for a warrior to get Elenhel?

EDIT:Oh, I see, you used a scroll, but that was a fluke.