Quick Run Through updates

[ckdamascus]

Originally Posted by Zechnophobe

Yeah, Eventus may be a problem, but I'm more worried about Ktahu and Baal. I was not planning to use Black Knights... actually I'm not sure what I was planning to do for that yet. As for Eventus, I'm hoping a Phoenix and maybe a black dragon will do the work. I'll likely need to get Onslaught (bonus initiative) before heading over there.

My last game I really started to appreciate onslaught more than the dragon buffing abilities. Going first is VERY IMPORTANT to a mage! Even more so with this setup.

It was strange. One time against Eventus, he just went 3 stacks against my black dragon stack. BIG mistake for him. I just did Ball of Lightning to whittle him down to nothing. When the enemy stacks were sizable, I dropped Dragon of Chaos to help finish the job. Surprisingly very easy.

There is probably a way, but it seems very hard to win without black knights. In fact, besides verrry strange combinations, I don't think I've ever beaten Ktahu or Baal as a Mage without the power of black knights.

I suppose Baal might have been beatable with rune mages, but it just seemed too insane.

Ktahu's AoE attack is just too grizzly.

Yeah, onslaught is good, but it is only for the first round though and unless you got quickdraw or something else, it seems that arch demons will still out-init you?

I usually have the Black Dragon around as my "interdictor" and he tends to help me win initiative most of the time.

[Zechnophobe]

Originally Posted by ckdamascus

It was strange. One time against Eventus, he just went 3 stacks against my black dragon stack. BIG mistake for him. I just did Ball of Lightning to whittle him down to nothing. When the enemy stacks were sizable, I dropped Dragon of Chaos to help finish the job. Surprisingly very easy.

There is probably a way, but it seems very hard to win without black knights. In fact, besides verrry strange combinations, I don't think I've ever beaten Ktahu or Baal as a Mage without the power of black knights.

I suppose Baal might have been beatable with rune mages, but it just seemed too insane.

Ktahu's AoE attack is just too grizzly.

Yeah, onslaught is good, but it is only for the first round though and unless you got quickdraw or something else, it seems that arch demons will still out-init you?

I usually have the Black Dragon around as my "interdictor" and he tends to help me win initiative most of the time.

I generally Beat Ktahu with Bone Dragons, actually, since in many run throughs I use a dragon army. Same rough strategy, less need to teleport.

Onslaught gives you up to +3 init. Archdemons have 8, so a 6 init thing will go first. I'm not AS worried about turn 2, as I am about turn 1. Also, onslaught gives up to 10 Rage. Basically the question is "Go after dragon training and rage generation, or go after onslaught" and I think onslaught is better. Maybe 1 point in Dragon Training.

Edit: Anyhow, a lot of this is really the issue with the QUICK game I'm running. No red dragons, no bone dragons, only Greens for now, and the foreseeable future (no call colossus yet!). In fact, my highest init unit at the moment is 6, until I start pulling out the Phoenix, and that doesn't help me the first turn. It has been causing no end of troubles, let me tell ya. I may end up using Guard Droids just because they are init 6! (Good all around, but I'm not sure if I want them more than my other army right now...)

[Zechnophobe]

Rakush, the Goblin leader on Uzala... I just scouted him out because I was thinking about assasinating him at about level 26 while doing: Dersue-Verona-Tekron.

Turns out though, that his army of goblins kills mine... before I get to take an action! Now, this is mainly due to my army selection at the moment, but I just wanted to scout him out to remind myself what stat boosts he gets. I guess One of them is initiative. I don't know exactly HOW MUCH initiative though, but more than 6 for sure.

It is all level 3 and lower stuff, so I just need to win init, and then dryad storm him. But man, those Goblin Shamans are broken strong. One stack can kill three of mine just by casting that stupid spell...

[ckdamascus]

Originally Posted by Zechnophobe

Rakush, the Goblin leader on Uzala... I just scouted him out because I was thinking about assasinating him at about level 26 while doing: Dersue-Verona-Tekron.

Turns out though, that his army of goblins kills mine... before I get to take an action! Now, this is mainly due to my army selection at the moment, but I just wanted to scout him out to remind myself what stat boosts he gets. I guess One of them is initiative. I don't know exactly HOW MUCH initiative though, but more than 6 for sure.

It is all level 3 and lower stuff, so I just need to win init, and then dryad storm him. But man, those Goblin Shamans are broken strong. One stack can kill three of mine just by casting that stupid spell...

Yeah, he definitely gets an initiative boost. It doesn't help that he loves to cast geyser too.

Yup. He has destroyed or nearly destroyed my entire army in one turn before.

Sometimes I wonder if those guys who insist on "no saving/reloading" have ever played the game normally on Impossible mode.

[Zechnophobe]

Well, joy of joys, I seem to have lost another save game, under the same circumstances as before. I saved before leaving Montero to 'scout out' Uzala, came back the next day and the save game is gone. I have a save from 4 levels ago (level 20) or the autosave from Dersu. I kinda need to clean out most of Dersu in one go though, or I'm going to have severe problems being strong enough to do Tekron (Which has some hard fights, unlike Umkas).

So... try an even slightly MORE impossible challenge, or replay 4 hours of game? Uggh.

[Zechnophobe]

Hah.. So, I started over, since I lost so much time from same games going away, and wanted to try a few things different.

I have encountered on Debir, two DIFFERENT enemy armies containing level 5 units! I've *never* seen this before. One contained a RuneMage (not too bad, since it spent most of its time not attacking).

The other contained TWO Cyclopses! That was the army in the little cave near the snake hut. Two Cyclopses. I'm pretty sure that is just straight up not beatable without losses this early. You can't control them, you can't really even do much damage to them with spells. And then... they attack and kill some things.

Has anyone else seen this happen before?

[ckdamascus]

Originally Posted by Zechnophobe

Hah.. So, I started over, since I lost so much time from same games going away, and wanted to try a few things different.

I have encountered on Debir, two DIFFERENT enemy armies containing level 5 units! I've *never* seen this before. One contained a RuneMage (not too bad, since it spent most of its time not attacking).

The other contained TWO Cyclopses! That was the army in the little cave near the snake hut. Two Cyclopses. I'm pretty sure that is just straight up not beatable without losses this early. You can't control them, you can't really even do much damage to them with spells. And then... they attack and kill some things.

Has anyone else seen this happen before?

Yup, I've seen that happen before. That's also why I say sometimes a dose of luck is a factor for the "7-day" run. Either that or everyone else is much better than I.