Orcs on the March thread

[slashCo]

Hi all, I've just recently started playing the Orcs on the March campaign, which is also my first time going through KB:AP. So far it's quite a bit harder than KB:TL, though maybe I need to get used to it. A lot of enemy stacks are rated "lethal" or "invincible", and even with the weaker ones I need to be very careful to get through with minimal losses - and this is on Normal difficulty. What is it with these European development studios and making ultra-hard games?

A couple of things I've noticed - is it me or are orcs stupidly overpowered now? Every single orc unit has like 2-3 special abilities that are just devastating. Was this done on purpose?

Also, everyone seems to be raving about mages, I guess they're the most powerful class? I chose paladin and I think I ended up a weak jack-of-all-trades.

Another thing I noticed browsing these forums is that there are a few "cheap" strategies and overpowered units that will get you through the game, while playing in a "conventional" way (aka, the way a normal player would) is much harder. To me, this is a sign of poor design, but maybe I'm wrong?

[Fatt_Shade]

@slashCo
1) On normal diff enemy shouldnt be so much stronger then your army (playing paladin class you have enough runes for glory, and try to play at least enough no loss battles to get medal (+1000lds). It`s not that european studios make hard games, it`s american studios made your players soft

2) Yea orcs are a bit op in OotM, and their abilities are good if you have much adrenaline. So if you want to use them warrior would be better choice, because orcs need much adrenaline to be useful. Enemy orcs stacks are problematic since they start every battle with lots adrenalin and you must build it from first round

3) Mage is strong but not strongest hero. Every class have it`s perks, and for your paladin i get you dont care about losses in game, so you pick good. Try using some demon/executioner (unlimited retaliation) as meat shield/rage generator because paladin resurrection skill will get them back after battle.

4) About as you call it cheap play throughs for no loss game etc. it`s not that common as you`ll think. Yes there are quite a bit of them, but they all become boring after some time (imagine playing all game 300+ battles with same units/moves/spells/rage . . .).
I maybe speak for myself but those strategies are interesting to get to, be first to figure out new way to use some tactic in game and share with rest of forum (just check thread `droids are NOT overpowered` by impy for example) not to play all game till your eyes bleed so you can have some sick highscore. Because here multiplayer doesnt exist, so only way to compare with others is sharing your ideas, which got us to some great strategies/mods/unit builds. So i think it`s not poor design, but open options for trying out every combination you can think off in game and normal play through is enough to familiarize yourself with game mechanic unit/item/skill possibilities . . .
So try out different builds and maybe think of something new

[slashCo]

Thanks for the answers. I've already cleared out the first few islands and now I'm working my way through Verona (though staying away from the level 40 heroes for now, heh heh.) Recently got Resurrection (both skill and spell) which is making things somewhat easier. Currently using paladins, royal griffins, rune mages and inquisitors - not sure what to put in 5th slot, I used to have bowmen but they die too quickly since every enemy loves to target them. Maybe Cyclops? I wanted to have veteran orcs for my main tank, but I've only found about 10 of them for hire so far.

The only thing still pissing me off are the overpowered orcs. They gave them too many powerful abilities, IMO. Is there a spell/item/creature that lowers their adrenaline or something?

[Fatt_Shade]

You can take horseman instead veterans, theyll make nice human set for high morale with royal griffins, and have great lds/dmg ratio, also great starting ressistances (cast stone skin on them, and have fun Also if you find later try some mix human+elf humanoid units, they should have bonus moral from eachother.
For tanking demonologist is great (his summons), if you manage to find enough to lead.