@manneger: you don't need to conquer all towns to win. For a military victory, destroy all enemy wizards. For non-military, cast Spell of Mastery.
I'm aware of that. But my games typically end (as i wrote about above) with me completely dominating the world but cannot be bothered to walk around and find the last enemy towns to actually finish the game.
@manneger perhaps there is a misunderstanding here... @Nullzone's "Enemy Wizards" = Sorcerer AI's (not 'Neutral' AI's) Or perhaps it is I who am mistaken?
Same here, at some point I just skip all the other towns and go straight for the other Sorcerers' Capitals. If you still need to scout around to find them at that point in the game, I suggest to use more Magic Spirits (or other fast-moving units) to auto-scout. On small-medium maps, I typically use 3 per Plane. On large ones 5+, and on huge ones 7+. By the time my army is large enough and I feel like tackling the enemy (I really like going around and fighting in the dungeons) , I usually have most (if not all) enemy Capitals discovered and can move in for the kill.
My problem is twofold: 1) Scouting w magical spirits in a new plane results in them being killed all the time by the strong neutrals (late game) - so scouting takes a ton of time too & 2) Even if i know where enemy capitals are it is typically many turns of walking to get to each of them (and each turn i need to check for neutral armies attacking my cities etc) - so rather than spending a couple hours on scouting and finishing the last enemies when the game is already decided i prefer to start a new game for a new challenge.
I just uploaded latest scheme of AI Sorcerer Lords personalities. you can browse it here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1VlxJVusx2uLR3VYkMUmQ9XQHRTHeoVwutcdOQ5hawjI/edit#gid=1688581813 It is view only
Scouts die, it's in their job description Losing even 5 Spirits shouldn't be a problem at all, except for the very early game. The attrition rate is why I always send out several. And I (almost) always have at least one good combat summon (hint: Slimes rock) and enough Mana to cast a few into battle if the Spirit won't make the escape. Let's break this down, that's a few things rolled into one. a) Getting to where the action is: Do you use the setting for double movement points? I always play with that on; without getting somewhere indeed takes too long for my tastes. But if you want to keep within the intended restrictions by not using it, this means e.g. to go for higher movement units earlier. For my main army I *never* us anything with 2 move only. Even when I played Dwarves, I phased their units out asap. b) "need to check for neutral armies attacking my cities": If you have to pay any attention to that, your garrisons aren't strong enough. Early game (till turn 50 or so) I always have 4 of the cheapest units as garrison. After that I gradually upgrade to 6+ units, and add more expensive ones as needed. Example: With Highmen I start with 4 Spearmen, as they only cost 1 Food upkeep. Later on I add a ranged unit (hint: Elven Archers) or two, and maybe a Highmen Cleric. In newly conquered cities I usually need 6-8 units anyways just to keep the Unrest down to 0. c) "spending a couple hours on scouting and finishing the last enemies": Even with a huge game (say, 6 Planes and all giant maps), mopping up shouldn't take that long. But of course it's up to you which kind of gameplay you enjoy; so don't take this as me trying to convert you to the "always complete it" school
And regarding dungeons @nullzone - i rarely do very many of them. They are often heavily guarded, and by the time i can beat the not-so-easy ones without sustaining too big casualties I am typically strong enough to win the game already. For the game it would be great if lategame both the PC and remaining NPCs have 10ish cities (depending on map size), sizeable armies, and where dungeons (or profits from them) might help tip the scale in the endgame standoff. As it is now i typically have 10 cities while the NPCs have three, and clearing dungeons has no impact om the strategic battle with NPCs. The same can be said for heroes, would be awesome if endgame took some time where a mighty hero might tip the scale - but that just doesnt happen in my games.
@manneger: Of course you are right about the dungeons, and current huge discrepancy between player and AI. Luckily the good folks at Wastelands are working to improve it already. Might take a few rounds, but that's perfectly okay. Creating a challenging AI for complex strategy games is quite difficult. For me cleaning out the tougher dungeons is part of the fun. I do enjoy the more challenging battles they give, especially when I try to beat them with less than overwhelming force. Different playstyles, nothing wrong with that @doomtrader: thanks for the AI info sheet!
Oops, brainblurb this time About the AI sheet: If I read that correctly (that's a big if, as I don't know what it really means "under the hood") , I see what could be part of the problem: Going by the “Quality vs. Quantity” part for Cities, the AI either focus on quality (which means getting lots of buildings in one or a few cities, I assume); or quantity, getting lots of towns fast. For quantity, it would be good to know how that influences the build order for - especially newly founded or conquered - towns. If I see that right, the value range goes from -70 (highest focus on quality) to +70 (highest focus on quantity). Using just those 2 extremes of the scale, could you elaborate what they mean exactly for the AI behaviour with city building? The problem I see here is that you need to do both at the same time, not only one or the other: Quality for one or two towns. Which usually means your Capital, and one unit production center. Secondary quality consideration would be food production center(s). But that - at least for a human player - is covered easily enough; e.g. by setting more people to food production in less important towns, build the food-producing buildings first, cast Fertile Soil, found a new town just to grab those tasty 3 Wildlife, etc. Homogenous vs. Heterogenous: Except for the raging xenophobe or the bloodthirsty “burn em all!” AI types, standard behaviour should be “grab every town you can, no matter what race”; which I believe would translate to a +70 value on your scale. Even with the highest Unrest modifiers, you can make them work without much effort. I understand if you don’t want to lay out the details of your AI in public, so no problem when you just tell me to stuff it But if you are willing to do so, I’m sure I’m not the only one willing to help as much as possible.
[BUG] Healer Familiar now tries to cast Ice Bolt Think I found a new bug in the current version that wasn't present before the update: - Cast "Healer Familiar" on a Hero; behaviour is the same for all as far as I can tell. - Have an Orc Skald present in the same army, go pick a fight. - When I then try to cast Healer, the dialog box says "Ice Bolt" instead; and I only have a "Cancel" button, but no "Cast" button. - The "Cancel" button doesn't work, only options left is to auto-resolve the battle, or exit the game completely. - Not 100% if casting "Ice Bolt" before "Healer" makes a difference. Need to check again to verify. - Also need to check if it happens when I don't have the Skalds with me. Will update this post later today.
@Nullzone I experienced a similar sounding bug with 'Healer Familiar' before the update. Does your hero have the 'Caster' ability? In my case my hero did not and even providing her with mana by equipping a mana enhancing robe or ring didn't allow her to cast. In my case I found I could escape the 'Cancel pop up' by clicking the unit switching arrows. Perhaps this works for you? Edit: found our discussion. It was about casting 'Heal-ING Familiar' on a hero who couldn't cast it. You and I discussed the problem at some length. See posts: #149-#170 above.
Whoops, had forgotten about that one already To clarify: I tried both with Casters (Life and Nature), and a non-Caster with +Mana equipment. Results are the same, always get the Icebolt bug. Cancelling the popup via unit switching didn't work this time. Tried more than once. And I didn't that "Globe of Invulnerability" thing you mentioned in p.18 post #174 Not that it is a problem, I have 10 or so units who can cast Heal in that army (1 Hero, 4-6 Orc Skalds, 2 Elf Druids). And they can dish out so much damage that I almost never need it anyways.
Not exactly a newbie guide, but the answer/explanation to the spell distribution “riddle” I posted a few days ago got a bit longer than I thought (by I now I should expect this ). I added it to the guide thread, enjoy: http://forums.toucharcade.com/showthread.php?p=3793465#post3793465 By the way: Does anyone have any goods ideas for a fast-track to high-tier units? I didn't experiment at all with that approach yet.
2 Questions for Doomtrader In Planar Conquest despite my faction's leader having the "warlord" characteristics, I have been unable to level my regular units beyond level 4. When I played Worlds of Magic before I know I had some units at level 6 and others as high as level 8. Question 1: Does Planar Conquest have the same maximum levels for regular units as Worlds of magic? Question 2: Is there a listing for Planar Conquest of what regular units gain (hp, etc) for each level up? Thanks.
@4X: That's weird. I just checked to be sure, and I do have level 5 regular units without having the Warlord trait. Maybe that's related to difficulty? I am playing on highest. I cast Heroism (gives max level) on a unit once, and ended up with level 8 (again, no Warlord trait). But the XP was only half full. So I wonder if the regular max level is 10, and 12 with Warlord? Cannot remember seeing that info in the manual. re #2: that would be nice extra information, seconding that request. UPDATE: Got a writeup for an early Orc rush game with the "Swarm Build" from earlier today ready. Will post it tomorrow, it'll cover the first 25 Turns, and end with a result of at least 2 well-garrisoned towns (Capital, new one founded, eventually first enemy town conquered), 3 Magic Spirit scouts, 4-unit garrisons and a sizable army of 13.
Unit Levels @Nullzone, thanks for the idea. I am now starting a new game two difficulty levels higher. I will let you know what happens. I really hope Doomtrader gives us the unit level up details. That was one of my favorite parts of Master of Magic. Of course MOM had two manuals (one just for spells) and lots of detail including a great table on regular unit level up bonsus. Per your update in your last post, I have not tried playing the Orc's yet and so I am interested in the details you mentioned putting in a new post tomorrow.
