Eador: Genesis

Low-level wizards can still be pretty good if you get the Summoning skill and cast Summon Imp. Dropping an imp in the middle of the battle lines can cause some damage, distract enemies, and help control the flow of battle. The imp can fly over units, but the reverse isn't true - the enemy has to kill the imp to go through the space it occupies, which means they take damage and expends ammo, stamina, and turns. Don't forget the imp can shoot a ranged magic bolt one time, too.

A warrior hero is definitely the strongest single unit you can reliably get, but also the weakest general. You can't pick off enemy units like a wizard or scout, and can't buff friendly troops like the commander. I have a commander that multiclassed into warrior (warlord) in my current game, and that works really well. The passive bonuses from the commander tree apply to all the units in your army, including the hero himself, so a commander is already somewhat tougher than average before you pile on warrior skills and heavy armor. In battle, Vlad McHerodude rushes the front and tanks like a T-64, while the regular units bring up the back and and form a main battle line.

Is there anyway to win the game except complete conquest? (I'm playing random maps, not the Campaign.)

Also random question, but when buildings refer to increasing something in the Demesne (like say "Improves Population Mood in the Demesne by 2") that means all the provinces, right? Not just the homeland?

No, that means just the homeland. "Demesne" is the single, solitary, lone, unique, one territory where your home castle is located. "Province" means any other territory. There are buildings that give a bonus to "all provinces" when built, but most buildings only affect your home territory. However, they do typically unlock buildings that go in the provinces.

I thought I read somewhere that if you loot the land of an unfriendly race long enough that it becomes a "Dead Land" and you can repopulate it with your own species. But while I've gotten the land down to "Dead Land" the previous race doesn't seem to be going away. Am I misremembering, or can my virtual hero perform his own war crimes if desired.

Wizards are quite powerful if you stack Necromancy summons. I eked my way through way harder battles than I should have by spamming Skeletons, Zombies, and Ghouls.

So far my attempts to play a Wizard at the Competent level have met with failure. And last game, I was humiliated by not only having my poor Wizard get knifed to death by an assassin that his troops couldn't stop from getting through, but then having my poor Wizard reanimated as a zombie and used against his own troops :-(

I've been playing around with wizards a bunch recently. They're tied with Commanders for my favorite heros now... I don't find them gimpy at all. Even without second tier spells, they're still pretty powerful. If you take 2-4 zombie spells, and fill the rest up with magic arrow, they're able to decimate the enemy's missile troops like nobody's business. One magic arrow will usually take out a missile troop, then use that corpse to create a zombie. In big battles I usually have 2 zombies kill all the missile troops, and I create 2 more right near my wizard to help kill the enemy melee troops.

It's nice, but so far I'm preferring Soul Steal. Once I get Soul Steal, my warrior is pretty much invincible; every kill fills him up, pretty much. Just give him a weapon that grants him first strike, and he seems nigh unstoppable.

(All of this is for beginning level. We'll see if any of these strats hold for higher levels.)

So I started a new campaign on Skilled after deciding Competent just isn't fun because I'm savescumming all the damn time. I may have overshot my competency there after a few early scenarios.

This time, I'm pretty much planning on throwing order and mercy to the winds and ruling like Eador demands to be ruled: with an iron fist. So I roll up a Wizard on my first shard, figuring what the hell, we'll necromance to victory.

Goddamn is it awesome. I made a poor original assessment of skeletons versus zombies, and now that I'm all zombies all the time my tireless regenerating army of the walking dead is way, way too much fun.

I love this game so very much.

EDIT: Seriously, level 4 wizard, two zombies, a skeleton, and a slinger against three basilisks and a giant slug and I won. I get that I'm burning crystals at a decent pace and all, but that would have shredded any level-4 hero army I've ever had in the past. I ended up down a skeleton, onoes.

Oh damn, neutrals have significantly less HP on Skilled than Competent (70 vs 85 in difficulty.var, which I assume is percentages of their base values). That would explain a bit of the ass-kickery I've been enjoying.

I've noticed a minor design flaw. At least, I assume it's a flaw, because it doesn't make much sense from a role-playing perspective:

Chaos magic is obviously intended to be evil; you're summoning demons, sacrificing peons, etc. However, the most effective way to run a chaos mage is to put one or two healers in his army so they can heal the mage after he casts the self-damaging chaos spells. Since healers are good, it kinda screws with your alignment; I'm thinking you should prolly shoot for good/lawful alignment if you run a chaos mage, which seems kinda weird.

However, I will say this: a dedicated chaos mage kicks *ass*. Seriously. Minions galore, and they're all pretty damn good.

I lost three games trying wizard on Competent. I'm going to try another hero type, it could be Wizard is too hard for me, or it could be Competent is currently beyond my ability. My one "Skilled" win took a whopping 509 turns, so my strategies clearly need work.

The solution is more zombies.

Alas, I'm just not evil enough to raise the dead. I played a goody-two-shoes ranger in my skilled win, so I built barbarians and thieves and passed around the magic gold coffer stealing ritual my last game, but I think that's my evil limit. As a friend of mine says, there's evil with a lower-case 'e', and then there's Evil with a capital 'E'. I can't quite bring myself to go all out and join Team Evil (as the OOTS folks would say). I think it's like some people just can't play Nazi's in games.

You could probably run a sorcerer (i.e. all magic missile all the time) if you can get him off the ground -- that damn sorcery school and its stupid crystal requirement is expensive, and beating through the first wave of provinces without undead help is gonna be tough.

There are some spells and units that you can only get through special events. For example, there's a Summon Golem spell that you can't normally acquire no matter which magic path you build in your home base, but you can buy it from a scroll store or get it as a quest reward - which also potentially gets you a third circle spell long before you could net one normally! I also was lucky enough to run across a unicorn in a special event and have the option to tame it, getting me a completely badass tier-3 unit at the price of no money. I'm guessing you need to be strongly Good-aligned and have an empty tier-3 unit slot in order for that option to work in the special event.

OK, here's how alliances work: You can form an alliance with another race, which will let you own their provinces without suffering higher unrest and give access to special buildings in the Foreign Quarter of your home base.

1. Send a hero to an independent province controlled by another race.
2. Choose to negotiate. The option may only be available if you have the Diplomacy skill on your hero.
3. You will get a quest - typically for killing X number of Y enemies. Different races ask for different combinations; lizardmen always ask for 6 slugs, halflings for 15 brigands. The dialogue will say something like "please kill X of the whatsits that are hanging around here bothering us", but you can actually kill that type of unit anywhere on the map as long as the hero who got the quest is in the battle.
4. Once you complete the quest, take the hero with the quest back to the province where you got it. The alliance will form, and the province will join you without a fight.
5. From now on, whenever any hero enters an independent province held by the allied race, the province will join without a fight, and you have the option to ask the province defenders to stay on as guards working for you now. You can tell them to disband if you don't want to pay guard upkeep.
6. You can only ally with one race per game.

You can then build 3 new buildings that go in the "Foreign Quarters" section of your home base, which will let you recruit your ally's unit and hire their guards, along with some small economy bonuses.

I don't think diplomacy affects whether or not you get offered an alliance; I've been able to get the alliance quest on heroes w/out diplomacy for all races except orcs so far.

I think the determining factors for getting alliance quests are:

1) Your alignment must be acceptable to the target race

2) You won't be able to get the alliance quest if you're already allied with another race or if you're currently on an alliance quest for another race.


BTW... your alignment also affects whether or not neutral brigands choose to hand over their province to you for free. So if you're evil, you're able to expand quite a bit faster. The downside is that evil troops kinda suck.

I've currently got a "Can we talk <hand over 100 gold pieces to the dwarf>" option grayed out in a Dwarf province. It could be I've got the wrong alignment, but right now I'm fairly vanilla. Not evil, but not really good either, which seems like a Dwarvy sort of an alignment.

Update on the Dwarf diplomacy. I hired a Scout hero and got his Diplomacy up to level 1, and he was able to get the "Can we talk <hand over 100 gold pieces to the dwarf>" option to work. Now I just have to get the "Sacred Axe" for them. Hopefully my hero that wasn't awarded the quest can get the Axe, because they told me where the Axe is, and there's no way the Scout is up to the task, but my main Warrior hero might be able to do it.

Looks like the answer is no, the other hero cannot complete the quest. He went into the "Lair of Bandits" where the Axe was supposedly stored, he won the battle and was given a Battle Axe (which was not labelled "Sacred Axe"). Handing it to the Scout and having the Scout bring it back to the Dwarves earns snears. I guess we're going to have to do this the old fashioned way -- Dwarves, prepare for battle, because I'm coming for all of you.

BTW... here are the buildings you get by allying with the various races: (This information was pulled from Inner_Build.txt in the eador game folder.)

191. Elven Quarter
#Allows the recruitment of Elves.#
192. Elven Grove
#Income from forest provinces +2. Gem income +2.#
193. Elven Theater
#Improves population mood in all provinces by 1.#

194. Dwarven Quarter
#Allows the recruitment of Dwarves.#
195. Miners Guild
#Income from hilly provinces +1. Allows hiring the Dwarven Clan guard.#
196. Great Forge
#Income +5. Offers dwarven artifacts for sale. Mithril income +10.#

197. Goblin Quarter
#Allows the recruitment of Goblins. Lowers population mood in the demesne by 1.#
198. Mud
#Increases income from swamp provinces by 3.#
199. Goblin Workshop
#Income +2. Occasionally produces artifacts for sale.#

200. Orcish Quarter
#Allows the recruitment of Orcs. Lowers population mood in the demesne by 1.#
201. Stone Idol
#Increases gem income by 1. Income from provinces inhabited by Orcs +2.#
202. Banner of the Horde
#Allows hiring the Horde guard. Generates orc raids on the neighbors, with a portion of the loot going to the ruler.#

203. Halfling Quarter
#Allows the recruitment of Halflings.#
204. Halfling Market
#Significantly increases population growth in the demesne. Income from plains provinces +1.#
205. Fair
#Income +15. Improves population mood in the demesne by 1.#

206. Centaur Tents
#Allows the recruitment of Centaurs.#
207. Sacred Flame
#Increases gem income by 3.#
208. Clan Tent
#Income from provinces inhabited by Centaurs +5. Allows hiring the Centaurs guard.#

209. Lizardmen Quarter
#Allows the recruitment of Lizardmen.#
210. Bone Totem
#Increases gem income by 2. Speeds up restoration of unit hit points in the demesne by 10~ per turn.#
211. Pool
#Income from provinces inhabited by Lizardmen +1. Allows hiring the Lizard Guards guard.#

So when does the Game Informer review appear?

I finally unlocked some rank 2 unit and magic buildings on the strategic layer. What fun!

Wizard now kicks major ass for me.

I've found I have the most success as a wizard/necromancer as well, but I usually use skeletons. What's the benefit of zombies over skeletons? Just tougher to bring down?

Zombies are better than skeletons for a dedicated summoner the majority of the time.

Zombies:
- Are much tougher, especially when you have levels in necromancy and/or summoning. They can have something like 32hp, for a level 1 summon! Use them to block and create chokepoints, to buy your mage more time to summon more zombies.
- Have a poisonous attack.
- Have only 1 move.
- Cost 8 crystals to summon.

Skeletons:
- Have a lightly stronger attack than zombies, but will almost always die in 1 hit.
- Have two move!
- Are slightly cheaper to summon (5 crystals)

The only time I summon a skeleton is when I'm conserving crystals, or when I need to reach an archer than absolutely must die in the turn and I'm not certain a zombie could do it. Keep 1 skeleton spell in your spellbook, and fill the rest with zombies and utility.

Late to respond, but you can uncheck the pop limit message in the setting menu, which may help reduce your annoyance!

I've uncovered additional info on alignment by poking around in the game's data files. It appears that alignment operates on only one axis: good vs. evil. All the other in-game descriptors (lawful, unscrupulous, etc.) end up mapping to either good or evil. The title you get at the end of the game is determined by your final alignment rating, as follows:
/0
Min: -30000
Max: -200
Text: the Dark;
/1
Min: -199
Max: -150
Text: the Ruthless;
/2
Min: -149
Max: -100
Text: the Terrible;
/3
Min: -99
Max: -75
Text: the Bloodthirsty;
/4
Min: -74
Max: -50
Text: the Furious;
/5
Min: -49
Max: -30
Text: the Evil;
/6
Min: -29
Max: -20
Text: the Treacherous;
/7
Min: -19
Max: -10
Text: the Dishonest;
/8
Min: -9
Max: 9
Text: ;

And the good alignments are:
/9
Min: 10
Max: 19
Text: the Honest;
/10
Min: 20
Max: 29
Text: the Just;
/11
Min: 30
Max: 49
Text: the Merciful;
/12
Min: 50
Max: 74
Text: the Kind;
/13
Min: 75
Max: 99
Text: the Clever;
/14
Min: 100
Max: 149
Text: the Wise;
/15
Min: 150
Max: 199
Text: the Great;
/16
Min: 200
Max: 30000
Text: the Pure;

I also uncovered the alignments associated with the non-human races:

Elf : 100
Dwarf : 50
Goblin : -60
Orc : -80
Halfling : 60
Centaur: 0
Lizardmen: 0

Is it just me or is it harder to carve your way out of the independents than it is to actually beat the other people you're fighting?

Sorta, yeah. Fighting the independents involves a series of rather difficult static battles, but you have plenty of time to prepare. Fighting the AI, on the other hand, involves lots of running around while you try to either invade or catch invading heroes. Once you do finally catch the AI, it's kinda of a crap shoot; sometimes he's grossly overpowered thanks to a successful early game, while sometimes you're grossly overpowered.

If game mechanics didnt changed from russian verision, here is roughly how alliances works:
1)Lizardmen - no prerequisites. Task - kill 6 slugs;
2)Halflings - no prerequisites. Task - kill 15 robbers;
3)Elves - very high positive karma. Task - clear specific "Mage Tower" site.
4)Orcs - negative karma, big army. Task - pillage for 150 gold;
5)Goblins - negative karma, big army. Task - kill 5 elves. Hero with diplomacy can buy alliance for 1500 gold;
6)Centaurs - high-level hero with big army. Task - kill 5 ogres.
7)Dwarves - positive karma. Task - find sacred axe. Hero with diplomacy can buy alliance for 3000 gold.
Hope it helps!

Just won my first Victory on Competent, and it matches what you say here. This may be an outlier, though. It was a one-on-one game on a Tiny map. I got put into a situation and decided instead of turtling up (which is what I used to do), I'd push into his territory. I basically rolled his entire territory, he was weak all around.

Now I'm wondering if that's been the case in my previous games as well. The problem with turtling is that it costs a heck of a lot of gold. It's 600 gold just to build an outpost plus another 200 too upgrade to a fort. Spread that across a few provinces and you're looking at a very serious outlay of cash.

The decision was much easier on a one-on-one though, since there's no concern with someone coming up on another flank. From what I've seen heroes take a long time moving across the map. So pushing too far into one enemies territory could lead to a smackdown on the other side. Although I suppose that could be boosted by carefully building a series of stables across the map. Plus there's a ritual that moves you instantly to the Homeland.

I've also concluded I need to take a closer look at the Province Guards. There's a surprisingly rich variety available, including some that are free, and a few that actually contribute to the provinces economy.

I try to always have guards at all my provinces. In addition to protecting you from AI players & independent barbarian invasions, they also help protect against the effects of a whole bunch of random events.

Besides... they're often helpful in & of themselves. Some add gold, others reduce unrest or unhappiness, and I think there's even a high level one that increases gem production. Forest provinces have particularly good guards; forest hunters increase the gold output of the province by 20%, so they pay for themselves if the province is producing 20 gold or more. For provinces with lower gold output, I like to use faerie sprites, since they don't cost any gold for upkeep (they cost 1 gem instead) and they reduce unhappiness by 2.

I've run across a couple of these "clear a specific tower" quests, but the quest giver doesn't tell you where the tower is. How are you supposed to find it? Similarly, if you do happen to get lucky & stumble across it, is there any in-game indicator that the tower is the object of a quest?

AFAIK, basically any time you are clearing any "Magic Tower", you have a chance to solve the quest. You can even take one tower and reload until sucess.

My Homeland province got pissed of at me and decided to overthrow my rule. Mostly they kept asking for stuff and I didn't have any money, so I said no. I didn't really notice quite how ticked off they were until they rose up. My poor newly recruited level 0 Warrior hero got completely overwhelmed. There were a shocking number of rebellious troops, I think on the order of 15 or so. What was also interesting was that I only had Pikeman available for purchase (I've been using them to form a hedge-hog around my main Wizard hero, and they are relatively nice and cheap, and the first-strike makes them very effective on defense). But the rebel forces had all manner of different units, with a heavy preponderance of archer and slingers, along with a few Pikemen and some Spearmen.

My level 18 Wizard has just finished a battle against an enemy General and has only two half-strength Pikemen left after his victory. He was just close enough to get back to the Homeland to break the siege on my castle on the last turn before the castle falls. The forces besieging the castle did seem smaller than those originally overthrowing my rule. I'm not sure what was up with that. They also had some Swordsmen, which I don't recall in the initial uprising. It was a bit touch and go, but I did manage to relieve those besieged in my castle. I guess I'm going to have to pay more attention to Homeland morale.

Yeah, that can certainly hurt. I have been mostly Good in my game and now try to make sure I have 500-600 gold available every time I hit the End Turn button just in case I need it for an event that needs gold to prevent the bad relation hits.

I can't seem to get anywhere in my current game. I see an enemy hero skirting my lands now and I think one of the other AIs has been eliminated. I can't crack the other indy provinces around me, so I guess I should just go after this guy and see what happens. I started out pretty slowly this game so probably need a restart to have any real chance of winning so I may as well push the outcome now. Fortunately I survived long enough to see a lot of the units and buildings that can be built so I can formulate a little better strategy for my next game.

In the meantime, anyone hear any updates on the Beta for the updated version? I signed up and there has been some talk that some invites were going out, but I don't think anyone has confirmed getting in yet.

What's your economy look like? Early game I focus on taking Plains and putting up Mills and Pubs as quickly as possible. It's not unreasonable in my games to be running +100-150 gold a turn around the time my hero is level 6-8.

I'm not sure. And unfortunately I can't reload and check ... But I do try to get Mills and Mines up and running quickly. In my last game I tried to make sure I had Mine/Mill and Tavern in every province. Also I'm not sure, but I think growing the provinces fast can make a good difference.

Is that a net +100-150 or is that gross income?

That's net. I try to keep my upkeep low by not having troops sitting around that I'm not using and not paying for guards that I don't need.