What do you mean by mass suicide? If you mean "throw one hero at them to weaken them, let him die, and then attack again" that doesn't seem to work. I've tried that before, and the very next turn the province seems to have all its defenders again. (This is for neutrals. Against the AI it works just fine.) Weird... all the medusa in my encounter had 6 or 7 ranged defense. (Outside of swamps. In swamps, it was 1 higher than that.) Using units with high resists is a good idea, though. I'll give that a whirl.
That spell: Well, high level monsters can get additional def on levelups. But 6 isn't that much. Good slinger can have 15 damage, armor penetration and ignore 3 def. (ignore 6 armor summary)
When you build provincial buildings that "reduce corruption by 25%", can you put them in any province & have them reduce corruption equally? Or is corruption done on a province-by-province level, and you have to reduce corruption where it's actually occurring? The reason I ask is because I experimented with building the first provincial corruption reducing building, and sometimes it didn't affect my corruption, while other times it reduced it quite a bit.
Different races add different amount of corruption, goblins and dwarves are worst if i remember correctly.
Right... I saw that in the .var files. But I'm wondering about reversing corruption: is it better to put anti-corruption buildings with corrupt races, or is corruption just a global number, and the location of anti-corruption buildings doesn't matter? Does the distance from your home province matter? Etc.
That's interesting. I bet the option to keep to the old ways in that event where it says the money eventually flows into your coffers also increases corruption, so you could end up screwing yourself long-term. Basically, any event option that costs you money or crystals is better than the short-term gain of the others.
Speaking of.... I occasionally get an event where my tax collectors are robbed, and I lose a relatively moderated amount of money. (usualy 2 or 3 hundred) Then I'm given the option to either say "Eh, shit happens" or pay 5 hundred (!) fucking gold to better protect my tax collectors. This is usually at a time when my net profit per turn is only 2 hundred. Obviously, I never volunteer to pay 2 turns' worth of gold in order to... fuck if I know why. Compound my loss for the turn, I guess. When I choose to not pay the exorbitant amount, nothing bad happens. Why would they include such an event?
It can be a lot of money, yeah. There's another event where pickpocketing permanently lowers the gold income of a province, and you have the option to spend like 300 gold to crack down on it. Cracking down on it doesn't restore the lost income, but I bet it reduces corruption. There are plenty of events that give a province permanent gold or gem boosts, so it's not like a permanent loss is unwarranted.
That's the thing: those events tell you that X province's gold income has been decreased by Y. I understand why it's giving me the option to pay 300 gold. But the 500 gold? Nuthin. Nothing about increased corruption, nothing about future robberies, nothing about a permanent loss of gold per turn. Basically, it seems like the game is asking me if I'd like to just throw away 500 gold. No, no thanks. I was saving that gold for a reason.... I'd rather not put off my citadel purchase for another 2 turns. Thanks though.
Better protection - less chances for this to happen again. Technically, game will set possibility of this event to 0.
You can really turn some of your Swamp provinces into big gem producers with buildings like a Tower of Lightning + an Ancient Pyramid (doubles gem income). I'm usually fine on gems, but once you get an Archmage and some big spells, you can burn through your supply pretty quickly. Last game my Archmage had to fight some tough province defenders and three enemy heroes in one turn, and it was over 500 gems in spells.
I have no idea what it does. (At least, I didn't before Gremlion posted his response.) The problem was that the game gave absolutely no feedback on what the effect was. I suspected the effect might be what gremlion said, but even so I *still* think it's a terrible deal. I'd rather lose 200 gold once in a very long while than just lay out 500 gold at an inopportune time. And, to be honest, there's never an oportune time to just lose 500 gold. Anyways, I've filled this thread with a lot of my complaints and confusions, and many people, especially Gremlion, have been kind enough to indulge me & answer damn near every one of my questions. I'm super thankful to the lot of you, and I'll try to keep my kvetching to a minimum in the future. Especially since, at heart, this really is a good game. Possibly even a great game. It's actually of sign of how awesome & engrossing it is that I occasionally get so whiny about it. (It's also a sign that the game really needs better player feedback.)
Yeah, I ws noticing that in my previous game. I had gone with a full blown necromancer, but I was playing him like an archmage because I didn't know what I was doing with the higher level spells. (That was the first time I'd played that far into the spell tree.) I was sitting on a pile of 300 gems, and whenever I have an excess like that in this type of game I start to worry & try to figure out how to use that excess, since excess = unused potential. I needn't have worried. I had a couple hard fights, and lo and behold! 2 turns later I was down to 20. Suddenly my gem income of 35 didn't look quite so excessive & unneccessary.
MoM was the previous contender for me (obviously), and it will always be dear to my heart. But where MoM had a great breadth to its design, Eador has great depth, and an AI which seems capable of managing that depth. After I beat an average-sized map at Skilled, I started playing at Competent. One, by one, I've made a new player profile for each of the available avatars, and "role-played" each according to its portrait, until I win or lose. I'm not allowing myself any reloads at all. Haven't won yet.I'm on something like my 22nd Competent-level game, and my highest score to date at that level is 25. I feel good about my current match, with my level 16 Necromancer primary, level 7 Scout secondary, and a stockpile of warrior gear waiting to be equipped when I hire my next hero. Some of the most satisfying moments in my personal gaming history have come from this match, facing difficult opposing armies and maximizing my unit and hero abilities to win the day. I was literally gloating out loud like a crazy person last night when I fought off one of those massive brigand ambushes by turning my enemies into zombies. So. Satisfying. I will probably lose in the end, but it's the best I've done so far. It's a testament to Eador's appeal that, immediately after I suffer yet another ignominious defeat, I fire up a new game.
For sure. I fought one AI who had Monster Guards in almost every province. My Archmage was the only hero who could reliably take them on without casualties, so it was the same Monster Guard Archmage fight every turn. Ugh.
Oddly enough, I'm rarely able to finish a game. I've had more luck focusing intently on beating the AI. (Gotta beat the AI. Focus on the AI. Killing the enemy is the point of this game. etc.) But all too often I get wrapped up in Empire Building, and Developing the Land, and after 2 hours of doing things just to make my empire run better, I get bored with the game & gotta start over. I mean, I can only make sure that every province has a pub, then a tavern, plus its major money making building (mill, or sawmill, or mine), as well as making sure every province is happy & defended, before I want to pull my hair out in frustration at the OCD-ness of it all. None of which is Eador's problem. It's a "me" problem. All that stuff is supposed to kinda keep you occupied as you do what the game is actually designed for: fighting other players. But seeing that a province has hit its population limit for its exploration is like a red cape for me. "Must. Go. Explore. You there! Tertiary hero! Go explore!" "But... I'm on the front lines, defending our Empire from the newly encountered Other Player." "Don't care. Primary hero is currently wandering the land clearing out the next tier of sites which are now do-able, and Secondary hero is out conquering new lands and clearing out *their* sites. I've got no one else." "Fuck. This game is going to be abandoned as well, isn't it?"
BTW... one design decision that I'm a huge fan is how evil gets all sorts of short term bonuses, but in the long run gets corruption out the ass. However, in compensation, the higher tier evil units require you to have built a dungeon & other anti-corruption buildings. It's like a beautiful cocktail of oppression.
And now for a design decision I'm hugely *not* a fan of: giving Barbarians that stupid axe throw they have. It's one use, it does shit damage, and has a range of 2 hexes. If I'm that close, I can (and always do) take one more step and do some actual damage with my barb. There has literally *never* been a time when I thought "oooh! I get to use my throwing axe!" However, there have been countless times when I mean to have my barbarian move & attack someone one hex away, and he does that useless axe throw instead. It's almost enough for me to swear off using barbarians entirely. But then I look them, innocently frothing at the mouth and not costing any resources, and I realize that I can't leave them. We were meant to be each other. Even if they do cause me to take unnecessary casualties because they're so proud of their throwing axes that they don't move to protect the healer.
I use it all the time with Barbarians. It's great for taking down low-health guys without having to move. Accidental firing is annoying, though. A ranged/melee default toggle button would be nice because I've accidentally fired when I meant to charge (with both Barbarians and Horse Archers), and accidentally charged when I've run out of ammunition.
Yeah, the axe throw is a definite benefit. Since Berserk only increases Attack (and not Counterattack) what I really want to have happen is: 1. Barbarian knocks some health off guy coming in. 2. Guy hits Barbarian for a bit less than he otherwise would and triggers Berserk 3. Barbarian kills guy with Berserker Rage. If I'm the one leading off with the initial melee attack, my unberserk Barbarian just does normal damage and then eats a counterattack, and then eats a regular attack on the next turn and goes Berserk, and then finishes the target off (typically with an unnecessary overkill). So the question becomes if I want to give up the high ground and get hit twice to kill a dude, and my answer is usually no.
I am learning that well in my current game. I let devils open up chaos gates in 3 of my provinces for the magic items, and they just invaded and took over one of those provinces.
Well, when you make a deal with the devil, you need to read the fine print. Look on page 4. It clearly states that if the corruptee (that's you) accepts 2 or more magic items, the devils are entitled to one (1) province of their choice. Just be thankful they didn't choose your home province.
I love that so much about this game. Shit like that happens, and my reaction isn't "fuck you Antarans, maybe attack the damn Sakkras once in a while" but "Huh. Well, I did sell out my plane of existence to the forces of Chaos for a shiny warhammer. And it's not like I really *need* that province..." Being evil in Eador is way too much fun.
I don't think I've ever played a game that quite captures the essence of being a Necromancer as well as this does. Planning out how to make murder happen so that you can raise the dead and make more murder happen is handled wonderfully.
Finally had to throw in the towel. The strategic AI is brutal! Not only will it go for the throat, but it will intentionally cut you off from your key resources. I had mandrake in a backwater province, and the AI sent its main hero on a beeline to take it. Then it took my only source of iron, and the cost of my mainstay provincial guard rose 400%. I loved my hardcore Necromancer, and managed to get him up to level 22 before the end. He could raise level 7 Zombies and Ghouls in the field. But my favorite hero was my Scout, who went Adventurer at level 10 (he was up to 14 by the time I surrendered). I usually favor multiclassing to Commander for the army bonuses, but Adventurers get better quest rewards, can equip better armor, and can switch weapons instantly. By the end my Adventurer was taking out the oncoming hordes with his Enchanted Crossbow, then switching to his Dark Mace and shield for the up close and personal. In one battle he managed to kill something like 10 enemies singlehandedly, and emerge victorious, after the rest of his army was dead. My plan to stockpile gear for my Warrior worked pretty well, to the point where he got 3 pieces of the Hero's Armor set -- for my first even set bonus -- but I never got him past level 4. I stupidly built the Swordsmen building as one of my first tiers, which meant they couldn't be in the same army as undead without a morale hit. So my Scout and Warrior were fielding Swordsmen while my Necro stuck to undead and Horsemen. What was really really cool, though, was how the morale of the Swordsmen dropped over the course of the game, regardless of who they were with, because of my increasingly evil ways. And my Adventurer had one mercenary Elven archer in his army that I nursed up to level 9, but the elf's base morale kept dropping until it was something like -8 before he finally met his end. The two hardest parts of the game were keeping my gem economy up to pay for my Necromancer's unholy habits, and playing whack-a-mole with the AI heroes. I sent them packing once or twice, but for the most part they ran roughshod over my provinces. I managed to get adjacent to my neighbor's capital once, after my initial invasion, but didn't stand a chance against the guards. So I pulled back and spent the rest of my time trying to put out fires. So... time for a new game!
Yeah, I have an Adventurer in my current game and it's an interesting change. He's got Elven BIades now and doing pretty well. I like how different level 10 hero choices can so radically alter how you play them. Does the quest reward boost only apply to taking gold? It's phrased that way, but I wasn't sure. I've taken both gold and items with him, and the items haven't impressed me more than usual. It's been all questing, all the time, though.
Wait... the level 10 specialization modifies the armor they can wear? I did not get that memo. That's... really cool. I had a similar roleplay-ish experience. I conquered a goblin province near to my home province, and it was Discontent, as newly conquered goblin provinces tend to be. Next turn I conquered the province just beyond the goblins, which happened to be elvish. The goblins were suddenly Very Pleased.
Yes, your heroes can equip any item that can be equipped by either of the classes they use - the original or the specialization. One of the advantages of going commander --> scout (tactician) is that the bonus to ranged damage also applies to the hero himself, who can now equip bows. Scouts that take commander or warrior as the second specialization can also use a shield as the off-hand item when equipping a bow instead of arrows. One real irritation: It is nearly impossible to find a banner item, and there is no stronghold shop that sells them. They're commander-only weapons that give bonuses to the entire army, but you can't even get a really weak one that gives +1 to who-gives-a-damn, or something. I've played several entire games without ever seeing a single banner anywhere.
Wait, what? I see them all the time. In fact, I usually have to clear them out because they're cluttering my inventory. Dragon is my favorite +7 Health (Party) and some other bonuses, but they all have their uses. Banners don't matter much for hybrid Commanders, but they are pretty key for Commander/Commander (General).
I see them all the time too. Mostly the low end single-handed ones. But occasionally something better.
Wow, just ran into a Hero casting summon Vampire. Damn thing had 59 HP and regenerated every time it attacked. Killed my whole army twice. That has to be a 4th level spell, I have no access to any over two. I hope to Hell the AI found it searching, otherwise I say "no fair." Had to go into the past twice before I could figure out how to beat the army...
Summon Vampire is a regular Necromancy level 4 spell. Vampires are tough, and, like ghosts, they like to beat up on weak units to restore their health. Banish is a really handy spell against undead like Ghosts and Vampires (and Devils), particularly when backed by Spellpower. Vampires are weak against missile attacks, so other than a Warrior or Paladins, that's the best way to beat them. Clerics can pick up Banish on level-up.
What level is Banish, and those units?? Remember, I'm in the Campaign, and have to open up the tree by beating Shards. I have access to 3 or 4 second level spell buildings, but only first level units, not counting mercs or "found" buildings, or Raised and Summoned units. Upon replaying it, I beat the stack by avoiding combat until I killed the Necromancer. No bodies, no Raises...
Yeah, then a Warrior or massed archers are probably your best bet. Banish is a level 2 Life spell, but without Spellpower, it's not going to be that effective. It's nice because it does a lot of damage for its level, but only against undead and demons.
Has anyone else noticed that if you click on a hero's portrait, you get the regular hero info screen, but if you click in the portrait within the info screen, you can see all of the active effects from items and abilities? Very useful information. Also, hitting ALT in combat gives you Health, Stamina, and Morale bars.
You can set that info to always display, effectively flipping the ALT-toggle (from the in-combat settings screen). Super helpful.
