Glad to be of service, Vulture! This game is fantastic. I wish I'd discovered it sooner. I haven't played a game like this since the Genesis KB when I was a tot and didn't know what strategy was :P.

I should edit that spreadsheet a little more, but I've been too busy destroying the IoF with the Undeads.

And a general FYI to everyone: I got two batons without editing the game whatsoever--both in Darion. First at Bagaba's castle, and the second from manipulating the game in my fight with Zombie Noric. I kept killing him and reloading to fight him on a higher level until he dropped something I could use--a second baton. Also, I've figured out what he drops a little more than what I described in this topic: http://forum.1cpublishing.eu/showthread.php?t=25400. He changes what he drops not only based on your level, but also upon completion of either the Blessing the Crypts quest or the quest in which you break the statues in the graveyard--he went from a baton to a scroll case both while on level 9 for me. ASAIK, he's the only one in the game that can vary what item he gives you, other than the talking stone quest in Greenwort, which changes rewards depending on your level, too.

@Vulture: That Mage setup sounds like it will work--a hell of a lot better than what I'll likely try. I'll be eager to hear how your Archers do as I get closer to whatever mad attempt I can cook up with them. If you're going Archer-heavy, I strongly urge only playing a game that has an Elven Bow (I'm going to play a game with two Bows--I've actually seen three in one game once, but I'm going to need a +5 Int staff if I'm to play Mage). I don't know what it will do for the other Archers, but my skeletons are boosted by it so that every shot does as much damage as their Black Arrow attack, making that ability only useful to remove a spell from an enemy target. It may add more than +1 to min & max damage to some of the stronger Archers like the Cannoneers and Hunters.

Of all the classes, which do you think is easiest to play? My opinion has been Warrior > Paladin > Mage. Combining the Mage with the Archer game is definitely not going to be my strong point, but I'm looking forward to it--even if it ends in horror.

Nah that's because you used 2 vampire stacks :P. And what difficulty? I assumed impossible, but you only have 380k kills.. I had 560k. Also I never managed to get the rest of chargers all the way down even though I got lina to lvl 30, so that added a few turns.

@Helios: I don't really pay so much attention to perfect equipment. I check for decent int-boosters, two staffs, a Dragon Slayer's Sword (before the tournament), an ancient amulet and a Baton (for a Mage). All I care about is troops and spells. Sacrifice or Resurrection before castle Bogacho, one after, accessible through kiting. Ancient Vampire, Demon or at least Horsemen in Darion (Dragon Tooth's Tavern, Knight's Tent, Sarcophagus) to kill the Turtle with no losses. Inquisitors in Darion case I have Sacc first and not Ress. The game is won by spells, spirits, the right troop skills and tactics. Not so much by +/-2 int or atk. Mage is basically cheating with his two spells per turn. It's just not the same if you can Phantom and Target in one turn and then after 2 turn cast Time Back on the Phantoms and have both spells for another 2 rounds in which you can cast 4 times to ress, sacc, damage or CC ^^ it's ridiculous really. Meanwhile Warriors and Paladins have to decide what to cast and if there are archers you can't cast Phantom (not if you have lvl 1 creatures that are more attractive to archers, especialy those with "Sniper") but if you cast Target instead of Phantom, melees will attack what you don't want to be attacked. Especially sucky against undeads and plants. So many reasons why 2 casts/turn is WAY overpowered. Especially in late game. And then you still have the power to nuke. Lulzworthy :>

I only used Chargers once in the fight.

I can see why you take that approach to the games you choose, Vulture. I'd be doing that too if I weren't constraining myself to specific units (that I have to edit in, no less).

Good lord, you can Time Back Phantoms?! I never thought of that. Higher Magic is insanely powerful! I can't wait to go give a Mage a whirl, now. And now I think the devs properly put that skill at the bottom of the Magic tree and with an enormous rune cost.

yeah higher magic is ridiculous, I often find myself not knowing what to cast, the combinations are many of spells, with skills of units also and rage abilities. Also the fact that a battle pretty much is decided in 2-3 turns, means that casting higher magic up to 3 times is enough, no wonder why they capped the first spell u cast on AP to no more than 10/15/20 mana on lvl 1/2/3 of higher magic respectively.

Wouldnt it be better to just get elves instead of canoneers, to avoid morale issues?

Elves suck, that's why ^^ Compare this:
Vampire lvl 3 damage 6-12 physical
Elf also lvl 3 same hp and ldr but 4-5 damage

Even Orc Catapults (unarguably the shittiest ranged unit in the game) have 5-9 ^^. Elves are among the weakest dmg per ldr unit of the lvl 3 bracket. Plus they have as much health as inquisitors which doesn't make them very durable at all.

But I see your point. With 21 atk, which is the most important point when using telescopic sight, they do have some right to exist. But all in all, since I'm not using an all elf army, only 1 point of morale doesn't matter so much.

@Helios: yes, that's the reason. Thing is, tho, that my Mage is now lvl 3, hasn't killed the Turtle yet and already has the prerequisites and 10 out of 20 Magic Runes required for the talent. The fact that I found Ice Snake in one of the crypts in Marshan Swamps doesn't make that talent any more balanced for lvl 3 xD

You're that close to getting Higher Magic, Vulture? Wow. It took me quite awhile to get there last time, but I stupidly (?) invested in all three levels of Alchemy ASAP to maximize my spell book variety. I don't think that's a good strategy, since the high crystal costs don't even come until you have level 2 & 3 spells.

And Catapults: I'm planning on bringing a reserve stack of them on my Archer game just from Gremlin fights--that way I'll have two siege weapons for the 2x damage.

Off-topic: There's no place in the game called The Elven Underground, is there? It appears in the Scanner reports, but no place fits that description.

I think that place might be that underground cave in a wee island next to the elven lands, which usually has some enemy green dragons?

@Vulture, I think the elves are not good, but might be better than cannoners in ur setup, these have ldr 220, damage 6-10, en elf has 80ldr, 4-5 damage, multiply that 3 times roughly(ldr of cannoners are more than 3x times the ones from elves) its 12-15 dmg, put on top of that their special which doubles, its 24-30, cannoners special will deal 18-30, pretty much the same, except elves have the sniper ability which can be handy early on battles. Cannoners do have higher atk(30), which can be good with telescopic sight, also they have slightly better init, so they get the edge in those matters. Elves have low ldr/health, well, cannoners have it even worse... I think you might wanna try them both and see what fits u better.

Yeah, it's pretty easy, isn't it ? I mean I didn't even have to kill anything for it and am still but lvl 4. I could even take it right now as I have 21 Magic Runes but I lack 2 Might Runes /facepalm
I was lucky with 5 Magic Runes for the Trial Of Will tho. Usually I only get 3 or 4.

Not sure about The Elven Underground. But I wonder the names of the Scanner all the time. For instance who is "Captain Crez Keller" ? It says he sells stuff on his ship but it's not Captain Black Eye :confused:

Yes, that's true about the Scanner. I think it picks up all the content that the devs were going to include, but ran out of time for. Like the actor "Pandemonic" and the ????? Dragon Tooth Necklace business.

On the Trial of Will, I wonder if what dialogue you choose matters for your reward, or if it is class-based, or even random. I got 7 Magic Runes with my current Warrior (!), and I know i chose the most brazen dialogue option about wanting the hardest test. I even reloaded my game to make sure I didn't miscount my runes, I was so shocked at getting those 7! I had a Warrior on Impossible able to learn spells in Greenwort! (I also got an insane 6-7 Magic runes in Greenwort, too. It was one of the reasons I chose my current game.)