Nice to read that some ppl still play this game
It seems you started game with great combo mechanic/droids, mechanics set droid modules and such, or -leadreship % items for dwarf race, which are great and fun to play with (you got them, but you were lucky for it
I dont like fact that you cant change much strategy which you decide during game, cause if you lets say want summoner supporter there arent enough runes for might skills and boost up your army, or if with warrior you decide to go full undead/archer army your stuck with it. So i think maybe 2 basic army lineups are what you can get without much traveling for troops, and losing time on it. I say this for your `holy trinity` reference, cause there are so much ideas and tactics other players found, so try some of them if you want :
1) Ancient ent, Faun, Dryad, Paladin and last of your picking some Fairy (oblivion is sick ability), or Rune mage. Strategy - great morale, control with dryad 1-3 lvl units with sleep, illusion, sleep again etc, fauns heal is imba for ents, and rune mage overall great support.
2) Full archer army with Trigger, and his almost 100% crit for archers. My lineup here was Goblins, Goblin shamans, Catapults, Orcs/Blood shamans and Paladins. Very high dmg output and initiative, 2 times second wind with paladin and orc, or blood shaman goblin rage, with some luck goblin will get some more turns from unstoppable and devastate enemy troops with ease, and get insane attack bonus from zeroing in. And all units low lvl so easy to resurrect. Problem is fear spell is useless here, and also enemy dryad`s beholders sleep, but since you`ll play before them, they wont make much troubles.
3) Shreck build as `ckdamascus` said. It fun also, but i dont like for every dead unit, you need 1 illusion cast to revive it (or more), so it could turn into illusions frenzy on arena. I`m not going for no loss, as you said before thats not your plan, but for sake of preserving troops, that are hard to come by (in my last game there was no Orc chieftans anywhere, not a single 1, i had to carry that stupid officers patent to get trophy`s for upgrading Orc veterans, to their older brothers
)
4) All undead build. Strategy : Black knight. End of strategy
With undead commander, and frenzy it`s so easy (if you go warrior, there is no need for Moro dark and Splinter of darkness item, cause counter strike skill).It`s boring 1 stack army all time, but it`s also so much fun to see 80k+ critical`s flying around arena
And with so small army, all exp going to your pet dragon, would be higher cause diference in leadership difference you/enemy.
There are so much more great tactics, and different army builds, just look a bit here on forum, same goes for mods. I personally liked this one
http://forum.1cpublishing.eu/showthr...215#post233215
About your dragon cub, it depends for what you use him/her
Early digging chests, and mystic egg are great, later dive/fiery spirits/ball are nice to use, but not comparing to direct dmg spells from mage, so i guess you`ll use him most for support, then direct dmg. This is what bugs me : no matter what class you go pet dragon is same, i got same skills and dmg from Mage and Warrior classes, but considering spells, no class can compare to Mage, it`s not ok to have Warrior who is mostly for pure fighting and Rage, and end up with same dragon as any whimpy Mage
For medals i agree, they are mostly nice add, but Guardian angel, and class specific are pure grinding, 600 casting for fire mage, OMG
and all that for just 15 mana. When you get medal on 3 lvl, 15 mana is next to nothing.
And last but not least by far, your problem with Goblin shamans, and their so nicely balanced 2 ability
If you go high lvl army, fear them away, for 4 turns it`s imba spell for low lvl units. On other side, with mixed up army and some other idea, they are only 3 lvl unit blind/sheep, or go for faun/dryad sleep, or some other disable Necromancers shackles, Beholders paralyze ray cause those ability`s arent dependent to leadership, which could be problematic for your Mage hero.
Is it just me or all new units are just to overpowered ? Rune mage and his 37% revive, Faun and 52% heal plants, which is reloadable !!! only resurrect skill that have cool down ( i dont include Orc trackers healer ability here cause it`s useless with no adrenaline, and at end of battle, when you want to revive your animals, they maybe have no enough adrenaline, and s..t luck for you
And about Summoner skill, it boost all summoning ability for units : Rune mage, Royal griffin, Orc tracker, so it`s great skill to spen runes on for meat fodder. For some reason it doesnt effect Demonologist summon, no idea why (or is it just bug with mine game). If boost demon portal spell, why not summon for demonologist ?