maximising your leadership

[Zuvio]

Originally Posted by DGDobrev

Generally, if you want to do a quick victory, it's highly advisable to start taking leadership as soon as possible (like lvl 3, for example), especially on hard and impossible. Besides, you can't pick the leadership upgrade at every level. If you started at 2, you can pick it at the even numbered levels (2-4-6-8-10-12-14-16-18-20-22-24-26-28-30), and if you started at lvl 3, you can pick it on the odd numbered levels (3-5-7, etc., up to 31).

It all depends on how do you want your game to unfold. I personally like to pick leadership as soon as I get it, it allows for quicker victories, even in impossible. For example, right now I'm day 5 (I lost a day traveling, could have been day day 4 but I don't have a precise clock, even though I'm running Nobilis' 1.7 patch) on impossible with a paladin in the mines, killing strong or very strong opponents with minimal or no losses. If I have to wait till lvl 20... It'll take a lot of time.

So you did freedom islands in one go than did you? Could you share some insights on your army and tactics and which level you were when you got to the islands? I assume most enemies were strong on the islands for you. Did you lose many troops or virtually none at all? Could you maybe post a savegame of when you just got to the islands? Thanks for your time

[Writhan]

I'm day four, and just visited freedom island. I'm sure its possible to rush to mines, and reach it on day four, if you keep focus on main quest only.

That said, I'm pretty sure you'll hit a brick wall sooner or later (And you'll certainly have to play a mage, as your army will be too weak alone)

[DGDobrev]

I'm not rushing at all I've fully completed all of the areas (greenwort, arlania, velarion, swamps - without enemen, lower/upper haddar) as well as their quests, with the exception of 20% of the islands, since I plan on returning there (probably) sometime and finish up some additional quests - I'm still trying to decide whether I want to play with target + faeries+dryads ... But we'll see. I'm thinking about an undead-based paladin too... since I'll be going towards tolerance by all means.

The mage isn't that powerful actually. On impossible, the game is beatable with a mage, but he'll come to severe problems later on because you'll be low on leadership, and sometimes 2 ice snakes or whatever offensive spell you prefer + soul drain/time back (provided you have it at the start of the battle) isn't enough to alleviate the troop number difference.

I agree that the paladin is very hard to play on hard and impossible, but that's what makes the game rewarding. And I have a hunch that he's not that sucky as most people claim him to be. So far I lose few or no troops in the mines against strong and very strong opponents, depending on their troops (I love that interface plug-in)

[Writhan]

I wasn't aware it was possible to wrap up greenwort and the surrounding areas so quickly. Good job.

I'm currently playing a normal-paladin, and until now, I'm doing fine. I rushed down to +20% experience talent and got lucky with my undead wife (Who's now a human), to have a baby that gave me an additional 10% experience.

Initially I focused on pirates. I had the pirate belt & boots and ... of course the wife, that granted them a total of +2 speed, +1 initiative and +5 attack. Sea dogs and marauders are actually quite powerful with these items in ones possesion. My boots however, seemed to bug at some point. They have morale, and it reached zero. Now, when i supress the boots, they do not gain morale again. So i got upset, and rushed/kited to the demon world, and bought myself an army of demons. After that, I returned to freedom island with my fresh new group of fiery menace.

My paladin feels kind of odd to play. I don't really use nukes. I spend most of my rage on the snake-guy's shield ability, and use the ressurection spell. Both my mage and warrior felt much stronger at this point, if my memory serves me right.

[Elwin]

Originally Posted by DGDobrev

I agree that the paladin is very hard to play on hard and impossible, but that's what makes the game rewarding. And I have a hunch that he's not that sucky as most people claim him to be. So far I lose few or no troops in the mines against strong and very strong opponents, depending on their troops (I love that interface plug-in)

Can't agree, I played hard paladin and it was very easy for me, with runic stone could get distortion 3 on lvl 10 or so..

[DGDobrev]

Well, on impossible things change. At some point, all you'll be facing is strong and very strong opponents even if you play properly and kill everything. I rerolled my impossible paladin yesterday... That day I lost to get to the islands... I didn't like that

As for the fast play, this is what I did. I know it's far from perfect, but it does serve me well every time and with every char

In order to do things quickly, you need to start off the right foot. A good way to do that is to complete some easy quests. The main story quests are a must (and are very easy and do not involve fighting) till you get to the quest for Lyaro island. This will give you the chest of rage and since you have enough money, you can get Glot to help you right away as long as there are snakes or spiders to purchase from Hall's menagerie. This will give you a good leadership up and going, as long as you pick the upgrades from the get-go (well, with a mage you may want to stack up on stats, but that's another matter for the paladin). So I like to traverse all starting maps and steal as much stuff as I can before I actually get to the fighting. It really depends on how the game is set up for you... But sometimes you may get quite lucky

The next thing is that you don't really need to spend money on troops in the beginning. There are some friendly troops scattered across the maps, and while raiding the graves, you will take off with some skelies - as long as you have free spots in your army. There are also vampire coffins, unguarded griffin eggs... This leaves you with more than enough money to buy various artifacts. And besides, trade is only 6 mind runes to fully master it and get even more money out of the spare scrolls and other stuff you don't need... It's so cheap

After I'm happy with the leadership value and the initial army setup, I usually stash a unit in the castle and go kite the defenders of the camp with the Horsemen in Greenwort and take as many as I can. They are the best starting tankers and pretty much remain like that throughout the game. With those, you can open up Zerock easily.

After that, you can easily kill everything. It's combat after combat, utilizing both spirits of rage and having them level up as well.

Oh... and don't forget that it's much harder to level up on impossible. Here's the experience table: http://www.gamebanshee.com/kingsboun...iencetable.php

[Razorflame]

to be honest i find the game ALOT easier with the warrior or paladin than with a mage

ofcourse the beginning is easier with the mage(since his spells are DECENT then) but after you progress in the mid game you already come up with certain leadership problems..

which will excel in the mines and dead land. where your leadership is just sucky yo say the least

furthermore I mostly use

1. must have in beginning till mid game(ingi's)
2. Evil beholders/horseman(depends on what i get, i rush to boogus)
3. royal snakes/horseman one of those wether one is avaible or not
4. (level 4 unit in the dragon fang quest(unless it's an undead)
5. archimages/alchemist (sometimes i get unlucky and there is no alchemist avabile

in the mage game my army consistented

of
1. ingi
2. evil beholder
3. orc shaman
4. cannoneer
5. alchemist

and i was steamrolling the island
but i made error and made new game again
instead of it being on impossible it was ON NORMAL and i was like omg how could i not see this

so i started all over

having

1. inqi
2. horseman
3. royal snake
4. archmage
5. alchemist

steamrolling through all area's without casualties

waiting until i get sacrifice so i can swap the archmage with ent
:>

so i get more and own on freedom island :>

[Vilk]

Originally Posted by Razorflame

to be honest i find the game ALOT easier with the warrior or paladin than with a mage

ofcourse the beginning is easier with the mage(since his spells are DECENT then) but after you progress in the mid game you already come up with certain leadership problems..

In what mode? And do you try doing a time record? Those both points change a lot the perspective. I totally understand your point about mage that can have powerful attack spell during the first parts.

But for me when the mage get 2 spells during one or two turns then this brings a more important plus.

I also have the feeling that the warrior is easier but in fact since the beginning and not that much more when mage get 2 spells.

In impossible mode when you try not lost a second to do a record I felt the beginning almost the more difficult and even more for the mage. But clearly I don't have played enough games in different modes and different characters to have any clear feeling about that.