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As a dreadnought you should be casting spydrones frequently to expand your coverage, eliminate other scouts through MAD and have a supplementary stack available to explode a choice unit or three. They're my favourite throwaway unit behind crows who can tie up archers pretty well but move faster when offroad. Dreadnought is best played defensively while steadily expanding and maximising city happiness through terraforming. You probably won't get cheerful (if at all, suppress nature allows you to terraform your domain to your neighbours detriment, a nice 'screw you') as quickly as a druid but it's a nice bonus to have on top of your extra gold, -production % and hammers which all add up. Musketeer and treb spam is very good but you want to use pistolier cavalry, golems and overwhelming force (so musketeers and trebs, but in tow  ) to break into cities quickly since your production bonus affords you a slight edge in getting T2+T3 units over other classes (as long as your gold holds out).
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Apr 11, 2015 16:16
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whats MAD I never considered terraforming to increase my city effectiveness. I should totally do that tbh. I'll have to look for the opportunity. The remark about Tier II/Tier III units is something I never put much thought into. I just always wanted to build those units anyway. a!n fucked around with this message at 17:29 on Apr 11, 2015 |
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Apr 11, 2015 17:26
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Mutually Assured Destruction. The spy drones are also suicide bombs.
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Apr 11, 2015 17:29
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Recently I've had success rushing Golems and just building a couple for my muskets to hide behind. Muskets are probably going to be the brunt of your early game power, less because you don't have other options and more because muskets are just the best option, what with that insane close range damage. Golems, meanwhile, are a brick loving wall, as long as your enemy isn't packing shock damage ninjewtsu fucked around with this message at 17:48 on Apr 11, 2015 |
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Apr 11, 2015 17:45
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Last time I tried to do a full race guide it ended up being way too loving long, so this time I'm just going to focus on the units and RG upgrades. First up is everyones favorite magic viking smurfs, The Frostlings! A Frostling Guide to Keeping it Smurfy. Frostlings are a very interesting race. Aside from their obvious frost damage synergies they have some real neat tricks up their sleeves. Arctic Walking and Fast Embark for all units and Arctic Concealment for several makes them one of the most mobile races on their home turf, which means they lend themselves pretty well to explosive starts. They are probably better suited to an aggressive, raiding playstyle then any other race except for possibly Tigrans. Fast Embark especially sounds really lame until you've used it. You can use up your full move and jump into water with 0 MP left, it's great. They're not so much good on water (Humans are both stronger and faster when embarked) as they are really good at hopping in and out of water and using it as a way to dodge enemy armies. Likewise, Artic Walking over open terrain is like having roads everywhere. Keep it frosty and keep it fast. Unlike Tigrans, they're also incredibly annoying on defense with their racial focus on CC over raw damage or tanking. With zero armored racial units and no beat sticks and dual channel damage on everyone, Frostlings are all about pinning and flanking tactics. In a straight up brawl they get wrecked, and they don't have any racial healing either so landing those lucky freezing hits is more a matter of necessity then convenience. When key targets don't get locked down, some little blue ice viking is about to get smushed. Ice Scaper 45 gold 30 HP 28 MP 9 Def 8 Res Melee or Ranged 3/5 Physical/Frost Shatter Strike +5 melee Dam vs Frozen, Petrified, Stone Skin Arctic Concealment at Vet, Inflict Frostbite at elite. The most hilariously overestimated unit based on preview video reactions. Scapers are cool and all, and can really save your rear end especially on city defense, but we're talking about a unit that dies instantly when attacked and has about a 30-40% chance of freezing a T1 with his single ranged attack that does basically zero damage to anything. When the freeze works, they're heroes. The rest of the time, they're random homicide victims. I do like bringing one Ice Scaper along with me for early creeping, especially if I also start with a White Witch or better yet an Ice Queen. That way, if his Hail Mary shots work, great, if not I've got 5 decent people to cover for him being useless. They do really come into their own for early city defense, especially combined with the defense building, but even then it just takes one slip up for them to splatter, and you have to mix then with Harpooners because Scapers can only do decent damage to frozen targets by breaking out the pick-axes. Harpoon Thrower 70 Gold 34 HP 28 MP 8 Def 8 Res 2/5 Melee 7/7 Ranged. Polearm Arctic Concealment Fishing (+10 HP Regen when embarked) Gains Throw Net at elite The actual awesome Frostling ranged unit that is their lynchpin for early clearing, fighting, and city defense. Harpooners are better then Scapers in every possible way, I'm sorry. Their Harpoon attack is like a dual-channel heavy crossbow that is also a polearm and has typically a 20-30% chance of immobilizing the target for two turns while still doing good damage. It's kinda amazing. Though, mind you that little knife they carry is garbage in melee and they don't get the defensive benefits of pikemen, just the damage bonus. Anyway, Harpooners are really good T1 units that even scale pretty well with their Military 1 +10 HPs perk. Use Harpooners to gang up on key targets, especially flyers and cav until immobilize lands. Enough Harpoons will pin down anyone... Raiders 40 GP 47 HP 32 MP 10 Def 8 Res 6/5 Melee Arctic Concealment Shield Demolisher Improved Wall Climbing Shatter Strike at Vet, Backstab at Gold. Raiders are the Frostlings other best T1 unit. Maybe even the best-best. Seriously, they're fantastic. For sure, they're no Dwarven Axemen on defense, but Axemen don't have 32 MP+Arctic Running+Concealment to make them the perfect early game scouts and Raiders, and they don't have improved wall climbing to zip right over walls and give those dumb archers what for. Also, Shatter Strike and Backstab stack against Frozen targets, so..yeah, that's a thing. bloody frozen chunks everywhere. Also, not so much an endorsement as a sad statement of fact, but Raiders 10 Def+Shield gives them the highest defense of any Frostling unit until Ice Queens come out. Frostlings have absolutely no idea armor was a thing invented by civilized races for protection from pointy bits, the evidence on this cannot be argued against. Anyway, Raiders are the perfect filler unit for Frostlings. Whatever you're doing at any given moment, a couple Raiders will help you do it better. Great Scouts, great Raiders, great clearing, able to be both the anvil blocking hits with their shields and the hammer landing vicious killing blows with shatter strike and backstab against anything you've pinned in place. Raiders go well with any unit composition and any strategy. Mammoth Rider 110 gp 80 HP 32 MP 9 Def 9 Res 15 Physical Melee Damage Devastating Charge (+10 Damage on charges instead of +6) Wall Crushing 100% Frost Protection Inflict Crippling Wounds at Vet, Killing Momentum at Elite Ah Mammoths. I love/hate them so, so much and so will you. On one hand, insane HPs and an unbelievable 25 Dam charge attack on a T2 unit. Mammoths won't go down easy, and they're basically guaranteed to get at least one brutal hit off on something even if they die doing it. Also the only Frostling Racial unit that doesn't do frost damage, which makes them twice as powerful as any of your other units against anything with cold immunity. Surprisingly decent against Shadow Stalkers of all things. On the other hand, 9 defense on a Cav unit. loving Archers have 9 defense. Human Cav has 12. Mammoths are so poorly protected against incoming arrows that their shaggy hide doesn't mitigate damage, it increases it. Big, hairy, Death Magnets, that's what they are. And don't even talk to me about Spiders. There is no spider alive that won't launch itself over the bodies of hundreds of it's own egg siblings for one crack at a juicy,helpless Mammoth. I swear Mammoths have a negative percent chance of resisting webs, it never happens. No wonder the dumb bastards went extinct. Seriously, it's painful. Do not ever let your Mammoths get stuck in melee. They won't die, I mean obviously not they have 80 HPs they'll survive loving anything...once. No, they'll do something even worse to you, survive their first fight with 15 HPs left and then inevitably die within two heartbreaking fights afterwards because a unit that heals 6 HP a turn and eats 25 HP because someone flicked a pointy stick in his general direction is a crime against math. You're Frostlings man, you haven't invented armor or Healthcare yet. In conclusion Mammoths are great and everyone should use them more, especially me. Royal Guard 75 gold 10 mana 55 HP 28 MP 9 Def 9 Res Melee Damage 7/5 Polearm/Pikeman/1st Strike/Pike Square Pledge of Protection Arctic Concealment Inflict Frostbite Explosive Ice Death Armor Piercing at Vet, Tireless at Elite Ah, RG. They're basically Butchers crossed with Martyrs and that is totally amazing, it really is, but there's a catch. See, here's the thing. Without the +2 Def bonus from Pledge of Protection, they're fricken useless. They're like Mammoths with half the HPs. However, with Pledge of Protection active, moving them up to the front lines means putting them in double trouble. 55 HPs will get you a medium combo meal at your local burger joint but it's not nearly enough to sink hits for your Ice Queen and whatever stray arrows are being chucked at your RG directly. Fricken arrows, man. There are days I'm convinced Archery was invented specifically to make Frostlings miserable. Plus they tend to explode at the worst possible times, so letting them die is just inconvenient for everyone. Basically, post-pledge, either the Support moves up and the RG hides in the back to soak, or vice-versa. All in all, even though they can hit really hard they're not so much front-liners as they are dedicated flankers and SS agents for the Matriarchy. If you want more of a general purpose pole-arm unit use Harpoon Throwers instead. That said, Pillars of Stylites is really, really good for Royal Guard, it mitigates that whole arrow to the face problem and gives them tri-channel damage. If you happen to have a ruin in one of your starting towns, that may be a sign you want to take Military 2 and go nuts. White Witches 70 gold 20 Mana 35 HP 28 MP 9 Def 11 Res Melee or ranged 4/4 Fire/Frost Grant Frozen Flames (80% Fire Protection, Inflict Chilling +2/+2 Frost/Fire Damage on melee or ranged attacks.) Inflict Chilling Arctic Concealment Swimming Dispel Magic and Scorching Heat at Vet Inflict Freezing Cold at gold. (Like Inflict Stun, except frozen for one turn.) Speaking of the Matriarchy, Frostling women are just better then their bearded counterparts. This is an indisputable fact. White Witches are quite possibly the best racial support in the game, throw in their late game Racial Gov upgrades and things start to get all kinds of screwy. I don't have much to say about this unit in particular other then Holy poo poo is it the best thing ever. I mean look at those abilities, look at them. I'm done here. Well OK, one thing. They have Inflict Chilling. All Frostling Supports have inflict chilling, and it's a stackable debuff that lowers frost resistance every time it hits which for Frostlings mean every proc of Inflict Chilling that lands makes the target more vulnerable to your entire army. Go nuts. ice Queens 150 gold 20 Mana 65 HP 32 MP 12 Def 11 Res Melee 6/6 Ice Nova (8 Frost Damage to adjacent units, breaks guard in a huge radius.) Dome of Frost (Adjacent not-frostling or frost immune targets take -40% Frost Weakness, -1 Resist and 5 Frost Damage when adjacent to the Ice Queen.) Rite of Winter (Sacrifice Queen to spread Arctic Terrain in a 3 hex radius) Inflict Chilling at Vet, Freezing Cold at Elite. Gerblyn did a really good job of showing this unit off. The important thing to remember is that while Ice Queens are crazy powerful, they are crazy powerful for their incredible army support skills, not their personal combat prowess. They're not particularly hardy. Though that said keep in mind that you basically have to add +40% to all their damage numbers because of dome of frost. They actually hit much much harder then their statline suggests, both with melee attacks and Ice Nova and even their auto damage effect. Also, if you get them to gold they have Inflict Freezing cold while simultaneously sucking away the targets cold resistance continually at that point they practically just freeze everything that bumps into them. Like bumper cars with snowmen! Aggressive Parking is how I like to describe good Ice Queen play. Stick them next to whatever you want to suffer, guard, probably have a RG babysit them so they can't die, enjoy life. Use Ice Nova strategically to wreck close packed enemies or just to guardbreak half the enemy army and let the backstabbing party commence. Race Governance Upgrades Level 1 is + HP for Harpoon Throwers or a small happiness gain for barracks. Like most of these choices, it just comes down to how much you'll be using the unit that's being buffed that game. Harpoons are pretty great so I'd say military most of the time but there are times I just skip them and I'll take the happiness boost, thanks. Level 2 is +1 Def and life stealing for RG (which is awesome) or half off walls and defense buildings which is actually deceptively awesome. Again, if you're planning to use RG very heavily at all that unit buff is a no-brainer, but if not...I actually really like Economic 2. It's so easy to get defense buildings and stone walls everywhere when you can pretty much one turn them for free, and that's nothing to scoff at. It pays for itself in a hurry. Level 3 is a Mammoth Buff vs +Mana at Temples. This one breaks down pretty easily. For Walord/Dreadnaught/Theocrat, go Mammoths, totally. Warlord Mammoths is hilarious anyway. For more magical inclined classes the extra mana is hard to pass up. Level 4 is Frostbite (-3 Def for 3 turns) on Frost Weapons vs Cheaper Ice Palaces and Ice Queens and little extra income as a kicker. Again, this is basically just a martial/magic divide. A Warlord or Rogue can't possibly turn down a sweet buff that practically boosts their entire army while the second one is really tempting for magic/support oriented classes. Level 5 is +2 Frost Damage and Frost Aura on all Frostling supports and the second one is some economic buff you'll never take anyway because holy poo poo that first one is so good. Frost Aura is the ice version of static shield, if you don't see the value of having that and extra damage on all of your supports, the one unit type you will forever be using because you're playing Frostlings, well, good luck with that +15 resources or whatever. It's not that there's anything wrong with the economic option even, and I could maybe see taking it in a unifier game, but in general, no way. Be a smartie and make your best units better. And that's Frostlings. I'm not going to do a class breakdown because this is too long already and it'll take forever. Figuring that kind of thing out is half the fun anyways. madmac fucked around with this message at 22:50 on Apr 11, 2015 |
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Apr 11, 2015 22:41
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PFlats posted:Early game is also boosted by going human or dwarf since most of your racial units get that armored synergy. I won a game against an emperor AI Warlord who had taken over half the map as a goblin Dread solely on the strength of a dwarf town I took which had the treasure site which gives support units +1 Res and resurgence. I had multiple stacks of gold medal resurging forge priests who had a decent enough defense stat to stand up to most of the warlords units, plus elemental damage to kill them.
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Apr 11, 2015 23:15
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Everybody Wants to Be a Cat, a Tigran Guide In some ways, Tigrans and Frostlings are surprisingly similar. Both races disdain armor and modern medicine, and both of them rely heavily on unit synergy and ability combos. Frostlings have Inflict Chilling, Freezing Cold, and Shatter Strike, while Tigrans combo Inflict Bleeding Wounds with Bloodthirsty, and Throw Net with Coup de Grace. There are some enormous differences however. Frostlings as a race are build entirely around (largely ranged) ice damage and hard CC effects, while Tigrans rely on their blazingly fast melee blitz tactics to overwhelm enemies with physical damage before they have a chance to hit back. Tigran gameplay largely revolves around using their superior mobility and careful positioning to avoid getting hit at all. An attacked Tigran is usually a dead Tigran, particularly where elemental damage is concerned. They are particularly vulnerable to range attacks of all kinds, and "geek the mage" is always the preferred tactic where Tigrans are concerned. Seriously though, watch out for elemental damage. They have the vulnerability of Orcs without the tanky units and bonus HPs, most Tigran units simply melt against non-physical damage, particularly frost. On the flip side, their 40% Spirit Protection won't protect them from damage all too often, but it does make them typically the hardest race to hit with frighten, charm, or dominate type effects. Oh and Tigran Towns give +5 Gold income while Frostling Cities have a 50 GP discount on Warhalls. Those are the respective econ bonuses, I tend to forget they exist. Cheetah 50 gold 38 HP 32 MP 9 Def 7 Res Melee Damage 10 Physical Pounce 13 Inflict Bleeding Wounds Forestry Sprint at Vet, Forest Concealment at Expert, Martial Arts at Elite. Cheetahs are great units all around, and Elite Cheetahs are particularly valuable and worth holding unto for most of the game. They make excellent scouts and early city attackers, and are good clearing units combined with Prowlers and their inflict bleeding wounds ability. Note that pounce does not trigger flanking attacks or backstab, but it does turn a unit and leave the Cheetah in guard mode. Pounce a Cheetah next to an archer, and if they try to run they'll eat an OOP attack with the +3 Damage from Predator. Or pounce on a tougher unit, hope for a bleed, and then hit them with a powerful flanking attack from a Prowler. Or use Pounce to hop straight over enemy walls and eat some archers. Pounce has a million uses, and accordingly so do Cheetahs. Cheetahs and Prowlers working together is the backbone of Tigrans early game and a great way to learn Tigran tactics in a nutshell. Their Hurl Net military upgrade is especially powerful although it comes a bit late for boosting a T1 irregular, and lets you graduate from Inflict Bleeding wounds+Bloodthirsty (Prowlers) to Net+Coup de Grace (Still Prowlers) Cheetahs move 6 Hexes in tactical combat and can pounce from red. Learning Tigran tactics in this case means using their speed to stay out of range of enemy attacks as much as possible until they are ready to close in all at once. Constantly running in circles looking for a vulnerable enemy to pick off like a pack of hunting cats is how Tigrans roll. On the other hand, having no range attack and being bad at tanking makes them utterly useless for city defense. With Tigrans you're forced to build Barracks just to get any sort of decent defense going, which means that even though they can expand very quickly using their T1 units they struggle to hold territory early. Shredder 70 gp 35 HP 28 MP 8 Def 7 Res Melee 7, Throw Blades 8 Dam x3. Razor Projectiles Hurl Net at Gold Lack of armor combined with the Res penalty is particularly noticeable with these low tier units. Take a hit, they cannot. Anyway, Throw Blades is a good ability. It innately has no LOS penalty, which means Tigran archers are experts at firing into crowded melee clusterfucks, which fits them perfectly. The throwing blades also inflict bleed in order to set more damage combos, and makes Shredders (and Tigran Hunters) another unit that is very good at taking cities. Throw net at Gold is just another way to set up damage combos and gives the Archer a get-off-me move. Tigran Hunters also have Throw Blades and are IMO almost as good as Elf Hunters. Good enough combined with their Bear Shamans to be equally awesome Druids, at least. Sun Guard 55 gp 45 HP 28 MP 10 Def 7 Res Melee 10 Damage Pikeman/Polearm/1st Strike/Pike Square Guard Breaker Sun Shield (+2 def and +2 Res against non-flanking attacks and 60% Fire Protection) Coup de Grace at Vet and Projectile Reflection at Elite Sun Guard are interesting Pikemen. They have a lot of powerful abilities but their stats are garbage. They are also the only Pikeman that can be built from Rax as the more powerful Prowler takes up the Warhall slot. They aren't super powerful units, but they're good as cheap garrison fodder and as the only decently tanky unit Tigrans have for clearing. As an alternative to the all-melee Cheetah/Prowler combo you can use Sun Guard meatshields to screen for your ranged units as a more traditional tactic, although they will get around slower. Pro-tip, 90% of the time leave Sun Guard in guard mode. Their damage is crap anyway and they really need the defense bonuses to be decent blockers. A Flanked Sun Guard is a dead Sun Guard. Flank Attacks against Cav or finishing off weak units or as a sacrificial guard breaker are about the only situations they should be attacking in. Tigran Crusaders and Phalanx also get the Sun Shield ability, which makes them super-awesome units. Prowler 60 gp 48 HP 32 MP 10 Def 8 Res 13 Melee Damage Improved Wall Climbing Bloodthirsty Martial Arts Forestry Forest Concealment Cave Crawling Coup de Grace Cave Concealment at Expert Inflict Bleeding Wounds at Elite Prowlers are...stone cold awesome. They are the only T1 infantry unit unlocked at Warhall, and are so powerful and versatile that they are very nearly T2 quality units. Prowlers are basically lesser assassins. They have speed, they have stealth, they have fast climbing, and they have powerful flanking attacks, especially comboed with Inflict Bleeding. Doing 13+4 damage with a basic infantry unit is nothing to sneeze at, especially with flanking bonuses. Going Tigran Rogue and massing backstab Prowlers is a fun and effective tactic. For Clearing, Prowlers are your primary damage dealers, as well as your "grapplers". With Martial Arts they have effectively 15 Def against retaliation attacks, which means that while you can't stand and tank hits with them at all, you can use Prowlers aggressively against units like Ogres and Trolls to drain their retaliations so the rest of your units can finish them off. Actual Tigran Assasins have most of the same abilities Prowlers do, only without Martial Arts. They also get pounce at gold instead of Pass Wall and are one of the strongest Assassin variants. Tigran Rogue is a very strong combo. Sabretooth Chariot 100 gold 55 HP 36 MP 10 Def 8 Res 12 Dam Melee 7/7 Physical/Fire Sun Spear Immolating Projectiles (Sun Spear) Charge Plains Running at Vet Inflict Bleeding Wounds at Elite Chariots are a very interesting spin on Cav. They are the fastest Cav unit in Tactical (7 Hexes) and the only one with a ranged attack but also the squishiest and weakest in melee, as their level-ups are split between melee and ranged damage. Flanking Attacks with Sun Spear can do a lot of damage on the right targets though, and immolation is always a good debuff to have. Overall they are good units but you really have to pick your battles with them and have a sense of when to charge in and when to harass with the spear. (Which can only be used every other round.) Tigran Mystic 70 gold 30 Mana 36 HP 28 MP 9 Def 10 Res 3/3/3 Phy/Fire/Spirit Melee damage and 4/4 Fire/Spirit ranged. Break Control Were Panther Projectile Resistance Steal Enchantment at Vet Phase at Elite Mystics are one of my favorite additions to the game, and so stupidly fun to use. They're based on the old Tigran T3 Mystic, which was sort of a badass hybrid Ranged/Melee unit with Magic Bolts, Projectile Resistance, Minor Evasion, Phase and Double Strike. They are very versatile combat units, able to switch between ranged attack mode and melee attack mode very effectively, but with the limitation of having no support skills (No Heal, Frozen Flames, ect) and no ranged debuffs that other supports get. Priests can Daze, Storm Sisters stun, White Witches stun, ect while Mystics can only do basic range damage. That said, Were Panther is good enough to make Mystics one of the best support units around just for the on the fly versatility it offers. It can be done as a free action and heals 15 HP when used, but the Mystic is unable to transform back until the end of the battle. Dire Panther 52 HP 36 MP 11 Def Res 10 13 Dam melee Pounce 16 Damage Predator, Bloodthirsty Coup de Grace Inflict Bleeding Wounds at Elite. A pretty straightforward but nasty T2 melee unit, Panthers are stupid fast and can pounce over walls and do as much damage as Prowlers. Note that Dire Panther form does gain levels alongside the Mystic, so an elite Panther would look like: 72 HP 36 MP 13 Def 11 Res 17 Melee Damage Tigran Shamans have the ability to turn into Dire Bears instead, and it is every bit as awesome as it sounds. Sphinx 150 gp 20 Mana 60 HP 30 MP (Lesser Flying) 11 Def 11 Res 15 Melee Damage Irregular Cause Fear Sun Disc (22 Fire Damage, 4 Hex line, 1 turn cooldown) Mind Control Immunity/True Sight 40% Fire Protection, 60% at Expert Bloodthirsty at Vet Fear Strike at Elite Ah, the Sphinx. Tigrans old T4 unit refurbished into something new and cooler. The Sphinx is pretty great. It's incredibly mobile in combat and can line up hilarious damage with Sun Disc, but they're pretty squishy so be careful with them. Lazer Eye Beams, man, Lazer Eye Beams! Don't underestimate Cause Fear, either. You can force a unit to route and immediately eat an Opp attack from the Sphinx at +3, and another +6 from backstab if you went Rogue. Once they reach gold Sphinxes are absolutely murderous units, Fear Strike has a chance to frighten a unit with every attack which snowballs very quickly. Sphinxes used to have Fear Strike starting out, it was...kinda insanely powerful. Racial Governance Overview In General, a lot of the Tigran economic bonuses lean towards bonus research and key off research buildings. Which is not a bad thing but it's something you have to consider how much you need in any particular game. level One is a pretty simple choice, Prowlers vs Settlers. Most people roll Prowlers because Prowlers, but there's nothing wrong with going settlers in the type of games where that's going to matter at all. Level Two is always tough. Hurl Net is a ranged disabling attack that drains move points even when it misses, it's an amazing buff for Cheetahs. The economic option is +10 Gold for Observatories which is also really good and pays for itself. In general I tend to take the economic option. I really, really love Hurl Net but it comes around turn 20 and it can be hard to justify buffing Cheetahs at that stage. (It's a totally valid strat though, Cheetahs with Pounce and Hurl Net are insanely cost effective, even more if you're going Explorer Rogue) Level 3 is pretty simple. Stronger Sphinxes, or Cheaper Fire Temples for easier Sphinx Access and +20 Research. Both are valid and the military bonus comes down to just how much you are leaning on Sphinxes as combat units. Level 4 is also really tough! Invigorate is a touch ability that restores all Move Points and Action Points to a Tigran unit, you can pull off all kinds of bullshit with that. On the other hand Temples giving +200 Happiness and a bonus Medal for all units is also incredible. I'd say it's the best econ buff Tigrans have period. Level 5 is one of my favorite military bonuses. No defense bonuses for Tigrans even at Diety level, nope. Just balls to the wall offense with +1 damage, Doubled Crit Chance and Sprint. Pikemen, Irregulars, and Infantry covers pretty much all the Tigran things that are actually good, the only classes I can see ever skipping this for are Druids and Sorcerers, and even then...Deathbringers are infantry incidentally. Tigran Deathbringers own. The level 5 econ bonus is pretty eh, but whatever. It does key off labs so by the time it comes out it will apply to every city you own. ...And done with new content, whew. To be quite honest I'm a little burned out after testing the game for the last four months so while I'll definitely be around to answer questions and maybe get some multiplayer going I really need to start chipping away at my backlog of other games, it's gotten out of control and I haven't even bought Pillars of Eternity yet... madmac fucked around with this message at 14:11 on Apr 12, 2015 |
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Apr 12, 2015 13:20
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Thanks madmac! I'll be working on a few more guides (with some input!) to finish the missing parts, but honestly the stuff thats incomplete is pretty irreverent. Hopefully we'll all get some regular weekend play in here alongside PBEM.
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Apr 12, 2015 14:20
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Catman with a Monocle meets a Snowman with an Eyepatch, a New Race Guide to Keeping it Classy Well all right one more thing. I can spare a few minutes to talk about class synergy. Frostling Warlord On paper, the main advantage here is tons of elemental damage on a class that's normally stuck on physical. Unfortunately, most things that are resistant to physical damage are also resistant to frost so I find it's less of an advantage then it sounds. Good in certain matchups though, like fighting Tigrans. In general, your class units here aren't all that. Most of them just get frost weapons and fire weakness, which is a little eh. You do get Monster Hunters with Harpoons though and they are completely awesome. Instead, mass Raiders, Mammoths, and Ice Queens with a few Frost Witches for support. I know it sounds dumb but Ice Queens get Thoroughbred Mounts, Mammoths with Warlord bonuses are absurd, and Raiders are better wall climbers then Berserkers. Get Monster Hunters to clear and just mix in your other class units as needed instead of relying on them too much. Also, spamming raise militia for Ice Scaper defenders is nice. It's a good class combo if you approach it right. Frostling Sorcerer Ahahahahaha. Frostlings have incredibly powerful T2 and T3 supports, bonus mana, and some crazy support buffs, this is pretty much a faceroll combo. If you thought Stun Spam was annoying wait until you have to fight supports with Stun and Freeze and Teleporting Ice Queens that are also powerful melee units. Frostling Dreadnaught Not a lot of synergy here, TBH. None of your racial units are armored and you don't get much out of your RG upgrades either. It's playable in the way any race is playable as Dreadnaught, and Frost Tanks are kinda neat but you don't particularly get anything out of it. Pistol Mammoths are kinda cool, though. Frostling Archdruid This one is interesting, and I haven't played it as much as I should. Frostling Hunters are a little eh, but Harpoon Throwers with the +10 HP upgrade are a strong alternative. Likewise, Ice Queens with 40 MP is definitely a thing, and Shamans with Frost Bolts are arguably the strongest ranged focused Shaman, especially at Deity level. And of course +mana and cheap defenses is never a bad thing to have. It's a rather different spin on playing Druid but a solid one. Frostling Theocrat It's...pretty solid. Heal on White Witches and Ice Queens is really handy, and you can hit quad channel damage on Frostling Crusaders and Exalted without even really trying. In general though it's more about the racial units than the class units, which seems to be the trend with Frostlings. Frostling Rogue Unless you're playing Rogue, that is. Frostling Rogue is one of the strongest Rogue combos. Dual (or Triple) Channel damage on everything+backstab is obviously great, as is your early game mobility and late game Frostling Dark Pact Succubi with Military 5 are just utterly ridiculous. Dual channel melee succubus with quad channel range damage and frost aura, oh yessssss... Frostling Necromancer Not necessarily the strongest Necromancer race, but the most interesting, I think. Full immunity to two damage types on all units opens up some interesting strategies, and even the fire weakness can be heavily mitigated with embalming. Inflict Chilling+Inflict Despair on your Reanimators is also really powerful. It's probably one of the more difficult Necromancer combos to play starting out, but I think it will end up being a popular one just because they hard counter a lot of things. Tigran Warlord Not quite Elf Warlord level, but Tigran Warlord is incredibly fun and effective, it's a natural combo. Raise Militia on Cheetahs instantly turns a mostly defensive spell into an aggressive one, letting you start roaming the map with big bands of Cheetahs from the get-go. You can follow up with Pounce Berserkers, which are incredible, and late game you have Sun Shield Phalanxes and Pounce Manticores and either inflict bleeding or Bloodthirsty on literally everything and seriously Tigran Warlord owns so much. Just, you know, watch out for magic because you're really doubling down on the garbage resist on everything plan. Tigran Sorcerer No particular synergy other then Mystics being really good (but they already have projectile resist and phase so those benefits are wasted.) and having an even more explosive start then normal, but it's still solid. You can't really go wrong with Sorcerer on any race. Tigran Dreadnaught Like Frostling Dread no real synergy and possibly even worse. All you really get out of it is faster muskets and sprint on engineers, which is OK and all but it's still easily Tigran's worst class. Tigran Archdruid Well, look. Tigrans best class combos are Rogue, Archdruid and Warlord, probably in that order. In those three classes they are absolutely top tier. Tigran Druids get Great Hunters, Probably the best Shamans, great synergy with bleed damage everywhere, an excellent racial support with the Mystic and some fire damage to round things out. Tigran Archdruid is an iconic combo you should probably play at some point, it's almost completely displaced Elf Archdruids for me. (Which are still better then ever, incidentally.) Tigran Theocrat Solid. Sunshield Crusaders are one of the best variants and the extra speed on your normally slow class units is always useful and Mystics with Heal are pretty great. As a complete package though I think they're kinda mid-tier, especially because you can't make most of their best racial units devout, including the Sphinx. Tigran Rogue Tigran is to Rogue what Elf is to Druid, I think. All of their class units (Well except bards, who get nothing) are great and Tigrans are half Rogue on their mothers side to start with so it's just a natural combo. Use a crapload of Cheetahs, Prowlers and Sphinxes like you were going to do anyway except they get even more toys and round them out with your class units that are just as fast, sneaky, and deadly. Tigran Necromancer Pretty much the opposite of Frostling Necromancer. Instead of doubling down on strengths and weaknesses, Tigran Necromancer offsets both sides nicely. Tigran Spirit Protection offsets the undead malus while undead cold protection makes your Kitty Cats less vulnerable. Throw in Tigran speed and Undead resilience and you have one of the best Necromancer races. Tigran Deathbringers with Military 5 can also bring the pain like nothing else except maybe Orc Deathbringers with Warycry and their Diety upgrade. OK, now I'm done. madmac fucked around with this message at 16:00 on Apr 12, 2015 |
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Apr 12, 2015 15:03
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If your Tigran capital isn't named Thundara what are you doing with your life New Thundara also acceptable
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Apr 12, 2015 15:32
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Captain Oblivious posted:If your Tigran capital isn't named Thundara what are you doing with your life Can use secret dev connections to confirm that Tigrans are totally Thundercats. Hell, lets check the video evidence: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Na8ThDftsKk Yep, couldn't be more Tigrans if it tried. It even has them Fighting a Necromancer, just like the campaign! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UV46r5gwr1E Even the new version is totally Tigrans...brb, need to make more custom leaders. madmac fucked around with this message at 16:10 on Apr 12, 2015 |
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Apr 12, 2015 16:07
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"IdidntwatchThundercats. - Throne of WasaSkeletonWarriorsKid" 
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Apr 12, 2015 16:14
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Voted this thread 5 for madmac's contributions alone.
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Apr 12, 2015 16:43
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If the Tigrans are Thundercats, shouldn't Flame Tanks be ThunderTanks?
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Apr 12, 2015 16:45
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Which Eternal Lords achievements can you currently get? I've got the one for killing a frozen enemy and am part of the proud 0% of players who've gotten the Liberator achievement, but I also see that people have somehow gotten the maxed out race governance achievement.
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Apr 12, 2015 17:51
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Kajeesus posted:Which Eternal Lords achievements can you currently get? I've got the one for killing a frozen enemy and am part of the proud 0% of players who've gotten the Liberator achievement, but I also see that people have somehow gotten the maxed out race governance achievement. I've already gotten most of them. :p The bulk of them require the new content though so I wouldn't sweat it too much unless you really think you can win a PBEM game before Tuesday.
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Apr 12, 2015 17:55
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One more quick thing, because I know the question will come up. But What kind of Necromancer do I play first? This is a deceptively important question. Obviously you, and everyone else on earth will be playing Necromancer on day one of release. And you don't want to be part of the horde of dumb sheeple blindly picking Tigran or Frostling Necromancer like some sort of conformist shill with no independent thinking whatsits. So for you, eternal hipster playing Eternal Lords for the first time, a quick guide to Necromancy for races old and older. Humans (The Counter-Necro) Human Necro is actually a really good combo. +10 Production means a lot when your economy is eternally stuck on rear end, and nearly all your RG upgrades are at least mildly helpful. Human Reanimators and Deathbringers even get bonus spirit damage, and you have Priests, which is perfect for cutting down everyone else who will obviously also be playing Necromancer but not Humans. Priests btw can't heal Undead but the buff effects still apply. And Knights get Strong Will at gold which is kinda really helpful. Halflings (The Gerblyn endorsed Pro-pick) Undead Haflings with bonus morale that's almost impossible to break are actually sorta ridiculous. Takes a little time to come together, but with your Memories of Joy Reanimators, Backstabbing Deathbringers, Military 4 and of course Grey Guard Mastery you'll be theoretically unstoppable. Dwarves (The Boring Pick for Boring People.) Oh no, My ghouls all have -1 Def and Fire weakness. I know, let me play the race with +1 defense and a bunch of fire immune units and barely notice the difference. Dick. Your Reanimators get armored, so eventually they'll be as seemingly invulnerable as your Forge Priest and a Firstborn spam. Deathbringers don't have anything special and aren't armored but just your +1/+1 makes them pretty solid. Boring, but solid. Just like someone we all know and mildly dislike. Goblins (The Troll Spam Pick) Pretend you're doing it for the faster city growth, Increased Blight Damage on Reanimators, Severe Poisoning Deathbringers (Works well with exploit despair at elite!) and +7 HP bonus from embalming to take away your main racial weakness, then forget all that stuff and just bury them in Regenerating Zombie Trolls. Pfft, Suckers. Orcs (For the Horde Pick) Yes, yes. Orc Smash. Orc Smash good. Well not that you had any logical reason to go down this route, but shockingly enough you chose well for once. Being raised as unliving abominations takes away the Orcs biggest weakness, being incredibly weak against mind-control. (Except for Undead Mind Control because heh.) And your Reanimators stole Throw Curse from your racial support so you don't have to bother building those loving ever. Lets not even talk about Deathbringers with Warcry and Orc Military 5, I get a little angry about it and so will anyone who has to play you. Elves (Vampire Fanfiction Pick) Dude stop LARPING for five seconds and start the game already. Oh, what's that? You chose the pretty race because they were pretty and now you find out your total immunity to blight damage is not so total and your slow growth is even slower? GOOD Well don't worry about it. You're still Elves so you can just go back to massing longbows as per usual and your Reanimators get Total Awareness in exchange for having just 60% Blight Protection because hahahaha I love it. (It's a good combo, still. There are no bad Necromancer Race combos.) Draconians (The Weird pick for Dragon Weirdos) Draconian Necromancer, huh? I...I'm not even sure how that plays. You get Bane Fire Reanimators and T1 infantry with Regrowth, I guess? And lots of Fire Protection? But your fast healing trait is totally useless? Knock yourself out, I guess. Weirdo.
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Apr 12, 2015 20:28
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madmac posted:
Incoming draconian Necromancer buff in 3...2...
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Apr 12, 2015 20:35
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I think its okay for Draconians to be kinda crap Necromancers. Every race has a class or two they're pretty decidedly eh with, but by and large Draconians didn't before the expansion. For instance, Goblin Archdruid doesn't really take advantage of any Goblin strengths and just gives them a regular archer, another support with blight damage and a good third of their summons rely on blight as well. Or Halfling Warlord, Orc Dreadnaught, Human Theocrat... etc. Its not that they're bad per se, but that they don't really synergize that well.
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Apr 12, 2015 20:48
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I will be playing Frostling Sorceror. I definitely want to play one of the new races first, and Frostlings were always one of my favorites in the previous games. I don't care about the undead, so I have no strong motivation to try out necromancer.
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Apr 12, 2015 20:50
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Lobsterpillar posted:Incoming draconian Necromancer buff in 3...2... No seriously I just never got around to trying it. I have no idea if it's a viable combination or not. It definitely has some weird interactions in any case. Fire resist does cancel out the Undead fire weakness though, and Necromancers don't have access to fire damage normally so that's a plus. Who knows? Also Human Theocrat is Top-Tier now that they have Spirit Bolt Evangelists and buffed Knights.
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Apr 12, 2015 20:56
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Appreciate the class/race write ups mac. I wasn't really sure what to make of Tigrans at first but it sounds like Tigran Warlord will suit my playstyle best.
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Apr 12, 2015 20:59
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Man imagine if Draconian Necros had fast healing work on their undead...my dracolich dream...
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Apr 12, 2015 21:17
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Actually, mac, I'm pretty sure the hipster choice would not be Necro-but-not-Tigran-or-Frostling but rather something old and boring as far removed as possible from the new content. Therefore, as it was the first race and class encountered in the tutorial campaign, I hereby declare the Elven Rogue to be the hipster choice du jour. "Yeah, I only play elven rogues. They've actually got a lot of subtleties that most people never notice because they're too busy playing the more popular classes."
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Apr 12, 2015 21:29
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Zore posted:I think its okay for Draconians to be kinda crap Necromancers. Every race has a class or two they're pretty decidedly eh with, but by and large Draconians didn't before the expansion. It's actually one of my favourite race combos. Between Swarm Darters, Spiders, Elephants and Big Beetles no city will ever be safe.
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Apr 12, 2015 21:32
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Helion posted:"Yeah, I only play elven rogues. They've actually got a lot of subtleties that most people never notice because they're too busy playing the more popular classes."  madmac posted:So much goddamned snark.  So much of it!
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Apr 12, 2015 21:53
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Zore posted:I think its okay for Draconians to be kinda crap Necromancers. Every race has a class or two they're pretty decidedly eh with, but by and large Draconians didn't before the expansion. It's not about what Archdruid does for Goblins. It's about what Blight Doctors do for the Archdruid! (also Shamans get even more blight damage because Gerblyn just went around adding that to every single Goblin ranged class unit). Though of course, going all-in on blight builds is always a dubious decision.
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Apr 12, 2015 22:13
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Tigran Warlord. Those are our Manticores, dammit!
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Apr 12, 2015 23:02
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I get this wonderful mental image of a manticore playfully pouncing on it's Tigran rider and it being completely adorable. 
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Apr 12, 2015 23:19
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Gonna go frostling warlord with evil adept and forcibly take back our lands and more.
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Apr 12, 2015 23:56
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I'm going to play Shadowborn Necromancer, race unimportant. I'll roll around the countryside razin' and raisin', race no object. Except elves. They just get murdered. Also the shadowborn are a pro-shadow demon conspiracy and foreshadowing (heh) their return in a later expansion yes? 
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Apr 13, 2015 00:32
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I'm gonna go Shadowborn Goblin Warlord and spam the cheapest units the world has ever known while establishing the AoW IIIrd Reich. I also have Tuesday off  EDIT: Greblyn, do you know if the game will be available to preload/preorder? Voyager I fucked around with this message at 00:44 on Apr 13, 2015 |
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Apr 13, 2015 00:38
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All kidding aside, I loved the Frostlings so I am gonna play them first, probably a sorceror. I'm eager to play a necro too, but I wanna focus on one thing at a time. So excited!
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Apr 13, 2015 00:42
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Splicer posted:Also the shadowborn are a pro-shadow demon conspiracy and foreshadowing (heh) their return in a later expansion yes? I'd be very happy if, in their machinations, they instead unleash the holy wrath of the Archon's/Syrons who proceed to decapitate the surviving leadership and swear a holy crusade to burn Altha for its foul blasphemy. 
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Apr 13, 2015 00:46
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Had no idea an expansion was coming out, I tooled around with the game for a good bit but wound up uninstalling it. Totally reinstalled for the expansion, though. Gonna make an Orc necromancer and unleash the horde upon the fools.
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Apr 13, 2015 01:13
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Voyager I posted:EDIT: Greblyn, do you know if the game will be available to preload/preorder? According to the steam forums, there's no preload/preorder planned. The beta patch probably has most of the content outside of the campaign just waiting to be unlocked anyways.
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Apr 13, 2015 01:18
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Mokinokaro posted:According to the steam forums, there's no preload/preorder planned. Undoubtedly. I could go host a game right now and all you guys would have access to the new content just by joining. It was the same way they did Golden Realms.
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Apr 13, 2015 01:40
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I wonder if they'll add any more new classes in further expansions. This is an expansion where I'm buying it for everything except the new class. Necromancy has never been my jam. 
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Apr 13, 2015 03:16
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Gonna be a draconian necromancer peacekeeper. Just because it seems pretty nonsensical.
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Apr 13, 2015 03:22
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What could be more peaceful than everyone bound to the will of a single individual? There's no higher standard of order and peace than a "society" of absolute slaves.
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Apr 13, 2015 03:28
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