So you bought Fallen Enchantress, or you got it because you're a War of Magic owner. Great, you got your hands on a Hell of a game!You played the tutorial, liked what you saw, and decided to give the game a spin on a level advertised as 'fair', so you played a game on challenging. You did not pick Tarth, and you got crushed.You restarted the game on "easy". The AIs dogpiled on you, and you got wiped out again.Your ego will not allow you to play on the levels below "Easy", you do not feel that you have learned much from your two defeats, and you really do not know what you can do better.So, what are you going to do, where are you going to get all the information you need? Not here. But I'll make a start.First I'll make a disclaimer: these are my opinions. I did not design the game, my advice was no more followed in the Beta than anyone else, and it is not even clear that I am a good player, not without multyplayer.Then I will try to explain a few concepts. This part is already more or less complete. Feel free to offer suggestions and point out errors.Next, I'll point you to a very detailed play-through of a game on Expert difficulty (this is the highest sane difficulty) What makes it special amongst my dozen of play-throughs? The race is designed to have no obvious strengths of any kind, so all the tricks in that thread can be used with most races, vanilla or custom, on top of their specific strength. Some of the strategies that thread illustrates are: snaking, designing early troops with specific upgrades in mind, rejuvenation, diplomatic victory, dominion push, warhorses, creative terraforming, etc...
Finally, here is a link to what is the single most overwhelmingly powerful design I know of. How powerful? I've taken it to a trivially easy victory on Insane difficulty. I do not expect the design to remain valid for long. It works as of v1.02.
There is even something more powerful - the stealth (link not here yet) race trait, which Tarth has by default, and which any custom race can get. I recommend against using it, because it really takes two thirds of the game away, and no only does not allow you to experience many of the thrills that Fallen Enchantress offers, but also teaches you bad habits that will make your game very hard without stealth.
Are you sure? I do not believe that this is the case.
Sure, you can build a logging camp in a forest that you have snaked to, but only if you could have built a logging camp on a tile next to your settled tile. Same with piers - you can build them on every river tile, but only if you there was a river next to the tile you settled.
Now you make me doubt, but I think I've tried sneaking 2 or 3 cities with no forest surround, and once they get access to forest, I could build it. I tried to be sure.
Maybe one city had forest in a corner, so could not build it in the begining, but when it grew, it gained access.
But I think the other cities had no forest surrounding.
I'll check it again.
Corners count, for both forests and rivers.
Tuidjy, can you explain what good City Growth is, anyway? Your section explains the mechanics very well, but one thing I still haven't really figured out is why I should care. Each city level up is nice insofar as you get a free "perk" or building, but anything beyond that? More city militia? Seems to me that the "growth" buildings are a total waste of time, since you're capped by your total food, and you'll get there sooner or later even with just the default growth.
Well, in addition to the free improvement, you also get more cash/research/production. I am unsure of the precise numbers, but I guess this is a good thing to know. Checking...
Taxable income: 2, 6, 12, 24, 50
Research: 1, 2, 4, 8, 16
Production: 0, 2, 4, 8, 16
There's two kinds of growth buildings. Broadly, one kind increases food and the other increases growth. No need to explain why the first one is very important, as for the second...
Many strategies rely on having a lot of cities, and of course, the larger the map, the more cities you are likely to end up with. If your sovereign is not going up in levels, it is easy to come to a point where your level one cities are practically not growing, and thus not turning into specialized cities. Furthermore, you really want your towns, fortress and your conclaves to achieve high levels, because they have incredibly useful level-up improvements.
A level 3 town can add 10% to the health of every one of your units. At level 4, it can add 1 production per material to every one of your cities.
A level 3 fortress can add an awesome perk to every unit produced there. At level 4 in can generate free metal. At level 5, it can add more attack/health to units, or reduce unrest to the whole empire by 30% (which can mean hundreds of Gilden in taxes)
A level 3 conclave can add essence, or increase research while idling. At level 4, it can increase research everywhere by 10%.
It's because of these improvements that governors, growth enhancing buildings, outpost upgrades and enchantments are used. In my last game I had my main fortress at growth 11 - three consulates, the theater of wind, a governor, an enchantment (when not cranking out troops) and the head of an elemental lord.
As for food caps, once your empire gets going with a few towns, food caps are lifted. Enough grocers, bakeries, butchers and a brewery, and you will get 200+ food per grain. And if not, there's enchantments increasing grain and food-per-grain.
By the way, I am sure there's very nice improvements at level 5 for towns and conclaves. I just have not had them for a while, and do not want to give obsolete info.
Do you have any more tips on handling research? I always fall behind the AI in research, and it's very frustrating because I don't get why (I'm not behind in cities or military strength I think).
I always had the same problem in civilization, and in the end I discovered it was because the AI was constantly trading tech with each other. (I hate tech trading myself because it feels like a chore.)
Is it the same, or do I just need to build more optimally so I get more research?
You can get more research from a few places.Keeping unrest as low as possible will help gain more researchBuilding studies and similar buildings in your citiesConclaves gets a +25/50/75% bonus to research from a special conclave building.Levelling your cities to higher levels will net a higher base RP value (RP = Research points)Some heroes have special traits called "Loremaster" that boosts RP per turn.
Basic water magic gives the spell "Inspiration" which boost town RP by 1 per turn, this can help both small towns and conclaves. (and generally, if you have 5 cities, with essence, you can gain 5 more RP per turn from that spell).
Also some ruins are scattered around the map which grants 20 RP when discovered (A hero walks upon it).
Sincerely~ Kongdej
Everything Kongdej said is true. In mid game, you can add the "Revelation" and "Pit of Madness" enchantments to a conclave, for 2 research points per essence. With all the research multipliers conclaves get, 50+ research cities are not uncommon by turn 150.
There's also something that players often overlook. When you have reduced an AI in power, consider cordoning it off, and letting it live, even if you have to pay for peace with someone whom you utterly dominate. Why? Because a technology treaty is 10% to your research, and a weak AI is likely to be at war with everyone else, thus it will not be providing the bonus to anyone else. The same thing applies to trade treaties and taxable income. Just make sure that you cordon off the defeated AI from the other AIs. You do NOT want them finishing it off, and you do not want it coming back, either.
In my last game, I kept Altar cornered on a peninsula. 10% to research, 10% to income, and a source of quest maps. Much better than destroying them outright.
Why Krax rather than Trog/Quendar?
why bother with light plate?
Isn't vulnerable to magic dangerous? (honestly, I don't know this one ... but at least I think it'll be dangerous once the AI starts using spells more effectively neh?)
--> also, I think I'd rather start with a spear than a 'rusty' sword. But yea regular swords can be better sometimes (with daggers/ berserker swords being perhaps the best)
Do you think Death is superior to life magic? If you are focusing on death, why not exchange defensive for Death Worship?
I think I'd rather go with something like
Trog/Quendar blood, empire, enchanters, lucky, death worship, master scouts, uneducated.
(but on lower difficulty levels, I'd probably not bother with master scouts, and instead pick something like Quick, Tough, Defensive, Binding, or Archers) -> probably archers if I'm planning on Quendar slave spam.
A fun slave-state empire I've found though is ... Lucky, Quick, Tough, Archers, Uneducated. Quendar race (of course), with a WARLOCK sovereign of either Fire or Death magic.
Could switch out Tough with Defensive of course .... but I haven't yet tested how well Slaves can hold shields
Oh, I forgot about those, Thanks!
Isn't it always?
Fortify = 20 dodge.With lucky thats 25 dodge.
Why oh why? . I prefer rusty swords due to counterattack boosting my damage earlygame to the skies, and its 1 handed so I can grab the first shield I find.
The reason he posted that faction was that it was one of the easiest to handle factions that he could come up with (is my guess anyways), its a rather simple strategy to just amass dodge bonuses, if people are bashing the game regularly at ridiculous or above, I hardly think they need more advice
I'd really like to see a Let's Play of the first 150 turns of one of your games. I think that would be very instructional. I think it's great that you've taken the time to detail all this information, but it'd be a bit easier to understand if I saw it in action. I'm just nowhere near good enough to have units with lightning pikes by turn 75 and 50+ research cities by 150. A lot of what you've said makes good sense, but I'm obviously ignorant of many things.
I have a number of play-throughs on this forum. The last few are in .99x and thus pretty relevant. Let me link a few...
Part of the AI experiment - the first 25 turns are here, the rest are further in the thread.
Standard Karavox in .982. The first post links some old play-throughs.
I do not have video recording software (which is easily fixed), audio equipment (which is not) nor a particularly clear English diction (which is the real problem)
If you sound like The Terminator, its not a problem
~ Kongdej
OK, I declare the 'concepts' done. Of course, feel free to suggest concepts to add, point out errors, stuff that need to be clarified, details that chance with new releases, etc...
As for me, I will start working on the strategy section at some point.
I wish. Nope, you get a choice between Eastern European thug and lisping Frenchie. English is my fourth language.
I have been doing snaking but I don't know what key to press to get back to the previous view at the slight angle which is a much better view in my opinion
I played my last hero as a full melee Pariden Sov...wicked fun. I didn't take any magic to start but grabbed an air book for Thunderstrike. I made sure I got all the unlocks on my other heroes (look at the spell book for the spell combos). I never play empire so I don't have death buffs. With Porcupine's Crown, well, I buffed the crap out of him. Pick the act first trait (can get a lot of them because you don't start with magic), and Thunderstrike right into the midst of the enemies and go nuts. A fully buffed melee hero with lots of shard backups is a marvel to watch, lots of fun and different than the casting sovs.
[1], [2], [3], and [4] each have a preset camera view.
I think [1] is the default one, [2] puts North towards the top of the screen, [3] is zoomed out, and [4] is the cloth map.
Thank you for this guide! Not only will it help, it will increase my enjoyment of the game.
You don't have to turn on the "City Build Mode Zoom" setting, which is what's changing your camera angle, in order to do the snaking. You only need to turn on the "Manual Improvement Placement" setting.
Thanks, Tuidjy, I was looking forward to your Monsters section in particular. Took me a while to figure out myself that monsters grew in strength over time, which is an important mechanic to understand. Got to clear out those nearby nests quick before they become something nastier!
Two follow-up questions:
(1) Can monsters spontaneously spawn in the in the fog-of-war? Ie, if I have an area that I've cleared, and it's entirely blocked off by my domain, will monsters ever roam there again? Or do monsters only come from lairs?
(2) Do wandering monsters ever settle down and found their own lair? I feel like I have seen this before, but maybe I was imagining things...
Thanks for putting the work into this, Tuidjy, it's by far the most detailed and mechanics-oriented guide out there.
I have not seen any monster spawns in the fog of war that could not be explained by a world event, or by my opening a dungeon from a quest (some spawn wolves, spiders, golems, ignys, demons). So my guess is that a cleared area stays cleared unless something out of the ordinary happens.
I do not believe so. I thought I had seen it happen, but then I realized that it was because a quest spawned multiple ophidian lairs while requiring me to clear only one (Star Cloak)
In War of Magic, at least in the original incarnation (which was technically glitchy but I loved), monsters spawned in the fog of war. I walled off huge areas of the map and farmed them with my heroes.
In FE like Tuidjy, I have not seen any spawn in a fog of war in the absence of camps. I don't know if the spawn rate at camps differs based on whether it is in the fog of war though, I may, if I am ever really bored, test that. I keep spawn camps of monsters that I get a lot of exp from but aren't that hard to kill, I am looking at Ogres and Trolls, hellooo Fireball. I used them to train my fresh out of the Fortress troops, although a fully upgraded Fort starts them off at a decent level.
Here is one caveat for early game, a troop of shortbows will save your bacon. You can probably tank decently as your sov or relevant hero, especially if you unlock that tasty spell resist shield and get some monk robes. The monster AI at this point (and I don't think wolves should be as smart as demons), just attack your tank and don't rotate around your tank as they can with zone of control, so your troop of archers should level pretty quickly. If you are lucky enough to see a refugee camp, beeline for it, it likely contains Panca archers, which are early game OP and useful well into the mid game.
As someone who has played FFH and Civ, but an Elemental n00b, I'd be interested in research priorities and build priorities in the early game.
One thing that seems strange to me coming from other games, I feel like I can only get three cities established before I'm boxed in on the map I'm playing in, then I just have to go with outposts. Am I doing it wrong or is this normal?
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