Nope, they aren’t really “allies”, they are vassals, but you can defend them though if you are nearby and they get attacked. This could just be a mechanic that was over looked, it seems like you should be able to get their help if you are attacked.
I tend to park the units they give me in their own cities, and then after I get a decent force built up there I buy out the vassals and use the existing stack to defend the city while I start building it up.
Vassals are the best. Didn’t realize until some point yesterday that the % of their income they give you is actually based on how much they like you. “Friendly” is 80%! Counting a full stack of guards that you don’t have to pay upkeep on, that ain’t a bad deal at all.
tgb123
1603
I didn’t even realize it was my vassals who were presenting me with new units. I thought it was a random event of some kind.
robc04
1604
I love the Berserker spell. Nothin’ like turning the enemies troops against themselves. I just got a Nymph as a reward and Seduce came in handy too.
At least with the spells that I got as a Warlord (or whatever the class is called), my chance for success has been between like 15-50%. Do heroes or leaders ever get more effective at casting spells, like an upgrade that adds spell power for a greater chance at success? If not, they should add one I think!
It’s weird, but I find that I can only play a handful of battles, then I need to do something else, like browse the web for a bit. Then I go back and play a bit more. It’s not that I don’t like the battles but I find I get battle fatigue.
Aww crap, now I guess I need to go out and get some fresh air. I’ve made a commitment to either jogging, walking or biking everyday. Sone gets home in a bit over an hour so it’s time to get it done. That becomes my podcast time.
ioticus
1605
I believe it was a thief ability like assassinate or back stab, I did get it to work after several tries. Maybe I miss clicked?
Also, how do you tell how many APs an ability costs? The online “manual” is pretty vague in places.
Everything costs 1 AP unless noted otherwise. There isn’t much – Trebuchet shots are the only one I can think of off the top of my work-addled head.
On resist chance: There are no “spellpower” stat mods that make your spells harder to resist, only skills that reduce enemy resistance. Curse is so awesome. Really, I don’t blame Triumph for the decision – a Sorcerer with +2 or +3 of a hypothetical spellpower stat would get out of control very quickly. By putting it on other, often fragile units, the enemy has a chance to deal with it rather than killing the much harder target of a mid- or high-level hero.
ShivaX
1607
Spells don’t get more effective (though some similar abilities have different attack values - charm vs seduce vs dominate, for example), which is why debuffs are so good to have, especially those on units. Abilities target Def or Res, if you drop say a Curse, it will lower those and increase your chance of landing a Berserk or the like.
Yeah, things that lower resistance are really powerful effects for that reason. Some very powerful synergy out there.
And why War Mammoths aren’t nearly so good as morons on the official boards would have you believe ;)
War Mammoths? You mean “Berserk Fodder”?
Man, they’re like everything fodder. What’s their resistance, 7? Shudder.
How to I put AI players on teams? I know I used to be able to do it but I don’t see how
kerzain
1613
This image will show you where to click:
ShivaX
1614
Click the checkbox for teams, then click the team numbers.
Ah, bless you. Time to try the expansion!
I had forgotten how frail the heroes are in the early going. :D But she’ll be back in a few turns!
ioticus
1617
Man the random events from the Eternal Lords expansion are frustrating. Every time I build up a decent army an event spawns a stack of neutrals that come and wipe me out. I haven’t even met the enemy wizard on a small map yet.
robc04
1618
In general I don’t like random events in games. I don’t have Eternal Lords yet, so I don’t know how severe they are or if they feel cheap. With what a great job Triumph did at making things configurable I’d think they have to have a way to turn them off, right?
I’m still in my first game since I’m trying to make a comeback after my AoW 3 hiatus. I lost my leader when I tried to take on an enemy army with 3 heroes. He weakened it enough so my second army could come and get the victory. He’s as good as new after his 3 turn trip to the void and ready to kick some ass. Now I’ve got a hero closing in on my enemy’s city. I hope it is still weakly defended like it was when I scouted it a while ago. I can’t wait to try out my Dread Siege spell.
Like I think Adam mentioned earlier. It’s nice how you can lose a city, or in my case my leader and not feel like you can’t come back.
Is there an option somewhere that I missed to show enemy movement that is within your vision on the strategic map? That would be useful.
KevinC
1619
There any documentation/manual that cover the new expansion features specifically?
I thought that was on by default? I turned “show me strategic movement” to off because I was tired of double-clicking everywhere I went. I could swear that previously I would see whenever an enemy was moving in my territory, though.
In other news:
a) Warlord is actually a really bad choice for investigating a new race, because you want to build your class units instead of racials. Really, Warlord is one of the trickier classes IMO.
b) Gosh golly do I love the fact that you get to choose between two things for tributes/building materials. Well done there, Triumph.
c) The wonderful thing about Tiggers is that Tiggers are wonderful things.
