prepping for beginning expansion
 

Ok, I have a tough enough time expanding early in the game with indeps at 3.

I read that ppl using indeps at 6+ are up to 8-12 provinces by turn 10.


HOW????? I am not sure how, any strat tips would be appreciated.

Thus speaks Lekiro the Arch Mage, the Mountain Lord, Prince of Tremors, the Armorer http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

Re: prepping for beginning expansion
 

I always play at indep 9. Never attack anything for the first two rounds. Just build up your forces and research the first level of spells that'll help your mages.

Then pick your targets. Never attack anything that says "Heavy Cavalry" in it. Never attack in an indep province were you do not hold dominion. You need a bit more strength to punch trough those lances. Indep archers always fire at the closest unit so put your heavy infantery up front and your own archers on fire archers.

Flanking is a good way to end a battle quickly since indep commanders tend to stay in the back with their archers. Hold and attack archers is better than hold and attack rearmost.

Indeps have no way to increase morale so all you need to do is to rout them. Fearsome units can turn a battle quickly as do quick massive losses of units. Use your own heavy cavalry or simply massed archers/crossbows/javelineers. Keep a spare commander around to ferry new troops to your army each turn.

If you have a tough pretender then it can serve as the spearhead of each attack and collect enemy troops around it in a nice target range for your archers.

My own preference however is to use assassins. At indep 9 there's usually four commanders to deal with. It's very easy to create assassins that no regular indep commander has a chance to fight. Just give them a cheap magic object and they will usually develop a good heroic ability since you're still so early into the game. This is especially true for C'Tis who's assassins need very little spellresearch to be effectively unstoppable by indeps.

Re: prepping for beginning expansion
 

Depends on how many humans are in the game but most mercenaries are also very good for their price during early and mid game for capturing provinces. Orion is probably the best overall for the price he offers.

Second try different battle formations... I won't mention any of my strategies but this is important. Perhaps dominions_3 will provide a battle field in an octagon shape where armies in different territories will be approaching from different directions where more strategies could be developed.

Using assassins on the commanders is a good idea too... if done right you can attack the territory and independents will retreat.

Last I recommend getting lots of archers... this works great on most indepedent territories. Definitely stay away from any cavalary type territories until you are ready.

Re: prepping for beginning expansion
 

There are a few ways to do this. One of the easiest is having a SC Pretender ready for Indy Whacking on turn 2-3 and take a province a turn with him in that time.

Even without a SC Pretender you can take Territories with the right configuration of units.

The most common and easily usable is the Archer with Melee support.

Usually you will need from 15-20 Archer/Xbows. Your initial melee troops. Set one (1) melee troop in the front of your block of archers with Hold and Attack Orders, and your Archers on Fire Closest.

The rest of your Melee troops held at the very back in a block in hold and attack (in order to keep morale). That one single melee troop has a bomb strapped to his head and is screaming "Praise Allah" after 2 turns, but your Archers will mow down most of the approaching force (Only use Xbows for HInfantry, if you have normal archers or not very many Longbowmen, stay away from Cav provinces) and they will rout.

The reason you need the other melee troops in the back is so you can restock your "Target" for Indy missile fire and melee giving your Archers time to shoot holes in the opponents. You can usually take anywhere from 4-6 provinces on that kind of initial force before needing to resupply.

Another way to kill indies using their morale against them is to put a highly survivable unit in front (Think Van, or Knight) with the main body of your forces on a flank with attack rear orders. You probably have a 50/50 chance that your survivable unit will survive enough for your main forces to hammer into the archer/commanders in the back and cause the entire host to rout.

Last but not least, Cause Fear and Fear Spells are ways to insta-rout most indy provinces. Things with high Fear Auras (PoD is a classic Example) or using spells like Panic, Terror or troops with Lesser Fear auras.

With a fear or spell on units they will make morale check every time they are *hit*. So having at least 1 square of an entire squad in your aura of fear will make the entire squad make a morale check. Such spells as Fire Flies, Shards, or archer/javalins cause alot of morale checks before actually engaging you and causing most fodder (LI) to rout without touching you and 1 to 2 rounds of HI. Then cleaning up the Archers is cake.

Edit: You can also use the AI to split it's forces (especially if you are running a higher end of Indep 7-9). By placing a single melee/missile unit slightly forward on one flank (say the north) and the bulk of your units on the southern flank with specific orders (Again, Attack Archers/Rearmost is good) they will hammer into archers and most likely cause a rout after 1-3 rounds. This works particularly well with commanders so you can have them hold 1 or 2 rounds then begin to retreat stringing out the enemy melee forces letting you have more squares to attack.

[ June 08, 2004, 20:26: Message edited by: Zen ]

Re: prepping for beginning expansion
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Welp, if we weren't on the FBI watch list before, we definitely are now: You've probably managed to nail most of the buzzwords with that one.

Re: prepping for beginning expansion
 

I certainly hope so. Free Publicity. You'd better start sandbagging your windows Norfleet.

Re: prepping for beginning expansion
 

If Shrapnel were to send a free publicity copy to the Rev. Jerry Falwell or his ilk, and some literature emphasizing the prospect of blood sacrifice, that might work too.

Re: prepping for beginning expansion
 

Heh.

Before the thread started to devolve (but a humorous devolvement), there's some really nice information in it.

I currently play on Indep5 most of the time. I don't think I could go back to Indep3... they'd seem like such pushovers.

Basically, the best way to learn how to expand is probably to play on an Indep setting 2 or 3 higher than what you actually intend to play on. Once you get your expansion rate to the point you want it on the higher setting, you shouldn't have any trouble achieving that expansion rate on the lower setting.

Scott

Re: prepping for beginning expansion
 

I dont know why Indep 3 is the default. I guess because it matches AI-easy.

I think that hurts the game. Indep 5 is more human-setting. The setting of 3 is more in favor of the AI than human players. It leads new people to think they arent doing well because the AI swarms into them early in the game. Im continually telling new players to turn indepts up until they learn the game better.

Re: prepping for beginning expansion
 

I play consistantly on Indep 6. Just gard enough that it takes skill and effort to expand, but just easy enough so that a Combat Pretender can be of use with or without an army if you desire.

I would admonish all Newbies to play on at least AI 5+ in order to better learn how the AI functions in the Battlefield.