[Lazy_Perfectionist]

2.5 A review of your military

Your human infantry are well protected, and fear few arrows. But they're quite lackluster when compared to other nations. They are severely limited by resources, and have a low damage potential. They do have a decent (13) defense score, and that helps.

Light Infantry - These are your fast units. They can easily handle independents consisting of archers, militia, [animal] tribe warriors, light infantry. They will suffer a world of hurt against heavy infantry and barbarians. Choose your targets wisely.

Infantry - These are worth the resources, but hard to recruit in quantity. You'll usually throw 10 or 20 in with a whole mess of LI when you need something with a little more staying power. They're outclassed by quite a few national troops, however. They're equivalent to most independent heavy infantries. Don't underestimate them because they don't have 'heavy' in front.

Heavy Infantry - Your shocktroopers. They still have dinky damage, but they'll be your very best bodyguards. With some of your protection spells, they can form a good wall.

Pale One Soldiers - Not worth recruiting for most expansion, they'll be used to take water provinces, and open another war front against other land nations. They'll also be used in siege warfare, or when you're expecting darkness conditions.

Ancient Ones - maddeningly vulnerable to arrows, and coldblooded, they certainly have their drawbacks. Their attack is a little better than the POS, but their greater strength more than compensates for their decreased hit rate. Unless you have equalizers in place, count them out against units with a defense of 13 or more. They'll only hit 18%. Nice combinations include fire bless, Darkness, Arrow Fend, Legions of Steel, and Curse of Stones.

Scouts - Get them when you need scouts, but you'll often have something better to buy. You'll usually be better off recruiting from independents.

Cave Captains - Use them to lead large groups of light infantry and/or speedy independents, they're the closest thing to a rapid response team you have. There's not much reason to choose them over independent commanders, but

Pale One Captains- Use them to lead amphibious assaults.

Ancient Lord - Well worth thugging. They won't kill armies by their lonesome, but an solo Ancient Lord equipped with a 2h Sword of Sharpness, Black Steel Helmet, and Black Steel Full Plate (all trinkets) can take down 8 enemy humanoids before going down. All in one hit each. Properly supported, it is a worthwhile addition to your force. The problem is properly supporting them. They have a move speed of 13- aside from Ancient Ones, you have nothing else as fast. You can put them behind your infantry, but if you do it improperly, they'll just get stuck at the rear doing you no good. If you're deploying these with anything but Ancient Ones, experiment with your formations, watch the battles, and learn what works well before you get into a battle where they are needed.

Acolytes of the Ancients - Near worthless, unless you have the no independents mods. In that case, they're actually worth using because they are the only blesser fast enough to keep pace with your Ancient Ones. If you need preaching in a distant province, they'll get there quicker than your mage-priests.

Earth Reader - They make a decent leader for infantry and heavy infantry. They don't do much with their spells, but they can scale upwards when necessary. Just keep those spare gems on a commander who can't use them. And while their 5 magic leadership doesn't seem like much, five golems can add a surprising amount of oomph to a force. They're also the cheapest option if you expect to be constantly forging equipment. There's a lot of earth equipment available at only 1E. And even with Gnome Lore being available, it can be worth sending out a couple of these early on to search for sites. You'll recruit these for any permanent positions.

Golem Crafters - Compared to other nations, a puny researcher. On the plus side, the cost is reasonable, and he's sacred. On the downside, plagued by old age, you'll be constantly screening the messages for their obituaries and hiring replacements. Early on, you'll be buying a lot of these, and dedicating them to research. They're hardly worthless in combat, but getting to Attentive Statues before year two is so important you won't want to spare them. Once you've got a solid research base, there is quite a bit they'll be doing for you in battle. But if you still have earth gems, keep em at home summoning instead.

Oracle of the Ancients - Don't hire more than one your first year. They don't have the research to make it worthwhile. Later on, they'll become critical for their access to certain summons, ability to lead undead, and the importance of their preaching in taking and holding hostile territory. Their holy magic will be helpful on occasion, too. Early on, they'll take a few converted gems and scry for death sites, forge a dwarven hammer, and any other odd tasks.