[markmayhugh]

Thanks for pointing out that the dom3_db documents item slots in AllUnits. I had looked in Pretender Summary, which did not have the info.

Suddenly, some pretenders are looking more interesting, like the Crone with 4 misc slots. Before seeing this, I was not sure why anyone would ever pick the Crone. Anyway, the slots are important to know to plan appropriately. I ended up having to use Empowerment to boost Earth in my current game because my plan was based on using boots to boost Earth on an Arch Druid with no feet slot.

As for archers, I noticed in several battles that they were not having that much of an effect on the battle compared to melee units. When I attacked an independent with 20 barbs and a commander, I paid close attention because I wanted to see the effect of weak armor. My 80 archers only damaged 5 units before they got into melee range, which I thought was pretty poor performance. Once in melee range, they were decimated so quickly I could not tell if the damage was from archery or my melee troops.

Other battles against larger forces (usually armored), even at close range the archers seem far less of a factor than my melee troops. Just my initial observations as a newbie.