Help me survive against Ermor

[Coffeedragon]

Originally posted by Zen:

Just noticed you were far away from Orb Lighting (WHY?!)

Because I usually prefer masses of conventional units, cheap low-level spells and wars of attrition.

Of course it´s difficult to wage a war of attrition against Ermor.

But, just perhaps, doable. If I draw an army into my territory and surround it, I needn´t kill them. Just scare them into retreat, and Bingo! One army less to worry about. That´s why I want to try that Bard/Panic thingie.

Bards can't cast panic. And if it costs you gems, why on earth would you waste them on casting Panic? Just summon masses of Vine Men (No morale issues) if you want to waste gems

Or alternatively get Alteration 4, and have all your bards cast Swarm with as many gems as you can.

OR, use your Sidhe to cast Eagle Eyes and Sleep Cloud (if your problem is only the living Versions)

You can even, if you want, put a Sidhe up front of your army, have him cast Air Shield, and do a "Attack" to get him close then have him sit on "hold, hold hold" so that the Javelins are wasted. Then have your army come in and mop up hand to hand.

[void]

Originally posted by Zen:
Bards can't cast panic. And if it costs you gems, why on earth would you waste them on casting Panic? Just summon masses of Vine Men (No morale issues) if you want to waste gems

Man? just get the access to summon VineOrge, mass them and put your longbows beside. Vine orges are very,very,very good cannon fodder..i dont think that it's a waste

(Raise up your dominion, cast Haunted Forest+Swarm in midgame is another way )

Vine Ogres cost 3 Nature. Tuatha doesn't have access to a base 3 Nature Mage, only normal man does.

I like Vine Ogres, and they are a great compliment to Man's armies, but I wouldn't use 'all' your gems for Vine Ogres, as the game progresses they can be taken down easily with magic.

[General Tacticus]

Longbows not working ? Are you using enough ?

Actually, if you are going for a war of attrition, you need to find yourself some very cheap cannon fodder, and put it right on the front line (anything that costs 3 or less resources and less than 10 gold will do). That way, your expensive heavy infantry (on hold and attack) will be able to break the enemy without great losses, and hopefully your priests will have dealt with the undead before that.
Plus, do your best to encircle the enemy to destroy him when he does rout.

I must warn you, however, that Ermor, even Broken Ermor, is not the best opponent for a war of attrition. And I a not sure Man is the best nation to try it either

Remember, for a war of attrition, you need to kill him faster than he can recruit, while taking losses no faster than you can replace them. Losing expensive units, particularly one with high ressource cost, is not the way to do it.

[ywl]

Originally posted by Coffeedragon:
I am playing Man/Tuatha against a nmber of difficult AIs on Urgaia, been at war for half a dozen turns with Ermor/Broken.

Even though I have twice as many provinces as they (~11-14 against ~5-7), it looks like I can´t win. It´s not so much their Undead but their Human troops that seem invincible. Longbows can´t hurt them, Knights don´t fare so well against the Legionaries, even Daoine Sidhe occasionally falter. A couple Troll mercenaries were my only unit that could really pound the Legions, but they are gone now, and Ermor replaces their losses with phenomenal speed. It looks like they may win the war of attrition, and time is running out for man.

Heeeeelp!!!

As General Tacticus said, Longbows should work in enough number (>30 to 40 in a group). Man's Longbows are very powerful. I think you might able to win a game versus AIs with Longbows alone .

Few rgular units can match Man's knights, or other good quality knights, in one-on-one combat. They're probably overwhelmed by number.

You also seems to be using all those high-end units. Man's tower-guards or axemen may not be the best heavy-infantry around but they're adequate versus the legionaires. Remember, you want number before quality in the game.

Number of provinces is not the most critical, it's the total gold and gem (in you can use them) income that matter. Who is higher? How about army size? The AI has a tendency of keep throwing their units at you. If you keep on fighting, ending each battle by inflict a larger casaulty on your enemy than what you suffered, eventually they will break (unless another AI decides to attack you also from another side before that ).

[Coffeedragon]

Originally posted by Zen:
Bards can't cast panic.

Are you sure? Me thinks the rulebook says any Magician can expend a Gem to cast a spell that is 1 above his level.

If opponent has nowhere to retreat, Panic should (theoretically) be able to kill, not individual units, but the entire army. Of course it depends on the question if Panic does stack? (In the sense that 6xPanic has a higher probability of success than 1xPanic. If that is so, and I kill an army of 80 with a Grand Thaumaturg, why on Earth should that be a waste?)

[Coffeedragon]

Originally posted by General Tacticus:
Longbows not working ? Are you using enough ?

They do very well against the undead, but badly against the Principes, Praetorians and such.

[Graeme Dice]

Originally posted by Coffeedragon:
If that is so, and I kill an army of 80 with a Grand Thaumaturg, why on Earth should that be a waste?)

Ermor has standards to counteract the morale loss caused by panic. You'd have to get very lucky to have panic break them all by themselves.

[Ragnarok-X]

i recently played Man aswell, though the normal Theme.
My suggestion: get 2 or 3 of the crones, summon lots of vine ogres. Start pumping Longbowmen whenever you can, and put the at the end of the battlefield covered by the vine ogres, they SHOULD do really well, esspecially against Elmor since your arrows wont really "miss". If you have problems with the undeads, banish them. If you can afford buy those guys with the green cloaks, they are REALLY good, set them to hold and attack for one or two actions.

hope it helps