Baalz' guides

[DonCorazon]

Note: this post applies to guides in general.

I like guides mostly for specific synergistic tactics that can often be applied to any nations. Sometimes they just remind me of things I know but forgot, like using Transformation on high cost mages - I saw Cleveland do that it in a game about a year ago, but forgot about it in a game I am playing.

It would be foolish to treat the guides as a how-to manual – I mean, if they really were prescriptions to victory, those authors would have numerous victories playing the nations they wrote about. The MP graveyard is full of players who tried to follow guides rotely. In fact, tactics and strategy often are trumped by luck and diplomacy and what works in some games vs. some opponents won’t work in others. Guides are useful as a base to expand on and a primer on units/spells/combos.

Thanks to anyone who takes the time to write a guide or throw out ideas. I know what you mean though Dragar that sometimes its nice to experience the adventure of unexplored wilderness. Just have faith that these guides are not complete explorations but tattered maps with lines like “Here there be Dragons”

[Jazzepi]

I really like guides, personally.

I just find them exceptionally useful when I look at a nation, and I can't think of anything useful to do with them. Often times one of the more experienced players can tease some nuggets of gold from even the worst nations.

Jazzepi

[JimMorrison]

Originally Posted by Baalz

Sorry, my guides are all based on default settings, where noted (all the recent ones) using CBM.

I'd be surprised if anyone would write guides for anything but Default settings, without explicitly stating such. Independent settings especially really tamper with the precision often layed out for your first year of expansion - even bumping to 6 can have a profound impact on what you can or cannot do efficiently - and pushing it higher can totally marginalize some tactics altogether. I think that most guides are written from an MP perspective, where time and efficiency are critical, and settings do not vary wildly except in the more exotic setups - extrapolating them to SP means that you have to adjust to your own world, but gives you more flexibility, as you are under less of an "X provinces by turn Y or lose" sort of pressure.

Originally Posted by Baalz

People are always asking if its CBM or not, what the settings are,

Well CBM can dramatically change things. For example, in my Fomoria guide, my Lady of Springs went from 2W/1N for 125 points, to 1W/1N for 0 points. It's a large change that yields up additional options. I think most strats depend less on the vanilla/CBM distinction once in game, but pretender builds will vary greatly between the two environments.

[Dragar]

Oh I never take a guide as a prescriptive method of how to play, and I certainly appreciate all the work that goes into the guides, of which I have read most and borrowed heavily from. It was just a comment that sometimes when I read a guide and someone has gone through a large number of strengths, niches, options etc for a nation I feel that there is less for me to discover. I pretty much select nations now on those with the least information published

[Agema]

The guides are all very valuable, especially from someone as expert as Baalz. If for no other reason, you can see tactical ideas that can be applied generally by many nations, and they're generally well optimised and brimming with ideas.

There's one very important thing to be careful of with guides, however: everyone can read them. That means not only have you seen tactics that can work for you, but your opponent probably has (and certainly should have). For nations that are highly versatile, say able to switch from thugging to powerful armies or with a wide range of good magical paths available, this isn't such a big deal. However, for more one-trick pony nations, you really need to plan something useful outside the guide. Otherwise you'll head off to battle with your opponent knowing almost exactly what's coming his way, and that's a recipe for defeat.

[Trumanator]

Awesome, my list has been pretty much annihilated. I guess now I'd like to see Tir, EA Ermor, and LA C'tis, though not in any particular order. Keep it up!

[Tolkien]

How about MA TC? There isn't a guide for that (that I know of).

[Trumanator]

True. It seems like TC is pretty similar in just about all ages though... I dunno.

[JimMorrison]

There are gross similarities, but very significant differences, as well. All of their mages are actually quite distinctively different, per age, except the constant of the Master of the Way.

Warrior of the Five Elements is a great special purpose cap only Bless troop, but Ancestor Vessels have altogether different usages, and the MA Sacred cav may well not be worth investing in a Bless for at all.

Not as different as say the 3 ages of C'tis, but I absolutely love EA TC, and I can't play either of the other ages the same way.

[Tolkien]

Let's not forget Conscription. An inexpensive way to amass PD.

But yes, they don't really carry on at all. There are some basic strategies that do remain the same, but for the most part, they each need different strategies.