Uses of Indie Soldiers?

[Taqwus]

Ah, lizard shamans. They make decent communicants for nations without a cheaper one -- not Pythium or R'lyeh (well, Star Children can't be recruited inland, IIRC so even R'lyeh might find them useful).

[Psitticine]

I'd forgotten about the indie Raptors! I don't seem to see them that often, but I'm a happy camper when I do!

[Norfleet]

Originally posted by Spacepain:
First of why use indies to expand, almost always your own troops are better, higher moral, attack, defense etc. and you can build your troops faster because of the fortress located in the provinence.

Some indy provinces allow the hiring of unusual mage types, which are always good to have, to expand the diversity of your national magics. Some nations, such as Mictlan, have craptacular regular troops, for which even Indy HI and HC can be an improvement. Other nations lack archers, etc.

Secondly, how do you build the indies in sufficient quantities to make them of any use? Thee aren't any fortifications so production can be very slow 2 or 3 units per turn.

I do believe you've just answered your own question: Build a fortress.

[PDF]

Many Indie units are quite useful :
* Amazons are great
* Shamans are very useful : you can use them for Communions with non Astral nations - just have to build some Matrixes
* Scouts !
* Longbowmen and Crossbowmen are better missile troops than most the "national" ones
* Even Hvy Inf (the 15-prot type) can be used by "non heavy" nations that have no "cheap" high-prot units (Mictlan, or Jotun that have very hvy troops, but only giants)

[Tricon]

And don't forget moose riders . Seriously, in early to mid game a nice stealthy army can to wonders for your game.

[tinkthank]

Trying not to repeat what has already been said:

- Cavalry is nice if you are playing any nation without horsies.
- Heavy Infantry is nice if you are playing a low-armor nation (Mictlan comes to mind)
- Water nations will like just about any landlubber units when fighting on land
- Land nations will like underwater units if wanting to take over and keep some water provinces
- The ice cream vendors are nice if you are playing Abysia or Machaka.

[AhhhFresh]

How much does indy units affect your fortification strategy?

I'm playing around with my R'yleh strategies in an SP game... in this game I have a couple of coastal land provinces that border my capital that can produce knights... is it worth building a 40 admin fortess on the knight province that will suck resources from my capital (that I really don't use anyway), as opposed to moving to a more "strategic" province?

In general, how do you balance indie units vs. strategy vs. resources available in selecting where to put a castle?