A strategy to counter "glamour"?

[PaoloZ]

Hi everybody, I just received the game and set up a game playing EA Atlantis.
When I got out of the waves I found a large part of the coast was under Helheim control.
A war broke out and I got pounded really hard by those pesky huscarls with Glamour.
My armada of hard collected Heavy Cavalry got crushed when they got exhausted due to their continued attempt to strike those illusions. My archers were of totally no use and my Basalt King kept throwing Blade Wind at them to little effect (with Summon Earthpower it was casting at E7). When my center block turned tail (their mage kept casting terror) I got nicely trampled, and finally realized the AI has set for me an ambush by cutting me off the coast in the same turn with, guess what, glamour sneaky troops.

Is there a way form me to fight them?

And why the mirror image effect has been called Glamour? Maybe they sport their entire set of dresses in battle to confuse the enemy? Or they dress with glossy paper from fashion-magazines?
Have I been beaten by a mob of northmen fashonistas?

Shall I equip my Shamblers with Armani coats?

What a shame for an Italian like me to be beaten this way...

[Teraswaerto]

PaoloZ said:

And why the mirror image effect has been called Glamour? Maybe they sport their entire set of dresses in battle to confuse the enemy? Or they dress with glossy paper from fashion-magazines?
Have I been beaten by a mob of northmen fashonistas?

Glamour used to mean magic power. The meanings of words change over time. The Vanir are very glamourous.

As to how to beat them, try different summons and battle magics. Heavy cavalry don't have very good attack or morale, and Blade Wind doesn't work well against Van troops since they wear some armor.

[thejeff]

Area effect attacks/spells and trample both work well.

[Agrajag]

Glmour
-noun
magic or enchantment; spell; witchery.


IIRC there was already a pretty huge thread on the subject of glamour and the beating of, though you'd have to do some searching to find it.

[PaoloZ]

Thanks Agrajag, just kidding about the more frequently used meaning of the word...
Will search for answers as you suggested

[Wish]

100% precision spells usually knock a unit out of glamour, try frozen heart.

[Cor]

Try thugs with eyes of the void. Or try that other artifact that dispels illusions.

I also like area effect damage spells, shimmering fields come to mind. Thos seem to work nicely.

[PvK]

Heat and cold fields, and clouds of poison, also work. Atlantis can probably manage at least bog beasts if they get a lab on land.

[HoneyBadger]

A good strategy for specifically beating EA Helheim with EA Atlantis...well, it wasn't easy for me to come up with one, quite frankly.

If I have to fight Helheim, I'll play Tien'Chi almost every time, and chances are I'll win, but with Atlantis, it takes an enormous amount of patience and focus to grind Helheim down.

In the right circumstances, I believe EA Atlantis can beat Helheim on a level playing field, but in most cases-and these cases will involve short games-Helheim is going to win.

The problem is this: 1 on 1 a heavily blessed Living Pillar makes mincemeat out of any Helheim basic unit, providing the Living Pillar goes berserk (so definitely high Nature bless, and I was using atleast 2 more high blesses).

Unfortunately, Living Pillars simply recruit far too slowly, and it's really difficult for Atlantis to grab enough land provinces and hold them against Helheim,

Controling the water is a given, but by the time I conquered the water, Helheim always had the upper hand on land.

What you really want and lack with Atlantis vs Helheim is speed. I'd suggest arming your Basalt Kings with those magical wings, boots of the behemoth, shield of awe, and horror helmet. Adding a good wand-weapon, like a rune-smasher or a rod of the phoenix wouldn't hurt, and then maybe an amulet of anti-magic and an amulet of luck.

Since you control the water, on a really small map you should be able to hold Helheim off long enough to be able to produce and equip those Basalt Kings and enough Living Pillars that you'll overwhelm Helheim with brute force rather than number, providing it's SP not MP.

In MP games, Helheim is balanced heavily against Atlantis-Helheim simply moves too fast. But, in MP, Helheim has the disadvantage of people percieving it as a much greater threat than it really is, which means you've got a good shot of Helheim getting wiped out early in the game.

The best method of destroying Helheim 1-1 in MP with Atlantis may be by using a small map with a decent amount of water provinces-the smallest "wraparound" map (if you want the game to end this year, anyway), conquering the water, and then advancing slowly on land. Build fortresses on each land-province you want to keep, make sure your fortress-chain can't become isolated, and have atleast 10-20 Living Pillars guarding each fortress, along with lots and lots of PD.

Living Pillars are great at defending castles, and with a heavy bless, Helheim should bounce off of them like insults off a rubber elementary student.

Eventually, you should be able to snuff them out.

[Saxon]

If you have access to earth magic, there are some good spells that destroy armor. Once those are cast, it is easier to hit and damage the enemy, which helps a lot. They are also area of effect spells, so you hit a lot of them. Helheim have shields, which makes the arrows next to worthless. If you can get wind guide or (much better) burning arrows, they become somewhat helpful. However, you may not have access to those magic paths as Atlantis…

I tend to have fairly long, grinding battles with them, even with the magic. Spells that boost your morale or defense help keep your troops in the fight long enough to wear them down. I hate it when I get rid of most of the glamour, but don’t actually kill many of them. Use large numbers of troops in each unit, it helps with morale.

Put these ideas together with those mentioned by other posters and you can beat them. There is not single “magic pill” to win, you have to make sure your shoes, belt and tie match to win the “glamour” war!