Alexander's Ever-Expanding Tome of Knowledge, pt 2

[thejeff]

Yeah, build Jarls as thugs and use the other mages for research.
If you're not sending a mage out to fight, why is Gygja wasteful?

[Meglobob]

Well...Honeybadgers method is extreme but it is very sound in principle. I am basically following a similar strategy in a MP at the mo. Basically why recruit inferior units? Just recruit purely sacred troops and have a massive bless, then the giants of Niefelheim can walk where they wish and none can stand before them, hopefully!

[HoneyBadger]

That's what I'm going with here, that you not waste gold on mages you can pretty much *only* use for research. Why not use Jarls to research for a while, and then have more Jarls around by the end of the game, since you can only recruit 1 mage-type a turn from your home-province anyway?

Why use that single slot for a mage that isn't also a Jarl? Yeah it's great to recruit other mages at other provinces for research-go ahead. But in your home province, you've got two choices, a Jarl or something *Other* than a Jarl.

[Sombre]

Why buy 'inferior' troops? Maybe because they're cheaper and make better researchers.

[HoneyBadger]

Niefelheim doesn't really need that much better research, though. I mean, 5 Niefel Jarls with really good spells and 35 gygjas aren't going to do a lot better than 40 Niefel Jarls with mediochre spells.

[thejeff]

No, but 20 Jarls out fighting and 20 Gygjas back home researching will do better than 20 Jarls out fighting and 20 Jarls at home researching. Especially since the savings on the Gygjas will let you buy more sacred Neifel giants to go fight with the Jarls.

The better research will let also let you equip the Jarls sooner, raising both their effectiveness and survival rate.

Gygja also have different paths and can thus you summon, forge and site search more than with just Jarls.

[Manuk]

Don't worry, honey badger is in a Jarl-Rage state.