advice Caelum vs Marverni

[Cor]

So i am getting Killed in a MP game. I am playing Marverni , its turn 9, i have no resarch to speak of and there is an army of elephants knocking on my capital door.


How can Marverni stop masses of Caelum Elephants early in the game with little or no magic? Is this just another EA Ulm vs Hordes of elephants "you cannot win" situation?

[lch]

Elephant spam in early game is deadly in almost all cases.

[johnarryn]

Yes, it is pretty much a "sorry, bad starting opponent" situation, Cor. Your boar warriors can actually hurt my mammoths somewhat when they get berserked... but of course, my mammoths trample them before that happens much.

I wouldn't say it's a terribly original tactic, but mammoths are rather necessary for Caelum's early expansion, since all they have besides that is decent archers and crap infantry.

[KissBlade]

Well, despite the fact that I think there are numerous imbalances in the game, I'm hesitant to say anything nation vs another nation is a "you cannot win" situation. However, in your case, it sounds more like you're in a situation way too deep. Given that you're using a weak nationals nation, you really need a combat pretender for the early game to defend against things like this. Judging from your post, I'm assuming that isn't an option currently and with the enemy already sieging your capital, you're really in trouble without being able to move your army and having done very little research. Are there any low level summons you can cast? I advise spamming them and stalling the siege till you can reach either level 3 alteration or level 4 evoc or level 4 thaum, whichever is the tree you're closest to getting. Also any info on your pretender? Troops at hand, any provinces you may still control?

[Teraswaerto]

Defense helps against trampling, so massed bare chested Ambibate warriors might work, but I don't have specific experience with this situation, just conjecture.

Paralyze is a good spell against mammoths, but I guess you don't have it yet.

Boar Warriors would not be good choice IMO, few numbers and they die quickly.

[Meglobob]

Yes, I have been practicing with elephants and they are very deadly against any neighbour without a awake SC pretender and small, size 3 or less troops in the first 20 turns or so.

However, a couple of slim ways to try and combat them,

1) Amass as many archers/crossbows and even slingers as possible. In combat put them all on fire monsters, which means they will exclusivly target the Elephants.

2) Amass all your troops on the left or right of the battlefield. You have a 50/50 chance of being a bit further away from those Elephants. Elephants seem a little slow when trying to turn around. This gives your archers time to inflict the damage.

3) Put PD upto 30, well the elephants trample your PD, your archers inflict damge. If you win, your PD will be restored.

Using the above tactics I have been able to win vs elephants and have even took no losses, the PD as taken them. Remember each elephant costs 100gp+ so elephant users after put a considerable portion of there economy into them. So every one dead hurts your enemy badly...

[Cor]

They have yet to reach my capital, they are one province away. I have no pretender at this time. I went for scales and a nature 9 bless instead. I am soo far away from getting any useful spells its not funny. recruited a researcher nearly every turn, but i still dont have anything to show for it, its only turn 9.

I have been getting the max Boar Warriors every turn, they have been useful, but i need more of them.

[Teraswaerto]

Nature 9 blessed Boar Warriors are not good against big tramplers. Pretty sure regen does not help and berserking actually hurts.

[Shovah32]

Cavalrys size and defence can help, as can the cheapest ranged weapon you can get(hits=morale checks).

[Shovah32]

Berserking stops you routing and allows you to hit hrder and more consistently. However without some chaff mixed in the low defence will kill you.