Orcs vs. Humans

2Mdance
A seasoned "writer" like this should have been more honest with his "readers" long ago. :D

I fully agree that in the build variant described slightly above in this thread, Expert Tactics won't help the Cyclopes go earlier. If you consider the +5 army morale of the Orc and the Expert Tactics of their hero, the mathematical expectation of Cyclopes ATTACKS on the enemy army will be almost 2 (slightly less) even without initiative artifacts, meaning roughly 3 of their turns before a possible Subjugation.

Still, they won't reach the target in one turn, unless the opponent is an idiot.

They will deal serious damage, and Luck might kick in. But will that be enough for a final victory if they are subjugated immediately after? In most cases (averaged across all races), I believe not.

The presence of initiative artifacts won't strongly change this initial stage of the battle. The main question is how the Orc's resistance fares, and how the opponent's Sar-Iss staff fares. Without decent resistance, it's not worth attempting such a tactic at all; the Orc is not weak at all in the late game to take such a risk.

Now for the sad part of this tactic.
The Storm Wind variant doesn't leave room for Education (unless at level 30 and without Luck :p), which not only negatively affects the hero's stats but also forces them to find 2(!) native secondary dwellings to implement the onslaught. Without starting at Rage level 1, the tactic is simply crushed by the opponent's Expert Tactics.

If this isn't a specially designed map with 2 secondaries right next to you, finding them on a random map is unlikely.

Another serious problem is the opponent having a combination of a high-initiative unit + Empathy and/or the Lion set. Because then, a hero with Expert Tactics only needs one early morale check (read: 50% probability) to prevent the cyclopes from attacking at all. That's why Storm Wind is often taken (if any forum users still haven't realized this), to protect yourself from griffins and other flyers.

But who said only the Orc knows how to split his army? And that the Knight didn't find a secondary dwelling where they could get a fast low-level unit—a dancer or a fury, for example? And many other races don't even need to look...

Moreover, at least 150 chieftains are needed—15 weekly growths. If a native secondary isn't found very quickly, then this is no longer the late game (and the second month is already the late game :) ) but some strange understanding of heroes. 4

Conclusion: the tactic exists, it can be effective, but it doesn't qualify as an uber-weapon for the Orc, and often it doesn't even justify splitting the army