Posts from The most comfortable and uncomfortable opponents for the Stronghold.

In your opinion, which factions are most vulnerable when facing the Stronghold, and which ones perform well against it?

Humans and Dwarves are the most challenging opponents for the Stronghold, IMHO. The easiest are the Inferno.

In my opinion, the most challenging opponents are those factions that have strong magical support. After that come the factions with weak magical support!

In my opinion, they are all quite good. Other Orcs might be considered inconvenient. But you can manage any of them; some are just easier, and some are more challenging.

Overall, I think it's difficult to play against factions with high defense and factions specializing in dark magic and chaos magic. Although dark elves, for example, take a beating in melee combat due to their low defense, and you still need to learn how to effectively use the chaos magic + troops combination.

It’s tough to play against Inferno, especially with dark magic, in my opinion. Nightmares and dogs reach the orcs, disrupting their rage... If there’s a tactic with a speed aura or boots that increase speed, then not only they will reach, but others too. Imps will steal mana, and the orc will have trouble with spells. And the hero himself will weaken the army with spells, and if he has enough mana to cast vampirism and/or mind control, the orc will be in a very bad situation. In general, it’s difficult against races with high initiative. However, orcs compensate for their average initiative with leadership, which is almost always leveled up. Defense isn’t a big problem for orcs due to their high attack. The damage won’t be insignificant; races with poor defense will suffer greatly.

As strange as it may seem, the Academy is a tough opponent. They have a huge amount of magic, and the Orcs will specifically need to learn how to use Silence (a silly name, by the way). The hero casts spells every turn for the Mages, throws spells like Light and sets traps, calmly casts Rain on their Golems and Gargoyles, which they then quickly move into the thick of the army in one turn... Again, with Mages. And he doesn't have to choose between taking new or old Mages. With new Djinns, he reduces luck, but physical damage is all the Orcs have. Usually, an Orc doesn't just stand there and shoot, protecting the ranged units with other troops, because he doesn't have very good ranged units himself. And he has to run from cell to cell every turn so that he doesn't lose initiative. So, he runs forward in a crowd. And this is a real joy and happiness for the Kshatriyas (as well as the new Raiders), because the troops lose formation, huddle together, and they can be easily eaten. And also, he can cover them with Fireball... Well, and Gnomes, of course, because they are tough, have a lot of defense, use Defensive Formation, and have Readiness (because Gnomes are taken most often), and with their ultimate ability, they are practically invincible. Again, because the Orcs only have physical damage.

But if the Orcs reach your troops (and you can’t take them all out with Fireballs), your mages are doomed. Their defense is minimal against high attack power. However, if you equip them with self-made artifacts that boost initiative and cast a mass haste spell... and also level up their leadership... then the enemy troops will move very rarely (it has happened before...). In general, everyone has something to counter the Orcs.

Another difficulty in playing against a mage lies in the fact that it would be beneficial to upgrade Animancy, but it's unclear which one, as the mage can, in principle, learn any magic thanks to the library (though probably no more than two). But I would bet on luck and barbarian luck, and ignore anti-magic.

And readiness is an incredibly cruel thing! It's hard to imagine a combat griffin with this skill in its defense! Attacking it is suicide. And unfortunately, the dwarves don't have creatures with infinite resistance...

I mostly focus on luck and leveling up; I don't need any of those specialized skills. They're too niche to spend six skill points on.

Vaishan, you're forgetting that the Mage's troops are pretty good. Is it bad to send a golem into the thick of the enemy, have it take damage, but also rain down spells, deal damage, and heal? And I'm saying that after going through traps, not much will be left of the poor da crushin' n' stampin' boyz.
In general, each race has some difficulties against any other. It's a rather vague topic.

Hmm, readiness... a steel golem with that would look interesting. On the other hand, have you ever seen a psychopathic mage leveling up readiness? Even Razazak doesn't do that...
However... it would be quite original! And the enemy definitely wouldn't expect it:)
In my first game with the Academy, I'll level up a character like that just for fun.

Moreover, the mage's troops can be strengthened with mass spells of light magic and mini-artifacts. A mage with high readiness is nonsense! Teleport golems deep into the enemy's rear, then into defense... MEAT! (but they cannot be resurrected with chaos magic, as the new ones do not have infinite resistance). And how will a human hero behave against orcs? Will he focus on defense? Then perhaps we should expect readiness from him as well? Here's a scenario: Executioners with level 3 fury (double attack + cleaver = 3 attacks) attack Battle Griffons in defense with upgraded readiness. First, the griffons attack, then the executioners, then the griffons again, then the second attack of the executioners, a counterattack, and so on with the 3rd attack, i.e., the griffons counterattack 4 times! The damage of the last counterattack will be 5.0625 times greater than the first. And in general, it would probably look quite amusing...

Firstly, traps are a matter of chance, and golems are small creatures. Secondly, as I already wrote, when the golems are reached, they are doomed. Especially after the second upgrade.

I don't understand why their size matters. But traps are a must-have. And I personally use them often, as do many others, I think. So, go ahead, try to reach me!=(
And in general, you ignored the point that "you forget that the Mage's troops are pretty good."
I think neither golems, nor rakshasas, nor gargoyles will die as soon as a half-dead leader reaches them. And even though djinns are weak, their damage is quite good.
Also, if he levels up Light magic, his troops, under buffs, will be no worse than elite orcish troops. And Divine Vengeance will make all sorts of wyverns pay dearly for their "reaching."

P.S. Another trick I'll try in my next game as an Academy mage is Expert Darkness...

Vaishan was likely referring to the traps that the Goblins set. And it seems that, like me, he was also confused by the phrase:

and I said, after passing through the traps, not much will remain of the poor da crushin' n' stampin' boyz=(

ps, another perversion that I will try in the next game with an Academy hero is expert-level Darkness...

But why is it a perversion? Mages, as I already said, are proficient in any kind of magic. But it would be interesting to experiment by combining light and darkness. We cast mass Weakness and then Stone Skin at an expert level. Or a combination of Weakness/Divine Power...

Well, I was actually referring to the summoning magic traps. There are 8 of them, but they are placed randomly, and their damage isn't that high (especially for a mage). It's better to cast Meteor Shower instead.