Posts from Orcs – discussion about the race. Auto-translated

That’s exactly what I’m saying – it’s better to be prepared. It’s better to spend four levels on anti-chaos skills than to helplessly watch your army units fall one after another. And if things go in a positive direction, well, that’s still better than such brutality with chaos. And the Dark Elf isn’t stupid either; he might as well upgrade his summoning skills, as there are several extremely useful spells there (for example, the phantom spell on red dragons, which activates quite quickly, if not immediately).

And how should you protect yourself against a hero-mage? Should you max out all 4 anti-magic skills? Level 4 is too much just for protection. And a Warlock almost always uses Chaos magic. It's still risky to guess. A mistake can be costly.

Perhaps the mage doesn't have a powerful ballista or an even more powerful sworn enemy. And he doesn't have an Arcane Wave either, so you don't need to be too afraid of Chaos magic. But it's worth investing in Anti-Magic. Although, of course, it's all a matter of personal preference. You can choose not to upgrade any of the resistances. Just don't complain later that the Sylvan faction has a "cheating" ballista or that Dark magic is "overpowered" against Orcs.

I had a great battle here: SYLVAN vs ORCS (Ossir vs Goshak). In short, Sylvan's troops:
200 Dryads
290 Dancers
316 Shadow Archers
60 Druids (2nd tier)
50 Unicorns (Child of Light)
45 Treants
Orcish Horde's forces:
900 Trappers
670 Centaurs (2nd tier)
150 Warmongers
110 Daughters of Earth
100 Chieftains
20 Paoka
And, despite all this, Sylvan had 4 Dragon Artifacts. Sylvan's skills: Attack, Logistics, Luck, Light Magic. Level is approximately 24. The Orcs had a Mastercraft Amulet and a couple of artifacts for morale! Orc's skills: Attack, Luck, Leadership, Logistics!
I was just shocked when I saw that the Daughters of Earth went first at the beginning of the battle, and this is considering that 4 Dragon Artifacts give initiative to the troops! I'll tell you the result right away! The Orcs completely crushed me with a significant advantage! I couldn't reduce the Orcs' Rage, and I simply didn't have anything to reduce it with! (THE DAMAGE TO THE ORCS WAS JUST MINIMAL (EXCEPT FOR THE SHADOW ARCHERS) DUE TO THE RAGE THAT ABSORBED A SIGNIFICANT AMOUNT OF DAMAGE). This was my first battle against ORCS! (I didn't know much about the Orcs back then). And the moral of this battle is:

CAN THE ORCS BE DEFEATED WITHOUT CHAOS MAGIC? I DON'T THINK SO, ESPECIALLY IN THE ULTIMATE OR LATE GAME! BUT A RUSH AGAINST THE ORCS IS A STRONG STRATEGY!

SHDDR, I disagree: the Stronghold also has some good heroes for rushing (Tilseck, Haghesh). If the map is small, we take one of these heroes. Tilseck: we upgrade the rapid-fire ballista, fire arrows (the rest of the skills are up to you), and then we enjoy it :). Of course, there is a chance that the elven archers will take it down, but they will have to think carefully: who to kill first (centaurs or the ballista?), and there is also a choice: warmongers (tormentors) - because that's the hero's specialty! Haghesh: there is a chance that the centaurs will go down before the archers (the hero's specialty), and that will hurt... Almost nothing will remain of the archers, and the elves without this strength (in a rush) will not be able to do much. So, it's a debatable question...(I'm talking about: "BUT A RUSH AGAINST THE STRONGHOLD IS A STRENGTH!")

Ha! Of course, a hundred warlords will defeat 50 unicorns, just as 700 kentaur will defeat three hundred dancers. Nothing supernatural. By the way... um... an orcish hero... named Goshak?))))))

Added after 10 hours and 53 minutes
So, am I right, are orcs poorly represented in duels, or am I just missing something?

Goshak is a hero from the Stronghold faction, and he specializes in assassins and their upgrades! And this isn't a duel, as you think, Loken! And 700 guys are unlikely to take out 300 Wind Dancers – firstly, the Wind Dancers will go down first, and their ability gives them +2 to defense for each tile, so for 8 tiles they'll get +16 to defense (plus +1 from the Boots of Speed). And the Hidden Archers will take out all the guys, and even if they don't, they'll leave about 100! By the way, Loken, try playing against the Orcs in the ultimate or late game as Sylvan or Inferno, and then write about what happened! And this Goshak has some really awesome leaders!))))) They're the ones who made the whole game!

Prizrak, I agree with you, but what will happen if you take machines alongside the Orcs and Elves? With a stunned arrow, 3 shots, and ignoring defense, it will be quite a spectacle! So you're right, this is still a debatable question!

Hmm, I just logged into the game and remembered this hero. I used to see him all the time, but now I'm only paying attention to his name – wow, it really is "Gosha." What a strange name.
Actually, I realized that "Bidvo" isn't a duel; there aren't any... "Goshaks" or that many troops.
And why wouldn't 700 centaurs be able to defeat 300 dancers? Especially combat dancers? The dancers' defense won't save them. If they move 2-3 squares to avoid direct attacks, they won't have any defense. If they run the whole distance, they'll be hit directly. They'll still get crushed. The centaurs will simply overwhelm them with numbers. You even said that you were defeated.
What are these "secret archers"? Are they blue?
And yes, the warlords are really tough. But if they were executioners, you probably would have lasted even less time.

Added 2 minutes later
Although, I don't know how you could have lost so badly, you had a great army. At least three hundred archers for Ossira... that's crazy... it must have been luck...
And you could have used ents to tie up the ubiquitous warlords.

CAN THE HORDE BE DEFEATED WITHOUT CHAOS MAGIC? I DON'T THINK SO, ESPECIALLY IN ULTIMATE OR LATE GAME! BUT A RUSH AGAINST THE HORDE IS A STRONG STRATEGY!

Hmm... It depends on what kind of Chaos you mean. If it's Chaos Infusion, which deals almost no damage, then it won't help much. But if you take Chaos Warlock, the damage will be high, but other difficulties will arise. And Special Ability (SA) takes a long time to develop; it's at least level 25, and the skills aren't the most useful. And if a Barbarian manages to develop SA, then another hero should also develop to that level, or develop more useful (in his opinion) skills. At first, many considered the Orcs' racial skill to be overpowered, but a counter to the Orcs was found quite quickly. In my opinion, it's a well-balanced race.

2 Lock
I haven't played much in duels (I haven't played online at all), so I can't judge. But I sometimes beat Sinistar when controlled by the AI, and sometimes I don't (he's a jerk, he always casts Armageddon when he's losing! And because of this, he can win!). In my opinion, they are quite well made. I need to try them against others.

Duels are pointless! In a real game, everything is different! In duels, Orcs are very weak... but on a real map, Orcs are very strong.

Firstly, Loken's treant chieftains took out my treants with their first successful attack, but if they hadn't, I probably would have figured out how to bind them! Secondly, how am I supposed to protect my archers without treants? They then mowed down my unicorns and then the archers, and the archers only attacked once, killing all the centaurs! I was lucky that the Horde hero didn't have the "Shriek of the Host" spell! Even the dragon artifact I was almost finished assembling didn't help! And that's why I think you shouldn't let the Orcs drag out the game, and you should also try to somehow reduce their rage! By the way, the special ability for the Elves against the Horde is pretty good; I think it's worth taking. It's a shame you can't take a special ability for Ossir!

Actually, this was my first real battle against the Horde; I'll be smarter next time!

SHDDR, you use Chaos to disrupt Rage, right? But what if I take Krag as my hero? And level up his Stun skill (there's a thread about this: it's in the hero discussion section) + Keen Mind. If you take Chaos, it will deal very little damage, so you'll need to take level 2 Druids and cast spells on your hero, as I understand it. But I'll strike the Druids first (so they'll be pushed back on the initiative scale), and thanks to Keen Mind, my hero will be able to act again fairly quickly, and then I'll react to the situation (for example, I can use Shout, attack the archers, or attack the Druids or dragons again: there are many options...).

Krag... well, take Krag! Try him out, and see if your eyes don't get tired from trying to figure out who to attack (archers, druids, or dragons)! Besides, don't forget about my other units (unicorns, wind dancers, dryads). I'd rather play against Krag than against Goshak with his wild Assassins and their upgrades! And Krag doesn't have any troop bonuses! And I think Krag is pretty good for a rush, but not so good for an ultimate or late game. Although the idea is very interesting! ...YOU GET IT!

SHDDR, you completely misunderstood me... I was talking about rushing right now!!! Of course, in the late game, the hero's initial attack will help me, and what can he do against dozens of dragons?... it's funny... Of course, for me, the most optimal hero for the late game is Goshak, and he also has a pretty good start (he has reinforcements). And Krag is also quite good in rushing. In general, I think it will be difficult to play against Elves at any stage of the game, whether it's the late game or rushing... After all, with a well-positioned ballista and a rain of arrows (let's say with a fireball), it will be very difficult to win. But I have a couple of interesting ideas; I'll test them and tell you! ;) P.S. Write down some thoughts about playing against Elves...

Actually, I think Stronghold has a lot of good starting strategies for developing a hero against Sylvan, but Sylvan also has a couple of unexpected surprises! Get ready, Prizrak!