Fighting against neutral Sorceresses. Auto-translated

Maybe it's a slightly stupid question, but is there any way to deal with neutral mages (Druids, Mages) without losing a bunch of archers or all the militia? For example, you need to capture a gold mine, you don't have Knights or Angels yet, but it's guarded by Archmages. With low initiative, the archers don't have time, and the mages manage to take about 40 archers with them to the grave, and even more peasants. The neutrals prefer archers over peasants, so you can't use both together. At the beginning, archers are the backbone of the Haven army, and I wouldn't want to lose half of them in one battle with neutrals, because if an enemy hero comes and attacks, there will be no one to defend with:smile15:

Added after 2 hours 34 minutes
I think I've figured out how to deal with Druids and Mages, you just split them into several stacks, and that's it, but Archmages can cast spells... I don't know how to fight them. Ah yes, splitting into stacks only works in the case of one stack of mages, but if there are 2 or more, you know what happens :(

Leave only those creatures in your army that have good defense and decent initiative. Take Inquisitors, Paladins, and armored units (maybe even Griffons, but they will only be useful if they appear before the Mages). Cast Haste on the Knights and Stone Skin on the Inquisitors. I think the Mages won't be able to kill more than two or three Paladins and three to five Inquisitors (not such big losses). And they probably won't even pay attention to the armored units (they're just for safety:rolleyes:). At least the archers will remain unharmed. But maybe I'm wrong :).

Paladins and Inquisitors appear too late, and without a gold mine, even later. The whole point of the topic is how to overwhelm Sorceresses with initial troops of levels 1-4, because it's not possible to find troops higher than level 4 by the 2nd week, and a gold mine is very much needed. Isn't there any "clever tactic" :) and are large losses inevitable? :(

Archers have too weak defense, armored units won't make it, the only hope is for griffins (if you have them), and without paladins and inquisitors, it's unlikely you'll be able to win without significant losses. I can't say anything else. Wait, maybe a very clever strategist will show up and offer some worthwhile advice.

I'm not a super strategist... but armored units are a good option. If I'm not mistaken, they have some protection against magic and ranged attacks.

Archers have too little defense; armored units won't make it, the only hope is griffins (if you have them), and without paladins and inquisitors, it's unlikely you'll get away without significant losses. I can't say anything more. Wait, maybe a very smart strategist will show up and give some worthwhile advice.

They can reach the target in three turns... The thing is, armored units have so much armor that they can withstand it. Another thing is that when they reach the target, arrows won't be raining down on them anymore, but lightning and fireballs will. The third problem is that, as far as I know, druids are quite good at melee combat and can finish off the remaining armored units. But, considering that they are controlled by AI, and it likes to use all its mana on the first turn, there is a chance. Well, and griffins are also good, but armored units are cheaper.

They have some protection against magic and ranged attacks.

You're mistaken; it's only against ranged attacks. Now, let's get to the point. For a Knight in the early game, spellcasters pose a real problem, which can be solved in several ways (besides brute force):
1. Develop the Tent and Ballista. The Ballista is very likely to attack before one of the stacks is destroyed, and the Tent will resurrect units, reducing losses significantly.
2. Use Greater Griffins (or regular Griffins under Iris) and single-unit Peasants so that the spellcasters don't waste their spells but attack, allowing you to eliminate the spellcasters before they take off (which deals double damage). However, you need to accurately estimate the damage ratio of the Griffins to the health points of the spellcasters; otherwise, you might fail.
3. Transfer Gremlins, Fairies, etc. (i.e., those units that the AI also "likes") from the left hero and hope that they will be distracted by them, but this is a very risky method.
4. An exotic approach: buy a Necromancer hero and summon Skeleton Archers to distract or Greater Ghosts to drain mana. If the Necromancer is purchased in the first week, by the second week, he may already have a large army of 400 gold worth of units.
You can come up with other methods, but they will be very rare in practice.

Thanks to everyone for the answers. The ballista is really great; I checked it out today. Plus, it only costs 1.5 gold in the Haven forge. The best combination is griffins and the ballista – fly up, shoot with the ballista, and finish off with the griffins.

Um... have you tried completely dismantling the army? I mean, dividing, say, the Knights/Zealots into a bunch of small squads. Or the Griffins. Losses are significantly reduced (especially when dividing the Knights/Zealots).

P.S. "Significantly" means dividing 50 Knights into 10/10/10/10/10. Or even smaller, if there are enough slots.

Um... have you tried completely dismantling the army? I mean, dividing, say, the Knights/Zealots into many small squads. Or the Griffins. Losses are significantly reduced (especially when dividing the Knights/Zealots).

I don't think that will help against the Archmages))). They'll scatter your stacks with Fireballs. Well, Griffins are generally the best option; the others move very slowly and are not suitable in any case.

You can hire a hero with units that the AI likes, for example, Ossir with archers. Take three stacks and, together with your own troops, attack.

Hmm, thinkers, it seems you forgot about the allied protection skill of the Knights? Or if I'm wrong, tell me what it does.

Is this about the Latniks?... They provide 50% protection to all adjacent stacks from archers and ballista attacks; it doesn't affect magic!

And if it also affected magic, would it be useful?)) Archmages just need a pile of meat. Just don't touch the neutral mages)))) That's all. Well, if it's really necessary, then minimize losses in every possible way.

Could you please provide more details about the methods?

I don't know about the others, but Necropolis units completely wipe out these Archmages without any losses.