Posts from Discussion about the Stronghold faction. Auto-translated

I played through Broken Alliance on "Normal" difficulty with the Stronghold faction again. It went better this time, taking 32 days. It wasn't too difficult... I had to chase the enemy heroes for about 7 days. I might try "Hard" difficulty. But it seems like it will be tough. I upgraded Mokko with the following skills: Education, Reinforce, Restoration, Healing, Push, Logistics, Steal, Training, Aggressor 1, 2, Endurance 1, 2.

By the way, I think that in terms of how easily they can defeat neutral creatures in the early days, the Stronghold faction is in 2nd place after Necropolis, if not in 1st. It's much harder to do this with Haven and Sanctuary.

Exactly! And if you also take a mage and level up their magic skills, then Orcs are unmatched. We take 16 harpies, a hero with a +40 mana specialization, take the Restoration spell, and fly around, avoiding melee units, while the hero takes them all out. Harpies are the most convenient basic unit: high initiative and high movement range. Besides, Orcs also have special abilities for defeating neutral creatures. I described some of them in the "Quick Start..." thread.

ramzez, I will soon be playing with your faction. Question: I don't quite understand the Stalkers. What are their special abilities? I mean, the upgraded ones, when they don't attack but do something else. I tried it, but I don't understand what's really going on there. And do you have a hero who specializes in Stalkers? If he's good with Stalkers, what additional bonuses are there? And tell me a little about your faction's strongest units and ability options.

It seems there are no downsides to using Stalkers, unlike the Priestesses: they do exactly what they say they do. I'm writing about the upgraded Stalkers right away. It's like night and day: they can affect all your units or all enemy units. On your units: +1 to movement and initiative. On enemy units: -1 to movement and 3 damage (earth). Unimproved Stalkers do the same thing, but only on one target and a little stronger. By the way, the computer never uses Stalkers in duels for some reason.
There is a special ability for the hero: +2 Stalkers. It doesn't give anything other than an increase, and it doesn't necessarily require the hero to be in the Castle – he can wander around anywhere, and the increase still applies.

2. The limited capabilities of your mages.
3. The weak ranged attack capabilities of Cyclops.

Or maybe you were just playing as a Warrior? If you play as a Mage, the magic damage will be stronger, including the Cyclops' shots, as they deal fire damage. You can play comfortably as a Mage – the start is faster. I described this in the "Fastest Start..." section. In general, choosing a Warrior for the Orcs is much more promising than for all other factions; I am sure of this.

The only thing I haven't quite figured out is "Strength vs. Magic." Sometimes it works so that when I cast it on the Weavers, their Tower moves, and they spend the entire duel fighting only in melee, and for some reason, in spider form. It's actually nice because in human form, they are stronger, and their Deadly Gaze works.
Strength vs. Magic also works normally on Sanctuary.
And now I just beat the Necropolis. In the first turn, I cast Strength vs. Magic, but the Weavers immediately started shooting, and they did a lot of damage to the Centaurs, although it didn't help them.
Maybe they dispelled it? I didn't look at the combat log. I'll look next time.

Chingiz, you haven't figured out Strength vs. Magic, but rather the Centaurs! When they move, they take two turns: one for shooting and one for moving. So, if you cast Strength vs. Magic on a Centaur and then have them shoot, the effect on them will end at that point. The same thing happens if one of your units has Battle Fury and you move them after that. I fell for this myself at first: it seems like I've protected everyone from magic, and then I see that someone is getting hit hard by that same magic. :) You just need to be more careful. When I fight the Undead, I often have the Centaurs skip their turn just so everyone is protected. The same goes for Battle Fury – I just defend with everyone. You just need to carefully monitor who has Strength vs. Magic applied and for how many turns, taking into account the Centaurs and Battle Fury.

As for the fact that the spiderlings fight in human form for the entire duel, that's just the AI being bad. It always fights like that if they are blocked. And if they can shoot, then they only transform and shoot. It's just a noob. :)

Chingiz, I won't quote everything, I'll just write it down.
1. It's clear that the Aura of Retribution level 3 is better than Stone Skin, I'm just playing as a warrior.
2. You're testing in a very original way. There's a simpler way. You set the duel mode on one computer, then you cast Stone Skin or whatever you're testing, then you have the enemy stack attack your unit in Stone Skin, and you see how much damage it can now do.
3. Regarding Earth Magic 3. I checked how Snow Striders attack. I noticed a positive difference. If you cast Poison Cloud on Spiders, and especially against a mage, you won't really see a difference due to their high magic resistance. Take Earth Magic 3 and see how much better the Idols become for the Orc Mage in Tears.
4. In Fire Magic, I take the skill that increases initiative and attack, not Battle Fury. Especially with mages, it's great: you can move before they cast Petrify and Mind Control on you.
But in general, well done, Chingiz. It's a pity that you can't play with you over the network. (Please buy the full version. :))

Chingiz!
1. Flaming Resolve is great when spells that lower morale are cast on you. For example, in duels against Necropolis, they often cast Fear on me so that my unit retreats from the shooters and they can fire. After that, this unit is not very effective for another two or three turns. Therefore, it is good to have General Flaming Resolve with you to have a worthy response. It immediately removes the spell and activates the warriors; that's the trick.
In general, when playing as an Orcish Warrior against the Undead, there is one thing that makes the Necropolis players cry over the network. It's called "General Inner Flame." I cast it. Then, Panthers attack Lamassu (if you position them correctly using tactic 2), take some damage, and First Strike is activated. After that, everything goes smoothly. Plus, the racial ability accumulates faster than the Vampires' turn, so Dreamcatchers also have time to move. In short, after the Vampires' turn, only Crushers move; the rest move earlier. The ideal goal is to remove the Lamassu with Cyclops. After that, they have one more turn, plus initiative and morale. The second goal is to block the shooters. Considering that the Cyclops' attack pushes the unit back, I sometimes manage to block the shooters with Dreamcatchers, even if they are surrounded.
If everything works out, the Necropolis starts moving when they are already without Lamassu and with the shooters blocked (and, in a favorable scenario, with two of them blocked).
I crushed these Necropolis. :)

2. When I cast Strength Against Magic, for example, when playing against Inferno, I couldn't shoot at Lilims and Broodmothers.

What nonsense?! Strength Against Magic protects your warriors, not the enemy's. If there was something like that, it was probably related to the Demons' ability to disorient the enemy, not the Orcs' racial ability. It only affects your own units. (At least in the licensed version! (And soon, an update should be released. Then there might be a big difference in our disks.) :)

3. I place the Earth Idol, but the Necropolis still moves.

And shouldn't they?

Respect, Chingiz! Sort it out!

Chingiz, I've read everything you write. Good job trying to figure things out, but it's pointless to comment on all the glitches in your game because you're not using a legitimate copy; it's some unknown version. If you have a legitimate copy, just set up a duel against yourself on the same computer and test it, and there will be no problems. Otherwise, we have to keep clarifying things because there's no guarantee that everything is working correctly.