I've beaten this several times, each time using different ruler and sometimes trying to exploit different strategies and I must say that... everything works here! Although I love the game the difficulty level is way too easy. I like all the little things - character portraits, how the characters refer to themselves, duels, graphics, province management - it's not just spots on the map like in Genghis Khan (good game too).
There are several strategies that I've employed:
- The cautious one. I believe pretty much everyone did this since it's the most intuitional one. You conquer lands step by step, trying to secure your borders with most champions and leaving one champion to manage each of the provinces deep inside your country. Attack troops are deployed from provinces that border with the least number of enemy provinces (preferably just one). Back then I didn't even realize that there is something called 'peace level' and if this is high enough then it'll be very unlikely that the tribe will attack you. I suppose the GLARING "tribute" option in the citadel wasn't obvious enough. Also it's not a good idea to leave provinces unattended, even if they are behind your borders. If the enemy knows about the province he can simply cross over your line of defense and settle down there, then rape you from behind.
- The peaceful one. You just pay tributes to everyone, then swallow the smaller ones until the bigger ones become small enough and swallow them too. That's the easiest way to win the game and the most boring probably. Of course you need to do some conquest in the beginning since the prestige level is not high enough to gain control even of the smallest tribes.
- The "I'm worse than Fomor" one. I think it's been mentioned here already. You destroy everyone and everything. You keep moving and leaving the provinces with no resources. The goal is to get as much champions as possible, since they're the most important thing in this game. Once everyone is ruined you simply move your champions to empty provinces, end of story.
As for the champions: their skills don't mean that much to me. As I said you can beat the game with pretty much anything. Therefore I pick 'em based only on their physical appearance. My favorite champions are (in the order of preference):
- Warriors - Deirdre, Morrigan, Skatha, Finn, Nuada, Cuchulainn, Ailell (is it just me or does he look like Christopher Lambert from the Highlander movie?), Findabair
- Bards - they're all useless, although Sinnan Og is the only one I usually took into battle. Probably because I played her as a ruler.
- Druids - Faun and Fedelma (they both level slowly however), Llea, Calatin, Lleflys.
In my most recent playtrough I tried playing two tribes at once - Sinnan Og's tribe and Sligo (Medb's tribe). After I conquered all of the computer tribes I staged an "epic battle" between the two rulers. The rule was only one: the king doesn't get touched untill all of his comrades are defeated. The tribe who brought the most druids won the battle... I exiled Sinnan Og simply to see what's going to happen with the tribe. Lugh was promoted as the new ruler and the control was taken over by the computer. That's one way to lenghten the gameplay, I suppose, instead of surrendering one of the rulers to the another. I didn't get Sword of Nuada in this playthrough because Skatha's tribe was conquered before the event took place - and I know it would take place because it did before the game hung up and I had to reload previous save... I must say the computer used the tribe that was given to him pretty skillfully. Probably because it had plenty of champions spread evenly over the border provinces at its disposition. It even managed to ram Lugh and his comrades deep into my territory. The computer was either smart enough or lucky enough to attack provinces where I had no druids stacked and went immediatelly for the battle chief. Each druid in the army makes the battle easier for the owner exponentially. Computer's champions were very resilient to recruitment (resistance is NOT futile, lol) and it kept attacking me to the very end.
Balor was a formality.
The battles are pretty easy too. I mean, if all it takes to win the battle is to destroy the leading champion then where's the strategy? I once took a druid-only army and defeated my foe before he could make a move. All it takes is to cast orb of lava spell at the enemy leader several times. I didn't try this strategy again because I realized how lame it is. Genghis Khan II worked in similar way, but computer there was better at protecting the leader's legion.
I like to round up enemies into provinces from where they can't run away anymore, then I kill the leader and behold their entire mighty army fall before me on their knees. HA HA HA.
Also the most helpful weather is the mist, since computer has difficulty using his druids for healing.
As for the most useful spells I think these are Heal and Lightning (in this order). The first one is pretty obvious and the second one can turn any infuriating weather (like blizzard) into rain. Plus in the rain the Lightning becomes extremely deadly.
Sometimes I scout my delegated provinces to see how the computer manages them. It usually puts all the champions into the farming, even if the province is already covered in crops! And sometimes champions just stand idly doing nothing. It reminds me of Ghenghis Khan II where provinces managed by my generals usually had little to zero gold, no soldiers and LOTS of food. However in GKII I usually put weak generals as governors since they are less likely to rebel and easier to defeat in case of rebellion
(and I have no problem with executing them later on
).
The interface could've been done better. Sometimes it's annoying how the cursor will not lock onto the field where you want to move your character in the battle. I also don't like that you have to place your hero in specific position on the province land to begin work like mining or woodcutting. If the options are separated already then the guy or gal should be smart enough to pick a spot by himself/herself - either the closest one or the one with highest level.
Remake anyone? I can think of several ways to make the interface better (especially since now we can use higher resolutions). I guess it won't ever happen since the game relies a lot on it's graphics, and lots graphics require a team who is willing to work, for free. Then again there's this Free Orion project...
BTW:
Luchta - is this a coincidence that he's "Luchta the Carpenter" and he also looks like Jesus?
TL;DR