[Pex]

Originally Posted by kyrubb

1. Immediately after the beginning set the tax to 2.0 gold per population and put it down only if the unrest is unsupportable.

Actually, I didn't know about this one. I kept the tax on default 1gp for the whole game. But I can see logic behind it early in the game when you don't have as many pop per city to worry about unrest.

2. Use Alchemy a lot to get a) 100 or even 150 quids early, to have a lot of offers of heroes. b) a lot of mana in the mid / late game. Alchemy trait feels almost like an exploit here. Heroes are crucial.

Doesn't seem to always work. Like usually as soon as I get up to 150gp a hero approaches me, but then after that I can have heaps of gold and it may take ages for the next hero to come. That's why I like to choose 'famous' trait, but it costs 2 points and on hard level there's so many things you want/need. It's hard to strike the balance.

3. Use Magic spirit as a scout + use F1 surveyor reports to find out where are located the nearby cities. Attack neutral towns as soon as possible to overtake them and use their stregth for expansion.

Yep, that's given. F1 rocks when it comes to scouting Unfortunate bit is that many of those cities are often in such a stupid place - not only they don't use the local resource (being just a square too far) but spoil the location for the better city. Then there's a dilema - raze them and get the better location, but have to start from the beginning + build settlers and wait as many turns as the settlers need to get to the location, or keep the city that will never grow to be as efficient as you'd like it to be? If I choose to raze it, I save the game before the 'siege' and proceed with razing only if it costs me no fame. Fame is precious. Hmm, I sound like a celebrity here

555. Diplomacy - Use spell gifts if you need to maintain good relations (works until turn 100, than useless due to a bug). Avoid nearing cities for 3 turns = war. After turn 100 you can usually be closer to the AIs in terms of economy.

Haven't been much of a diplomat really. I like exchaning spells (especially if I have a useless spell to offer ), but turns out that enemy will attack me sooner or later anyway, if I'm in their way (litterally, like in that example I used). And even then they won't consider being at war.

999. (This are no real tricks) + Build Granary, Marketplace, Farmer's market early in all your cities. Nothing beats the utility of these buildings. + try using shooters a lot, they are THE power of the game. + Every spell colour has some "must have" early spell(s) that make your life much easier, Heroism, Confusion, Web, Hell hounds, Phantom warriors.

Yup, been doing that, though I usually fit in a sawmill before marketplace - makes building faster and of course allows production of bowmen. I normally use high elfs as the starting race - they generate more power and their longbowmen rock. Nomad horsebowman are also good cause they can deal some damage in close combat as well and they move 2 squares, so if your army has pathfinding (either from hero or combining mountaineer and forester unit) and is consisted from 2 moves units, you can cover 4 squares per turn.

As for spells, I have to admit that I've only recently realised full value of Phantom warriors - I conquered more cities by using them than with any direct damage spells. Though if the city has walls, they get a bit useless.

Originally Posted by kyrubb

5. Power distribution: early on, forget about research (if you have some starting spells already), concentrate on building up your skill quickly and (secondary) to have enough mana to cover the upkeep! Later move it slowly into the research. - Investing in the mana on the power screen is generally not much reccommended, you can have tons of mana later thanks to alchemy.

Can't believe I never thought of this one. Thanks for the tip.

779. For nodes, Node mastery is incredibly useful trait, because it allows casting your powerful early spell at the node. Much much better.

Can't agree more, but again it means more points for traits... and you have only 11...

Thanks for reply. As you can see, I didn't know all of those tactics.

Btw, why don't you join?