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[Japo]

The system is that hand-to-hand combat always has two phases, skirmish and melee. If neither attacker or defender has a skirmish rating the first phase is bypassed, but the good thing about skirmishers is that they inflict damage and supress before melee units can respond. Alternatively if you equip a melee unit with a magical weapon that gives it a skirmish rating, it gets much more effective against other melee units since it gets to weaken it somewhat (the skirmish rating will be little) before the definitve melee phase. Also Legionarii for instance have a skirmish rating. Right now I'm not sure as to whether air units can't be engaged in skirmish and bypass that phase.

At the beginning when both are unexperienced melee units can deal much more damage than skirmishers, and that remains true to a lesser extent until the end, only that melee always has more casualties on the other hand. Rookie skirmishers inflict only 0, 1 or 2 damage on the initially more powerful melee units, but you should use them as much as necessary to make them gain experience, and research them. Once they're upgraded and experienced, they can really cut any melee unit to pieces without any possibility for it to respond. Try and you'll see, only at the beginning you have to baby-sit skirmishers because they're puny with no experience and can be easily killed, but afterwards they're the best assault troops and infantry lines supported by archers are more suitable for containment and so are much slower advancing even relative to their movement rating.

Also the attacker gets the initiative but only for each phase, so if a melee unit without skirmish rating attacks a skirmisher (i.e. skirmisher proper or light cavalry), it would get to attack first but it doesn't since it can't skirmish; then the skirmisher applies its skirmish rating; and then during the melee phase the attacker is too weakened to cause any damage. When the skirmisher is not experienced its first skirmish counterattack is not enough to save it from the subsequent pounding during the melee phase. But I've seen rookie enemy units that got themselves killed by attacking my elite skirmishers!

I wouldn't do without skyhunters, that's making your life too difficult if not impossible. You must get enough of them to always have aerial suppremacy, and as experienced as possible, so it's good to purchase them even before they're needed for them to gain experience in the meantime. Once you've killed all enemy air units they're very nice to disrupt the enemy at his weakest point or to crush archers hidden behind enemy melee, and if they get damaged they can retreat most easily. Plus even after you've killed all enemy air units, the enemy will recruit more in his remaining towns.

This game is nice but too repetitive in the end for me. I played it more than PG but the latter has a richer strategy, there are tons of things you must consider, terrain, entrenchment, close defense, rugged defence, hard, soft, etc. In FG it all comes down to melee and skirmish, missile (especially when alone not supporting) and of course magical attacks are secondary, anyway the system is really simple in comparison.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Japofran @ Sep 11 2007, 09:28 AM) [snapback]310160[/snapback]</div>

infantry linesare more suitable for containment and so are much slower advancing even relative to their movement rating.
[/b]

btw, even hvy infantry can be really quick, unsing "force march" spell
hvy infantry with force march can pas with force march even two montain hexes in one round, or any other hex that absorbs all movement

when to use force march (at start f round or not) depend also if it uses road. if it use road then before, marching through heavy terrain first move normal then forcemarch.

what you said about skirmish and melee ("missile" attack needs also to be mentioned, which missile is even before skirmisch) is correct.

well, sure the game may be repetitive. i guess PG is also repetitive
stil there is the option to make arena battles, and test armies

(in the last year i never played any SCN only multiplayer with a friend via LAN, and we made something like ARENA (with certain umber of points and using custom MAPS and edited equip-Files (PG2)) and that was pretty fun. PG is surely a lot of fun. i must see if i can get PG 1 someday again and then play it also again.

I am playing the game from my original CD bought 10 Years ago and I am experiencing problems when I finish a continent. The game basically freezes when it tries to show the pictures of the continents.

I am running from Dos-Box and the rest of the game works quite fine. Including the superb music :-).

But playing only the first 3 Scenarios is actually quite boring.

i can imagine that

becasue continent 1 is the most easy, thats for sure.

the other have their own problems. For example continent 3 tends to be easier than 2 since on continent 3 you will have realy powerhouse units and your army is in egneral much more epierienced, so the enemy "expierience" kicks way less in.

in continent 2 you may have get a slightly better army via specialized research, but your troops are not that much expierienced and the enemy units will have a lot of expierience.

btw, its really worth to serach the internet about information about Fabntasy General - i will post some here.

to solve your problem i suggest just to try the version available here at Abadonis. play the Music from an external programm

the soundtrack is also available in the internet, btw

[Mabuse]

Hi, its me "the Guest"
finally i decided to register


btw, after playing a bit PG1 again i must say that PG1 is old and slow.
if you know what to do its easy.

FG is newer and its combat system is deeper as you think.
this becomes important when playing other players

i recommend read this expert forum
http://p208.ezboard.com/Archived-FG-Messag...tasygeneralfrm3
(this archive contains tons of useful information)

http://p208.ezboard.com/Fantasy-General-Me...tasygeneralfrm1
(actual board)



but there are so many more things you may not realize when just play campaign against ai. special abilities like "heroic" or magic items as "amulett of resistance" get much more important. "cloak of invisibility" for archers ....



here is a FG league (and of course other PG leagues and stuff):
http://fantasygeneral.generalsguild.com/



A little Strategy Guide (along with the Information form the Expert Forum) it should offer some help getting started:

A Beginner's Guide to Fantasy General PBM.
Version 2.1

----------

By Sebastien Dupre - a.k.a. Ventura
Nick Vayn - a.k.a. BloodLord the Lich/Dark Mage


Feel free to distribute.

----------

If you've never played FGpbm, you'll notice that the strategy is VERY
different from campaign or scenario games.

************************************************** ****************
-->This isn't meant to be a complete strategy guide, only a small
guide for beginners to avoid common mistakes. But remember,
there is no substitute for experience!
************************************************** ****************

Comments preceded by "**" are things on which we have different views,
but isn't that what makes this game fun?

Each section contains short basic tips and detailed explanations for some
of the tips. These explanations are meant to benefit those players who
have played a few pbm games but have not mastered strategy yet.

----------
***PURCHASING STRATEGY...UNITS***:

You will often win or lose a match based solely on how good your purchasing
skills are. In fact a bad strategist can beat a good strategist just by
outpurchasing him/her. Therefore you should give plenty of though to what
units you want to put in your army. Here are some basic pointers.

-Heroes are usually not worth buying. They're WAY too expensive and they only
have 10 life. But if you are playing with max lv 3 or lower units AND you
have lots of money for the number of units you need to buy(roughly 1000/10
units or more) then a hero might be useful. The best ones to use are Valira,
Morg, Malkin, Witch of Icethorn, and Deathlord Rapax. Valira and the Witch
of Icethorn are inexpensive and offer support for your air units(Witch of
Icethorn can attack air units from below with her missile attack), Deathlord
Rapax and Malkin are expensive but have a strong magical attack and will
destroy enemy units that are lv 3 or below fairly easily. Morg has no
magical attack but his regular attack is among the strongest in the game
without exp and his defense is excellent. A good guage for heros is whether
the hero has a significantly better attack/defense than any other unit(s)
you can buy for that amount of money. If the answer is yes then the hero
is worthwhile, otherwise you are wasting your money. For example,
two monks are far better than Morg BUT Morg is a more worthwhile investment
than three legionarrii or two legionarrii with experience.

-You will usually need a good mix of unit types to win. Forget about light
infantry, spellcasters(except for druids), and bombardiers; these units
are only good in special circumstances and should be used as novelty
units. Concentrate on buying as many good heavy units(heavy infantry,
cavalry, and sky hunters) as possible, use a few light cav and skirmishers
for scouting purposes, a few archers for protecting your front-line units,
and a few seige engines for helping against enemy air units and archer
fortifications.

-You should rarely use units with 10 life because they are easy for your
opponent to kill with one or two attacks. The only ones that are worthwhile,
if their unit grade is the maximum and they have decent experience, are lv 3
and lv 5 mech units with amulets and earth elementals.

-It is crucial to win the air war. DO spend lots of money on your Sky Hunters.
Other ways to attack the enemy air force include ground units with magic bows
(esp. cavalry units), siege engines, archers, units with a storm staff or
whirlwind staff, and fire wizards. Make sure you can attack the enemy air
power both from the air and the ground and that your have enough anti-air
power to survive the loss of your sky hunters.

-Remember the units you loved to hate so much in campaign? Now you
can use them. Hmm, could I be talking about flying monkeys, wearbears
and shadow warriors? When playing at their level, they usually are a
best-buy. Here is the list of heavy units which are excellent choices
for their levels...

lv. 5: shadow knights, shadow dragons, shadow warriors, monks of meo*,
pheonix hawks**
*only if you are Krell or Marcus w/ Archmage
**only if you are Krell/Aelcar
lv. 4: sandmen, flame dragons, ghost riders
lv. 3: lionmen, ogre centaurs
lv. 2: werebears, shadow wings, harpies*
*if you cannot buy shadow wings, which are a better choice
lv. 1: barbarians
lv. 0: unicorns, flying monkeys/wing riders

The following heavy units are inferior to all other units of their type
at their level and should be avoided:

lv. 5: nightmare
lv. 4: samurai, power lancers
lv. 3: trolls, cataphractoi, black dragons
lv. 2: giant, chariots*, hydra*, mastadon*, silver dragons, eagles
*in other words, lv. 2 cav are not worth buying; get lv. 0 or lv. 1
cav with exp instead
lv. 1: ogres, swordsmen, heavy cav, green dragons, pegasus, gargoyles
lv. 0: warbands, orcs, wyverns, flying snakes

Get the impression that the neutral mortal sky hunters up to lv 4
are garbage? Well, that's right!

-6 spearmen (used carefully) should easily tear trough 10 samurais.
sometimes it is better to get a few less units, but better ones.

-Terrain should play an important role in your purchasing strategy.
If you buy tons of cav for a battle in the forest, you are wasting
your money as not only will the cav be less mobile than other units,
but they will not get their +8 charge bonus.

In open terrain, buy more cavalry and less skirmishers and light inf.
In forest and rough terrain, buy less cav, more skirmishers and light
inf, and avoid too many support units such as sieges, spellcasters and
archers as they will slow your army down in the rough/forest.

-Set up games with limited resources; this will teach you what
unit/items/exp combinations are the most valuable.

-TAKE YOUR TIME to choose your general, advantages, and army. Choosing a
general and advantages is just as important as choosing units because
those choices affect what units you can buy and what gold discounts you get.

Max unit grade should play an important role in your choice of general and
advantages. The reason for this is that at lower grades(0-3), the good units
tend to be better than the evil units while at higher grades(4-5) the
evil units tend to be better than the good units. The exception is sky
hunters... the evil ones are always better than the ones the good side can
get. Therefore try to pick a good character at low grades and an evil
character at high grades, and note that if you are playing a good character
you must figure out how to compensate for your lack of air power. Using
Krell's magic units is one way to compensate; amulets is another way
(see "THE MAGIC OF THE AMULET OF RESISTANCE" below).

When choosing advantages, choose ones that complement each other. For ex,
choosing both archmage and beastmaster is somewhat counterproductive since
they both give you extra units that you can purchase, and it is unlikely
that using both beasts and magic units will help you more than choosing
another advantage. A good rule is to pick at least one advantage which
gives you extra units to purchase and at least one advantage which helps
your units in battle(healer, charisma, dwarven, forest) or helps economize
your gold (warlord, general).

-Compromise between more units/items/exp. You cannot win without a good
balance of all three.

----------
***PURCHASING STRATEGY...ITEMS***:

-Always purchase a skull of krang (limit is usually one)... Duh!
Best units to give it to: light cav, heavy cav, skirmishers.

Why?
Because the cav have good movement while skirmishers can turn
invisible so you can hide your skull unit from the enemy. And both
skirmishers and light cav can convert wounds to morale loss, making them
harder to kill than most units.

-Remember the items you wish you had ten of them in campaign?
Now you can have ten of them (depending on the item limits)!
Items are usually a good way to screw up your adversary.
BUT, do the math! Is it better to get an axe or experience which
upgrades both attack and defense? (it depends on the price of xp
and if you suspect your opponent will use amulets of resistance...)

-Some items are vital and always worth the investment, including the skull,
healing staffs, storm staffs, and amulets of resistance.

-Another vital decision is which units to give various items to.

Items that act as spells or cast spells such as the skull, staffs and
wands should be given to light mobile units such as light cav or
skirmishers who have weak attacks and will be able to use the item
each turn.
Magic attacks are much stronger than regular attacks and simply giving
a unit a magic weapon can greatly increase its attack. Therefore, magic
weapons should be given to units who do not already have a magical
attack; heavy units should get preference over light units since they
can do more damage. However, magic bows should be given to cav or other
strong ground units(see "NICE UNIT/ITEM COMBINATIONS" below).
Boots of Rapid Movement should be given to slow units such as monks,
spellcasters, or archers.

----------

***HOW YOUR OPPONENT'S STRATEGY WILL DIFFER FROM THE AI'S***

Luckily, humans are far smarter than the AI in fantasy general, making for
a more interesting challenge. Here is what you can expect...

-Your opponent is (usually) as smart as you! In other words you cannot
depend on him/her to do all the stupid random moves the AI does. Usually
the opponent has a purpose to each move. That lonely archer sitting there
without protection just might be a trap!

-The AI usually picks on many of your guys. Your opponent will most likely
gangbang a few units until they die, or prevent them from resting (and so
should you!).

Take care of your wounded units. Versus the AI, units with only 10
life left could still used. Versus a human opponent, they will most
likely die.

----------

***BATTLE STRATEGY***

If both players purchase armies that are similar in strength, then the battle
will be won or lost on the battlefield. Clever players have even been known
to get away with some poor unit selections through excellent battlefield
strategy, but the purchasing and strategy should be coordinated. You should
purchase an army with a particular strategy on how to use depending on what
the opponent has purchased.

-Plan your troops deployment carefully. This could give you a one turn
advantage on your enemy. Deploy slow units in the front lines and fast ones
in the back... it'll save you from waiting for slow units.

-DO NOT RUSH TO ATTACK. Place your army carefully and try to get
the first wave of attack. Always attack and defend in masse.

Position your units so that either you can attack the enemy with many units
at once, or you can counterattack with plenty of units when the opponent
attacks.

-Scout ahead! You cannot plan your strategy if you cannot see the enemy
army. Therefore buy some light cav with the eagle eyes spell and use it.
Skirmishers and any worthless units you have also make good scouts.

Try to eliminate the enemy scouts so that he/she cannot see your formation.
You cannot underestimate how important it is to see the full layout of the
enemy army; if you do not see it, you might be ambushed by reinforcements
you did not see lurking behind enemy lines.

-Beware of your opponent making your units surrender and try to make his/her
units surrender! Note that only melee units can make the enemy surrender
and air units and shadow warriors(hint, hint...) never surrender.

Leave a break in the back of your lines(so that the opponent cannot send
units to stand in those hexes and block your escape) every two or three
units to prevent surrenders if you use formations where your troops are
all next to each other. Remember that you can send worthless troops to stand
in hexes that your enemy can escape to and block off their escape, thereby
forcing a surrender when you attack.

-Take all precautions necessary to prevent wounded enemy units from resting,
but don't follow them into unknown territory with a better unit unless you
know you can kill them because the enemy might be waiting in ambush. Either
scout the territory you are following into or use a unit that is expendable.

Sacrifice whatever you need to in order to keep the enemy skull unit from
resting and kill it. Killing the enemy skull bearer is always the most
important step in achieving victory.

-READ THE USER MANUAL AGAIN. Remember which unit gets which bonus
and when it gets it.

Playing with level 1 units? Peasants get a +3 bonus in forest and rough
terrain! This can make a HUGE difference for wimpy units.

Also make sure you understand the difference between "closed" and
"opened" troop formation. this greatly influences movement and bonuses.

Getting to know every bonus will let you know which units should attack
which enemy units and which terrain to use. For ex, cav attacking in open
terrain get a very useful +8 bonus and +4 defense(a little known fact
in terms of defense) BUT not against pikemen, legionarii or spearmen.
So do not charge into these units with your cavalry.

--------

***ADVANCED BATTLE STRATEGY***:

Here are some simple strategy tips that can prove invaluable in battle
but are not often used by most players.

-When you spent most of your gold on big strong units with items,
fill the rest of the army slots with slingers/goblins or wolf
riders/light cav maxed out in terms of exp.

Such units cost only 12-13 gold (for slingers/goblins) or 40-50 gold
(for wolf riders/light cav). They will be strong enough to really bother
your opponent, and won't cost you too much. PLUS they can can be used as
shields(see below) and can help to make enemy units surrender. Lots of
uses for such bargain units make them a good addition to any army when
money is tight.

-Shield your good units with your lesser units and scouts. Just placing a
wall of light cav in front of your main lines will prevent damage to
your good heavy units because your opponent will have to use 2-3 attacks
to kill each light cav screen before he/she can attack your valuable units.
Light cav/skirmishers are cheap, and you can easily purchase more as
reinforcements when they are killed, so you can use this strategy many
times in one battle.

-Learn the rules of where a unit retreats in a given situation(it is easy
to predict) and plan your attacks so that the enemy cannot retreat to where
you cannot finish them off with other units the same turn.

In general, PLAN OUT your attack BEFOREHAND so that you do not leave enemy
units with little life where they can rest or escape. Remember to account
for the worst case scenario when playing your attack. What if the expected
2 attacks are not as good as the expected losses? Do you have another unit
there just in case?

Try to attack with your farthest units first. that way, you'll still be
able to reach units who retreated or units that could not be reached
before you cleaned up some enemies.

-Two archers side by side make for a strong tandem. It is tougher for
sky hunters to attack them and any units next to both archers
are virtually invulnerable to sky hunter attack provided the archers
are decent grade and exp.

Just watch for surrenders; it is easy to make units protected by double-
archer fortifications to surrender. Leave a break in the lines when using
this formation.

-Why get a healer when you can get a light cav with a staff of
healing? Such a combo is faster, tougher and cheaper.

----------

***NICE UNIT/ITEM COMBINATIONS***

You can maximize the usefulness of items by giving them to the appropriate
units. Giving a magical axe to a skirmisher will be much less effective than
giving that item to a heavy inf unit. Experiment to find the right
combinations;
the most useful ones are listed here to give you a start.

-Any melee unit(especially cavalry) with a magic bow/crossbow will inflict
major damage to flyers but occasionally other pbm players will have
rules against this sort of thing.

-Any sky hunter with an amulet of resistance.
(see "THE MAGIC OF THE AMULET OF RESISTANCE" below)

-Cav or light cav with staff of healing. With their movement range, they
can reach more wounded units in time than other ground unit types(see above).

-Light cav or skirmisher w/ storm staff as extra anti-air defense. Again,
mobility is the key and these unit types are hard to kill so they are more
likely to be able to stay alive longer when under attack. A light cav with
storm staff can harass a flyer nine hexes away at the start of your turn
(6 movement + 3 hex range of staff), and makes for an invaluable unit in
the air war.

-Light cav with eagle eye(the spell, not the item) carrying cloaks of
invinsibility always make valuable spotters.

-Spellcasters with cloaks of invinsiblity. You can pick at the enemy units
without your opponent ever knowing.

Druids have a really powerful attack, and they can cast it on any unit in
any forest or swamp hex from anywhere on the map, so hide them in the
corners as they do not need to be close to the enemy...

**NICK: Spellcasters other than druids(who can stay far from the enemy)
are useless anyway, so why bother spending money on a cloak for them?
**SEB: Earthmasters can sometimes do wonders...

----------
***THE MAGIC OF THE AMULET OF RESISTANCE***

For 23 gold, this can be your most valuable item. It will offer great
protection against any magical attack or spell for the unit wearing it.

-Any unit with a magical attack(whether it has a magic weapon or regular
magical attack) will see its attack go down to a fraction of it's normal
power when attacking a unit wearing an amulet! Your unit gets 1.5 times
the armor against the magic attack which will usually reduce damage to
nil or close to it unless your units has a low armor rating.

-Remember that MOST bad guys have a magical attack!

Here's an example of an amulet-induced disaster:
one player [ Seb ] got the bad guys and the other one got beasts with amulet
of resistance; the MOST damage player1 could do to player2 on any attack
was 1 wound !!!

-Magical units have superior attacks power to regular and beast/mech
units but always keep a few strong units with non-magical attacks in your
army just in case the enemy has plenty of amulets. This will prevent
instant losses such as the one described above.

----------

***ADDITIONAL PBM RULES***

After a few games playing with the regular victory conditions set by the AI,
you will be looking for a more interesting alternative. Well, here are some
rules designed to spice up your pbm games and give you new challenges or
even the odds by providing handicaps for the stronger player. Don't be
afraid to come up with your own twisted rules.

Here are some examples of alternate rules:

-"Kill the Leaders" (by Ed Henry - a.k.a. #Crow#)
Rule(s): Each side gets 3 "leaders" who cannot turn invisible (using heroes
is a good idea).
Victory Condition(s): The winner is the one who kills the other guy's
leaders first no matter what's left of his army.

-"The 3/5/1?3" Rules" (by Sebastien Dupre - a.k.a. Ventura)
Rule(s):
max. unit grade = 2
grade 0 units get a max of 3 shields.
grade 1 units get a max of 5 shields.
grade 2 units get a max of 1 shields.
grade 2 units WITHOUT A SPELL get a max of 3 shields.

You set limited ressources AND the obligation to fill all army slots.
This will ensure that:
1) Cheap grunts stay cheap grunts (as opposed to overpowered
slingers for 13 gold)
2) Strong units are expensive
3) Units with a spell are a bit less powerful than units without a
spell
Victory Condition(s): Same as usual

-"Pot Luck Rules" (by Nick Vayn - a.k.a. BloodLord the Lich/Dark Mage)
Rule(s): Real simple... Both players pick any warlord and let the computer
choose their army.
This eliminates players winning solely on purchasing and forces you to
beat your opponent with strategy and a little luck.
Victory Condition(s): Same as usual

-Here are some standard rules over which my opponents and I have agreed:
(Use them as you see fit, and come up with your own)

*Maximum 1 skull of krang (standard for everyone)

*Melee units cannot carry magic bows

*Limiting the number of amulets of resistance is a good idea because they
completely eliminate the effectiveness of magic units

*Play with a maximum of 20% sky hunters. These units are way too powerful
so you might want to limit their power with rules such as the following:
1) Sky hunters cannot carry any items
2) You cannot win a game if you have only flyers left in your army

*When playing with custom generals, mechmastery+engineer
together will only count as 1 advantage. Dwarven is
forbidden. There is no reason not to get it, so everyone
usually winds up with, and it takes all the fun out of the mountains.

**NICK: I agree that Dwarven should be prohibited if you are playing in
mountainous terrain, but for regular terrain I prefer Healer
over Dwarven, so I see no reason to ban it.

----------

***ETIQUETTE***

Although there is no way to police most of these things, it is a courtesy to
your opponent to follow most of these guidelines(ask your opponent about
the conventions that he or she adheres to like to use beforehand since both
players should be following the same rules of etiquette). Players who
disregard basic etiquette will have a hard time finding and keeping
opponents.

-Restarting if your turn does not go well is cheating...

-Hiding invinsible units is a cheesy and boring way to get a tie. Don't do it!
Similarly, it is in poor taste to run with your invisible units and make
your opponent chase them when that is all you have left and it is obvious
you have lost. In other words do not use invisible units as a way to worm
a tie out of a loss.

-when you set the game up, tell your opponent on what map your playing,
it's size, it's type. But DON'T tell your adversary what general you're
playing (at least not before turn1).

-If you only have flyers left and you can't kill the remnants of your
opponent's army, SURRENDER!

**NICK: No, I think it is a tie if you have just air units and your opponent
has just ground units; continuing such a game is pointless because
it is obvious that neither side can win unless one player still
has money remaining or the ground army is weak enough for the
flyers to kill.
**SEB: I think flyers are too powerful and we need to power them down
with rules.
**NICK: True, but if winning the air war is meaningless, why spend money on
sky hunters? Making them incapable of even earning you a tie in
effect eliminates them as useful units and greatly simplifies
purchasing decisions(in a negative way). I think it is better to
limit the number of sky hunters and the items they can carry
instead.

The important things with special rules is to agree on them BEFORE
the game...

----------

***********************************

We hope this guide has provided some useful tips whether you are a beginner
or intermediate player. Suggestions, comments, or questions are welcome.

Sebastien [used to] run the Fantasy General Cooperative.
Visit the Discussion Board for in-depth strategy discussions!
[err... it is now archived]

Nick runs the Fantasy General Ladder for the General's Guild Wargaming Club.
Compete in the only Fantasy General Tournament on the Net!
URL:"http://www.chesco.com/~nvayn/fgladder.html"
E-Mail: "nvayn@chesco.com"

Note: We will continue to add to and modify this strategy guide. The
Version Number attached to the guide(see very top of guide)
will let you know if modifications have been made since you last
viewed it. Each modification will result in a minor or major change
in version number.
***********************************

[/b]

btw, there is also an extra SCN add on (official, i will add this, as it is easy to install)
it adds another CAMPAIGN to play (completely new campaign)







so , here the official addon campaign.

its just a ZIP, and it support the cracked Version (and the good thing: its legal)
its an exe and you simply put it into your FG Folder and run it.

lool - muck - its too big.
will dig out a link

[Japo]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Mabuse @ Sep 14 2007, 10:01 AM) [snapback]310845[/snapback]</div>

Hi, its me "the Guest"
finally i decided to register [/b]

Hehe I knew you would.

[Mabuse]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

OK. HERE YOU GET IT:

http://www.geocities.com/pevelg/addonII.zip

its a zip containing an exe.




-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ok, another INFO that may be interesting:

in the File "MAGEQUIP.DAT" in the DAT Folder there are the Unit Information. you can alter them
(and perhaps even ADD new Units and stuff). to get help started, i found in the expert Forum some Information about it.

also search for "Fred Chlanda's shp editor" in the internet (google) as this may be helpful if you want to exchange graphics and stuff. the most obvious change you can do first is to alter the starting armies of the generals for example.

of course dont cheat . calculate how much it is worth and then "buy" an army for that price and alter the units (unsing Grade 0 and one Grade 1 Unit). the information about starting armies is in the "barena.exe" but all you need to know first are in the following quote:

Edit / Modify FG files - Referential info
Tools:

Hex Editor (WinHex, FrHed etc)

Fred Chlanda's shp editor (Version 0.49 or later):
If you will work with unit's art (See "Hidden Units on FG-DEMO" at bottom of this text).

-----
-----

MAGEQUIP.DAT

Byte 0000: Number of units on the game. Default content: B7 (183)
Byte 0001: content: 00
byte 0002: 1st Unit's block starts here.

Unit's Block Size: 74

Unit's Block Structure:

shp #: N-31
Cost: N-29
Melee Attack: N-27
Melee type: N-25 (0=Phy;1=Mag;2=Mec)
Skirmish Attack: N-23
Skirmish Type: N-21 (0=Phy;1=Mag;2=Mec)
Missile Attack N-19
Missile Type: N-17 (0=Phy;1=Mag;2=Mec)
Siege Attack: N-15
Siege type: N-13 (0=Phy;1=Mag;2=Mec)
Own: N-11 (O=Good;1=Bad;2=Any)
Unit Type: N-1 (00...09)
Name: N+0 ... N+29
Unit Life: N+30
Attacks: N+31
Armor: N+32
Mag. Resistance: N+33
Movement: N+34
Spotting Range: N+35
Spell: N+36
Mov Method: N+37 (0=Ope;1=Clo;2=Cav;3=Sie;Air)
Spec. Ability 1: N+38
Spec. Ability 2: N+39
Spec. Ability 3: N+40
Race: N+41 (0=Mor;1=Mag;2=Bea;3=Mec)
Grade: N+42 (00...05)

N = Unit Name's 1st Byte

If sph# is xx:
Unit Fall animation: Animxx.shp
Unit Fire Animation: Fanimxx.shp (only Archers and Siege Engines)
Unit Drawing: Uifxx.shp
Unit icon number (Within uniticon.shp): xx+1 (*)

(*) Do not add +1 when using the transfer shp feature of Fred Chlanda's shp editor (Version 0.49 or later).

---

SPELLS (Hex values)

0b Armor
04 Animate Tree
13 Bless
0d Berserk
02 Summon Banshee
0c Dispel Undead
01 Death Wounds
0e Charm
08 Eagle Eye
07 Earthquake
0a Force March
03 Firestorm
06 Heal
09 Invisibility
11 Panic
10 Pathmasthery
05 Raise Dead
0f Restore Morale
12 Whirlwind

---

HABILITIES (Hex Values)

0a Blood Lust
0d Berzerker
08 Hero
07 Heroic
03 Inmune to Magic
0c Mystic
01 Negate Cavalry Bonus
06 Regenerates
05 Single Entity
09 Undead
0b Vulnerable to Magic
02 Vulnerable to Mechanical

------
------

BARENA.EXE

Initial Army: (Campaign)

Version 1.0
Bytes: 1140B0 ... 1140BF (Calis)
Bytes: 1140C0 ... 1140CF (Marcas)
Bytes: 1140D0 ... 1140DF (Krell)
Bytes: 1140E0 ... 1140EF (Mordra)
Format: (Unit Byte,0)

With Add-On
Bytes: 1161ED ... 1161FC (Calis)
Bytes: 1161FD ... 11620C (Marcas)
Bytes: 11620D ... 11621C (Krell)
Bytes: 11621D ... 11622C (Mordra)
Format: (Unit Byte,0)

Hex Data:
2C 00 2B 00 2B 00 3F 00
3F 00 0C 00 00 00 00 00 (Calis's Army)
0D 00 00 00 00 00 25 00
25 00 1F 00 FF FF FF FF (Marcas's Army)
17 00 16 00 16 00 35 00
25 00 3F 00 07 00 FF FF (Krell's Army)
A9 00 12 00 12 00 31 00
1F 00 06 00 FF FF FF FF (Mordra's Army)


---

BARENA.EXE

Reinforcement (volunteers) on 1st scenario :

Version 1.0
Bytes: 06E400 ... 06E409

With Add-On
Bytes: 06E200 ... 06E209

Hex Data
00 00 00 0C 00 2B 00 3F 00 06

------

BARENA.EXE

Sounds:

Version 1.0
Bytes: 10CDCB ... 10CF38 (Fight)
Bytes: 10CF5B ... 10D0C8 (Fall)
Format: (Sound Byte,0)

With Add-On
Bytes: 10EEC7 ... 10F034 (Fight)
Bytes: 10F057 ... 10F1C4 (Fall)
Format: (Sound Byte,0)

---

Sound Files

Dec value: file's name (xx.mel)
Hex value: Barena.exe

Dec Hex Sound-Description (Referential)

01 01 Atk CV HI Mec
02 02 Fireball
03 03 Atk SC
04 04 Heal
06 06 Atk Mag (CV / SK)
07 07 Unknow (Flamethrowing)
08 08 Earthquake
09 09 Anim. Tree / Dead Skeletons
10 0a Unknow (Breaking Wood)
12 0c Unknow (Metal)
13 0d Spell
16 10 Atk SG Catapult
17 11 Atk SG Cannon
22 16 Atk AR
23 17 Atk LI
24 18 Atk CV
26 1a Atk HI Bea
27 1b Atk SH Mor
28 1c Atk SH Mec
29 1d Atk BM
31 1f Dead
32 20 Dead CV
35 23 Dead Mec
41 29 Atk HI
47 2f Atk SG (Chaingun)
48 30 Atk Hero
49 31 Dead Hero
100 64 Button (off)
101 65 Menu Button
102 66 Unkonwn (Atk Inf/Cav)
103 67 Select
104 68 Movement
200 c8 Spell (Voice1)
201 c9 Spell (Voice2)
202 ca Spell (Voice3)
203 cb Spell (Voice4)
204 cc Spell (Voice5)

---

Hex data (unit's sound bytes in Barena.exe):

Fight

17 00 17 00 17 00 17 00 17 00 17 00 03 00 03 00
03 00 03 00 03 00 03 00 29 00 29 00 29 00 29 00
29 00 29 00 1A 00 1A 00 1A 00 18 00 29 00 17 00
17 00 1A 00 17 00 17 00 01 00 01 00 01 00 16 00
16 00 2F 00 2F 00 16 00 16 00 16 00 16 00 16 00
16 00 16 00 16 00 18 00 18 00 18 00 18 00 18 00
18 00 1A 00 18 00 18 00 18 00 18 00 18 00 1A 00
1A 00 06 00 06 00 01 00 01 00 01 00 01 00 18 00
18 00 18 00 18 00 18 00 18 00 10 00 10 00 2F 00
11 00 11 00 11 00 2F 00 11 00 11 00 11 00 1B 00
1B 00 1B 00 1B 00 1B 00 1B 00 1B 00 1B 00 1B 00
1B 00 1B 00 1B 00 1B 00 1B 00 1C 00 1C 00 1C 00
1C 00 1D 00 1D 00 1D 00 1D 00 1D 00 1D 00 1D 00
1D 00 1D 00 1D 00 1D 00 1D 00 30 00 30 00 30 00
30 00 30 00 30 00 18 00 30 00 03 00 1B 00 16 00
30 00 1B 00 30 00 30 00 17 00 17 00 17 00 1A 00
01 00 29 00 29 00 29 00 1A 00 1A 00 29 00 06 00
16 00 16 00 16 00 16 00 16 00 11 00 16 00 16 00
16 00 06 00 16 00 18 00 18 00 18 00 18 00 18 00
06 00 18 00 18 00 18 00 18 00 18 00 10 00 10 00
1B 00 1B 00 1B 00 1B 00 06 00 1D 00 1D 00 1D 00
1D 00 29 00 11 00 03 00 18 00 30 00 30 00 1A 00
1B 00 30 00 18 00 1A 00 1A 00 1B 00 1B 00

Fall

1F 00 1F 00 1F 00 1F 00 1F 00 1F 00 1F 00 1F 00
1F 00 1F 00 1F 00 1F 00 1F 00 1F 00 1F 00 1F 00
1F 00 1F 00 1F 00 1F 00 1F 00 1F 00 1F 00 1F 00
23 00 23 00 1F 00 1F 00 23 00 23 00 23 00 1F 00
1F 00 1F 00 1F 00 1F 00 1F 00 1F 00 1F 00 1F 00
1F 00 1F 00 1F 00 20 00 20 00 20 00 20 00 20 00
20 00 20 00 20 00 20 00 20 00 20 00 20 00 23 00
23 00 20 00 20 00 23 00 23 00 23 00 23 00 20 00
20 00 20 00 20 00 20 00 20 00 1F 00 1F 00 1F 00
1F 00 1F 00 1F 00 1F 00 1F 00 1F 00 1F 00 1F 00
1F 00 1F 00 1F 00 1F 00 23 00 1F 00 1F 00 23 00
23 00 1F 00 1F 00 23 00 23 00 23 00 23 00 1F 00
1F 00 1F 00 1F 00 1F 00 1F 00 1F 00 1F 00 1F 00
1F 00 1F 00 1F 00 1F 00 1F 00 31 00 31 00 31 00
31 00 31 00 31 00 31 00 31 00 1F 00 1F 00 31 00
31 00 31 00 31 00 31 00 1F 00 09 00 1F 00 23 00
1F 00 1F 00 1F 00 1F 00 1F 00 1F 00 1F 00 1F 00
1F 00 1F 00 1F 00 1F 00 09 00 1F 00 09 00 1F 00
1F 00 1F 00 1F 00 1F 00 09 00 23 00 1F 00 1F 00
1F 00 1F 00 1F 00 1F 00 1F 00 1F 00 1F 00 1F 00
1F 00 1F 00 1F 00 23 00 23 00 1F 00 1F 00 1F 00
1F 00 1F 00 02 00 1F 00 31 00 31 00 31 00 1F 00
31 00 31 00 31 00 1F 00 1F 00 1F 00 1F 00

---

Unit Number

Source: Magequip.dat (Unit's order)
Used in: Barena.exe / Gamexx.sav

Hex

00 Peasants
01 Militia
02 Auxilia
03 Javelinmen
04 Ashiguers
05 Berserkers
06 Apprentices
07 Conjurers
08 Healers
09 Fire Wizards
0A Druids
0B Earthmasters
0C Warbands
0D Swordsmen
0E Pikemen
0F Legionarii
10 Samurai
11 Heavy Spearmen
12 Lizardmen
13 Werebears
14 Lionmen
15 Elephantmen
16 Air Warriors
17 Treemen
18 Giant
19 Earth Elemental
1A Sandmen
1B Monks of Meo
1C Bronzeman
1D Iron Giant
1E Warlord Mechanus
1F Elf Bowmen
20 Longbowmen
21 Pistoliers
22 Gunners
23 Fire Archers
24 Royal Archers
25 Slingers
26 Staff Slingers
27 Scouts
28 Foresters
29 Huntsmen
2A Trail Runners
2B Squires
2C Heavy Cavalry
2D Chariots
2E Cataphractoi
2F Power Lancers
30 Phoenix Knights
31 Fire Beetles
32 Centaurs
33 Ogre Centaurs
34 Centaur Knights
35 Unicorns
36 Elf Chariots
37 Hydra
38 Turtle Dragon
39 Ghost Riders
3A Nightmare
3B Rolling Man
3C Steamphont
3D Rolling Fort
3E Thunder Tread
3F Light Cavalry
40 Elf Knights
41 Juns
42 Riders of the Bow
43 Spirit Riders
44 Knight Gunners
45 Catapults
46 Ballistae
47 Chain Guns
48 Cannons
49 Mortars
4A Pit Cannons
4B Spatter Guns
4C Mercury Guns
4D Steam Belchers
4E Wall Blasters
4F Eagle Riders
50 Griffon Riders
51 Ogre Griffons
52 Wing Riders
53 Pegasi
54 Dragon Knights
55 Flying Snakes
56 Wyverns
57 Green Dragons
58 Lion Dragons
59 Silver Hawks
5A Phoenix Hawks
5B Silver Dragons
5C Black Dragons
5D Screamer
5E Bronze Dragon
5F Steam Hawks
60 Seekers
61 Hawk Riders
62 Roc Knights
63 Dragon Riders
64 Pegasus Riders
65 Balloon Hangers
66 Balloon Riders
67 Bicycle Riders
68 Cloud Ship
69 Bronze Gliders
6A Naphtha Droppers
6B Sky Splitter
6C Steam Castle
6D Corporal
6E Sergeant
6F Lieutenant
70 Captain
71 General
72 Borric
73 Sir Kalador
74 Loric
75 Shandel
76 Valira
77 Krindel
78 Dreggo
79 Malric
7A Xyphon
7B Priest of Handola
7C Goblins
7D Skeletons
7E Ratmen
7F Gripper
80 Lava Warriors
81 Mummy
82 Orcs
83 Ogres
84 Cobramen
85 Trolls
86 Ogre Knights
87 Shadow Warriors
88 Slave Archers
89 Goblin Archers
8A Orc Archers
8B Orc Longbowmen
8C Skeleton Archers
8D Steam Gunners
8E Skeleton Slingers
8F Goblin Scouts
90 Orc Scouts
91 Shadows
92 Ogre Hunters
93 Serpent Riders
94 Undead Cavalry
95 Mastodon
96 Rhino Knights
97 Knights of Fire
98 Shadow Knights
99 Wolf Riders
9A Barbarian Riders
9B Boar Riders
9C Bear Riders
9D Flamer
9E Disease Throwers
9F Black Ice Throwers
A0 Flying Monkeys
A1 Gargoyles
A2 Shadow Wings
A3 Lava Dragons
A4 Shadow Dragons
A5 Serpent Griffons
A6 Lightning Throwers
A7 Fire Barge
A8 Zeppelin
A9 Barbarians
AA Air Slammer
AB Witch of Icethorn
AC Pale Marshal
AD Kraekvar
AE Claw the Assassin
AF Grimal the Rat Lord
B0 Malkin Nightwing
B1 Morg the Lasher
B2 Deathlord Rapax
B3 Leech King
B4 Goat King
B5 Eagles
B6 Harpies

---

BARENA.EXE

No CD crack:

Version 1.0

Byte: From: To:
8E970: D8 DE
8E97D: 75 E9
8E97E: 32 67
8E97F: 0F 00
8E980: BF 00
8E981: 05 00
8F1B2: 15 19
8F1C0: 2F 21
8F1CF: 11 00
8F1D2: DC D8
8F1E3: F4 D8
8F1EB: FC D8

With Add-on:

Byte: From: To:
8F4B4: D8 DE
8F4C1: 75 E9
8F4C2: 32 67
8F4C3: 0F 00
8F4C4: BF 00
8F4C5: 05 00
8FCF6: 15 19
8FD04: 2F 21
8FD13: 11 00
8FD16: DC D8
8FD27: F4 D8
8FD2F: FC D8

-----
-----

HIDDEN UNITS ON FG-DEMO:

Files:

Animxx.shp: Fall Animation
Fanimxx.shp: Fire Animation (Just Arch./Siege Eng.)(*)
Uniticon.shp: Unit's Icons (Needs shp Editor)
Uifxx.shp: Unit's Drawing (**)

(*) Not present, use Full game's versions.
Some fit well, some not.
(**) Not present, use Full game's drawings
Most fit very well.

Units:

Auxilia's "Blue" variant (Very fine icon, Noticeable Diff.)
Fall Animation: Anim12.shp
Icon Number: 12 / (12+1)

Heavy Cavalry's "Blue" variant (Beautifull icon IMHO)
Fall Animation: Anim9.shp
Icon Number: 9 / (9+1)

Staff Slinger's variant (Noticeable differences)
Fall Animation: Anim116.shp
Icon Number: 116 / (116+1)

Captain's Variant (Noticeable differences)
Fall Animation: Anim106.shp
Icon Number: 106 / (106+1)

Silver Hawks's variant (Looks like the Eagle)
Fall Animation: Anim147.shp
Icon Number: 147 / (147+1)

Steam Hawk's variant (This not have the gun)
Fall Animation: Anim150.shp
Icon Number: 150 / (150+1)

Air Slammer's variant (Small diff, not well centered)
Fall Animation: Anim151.shp
Fire Animation: Does not have it (*)
Icon Number: 151 / (151+1)
(*) Full game's version does not fit well,
but could be used.

Mercury Guns's variant (Small differences)
Fall Animation: Anim170.shp
Fire Animation: Does not have it (*)
Icon Number: 170 / (170+1)
(*) FullGame's version fits very well.

Disease thrower's variant (Very noticeable diferences)
Fall Animation: Does not have it (*)
Fire Animation: Does not have it (*)
Icon Number: 45 / (45+1)
(*) Full game's version does not fit well,
but could be used.

Screammer's variant (Landed vehicle, aims Up)
Fall Animation: Anim149.shp
Icon Number: 149 / (149+1)

Steam castle's variant (This aren't flying, noticeable diff)
Fall Animation: Anim106.shp
Icon Number: Does not have icon (*)
(*)First SHP image of Fall Anim164
(Demo version) could be used as icon.

Unknown Hero (Looks like lieutenant. Not well centered)
Fall Animation: Does not have it (*)
Icon Number: 153 / (153+1)
(*) Lieutenant's animation could be used.


If you want to add this units to the full game i highly recommend to use the "transfer SHP" feature present on Fred Chlanda's shp editor.

-----
-----

Good Luck with the edition

Jorge herrada
Info for share, exchangue or questions on this subject:
Jorge35x@hotmail.com

PS.
I don't have hacking skills (at least i don't think that). I just put a lot of time (and got a big pain in the a$$) looking around FG files. So i cannot help for editing other games or hacking other programs.[/b]

[Mabuse]

----------------------------------------

as a last Bonus here are some USER-SCN's dug out:

(note about user SCN. i searched a long time for a SCN-Editor, there dont seem to exist one.
what DOES exist is a prgramm named GEMPOLISH that enables you to edit SAVE games.

the USER-SCN arre made the following way: you set up an Arena game, and set uints and stuff. in the first round you SAVE the arena-Game

with gempolish you may edit this save game and alter hexes to victory hexes (which dont exist in normal arena game) and change ownership of cities (and whatever i dont know yet), also alter units give expierience or items or whatever (but that can be also done while stting up the troops)

so this is how custom-SCN in Fantasy General can be made.

here are some of them
so these are savegames, you need to alter the XX in the name as one SLOT-number you can afford.
read more in the descriptions

these SCN were part of an ARCHIVED site, i would upload the ZIP of the whole File, but its too big , and i cannot find the link atm

[Mabuse]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

THE LOST SCROLLS

Our troops enter the mystic cave and find... a FAQ


Unofficial Fantasy General FAQ v2
Last Updated: Feb, '98

Preface

Preface: This is the second public draft of a FG FAQ. There are likely many errors still. I'd appreciate constructive input, particularly if I've made an error, or in the spots that I mention are still unfinished. I'm hoping this will evolve somewhat from input from the friends of the FGC. Some parts of this, particularly battle trees, are from other people's input.

JULY 9th 1999: Nevr mind the updates, the FGC is archived. Still, this FAQ should provide you with good info. Seb.
Introduction
I haven't played it, what's it like? Is it any good?

It's great. The best place for general info if you don't own the game is the SSI-Online web site.

What is discussed by this FAQ? What is excluded?

In general, I'm trying to explore and clarify the game mechanics. This is NOT intended as a substitute for the manual, but rather as a supplement to it, and as errata for errors in it. There is a short section on strategy, but it's pretty basic, as I feel the best way to learn stuff like that is to play. There are a few tricks in there, though...

Where did the information from this FAQ come from? Is it accurate?

The information in this FAQ was figured out by observing the game. I haven't hacked the code, I don't have info from the publisher. It may be wrong, particularly as this is currently a kind of beta test FAQ. Comments, suggestions, corrections, and, yes, questions are welcomed. See information at the end of the FAQ.
Game Mechanics
Tactical information (on the battlefield)

* HOW DOES TERRAIN EFFECT MOVEMENT RATES?

It depends on the method of movement (MOD). Also, movement ends when the hex you move into is in enemy zone of control (ZOC-see manual pg. 54)

Road Clear Rough/Woods Mountain/Volcano River Jungle Swamp/Lava
Ope 2/3* 1 1 All All 2 3
Clo 2/3* 1 2 All All 3 All
Cav 2/3* 1 2 All 3 4 All
Sie 2/3* 1 2 All All All All
Air 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

* The 2/3 value for roads is only applied if travel is between two road hexes. Clear to road and road to clear movement both cost 1. Non-road to road appears to always cost 1, not 2/3. It doesn't matter if the graphics show the roads on the hexes as connecting or not.

Bridges are odd. My guess is that they cost as a road if you approach on road. It looks like you must move to the road hex adjacent to the bridge before crossing it. I got some weird results though; it's possible the 'find the best path' mechanism is broken, or something is very weird....

* COMBAT

How do units with more than one type of attack work?

Combat appears to go through Missile, Skirmish, then Melee phases, stopping when the attacking unit finishes it's primary attack.

So, skirmishers will skip the Melee phase when attacking, Archers will skip Skirmish and Melee.

However, an infantry with a Crossbow will get both attacks in when it attacks (it's expected damage is higher than it would be if it got only a melee strike).

How do ambushes work?

An ambush occurs when a unit attempts to enter a hex occupied by an unspotted enemy unit. The 'defending' unit then ambushes the unit which is moving, getting an attack in without any return fire. This, incidentally, is the only way to get a bombardier to fight another bombardier...

What formulas are used to determine damage?

OK. I've tried to work this out, but it's either non-linear or the damage estimates are somehow fishy.

Damage is based on (attack strength-armor of defending unit). Amount of damage is not the same for attack and defense, nor is it the same across the three types of attack.

In general, defenders do slightly more damage than attackers (try identical grade 1 HI to see this.. the defender does more damage expected)

For total damage, (kills+wounds): (same attack and armor values)
melee > skirmish > missile

However, for just kills: (same attack and armor values)
missile > skirmish > melee

it follows that for just wounds: (same attack and armor values)
melee > skirmish > missile

15 life melee units never expect less than 1 wound or more than 3 deaths and 10 wounds.

An advantage(attack strength vs. armor) of more than 20 is irrelevant. I've seen a +45 advantage give the same expected casualties as +20.

The Official Strategy Guide is wrong. (I've leafed through it at the store; I didn't buy it partly because of this.) If you find the expected damage of a unit per advantage over the enemy it does not come out as linear, unlike the formula they describe. Admittedly, they're somewhat close. The other, perhaps more sinister, possibility is that they're right and expected losses is screwed. Also, I postulate 6 formulae, one for attack/defense for 3 attack types, yet they list just one. Which one is it?

When do archers get defensive fire?

Archers get defensive fire if an adjacent unit is attacked by a NON-MISSILE attack.
(unless they're Broken [ML])
Note: Defensive fire comes BEFORE any other attack.
So, if the archers kill 3 guys out of 15, the the attacking unit will only attack with 12 guys. When do units retreat? When will they surrender?

The manual says retreating is based only on 'current life and any losses' I suspect morale is involved. Almost whole units retreat a fair bit. They surrender if there is no hex for them to move to. They can move into the attacking unit's hex if it dies in the attack! (weird retreat, huh?)

What is the sky hunter's escort ability? (pg. 56)

It is essentially an interception of an enemy bombardier. If a bombardier attempts to bomb in a hex adjacent to a sky hunter which has neither defended nor already escorted that turn, the bombardier will fight the sky hunter in melee instead of bombing.

It is also the interception of an adjacent enemy sky hunter attacking an adjacent friendly bombardier.[ML]

* MORALE

What determines the base morale of a unit?

Base Morale = 100 +5/level of unit

What effects morale?

Units get +10 if they are adjacent to or if they are a Hero. Morale is modified by 20 for the Charisma attribute. Combat affects of morale:

-(4-9) per attack or defense[I haven't found a pattern here]
-5 per death the unit suffers
-3 per wound the unit suffers
When you rest, you regain up to base morale, modified by -5/death and -3/wound.

When do units become disordered or broken?

Morale is checked after each attack or defense by a unit. This happens during each type of combat. (pg. 50) A unit can become disordered or broken even if that unit suffers no losses (I guess that's a 'combat result'). Affects of disorder and breaking are described in the manual on page 51.

* EXPERIENCE

What determines how much experience a unit gets?

The formula is:

+5 per attack or defense (+3 if a single entity)
+5 additional if there is return fire (for both attacker and defender) (+3 for single entity)
+1 per wound and per death the unit SUFFERS.
Archer defensive fire gets the archer +5 xp(as return fire)
Extra return fire (from archers) does not increase attacker's xp.

Values for single entities aren't exact. They sometimes get less, for no apparent reason. My current theory is that 'deaths' a S. E. suffers become wounds, but don't give xp.

The amount of damage a unit INFLICTS, and how many kills it gets, appears to be irrelevant. This surprised me...

Also, for spells: (magic items give similar experience)

+1 per successfully cast non-damage, non-area effect spell
+3 per successfully cast single unit damage spell
+1 per unit affected by an area effect spell
There are a few exceptions(Berserk? I can't remember...)

How/when do units lose experience? How much do they lose?

This is described in the manual, but some people find it confusing. When a unit suffers deaths in combat, when the unit recruits to replace the dead parts of that unit it will lose experience.* If you don't recruit on the battlefield, you will automatically recruit after the battle. The formula:

(# still alive)*(present XP) + (# to replace)*(starting XP)
all divided by the maximum life of the unit(usually 15, 10 for spellcasters)

Since Marcas' units start with 100 XP, recruiting costs less xp for all his units throughout the game. A good advantage.

* If a volunteer with under 100 xp recruits for Marcus, it gains XP!

What's the limit for a unit's experience?

599. No experience is gained above 599.

What are the advantages/disadvantages of the unit types?

* Heavy Infantry

I tend to think of them as a sort of default troop.

Strengths: They are the strongest all around units. The most powerful Melee unit. Negate cavalry is a big plus.

Pikemen, Legionarii and Heavy Spearmen has the negate Cavalry bonus, which is very useful in the front line. Warlord Mechanus with Amulet of Resistance make great cannon fodder. Weaknesses: Speed. They're slow. Force March helps, but you can't spellcast and attack....

Opinion: Either H.I. or cavalry is necessary. A good, almost essential, unit.

Keeping a few Samurai around to fill the role of light infantry can work pretty well, as they are an open formation unit. (no negate cavalry bonus though!)

* Light Infantry

A somewhat faster, weaker version of heavy infantry

Strengths: Well, they do well in rough terrain.

helpfull on 3rd continent, upgrade them after, but do't buy anymore. Weaknesses: with low xp, or in open terrain, they're weak

* Skirmishers

Somewhat fast infantry which has a skirmish attack

Strengths: Skirmish attack which disallows return melee attacks. *Half Damage* is dealt to them, when they defend, by troops which move _as fast as_ or slower than they do. (see rulebook errata) They move well in rough terrain. Invisibility is neat, don't forget to cast it for a free xp.

Weaknesses: Cavalry can kill them quickly, as they do full damage (unless the skirmisher has a boots of rapid movement!) They're a little slow in open terrain.

Opinion: I like them a lot. I have a lot of either them or light cav. in every army. They are beefier than L.I. because of half damage rules, as well as skirmishing... A group of skirmishers will easily slaughter a group of Heavy Infantry similar in size and price.

Combined with archers, invis. gives a nice ambush attack- enemy tries to attack the apparently lone archer and moves into the skirmisher, giving an ambush plus defensive fire.[DWP]

* Archers

Slow infantry which has a missile attack and defensive fire.

Strengths: Missile attack which allows only missile return fire. Defensive fire, which is great on defense

Weaknesses: SLOW. This can be Very Annoying. They're pretty wimpy when attacked directly. They do less total damage, but get a fair amount of kills.

Opinion: Lukewarm. They're not necessary, but they're nifty if you can get them to the frontline. It is unclear to me if upgrading to Royal archers is a good thing. You don't get the 3 missile and armor, but fire archers move as an open formation, which can make the difference in getting into battle. defensive fire comes first which may soften the attack's strength The unlimited defense fire is very useful in the front line so I like to give them the boot to keep up the speed. Krindel is second only to Malric and actually more useful in the end game. The archers would get fire bombed in the 6th continent but that is much better than weakness on your HI.
* Cavalry

Melee unit faster than H.I. but somewhat weaker.

Strengths: Fast. +8 to melee if _attacked hex_ is clear, road, etc. Phoenix Knights Rule.

Weaknesses: not as strong as H.I., particularly early. Somewhat expensive.

Opinion: Thumbs up. Either Cav or H.I. is necessary in force. Their greater mobility slightly more than offsets their relative weakness when comparing to H. I. Raise Dead is the best spell in the game. Phoenix Knights, unless they die all the way, don't lose xp from deaths. Very Nice. And they're a mortal unit!

* Light Cavalry

Very fast skirmishing cavalry, somewhat weak.

Strengths: Very Fast. Skirmishing. Takes half damage from attacking units moving _as fast as_ or slower than they.

Weaknesses: They don't do that much damage. Pretty expensive.

Opinion: I like them; I wouldn't go without either them or skirmishers. Half damage is great, but watch out for Sky Hunters. I almost favor skirmishers, as L.C. are awfully wimpy, but I usually go for a unified mostly Cav or mostly Infantry theme. They don't have to fear (slower) Cav as much as skirmishers do.

Since they run fast, they are very useful to lay siege to faraway towns. However, two units are needed if the defender is a melee unit because of their tendency to retreat.
* Sky Hunters

Aerial Melee units.

Strengths: Flight, Very fast. Escort ability(see combat above)

Weaknesses: expensive, wimpy in comparison to other melee units.

Opinion: Absolutely Essential. I can do without any unit but Sky hunters. They are critical, and sometimes hard to keep alive. A _minimum_ of 25% of your forces should be S.H. IMO. Phoenix Hawks are a major reason to play Krell; as I said earlier, Raise Dead Rules.

* Bombardiers

Aerial missile unit.

Strengths: flight, fast. Missile attack.

Weaknesses: expensive, somewhat wimpy.

Opinion: Pretty good. Fast and flexible, useful in starting the attack on tough units as well as harrassing wounded units. Their weaknesses hurt, though, making them nice but non-essential to me.

* Siege Engines

Ranged attack unit with special siege attack

Strengths: Range of attack, siege attack on castles/towns.

Weaknesses: SLOW. Very wimpy in melee. SLOW. Attack doesn't get good until several upgrades. Oh, yeah, they're slow.

Opinion: Dislike. There are some situations where they're good, but it takes forever to get them forward, and you have to protect them too much.

They do get pretty nasty if you can cluster them near a town, as each one gets support fire for each attack.[ML]

Chain Guns is the upgrade much need to get to range 4, to compensate for their slowness.
* Spellcasters

Spellcasting skirmishers.

Strengths: Well, spells. Magical skirmish attack.

Weaknesses: Slow. Spells mostly suck. Wimpy. Only 10 life.

Opinion: Dislike. The earlier spells (healer, banshee) are pretty good but the later ones are poor. The 10 life per unit disadvantage hurts them a lot. As mentioned on the net, they'd be worth it if they kept all spells up to their grade, but as is, thumbs down.

Campaign management (outside of battlefields)

* RESEARCH

How much cash must I invest to get a certain grade of unit?

Roughly, it costs as much as the unit costs to buy(Not to upgrade) after you get the previous grade. There are discounts for some characters (Marcas for infantry, etc.)

How does non-mortal research effect this?

I think it's just additive. (big disadvantage.)
(note from Mabuse: i am not sure about mech units though)

* MAGIC ITEMS

What does X do?

The manual and on-line stuff seems to be pretty good. If you're curious, you can check them out in the arena by clicking on item on the unit screen when you're building your army.

Can you get multiples of the same item?

Yes. No restrictions, as far as I can tell.
except for skull of krang.



Errata to Rulebook

The rulebook is actually quite good, but it is occasionally inaccurate:

Skirmishers/ Light Cavalry in defense: (pg. 55, 56)

They take 1/2 damage to attacking units _as fast as_ or slower. If there's a morale penalty, it's very small. Much less than the morale loss they'd get if they actually took the damage, for example. Also, a clarification: apparently the probability of damage is halved, not the final damage. (This changes the probability distribution considerably; a 15 life unit will sometimes do 8 or 9 points, for example, though the mean can't go above about 6)

Spotting- 'The Spotting Trick' (see pg. 53/54)

If a unit moves into an enemy ZOC but not into an enemy unit, you get a free spot. You lose your ability to abort move but see enemy units within your unit's spotting range.

This has several implications:

You can never be ambushed if you move one hex at a time, cancel move, and then re-move to the next forward hex.

You can always find fleeing units(usually sky hunters for me) by trying a direction and, if you don't move next to the fleeing unit, aborting and trying another direction.

Is this Cheating?

It is my opinion that any game option other than reloading the game is part of the game, so is not cheating, although I'll admit this is getting iffy.

David [DWP] also thinks it's somewhat iffy, but thinks it is closer to cheating than not.

Make up your own mind. You might want to agree on this prior to PBEM games.

Retreating Pg.48

The manual claims retreating is based on "...current life and any losses..." yet I have seen a 15 life unit retreat. Something else is going on.

Unit pictures

Unit pictures examples are, well, way wrong.

Archers' defensive fire (pg. 46, 48, 56)

Archers don't get defensive fire against enemy missile attacks on units adjacent to the archer. This is not clear in the manual, IMHO.

Appendix 1 errors:

Valira has 17 armor, not 170.
Krindel's spell should be P, not PM.
Malkin's spell says VOD. (It's really Whirlwind -[PK])

Problems with the game:

Does the A. I. cheat?

(By cheat I mean does it do things with units a human cannot)

Yes. The AI will cast a spell(e.g. death wounds) early in the turn, I saw this in an all deaths unit(due to death wounds spell). I repeated to verify the unit always did only deaths. AFTER the unit which had had death wounds cast on it had moved and attacked the Conjurer moved. This is impossible for a player to do.

The Balanced Army check

Allegedly to force the players to have a balanced army, the A. I. goes nuts if you 'over-specialize' your army and research. I've seen 7 4-shield max grade units pop from a town when I had an unbalanced army on hard. I hate this. I don't know what the designers were thinking. If you want to force this, write scenarios needing varied unit types.

There is no good rationale why the Shadowlord should get cosmic recruits if you have a specialized army. This really pissed me off the first(well, as yet, only) time I played on hard. Do useless research and have a few token varied units if you want a specialized army, I guess.

Tactical Hints (basic)

Ideal matchups for attacking

Generally,

skirmish vs. melee
missile vs. skirmish
melee vs. missile

maximizes advantages. Also, Cavalry vs. Skirmishers(the unit type, not L.C.) is optimum. Most of the time you won't actually do this though. Like attacking like is usually the _worst_ matchup(!), although frequently necessary.

When casualties are acceptable

the less xp a unit has, the less it loses when it suffers a death. I'm less concerned about inexperienced units' casualties for this reason. Recruit to full strength ASAP, however, else you get effectively diminished xp for the rest of the combat...

Raise dead units make deaths close to irrelevant, however.

When should I cast force march?

Force March is a spell castable by Heavy Infantry. The simplest way to use it is to cast it before you move, which gives you two extra movement points. You may cast it before or after your normal move.

Sometimes it's best to cast it before you move, for example:

You start on a road, and want to move through two more roads, across two clear hexes, and through two more road hexes. The cost is: 2/3 * 2 + 3 * (1)(road to clear, clear to clear, clear to road all cost 1) + 2/3 =5

You can move there for five movement points, but if you split the move in half (one 3 move and one 2 move) you won't make it, as you won't keep the fraction of a movement point between the two moves.

More often, however, taking two separate moves is to your advantage. You can cross rivers in a single turn, or move through two squares of mountains.

Toying with the enemy: maximize your xp

Especially early, don't be in too much of a hurry to finish off your opponent. You can get lots more xp if you let units retreat and rest. (this can get very boring, however.)

What should I research?
Everything. Otherwise the computer will screw you over for having an unbalanced army. (grrrrrr.)
(Note from Mabuse: or take the punishment, it also possoble eith this pounishment, only the second and early thrid may do prblems, later it should not matter too much, since your troops are also very expierienced, many good players will tell you NOT to research everything))

Of course, first get the stuff you use upgraded, but don't let your useless research lag too far behind.

The spotting trick

See errata. Questionably fair.

Which character is best?

All IMHO:

Early in the campaign: Marcas, Calis, Krell, Mordra
Late in the campaign: Krell, Marcas, Calis, Mordra

Krell is great late in the campaign because of Phoenix Hawks. Beginners should have an easier time with Marcas and Krell. Experienced players will have fun with the other characters. All of the above is arguable.

What Now?

Who wrote this, anyway? Who helped?

Tim Firman - Primary author
This article is Copyright © 1996 by Tim Firman. All rights reserved.

[SD] Sebastien Dupre
[DP] David Pollock
[KMW] Kum Ming Woo
[GD] Gary Durfee
[ML] Mike Lay
[PK] Pekka Karjalainen
[/b]

i dont guarantee that everything is right what stands in the lost scrolls. but it may be stil interesting to read.
make a picture on your own

[Mabuse]

btw, the official addon is definately worth playing and a lot of fun,
maps are good and a good level of difficulty. thumbs up for this
(ok, i am only at second SCN of the campaign, definately its not too easy )

about the user SCN: well, do not expect too much of it. for example "braveheart" is a disappointment, others also dont give a good feeling. there maybe exceptions, but i feel it could be done much better.

one disappointment also about gempolish:
it doesnt let you alter victory hexes, so no "pseudo"-SCN will never have Victory Hexes. big minus

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Editing:

i changed the starting armies. worked amazingly good. from technical side and what the "editing" guide says

i calculated the cost of the old one and then bought from that money a new one. used only as much grade 1 units as already used (usually only 1, only Krell uses 2) and usually it stays simply the same (true for all, but Krell keep one and change one other), as this is usually a good choice (and also it helps to get an individual look for the army).

looks and feels much better now. simply straighter (not nessessarily stronger). not such a weird mix of "everything", mainly (mortal) Cavalry, HeavyInfantry and Slingers are used as Base Army.

still its mportant to buy whatever you feel you need at start of the campaign, if you want add archers or lt infantry. but oyu are not forced to have it.

Calis:
1 Heavy Cav
1 LtCav
3 Squires
2 Warbands

Marcas:
1 Swordsman
3 Warbands
2 Slingers

Krell:
2 Treeman
3 Squires
2 Slingers

Mordra:
1 Barbarian
1 Warbands
3 Squires
3 Slingers


for mordra and krell is the question if they want to renounce on beast and magical units (only the leading level 1 units are still beast/magical), as baest and magical are somewhat stronger (but cannot be upgraded). if they want some more, they should buy them as mentioned. the main core army is now mainly mortal and can be easily upgraded through putting cavalry and/or heavyinfantry and/or skirmishers to 15%.

that makes it more easy to plan, and i need not to bother having a non-upgraded archer as a burden - as mentioned if i want to add archers i simply buy some at start - but i may buy siege or whatever as well. or more inf, or more cav .. whatever