Part 17: Level 6 Queen Lamanda
Update 17Last time we subjugated the barbarians by taking their home town and their lord Slayer. This time we’ll be taking the fight to the sorceress faction, under the command of Queen Lamanda.
As you may recall, the sorceress has the perc of further movement on the seas so I expect to find lots of bodies of water. However, unlike against the barbarians, movement is not something I’m worried about. I am worried about their spell casting prowess. I’d rather not have anyone rain on my parade.
Ignoring those wimpy magical army leading girls, how do we stack up against the sorceress faction?
For reference the Knight:
Sorceress:
Sorceress is the jack of all trades faction in this game. It features 2 flying, 2 ranged and 2 melee units. None of their units are bad, but none win prizes in excellence usually coming in second raw strength in their respective level. Raw strength isn’t everything though, units need to be practical as well. When you're balanced you're always practical. Unfortunately this time there is no speed advantage as the sorceress also has two fast units, what's more is that they have only 1 slow unit, whereas we have one slow unit (archers) and we have peasants.
At the same time, without a well the sorceress can apparently buy all their units on a weekly salary. But add in the buildings (that they probably don't have to buy this map) and the cost skyrockets. Interestingly, if you take the HP and attack/defense stats and compare them with cost to buy everything the Sorceress has the worst score out of the four factions. So their units are expensive for what they actually do.
I just noticed we barely have more total HP than a single Phoenix.
On the bright side, technically the Paladin has the same damage output thanks to his ability and we are better defensively. I can sum up and compare units all day but let´s be honest...we may be a little outclassed. Day 1
The ability to sink an island is insignificant next to the power of the peasants.
Welcome to the new map, we start the same way we did last time. However Morglin or the random hero generator saw fit to outfit us with Dimitri. While he is much more handsome in the pretty boy way than Kilburn, I just can’t get forget the fact that he’s the only main hero I’ve used that was defeated. Maybe the second time is the charm?
Castle Whiteshield will be serving as our main base and has been outfitted in the same way as was done on the last map. Considering it worked last time I elect to do the same thing as last time. So I buy the Jousting Arena and drop the peasants and archers to Dimitri can run around faster. The second hero will get the peasants and archers to help out with the creeping.
We need to practice killing little girls, so let’s start with those sprites.
Good job Dimitri, that pretty face is already working. 32 flying units are added and I’m happy.
This doesn’t bode well for us. I seem to recall that Arturius wasn’t instrumental in his previous map either…not that I’m superstitious.
I forgot to buy Dimitri a spell book, but he could’ve gotten Bless, Curse and view mines. Bless and Curse are always nice and view mines has shown it’s worth by now. 
Pure luck leads him to the saw mill after which he heads to collect more gold.
Day 2
A horde of peasants is guarding that mine.
You know the deal.
We win!
Those enemy stacks that are scattered around are troublesome. I can’t easily kill those swordsmen and the archers would also cost me way to much at this point.
I can’t build any unit structures and I can’t upgrade my village. I need to find some crystal.
Argh, the crystal mine is once again nowhere near my current position. I buy Maximus to help with the scouting and picking up stuff.
Rogues block our route, time for Dimitri to stop fooling around and get slightly more serious.
Day 3
His good looks are working! Stupid handsome people always have things easy. Maybe those other stacks will join as well?
This stack joining doesn’t help his morale, but he actually has a decent army now. Fortunately, his knight perc of +1 morale ensures that I will not have negative morale despite mixing three armies.
Hard at work at getting resources.
Maximus discovered that the shrine has bless, which we already have access to, and he found 7 crystal in a stack with another stack to pick up right in front of him. Paladins here I come! I buy nothing at home, I need the resources specifically wood and crystal to do anything.
Day 4
And that makes 21 crystal, in two turns I can have my paladins.
Arturius visits the gazebo with the usual results.
I have wood!
Hey guys! Also, it’s day 6 so in two turns I’ll have even more. Time to clean up this place.
Huh, the road really does stop right here. I need a boat.
Day 5
Yeah, I forgot to give him a spell book so this doesn't teach him anything, but at least I now know that I will always have access to lightning bolt. In a world where the paper you write the spell on apparently disappears after casting, I wonder what happens if you write a spell on your hand.
Stupid gargoyles are everywhere on this map. I wait for them to make the first move.
I’m not going to have a lot of sprites left when this is over.
After sprites they seem like the cavalry most, fortunately they can take it.
The rogues no retaliation and not being their favorite target makes them very good in this fight.
You can see on the previous screenshot that this stack was two gargoyles big. Just as I release the mouse button for the attack I realize that I have made a mistake. This will allow the stack of five gargoyles to attack the sprites in their stead. I should’ve attacked the stack of five.
We still win, but with more losses than was needed.
I should probably double back and take out that stack of gargoyles guarding those clown shoes. The campfire had 400 gold and 4 gems.
Annoyingly I find myself with three heroes on a tiny island surrounded by powerful or bad match up stacks.
Day 6
I christen this the week of the paladin!
It’s sort of army-ish I guess?
With nothing else to do I have Maximus collect free units. Even if they’re weak, free units are still a nice bonus. I have weathered many a siege with just a load of free crap units.
Let’s try this again.
I follow the same pattern, so please don’t mind the lack of screenshots of this fight.
This was rather lucky, the weakest stack got their move first allowing the sprites another turn of being targeted.
I remembered my lesson from last time and had the Cavalry weaken the stack near the sprites. This will allow the swordsmen to kill one followed by hopefully the sprites to killing one and everyone else killing the remaining stack.
Nope, mission failed.
And they pay for it with their lives.
It was nice while it lasted. At least morale will be better now.
Again with the barbarian village. I desperately need more cash.
Day 7
Since I need money and I have strong units in this armylike group of people I decide to attack the dwarves.
Another joiner? Great!
I can take it!
That’s a surprisingly large stack of archers they have there. I wish I had my
They attacked the rogues, killing 15 and making them dead weight on the army.
They couldn’t even kill 11 goblins.
You may be wondering what is happening here. I moved my cavalry away. The orcs do about 12 in damage and have already done two attacks on my cavalry. On the next attack I would’ve lost one. So instead I moved them away and used my swordsmen to attack them first. My swordsmen kill 3 just like the cavalry did and due to the lower number of orcs still left they can take the hit without anyone valuable dying.
I couldn’t quite do the same thing again since the pikemen move before the swordsmen, so I can’t move the swordsmen and then slot in the pikemen. Instead I just let the rogues take the attack. It’s not like they were any good now anyway.
Only fair that they get the last hit.
And so we win losing nothing of consequence. Dimitri levels up and attack +1.
Not much to do here. I get some goblins due to their speed advantage over the orcs and I keep the 10 rogues as
More swordsmen guarding stuff. If I could get them to join me that would be swell.
Day 8
More crystal for the war machine. At least I can use it to get more mage guild levels.
A quick visit at a gazebo and Dimitri knows that he needs to block things with a shield.
Maximus buys all remaining units and heads to Arturius to give him something extra. He can use those guys to attack the gargoyles and archers surrounding us. I have 85 ore…I wish there was a way to trade in this game.
Day 9
I’ve found some wood. This will help us upgrade my second castle fixing the money issue. I also see more rogues and decide to try my luck.
Too bad for them.
They should probably rethink their blindly run forward strategy.
The top rogue attacked the cavalry and I have my cavalry attack the bottom rogue. It would’ve been his turn to move next and this way everyone can reach a rogue to attack and kill them.
I was wrong, my rogues can’t kill the other rogues in a single attack. Fortunately the pikemen are standing by.
How do you like being stabbed in the back?
Victory!
Money and resources are mine.
To be honest I have no idea what the most optimal army would be in this situation. I went with this due to pure numbers. Any suggestions?
Attack! I attack by blocking my archers with the paladins.
Apparently the dwarves are a more interesting target than the cavalry. Fortunately they can take it.
Sheer numbers!
So I forgot what the paladins were doing, but in the end it didn’t matter.
As they can take care of themselves in this case.
Those gargoyles give pitiful experience considering the trouble they give me.
I have no units to buy and I don’t buy any structures either in hopes of upgrading the other castle soon.
Day 10
Dimitri found a chest containing exactly what we needed.
Meanwhile Arturius claims the boots and Maximus heads after Dimitri.
Feeling confident I have Arturius attack the archers near him to great effect. +20 archers to his army, which is slowly starting to become quite impressive.
I think I’ll stop it here. Yes, it’s a fairly short update as far as screenshots go, but it feels like a good place to stop. Next time I hopefully find a way off this island and something is sure to happen at that point.