Expand! You will start with only your capital shire, so try to
expand as fast as possible. You can easily leave only one militia in your
capital
for defense, because there is no way to attack others from a distance at
the start of a game. So don't
bother to let your capital undefended at the start of the game. Expansion
is more important. The shires
around your capital shire can often easily be taken, don't think you need
a great army to conquer them.
Don't recruit. Don't recruit at the start of a game. Your city
will grow at a certain percentage, so
lowering your capital population will also lower your population grow. It
might be usefull though to
recruit in the first turn, because you can send those men along with your
first scouting line. If your
first scouting line would encounter another wizard's first scouting line,
you will probably have more
men and win quite an important fight. Do not fear the battles at the start
of the game. If you take no risks
you will never win this game. Also, the losses that you suffer at the
start of the game will not be of any
size.
Build! There are two types of buildings. Buildings that can be
built in any town and
buildings that can only be built in your capital. Buildings greatly
increase your economical,
magical and military strength, especially the buildings in your capital,
so try to build as much as possible in your capital.
Sometimes you cannot build buildings because you need your peasants to
work on the fields or in the mines. Don't consider that to be a great
disaster. Just keep the pressure on those people of yours!
The people need bread and games. Morale is important. Try to
raise the morale of your people.
They will be willing to pay more tax and they will work on the fields or
in the mines without any resistance. A higher
morale will also attract people from other cities, so your population
growth will increase.
Make sure you are popular among your people, take care of them, even treat
them like your own children, because They will be the key to success.
Well, how to raise the morale of your people? Open taverns and inns all
over the place, feed them generously and do not tax them.
At the beginning of the game, the people will consider you to be a
stranger. You first need to make yourself popular, so
if it is possible lower your taxes as far as possible, even consider not
to tax them at all!
You should only feed them generously when you are in a food rich
environment. If your city is situated in the swamps, it has
no sense to feed your people generously, because then they will starve the
month after. If you start in a plains or grassland, I should
consider to raise the food ratios for the people. Then, make the people
happy by games. A great arena (not available at the start of the game)
or an impressive church will probably inspire your peasants as well. A
last note: Do not pay too much attention to the people in the surrouding
shires
(called ,1 ,2 ,3 and ,4). The people living there can only work and pay
taxes. They cannot be recruited and they cannot build.
What to research? Well, as you can read in WoW rules, there are
3 types of magic: Druidic magic, Dark magic and standard magic.
You can either become a dark wizard (research dark and standard) or a
druidic wizard(research druidic and standard). Druidic magic deals with
the nature. You will gain your powers from the elements of nature.
Druidic magic is not very aggressive, but more solid than dark magic. You
will rely on great armies defended by the forces of nature instead of lone
necromancers blasting
away their foe with devious magic. There are two disadvantages of druidic
compared to dark magic. Firstly, druidic will need more time to research.
There
are four areas (the four elements) to research, while dark only has two
areas (dark and necromancy). Also, for the pure druidic spells you
need ancient druidic artifacts. They can be found on the world or made by
very sophisticated magic.
The advantages of druidic spells are that the spells are very diversed.
You have offensive spells (but less destructive than dark offensive
spells),
You have spells which enhance your economy and spells to attack your enemy
from a distance. The power of Dark magic is pure
destruction. Armies which totally consist of only mages can easily wipe
out an entire army just by magic. They also have terrible ways
to attack from a distance. (turning peasants into zombies for instance!).
Sophisticated magic is needed for those spells though.
The standard areas of magicks (sorcery, will, summoning and construct)
speak for themselves. With 'Will' you
can control the minds of savage beasts and let them attack your enemies.
Sorcery includes all kinds
of miscellanious spells. Summoning can be used to summon enchanted
creatures, like flying sprites or deadly phantom warriors.
Construct can be used to construct magical buildings and magical weapons
which your heroes can use in combat. There is no big difference
between dark and druidic. If you have access to a lot of druidic artifacts
then druidic might be a better choice. I usually start researching
the standard magic. At the start of the game you cannot know if there are
druidic artifacts in your neighbourhood and it should be a pity if
you already have researched dark levels when you realize you can get a lot
of druidic artifacts! It is also possible to research spellcraft, but you
will start with
eight spellcraft and that is more than enough at the start of the game.
note: You can start researching from turn four on. Many new players
think they should start researching from turn 0 on, but you won't have
enough
research points then to research something. You will have enough resource
points to research something in turn four.
What to do with heroes, mercenaries and caravans. At the start
of the game you will not have much money. The morale of the people is not
very high, so
they won't pay a lot of taxes as well. Heroes are often more important
than mercenaries and caravans. They lead your armies, cast spells and are
able to explore so called
special places. Some heroes even possess special skills. I always try to
hire those heroes, even it they cost me darely. The maximum number of
heroes you can get on offer
in one turn is two. There is no maximum number of heroes you can hire.
Mercenaries are nice, but often too expensive in the beginning of the
game. I suggest not to
hire them before turn 10 unless you are in a special situation (you are in
war). Caravans are a different story. They can be either usefull or
useless, depending on what resources
they have for sale/resources they want to buy. What to sell and what to
buy from a caravan greatly depends on your own situation. For instance, if
you
have a great abundance of food, buying food will not be a very wise
decision!
What are usefull resources at the start of the game? Gold is
needed for anything, so try to have
as much of that precious stuff as possible! food is needed to feed your
people and soldiers. Stones
and wood are needed to build buildings and recruit certain troops (eg.
wood for spearmen). Iron and Mithril are mainly
used to recruit soldiers. Iron can be used to recruit common troops, like
swordsmen and pikemen, while
mithril can be used to recruit the real power troops. Gems are needed to
cast spells and sometimes to
recruit troops or build buildings. In the beginning of the game gold, wood
and stones will be the most
important resources. You will need those stones and wood for buildings,
and that gold to pay the constructors of
the buildings. Do not pay too much attention to producing mithril, iron or
gems at the start of a game, unless
you have a great abundance of stones or/and wood off course. Food is
always important, but not only at the start of the game.
It is important throughout the whole game. However, if there should occur
to be a turn that you cannot feed your whole population
then it is not a great disaster, some people will starve and morale will
drop in some shires.
Some words about the seas. If your city is located on the
ground plane (there are three different planes: Astral, ground and
Underworld), then you will probably be faced by a great oceanic region.
Boats are quite expensive at the start of the game, but not unaffordable.
The problem is that they cost wood to be constructed, so you will only be
able to build them in great numbers when in a wood rich environment. If
you do not have much wood, one boat a turn is the max.
Tip:If you can build DOC then your city is next to an ocean region.
Usefull when you are just started and only control one shire!.
In what order should I construct buildings?. In your capital
you should order your engineers
to build buildings which allow special troops, increase your magical
research or raise your global morale.
The buildings which increase your global morale are the most important
ones. In your non capital ,5 shires
I should order your peasants to construct buildings which increase magical
research, which increase local morale or
which increase local production (ie build LMI in a forest region).
Buildings which allow more advanced
units are less important (unless that region is in a warzone). The same
counts for buildings which increase your
defense in a town. Other buildings are less important, but I usually also
build buildings which increase
local tax revenues. MAR are also important if you have a great empire.
How should I use heroes and what heroes are good? Heroes with
high SC are always usefull to have.
They can cast deadly spells in combat and they often have a good special
as well. A MBU is also a must, but
several are useless. Undercover heroes can be usefull in certain
circumstances. The best undercover heroes are: THI,
ROG and ASS. High SC (sc3+) heroes and warrior heroes (increase the stats
of your warriors) should be in an army, while
undercover heroes should spy out the terrain. MBU, DIP and other heroes of
that kind should be kept on a safe place, the safest
place is your castle. It is also quite usefull to keep some heroes in your
capital (advisable is 4)
preferably with high Awareness to spot enemy undercover heroes sneaking
into your capital. I have seen
empires that were ruined only because some THI in their capital. Heroes
without any special and without high Spellcraft often have high movement
like Tribesmen and Rangers. The best hero in my eyes is the MAG or the
LIC.
What is the most important factor in WoW? Magic and Morale.
Magic often plays a decisive factor in many WoW games.
The magic ranking and the economic ranking are the most important ones.
Magic I explained above, and economy because
economy forms the backbone of your empire. A good economy will also allow
high political, magical and
military ratings. A good economy can only exist when you have a high
morale in all your shires. High morale increases your gold income. APP are
very important. Do not fear to spend a lot of money and gems on them, they
are definately worth it. Also the MCO is important. Military ranking is
not very important, because it is only temporarily. If you have
a good economy and magic you can easily raise a grand army. Maybe a
military ranking will spread fear among your opponents though ;)
What is the best population for a city? I usually let my
capital grow to 2000 inhabitants and
my other town to 1200, unless the region is a desert or arctic (maybe I am
forgetting one here). These regions
only have a max of 1200 pop. I let them grow to 1000. Experience has
thought me the cities will have the greatest growth rate
with these amounts of population.
Some words on mercs and caravans. In the midgame, you will
probably be able to raise taxes and
increase your gold stockpile. Now I should hire all interesting
mercenaries (with high move, with tunnelmove or
with flying move, or just with interesting stats) and buy all interesting
resources a caravan has for sale. I will not easily sell something
to caravans anymore, unless I really have an abundance of one resource and
the caravan offers good prices.
How to defend my empire properly Your empire can be attacked
from the land, the air and the underground.
If your empire has coastal regions a naval attack is also possible. You
should be able to counter all those possible attacks, or
at least hinder them as much as you can. Land offenses can only be stopped
by great armies. Naval offenses can be countered
better. If you make a 'shield' of ships, preferably fishing skiffs because
they also produce food for your empire, it will be
impossible for naval attacks to invade your lands in one turn. With this
screen you will be able to take your preparations for the attack.
Ok, you loose one fishing skiff, but it is definately worth it. It will
also prevent your opponent from using
the high movement of his ships. Most ships have a movement of higher than
4, and when they clash with your lone fishing skiff they will
be stopped. Counter flying and tunneling attacks on the same way. Just
make a screen of cheap flyers and tunnelers around your island and
no tunneling or flying army can enter your empire without you knowing it.
Tunneling attacks can be really
dangerous because you do not see tunneling units in your reports. Once in
a certain game the nr1. of the rankings was wiped out because he didn't
suspect
a tunneling offense of his opponent! Try to watch out for tunnelers and
flyers with high movement. They can attack anywhere once they broke
through your screen.
Make sure they can't get hold of one of your cities and be able to recruit
from there!
Which druidic artifacts are important? The SRO is the most
potent one. You only need
one for yourself. The SSM is also usefull and you only need one for
yourself. The SLA and the SSP are only usefull when you have
alot because they are used for combat spells.
Some battle tactics. Your great armies should include heroes
which enhance your troops,
like KNI, BAR, MAR. They should have the troops under the command and they
should be equipped with
MSW/FSW and/or DAR. In your armies you will need cannonfodder, hard
hitting troops and archers.
The cannonfodder is needed to take the damage. Especially against armies
with a lot of archers or with a lot of dark heroes,
some cannonfodder is important. It will make sure none of your hard
hitting troops (MGU) will die
in the shooting face or magic phase. Your archers will be able to inflict
some damage before the battle
starts. The archers will also make sure that any small army you encounter
will be easily wiped out before he even gets
a chance to do something. Don't rely to heavily on archers, after the
first round of combat they have
loosed much of their value. If everything is alright, your hard hitting
troops should finish the dirty
job after the first round. In big battles try to have more heroes than
your enemy (at least more LD) which
will allow you to have first strike, an important factor in many battles.
If you can afford cast IML or HBS in large battles. Make sure though that
you don't
trigger those spells too low! They cost a lot of gems. I am personnally
not so fond of WAS/TOS, I never
cast them in battles. If you have a quality army (mainly consisting of
PIK/MGU) it is wise to cast DAR/MIS.
It is wise to trigger at least one MBL on 50 1. It will make sure you will
not blow lone heroes away with SPD!
Also set one SPD/IST/FBA on 1 2. This one will be triggered if someone
summons a DLO or any other creep on your army.
Mounted troops I do not use in great armies. They will be made useless by
the BOG and you will not be able to use their high movement.
Use mounted troops to do a 'Blitzkrieg' on your enemy. Attack him on his
whole border with small armies of mounted troops.
They will strike faster than foot troops and thereby eliminating his
troops before he can hit. Fast troops
will make the game confusing for your enemy as well, he cannot predict
where your next attack will be. He might make
a grievious mistake because of that which may have mean the end of him.
Some words on logistics If you survived the midgame and the
start of the game, you empire
is probably fairly big at the end of the game. Some cities will be totally
isolated and soldiers
recruited from there will probably need some turns to come somewhere.
Therefore a good infrastructure is needed.
It is possible to move/teleport heroes (with high movement) to those
isolated regions and teleport your troops from there, but
this is a very expensive way of travelling. It is better to make a sort of
'highway', a network of portals through your whole
empire. in my empires the largest distance for troops to move to the
nearest portal is three turns. Assuming you will recruit in every town
every turn
in the endgame this will cause a continual move of soldiers through your
empire. It will also spare you time every turn.
If you recruit all your towns down to 1200 inhabitants, you will have the
same amount of troops to recruit each turn. Place an '@' in
your orders, and you only need to change the trooptype every turn. Below
the '@' place another '@attack'. The attack move will lead to
the nearest portal. This will cause a continual increase of troops in the
shires you have portals.
If you open a certain amount of portals every turn (depends on number of
portals) you can transport your troops all over the empire
without any problem or gem cost. You spare the gems for the battles. Watch
out to use a portal in your capital. You will need to lower
your town defenses then!
What are the best spells in the game? The best spells are: BET,
BCR, APO, NCO, AWA, ESH.
Is a POP a must? yes, if you can afford it.
Surprise your enemy. Try to surprise your enemy with all kinds
of attacks. Try to confuse him with your battles.
If you cause that your opponent has 40 battles a turn he may have been
fallen asleep reading the 39th, while
the 40th is of mayor importance ;) NCO heroes through his empire. Print
out his map and stick it
onto your dartboard to determine your next designation for your NCO hero.
A really good combo is to
give your NCO hero an army of 100+ PLWOL. It will allow you to trigger
your combat spell some higher and
it will allow you to pillage the land where you NCO to. Also send small
tunneling armies to him. He will
have a tunneling defense, so send tunneling heroes behind them (if you
have SRO). If his defenses are broken these
tunneling heroes can pop up where you want. It is also nice to let
undercover heroes hover about the enemy's capital ;)
Watch out for storm though! If you are dark and don't have access to these
spells, then use SRI and SDL to make the enemy go mad. Stick the map on
your dartboard again (zooming in on his capital this time) and throw a
dart to determine where the next pack of zombies will come!
How to get druidic artifacts if the tower is in hostile land?
Just send an undercover (with water walking if you need to pass some
oceans) to his lands and dig up an artifact.
Combo astral <==> CRS This is probably the best combo of WoW.
Set all your production to gems
and convert a part of your gems to food every turn. A FOD:1 GEM:x shire
would turn into FOD:x WOD:x STN:x IRN:x GEM:x MIT:x! That's worth it I
promise.
