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Mortal Empires I generally either make about the short objectives or once I'm done gallivanting around.
Speaking of Mortal Empires (and probably Vortex but I don't like the objectives for the ritual civs so I almost never touch it): there is something absurdly stupid about Alith Anar having an army that's nearly entirely those shadow guys
◊ by turn... 30 something. What, exactly, am I supposed to do about this, game? Fire Whilst Moving, stalk, good speed, a lord specifically to buff them, and good melee attack to offset their theoretical fragility if they are in melee. Oh, and good range. O_o
That all you got?
Cavalry, I'd say. Elite or not, they're still archers, and they don't even have the ability to change to spearmen like the Lothern Sea Guard. A large number of fast-moving cavalry should close the distance with them pretty quick.
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Figure of Hourai
Okay, and which factions up in Naggarond are going to be fielding enough heavy cavalry (with light cavalry you'll be shredded before engaging) at that stage to do anything? Definitely not the Tomb Kings. 
Again, this is only by turn 30-something.
Edited by RainehDaze on Mar 4th 2021 at 4:57:10 PM
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That all you got?
By the way, how does Repanse play? Why is she there? What are her campaign objectives?
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Figure of Hourai
Can't remember how she plays but she's there to kill undead. Crusade!
Also one of her skills gives her entire ARMY flaming weapons when fighting undead enemies. Shame the vampire counts might not survive long enough once you're done with the tomb kings to go play with them. ![[lol]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lol2v12_4863.png "[lol]"){kind=small}
That all you got?
Yeah, I remember when she came out there were tons of memes of how well she did against the Tomb Kings XD
But I doubt she's a Vortex character, and she has no reason to want the Books of Nagash, so what are her objectives there, even?
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I actually wanted to be Resileaf
Repanse is a melee monster who specializes in disrupting large groups but is also an excellent duelist (but not very good against monsters), followed by Henri the Massif who is just as much of a melee monster himself, skilled at destroying large units, especially monsters, making him an excellent support to protect Repanse from her weaknesses. She empowers peasant units in her army, giving them increased physical resist and leadership. I think I recall her having spellcasting disruption abilities in her skill tree but I don't have it at hand.
She is on a crusade to destroy the undead, and has set her sights on the Tomb Kings to destroy them. If she's like the other Bretonnian lords, her objective is to gain chivalry until she can do her final quest, which will most likely involve a big final battle against the Tomb Kings' greatest armies. A unique mechanic she has is that when her armies enter a city, they stock up on water and become immune to desert attrition for five turns, allowing her to travel the desert without problem.
Edited by Resileafs on Mar 4th 2021 at 12:15:11 PM
That all you got?
So it's just a giant Errantry War plotline like the Bretonnian campaign in the first game.
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I'm around 15 turns into my Khatep campaign and I'm having lots of fun. I always like Caster Lords and it's nice to mulch Dark elves instead of the lizardmen I had to face in my Settra campaign.
But I did notice something curious, is it just me, or is there a surprising scarcity of comfortable land?
Khatep finds deserts (naturally), Wastelands, and Mountains to be habitable. But much of the land around Naggarond are Frozen which is uncomfortable. I'm not sure how punishing it will be but the reduced income looks really painful considering how little money Tomb Kings make.
Edited by Fourthspartan56 on Mar 4th 2021 at 9:21:14 AM
"Sandwiches are probably easier to fix than the actual problems" -Hylarn
Figure of Hourai
You'll make most of your money beating people up anyway, it's not all that bad.
Just avoid a war with Nagarythe unless you have a way to splat Alith Anar's main stack.
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I know I sound like a broken record now, but why not just use chariots? Those shadow warriors don't look particularly hefty, so you should be able to just bowl them over, or at least tie them up long enough for your infantry to engage.
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Lack of chariot cap made it a pain, mostly. The problem going on there is that they have... what, 45+ speed once bonuses are considered and chariots have ~70? During which time your chariots are being shot with arrows from like five different units, whilst the actual target is playing hard to get. In an army comprised almost entirely of such skirmishing-favourable units. I think it worked out as about a 1-for-1 trade.
As I said, early turn 30's. And if you had focused on chariots that much the army would do pretty poorly against anything else.
Edited by RainehDaze on Mar 4th 2021 at 7:36:04 PM
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I mean, I've had battles against a Wood Elves army that were basically just Waywatchers and Wildwood Rangers, with only four chariots included in my army.
Also, doesn't Khatep mostly fight Skaven and Dark Elves? Why wouldn't you invest in chariots? It's the only real killing power you have until your cities reach level 4.
Edited by Kayeka on Mar 4th 2021 at 8:44:25 PM
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I was investing in chariots.
... also now that I think about it, that was the army with four of them. Wonder if the sheer amount of hills was screwing it up.
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That's entirely possible. I like the chariots a lot (until proper endgame), but they need their charge to get anything done. Hilly terrain can seriously mess with them and makes micro a pain.
Edited by Kayeka on Mar 4th 2021 at 8:52:05 PM
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And the usual problem with everything you want to chase having stalk and vanguard deployment.
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Just build a second army of all skeletons to reinforce your main army. It’s completely free, so there’s never a reason to not use the maximum number of armies. Send the skeletons charging straight at the shadow-walkers. They’ll get mowed down by the hundreds, but they’re just meant as cannon fodder anyway. Have your main army follow behind them but out of range. Hopefully your disposable first wave of trash will absorb most of the enemy ammunition and tire out the shadow-walkers. Then you’ll be able to send in the rest your main army to hit them in melee as soon as your trash army is crumbling. Time it right, and the troops you actually care about will take minimal casualties.
Figure of Hourai
I dealt with it anyway, but as much as I would have liked to have the second army there, this was the second army (the third one was still researching). Khatep's position is super annoying once you head out of the mountains.
My reaction, I suppose, is mostly because... really, that many of the things? Those are pretty expensive units. Bloody AI economy.
Edited by RainehDaze on Mar 5th 2021 at 9:14:31 AM
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Didn't Alith have some army effect that slashed the upkeep of those units in half?
Figure of Hourai
That would probably be why, if it's that big (it would make them cheaper than regular archers), doesn't mean it can't help but feel a little excessive to run into that many.
The sequence of events was just weird: Morathi declared war (she wasn't even able to get to me), and Alith Anar then decided that killing Morathi despite being at war with her wasn't worth it, so he also declared war. Then Morathi confederated with... Karond Kar? One of the Dark Elf minors, that's right above. Elves, elves everywhere. Knife-eared bastards...
Edited by RainehDaze on Mar 5th 2021 at 9:25:06 AM
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At least they don't have 130 armor and leadership. F*cking dorfs, man.
You'll make most of your money beating people up anyway, it's not all that bad.
Just avoid a war with Nagarythe unless you have a way to splat Alith Anar's main stack.
That makes sense, I'll make sure to sack lucrative settlements then.
"Sandwiches are probably easier to fix than the actual problems" -Hylarn
That all you got?
Man I'm still kind of salty from last night. I had a great army going into that; the Lizardmen and Dark Elves were the ones that failed.
Malekith didn't even have his dragon! And this was like turn 180 or something!
That is the face of a man who just ate a kitten. Raw.
That all you got?
Double-posting cuz I started a Gor-Rok campaign. Going well so far; I've taken a fair bit of territory, the main issue is holding it cuz I only have two armies but Clan Skryre declared war on me.
Also now I know what everyone else felt like when I was running around as Queek with a fuckload of Weapon Taems. Those things are nasty.
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Yeah, I was planning to make Gor-Rok my last New World campaign before going Mortal Empires with the next few.
Though I'm not sure how long I'll stick with each of those campaigns considering Mortal Empires has an idiotic objective system. Maybe do the Short campaign goals for each.
That is the face of a man who just ate a kitten. Raw.