Autocthon wrote:
You know I seem to consistently be able to retrofit mercenary troops which I have assimilated a faction of. But hey everyone else says it's not working, despite it definitely working for me.

Havent tried that, but wish you could sell your own troops then buy them back as mercenaries

You know I seem to consistently be able to retrofit mercenary troops which I have assimilated a faction of. But hey everyone else says it's not working, despite it definitely working for me.

EzekielMoerdyk wrote:
Hi!



I know how ridiculously annoying it is if you've had a (few) bad experience(s) with a specific faction, believing it to be imbalanced, and then have someone pop in to say that they've had the total opposite experience... so I apologize, because I'm doing exactly that. By the way, not so long ago the general meta was that Roving Clans are absolutely OP and should be nerfed...



My last Clan playthrough I won in turn 203 against Impossible AI with an economic victory, which was predominantly because of trade. I had to be warlike in a few instances, where I used the privateers to a very, very good use to snipe a few key targets and immediately drop a Beetle with some Borough Government improvements (+ fortification, unit heal, etc.) which the enemy just couldn't retake (and forced them to declare war, so I could retalliate in full).



Now, your concerns are valid, but I see them rather as a weakness of the Clans rather than an imbalance, which most factions have. (As an example: if you play Cultists in MP, you will be targeted immediately since you are weak early game, but massively strong late game, which is a weakness rather than an imbalance). As the roving clans, assuming that you are a decent player, you really need two things to win: i) Lots, lots, lots of dust, and ii) lots, lots, lots of land (which will give you lots of dust as well). If you had a bad start, or were unable to secure land early on, it will be more difficult later in the game.



However, it is not the end of the world. In MP, it is relatively easy to goad another player in declaring war on you (and once it is done, it cannot be reversed unless you agree to it or are playing against Drakken), since the marketplace ban can really hurt a player to the point that they will force/politically play you to relieve them of it. In SP, there are a few strategies that you can employ to get the AI to declare war on you. Lots of warnings, continously roaming their lands, having adjacent territories, killing their settlers... all of these will anger another AI to make it easier for them to declare war. Your privateers you can also buy early and level up as normal mercs (by assigning a hero with +XP boost) before converting to privateers. In addition, they are really mostly useful as snipers, in order to take out a very key city of the enemy, rather than large armies with which to engage a full-scale war. If you plan to take over an enemy city through privateers, keep a roving, semi-powerful city close by to immediately take the region and start producing/buying units.



Economically, the Clans receive some boosts early game. You can buy out much needed luxuries when they are cheap, and either hold on to them to sell later or to use when you don't have many cities. You can also grow much faster by settling a new region with an existing city, and placing new cities in areas with large food/production output before walking them to other places. You can also take islands early on with developed cities. However, all of this is moot without trade. Trade for all other factions provide an extra boost to your economy, whereas for the Roving Clans it is your economy. There are a few guides on the internet/steam which shows how to maximize trade, but in general you need:



i) A wide empire with many adjacent/sea-adjacent cities

ii) All of the trade bonus buildings (Caravans, the science trade upgrade (which also gives an extra trade route))

iii) As many enemy palaces (for extra trade route, which you get by sniping them with privateers)

iv) Emeralds (very NB)

v) Roving clan governors with all the extra trade skills (very NB)

vi) Faction quest upgrades (gives massive bonuses, make sure to finish your faction quest ASAP)

vii) All +% dust buildings (eg. Dust refinery), and resources (Dustwater, dust orchid...).

viii) A Fervent empire



The last two points are a bit obfuscated. Trade gives a base income to your city, which is subject to +% increases from buildings, heroes' skills, capacities and equipment, luxuries and happiness. (See this post of mine). Therefore, having a trade income of 100 dust in a city is equivalent to having a tile which gives 100 dust... which is absolutely massive. These things scale enormously and is probably the easiest path to an economic victory.



Having many factions at peace also helps your trade alot, as the game will automatically create longer trade routes for larger dust bonuses. However, one of the last Roving Clans hero skills allow you to form trade routes with empires in cold war/war... which is also very very nice.



Finally, if you really have trouble, there are two advantages (or possibly exploits) which you can use. In the early game (late game it becomes to much to micro-manage) you can Setseke-Ho! all or some of your cities right before you activate luxuries, which reduces the cost. In other words, if you have 6 cities (which would've cost you 35 of any luxury to activate), you can uproot all six of them for a single turn, and then activate your luxuries for only 5 each. It costs you a turn of FIDS, but you can activate tons of luxuries which you can buy for cheap early on (including late game luxuries such as Dust Orchid). This can help your early game a lot. The other (possible exploit) is related to sieges. When you siege an enemy city whom you are not at war with with privateers, if you place your normal (faction) armies on exploited tiles they will add their power to the siege, even though they cannot instigate it. It helps if you have to take down a truly fortified city. Whether these two bugs/exploits/little-known advantages are still in the game, I'm not sure - it might have been removed somewhere along the line. I haven't used them in my last game.



Hope some advice helps!

Wow dude, thanks a lot! spent the last 3 days losing with roving clans so was obviously frustrated. but the tips you gave are really really good. Will definately look for more tutorials with roving clan's. Any more tips would be much appreciated.



I usually play against Impossible AI so early game is the toughest. And there are some pretty obvious tips you gave which I never tried (i.e buying luxuries early game and using them) but will definitely give those a try.



But a few points. That the AI never declares war on you unless it is much stronger than you, and if it is weaker than you, no amount of warnings seem to work.



Thanks again man!

Hi!



I know how ridiculously annoying it is if you've had a (few) bad experience(s) with a specific faction, believing it to be imbalanced, and then have someone pop in to say that they've had the total opposite experience... so I apologize, because I'm doing exactly that. By the way, not so long ago the general meta was that Roving Clans are absolutely OP and should be nerfed...



My last Clan playthrough I won in turn 203 against Impossible AI with an economic victory, which was predominantly because of trade. I had to be warlike in a few instances, where I used the privateers to a very, very good use to snipe a few key targets and immediately drop a Beetle with some Borough Government improvements (+ fortification, unit heal, etc.) which the enemy just couldn't retake (and forced them to declare war, so I could retalliate in full).



Now, your concerns are valid, but I see them rather as a weakness of the Clans rather than an imbalance, which most factions have. (As an example: if you play Cultists in MP, you will be targeted immediately since you are weak early game, but massively strong late game, which is a weakness rather than an imbalance). As the roving clans, assuming that you are a decent player, you really need two things to win: i) Lots, lots, lots of dust, and ii) lots, lots, lots of land (which will give you lots of dust as well). If you had a bad start, or were unable to secure land early on, it will be more difficult later in the game.



However, it is not the end of the world. In MP, it is relatively easy to goad another player in declaring war on you (and once it is done, it cannot be reversed unless you agree to it or are playing against Drakken), since the marketplace ban can really hurt a player to the point that they will force/politically play you to relieve them of it. In SP, there are a few strategies that you can employ to get the AI to declare war on you. Lots of warnings, continously roaming their lands, having adjacent territories, killing their settlers... all of these will anger another AI to make it easier for them to declare war. Your privateers you can also buy early and level up as normal mercs (by assigning a hero with +XP boost) before converting to privateers. In addition, they are really mostly useful as snipers, in order to take out a very key city of the enemy, rather than large armies with which to engage a full-scale war. If you plan to take over an enemy city through privateers, keep a roving, semi-powerful city close by to immediately take the region and start producing/buying units.



Economically, the Clans receive some boosts early game. You can buy out much needed luxuries when they are cheap, and either hold on to them to sell later or to use when you don't have many cities. You can also grow much faster by settling a new region with an existing city, and placing new cities in areas with large food/production output before walking them to other places. You can also take islands early on with developed cities. However, all of this is moot without trade. Trade for all other factions provide an extra boost to your economy, whereas for the Roving Clans it is your economy. There are a few guides on the internet/steam which shows how to maximize trade, but in general you need:



i) A wide empire with many adjacent/sea-adjacent cities

ii) All of the trade bonus buildings (Caravans, the science trade upgrade (which also gives an extra trade route))

iii) As many enemy palaces (for extra trade route, which you get by sniping them with privateers)

iv) Emeralds (very NB)

v) Roving clan governors with all the extra trade skills (very NB)

vi) Faction quest upgrades (gives massive bonuses, make sure to finish your faction quest ASAP)

vii) All +% dust buildings (eg. Dust refinery), and resources (Dustwater, dust orchid...).

viii) A Fervent empire



The last two points are a bit obfuscated. Trade gives a base income to your city, which is subject to +% increases from buildings, heroes' skills, capacities and equipment, luxuries and happiness. (See this post of mine). Therefore, having a trade income of 100 dust in a city is equivalent to having a tile which gives 100 dust... which is absolutely massive. These things scale enormously and is probably the easiest path to an economic victory.



Having many factions at peace also helps your trade alot, as the game will automatically create longer trade routes for larger dust bonuses. However, one of the last Roving Clans hero skills allow you to form trade routes with empires in cold war/war... which is also very very nice.



Finally, if you really have trouble, there are two advantages (or possibly exploits) which you can use. In the early game (late game it becomes to much to micro-manage) you can Setseke-Ho! all or some of your cities right before you activate luxuries, which reduces the cost. In other words, if you have 6 cities (which would've cost you 35 of any luxury to activate), you can uproot all six of them for a single turn, and then activate your luxuries for only 5 each. It costs you a turn of FIDS, but you can activate tons of luxuries which you can buy for cheap early on (including late game luxuries such as Dust Orchid). This can help your early game a lot. The other (possible exploit) is related to sieges. When you siege an enemy city whom you are not at war with with privateers, if you place your normal (faction) armies on exploited tiles they will add their power to the siege, even though they cannot instigate it. It helps if you have to take down a truly fortified city. Whether these two bugs/exploits/little-known advantages are still in the game, I'm not sure - it might have been removed somewhere along the line. I haven't used them in my last game.



Hope some advice helps!