Hello everyone, I've played the game for some time now and I have a problem that is giving me so much of and itch I made an account on the forums just to post it.



I'm not a good player yet but I'm working on it, I've always played against normal AI, lately it started to get too easy, really easy, I just stomp the AI on normal now it's not even fun, so I went up to hard. I discovered there's an ocean of difference between normal and hard, I also discovered that hard is exactly where I am now, I can keep up with the AI, never ahead of the top 2 of that match but always barely there, touching the second guy. There is a "but", a thing that keeps me from getting ahead of them and winning on hard, and the more I play the more I feel it has to do with equipment, it always feels like we have the same amount of armies, same army sizes, same tech lvl, but when we fight they are always dealing more damage and taking less, I'm usually trading 5 to 7 of my units for 2 to 4 of them each battle.



I'll use the game I'm playing now as an example, I'm playing Necrophage, I played every faction once to feel the differences and know the enemy and chose Necros, so I only play them, always. I had a great start, a lot of minors killed so food for the people, double expanded on turn 21 after picking science bonus for empire plan, got +strat minor faction (the cristal golens, forgot the name) assimilated ASAP, my start was heavy on industry and got a dust anomaly, so I could retro my hero and both foragers early and also bought a glassteel and a titanium extractor really early, the game went on, got forth city, saved strategics for industry wonder and era 2 equipment, I never go for era 1 glass and titan weapons, I always save the resources, kill as many minor as possible era 1 while not caring about other factions, them as soon as I reach era 2 I retrofit everyone into strategic weapons and t2 iron, pick the strongest nearby enemy faction and take them out from the game, that's what I did, I lost the industry wonder on the last turns and it was a very big "ouch", but I took 4 cities from the roving clans, wiping them out and reducing the number of factions on the game, they had some very well positioned cities with high industry so I feel that made up for the loss of the wonder. (As you can notice, I like to play wide, very wide, I made up for the city amount selling my overflow of titaniun and buying luxuries on the market. As I finished that, the highest score guy on the match was the only other neighboor and next on my Dead Checklist, the Drakken.



Now getting finally to the real point, I'm in era 3 now, I have 7 armies, 3 of them with necro heroes (feed on bones, Ka'riss and empty belly), all those armies are made up of 2 foragers and 4 drones, plus the hero on 3 of them, I equip the hero and the foragers with titan weapons lvl 3 (got from quest) and adamant armor because I want them to be slow tanks meant for absorving a lot of damage while not dealing all that much back, I also use movement acessory so they won't hinder too much the move points of the army while out of fight and the free counter I got from a quest, and all drones with glassteal weapons lvl 3 and palladian armor because of all the crazy amounts of initiative, so they can take the best terrain and get to atack the enemy glass cannons and wipe them out fast. I also got the bonus % initiative deed. I also a couple armies of 2 proliferators with the sole purpose of joining fights as reinforcement to land some shots here and there and make cannon fodder and temporary replacements to dead units, aka battleborns. (those proli armies are not accounted on that 7)

I keep feeling like the enemy has access to the same equipment as me, but his build is stronger and deals more damage while taking less, what do you guys think about my build? Is it that bad? Could you hint me on some better way to equip my units?



Sorry for the wall of text, hope you guys have the patience to read it all, loving tha game, this is a gem.

No, it's not a bad loadout, and I'm pretty surprised the enemy on hard is causing more damage to you than you are to them.



First of all, how's your science? If your opponents are out-sciencing you, they might have armors and weapons 2 tiers stronger than you. (Unlikely though.)



Second, you might find it useful to pick up alchemical armors for the trinket tech. Titanium rings and insiginia (and glassteel insignia) are very good accessories that you would benefit from.



Third, consider adding some healers to your armies if you can. Your casualties are probably pretty close calls-- if you could keep them up and running one or two more turns, you might find that you start steamrolling your AI opponents. Drakken heroes are good healers, but you could also consider a healer-focused assimilation.



For your heroes, how are they levelling? Infantry heroes have access at relatively low level to a capacity that improves the health of all of the units under their command. I recommend that capacity highly for military play.



Finally, are you doing auto-combats or resolving manually? Whichever it is, try the opposite. You might be using poor tactics on manual resolution, and you'd be able to tell if auto-resolve was outperforming you. Or, you might find that auto-resolve is what's causing your problems, and that once you start resolving combats manually your performance improves.

natev wrote:
No, it's not a bad loadout, and I'm pretty surprised the enemy on hard is causing more damage to you than you are to them.



First of all, how's your science? If your opponents are out-sciencing you, they might have armors and weapons 2 tiers stronger than you. (Unlikely though.)



Second, you might find it useful to pick up alchemical armors for the trinket tech. Titanium rings and insiginia (and glassteel insignia) are very good accessories that you would benefit from.



Third, consider adding some healers to your armies if you can. Your casualties are probably pretty close calls-- if you could keep them up and running one or two more turns, you might find that you start steamrolling your AI opponents. Drakken heroes are good healers, but you could also consider a healer-focused assimilation.



For your heroes, how are they levelling? Infantry heroes have access at relatively low level to a capacity that improves the health of all of the units under their command. I recommend that capacity highly for military play.



Finally, are you doing auto-combats or resolving manually? Whichever it is, try the opposite. You might be using poor tactics on manual resolution, and you'd be able to tell if auto-resolve was outperforming you. Or, you might find that auto-resolve is what's causing your problems, and that once you start resolving combats manually your performance improves.

Thanks a lot for the reply, it was faster than I imagined.



1 - I don't think they're out-teching me, my science is not the best around but I'm not behind. I feel confident to say so because I'm entering the eras more or less 15 turns away from the first guy whoever it is. (Assuming that when it unlocks the wonder and deeds of an era for me it means a player reached it first) Is it too much? I feel like 15 turns means they are barely 2 techs ahead, so I don't think the problem lies here.



2 - Never considered this, I usually don't pay too much attention to trinkets, the bonus feels too small, the free counter one is awesome and movement one is usefull to make an entire army move at the speed of the fastest unit there. I'll try to give them more attention and see if it helps me, thanks.



3 - This one got me like a punch, yes most of the battles end up with a lot of nearly dead enemies and a lot of dead 1 turn before surviving units of mine, I'll try changing drones for the eyeless ones because they look cool and I heard they're the best MF healers, should I change only 1 drone for an eyeless or 2, considering this very same 6 units build? Or should I keep them with my proliferators so they'll join as backup after the match started, as I'll only need their heal after damage has been done anyway?



4 - Usually I pick a single point in my first 2 heroes on the "better search on ruins" perk because they're running around killing minors and searching ruins, after that I keep on the left tree, picking hero defense, units health, etc. I never use governors, I feel like they're a waste of such good combat units because the bonus to the citis look very small compared to their fight capabilities, specially with quest equipment that can only be used by heroes.



5 - I always do manual unless I'm 100% confident the auto will end up winning with no losses on my side, every battle I do auto and lose something I know I could've avoided that loss if I did it manually because I retreat units that are 1 hit away from death so they can heal after the fight and strike again with full hp while the AI fights to death. I can also kill more when I manual because they AI chooses it's targets poorly. I might not be the best tactician out there but I'm sure as hell better than auto. =P



Thanks a lot for the help, I'll try your hints, specially about a healing unit. I also miss having an archer but it hurts taking away something from the composition to free space for them.

My bad, actually I was a lot behind in tech, I wasn't getting to an era 10 turns after the first guy got to it, I was getting into an era 10 turns after the first guy got to the era after that, there was an entire era of difference between me and most of the AIs, guess I'm focusing way too heavily in industry and dust, I'll try a new game and give science mora attention.

I'm feeling dumb, really dumb.

PhilkIced wrote:
My bad, actually I was a lot behind in tech, I wasn't getting to an era 10 turns after the first guy got to it, I was getting into an era 10 turns after the first guy got to the era after that, there was an entire era of difference between me and most of the AIs, guess I'm focusing way too heavily in industry and dust, I'll try a new game and give science mora attention.

I'm feeling dumb, really dumb.

Also you should consider the Drakken strength, which is a huge hit point pool. The way to beat them is huge damage to kill them off quickly or the simply outlast you

timally wrote:
Also you should consider the Drakken strength, which is a huge hit point pool. The way to beat them is huge damage to kill them off quickly or the simply outlast you

Thanks for the help, I'll sure consider this.

I'm also having a bad time retrofitting my units to overcome the tech diference, it seems like you never have enough strategics to do it, when I finish retrofiting half my armies with a new metal, that metal is obsolete already.

PhilkIced wrote:
Thanks for the help, I'll sure consider this.

I'm also having a bad time retrofitting my units to overcome the tech diference, it seems like you never have enough strategics to do it, when I finish retrofiting half my armies with a new metal, that metal is obsolete already.

terrain is huge also. The proper use of it can negate a large portion of equipment deficit.



Necrophages are pretty hard to play as you have to balance initial slow growth with building outwards to gain the Fids other parties get from pop growth. Your initial unit is plain bad, and very disposable. I wouldn't build many, and definitely not kit them out if you do. They are the shock troops that do a bit of early damage and spread disease before they are killed. Forget tier one armors and try sprint to the tech that gives you 6 unit armies and tier two. Take two foot soldiers, three flyers and the support thingy..sorry been a while since I played them. Foot soldiers do initial damage and spread the disease. Then get your flyers to mop up while your support "recruits" more foot soldiers. The support should tag your next target and provide a constant stream of new foot soldiers top top up the army. If you get more than your army can hold, build a seperate army with them or the support costs skyrocket. When you have 3 or four in this army, use it to weaken the enemy before your main attack. This will save your elite troops



That's in theory. sometimes its better to just get six flyers and set them up for a ton of initiative and damage. From memory support heros are good for these armies, as they give attack, damage and init bonuses as well as heal or debuff enemies.



Try use cliffs. The flyers can attack without being melee attacked back. If you can, recruit a tough unit, like the silics, as a minor faction for blocking enemies. Archers do ok too. You must try protect them as disease will spread to them.



Most of all try set up for who you'll be fighting. A team of six flyers will decimate the Drakken, but may struggle against a high init enemy who can kill a few dangerous units before you can attack

I appreciate the help from everyone, didn't expect that much support. I've practised a lot and tried all the tips you guys gave me, I can now consistently win on hard as Necrophage, I've been trying the other factions as well to know the enemy a little bit more and I can win on hard as the Cultists too (and it feels easier compared to the necros, I expected them to be harder because of the atypical mechanic), but I got stomped as Roving Clans and Vaulters, gonna keep on trying and I'm sure I'll get there, I have soo many hours on this game and I'm still learning new things every minute I play more, it's kinda crazy, never played a game like this.

PhilkIced wrote:
I appreciate the help from everyone, didn't expect that much support. I've practised a lot and tried all the tips you guys gave me, I can now consistently win on hard as Necrophage, I've been trying the other factions as well to know the enemy a little bit more and I can win on hard as the Cultists too (and it feels easier compared to the necros, I expected them to be harder because of the atypical mechanic), but I got stomped as Roving Clans and Vaulters, gonna keep on trying and I'm sure I'll get there, I have soo many hours on this game and I'm still learning new things every minute I play more, it's kinda crazy, never played a game like this.

I took a break but am back now and enjoying it. If you check my history, there was a roving clans guide..pretty basic, but maybe help