new player help

from SorcererKing Forums

Hi 

 

 I bought the game, gave it a go and lost on beginner difficulty. I never played "4x" games before. (what is 4x anyway?). I went looking for a strat guide (oh how i miss prima strategy guides) and I can't find very much at all. Which is the best soveriegn to chose for a new player? what are their differences? all those intial choices at the start like do we have a nice city or more lore how does that help? Has anyone done/can do any youtube walkthroughs?

 

 This game could really use a tutorial mode. Oh and a build queue/pop up completed for cities. My city sat idle after finishing a food building for most of my game.

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Reply #1 from SorcererKing Forums Top

Hello! This community is pretty awesome, and I'm sure they will have many helpful suggestions to you. For a bit of starter help and a breakdown of what 4X is, you can take a look at some of the posts in this forum here:

 

http://forums.sorcererking.com/forum/1139

 

As for the best Sovereigns to start with for a beginner, I've heard a lot of differing opinions on that, but it seems that many suggest the Commander, Martin or the Wizard, Galor. If you are having issues figuring out build starts or more technical things, you can check out some of the Let's Plays that eXplorminate and Stardock have done. Their youtube channels are here:

https://www.youtube.com/user/stardockgames

and

https://www.youtube.com/user/explorminate

 

I am sure there are more, and I am certain that others will chime in with their suggestions. If you have more specific questions, I urge you to share them as you go along. Good luck!

 

Reply #2 from SorcererKing Forums Top

Ok well I watched all the stardock videos. The 40min long wizard guide was most helpful. If you ever consider making a real tutorial (you probably should) I would base it on this.

 

 I just spent an hour playing wizard on beginner. Keep being wiped out by monsters. Am I supposed to be considering all units disposable? because with the limit on building new ones it makes it really hard

Just had my double hero and leveled up bonus units wiped out by 2 "meduim on the map" spiders. I have to say the learning curve/fun ratio isn't doing it for me.

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Reply #3 from SorcererKing Forums Top

Units are definitely not disposable. They level up over time and get stronger. In the early game it's best to pick and choose your battles carefully. Each "stack" of units has a threat rating. It can give you a good idea of the relative strength of your units versus the enemy. Quick save (Ctr-S) before battle and reload if it doesn't go your way. I know save-scumming is frowned upon, but it can help you learn what works and what doesn't.

The wizard has a special power, Hypnosis, that works well to steal strong units from the enemy and use against them.  I like to use this spell cherry pick units I'll want to use the whole game. 

I hope you persevere and end up enjoying the game. Good luck!

Reply #4 from SorcererKing Forums Top

I played ALOT last night. The best thing I found was using hypnosis with the kelsen heros shadow bolt resist debuff to steal drakes. Made myself a small army of dragons and thats fun rolling over things. I given them all chain mail coifs and gloves which makes me giggle just thinking about it but I digress. Is there any guide or data anywhere for what strength an army should be to handle medium/strong/deadly encounters? or are we all just learning by trial and error?

 

 I saw a post on here that mentioned the "spam raider" strategy. I assume thats just a continuation of what I am doing with the drakes? use hypnosis to get a free unit from every single battle I fight so I can a ton of units that dont cost logistics ergo solving my army size problem?

 

 anyway thanks for the helpful replies.

Reply #5 from Elemental Forums Top

Raiders are the trainable units. They accesible if you'be build stables. Choose the city (capital would go) with high essense cound, enchant with per essence enchantments (aura of grace/vitaliy/strength) and just build raiders. Then give them equipement (onyx rings, ogre-blood, some elemental defence), enchant them with courage and you can roll over anything. There are many steps to take, but one can skip some of them, especially on not-too-hard settings. Raiders are chosen because they are fast, solid, and scale very well with levels, enchantments and equipment.

 

Reply #6 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting nightgerbil, reply 4

I played ALOT last night. The best thing I found was using hypnosis with the kelsen heros shadow bolt resist debuff to steal drakes. Made myself a small army of dragons and thats fun rolling over things. I given them all chain mail coifs and gloves which makes me giggle just thinking about it but I digress. Is there any guide or data anywhere for what strength an army should be to handle medium/strong/deadly encounters? or are we all just learning by trial and error?

 

 I saw a post on here that mentioned the "spam raider" strategy. I assume thats just a continuation of what I am doing with the drakes? use hypnosis to get a free unit from every single battle I fight so I can a ton of units that dont cost logistics ergo solving my army size problem?

 

 anyway thanks for the helpful replies.

 

Does this mean you keep a hypnotized unit after a battle?  I tried hypnosis a couple of times but they resisted so I stopped trying.  I may have to give it another shot if you keep the units.

Reply #7 from SorcererKing Forums Top

Quoting Bill, reply 6

Does this mean you keep a hypnotized unit after a battle? I tried hypnosis a couple of times but they resisted so I stopped trying.

Yes they are yours to keep.  To lower resistance craft and enchant things to boot SPELL MASTERY and give them to a spell caster.  Use that unit to cast hypnotize