Banedon wrote:1000-2000 Skeletons per battle? What kind of battles are those? Must be crazy impossibly large maps or something.
Yeah, there were many neutral legion stacks and ai had thousands upon thousands of troops. I was using Vidomina who was at level 27 too.
Personally, I don't find battling too many neutrals early on a huge benefit of necromancy. Usually, you'll only collect a horde or so skeletons this way. That's not to say it's bad, because every single one counts. It also puts my mind at ease because I can't stand losing troops in combat, but I'll make exception with skeletons because I know I'll keep producing more. It's later on in the map when you start fighting large armies when necromancy really pays off.In fact, I think Necropolis must play offensively, because if they don't they'll run out of food, wherupon they would soon be eclipsed in power by the other races.
Yeah, sprites are really great and they probably my favorite level 1 unit. But still, given the choice of fighting against 300 sprites or 250 centaurs/pikeman/rogues, I would defintely rather deal with the sprites because I can get rid of them with one blow, where as the others would cause problems because they are much more durable.Conflux is imbalanced. There're many reasons:
1. Sprites are very good level 1 units. Yes they die like flies, but they reproduce like flies as well, move fast and strike without retaliation. There aren't many creatures that strike without retaliation at low levels.
The main reason they are very good is because they have a disproportionate amount of health compared to other level 2 and some level 3 units. It's really more of a balance issue between factions, but I don't mind because conflux middle tier units aren't especially spectacular. They also have erratic damage ratio's which can be both a blessing or a curse. Also, in the creature descriptions is says air and ice elementals have no melee penalty, but I think they do. (Or at least ice elementals might suffer a penalty?) I could be wrong though.2. Storm Elementals are very very good level 2 units. To say they die to lightning spells is underestimating the threat they are. You can only cast one spell per turn - if you spend it on a damaging spell, you give your opponent ample chances of a more devastating spell (eg. Mass Slow, Mass Prayer, Clone). And...they're level 2 units. If you're targetting them with lightning spells, what about the obviously more dangerous level 7s?
3. Phoenixes reproduce at x4. This the real cruncher. Not only do Phoenixes guarantee you the first move in battle, they also reproduce fast and are easy to get.
I agree, this is what puts conflux at an unfair advantage. It's so obvious too, so I don't know why the developers did this. Luckily, thanks to WoG, or even using trait files, I can set the growth down to x2.
Actually, I won't be seeing green dragons ever because I replaced centaurs and dragons with sprites and phoenix to honor the H2 sorceress town.Compared to, say, Rampart, you won't be seeing Green Dragons anytime near when the Firebirds first appear.
A lot of people seem to emphasize the magic university, but I never use it because I will never ever choose to master more than two schools of magic since it takes away skill slots for other things. On top of that, I never have a chance to build it until late in the game because I play on impossible and that building in not only expensive, but also costs extra money to learn the skill. I'd rather just take my chances with an adventure map university. The Borealis is awesome, but I never have the good fortune to find the grail, so it doesn't help me anyway.4. The Magic University is impossible. You're guaranteed to learn magic of the kind you want, and given how powerful magic is Conflux heroes are immensely versatile. If you're fortunate enough to get, say, Crag Hack in your tavern, you multiply your army's power ten-fold. And let's not mention the Aurora Borealis...
They do have a strong start and I agree they have the edge on small maps, but if you reduce their phoenix growth, then they are on par with any other faction on larger maps in my opinion. At least I've never had to struggle against them. I never play with them because their faction is the most uninspired and boring faction to use, not because they are superior.Conflux has a strong start to the game. Not as fast as Rampart, but definitely a strong start (good level 1s + good level 2s). The only other race with a comparably fast start is Castle; races like Stronghold would take time to get their Thunderbirds into play or they'd blow their gold reserves by rushing to Behemoths. Conflux is imbalanced. Don't play them.