Battle Realms
Tips&Tricks
Introduction
My name is Hoplyte and I wanted to make a strategy guide for this game
ever since I played it the first time. It is a very good RTS that, in my
opinion, may be better than the AOE series. I’m a romanian gamer and I consider
myself a medium RTS player, because I never played anything else than AOE, RA,
Starcraft or Battle Realms in multiplayer, although I played a lot of
strategies (RT or TB) in single-player. This will not be a mission walktrough
since this game’s missions may be solved by a lot of different ways but I will
include mission tips although this is a multiplayer guide.
This game is really cool and interesting and innovative and… phew. It
doesn’t have so many bugs and has lots of original ideas, like the Yin/Yang
points, which are really an experience counter. The game is inspired by the
history of medieval Japan, but if you want a more historycal approach, play
Shogun: Total War. One weird thing: you use rice and water to build the
buildings. What’s that all about?
The probleme in this game is that you don’t have stats like in AOE so
you can’t compare two units by their health or damage. Plus, some units are
better against a type of enemy but they really take a beating from others.
Contents
Part I: Clans and their units
Part II: Clans and their Heroes
Part III: Mission tips
Part IV: Multiplayer tips and strategies
Part I: Clans and their units
The clans in the game are well balanced, except for the Lotus, which
are too powerful. The Serpent and the Dragon are pretty much alike, except for
the units, which are totally different. The Wolf and the Lotus are pretty
weird, but once you get the hang of them you’ll be victorious. NOTE: don’t get
pissed off if I give too many examples from personal experience.
DRAGON
The dragon clan is a good clan to play with but not if you’re a
beginner. Its Samurai can be deadly to both enemy units and yours if you don’t
know how to handle’em. On the other side it has the best archers and beside the
spearman, all units can fire projectiles. This is quite good because while 5 of
your Dragon Warriors are in there fighting for you, the others can stay behind
and fire magical bolts instead of joining the massacre in hand-to-hand. And the
samurai are good to keep in a tower because their arrows can seriously damage
the attackers and when the tower is destroyed they can hold their own against
lots of enemy units. But I will describe more tactics along with each unit
type. The last thing about this clan is that you can sacrifice 4 samurai at the
dragon’s shrine and then enlist the dragon’s help. You can now call a ,,rain of
fire” upon your unsuspecting victims. VERY POWERFUL. USE WITH CARE
Spearman: A good level 1 unit. It’s quite better if you upgrade it, but can’t
do much against more advanced units. Quite good for a rush but not unless you
have lots of them. Then again, by the time you have 6 of these the enemy will
probably have a good defense. Plus, the peasants can do some damage to the
spearmen. Well, I guess that instead of attacking with this one you may as well
wait to train at least some Dragon Warriors. The whirling spear battle gear is
good, though.
Archer: I think it’s the best level 1 ranged unit in the game, but unlike the
wolf’s hurler, he really stinks in close combat. He’s good because he has a
very good range and can seriously damage the enemy before he even gets close.
Plus, the arrows fly faster than the stones from the Hurler’s slingshot, for
example, so they miss rarely. They aren’t that good against fast targets or
buildings, so the fire arrow battle gear is a must.
Chemist: If upgraded, this guy is a pain in the index finger. He can fire area-
effect missiles (again, if upgraded) which makes him pretty good, but don’t
expect wonders. The serpent’s musketeer is better because he has a longer
range, and he can also fire explosive area-effect shells. But the chemist has
an interesting battle gear: cascade rockets. Select a chemist, press B (use
battle gear) and cascade away.
Dragon warrior: A very good level 2 unit. It can fire magical bolts at the
enemy before engaging in hand-to-hand, where they excel. You can build up your
attack force starting from this guy. His only problem is that if you are up to
level 3 units, they will take a beating if they don’t have supporting units. He
really gets better with the shield battle gear, which transforms him into a
big, round, attack attractor (isn’t that a mouthfull). Seriously, using that
battle gear you can save the dragon warrior until reinforcements arrive.
Kabuki warrior: I don’t know what this guy is supposed to do, but he does one
thing right: ,,jump around like he don’t care”. He is better than the serpent’s
raider, WAY better, but he isn’t that good. The dragon warrior is better than
this guy, but he can blind enemies with the right battle gear, so he becomes
very handy if the enemy relies on hand-to-hand units.
Powder keg cannoneer: Good for wrecking buildings or occupying a tower. Period.
Samurai: At last, the level 3 unit! This guy is pretty tough to beat if you
upgrade him. He can fire arrows at the enemy until he gets near enough to hack
at them with his katana. He would probably be the best level 3 unit in the
game, but one thing sets him back: when he dies, the spirit of the dragon
attacks all of the nearby units, including allies, so attacking with more than
3 samurai is pure idiocy. One tactic is to send them in kamikaze attacks,
weakening the defenses until you are ready to send in more of them without
losing a SINGLE ONE. Otherwise, you will trigger a chain reaction and see all
your samurai dead and all your archers exposed to enemy blades. A single
samurai defeated 3 spearmen which were attacking at the same time, the last
being killed by the samurai’s dragon spirit, and once I lost 12 ronins to 3
samurai and a few archers (all of the samurai died, taking my ronin with them).
Be careful while attacking samurai, and when you see one fall to his knees, get
all your units (if possible) to RUN THE HELL OUTTA THERE, because when the
dragon appears above his head you won’t have anyone to command anymore. The
bottom line is that the samurai are quite good if you know how to use them, and
they rank no.3 in the level 3 unit top, very close behind the ronin. BTW, don’t
forget to use the Dragon skin battle gear if the enemy relies on ranged units.
Geisha: She heals all allied units with low health automatically, but you
should do research quickly so that she uses less stamina for healing. Otherwise
you will need lots of them to keep your army alive. What can I say: keep her
out of trouble and she can be a real lifesaver. A must in any attack.
SERPENT
The dragon and serpent clans are pretty much the same, but you will
need different strategies for each clan. If a dragon attack will need a lot of
different units to support or complement one another, the serpent’s ronin can
be sent in alone to wreak havoc. And the musketeer is a good ranged attacker,
although he reloads kinda slowly. The music for this clan is cool, though. One
last thing: by sacrifycing 4 ronin at the necromancer’s throne you will enlist
the help of the necromancer, a very powerful hero. I will tell you more on the
Hero section.
Swordsman: pretty much like the spearman, maybe a bit better. The glass
sword battle gear is good but in fact it’s a kamikaze attack since a swordsman
with full health will remain on red after using it, making him very vulnerable
to archers (especially) or hand-to-hand units.
Crossbowman: A not so good ranged unit, the crossbowman fires twice, so
he hardly misses. But he doesn’t do that much damage, and he has a small attack
range, so don’t bother to use them. Better train them to Bandits.
Musketeer: A good ranged attacker. With the sniper Scope he really
deals damage from VERY far away and with the blast shot he can damage close
grouped units. Go for this one instead of the crossbowman, it’s a sure bet.
Besides, he can damage a building without any upgrades, but he is not that good
at it as the cannoneer. If upgraded, he can become extremely powerful, dealing
lots of damage. You should really use his battle gear and try using 50% Sniper
Scope - 50% Blast Shot musketeers.
Bandit: Good in the early stages of a game. He can loot corpses and
give you the resources paid for the respective unit. He can shoot from afar,
pretty much like the dragon warrior, but his range is shorter. If you upgrade
the poison tips he becomes even better. He is good in hand-to-hand combat, but
if you have enough resources go for the ronin.
Raider: Weak. He can do some damage in hand-to-hand, but not something
to worry about. His main purpose is to set buildings on fire, but he only does
this after he hits the building 5-6 times. And waiting for the building to burn
instead of hitting it with cannoneers isn’t that fun. If you have one lurking
about, turn him into a ronin.
Cannoneer: Pretty much like the Powder Keg Cannoneer, only that he is a
bit better thanx to his battle gear. The mines are good, and setting up a
minefield around your base is a good ideea (too bad you have the 20-mines
limit). He can destroy buildings pretty easily and his cannonballs go through
the victim, so you can hit closely grouped buildings or units in column
formation. It’s a good idea to upgrade his damage and range.
Ronin: Whoohoo! The level 3 unit is here! And he has two huge poisonous
blades. Not the one I’d piss off, but the one I’d take to the enemy’s camp. He
can hack his way through enemies and pile up Yin points with his Yin Blade
Battle Gear. Usually, 12 or more of these followed by some
musketeers/cannoneers and some geisha will seriously cripple the enemy’s base,
but their attacks aren’t quite unparaleled or unbrakeable. Like the samurai,
when they die, all enemy units surrounding him will loose something, but not
life. They will loose their will to fight and their attacks won’t do much
damage, while your units will suddenly fight better. From this angle, he is way
better than the samurai is because he doesn’t affect allied units in a bad way,
so you can still use weaker units to finnish them off. But the ronin can’t
attack from a distance, so they will loose some health in a battle with some
samurai (they will loose it all if you don’t get them away from the samurai in
time). I prefer the ronin to the samurai so this is the No.2 best level 3 unit
in the game, after the Lotus Warlock.
NOTE: If the Yin Blade Battle Gear is active the Ronin will produce more Yin
points but the damage he does is very little compared to a Ronin with Yin Blade
deactivated.
Fan Geisha: Same as the dragon geisha, maybe she can kick harder.
Wolf
The wolf clan are some kind of nature lovers who were occupied by the
serpent and sent to work in the mines. This is why they are all so muscular.
This clan is pretty good once you get the hang of it and you will surely have
some surprises while hunting down a Wolf player. For instance, the wolf units
are the only units that will recover full health over time and if you do the
upgrades at the Vitality Garden they will regenerate ridiculously quick. And
another weird thing about them is that, in order to get battle gear, you will
have to train a druidess in the Vitality Garden and Cairn and then bless units
on your way. Each unit type will be blessed with a different skill and you’ll
soon realise that it’s like having a Fireworks Facility on wheels (well, legs).
Of course, you still have to drop by the Cairn now and then to stock up on
blessings. The last thing that I want to mention about the wolf is that you
have a special building called Shalery. This is where your units are equipped
with leather armour that kinda saves their butts sometimes, because they are
harder to kill. Use this wisely.
NOTE: I haven’t played so much with this clan so I didn’t exactly take
my time in analizing all of the units, but I still have some descriptions. The
problem is that this clan’s hand-to-hand units are quite weird. For example, a
Mauler can beat the crap out of a swordsman but he will get creamed by an
Infested One. The idea is that you should only use level-to-level units(
sledger to bandit, berserk to Warlock), but you will still have some surprises.
Brawler: Don’t bother. He may hold his own against some spearmen, but
he’ll get a spear up his throat in the end.
Hurler: A ranged attacker that hurls rocks from a slingshot towards the
enemy. Just like the serpent’s cannoneer, the rock will bounce off the ground
and hit more units in a column.
Mauler (weird names): With his big rock-on-a-chain he can beat up some
units, but he’ll get kicked in the face by others. Again, don’t bother to
remember which units to attack. Just jump to the…
Sledger : Now that’s what I’m talkin’bout. He is quite good with the huge
hammer and can face multiple enemies (especially if you blessed him with the
druidess so that he can blind them). Of course, you should never use only
sledgers. Use them in combination with some ranged attackers or some Pack
Masters. NOTE: I don’t know if you realised this, but their voice sounds
dangerously close to a Wolf Schwarzennegger: ,,Look at my masses!”.
Ballista man: ranged attacker with good range and damage. He can damage
buildings too, but he is quite slow, even when he’s running, and his stamina
drops quickly. But he is nonetheless a good unit, and if you bless him he will
be able to fire totems that have the same effect as Shinja’s Intimidation and
Otomo’s Battle Cry alltogether (they cannot attack as long as the totem is
activated).
Pitch Slinger: I think this guy is the best range attacker in the game (maybe
the Warlock beats him… and he does it very easily) and he can destroy buildings
very quickly and efficiently. He isn’t that bad at hand-to-hand, although you
don’t want to lose him by throwing him in the chaos. Instead keep him behind
your berserks and he will damage enemy units very bad. And of course, he has a
special function: if there are enemy units or buildings on a column just attack
the one who’s furthest away and you should damage them all with hot coals. His
only downside is that he has a pretty short range, but not something to really
worry about.
Berserker: Every time when I hear this word I think about the berserker in
AOE2, but here the legend of the Viking berserkers is better illustrated. This
unit is pretty cool, but not that good for a level 3 unit. I think it’s the
weakest level 3 unit in the game, but it has a special skill, like almost all
wolf units: if you bless him, wait for his health to drop to red and press B
(use battle gear), he will transform into a werewolf with full health, and
lemme tell you: it’s like having two lives! Anyway, you should use these guys
as they are your best hand-to-hand units, and backing them up with Sledgers is
a good ideea. Of course, any attack force should have at least some
Ballistamen/Pitch Slingers or even Hurlers in the first stages of the game.
Pack Master: He is the special unit of the Wolf clan. Train this guy at the
Wolves’ Den, pick up some wolves and go Lotus hunting. They are quite effective
if in groups of 5-6, and they are easy to ,,equip” with wolves as they can only
have 3 under their control, while a horse will feed 2 of them. So, for 6 Pack
Masters you will need 9 horses, which isn’t that much on a map with more
horses. NOTE: yes, you read correctly, while playing with the wolf, the horses
won’t serve as free rides, but as free burgers for wolves.
Druidess: A quite interesting and helpful unit, the druidess will serve you
well if you use her well. She can fire magical bolts from her staff and
immediately vine the victim to the ground (yeah, just like in Heroes3). Of
course, she will still bless your units as you probably heard a few hundred
times ‘till now.
Lotus
The lotus clan is the most powerful in the game, but not exactly
invincible. If the other clans were well balanced, this one weighs more than a
dragon and a half if used properly. Firstly, you have the crypt of brothers,
where you have 3 new heroes beside the ones in the keep that you can acces very
early in the game. Secondly, you have the warlocks and Master warlocks which
are quite tough and, if used in large quantities (), they can really make your
day. Lastly you have the same battle gear aquiring as the wolf, only you get
the gear from the Brothers and they don’t need blessing points: they get them
in combat, so they’re practically infinite. The music is nice here too, which
really sets the balance in their favour ().
Blade accolyte: Reminds me of the Accolyte from Homeworld Cataclysm:
light, quick, he will take some damage before being shot down. He’s quite good
even against level 2 units, and he’s very fast, so a rush with these guys may
scare your enemy a bit. I prefer to use these instead of infested or diseased
ones, because they are much more faster and if upgraded they can deal a lot of
damage.
Leaf disciple: Medium ranged unit. If you shoot in a pack of enemies
the leafes will hit the one who is the closest to your unit, but still the
damage done isn’t too high so just upgrade them to unclean ones.
Staff adept: pretty good, but not something you should use too often.
If you are in the early stages of the game you can use these, but you’d better
just train diseased ones.
Infested one: Good level 2 unit which has high health and which does
pretty good damage. But, like all Lotus level 2 units, they are very slow and
they run for a very short while. Keep some around just in case.
Diseased one: A very good level 2 unit, it’s a miniature samurai, only
that it doesn’t have a bow. When it dies it will disease all nearby targets and
they will loose health pretty quickly unless they run the hell outta there. Use
them in conjunction with Blade Accolytes or Infested ones.
Unclean one: Very good ranged unit, it hurls BBBs (big black blobs) on
your enemy’s head with a big damage radius, so it’s perfect against closely
grouped enemies. It’s good against buildings and if you have a peasant to
sacrifice, you can eat it with the Unclean one. After this the Unclean one will
be able to call a flaming skull on a location to attack enemies that are close
by.
Warlock: Da very best level 3 unit. To get this one you will have to
train one of the level 2 units above in the art of Rites Ascension. After this
you will be able to use a battle gear that will turn the unit into a Warlock.
But keep some Channelers close, because the warlocks will only appear with half-
health, so you will need to heal them. Keep them behind some diseased ones or
blade accolytes and they really come to life. They are very powerful even in
hand-to-hand, and if you have the soul chill, they really start damaging close
enemies. They are very good against buildings (a single warlock can destroy a
building immediately with the dark arson) and have a fast rate of fire, and if
doubled by unclean ones, you will become invincible. AND, if you have a
warlock’s tower, you can train two Warlocks and turn them into a MASTER
Warlock, which is REALLY tough to beat. But you should only use them if the
enemy has very powerful defenses. Generally, an attack led by Blade Accolytes
supported by Warlocks and Unclean Ones is very tough to repel. And if you throw
in some Brothers or Heroes, that base is extinct. Of course, we’re not talking
about 10 units, but 20 to 30.
Master Warlock: when you send 2 warlocks in the Warlock Tower they will
start dueling and after some time one of them emerges victorous as a master
warlock. Don’t use just master warlocks, but keep their number at 20% of your
total units if you relly want to use them. They have interesting skills if they
learn them, each of the Brothers giving them a different power. Probably the
most interesting is the teleportation which can take them very quickly to quite
distant locations on the map, so you can use them to surprise the enemy by
arriving behind his impenetrable defense. Like the Warlocks, they destroy
buildings very easily and kill enemies quickly, but they have a slightly slower
rate of fire.
Part II: Clans and their Heroes
Heroes are a good adition in this game as they bring new tactics and
strategies to the standard RTS type of play. They should lead any attack as
they are very good fighters and they each have a special ability that helps
your units in battle, so don’t overlook these advantages. Plus, if your enemy
uses heroes, he will have an important advantage over you if you don’t.
Compared to the regular units, heroes are summoned in the keep using Yin/Yang
points and rice/water. But you don’t need to train a peasant in order to summon
them, as their souls are immortal and once a hero is dead, you will just have
to wait a while for his soul to return to the keep and then you may summon
him/her again.
Dragon Heroes
Dragon heroes are good fighters and their special abilities are very
useful. I always use Otomo to lead an attack, as his Battle Cry is very good at
turning your Dragon Warriors into killing machines. You should use the other
heroes too, especially Arah and Kazan, which will level buildings quickly or
Tao accompanied by 6 monks to wreak havoc amongst the enemies.
Otomo: Your most important hero. His battle cry will inspire your men
in battle so they will fight better. He is also a very good fighter, and you
should use him whenever posibile.
Arah: A very good hero, Arah is an archer with huge range and damage.
She can damage buildings and kill enemy units. Her special talent is focusing
on her arrow, which helps her see further into the fog of war. Just press b
(use battle gear), select a location outside of Arah’s view (but not too far)
and fire the arrow. Your view will now be extended for a short period of time.
Garrin: A pretty good fighter, Garrin can use all his stamina to call a
horse to his location. You can now mount it with Garrin and hack through the
enemy ranks.
Kazan: He’s fat and ugly and they say he’s a monk! Whatever. He is good
against buildings because by using his special skill he sets a building on
flames from the first hit. He is a ranged attacker, although he can punch them,
so be careful how you use him
Tao: He is practically a more powerful monk, which can mirror enemy
attacks onto themselves. While he is alive, your monk limit will be set to 6 so
always have the monks guard him and you will be getting Yang in no time.
Monk: They can be summoned by the dragon and wolf. A maximum of four
can be used at the same time. They are very good fighters and you should mix
them in your ranks or keep them around your archers to protect them. They have
a special ability that makes them regenerate very quickly but this will hold
them still and vulnerable. Only use this when they are out of danger.
Serpent Heroes
Serpent heroes are dark outlaws skilled in fighting dirty. Shinja and
Necromancer should be your best choices, but Vetkin comes in handy too
sometimes.
Shinja: Probably the best Serpent Hero, he is a very good fighter with
lots of health and his Intimidation skill will be very efficient in lowering
the enemy units’ combat power so that your Ronin can move in for the kill.
Utara: A powerful Geisha. She can’t heal but she can use a magic harp
to hit all nearby enemies (I know it’s weird hittin’ people with harps, but
that’s the way the game is). She’s way more powerful than a normal geisha and
using her in conjunction with Shinja would be a very good ideea, as Shinja
Intimidates them and Utara hits them all with the magic harp.
Vetkin: A good fighter, Vetkin can run very fast without loosing
stamina so you can take him to the enemy base and back in no time. He has a
special skill that drains all the nearby enemies’ stamina, so if he relied on
blinding you with Spearmen he’s got another thing coming.
Necromancer: He is the best serpent hero. You can get him by
sacrificing 4 Ronins at the Necromancer’s Throne. He can use half of his
stamina to summon a Spirit warrior, with 3 Spirits as a limit. But the real
advantage comes when you walk by a corpse, as it will turn into a zombie that
will fight for you. The necromancer uses about 1/6 of his stamina for a
ressurection, but if you keep him still he will regain stamina quickly so you
will be able to have a whole army of zombies. The catch is that the zombies
loose life at regular intervals so you will need to go all the way to the
enemy’s camp in order to summon them AND use them. Of course, you can still
keep the Necromancer in your camp and ressurect the corpses of those killed by
the Spirit Warriors, but, as I said, the zombies will die eventually. The
Necromancer isn’t quite defenceless, as his hits are very powerful, dealing
lots of damage.
Budo: He can fight very well, but he is very slow even when running.
Use his whip on your peasants if you are out of rice, they will gather it
quicker.
Ninja: They can be summoned by Serpent and Lotus. A maximum of 4 may be
used in the same time. They are very quick and prefer throwing poisoned metal
stars at the enemy. They are good in hand-to-hand combat too, but keep them
behind your ronin and let them do the dirty work. They can become invisible for
unlimited periods of time, but an attack made by the ninja will break the
invisibility spell. If you have 4 Yin points, you should summon Shinja, Utara
and Vetkin. But these guys are very cheap (50 water, 50 rice) compared to
the ,,real” heroes, so you can use them too. Of course, if you summoned
everyone, you should summon these guys too and join the party.
Wolf
Wolf heroes are different than other heroes as they are huge men with
huge weapons (well, except the Nymph and Monk) and hugely useful talents.
Grayback: A very good fighter, he has the same ability as Otomo: making
his soldiers fight better. He deals lots of damage and has a high health
rating. He destroyes buildings quite easily, but this is not something out of
the ordinary for a wolf unit, which are meant to level buildings rapidly.
Shale Lord: Probably the best wolf hero. A very good fighter, he
destroys buildings very easily. He can armour an ally by giving up on some
health points, but he regenerates quick, so you should use him to armour your
berserks instead of paying those resources at the Shalery. Besides, the armour
comes instantly so you won’t have to wait for the unit to finish ,,training”
like in the Shalery.
Gaihla: A forest nymph who can heal allies. Don’t use her in combat,
instead use her as you would a geisha. Her special ability is healing allies,
and she will heal all nearby allies, which means that you can put her in the
centre of a compact formation and when your units start taking damage you
simply have to select her and press B (use battle gear). I advise to assign a
selection to her (ctrl+number).
Longtooth: If you’re out of range units, this one’s for you. He has a
long range and can do a lot of damage to an attacker. Not too good, but then
again not too bad. Use him if you like… I don’t.
Lotus
Lotus heroes should be feared, as they are very powerful. Use Zymeth
and Issyl to lead an attack or Koril to get quickly in their camp and surprise
them by killing their peasants.
Zymeth: A very powerful Warlock, Zymeth will blend in the ranks of
your ,,original” warlocks and start frying enemies. His special ability is to
call in bolts of lightning that will hit multiple targets at the same time. He
is very powerful and I saw once how Zymeth single-handedly killed 2 Bandits and
2 Crossbowmen while being under attack by them and some musketeers (the
musketeers got him in the end). He has lots of health and he will kill lots of
enemies with his lightning strikes (he automatically uses them).
Issyl: Issyl is a good fighter which deals plenty of damage, and her
Haste spell should be used to reach the enemy camp faster. Use her in
conjunction with Zymeth and the 3 Brothers.
Koril: Pretty good fighter. His only good use would be to surprise the
enemy by teleporting him on the enemy’s rice fields while his army is away
fighting your warlocks. But then again, if you repel his attack the peasants
you kill with Koril will be substituted very quickly and he will be sending
Berserks on Koril’s head in no time. But, if you move your army quickly, Koril
could be a very useful decoy, keeping the other player busy until you reach his
camp...
Soban: Don’t take him in battle, instead build 3 golems and substitute
3 peasants with them. The enemy will now have 3 potential warlocks to worry
about .
The 3 Brothers: You will be able to summon them from the Crypt of
Brothers. They are each an upgraded version of a level1 Lotus unit and they are
your floating Fireworks Facility, as they float around the map killing enemies
and bestowing new powers upon your units. Be careful when using them for your
warlocks: they each give the warlocks or master warlocks different abilities,
so experience with the different abilities. You should use them in any attack
as they only cost 1 Yin point and they are way better than the normal units
(Sekh is a Leaf Disciple, Lythis is a Blade Accolyte, Tausil is a Staff Adept).
Part III: Mission tips
*In the first mission you will need to choose between killing the
bandits that are attacking the city or killing the peasants to show them who’s
boos. If you attack the bandits you will begin the Dragon (good) campaign; if
you kill the peasants you will begin the Serpent (evil) campaign. The campaigns
have different missions and you will be able to solve the common missions (the
first few) differently depending on your clan.
*In the missions in which you have to build a base be careful where you
build it. On the maps with rice fields scattered throughout the region there
will be more enemy camps (as they are usually situated near rice fields), but
they start with a small army compared to yours (you have Kenji and/or other
heroes) so it’s a good idea to destroy a base at the beginning of the game and
build yours on that spot. This will save you lots of resources because you will
now have one less attacker to worry about, since each enemy base attacks with
it’s own army.
*In the missions in which you have a small army, no peasants and a goal
to reach, keep your geishas alive at all costs. Because you have a limited army
you will need them to keep your soldiers alive and fighting for you. In some
missions, just try to get one of your units to the goal spot as quickly as
possible (if the goal is not an enemy base).
*Always concentrate your attacks on a certain enemy camp until it’s
destroyed.
*Keep some soldiers in defense if you are battling more enemies at a
time.
*Always attack after the enemy attacks. This means that after you repel
his attack force, he won’t have too many soldiers in his base, so counter-
attack him with ¾ or more of your army.
*ALWAYS keep your heroes alive. In some missions you won’t have a Keep
to retrain heroes, and sometimes loosing them will mean losing the mission.
Only attack with heroes if you are sure you have a superior army.
*Don’t let them rebuild their base after they barely killed your last Samurai
while sacrificing 10 peasants. If you have some units in your base, send them
quickly before he builds up a defense force. Don’t worry, if another enemy
attacks you, just do what they do: quickly train a few soldiers and defend your
base. While they get killed, your other soldiers can return to the base.
*Don’t panic if the enemy attacks you from different directions. Send some
units scouting and discover their base. After another attack from that
respective direction, go and kill’em all.
*Be aggressive.
*Try and build your entire base in one spot and try not to have more than one
base, if it’s possible. This will mean a lighter defence and a heavyer offense.
*This game has a major AI bug: the fog of war doesn’t apply to the computer
opponents. This is the only way I can explain ,,coincidences” like the enemy
attacking exactly when my army is halfway across the map; always finding my
attack force even if it isn’t in their line of sight; always knowing where I
built another base and ,,scouting ahead” with ,,a few” warlocks and diseased
ones. This is why I told you to build your base in one spot and keep units in
defence. You can observe this in skirmishes by assigning you an ally and
observing his attack pattern. See how their armies always meet outside both of
their bases?
Part IV: Multiplayer tips and startegies
I think the multiplayer mode is where this game really shines. Even
skirmishes with the computer can be more intresting than the campaign (although
the campaign’s story is noce) as you can set the rules of the game if a mission
pissed you off. You have four multiplayer modes, but basically they all have
the same objective: wipe out the enemy’s base. I will first explain them and
then proceed to the tips and strategies.
Survival: You will start with a few peasants (depends on the map or on
the options you made at the start of the game) and maybe a Peasant hut and you
will have to destroy the enemy’s base and all of his units. If you destroyed
all of his units but he still has his base, all you have to do is kill all of
his peasants and Peasant Huts and the victory will be yours (it doesn’t matter
what other buildings he had standing- they will all be destroyed along with his
last peasant/Peasant Hut).
Razing: You just have to destroy all of his peasant huts and he will
loose regardless of his building potential.
Kill the Keep:Every player starts with a Keep, and loosing it will mean
loosing the game. Just make your way to his keep and level it with
cannoneers/pitch slingers/warlocks. You should place your buildings so that an
attack will suffer a slowdown while reaching your keep. If the other player is
REALLY stupid, he will attack those buildings, giving you time to rebuild an
army.
Famine: A cool mode. You start off with huge amounts of rice and water
and with the maximum amount of peasants. You cannot harvest rice, but you can
collect water. All you have to do is build an efficient army with the provided
resources.
Now for the tips and strategies:
*When attacking, always do it after an enemy attacks you (and remember
which one). After you repel his attack, just take all your units to his base
immediatly, so that he won't have time to rebuild an army. This way you can
quickly annihilate him.
*USE THE HEROES. This will help you a lot in combat, as your heroes are
the best fighters and their special abilities can turn the tide of war.
*If you have allies, always help them when they are under attack.
Loosing an ally will always loose the game. After the enemy attack has been
repeled, if your ally is too weak you can still keep some troops around until
he gets back on his feet. If you see that an ally is preparing to attack, ake
some troops to his base for defense or make them guard his attacking army. This
way you have more chances of winning.
*Don't spread your troops too much. Keep some in your base and some in
attacking the enemy/helping the ally.
*Always concentrate on one enemy at a time. Let's say you have a team
with ally1 and play against enemy1 and enemy2. If you attack enemy1 and nearly
destroy his base, but he kills your cannoneers with some peasants and some
luck, don't attack enemy2, because you will just give time to enemy 1 to
rebuild his army/base. Tell ally1 to attack him or take your remaining troops
from your base and attack again. But be careful: if you want to take all your
army to the enemy's base, ask your ally to cover your base for you.
*Use the buildings' rally point efficiently: if you want a certain type
of unit to be created automatically, let's say a ronin, take these steps: 1.
Select the peasant hut and double right-click the tavern. This will
automatically send the new made peasants to train as swordsmen.
2. Select the tavern and double
right-click the sharpsooter guild. This will automatically train swordsmen as
bandits.
3. Select the sharpsooter guild
and double right-click the alchemist hut. This will automatically train the new
bandits as ronin.
Using this tehnique you won't have to worry about your attack and
defense at the same time. While you are busy destroying the enemy, if you get
a ,,you are under attack" signal, just go to your base, select your ronin and
attack the intruders.
*Use selections. In the heat of battle, you won't be able to select
your ronin and give them a new target while also selecting the cannoneers and
ordering them to attack the buildings. So, before attacking, double click a
ronin to selsect all the ronins in the screen and then hold ctrl and press a
number (let's say 1). Now the selection ,,1" has been attribuited to all your
attacking ronin. Do this with the other units and prefferably put the melee to
1 and ranged to 2, while assigning the healing units/heroes to 3. This way it
will be a lot easier to use different battle gear (just press 1 to select your
ronin and then b to activate Yin sword) or attack different targets.
*USE GEISHA. They can save your butt sometimes. Keep them out of
trouble and with high stamina.
*Don't attack with only one unit type. Use both ranged and melee units.
AND heroes.
*Only use level-to-level or level-to-lower-level attacks as I said in
the unit guide.
*Don't bother using level1 units, except the specialised ones (like the
archer, musketeer or blade accolyte)
*If you have a unit on low health, either back it up with other units
or, prefferably, heal it. Don't think that loosing a unit won't bother you, as
only one unit can make a real difference in this game.
*Defend all the entrances to your base with towers and, in case of an
attack, use the towers' special ability.
Now for the strategies:
This game can be played with a single strategy: build as many forces as
possible and then attack with all of them. But if the enemy attacks your base
while you are away, he can seriously damage your production. And if your attack
doesn't succed, you are as good as dead. So you should use different strategies
or variatins on this strategies. For one, you can attack with some ronin to
draw his attention and then attack with your heroes and ranged units from
another direction, killing his peasants and damaging/destroying his buildings.
Usually this will make the other player think again about placing all his
towers in one spot. Then you can attack with all your army from one direction,
because he will most likely have his troops scattered throughout the base now.
The defensive strategy: keep all your troops in the base and repel all
his attacks. And when you repel a big one, attack with all your units. Usually
he won't have any units in the base that could whitstand the attack. The
downside is that you will gain Yin/Yang very slowly this way and you won't be
able to summon too many heroes or use many upgrades.
The offensive strategy: Just harass him. Send in 10 or so troops to
attack his base and always attack from a different directin. This will bring
you Yin/Yang points to spend on upgrades or heroes until you are ready for some
serious attackin'.
The rabbit strategy: Just hop from a rice field to another (this only
works on bigger maps after you destroyed some enemies). This will drain some
resources because you will have to build training buildings in every base, but
it will make the enemy send troops in recon, which will weaken his defenses.
And when he believes he just destroyed your base without too much trouble, all
your army will ,,teleport" in his base (of course he destroyed one of your
decoy bases).NOTE: this doesn't work with the computer, as I explained a big
bug above.
For the ending
This is my first walkthrough, so please be gentle. And please excuse my
poor english.
Thanx go to Liquid Entertainment for this great game and to my computer
for not hanging up so frequently.
