Strategies

[-Archmage-]

UP TO DATE VERSION: https://docs.megaglest.org/Strategies

This will be the forum base of strategies!
Go ahead post them.

Layout:
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Faction used:
Faction(s) faced, and CPU level:

Strategy:

How effective this strategy is on a 1 to 10 scale (10 being perfect and 1 being just about useless).

Pros:

Cons:
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Strategies will be added to this post only if they are in this layout, you can add various things if they apply(ex: multiplayer) or type N/A next to ones that don't apply.

List of Strategies:

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Faction: Tech
Against: Magic

Works best on: Mountains map

Strategy: Make sure you have plenty of resources, and rush the enemy with guards, get an airship and some archers somewhere near the enemy camp where they will not find you, let them attack you, fight their main force, and while the fight is going on the enemy camp will be weak, strike with the airship and archers.

Rating: 8(works real well if used right)

Pros: Works well, and is very devastating for the enemy.

Cons: Must be done right, otherwise the enemies main force will come back and stop you before you've finished.
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Map: Center Punch
Faction used:         Player 0: Magic                    Human              Team  1
Match Layout:   Player 1 (Closed)                  ---
                                 Player 2 Tech                        CPU Ultra         Team  2
                                 Player 3 Tech                        CPU Ultra         Team   2

Strategy name:                 Storming

This is a variation of the early Magic Attack topic, please see https://forum.megaglest.org/index.php?topic=4780.0

How effective this strategy is on a 1 to 10 scale (10 being perfect and 1 being just about useless).

6 -has a few cons......has to be done perfectly or else....otherwise perfect!

Pros:
Good for a quick win against two CPU ultra Tech factions. A similar technique can be used on other maps.
Cons:
The main problem is avoiding the two defense Towers; needs a bit of skill.
It is boring to win so quickly.

List of Strategies:
1. At start of game, morph all Initiates into Battlemages.
2.Produce 2 Initiates and immediately morph one of them into a fifth Battlemage.
3.Summon an extra Daemon
4.Leave one Initiate in the Base camp to mine gold just in case a few reinforcements are needed.
5.Attack the 2 allied enemy bases which are to be found in the center of the map. It is best to attack the east entrance so as to avoid the defense Towers as much as possible.
6.Eliminate all Swordsmen and Archers at east entrance to enemy base. Use tactical retreating to draw out enemy archers from buildings. With good play only the Daemons will be lost. The Summoner can easily be shot down by the two Defense Towers but the remaining 4 or 5 Battlemages will still win.
7.The ONLY way to win is by situating the Battlemages by the Gold and Stone Boulders behind the furthest enemy Castle and by first eliminating the numerous enemy Workers. Both enemy Factions must mine gold from the same place on this map.
8.The Battlemages must be positioned far from the defense Towers or they will be shot down.
9.The enemy attack with more Swordsmen and Archers but the, by now,  Master Battlemages always win with good play. Reposition weakened Units.
10.Finally, when both camps are more or less deserted, one can proceed to destroy the defense Towers. One Battlemage can be moved around to draw fire away while the others demolish them.
11. Finally both Castles, Blacksmiths and Farms can be demolished.

[Zoythrus]

this applies to every mod ive played:

since you are given typically 3 workers at the beginning of the game, i use 2 of them to mine gold (since it is used the most it seems). then i use the other one to build something like a barracks or a farm. after that i use the rest of the gold to build more workers so they can gain more resources...

that usually works for me! (i give it a 7)

[-Archmage-]

Oh come on, I'm talkin' war strategies.
That's not going to be added because it is in the wrong layout.

[-Archmage-]

See, this is the problem!
This is one of the main reasons people get bored with Glest!
Nobody has strategy!

It's either win as fast as you can or lose.....................
Well, not for me..................................

[kedaha]

Layout: Center Punch
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Faction used:         Player 0: Magic                    Human              Team  1
Faction(s) faced:   Player 1 (Closed)                  ---
                                 Player 2 Tech                        CPU Ultra         Team  2
                                 Player 3 Tech                        CPU Ultra         Team   2
Strategy:                 Storming

This is a variation of the early Magic Attack topic, please see https://forum.megaglest.org/index.php?topic=4780.0

How effective this strategy is on a 1 to 10 scale (10 being perfect and 1 being just about useless).

10 perfect

Pros:
Good for a quick win against two CPU ultra Tech factions. A similar technique can be used on other maps.
Cons:
The main problem is avoiding the two defense Towers; needs a bit of skill.
It is boring to win so quickly.
---
List of Strategies:
1. At start of game, morph all Initiates into Battlemages.
2.Produce 2 Initiates and immediately morph one of them into a fifth Battlemage.
3.Summon an extra Daemon
4.Leave one Initiate in the Base camp to mine gold just in case a few reinforcements are needed.
5.Attack the 2 allied enemy bases which are to be found in the center of the map. It is best to attack the east entrance so as to avoid the defense Towers as much as possible.
6.Eliminate all Swordsmen and Archers at east entrance to enemy base. Use tactical retreating to draw out enemy archers from buildings. With good play only the Daemons will be lost. The Summoner can easily be shot down by the two Defense Towers but the remaining 4 or 5 Battlemages will still win.
7.The ONLY way to win is by situating the Battlemages by the Gold and Stone Boulders behind the furthest enemy Castle and by first eliminating the numerous enemy Workers. Both enemy Factions must mine gold from the same place on this map.
8.The Battlemages must be positioned far from the defense Towers or they will be shot down.
9.The enemy attack with more Swordsmen and Archers but the, by now,  Master Battlemages always win with good play. Reposition weakened Units.
10.Finally, when both camps are more or less deserted, one can proceed to destroy the defense Towers. One Battlemage can be moved around to draw fire away while the others demolish them.
11. Finally both Castles, Blacksmiths and Farms can be demolished.
 

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[cn1ght]

I am only a little late to the party....

Layout: conflict
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Faction used: Magic
Faction(s) faced, and CPU level: Indian:Ultra, Norse:Ultra both team 3 on other side of river.

Strategy:
Overview: 
     Quick build-up for the early rush followed by a swift counter-attack to destroy the first AI.

Details:
     To start, 2 initiates start to gather gold and the 3rd gathers stone while I make more initiates.  The first made initiate goes to gather more stone, once I have enough stone to build BOTH the energy source and a mage tower I pull off one of the initiates from stone and make an energy source.  In the meantime, the other made initiates either go to begin building the 2nd mage tower or to gather more gold as needed.  That 2nd mage tower is the key to this strategy, it must be built as closely to the pile of gold as possible because it saves you time, and the more time you save the faster you gather gold.  That 2nd mage tower has 2 uses, first, as already stated, it will save you a lot of time in gathering gold, and secondly, you have a second source to make more initiates->battle mages.  As soon as the energy source is completed, move the initiates to make the mage tower faster, but keep 1 of those 2 stone initiates to keep getting more stone (you will need stone for the summoner guild later).

When the mage tower is finished, move the initiates who were making it to gather gold or convert them to battle mages.  I tend to have maybe a minute or 2 from completing the mage tower until the combined force of the indians and the norse attack me, during which time you can create a surprising number of battle mages with 2 mage towers.

When the early attack comes, you better have some skill at micromanagement.  I tend to try and have the stone golem hold the left side of the stone pile with a few battle mages while the main force of battle mages holds the upper end.  I NEVER try to hold much further form my base then the stone pile, because I am still making more battle mages who can more quickly enter the fight if you are closer to the base.  At the same time, the summoner can be used to defend the base, but be very careful she dies fast.  If you have made maybe 5 daemons before the wave hits, try to hold them back for a few seconds, the battle mages and stone golem can take a bit more beating than they can, I always use the daemons as reinforcements to my defense, and to buy me time to reposition my battle mages to avoid as many losses as possible.

It took me maybe 3 tries before I could actually hold against that first wave, do not be worried if you fail at first.

After you beat off that early attack, you should still have quite a few battle mages left, if your stone golem is still alive wonderful he helps the defense.  Attack the nearer base with the battle mages.  I actually always manage to have enough force to be able to destroy the first base, or at least cripple it enough that it is useless.  The 2nd AI may or may not be able to repel you before you have finished off the 1st AI, or you might be able to destroy both AI 1 after the other.  It really depends on how good you are at micro management and if you are able to keep making more battle mages and sending them in packs as the fight is going on in the AI base.  The last few times I did this I managed to destroy both AIs one after the other, never fully retreating back to my base.

At the moment, I am trying to polish up this strategy a bit more, also sorry if this does not seem clear...  But, I can beat 2 ultra AI on team 3 versus just me, and am currently trying to find out how to fine tune this to beat
norse:mega, indian:ultra. 
I cannot do that yet though

I guess I would have to say this is a 10 because I can beat the 2 ultra every single time now.  In fact, I am trying to make this work for a mega+ultra...

Pros:
It works.  You learn micromanagement, resource control, and how to be quick and effective by trying this.

Cons:
This is such a simple cookie-cutter thing to do (once you can do it once you can do it again and again the exact same way) that is is slightly boring.
Also, it may not work on other maps, I have not tried them yet.  I suspect that bigger maps would actually help because you have more time to form the defense for that 1st wave while smaller might require a totally different strategy as you need that mage tower built for this theme.