Vortex Update 3 - Securing Our Starting Provinces
High Elves (Teclis)
It’s time to secure all of the Turtle Isles. To that end we’ll need to Replenish our troops. When you take part in a battle or Colonize or deal with Attrition, you lose soldiers. When in your own territory you’ll Replenish them over time. Being in a city Replenishes faster and certain buildings, skills, and stances, will increase Replenishment. With that in mind it will take time to get into fighting shape. We’ll have Teclis continue to recruit during this time. We have a Rally Field now and can recruit stronger units but our base ones are more efficient for their price so we’ll be sticking with Archers and Spearmen.
Let’s also take a glimpse at Teclis’s starting units. One he begins with is the Swordmasters of Hoeth. One of the final tiers of High Elf infantry that is available, the Swordmasters of Hoeth are the pride and joy of the High Elves front-lines. These armor piercing agile warriors can even deflect missiles making them missile resistant. But up close they cut through swaths of enemy, with only high tier infantry being able to match them. Early on they are useful for holding any position and keeping it held or taking out early game high tier units.
The Frostheart Phoenix is Teclis’s other starting unit. These Phoenixes are older and more powerful Phoenixes that cool with age. They carry with them a magical aura that slows enemies. With armor piercing attacks, armor of its own, and speed as well as the ability to fly, this unit is excellent for sniping important vulnerable units. In the sky only late game units will defeat it such as dragons or highly leveled Heroes and Lords. Early on especially non-melee Heroes and Lords will be easily beaten by it. As a Phoenix when one dies it has the chance to be reborn so it may fight again in battle.
We’ve researched a Technology unlocking ones further in the tree. This is thanks to owning a Rally Field. Certain structures will unlock Technologies you can research, we’ll be getting more as our settlements level up. This has completed a Mission. Missions are tasks given to you by your advisers. For completing them you’ll get rewards, mostly gold. Sometimes you’ll get Hero units or bonus items.
Finally it is time to secure the province. To do so we’ll be taking the Golden Ziggurat. We’ll Auto-Resolve, as there is little chance of even losing any units in the battle. You can choose to Auto-Resolve most battles to have the AI just roll and look at numbers and determine a victor. Having taken it we now have our first province.
Luckily in the battle we got a reward, the Wand of Jet. Teclis can wield this and gain its benefits. This one comes with some slight drawbacks but in general items will just have net positives.
Additionally now that we have a full province we’ve unlocked a Rite. Rites are special events you can unlock that give a bonus, usually for a set amount of turns. We don’t have a need to use it right now so we’ll save that for later.
Teclis has also gained a level. We"ll likely be giving everyone Route Marcher to start, for overall more versatility. Each time a character levels they get 1 point they can put into a skill.
When you have a full province you get to set Commandments. They’ll effect that province and have negatives and positives. For now we’re still building so let’s focus on Growth. Growth determines your Population, when you get a Population Surplus it allows you to level up your settlements to higher tiers. They’ll have both gold costs and Population Surplus costs.
Dark Elves (Morathi)
For Morathi to dominate the province we’ll need some stronger units. Dreadspears are ok but we’ll want Bleakswords. Yes they’re really called that. Dreadspears are better against cavalry but most armies we face will be full of infantry making Bleakswords the better option. As such we’re upgrading our Conscription Halls to Halls of Mustering.
Ironspike is poorly defended and is easily taken. 2/3rds of the province now belong to us.
Like the other Morathi will be gaining Route Marcher.
Oh no! An enemy has started raiding our territory! Raiding is a Stance some factions can take, when Raiding you get Replenishment from enemy supplies. If you enter a battle you will be tired from Raiding. Raiding steals gold from the enemy depending on how much the effected settlement is producing. We’ll have to deal with them soon before they regain too much.
Morathi has leveled again. We’re going to give her Iron Disciplinarian. This will improve Public Order, something Dark Elves struggle with in general but Morathi does especially.
We have started with a Hero unit called a Khanite Assassin. We can send this unit out on the campaign map to scout, to perform tasks, or to fight in our battles. I have put him in Morathi’s army since she is not a melee focused Lord. We are going to be leveling him up to be a fighter and combat assassin capable of sniping weak single targets like casters.
The Technology we were researching is done, so we’ll focus on getting more Growth to get our settlements rolling.
After taking the Moon Shard Morathi gains another level. We continue to build her more for campaign than battle, as her campaign can be considered harder given the Public Order problems.
For a commandment for the province we’ll be selecting Demand Highborn Hostages, further improving Public Order. This will be a constant battle in Morathi’s lands.
It’s time to construct a Plateau of Dark Steeds. This will allow us to recruit cavalry, weak ones, but they’ll be fast enough for flanks and charges. In future battles this will be handy against siege equipment and missile units or catching enemies out of position.
I almost forgot! Let’s go over Morathi’s 2 starting units. Harpies are early flying units, useful for catching out of place missile infantry or siege units. Sometimes they can interrupt charges but I otherwise find them fairly worthless.
The War Hydra on the other hand is the exact opposite. This large lumbering monster unit can wade through units crushing them underfoot. At a range it can spew flames that absolutely decimate infantry. Up close it is a powerful beast, with missile resistant scales. Its regeneration means it can hold out for long battles and the terror it causes sense enemy troops routing quite easily. All in all one of the best units the Dark Elves have to offer.
Lizardmen (Lord Mazdamundi)
It is time to build an Underground Lagoon. It will provide access to early Saurus units. We’ll be sparingly using them, as while they are strong they are expensive to keep. Kroq-Gar the other Legendary Lord gets the upkeep prices for them cut in half, making them viable early front-lines for him. But we are Lord Mazdamundi, meaning we’ll need to make more use of magic and Skinks.
The Ziggurat of Dawn falls, it was mere child’s play for Lord Mazdamundi’s army. The Norscans provide little of a threat currently, as they lack efficient units, and lack armor.
For Commandments we take the Alignment of Crafting, building up our economy rather than worrying about how we’ll do in battle.
Lord Mazdamundi has leveled yet again We give him Harmonic Convergence this time, an upgraded form of it. This is an alright buff for our units, but more importantly we’ll get access to higher tier spells in the future which will make Mazdamundi a true threat to our enemies.
Let’s take a look at one of Mazdamundi’s starting units. The Temple Guards are the highest tier melee units available to the Lizardmen. Armored and shielded, armor piercing, with the ability to deal well against any charge and large units. These Temple Guard are good units in almost any engagement.
Meet the only true siege unit that the Lizardmen have. Mostly they rely on huge scaled monster to take part in sieges, but this one has a solar engine. The solar engine on its back fires piercing beams of energy that blast apart structures and infantry alike.
Skaven (Lord Skrolk)
It’s time to buff up our army. Skaven infantry are typically nearly worthless, meaning we need the numbers. Thankfully they’re cheap at the same time.
After waiting for the enemy army to pass, we sneakily Colonize the Sentinel of Time, taking it over at a cost in both food and gold. Food is a mechanic special to the Skaven. Their armies and settlements need to have enough food to survive or bad things happen, such as Rebellions and loss of gold. When you defeat enemies you take them as food and certain buildings produce food.
Making a run for it, Skrolk’s army reaches the Southern Sentinels and manages a Pyrrhic Victory. Such victories come at a great cause and give less experience, rewards, and Replenishment. But they are not uncommon to the Skaven. We take over the enemy settlement which is actually in a new province.
Skrolk has leveled up and it is time to work on Pestilent Breath. This spell has a cone of effect and is devastating against lightly armored units. Early on this will be Skrolk’s bread and butter, blowing apart large groups of light infantry.
To the East are more settlements that are wide open. To take advantage of that we’re recruiting a Lord to lead another army. This one will be full of simple slaves with the purpose of taking uncontrolled territories. When you take on new armies your upkeep increases in cost, but we have a very strong economy allowing this.
Tomb Kings (High Queen Khalida)
To take the entire province we need numbers. The Tomb Kings have an exceptionally hard early game with very weak units that rely more on holding while missile units deal damage.
We get a choice on what type of Hero unit we can gain early on. I decide to go with a Liche Priest. Early on the Tomb Prince is more useful but as we get the priest more spells they’ll become a great utility for our army.
As Khalida levels up we begin to take her down the path of improving her army. This is helpful for countering the weakness of the Tomb Kings front-line. I’ll go into this then later work on getting her more powerful in melee to make her an unkillable machine.
I hate Necropolis Knights. These tainted warriors are slow moving cavalry with low charge damage, they require heavy micro managing as in most engagements where they stay in sustained combat they’ll be absolutely wrecked.
Sepulchral Stalkers are High Queen Khalida’s other starting unit. They’re pretty all around powerful. At both range and in melee they are able to deal with most units, and are anti-large making them capable against much larger and powerful units.