Infiltrate the Dungeon Campaign

[Gaidal Cain]

Agree- the first map is incredibly annoying with its level 4 guards and tight timeschedule. I had to reload several times until I got Grim Raiders, which were defeatable. Trying to go against Elder Druids were just a slaughter.

[Pitsu]

I hate this map.

Archers are everywhere where tehy shouldn't be.. and of course the gold mine is guarded by lots of elder druids, which are close to impossible to fight. Actually, I have 3 stacks of elder druids, 1 stack of magi and 1 stack of liches ...



it's like game over I guess

You are now back on topic and talking about the first dungeon map? I had serious problems with it on heroic until i realized that there is not point in conquering any other mines than the wood and ore. A couple of slow walkers give you enough experience and attempt to "clean the area" is a suicidical strtategy. It only weakens you. It is not a traditional map, and has different priorities.

[Wulfgar333]

If anyone has successfully played Raelag's Offer, please contact me its the only game I am totally stuck in....and I see no solution, been everywhere except parts of underground which I have been over and over, there are no openings left. gphillip@nycap.rr.com and use Raelag's offer as topic, thank you.

[csarmi]

I only talked on-topic in this thread.

I think I'm still going to get most of the mines and resources, probably even the druid elders will be killed (I have tactics + grim raiders + blood furies). I cannot afford castle or Citadel though. I can build it, but then I won't be able to buy the creatures so what would be the point. Btw it's a good idea to fight things on maps cause I'm starved for gold and the map is full of it.



I cleaned most of the area btw and only lost one Blood Maiden so far (my fault) on day 3 against the demons (57 demons guarding the boots), plus the usual assasins/scouts in the starting fights (about 6 total).



Horde of Blood furies and lots of dark raiders are on the map too, but they don't seem to join me
Edited on Tue, Jul 11 2006, 23:48 by csarmi

[csarmi]

I'm building a renegade warlock as well. Logistics, attack, defense, summoning, sorcery

[maltz]

On heroic, this mission is not supposed be a "hero again wipes it clean" cake walk. The creatures are all different every time (except for the Imps on the wood and ore.) Some of them were much easier than the others. One should pick their targets carefully. After the 3rd week and a few levels, things should become much easier.



Resource is scarce and one shouldn't attempt to build everything. The minotaurs and hydras were not necessary as they seldom made an attack before the battle ends. Since meteor shower / chain lightening make the boss fight very easy, one doesn't have to invest too much on troop production (but DO get the lv 4 mage guild, even lv 5.) I only go to the final battle with blood furies, assassins and dark riders, and I still pulled out almost unharmed.



And for the logistics, attack and defense lovers -- On heroic, I promise that you will smile harder when you go for the Magic route.
Edited on Wed, Jul 12 2006, 12:04 by maltz

[Lord Bio]

Maltz,



I'm trying to build a mostly mage using Raelag and like your suggestions. However, what I want to know is if one must have logistics (I know its almost pure utility in its uselessnesses, but still I've tried, and failed, playing without it.) I prefer two schools of magic, definitively Dark and probably Summoning. Once again I know you said light, but I like being able to Conjure Phoenix. Which skill do you think is more vital, Enlightenment or Sorcery though?



Also, what do you prefer as a decent all rounder Raeleg? I'm thinking Defense, Offense, Logistics, Destruction and Sorcery.



Thank you for any advice you can give to me.

[Rymbeld]

I went into the Fight at level 10, with

Advanced Irresistable Magic

Basic Defense

Basic Sorcery

Basic Summoning

Basic Enlightenment

Empowered Spells

Elemental Vision

Intimidate

Vitality

Magic Insight

Master of Earthblood

Intelligence

Troops:

36 Assasins, 23 Minotaur Guards, 8 Blood Fury, 8 Shadow Matriarch, 13 Grim Raiders, 9 Hydras.

I ran down the hall and let everyone fight it out and by the time it was my turn only one Hero remained. I kilt 'im.

[Grail Quest]

Just started this mission, and I must say on Heroic, it is truly idiotic. EVERY stack around me is in the 50-99 range. The weakest are Imps, and they drain Raelag of mana immediately, so he can't help much. I can clear some stacks, but it's a week before I can get more units and unless I clear stacks, I can't get resources. BAH!



I decided to conserve troops and go for assassins, blood maidens, and grim riders, plus a Castle to boost production. During the tournament, I got attacked once in the first round, and lost everything except 4 Grim Riders and about 40 assassins. The others killed themselves, but the victor came through with troop numbers seemingly unchanged! I expected they would bomb each other with spells and emerge more or less like I did, but no. So, hideously outnumbered, I lost and restarted. On my next pass through, I built a few hydras and couldn't buy all my troops, but went in with a nice force. EVERYONE came after me immediately, including the two heavy hitters.



When a walkthrough tells you to restart the game if you get a lot of fast or ranged units guarding resources, you know this map hasn't been playtested all that well.

Quest
Edited on Fri, Aug 17 2007, 20:15 by Grail Quest

[Grail Quest]

By the end of the second mission, Knowledge (plus bonuses from Dungeons) can easily be 10+, so you may want to go for Counterspell or Arcane Insight instead of focussing on mana. In Mission 4, you are given a permanent Knowledge bonus of +7, so you will start that mission with maybe 20 Knowledge and it will be rare if you have less than half at any time, unless you don't let your units do any work. Blood Furies and their ability to run circles around slow units can clear a lot of huge stacks with very little magic support.
Edited on Wed, Aug 29 2007, 10:14 by Grail Quest

[Peredhil]

The first mission encountered on heroic which gave me some troubles.And that thanks to the huge number of restarts required in order to get some decent stacks guarding five key locations-ore mine,boots,portal,maiden building and some resources in front of it.About 1 in 72 chances to get something nice.In truth, less, for example 75 overseers in 1 group can be handled by 5 furies.In 3 way-too-happy groups,it's almost mission impossible.And also you cannot beat -on heroic- all the heroes in tournament.I kicked only 3(2 powerful and one less).Well,I still managed to clear the map, except 2 stacks of archmages and 1 of priests guarding resources.Lv 1-5 upgraded creatures, no Citadel, Mage Guild lv 5.Quite a trouble-not sure if it was intented in this way or just poor playtested....

[Shad0WeN]

This first map is quite difficult (but not impossible) to clear on Heroic without significant troop losses. I restarted a few times to get more favorable neutral stacks in the visible starting area. Aside from that it took some very careful planning and tactics. Of course the Blood Furies will let you clear slow, low initiative walkers/flyers using hit & run tactics, but I would say by far the most useful creatures were Deep Hydras which allowed me to clear the most number of dangerous stacks (even some shooters) without losses using their Regeneration abilities. The only thing you can't really deal with without losses are casters, but fortunately I only had one stack of Elder Druids guarding a couple of treasure chests and not a mine or something. I got Vampire Lords at the Gold Mine, which I was able to handle with a combination of Deep Hydras and destructive spells.



Was able to build every day for the first 2+ weeks until I got Tier 1-6 upgraded (except for upgraded Minotaurs) and the Capitol. Also got the Resource Silo for sulfur early on because the Sulfur Mine was guarded by a big stack of Master Hunters I had to wait to clear. Did not have enough resources for Fort, Citadel, Castle to boost creature production but honestly I don't think it mattered much as I was strapped for cash much of time. I took gold from all of the treasure chests and still managed to hit the level cap on the last couple of stacks before even fighting in the underground.



My build order involved mostly trying to build the creature dwellings as quickly as possible and get them upgraded. Week 2 I got "Week of Gold" and Week 3 I got "Week of Gems". Week of Gold certainly helped with my Town Hall but unfortunately I was not able to get the Gold Mine until like day 5 or 6 and no Capitol until beginning of Week 3. The Trade Guild in the Dungeon had the Endless Bag of Gold for 10000 but I didn't build it until later and probably couldn't have gotten it during Week 2 anyway.



The Boots were guarded by a stack of Plague Zombies and I grabbed 'em as soon as I got Blood Furies. The magic shine just Southeast of the portal was guarded by some Blade Dancers and gave me Eldritch Arrow so I decided not to build up the Mage Guild right away, which would have detracted from my creature production. Secrets of Destruction also gave me Circle of Winter so I wasn't missing that Mage Guild too much (aside from Summon Creatures -- but I timed my return trips to the castle carefully) since there is that magic well around anyway. I was not able to build up the Mage Guild until the very end but had just enough resources to make level 5 to go along with Expert Destructive Magic.



As far as my hero build goes I went with Enlightenment, Destructive Magic, Sorcery, and Luck in the available slots. Going into the final battle arena I have 67 Assassins, 42 Blood Furies, 31 Minotaurs, 16 Grim Raiders, 12 Deep Hydras (split into 6 x 2 for defensive purposes), and 8 Shadow Witches. I also have a nice Trident of the Titans thanks to the Trade Guild, to go along with Lightning Bolt and Chain Lightning, and the Master of Storms ability =P
Edited on Fri, Apr 02 2010, 17:41 by Shad0WeN

[ShadowLiberal]

A few of my suggestions on skill choices for tougher difficulties.



1st, get Light Magic, the resurrect spell is a must in missions 3, 4, and 5!



2nd, Summoning Magic is better than Destructive Magic, if you can only pick one of the two pick Summoning Magic. Summon Phoenix will make your life infinitely easier, and is exponentially more useful then destructive magic when against small and medium sized armies. Spells like Arcane Armor, Firewall, and Phantom Forces will also help a lot.



3rd, Dark Magic won't help you when it matters most, in mission #3. Far too often in Raelag's campaign the enemy's armies are too small for puppet master and frenzy and blind to be worth casting. Most often you'd be better just ripping the enemy apart with Summon Phoenix or Destructive Magic, or reviving/buffing your own units.



4th, Sorcery is probably a must have, since even though you'll get lots of knowledge, you need to reduce the mana costs of all the spells you'll be casting.



5th, Enlightenment may be a good choice as well, just for the mana boost, and the increase to the Power and Attack stats. I didn't pick it though, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't.

[VAMPSVSZOUNDS]

Needless to say,a tough mission where autosaves are your best friend,so are Destructive magic+Sorcery+Expert luck with wwarlock's luck.I went in the underground with only 1 Castle growth of Furies,Dark Raiders,Hydras and 14 Assasins,because I slammed into all the tougher stacks with the intent of coming out alive.Before that though,I had to fight a stack of 32 Unicorns,split into 4,with only 13 Assasins to get Warlock's Luck on my last levelup,which I managed with cornering my Assasins,then striking iwth Ice Bolt x N,a Fireball,my normal attack and never allowing bigger-than-1-Unicorn stacks to hit my Assasins,and lost 8 of my 'sins.I also got Expert Destructive on this battle.OFC I hid in the top of the map,and then I had to face Eruina.Man,does Luck make a HUGE difference!Rolled three times in a row(on Fireball) on Eruina's Assasin-Minotaur-Deephydra-Fury,then on the Dark+Grim Raiders,then also on the opponent's Hydras and Assasins.Also I got Luck on a Hydra attack on the Dark and Grim Raiders,lowering their numbers by ~1/4 on that hit.Exp Luck+Exp Destruction+Fireball is too good,even though I had solely used Ice Bolt for neutrals(and mostly emerged out badly).The level cap is hittable if you trasform late chests into exp,as I did(I had an excess of ~15k after buying my last creatures,which I happily spent on a Dragon scale Shield and a Necklace of Lion.).

[stachnie]

I have restarted this map perhaps 100 times (1.6, Heroic). Most restarts were due to tough guards in the starting area (I wanted to capture windmill and ore pit and unlock the portal with no or very low casualities, Boots had to be guarded by slow walkers). I also restarted if Crystals were not guarded by slow walkers (they are necessary to build Deep Hydra). Another reason to restart: Archimagi, Vampire Lords or Elder Druids guarding Arena (I NEEDED this +2 bonus). A few times I had no Expert Light at level 18 (next map), so again. Or Week of Fever at Week 4, when I had dwellings built but not enough money to buy creatures. Or too weak army to survive combat with Eruina, Vayshan and maybe also some other hero.



Anyway, finally I managed to pass through this mission, and I managed to get Basic Light. Now I play the second one, and I am in a good position to win. My build: of course Destruction (possibly with all 3 mastries), Sorcery with Arcane Intuition, Light (I want at least Master of Wraith and Master of Blessings) and Defense (Vitality, Protection and maybe Evasion). In Map 2 I got Enlightenment and Intelligence.
Edited on Tue, Jul 15 2014, 07:13 by stachnie