Encounters/Tournaments...

[Nyrva]

Hello,

I don't want to come across the wrong way. But is it me, or are the encounters and unexplored zones around your provinces always "Very Hard" and "Hard" on purpose?

Also the currrent tournament, I completed the first one today, but again, on the second, my troops get shredded on auto-fight no matter what combinations I use. I use auto fight since I do not like turn-based combat (why I generally don't play Japanese RPGs anymore despite how good the stories can be) and it seems the enemy NPCs always have the first turn/terrain advantage.

I recently just got into chapter IV, and upgraded my scouts. The surrounding zones went from "Very Hard" to "Hard", one of them even "medium" but as soon as I captured enough territories to complete a new plot of land, immediately back to "Very Hard". I currently don't have enough land space, population, culture, or resources to justify upgrades of my barracks or armories. But is this how they keep you always, at a constant disadvantage for combat and negotiations trying to expand?

So I guess my question is for those who have played much longer- is it always "very hard" no matter how far you progress? If so I figure "OK, deal with it." But I was wondering about that.

Thanks.

 

[samidodamage]

is it always "very hard" no matter how far you progress?

No. For some as yet unexplained reason, combat is more difficult the earlier you are in the game. And, there's a relationship between the size of your tournament squads and the squad size upgrades so that the more upgrades you take (there are some you can skip) the larger your tourney squads. Conventional wisdom says take the optional upgrades through around Ch 4 to be able to fight on the map at all. But, this means you face larger enemy squads so troop losses are higher. Using round numbers: if you expect to win with a loss of 10% of your troops, you lose less actual troop numbers fielding 10 units/slot vs 100 units/slot. While taking those upgrades will eventually help you on the map, you'll clear way more provinces in weekly tournaments for more rewards than on the map. Start skipping the optional ones around Ch 5-6 to prevent tourneys from getting too expensive to recoup in a reasonable period of time. Advanced Scout techs at the beginning of each chapter lowers the costs of all unscouted provinces (costs are final when they're scouted). You don't even get all the troop types until Ch 3, and you'll be in Ch 5 before you get many of the upgrades to 2 star units. After that, fights will become more manageable. You might want to take a look at this thread Combat 101:
https://us.forum.elvenar.com/index.php?threads/combat-101.4968/
There's a follow-up thread titled something like Combat 201, but I can't find it right now.
That will start you on the basics of what enemy units you'll face in which provinces and the units of yours that are best against those units. That will help considerably in the tourneys. This next link is to a detailed Fighting Guide developed by a player and stickied to the top of the Battle Help sub-forum. There's soooo much valuable and detailed information in this one that I return to it often. It goes into the Battle Pentagon in detail; once you wrap your brain around how that works, you'll have a better feel for what units perform best in which situations:
https://us.forum.elvenar.com/index.php?threads/mykans-guide-fighting-guide.4205/
There are also individual province guides (and loads of other helpful info) on the player maintained site: Gems of Knowledge at
https://www.gamersgemsofknowledge.com/

 

[Mykan]

Sadly the scaling is a bit messed up at the start, then there are beginner mistakes or bad advice often given to new players which can compound the trouble. The advice above is excellent. At the end of each chapter is a chest which a minimum number of provinces to scout before you can access the next chapter. The further above this you scout the harder and more costly fights can get. in the first few chapters though they basically start out hard/very hard. Feel free to tell support that, we hope one day they understand what the players already know.

Things to make fights easier

1. Squad size and advanced scout techs, will make the biggest difference
2. Military upgrade techs - help but not as much as the above
3. Time your scouting so you stay close to the minimum provinces

The further into the game you go the further out form the minimum number that you can go without fights getting hard. I have a ton about 80 provinces ahead of the minimum and I still have a few very easy (blue) provinces and a whole lot of green (easy) provinces around me. Some people just prefer to cater and not bother with combat. Its an option too but costs will again be higher than with doing less scouting.

As to town space, it does get easier. Look at what is in your town and don't be afraid to delete things. A common mistake is to build too many factories, these are the biggest driver of space issues as they require lots of houses and workshops and culture to maintain.

 

[DeletedUser3122]

But is it me, or are the encounters and unexplored zones around your provinces always "Very Hard" and "Hard" on purpose?

I just started some new cities and am in chapter 1. I don't know what it's doing in your chapter, but in the beginning, it goes from very easy, to easy, to very hard. It skips the yellow and orange and goes straight to very hard. I have no idea why they do this except to slow down a player. It still does not make any logical sense. I won't even be scouting for awhile yet, to make those provinces cheaper or easier. I know we are not supposed to overscout, but this is really locked down hard.

Start skipping the optional ones around Ch 5-6

I'm confused. Skip squad size upgrades starting at chapter 5 or 6? I thought we were advised to skip all optional squad size upgrades in all chapters. There must be differing opinions on this one. I've been telling my FS to skip the optional ones entirely. Now maybe I goofed. Someone help me out here.

 

[DeletedUser9601]

I'm confused. Skip squad size upgrades starting at chapter 5 or 6? I thought we were advised to skip all optional squad size upgrades in all chapters. There must be differing opinions on this one. I've been telling my FS to skip the optional ones entirely. Now maybe I goofed. Someone help me out here.

You can skip all the optional ones, but skipping the first few makes progressing in provinces through Chs 1-4 reaaally hard. Unless you have someone feeding you goods, or you're in a big FS that's consistently giving you culture boosts, its going to be slow-going. Because you will be basically catering all of your province fights after the first 2 rings.
In my other city, I started skipping optional techs in Ch 3, and felt pretty good about my tournament success.

 

[Mykan]

@Deawyne I have expereinced the same thing, raise a ticket with support, especially if you haven't skipped techs yet. Its the only hope left to get the message through. On one of the forums somewhere after 2 years of lobbying about the issue they basically said they don't see it as a problem but would watch support tickets. I am ratehr stunned at the lack of logic as their own rating system made it even more obvious about the issue.

Between quests and time limited buildings they can resolve the missing troops issue but sadly squad size is the biggest issue and that is a lot more complicated. It would require some shuffling in techs or changes in calcs, which they won't do as the start is the foundation for the rest of it.

 

[samidodamage]

skipping the first few makes progressing in provinces through Chs 1-4 reaaally hard.

^^This. I started a new city in May with the goal of building it for tournaments, adventures, and events. I've skipped all the optional SS upgrades. I'm sitting at the end of the tech tree in Ch 4 trying to finish the provinces needed to open the chest for Ch 5. Most of that is the difficulty rating; some of it is goods (mainly marble). There are maybe 5 semi-active players in the FS I started for access to the tourneys and I don't even know what their boosts are. All of my neighbors are small (not a one in the guest races yet) or inactive and none of the active ones have marble. I put up 1.5:1 steel for marble and it still takes me days to get the trades taken. Traveling Merchants help a bit, but not much. I've got some marble trades up now that are about to expire...
I'm just trying to be patient and remember my long term goal even though I'm tempted to go back and get some of those SS upgrades, lol.