Tournament Encounters and Orcs

[DeletedUser19723]

I appreciate all your suggestions and info. I haven't run into any orc nests to craft, but I'll be on the lookout for them. As for armories, it seems that I ought to start building a 4th, stat. Do any of you know if there are charts or some such to give an idea of what a healthy amount of orcs is, going into each chapter? I'm at the beginning of Woodelves - starting to build Willows - and have 50,000 orcs. I have no idea if this is good or awful. It took a lot of orcs to complete Orcs , so maybe 50,000 is not so hot?

 

[samidodamage]

Amounts needed will vary @SherG26.
They will be required for every WS upgrade going forward. You can get an idea of how many each upgrade by looking at the WS overview in the Wiki here:
https://en.wiki.elvenar.com/index.php?title=Workshop#Workshop_Elves
The amounts used in negotiating map provinces/catering tourney provinces varies according to how much you fight as well. A mix of fight/cater is going to take less orcs than a full cater but more orcs than full fight for example.
How quickly you move through the chapters is a consideration as well. I'm slow. I like slow. Slow to unlock research, slow to upgrade bldgs, slow to put in full settlements for guest races, slow to explore/complete map provinces. So, what keeps me in sufficient orcs is much different than someone whose goal is rapid progression through chapters.

 

[Mykan]

Amount of orcs needed varies as per samidodamage's post above, as such so do the number of armories needed. For me 2 armouries was plenty for a while, I eventually added more but it had nothing to do with orcs but with training troops. Now I have 6 armouries and my orcs numbers are in plague proportions, nothing short of a war is going to get those guys back under control.

In terms of numbers (like with other buildings) you want to be increasing your number each week, so just monitor their growth from one week to the next. This factors in your natural catering/negotiating. Then you just have to decide if your surplus is looking enough for your needs and that comes down to workshops (normal not magic), the more you have the more orcs you need. Its simple maths just times your workshops by so many thousand orcs (wiki helps). From memory 2,000 ish per upgrade so 4,000-5,000 per chapter per workshop. If you naturally allow for a buffer you will be fine.

As to orc nests don't they only start producing orcs from chapter 8? I thought prior to 8 they are supplies or goods. So you would need to get them in chapter 8 or have restoration spells for them. They can be crafted in MA I believe, but anything decent is hard to come by there.

 

[DeletedUser19723]

@Mykan and @samidodamage - - Thanks a lot. This is very helpful to me.

I started my 3rd Armory today. I have smaller workshops that I've stopped upgrading, but have 5 that I will always keep at the max. Since I just started Chapter 9, I'll be okay if (make that IF) I get orc nests to craft. So far the Crafter hasn't been great for me, re: what it offers.

On a side note - - I just built my first Weeping Willows. Now to learn about mana. Yay?

Mykan, love the mental image a plague of Orcs creates for me. Do they come bearing mushrooms? A month and a half to get through Orcs and Goblins. I used to like mushrooms......

 

[Mykan]

Mykan, love the mental image a plague of Orcs creates for me. Do they come bearing mushrooms? A month and a half to get through Orcs and Goblins. I used to like mushrooms......

I have around 4 million of them now, just picture the sanitation issues and damage to the vegetation around my town trying to keep them busy. Lots and lots of mushrooms, boost helps. Plus they do occasionally bring me mushrooms, the sentient kind , its why I keep making them.

 

[samidodamage]

As to orc nests don't they only start producing orcs from chapter 8?

Yes. In my 2nd city (no crafting when I got there in my first city) I'm in a 10-chest FS with only 1 magic residence, so plenty of RR's available. At the end of Fairies I started looking for Orc Nests and crafting them. Plopped them down and upgraded to Ch8 as soon as I unlocked Adv Scouts, thus producing orcs before I could get the tech to produce them in Armories.