I'd say stick with it. It really is very deep and alot of fun. I think it is a war game, with spell research there to allow you to build a superior army. You can play games quickly against the AI to try out various strategies. Feel free to ask specific "how to" questions here and I or others who are far better than me will answer them. The community is really helpful. After you become comfortable with the game's mechanics, join a some Multiplayer games. That is where the game really shines. I still get stomped, but I really enjoy trying to figure out counters to the strategies that have been used against me. The game has been modified a great deal to make it much more balanced and to eliminate certain "cheesy" (in my opinion
) strategies.
Some initial advice would be:
1. Learn the hotkeys. The UI becomes much better with them.
- F1 brings up a city report that shows much info at a glance and allows you to set taxes (to lower unrest, my goal is usually 0 unrest), increase Province Defense (1 or 2 is enough, as mentioned above 11 against the AI will usually deter an attack on that province, so you can channel the AI's attacks).
- 8 turns on arrows that allow you to see what provinces are adjacent to the currently selected province.
- n cycles through all commanders that don't have current non-defend orders. Always try to have commanders doing something, researching, searching, scouting (if stealthy), atttacking, ferrying troops around, patrolling, etc.
- tab toggles your commanders that research "on" and "off" in the UI, making it much easier to manage commanders
2. There are spell, unit and magic items guides (pdf and excel) that help alot. I don't have the link handy, but Sunray's and Liga's sites (or something like that, do a Google) might have them.
3. Most people always try to recruit a mage a turn in every castle with a lab. Magic is very powerful (or so they tell me
).
4. Focus your spell research to achieve specific spells. I heard someone recommend a strategy to go for Flaming Arrows (Enchantment level 4?), take Marignon, build crossbows and then rock. Remember to equip the mage that is going to cast Flaming Arrows with some fire gems. Certain spells require that a mage have gems in addition to the necessary level (Fire 3 for Flaming Arrows, I believe). Also, arrange your troops with the Crossbows at the back with some high protection infantry in front of them to slow down the enemy while your crossbows shred them.
Another might be to take Niefel themed Jotunheim and take a Pretender with 9 levels of Nature magic (i.e. N9). This will give your sacred giants the Nature 9 blessing, which will give them regeneration, 50% poison resistance, and the berserking ability, which rocks. You bless your sacred troops (sacred troops have candles in their unit dialogs) by casting the "bless" spell with a priest. Each unit can have battle orders. If you can get a priest with a Holy 4 level, then cast "Divine Blessing" and all your sacred troops on the battlefield will be blessed.
5. Try to expand at one province a turn early in the game and then more than that as time goes by. Avoid Heavy Cavalry, Knights and Longbows early. One possibility is to take a Pretender that is a "Super Combatant", something that can cast certain "self buff" spells that make it almost invincible against the independent provinces. Others can give better advice, and you can search the forums, but the Alteration and Enchantment schools have the best of these "self buff" spells: Mirror Image, Mist Form, Fire Shield, Iron Shield if you need protection. There is an post by Quantum Mechanic (I think) on this subject.
6. Build some scouts and send the out. Take a decent dominion (6 or 7).
Man, a long post, but stick with it and you too can experience the joy of crushing some magic loving wuss in the early portion of an MP game and the lust for vengeance that comes when the other magic loving, super combatant loving, life drained equiped pansies crush your soul later in the game