Warlords II Rules of Engagement
EPARSKOLD
Warlords II
(A player's addendum to the manuals!)
This hodge-podge of observations and deductions has been
compiled by several enthusiastic Warlords players as a handy reference
guide to better conquest. We think it contains useful information which
we obtained through experimentation, experience, and questions posed to
SSG. We have verified the statements herewithin to the best of our
ability before publication. Please send comments to:
David Prucha 71021,34...@CompuServe.Com
Randy Skold EPAR...@aol.com
A few stray words on Army Strengths
A given army's strength at the time of combat depends on many
things. A Warlord will want the strongest possible armies. We think the
best way to think of an army's strength is as a total of "individual
strength" + "stack bonuses". Individual strength can reach a maximum of
9, stack bonuses can reach a total of 5, and the total can then reach 14
(which is conveniently just short of the 16 sided die that is rolled to
determine battle outcomes to provide for the occasional all-powerful
army defeat.) Please see table included for combat odds for any given
two armies of strengths between 1 and 14. Note that this does not
provide for "intense" combat (a 32 sided die) which will allow stronger
armies to be at more even odds. Our odds table is based on the examples
from the Warlords (I) manual. Although we are fairly sure this is the
correct algorithm, we are not ABSOLUTELY sure this is the correct
algorithm.
For instance, if "hits" are carried over from one man-to-man combat to
the next then the odds change slightly. We have also noticed some
anomalies in actual combat that don't seem to be supported by the odds
calculations we have made. For instance, we have noticed something we
call the "stack factor" where we have observed that larger stacks seem
to have some advantage over small (even strong) ones. We have noticed
(many times) that a strong hero will often outlast an entire strong
attacking stack (with hero) until only the attacking hero is left.
These and other anomalies that don't quite fit our perceptions and
calculations make us feel that we might not have an absolutely complete
grasp (but pretty close) of the combat mechanics. Any observations or
insights would be appreciated.
Below are listed some general rules we have gleaned.
1. The maximum individual strength without stack bonuses of any army
is 9. The maximum number of stack bonuses is 5. Therefor the
maximum modified Strength of any army is 14; 9 individual str + 5
stack bonuses from elsewhere.
2. The minimum army strength is 1 even when a strength 1 army is
confronted by an enemy stack with a "-3 to the enemy stack" bonus.
3. Positive Stack Bonuses will max out at 5 no matter how many are
available. Stack Bonuses are comprised of Hero Stack Bonuses plus
the single highest Non-Hero Stack Bonus. (A Non-Hero Stack
Bonus may come from either a single "special" character or a single
non-"special" character. If both occur in the same stack, the one with
the highest positive bonus is used.)
4. Negative Stack Bonuses (e.g. "-3 to the enemy stack") seem to be
independent of positive stack bonuses. And when two armies with
negative stack bonuses exist in the same stack, only one (the
maximum one) negative stack bonus is active!
5. Terrain Modifiers for both stacks are evaluated in the square that is
being attacked. Therefor, stacks good at defending cities will also be
good at attacking cities. (E.g. a character that has a "+2 to the stack
in the city" will be good both to defend or attack a city, but less so in
the open.)
6. When under attack, all armies in a city are considered to be in one
stack and enjoy the bonuses of armies in that stacks.
The Ideal Stack
Let me point out that it is impossible to build an "ideal" stack for
all purposes. Different "talents" are needed for attacking a city,
attacking
an enemy stack in the field, defending in the field, attacking hero
groups,
etc. Below are listed some general observations about how to build
better assault stacks and some general observations about stronger stack
building. It should be noted that building "ideal" stacks may be
impractical due to slow moving or expensive or just plain unavailable
armies. The character sets provided by SSG are fairly well balanced with
adequate trade offs to make for interesting games. For example,
stronger, faster armies are usually more expensive than slower ones;
stronger are more expensive than weaker ones.
With all that said, let's build the strongest abstract stack possible.
The ideal stack has 8 strength 14 armies, one to four of which are
enemy detrimental. The highest individual strength a single army may
have without stack bonuses is 9. Therefor, it is optimal to provide 5
further stack bonuses from other sources.
Individual Bonuses = 9
In order to get 8 strength 14 armies, you must start with 8
strength 9 armies and add 5 Stack Bonuses. The best non-special armies
are usually born as 6's or occasionally 7's. Even among specials there is
usually only one born as a 9. To increase any army's un-stack-modified
strength you may, (1) bless it, (2) win medals in combat (a rare and
unpredictable method), or (3) take advantage of it's usually terrain-based
individual bonuses. Note on "specials": Specials do not have individual
bonuses, only stack bonuses, and therefor may only be individually
strengthened by blessing or winning battle medals (very rare). Also note
that total blessings attainable are limited by the number of temples
available and the distances involved in reaching the temples.
Stack Bonuses = 5
Stack bonuses are totaled from (a) Hero Stack Bonuses, and (b)
Highest Non-Hero Stack Bonus. But note that 5 is the most that can be
used no matter how high the total. It is therefor advantageous to pass
excess command items from a max'd out hero to a less well endowed
one. Here we'd like to make an impassioned plea to any Warlords III
writers who may read this, for an expendable army (other than the heroes)
with high movement rate that is capable of carrying special items -ed.
Also, since the highest Non-Hero Stack bonus allowable is +3 (note: +3
Non-Hero Stack Bonuses are very rare, usually +1 or occasionally +2
depending on character set and availability is typical), a stack must have
a
hero with sufficient stack bonuses to bring the total to +5.
Hero stack bonuses are gained through (1) level advancement:
+1/level, or (2) flag and special item retrieval. Note that command
bonuses from items translate directly to stack bonuses, however, battle
items also somehow add to the command bonus of a hero and therefor to
the herois stack bonus.
Note that a weak hero with just +3 command/stack bonuses is just
fine when with a non-hero with a +2 stack bonus.
A special note on terrain modifiers:
1. The rule that terrain oriented bonuses are determined by the
defenders' location makes the "city bonus" armies very valuable as
these will be useful for both defense and attack. (e.g. "+2 str in the
city" or "+2 stk in the city"). (Probably the most valuable since these
are done very, very often.)
2. Probably the next most useful terrain oriented bonus is the "in the
open" type which would be most useful in stacks of marauding armies
looking to catch enemies out in the open.
3. Generally speaking, terrain bonuses in the woods and hills are very
rarely useful as most battles occur in the open or in a city because,
generally speaking, travel is easier in the open and the goal of the
game is to take and hold cities. There are exceptions when certain
scenarios have cities unavailable except by woods or hills. Also there
will be times when a marauding Warlord insists on assault through
these difficult terrains and must be preemptively attacked. Note
further that all roads are not created equal! Roads have the terrain
characteristics of the terrain through which they pass, i.e. if a road
passes directly through woods, then the road provides a woods terrain
bonus. A particularly tricky scenario that demonstrates this
sometimes suble point is the Elemental Crux, where all roads appear
to be through open terrain at first glance but upon closer inspection
are lined with small hills and do not provide open terrain bonuses.
4. A note on "encamping" a stack (i.e. pressing the Defend button when
a stack is not in a city.) This is a useful tactic for defending a stack
in
general as it will give a city bonus of +1 (according to SSG) without
the city. This bonus, however, does not take effect until the stack
appears to be a tower which is not until the player's next turn. It
seems that similar benefits can be derived from an army with the
"fortified" bonus in the stack. Therefor, encamping armies with city
bonuses will maintain their advantage if placed in an assailant's path
The Five Enemy Detrimental Bonuses
1. Negative enemy stack bonus Armies.
2. Cancel Non-Hero Bonus Armies.
3. Cancel city bonus Armies.
4. Cancel Hero Bonus Armies.
5. Fortified Bonus Armies
These are listed above in possible order of usefulness. The first is
always useful. The second will usually be useful (provided the stack you
are fighting has non-hero stack bonuses; individual bonuses are Not
cancelled.) The third will be useful whenever you are attacking a city or
fortified stack. The fourth will be useful only when going up against
another warlord. Make them 9's and add a hero and non-hero with stack
bonuses totaling +5 and you have an almost unbeatable combination!
Sounds simple doesn't it?
A NOTE ON RUIN PRIZES: Give the ruin prizes of a stack
"movement doubler" and stack flying capabilities to your hero and you
will have a really powerful stack. Which brings up a little known fact
about "movement doubling" items; when two heroes, both holding a
"movement doubling" item reside in the same stack, the stack magically
gets triple the movement rate of the slowest army. This does not occur if
the same hero holds both items.
A Note on Stack Combat ReOrdering
The strategy one takes to stack order during combat is a
philosophical one at best. We generally prefer to keep our best stack
bonus contributors, rare creatures, and expensive armies more protected
and toward the last of the stack to die. This presumes that survivors are
likely. In general, stack order doesn't matter to final victory, however,
it
will determine who is left if you happen to win. To this end a possible
strategy is presented below. Another good reason to reorder your stack's
fighting order becomes apparent in multiple human games. The computer
will sort your stacks automatically for you and show only the highest
army in the fight order as the representative for the whole stack, when
viewed on the large expanded view window. By placing an otherwise
weak and innocuous army high on the combat order, your human
opponents will be fooled and confused into believing a city is held by
weaklings or a stack of inconsequential armies is approaching their
cities.
You can see your stacks, but may deny them that privilege.
1. Hero (not optional unless over the water with a flying army.)
2. Cancel Hero (potentially negates up to 5 enemy stack bonuses)
3. Cancel Non-Hero (potentially negates up to 3 enemy stack bonuses)
4. "-3 to the enemy stack"
5. "+3 to the stack"
6. "-2 to the enemy stack"
7. "+2 to the stack"
8. Cancel City (-1 or -2 to the enemy stack in the city)
9. Fortified (+1 or +2 to the stack: weire not sure)
10. "-1 to the enemy stack"
11. "+1 to the stack"
12. then by strength (taking individual strength bonuses into account)
Hero Advancement
Heroes are born with:
1. a base movement rate = depends on character set (usually 14/turn,
rarely 15 or 16)
2. a base strength = depends on character set (usually 5, rarely more)
3. battle points (individual str bonus) = 0
4. command value (equates to stack bonus points) = 1
5. and experience points = 0
Heroes gain experience points by:
1. Winning a city = 2
2. Winning a battle = 1
3. Exploring a ruin = 3
4. Being blessed at a temple = 1
5. Completing a quest (the biggest) = 10
At each level advancement, rewards are given to the advancing hero. +2
movement per advancement, +1 command bonus (equates to +1 stack
bonus!), base movement rate and strength differ slightly by scenario.
Strength is also affected by blessings.
level 1 2 3 4
experience points 0-14 15-29 30-59 60
command +1 +2 +3 +4
movement 14 16 18 20
strength 5 6 7 8
Male Name Hero Cavalier Champion Paladin
Female Name Heroine Amazon Champion Valkyrie
Quests
The types of quests available are:
1. Occupy or Raze a particular city
2. Sack & Pillage for gp
3. Locate & Slay a particular hero or a random kind of special army.
4. Kill a random number between 10 and 25 armies belonging to some
other player.
NOTE: Being attacked by enemy armies/heroes/specials does NOT credit
you towards your quest! You must be the aggressor in all types of quests.
Note: Fulfilling any of these quests often involves angering a new
opponent.
Navies
1. Armies cost an additional 1 gp per army when in the water.
2. Navies move 20 spaces of open sea per turn. Open sea costs one
"movement point". Shore spaces cost two "movement points".
3. When attacking from the water to the water, both stacks are
evaluated as comprised of strength 4 armies and no stack or individual
bonuses apply. Note that flying armies, although they appear to be in
the boat with the stack and get 20 movement point, are evaluated as
seperate flying armies during combat and keep their "unboated" strength.
The guy from SSG does not think that negative stack bonuses apply either,
if attacking a sea stack with a wraith (-3), for instance.
4. When attacking from the water to shore or city, both stacks are
evaluated as land units and land or city terrain modifiers apply.
5. When attacking Navies from the shore, the attacker is evaluated as a
navy as well with strength 4 armies and no stack or individual bonuses
apply.
6. When attacked by flying armies, Navies are still strength 4 armies, but
the flying armies are evaluated normally, at full strength, as if they
were ashore.
7. Killing an enemy hero in or over water will result in the loss of any
special items he/she may be carrying!
8. Heroes cannot "deboat" with a flying army (as a flying army) from an
aquatic location. Flying armies can.
Standard Planting
1. Each Player may only plant his own standard.
2. A standard CANNOT be planted in Water, Ruins, Temples,
Mountains, or Cities.
3. A standard CAN be planted in the Open, Road, Woods, or Hills.
Accounting
1. All accounting transactions occur at the beginning of each turn based
on what armies and cities are available (visible on the movement map)
at that moment.
2. Troops in transit via vectoring are NOT considered costs until they
appear at their destination city.
Scenarios & Mapping & Miscellany
Ruins are lain down semi-randomly for most SSG scenariosat the beginning
of each game. Temples and cities are fixed.
On fighting monsters in ruins: The Hero doesn't fight the monster in the
ruins, in the standard sense. Instead, he simply has a very high chance
of
victory on a single die roll. Any other armies present with the Hero,
regardless of their strength, increase his chance of victory. Monsters
are
considered different strengths and they do affect the level of the Hero's
chance to win.
Observations when Dealing With Computer Warlords
1. Under most circumstances, DO NOT GO TO WAR WITHIN THE FIRST 5 MOVES.
This generally angers the rest of the computer warlords and they may
all come after you.
2. Do not "heart" (our term for attacking an enemy when at peace with
them) other players if possible as this will anger the rest of the
computer warlords.
3. Do not expand too rapidly, too early in the game as this will threaten
the computer warlords and they may all come after you.
4. When a warlord holds 2/5 of total cities on the map, all computer
warlords will drop what they are doing and attack that human to
attempt to prevent the human from conquering 50%+1 of total cities.
It is at this point that the computer warlords will sue for peace and the
game will end in a single human game.
Jim Little
(EPARSKOLD) wrote:
> Rules Of Engagement
> Warlords II
> (A player's addendum to the manuals!)
I am happy to see someone finally post something on Warlords II strategy.
I assumed that this was discussed to death when the game first came out
and thus refrained from asking anything as I have obtained the game
recently and am still learning.
[ snip 8< ]
> SSG. We have verified the statements herewithin to the best of our
> ability before publication. Please send comments to:
>
> David Prucha 71021,34...@CompuServe.Com
> Randy Skold EPAR...@aol.com
I have a few comments on this file that I would like to add: I'll email
the authors as well.
First of all, where's the table of combat odds? I could figure one out
for myself but if someone else has already done it ...
> Quests
>
> The types of quests available are:
> 1. Occupy or Raze a particular city
> 2. Sack & Pillage for gp
> 3. Locate & Slay a particular hero or a random kind of special army.
> 4. Kill a random number between 10 and 25 armies belonging to some
> other player.
> NOTE: Being attacked by enemy armies/heroes/specials does NOT credit
> you towards your quest! You must be the aggressor in all types of quests.
> Note: Fulfilling any of these quests often involves angering a new
> opponent.
Also, 5. Seek and obtain a certain special item. Upon completion of this
quest the item disappears from the game and the hero is compensated with
an item of greater power (at least that's what I've seen so far).
Rewards for completion of quests:
What types of rewards have people seen? The most popular seems to be the
awarding of 6-9 Archons (aka Winged Folk). Other common awards are
Special Items and Gold.
Diplomacy
Is there any way to INCREASE your diplomatic rating? Eg. Offering peace
to all players, attacking the "Running Dog", or whatever?
There was lots of other interesting info in the previous post which I was
glad to learn. Does anyone have SSG internet address (if they have one, I
don't remember seeing it in the manual, I'll check again and post it if I
find it).
Has anyone heard of any work happening on a Warlords III?
--
/\ / / / / Telco: jli...@bnr.ca
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