Are the Khazad abysmal defenders?

Elyssaen said:

The longbowman can't use mythril weapons? Strangely, I checked the Wiki for that part of my post (I was unreasonably 'sure' about the archer part). It probably should be updated, as it says they do benefit from them.

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JonathanStrange said:

Well said.

One suspicions that readercolin has commanded the Khazad more than a few games - note you should check out his Top Ten Tips on the Khazad in the Top Ten list - so I, for one, pay attention to his exposition.

BTW: I do think a basic dwarven crossbowmen unit - and not that upper level XBowmen with a limit of 4 - would be a cool addition, even if the effect were only graphical (and then we get the "we're trying to keep the unit distinctions without a difference to a minimum" argument, which in a game filled with atmosphere and flavor, I don't find too persuasive, but wth, I rarely play Khazad anyway.)

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readercolin said:

I'll start out by saying that when I play as the dwarves, I'll research archery, but I'll never build archers. Why? Because I can get so much more use out of an axman.

Comparatively, an axman requires iron and a 120% strength bonus to equal an archer defending a hill, or iron and a 70% strength bonus to equal an archer not on a hill (note, for both of these, it is counting the archer getting the same strength bonus). As the best way for the dwarves to run the early game is to run RoK, you will most likely get early iron from the mines of gal-dur.

The other important point to note is that every archer I build is then a city defender for life, I cannot use it for anything else. On the other hand, an axman I build for defense now can be used for offense in 10 turns, or 50 turns, or whenever I want. However, the most important thing to remember about the dwarves is that the best defense is a good offense. An archer is a strength 3 attacker, and always will be. Aka, an archer is a useless attacker. On the other hand, an axman is a strength 4-6 attacker, and while strength 4 isn't much, strength 6 is, especially when you send in a few trebuchets to soften them up first. Another thing to note is that trebuchets are strength 6 attackers, not strength 4, making them able to successfully attack combat promoted bronze axmen, and also still be useful even when champions come out.

So for early game, the khazid aren't missing any teir 2 units except the the horsemen. Midgame is when the khazid get choked off unitwise. The khazid don't get longbowmen, horse archers, rangers, or mages. That leaves just religious units, assasins (i can't remember whether or not they get these) and champions as buildable units. As the khazid probably aren't going to be following OO, that means that champions are going to be their mainstay, with religious units functioning in support, and the continued use of trebuchets to soften stacks. Having a few adepts with enchantment 1 allows the instantaneous repairing of your trebuchets, and having stonewardens allows significantly faster healing of your champions. Your army won't be as mobile as a hippus or elven one, but your enemies WILL know when you arrive. So that leaves defense as a problem. An iron champion is strength 8, and gets +25% vs melee units, but is a melee unit itself. An iron longbowman is strength 7/8, and gets 25% city and hill defense. The khazid have nothing to match that defensive strength. On the other hand, the khazid can almost get 2 champions for the same production that another civ would get 1 longbowman.

Midgame, the khazids benifit isn't from diversity of units, its from numbers of units. They get this in two ways. First, the dwarven forge. The forge gives a base +20% hammers, but then another 10% each for copper, iron, and mithril. Midgame, that is a 40% production bonus. Second, the dwarven vault, which gives +40% production with 500 gold per city, 25% production with 400 gold per city, and 10% for 300 gold per city, not counting happies. By midgame, I usually have full to overflowing vaults (and only have full after a conquest spree usually), which means that every city will have 65% to 80% production bonus, as opposed to any other races 25%.

Lategame, their options open up significantly, but lategame you should have already won, and is mostly there for faster mopping up.

Now, as to how I play them. There are two ways that I will play the dwarves.

The first way is super-city, fortress mode. When playing like this, I only put cities in good spots, never in mediocre unless I really need a resource from that spot. Then I use the happiness and production bonuses from the dwarven vaults to allow myself to match any other civ's research and unitcount. This gives a few cities, but each city tends to be VERY strong, with me easily getting cities size 20+ by midgame, while still having the largest army on the map. Early game it isn't quite as strong, but the whole goal of this mode is to come out on top in the mid/lategame.

The second way is city spam. The big idea here isn't to play to the dwarven strengths of large, high production cities, it is to play to the strength of ingenuity. This method works best when trying to win in the early game. The key things to note here is that it costs 38 gold on normal speed to upgrade a warrior to an axman, and you can build warriors for as long as you don't build an archery range AND a training yard in a city. This method is best played with Kandros Fir, as the financial trait is very useful. Arturus Thorne can use it as well (and is actually better at it once you get to midgame), but for the early game financial is a huge boost. The idea is to get the capital and 1-3 other major cities, following the super-fortress idea, but then to also get as many little cities as possible (spam like you're playing the jotnar if FF, each city focusing only on working their first ring of tiles). Each major city builds training yards, archery ranges (if needed), and produces things like trebuchets, adepts, and religious units. Each of the minor cities builds ToK, gambling house, market, and elder council, then proceeds to spam warriors (other buildings can be built, but those are the vital ones). Each little city can spam a warrior in a turn or two, as opposed to 5 turns it would take to build an axman. Each major city will be able to build an axman or trebuchet in a turn or two. Warriors congregate in the major cities and get upgraded to axmen, allowing a massive army to be quickly created. Early game, Kandros Fir is the best, running aristocracy and using the financial trait to get the necessary gold. Midgame, Arturus Thorne becomes more powerful, when you switch to order to build basilica's, because the organized trait reduces the cost of civic maintenence, while courthouses and basilica's almost eliminate city maintenence.

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