Note: I run an up-to-date copy of Fall from Heaven, but I boot my iMac into Windows to play and into Mac OS X to do everything else. Whenever I quote figures they came from the manual, which isn't up-to-date.
I've just come away from Against the Wall with a surprising conclusion about the Khazad. As much as the scenario itself was quite difficult, it strikes me that the Khazad are fundamentally bad at defence. Given that they're the only civ with a truly defensive hero (Maros with 6/12 and +50% city defence) and they strike me as the type to be strong as defence, it comes as a surprise to me.
In case it's not obvious why I think they're poor at defence or if you want some meat on the bones, let me elaborate. Once we're through the warrior stage of the game, the principal early defender is the archer. 3/5 , +25% city defence, +25% hill defence, 1 first strike and 20% at 10% defensive strike. The Khazad have the dwarven slinger, who is almost identical to the archer except for one key difference.
The dwarven slinger doesn't improve with bronze and iron weapons. The archer does. The Khazad do fine in the early stages when you defend with warriors or basic archers, but later on they start to lag.
An iron-upgraded archer has 7 on the defence, or 10.5 in a city on a hill. A basic archer has 5 , or 7.5 in a city on a hill. The iron-upgraded archer will eat champions: the dwarven slinger will not. When you hit the era that your defenders want about 12 , the Khazad start to lag a lot.
To be fair, surely the Luchuirp lag at this point too? Well yes, they do. But the situation only grows worse for the Khazad, because they don't get longbowmen. The longbowman seems to be absolutely vital to protecting your cities starting at mid game and then through to the end. With 8 (with iron) and plenty of bonuses when defending a city on a hill, they're the main part of any late game city defence and can at a pinch stop an eidolon or paladin even after bombardment.
The Khazad don't get longbowmen. The Luchuirp, however, have gargoyles. Gargoyles are a little bit difficult to judge. Their 8 base is deceptive and is really only equal to the longbowman who will probably have iron. When mythril comes along, the gargoyle falls behind. They give up the +25% on a hill, but get the Defensive promotion automatically. They come out about equal to the longbowman, with the Golem promotion being a mixed blessing or a minor advantage if you add in someone to use Repair, and the increased cost being the final disadvantage.
Without longbowmen at all, I'm at a loss for what the Khazad are supposed to use to actually defend. They need something that can have about 16.4 in a city on a hill. That's an iron longbowman, fully fortified and with City Garrison I.
The champion, perhaps? It's better than the dwarven slinger on defence, but it's no longbowman. It will come in at 10.8 with iron, when fortified and with Combat I. It can't take City Garrison I, it doesn't have the +25% to city defence or +25% to hill defence, and all in all a champion will never replace a longbowman in city defence.
If the champion can't defend the Khazad's cities and borders, what can? We'll assume that it can't be a national unit the crossbowman is out. Strangely, where I'd expect to see a unique Khazad unit coming in to defend them, they instead have the myconid, the dwarven cannon, the dwarven druid and the dwarven shadow. They're all pretty good and I could definitely accept the Khazad only being 'average' at defence given these advantages, but they're not 'average' they're at 10.8 instead of 16.4 .
I think the longbowman should remain banned to them, but they should have a unique unit that can fill the same place. Thematically it would be either a mêlée type that was just better at defence (the basic unit for which Maros is a hero perhaps a Dwarven Stalwart, taking after Battle for Wesnoth), or a type of crossbowman that could be mass produced.
All in all, I don't think I'd play the Khazad as they are. They lack mages. They lack rangers (the most important part of the recon line to me). They lack good defenders. They lack non-national, good cavalry. Even though they get brilliant leaders (Aggressive + Financial + Ingenuity, Industrious + Ingenuity + Organised) and can potentially have +65% over other cities, the lack of defence seems to ruin it. Lack of mages, rangers and non-national, good cavalry would balance their advantages. Needing to use champions to defend cities and borders seems too far.
So, thank you for reading. I'm still new to Fall from Heaven so I hope you read my tone as anything but arrogant. I'd appropriate your input.
I've just come away from Against the Wall with a surprising conclusion about the Khazad. As much as the scenario itself was quite difficult, it strikes me that the Khazad are fundamentally bad at defence. Given that they're the only civ with a truly defensive hero (Maros with 6/12 and +50% city defence) and they strike me as the type to be strong as defence, it comes as a surprise to me.
In case it's not obvious why I think they're poor at defence or if you want some meat on the bones, let me elaborate. Once we're through the warrior stage of the game, the principal early defender is the archer. 3/5 , +25% city defence, +25% hill defence, 1 first strike and 20% at 10% defensive strike. The Khazad have the dwarven slinger, who is almost identical to the archer except for one key difference.
The dwarven slinger doesn't improve with bronze and iron weapons. The archer does. The Khazad do fine in the early stages when you defend with warriors or basic archers, but later on they start to lag.
An iron-upgraded archer has 7 on the defence, or 10.5 in a city on a hill. A basic archer has 5 , or 7.5 in a city on a hill. The iron-upgraded archer will eat champions: the dwarven slinger will not. When you hit the era that your defenders want about 12 , the Khazad start to lag a lot.
To be fair, surely the Luchuirp lag at this point too? Well yes, they do. But the situation only grows worse for the Khazad, because they don't get longbowmen. The longbowman seems to be absolutely vital to protecting your cities starting at mid game and then through to the end. With 8 (with iron) and plenty of bonuses when defending a city on a hill, they're the main part of any late game city defence and can at a pinch stop an eidolon or paladin even after bombardment.
The Khazad don't get longbowmen. The Luchuirp, however, have gargoyles. Gargoyles are a little bit difficult to judge. Their 8 base is deceptive and is really only equal to the longbowman who will probably have iron. When mythril comes along, the gargoyle falls behind. They give up the +25% on a hill, but get the Defensive promotion automatically. They come out about equal to the longbowman, with the Golem promotion being a mixed blessing or a minor advantage if you add in someone to use Repair, and the increased cost being the final disadvantage.
Without longbowmen at all, I'm at a loss for what the Khazad are supposed to use to actually defend. They need something that can have about 16.4 in a city on a hill. That's an iron longbowman, fully fortified and with City Garrison I.
The champion, perhaps? It's better than the dwarven slinger on defence, but it's no longbowman. It will come in at 10.8 with iron, when fortified and with Combat I. It can't take City Garrison I, it doesn't have the +25% to city defence or +25% to hill defence, and all in all a champion will never replace a longbowman in city defence.
If the champion can't defend the Khazad's cities and borders, what can? We'll assume that it can't be a national unit the crossbowman is out. Strangely, where I'd expect to see a unique Khazad unit coming in to defend them, they instead have the myconid, the dwarven cannon, the dwarven druid and the dwarven shadow. They're all pretty good and I could definitely accept the Khazad only being 'average' at defence given these advantages, but they're not 'average' they're at 10.8 instead of 16.4 .
I think the longbowman should remain banned to them, but they should have a unique unit that can fill the same place. Thematically it would be either a mêlée type that was just better at defence (the basic unit for which Maros is a hero perhaps a Dwarven Stalwart, taking after Battle for Wesnoth), or a type of crossbowman that could be mass produced.
All in all, I don't think I'd play the Khazad as they are. They lack mages. They lack rangers (the most important part of the recon line to me). They lack good defenders. They lack non-national, good cavalry. Even though they get brilliant leaders (Aggressive + Financial + Ingenuity, Industrious + Ingenuity + Organised) and can potentially have +65% over other cities, the lack of defence seems to ruin it. Lack of mages, rangers and non-national, good cavalry would balance their advantages. Needing to use champions to defend cities and borders seems too far.
So, thank you for reading. I'm still new to Fall from Heaven so I hope you read my tone as anything but arrogant. I'd appropriate your input.