my grigori mini-guide

[hegemonkhan]

delected by me

 

[EugeneStyles]

One thing to mention is the Heroic Strength promotions, which can give you 4 Str Warriors and 5 Str Axemen before even factoring in Bronze Weapons. Add in the 100% bonus from Combat V, plus any other bonuses (like Woodsman), and you can have a Warrior attacking and defending at 10+ Str. I would make sure to get those as soon as they are available for Melee Adventurers.

 

[hegemonkhan]

delected by me

 

[BCalchet]

Going the recon path with your first adventurer is usually a good idea, I've found: With a three-strength scout, you can capture all sorts of animals easily, countering the happiness problem of not having a religion.

You can then either get hunting and let them progress up the recon tree, or go creative and tech to Construction and Trade for chariots: A forest-stealthy, animal-capturing and iron-weaponed chariot of doom is sort of fun to drive around.

 

[daladinn]

try taking at least brandig and mueseline(sp) into the recon path and you will find they last longer and have a tendency to do more damage to your enemies.

promotions...
1 - combat 1 and 2
2 - forest defense
3 - forest stealth

forest stealth will allow you to "choose" which combats your in and will more then likely save your heros time and again.

 

[EugeneStyles]

try taking at least brandig and mueseline(sp) into the recon path and you will find they last longer and have a tendency to do more damage to your enemies.

promotions...
1 - combat 1 and 2
2 - forest defense
3 - forest stealth

forest stealth will allow you to "choose" which combats your in and will more then likely save your heros time and again.

Question: I haven't used Forest Stealth - wouldn't that prevent your scouts from being useful at all? They can't attack, and with stealth, they wouldn't be able to defend either, right? And even if you upgrade to a unit that can attack, I'd usually rather get a defense bonus against barbarians than have to attack them and let *them* get a defense bonus... Until the point where it doesn't matter (i.e. you have like +200% combat and Heroic Str I & II), in which case, stealth is no longer necessary anyway. Not saying you're wrong, just asking...

Oh, and @hegemonkhan as far as Heroic Str - I specifically think it is essential on all of your Melee Adventurers. For Adepts, I think it might be a waste, since I'm pretty sure it doesn't add to Empowering your spells like Combat V does. And for Recon units - I think it would depend on how you want to set them up whether it's necessary or just nice to have.

For Medics - the new Heroic Defense promotion coming in .22 might be better.

 

[Grey Fox]

And in .22 Heroic Strength is only gonna be on attack. While adding two new promotions, Heroic Defense I and II.

 

[Ringtailed]

Question: I haven't used Forest Stealth - wouldn't that prevent your scouts from being useful at all? They can't attack, and with stealth, they wouldn't be able to defend either, right? And even if you upgrade to a unit that can attack, I'd usually rather get a defense bonus against barbarians than have to attack them and let *them* get a defense bonus... Until the point where it doesn't matter (i.e. you have like +200% combat and Heroic Str I & II), in which case, stealth is no longer necessary anyway. Not saying you're wrong, just asking...

Recon units can attack in FFH.

 

[vorshlumpf]

Question: I haven't used Forest Stealth - wouldn't that prevent your scouts from being useful at all? They can't attack, and with stealth, they wouldn't be able to defend either, right? And even if you upgrade to a unit that can attack, I'd usually rather get a defense bonus against barbarians than have to attack them and let *them* get a defense bonus... Until the point where it doesn't matter (i.e. you have like +200% combat and Heroic Str I & II), in which case, stealth is no longer necessary anyway. Not saying you're wrong, just asking...

I agree, here. I specifically didn't give my adventurers forest stealth because there are many times where you want them to sit in a forest or on a wooded hill and let the AI come to them. Also, forest stealthy units cannot act as escorts - if you get the valuable bear in the deep woods, that bear is essentially on its own unless you can find a non-wooded (and less protective) path home.

Oh, and @hegemonkhan as far as Heroic Str - I specifically think it is essential on all of your Melee Adventurers. For Adepts, I think it might be a waste, since I'm pretty sure it doesn't add to Empowering your spells like Combat V does. And for Recon units - I think it would depend on how you want to set them up whether it's necessary or just nice to have.

My first adventurer adept I brought up to Heroic Strength II because I wanted him to level more and more. He wound up doing most of the attacking at one point in my game, and I got him to over 200 XP - giving me a very versatile archmage. It would take far too long to get that high on the arcane mechanic alone.

- Niilo

 

[hegemonkhan]

delected by me

 

[daladinn]

as far as tactics with forest stealthed units.

1 - its only an early game tactic. keep in mind your going to upgrade your scout to a hunter , then assasin , then shadow.

2 - you can still attack with it, so when acting as an escort , just kill everything.

3 - forest defence also provides a bonus to attack in the forest.

4 - you cant kill an invisible unit , all you can do is make it sidestep. raise your hand if you want heros that cant be killed....

basically it all comes down to allowing you to choose the time and place of the fights instead of taking a defensive position.

 

[hegemonkhan]

delected by me

 

[daladinn]

other reasons i enjoy the recon path and head toward shadows is the built in synergies that come with it.

you are very close to getting warfare and picking up a flat 100% bonus to GPP

you can get things like the adventures hall and the grigori tavern also

as to the running around with a scout hero ... no you upgrade him to a hunter ASAP.

the BIG key to grigori is deciding on a path at the very beginning and taking it deep. diversification will hurt you horribly.

 

[slowcar]

i like the grigori a lot and the strategies on the wiki were a good help, especially using the gambling hall as a happiness source as they are denied religions and thus lack a few happy points in the midgame.

it is wonderful if you get orthus somewhere nearby. a hero with combat3, mobility, orthus axe, march and shock2 can take out a whole civ on its own.

my most beloved feature though are grigori archmages. as mages they have twincast already, as archmages they can get spellstaff in addition. 3 archmages -> 9 tier 3 spellcasts in a single round. you can depopulate half an empire with them in one turn. as they will be way above 100xp by this time you have to use them for some 99,9% fights to get xp though as they level very slowly as arcane casters.
(and even in the early game combat5 adepts can win quite some fights)

with the upcoming changes to rof and pof i hope that archmages will again be top-tier in the fighting branch.

i also love adaptive. chose aggressive as your first trait and beeline to education. spam shock warriors and get your neighbour. works very well up to immortal (not tested on deity yet), on emperor you can most likely walk through two empires in succession. after 100 rounds you switch back to financial and build your merchant prince empire.

most common error is to pollute the GP-pool. don't ever build wonders in your capital or you'll be getting (comparable) useless GPs instead of your adventurers.

i like it best to use the first hero as a warrior, defending against barbs and leading the first rush into enemy lands. only thing that annoys me is the number of 99%+ fights heroes (and other units) tend to lose.

 

[EugeneStyles]

most common error is to pollute the GP-pool. don't ever build wonders in your capital or you'll be getting (comparable) useless GPs instead of your adventurers.

The only problem with that is that your capital usually has the highest production by FAR for the first couple hundred turns. Obviously, it's possible that you've got a good mineral-rich position that also has plenty of food for your second or third city, and maybe you build there and surpass your original city in production fairly early. But 9 times out of 10, if you build your first wonder or two with any city other than your capital, you're crippling your production - and if it's a popular one, jeopardizing your chances of getting it.

The question is whether that is outweighed by getting more adventurers by not diluting the GP pool, which it may be.

What I kind of like to do is build whatever wonders I want in my original capital, and build National Wonder in another city. As soon as National Wonder is completed, I build the Palace in that city to transfer my capital, and then build the Tavern and Adventurers Hall there as soon as they become available. It seems to work pretty well, though it wastes some production by rebuilding the Palace. Takes some advance planning to do it right.

 

[slowcar]

i have to admit that i skip early wonders, i like it better to take my neighbours out. on the other hand i don't play multiplayer (with ffh2). in vanilla (or warlords) people who build an early wonder are #1 candidates for a rush, i love to get both an experienced and numerous army and pyramids )

which wonders are useful and why would maybe be a good other strategy thread.