Strategies that do NOT work

[DaveGold]

If you're playing the Kuoritates:

- it's not a good idea to build the Mecurian Gate, especially using your highest production city or, even worse, your HE city. It will take away one third of your troop production leaving you vulnerable. Losing a city is not a big deal for other civs but it is a big deal for the Kuoritates.

The Merucrian gate can do well for the Kuriotates as you're able to pass all the small settlements over to Basium. He instantly gets an empire and isn't confined to a couple of cities. Theoretically the Kurios provide the brains and the Mercurians provide the brawn and you're all set for world domination. You do need to plan for losing a big city and rebuilding a new one though and Basium needs AI improvements.

 

[Azhral]

Any Kurios unit in any settlement can instantly upgrade it to a city if the city cap hasn't been reached.

 

[civ-wrecked]

The Merucrian gate can do well for the Kuriotates as you're able to pass all the small settlements over to Basium. He instantly gets an empire and isn't confined to a couple of cities. Theoretically the Kurios provide the brains and the Mercurians provide the brawn and you're all set for world domination. You do need to plan for losing a big city and rebuilding a new one though and Basium needs AI improvements.

If you do have time to develop, this sounds like a good strategy but not if you're declaring war immediately and then gets destroyed within the next dozen turns or so . It takes a long time for a settlement to grow enough to become productive. The first 50 turns or so might be just to grow the city population and build basic infrastructures.

 

[Jarrema]

I LOVE summonning Basium as Kuriotates. He can take over those conquerred cities that you will have to turn into settlements or burn
I designate one city as a "Basium-to-be". Then I send there a great engineer and build this wonder. Then, go for the killing and give Basium new cities. It really works!

 

[civ-wrecked]

I just learned a bitter lesson today:

Playing as the Mercurian, I allowed the Bannor to become vassal when they offered it voluntarily. After that, my ally promptly gave him all techs and he decided to become independent again. Now, I have to worry about attacking him and fighting all the free crusaders from the techs given to him for free. I was way ahead of him in techs, not any more !!

 

[Zechnophobe]

The most common complaint about the Ljosalfar is that they don't have any effective killers to channel their excellent mid/late production into. I recently decided to try to remedy that by getting the GoN thing going, then heading for honor + religious law and switching to empyrean.

Switching out of GoN brought unhappiness and unhealth on my cities like a ton of bricks. They all ended up starving down to a pretty normal size. And while I still had good production because of the forest improvements, the mass deaths + the riverside commerce choke from the forests made my research rate tank. But hey, I got Chalid, so all ended well, right? Indeed, I set forth with a big horde of archers guarding him and conquered many cities... which proceeded to become unproductive drains on my already sagging economy, leading me into complete financial ruin before I could get any high tier units like champions or longbowmen. The economies of my neighbors who I didn't beat up chugged along healthily, and before I knew what was happening it was horse archers, vampires, knights and eidola vs. axemen, archers, radiant guards, and a really powerful spellcaster who could only be in 1 place at once.

Didn't end well.

That strategy can work actually. In fact, in can work really well. You just need to make some core changes in your normal buildup. Realize that you are getting GoN to grow fast, and to hit your happy/health cap quickly. FoL also upgrades all forests. However, if you know you'll be unhappy after you switch out, plan accordingly. Gambling Houses are REALLY GOOD at keeping an economy like that alive. Put lots of money into 'gold' per turn, and you also get happiness. 100% gold = 10 happiness in all cities with gambling houses, and a whole lot of money to pay the upkeep o0n your forces. If you combine Chalid with Mercenaries instead of archers, you can buy them as you go, and keep your forward momentum up to super fast conquest.

 

[S.K. Ren]

I've come across a fairly large one. Mokka's Cauldron + Soul Forge + Demon's Altar DOES.NOT.WORK. Sacrificing a unit does not count as a kill so neither Soul Forge nor Mokka's Cauldron trigger. Tried a Elohim AV strat to farm Disciple experience with the reliquary (Built up to VI before switching) and it didn't work with the Spirit Guide either.

 

[[to_xp]Gekko]

yeah those 2 wonders are rather lame. it's too bad that some things in FFH are really missed opportunities.

 

[BvBPL]

The idea: Run the Ljo using archery units, instead of melee units as primary combatants.

Why it might work: The dexterous promo on Ljo archery units adds a dot of attacking strength to Ljo archery units. This puts Ljo archers on par w/ axmen and champions, and in fact the archery units can be superior if you give them enchanted arrows. Plus my archers would be able to serve double duty as attackers and defenders, thereby eliminating the need to pursue melee infrastructure (techs and buildings, for example). I also figured the archery hero would help and it would be in keeping w/ role-playing the civ.

Why it all fell apart: It did actually work, at first. An early archer rush was able to put down the Lanun. However, the strategy fell apart for a number of reasons:
1.) Archers cannot get metal promotions, meaning axmen will be superior to archers, assuming the opponent has bronze.
2.) It relies on diverse, costly techs. Bowyers isn’t really a power tech, even for the Ljo and that’s the biggest beaker sink, but for longbowmen to stand toe-to-toe w/ champions you also need iron, but if you are going to research iron working then you might as well build champions. Then there’s alteration and sorcery required for enchant arrows.
3.) But the biggest (or, at least, the most annoying) problem I had was that archery units can’t obtain the woodsman promotions. When an invading champion-heavy SOD from the Grigori marched in, my longbowmen couldn’t fight back because the defensive bonus my foes received from my forests prevented reliable counterattacks even after considering the (minor) bonus elves receive in forests.

I still think there is some merit to the Ljo fielding primarily archery units, but my implementation was very flawed. I made numerous other errors unrelated to my military strategy as well which didn’t help matters. I’d like to try a similar strategy again, maybe after modding the game so archery units can receive the woodsman promotion. Getting RoK and the Mines for iron would be something to try.

I've come across a fairly large one. Mokka's Cauldron + Soul Forge + Demon's Altar DOES.NOT.WORK.

Mokka's Cauldron would be a lot cooler if it was a piece of equipment that could be moved to the front lines of a war.

 

[[to_xp]Gekko]

well as the ljos you'll also have hunters and fawns, so that's what you'll use for active defense. fawns are more costly to build, but they do start with woodsman I which seems to be what you're looking for

you'll never be quite good at conquering though, ljos are a turtling civ.

 

[HoratiusFlaccus]

Upgrade archers from Warriors to give them Woodsman or City Raider promotions.
The above strategy is reasonable if you can get Iron by trading and have heavy mage support.

 

[S.K. Ren]

@Horatius

I do that with the Amurites Firebows. I rush Mines of Gal-Dur and start spamming Firebows like they're going out of style. The mines allow for the weapon upgrade without having to have Iron Working. It also means I don't have to obsolete Warriors. So I just build Warriors with City Raider and upgrade for city attackers and just straight make Firebows for defensive ones.

 

[hzf]

A mistake I make all too often is trying to take out Acheron too early. Getting both Divination and a unit tech (bronze working at a minimum) while having the production to pump out an army always cripples me.

I also once spent far too many hours trying to get an Alexis festivals start to work. It just does not

 

[Heathcliff]

Trying to defend your chokepoint cities only with warriors instead of getting archers.

Going out into the forest with only warriors and not a scout with them.

Exploring the ruins early game instead of just placing a warrior on top of them.

Base your game around hunters and try to get the Grand Menagerie.

Settling on snow with your first settler as Illians instead of moving out to grassland.

Raising the armageddon counter by building lots of Elegy of Sheaim.

Going for an early settler if you are starting near Hippus or Doviello.

Have the sound on if you are starting near Balseraphs.

 

[apenpaap]

Settling on snow with your first settler as Illians instead of moving out to grassland.

This one always works for me. What's wrong with it?

 

[Heathcliff]

This one always works for me. What's wrong with it?

I feel it's worse than moving out to grassland. Also I dont like to research hunting as Illians. Often there is deer in the snow or tundra next to your starting positions as Illians.

 

[tribble]

Have the sound on if you are starting near Balseraphs.

I'm guessing this is so you don't have to hear the incessant "Here I am!"?