About how long is this game. I'm wondering as things have suddenly gotten very difficult for me. I was basically undefeated for quite a long while. Up to the time the fourth immortal shows up. The fairy queen. After that. I cannot seem to make a dent in the AI. They all rush me and pen me in with strong garrison units then peck away at my territories until I'm dead. or get frustrated and give up that shard.
I'm wondering if I've run into the end of game difficulty spike. (Though I doubt it given I've heard the game is very long.) Or if the game suddenly spikes in difficulty after that point.
Thus far I've tried quite hard to build up positive karma, did good things and signed with the good forces as much as possible.
Never have once managed to get an alliance with Orinar. Not sure why since his mood towards me is "Sympathy"
Either way. Both the evil guys and the Fairy Queen at this point have all stonewalled me with this tactic. I don't understand how they push forward so quickly Unless I'm just getting unlucky with strong neutral territories around me while they get weak ones. It really hampers my early game progression.
Any tips or anything perhaps I'm doing something wrong? I usually try for a commander or Warrior hero and push out as quickly as I can. I just can't seem to do so fast enough to compete.
Depresses me a bit because I'm not even playing on a hard difficulty. (Though I did notice in one of the screens that the AI is set to Expert.)

Perhaps I need to clarify?
I'm looking for tips..or some sort of help in the part of the game I am at now. Because I'ms till getting curb stomped pretty much every time I try.
The AI beelines for my territory, and I've no idea how he works so quickly or can afford so much so fast, but by the time he gets to me he's putting in Men at War or other garrison units of that tier and surrounds my territory with them. So I cannot break out, since at that point my heros just aren't strong enough. Then he just pecks away at me with strong units that I can't hope to afford.
I'm wondering if the AI gets some sort of crazy income enhancement at this point in the game or what? Because I seriously cannot figure out how to get out of this slump of losses since all the shards are playing out at just about the same rate. It's really souring my opinion of a game I was genuinely enjoying.
Any help? Advice? Anything? This whole fencing thing is driving me crazy.
I am playing on beginner but it doesn't seem to matter since looking at the diplomacy screen I can see the AI set to expert. Is that a bug, or does the game just get mind numbing hard once the fourth immortal shows up? I was doing quite well before but suddenly I've run into a wall.

well on the difficulty thingy

you are set on beginner - so you get boni -like more income; more experience and weaker neutrals
if the AI is beginner - he gets penalties - less income, harder neutrals and so on
if he is on expert - there are no more penalties for him - he gets the game how it is meant to be - and once he is a difficulty beyond that he gets the boni you are enjoying right now

now to your problem - i haven't experienced that myself when i started in the middle of a swamp with no ressources even four hexes away
but on any other map (i have just met master number 5) i usually conquer the immediately adjacent provinces then try to clear some locations for cash so i can afford a second hero (mostly a scout- first is always a warrior - he is just really easy after level 10 and can clear most things on his own - or with a little support to die in his stead) and then i am set on expanding - preferring provinces with resources and going on until i met an enemy - then i more or less establish a border and start conquering the neutral provinces that i passed on my way there - i try to use natural chokepoints a lot and once i have war with someone i mainly make my way to his castle - surrounding it with outpost and capturing the rest of his provinces afterwards

i hope this helps

Just wanna add that's pretty much exactly how I play the game too, although I wait a bit longer on the second hero to build up more economy first. Your way might be better - will have to try that.

It's all about getting that border with the AI - preferably on chokepoints between mountains or water (although the shipyard can mess that up) and fortify every province on that border with an Outpost/fort and a troop for garrison. Then you can pretty much hold an AI indefinitely until you are ready to take the war to them...

You can raze the shipyard can't you? Since it's a province building just like the Granary and Library?

Eeesh.... If opinionated miss fairy queen is set to Expert on Beginner... I'm thinking the developers had some twisted sense of humor when designing the difficulty modes in this game ^_^;


Mmmh.... One other thing I noticed.... Is that while the AI has two heroes happily sieging away at my provinces and I start attacking his capitol from behind, he'll stop what he's doing and come after me. How does he do that? I can't do anything with my hero during the time he's trying to break down their walls.


Ah... If you're that nice with the good wizard guy (I'm assuming that's a fairly high level of friendship there?) and he has yet to form any sort of alliance with you during a game or fork over a shard on his own... I might as well give up hopes of forming any sort of alliance with Doricos then XD
He's such a nutty reptile, and being Neutral I thought it'd be easier to get him to like me, and only the fairy queen seems to really hate him (The elf and Orionor don't seem to mind him much, the former just because he minds his own business, Orionor being an optimist I guess), but if getting a good and lasting relation with another non-superevil Master is that difficult... I'm thinking lengthy diplomacy might be more probable in games like Age of Wonders and Civilization and not Eador? Or is that just another not fully understood concept of the game?

They're Russian. Russian games are just bastards, plain and simple. Even the very casual-friendly King's Bounty is neither casual nor friendly at higher difficulty levels, and some of the boss encounters are unapproachable for many game setups (heavy use of randomization makes a single strategy hard to implement across the board.)

Yes, I own a sizable portion of 1C's catalog. I like Russian games. I even read and write Russian just fine. But that doesn't change the fact that their games are bastards.

One thing isn't very clear to me: playing at expert, I often play on shards against masters that have the 'master' level, by now always. Is it different at beginner level? If they are also at master level, beginner difficulty isn't really that easier, since other masters are very strong anyway. Also, do your guards (in fight enemy vs your guards) always count as independents (bonus for difficulty level)? If so, at a certain point (when other masters have 'master' level) they are totally useless..

I've tested this, and it looks like your own difficulty level also influences the difficulty of the other masters. If you go down one level, the AI masters will go down as well.
Your guards count as units from your faction, so they always have normal stats, just like other masters' units and guards.

And if anyone ever doubts this, just play Pathologic... it's the most "Russian" of any Russian games that I've played.

For dealing with province guards, a solo warrior can be pretty effective at clearing most of them. Just get his defense and resistance high enough and you can quick resolve most combats against guards.

You can stop a siege. Just select the hero, and right-click on any province you control, just as when you give a move order. Easy

You can't leave toward an enemy conquered province, though. I think that way, you can leave a siege and retreat, but you can't simply "go through" the territory to attack what's behind. The fortress really protect the lands behind it

Have you tried The Void from same developers? Interesting too.

Yeah but western games used to be like that in the golden 90s. And I love it. Thats why we are at good old games, right? So I am glad they haven't moved to handholding scripted unlosable cinematic experiences yet.

Indeed, I loved the surreal environments. The Void and Pathologic have put Icepick Lodge on my list of developers to watch. I haven't tried Cargo yet though, I've heard mixed reviews.

I'm definitely glad to see more games becoming available from Russian developers, Snowbird included!

FWIW, I'm a pretty big fan of the Silent Storm games. They're russian and turn-based.