I recently got E:G and am liking it a lot. However I'm trying to learn some effective strategies as well as figure out more about the underling game mechanics. So I have quite a few questions and am open to any general suggestions.

1) Keeping Units Alive - I've read several post where people mention keeping their units and leveling them up and how other wise your just wasting money. But the question is HOW? The AI actually seems fairly smart compared to most other games and will focus fire to kill units it seems.

Range units and Melee units all seem to gang up on a guy to kill them asap. I even have melee units run past other melee units to take out my range units in the back. This is a tactic I don't often see employed in games as the AI often targets closest in other games.

It's great as I like the challenge but but at the same time makes leveling them very difficult if not impossible. The level bonus also seems to matter very little in the long run as since it doesn't really help them survive any longer. I use my units like fodder as they are easily replaced and things seem to work out fine.

2) Manual vs Quick Battle - Most games that have tactical fights also have quick resolve but the mechanics work differently since it doesn't actually simulate the full battle. Well given I'm still early in the campaign there are not a lot of interesting units with cool abilities open to me. So I just starting just F10 to quick resolve fights. Since I had given up on trying to keep units alive to level up it just makes the game go a LOT faster.

So the question is what kind of mechanics does the quick resolve use over the manual battle? Like I've seen some games quick combat not take into account melee distance closing time so range units were near useless. Also how well does it take into account for spells you may have? Then there is placement on map, does starting position of units effect it the way it would for Manual/Auto Combat?

3) How to Kill Warrior - I've taken a liking to Warrior Hero and he has always become my first hero pick. I can easily get him Basic armor from Plate shop and quickly turn him into a wrecking ball that crushes second ring of provinces and then by then has leveled up enough to take on 3rd ring and just all around begin stomping provinces.

Normally when I encounter an enemy Warrior Hero I am higher level and better loading out. However in one match the AI had Death Knight with various Vamp abilities and really high Defenses. The Hero was level 19 while mine was only 12. I only had access to T1 guards which he steam rolled repeatedly solo. Normally if I try and solo with a warrior his equipment wears out after about 3 fights which gets him killed if I keep pressing. However this guy I saw take 5-6 provinces solo before falling back so I couldn't rely on equipment failure to slow him down.

Being early in the campaign I didn't have much to counter it with. I had read that fatigue was a good counter for warriors and it sounds like good advice until I actually gave it a try. The DK had nearly 40 stamina and fatigue only takes away 5. The Stamina weakness of solo warrior only seems to apply to low level ones. After several failed attempts to bring him down I double checked what units I had unlocked. Luckily I had the Assassin though I had not used it before. It's ability to ignore some of Defense and not get counter attacked was key to victory. I did manual figure but manage to win and then did rush for his Stronghold and Victory.

I know I got lucky by having Assassin unlocked from previous shard, even though it wasn't what I got the shard for. I could still use some tips on how to deal with such Heroes in the future since I imagine it's only going to get harder.

4) Stats and Battle Calculations - I was wondering how mechanics work in regards to Attack vs Defense and Damage Dealt. For example I had a guy with 11 Atk hitting a guy with 8 Defense and was doing mostly 0-1 damage. Also what kind of effects does running out of Stamina have other then you don't move? And what are all the effects of Moral, like I know the stats go down if it drops to low but which stats and by how much?

5) Just a Stronghold Rusher - One thing that has me slightly worried is the late game play sessions. Being early in the campaign I have begun to notice a pattern. Pretty much the best tactic is to expand and level up Heroes ASAP. Then when you meet the other Masters if your Heroes out match theirs you simply push right through to their Stronghold and siege for win.

Now if they are stronger and/or you don't have enough guards they will make a B line right for your Stronghold to siege it for the win. If both are evenly matched though it can be a bit more interesting game of cat and mouse as you go back and forth on each others provinces.

So I was wondering when more things become open will it change? Right now all I got is Mostly T1 with couple T2 units and 1 T2 Magic School and 1 T2 Shop. Is it still gonna be just Stonghold rush once you meet enemy? Or will it be more of a territory and attrition war? Given the way that level 19 was mopping the floor with T1 guards and my Hero with T2 units in mix I'm a little nervous that late game heroes with higher Tier spells and equipment with just be able to steamroll right on through unless you have equally equipped Heroes to stop them.

6) Shard Picks & Loss - I've heard it mention that while your attacking a Shard sometimes other Masters will be attacking other Shards. I was wondering how this works? Like can I tell what shard another Master is going to get in a campaign turn if I go for one shard or another? It makes me nervous that if I don't grab what I want then latter the selection might not be there.

Also if you lose a shard then the other Master gets it. So question is how does that effect the overall campaign? Are those items no lost to you forever or is there a chance they might appear on another shard? What if the lost building was the prereq to another building you wanted, do you just have to write off that whole line and go a different route?

7) Guards - Is there a lost of what units are in each of the various guard types? I see a lot of different guard options but don't know which to go for to get the most bang for my buck. There are some that gives bonuses or penalties to province but I'd really like to know what kind of defense they would provide. This is where the whole shard picking becomes a bit annoying as I don't know which items I should be going for.

8) Wiki - I know I have other questions that I just can't think of right now but a lot of it is mostly reference stuff. I have not had any luck finding a wiki type site for the game. I did find a site that called itself the Eador Genesis wiki but it had only a few pages with gave manual like description of some basic gameplay elements.

I know this is an old game but I've rather surprised on the complete lack of material. I've seen other older games like Master of Magic which have super detailed wikis. A few forum post referred to broken links that supposedly had tech tree layouts and such. And while that would be nice it doesn't give detailed stat break down of things.


Any other general advice would be appreciated as well.

1) There are many ways of keeping your units alive, but in a word: healers. Healers are amazing even in evil armies because in addition to healing on the tactical map which is of course great, they provide improved regeneration on the strategic map. Enemy AI always rushes to your troops so it is often best too play more defensively which lets you use your healers more effectively.

2) Auto battle AI, as far as I know uses the same AI as the enemy in the tactical map. (See note on AI)

3) Warriors are fairly easy to counter, really, once you know the game better. Giant Spider recruited from an egg can completely disable a warrior for any class (just keep giving it ammo with magic weapon), a pure scout can just doubleshot him down, a Wizard can disable him with simple spells (Fatigue is buffed by spellpower, drain his morale with a few Fear spells which are also buffed by spellpower, just cast Web on him which is more likely to succeed for a Wizard because you can ignore some of his resistance, although you can do this with any class if the warrior's resistance is less than 3), Commanders can overwhelm him with superior troops (Assassins work well for this, poison and hit without counterattack), plus a Commander-Wizard duel class can also use the the Wizard strategies I mentioned.

4) Don't know as much about this, but I'm pretty sure that there is a random factor to the attacks (Attacks do about 80% -120% of listed damage) and that if a unit's morale reaches zero it starts to run away and cannot attack (But can counterattack!).

5) Yes, in late game the only thing that can really counter a strong enemy hero is an even stronger hero of your own. Only the very strongest of guard contracts will hold back a high level hero, and it even then may not be enough. But all that this really means is that you should put highest possible priority on leveling your heroes (And getting them equipment and troops) as fast as possible if you weren't doing so already.

6) http://www.gog.com/forum/eador_series/general_advice_for_choosing_shards/post4

7+8) Behold the Eadorpedia! A real wiki for Eador: Genesis, the only problem is that it is in Russian so you'll have to deal with Google Translate.

Tips:

AI Tactical Behavior: The AI in Eador has a few basic rules, some of them are as follows. Attack priorities (top to bottom priority) Hero, Healer, Ranged, melee unit, will attack weakest melee unit first. Will always rush at your troops and always attack first if it can (unless it has no chance of doing any damage at all or will instantly die due to the unit it wants to attack have first strike and enough counter attack to instantly kill it. If given the chance to attack it will always take it.

Forums: This forum has a lot of info that may help you to learn more about Eador (Gremlion is the resident expert) such as Society Common Games (SGI) where everyone takes turns playing the same game as the same character. There is also an official Eador: Genesis forum (here) which may have even more stuff for you to learn from if you can put up with Google Translate as most of the forum is in Russian. There is an English Section, but it is quite underdeveloped. Gremlion is also known as Gem on the Official Eador: Genesis forums

New Horizons Mod: An excellent mod for Eador: Genesis. More info here

More Great Tips from Gremlion!: http://www.gog.com/forum/eador_series/i_need_some_help_for_this_game/post2

P.S. If you are searching around the forums and come across a post by Gremlion... Listen to it! I really learned most of this stuff from him.

@sprye2000

Let me add a couple of points to @GOGwiiisfun's explanations:

1. Units get really good promotions though some of the better ones are unlocked after certain levels. For example many shooters can get increased range [post level 10 generally], double shot, armor piercing etc. Check out some of gremlion's posts for rank 1 units at level 30! Rank 2 and beyond get some really awesome promotions like first strike on guards, spells on casters and so on!

Rank 1 units at experience level 10 will generally be better than rank 2; heroes which have less slots - mages and warriors - can simply run around with their original rank 1 units taking on armies composed of rank 2 and even rank 3 units! Veteran units can also be used to jump start a new hero quickly - allowing them to defeat armies much stronger and gaining multiple levels per turn.

Regarding tactics, you will need melee units in front to protect your squishy stuff. The AI is smart: it will prioritize your back line units if it can get in range. The normal tactic is to send out tough units in the front which can absorb attacks with ranged healers supporting [you should get monks and cleric unlocked as you progress] through the campaign.

4. Unit attack, defence and movement can be significantly impacted by three things - stamina, morale, health. Most importantly stamina below 5, morale below 5 or health below 50% reduces unit attack strength by 10% [so unit at stamina 4, morale 4 and health at 40% would get penalty of 10% from each factor leading to drop of attack strength by 30%].

6. Don't worry, even if a shard 'disappears' you will eventually get those buildings on some other shard. The other masters also progress - however they aren't capturing shards; it's automatic! The shards simply disappear randomly in order to make you prioritize which ones to go after at first since there is always a chance that shards that you ignore will disappear (with their unlock-able buildings and perks) and be available much later.

For example, any shard which allows you to unlock fairy or healer in subsequent shards is really strong as it will dramatically speed up your start. Or a good bow in case you prefer to start with scout.

1. I think your "I always go for warrior as first hero" and "My troops don't survive" questions are linked. The warrior is really powerful by himself, but he often gets his soldiers killed, since the computer identifies his men as easier targets and ignores him.

All the other heroes are better for troop survival (the scout kills the dangerous targets before they kill your guys and augments the mobility of the troops, the commander boosts the troops so they're tougher, and the mage can do a little of both)

I am playing the Genesis campaign on Beginner level and I start with a Warrior for RP reasons. Here is how I have been starting:

Turn 0: Hire Warrior. Build Forge. Buy Chainmail. Garrison Militia. Keep Slinger. Check out a Location.
Turn 1: Build Swordsman School. Check out another Location.
Turn 2: Build Library. Check out another Location.
Turn 3: Build Altar. Hire 2 Swordsmen. Grab Sparks Spells. Pick a Fight.

Whether to build a Brotherhood of Light or a Sanctuary on Turn 4 depends on how or if the Warrior levels after the fight. If we get a Command point, then we can build a Brotherhood of Light and hire a Healer. If we do not, then we can take a Bless spell and a couple of Cure Wounds and have the Warrior serve as the Healer until we get that Command point.

Disbanding the Slinger at the start and going with a Warrior, 2 Swordsmen, and 1 Healer would likely work out better, but the Slinger is free and serves as a ranged unit.

Learn to get medals for your units. There are threads on this board on how to get medals.

Swordsmen - Defense - Get your butt handed to you by an Orc or Zombie. Lose more than half your health in melee.
Swordsmen - Resilience - Get your butt handed to you. Lose so much health he would have died.
Healer - Healing - Spend almost all your ammo on heals.
Slinger - Fire Pennant - Get your butt handed to you while making three kills.
Slinger - Marksman - Make three kills. Double shot and Fire Pennant help.

With three medals each, those units get tough. Resting while that last Orc or Zombie pounds on you helps. The Swordsman does not use his Parry while resting.

Note that I play the Campaign on Beginner, and I am currently on the seventh shard. You appear to be farther along in the campaign. I am still experiencing how the game scales while playing.

Thanks for all the advice so far. Got more questions though. :)

1) The other heroes may be better for troop survival but not as good at their own survival. Granted I'm still new but so far I've had the following Experience.

Commander - Often my 2nd choice in hero because he automatically buffs troops which does help them survive a little bit. I typically get up to lvl 4-5 troops on some of them until they taken out in a fight. I don't take the commander first because his lower HP causes him to die a LOT. The cost of replacing a hero is a LOT more then the cost of replacing troops. But once my economy is up and running I can afford to deck him out in Mail from the shop which improves his survivability.

Scout - The AI's focus fire and rushing Range units is what I find to be his biggest weakness. Much like the Commander his squish nature gives me trouble. I can match the troops forward and have them attack but they often just run behind me and go right for the scout. I've noticed that most units seem to have higher range defense than melee defense also, which really hampers his ability.

Mage - It is the one I have tried the least but given the lack of some higher end spells I figure his true potential will be diminished at higher levels for these first several shards. He is also very squish and the AI rushing doesn't help.


Don't get me wrong I'm not really struggling with game, as my warrior tactics seem to work rather well. I've done 10 shards and only lost one due to stupidity on my part. When I met the AI he declared war and charged my Stronghold. The only T1 guards I had at the time were not enough to slow him down and my Heroes were on the other side of map. I thought i had 1 unit in Garrison to protect it and force a siege but for some reason when they AI moved onto the Province it was instant defeat. Since then I have had AI siege my stronghold but my Heroes made it back in time to kill them. No clue what happen that game.

I know the other heroes have potential and their own uses. It's just for my first I pick Warrior because he seems to do a LOT better at steam rolling the first two rings compared to other heroes which die a lot more and thus cost me lots of money.

My Tactic had been to get Warrior, Get forge Chainmail, get swordsmen. But after few battles and heavy losses they were just so expensive to replace I looked else where. The Brigands are only 10 and I treat them as the cannon fodder that they are. So new tactic became to use them in mass and it works quite well. They can't really take heavy stuff though so I usually hope to get better economy and Iron by the time I run into tougher provinces.

To mix things up on the last map I gave Barbarians a try though and like them a bit more. I think they will become the staple support unit instead of Brigands since they survive longer and can handle some of heavier stuff unlike Brigands. I still like to go for Swordsman once I get Iron, but before that they just cost to much.

In the most recent match I tried to keep my units alive more and it worked somewhat. Though against Elves with double shot and shamans they would focus fire on a single unit and kill it. For example in a match with shamans they all focus fired on 1 unit and killed it in 1 turn, then the next turn they did it again to another unit. By end of match I lost 4 of my 9 units. Two of which were highest ranked in the group.

I don't mind the idea of healers and in fact often give healing spells to the Hero. Problem is they are just so squishy and limited range. When I bring healers to battle the AI typically picks them off with range right away. If I try to keep them back they are so far in the back as to be useless since they can't heal from that distance.



2) I am referring to the Quick Battle not the Auto. I've done some test of just hitting Auto and watching the AI move units around. Then back to past and redone with Quick Battle. They outcome is often rather different. In maps with lots of difficult terrain with lots of good range units they seem to come out on top a lot with Auto Battle. But when run the Quick battle they don't fair nearly as well. So I doubt the quick battle is actually running the normal battle off screen instead of just doing some formula for the results.


New Questions

9) Don't get me wrong I'm not really having any trouble winning matches. In fact I found beginner to be far to easy after my first few shards and Increased it to Skilled. Even that has seemed a bit on the easy side though I kept it at that setting for the last half dozen since the first lose I had was 2nd match on skilled, but it was mostly due to stupid mistake with empty stronghold garrison.

So I decided to buff it up to Competent. However playing in this shard I noticed the Heroes don't give me comments on how well they think the match will go. I know they are not 100% but I had come to rely on their input a lot. I know which magic enemies they tend to underestimate but against normal armies it's good to have the feedback.

So do the Heroes just stop giving advice at higher difficulties? Because so far I have misjudged my chances a couple times and it has been costly. I know sometimes normally I think "Ok I should have enough to take that province now." But when I go there the Hero warns against it so I fall back. Now I'm not quite as sure about success. So is there any way to have the Hero's advice turned back on?

10) I'll keep trying to keep my units alive long enough to reach lvl 10. Though if medals really help that much I'll surf the forums looking for tips on earning them. However if anyone happens to know of a good reference for earning medals off hand could you post the link? The wiki posted earlier just list what medals there are and not how to get them. Until now I just thought it was random chance.

The reason I have not tried much expert difficulty is because part of the nature of the game is the difficulty scales as the campaign progresses. So since the Tutorial started on Beginner difficulty, I continued to play on Beginner difficulty and I have found on the seventh (average sized) shard I am seeing a lot of level 2 guards. Increasing the difficulty while playing the Campaign would result in a double boost in diffuculty.

Regarding Hero Advice, you can surf the variable files and look for the a text file that gives the details on difficulty levels. There is a line that says "Hero Advice = 0" at higher diffuculty levels. If you change this to 1 then your hero will give you his opinion.

Regarding the deails on how to win medals, I am trying to make a link here

To answer your question if medals really help that much, the best I can come up with is to try and see how much easier it is to win a fight with a Level 0 Scout, 2 Level 10 Swordsmen with 1 Medal of Defense and 2 Medals of Resilience, and a Level 10 Healer with 3 Medals of Healing compared to the Level 0 Scout with 2 Level 0 Swordsmen and a Level 0 Healer.

What I have done in my recent shards is to start with the Warrior, 2 Swordsmen, 1 Slinger, and 1 Healer. He needs to eventually win a Command point to do that. He goes hunting in the nearby hexes for fights that are easy to win. As soon as the healer wins a medal, it becomes a lot easier to win medals for the other troops - Just let them get their butts kicked and let the Healer do his job.

The second hero I use is the Commander. All of his troops get disbanded - He gets the experienced and medalled troops from the Warrior. The Warrior by this time, possibly with help from a Plate Armory, is tough enough to go hunting solo.

On early shards, the Warrior at this point can just go hunting for the opponents and reduce the game to a single opponent with one hex.

The third hero is the Scout. Either he has improved equipment or needs some easy fights to level up. On Beginner level it does not take that long to get up and running. If necessary, exchange new troops and experienced troops with the Commander.

Fourth hero is Mage. Granted, the Mage is dependent on getting higher level spells. They drop sometimes and you can also buy them at Knowledge stores. Level 20 Archmage gets to cast twice per round.

Those are the cheap heroes. The next four are expensive and take a while to get to. The fifth hero is another Warrior because it is easy to acquire gear and get him solo and leveling quickly. The last three heroes depend on what gear has been accumulated in the Treasury.

Winning the shard without losing a battle and without losing a unit and without any reversions gets you the "Tactician" reward. That is worth 100 Points on a Tiny Shard, 150 Points on a Small Shard, and 200 Points on an Average Shard. (It is the number of hexes across the map times 25, less 50 = 25W-50.) Learning to make a scum save every once in a while helps.

1) The other heroes are just as good if, if not better, than the Warrior, but they are harder to use and require more specific tactics to be better. If you use quick battle often these heroes are weaker. I would advise against using quick battle, especially on the higher difficulties. To speed up the game significantly you can turn animations speed to max in the options menu while in the tactics screen (also turn on info panels and battlefield grid). You can also make it go even faster by reducing "refresh delay" and "sleep time" options in the config file.

Good tactics for the scout are to get swordsmen to use as a wall and behind the wall healers to heal your swordies. Just keep your scout behind the wall and have him shoot ranged units (to protect your healer) and stronger/higher tier units. Try not to attack with your swordies as they will lose their parry bonus and have better counterattack anyway. Try to prolong battle to get medals for your troops, if you can. For Healer's medals you just have to heal as much as you can (magic weapon spell restore ammo), and for Medals for Resilience you would have to lose 100% of health, but be healed before you die. Defender's medals are a bit trickier, I'm not too sure about these.

As for Commander, just keep him behind your troops and the enemy will rarely get to him. Make sure to rush to tier 2 units as soon as possible (thugs are great, high HP and damage, plus can get crushing blow on level 10 and over.)

As for Mages, tier 1+2 spells are some of the most useful ones and on bigger shards it is easy to find spell scrolls.

9) Find difficulty.var in your Eador: Genesis Folder (Example: C:/Games/Eador/var/), open it with Notepad, scroll down to Competent (or whatever other difficulty level you're playing at) and change "Hero Advice" to 1. Just as a warning though, the Hero Advice thing will likely not be balanced for higher difficulty level, and will likely give you bad advice.

10) http://www.gog.com/forum/eador_series/award_medal_details_request_to_russian_speaking_friends

My thoughts on heroes:

1. Warrior - really good once you get some decent equipment and get some levels to increase health and get more points in ability (attack/defence in line with preference). The only problem is if you don't get good armor. Warrior with evil disposable units like brigands can clear out initial sites really fast. It's a really good choice for a second or third hero who can take heavy armor from spoils and shops and start gaining experience very fast. With the correct equipment, warrior hero can solo things like monster guard, nomads, centaurs which normally result in loss of units for other heroes.

2. Scout - has a fast start but does need a good bow later on. The abilities on the scout like diversion (stamina loss), terrain bonii can be very powerful as your units will be able to cross all terrain without stamina drain while the enemy units are almost useless. One important aspect of the scout, especially if you are not very skilled, is the ability to get a large number of kills (by last hitting) and hence gain experience very fast. Also has the ability to take pesky ranged units like shamans, elves, ballistae which can hammer your units from afar.

3. Mage - can really change the battle and win battles that other heroes can only dream about: trolls, ogres in first 25 turns! The mage like the scout needs a bunch of sturdy units up front to protect him. But the use of correct spells like 'fatigue', 'fear' or 'burn ammo' can largely negate many dangerous enemy units. The mage does have an issue of having very low command, hence needs to use magic which can burn a hole in your gem stash. However mage because of the number of buffs/de-buffs will also end with high level units as the experience mainly goes to the (small number of) units.

4. Commander - at high levels can simply take fresh units and make them fight as veterans; also allow use of rank 2 and above units much earlier than any other hero. If recruiting structures like 'fairy tree', 'harpy nest' are present can possibly have rank 2 units in army by turn 15 or so. However the hero can have a slow start due to difficulties in getting kills like mage. Plus the sheer expense of units requires pretty agressive play from the start to ensure positive gold (if not income).

One thing which is really important is that each of the heroes have differences in terms of the units that they can face - mage has issue with high resistance enemies, scout with high ranged defense units, warrior against poison or magic users, commander needs access to high rank (expensive) units! Hence it's important to pay attention to the enemy units and your own units/hero abilities before any battle.

Regarding hero advice, I would recommend that you get used to assessing enemy strength before battle - you do get information on the opposing units and total number before the battle; learn to assess whether you can take that site without losses. It's a useful skill as I normally find that the hero's advice is generally consecrative and you will often miss out on many battles that you could have won hands down; especially when it comes to understanding the impact of magic the hero can cast.

Regarding battles, the AI will target squishy units which it can take down while minimizing damage taken. Hence you need to ensure that your army and hero are positioned in such a way as to protect your back line. This is especially true at higher difficulty levels where melee units are far tougher; you will need to recruit less ranged units and more melee!

I am adding my own questions here, since I am still working on my seventh campaign shard, averaged sized, 310 turns in. I do not have access to my gave information, but my heroes are:

1. Warrior, Level 30 Chieftain with Sacred Shield and
2. Commander, approximately Level 26 Marshal with Dragon Pennant
3. Scout, Level 30 Sniper
4. Wizard, approximately Level 26 Archmage
5. Warrior, Level 30 Chieftain with Sword of Blood
6. Commander, approximately Level 22 Marshal with Banner of Unity and Veteran Set
7. Wizard, approximately Level 18 Mage
8. Scout, approximately Level 15 Archer

The Warriors can beat a Dragon or a Cult without any problem, partially because it is Beginner Level. The high level scout can beat a Dragon if we use Minotaurs to keep the Dragon away from squishier units for one more round. I do not have access to Spiders yet. I will try to figure out if the Commander can beat a Dragon without getting any units fried.

I do not know how to win with an Archmage, since Dragons have Magic Immunity. Maybe I will try Archmage - Create Golem, Fairy Haste Golem, Archmage Create Gargoyle, and move the summoned creatures in to take the first hit and move the troops out of the Dragon's way. The second round will be Archmage - Dragon Form on Dryad, Fairy Haste on Dragon, charge Dragon versus Dragon, Archmage Astral Energy on Dragon and attack again. An alternative strategy might be Dragon Form, Create Golem, Haste in the first round and the Golem gets attacked, then go in the second round with Golem, Minotaur, and DragonX3 with 2 Astral Energy.

I will give it a go and let everyody know. :)

I've actually beat a Dragon with a max level scout without having him attack any of my units at all (I did have a crossbow of wrath though).

It went like this: I attacked the dragon's lair with my scout, only to forget to bring any cannon fodder (the only units with me were some guardsmen and a healer, all of which would be one-shot by the dragon). So I did this...

Turn 1: Double shot dragon, dragon flies closer.

Turn 2: Double shot dragon. Let the dragon attack my scout (A fully leveled scout has a ton of HP, and I had a well leveled and medaled healer to heal the scout).

Turn 3: I messed up and my guardsmen restricted my movement. Dragon attacks my scout again.

Turn 4: Step backward and shoot the dragon, almost killing it, but I had my guardsmen finish it off (My guardsmen couldn't survive a direct hit from the dragon, but could survive counterattack from him. Plus they have armor piercing and that lets them get through the dragon's defense).

This was on "skilled", though and probably wouldn't work so well for the higher difficulties.

Holy crap on average?? I don't think I have ever leveled so many heroes even on the biggest maps. And on the 7th shard? Then you don't even have most of the fun stuff to play with! I would recommend going faster through the early shards and enjoy the later ones longer.

The way to kill dragons with an Archmage...only with Invulnerability or a spider. With invulnerability and a hydra an archmage can kill dragons lairs with 7 dragons. But on the 7th shard one probably has none of that.

Average Shard/ Beginner Difficulty

Turn 340 - Eigth Hero, Second Scout hit Level 20 Sharpshooter. One Warrior is a Hydra-kill away from the complete Grandeur set. Oinor is sitting on his single hex and does not appear to be doing anything.

Your recommendation is likely to be very accurate. The only second-tier unit I can build is the Thug. Higher level spells are from scrolls only. This is the first shard where I have seen so many second-tier guards.

The shard can be finished in about 7 turns. It might take a while to explore everything. I am mostly taking a break since I have gotten into some silly tablet games.