I've been playing the game pretty hard over the last couple months, and now am to the point where on a map which doesn't completely suck (which I arbitrarily define as having at least two first ring provinces of either Free Settlement, Brigand Outlaws or one of each) I win against the AI on Overlord, most of the time without losing a unit.

I'd like to try out campaign mode, but the RNG is just not cooperating. Sometime by the 4th or 5th shard, I get something that is just unwinnable, at least by me. I'll get 4 first ring provinces, the weakest of which is 6 orcs. I'll fully explore my capitol, with the weakest encounter ever found being centaurs.Neither of which I can win with three barbarians or three swords at zero level.

In custom map mode, I'll just reload a new map and try again. In campaign mode, that's game over. I've watched videos of people playing on Lord and Overlord, and I'm confident that if I got the kind of luck with the RNG they get, I'd be fine. Might there be a patch missing which tweaks the map generator? Are these people reloading astral and trying another shard if they get a crappy map? Does my luck just absolutely stink? Or is there some way of actually winning these battles?

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks

Commander starts with 4 army slots. If your first hero can't take anything - attack something, lose, bury hero, hire commander, finish attacked zone. Damage taken by monsters regenerates slowly.
In result you will have spoils from damaged site. Suicide scout against battlemages is the easiest opening, and can result in pretty solid loot.

You can also try tactic "necromancy, barbs->zombies", it is pretty solid force even for some provinces of third ring.

PS: If you play Genesis, you can also post your savegame. Pros can give you tips. Starting anew is a bit boring after a while, this way we can get some challenge.

You don't HAVE to win a map. You can go back to the astral (it will cost you 2 energy from your income. Not crippling), or you can simply lose (unless you are defending your homeworld, you will only lose a day. Again, not crippling, unless it happens a lot)

DOH! I should have realized this, having met many AI at partial hit points, but it hadn't occurred to me this was the case with neutral province guards.

Not a particularly bad way to get rid of a wizard with crappy starting skill, either... That's the other irritant -- not only does he start with a lousy skill, but he seems to never get wisdom or command as a level up...

Again, another thing I did not know. I had understood that if you lost a shard, you lost the game.

Hey while I have the floor, is there any way to get the hover text to hesitate a bit? On the advanced build screen, its a little irritating to have to move the mouse both precisely and quickly enough to stop on the right building before that silly popup appears over the building I really wanted, and I have to try it again.

Oh, and how do you get the mouse cursor back? If I don't move quickly enough from the End Turn button, the cursor gets all screwed up. Sometimes it will come back going into a battle, sometimes not. Alt-Tab does not fix it.

Thanks!