11-02-2003 01:13									#1
	MOM on Impossible Lose 30 kilos (of popups)

Anyone got any tips for playing on impossible?

Everytime I try it, It isn't 50 turns into the game before
I'm overrun, volcanoed, chaos rifted and earthquaked.

Furthest I got was as Dwarves. Tried tripling city defenses, 6 adm steamcannons and a adm swordsman.
Still got reamed.

	11-02-2003 04:03									#2
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I haven't played anything except impossible for a long time. First order of business for me is to select that black bearded dude as my avatar. He is always throwing that nasty stuff on my lands, but if he is my avatar he doesn't get to play in my game.

Secondly, I usually go with the Hero / Artifact game. I select artificer and that retort that gives you a discount on general spells like make artifact and summon champion. I choose 2 books in life, two in nature or sorcery, and the rest in blue (can't remember the name of that magic). This allows me to build really powerful items eventually. For a starting race I like the Nomads. They have good range attackers, can build a lot of buildings, and produce plenty of gold.

To make mana I use the artificer "cheat". I make weak weapons and break them on the anvil for a mana profit (you only get a profit if you choose the two retorts I mention above). Everything else goes into research. Using this method you can build up a lot of mana, and you'll need it in order to build those wicked artifacts for your heroes. Whenever you get a spellcaster hero make sure to build some nice artifacts that give them extra spell points. Half of these will accrue to your available spell points / max spell points per turn, which in turn will increase the number of mana you will net from your artifact make and break routine.

I use summon hero and summon champion spells to get good heroes. My favorites are the archers. When suitably outfitted with 4 items that give them maximum swords, and every conceivable defensive measure (especially flying and invisible) they are ready to conquer the world.

In the meantime I pretty much concentrate on building up my first city and defending it properly. This is rarely difficult to do, with a bunch of the right units and my heroes I can defeat most anything the AI sends my way. When my first combat hero is outfitted I send him off to start conquering enemy cities. The one hero can defeat all but the most difficult opponents, especially after he has a few level. Two heroes can defeat anything in the game, though I have lost one in the tougher nodes from time to time.

I hope this is explanation enough. It is just one way to beat the game, but it is effective on either plane. On Myrror I choose the dwarves and try to build a bigger base of support, as the 3 picks spent on the Myrror start reduce the mana mining capabilities to some extent. Those adamantium equipped hammerhands are lethal though, and it isn't all that hard to hold your own with the AI unless you have some bad luck.

	11-02-2003 06:42									#3
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quote: Originally posted by Sikander I haven't played anything except impossible for a long time. First order of business for me is to select that black bearded dude as my avatar. He is always throwing that nasty stuff on my lands, but if he is my avatar he doesn't get to play in my game. Secondly, I usually go with the Hero / Artifact game. I select artificer and that retort that gives you a discount on general spells like make artifact and summon champion. I choose 2 books in life, two in nature or sorcery, and the rest in blue (can't remember the name of that magic). This allows me to build really powerful items eventually. For a starting race I like the Nomads. They have good range attackers, can build a lot of buildings, and produce plenty of gold. To make mana I use the artificer "cheat". I make weak weapons and break them on the anvil for a mana profit (you only get a profit if you choose the two retorts I mention above). Everything else goes into research. Using this method you can build up a lot of mana, and you'll need it in order to build those wicked artifacts for your heroes. Whenever you get a spellcaster hero make sure to build some nice artifacts that give them extra spell points. Half of these will accrue to your available spell points / max spell points per turn, which in turn will increase the number of mana you will net from your artifact make and break routine. I use summon hero and summon champion spells to get good heroes. My favorites are the archers. When suitably outfitted with 4 items that give them maximum swords, and every conceivable defensive measure (especially flying and invisible) they are ready to conquer the world. In the meantime I pretty much concentrate on building up my first city and defending it properly. This is rarely difficult to do, with a bunch of the right units and my heroes I can defeat most anything the AI sends my way. When my first combat hero is outfitted I send him off to start conquering enemy cities. The one hero can defeat all but the most difficult opponents, especially after he has a few level. Two heroes can defeat anything in the game, though I have lost one in the tougher nodes from time to time. I hope this is explanation enough. It is just one way to beat the game, but it is effective on either plane. On Myrror I choose the dwarves and try to build a bigger base of support, as the 3 picks spent on the Myrror start reduce the mana mining capabilities to some extent. Those adamantium equipped hammerhands are lethal though, and it isn't all that hard to hold your own with the AI unless you have some bad luck.

Sorcery is blue.

I do the same thing but I will use halflings.

I also don't bother to conquer enemy cites, I just raze them.

ACK!

	11-02-2003 11:25									#4
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About the impossible level... Whenever I play, and meet my rivals in turn 20 or so, they have atleast 3 heroes already. That is so wrong...

	11-02-2003 22:24									#5
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quote: Originally posted by aaglo About the impossible level... Whenever I play, and meet my rivals in turn 20 or so, they have atleast 3 heroes already. That is so wrong...

The computer players always seem to have more heroes than they should at every level, IMO.

	12-02-2003 18:31									#6
	Re: MOM on Impossible Lose 30 kilos (of popups)

quote: Originally posted by Ozz I'm overrun, volcanoed, chaos rifted and earthquaked.

Yes I feel the same except that I could compete on military level but after some time the sorcerers throw every evil spell they have against you and so I got bored to always be the guy that everybody gang up so I quit playing this ridiculous level.

	13-02-2003 03:55									#7
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Using the method mentioned by Sikander, it is also pretty important to attack enemy capitals, and banish them, to save you from nasty overland spells.

ACK!

	13-02-2003 10:55									#8
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I don't get ganged up on very early, in part because I stay small while I build up my power. Being almost impervious to the enemy in tactical combat means that I can fight a lot of defensive battles (sometimes more than one a turn!) for my capital without sustaining serious casualties. Tuberski is quite right about banishing enemy Wizards, it is the critical maneuver to keep them powerless. Often I will banish one and then rush across the map to banish another who is bothering me, leaving the clean up of their empire for later.

	13-02-2003 20:28									#9
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Thanks for all your advice, seems I must be playing
too low powered. I normally on Hard don't use a lot
of combat spells, and depend on my adm. troops to
carry me.

Going to try again this weekend.

	18-02-2003 08:25									#10
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If you're still getting smoked, try starting on Myrrar and choose Sss'ra's avatar. That will give you time to get on your feet before you have to face any of the other wizards. Focus on beating the special lairs to find additional spell books and spells. Also, try to get enough chaos tomes to be able to cast flame strike. When I get this one I can send one group of engineers into a city with full garrison and wipe the floor with their dead bodies.

	18-02-2003 09:09									#11
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quote: Originally posted by Harry Seldon If you're still getting smoked, try starting on Myrrar and choose Sss'ra's avatar. That will give you time to get on your feet before you have to face any of the other wizards. Focus on beating the special lairs to find additional spell books and spells. Also, try to get enough chaos tomes to be able to cast flame strike. When I get this one I can send one group of engineers into a city with full garrison and wipe the floor with their dead bodies.

Not on Impossible it doesn't.

You could possibly, and probably will, face 2 other wizards on Myrror. All of the Wizard retorts are randomized at Impossible.

ACK!

	20-02-2003 16:47									#12
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Also strong this strats:
1) 11 Life, Stram of Life on ALL cities -> *2 growth, ~ *6 money (*3 (taxes), but from base value, before upkeep costs)
better to play for race with much building (because you can buy them all), at least with all money-getting buildings, try to build cities on coast/lake
mana goes from gold, good personal power, good research (many buildings, many cities)

2) 11 Life, Torin the Chosen
I played with my friend competition - fastest DemiGod hero. I get Torin to Demigod in 10 years.

3) 11 Death - Wraiths, 11 Chaos - Chaos Spawn
Wraiths is better (they are weaker), but faster, give you zombies and cost less mana. Maybe they don't give you win on Impossible, but they can give you decent start. If you were lucky enough you can gain Armageddon from ruins (as i did once).

also check http://gamefaqs.com/computer/doswin/game/11508.html

	20-02-2003 21:48									#13
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11 book stategies
11 Life with Torin

	20-02-2003 21:58									#14
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quote: Originally posted by Tuberski Not on Impossible it doesn't. You could possibly, and probably will, face 2 other wizards on Myrror. All of the Wizard retorts are randomized at Impossible. ACK!

Are you sure? I don't recall running into anyone else on Myrrar but I usually play two or three opponents. I've been playing alot lately; if what you say is true, I'll bet you can have some spectacular battles on Myrrar. It'd be sweet to run into someone with a mana base as powerful as mine and duke it out Dragonslayer style early.

	20-02-2003 22:00									#15
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Static23
Ok.
But they are easiest IMXO.

Btw i want to hear some strats that are not Zzzzz for you.
I like these ones because they are unique in some ways, and so interesting to play, compared to most other strats.

	21-02-2003 12:18									#16
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Harry Seldon.

Yes, I've seen on numerous occasions some competition in Myrror. They can have their additional pics to send them to Myrror.

	21-02-2003 18:48									#17
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I'm playing a game now that has Horus and Sss'ra on Myrrar with me. I tried a 1L/4C/3S book combo with the Myrrar pick and Conjurer. I'm having a tough time of it with no really strong spells. I'm researching Phantom Beast and have a good mana base so I'm hoping to mount a good counter offensive. Up until this point I've been struggling to stay afloat with only three cities to speak of.

	22-02-2003 03:50									#18
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quote: Originally posted by Harry Seldon I'm playing a game now that has Horus and Sss'ra on Myrrar with me. I tried a 1L/4C/3S book combo with the Myrrar pick and Conjurer. I'm having a tough time of it with no really strong spells. I'm researching Phantom Beast and have a good mana base so I'm hoping to mount a good counter offensive. Up until this point I've been struggling to stay afloat with only three cities to speak of.

One of the most useful Sorcery spells in the early game is phantom warrior. As long as there are no ranged attackers. Even on Impossible they are effective.

And, yes, there will always be at least one other wizard on Myrror on Impossible. I only ever play against 4 other wizards so I don't know how it works out with less than 4.

ACK!

	08-06-2003 00:44									#19
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i'm a little late into the discussion, but here's what i do:

11 book strats:
life: stream of life. generally only works with elves because other races (you can't pick myrrar) can't handle the upkeep.

death: that high level summon that can only move 1 square turn . you can eliminate everybody with only a few of these.

nature: griffon? the high level summon that looks like a winged cow. another one you can kill everybody with. alternately, you can go with nature's blessing and do a variation of stream of life strat. not as effective though. also works with either the money spell or the one that makes all units built start as veterans.

air: storm giant + invisibility + flight. it is possible to get by without invisibility early on if the computer doesn't have missile units. otherwise, you can just blast anything melee without taking attacks.

death2: that spell that takes 10 health. get your fastest unit and take out the ruins/temples only using this spell. helps if that unit has flight, such as draconians (take over a random town of dracs if possible, because you can't pick them with 12 books.)

air 2: invisiblity, flight. same as above but use a mortal unit, generally works best if used with high level halfling slingers or elven longbowmen.

blitz strats: these generally involve rushing cp's, random towns, and weak towers/ruins/nodes.
elven longbowmen rush
human paladin rush
berzerker rush
magician rush (human or elf, slow as hell. get a pathfinding hero or the spell.)
myrran race rush (dark elf, any unit, but nightmares work the best; troll, any unit; or draconian bowmen)
of these, i would rate zerker and draconian as the strongest. i consider the troll rush pretty cheap.

racial strats:
nomad gold strat: requires taking over a human town for engineers to get the road gold bonus. takes a while. the strat i usually used when i didn't have 12 books.

myrran gold strat: since you automatically get enchanted roads for any road built in myrra, this makes dwarves a feasible choice.

elf strat: abuse the mana bonus and unbalanced strength of elven longbowmen.

halfling food strat: similar as nomad strat, but uses excess food to generate gold surplus.

human strat: build every single building. send out engineers asap for roads, and cover every single productive square with roads. build 1-2 paladins, and jack them up with whatever unit spells you have to take out weak ruins. not a strong strat, but will result in higher scores. make a defensive stand with whatever towns you have and wait for heros.

The hero strat:
my friend and i used to do this when we found out that Brax kicks ass and why. this is my preferred road to victory. to make a long story short, get the good unit spells, cast all of them on your strongest hero, and send them out to do some damage. if you have warrax, he can generally win the game single handedly, unless they use web/cracks call (a totally cheapass spell if you ask me.) flight/invisibility/spell lock is all that you need for near-total indestructibility, anything else is an added bonus. for weps, the best are the ones that boost mana. the best heros besides warrax are the ones that use spell points for normal attack missiles. call hero and summon champion speed this process. create weapon/create artifact are also necessary for this strat, as well as the mod that gives a discount on these (artificer?)

minimal book strats:
i forget the names of most of the mods, but i generally used 1-2 nature, 1-2 air, 1-2 life. the best low level spell choices are phantom warrior, floating island, and heroism. i used the mod that gave you create weapon/create artifact off the bat with a discount, and the one that gives a bonus to mana from a node and allowed you to not be affected by a node's magical resistance. i immediately started crafting uber weapons/armor/jewelery, and started taking over nodes asap. even the early heros can rock with the right eq, especially those with bows. later heros require weps with high mana bonus, and it's a good idea to make weps/jewelry with only the mana bonus to be destroyed later for better stuff.

using this strat, many many minimal book strats are feasible. i've been successful with anywhere from 2-6 books. just remembered: the mod that allows 1:1 conversion of gold:mana also helps in this strat.

high scoring strats:
4 books, 1 each in nature, air, fire, and either life/death. farm everybody for spells, cover every possible square with towns (including the ice) and use the nature/fire spells to terraform the planet to max population. usually i did one of the rush strats and blockaded the last town. if i was desperate for books, i would save games before the tougher nodes to get more books.

taking out the hard nodes:
get warrax (or another strong spell caster, i forget what was the attack rating breakpoint, but there's a level where they can start hurting the air dragons and such) and pack every slot with +mana, + movement, +damage (not sure if +damage affected their missiles or not.) you need a minimum of 14 movement points, with or without the extra movement spell. fire, then run counter clockwise around the edge of the screen (watch out for trees which will slow you down if you aren't flying.) repeat as necessary. usually easier with only 1 hero rather than 2+, as the monsters tend to separate.

easy ways of taking out cities:
use 1 unit and summon a mob every turn. the best are the illusion monsters as they do a lot of damage when they are attacked (for phantom warriors, i used to not attack and just sit there and take blows until the enemy was dead.)

take out heros first. it is not a bad idea to run away if you can't kill all the heros in the first wave. it's not fun to lose warrax to a web/dispell/dispell/cracks call/cracks call/cracks call/cracks call in a single turn.

block the gate. you can put three units in front of a town's gate if it has city walls. the units will not leave the city, and only 1-2 can attack the unit standing directly in front of the gate. all three of your units, however, can attack the unit defending the gate. the nice thing about this is that they will politely move a new unit to the gate when the last one dies, so you don't need to move.

destroy the local population. if the enemy has a higher defense bonus than attack bonus, so it's better for them to die while attacking you, then trample on buildings in the town. this will force the computer to attack you to defend the city.

use the road. every town has a little road extending to your army. movement is 50% on these roads. what i do is use these either offensively or defensively. on offense, if i have greater strength, i send my slowest unit on the road and my fastest on the grass so everybody moves up at the same time. defensively, i place my strongest unit on the road, and wait. this causes a bottleneck so that my strong unit only has to face 1 unit at a time. works best when i have greater numbers but slower units.

defensive spells > offensive spells vs players, vice versa for nodes. should be self explanatory. best for defense is that one spell that makes spells fail, healing, resurrect, and summoned monsters. many many good offense spells, best probably being call lightning, death one that takes 10 hp, fire spells, and the air bolt one, although call lightning tends to crash my computer a lot.

Last edited by da_hal on 08-06-2003 at 01:14

	09-06-2003 18:20									#20
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A good way to slow down the AIs is to play with Small landmass (selected when you start the game). If you're lucky, several of the AIs will end up on little 1-city islands, and their settlers will wander around vainly looking for a site to build a city.

I usually just play on Hard level, since I don't like to use exploits (breaking items for mana, stomping the empty outposts the AIs love to build, saving/reloading, etc.). Like in MOO, a Hard game playing a weak race and/or wizard can be as difficult as an Impossible game with a strong starting pick.

	02-07-2003 12:52									#21
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I scanned most of this thread so if someone else mentioned it sorry but...

Got to LOVE those halflings! Besides the food bonus, those slingers are wicked powerful early in the game, especially if you have some white books with heroism.

The food bonus is really nice and they are, IMHO, a fast out-of-the-gate race that can dominate on impossible early in the game. When I take the halfings I usually don't spend the three picks to start Myrran (though I love the enchanted roads). I always hope to find a highmen city by mid-game so I can get some paladins out eventually. The paladin is pretty tough to beat for a defender unless besieged by a large stack so even though the upkeep is a little stiff on them. One is usually good in a town to keep it safe.

	07-07-2003 01:32									#22
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Myrorr race. Choose mostly retorts as opposed to spell books. It's been a long time since I played, but I used to play at impossible only, and win almost every time.

I always chose sorcery also, for spell balst to counter great wasting, because great wasting was a game breaker.

	22-07-2003 14:44									#23
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Look at my post in the best race thread or try:
LLLL Archmage Myrran Warlord with Dwarves; Last pick should be Alchemy or Nature book. This is very good strat if you know how to play. Cast Just Cause very early. Maintain tax as high as possible. Exploit the resources on Myrror and do not forget to build roads.

	23-07-2003 11:45									#24
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quote: Originally posted by Tuberski One of the most useful Sorcery spells in the early game is phantom warrior. As long as there are no ranged attackers. Even on Impossible they are effective. And, yes, there will always be at least one other wizard on Myrror on Impossible. I only ever play against 4 other wizards so I don't know how it works out with less than 4. ACK!

If the enemy has missle troops you can still get your money's worth out of these fine troops by waiting until the enemy brings a unit close enough that you can summon these guys next to it. Then all you have to do is attack before he gets a chance to shoot them down. This doesn't work as well when the enemy is hanging back and riddling you with a lot of archers, but it is useful most of the time. Even if they merely soak up enemy arrows it might make the difference between victory and defeat.

	24-07-2003 06:46									#25
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quote: Originally posted by Kindbud I scanned most of this thread so if someone else mentioned it sorry but... Got to LOVE those halflings! Besides the food bonus, those slingers are wicked powerful early in the game, especially if you have some white books with heroism. The food bonus is really nice and they are, IMHO, a fast out-of-the-gate race that can dominate on impossible early in the game. When I take the halfings I usually don't spend the three picks to start Myrran (though I love the enchanted roads). I always hope to find a highmen city by mid-game so I can get some paladins out eventually. The paladin is pretty tough to beat for a defender unless besieged by a large stack so even though the upkeep is a little stiff on them. One is usually good in a town to keep it safe.

I did mention them earlier. The "Lucky" attribute is also great as it gives every roll you make an additional +1.

ACK!

	24-07-2003 06:47									#26
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quote: Originally posted by Sikander If the enemy has missle troops you can still get your money's worth out of these fine troops by waiting until the enemy brings a unit close enough that you can summon these guys next to it. Then all you have to do is attack before he gets a chance to shoot them down. This doesn't work as well when the enemy is hanging back and riddling you with a lot of archers, but it is useful most of the time. Even if they merely soak up enemy arrows it might make the difference between victory and defeat.

They will also eat missiles that would otherwise be used to destroy your normal units.

Good point.

ACK!

	24-07-2003 11:53									#27
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quote: Originally posted by Tuberski They will also eat missiles that would otherwise be used to destroy your normal units. Good point. ACK!

If you have healing it is more efficient to let them shoot up your regular troops (assuming that they don't have enough firepower to destroy those units) and then heal them, as those phantom troops are really bad on defense. But in a pinch, I'll use the phantoms as arrow fodder to preserve my permanent units.

	24-07-2003 19:31									#28
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Any of the summons are good in a pinch. I tend to prefer Chaos over other magic classes. I drop Fire Elementals all over the board in important battles. Sometimes it's enough for my normal units to just have the enemy softened up a little before they go in for the kill.