The Battle for Wesnoth Wiki - User contributions [en]

How to play Loyalists

2010-05-02T02:49:47Z

Nelson: /* Loyalists vs. Undead */ Mermen for holding defensive lines or trapping

==General Loyalist Strategy==
Loyalists are considered to be the most versatile faction in the game. They have most available unit types to recruit ( 8 ), more than any other faction. Loyalists are mostly melee oriented faction, with only two ranged unit types, the '''mage''' and the '''bowman''', but their ranged units play a significant role in the loyalists strategy and have to be used effectively. About the melee troops the loyalist player gets to choose among:
* '''Heavy Infantrymen''': few strikes, high damage per strike, slow, higher hitpoints, good resistances, low defenses, deals impact damage which is good against undead
* '''Spearman''' average strikes, average damage per strike, average movement, medium hitpoints, normal resistances, average defenses, deals pierce damage which is good against drakes, has a weak ranged attack
* '''Fencer''': high number of strikes, low damage per strike, quick, low hitpoints, bad resistances, good defenses, deals blade damage which is good against elusive foots or wose, deals less total damage than the other two, is a skirmisher.

The loyalists unit price ranges from the cheap spearmen and mermen (14 gold) to the expensive horsemen (23 gold).

Loyalist units generally have good hitpoints and they deal good damage, even the cheap spearmen and bowmen. Even their scouts have high hitpoints and better melee attack compared to most of the scouts of the other factions. But OTOH, the loyalist scouts have lower defences than most of the other scouts and they do not have a ranged attack.

The loyalists have some units with good resistances, like HI or Cavalryman, which can be very good for defending if you notice that your opponent doesn't have the proper units to counter them. Other units, like the bowman, who is more vulnerable than the previous two, but is also good for defense because it has better defense, is cheaper and it deals solid damage back in both melee and range. Similar goes for the spearman.

'''When attacking''', Loyalists have units which can be pretty devastating, like the horseman for attacking enemy magi and other ranged units, magi against the entrenched melee units, fencers for killing enemy injured and valuable units trying to heal behind their lines. But the mentioned units are also very vulnerable and they can die very easily if not properly supported.

The loyalists as a faction generally have average '''defenses''' ( they do not get 70% defense anywhere, with the exception of the fencer, which is a special case ) and they are not a terrain dependent faction ( like the Elves or Knalgans are ). Therefore, even if it good to put spearmen and bowmen on mountains, villages and castles where they get 60% defense, you should also take the faction you are facing into account when deciding where to place your units. For example, if you are fighting knalgans, you should try not to move your units next to hills and mountains and/or take the hills and mountains with your units and leave the forest to the dwarves.

All the loyalist units are lawful, which obviously leads to the conclusion that the loyalists should be more aggressive and attack at day ( or even start at dawn, because your opponent in most of the cases will be reluctant to attack too aggressively and leave units on bad ground when the morning arrives ) while at night the loyalists should at least play conservatively, or in some cases even run away. Of course, that is also dependent upon the faction of your opponent.

'''The greatest weakness''' of the loyalists is their limited mobility. The loyalists' units have normal movement, some of their units like the horseman,cavalryman,merman fighter and the fencer are pretty quick when they are in their favorable environment, but all their units get slowed over rough terrain a lot compared to the other factions' units . Half of the loyalists units can not even move on/over mountains, and their scouts get significantly slowed in forest, for example. This lack of mobility will often give your opponent an opportunity to outmaneuver you in the game.To prevent that, sometimes it is good to attack hard on a certain point and defend only with minimal amount of units elsewhere, rather than uniformly spreading your units around the front.

When you don't know '''which faction you are facing''', it is good to get a mixture of units. On most of the default 1v1 maps, this initial recruitment list would be good : spearman, bowman, fencer, mage, merman fighter, cavalryman. As always, you should carefully consider about the exact placement of each individual unit from the initial recruits on the castle to come up with the most optimal combination that will allow you the quickest village grabbing in the first turns of the game.

==Loyalists vs. Undead==
When fighting undead, your recruiting pattern will depend on whether your opponent spams Skeleton Archers or Dark Adepts for ranged attacks. If you see lots of skeletons, you'll have to focus heavily on HI and Mages. If you see lots of DAs, you'll want some Cavalry, Horsemen and maybe some Spearmen.

* Bowman - '''D-''' - Almost entirely useless. You might use them to poke at Walking Corpses, Ghouls, Vampire Bats and Ghosts, but Mages are much better at all of these things. I would only buy a Bowman to counter a large zombie horde.

* Cavalryman - '''B+''' - You'll want some Cavalry for scouting and dealing initial damage to DAs so that a Horseman can finish them. They are also decent at fighting Skeletons in the daytime, because Cavalry are blade-resistant. However, the cheap Skeleton Archers will really ruin Cavalry quickly at night, so if there are any Skeleton Archers on the other side you won't be able to use Cavalry to hold territory. If your opponent over-recruits DAs, however, you can use cold-resistant Cavalry to hold territory against them. They are also decent for holding territory against Ghouls because they can run away and heal (unlike your HI).

* Fencer - '''C-''' - Fencers are a bad recruit in this matchup because they are vulnerable to the blade and pierce damage of skeletons and cannot damage them much in return. They also are incapable of holding territory against DAs, who cut right through the high defense of Fencers. However, you may want to have a Fencer or two around for trapping DAs or getting in that last hit. With luck, they may also be able to frustrate non-magical attacks from skeletons and the like.

* Heavy Infantryman - '''B+''' - You need Heavy Infantry to hold territory against Skeletons and Skeleton Archers, and they will be your unit of choice for dealing melee damage, especially to the cheap Skeleton Archers. Any HI in the daytime can kill a full-health skeleton archer in two hits, while a strong HI in the daytime can kill a full-health skeleton in two hits, dealing 18 damage per strike (even a Mage in daytime cannot kill a skeleton in one round, unless supported by a Lieutenant). A fearless HI may be dangerous even at night. If you don't have enough HI to go around, you can get your initial hits in on a Skeleton Archer with an HI and finish him with a Mage. Just keep HI away from DAs, and only let Ghouls hit HI if the HI is on a village (or has a White Mage or other healer next to him), since HI can't easily run away to heal. Also beware Walking Corpses, which deal a surprising amount of damage at all times of day since HI can't dodge and impact damage goes around their resistances, and the ranged cold attack of Ghosts. The biggest problem with HI is they are slow, which means they're hard to retreat at night and hard to advance in day. Without shielding units they'll get trapped and killed, and if you have to shield a unit maybe it should be a Mage instead.

* Horseman - '''B''' - Because they deal pierce damage, Horsemen may not be very useful when faced with Skeletons. However, if your opponent over-recruits Dark Adepts, Horsemen can be extremely useful, as DAs deal no return damage to the normally risky charge attack. Horsemen can even be used to finish Skeleton Archers, their nemesis, in the daytime. However, if your opponent recruits enough Skeleton Archers you will have a hard time shielding your Horsemen from their devastating pierce attacks, and Skeleton Archers are dirt cheap. Horsemen can also one-shot bats and zombies, which can be useful if you need to clear out a lot of lvl 0 units quickly. I would want to have at least one Horseman around to keep my opponent from getting too bold with DAs, if not more. Your opponent will be forced to recruit DAs if you have HI in the field.

* Mage - '''A+''' - Mages are an absolute necessity against Undead. If you do not have Mages it will be almost impossible for you to kill Ghosts, but with Mages it's a piece of cake. Mages are the best unit for killing almost everything Undead can throw at you, and can even be used to finish Dark Adepts in the daytime. Your main problem is that Dark Adepts are cheaper and deal almost as much damage, so your opponent can spam DAs while you cannot afford to spam Mages. You will also have the difficult task of shielding fragile, expensive mages against lots of cheap Undead units. Your opponent will use Skeletons and Ghouls to attack your Mages when he can, but bats, zombies or just about any other unit will do for killing your Mages in a pinch. Shield your Mages well, surround them with damage soakers and if you can deliver them safely to their targets you'll be able to clear out the Undead quickly.

* Merman Fighter - '''C-''' - Mermen make a decent navy against Undead, since bats and Ghosts will have a hard time killing them with their high defense. Even Dark Adepts will find Mermen annoying because of their 20% cold resistance. However, Mermen will have a hard time hurting anything the Undead have with their lame pierce weapon. Generally Mermen are only good for holding water hexes and scouting, but don't underestimate how useful that can be. Some well-placed Mermen on a water map can prevent bats from sneaking behind your lines and capturing villages or killing injured units. Even on mostly land maps, a Merman in a river can help hold a defensive line, or a quick Merman can use a river to slip behind the enemy to trap DAs or other units that are trying to escape at daytime.

* Spearman - '''C-''' - Spearmen are mostly useful as cheap units for holding villages and occupying space when faced with Dark Adepts or Skeleton Archers. (You'll want to avoid letting DAs hit your Heavy Infantrymen because of their vulnerability to cold.) However, you don't really want Spearmen to take hits from DAs, it would be better to let the cold-resistant Cavalry absorb the damage. The only units Spearmen are good for attacking are Dark Adepts and Walking Corpses. Spearmen are completely useless against skeletons unless you level one into a Swordsman, and even then they're pretty mediocre. However, if there are lots of Skeleton Archers you won't be able to use much Cavalry or Horsemen, so a Spearman or two may be necessary as defenders and damage soakers even if they are lousy at dealing damage to Undead.

==See also==
[[How to play Horseman]]

[[How to play Mages]]

{{Factionbox}}

[[Category: How to Play]]

How to play Loyalists

2010-05-02T02:42:03Z

Nelson: /* Loyalists vs. Undead */ Mermen have 20% cold resistance.

==General Loyalist Strategy==
Loyalists are considered to be the most versatile faction in the game. They have most available unit types to recruit ( 8 ), more than any other faction. Loyalists are mostly melee oriented faction, with only two ranged unit types, the '''mage''' and the '''bowman''', but their ranged units play a significant role in the loyalists strategy and have to be used effectively. About the melee troops the loyalist player gets to choose among:
* '''Heavy Infantrymen''': few strikes, high damage per strike, slow, higher hitpoints, good resistances, low defenses, deals impact damage which is good against undead
* '''Spearman''' average strikes, average damage per strike, average movement, medium hitpoints, normal resistances, average defenses, deals pierce damage which is good against drakes, has a weak ranged attack
* '''Fencer''': high number of strikes, low damage per strike, quick, low hitpoints, bad resistances, good defenses, deals blade damage which is good against elusive foots or wose, deals less total damage than the other two, is a skirmisher.

The loyalists unit price ranges from the cheap spearmen and mermen (14 gold) to the expensive horsemen (23 gold).

Loyalist units generally have good hitpoints and they deal good damage, even the cheap spearmen and bowmen. Even their scouts have high hitpoints and better melee attack compared to most of the scouts of the other factions. But OTOH, the loyalist scouts have lower defences than most of the other scouts and they do not have a ranged attack.

The loyalists have some units with good resistances, like HI or Cavalryman, which can be very good for defending if you notice that your opponent doesn't have the proper units to counter them. Other units, like the bowman, who is more vulnerable than the previous two, but is also good for defense because it has better defense, is cheaper and it deals solid damage back in both melee and range. Similar goes for the spearman.

'''When attacking''', Loyalists have units which can be pretty devastating, like the horseman for attacking enemy magi and other ranged units, magi against the entrenched melee units, fencers for killing enemy injured and valuable units trying to heal behind their lines. But the mentioned units are also very vulnerable and they can die very easily if not properly supported.

The loyalists as a faction generally have average '''defenses''' ( they do not get 70% defense anywhere, with the exception of the fencer, which is a special case ) and they are not a terrain dependent faction ( like the Elves or Knalgans are ). Therefore, even if it good to put spearmen and bowmen on mountains, villages and castles where they get 60% defense, you should also take the faction you are facing into account when deciding where to place your units. For example, if you are fighting knalgans, you should try not to move your units next to hills and mountains and/or take the hills and mountains with your units and leave the forest to the dwarves.

All the loyalist units are lawful, which obviously leads to the conclusion that the loyalists should be more aggressive and attack at day ( or even start at dawn, because your opponent in most of the cases will be reluctant to attack too aggressively and leave units on bad ground when the morning arrives ) while at night the loyalists should at least play conservatively, or in some cases even run away. Of course, that is also dependent upon the faction of your opponent.

'''The greatest weakness''' of the loyalists is their limited mobility. The loyalists' units have normal movement, some of their units like the horseman,cavalryman,merman fighter and the fencer are pretty quick when they are in their favorable environment, but all their units get slowed over rough terrain a lot compared to the other factions' units . Half of the loyalists units can not even move on/over mountains, and their scouts get significantly slowed in forest, for example. This lack of mobility will often give your opponent an opportunity to outmaneuver you in the game.To prevent that, sometimes it is good to attack hard on a certain point and defend only with minimal amount of units elsewhere, rather than uniformly spreading your units around the front.

When you don't know '''which faction you are facing''', it is good to get a mixture of units. On most of the default 1v1 maps, this initial recruitment list would be good : spearman, bowman, fencer, mage, merman fighter, cavalryman. As always, you should carefully consider about the exact placement of each individual unit from the initial recruits on the castle to come up with the most optimal combination that will allow you the quickest village grabbing in the first turns of the game.

==Loyalists vs. Undead==
When fighting undead, your recruiting pattern will depend on whether your opponent spams Skeleton Archers or Dark Adepts for ranged attacks. If you see lots of skeletons, you'll have to focus heavily on HI and Mages. If you see lots of DAs, you'll want some Cavalry, Horsemen and maybe some Spearmen.

* Bowman - '''D-''' - Almost entirely useless. You might use them to poke at Walking Corpses, Ghouls, Vampire Bats and Ghosts, but Mages are much better at all of these things. I would only buy a Bowman to counter a large zombie horde.

* Cavalryman - '''B+''' - You'll want some Cavalry for scouting and dealing initial damage to DAs so that a Horseman can finish them. They are also decent at fighting Skeletons in the daytime, because Cavalry are blade-resistant. However, the cheap Skeleton Archers will really ruin Cavalry quickly at night, so if there are any Skeleton Archers on the other side you won't be able to use Cavalry to hold territory. If your opponent over-recruits DAs, however, you can use cold-resistant Cavalry to hold territory against them. They are also decent for holding territory against Ghouls because they can run away and heal (unlike your HI).

* Fencer - '''C-''' - Fencers are a bad recruit in this matchup because they are vulnerable to the blade and pierce damage of skeletons and cannot damage them much in return. They also are incapable of holding territory against DAs, who cut right through the high defense of Fencers. However, you may want to have a Fencer or two around for trapping DAs or getting in that last hit. With luck, they may also be able to frustrate non-magical attacks from skeletons and the like.

* Heavy Infantryman - '''B+''' - You need Heavy Infantry to hold territory against Skeletons and Skeleton Archers, and they will be your unit of choice for dealing melee damage, especially to the cheap Skeleton Archers. Any HI in the daytime can kill a full-health skeleton archer in two hits, while a strong HI in the daytime can kill a full-health skeleton in two hits, dealing 18 damage per strike (even a Mage in daytime cannot kill a skeleton in one round, unless supported by a Lieutenant). A fearless HI may be dangerous even at night. If you don't have enough HI to go around, you can get your initial hits in on a Skeleton Archer with an HI and finish him with a Mage. Just keep HI away from DAs, and only let Ghouls hit HI if the HI is on a village (or has a White Mage or other healer next to him), since HI can't easily run away to heal. Also beware Walking Corpses, which deal a surprising amount of damage at all times of day since HI can't dodge and impact damage goes around their resistances, and the ranged cold attack of Ghosts. The biggest problem with HI is they are slow, which means they're hard to retreat at night and hard to advance in day. Without shielding units they'll get trapped and killed, and if you have to shield a unit maybe it should be a Mage instead.

* Horseman - '''B''' - Because they deal pierce damage, Horsemen may not be very useful when faced with Skeletons. However, if your opponent over-recruits Dark Adepts, Horsemen can be extremely useful, as DAs deal no return damage to the normally risky charge attack. Horsemen can even be used to finish Skeleton Archers, their nemesis, in the daytime. However, if your opponent recruits enough Skeleton Archers you will have a hard time shielding your Horsemen from their devastating pierce attacks, and Skeleton Archers are dirt cheap. Horsemen can also one-shot bats and zombies, which can be useful if you need to clear out a lot of lvl 0 units quickly. I would want to have at least one Horseman around to keep my opponent from getting too bold with DAs, if not more. Your opponent will be forced to recruit DAs if you have HI in the field.

* Mage - '''A+''' - Mages are an absolute necessity against Undead. If you do not have Mages it will be almost impossible for you to kill Ghosts, but with Mages it's a piece of cake. Mages are the best unit for killing almost everything Undead can throw at you, and can even be used to finish Dark Adepts in the daytime. Your main problem is that Dark Adepts are cheaper and deal almost as much damage, so your opponent can spam DAs while you cannot afford to spam Mages. You will also have the difficult task of shielding fragile, expensive mages against lots of cheap Undead units. Your opponent will use Skeletons and Ghouls to attack your Mages when he can, but bats, zombies or just about any other unit will do for killing your Mages in a pinch. Shield your Mages well, surround them with damage soakers and if you can deliver them safely to their targets you'll be able to clear out the Undead quickly.

* Merman Fighter - '''C-''' - Mermen make a decent navy against Undead, since bats and Ghosts will have a hard time killing them with their high defense. Even Dark Adepts will find Mermen annoying because of their 20% cold resistance. However, Mermen will have a hard time hurting anything the Undead have with their lame pierce weapon. Generally Mermen are only good for holding water hexes and scouting, but don't underestimate how useful that can be. Some well-placed Mermen on a water map can prevent bats from sneaking behind your lines and capturing villages or killing injured units.

* Spearman - '''C-''' - Spearmen are mostly useful as cheap units for holding villages and occupying space when faced with Dark Adepts or Skeleton Archers. (You'll want to avoid letting DAs hit your Heavy Infantrymen because of their vulnerability to cold.) However, you don't really want Spearmen to take hits from DAs, it would be better to let the cold-resistant Cavalry absorb the damage. The only units Spearmen are good for attacking are Dark Adepts and Walking Corpses. Spearmen are completely useless against skeletons unless you level one into a Swordsman, and even then they're pretty mediocre. However, if there are lots of Skeleton Archers you won't be able to use much Cavalry or Horsemen, so a Spearman or two may be necessary as defenders and damage soakers even if they are lousy at dealing damage to Undead.

==See also==
[[How to play Horseman]]

[[How to play Mages]]

{{Factionbox}}

[[Category: How to Play]]

Wesnoth Acronyms and Slang

2010-04-21T19:24:35Z

Nelson: /* Unit Names */

Use the following list to demystify the various (mostly wesnoth specific) acronyms you may run into at the forum.



== Names of Mainline Campaigns and Scenarios ==

*AoI - "An Orcish Incursion"
*DiD - "Descent into Darkness"
*EI - "The Eastern Invasion"
*HttT - "Heir to the Throne"
** BoP - "Bay of Pearls"
** DD - "Dwarven Doors"
** HotNE - "Home of the North Elves"
** IotD - "Isle of the Damned"
** RtW - "Return to Wesnoth"
** SoE - "Siege of Elensefar"
** SoF - "Scepter of Fire"
** TotC - "Test of the Clans"
** VoD - "Valley of Death"
*LoW - "Legend of Wesmere"
*NR - "Northern Rebirth"
*SoF - "Sceptre of Fire"
*SotBE - "Son of the Black Eye"
*TB - "A Tale of Two Brothers"
*THoT - "The Hammer of Thursagan"
*TRoW - "The Rise of Wesnoth"
*TSG - "The South Guard"
*UtBS - "Under the Burning Suns"

== Unofficial Campaigns ==

*FtF - "Flight to Freedom" (campaign name)
*IftU - "Invasion from the Unknown" (campaign name)
*SE - "Saving Elensefar" (campaign name)

== Unit Names ==

*bird - usually Gryphon Rider/Master (knaglans), or occasionally a Falcon or Eagle Rider from the [[Extended Era]] Aragwaith and Kalifa factions.
*DA - Dark Adept (undead)
*fish - Merman (loyalists or rebels) or Naga Fighter (northerners)
* frog - a Saurian, especially "magic frog" for an Augur
*gobo - An affectionate, if somewhat derogatory term for the Goblin Spearman
*gunner - Dwarvish Thunderer/Thunderguard/Dragonguard (knaglans)
*HI - Heavy Infantryman (loyalists)
*MoL - Mage of Light (loyalists or rebels)
*pyro - Unit in the Drake Burner line
*Ulf - Dwarvish Ulfserker (knaglans)
*WC - Walking Corpse (undead)
*zombie - Walking Corpse

== Other, Wesnoth-specific ==

*AMLA - After Maximum Level Advancement
*AoH - Age of Heroes
*BfW - Battle for Wesnoth (the name of the game)
*BWH - Been suggested before. We think it's a good idea. Hope to add it eventually.
*CABD - Can Already Be Done, e.g., you can already create custom unit abilities via WML.
*CtH - Chance to Hit (also C2H)
*CtBH - Chance to Be Hit (also C2BH)
*CtK - Chance to Kill (also C2K)
*CtBK - Chance to Be Killed (also C2BK)
*EP - Elvish Pillager, moderator and great man :) at forum
*FoW - Fog of War (i.e. fog)
*FFA - Free For All (playing a map with >2 players without teams)
*FPI - Frequently Posted Idea (read the [http://www.wesnoth.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1158|FPI Post] from the Ideas Forum)
*HANE—EtH - Hexes Are Not Evil - Embrace the Hex
*HAPMA - Hexes Are Possibly Miles Across
*HP - Hit points
*IIRWIIR - It Is Ready When It Is Ready
*KISS - Keep It Simple, Stupid: Applies to coding, not game rules (although indirectly it does): see [[WesnothPhilosophy]]
*MP - Multiplayer or Movement Points
*N3T - No 3-Teams; A belief stating that contests between three equal and opposing forces are inherently unbalanced
*OAB - Options Are Bad; In reference to gameplay, not user interface options. Mostly used by Turin. See also [[FrequentlyProposedIdeas]] (idea #1)
*OFWRA - Old Flame War Revival Alert; In other words, we have discussed this before and have no interest in discussing it again, especially if it got ugly
* OOS - Out Of Synch - an error generated by Wesnoth. OOS errors occur when game data for one player is different/incompatible from the others
* PoD - Paths of Daggers, the name of a 2v2 multiplayer map.
*RiPLIB - Reduction in Power when Levelling Is Bad: means that when a unit upgrades, at least one of its options should be strictly superior to the original unit. [http://www.wesnoth.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1423 Reference 1] / [http://www.wesnoth.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=7205 Reference 2]
*RPG - Role Playing Game - [http://www.wesnoth.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4385 1)] Wesnoth's experience system. <nowiki>2)</nowiki> An "RPG-style" game on the MP server means the primary focus will be walking your leader-units through a scripted storyline involving map exploration and lots of WML.
*SLF - [[StandardLocationFilter]]
*SP - Single Player (Campaigns)
*SUF - [[StandardUnitFilter]]
*ToD - Time of Day
*TWP - The Wesnoth Philosophy: [[WesnothPhilosophy]]
*UAPEB -Units Are Possibly Entire Battalions
*UMC - User Made Campaign or User Made Content (any add-on not packaged with Wesnoth)
*WICOT - WML is capable of this (the requested feature is already possible to script, so no need to hard-code it in C++)
*WINR - Wesnoth Is Not Realistic
*WIN_ - Wesnoth Is Not... (Warcraft, Lord of the Rings, medieval Europe, an RPG, a wargame, a war simulation, etc.)
*WML - Wesnoth Markup Language: [[ReferenceWML]]
*XP - Experience
*ZoC - Zone of Control

== General Acronyms ==

*AFaICT - As Far as I Can Tell (A statement with a disclaimer on truthfulness)
*AFaIK - As Far as I Know (A statement with a disclaimer on truthfulness)
*AfK - Away from the Keyboard
*AI - Artificial Intelligence (An 'AI side' is a side controlled by the computer)
*ASaP - As Soon as Possible
*BRB - Be Right Back
*BtW - By the Way (A statement with a disclaimer on relevance)
*EV - Expected Value
*FYI - For Your Information
*GtG - Got to Go
*IIRC - If I Recall Correctly (A statement with a disclaimer on truthfulness)
*IMHO - In My Humble Opinion (A statement with a disclaimer on objectiveness)
*IMO - In My Opinion
*IYSWIM - If You See What I Mean (A statement seeking agreement)
*LTNS - Long Time No See
*OMG - Oh My God
*OT - Off Topic: can refer either to the forum category (http://www.wesnoth.org/forum/viewforum.php?f=11) or to spam
*OtOH - On the Other Hand (A contrast)
*RotFL - Rolling on the Floor Laughing; also RoFL
*RNG - Random Number Generator
*RtFM - Read the F***ing Manual
*RTS - Real Time Strategy Game - as opposed to a turn-based game like Wesnoth
*SVN - Subversion -- the bleeding-edge up-to-the-minute current version of Wesnoth [[WesnothSVN]] ([[What_Is_SVN]])
*TBS - Turn Based Strategy Game, like Wesnoth

[[Category:World of Wesnoth]]

How to play Drakes

2010-04-21T17:37:54Z

Nelson: /* Drakes vs Rebels */ fixed typo

== General Drake Strategies ==

You won't initially know what faction your opponent is, so begin by recruiting an adaptable mixture of units. A Saurian Augur, Drake Fighter, Drake Burner, Drake Clasher, and Saurian Skirmisher would be an example of such a recruit. When you discover what faction your opponent is, go to the appropriate section below for more specific advice.

Drakes generally win by dealing the most damage. Your units are big and deadly, but they're also more expensive than most; also, they're relatively fragile for their cost and many have a specific vulnerability to piercing weapons. Take advantage of having the best mobility in the game by placing your units in hard-to-access places such as behind mountains or across water from your opponent. You'll then have the advantage by being able to decide when and where battles will happen. Your major disadvantage is how easily your units will take damage. Because of this you'll usually want to be the aggressor in battle to kill a unit or two, get damaged, and then flee to heal. Having a mobile healer helps with this if villages are sparse.

Since you trade your defense for other abilities, fighting battles where your opponent has low defense will give you a greater advantage than it will for any other faction. If your opponent refuses to leave 70% defensive terrain, go heavy on the saurians rather than the drakes and attack at night.

It's good to note that the drake faction has exceptional potential for leader-kill situations. This is due to their high damage and mobility, combined with low defense, and also the availability of skirmisher units.

==Drakes vs Undead==

Playing as Drakes in this matchup is dramatic, bloody fun. The deadliest matchup in Wesnoth, this game will result in lots of casualties, and quickly. Both factions are incredibly offensive and of opposite alignment. Skeletons are vulnerable to Fire, Adepts to melee, and Drakes are vulnerable to Pierce and Cold. Basically, whoever is left standing wins.

===Drake Burner===

You'll want a couple of these to burn Skeletons, Ghosts, Bats, WCs, Ghouls -- but don't pit them against Adepts. Even burning Skeleton Archers at daytime isn't a bad idea as it's the most effective way to kill them. The most expensive unit you can recruit, you'll want to recruit them sparingly and be careful to keep them ali

===Drake Clasher===

With Strong Clashers dealing an awesome 9-4 Pierce damage during the day, these are great Adept-butchering units, as well as damage soakers. Due to their price you'll need to avoid recruiting too many. Level one of these into Gladiator and skeletons won't pose a threat anymore, even at night.

===Drake Glider===

Dealing Impact melee and Fire ranged, these guys won't be exactly worthless at any point, but their damage is still very weak compared to what the rest of your army can do. Recruiting more than 1 isn't smart.

===Drake Fighter===

A good Adept-killer, more for their mobility than damage. The Fire ranged attack gives them some slight flexibility in their usage.

===Saurian Augur===

Don't recruit this unit when fighting Undead. It's too fragile against melee.

===Saurian Skirmisher===

This little guy actually plays a very crucial role in your army against Undead. If the Undead didn't have Adepts you'd simply roll right over them. But since Adepts are such a necessary unit in their attack against you you'll need to take them out, and you'll need to be able to do that under any circumstances. The Skirmisher gives you a weapon that not only can hustle around enemy units to strike protected Adepts, but he also gets better at night - the time when you'll want them to be dead the fastest. Having a couple of these guys around can really save your ass.

===Tactics===

On the first turn you'll want a couple Burners, a Fighter or Clasher, a Skirmisher, and another useful unit. If your opponent gets mass Skeleton Archers, get Clashers and Burners. If he gets lots of Adepts get Skirmishers and Fighters. If he likes Ghouls & Ghosts, you'll want Burners.

Deal as much damage as you can at day, because you won't be dealing much at night. Keep Burners in front as they'll do great return damage to any Adepts that try to counter-attack you during your daytime assault: they'll do 12-2 while you do 7-4. Adepts have 28 base hp.

At night simply retreat out of Adept range and have Skirmishers ready to take out any that get too close. Even if you have to retreat from a village to avoid Adepts it's worth it. You may lose a few gold, but it shouldn't add up to the 16+ you'd lose for a lost Drake. If your opponent takes the village and moves closer he'll also be closer to your new recruits to counter-attack. As day turns chase them away and you should net some gold for the units your opponent will have to replace.

==Drakes vs Rebels==

Playing Drakes in this matchup can be difficult. Your units have low defense and are weak to Pierce where the Rebels have high defense and use Pierce. You'll want to recruit a mix of drakes and saurians so that their neutrality doesn't become an advantage at any time of day. Take cheap shots when you can, because they will always be taking cheap shots at you.

===Drake Burner===

This unit is a great weapon to take out Elvish Fighters and they absolutely massacre Woses. Effective in both melee and ranged combat, this unit is always useful against Rebels on attack or defense. He costs 21g though, and there are other units you will need to recruit to be successful.

===Drake Clasher===
The only drake without a weakness to Pierce, this unit is great against Rebels. He will tear through Archers and he will beat EFs in a fight. He will overpower any Rebel and it's essential to have these guys in your force.

===Drake Glider===

Good for their movement, and can be useful to get to those hard to reach hexes to get extra shots at Archers or Shamans. Recruit according to map need for scouts.

===Drake Fighter===

Useful as a mobile fighter, the Fighter is what you'll want if there are 2 separate battlefields within close flying range of each other. The ability to leave one battle to help the other is quite useful, which is true of Burners as well, though they move slower. For pure fighting power the Clasher is better, and he is hardier. If mobility is necessary on the map though, get 1 or 2 of these guys.

===Saurian Augur===

These guys are essential to fighting Rebels. They are the only easy way you'll have of taking elves out in forest terrain. Augurs have distressingly low HP, so keep them behind the line to heal your power units, or fort him up in forest hexes your opponent will want. Using these guys as your first attackers at night will allow you to get their damage in and then move other units in front of them and consequently heal.

===Saurian Skirmisher===

Useful mainly against Scouts, Archers, and Mages at night, don't recruit too many of this unit even if you're tempted. They're fragile units

=== Tactics ===

On the first turn you'll want to recruit a Clasher, a Burner, an Augur, and a mix of other units like another Clasher, or a Skirmisher. During daytime you'll want to deal as much damage as possible, as that's when you'll have the advantage. Elves fighting you will suffer massive return damage during the day. Keep your units away from places where the Rebels can use forest to attack you from, and remember to have your Augur(s) heal.

At night you can still be aggressive with Augurs. You'll probably want to retreat your drakes slightly and put any Skirmishers (or even Clashers) you have up front on good terrain. Don't be afraid to keep a mobile unit up front either if it can survive 1 round of attacks; if it can do this and survive it will slow the progress of your enemy and you can easily fly the unit back behind your line to heal. Always make sure that the front line cannot be attacked from forest hexes if possible, though this won't be as big a deal if you have several Augurs to cut through their defense. Don't be afraid to trade a Skirmisher for an Archer if you get a chance to kill one on poor terrain: you'll get a gold advantage as well as taking out the most dangerous unit the Rebels have against you.

Another strategy is to strike hard at day and then completely retreat at night. Keep your units just out of reach of your opponent and allow them to come closer to your recruits to make your counter-attack swifter and more deadly. This strategy is often quite effective as it prevents your drakes from fighting at unfavorable TOD and it allows you to decide how the first battle takes place.

Generally your targets to kill will start with Archers, as they are the most deadly unit to your forces (especially to Clashers). Next you'll want to get rid of any low-HP units your opponent has and any units on poor terrain making themselves targets. Try to keep your Clashers away from Shamans if possible (Slow seriously messes them up), and ignore Fighters if another unit presents itself as an equally appealing target. Elvish Fighters can't deal significant damage to your drakes without taking a good amount of return damage, so let them hurt themselves on you while you take out units that you won't receive much return damage from (Burners on Fighters at day though can be quite devastating).

Generally, pick your spots where the advantage presents itself that you can deal the most damage with little return damage if possible. Keep Elves from Forest hexes if possible, and use your advantageous mobility.

==Drakes vs Northerners==

This matchup can be rather interesting. The main thing you generally worry about is the cheap northerner units and the expensive drake units. Drakes have much better units but unfortunately they are expensive. Often when you lose vs. Northerners it is because of the sheer number of units they are capable of sending.

===Drake Burner===

A very useful unit during the day and even effective at night vs fighters and Troll Whelps and Wolf Riders due to their lack of ranged defense. And with at least 7-2 melee, they have the ability to defend their melee attacks. Be very careful with the number of burners you recruit though, because they are rather expensive and you need to be able to defend against the sheer number of units Northerners are able to send.

===Drake Clasher===

The Drake Clasher is preferable over the Drake Fighter in most cases, and especially when playing against Northerners. The Clasher is best to defeat those pesky and annoying assassins. Even though they cannot defend against ranged attacks, their 6-4 pierce attack will definitely hurt an assassin as the assassin has -20% to pierce. Clashers have high amounts of HP and can are very effective in fighting northerners, even though it will normally be melee against melee much of the time.

===Drake Glider===

You can often use maybe one or two gliders in the original recruiting to get to villages quickly. They can also be useful as a very mobile though small increment of damage that can aid in damage in setting up kills to level other units. I'll also use them for gaining info on recruits.

===Drake Fighter===

If you need a unit and can't wait for an extra turn, Drake Fighters are good to recruit because they are quicker then Clashers and have at least minor defense with their ranged attack, and occasionally offense when you just need to deal that little bit of extra damage to make the kill and can't afford to risk a melee attack.

===Saurian Augur===

These units are pretty effective and very useful, but do not keep them in the front of the battle. Use them behind other units to heal and to finish off with magical attacks. These units are easy to level and very effective with 8-3 magical and heal. Be careful in general with saurians because they do not have large amounts of HP.

===Saurian Skirmisher===

Because of their small amount of HP you should try to refrain from using Skirmishers; however they can be helpful at times. They are pretty effective level 2 units.

=== Tactics ===

Your first depend highly on the map, experience percentage, and gold per village. Try to get all villages on the 3rd turn and then recruit depending on the units you see from your opponent.

== Drakes vs Drakes ==

This is possibly the deadliest mirror match in the game. Saurians have low HP, but deal good damage to their Drake counterparts. You'll want a balanced mix of both races as you'll likely be fighting at all times of the day and night.

=== Drake Burner ===

Generally a bad recruit in this matchup. Burners cannot do significant damage to other Drakes, though they do get free shots on Clashers. They can also torch any Saurians found on bad terrain, which is unlikely, though this is probably their greatest use.

===Drake Clasher===

This unit should make up the bulk of your forces. Dealing heavy Pierce damage and having the most hp out of any recruit (as well as not having a negative Pierce resistance), makes him the beast of burden in this matchup. Hope that yours get the Strong and Resilient traits and his get the Quick and Intelligent traits. The Clasher will beat Fighters and Burners 1v1, and the only units he needs to fear are Augurs and other Clashers, and Skirmishers at night.

===Drake Glider===

As with the Burner, this unit is a poor recruit. It has no upside other than the inconsequential Marksman on his breath attack. Do not recruit them unless the map is huge and mobility becomes critically important.

===Drake Fighter===

Not the best recruit, but he can be handy if the map makes Clashers slow. They can also tear Augurs to pieces, so if Augurs become a problem a few of these are an alright recruit. Also good as a replacement for the Glider for village grabbing, especially if Quick.

===Saurian Augur===

An essential unit. Their Cold magic deals 9-3 damage to Drakes at night, ripping them to pieces. Their healing will also be essential if used properly, as this is a bloody fight. Be careful not to over-recruit these guys, as they are quite weak in defense against any unit.

===Saurian Skirmisher===

These guys are also a good troop type to have, but again, don't recruit too many. Your Pierce damage should mainly come from your Clashers, but a couple of Skirmishers to attack opposing Augurs as well as Drakes at night can prove very valuable, especially with their high defense. Their ability to get behind the enemy lines gives you more hexes to attack the enemy from.

=== Tactics ===

On the first turn you'll want several Clashers, a couple Saurians, and possibly a Fighter or Glider to grab villages. Village distribution will determine if you need a Glider or not, as well as map size.

At night, use your Augurs on the opposing Clashers first, using your Clashers and Skirmishers to finish up. Make sure to protect your Augurs though, as they die easily, even at night. Killing a Clasher will remove a major threat come daytime, as well as net you 19g. If you must trade a Skirmisher to kill a Clasher at night, it can often be worth it.

At day you'll want to attack first with your Augurs again. Their Cold magic will do 6-3 in daytime to Drakes, which is still quite powerful. Follow up with your now incredibly deadly Clashers: Strong Clashers in day will deal 10-4 to any non-Clasher Drake.

Generally, this is the danger level of your enemy units: Clasher, Augur, Skirmisher, Fighter, Burner, Glider. You may choose to either target the deadliest units first (Clashers being easy targets for Augurs), or go for the weaker units first to give yourself a monetary advantage quickly, while receiving little retaliation damage. Either strategy can work, and levelling an Augur can prove exceptionally deadly to your opponent. Intelligent Augurs level within 2 kills. Whichever strategy you use, be sure to kill, and not just hurt your opponent, because your opponent will flee and have the unit return to fight again.

==Drakes vs Loyalists==

Drakes' weaknesses are so obvious that it seems the enemy barely has to think to come up with an effective strategy. So things like massing armies of only spearmen or dark adepts have some chance of succeeding.

But, that doesn't necessarily mean the drakes are weaker-- just harder to play correctly. The key to playing drake v loyalist is carefully managing the HP of your units so that you can get a lot of use out of them before retreating/rotating. This means you will need to carefully plan the formation of your offensive wedges, for example, considering the optimal location for '''saurian augurs'''.

=== Tactics ===

Fighting a '''spearmen''' rush with drakes is one of the big problems for a drake player - massing '''spearmen''' gives them at least 10% more strenght per gold than anything you can muster (the spearmen are cheap and they have pierce weapons), and the loyalist player can win the game by playing pretty straighforwardly - while the drakes can still win - but only if they play it smart, because the spearmen also have their drawbacks.
The biggest weakness of the loyalists ( and in the same time the biggest advantage of the drakes ) is their mobility. Of course, '''horsemen''' are fast too, but you have pretty good counters for the horsemen - clashers and skirmishers ( the later only when they are on good terain). Sure, horsemen deal 18-2 base charge on dusk/dawn but your cheaper '''clashers''' and '''skirmishers''' will strike 14-4 and 10-4 back respectfuly when charged, so your oponnent will take a big, unacceptable risk charging them unless he has spearmen or other units to soften them first. So the real problem are the spearmen, not the horsemen.

Note that the because of this mobility issue the outcome of the drakes vs loyalists duel is somewhat dependant on the size of the map - 2 loyalists v 2 drakes on Isar's Cross gives a significant advantage for the Loyalists, while on big maps like Cynsaun Battlefield the drakes are the ones having an advantage.

The second thing that the drakes have over the loyalists is ther dual alighnment, while the loyals are all lawful. You can use that to your advantage as well.

To fight a bunch of '''spearman''', you have to (and if you play it right, you should always be capable to do so) attack first, under favourable condtions. You can play without buying too many '''burners''', only a few to initiate the attack without taking much retaliation and then you have a good chance to cover them with other units, because if a burner can be attacked from 3 or even 2 sides by spearmen it will likely die in a single turn. '''Burners''' are too expensive to trow that way. You can either buy mostly '''Saurians''', in which case you can skip the burners all together and buy '''augurs''' for range which is magical. In that case you should attack at night and pull back at day, preferably out of reach of the spearmen. You should be wery careful about the terrain you put your saurians on - both '''augurs''' and '''skirmishers''' - and also about the placement of the units , namely the augurs attack from the middle so that they can be attacked from as few sides as possible and that they are able to heal both each other and the other units around them. '''Drake clashers''' and '''fighters''' are also necessary as meatshields althow you should think carefuly before attacking the spearmen with them, even as finishers - remember the firststrike. The choice between clashers and fighters is yours. Remember that the '''fighters''' are generally better on larger maps and maps that have water on them, cause they can fly quickly from one side to another with their 6 movement, but they have a pierce vulnerabilty and less HP; while '''clashers''' are both more durable and also more expensive and slower - but althow they have only 5 movement, same as the '''spearmen''', '''clashers''' have a better movetype than the spearmen or other loyalists - '''spearmen''' get slowed down in forest, hills, mountains and sand, while clashers get slowed only when moving thru forest. That means that in most cases - but not always - that the clasher can safely escape from the battle if the oponnent doesnt have any fast units.

The other way is to recuit mostly drakes and but a few '''saurians'''. In this case, some '''burners''' are necessary. Then the plan again is to strike first and to strike when the oportunity arises. Ignore the time of day. Dont get involved in a protracted everyone vs. everyone battles - thats what the spearmen want - that way they can easily use their advanages - good HP , good attack and cheapness in their favour and your more expensive (and fewer) drakes have a good chance of being overrun in several turns. Try to attack their weak spots - places where a unit is on bad tearain or, even better, far from the others - but as always think ahead of the possible enemy retaliation - attack only when the possible gain is bigger that the possible loss, and run when needed. If there aren't any weak spots, be creative and try to make some depending upon the current situation - put your '''drake figters''' in positions that threatens the unguarded enemy villages to strech their line thin so that you can attack and run before helps arrives or if you think its worth it, sneak a '''skirmisher''' in the enemy rear on a suicide mision to steal villages and if a lot of '''spearmen''' go back to punish the critter attack the others with superior numbers. You can make some other nasty tricks as well.

===Drake Burner===
If opponent has horsemen around, then burners will be like big red target signs; but still, you probably need one of them, so keep it behind the main army until it can be used safely.

===Team game===

If you happen to be playing a team game and face a '''spearmen''' rush with drakes a good thing is to ask your ally to send you a couple units which have good pierce ressistance like '''HI/Wose/Skeletons'''.
He/she wont mind, especially if you send a few good drakes in return. Then your oponnent will be sorry of recruiting in such a one-minded way. Sure he can get counters to those units as well but those are mostly units with fire which are on the other side weak against the drakes. So the threats of some of his '''spearmen''' being pwned by the '''wose''' or the '''mage''' being torn apart by your '''clasher''' would be stronger than the possibility of your drakes being overrun by his spearmen on the long run

==See also==
{{Factionbox}}

[[Category: How to Play]]

How to play Loyalists

2010-04-19T17:18:02Z

Nelson: /* Loyalists vs. Undead */

==General Loyalist Strategy==
Loyalists are considered to be the most versatile faction in the game. They have most available unit types to recruit ( 8 ), more than any other faction. Loyalists are mostly melee oriented faction, with only two ranged unit types, the '''mage''' and the '''bowman''', but their ranged units play a significant role in the loyalists strategy and have to be used effectively. About the melee troops the loyalist player gets to choose among:
* '''Heavy Infantrymen''': few strikes, high damage per strike, slow, higher hitpoints, good resistances, low defenses, deals impact damage which is good against undead
* '''Spearman''' average strikes, average damage per strike, average movement, medium hitpoints, normal resistances, average defenses, deals pierce damage which is good against drakes, has a weak ranged attack
* '''Fencer''': high number of strikes, low damage per strike, quick, low hitpoints, bad resistances, good defenses, deals blade damage which is good against elusive foots or wose, deals less total damage than the other two, is a skirmisher.

The loyalists unit price ranges from the cheap spearmen and mermen (14 gold) to the expensive horsemen (23 gold).

Loyalist units generally have good hitpoints and they deal good damage, even the cheap spearmen and bowmen. Even their scouts have high hitpoints and better melee attack compared to most of the scouts of the other factions. But OTOH, the loyalist scouts have lower defences than most of the other scouts and they do not have a ranged attack.

The loyalists have some units with good resistances, like HI or Cavalryman, which can be very good for defending if you notice that your opponent doesn't have the proper units to counter them. Other units, like the bowman, who is more vulnerable than the previous two, but is also good for defense because it has better defense, is cheaper and it deals solid damage back in both melee and range. Similar goes for the spearman.

'''When attacking''', Loyalists have units which can be pretty devastating, like the horseman for attacking enemy magi and other ranged units, magi against the entrenched melee units, fencers for killing enemy injured and valuable units trying to heal behind their lines. But the mentioned units are also very vulnerable and they can die very easily if not properly supported.

The loyalists as a faction generally have average '''defenses''' ( they do not get 70% defense anywhere, with the exception of the fencer, which is a special case ) and they are not a terrain dependent faction ( like the Elves or Knalgans are ). Therefore, even if it good to put spearmen and bowmen on mountains, villages and castles where they get 60% defense, you should also take the faction you are facing into account when deciding where to place your units. For example, if you are fighting knalgans, you should try not to move your units next to hills and mountains and/or take the hills and mountains with your units and leave the forest to the dwarves.

All the loyalist units are lawful, which obviously leads to the conclusion that the loyalists should be more aggressive and attack at day ( or even start at dawn, because your opponent in most of the cases will be reluctant to attack too aggressively and leave units on bad ground when the morning arrives ) while at night the loyalists should at least play conservatively, or in some cases even run away. Of course, that is also dependent upon the faction of your opponent.

'''The greatest weakness''' of the loyalists is their limited mobility. The loyalists' units have normal movement, some of their units like the horseman,cavalryman,merman fighter and the fencer are pretty quick when they are in their favorable environment, but all their units get slowed over rough terrain a lot compared to the other factions' units . Half of the loyalists units can not even move on/over mountains, and their scouts get significantly slowed in forest, for example. This lack of mobility will often give your opponent an opportunity to outmaneuver you in the game.To prevent that, sometimes it is good to attack hard on a certain point and defend only with minimal amount of units elsewhere, rather than uniformly spreading your units around the front.

When you don't know '''which faction you are facing''', it is good to get a mixture of units. On most of the default 1v1 maps, this initial recruitment list would be good : spearman, bowman, fencer, mage, merman fighter, cavalryman. As always, you should carefully consider about the exact placement of each individual unit from the initial recruits on the castle to come up with the most optimal combination that will allow you the quickest village grabbing in the first turns of the game.

==Loyalists vs. Undead==
When fighting undead, your recruiting pattern will depend on whether your opponent spams Skeleton Archers or Dark Adepts for ranged attacks. If you see lots of skeletons, you'll have to focus heavily on HI and Mages. If you see lots of DAs, you'll want some Cavalry, Horsemen and maybe some Spearmen.

* Bowman - '''D-''' - Almost entirely useless. You might use them to poke at Walking Corpses, Ghouls, Vampire Bats and Ghosts, but Mages are much better at all of these things. I would only buy a Bowman to counter a large zombie horde.

* Cavalryman - '''B+''' - You'll want some Cavalry for scouting and dealing initial damage to DAs so that a Horseman can finish them. They are also decent at fighting Skeletons in the daytime, because Cavalry are blade-resistant. However, the cheap Skeleton Archers will really ruin Cavalry quickly at night, so if there are any Skeleton Archers on the other side you won't be able to use Cavalry to hold territory. If your opponent over-recruits DAs, however, you can use cold-resistant Cavalry to hold territory against them. They are also decent for holding territory against Ghouls because they can run away and heal (unlike your HI).

* Fencer - '''C-''' - Fencers are a bad recruit in this matchup because they are vulnerable to the blade and pierce damage of skeletons and cannot damage them much in return. They also are incapable of holding territory against DAs, who cut right through the high defense of Fencers. However, you may want to have a Fencer or two around for trapping DAs or getting in that last hit. With luck, they may also be able to frustrate non-magical attacks from skeletons and the like.

* Heavy Infantryman - '''B+''' - You need Heavy Infantry to hold territory against Skeletons and Skeleton Archers, and they will be your unit of choice for dealing melee damage, especially to the cheap Skeleton Archers. Any HI in the daytime can kill a full-health skeleton archer in two hits, while a strong HI in the daytime can kill a full-health skeleton in two hits, dealing 18 damage per strike (even a Mage in daytime cannot kill a skeleton in one round, unless supported by a Lieutenant). A fearless HI may be dangerous even at night. If you don't have enough HI to go around, you can get your initial hits in on a Skeleton Archer with an HI and finish him with a Mage. Just keep HI away from DAs, and only let Ghouls hit HI if the HI is on a village (or has a White Mage or other healer next to him), since HI can't easily run away to heal. Also beware Walking Corpses, which deal a surprising amount of damage at all times of day since HI can't dodge and impact damage goes around their resistances, and the ranged cold attack of Ghosts. The biggest problem with HI is they are slow, which means they're hard to retreat at night and hard to advance in day. Without shielding units they'll get trapped and killed, and if you have to shield a unit maybe it should be a Mage instead.

* Horseman - '''B''' - Because they deal pierce damage, Horsemen may not be very useful when faced with Skeletons. However, if your opponent over-recruits Dark Adepts, Horsemen can be extremely useful, as DAs deal no return damage to the normally risky charge attack. Horsemen can even be used to finish Skeleton Archers, their nemesis, in the daytime. However, if your opponent recruits enough Skeleton Archers you will have a hard time shielding your Horsemen from their devastating pierce attacks, and Skeleton Archers are dirt cheap. Horsemen can also one-shot bats and zombies, which can be useful if you need to clear out a lot of lvl 0 units quickly. I would want to have at least one Horseman around to keep my opponent from getting too bold with DAs, if not more. Your opponent will be forced to recruit DAs if you have HI in the field.

* Mage - '''A+''' - Mages are an absolute necessity against Undead. If you do not have Mages it will be almost impossible for you to kill Ghosts, but with Mages it's a piece of cake. Mages are the best unit for killing almost everything Undead can throw at you, and can even be used to finish Dark Adepts in the daytime. Your main problem is that Dark Adepts are cheaper and deal almost as much damage, so your opponent can spam DAs while you cannot afford to spam Mages. You will also have the difficult task of shielding fragile, expensive mages against lots of cheap Undead units. Your opponent will use Skeletons and Ghouls to attack your Mages when he can, but bats, zombies or just about any other unit will do for killing your Mages in a pinch. Shield your Mages well, surround them with damage soakers and if you can deliver them safely to their targets you'll be able to clear out the Undead quickly.

* Merman Fighter - '''C-''' - Mermen make a decent navy against Undead, since bats and Ghosts will have a hard time killing them with their high defense. However, Mermen will have a hard time hurting anything the Undead have with their lame pierce weapon. Generally Mermen are only good for holding water hexes and scouting, but don't underestimate how useful that can be. Some well-placed Mermen on a water map can prevent bats from sneaking behind your lines and capturing villages or killing injured units.

* Spearman - '''C-''' - Spearmen are mostly useful as cheap units for holding villages and occupying space when faced with Dark Adepts or Skeleton Archers. (You'll want to avoid letting DAs hit your Heavy Infantrymen because of their vulnerability to cold.) However, you don't really want Spearmen to take hits from DAs, it would be better to let the cold-resistant Cavalry absorb the damage. The only units Spearmen are good for attacking are Dark Adepts and Walking Corpses. Spearmen are completely useless against skeletons unless you level one into a Swordsman, and even then they're pretty mediocre. However, if there are lots of Skeleton Archers you won't be able to use much Cavalry or Horsemen, so a Spearman or two may be necessary as defenders and damage soakers even if they are lousy at dealing damage to Undead.

==See also==
[[How to play Horseman]]

[[How to play Mages]]

{{Factionbox}}

[[Category: How to Play]]

How to play Loyalists

2010-04-19T17:17:35Z

Nelson: /* Loyalists vs. Undead */ bolding letter grades

==General Loyalist Strategy==
Loyalists are considered to be the most versatile faction in the game. They have most available unit types to recruit ( 8 ), more than any other faction. Loyalists are mostly melee oriented faction, with only two ranged unit types, the '''mage''' and the '''bowman''', but their ranged units play a significant role in the loyalists strategy and have to be used effectively. About the melee troops the loyalist player gets to choose among:
* '''Heavy Infantrymen''': few strikes, high damage per strike, slow, higher hitpoints, good resistances, low defenses, deals impact damage which is good against undead
* '''Spearman''' average strikes, average damage per strike, average movement, medium hitpoints, normal resistances, average defenses, deals pierce damage which is good against drakes, has a weak ranged attack
* '''Fencer''': high number of strikes, low damage per strike, quick, low hitpoints, bad resistances, good defenses, deals blade damage which is good against elusive foots or wose, deals less total damage than the other two, is a skirmisher.

The loyalists unit price ranges from the cheap spearmen and mermen (14 gold) to the expensive horsemen (23 gold).

Loyalist units generally have good hitpoints and they deal good damage, even the cheap spearmen and bowmen. Even their scouts have high hitpoints and better melee attack compared to most of the scouts of the other factions. But OTOH, the loyalist scouts have lower defences than most of the other scouts and they do not have a ranged attack.

The loyalists have some units with good resistances, like HI or Cavalryman, which can be very good for defending if you notice that your opponent doesn't have the proper units to counter them. Other units, like the bowman, who is more vulnerable than the previous two, but is also good for defense because it has better defense, is cheaper and it deals solid damage back in both melee and range. Similar goes for the spearman.

'''When attacking''', Loyalists have units which can be pretty devastating, like the horseman for attacking enemy magi and other ranged units, magi against the entrenched melee units, fencers for killing enemy injured and valuable units trying to heal behind their lines. But the mentioned units are also very vulnerable and they can die very easily if not properly supported.

The loyalists as a faction generally have average '''defenses''' ( they do not get 70% defense anywhere, with the exception of the fencer, which is a special case ) and they are not a terrain dependent faction ( like the Elves or Knalgans are ). Therefore, even if it good to put spearmen and bowmen on mountains, villages and castles where they get 60% defense, you should also take the faction you are facing into account when deciding where to place your units. For example, if you are fighting knalgans, you should try not to move your units next to hills and mountains and/or take the hills and mountains with your units and leave the forest to the dwarves.

All the loyalist units are lawful, which obviously leads to the conclusion that the loyalists should be more aggressive and attack at day ( or even start at dawn, because your opponent in most of the cases will be reluctant to attack too aggressively and leave units on bad ground when the morning arrives ) while at night the loyalists should at least play conservatively, or in some cases even run away. Of course, that is also dependent upon the faction of your opponent.

'''The greatest weakness''' of the loyalists is their limited mobility. The loyalists' units have normal movement, some of their units like the horseman,cavalryman,merman fighter and the fencer are pretty quick when they are in their favorable environment, but all their units get slowed over rough terrain a lot compared to the other factions' units . Half of the loyalists units can not even move on/over mountains, and their scouts get significantly slowed in forest, for example. This lack of mobility will often give your opponent an opportunity to outmaneuver you in the game.To prevent that, sometimes it is good to attack hard on a certain point and defend only with minimal amount of units elsewhere, rather than uniformly spreading your units around the front.

When you don't know '''which faction you are facing''', it is good to get a mixture of units. On most of the default 1v1 maps, this initial recruitment list would be good : spearman, bowman, fencer, mage, merman fighter, cavalryman. As always, you should carefully consider about the exact placement of each individual unit from the initial recruits on the castle to come up with the most optimal combination that will allow you the quickest village grabbing in the first turns of the game.

==Loyalists vs. Undead==
Your recruiting pattern will depend on whether your opponent spams Skeleton Archers or Dark Adepts for ranged attacks. If you see lots of skeletons, you'll have to focus heavily on HI and Mages. If you see lots of DAs, you'll want some Cavalry, Horsemen and maybe some Spearmen.

* Bowman - '''D-''' - Almost entirely useless. You might use them to poke at Walking Corpses, Ghouls, Vampire Bats and Ghosts, but Mages are much better at all of these things. I would only buy a Bowman to counter a large zombie horde.

* Cavalryman - '''B+''' - You'll want some Cavalry for scouting and dealing initial damage to DAs so that a Horseman can finish them. They are also decent at fighting Skeletons in the daytime, because Cavalry are blade-resistant. However, the cheap Skeleton Archers will really ruin Cavalry quickly at night, so if there are any Skeleton Archers on the other side you won't be able to use Cavalry to hold territory. If your opponent over-recruits DAs, however, you can use cold-resistant Cavalry to hold territory against them. They are also decent for holding territory against Ghouls because they can run away and heal (unlike your HI).

* Fencer - '''C-''' - Fencers are a bad recruit in this matchup because they are vulnerable to the blade and pierce damage of skeletons and cannot damage them much in return. They also are incapable of holding territory against DAs, who cut right through the high defense of Fencers. However, you may want to have a Fencer or two around for trapping DAs or getting in that last hit. With luck, they may also be able to frustrate non-magical attacks from skeletons and the like.

* Heavy Infantryman - '''B+''' - You need Heavy Infantry to hold territory against Skeletons and Skeleton Archers, and they will be your unit of choice for dealing melee damage, especially to the cheap Skeleton Archers. Any HI in the daytime can kill a full-health skeleton archer in two hits, while a strong HI in the daytime can kill a full-health skeleton in two hits, dealing 18 damage per strike (even a Mage in daytime cannot kill a skeleton in one round, unless supported by a Lieutenant). A fearless HI may be dangerous even at night. If you don't have enough HI to go around, you can get your initial hits in on a Skeleton Archer with an HI and finish him with a Mage. Just keep HI away from DAs, and only let Ghouls hit HI if the HI is on a village (or has a White Mage or other healer next to him), since HI can't easily run away to heal. Also beware Walking Corpses, which deal a surprising amount of damage at all times of day since HI can't dodge and impact damage goes around their resistances, and the ranged cold attack of Ghosts. The biggest problem with HI is they are slow, which means they're hard to retreat at night and hard to advance in day. Without shielding units they'll get trapped and killed, and if you have to shield a unit maybe it should be a Mage instead.

* Horseman - '''B''' - Because they deal pierce damage, Horsemen may not be very useful when faced with Skeletons. However, if your opponent over-recruits Dark Adepts, Horsemen can be extremely useful, as DAs deal no return damage to the normally risky charge attack. Horsemen can even be used to finish Skeleton Archers, their nemesis, in the daytime. However, if your opponent recruits enough Skeleton Archers you will have a hard time shielding your Horsemen from their devastating pierce attacks, and Skeleton Archers are dirt cheap. Horsemen can also one-shot bats and zombies, which can be useful if you need to clear out a lot of lvl 0 units quickly. I would want to have at least one Horseman around to keep my opponent from getting too bold with DAs, if not more. Your opponent will be forced to recruit DAs if you have HI in the field.

* Mage - '''A+''' - Mages are an absolute necessity against Undead. If you do not have Mages it will be almost impossible for you to kill Ghosts, but with Mages it's a piece of cake. Mages are the best unit for killing almost everything Undead can throw at you, and can even be used to finish Dark Adepts in the daytime. Your main problem is that Dark Adepts are cheaper and deal almost as much damage, so your opponent can spam DAs while you cannot afford to spam Mages. You will also have the difficult task of shielding fragile, expensive mages against lots of cheap Undead units. Your opponent will use Skeletons and Ghouls to attack your Mages when he can, but bats, zombies or just about any other unit will do for killing your Mages in a pinch. Shield your Mages well, surround them with damage soakers and if you can deliver them safely to their targets you'll be able to clear out the Undead quickly.

* Merman Fighter - '''C-''' - Mermen make a decent navy against Undead, since bats and Ghosts will have a hard time killing them with their high defense. However, Mermen will have a hard time hurting anything the Undead have with their lame pierce weapon. Generally Mermen are only good for holding water hexes and scouting, but don't underestimate how useful that can be. Some well-placed Mermen on a water map can prevent bats from sneaking behind your lines and capturing villages or killing injured units.

* Spearman - '''C-''' - Spearmen are mostly useful as cheap units for holding villages and occupying space when faced with Dark Adepts or Skeleton Archers. (You'll want to avoid letting DAs hit your Heavy Infantrymen because of their vulnerability to cold.) However, you don't really want Spearmen to take hits from DAs, it would be better to let the cold-resistant Cavalry absorb the damage. The only units Spearmen are good for attacking are Dark Adepts and Walking Corpses. Spearmen are completely useless against skeletons unless you level one into a Swordsman, and even then they're pretty mediocre. However, if there are lots of Skeleton Archers you won't be able to use much Cavalry or Horsemen, so a Spearman or two may be necessary as defenders and damage soakers even if they are lousy at dealing damage to Undead.

==See also==
[[How to play Horseman]]

[[How to play Mages]]

{{Factionbox}}

[[Category: How to Play]]

How to play Loyalists

2010-04-19T17:15:50Z

Nelson: adding in Loyalists v. Undead strategy from http://forums.wesnoth.org/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=29374

==General Loyalist Strategy==
Loyalists are considered to be the most versatile faction in the game. They have most available unit types to recruit ( 8 ), more than any other faction. Loyalists are mostly melee oriented faction, with only two ranged unit types, the '''mage''' and the '''bowman''', but their ranged units play a significant role in the loyalists strategy and have to be used effectively. About the melee troops the loyalist player gets to choose among:
* '''Heavy Infantrymen''': few strikes, high damage per strike, slow, higher hitpoints, good resistances, low defenses, deals impact damage which is good against undead
* '''Spearman''' average strikes, average damage per strike, average movement, medium hitpoints, normal resistances, average defenses, deals pierce damage which is good against drakes, has a weak ranged attack
* '''Fencer''': high number of strikes, low damage per strike, quick, low hitpoints, bad resistances, good defenses, deals blade damage which is good against elusive foots or wose, deals less total damage than the other two, is a skirmisher.

The loyalists unit price ranges from the cheap spearmen and mermen (14 gold) to the expensive horsemen (23 gold).

Loyalist units generally have good hitpoints and they deal good damage, even the cheap spearmen and bowmen. Even their scouts have high hitpoints and better melee attack compared to most of the scouts of the other factions. But OTOH, the loyalist scouts have lower defences than most of the other scouts and they do not have a ranged attack.

The loyalists have some units with good resistances, like HI or Cavalryman, which can be very good for defending if you notice that your opponent doesn't have the proper units to counter them. Other units, like the bowman, who is more vulnerable than the previous two, but is also good for defense because it has better defense, is cheaper and it deals solid damage back in both melee and range. Similar goes for the spearman.

'''When attacking''', Loyalists have units which can be pretty devastating, like the horseman for attacking enemy magi and other ranged units, magi against the entrenched melee units, fencers for killing enemy injured and valuable units trying to heal behind their lines. But the mentioned units are also very vulnerable and they can die very easily if not properly supported.

The loyalists as a faction generally have average '''defenses''' ( they do not get 70% defense anywhere, with the exception of the fencer, which is a special case ) and they are not a terrain dependent faction ( like the Elves or Knalgans are ). Therefore, even if it good to put spearmen and bowmen on mountains, villages and castles where they get 60% defense, you should also take the faction you are facing into account when deciding where to place your units. For example, if you are fighting knalgans, you should try not to move your units next to hills and mountains and/or take the hills and mountains with your units and leave the forest to the dwarves.

All the loyalist units are lawful, which obviously leads to the conclusion that the loyalists should be more aggressive and attack at day ( or even start at dawn, because your opponent in most of the cases will be reluctant to attack too aggressively and leave units on bad ground when the morning arrives ) while at night the loyalists should at least play conservatively, or in some cases even run away. Of course, that is also dependent upon the faction of your opponent.

'''The greatest weakness''' of the loyalists is their limited mobility. The loyalists' units have normal movement, some of their units like the horseman,cavalryman,merman fighter and the fencer are pretty quick when they are in their favorable environment, but all their units get slowed over rough terrain a lot compared to the other factions' units . Half of the loyalists units can not even move on/over mountains, and their scouts get significantly slowed in forest, for example. This lack of mobility will often give your opponent an opportunity to outmaneuver you in the game.To prevent that, sometimes it is good to attack hard on a certain point and defend only with minimal amount of units elsewhere, rather than uniformly spreading your units around the front.

When you don't know '''which faction you are facing''', it is good to get a mixture of units. On most of the default 1v1 maps, this initial recruitment list would be good : spearman, bowman, fencer, mage, merman fighter, cavalryman. As always, you should carefully consider about the exact placement of each individual unit from the initial recruits on the castle to come up with the most optimal combination that will allow you the quickest village grabbing in the first turns of the game.

==Loyalists vs. Undead==
Your recruiting pattern will depend on whether your opponent spams Skeleton Archers or Dark Adepts for ranged attacks. If you see lots of skeletons, you'll have to focus heavily on HI and Mages. If you see lots of DAs, you'll want some Cavalry, Horsemen and maybe some Spearmen.

* Bowman - D- - Almost entirely useless. You might use them to poke at Walking Corpses, Ghouls, Vampire Bats and Ghosts, but Mages are much better at all of these things. I would only buy a Bowman to counter a large zombie horde.

* Cavalryman - B+ - You'll want some Cavalry for scouting and dealing initial damage to DAs so that a Horseman can finish them. They are also decent at fighting Skeletons in the daytime, because Cavalry are blade-resistant. However, the cheap Skeleton Archers will really ruin Cavalry quickly at night, so if there are any Skeleton Archers on the other side you won't be able to use Cavalry to hold territory. If your opponent over-recruits DAs, however, you can use cold-resistant Cavalry to hold territory against them. They are also decent for holding territory against Ghouls because they can run away and heal (unlike your HI).

* Fencer - C- - Fencers are a bad recruit in this matchup because they are vulnerable to the blade and pierce damage of skeletons and cannot damage them much in return. They also are incapable of holding territory against DAs, who cut right through the high defense of Fencers. However, you may want to have a Fencer or two around for trapping DAs or getting in that last hit. With luck, they may also be able to frustrate non-magical attacks from skeletons and the like.

* Heavy Infantryman - B+ - You need Heavy Infantry to hold territory against Skeletons and Skeleton Archers, and they will be your unit of choice for dealing melee damage, especially to the cheap Skeleton Archers. Any HI in the daytime can kill a full-health skeleton archer in two hits, while a strong HI in the daytime can kill a full-health skeleton in two hits, dealing 18 damage per strike (even a Mage in daytime cannot kill a skeleton in one round, unless supported by a Lieutenant). A fearless HI may be dangerous even at night. If you don't have enough HI to go around, you can get your initial hits in on a Skeleton Archer with an HI and finish him with a Mage. Just keep HI away from DAs, and only let Ghouls hit HI if the HI is on a village (or has a White Mage or other healer next to him), since HI can't easily run away to heal. Also beware Walking Corpses, which deal a surprising amount of damage at all times of day since HI can't dodge and impact damage goes around their resistances, and the ranged cold attack of Ghosts. The biggest problem with HI is they are slow, which means they're hard to retreat at night and hard to advance in day. Without shielding units they'll get trapped and killed, and if you have to shield a unit maybe it should be a Mage instead.

* Horseman - B - Because they deal pierce damage, Horsemen may not be very useful when faced with Skeletons. However, if your opponent over-recruits Dark Adepts, Horsemen can be extremely useful, as DAs deal no return damage to the normally risky charge attack. Horsemen can even be used to finish Skeleton Archers, their nemesis, in the daytime. However, if your opponent recruits enough Skeleton Archers you will have a hard time shielding your Horsemen from their devastating pierce attacks, and Skeleton Archers are dirt cheap. Horsemen can also one-shot bats and zombies, which can be useful if you need to clear out a lot of lvl 0 units quickly. I would want to have at least one Horseman around to keep my opponent from getting too bold with DAs, if not more. Your opponent will be forced to recruit DAs if you have HI in the field.

* Mage - A+ - Mages are an absolute necessity against Undead. If you do not have Mages it will be almost impossible for you to kill Ghosts, but with Mages it's a piece of cake. Mages are the best unit for killing almost everything Undead can throw at you, and can even be used to finish Dark Adepts in the daytime. Your main problem is that Dark Adepts are cheaper and deal almost as much damage, so your opponent can spam DAs while you cannot afford to spam Mages. You will also have the difficult task of shielding fragile, expensive mages against lots of cheap Undead units. Your opponent will use Skeletons and Ghouls to attack your Mages when he can, but bats, zombies or just about any other unit will do for killing your Mages in a pinch. Shield your Mages well, surround them with damage soakers and if you can deliver them safely to their targets you'll be able to clear out the Undead quickly.

* Merman Fighter - C- - Mermen make a decent navy against Undead, since bats and Ghosts will have a hard time killing them with their high defense. However, Mermen will have a hard time hurting anything the Undead have with their lame pierce weapon. Generally Mermen are only good for holding water hexes and scouting, but don't underestimate how useful that can be. Some well-placed Mermen on a water map can prevent bats from sneaking behind your lines and capturing villages or killing injured units.

* Spearman - C- - Spearmen are mostly useful as cheap units for holding villages and occupying space when faced with Dark Adepts or Skeleton Archers. (You'll want to avoid letting DAs hit your Heavy Infantrymen because of their vulnerability to cold.) However, you don't really want Spearmen to take hits from DAs, it would be better to let the cold-resistant Cavalry absorb the damage. The only units Spearmen are good for attacking are Dark Adepts and Walking Corpses. Spearmen are completely useless against skeletons unless you level one into a Swordsman, and even then they're pretty mediocre. However, if there are lots of Skeleton Archers you won't be able to use much Cavalry or Horsemen, so a Spearman or two may be necessary as defenders and damage soakers even if they are lousy at dealing damage to Undead.

==See also==
[[How to play Horseman]]

[[How to play Mages]]

{{Factionbox}}

[[Category: How to Play]]