Advice on my current High Elves campaign

[Radiant]

Hello,

Playing my first campaign @ TATW as the High Elves. I'm currently at turn 107 on M/M settings.
I would love to get advice on how the upgrade my gaming skills because I know I'm doing not so good.
Here are a few screenshots for more information on my current campaign:

End of Turn Report


Campaign Map


Cash


Faction Overview


Main Stack


Half a Stack at Talsir


Backup Stack moving to Isengard



Diplomacy is going well at the moment, being allied to Eriador/Gondor/Rohan/Silvan Elves. I'm at war with Isengard/OoTMM.
I gave Rohan between 50k and 75k in gold to help them, I gave Gondor around 20k.
Problem is that Rohan can't hold their ground, for every city I take from Isengard, Rohan loses one to Isengard.
I would like to kill off Eriador, but then Rohan will be lost (I think). So I keep Eriador allied for the moment.

If u need any information don't hesitate to ask!
I hope that u can give me some advice so I can have a better gaming experience.


*edit*
I can now finally build Eldar archers/spearmen/swordsmen in Imladris. So trying to mass produce them there, but it's going slow.


*edit2*
The 3 'stacks' above are the only 3 I currently have.
For HE what would a good stack consist off?

[Black_ice_Spain]

go with your armies to minas tirith-harad or around, and rape mordor from there


and in your way rape isengard , they seem like only 4-5 regions left?

[Radiant]

go with your armies to minas tirith-harad or around, and rape mordor from there


and in your way rape isengard , they seem like only 4-5 regions left?

Actually they hold 8 regions atm, probably will grow in the next 10 turns.

[chdwhite]

Ummm...with your financial situation, you should not have that much in reserve!!! You need to spending more on military if you goal is to save Rohan. Also, it looks like you are maintaining very high garrisons....those troops should be on the move to the next region! Just leave enough to fill the free upkeep slots in each city and the rest should be moving towards your next objectives (with the exception of high priority border cities).

If I were in your situation with that much money in reserve, I would build another couple of stacks and focus half of your army on conquering Orthanc and the other on Moria...once those two regions are taken, OOtMM and Isengard should be somewhat crippled. At that point, you can leave the rest of OOtMM to the Dwarves if you like, and focus ALL your military on Isengard. Doing this will get Isengard's attention and they should decrease pressure on Rohan to fight you instead...as you taken Isengard territories...give a couple regions to Rohan to help with their economy. I wouldnt give them any more money as I am not sure if the AI can really use it.

And when it comes to armies, it doesnt hurt to keep some units as militia to fill in the gaps...this will allow you to maintain larger armies in more regions as you really dont NEED a full stack of Elite Eldar units unless you are taking on 5 stacks at a time.

That would be my advise in order to save Rohan...not sure if you should really take our Eriador but you can if you want...I just think it would be boring as you would crush them.

[Radiant]

Ummm...with your financial situation, you should not have that much in reserve!!! You need to spending more on military if you goal is to save Rohan. Also, it looks like you are maintaining very high garrisons....those troops should be on the move to the next region! Just leave enough to fill the free upkeep slots in each city and the rest should be moving towards your next objectives (with the exception of high priority border cities).

If I were in your situation with that much money in reserve, I would build another couple of stacks and focus half of your army on conquering Orthanc and the other on Moria...once those two regions are taken, OOtMM and Isengard should be somewhat crippled. At that point, you can leave the rest of OOtMM to the Dwarves if you like, and focus ALL your military on Isengard. Doing this will get Isengard's attention and they should decrease pressure on Rohan to fight you instead...as you taken Isengard territories...give a couple regions to Rohan to help with their economy. I wouldnt give them any more money as I am not sure if the AI can really use it.

And when it comes to armies, it doesnt hurt to keep some units as militia to fill in the gaps...this will allow you to maintain larger armies in more regions as you really dont NEED a full stack of Elite Eldar units unless you are taking on 5 stacks at a time.

That would be my advise in order to save Rohan...not sure if you should really take our Eriador but you can if you want...I just think it would be boring as you would crush them.

I only have in the city of Talsir more units than free upkeep slots, no where else. :x
Why Talsir? It's a city that borders Isengard, strategic point to invade Isengard territory.

Good advice on the militias, will make lower level archers/infantry than I'll have a few more stacks in a faster pace.

Eriador: I would like to take them out because they are splitting my land in 2 and so I will have a large 'hinterland' from where I can raise money/stacks.

[Andurath]

If I were in your situation with that much money in reserve, I would build another couple of stacks and focus half of your army on conquering Orthanc and the other on Moria...once those two regions are taken, OOtMM and Isengard should be somewhat crippled. At that point, you can leave the rest of OOtMM to the Dwarves if you like, and focus ALL your military on Isengard. Doing this will get Isengard's attention and they should decrease pressure on Rohan to fight you instead...as you taken Isengard territories...give a couple regions to Rohan to help with their economy. I wouldnt give them any more money as I am not sure if the AI can really use it.

I agree with this, but from my experience until he crushes OOTMM he's going to need a decent garrison at Imladris. Also Ost-in-edhil is an excellent early expansioncity since it starts with some good elven population and develops quickly. Otherwise you seem to be doing not bad from my point of view, but maybe I just suck and don't know it.

Also two stacks of anything Isen is usually destroyed by my one stack of Elves. The light units need to be micromanaged more but they can be effective. Economically Lt Elven archers are the bomb, but I have lost too many lt infantry units, so I dont build them after mid game. I have large lt archers forces but I back them up quickly with the normal and heavy archers as they become available and by the time I am attacking Mordor I am using almost no lt archers. But the main strength of your army as HE is Cavalry, especially the Noble cavalry, they are also the most economic units in the game since they refresh after every attack. I tend to use my archers and other units to 'near break' or break the enemy and pulverize them with cavalry. This is how I keep Trolls off my lines as well. The cavalry can keep the trolls busy and take auto-refreshing caualties while your other forces maul the remaining orcs.

Composition
2-3 Noble Cavalry
2-3 Eldar Cavalry
2 Eldar Swordsmen
3 Eldar Spearmen
2-4 Lt Archers
2 Elf Archers
2 Eldar Archers
3 Warriors of Mithlond ( when you get them)

I tend to use a lot of flanking fire from archers, hiding them whenever I can, and I will 'play' with thier armies even retreating my infantry before them until they get jsust the right amount of softening. I hold them with spearmen(for just a little if all works well) ,then break them with Swordsmen and Mithlond Charges , topped off with a flourish of cavalry, if I stimulate the right response many whole armies are routing in the first few minutes, but you have the backbone to hold out and destroy much superior forces if it becomes a slugfest.

[Jack Sparrow]

First of all make a good army,then destroy ootmm which should not be hard then go for isengard from there attack rhun and get a strategic position for conquering mordor from there on harad will be easy. Cheers

[Koblentz]

With that much cash, you could easily build up and support a huge military for a few dozen turns. That will be plenty of time to destroy or cripple the evil factions surrounding you and save Rohan. Don't worry about eating up that huge reserve you have in the process; it will replenish over time once peace comes again. In order to save Rohan, you must move aggressively against Isengard.

Forget Eriador for now. They aren't as big of a threat as Isengard and the Orcs since they are your allies; they certainly aren't in a position to harm Rohan and Gondor. If your concern that your lands are divided, then move immediately to capture Eregion and the surrounding provinces as they will link your lands together.

In order to stave off the threat to Gondor, take the large coastal province south of Talsir. The city in that province is very close to its eastern border, and so it will give you a convenient base of operations against Isengard's core.

It appears that the Dwarves are doing a fine job of killing off the Orcs. You have a choice about how to handle them: you may either capture their entire territory, or just take enough land to connect your holdings and let the Dwarves handle the rest. Make this decision based on how many military resources you feel you can divert from the campaign against Isengard without jeopardizing its success.

The main idea for success here is to spend that massive reserve you have on an army and move aggressively against Isengard. You must do this if you wish to save Rohan; even if you're too late to do that it's a good idea, as Isengard will only grow in strength if you continue to wait. A strong Isengard is a threat to you, Rohan, and eventually Gondor. Don't let them expand any further.

[Radiant]

Here's my Financial Overview

[Terafis]

Build a couple of stacks each with 5 spears, 3 heavy cav, 2 Generals and rest archers and load them on a few stacked ships and hit Umbar and push into Harad from the South

[Radiant]

Build a couple of stacks each with 5 spears, 3 heavy cav, 2 Generals and rest archers and load them on a few stacked ships and hit Umbar and push into Harad from the South

Could be a strategy after I save Rohan, indeed.


When I capture an Isengard city/castle I always sack it, is this a good course of action or not?

Currently playing more agressive (as adviced), moved into Isengard territory and will retake the 3 settlements that Rohan lost to them (will give back 2 of them).
Also I'm going to kill their 3rd faction leader, after which I'll give their Capital a shot.
Does that sound like a good tactic?

[chdwhite]

Yes sounds like a good strategy. As far as sacking vs no sack...I suggest no sack unless you only have a couple of units left after the battle. Most of the time I have at least 5 units or so left, and can forego the sack...at first you have to lower the taxes to make the mostly orc population happy, but once it starts turning elvish, you will be glad you didn't kill off all that population.

In the long run, tax revenue will be higher if you don't sack.

[Radiant]

Yes sounds like a good strategy. As far as sacking vs no sack...I suggest no sack unless you only have a couple of units left after the battle. Most of the time I have at least 5 units or so left, and can forego the sack...at first you have to lower the taxes to make the mostly orc population happy, but once it starts turning elvish, you will be glad you didn't kill off all that population.

In the long run, tax revenue will be higher if you don't sack.

But the armies I use to take the city, I need to conquer other cities.
But that's my fault, I suppose. I just need more stacks, I think?

[chdwhite]

But the armies I use to take the city, I need to conquer other cities.
But that's my fault, I suppose. I just need more stacks, I think?

You only need to maintain that army in the city for 1 turn really...usually after that I only need to leave 3 or 4 units after a non-sack.

[ThorHa]

Hello ...

Couple of comments from a HE player that already had several wins on h/h as HE and Gondor (2 easiest good factions):

1) You were slow, sorry :-). Nothing to do here, but optimally you would now have finished Isengard and be on the way to Mordor. Situation is still manageable, though.
2) Your army composition is nightmare. None of the earliest replaceable units (light archers and light infantry), none of HE´s matchwinners (heavy cavalry). Try to split all your existing stacks in half and fill them one by one with aditionally built light archers/light infantry/cavalry on a 3:1:1 basis
3) 102,000 in the bank means 102,000 not gaining you anything. Go on a unit recruitment spee fast

My advice would be:
Stop the imladris stack going south. Instead built an additional stack (refer to 2) and attack moria, the Mountain Fort and the Goblin City as fast as possible. That takes care of the Orcs for the time being
Again 2 additional stacks in the south should help you conquering Isengard. Go straight for it, don´t look left or right - Isengard is key, as the AI will first try to get it back and waste armies at citadel defences manned by Elven archers
After you acheived both, eradicate Isengard as fast as possible and go slowly against the Orcs - your primary goal is to free up stacks to march to the Black Gate and conquer it

You probably were much to shy to take on enemy stacks while beaten on numbers. Don´t! A good half HE stack (like 2 Elven spears, 1 light infantry, 3 light archers, 1 Eldar archer, 1 cavalry, 1 general) can take on any Isengard stack as long as not too many crossbowmen in it ... Later a good 2/3rd HE stack can take on every full Mordor stack as long as it does not field more than 2 troll units.

And a battle tip: Your armies are without siege equipment. So you have to siege. Do that, maintain siege until a releif stack of Isengard comes, it will attack and at the same time use the garrison as reinforcements. Great! You can beat 2 stacks in the open one after the other instead of losing men at a bloody siege.

Next try you should be at either Isengards or the Orcs throat turn 50+ already, the faster the better.

Regards,

Thorsten

[Radiant]

Couple of comments from a HE player that already had several wins on h/h as HE and Gondor (2 easiest good factions):

1) You were slow, sorry :-). Nothing to do here, but optimally you would now have finished Isengard and be on the way to Mordor. Situation is still manageable, though.
2) Your army composition is nightmare. None of the earliest replaceable units (light archers and light infantry), none of HE´s matchwinners (heavy cavalry). Try to split all your existing stacks in half and fill them one by one with aditionally built light archers/light infantry/cavalry on a 3:1:1 basis
3) 102,000 in the bank means 102,000 not gaining you anything. Go on a unit recruitment spee fast

My advice would be:
Stop the imladris stack going south. Instead built an additional stack (refer to 2) and attack moria, the Mountain Fort and the Goblin City as fast as possible. That takes care of the Orcs for the time being
Again 2 additional stacks in the south should help you conquering Isengard. Go straight for it, don´t look left or right - Isengard is key, as the AI will first try to get it back and waste armies at citadel defences manned by Elven archers
After you acheived both, eradicate Isengard as fast as possible and go slowly against the Orcs - your primary goal is to free up stacks to march to the Black Gate and conquer it

You probably were much to shy to take on enemy stacks while beaten on numbers. Don´t! A good half HE stack (like 2 Elven spears, 1 light infantry, 3 light archers, 1 Eldar archer, 1 cavalry, 1 general) can take on any Isengard stack as long as not too many crossbowmen in it ... Later a good 2/3rd HE stack can take on every full Mordor stack as long as it does not field more than 2 troll units.

And a battle tip: Your armies are without siege equipment. So you have to siege. Do that, maintain siege until a releif stack of Isengard comes, it will attack and at the same time use the garrison as reinforcements. Great! You can beat 2 stacks in the open one after the other instead of losing men at a bloody siege.

Next try you should be at either Isengards or the Orcs throat turn 50+ already, the faster the better.

Regards,

Thorsten

2) I waited untill I good produce better units. Focussed in Imladris on unit buildings but was waiting to conquer a castle for better units but then I realised that cities can't be converted to castles. :x
So I'm trying to reach castles in the south (that's one of the reasons for attacking Isengard).

[Seleukos_I.]

2) I waited untill I good produce better units. Focussed in Imladris on unit buildings but was waiting to conquer a castle for better units but then I realised that cities can't be converted to castles. :x
So I'm trying to reach castles in the south (that's one of the reasons for attacking Isengard).

You can recruit your best units in towns too

[Radiant]

You can recruit your best units in towns too

Well, I didn't know. ;x
But trying to fix my situation atm and it's going well.

[Radiant]

It's looking 'decent' at the moment. Took some settlements back from Isengard, to be exact 4.
3 of which I gave back to Rohan (Hornburg, ...), 1 I will keep for my attack on OoTMM.

Now I'm besieging Foldburg and I was thinking on giving it to Eriador and demanding to attack Isengard. Would this be a good idea?

Here's a pic:

[Legolose]

For HE what would a good stack consist off?

What I do is normally my stack has
1 General.
5 of the best swordman you have.
4 of the best Spearman you have.
8 of the best Archers you have.
2 of the best Calvary you have.

If you dont have any Calvary then add a General or a couple of Archer units..This is what I normally have for the HE Fraction....