Isengard...another thread

[inquisitor]

Yesterday iread through the entire Isengard thread...
And i really ask myself how in enoch's name do you win??

Most of them say to take the western lands...ok...but the elf comes pretty soon...and when i leave less then 10 units in isengard.Rohan comes with 2 stacks.
I play on hard campaign settings...and the economy just sucks.
I see rohan with 7 stacks(combined)...I only can afford 2...1 is gaurding isengard...the other took the western lands...and are scattered now.

I ended up auto win defender for freaking 10 turns against the HE...And then the Arnor script came....So the end for Isengard.

Pls some helpfull advice is needed here...
The only other faction that i play are the Gundaboyz...But they are in a good starting position..so no prob there.

How long should i wait before i take the western rebel lands?
And is it wise to take the settlement from rohan just below isengard?(srry dont know the name)

[Muffer Nl]

Try VH game difficulty. Next try to expand slower so you won't anger the Elves, heck try to get a trade agreement with them if you like!

[Jean=A=Luc]

Elvec

This is a dark day for the tatw community.

[Pambas]

This is a dark day for the tatw community.

isn't the purpose of this mod provide the basic education to NOT do such mistakes ?

[Zack-Stefy]

This is a dark day for the tatw community.

I wear black now!

[Moneybags14]

Try VH game difficulty. Next try to expand slower so you won't anger the Elvec, heck try to get a trade agreement with them if you like!

Why would you tell him to play on VH if he is having a hard time on Hard difficulty?????

[Muffer Nl]

Sorry for the typo.

Lain, Pippin, the Thain and the Nazgûl all apologize.

Sorry again.

[shokh]

I need 2 starts in this game to play with fun with Isengard but i love this faction.
My new tactic (vh/vh) was now:

First stay neutral to all as long you can. When Sauron calls for the first invasion you are at war with Rohan.
Try to get the Town Edoras by your own.
Then i startet to build a Fenceline on the stratmap by capturing Helms Deep and later Foldburg when Rohan upgradet it to an castle. Secure this line well (Each of the 3 fortress have 2 Pikemen, 2-3 ranged, 1 berzerk, 1 Infantry at my campaign. With this setup i can hold against full armies.

After this i beginn to capture all settlements from Rohan in the east. I need about 100 turns to do this and to build in each town a shrine and the barracks to place there a light defense with free upkeep units. (2 Raiders, 1 pikemen, 2 bow).

At least you have then about 4000 income positive and the borders should look like this:
At north are the orcs of the misty montains and maybe woodelves, in the nordeast is Mordor. South from you is Gondor, but u hold them on the pass south from Edoras. Your castle-line in the west should be strong enough to keep out the rest of Rohan and the high elves.

Now you are free to go..

If you have still problems try my little push for Isengard, you can find it here:

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...58#post8164758

[Lordinquisitor]

Rule 1: Always fight rohan in city battles. Their riders are practically useless in them.

Rule 2: Make peace with other nearby factions while you focus on one.

Rule 3: Use many, many snagas.

[menawati]

I haven't finished my isengard campaign as the Rohan stacks got tiring but one useful tactic is definitely holding the 2 bridges across the river Isen - horses don't do well vs the pikemen waiting for them at the end of the bridge

[Rusery]

Isengard is a tough one to play and i have to say it is my number one favorite as its so damned challenging. In the first few turns you neet to take Ost-in-gil just north of one of your dunland settlements. Its actually already a large town where you can build you MUCH needed town hall in a few turns... Most likely OotMM have already taken it and if you just need to send your general and 4 units to make war with them.
When you get your diplomat going you just need to quell things with them and since they are Orcs they ALWAYS want peace, using this method you can get money out of them too and map info since they want peace so bad. After that you need to keep the Isen river guarded well from Rohan and never cross into their territory (until you are stronger that is mwahah). Thier generals wont attack a citadel even with 5 units + a general is sitting inside. luckily citadels come with 4 free upkeep units so just keep them there. From here you need to take a bunch of rebel settlements. Once you get a bunch of them (all are in the west) you just keep them fortified for a while and turtle up for about 10+ turns while using your diplomat to make allies of ALL kinds.
---When i mean allies of all kinds i mean the forces of good and bad. Now i hate when people are saying that it doesn't fall in line with lore and all that crap. If you look at the dates the war of the ring is not for another 38 years technically so there actually is no lore to go by in regards to NOT being an allie to rohan... Even though Uruk-Hai weren't created yet it is also irrelevant for you not being able to make allies with Rohan due to lore so thats BS.

Even if you don't ally with Rohan your chances of beating their forces back are highly probable.
And the only thing you need to really watch out for is if Eriador also makes war with you because if that happens the High Elves will go to war with you and before you know it you will be attacked by 3 sides... So its best you ally with some one other than evil aswell.

[inquisitor]

I will take that settlement in the north...before the elf does.
But how far do i go to the west?
Since the Elfs are coming from the north.

And they just eat the Snaga's
Hm..maybe an entire stack of snaga archers will do the job

[Lothar135]

Hm..maybe an entire stack of snaga archers will do the job

Hello. I do not recommend you to build so many snagas archers. You can then have problem with retraining if you use the same unit in great numbers.
My advice. Use everything you can with emphasis on dunlanding spearmen and guardians of orthank. They just chop through enemy riders. Fight on bridges as much as you can. Small army on a bridge can defeat almost anything. Use wargs. A lot.

[Lordinquisitor]

Personally i think snaga archers ae worthless. But snagas with javelins- Hell, one of the most cost efficient infantry.

I wouldn`t use the orthanc guard too much in the beginning- IIRC they cost much. Only use them to garrison isengard. If you fight riders do the following: Engage them with snagas or dunlendings and send in cleavers. (Or reavers, don`t know how they are called^^) They mow down anything.

Against archers simply send wargs- Even elven archers die quickly.

[Lothar135]

Personally i think snaga archers ae worthless. But snagas with javelins- Hell, one of the most cost efficient infantry.

I wouldn`t use the orthanc guard too much in the beginning- IIRC they cost much. Only use them to garrison isengard. If you fight riders do the following: Engage them with snagas or dunlendings and send in cleavers. (Or reavers, don`t know how they are called^^) They mow down anything.

Against archers simply send wargs- Even elven archers die quickly.

Maybe I am doing something wrong, but javelin snaga ussualy do not fire their volley until enemy charge them and decimate them. And arrows just eat them alive...I also do not use them much because I hate that icon of their .

Orthanc guard cost much, cant but agree. But I use them as front cover for my other troops. That way they die after few battles and save many many lives of my other soldiers. And death soldier ussualy does not come for his wage .

[Tactician]

One tactic for every faction whatever the conditions ...
Keep only one front ... don't fight many factions together if you can't have big armies ... keep your borders safe as much as possible
Establish good relations with your non enemy neighboors and trade rights ... so you can avoid as much as possible an unwanted war ...
Predict the enemy's movements ... quite easy ... AI is dumb ... despite how improved it is ...
Kill everything in your path ... leave chivalry aside ... run them down and kill them all ... if not you will have to kill them later ...
Don't fear the odds ... you are clearly much smarter than any AI ... so leave your mark on the map with your heroic victories ... (i love that part)

plain, simple, effective ...

[Big Pacha]

The question is: Do we go straight against Rohan on first turns, or do we go west & take rebel settlements with Raiders?

I've played Isengard several times. I thought the second option was better for economic reasons, but then I got invaded by stacks from Rohan, which is quit a paradox, lore-wise!

I will try another campaign where I go against Rohan with all I can on first turn. The western villages will wait, or I'll bash Eriador & HE later for them.

In my Silvan Elves campaign, AI Isengard became No.1 by crushing Rohan first, & then take on Eriador, HE... & even Gondor! So why not.

Conclusion: don't let Rohan grow strong. Also, apply Lordinquisitor's tactical rules. Avoid multiple fronts. Defend Dunland w/ locals, build armories.
Personally I would ally w/ OotMM & OoG so they would take care of Eriador and 2 Elven factions 4 me + Rohan territory is more juicy $$$
Also, I wouldn't hesitate to take on HE in the West, but later. HE are theorically a strong faction w/ best troops but their crappy position makes them easy to crush when you're developed. Let Mordor & others "take care" of Gondor. I would avoid Fangorn & Silvan territory.

Eat Horse Meat!

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

"where's my steak???"

[Rusery]

read my post above and that is how you win <3. Another note is that by turn 24-30 Mordor crusades against Edoras. During that times all of rohans forces (or most of them) will be too busy to bother with you. THAT is when you attack and take the first castle to the south and then you take helms deep. After you have helms deep you are so close to their capital that you will demolish them.

[Big Pacha]

read my post above and that is how you win <3. Another note is that by turn 24-30 Mordor crusades against Edoras. During that times all of rohans forces (or most of them) will be too busy to bother with you. THAT is when you attack and take the first castle to the south and then you take helms deep. After you have helms deep you are so close to their capital that you will demolish them.

I would agree if, on H or VH, Rohan didn't declare war on Isengard on turn 10-15, sometimes earlier. You can't wait for turn 24-30... which isn't that bad in my campaign. I expected that so I kept a significant force in Dunland & now I counter-attack. Of course the Invasion call will help tremendously.
"Ugluk the Great Invader" sounds really good

[inquisitor]

Ok...this time i will participate in the invasion,and take the southern town...but when i attack helms deep...ehh isn't there a script who eats my forces as i eat pizza's(and there are alot of dead pizza's in my body)

Muffer told me to play on VH....what is the difference between VH and H?
Somewhere i read that there is a tax trick on VH?