About Blackroot Vale Archers and Lossarnach Axemen

[Pipoka]

Has anyone got to using Blackroot Vale Archers or Lossarnach Axemen midgame-wise? I can't recruit them until those settlements upgrade, and that takes forever. I'm building all agriculture and pop-growth buildings as soon as I can, setting low taxes, and sending any decent governor I can spare there, but by the time they become available I already got better troops! It's really annoying since I always end up not using them, and I feel I'm missing in part of the game... =/ Also, if there's no "trick" I'm missing (and thus it's just intended to be this way), can anyone show me how to mod the settlements to start one level up?

Anyway, thanks ahead for any replies and Cheers to KK for creating this great mod!

[Dealhit]

I don't remember his name, but a general (spawn in the city near Rohan with some 150ish units) has Blackroot Vale Archers.

[Qba]

I don't remember his name, but a general (spawn in the city near Rohan with some 150ish units) has Blackroot Vale Archers.

His name is Duinhir, and he sits in Erech.

[Bobz]

To me, they are just AOR units for the sake of making them. The Blackroot Vale archers especially, as they are built at the same barracks level as the superior armoured archers, and it's just to far to go back and retrain more troops.

I do sometimes use them as an emergency force, or to beat off some brigands or something, which isn't really necessary in the later game. Not in my regular forces though.

[Pipoka]

Yeah there's a general there that has them as bodyguard, but I wanted to actually be able to recruit them and use them while they're worth it (which as the above poster mentioned, isn't that long into the game...).

[k/t]

Are you sure you're not talking about Faramir who has Ithilien Rangers?

Lossarnach Axemen are good for killing trolls and heavy cavalry.

[thespaniard]

Are you sure you're not talking about Faramir who has Ithilien Rangers?

Lossarnach Axemen are good for killing trolls and heavy cavalry.

but fountain guard and just about every other good unit from gondor is better

[Pipoka]

Are you sure you're not talking about Faramir who has Ithilien Rangers?

Lossarnach Axemen are good for killing trolls and heavy cavalry.

but fountain guard and just about every other good unit from gondor is better

My point exactly. They are good for killing the heavy cavalry of Harad, and the occasional troll of Mordor. But Mid-late game you get units such as fountain guard that are much better at those roles. And sometimes you even get them BEFORE you can build Lossarnach Axemen... ^^

And no I'm not talking about Faramir. there's a general in the small village in the northeast near the pass to Rohan that has Blackroot Vale archers as bodyguard.

[k/t]

Fountain Guards are very expensive and replenish very slowly.

[k/t]

Maybe 3.1 is different from 1.4 in some regards.

[Qba]

Maybe 3.1 is different from 1.4 in some regards.

Yes, there are some differences between 1.4 and 3.1...

[Gigan]

Yes, there are some differences between 1.4 and 3.1...

Dude are you serious?

[Pipoka]

Quite some indeed ^^

[Rorarii]

Has anyone got to using Blackroot Vale Archers or Lossarnach Axemen midgame-wise? I can't recruit them until those settlements upgrade, and that takes forever. I'm building all agriculture and pop-growth buildings as soon as I can, setting low taxes, and sending any decent governor I can spare there, but by the time they become available I already got better troops! It's really annoying since I always end up not using them, and I feel I'm missing in part of the game... =/ Also, if there's no "trick" I'm missing (and thus it's just intended to be this way), can anyone show me how to mod the settlements to start one level up?

Anyway, thanks ahead for any replies and Cheers to KK for creating this great mod!

With my mod, i can recruit such units from turn one!

R

[Keyser_Soze]

Shouldn't take long to upgrade Calembel. Once that's upgraded, you can recruit blackroot archers. Of course, Duinhir has some from the start. Erech will take an incredibly long time to upgrade to that level- perhaps longer than the game itself will last, so it's only really calembel. As for Lossarnarch, it takes a while to upgrade Arnarch, but you'll get them mid-game. Remember. the lower taxes are, the faster these cities upgrade.

[Hallow]

The only AoR units I consistently make use of as Gondor is Pelargir Marines and Swan Knights. Blackroot Vale Archers and Lossarnach Axemen simply aren't powerful enough/doesn't fill enough of its own niche in order to justify the long development of the settlements and the long walk from the settlements to train and retrain them. It's a shame really considering how great they look.

[Keyser_Soze]

I actually find them to be quite good- Blackroot vale archers are handy for launching attacks against Isengard due to their relative proximity, and are second to Ithilien rangers as archers for gondor go, and I find the lossarnarch axemen to be some of the best shock infantry that Gondor has to offer, being quite handy in carving a line through enemy forces.

[Mhaedros]

I find use for all of the AOR:s as Gondor. The Swan Knights are just cool, Fountain Guards are one of the most OP in the game, Ithilien Rangers are great, Lossarnach Axemen are good against the haradrim cavalry, Blackroot Vale archers are great to defent Rohan with and the Pelargir Marines are Mumakil Banes

[Khay]

I find use for all of the AOR:s as Gondor. The Swan Knights are just cool, Fountain Guards are one of the most OP in the game, Ithilien Rangers are great, Lossarnach Axemen are good against the haradrim cavalry, Blackroot Vale archers are great to defent Rohan with and the Pelargir Marines are Mumakil Banes

Same as me, though i just dislike so much the Games Workshop inspired look of the Swan Knights that I sometime just don't want to see them in my battle line if i don't really need them.
With 3.X verison of TATW Blackroot archers are produced with first tier of archery ranges, like archer militia.
They're so powerful for this tier that i wondered if it wasn't an error, rangers are at second tier and Gondor Archers at the following one. They look great, are available early as long as calembel or erech is developped properly, and for this tier, their stats are made of awesome, so i do use them a lot.

[Dwarven Berserker]

Well I've been playing a Gondor campaign too, and my impressions about the AOR units were more like this:
-Pelargir Marines: Very usefull unit, available from the start and good overall availability. One of the best AoR units of Gondor, surpassed only by Ithilien rangers
-Ithilien Rangers: Very VERY usefull unit. More effective then regular Gondor archers and available in first tier archery? sign me up! They can be recruited from Cair Andros and Henneth annun very early as well. The best AoR unit of Gondor IMO they just kick ass
-Lossarnach axemen: You start of with some of these dudes, but as you have to upgrade Arnach in ordor to recruit them you shouldn't expect to see them before turn 50, even with perfect city-micro. By the time you can recruit them they have their uses, but are somewhat made obsolete because of the better available Gondor infantry and spearmen and of course the good ol' Fountain Guard
-Blackroot vale archers: These guys won't see a lot af game unless isengard manages to take down Rohan, really. They come available at about the same time the Lossarnach axemen do, and are made obsolete by the much more availble Ithilien Rangers, sadly.
-Swan Knights (both foot and dismounted): An OK unit, I suppose. Because upgrading Dol Amroth takes a lot of time, you'll probably not see them before turn 100, but they are really powerfull and are worth the cost if you can afford them. Not really a gamebreaking unit though, they are more just here for being awesome
-Osgiliath Guard: Good luck with upgrading osgiliath, somewhere probably around turn 250
-Fountian Guard: A lot less available now compared to in 2.1, but they still pack a punch. They become available around turn 70. Replentishment is very slow, but the Location of Minas Tirith makes them well worth their cost as they butcher both trolls and cav like it's nothing. After Ithilien Rangers and Marines the best unit.

If I have to suggest something, I'd say:
-Make Blackroot Archers and Lossarnach axemen available from the start to make them more vailable units.
-Make upgrading both Dol Amroth and Osgiliath slightly easier, in order to make Swans and Osgiliath Guards a bit less super-rare.
-Maybe slighly decrease the replentishment time for fountain guard, 14 turn per unit is a bit much. 8 turns would be more appropraite.