I greet you my dear readers! I know that many of you are fans of the Elves and so am I! This is my fifth guide and I hope that you find it as enjoyable as the other guides which I have made. I have done the High Elves campaign a LOT of times and the first times I tried were not that successful. The constant attacks from enemies as well as a difficult economy makes HE one of the hardest factions in my opinion. Though after several attempts I finally figured what I believe to be a good strategy for High Elves. If you have other opinions or tips then please share them with the rest of us!
The High Elves faction has a strange starting position, but is actually similar to other factions such Mordor which also has a region in Mirkwood. With four cities in the west and allies close, it makes HE isolated, allowing it to focus entirely on economy if that is what you prefer, which gives it something in common with Harad. HE also has a city in the far east at the feet of the Misty Mountains and you all know it as Rivendell. It is the house of Elrond, your finest general, and is where you will have the most trouble. You will definitely have some difficulties there. Not only do you start with just 3 units, OOTMM borders you and all of their cities have garisson armies which will appear when sieged, forcing you to create a large army before you can actually take the city. You will probably have to fend of quite a lot of attacks as well so prepare yourself for a seemingly endless war! To be brutally honest all of your cities are really poor, generating a low amount of money. It is something that I find strange as 4 of the regions you start with are bordering mountains, but still they can not construct mines. Well enough about that! Because of this you MUST capture more regions if your economy is to survive. This also means that you will rely on trade agreements which is why you need to recruit a diplomat in Mithlond. Because Harlond is such a large region you will need roads or else moving troops will take ages. In Forlond I construct Grain Exchange. I move all the men from Forlond to Harlond by ships and recruit units in all cities available. In the east, at the house of Elrond, I construct a practice range because I know I will need a lot of men if I am to withstand the frequent invasions from OOTMM. I do not recruit any men at Rivendell yet because I know that the enemy will not be attacking for a while. Recruiting at this point will cause nothing but a loss of money because of the upkeep. Before I end the turn I send Elrond south to build a watchtower near the mountains so that I may notice when the enemy moves out.
At turn 2 I can recruit a unit in Mithlond and that is about it. Move your diplomat north towards the dwarves and ask for alliance, trade rights and demand some money for map information if you feel lucky. Send your spy towards whatever direction you want and give him some experience by making him enter a rebel city. Using spies will help you a lot in your campaign, as you can not only use them to see enemy movements, but you may also have them open the enemy gates during a siege, giving you a great advantage. End the turn and if you have a low amount of money raise the taxes in Rivendell. It will not upgrade in your campaign because it is already large and will need 28 000 more inhabitants before it can upgrade. At the third turn I move my men out of the cities. From Mithlond I send my army north towards Lunelaith and by taking this you can trade directly with the dwarves. If you press on the city details and then on the trade information you can see how much money each city receives from neighbouring cities. By being allied and having trade rights with the dwarves you can now trade with Thorins Halls.
In Harlond I have my men board the ships and move south towards the closest rebel city. You can see which city I am talking about on the picture further down. Because HE has such a poor economy I suggest you do not recruit anyone this turn, unless an OOTMM army is headed towards Rivendell. Now before you end your turn I am going to ask you to change your capital to Mithlond instead of Rivendell. Yes, you will go minus for now, as it costs 5000 to change the capital, but it will be worth it! You can see on your treasury that by changing the capital you will be earning A LOT more money. This turn I was supposed to go from 1400 in treasury to 1200, but instead, by changing the capital I will now be earning 2700 per turn, which means that you will very soon have an economical boost! If you are wondering how to do this I have added a picture below to show you how to do it. Go to constructions and then press on the Show Settlement Details button. Another page will appear and in the left bottom corner, press the small city icon. Your capital will now change! End the turn! The next two turns, move your men further towards their targets and begin the siege of Lunelaith. Remember to move your diplomat and spy as well! people tend to forget about them! Now you should be on turn 6 - 7 and you will notice your economy is improving. I can see now that I will start to earn 2700 each turn now, a massive improvement for earlier on. If you did not change your capital you would probably be in minus now and have a low economy. This shows you how important it is to change the capital! It can decide whether your faction will be poor or wealthy and in the end decide the outcome of your campaign. Your Practice range in Rivendell should also be finished now, allowing you to recruit Norėtirno Warriors. An excellent unit which you will be using quite a lot later in your campaign. If you feel like you are able to win against the Lunelaith rebels then attack now, but beware that you will have a lot of casualties. Your army which had been travelling by ship should now be landing by the rebel city of Eryon Vorn. Look on the picture below if you do not know if its location.
At turn 7 you should be able to construct a blacksmith in Rivendell. A blacksmith can make a lot of difference. If you face an enemy which is originally stronger than your units, but your units have better armour, you can still win the battle because your men can withstand more hits. Look at your treasury. If you have done what I said you will be earning a lot of money by now. Construct a blacksmith or/and a town watch. Remember to recruit more units in all of your cities now that you have a good economy. Your general and his army from Lunelaith should be moved south now. Once you get enough men from your cities in the west, combine all of them and move south towards the rebel cities near the coast. This turn you may also attack Eryn Vorn which should be easy to take. Use your archers and have them empty their quivers before you charge in the city. After the city is taken send your remaining units north towards the small village of Allimir!
Now I think you have a pretty good position in both the west where you have now captured 3 more regions and in Rivendell/Imladris where you have half a stack. In the west I advice you to follow one of these two routes, or both of them if you have enough units. Move your army to the east and capture the wooden castle south of Eriador. By doing so you can soon unite your western regions with Imladris. You can also travel south and take the rebel city near the coast where you will probably receive the most money as it has a trade port which gives the city a decent amount of money. After having taken these cities you could try to attack Isengard, or travel even further sout, taking the remaining rebel settlements before going to war with Isengard. Whatever your choice may be, good luck!
Additional Tips:
- Remember to have your capital in the center of your empire, it can increase your income and can potentially improve the public order as it shortens the distance to the capital.
- Build military buildings in Imladris/Rivendell. The city can only recruit 2 types of units and when facing OOTMM you will need more men then that. Construct a practice range. It will give you some great archer units.
- Recruit lots of spies. They can be used to open enemy gates, allowing you to make a direct attack on a settlement. Having spies also lets you know if another enemy is approaching you.
- You can gain some extra money by demanding money for your map information. Insignificant amount you say? Ask for money every 5 turn and you have gained thousands...
- Sometime blitzing the enemy can be extremely helpful. The enemy is often willing to make peace if you take 2 or more settlements in one turn. Be aware of that this does not work all the time. The AI knows which one of you has the largest military and will take that into account.
- When in battles, remember to use your generals! The great thing about them is that they replenish by themselves and in addition to that, when you use your generals to charge in the battles, they often receive a lot of traits.
- Dont adopt generals if they have less than 3+ command. The only exception is if they chivalry and loyalty is high. Crappy generals dont do anything other then cost you money because of the upkeep.
- When facing OOTMM and Isengard, be sure to take good use of your archers. The Elven archer are far more skilled than any other and can not only shoot from long distance, but also has a great accuracy. If you see a hill, try to take it as quickly as possible. If the enemy has to climb as your archers fire upon them they will flee very quickly as their morale is lowered and they become exhausted.
- If you are really struggling, send half a stack over to the enemy cities, capture one of them and then sack everything for then to destroy all the military buildings. Destroying buildings gives you money so give it a try once.
- Once constructing a building, go into the city description and you can see how much more the city will make if you decide to make that building. That way you can see if the building you are constructing is helping at all.
- Build roads. They give you much tradeable goods as well as a quick route between the cities.
- You can buy other faction`s cities for low prices. This can allow you to slowly defeat a faction, but through diplomacy. Remember that castles go for less then cities.
- After you kingdom grows, you will have to rely on watchtowers to watch your borders because you can not recruit a lot of spies.
-The High Elves have a palantir in Elostirion. NEVER USE IT! If you will, the "Elves leave Middle-Earth" event happens, which means that you will lose many citizens from your settlements.
Archers:
The first archer unit which is available to the High Elves faction is the Bow Quendi unit. Even though they are your early era archers they are still much better then most other archer units. They can shoot from a far distance and with a good accuracy. In melee they do ok, but against heavy infantry they can not do much. If an enemy unit is charging your archers the best advice I can give is to counter attack them. If you do not have time to fire another volley, hold the Alt key and right click on the enemy. This will make the archers go melee giving your some charge points. The next unit is the Norėtirno Warriors which happens to be my favorite archer class. They can fire from even further distances as well as they can defeat infantry units easily, that is my experience. They are not costly and thus a great unit for your armies. You can have lots of them and the upkeep will not kill your economy. The last unit which is also the most elite, is the Eldarin Archers. Their stats are amazing and even though they are only archers they can beat nearly all elite troops of other factions because they both use bow and arrows as well as their amazing melee skills to defeat the enemy. The only downside is that the recruitment cost is pretty high, but I still recommend you have atleast 1 or 2 of them in your army. Look on the picture below for more information!
Infantry:
To be honest you do not need any other units other then the Sword Quendi. It is really strange, because even though they are the first units you can recruit, they are also incredibly good. With a 10 attack rate and 14 defence rate they can often defeat enemy heavy infantry. I still think the stats lie a bit, although I know the stats are the right ones, they seem to be wrong because when facing low rated units like armed peasents they sometimes use a very long time before they can win and have several casualties. Ofcourse we must take the surroundings into account and it seems that when your general is near your men they fight better. That reminds me of another thing. You must remember to use your general`s special trait when in battle! The traits will help you a lot. The Lindon spears are ok, but they are also vulnerable to archers and it is maybe for that reason why the AI archers tend to aim at these units even though they are in the back of the line. Now, the Mithlond nobles are only recruitable in Mithlond and are thus very rare, which is understandable because of their ability to hold off any enemy for an extremely long time. I once bought one unit of these and I tell you they can hold off an entire army by themselves. I recommend recruiting 1 or perhaps 2 of these units because the money is definitely worth it! The cheaper type, but which is also very similar to the Mithlond Nobles are the Eldarin Spearmen. Their stats are just a bit lower and they cost as well. The Eldarin Swords is by far my favorite unit because they both look amazing as well as they can not be defeated by other units except for Sauron or Mumakilz. The prize is a bit high, but it is worth it. With three or four of these units you can defeat huge armies! The Eregion Smiths are good, but way too expensive in my opinion. Look on the picture below for more information!
Cavalry:
My cavalry section of the army consits almost only of the Norėtirno Cavalry, which are fast cavalry units able to defend themselves even against spearmen, and the Imladris Riders who are as you can tell by the picture archers on horse. They can fire from long distances delivering great damage to the enemy units. You are lucky to have one if you are in a open field, but if you are besieged they can not do much to help you and will be easy targets for the enemy. The two latter cavalry types are simply too expensive for me, but I sometimes like to have Eldarin Lancers because they have such good defence rate and can actually stay in battle rather then having to retreat and hit like most cavalry units. Look on the picture below for more information!
The pictures used above are from brandybarrel`s Palantir Unit Guide which you can find Here!
Anyways, I hope you have liked my guide and please comment if you have any questions or ideas!
High Elves - Campaign Guide for H/H & VH/VH
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Re: High Elves - Campaign Guide for H/H & VH/VH
the Elves leave Middle Earth even simply means some of your inhabitants in the west will leave. Your cities will just have a few less inhabitants then if you did not use the Palantir. It should not make much of a difference, though you will be earning just a little less money, but as you capture more regions you will have more and more money so do not worry! 
Originally Posted by Bowmaster
Maybe it is because I use my navy quite a lot.
