In Flames We Trust
I'm back! I decided to start playing this again while on break from college. I've managed to get my capture card to work and can stream on Twitch.
I don't have much new information, but I'll provide some of my thoughts based on my current playthrough where I'm about 15-25% done with Imperia.
- My previous strategy of keeping my heroes' levels as low as possible and firing units after moving to a new region doesn't seem to be very fast. Simply using the heroes when it would be faster and keeping units seems to be fastest. This way I don't have to worry about new recruits not having useful skills like combo attacks.
- It might be faster to complete The Wyrd league in Mordare instead of The Dead of Night. I would have to recruit 2 non-human classes to do this, which could be a combination of a bear, mongrel shaman, or wolf. None of them are great for speedrunning in the long run, so I'd probably just fire them right after finishing the league. Advantages of doing this include giving less experience to gladiators and therefore lower levels for my gladiators and my enemies, not having to worry about arriving at night (The Dead of Night is only available at night), and it's far easier and probably faster. One disadvantage though is that I don't get Taithleach the undead summoner. He isn't a very good class, but he is an arcane class, at least one of which (but preferably 2) is required to beat the game. I could recruit a channeler, normal summoner, or maybe even a mongrel shaman to do this battle, but I'm unsure if they'll be available when needed, and getting them earlier will result in them being very underleveled since they are not as powerful or fast as other gladiators.
- Getting centurions early (around level 3-4) will make them level up easier, so they can acquire combo attacks, but until they get the combo attacks they're rather weak and slow. Maybe it would be worth it in the long run, or maybe it would be worth relying on other units and recruiting centurions (or samnites) when they are at a level where combo attacks are unlocked.
- Secutors are awesome with surprise attack. They work extremely well against amazons, especially if they're female. Getting multiple might be a good idea.
- Leveling up Ursula to 3 before the rest of your gladiators will make the one battle in Trial of the Elders way easier, since the yeti will be the same level as her rather than higher. However, the other battles require all participants to be level 3 or higher, so more battles will have to be done before the league can be completed.
- The damage reduction accessory for barbarians makes its user very hard to kill. It is essential for completing the tough battle in The Duel league in Roanor, where you fight a samnite one level higher than your school. Equipping Urlan with this will normally result in victory. You obtain one as a prize from some battle or league in Nordagh. Equipping Ursula with one is also a good option, since she can unlock Awareness which negates bonuses from side/back attacks.
- After unlocking Iaar, immediately equip him with one of the 2 equally powerful weapons in your inventory, along with the supreme critical accessory.
- Purchasing the most powerful weapons in a region as early as possible would likely save a lot of time. All of the most powerful weapons in Nordagh can either be purchased in Orin's Keep, or in Iaar's case is obtained from winning battles. Money is potentially an issue, but I might be able to buy them right after gaining the ability to travel, especially if I sell my gladiators' armor and useless stuff won from battles.
- In Nordagh, besides the 2 quickly fired non-human units, I only hire 2 gungnirs and Iaar. I don't see any need to hire bandits, barbarians, or berserkers. Maybe hiring another gungnir or 2 would be beneficial? A battle where I just annihilate melee enemies at long distance would be pretty awesome.
- Rather than unlocking Combo Attack 2 and Combo Attack 4, I could try Combo Attack 1 and Combo Attack 3. This way I could use Combo Attack 3, and have enough action points to use Combo Attack 1 on my next turn, dealing more damage. However, unlocking Combo Attack 2 early in the game gives a huge early advantage and really speeds up the beginning of the game.
- When I buy Caltha equipment in Imperia, I need to remember to buy fire affinity weapons, since a league in the Southern Expanse requires fire affinity gladiators. It would also be a good idea to know which gladiators I would be making fire affinity at pro level, so I can invest in fire affinity attacks rather than some other affinity.
Those are my thoughts for now. I stream somewhat often now that I know how haha. Let me know if you have any questions or advice!!
I don't have much new information, but I'll provide some of my thoughts based on my current playthrough where I'm about 15-25% done with Imperia.
- My previous strategy of keeping my heroes' levels as low as possible and firing units after moving to a new region doesn't seem to be very fast. Simply using the heroes when it would be faster and keeping units seems to be fastest. This way I don't have to worry about new recruits not having useful skills like combo attacks.
- It might be faster to complete The Wyrd league in Mordare instead of The Dead of Night. I would have to recruit 2 non-human classes to do this, which could be a combination of a bear, mongrel shaman, or wolf. None of them are great for speedrunning in the long run, so I'd probably just fire them right after finishing the league. Advantages of doing this include giving less experience to gladiators and therefore lower levels for my gladiators and my enemies, not having to worry about arriving at night (The Dead of Night is only available at night), and it's far easier and probably faster. One disadvantage though is that I don't get Taithleach the undead summoner. He isn't a very good class, but he is an arcane class, at least one of which (but preferably 2) is required to beat the game. I could recruit a channeler, normal summoner, or maybe even a mongrel shaman to do this battle, but I'm unsure if they'll be available when needed, and getting them earlier will result in them being very underleveled since they are not as powerful or fast as other gladiators.
- Getting centurions early (around level 3-4) will make them level up easier, so they can acquire combo attacks, but until they get the combo attacks they're rather weak and slow. Maybe it would be worth it in the long run, or maybe it would be worth relying on other units and recruiting centurions (or samnites) when they are at a level where combo attacks are unlocked.
- Secutors are awesome with surprise attack. They work extremely well against amazons, especially if they're female. Getting multiple might be a good idea.
- Leveling up Ursula to 3 before the rest of your gladiators will make the one battle in Trial of the Elders way easier, since the yeti will be the same level as her rather than higher. However, the other battles require all participants to be level 3 or higher, so more battles will have to be done before the league can be completed.
- The damage reduction accessory for barbarians makes its user very hard to kill. It is essential for completing the tough battle in The Duel league in Roanor, where you fight a samnite one level higher than your school. Equipping Urlan with this will normally result in victory. You obtain one as a prize from some battle or league in Nordagh. Equipping Ursula with one is also a good option, since she can unlock Awareness which negates bonuses from side/back attacks.
- After unlocking Iaar, immediately equip him with one of the 2 equally powerful weapons in your inventory, along with the supreme critical accessory.
- Purchasing the most powerful weapons in a region as early as possible would likely save a lot of time. All of the most powerful weapons in Nordagh can either be purchased in Orin's Keep, or in Iaar's case is obtained from winning battles. Money is potentially an issue, but I might be able to buy them right after gaining the ability to travel, especially if I sell my gladiators' armor and useless stuff won from battles.
- In Nordagh, besides the 2 quickly fired non-human units, I only hire 2 gungnirs and Iaar. I don't see any need to hire bandits, barbarians, or berserkers. Maybe hiring another gungnir or 2 would be beneficial? A battle where I just annihilate melee enemies at long distance would be pretty awesome.
- Rather than unlocking Combo Attack 2 and Combo Attack 4, I could try Combo Attack 1 and Combo Attack 3. This way I could use Combo Attack 3, and have enough action points to use Combo Attack 1 on my next turn, dealing more damage. However, unlocking Combo Attack 2 early in the game gives a huge early advantage and really speeds up the beginning of the game.
- When I buy Caltha equipment in Imperia, I need to remember to buy fire affinity weapons, since a league in the Southern Expanse requires fire affinity gladiators. It would also be a good idea to know which gladiators I would be making fire affinity at pro level, so I can invest in fire affinity attacks rather than some other affinity.
Those are my thoughts for now. I stream somewhat often now that I know how haha. Let me know if you have any questions or advice!!