Free to Play, No Grinding Path to Victory

I took some time grinding between Rise in America and Sun Never Sets. I wasn't grinding for medals, rank, or nobility but I was grinding for tavern refreshes.

My goals:
Isabella, 5 Stars artillery, 2 Stars navy
Lan, 5 Stars cavalry, 5 Stars training, 2
Stars navy
Sakurko, 5 Stars movement

For Sakurako I used my emblems to get Merveldt. Since move trainers are the most expensive and Victoria will be my Final slot general , this was a great move.

Finding the navy trainers took forever. I was able to add Dietz to Lan once, a pleasant add but not really needed. Once I got the final navy trainer I added Victoria.

The first 3 land missions for SNS were easy. I then used Lan to go back and get as many naval items as possible, trotski's items guide was a big help. 3 bow chasers, 2 figureheads, and 2 propellers made those middle 3 naval missions a piece of cake.

The last 4 missions are the real meat of the game. I traded back my naval items, repurchased regular items, and have enough left over to get two Dragon flags for Sakurako. I want to believe that they make a difference, but honestly can't see it yet. 😔

Just one more final push to go!

Final Analysis- what a long strange trip it's been

A few thoughts in no particular older:

1. Medals
I actually found the 4 general free to play run easier and more fun than my 9 general slots, mostly unlimited medals (10500 purchased) run. The 4 general run was helped along by watching the free commercials, though I think the medals earned we're far less than 10000. I think the major difference is that with 4 generals nobility and rank increase much faster, though Even at the end I didn't have any max generals.

2. Items
In my first post I wrote, "Wait until you have Lan at 5 Stars before purchasing items." That was terrible advice. As soon as you have a 3 star trader, you can start buying medals. The savings are not worth the wait.

Once you do have a 5 star trader, you should engage in mission specific item changing. Trotzki's item guide is a big help. I used 3 campaign save slots to save at shops with naval items so I could buy and sell them quickly. With the full stock of naval items (2 propellers, 2 figureheads, 3 bow chasers + 2 snare drums) your 2 star naval generals become as powerful as Admiral Nelson. The dreaded SNS naval missions we're a piece of cake.

3. Princesses
The 4 slot game requires some re-analysis of the Princess generals.

My first posts on this forum we're about how valuable Fatima was, maybe even being the best general. In the 4 slot game I used all my generals for fighting and found that it wasn't any more difficult. Her War Master skill is useful, but her weak attack made it much less useful. Also, when generals are regrouped, the game seems to extract a tax on their medals. So building up Fatima and then regrouping her doesn't really provide a big bonus.

On the other hand, I previously only used Kate on naval units, but in the 4 slot game She did some work on artillery and was effective. Her movement and training Stars alone make her and above average general.

Sophia vs. Sakurako for a final slot was a big dilemma I talked about previously. I think Sophias value in campaigns is distorted by how awesome She is in conquests. Spy is an extremely useful skill in conquests, yet in campaigns, not so much. Very few fort objectives have to be taken. Also, Sophia rocks on the top units (Guard cavalry, Rockets, Siege Cannon). Most of these units are no longer available in later campaigns as either units to add generals or build without using Stars to upgrade. Finally, Sophia begs for a lot of trainers, while Sakurako is perfect out of the box.
It is kind of useless to rate most generals because they all have their good points and bad points (we all love Agha, right?) and can be improved by training (that's how Berthier, one of the worst becomes the best). But here it goes, untrained Princess rankings:
Lan
Isabella
Victoria
Sakurako
Sophia
Kate
Fatima
Maria (very much an average general)

4. Training
I rigorously held to my plan of changing generals after a campaign and only using the Princesses to complete campaign missions. I overlooked something obvious- trainers can be useful generals too! Kutaisov, Gazan, Diez, Quesdonivah, and Merveldt are all pretty good and with the help of your items can win campaigns. Getting Isabella and Lan up to 5 Stars is a huge help and there's no need to wait until the final missions. Sakurako can also soak up a lot of trainers. Elphinstone is very mission specific, so while a valuable trainer, you can't really use him in your stable.
My biggest regret is that I didn't train Sakurako more, but in the end it wasn't really a big deal.

5. Grinding
Judge not lest you be judged yourself.
I do have a big problem with save and loading scenarios to build rank, nobility, and medals. I think it's almost disrespectful to the game. That being said, it's really unavoidable at some points,lol! Sometimes you just need a little push. The grinds I did:
Grind medals to build rank and nobility to get Lan.
Grind Lans rank up to 40 hp
Grind trainers before SNS to get everyone at 2 Stars navy (before adding Victoria)
All 3 grinds could have been avoided- replay a conquest for Lan, use medals to build rank, start training earlier, etc. I guess the important thing is to have fun, so if grinding isn't a chore, you should go for it. I will say that my final general ranks and nobilities were:
Victoria 86/5
Lan 125/8 (Sophia regrouped)
Sakurako 110/7
Isabella 110/7
My point is that max rank and nobility isn't really that important to completing the game. However, if you have the medals spending 3600 to max out your new general is the best deal in the game. It's much, much more expensive to grade level by level. Once you get to 125/8 the max price starts to drop, meaning that the game essentially gives you buy 1 get 1 free medals if you do it in the beginning.

6. The Final Challenge
My last challenge will be maxing out my generals. I have traded in most items for 2 On Wars, Art of Wars, Crowns, and Sceptres. Compulsively changing items for the smallest advantage is both fun and infuriating (where the f did I hide my War horse was probably the most common thought I had during the game). Now that it's over, I will just leave those items on my team and play without changing.

7. Thanks to all the board members for their help, especially trotzki. I really wish picard would come by, He had many brilliant insights.

littlecorporal, You said that -

Conquests do not give you bonus medals, the Princess is your reward. In general by not skipping the AI's turn you will get 2 medals each round, or about 60 medals per conquest.



5×60 + 7560 = 7860

Is it true? But how?

Good analysis littlecorporal,

littlecorporal, you can keep the other related threads here so that it will be easy to view them. Only the relavent ones.

Question: Do I have to use Britain in order to get the Asian princess generals? I manage to get 33 turns in conquest using HRE and have conquered Asia for 300 years using 5 star Isabella, 5 star Sophia and regular Maria (merged Maria with Isabella and use the space to train Isabella), but I still can't unlock Sukaroko, I have finished HRE campaign (although the last few campaign got 3 stars mostly).

Should I start buying Items now or should I try again to get Sakuroko?

Got Sakurako after another try and getting sub 30 (29 turns, at my current state with eastern overlord completed only grants 450 years in Asia) with HRE since I find HRE to be the easiest with the guide (although I modified the general placement with Sophia on the Siege Artillery), probably because I dont play other conquest that much. Although i may have spend quite a few thousands on some trainers (like Gazan, which costs quite a bit) but at least I now have 2 5* arty generals. Fortunately I have enough medals to get some good items like the War Horse which made Sakurako a menance.