Post by jrdsandstorm on Jul 13, 2017 23:30:33 GMT
I got a new phone when I was almost complete with EW5, and so I started a new run, using a different set of generals and here's my takeaways. Note that these are my opinions and observations and may not be entirely true for everyone. No IAP.
First Run: My first acquisition was Caesar, and I spent many medals upgrading Hannibal's bravery to like level 7 or 8, and many medals upgrading Caesar's heal to 6 and his bravery to like 5. I also upgraded Joan's heal to 6. All of this was completed before reaching Age 4. Going into Age 4 I thought the game was rather easy, but my luck was just about to change. My lineup going into Age 4: Caesar (heal 6, bravery 5), Alexander, Hannibal (bravery 7 or 8), Robin Hood, Joan (heal 6), Barbarossa, Saladin (Logistics 3), and Lincoln [4 stars]. Age 4 was the toughest campaign wise and I spent a lot of time here grinding. In order to pass Age 4 I bought and upgraded Nobunaga (highly recommended from this forum) to 4 stars and level 6 debuffs. That wasn't enough however and so I grinded more to get the Paladin Sword, completing the set. I made it out of Age 5 with the help of a fully decked out Nobunaga and Bismarck. Age 5 was not nearly as hard as Age 4 in comparison to my available lineup (maybe the excessive grinding helped) and this is where I left off to switch phones.
Lessons from first run: 1) Hannibal sucks. His stats aren't that great and while bravery is a neat ability, Saladin's logistics is a far superior ability, and his stats are much better. 2) Nobunaga is a must have general, his debuffs make getting through the tough generals of age 4 actually possible. 3) Having a strong artillery general makes a bigger difference than an extra strong cavalry or infantry general, as you can focus on the objectives and burst them down faster, ignoring turns worth of damage as you sit hacking at walls and castles. 4) Grind earlier rather than later if you don't think you can do it. Spend a couple of days gathering medals when you hit 15 per mission and you'll save yourself a lot of trouble later on because your generals will be better upgraded.
Second run (halfway through Age 4 so far): I focused heavily on using Alexander, knowing he would become my primary infantry general and apart of the final lineup. I immediately upgraded his spy to level 6. While I promoted Hannibal to 2 stars, and robin to 3 stars, that's as far as they came. I didn't spend any more medals than I needed to pass the campaigns. I chose not to even get Joan of arc until later because her stats are terrible. I did get Barbarossa, but I didn't upgraded him at all. As soon as I could (near the end of Age 2 I think) I bought Li Shimin, having learned the importance of a good artillery general, and knowing his strong potential and the strength of logistics late game. Once I hit Age 3 I grinded a bit to buy and upgrade Nobunaga with level 6 debuffs. I also got Saladin this age as well. Being minimalistic with my spending made this run a lot faster and more efficient. Upon hitting Age 4 I promoted in this order: Nobunaga, Li Shimin, Saladin, Alexander. The other generals I left behind. Knowing that Robin Hood gets replaced by Catherine who is marginally better but costs coins, I ditched him and bought her. Once again I hit a stone wall in Age 4, but this time I spent my remaining medals on orienting my play around Saladin. I upgraded his logistics to 6 and his active rage to 8 (more on this later). I also upgraded Li's logistics to 7 as I was having problems with sustain (running only 4 4-star generals doesn't give you a lot of health to work with). My attack strategy goes like this: Nobunaga focuses on debuffing generals and killing Tercios. Alexander jumps into a group of enemies and applies his defense debuff, allowing Saladin to swoop in and easily kill 4 or 5 enemies a turn. If anyone has more than 600 hp, Catherine takes a shot at them and allows Saladin to kill em. Li stays back and only moves in to clear paths through walls or take out objectives. The remaining idiots- I mean the rest of my generals, just mill about and either protect objective points or are meat shields for Li and Nobu. Constantly killing enemies gives Saladin several attacks per turn which charges his rage extremely fast, which is why I upgraded his active so high. He can actually get triple kills with a single attack pretty often. Right now I am on Great Patriot 3 which is my least favorite mission in the game because of the huge masses of enemies and a broken af enemy cavalry general.
TL;DR 1) Li > Caesar for starting general. 2) Artillery wins missions. 3) Nobunaga is essential to any lineup. 4) Keep end game in mind, be frugal with your medals, you don't need to carry any blue tier generals past Age 2, age 3 ain't that hard if you careful and you got good artillery. 5) Sustain > Stats
First Run: My first acquisition was Caesar, and I spent many medals upgrading Hannibal's bravery to like level 7 or 8, and many medals upgrading Caesar's heal to 6 and his bravery to like 5. I also upgraded Joan's heal to 6. All of this was completed before reaching Age 4. Going into Age 4 I thought the game was rather easy, but my luck was just about to change. My lineup going into Age 4: Caesar (heal 6, bravery 5), Alexander, Hannibal (bravery 7 or 8), Robin Hood, Joan (heal 6), Barbarossa, Saladin (Logistics 3), and Lincoln [4 stars]. Age 4 was the toughest campaign wise and I spent a lot of time here grinding. In order to pass Age 4 I bought and upgraded Nobunaga (highly recommended from this forum) to 4 stars and level 6 debuffs. That wasn't enough however and so I grinded more to get the Paladin Sword, completing the set. I made it out of Age 5 with the help of a fully decked out Nobunaga and Bismarck. Age 5 was not nearly as hard as Age 4 in comparison to my available lineup (maybe the excessive grinding helped) and this is where I left off to switch phones.
Lessons from first run: 1) Hannibal sucks. His stats aren't that great and while bravery is a neat ability, Saladin's logistics is a far superior ability, and his stats are much better. 2) Nobunaga is a must have general, his debuffs make getting through the tough generals of age 4 actually possible. 3) Having a strong artillery general makes a bigger difference than an extra strong cavalry or infantry general, as you can focus on the objectives and burst them down faster, ignoring turns worth of damage as you sit hacking at walls and castles. 4) Grind earlier rather than later if you don't think you can do it. Spend a couple of days gathering medals when you hit 15 per mission and you'll save yourself a lot of trouble later on because your generals will be better upgraded.
Second run (halfway through Age 4 so far): I focused heavily on using Alexander, knowing he would become my primary infantry general and apart of the final lineup. I immediately upgraded his spy to level 6. While I promoted Hannibal to 2 stars, and robin to 3 stars, that's as far as they came. I didn't spend any more medals than I needed to pass the campaigns. I chose not to even get Joan of arc until later because her stats are terrible. I did get Barbarossa, but I didn't upgraded him at all. As soon as I could (near the end of Age 2 I think) I bought Li Shimin, having learned the importance of a good artillery general, and knowing his strong potential and the strength of logistics late game. Once I hit Age 3 I grinded a bit to buy and upgrade Nobunaga with level 6 debuffs. I also got Saladin this age as well. Being minimalistic with my spending made this run a lot faster and more efficient. Upon hitting Age 4 I promoted in this order: Nobunaga, Li Shimin, Saladin, Alexander. The other generals I left behind. Knowing that Robin Hood gets replaced by Catherine who is marginally better but costs coins, I ditched him and bought her. Once again I hit a stone wall in Age 4, but this time I spent my remaining medals on orienting my play around Saladin. I upgraded his logistics to 6 and his active rage to 8 (more on this later). I also upgraded Li's logistics to 7 as I was having problems with sustain (running only 4 4-star generals doesn't give you a lot of health to work with). My attack strategy goes like this: Nobunaga focuses on debuffing generals and killing Tercios. Alexander jumps into a group of enemies and applies his defense debuff, allowing Saladin to swoop in and easily kill 4 or 5 enemies a turn. If anyone has more than 600 hp, Catherine takes a shot at them and allows Saladin to kill em. Li stays back and only moves in to clear paths through walls or take out objectives. The remaining idiots- I mean the rest of my generals, just mill about and either protect objective points or are meat shields for Li and Nobu. Constantly killing enemies gives Saladin several attacks per turn which charges his rage extremely fast, which is why I upgraded his active so high. He can actually get triple kills with a single attack pretty often. Right now I am on Great Patriot 3 which is my least favorite mission in the game because of the huge masses of enemies and a broken af enemy cavalry general.
TL;DR 1) Li > Caesar for starting general. 2) Artillery wins missions. 3) Nobunaga is essential to any lineup. 4) Keep end game in mind, be frugal with your medals, you don't need to carry any blue tier generals past Age 2, age 3 ain't that hard if you careful and you got good artillery. 5) Sustain > Stats
