Killing Indi Commanders

[Immaculate]

If i attack an independent province and kill the commanders before being driven off, can i attack again the next turn with like a scout or something and win the province? I mean, will they all just run away?

[Squirrelloid]

Originally Posted by Immaculate

If i attack an independent province and kill the commanders before being driven off, can i attack again the next turn with like a scout or something and win the province? I mean, will they all just run away?

If you kill *all* the indie commanders, then yes, they will just run away. They are not PD and do not spawn a commander each battle.

[Knai]

Originally Posted by Squirrelloid

If you kill *all* the indie commanders, then yes, they will just run away. They are not PD and do not spawn a commander each battle.

Nations with decent assassins can actually use this to their advantage, though the vast majority of the time it isn't worth it. Plus, its not uncommon for nations with assassins to also have some ridiculously powerful troops. Abysia and its starting armies, for instance.

[brxbrx]

Yeah, with assassins, it's tough because indie provinces usually have several commanders, you never know exactly how many, and your assassin will always find a target: once actual commanders run out, he'll start targeting generic indie commanders that don't technically exist.

[Foodstamp]

Originally Posted by brxbrx

once actual commanders run out, he'll start targeting generic indie commanders that don't technically exist.

That's incorrect. Once all the indie commanders are killed, he will get a message that says "So and So could not find any suitable targets". It works the same way for seduction and lure as well.

[brxbrx]

Originally Posted by Foodstamp

That's incorrect. Once all the indie commanders are killed, he will get a message that says "So and So could not find any suitable targets". It works the same way for seduction and lure as well.

Really? Are you sure? Because I've spent many a season trying to clear a province of indie commanders

[LDiCesare]

I agree with FoodStamp. Once all indy commanders are killed, the assassin stays idle and kills nobody, which means it's time for him to single-handedly rout the 440 heavy infantries and archers staying there alone.
Still very very inefficient.

[Fantomen]

I've used assassins to compliment expansion a few times. To maximize the time effectiveness you need a couple scouts, first attack and retreat so you can check how many commanders you need to kill, and then to take the province the same turn you kill the last commander. If you're a blood nation you can give the assassin some blood slaves, used as chaff in the assassination battles.

[Corinthian]

Expanding with assassins can actually work. But you need to memorize how many commanders a specific indy type have.

The best ones to attack this way is the Woodsmen indies. (Not the dark vine once. Oh God no.) Because they only ever have one commander. Normal Tribe indies are also fine because they always have two commanders. Never use this tactic against generic indies because they can have a random number of commanders. And they often have as many as 4 of them.

This could be an excellent use of an abyssian Slayer prophet btw.

[LDiCesare]

Expanding with assassins works, but it usually means you recruit assassins instead of mages, and it's quite slow.
So it's actually useful if:
-your assassins are mages (e.g. LA Abyssia)
-you are broke and can't afford a mage this turn but can buy an assassin
-you start with an assassin
-you got a free fort where you can't build mages yet but can build assassins
-you found the site that allows you to recruit assassins.
I suppose the assassin mercenary may also be worth buying in order to do this.

Anyone can see other cases where it would be efficient?