I have never won a sp game...

[sushiboat]

Naresh, I still don't know much about how you play. Are you relying mostly on national troops? Are you getting a good gem income? What spells or items do you use to decide what to research? Do you build forts? Have you ever used a supercombatant (SC)? Do you recruit at least one mage per turn? What scales do you use? What is the Pretender design you have been using recently?

Go to the Illwinter Maps website and download the Talis map. Pick an opponent (Abysia, Ulm, Man, and Jotunheim are all fine), pick your own nation, and stick with that setup until you win a few games.

As for PD, I would recommend 11 in every province, when you can afford it. The AI knows how large your total army is. PD counts toward your total army size. Having a relatively large army can deter the AI from starting an early war with you. PD 11 also has a chance of discovering stealthy units.

[High_Priest_Naresh]

I use PD 10, I usually use either some one with cheap magic if their nation has very few magic paths maybe for like abysia maybe a dragon or pheonix,
I rely heavily on national troops(the ones you can only build at forts...)
they are about the only kind of army I use apart from if I find a really cool thing like trodgolites or woods men I usually use them.
with ulm I use quite a few sc a few lord guardians kitted out to the max give them a small army of black plate and their off!
I usually recruit 1 mage a turn, and if I'm not building another army I build some sacreds and give them to a priest
I usually take turmoil 1 magic 2-3 luck 1--1
fortesses or black keeps?
high prductivity or growth

[High_Priest_Naresh]

oh yeah I use alot and I mean alot! of archers!

[Endoperez]

Do you use much magic in combat? As an example, do your Ulmish master smiths use Earth Power, Blade Wind, Magma Bolts, Magma Eruption? Do youuse shortbows with Ulmish troops (they can't hurt Ulmish units through their armor)? Have you summoned Troll King's Court, Kings of Elemental Earth, Mechanical Men, Iron Dragons or Living Statues (last one fron Enliven statues)?

About scales: High order would give lots of gold, which might help you. Luck is fun, but you can't count on it, especially if you don't use Conceptual Scales mod.

Try different extremes. If you know them, you can try to use just enough of each of them to get most out of everything.
Try Oracle with Astral 5 and go for scales and castle. Try a no-magic Wyrm or Manticore, and remember that death costs nothing. Try Wyrm or Manticore with some magic for spells (pick one: fire shield; breat of winter and quickness; mistform and mirror image, iron skin and earth power (fatique removal); personal regeneration; luck, body ethereal, astral shield, astral weapon) and try to find out their limits. Try heavy-bless pretender for Jotunheim: W9 Son of Niefel or N9E4 Great Mother with fast-building castle (3 turns at max) and recruit lots of Jotun Jarls. Try summoning crazy hordes of Vine Ogres. Take high-Earth pretender and research enchantment just for Enlive Statues. Choose less Earth and go for Mechanical men/Iron Dragons. Try using uniques as combatants as early as possible.

[shovah]

try forge of the ancients and earth blood deep well with ulm if u can get them

[Molog]

Just take the ashen empire or soul gate theme with Ermor, dominion 9, turmoil sloth cold luck and magic at 3 with a lich queen with various magic paths and you should easily win against the AI.

[Morkilus]

I'm not sure why, but I love to play Ulm, and am having a blast in the current SP game I'm in. There's just something about having those Mictlan slaves pile up around my half-dozen crossbowmen and then get driven off... then ambushing the main army with the ever-effective Black Knight horde. Sometimes I can tell where the AI will attack based on the attractiveness of the province and how much PD or other armies are currently there. Then I just send one of my big armies to cut them off. (I might be imagining too much, let me know if I am) I suppose we are playing different styles since you heavily use magic and archers; I took the Drain route so I could play with the Black Steel armies. The screwy strategy I started with is working nicely; I have a 2-Astral, 7-Blood Blood Fountain, and quickly found those red Amazons that can use Blood magic. I found out soon that my high Order scales allowed me to hunt for slaves without affecting my Unrest too much, and I'm having fun unleashing various devils and fallen angels.

It's wise to stick with a strategy that sounds reasonable from the beginning, but make sure to take opportunities when they arrive. I know I got lucky finding that Amazon tribe, and the game would have gone differently if I hadn't. That's what's awesome about this game; you don't have to play it the same every time, and the game continually urges you to try new things depending on what you discover in the first dozen turns.

[shovah]

ulm+gift of reason+fully tooled up seige golem (or 5)nuff said. and i reallydo enjoy the forge of ancients with ulm and it also suits them( for mictain killing get something with high health and reasonable protection then give it a main gauche ( or summit or other 6def weapon ) a golden shield, a horror helmet,jade armour, winged shoes, ring of the warrior and lycan amulet( for non lifeless ) or something good for something like a golem.(or if you have the forge up try a few of anything tough ( even banelords work ) with the etheral robe thing/invunrability robe, winged shoes, horror helm, gate cleaver and miscs of your choice ( makes a gr8 SC hunter or if you can find something living give it a lycan amulet and watch it tear things up )

[NTJedi]

High_Priest_Naresh said:
I use PD 10, I usually use either some one with cheap magic if their nation has very few magic paths maybe for like abysia maybe a dragon or pheonix,

Try setting up your pretender with 3 or 4 magic paths which are level 4 or higher. This will give your blessed troops bonuses in battle and allow you to search for magic sites. Higher province defense helps discourage the AI from attacking.

High_Priest_Naresh said:
I rely heavily on national troops(the ones you can only build at forts...)

Now here's your main problem... troops bought from castles require a gold upkeep. Troops which are summoned from spells usually cost nothing... thus more gold allows for more mages which gives magic sites and more finished research which give more summoned troops. By turn 35/40 you should be leading all the AIs on research.

High_Priest_Naresh said:
they are about the only kind of army I use apart from if I find a really cool thing like trodgolites or woods men I usually use them.

If used right the trogolodytes can be great... just make sure the enemy archers aren't shooting at them during the start of battle. Woodsmen?? If you're talking about the archers which are available in provinces with druids these fellas are not that great. I recommend a 2/3 crossbow and 1/3 regular archer... longbowmen are good too. Also search for the archer types which cost the most resources... their armor(protection) will be better.

High_Priest_Naresh said:
I usually recruit 1 mage a turn, and if I'm not building another army I build some sacreds and give them to a priest
I usually take turmoil 1 magic 2-3 luck 1--1
fortesses or black keeps?
high prductivity or growth

Only in the very beginning do I use castle-type troops unless I have a good blessing bonus... even then it's not my main army source. Learn spells like Pale Riders(D), Enliven Statues(E), Mechanical Men(E), Vine Ogres(N), Bind Fiend(B), Bind Devil(B), Winter Wolves(W), and I'm sure I missed some. Unlike the troops you buy these troops will never flee and are built much stronger and tougher than almost any unit bought... plus pound for pound they're good for the gems spent.

[Wyatt Hebert]

Having played Ulm quite a bit, I have a few remarks to give you.

1) Jotunheim is a really bad matchup for you. High Cold adds to your fatigue problem, and they have the Strength to blow right through your armor, and you can't kill them nearly as fast.

2) My recommendation for troops is fairly simple. Go with the 10G 24R Morningstar troop (NOT the Black Plate guy). Produce 5 or so a turn, and a set of like 30 of these guys can typically eat through most provinces... 60 can chew through lots of stuff.

3) Watch out for any kind of magic issue. Your resistance is pathetic.

4) Master Smiths are immune to the Drain Scale, so get 120 extra points by maxing that out. I would recommend Order 1/2, Production 2/3, and Drain 3, at the very least. If you can get Order 2, Prod 3, you can pump out troops rather quickly.

5) Mercenaries are excellent for early expansion, and a few of them can be excellent even late game. Use them.

6) Use good summons, and keep looking for sites. For Ulm, I would recommend researching Thaumaturgy 2 immediately (to be able to use Gnome Lore), and then working on Conjuration or Enchantment (depending on your Pretender).

Those are my first thoughts on how to build a game that is stacked in your favor. I personally avoid ever taking Turmoil or Unlucky, and only like taking Death as Ermor. And, yes, I agree that Soul Gate Ermor will typically cream the computers barring early mistakes or problems.

Wyatt