Tips for newbs - just add

[DonCorazon]

Need to bid high for mercenaries in MP - its not like SP where you can get them for just a buck or two over the asking price.

Watch your supplies - starving units have heavy morale penalties. You can click a unit and push S to grab any starving units. Use that to separate them from the rest of your army and/or to send them somewhere with enough supplies to feed them before they start getting diseased. Be especially careful with large units like elephants.

Try and get astral mages to accompany your armies. You need them in the mid to late game to protect yourself from getting Mind Hunted.

Realize at some point your conventional troops will be less important than SCs and powerful mages. You should have some strategy for getting SCs, such as Tartarians and Elemental Royalty.

If you are playing against a nation with assassins, protect your commanders with bodyguards.

[NTJedi]

The light calvary from independents has been discussed on the forums as Ironhawk has mentioned and the majority agree their cost is too high within the official game.

4 in any magic path for your pretender gives your blessed units a special bonus.

Play large maps with VP provinces so the game can finish within a more realistic timeframe.

[moderation]

In your diplomatic dealings with other players, insist on clarity, even if it requires a lot of back and forth yammering. This reduces the possibility of future misunderstandings.

However it also increases the possibility that people will get sick of PMing with you and ignore you entirely. It is a rather fine line.

[AreaOfEffect]

If your about to lose your castle to a much larger force then you can handle and you still have a nearby province, break the siege early and retreat.

If they storm the castle then anyone who survives the battle will die anyhow. If you break the siege then those that retreat will appear in nearby provinces you control.

DO NOT do this if your castle is surrounded by enemy provinces as retreating will again mean curtain death.

Also, stealthy units can sneak in and out of sieged castles you control.

[thejeff]

I don't believe that's true. Units that retreat from a castle storming do retreat to neighboring provinces as usual.

[cleveland]

Dedas said:
Light Cavalry are also good raiders and pillagers.

I�m not saying they�re bad. I�m just saying that, in general, they aren�t worth the cost.

An experienced player can leverage the strengths of a niche unit, but noobs should be aware that light cav is pretty niche, and their money is best spent elsewhere.

[AreaOfEffect]

Nevermind, your right. You can retreat and live when being stormed. I stand corrected. Thanks jeff.

[MaxWilson]

Dedas said:
Also, people tend to forget that Magic 3 gives several other benefits than just research points. For example:
[list]* 30% less fatigue when casting spells in combat.

Well, sort of. Depending upon the mage and the spell, the base encumbrance cost can be a significant fraction of the spell fatigue cost, and Magic scale doesn't help with that. For instance, if you're in a Communion, IIRC *every* communion slave takes encumbrance fatigue for every spell he participates in. In that case, you might as well be in Drain dominion because encumbrance is 80+% of your fatigue anyway. Magic helps when you cast big expensive spells on your own, not so much when you're casting cheap little spells like Cloud of Death.

-Max