Nomads + Life, non-Artificer hero strategy

[Catwalk]

I'm giving this another go, now with a more appropriate race.

Setup

My strategy is to get a whole bunch of heroes and win comfortably against the AI. I don't need to win fast, but I do plan on some early aggression while they're weak against heroes. I haven't picked Artificer, so I'll be using whatever items I can find. I'm all Life with Specialist, hopefully that'll keep my enchantments fairly safe.

This time around I'm going for a nomad strategy. I need to add an Armourer's Guild before I can unlock my pathfinding unit (compared to just Fighter's Guild for barbarians), but I feel that's well worth it. I've taken the liberty of locking my previous game thread so it won't clutter up the forum too badly. Let me know if you prefer it deleted instead.

I decided to try my hand at dry climate and poor minerals. It's probably an advantage for me, AI cities will develop more slowly while my own progress is largely hero-dependent.
EDIT: Scratch that, that looks painful Scaling back to Normal on both.

Starting city

Magic

[Catwalk]

First decision: Do I rush the sawmill or save up for hero hiring right away? Conventional wisdom suggests rushing the sawmill, building up my economy a little and then focusing on heroes. I'll stick with that for this time, and rush a marketplace as well afterwards. It pays for itself in about 20 turns, which is roughly as long as it'll take me to save 200 gold for 10 Fame heroes. Plan:
1) Rush sawmill
2) Rush marketplace
3) Slow build 2 spearmen
4) Slow build forester's guild
5) Slow build shrine

I'll cast two magic spirits before Just Cause. Early exploration is valuable so I know where to go to with my early heroes, and Just Cause isn't all that great until I can pay for the more expensive heroes it allows.

[Domon]

btw, what are the good practices with nomads? i can't seem to make them work, my production is locked away by the need of farmers.
also: how effective is their gold bonus?

[occasionalplayer]

btw, what are the good practices with nomads? i can't seem to make them work, my production is locked away by the need of farmers.
also: how effective is their gold bonus?

As GermanJoey proposed in a different thread: Nature/Death eg (wraith form), but also warlord node mastery eldritch weapon rest life for early node conquests; depends on your priority. Wraith form/resist elements if taking neutrals is a priority (but you don't need that usually because you can build up sizable stacks early on that are strong enough for most neutrals). For nodes some life buffs and especially Eldritch Weapon. 
Build as many horsebowmen as you can, conquer other cities for food and try to attack nodes/lairs. The good thing: they are faster than most monsters and can therefore shoot and outrun the enemy before being hit. And if they get hurt, they are easy to replace.

Of course they work best when (albeit sligthly) buffed (thats why I would advocate holy weapon/eldritch weapon and, if possible, adamantium).

[Catwalk]

Domon: In my game I'm strictly using them for rangers since I want to focus on heroes. Everything else is a bonus. They also work well for taking over other races, no added unrest. I might build a few horsebowmen to complement early heroes, but mostly I plan on making a beeline for Armourer's Guild and rushing a ranger.

Tlaloc: It's on Impossible, settings are in the opening post.

[Catwalk]

February 1402

Overland map

The two green northern cities are elven, Oberic's capital to the south west is klackon. The bottom neutral is also elven. Not sure where my first expansion should go, any suggestions?
West sorcery node = Phantom Beasts
Nature node = Cockatrices
Tower = Wraiths
East sorcery node = Storm Giants

Magic

I decided to go for Prayer right away instead of researching the cheaper spells first. It'll be a huge advantage as soon as I get it, Star Fires and Guardian Spirit won't do much for me yet.

Capital

I'm not sure if I should go for an early settler or not. 800 production for Fighter's Guild + Armourer's Guild + Ranger is still something like 30 turns away, so there's plenty time to get a return on my investment. I think I'll grab one expansion after this shrine is done, still don't know where to put it. I finally have enough cash to recruit a hero, my hero limit is currently at 300 gold so I need to hoard for a couple more turns.

[Catwalk]

January 1403

Overland map

Oberic has two annoying klackon outposts near my capital, the one closest to me was settled first. While this might be a bug, it's really not a bad land grab on his part. I've taken a barbarian city to the south east, giving me much needed economic relief. Next up I'm taking the neutral elf city with horsebowmen and my new hero. Oh, and I've met some sprites owned by Merlin somewhere from the east. He wants to trade me Star Fires or Guardian Spirit for Holy Armour. No sale.

Military

Jaer has offered his services. He's a decent pick although Wind Walking matters less when I plan on having pathfinding soon. Nonetheless, this lets me delay my ranger plans and get down to business sooner. Considering Oberic's aggressive settlements, that seems necessary. Guiding Beacon seems like a nice ability which will work well for my horsebowmen. He has taken out two barbarian swordsmen + 1 shaman in one battle and 5 skeletons in another (got 298 mana crystals, sweet). Nothing fancy, but helps give me a baseline for his powers. He actually has very nice defense, once I put Holy Armour and Endurance on him I can count on him being fairly safe. He can also cast Resist Magic on himself in battle, should I need the extra protection.

Magic

Nothing new here, I'm still an awful wizard. I'm regretting picking Sage Master, Mana Focusing would have allowed me a much faster start. I'm wondering if summoning magic spirits early on for garrison to get more gold is a worthwhile strategy. In this case, where I want to maximize early gold, I think it just might be. I'm not aborting this game (promise!), but I'm definitely picking up some ideas for my opening gambit next game.

[Catwalk]

January 1404

Military

Added a well-known dwarf to my legions. Also unimpressive and I'm a little disappointed, but Armsmaster will come in handy. I'll dismiss him once Oberic has been dismissed. I'm cruising around with 4 horsebowmen, and another two are being picked up this turn. I want to strike at Oberic's capital fast, but I don't think I'm quite ready yet. My horsebowmen will be elite in just a few more turns, I can take out other cities and stacks in the meantime. Battles are no problem, he mostly casts Call Centaurs and Fairy Dust. Confusion worries me, so I cast Resist Magic on Jaer the first turn of every battle.

Capital

And this is why I want Oberic out fast. Corruption is annoying as hell, and even if I could afford the investment I can't train any units to clean it up. My economy is awful, and no major improvement is in sight. To add insult to injury, Merlin sent a few sprites to take my barbarian city and my new elf city has corruption on its gems. The node is nice, Oberic was kind enough to take it for me and only two war bears survived. Right now Merlin has two sprites parked on it, so I haven't bothered retaking the tile yet.

[Catwalk]

March 1404

Oberic

I go ahead and take a peek at his garrison. 9 sprites! I decide this is an opportunity. Even though they hit hard, they also fall like flies. If 3 of my 6 horsebowmen survive the first barrage, they can probably take out 1 sprite unit, and so can Jaer. Next round one unit of horsebowmen will take another unit, and Jaer will take out a unit. That's 6 sprites down and 3 to go, with another 4 shots for Jaer. Sounds doable, right? Wrong!

Combat

I lose no less than 4 horsebowmen right away, and I'm unable to destroy a whole unit of sprites with either horsebowmen or Jaer each shot. My heart sinks, and I prepare myself for discarding this game. If I run out of shots I'll have to retreat with Jaer and Brax, I can't count on suffering through 25 lightning bolts. However, luck shines on me. After the first round the sprites no longer target my horsebowmen, they target Jaer instead. They can't put a dent in his armour, and the remaining 2 horsebowmen are effective against the sprites. What's worse, the sprites go outside the walls! I'm able to pluck them down easily, losing no more units. I don't recall which spells Oberic casts, but they're of little consequence. I don't even have to cast a single Healing spell myself, the sprites go down with 2 horsebowmen surviving.

Results

Always nice to get spells, he has no life books so arcane is all I could hope for.

Development

I'm tempted to go ahead and buy a stag beetle right away, but I decide to be discally responsible. Veteran klackon swordsmen will be able to defend the city for now. The loss of horsebowmen lets me free up some farmers in my awful capital, I've decided to go for an Alchemists Guild followed by a Barracks and more horsebowmen. The ranger plans have been scrapped, I can't afford them and they aren't necessary either since I have Jaer. I'm cautiously optimistic again, I'll be able to add a large number of cities to my empire and I can use stag beetles for my stack instead of rangers.

[Seravy]

While this might be a bug, it's really not a bad land grab on his part.

That might be the bug I'm trying to hunt down. Can I have the save file for this game, turn 1?
Not 100% sure it's the bug though - that spot does have 3 river tiles - but the other has them too and has 2 gold plus it's closer, plus it has mountains and grasslands while the other has inferior hills and forests so that should have been the first I think.