Hello friend,
After many hours of CoM gameplay I want to share with you the strategies I use to get superiority in the game quickly in the hardest difficulties.
1. So, let me present the setup I use:
Almost in all my games I take:
High elves, 4 Life books, 4 Sorcery books, 1 Nature book. Arch-Mage, Artificer, and Astrologer.
The reason for 4 life books is that in my personal opinion, life has the strongest spells in the game, additionally, I want to create super strong heroes and life books provide the best artifact enchantments, namely: invulnerability, lion heart, divine protection, and overall the best hero buffing and protecting spells (heroism, holy armor)
The reason for 4 sorcery books is that they provide the best tactical advantage, spells like, for example Aether Binding, Wind Walking, Mind Storm and more... provide much needed protection and tactical ability of speed and protection, also they enable the invisibility enchantment into an artifact.
The reason for 1 Nature book is first of all the chance to get or trade the 'Web' spell, and additionally make use of 'resist element' and in some cases 'earth to mud'
2. overall strategy:
using an online damage calculator, I can predict the outcome of trying to clear a node with an army, you can use any of these online calculators:
https://gmbarak.github.io/COM-Damage-Calculator/
https://masterofmagic.fandom.com/wiki/Ad...Calculator
for spells I pick:
1. Heroism - useful for heroes and when defending your cities from rampaging monsters.
2. Guardian spirit - I send Guardian spirit to all the nodes I take
3. Just cause - is important for me first because it increase the chance to get fame 10 heroes from July 1502. which can become very powerful very quickly with the correct strategy as will be shown, but also decrease unrest - more money and decrease army spending.
1. Floating island - is important to transport units quickly right from the start.
2. Blur - very strong spell by itself it's in-fact decreasing the to-hit of enemy units by 20% which is substantial. also is a good trading spell since most AI will not have it and will trade any of the other lvl 1 spells for it (except web).
3. Confusion - is a very strong spell which is in-fact "incapacitate and destroy enemy unit with -2 resistance penalty"
The actual gameplay:
So, from the start of the game, first I make 5 magic spirits and send them to explore the map, usually 4 will go to find enemy wizards checking nodes/lair content on the way for potential targets and 1 magic sprit will check the nearest nodes/lairs.
in the main city - build order: Market, library, Forester's guild, barracks, alchemist guild an repeat longbowman.
usually the regular (level 1), magical weapon (+1 to hit) longbowmen will be ready to be sent to defend your cities before the first monster attack. a single longbowmen should be able to defend a city for the next 4/5 years with no problem. when attacked you just cast heroism/discipline/holy weapon. and in the case of skeletons attacking you, buff up the swordsman instead.
Also, once the first longbowmen are ready you can clear the easy lairs with you for money:
to kill 1 magic spirit/3 phantom warriors/ 1 fire elemental you will only need 1 longbowman.
send a spearman first to the nearest easy lairs nodes and another spearman to guard it.
finding other wizards soon is of supreme importance, because each spell you get in trading is such a huge boost. even if it's not a good spell, it decreases the chance of you getting that bad spell from a node/lair and speeds up your research.
after the magic spirits I cast just cause, right after just cause I adjust the taxes (just cause = -1 unrest) and cast enchant item: chain, 3 defense, 3 resistance. you should plan it so that by July 1502 you will have 400-500 gold. so you don't miss up on a chance to get a good hero. usually the item will be ready by July 1502 just in time for the coming hero to use it.
if you get a "bad hero", kill him/her ASAP to increase your chances to get a better one quickly. for me a bad hero is:
Dwarf
Barbarian
Sage
Dervish
Beastmaster
Orc Archer
Healer
rogue
unless they come with guiding beacon - in such a case I keep them because the +1 attack is a huge boost to the longbowmen.
and unless you need a spell caster to kill a high value node/lair and you got a spell caster.
or you need temporally arms-master to get high level longbowmen quickly to kill a node/lair.
druid - if you don't have web or have very hard nodes around you keep him. his web spell is very strong and effective and his ritual master might help.
a good/effective fame 0-10 hero to keep:
huntress - can reach a huge damage value very quickly and so can be a very good node/lair cleaner.
war monk - the agility* is very valuable. if he comes with luck/blade master even better.
warrior mage - agility, web spell, spell caster, range attacks - all makes him a very good hero.
assassin - the to hit from blade master*, 4 movement, stealth, makes him good, if he gets luck/agility - even better.
thief - combination of agility, luck will make her very hard to kill, combined with holy armor, 15 defense and she is a very durable hero.
bard - has the +1 attack holy bonus, a strong boost to the longbowmen + she is a spell caster
using regular, magical weapon 9/8 longbowmen, you can clear almost all low level nodes around you and place guardian spirit in them.
with spell casters and web and buffed longbowmen (discipline, holy weapon) you can clear sky drake/great drake/phoenix/angels/vampires/gorgons by also using the web/earth to mud spells.
a single 15 defense, holy armor with blur hero (which you can create by create item) can single handily clear unicorns/cockatrices/giant spiders/nagas (resistance 11 is required)/night stalkers (cast resist magic/bless) lairs/nodes.
for water elementals you will need something like 20-25 defense (which you can get with the help of create item and resist element) with holy armor and cast blur.
for air elementals you can send a number of spearmen and try to cast a couple of psionic blasts (usually 2 will kill an air elemental). rinse and repeat until you clear the air elementals.
for phoenix without angels/guardian spirit you try to cast confusion with spearmen a number of times to decrease their numbers, once only a few of them left you can clear them with longbowmen and also web if you have the spell.
this way you can very quickly right from the start clear all the nodes except the extremely hard ones and place many guardian spirits in them. with the astrologer you can beat or match all the AI in spell power in the first years of the game.
more tips:
you can create pathfinding item right from the start for 31 mana to give your hero.
That's it for now...
Thanks :D
Forgot to mention:
1. Right from the start increase tax rate by 10%
2. buy markets as soon as possible as they will return their value quickly as long as you keep 400-500 gold always for a hero.
3. Set in magic mana to max (not research and not skill) until you have guardian spirit in 1-2 nodes.
4. You can also create cheap artifacts to increase movement by 1, once the hero reaches his target switch back to the fighting artifacts.
5. don't mess with Djinns, Efrees, colossus ,unless you have a really strong hero/army/ raise dead.
6. to kill spiders + strong non shooter unit, try to send magic spirit (which is immuned to web) (maybe magic spirit with flight) kill them with spells (phantom warriors/psionic blast) then kill the strong monster.
7. a single shooter hero with 7 movement or teleport can kill 9 vampires/9 death knights/ 9 wrights
8. a hero with about 13 defense and holy armor can kill shamans city by itself. a hero with 15 defense and luck/holy armor or 20-25 defense (resist element) with only holy armor can kill a city of magicians defenders.
9. all these hero are easy to get/create with artificier and create item.
10. if you get the holy word spell, you can easily create -6 save artifacts to give a spell caster hero to cast the spell, if you get morgana the witch, the artifact "The Dark Pact" or 1-2 death spell books with black prayer, you can also cast black prayer and have holy word with -10 save to destroy any fantastic unit and about -12 save to kill any undead fantastic unit
11. an interesting strategy to meet other wizards is to not defend a node you cleared. the other wizards will send their magic spirit to the node. just remember to protect the node before they occupy it. also. remember you don't want chaos wizards to scout your cities, once they scan any of your cities they can cast harmful spell to the city and it's surroundings.
.
After many hours of CoM gameplay I want to share with you the strategies I use to get superiority in the game quickly in the hardest difficulties.
1. So, let me present the setup I use:
Almost in all my games I take:
High elves, 4 Life books, 4 Sorcery books, 1 Nature book. Arch-Mage, Artificer, and Astrologer.
The reason for 4 life books is that in my personal opinion, life has the strongest spells in the game, additionally, I want to create super strong heroes and life books provide the best artifact enchantments, namely: invulnerability, lion heart, divine protection, and overall the best hero buffing and protecting spells (heroism, holy armor)
The reason for 4 sorcery books is that they provide the best tactical advantage, spells like, for example Aether Binding, Wind Walking, Mind Storm and more... provide much needed protection and tactical ability of speed and protection, also they enable the invisibility enchantment into an artifact.
The reason for 1 Nature book is first of all the chance to get or trade the 'Web' spell, and additionally make use of 'resist element' and in some cases 'earth to mud'
2. overall strategy:
using an online damage calculator, I can predict the outcome of trying to clear a node with an army, you can use any of these online calculators:
https://gmbarak.github.io/COM-Damage-Calculator/
https://masterofmagic.fandom.com/wiki/Ad...Calculator
for spells I pick:
1. Heroism - useful for heroes and when defending your cities from rampaging monsters.
2. Guardian spirit - I send Guardian spirit to all the nodes I take
3. Just cause - is important for me first because it increase the chance to get fame 10 heroes from July 1502. which can become very powerful very quickly with the correct strategy as will be shown, but also decrease unrest - more money and decrease army spending.
1. Floating island - is important to transport units quickly right from the start.
2. Blur - very strong spell by itself it's in-fact decreasing the to-hit of enemy units by 20% which is substantial. also is a good trading spell since most AI will not have it and will trade any of the other lvl 1 spells for it (except web).
3. Confusion - is a very strong spell which is in-fact "incapacitate and destroy enemy unit with -2 resistance penalty"
The actual gameplay:
So, from the start of the game, first I make 5 magic spirits and send them to explore the map, usually 4 will go to find enemy wizards checking nodes/lair content on the way for potential targets and 1 magic sprit will check the nearest nodes/lairs.
in the main city - build order: Market, library, Forester's guild, barracks, alchemist guild an repeat longbowman.
usually the regular (level 1), magical weapon (+1 to hit) longbowmen will be ready to be sent to defend your cities before the first monster attack. a single longbowmen should be able to defend a city for the next 4/5 years with no problem. when attacked you just cast heroism/discipline/holy weapon. and in the case of skeletons attacking you, buff up the swordsman instead.
Also, once the first longbowmen are ready you can clear the easy lairs with you for money:
to kill 1 magic spirit/3 phantom warriors/ 1 fire elemental you will only need 1 longbowman.
send a spearman first to the nearest easy lairs nodes and another spearman to guard it.
finding other wizards soon is of supreme importance, because each spell you get in trading is such a huge boost. even if it's not a good spell, it decreases the chance of you getting that bad spell from a node/lair and speeds up your research.
after the magic spirits I cast just cause, right after just cause I adjust the taxes (just cause = -1 unrest) and cast enchant item: chain, 3 defense, 3 resistance. you should plan it so that by July 1502 you will have 400-500 gold. so you don't miss up on a chance to get a good hero. usually the item will be ready by July 1502 just in time for the coming hero to use it.
if you get a "bad hero", kill him/her ASAP to increase your chances to get a better one quickly. for me a bad hero is:
Dwarf
Barbarian
Sage
Dervish
Beastmaster
Orc Archer
Healer
rogue
unless they come with guiding beacon - in such a case I keep them because the +1 attack is a huge boost to the longbowmen.
and unless you need a spell caster to kill a high value node/lair and you got a spell caster.
or you need temporally arms-master to get high level longbowmen quickly to kill a node/lair.
druid - if you don't have web or have very hard nodes around you keep him. his web spell is very strong and effective and his ritual master might help.
a good/effective fame 0-10 hero to keep:
huntress - can reach a huge damage value very quickly and so can be a very good node/lair cleaner.
war monk - the agility* is very valuable. if he comes with luck/blade master even better.
warrior mage - agility, web spell, spell caster, range attacks - all makes him a very good hero.
assassin - the to hit from blade master*, 4 movement, stealth, makes him good, if he gets luck/agility - even better.
thief - combination of agility, luck will make her very hard to kill, combined with holy armor, 15 defense and she is a very durable hero.
bard - has the +1 attack holy bonus, a strong boost to the longbowmen + she is a spell caster
using regular, magical weapon 9/8 longbowmen, you can clear almost all low level nodes around you and place guardian spirit in them.
with spell casters and web and buffed longbowmen (discipline, holy weapon) you can clear sky drake/great drake/phoenix/angels/vampires/gorgons by also using the web/earth to mud spells.
a single 15 defense, holy armor with blur hero (which you can create by create item) can single handily clear unicorns/cockatrices/giant spiders/nagas (resistance 11 is required)/night stalkers (cast resist magic/bless) lairs/nodes.
for water elementals you will need something like 20-25 defense (which you can get with the help of create item and resist element) with holy armor and cast blur.
for air elementals you can send a number of spearmen and try to cast a couple of psionic blasts (usually 2 will kill an air elemental). rinse and repeat until you clear the air elementals.
for phoenix without angels/guardian spirit you try to cast confusion with spearmen a number of times to decrease their numbers, once only a few of them left you can clear them with longbowmen and also web if you have the spell.
this way you can very quickly right from the start clear all the nodes except the extremely hard ones and place many guardian spirits in them. with the astrologer you can beat or match all the AI in spell power in the first years of the game.
more tips:
you can create pathfinding item right from the start for 31 mana to give your hero.
That's it for now...
Thanks :D
Forgot to mention:
1. Right from the start increase tax rate by 10%
2. buy markets as soon as possible as they will return their value quickly as long as you keep 400-500 gold always for a hero.
3. Set in magic mana to max (not research and not skill) until you have guardian spirit in 1-2 nodes.
4. You can also create cheap artifacts to increase movement by 1, once the hero reaches his target switch back to the fighting artifacts.
5. don't mess with Djinns, Efrees, colossus ,unless you have a really strong hero/army/ raise dead.
6. to kill spiders + strong non shooter unit, try to send magic spirit (which is immuned to web) (maybe magic spirit with flight) kill them with spells (phantom warriors/psionic blast) then kill the strong monster.
7. a single shooter hero with 7 movement or teleport can kill 9 vampires/9 death knights/ 9 wrights
8. a hero with about 13 defense and holy armor can kill shamans city by itself. a hero with 15 defense and luck/holy armor or 20-25 defense (resist element) with only holy armor can kill a city of magicians defenders.
9. all these hero are easy to get/create with artificier and create item.
10. if you get the holy word spell, you can easily create -6 save artifacts to give a spell caster hero to cast the spell, if you get morgana the witch, the artifact "The Dark Pact" or 1-2 death spell books with black prayer, you can also cast black prayer and have holy word with -10 save to destroy any fantastic unit and about -12 save to kill any undead fantastic unit
11. an interesting strategy to meet other wizards is to not defend a node you cleared. the other wizards will send their magic spirit to the node. just remember to protect the node before they occupy it. also. remember you don't want chaos wizards to scout your cities, once they scan any of your cities they can cast harmful spell to the city and it's surroundings.
.
