The early game wall

[Question]

It seems that early game i keep running into the same problem...i need troops to take nodes/cities/garrison new cities, but i don't have the food/gold to spare.

I tried playing HE and i had a stack of 4 longbowmen, zaldron in the fort and a few longbowmen defenders, but at this point i ran out of food/gold to support a settler and additional longbow defenders. And yet my 4 longbowmen couldnt take any cities(they were losing to slingers in a 1 on 1 fight).

Summoned creatures seem way too mana intensive without conjurer...especially considering how powerful ranged units are compared to them. Why summon a bunch of slow melee units that cost 2 mana to upkeep when high fame makes normal units free?

With flame bladed longbows i was oneshotting most units across the map and that was without mithril.(Does the +1 to hit from alchemist guilds affect ranged attacks btw?)

Once i get past the early game it quickly becomes a mopping up exercise when i have a doom stack of a few heroes and all ranged troops, buffed up, running around and the AI can't do a thing to it...

[Catwalk]

Do you make a point of always building granary + marketplace + farmer's market + shrine first? That works wonders for your early economy, should be enough to go straight to military. A single settler before that is also good.

[Question]

I built granary, marketplace, farmer's market, shrine and library first, then i go for fighter's guild since it adds +1 melee/ranged.

[Catwalk]

A single unit of longbowmen is generally enough for garrison. I'd put one in each city along with spearmen for unrest control, maybe focus a little more on settlers if you're only facing big halfling cities on your continent. Slingers are really tough to take down with high elves early on.

[momfan]

High Elves fighting slingers in the early game... some suggestions:

1. Spells
===
The following spells are common so you should have some of them:

Direct Attack:

Chaos: Warp Wood, Shatter
Nature: Web
Death: Black Sleep, Weakness
Sorcery: Confusion, Phantom Warriors

Warp Wood and Web are ideal since they always work and nerf the slingers immediately.

Unit Buffs:

Chaos: Eldritch Weapon
Life: Healing, Holy Armor, Endurance, Heroism
Nature: Stone Skin, Giant Strength

2. Cavalry
===
The slingers get 3 shots, not good, but after that the cavalry's first strike will eliminate them. Best if you buff them with Holy Armor/Stone Skin. With Endurance the cavalry will take only 2 turns to close in so it's probably the best spell (after Warp Wood/Web) if you have it.

3. Cannon Fodder
===
Hell hounds are cheap and move at 2, so they can close in and attack.
Phantom warriors can be conjured quite near the slingers, so they also close in quickly.

[momfan]

I built granary, marketplace, farmer's market, shrine and library first, then i go for fighter's guild since it adds +1 melee/ranged.

If you skip the shrine, library and fighter's guild, you save 360 hammers which gets you the longbowmen much earlier. This means the enemy cities are weaker (fewer units and less experience) which may make the difference between winning and losing. Alternatively throw a stack of 4 (or more) cavalry units at the city. The slingers will probably kill 1-2 units, but the survivors will mop up the slingers since they have first strike and +1 to hit.

If you encounter the enemy city very early (like within 50 turns) they generally only have 4 spearmen or swordsmen which are no problem. But if you delay they soon upgrade to 6 or more slingers which are a pain. So get out there early and take them out ASAP.