How to exploit Drake mobility?
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How to exploit Drake mobility?
Hi.
I've had some trouble recently with Drakes vs Undead. I lost a casual match vs Undead earlier today, which was a regular back-forth chase by the day-night cycle.
Then I got the same match-up in a ladder game, at Weldyn Channel, and won thanks to what I think are a bit of luck and bad tactics on my opponent's part. I would've lost it too if my opponent had better control of the water (more ghosts), had threatened my western villages (more bats), had guarded his adepts better (more ghouls, archers) and had not wasted gold on corpses which did nothing.
So I know what my opponent could've done better. But what could I have done better?
I often hear that, when faced with a problem and using Drakes, to "use Drake mobility". What exactly is that supposed to mean? Run away faster? Drakes can fly, but other factions have fish/gryphs/ghosts that can effectively nullify their water control, if there is any to take advantage of. And what would they do about guarded Adepts, which have Skel Archers and/or Ghouls covering them?
If you have any replays of the Drakes exploiting their mobility and winning because of it, please upload them or provide a link to them. Thanks in advance.
I've had some trouble recently with Drakes vs Undead. I lost a casual match vs Undead earlier today, which was a regular back-forth chase by the day-night cycle.
Then I got the same match-up in a ladder game, at Weldyn Channel, and won thanks to what I think are a bit of luck and bad tactics on my opponent's part. I would've lost it too if my opponent had better control of the water (more ghosts), had threatened my western villages (more bats), had guarded his adepts better (more ghouls, archers) and had not wasted gold on corpses which did nothing.
So I know what my opponent could've done better. But what could I have done better?
I often hear that, when faced with a problem and using Drakes, to "use Drake mobility". What exactly is that supposed to mean? Run away faster? Drakes can fly, but other factions have fish/gryphs/ghosts that can effectively nullify their water control, if there is any to take advantage of. And what would they do about guarded Adepts, which have Skel Archers and/or Ghouls covering them?
If you have any replays of the Drakes exploiting their mobility and winning because of it, please upload them or provide a link to them. Thanks in advance.
- Attachments
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Drakes lose.gz- Replay of loss.
- (15.94 KiB) Downloaded 255 times
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- Drakes vs Undead - Weldyn.gz
- Replay of win.
- (21.3 KiB) Downloaded 247 times
Re: How to exploit Drake mobility?
I don't think I'm qualified to speak on the subject, but one thing I would like to point out is that ghosts move slowly over water; 2 mps over shallow, and possibly 3 over deep (not sure on that last one). So ghost control over water shouldn't be a huge issue.
The Fires of Pride 0.3, a heavily story based campaign.
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Battlecruiser_Venca
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Re: How to exploit Drake mobility?
ghost: 2mp over any water
all drakes: 1 mp on shallow 2mp over deep
all drakes: 1 mp on shallow 2mp over deep
Re: How to exploit Drake mobility?
Okay, scratch my comments. I didn't remember that drakes got slowed over deep water as well (all except the higher level Gliders).
The Fires of Pride 0.3, a heavily story based campaign.
On hold while I try and finish my book
On hold while I try and finish my book
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Pandarsenic
- Posts: 23
- Joined: August 16th, 2010, 11:09 pm
Re: How to exploit Drake mobility?
If you have separate areas of combat, divided by things like deep water (or even just a bunch of swamp/shallow water that most units have trouble crossing), Drakes are by and large able to simply fly over the obstruction. This means you can cross-reinforce or even pull out and overwhelm in another area as necessary. On top of that, very few units you need to run from will be able to catch you as you can force them through unfavorable terrain (for instance, making a horseman trying to charge a weakened Fighter for the kill go through/around a cluster of mushrooms/forests/mountains/swamps). In major emergencies, you can just flee somewhere your opponent can't pursue, like over Deep Water 2 hexes out from the shallows.
Your scouting and village raiding is almost always superior. A Drake Glider vanguard or village harasser has 8 move and isn't blocked by ANY terrain; when village harassing, they project ZOC against any enemies moving to pin them, unlike Bats. Saurians Skirmishers are almost as good on mobility; between Saurian Skirmishers and Gliders, you have day and night ability to deny your enemy income at any time and in any place, as well as to see your opponent before he sees you in almost any situation, allowing you to tailor your attacks to the situation at hand, which you will know and your opponent will not.
Edit: Please don't put spaces in the filename, that stops it from loading. Underscores instead.
After watching vs. ViskiKummitus replay: Dude, why did you let yourself get caught in bad positions so much? Either outrun him, or force him to fight from bad ground so you can clean house with Saurian backup. ._.
Also, Saurians are useful for sneaking past zones of control to assassinate Dark Adepts. And don't... don't let your stuff DIE so often. If you're player 1, you should be gone the second dusk hits and charging in as soon as dawn breaks. If you're player 2, move those back 1 phase each.
Your scouting and village raiding is almost always superior. A Drake Glider vanguard or village harasser has 8 move and isn't blocked by ANY terrain; when village harassing, they project ZOC against any enemies moving to pin them, unlike Bats. Saurians Skirmishers are almost as good on mobility; between Saurian Skirmishers and Gliders, you have day and night ability to deny your enemy income at any time and in any place, as well as to see your opponent before he sees you in almost any situation, allowing you to tailor your attacks to the situation at hand, which you will know and your opponent will not.
Edit: Please don't put spaces in the filename, that stops it from loading. Underscores instead.
After watching vs. ViskiKummitus replay: Dude, why did you let yourself get caught in bad positions so much? Either outrun him, or force him to fight from bad ground so you can clean house with Saurian backup. ._.
Also, Saurians are useful for sneaking past zones of control to assassinate Dark Adepts. And don't... don't let your stuff DIE so often. If you're player 1, you should be gone the second dusk hits and charging in as soon as dawn breaks. If you're player 2, move those back 1 phase each.
Re: How to exploit Drake mobility?
The mobility advantage will be more noticeable on critical situations.
First, the ToD back and forth. For example, in that matchup Undead need to fall back as daytime approaches, your drakes can easily catch up and hurt them bad at daytime. But to achieve this, you'll need to keep your units safe during the dangerous night time and speed lets you maintain that safe distance.
Another benefit of mobility is, of course, you can more easily reach and attack the enemy. Drakes also hit hard, so they can make great use of the attacking initiative. But for this to work, you'll need to place your units carefully. Too far away and they'll be unable to be used in the offensive. Too close and they'll be too exposed to enemy attacks.
Ideally, when the time of day is right you should be able to use almost your entire drake army to attack all at once, maybe except newly recruited units or units guarding a different flank. That way drakes will make best use of their high damage and alignment (either lawful and chaotic, depending on recruits).
Therefore you'll need as many hexes as possible for your attacking units. Move some of your units to one side so they can reach the enemy's flank. Hit them from all directions, rather than focusing your army in one spot.
First, the ToD back and forth. For example, in that matchup Undead need to fall back as daytime approaches, your drakes can easily catch up and hurt them bad at daytime. But to achieve this, you'll need to keep your units safe during the dangerous night time and speed lets you maintain that safe distance.
Another benefit of mobility is, of course, you can more easily reach and attack the enemy. Drakes also hit hard, so they can make great use of the attacking initiative. But for this to work, you'll need to place your units carefully. Too far away and they'll be unable to be used in the offensive. Too close and they'll be too exposed to enemy attacks.
Ideally, when the time of day is right you should be able to use almost your entire drake army to attack all at once, maybe except newly recruited units or units guarding a different flank. That way drakes will make best use of their high damage and alignment (either lawful and chaotic, depending on recruits).
Therefore you'll need as many hexes as possible for your attacking units. Move some of your units to one side so they can reach the enemy's flank. Hit them from all directions, rather than focusing your army in one spot.