Pick your ideal recruits

[Desertofsounds1]

So when you are playing pick your recruits era, you are allowed to choose 5 units.
So what 5 units you would choose from the default era?
Of course this varies by map and such, but just something that would work.

[Horus2]

So when you are playing pick your recruits era, you are allowed to choose 5 units.
So what 5 units you would choose from the default era?
Of course this varies by map and such, but just something that would work.

With 5 units allowed to choose, possibilities are very limited since you have to prepare for every scenario. Here's the one of the few that actually works:

Cavalryman - the roaming heavy infantryman
- the best possible high mobility unit, quite underpriced
- if gets strong trait, then he has a magnificent seven for damage
- doing good job on frontline after village gathering, unlike other scouts
- high resistances makes him counter many units without trouble
- especially useful in long games (if such happens at all), because he solves Walking Corpse horde single-handedly (18 dmg,40% impact res)

Spearman - that's how to write Superman correctly
- one of the most viable grunt
- has the magnificent seven
- firststrike often makes him the last man standing in ding-dong figths
- counters surprise horseman rush and most notably, the cavalryman (and drakes, but just for safety, because drakes are poor)
-they help a lot against the level0 horde

Dwarvish Fighter - your small and portable war machine
- to do fight where the mighty spearman in himself would fail
- you have every type of physical attacks on your melee units from now (so surprise skeletons gives surprise to their owners)
- holds mountains to secure your upcoming soldiers when lining them up for the attack

Orcish Archer - sorry elves, you're not the best archers (for price)
- might seem to do smaller damage than other ranged units but none of the units are resistant to fire and pierce at the same time (except Ghoul), so if you can hit the weak spot of the enemy, basically you are doing the same damage as a "better" archer in ideal circumstances
- again, using hills is good because hills usually occupies multihex areas whereas there's hardly any forest hex next to another forest hex
- intelligent ones are worthy to steal experience from your other units

Saurian Augur - reptilian toolbox
- the best mage, even if Dark Adept has +5 damage, there any many thing compensating it, and you don't need arcane since you already prepared for undead in the shape of the previous guys
- good movement
- fast levelupping (then they do more damage than those DA'S...)
- healing (so they can handle poison a bit - the Ghoul threat mentioned above solved too)



Sidenotes:

- lawful melee units covering chaotic ranged ones are an effective way to cause high damage night and day, thus allowing a super-agressive rush
- magnificent seven means at the right Time of Day this unit's damage is rounded up to 9, and that's insane
- this team shall fear Dwarvish Ulfserkers not while it's a headache for most of the other teams
- drakes are poor because Mage is poor as well; so when only cold-using mages have an acceptable cost...
- the so-called "surprise units" with unusual resistances (Skeleton,Wose and co.) might sound fantastic, but a good PYR-player is always aware of them
- on maps when more terrain mobility is needed (like Weldyn Channel), it is recommended to swap the Cavalryman or Dwarvish Fighter to Gryphon Rider; water-dwellers are not the best choice because they're not universal enough for the five units limitation and you'll suffer a chosen handicap... and it's a sad story (or rewrite the .cfg to a limit of 7 )

[Velensk]

This is only my favorite set-up.

Orcish Grunt: Cheap cost efficent melee unit. Good meat. Particuarly good for sheilding...
Dark Adept: Powerful efficent ranged unit. Good muscle. Good for killing pretty much any enemy that is not cavalry or ghouls. So we also use...
Saurian Skirmisher: A useful (and relatively cheap) specialist with peirce damage. Provides backstabs for...
Thief: Melee damage dealer. Grunts can hold the line well but their damage isn't great. Theives are a bit more expensive but do half again the damage and are slightly more mobile.

Last recruit can be flexable. If I believe my opponent will have cavalrymen I'll sometimes break the general cohesiveness of the faction and include horsemen (for if I'm p2) or spearmen (for if I'm p1) so that I have something that cavalry don't like to attack to cover my retreats at dawn. Otherwise I might use an ulfserker, ghost, or guardsman (p1) or a wolf or footpad (p2). Griffon for if water control is important.

I'm going to disagree that having both lawful and chaotic units is a great way to deal high damage at both times of day it is a good way to have a decent portion of your force relatively useless when the other half wants to attack and vice versa. This force tends to be pretty cost efficent and as all (or almost all) units are chaotic there is a definate cohesiveness to it. I've seen few forces that can effectively defend against it at night (Though ghouls can do it pretty well). I do consider the PYOR era to be more than a touch unbalanced in a few ways and one of them is that p1 does not need to fear losing villages if he does not include a scout (now having a scout can still be plenty useful) but it's not a requirement.

[HomerJ]

Interesting, does this mean the possible Slow/Berserk combo shaman and ulf doesn't work in real combat?

Greetz
HomerJ

[Horus2]

I'm going to disagree that having both lawful and chaotic units is a great way to deal high damage at both times of day it is a good way to have a decent portion of your force relatively useless when the other half wants to attack and vice versa. This force tends to be pretty cost efficent and as all (or almost all) units are chaotic there is a definate cohesiveness to it. I've seen few forces that can effectively defend against it at night (Though ghouls can do it pretty well). I do consider the PYOR era to be more than a touch unbalanced in a few ways and one of them is that p1 does not need to fear losing villages if he does not include a scout (now having a scout can still be plenty useful) but it's not a requirement.

I have to confess i didn't want to beleive this either, but mixed alignment forces have a great potential. Berez proved it to me numerous times (we were using 100 gold limit btw). And in default, drake faction is thinking similarly, after all...
The idea within it: units at the good ToD do the dirty job, while the ones at the wrong time flank, cover others, poke mages and most importantly: grab emptied villages. And there are times when there's not enough space for everyone to attack anyway. On the other hand, cohesive push can be evaded as well by pulling back your forces, while mixed can't. It's like neutral, but with more capability to break defenses.
I have to disagree that p1 can spare money and have +1 good unit by not using scouts. Without units having 7 or more movement points, p1's forces can be fractured easily and the whole plan results in a failure. I experienced it many times as both player. Maybe with the exception of Den of Onis, where the villages are deep in the headquarters - but this map won't really ask for scouts at all.

[Horus2]

Interesting, does this mean the possible Slow/Berserk combo shaman and ulf doesn't work in real combat?

Greetz
HomerJ

Actually, it works, and it's a clever combo to break through the key element of defense. Most of the time, i get the feeling the unit limit of five is just too strict to be smart and use two specialists together, as strategical holes are going to remain. In this case, you still need a scout, a cheap grunt fighter to profit from the slowing, fire or cold damage, a ranged unit (possibly a mage), melee pierce against horses, good hold over special terrains... many criterias, but not impossible to gather them in 3 units. Dark Adept, Horseman, Orcish Grunt might do the trick.

If the question was for me because i stated there are only a few options to build a faction... then, well, yes. My second best try to fill the gaps was Cavalryman, Dark Adept, Dwarvish Guardsman, but it's missing the cheap core, so a bit imperfect.

[monochromatic]

Personally I'd do Cavalryman, Dark Adept, Saurian Skirmisher.

[Horus2]

Personally I'd do Cavalryman, Dark Adept, Saurian Skirmisher.

You're right, and might be even better than my guardsman-version. Although i find the skirmisher a bit fragile when the tide turns, and he has 50% in village... cavalryman can't hold it either, so this could be a problem. When the team is in defense, they might pull back and retake the village with ulf+shaman, but what's with villages they occupy from the opponent with this combo?

Note: there's hardly any more cheeky things than fortifying stolen villages with a well-aimed Dwarvish Guardsman.

[Velensk]

When I'm doing the ulf/shaman combination I generally support it with ghouls, cavalrymen, and drake burners (about the only time I'd use drakes in this era).

I've beaten plenty of mixed alignment and more mobile forces with the first strategy I listed (though I cannot say for certain that it was a matter of better unit choice not better play or vice versa). I do have a few other builds but he only asked for one so I listed my favorite.

I think the main reason why drakes don't get a lot of play in this particular era is that any lawful build will probably have spearmen or horsemen, and chaotic build will have dark adepts or augers, and any mixed build will probably have at least one of the above.

[Battlecruiser_Venca]

and what leadres are good in this era?

[monochromatic]

Personally I'd do Cavalryman, Dark Adept, Saurian Skirmisher.

You're right, and might be even better than my guardsman-version. Although i find the skirmisher a bit fragile when the tide turns, and he has 50% in village... cavalryman can't hold it either, so this could be a problem. When the team is in defense, they might pull back and retake the village with ulf+shaman, but what's with villages they occupy from the opponent with this combo?

Note: there's hardly any more cheeky things than fortifying stolen villages with a well-aimed Dwarvish Guardsman.

Well, I'd use the cavalryman for defense, for its high hitpoints and good resists. Saurians have pierce resists, so they can cover for that. Saurians also have 60% def on a large number of terrains.

I think the point of this ulf+shaman combo is that you don't stay and defend villages, but rather you push and steal them. After that, move on. I even think the point of PYR is that you don't create a balanced faction, this creating many interesting matches. One can use that to his advantage and create a faction heavily in favor of one aspect of playing. For example.

If I wanted to play defensively, I'd choose something like Troll Whelp, Dwarvish Guardsman, Saurian Augur, Elvish Fighter, Horseman. If I wanted to rush the opponent I'd choose Ulfserker, Wolf Rider, Dark Adept, Drake Fighter, Thief. If I wanted to play tricky and harass my opponent, I'd choose Footpad, Fencer, Elvish Scout, Drake Fighter, Saurian Skirmisher.

I'd think that is a more effective way to play this era than to attempt to make something balanced.

[TheGreatRings]

and what leadres are good in this era?

The Elvish Captain and Loyalist Lt. are both excellent leaders. They have a mix of ranged and melee attack, and can support units with leadership while not getting directly involved in the fighting.

The White Mage (for healing) and the Dwarvish Steelclad (for shear durability and power) would be follow-up choices.

[Velensk]

I'd add the Drake Blademaster and Flare to that list for mobility and power.

[Glowing Fish]

Well, I can always dodge this with:

"Depends on the map, depends on the amount of starting gold, depends on the turn limit, depends on the..."

Etc.

It also depends on what my opponent is going to get, or what I think they are going to get.

But, I would say:

1. Elvish Shaman: Slows, heals, and is oh-so-pretty
2. Ulfserker: For use with the above.
3. Stalwart: For defense.
4. Orcish Assassin: Poison enemies, slow them, let the ulfserker finish them off.
5. Elvish Scout: And while my opponent is trying to deal with those four, I sneak around the back and steal their villages.

Of course, having stated that, there is a pretty effective counter to these five units.

[Horus2]

and what leadres are good in this era?

For leader, everything works what you would choose in default for your faction. Use one of them as a patch for the not-so-obvious weakness of your team.
Personally i vote for Elvish Marksman, Drake Warrior and Troll as the best.

Well, I can always dodge this with:

"Depends on the map, depends on the amount of starting gold, depends on the turn limit, depends on the..."

Etc.

It also depends on what my opponent is going to get, or what I think they are going to get.

But, I would say:

1. Elvish Shaman: Slows, heals, and is oh-so-pretty
2. Ulfserker: For use with the above.
3. Stalwart: For defense.
4. Orcish Assassin: Poison enemies, slow them, let the ulfserker finish them off.
5. Elvish Scout: And while my opponent is trying to deal with those four, I sneak around the back and steal their villages.

Of course, having stated that, there is a pretty effective counter to these five units.

Well, this team can't offer resistance to anything what has a core fighter, believe me. Brainies die, musculars win...
Also, assassin and ulfserker are totally an anti-combo. They require entirely different strategies.