Tiny help with Drakes

[onomastikon]

I love the way the factions are varied and feel very different from one another. Fun!
I also like the way the individual units are differentiated amongst the factions. Feels right!
But with the Drakes I am not quite sure I get the message with two of the units. That is to say: in the other factions, I sort of intuitively understand each unit's raison d'etre. With the Drakes, I feel (surely wrongly) that the differentiation between Burners and Fighters has not been made manifest (to me). I understand that there are differences, but so far I have not been able to ascertain what they are good for. A Fighter seems to me to be a weaker Burner, and so far I have only gotten them when money has seemed tight. But otherwise, if I am looking for more melee damage, I choose a Clasher, not a Fighter. What am I not understanding?
Thank you.

[Crendgrim]

I think the advantages of a Drake Fighter over a Drake Clasher are that the fighter is cheaper (so you can recruit more of it) and a bit faster. This allows you to quickly jump from one flank to another.
At least this is how I feel about playing drakes.

[Elvish_Hunter]

Moved to Strategies and Tips, that is a better place for such kind of questions.

I think the advantages of a Drake Fighter over a Drake Clasher are that the fighter is cheaper (so you can recruit more of it) and a bit faster.

A Fighter has 6 MP instead of 5, and that's extremely important if said Drake is placed in a cave. A Fighter can fly, where a Clasher cannot, and has also a weak ranged attack.
On the other hand, Clashers do not suffer the usual pierce weakness, so they may be better suited to counter enemy archers. Also, they can level to Trashers and then Enforcers, gaining an impact attack very useful against Skeletons.

[onomastikon]

Thanks much!
I'm sure I formulated my question poorly. I meant to say that it's the Burner that seems the choice to me over the Fighter

[taptap]

The burner is an altogether different unit. Does ranged damage instead of melee damage, ok it has a decent secondary melee attack. If you confuse them you are probably using the fighter mainly as a ranged attacker, which isn't the way it should be used.

The fighter is fast and flying. = He gets you the initiative. He survives by retreating. He allows you to catch retreating enemies.

The fighter needs less xp to level.

The fighter is cheaper.

The fighter has retaliation (similar to the elvish fighter) against archers - that somewhat mediates the 10% pierce weakness.

[MRDNRA]

Burner is mainly used for ranged (except if upgraded to the unit with Leadership (I'd advise upgrading all strong burners to the leader option because it grants bigger benefit due to the 3 melee attacks rather than 2 melee attacks of non leadership line. But then, these days, I specifically look for what traits units have to decide what to upgrade them to for maximum benefit)), fighter is mostly melee that has more movement than the clasher, which has no ranged defense. They all have trade offs and and that's what makes the game so good IMO.

[Huumy]

The drake fighter is cheaper and faster clasher, without the pierce resistance and with option to do pierce damage.

So basically the fighter is just your second option for melee. The optimal ratio for fighters/clashers depends on the map, your playstyle, your opponent's playstyle and recruits.

The burner and saurian augurs are the drakes options for strong ranged attacks. They are very different to each other. Saurian is chaotic, has higher defense, weaker melee, low hitpoints, different resistances, magical - cold ranged attack. The burner is almost the opposite; lawful, low defense, strong melee, high hitpoints, fire ranged attack. So it's obvious these both have their very specific purposes as the main drake ranged units.

Your question was something like "why recruit fighters instead of burners"? Because they do specific things better than burners. Also the big thing here is cost effectiveness. Sure burners are better in many ways but they cost a lot more gold.

I feel your question is a good question and it's hard to answer. I can give you somekinda vague answer but I can't make you understand where I think you go wrong. No offense I guess you are just a new player.

So if you want a understanding what's the difference between the fighter and the burner there's couple of ways to get better understanding.

1. Play more and play against players at the same level or better than you. When you lose with drakes, try to figure out what you did wrong, you can even post the replay on these forums. If you lose vs drakes try to figure out how he used fighters (if he used any).
If you don't lose atleast one third of your games find better players, losing is the fastest way to learn.
Learning after losing game is all about attitude, if you want to get at this game it's atleast for me fun and interesting to find out what I did wrong.

2. Find the best player you can and watch him play drakes.

Warning! If you simply can't stand the idea of losing because you played bad, spare yourself the pain of getting better and just keep recruiting burners instead of fighters.

[taptap]

I bet there are replays of top players playing with exclusively drake fighters

[Aelaris]

People keep saying "a little bit" faster. That is incorrect. 6MP and flying is a lot faster. Why? Because speed is relative. A drake fighter can fight during the day, and fly straight away during nightfall. 6mp and flying means that there is no case where a 5 MP unit can catch up. It will be one hex too far. 5mp is standard, so that's the case for a lot of units (other than quick ones).

The flipside: Units can only see once hex further than the furtherest they can move. A 5 MP unit (occupying an unprotected village, for instance) cannot see drake fighters lurking 7 hexes away. The fighter, however, can fly in 6 hexes to stand next to the unit, and say "boo!" with their claws.

Also, this has been stated before: The real question is the difference in roles between the clasher and the fighter, not the fighter and the burner. The fighter's ranged attack is no stronger than an elvish fighter's ranged attack. Essentially, it's the same as the difference between Heavy Infantry and a Spearman, except they are drakes, so they are faster and more badass. (Or more cavalry-esque, if you want to think of their resistances like that.)