What are some strategies & tips regarding LVL 0 units in multiplayer?

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DwarvenRogue
Posts: 14
Joined: September 25th, 2018, 10:29 pm

What are some strategies & tips regarding LVL 0 units in multiplayer?

Post by DwarvenRogue »

Hello all! I am new to the multiplayer side of the game and I have only had real success with the Walking Corps level 0 unit in multiplayer. I would like some tips and strategies to hone my use of Walking Corpses and make effective use of the bats and goblins. First I would like to define the basics as I see them and see what you all think of my takes.

=General strategies for Lvl 0: These are tactics that work pretty well with all level 0 units.

1) Have 1 or 2 lvl 0s waiting just behind my main force to finish off any units that have low health. This prevents me from wasting a high damage attacker to kill an unit with almost no HP left.

2) IF and ONLY IF there is terrain the lvl 0 can defend well and my opponent has not engaged my battle line yet. I can use a level 0 to extend the length of my battle line by 1 tile. I will show you how. '=' are empty tiles, '0' is a level 0 unit, '1' are level 1 or higher units, 'X' are opposing units.

1=0=1
=====
XXXXX
This only works if the level 0 has good terrain like a village and even then it can be a gamble depending on the time of day.

3) Blocking the opponent from back-caping villages without using up 1 gp of upkeep while sitting there. They most likely cannot take out an enemy scout but they may be able to stall long enough for backup to arrive.

4) Using them to help cover the retreat of more valuable units.

=Strategies for the Walking corpse:

1) Sometimes I keep a few Walking Corpses behind my front line. When my front line is assaulting, I make my corpses some of the 1st to attack along with my Dark Adepts. If the corpses succeed then there is a new Walking Corpse to reinforce my new battle line and help shield my Dark Adepts. I also get experience for the Walking Corps who snagged the kill. If my opponent chooses to deal with the new Walking Corps then he/she must expend the resources to do so. If he/she chooses not to deal with the Corps, then I pull it back behind my lines with my other 1 or 2 and continue the pattern. Sometimes I can grow a massive horde of Walking Corpses this way. 8)

2) Walking corpses are the only effective source of crush damage that the Undead have. If I scout that my opponent has a lot of units that are weak to crush I use Walking corpses appropriately.

3) Both Walking Corpses and Ghouls have the fearless trait. In campaign I have used a force with a meat of Walking Corpses and Ghouls to fight Orcs by starting my attack during the day. This left the Orcs heavily injured and poisoned by nightfall. I do not know how well this would work against Orcs in multiplayer but I figure it might be worth a shot. :D

=Strategies for Vampire Bat:

1) They are great for back-capping the opponent's villages and in doing so, leading a portion of his/her forces on a wild goose chase.

2) They are good for finishing off enemies that my Ghouls have poisoned down to one hit from a bat. Especially if these units are escaping to try and heal.

3)They can defend pretty well against some melee units who are on bad terrain. I like to defend with the Vampire Bats because they can just run away if their luck is bad and they take significant damage from the attacker. If the Vampire bat's luck is good it can then choose to press the attack on its turn.

=Goblin Strategies: Disclaimer: I have not had as much experience with Goblins as I have with the other two.

1) They are pretty good for killing stuff that is weak to pierce damage.
Last edited by DwarvenRogue on September 30th, 2018, 10:49 pm, edited 1 time in total.
We will descend upon the foe, we will overwhelm them, we will leave none alive! Meanwhile our guardsmen will ensure the full defense of our headquarters. We are the Footpads! We are Thursagan's fury!!
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Poison
Posts: 171
Joined: August 13th, 2017, 4:54 pm

Re: What are some strategies & tips regarding LVL 0 units in multiplayer?

Post by Poison »

If you manage to make a Goblin a lv1, you can also lead other goblins to win an attrition war eventually. I've had similar happen to me.
shevegen
Posts: 497
Joined: June 3rd, 2004, 4:35 pm

Re: What are some strategies & tips regarding LVL 0 units in multiplayer?

Post by shevegen »

This is true.

I have a hard time determining in which turns such an attrition war may happen, e. g.
when more units die in certain turns than in others; and then a scenario suddenly
becomes beatable, or unwinnable.

It's a very strange part of wesnoth to me. The game is quite simple but it can lead
to quite a bit of trying-to-figure-it-out where or how to best approach certain scenarios.
Uncle_Sam
Posts: 7
Joined: July 19th, 2010, 4:21 am

Re: What are some strategies & tips regarding LVL 0 units in multiplayer?

Post by Uncle_Sam »

Lvl0s main advantage over other units isn't that its cheap, its that its upkeep is 0. On maps where the game takes a long time its possible to hoard an immense horde of lvl0s while your opponents reach their unit ceiling when their upkeep eats their income. E.g. on Auction X while everyone is manuevering back and forth in the middle as the daytime comes and passes, too afraid to engage 3 opponents at once, you can bide your time while filling your part of the map with lvl0s. On Alirok Marsh you can create bats and corpses and hide them in water right next to the castle waiting until someone breaks the stalemate, overextends and allows bats to take over their castle while corpses help defend yours. Though you should at least try hiding the horde: other players don't take well upon discovering that you have more units than all of them together, however weak those units are. Thankfully corpses can hide even in shallow water while bats can fly over unwalkable terrain, hiding goblins will require some effort though.
Low health of lvl0 units also has its advantages: you can kill strong units such as leaders with few available hexes because say goblins are very likely to die in retaliation allowing you to reuse the same hex several times.
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