Crossroads 1.1.1 - too many ambushes

[Skippy]

What determines the location of ambushes in this scenario? Is it pre-programmed or random.

I ran into the eastern force around the crossroads sign. There were two ambushes immediately north of the crossroads sign. Trying to maneuver around to fight the eastern force triggered both of them. I could handle one. But the second (in combination with the eastern force) got Kalenz. My general feeling was - bah, that's just mean. Don't go into the hills, sure I can deal with one ambush. But two in the same location just a hex from the sign - let me say again, bah.

[kiet]

Yeah,I know it´s annoying that they keep appearing.But that scenario was one of my taste since I used that to train my Elvish Archers and Fighters.After that I got 2 Elvish Marksmen,1 Elvish Heroes and one Elvish Captain

[Elvish_Pillager]

yeah, don't go on the hills.

On the other hand, it might be a better idea to have ambushes only occur at the beginning of a turn - that way, you can't get your moves screwed up by inopportune ambushes, and also you can't move/undo to trigger lots of ambushes for more XP, qhich I often do.

[scott]

The ambushes are random. I think it might be a better idea to randomly set down a bunch of guardian units with invisibility set during the prestart event. Then, it would be like a truer ambush.

[toms]

The ambushes are random. I think it might be a better idea to randomly set down a bunch of guardian units with invisibility set during the prestart event. Then, it would be like a truer ambush.

You mean the type of the units is random, or the location? Or none of them, and they´re just invisible?

[scott]

The ambushes are random. I think it might be a better idea to randomly set down a bunch of guardian units with invisibility set during the prestart event. Then, it would be like a truer ambush.

You mean the type of the units is random, or the location? Or none of them, and they´re just invisible?

Currently the unit types are not random, but the locations are random.

[Skippy]

The ambushes are random. I think it might be a better idea to randomly set down a bunch of guardian units with invisibility set during the prestart event. Then, it would be like a truer ambush.

I like that idea very much. I doubt that would make players throw up their hands in frustration in quite the same way as my experience here did.

[Elvish_Pillager]

On the other hand, they'd exert Zone of Control onto the road itself.

[scott]

Yes, they would have to be far enough back so they don't try to attack you on the road. It would also be possible to have many, many more enemies home in on you at once. That doesn't sound better really.

[Elvish_Pillager]

Yes, they would have to be far enough back so they don't try to attack you on the road.

That would make some hill hexes safe too, though. Many, in fact.

[zookeeper]

It could be done so that ambushes can happen on any hill hex, but ambushers wouldn't appear on hill hexes that are next to the road. A bit trickier, but possible. Or just on any hill hex, but not the road, in case that's what you meant.

[podunk]

Playing on medium version 1.0.2 and 1.1.7 I always rush to the road and move into the first line of hills on each side. You often get one ambush on the north side, seldom on the south. 2 times I've sprung 2 ambushes in the north.

I use Kalenz and Dadledorf or however you spell the old wizard dude to kill anything that will prevent me from forming a battle line and go ahead and form up on each side of the road. The critters that are next to my formation I do not melee with - if I can shoot them with arrows without them shooting back I do - but I don't fight because I need the time to form my battle lines. This way all my units are undamaged for the first rush when dark falls.

My reasoning is that in medium there are lots of critters and it doesn't matter where you form up - everyone on the line is going to be attacked at least once. In other words when dark comes your going to have critters next to your line anyway, so it doesn't matter where they come from.

I used to try to form up in the woods around Konrads home keep and use the protection factor of the woods to decrease the bad guys chance of hitting. However this is a *very* long line and it formed several salients. Plus I always got out flanked to boot with at least 1 wolf rider in my rear attacking my healers and reserves. This made it very hard to heal everyone up and get through the narrow part of the road in enough order to form up when dark came again.

By going to the hills around the road all my units are on equal or better ground with the orcs, I can anchor the 2 front corners with my strongest units and after that first rush I have fresh reserves that can reach any part of the line, and any injured can be healed quite easily.

In Isle of the Damned you get an outlaw and thugs. Hardly anything hits the outlaw if he's in the woods on the south side of the road, and if you advance 2 of you thugs to bandits they are very tough in the hills at night. The rouge from SOE comes in very handy here also, if they break your line he can plug the gap or heal the breach with his backstab.

With just a little bit of luck when dawn comes all my units are alive and I can drive for the eastern orc without making a new formation.

There are usually a lot of injured orcs and troll whelps around at dawn. They always retreat to an ambush area though, so I find it best to leave them behind.

I can finish 3 -5 turns early which helps increase my gold for the next scene, the extra 100+ gold more than makes up for 1 or 2 low level elf fighters I might lose

[TheChosenOne]

I use Kalenz and Dadledorf or however you spell the old wizard dude to kill anything that will prevent me from forming a battle line and go ahead and form up on each side of the road.

I used to try to form up in the woods around Konrads home keep and use the protection factor of the woods to decrease the bad guys chance of hitting. However this is a *very* long line and it formed several salients. Plus I always got out flanked to boot with at least 1 wolf rider in my rear attacking my healers and reserves. This made it very hard to heal everyone up and get through the narrow part of the road in enough order to form up when dark came again.

The name is Delfador.

You don't really have to keep Konrad in the home keep always. In fact, if you can get him into a Lord he'd be very useful even in battle.

To beat those flanking wolf riders, simply send your cavalry (by now you should have at least an Elvish Outrider) and finish off those annoying little bugs.

If you have a hard time healing your troops, form a hedgehog formation. That is, put healers in the centre of an oval-shaped formation such that every unit is next to at least one healer.

To avoid ambush, just avoid the hills. Don't be tempted to pursue some wounded units into the hills/mountains just because they are weak : you may trigger ambushes.

For a start, quickly recruit troops and send them southeast. Try to kill the southeastern orcs first (the leader gives you a nice xp). Don't worry about finishing early, better units will eventually get you more gold (by winning the battle faster).

Finally, the best way to avoid ambushes is to save the game when it start and use save-and-load (although I do not encourage this, use this only when you really cannot win)

[toms]

Topic title is wrong. The scenario is way too easy, I'd like some more ambushes which directly block your way.

[Doc]

yeah, don't go on the hills.

On the other hand, it might be a better idea to have ambushes only occur at the beginning of a turn - that way, you can't get your moves screwed up by inopportune ambushes, and also you can't move/undo to trigger lots of ambushes for more XP, qhich I often do.

Thanks for the idea of using move/undo to trigger more ambushes. That'll help squeeze some more XP out of the scenario.