Choosing east or north in HttT: Bay of Pearls*some spoilers*

[ponkan]

I'm playing the Bay of Pearls scenario for the second time, and decided that instead of going for the small cage like I did last time, I'd go for the bigger cache up north. Imagine my surprise when the nagas and bats swam (flew) south towards my wading ground units instead of engaging the mermen! I had level 2 units that were used to dispatching such annoyances, though my healer almost died. Which way did all of you go, and how did you deal with the nagas if your mermen went north instead of engaging the nagas?

[EDIT]ed to make the title make more sense

[Zhukov]

There are some decent hints for Bay of Pearls inthis thread, you may have to look for them.

I remember that I posted a shortened basic walkthrough for Bay of Pearls in this thread (on page 3 of the thread, juct click the above link).

Hope it helps.

[Ranger M]

Why are you sending any of your ground units into water near the enemy?

just use your mermen to free the other mermen.

[Elvish_Pillager]

I always send most of the mermen to the east cage, and two or three to the north cage. Not that I need to; in fact, in general it would probably be a better strategy for me to use the two extra mermen in the battle.

[Tmoiy]

Why can't you free both cages? Do as Elvish Pillager suggested; send a pair of mermen up north, one to engage the nagas and one to slip around and free the mermen. Have the rest of your mermen free the rest of the mermen and fight nagas and bats.

DO NOT send ground units to wade.

[xtifr]

Why can't you free both cages? Do as Elvish Pillager suggested; send a pair of mermen up north, one to engage the nagas and one to slip around and free the mermen. Have the rest of your mermen free the rest of the mermen and fight nagas and bats.

Yes, exactly, and furthermore, the mermen moving east will distract a lot of the bats and nagas, making the job of the northward pair even easier. And once you've got the eastern cage open, the mermen from there can even help distract some of the land troops, sometimes even luring them into the water where they become easy pickings. Meanwhile, the mermen from the north cage should be just coming in to attack the island from the weak, nearly unguarded backside.

DO NOT send ground units to wade.

It's sad that this even has to be said!

On the other hand, it's a good thing that the AI doesn't follow this rule so religiously. Luring an occasional troll or orc out into the water is a good way to get your mermen some easy XP.

[Sea Elf]

I usually go east and then north so I get both.
Its nice to go east because then you distract some of the orcs into the water and free up your frontal assault troops a bit.

[unsung]

uhhhh.... I free both.

Then I use them kill everythin gon the map. trolls lured onto sand\water terrain don't do well. Line hte shores with your mermen, the the trolls will get distracted by them, die, and leave ground units alone.

[Thrawn]

uhhhh.... I free both.

Then I use them kill everythin gon the map. trolls lured onto sand\water terrain don't do well. Line hte shores with your mermen, the the trolls will get distracted by them, die, and leave ground units alone.

pretty much. I just go in order of closeness, kill of Bugg and his boss with most, send some to divert landlubbers into the water, and some to open the main cage. I send most experiences to get the trident at the end of level, before I win. Destruction=total.

[Lord Lightstalker]

well i usually send about 3 north to free the merman at the top and kill the nagas and send the rest into the west then join them up and wipe out the sea orc and that.

[Oreb]

well i usually send about 3 north to free the merman at the top and kill the nagas and send the rest into the west then join them up and wipe out the sea orc and that.

to the west would be running from the battle

I do a sort of mixed thing, 70% to north-east castle, 3 to north and the rest of the merman to bring the orcs into the water so i can advance and take houses without casualties. Then take the land while they attack from the water

[kiet]

Don´t forget to pick up the storm trident which will come in very handy lateron.Using it I saved many mermen + killing the leader on the island.

[Ailurus]

I usually send all but two of the mermen east, and the last two north - one of them usually dies to the two naga guards, but once the second one pops the north cage the hunter and caster make short work of the two naga guards.

I've never needed to divert merfolk to pulling the trolls into the water though - the AI is nice enough as it is, and diverts half the trolls to swimming out to the water villages, one hex at a time. I've actually engaged the trolls on land before, and had it use two or three whelps as a screen while sending all the rest to those villages - only to send them all back to my forces waiting on the shoreline when I got a knight and elvish rider near the castle.

[Flametrooper]

The storm trident is incredibly useful. If you level up the merman that got it up to triton, then he will help you a lot in future watery scenarios, like Ford of Abez and even a bit in SoE, distracting orcs into the moat and then zapping their @$$es off.

[kiet]

Dont forget to pick up a storm trident on Ford Of Abez and do it quickly since the sea creature will give you hell of a time if you don´t