AB adventures with swordsmen

[AbsoluteZ]

Since the update swordsmen are twice as fast to recruit and less than half as costly, so anytime you can substitute swordsmen with less than 2x losses will increase both time and resource efficiency. YWC lends itself fairly well to this strategy (better than I thought it would), so I got bored and worked it out last night. I have 3 MMAs with 1-up and only Vargus for CoAs, but you can certainly adapt if you have more gens to decrease losses further. The only battle with MS losses that is unchanged is L1 because C2 would need to be blocked and you would lose xp bonus from Mary.


G1
C1) 180sw --- Tav - 196ms (BLOCK)
C2) 110dm100scn ---
L1) 120ho80dm1ST --- MC - 47ms168mm (kills C2 otw)


G2
C3) 80sw80mb --- 3xMMA1r, Var - 21ms58am116mm OR 37s58am100mm
opt) 90scl100dm --- MC - 170+mm
C4) 150sm --- Tav - 196ms4am (BLOCK)
C5) 70sw70ho50dm --- Tav - 148ms40am (BLOCK)
L2) 80ho90dm1GT --- MC - 31ms142+mm OR 52s142+mm


G3
C6) 90scl80mb --- Var - 21ms142+mm OR 34s142+mm
C7) 70sw70ho --- Tav - 150ms10am (BLOCK)
C8) 90scl90scn --- MC - 90am90+mm
L3) 80ho80dm1MT --- Maj - 31ms214+mm OR 52s214+mm


G4
C9) 70sm50ho60dm --- Tav - 164ms36am (BLOCK)
L4) 90scl80ho1TT --- MC - 35ms120mm60b OR 59s88mm68b
C10) 70dm70mb --- Tav - 126ms (BLOCK)
L5) 90ho90dm1ST --- Var - 33ms162mm OR Maj - 59s155+mm


G5
C11) 90dm90mb --- Var - 23ms132+mm OR 38s132+mm
C12) 100dm100scn --- MC - 100am80+mm
C13) 180sw --- Tav - 196ms (BLOCK)
C14) 50sw70sm40dm --- Tav - 160ms40am (BLOCK)
L6) 80ho80scn1BL --- 3xMMA - 1mm, Var - 50kn, Maj - 285mm


Relevant skills are:
Mary with juggernaut, overrun, 2/3 frenzy, annex, planner
Vargus with juggernaut, overrun, 2/3 frenzy, unstoppable chg, annex, planner
Major with overrun, frenzy, annex, planner
MMA with juggernaut, annex

[AbsoluteZ]

The result is a fairly significant increase in efficiency (although only because of the unnecessary changes in elite unit production). I will probably go through 3rd thief next, but feel free to add anything if you are inclined to do so.

[AbsoluteZ]

Ran through 3rd thief with similarly positive results, posted below. Being a very linear map it is easy to correlate wiki camp #'s with EvilJ numbering, both are included for added flexibility. The idea is the same: for 1-round fights that have enough room in the garrison simply replace Mounted Swords with a sufficient number of Swordsmen, and for multi-rd fights just kind of guess and check with sim. It works for almost every camp (only L3, L6, and C23 see little or no benefit).

I may post more of these in the future, but it's pretty easy to adapt any guide using these tactics and a simulator, and tailor it to one's own gens/skills.


G1
1(C1) 60scl70mb --- Var - 18ms105mm OR 30s105mm
2(C2) 70scl70hm --- 3xMMA - 1mm, MC - 16ms90mm OR 26s90mm
3(C3) 60hm60dm60scn --- Var - 23ms100mm OR 37s100mm
4(L1) 120hm1ScT --- 3xMMA - 1mm, MC - 125ms (lose ~30ms) OR 145s (lose ~51s)
5(C4) 90hm80mb --- Tav - 136ms (BLOCK)
6(L2) 90dm50scn1MyT --- Maj - 230mm


G2
7(C5) 60sw60dm60scn --- Maj - 60am200mm
8(C6) 80mb80scn ---
9(C7) 50scl50mb50scn --- Var - 33ms130mm OR 56s130mm (both kill C6 otw)
10(L3) 70mb70scn1GrT --- Var - 18ms167am
11(C8) 80scl70hm70dm --- MC - 28ms140mm OR 45s140mm
12(C9) 70sm60dm --- Tav - 106ms60am (BLOCK)
13(L4) 50sw50dm1BW --- Var - 6ms189mm OR 10s185mm


G3
14(C10) 90w90f --- Var - 13ms55mm OR 22s55mm
15(C11) 80r120p --- MC - 184mm
16(C12) 100r90g --- Maj - 90am140mm
17(C13) 80r80p80f --- Var - 12ms172mm OR 20s172mm
18(C14) 80b90p --- MC - 134mm
19(C15) 100f100g --- Tav - 148ms (BLOCK)
20(L5) 100b80f1GBear --- Var - 18ms90mm72b OR 30s90mm72b


G4
21(C16) 90r90f --- Var - 13ms145mm OR 23s145mm
22(C17) 90w90g --- MC - 180mm
23(C18) 60w60f60g --- Var - 9ms130mm OR 15s130mm
24(C19) 80b80p --- MC - 128mm
25(C20) 100r80f --- Tav - 152ms (BLOCK)
26(L7) 80p80f1FB --- Var - 14ms50mm72b OR 24s50mm72b
27(L6) 100b100f1GB --- Maj - 17ms140k128b OR 33s117k135b (both lose ~47k)


G5
28(C21) 90hm10dm80scn --- MC - 35ms128mm OR MC - 58s128mm
29(C22) 70scl70hm70dm --- MC - 28ms161mm OR MC - 46s161mm
30(C23) 40sw50mb40scn --- Var - 13ms182mm
31(C24) 80sw80hm --- 3xMMA - 1r, Maj - 22ms50am213mm OR 37s50am198mm
32(L8) 90db90scn1SnT --- MC - 12ms165am30mm OR 20s165am30mm
33(C25) 50dm70mb70scn --- Var - 19ms130mm OR 30s130mm
34(C26) 50sw50hm60mb --- Tav - 190ms (BLOCK)
35(C27) 60scl60hm60dm --- Tav - 170ms (BLOCK)
36(L9) 40sm1ShT1SyT --- Maj - 16ms250mm OR 27s250mm


note: I fixed a typo earlier with Mary's skills, she has only 2/3 frenzy... doesn't affect anything here.

[Kris3457]

32(L8) 90db90scn1SnT
Definitely worth using Mary here :)
something like that: Mary 20MoS 165ArM 30MoM [loss 16MS]
Additionally, I have Frenzy-3 (and Charge-3, no juggernaut), so it may be a little different for you, but should be doable, and it's 10.5k XP for Major, so 24.2k XP for Mary (Fast Learner-3, before premium).

[AbsoluteZ]

Ahh thanks very much, didn't even see it... that works out great with my skill set as well:

12ms165am30mm (loss ~11ms) OR 20s165am30mm (loss ~18s) And enough room in the garrison for a clean win with soldiers too :cool:

[geezer123]

AbsoluteZ thanks for your guide, I incorporated some into mine: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1GGQehUHSCYlwX-CfwvBsCVr8IwgAX-eT1XIYc82f8Ms/edit?usp=sharing

[AbsoluteZ]

Great, I'm glad to hear you found it useful!

Oh, by any chance is your last name Butler??? :D

[Ozzymandeus]

Oh, by any chance is your last name Butler??? :D

...and my last name is Osbourne! ;)