Advanced Tactics - Game Tools

Tips for Better Use of the Game's Tools

The programmers were kind enough to create a wonderful, easy-to-use interface, and one can make good use of it in many ways. This section describes some of the ways to use the game to your advantage.

• One can determine whether a ruin has been explored or not without pulling down the "Ruins" info menu item; just put your mouse cursor on the ruin in question (which may be only partly visible), and get info on it. (Use the right mouse button on IBM, or hold down the control key on a Mac.)
• Similarly, you can get info on a sign without being able to see it all.
• Units who sit on top of a sign can CHANGE what the sign says. This can be useful in hidden random-map games where the sign might give a human opponent a clue about where your lightly-held nearby city is located.
• ALWAYS GET THE ARMY REPORT EACH TURN - the map that appears shows all visible armies and helps you discover enemies sneaking up on you.
• The History of Events frequently gets screwed up, but is a good way of determining which of your enemies has multiple heroes, which heroes have super items, and so on.
• One can also (sometimes) use the Gold history chart to determine who has been buying things (heroes, more powerful creatures, etc).
• Manipulate the Fight Order to your advantage: If you can't afford to lose your scout, put him higher up. If you're going against a Spider and don't won't to lose five Light Cavalry before getting to your Worms, put the Worms first. And a major component of war is deception. When an enemy views your stack, all he can see is the number of units in the stack and the highest ranking army in the Fight Order chart. As Sun Tzu says in the Art of War, "Appear weak when you are strong and strong when you are weak." - Gary S. Best
• Beware when using the movement tool, it can get screwed up and not give you the fastest path. This is especially true in the following situations: (1) When the stack being moved includes a navy and the desired route goes past a bridge; (2) When the desired route goes past a city that you don't control (instead of through it!); and (3) When the path is fairly long and there are out-of-the-way roads that happen to get there quicker, though the movement tool thinks they're too far off the "direct" route to be useful. Otherwise, the movement tool is your friend. - Various sources