Admittedly I’m probably doing something wrong. I have no doubt I’m missing something, but this game, on NORMAL, seems very difficult. I’m on the first free player level (Pretty Valley? The one with the giants) and have had my rear-end handed to me about 5 games in a row.
I realize the whole “zombie apocalypse” feel is supposed to have that overwhelmed vibe, but I’m not even CLOSE to winning on any of the games. I guess I can move down to Easy - but I can’t even FATHOM how difficult “Nightmare” must be if the AI trounces so hard on Normal.
Should I just keep trying new tactics or is there generally a “best practice” to learning the game?
You’re probably not being aggressive enough… it’s a common mistake I see a lot of newer players make.
Blight is a game of speed more than most other factors. If you try to sit back and build your strength I can guarantee the zombies are going to build it faster.
The idea is to press the front quickly. You have to get out there and clear zombie infested towns, and save some of the ones that come into danger; you don’t always have to save them all, but more helps.
That being said, the particular map you’re talking about has a couple good choke points where the river divides the north from south. Try pushing your units past those check points and then falling back if things get out of control. With the choke points I would say a 50% score is pretty easily obtainable for this map.
Also, another thing I’ve seen a lot of newer players do is hold onto their hero/unit cards without ever playing them, and instead they try to recruit basic units.
The idea isn’t to always use basic units; in fact quite the opposite. Usually you aren’t going to train basic units unless you have no other cards to play.
Since cards always play immediately without the 6 HR delay for training they are the most effective way to go.
I made some changed to the way zombie spawn yesterday. They will spawn earlier and more often and stand around on their graves for between 12 and 24 hours before moving off.
There were a few hours during the day where the zombie spawning may have been off the charts! Were you playing about 18-20 hours ago?
I fixed the issues as soon as I noticed them.
It was very difficult to match the previous difficulty in the new system but in my tests I believe normal is a tiny bit easier than it was the day before.
I also reduced the head start that zombies receive for hard and nightmare mode, and increased the spawn rate.
I will play pretty valley now and make sure I didn’t break something in that map specifically.
Unfortunately, nope - this was today. I was able to make some progress playing on Easy, but was still overrun.
It’s not that I want a super easy game (or that you should change anything) - It’s just that if there is no ramp-up in the difficulty level (i.e. starting with a map people can be expected to win nearly every time and then ramping it up from there), I see people potentially getting turned off.
I really like the game. Thought there might be some secret to game play I was missing.
I just played it myself and I think it is on the hard side. I played with just the mandatory cards. I didn’t take any gnostic mages or anything else.
It’s quite puzzly I think because you really have to make use of the Giants and the Half Giant powers.
A few other important tip for completing the mission.
Make sure you be jumping full 12 hours in the first few turns to make sure you get the valour. You need it to claim all the towns and get your economy going.
Dont forget zombie humans are much weaker in those mountains. There was a large horde of 8K that I really didn’t know what to do with until I realized I could pull it into the mountains.
If you wanted I would happily play it again and try to describe my thought processes though the map. If that would be something that you wanted and be helpful
I realize this thread is very old, but did you ever beat it? I just got slaughtered 5 times in a row.
Seems impossible.
At first I did what worked in the free-player levels: grabbed all the cities near me and built up for the onslaught.
It was too much.
There are too many cities at the top of the map and too many immortals come from it.
I tried a new strategy.
I raced up to the top of the map to try and save as many cities as possible. In particular, I figure if I can save the mana pool at the very top then maybe I can make it; the immortal hero from that pool is really what does me in.
Let me tell you a bit about this map (and also applies for Orc maps, actually more there). They are human zombies, coming from human fortresses. They are a lot, and by that, I mean a lot. You simply cannot build up enough strength to beat them. Brute force? They have more! Those fortresses have a total of 10,800 worth of strength in plains, where you’ll most encounter them.
So can you please describe your strategy?
( And by describe, I mean a step by step process, like I have detailed below.)
I played it on Hard and I did manage to save some human settlements above the river.
Before you get surprised or don’t believe me, I have to say my strategy actually relies a lot on cards. I know you may not have them yet, so I suggest building up on 3 cards in particular:
Dragonhelm Knight
Hound Master
Blind Justice
Half Giant
Wizard
Cyclops Standard
In order of necessity. The bottom three (and maybe four?) are not necessary, but good to have. Now for the strategy:
Get the Dragonhelm Knight ASAP (a Cyclops Standard or two is also good to have). Burn some valour if you don’t get it at first.
Rush to the lower (or right) settlement. If any zombie is close, pull it down! Jump 12 hours at the start, for the valour.
Don’t train any swordsmen below the river, it is a waste of gold at the moment. First containment, then eradication, remember that.
Once there, deploy Hound Masters (or Wizards if you don’t have them)! Deploy Dragonhelm Knights to pull the stacks going south back up. You will now need to get some valour going for your Justice.
Do send someone to claim some settlements to the left and right below the river. Maybe your Cyclops Standard? Essentially any cheap hero. Or maybe even a swordsman, just for that job.
Now is the time to get some strength going. Make sure you have enough Crowd Control heroes to contain the zombies indefinitely. Train some swordsmen, deploy a Mighty General perhaps, and take out the weaker stacks.
Grab the Giants! They give instant strength, and power the Half Giants. You should easily get a 3-4k strength in a few turns. Don’t be afraid to jump less than 6 hours if things are tight.
Use your Wizards! If you have enough mana (which is why they are not best here), use them to get some valour going. Make sure you have 10-20 mana at all times before you use them!
Now, you should have got a fair amount of valour. At ~30-40, start the Blind Justices! Bring the medium stacks down to size, and finish them off with your armies.
By now, you should just have 2-3 big stacks left. Just Justice them, until they become manageable. Move them around, make sure you have everything under control, before moving forward. By now, you should be skipping 12 hours to get even more valour flowing, and eventually, the graves become empty.
A last note: This may not be the best strategy, and some things might change, or there may be other strategies out there. Explore, try and maybe you can discover something else! Good luck!
Thanks. This is helpful. I’m going to have to re-read this a few times to grasp it all.
I actually have a follow-up question on the topic of difficulty: can you recommend any single player maps where the difficulty is somewhat between Ironwood River (which is somewhat easy) and Pretty Valley (which seems to be generally somewhat difficult)? I feel like I need to practice a few times on something that is slightly between these two in difficulty.
If you want an okay challenge, I suppose play some multiplayers as well. If you insist on the single player, try the Ironwood river on Hard! Once done, you know what’s left. It’s a different experience!
The humans are one of the most balanced races, and for more tips and tricks, I suggest checking out this awesome guide to humans by thatfrood.
Once you have mastered the humans, try your hand at the Trolls and Goblins. They are one of the most fun and challenging races!
New player here, just purchased a couple days ago. Well worth the $24. Love the game. Reminds me of one of the first Age of Wonders games and Might and Magic games back in the late 90’s. Guess it was sitting on my ipad for a few years since I notice the APP isn’t even available.
Have to say Pretty Valley wasn’t that difficult. I rushed up to the Giant locations using 20 Knights card for speed and converted the two middle ones first than kept building up there, leaving the lower villages, which I slowly converted to gain gold. Used 12 hour turns for my first two moves. Blind justice is powerful, but also had a nice use for cowardly noble to score extra gold. Scored 57% so was happy.
I have been playing multiplayer with friends instead of single player lately. I find it much easier. Even on hard difficulty level. So, maybe if I re-tried Pretty Valley today I would find it not as tough. My my recollection is that even rushing and grabbing the cyclops cities was not enough for me, because the undead grab the mana pool there and if they get any of the cyclops cities, they will quickly be too strong for me.
Anyway, I guess I’ll try it today as I suggested and see if I’ve gotten any better.
I just tried again. It didn’t last long. I was able to get two cyclops cities on the river, but a 3k hoard of zombies came before I could get 3k strength to defeat it. It took the city, and since that was basically all my force, the game didn’t last much longer.
The first two turns I use 12 hour turns to bump up my valor. As mentioned I was able to get Gloomy Barrow using Knights. Cuts 10 hours off the journey. Quickly built. Also grabbed Green Barrow, and eventually Midnight Barrow and Winter Barrow. Also populated all the cities below the river. They provide two Knights, plus I had two of my own, so pretty guaranteed to get at least one knight card. Took 5 minutes and quickly did some turns and am showing map after 3.5 days. I could actually have more gold and some units but wasn’t that detailed grabbing cities and using my cards. The 8000 will be tough to stop, but using mana boosts and spells, plus getting more troops I’d think I can win this.
