River Defense Strategy Guide(Beginners and moderate Players)

Share and discuss strategies for playing the game, and get help and tips from other players.

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Zamoon
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River Defense Strategy Guide(Beginners and moderate Players)

Post by Zamoon »

Hello, and today i want to discuss a simple strategy that I love to use. It is very simple, and maybe a lot of you know this. This guide is mainly for the people in the Beginner level.

GUIDE :eng:

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Lets say you are in this situation. You have little forces compared to the enemy. Line up your troops in front of a river like this. Because a river gives low defense, you can easily kill the enemies. Because opposing this strategy is easy to avoid, it is mainly useful when fighting AI.

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First turn should look like this. Notice how all the enemies are in the water.

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After a bit of fighting, notice how most of the enemies are already defeated.

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You may face small causality in the battle. Please note that putting healing units in the back lines is very useful. Try not not move your units, unless they are injured. You might break the formation.

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9th turn, and it is going well. Casualties on both sides, and the formation is broken. But please look at the first image, and notice how many enemies are killed. you are almost guaranteed for victory.
lezthar
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Re: River Defense Strategy Guide(Beginners and moderate Play

Post by lezthar »

With the forces you have remaining and the forces the rebels have you will probably lose
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StandYourGround
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Re: River Defense Strategy Guide(Beginners and moderate Play

Post by StandYourGround »

Holding a river only gives an advantage if the enemy faction is at a greater disadvantage in the water than your forces are on whatever terrain they hold. Dwarves on flat have practically no advantage to elves in shallow water. Frankly, the RNG was being kind to you in that example. The best place to hold a line is where you have a significant defense advantage. Otherwise, you need to have healers or villages nearby to guarantee success. In the end, this strategy really only works against AI well, and a skilled human player should have many means of defeating this.
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DarkPhoenix
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Re: River Defense Strategy Guide(Beginners and moderate Play

Post by DarkPhoenix »

Enjoyed the pictures. Thanks :)
Anonymissimus
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Re: River Defense Strategy Guide(Beginners and moderate Play

Post by Anonymissimus »

The primary example that may be played as defending at a river is 08_The_Princess_of_Wesnoth in HttT.
I've played it many times that way or that way, and found it's not worth defending at the river. Even though you're loyalist/elves there. Results get better when arranging battles in a way that you can kill before the AI even got any chance to attack. Let them rush in and then attack when it's good for you. This is worth loosing several villages. In the case of The_Princess_of_Wesnoth, you should let them waste the afternoon during their turn and attack at dusk.
The example above is unusual, as really all units involved are neutral.
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darkeye28
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Re: River Defense Strategy Guide(Beginners and moderate Play

Post by darkeye28 »

lezthar wrote:With the forces you have remaining and the forces the rebels have you will probably lose
nope, he has a lv2 unit, and some enemies are still on the river, he can deal lots of damage, the only problem is killing their king, but some turn of recovering should do it, since an AI king will not move.
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kjn
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Re: River Defense Strategy Guide(Beginners and moderate Play

Post by kjn »

The images aren't showing anymore, but I very much agree with Anonymissimus here - a river really isn't a defensive line. If the enemy is smart, they can attack the units on the river using their preferred attack modes and bring overwhelming force at their chosen point of attack.

The river's main value is as an obstacle. Most units have to spend 3 or 4 MP to enter a river hex. I thus set up my force a few hexes back from the river, far back so that only a few chosen of my units can be engaged. When the enemy cross, they will be spread out, with some units in the river, some in contact with my forces, and some behind the river. That is the proper time to attack. Primary goal should be to destroy the elements in the river (horsemen and knights are excellent for this), while the enemy lead elements should be contained.

Ie, think of the river more as an obstacle than as a defensive feature.

If you have excellent defensive terrain behind the river a more static line might be worthwhile, but there are usually gaps with less favourable terrain that are more likely to be chosen as the spot of attack.

ETA: Homonymic spelling
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