Guide 2
The Kingdom of Sarleon The Kingdom of Sarleon is one of five major factions in Prophesy of Pendor. It is ruled by King Ulric . The Ashes of Pendor - The Kingdom of Sarleon The central lands of Sarleon have always held much power, even within the unified Kingdom of Pendor. Their towns are numerous and their fields fertile. That Sarleon was once the capital of Pendor is no accident; it is rich, powerful and casts a majestic presence on the lands. The Kings of Sarleon sit still on the Silver Throne and dream of what once was, and might once again be. The proud Knights ride forth to crush all foes of Sarleon beneath the iron-shod hooves of their stallions. The might of Sarleon ebbs and flows like the eternal seas around the continient of Pendor. During its golden age, people from near and far came to gape at the majestic palaces of the mighty who called Sarleon home. The fall of Pendor hit Sarleon hard, the lords being far more divided there than in the other regions; however, the strength of Sarleon was shown in true form with the coming of the Baccus Empire. Without the chivalric Knights of the Lion and the brave soldiers of Sarleon, the Baccus Empire might well have conquered the whole land. General Oasar made quick progress destroying the token garrions in the provincial capitals before him, however the first resistance he encountered was from Lord Alfred, Duke of Sarleon. Alfred managed to unite the warring factions in the north, center, south and west of Pendor into the Kingdom of Sarleon. He made an attempt to centralise the military by disbanding all Knighthood Orders except for the Order of the Lion. The Baccus Empire invasion was slowed, and then ultimately halted when the Baccus regime back home collapsed, leaving General Oasar isolated in Pendor. Eventually other external threats began to take their toll on the hegemony of Sarleon over Pendor. First the Kingdom of Ravenstern seceded following the war against the Mystmountains. Several years later the Fierdsvain cancelled their alliance with Sarleon over disagreements over how to deal with the Vanskerry raiders. With the current King Ulric on the throne, Sarleon continues to view itself as the center of Pendor politics, her armies riding forth beneath the old standard of Pendor. This arrogance, however, is little liked by the splinter factions which now surround Sarleon. This has done little to stem the ambition of Sarleon and her king, however; out of the ashes of Pendor rises the phoenix Sarleon. Commentary on Sarleon "Sarleon is the flower of Pendor. The single candle in the darkness of anarchy." -Knight of the Lion "If the Knights of the Lion are the new standard of the Validus Charta, then we are pleased that we do not appear in such a corrupt text. " -Knight of the Dragon, on campaign with the Ravenstern military "I seriously call into question the so-called chivalry of the Sarleon Knights when they couldn't even protect the defenseless against bands of starving marauders." -Fierdsvain Patrician "I love the smell of burned Knights in the morning. How the Sarleon cavaliers manage to fight in the intense heat of the desert is beyond me, though it does explain why they always lose." -D'Shar Lord "I came, I saw, I conquered." -General Oasar on Sarleon "Pretender Ulric is no more the King of Pendor than is Pretender Gregory. Both are simply moths drawn to the allure of what Pendor once was, and like moths corrupt it with their touch." -Madame Ursula, former crown princess of Ravenstern and member of the defunct Order of the Falcon Outlaws Outlawed Knighthood Orders, Forest Bandits Tactical Overview of Sarleon Sarleon - Lance and Steed Sarleon has the dubious honor of being the weakest faction in PoP 3. It's got to belong to someone and Sarleon is it. Trying to conquer the world with a pure Sarleon military is a slow, slow, painful process - but not impossible. Expect to spend a lot of time training replacement troops and fighting defensive sieges but there are some very powerful units in the Sarleon lineup - not quite what you'd expect. Pros: - Sarleon heavy cavalry is the standard that all heavy cavalry can be measured to. These guys are tanks and should be used that way. - The castles and cities of Sarleon are some of the most defensible in the game outside of Poinsbruk. You can hold off half the world with a handful of poorly trained peasants - and from time to time you just might have to. - Brutal siege troops, offense and defense. - A lot of blunt wielding troops, they tend to take a lot of captives. - Dirt cheap. Since you want to keep a mix of infantry (though all Armored Longbowmen for archers is great) the bulk of your garrison troops are <20 a week each. You want about 1/3rd of your infantry to be Armored Footmen, which are only 10 a month. Sarleon armies are a cheap date, which leaves plenty of money left over for expensive wine so to speak. Cons : - They don't have a troop tree, they have a troop fork. That's right; two, precisely two, short lines of troops all from the initial militia line. One infantry, one archer. - Weak nobles. They have only a handful of nobles, each fields a relatively tiny army (compared to the 200-300 unit monstrosities of other factions) and a smaller percentage of honor troops. Most factions nobles have armies with 50 or even 60% of their armies as high end or honor units. Most Sarleon nobles are about 20%. Smaller number of inferior troops, they end up on the poor side of most encounters. - Vulnerable infantry lines. No real shield troops except Knights. Sometimes Man-At-Arms and Armored Footmen spawn with shields, sometimes not. - Poor location. Right in the middle they generally start out at war with 3 factions. Since most of their enemies have to cross Sarleon even if going to attack someone else their domain is a constant battleground that leaves Sarleon on the losing end. - Heavy reliance on Nobles. They field a strong cavalry, in fact they pretty much have to in order to make up for their infantry deficiencies. With Nobles now only showing up at a couple a week it means you spend a literal 28 game days trying to squeeze by with a painfully weak army and replacing gruesome casualties all while trying to nurture and grow enough Knights to make a showing on the field. There in lies the rub - there are some powerful Sarleon tactics, they just require a reasonable number of Knights to be effective. Without that heavy cavalry support they just don't do well. Once you get a dozen or two dozen Knights things change a great deal for a well built Sarleon army but until then what you're going to do the most is train replacements for your constant 20-40% casualty losses. Tactical Overview: Sarleon are the Zerg. Their troops, all save Knights, are expendable but heavy-hitting. Your success will depend completely on your ability to get them into melee range with their enemy without getting mowed down by archers. Once they hit melee, you hit F3 and they set to their bloody work - killing any sort of enemy unit (save Blademasters, see later comments) with explosive suddenness. The key is realizing that you don't actually want to upgrade all your infantry. Instead of having different branches in their troop tree their infantry is just one line. Archer line is easy; just upgrade them all to Armored Longbowmen as fast as you can. Infantry though, they have three ranks with three very different focuses. Armored Footmen generally spawn with big two-handed warhammers. These are amazing for knocking enemies down and taking prisoners. The first part, knocking enemies down, is critical to a Sarleon forces success in both offense and defense. The next step, Men-At-Arms, often spawn with sword and shield, making them the only vaguely defensive unit in the Sarleon makeup. They are mediocre at best at it but you again want them scattered in with the main force to serve as damage magnets. Halberders are absolutely deadly - if they can get their swings in. So you max out your archers and then split your infantry pretty evenly into thirds - Armored Footmen with their hammers, Men-At-Arms with their shields and Halberds with their WHAM! Stand your archers in front but have them spread-out. Their goal is to A) weaken the enemy as much as they can, being further apart means that they have better odds of getting around an enemy shield and B) getting the enemy to spread out. They are not the killing force that archers are in the other factions. In fact they serve great by ordering them to hold fire and charge with the rest, they'll draw enemy attention away from your Halberders and Armored Footmen (who do most your killing) and with their shields last pretty well. What you do NOT want to do is stay at range. Your infantry is fragile and largely unshielded. Keep moving forward, pausing to let your archers inflict what damage they can, but keep moving. Losses with Sarleon troops are inevitable - the goal is to make sure you're killing far more than you're losing. Move in while keeping formation to limit your vulnerability to cavalry and archers, then charge. Make sure you hit the enemy at a run; your initial pass with your running and swinging Halberd and heavy hammer troops will be your most deadly. It's incredibly satisfying to have had to watch the slow trickle of yellow and red up the screen, then suddenly BOOM! This screen full of green. Your infantry are shock-troops and if you can get them into melee range will slaughter their enemies. Knocking them down and killing them before they get up, the key is to keep them in a horde. This changes when you have cavalry. The point of the heavily armored Sarleon cavalry is not their killing power; it's their defensive power. You send them in a bit ahead of your infantry, drawing that archer fire that would kill your infantry and scattering the tight groups of otherwise dangerous enemies that would blunt your infantries rush. Keep your cavalry following you so they don't do something stupid - like stop in the middle of 20 Huscarls. Keep them moving! Drag them around and behind the enemy. Your Knights won't make up the bulk of your kills - your infantry will. If you've got a solid cavalry force to scatter enemy archers and break formations and prevent a unified front from blunting your infantry, that ferocious mix of hammers and halberds morningstars (did I mention that Men-At-Arms often spawn with morningstars and shields? Fun for the whole family, that) will butcher any sort of enemy troop mix. Sieges: This is where your money is. Yes, you'll take some casualties moving siege towers up or getting to the ladders, but that's fine. You get that thick mix of halberds, hammers and morningstars up to the enemy and it's just a matter of time. Eventually it'll end up with one or two Men-At-Arms in the front, their morningstars chewing up whatever armored troop is holding the line and halberds behind them adding to the carnage and you'll clear a space on the wall. They'll poor onto it and you'll see the ol' Sarleon Magic: the more of them you have in a tighter place the more destructive they are. You squeeze them onto a narrow rampart or doorway and they'll kill enemies so quickly it'll fade out your kill-report scroll. Same on defense only better. Those armored archers will rain plenty of death on advancing troops; they make very respectable tower defense. When they get up to the wall though you hit '2' to select your infantry and then 'F3' and your infantry will go absolutely nuts. With 116 mixed Sarleon troops I killed over 1600 Fierdsvain in a string of successive sieges. Valdis Huscarls, Lady Valkyries, it just doesn't matter. The core of the Fierdsvain army on day 22 when they were still at 'fresh from the box' strength, all sieging my new keep. Slaughtered to a man. Three days later I'm sprinting back with about 60 fresh recruits to find the Empire doing the same thing - about 1400 attackers total. Killed them all. Two days later the D'Shar showed up, over 800. Guess what? Lambs to the slaughter. Whenever possible fight your enemies in sieges, attacking or defending. Don't stick back with your archers on attack; order hold fire so they pull the shields out and get up on the wall. At one point by day 43 I have defeated probably 40 or 50 different noble armies and have 12 nobles split between my two castles dungeons. I make almost as much money in ransoms as I do battle-loot. Exception: Blademasters. Hands down no question the single most powerful unit in game, most D'Shar nobles walk around with about 50 of them. They are just so bloody quick; I've watched them kill 5 or 6 enemies each before they go down. Given that your units are slow but powerful, these guys will effectively 'chain-stagger' your units, hitting them so quickly that they never recover and cut them down in 2 or 3 hits each. Hunt them down and kill them by whatever means necessary, a handful of them will demolish your entire army if you don't stop them. Unit Overview: Archers: It's a straight line from skirmishers to Armored Longbowmen. The Armored ones have shields most the time; this gives them good durability in sieges. In sieges they are very useful, on the field their effectiveness is reduced. 20% when outside a siege, 40% for attack or defense. Armored Footmen: Fragile, inexpensive troops, they fill a vital gap in the troop lineup. Those hammers of theirs knock down enemies regularly, leaving them vulnerable to your other slow-swinging but powerful infantry units. Individually weak they become a vital ingredient to a proper Sarleon rush - mix them about 30% of your infantry troops at all times and you'll be shocked at how deadly a Sarleon infantry rush can be - regardless of the enemy troops. Men-At-Arms: These are pretty much your shield units - sometimes. Sometimes they spawn with spears. Still, 30% of your infantry because they show up with shield and morningstars a lot and the spears help stop enemy cavalry. Again, keep this metric relatively balanced and your infantry will be far more effective. Halberders: As tempting as it is, do NOT bump all your infantry to Halberders. As a homogeneous group they are fragile - slow, unprotected, vulnerable. Mix them as a third of your infantry though and magic happens. The enemy, distracted by your Men-At-Arms or knocked down by your Armored Footmen make easy prey for their polearms. These guys devour cavalry too. Knights: Sarleon Knights and Knights of the Lion (Sarleon Knights +++) effectively fill in for your heavy infantry. Do NOT tell them to 'charge'. Have them follow, lead them ahead of your infantry and soak enemy arrow fire. Plow right through their lines and try to stay on the opposite side of the enemy from your infantry. Keep hitting 'F2' so your incredibly valuable and painfully slow to replace Knights don't just stop right in the middle of the enemy horde. They are NOT for fighting cavalry! They are weak lancers. If enemy cavalry chase your men, lead them back through your infantry. They will dispense with them in short order. Plow through tight knots of enemy infantry, laying them down for your infantry to slaughter or breaking their formations. Knights of the Clarion Call: These guys do particularly well at drawing enemy attention - especially against the Empire. Quick enough to avoid most the javelins, they draw off enemy cavalry and the attention of enemy archers. While they don't rack up a lot of kills their presence as a extremely durable mobile archer unit that excels at drawing off an inordinate amount of enemy attention considerably improves the effectiveness of your infantry. Primary Troop Tree 1st Sarleon Recruit 2nd Sarleon Militia 3rd Sarleon Trained Militia Sarleon Skirmisher 4th Sarleon Footman Sarleon Longbowman 5th Sarleon Armored Footman Sarleon Armored Longbowman 6th Sarleon Man-at-Arms 7th Sarleon Halberdier You may also see Marleons Heavy Cavalry , who appear only in Sarleon armies. They are a special unit and not on any troop tree. Noble Troop Tree 1st Noble Sarleon Nobleman 2nd Noble Sarleon Squire-at-Arms 3rd Noble Sarleon Knight Sarleon Knights may be upgraded further to Knights of the Lion if you meet the special requirements. Summary : Mix your infantry! One-third Armored Footmen, one third Men-At-Arms, one third Halberds! It's the magic recipe! Without cavalry you'll die - a lot. Use cavalry to distract the enemy so your infantry can get into business range. Sieges are where you dominate. Attack or defend, sieges are where your strengths shine through. It's all you, baby. Your lords are more or less worthless. Few in number, small armies, you'll be carrying the burden of victory on your own shoulders. Going to start hunting special spawns so I can get a good feel of the 'vs' results. Not particularly enjoyable, I admit. Not a lot of cultural depth, at such a huge disadvantage and constant bleeding of troops while perpetually waiting for more Nobles, Sarleon wasn't my bag. Here is there vs results: Sarleon Vs: Noldor: They will rape you until it bores them. Their strengths, speed, accuracy, ranged attack, all play into Sarleons weaknesses. Destructive enough to mow down Knights swiftly, a lack of shields among Sarleon infantry, the only luck I had was hiding behind a ridge and waiting for them, then jumping out to attack. It still went poorly. Jatu: Pleasantly surprised. The best I've ever had any army do against the Jatu. Wait until they are about to hit, then charge - your men will rush in swinging and kill a ton of horses and Jatu. Wait a few moments as your men start to scatter, then tell them to fall back/advance/whatever to get them back together, rinse and repeat. Even better is to lead the Jatu to water for the battle. Park your troops in a river and wait. I killed a 700 strong Jatu army with a mix of mid-range of 120 Sarleon infantry and archers. ~2000/week worth of troops and absolutely slaughtered the Jatu with them. Most died before they ever got a poke in with their lances. Backed my archers up, who made short work of the Jatu archers (who were poorly armored) and in the water where everyone was moving slowly the Sarleon infantry just slaughtered them. Like Silvermist Rangers killing Outcasts. Snake Cult: Damn Netherworld Chargers! They just won't DIE! This was an example of Sarleon infantry not doing well against cavalry. Add to that the damned Armsmen and their crossbows. What worked well was making sure my infantry and archers were on the top of a hill, alternating charge and advance to try and catch Cobra and Anaconda troops in a mob while leading my Knights back and forth through the Armsmen to disrupt their crossbow fire. Heretics: Far easier. Only a handful of Demonic Magnus troops, got them to chase my cavalry. Lead them back and forth through my infantry lines, with a 'charge' command every time we were about to reach them. Nice thick mob of hammers and halberds to greet them at each pass. Went very smooth. Mystmountain Warriors: Too quick - they rush in, attack, break up what should be my mob of infantry, then ride off before they can be introduced to a well deserved demise. Without a lot of 'charge, advance, charge, backup, charge...' they would have demolished the Sarleon infantry and archers. Too nimble to fall to archer fire as well. Mobbed the Knights, stopping their horses, then brought them down with a group of axe-men. The toughest time I've ever had with Mystmountain Barbarians. The Empire: Horrible. Just no good way to close with those javelin-packing infantry without a lot of losses. Once closed I watched about 40 mixed infantry absolutely destroy an equal number of Immortals - same with Legionaries. The problem is that their Knights and their javelins play havoc with the slow Sarleon Knights and just butcher the advancing infantry. Their crossbowmen do a like number on the Sarleon Armored Longbowmen. Toughest regular faction troops for Sarleon. Ravenstern: Easiest. It's the lighter armor and lightly armored horses I suspect. Their archers don't have a discernible advantage, their Kiergard troops are tough, but sweep through them with Sarleon Knights while your infantry advances, when the armies meet it's terribly one-sided. Fierdsvain: Easy. Fierdsvain archers are not that tough and their cavalry just doesn't hold up. As strong as their shields are they don't attack particularly quickly and thus get knocked down and slaughtered when everyone is up close and personal. Tougher than Ravenstern troops, but the tactics are the same. Sweep back and forth with the cavalry while your infantry advances. They LOVE to chase your horsemen, scattering over the field, while your pole-swingin' mob of Sarleon infantry chews them up. D'Shar: Tough. They are quick; Sarleon infantry hit had but are paper tigers in a lot of ways. Especially those damn Blademasters. Toughest infantry in the game under any circumstance, against Sarleon troops they absolutely butcher them. I've been in a 120 vs 64 fight in my favor - I got my horse cut out from under me, ganged up on and slaughtered early in the fight. I still gave commands but really watched how it played out. I watched 8 Blademasters cut through about 40 infantry, only suffering 2 losses. Shield block through the initial attack, step in, whack! Whack! Whack! Dead Halberder. They just destroyed them. Fortunately I had 6 well equipped companions, Sara the Fox and 3 Rangers of the Clarion Call took them down with ranged fire while Freddy and Siggy kept them busy though both of them got taken down in the end. Field or Siege the D'Shar chew Sarleon armies pretty effectively. Only two troop lines, no flexibility, heavy reliance on noble troops, comparatively shallow culture, weak NPC nobles and the worst starting location make Sarleon a rough go for a pure PC playthrough. Perhaps if you introduced a heavy mercenary contingent? King Ulric, more to the point overthrowing King Ulric, has a lot of cool potential to it. Also the concept of a chivalry-heavy culture. Just a tough one to manage with the slow trickle of nobles. Don't get me wrong - I'm not criticizing their development as an aspect of PoP, just saying they're not a friendly one to play this way. The Empire The Empire is one of five major factions in Prophesy of Pendor. It is ruled by Marius Imperator . The Southeast - The Empire The Empire has a relatively short history in Pendorian terms. Their background, however, reaches further back, before their incursion into Pendor. First, there was the Baccus Empire, which proudly held place as a regional power equal to Pendor and Barclay. Those three nations created a balance of power which remained unbroken for decades, as all three nations enjoyed relative peace. Circumstances changed when Pendor collapsed following the Red Plague. Barclay and the Baccus Empire soon found themselves at odds over which of them would fill the power vacuum left by the fall of Pendor. Their war raged for five years, with neither side giving an inch of territory. The war eventually petered out in a stalemate. Once Barclay and the Baccus Empire concluded a truce, the Emperor unleashed his armies upon a ravaged Pendor. The Year 203 saw the full invasion launched under the command of General Oasar. The campaign went very well; towns and cities fell before the military might of the Baccus Empire. Then, Lord Alfred, Duke of Sarleon, managed to unite Pendor once again under a single banner, which held off the baying Baccus Empire hordes. A year later Oasar received word that his Emperor had been assasinated. The Baccus Empire itself was in the throes of a bloody civil war. Lacking resupply and reinforcement, General Oasar set about consolidating his gains in Pendor and began to forge a new nation. Now Marius I holds the Empire throne as Imperator, but he is faced with a new foe. The Snake Cult, which was victorious in the old Baccus Empire, arrived on the shores of Pendor and have begun to infiltrate the circles of power within Empire society. Determined to avoid a similar fate to that of his predecessors, Marius launched a massive crusade against the Snake Cult, both militarily and culturally. As a result of the so called "Mariun Reforms," the Empire is enjoying a golden age, making great advances in philosophy, mathematics and strategy. The question is whether the Empire will be able to harness their creative force and overcome the obstacles they face, or be relegated to just another footnote in the history of the Snake Cult... Commentary on the Empire "We came to Pendor in order to spread enlightenment to a backward society. Now that Pendor is our home, we find that our ancestral lands have been corrupted. It is we who must guard against the decadence of superstition." -Marius Imperator, Emperor of the New Empire "I've heard that even the men in the Empire drink wine. I would never touch that stuff, how can anyone like the seepage of rotting grapes? Barkeep! Give me another ale!" -Ravenstern Kierguard "I like fighting the Empire. They don't need a horse to do their fighting for them. They stand and fight eye to eye." -Fierdsvain Huscarl "They say that blood sports are a manner of entertainment in the Empire. I quite agree; fighting their armies always leaves me holding my sides with laughter." -D'Shar Windrider "Don't even get me started on those invading barbarians." -Sarleon Halberdier "Mariuss iss a fool who dancess for the godss. Azi Dahaka will sshow him that sscience will not keep the Sserpent Cult from our rightful heritage in Pendor." -Attributed to an unknown Snake Priestess Outlaws Snake Cult Tactical Overview of the Empire The Empire - Shield and Spear Empire specific character - concept is to conquer the Empire without a civil war. Get relations with every single Empire noble in the 50+ range, THEN rebel. Get everyone to join me and just have to depose Marius from Janos. Then re-conquer the whole world under a new, glorious Empire. Pros: Cons : Tactical Overview: A healthy mix of crossbowmen, gladiators, Legionaries, and armored pikemen handles everything. Most enemies are either dead or half-dead by the time they get to melee range. Horses either fall to crossbows and javelins or get stopped by pikes. The greater accuracy of crossbows means that the armored crossbowmen absolutely [b]grind[/b] enemy foot and horse archer units. With those big shields they are phenomenal in sieges, attack and defense. With the new troop stacking, where higher-placed units come in the first wave, your Legionaries and Knights are able to use those javelins up on the toughest enemies first for maximum effect. Comparatively fragile troops though. Their strength is in the power of combined ranged and melee units. They are a hold ground or advance steadily force, NOT one that is meant to be divided. Typically you split your infantry and ranged troops - don't do that with an Empire army. Leave them in a single big combined line. Your infantry troops have ranged weapons and your ranged troops are decent fighters. Separate your cavalry - they do not have anti-infantry cavalry! Their cavalry shine against enemy horse, not enemy foot. Keep the cavalry following you and make circling passes, not charges. Sieges: In the field your Legionaries do the brunt of the killing, them and your crossbowmen. In sieges your Legionaries are going to die a lot. They are there to hold the line for your Gladiators, Crossbowmen and Armored Pikemen. Swords are weak against shields and sieges are full of shield to shield combat. Give your Crossbowmen plenty of time to clear the walls before you advance. Then order 'hold fire' when you approach the wall. When you are on the ladder, let them open fire again - this will get your Legionaries in close to throw javelins and will generally sweep you a gap on the wall to take. [b]Keep a mixed force for sieges![/b] Crossbowmen will find a clear space on the wall to shoot from and with those big shields hold pretty well in melee. Legionaries last a while and draw attention while your armored pikemen and gladiators do the real killing. Unit Overview: Infantry - Pikemen: In siege offense and defense they are critical. The bulk of siege kills you'll find end up with these guys and crossbowmen. On the walls though their ability to hit *hard* two or three ranks of soldiers away makes them invaluable. Also with their bash attack they are the only units that will KO enemies instead of killing them. 10% of your soldiers for field battles, 20 to 30% for sieges. Infantry - Legionaries: Hard to avoid trying to make a pure Legionaries army but it's a bad idea. What they are is very, very well balanced. Their biggest punch is their javelins though which run out quickly. Have a heavy mix of them, 20 to 40% of your troops. They do well against any opponent. They are solid, last well and make a reliable anchor to support every other unit. Infantry - Gladiators: Faster, harder-hitting but weaker armored. Much like berserkers in application, you want a handful of them in with your troops. They are fast, attack quickly, hit hard and often have ranged weapons. 5-10% of your troops, but don't neglect them! You'll see them scrolling up often on kills notifications. They take advantage of troops engaging your slow, armored Legionaries and big-shield packing crossbowmen. Cavalry - Horsemen: Mounted crossbowmen. Great chasers, just don't let them get caught up against infantry. Order them way, way back. They'll snipe at people approaching your infantry line. Otherwise order them to follow you and just circle out of melee range and let them do their thing. Awesome for picking off Cobra/Anaconda warriors and Serpent Priestesses. Cavalry - Knights: Similar to Horsemen but better armored, using javelins instead. Against cavalry troops have them follow you and circle; don't charge! I've got no heavy lancers! Only charge weak infantry. Unarmored horses too. Unless it's Shadow Legionaries keep them on the periphery. Primary Troop Tree 0th Empire Citizen 1st Empire Levy Recruit 2nd Empire Levy Militia Empire Levy Hunter 3rd Empire Light Infantry Empire Levy Skirmisher 4th Empire Heavy Infantry Empire Pikeman Empire Crossbowman 5th Empire Legionnaire Empire Gladiator Empire Armored Pikeman Empire Armored Crossbowman Empire Citizens were possibly intended as the Empire village recruits. They are still in the game, but occur rarely. Recruiting volunteers from Empire villages yields Empire Levy Recruits. You may also see Guardian Empire Knights , who appear only in Empire armies. They are a special unit and not on any troop tree. Noble Troop Tree 1st Noble Empire Nobleman 2nd Noble Empire Noble Legionnaire Recruit Empire Light Cavalry 3rd Noble Empire Knight Empire Horseman Empire Knights may be upgraded further to Empire Immortals or Shadow Legion Centurions if you meet the special requirements. Summary: Mix your troops and keep them together! Ranged and infantry in one big pile, they support each other. the Empire vs results: Noldor: Not that bad. With everyone packing a strong shield I could take a good mix of 120 units and kill 60 Noldor Rangers with perhaps 20 or 30 losses. Open fire at long range, then hold fire, then advance - then right before melee, open fire again, then charge. BOOM. Jatu: You will hate them with a deep and abiding passion. They are the Empires toughest enemy. They are fast; they close range before your crossbowmen can do their best work. I only had two successful tactics against them: 1. taking my cavalry out and luring the bulk of them sideways in front of my crossbowmen. They'd take damage, some would go one way some another and run into each other. Rinse and repeat, keeping the bulk of the horde busy while your troops handled them in a small trickle. Difficult and still bloody. 2. Lead them to the river either near Ravenstern or Valorshield. Park your troops in the middle of the water not on the other side! They'll slow down, it blunts their charges and levels the playingfield with your infantry. Snake Cult: Lambs to the slaughter. Slow moving, largely lacking shields, the crossbow-wielding Armsmen will be more of a threat than Cobra or Anaconda troops. Heretics: I took 150 mixed Empire troops against the Three Seers and Heretic Armies pretty easily. Same as Snake Cult; just ensure you're dealing with the heavy mounted troops (Demonic Magus!) early. Everyone else just walks up to your line and dies like good little soldiers. Mystmountain Warriors: Take the high ground or this can end up poorly. It's their charge that's deadly; blunt that and they're weakly armored. Sarleon: Tougher than you'd expect. Heavy armor all around, they are the strong offense to match your strong defense. Catch them on open ground and at long range so your crossbows and javelins can do their work. If you can't blunt them before they hit melee range you're going to watch your men getting knocked down by warhammers, halberds and horses and then killed before they can stand again. They are a stone bitch in sieges, offense or defense. Ravenstern: Easy. Your crossbows are more accurate and they lack the short-range punch of your javelin and pike armed troops. Field battles or sieges they are the Empires weakest enemy. Fierdsvain: Not that bad. The Huscarls are a little tough but otherwise they were nothing near the threat I'd expected. Same tactics that work against everyone else work particularly well against them. Their throwing axes and armored archers just don't lay the smack down like the Empires crossbows and javelins. D'Shar: Blademasters will kill more of Empire troops than every other D'Shar unit type put together. The D'Shar are quick. They move quick and attack quickly, making them particularly deadly against the powerful but slower Legionaries. They were hands down the most difficult to handle in a siege. The Empire rules the open field. Distance and line of fire initially, then find a way to limit enemy mobility. The Fierdsvain The Fierdsvain are one of five major factions in Prophesy of Pendor. They are ruled by Koningur Valdis . The West - Federation of free Cities Along the western coast of Pendor lies the Fierdsvain, ruled by Koningur Valdis. Originally the Fierdsvain were humble traders, their merchant ships plying the far distant coasts of the Baccus Empire, Mettenheim and Barclay and bringing back to Pendor great riches and exotic luxuries. With the fall of Pendor, the Fierdsvain cities of Javiksholm, Windholm and Valonbray found themselves isolated from any central administration and so became independent Free Trader cities under the control of wealthy Merchant Princes. When the Baccus Empire invaded under the command of General Oasar, the Fierdsvain Merchant Princes went to King Alfred of Sarleon and pledged their financial support in exchange for military protection. Alfred agreed, and so for a decade the Fierdsvain came under the crown of Sarleon and peace was maintained. Then the Baccus Empire collapsed, leaving General Oasar isolated from the main Empire; he was forced to cancel the contracts of his mercenary Vanskerries. The Vanskerry clans found themselves without a method for sustenance, with their normal mercenary contracts gone and their own lands unsuited to agriculture; so they decided to strike at the wealthy coastal Fierdsvain lands. Increasingly under siege by the Vanskerries, the Sarleon Lords found themselves simply unable to uphold their part of the bargain for mutual defense, so a group of Fierdsvain patricians met with some Vanskerry Jarls and offered them lands and titles in the Fierdsvain lands if they would protect the trade routes and towns. Vanity forever being one of mankind’s greatest vices, some Jarls accepted the offer and moved their families and warriors to the Fierdsvain lands, and thus the poachers became the gamekeepers. Sarleon, angered at the prospect of Vanskerries successfully gaining a beachhead, withdrew military support and the Fierdsvain split from their sovereign lord. The friendly Vanskerry Jarls were as good as their word, and shed much blood in the defense of their new homes. Over time the civilized Vanskerries and Fierdsvain inhabitants began to intermarry and the Fierdsvain as we know it today was created. The people still show Fierdsvain traits of being able traders and Vanskerry traits of being fearsome warriors. The strength of their Vanskerry ancestors continues to be harnessed, coupled with the expensive arms and armor the Fierdsvain money can buy. This has made for a very able military force. Commentary on the Fierdsvain "The Fierdsvain welcome all into their lands, so long as they come well equipped...with a full money pouch." -Guild Master of Javiksholm "We respect the fighting skills of the now civilised Vanskerries among them, but their merchants are a little too soft for our taste." -Anonymous Ravenstern Lord "They are nothing more than renegade traders. Sarleon will stand by them no longer." -King Ulric of Sarleon "The merchants of the Fierdsvain drive a hard bargain with their prices, but they are always willing to trade." -D'Shar Horse Breeder "My celebrated colleagues would do well to investigate the civilising influence the Fierdsvain applied to their Vanskerry cousins. Many lessons could be learned from this." -Head Lecturer, Janos University Outlaws Vanskerry Clans Tactical Overview of the Fierdsvain Fierdsvain - Axe and Shield Again, level 44 character from the start to allow for more quickly getting to the review point - though it's worth mentioning that the Fierdsvain path is a particularly long one. Building a Fierdsvain army up from a low level character is a long, long process and not one I'd recommend to start. A rich culture, decently immersive, not for the faint of heart! Pros : - Powerful infantry, even at an early stage. Only army I've played with where low and mid level troops are just fine to take killing stuff in the field. - Shield-heavy army. Almost every single unit type packs a great shield. This makes them absolutely lethal in sieges. - Most powerful Lords in the game. No question. Especially the king; makes it worth going the 'vassal' route just so you can be Marshal and send the king with his 350+ unit army, mostly elite troops, after objectives. - No dependency on slowly generated Noble troops. Quite the opposite; the whole Noble line is almost irrelevant. Convenient but in no way required to field your best armies. Cons : - No point to nobles. Peasant Women and the various pre-cavalry Maiden units you can recruit in bars can all become Valkyries, who turn into Lady Valkyries. - Only skirmish cavalry. Oddly the Fierdsvain play host to the Knights of the Dawn - who require Pendor Nobles, which you won't have access to. - Only 3 cities, like the Empire. Scattered domain, making it slow and cumbersome to recruit armies of your own troops. - Slow and convoluted troop promotion. Huscarls are brutal; just realize that you'll be at 200 days in the game if you start at level 1 before you're fielding more than a handful of them. Tactical Overview: If you want an army of crazed, rush-up-and-kill-stuff warriors, this is your crowd. Even their archers are tough warriors. Heavy chain armor, sword or axe and shield, they also pack a decent bow. They are all about the advancing infantry and their axes are shield-chewers on the field or in sieges. While their troops are slow to product they live a long time in battle. You can take an army of Warrior level troops to the field and easily keep up with any other cultures armies. Armored Axemen and Huscarls are your Knights. While the nobles you create give you a reasonable shortcut to Valkyries, easily turned into Lady Valkyries, they are just skirmish units. Light armor and vulnerable horses compared to other Noble Knighthoods, don't get distracted into cranking them out to buff your line as with all the other cultures Knights and Knighthood orders. Your elite battlefield troops are Huscarls and they are, slowly, created from your standard infantry troops. Throwing axes are inferior to javelins in every single way though. While your infantry may pack throwing weapons like Legionaries, they carry half as many shots that are a tenth as accurate and do a quarter as much damage. It's more just to keep everyone honest I think. Not only do they carry axes, but they can freaking throw them at you. It's more look and feel than an actual tactical aspect of your troops. Knights of the Dawn are worth their own mention. They have their base in Valonbray, yet require non-Fierdsvain units to create. If you find Pendor Nobles that you can recruit from prisoner trains elsewhere they'd be useful to turn into KotD. Conversely, you can crank out Lady Valkyries without ever recruiting a single noble of your own. Sieges: The only people who give you grief in a siege are other Fierdsvain troops - Fierdsvain vs Fierdsvain siege battles are absolutely epic and bloody. Everyone else is just fodder. Don't bother holding back and letting your archers do your work; mix them in with the rest of your troops (heavy archers fight like Warriors, which is no small thing) and plow onto the wall. There is no other sort of battle that plays as much into the absolute slaughter and havoc that fits the Fierdsvain culture like a siege; offense or defense. You've got archers and they're decent, but its the wall of big round shields and lines of glittering axes that hold your line against all comers Unit Overview: Archers: A big early mistake is treating Fierdsvain archers like archers - they are medium infantry who also use a bow. Use them like this and they perform marvelously. You won't be mowing down advancing lines of troops like Ravenstern Rangers, but you'll be peppering enemies, bringing down mounted archers and the like reasonably well. What you won't be doing is having to shelter your archers. These guys can give and take with anything but the heaviest of infantries. Infantry - Militia to Warriors: Unlike every other culture, Fierdsvain infantry are ready to kill stuff by their second or third promotion. Light Infantry fight very well, make good and cheap garrison troops and don't need sheltered on the field. Warriors are able to hold their own with the heavy infantry of just about every other culture - they'll stand up to Kiergard and even Legionaries with a bit of support. What is important is the promotion to Warriors and not Axemen. Light Infantry are level 15 and train quickly to promotion. They promote to either Warriors, level 20, or Axemen, level 30. Strange, but there is a catch - you take the early path to Axemen and you actually delay your arrival at Huscarl. See, Warriors promote to Berserkers and Armored Axemen. Axemen promote to Armored Axemen as well. Armored Axemen are level 30 and cost just as much to maintain as regular Axemen. They just have better gear and skills. A Warrior promotes almost 4 or 5 times faster than an Axeman, so 20 Warriors will promote to Armored Axemen at the same speed that 4 Axemen will promote to Armored Axemen. Make sense? Armored Axemen create your Huscarls and that is what all good little Fierdsvain youths want to be when they grow up! Infantry - Berserkers: Don't neglect these guys. Always have a half dozen or dozen on the field. They are quick, hit brutally hard and excel against enemy mounted units. They die a lot though, so just get used to keeping the promotion ladder always cranking out a few. When you need to charge down scattered enemy archers and such these guys will often get the kill before your cav units. Infantry - Armored Axemen/Huscarls: Forget the whole 'noble' thing when dealing with Fierdsvain. THESE are your Knights. Powerful, fierce, heavily armored, these guys are like foot-knights. Use them like that, always keep a healthy supply of infantry with you getting trained up to become Huscarls. They are the quintessential Fierdsvain killing machine. Nobles - Valkyries: Oddly the Fierdsvain Noble line is superfluous. I get the intent, make them female to separate them from other cultures, but all they turn into is Valkyries. Same as Peasant Women with enough training. They just take a shorter route. Valkyries fill a vital niche in your army though; they skirmish and chase. Don't neglect this as your army otherwise is pure infantry and archer-weak. They function exceptionally well if you keep them with you, harass the enemy, and then when the armies meet let them scatter to raise hell. Otherwise they'll wander off and get whacked. Lady Valkyries: Closet thing to a Knight they field. Better armored, better equipped, importantly they also ride a better armored horse which drastically extends their lifespan in the field. An army of 120 troops should include 20 of these if you can manage it. Primary Troop Tree 1st Fierdsvain Recruit 2nd Fierdsvain Militia 3rd Fierdsvain Trained Militia Fierdsvain Huntsman 4th Fierdsvain Light Infantry Fierdsvain Bowman 5th Fierdsvain Axeman Fierdsvain Warrior * Fierdsvain Archer 6th Fierdsvain Armored Axeman Fierdsvain Berserker Fierdsvain Heavy Archer 7th Fierdsvain Huscarl *Warriors may also advance into Armored Axemen. You may also see Valdis Huscarls , who spawn only in Fierdsvain armies. They are a special unit and not on any troop tree. Noble Troop Tree 1st Noble Fierdsvain Noblewoman 2nd Noble Fierdsvain Sword Maiden 3rd Noble Valkyrie Valkyries may be upgraded further to Lady Valkyries if you meet the special requirements. Summary : The generation of Huscarls is slow, so it needs to be steady and constant. You should always have troops training. Always. Generating Huscarls is a slow but steady business. You have archers for support and cavalry for chases. The Fierdsvain are a powerful infantry army. Just don't forget an adequate number of support troops or you'll lose troops to whittling. Hold ground until the enemy charge is broken, then charge yourself! Let the enemy break against your shields, then charge in. Don't just stand there and watch stragglers shoot you! Keep your nobles in the field Fierdsvain Nobles are some of the most powerful Lord armies in the game. Keep them busy, send them in groups of 3 to key points to patrol or raid. This will buy you the time you need to slowly recruit up your armies and garrisons. Fierdsvain vs results: Noldor: Bloody and fierce. Terrain mattered the most as it was a matter of time; can you get your axe-swinging, mouth-frothing killers into range before their shields broke under a hail of fine Noldor arrows. If yes, then WHACK! If no, then you're going to die a lot. Don't hold ground, keep using F6 until you're in melee range, THEN charge. Jatu: Lacking polearms and horsemen the Fierdsvain have a lot of trouble with Jatu in the open. Against small Jatu forces it was pretty easy, but against large armies they'd weather the first charge and swarm over them like angry ants yet the enemy reinforcements would show up and turn it into a slaughter. Once again, only good way to fight the Jatu is standing in water. Get them into water and you can butcher 700 Jatu with 120 troops. Snake Cult: Heavy cavalry and crossbows can make a lot of trouble if not handled correctly. Hold the line and then swarm when the cavalry hit your troops, then advance quickly on the Armsmen before they can get all their licks in with those crossbows. Be aggressive and the Snakes are no big deal. Heretics: Like fighting the Snake Cult, only easier. Lady Valkyries and Valkyries can easily hit and run the slower Heretic cavalry and scatter the Minions. Against the Demonic Magnus' the heavy axes and berserkers did surprisingly well. An army with 9 of them I only had to couch down 5, the others fell to the brutal axes of my men. Mystmountain Warriors: This wasn't a fight, it was a brutal rape. My line of heavy Fierdsvain troops killed them so quickly it faded out my kill report for a bit. Pendorian Historians will write of my conquest of the Mystmountain Warriors as 'The Blonding of the North' since we put all their men to the axe and pillaged all their villages, the next generation of Mystmountainers will likely look surprisingly Fierdsvain... Sarleon: Their polearms give most cultures a lot of trouble but the Fierdsvain have the shields to weather it. Siege battles are still a bit bloody and their archers out perform the Fierdsvain, but it's just a matter of getting close enough fast enough. Just don't get scattered in the field or their knights will suddenly start mowing your troops down. Ravenstern: Depending on their makeup and tactics they can be hard or easy. If they advance as a group and slowly so their archers have time to pepper you, it's a tougher deal. Draw them out with your cavalry and scatter their attention. If they just charge or you break their line and close fast enough, it's a more one sided battle. Just be quick with them; they hit hard but have relatively soft troops. The real trouble comes when you meet a cavalry-heavy Ravenstern group. Mounted Rangers and Horsemen are quick and will leave your troops scattered and vulnerable if you let them. The Empire: Fear them and respect them. The initial clash with them and their reinforcements are always bloody, but they lack the Fierdsvain stamina in combat. Same with sieges; getting a clear spot on the wall is painful against them but once you have it and the meat grinder starts up your copious shields, greater strength, axes and heavy armor play out well. Defending against their sieges is one of the most difficult however; their crossbowmen are a mess for the Fierdsvain in large numbers, their javelins will strip your mens shields quickly and their pole weapons can kill your troops before they get into axe range. Don't be afraid to order your men to charge. Your archers are not going to keep them off the walls anyway and the toe to toe combat is where you'll come out ahead. D'Shar: It's not that they're tough, it's that they're fast. If you don't have enough Valkyries and archers to chase or bring down their mounted archers, they will just run around shooting and charging your men all-day-long. Their Blademasters are the only infantry tougher than your Huscarls too, don't forget that. You'll win against the D'Shar, but it'll be slow and bloody. There are two and only two factors in conquering the world as the Fierdsvain. Getting your Warriors/Armored Axemen/Huscarls into axe range and the time it takes you to train up enough Warriors/Armored Axemen/Huscarls to pack those shields and axes to your enemy. When you get a solid system for doing both, the rest is pure semantics. The D'Shar Principalities The D'Shar Principalities are one of five major factions in Prophesy of Pendor. They are ruled by Kadan Bahadur Khan. The Southern Steppes - The D'Shar Nomads The Shavanir Desert in the south of Pendor is the D'Shar Principalities, consisting of dozens of separate tribes united under their current leader, Kadan Bahadur Khan. The D'Shar were originally mercenaries imported to Pendor by the Baccus Empire to defend against bandits and raiders. Their natural tendencies quickly asserted themselves, spawning a large number of outlaw groups who plague the Principalities. They are a fierce people, stiff with pride, who once were entirely nomadic, herding their flocks from pasture to pasture in search of grazing. Many of the former mercenaries settled in what began as trading centers and became the towns of Torbah, Nal Tar and Ishkoman. Singal, of course, while technically part of the D'Shar Principalities, is a law unto itself, a festering boil on the backside of the D'Shar kingdom. Though settled now, the D'Shar remain at heart a free-roving people and there is much contention within the D'Shar Principalities over whether or not the D'Shar have abandoned their traditional way of life, to its detriment and at a cost to their fighting abilities. Blood feuds are the chief sport amongst all the D'Shar, as they tend to take offense easily at nearly everything. They generally ignore Kadan Bahadur Khan's orders to cease and desist, as a blood feud is not finished until everyone on the opposing side is dead. Blood feuds can go on for ten generations, with each generation eagerly embracing the feuds of its ancestors. D'Shar take multiple wives and prefer raiding other factions' caravans to trading. They are fine riders and excellent bowmen. Commentary on the D'Shar "There's nothing like a wedding to bring out the best of a good blood feud." -Haji Kalandar Khan, D'Shar Lord "We will grind those barbarian savages to a pulp beneath the heel of Sarleon." -Lord Andre of Sarleon "They are nothing but fornicating camel-rapers. The Fierdsvain will show them what real rape is!" -Fierdsvain Huscarl "The only thing worth a denar that comes from the D'Shar Principalities is spice." -Guild Master of Ravenstern "A battlefield littered with D'Shar carcasses is the most delightful sight! It almost equals a pack of dead Noldor for sheer aesthetic pleasure." -Empire Legionnaire "Once, a scholar told me those D'Shar wimps were cousins to the Jatu. I killed him for the insult." -Jatu Mercenary Outlaws Vanskerry Clans Tactical Overview of the D'Shar D'Shar - Sabre and Glaive Notice how the above does not say 'horse and bow'? Let me start, surprisingly, with the following: The D'Shar are the weakest archers and cavalry in the game. They are excellent infantry; in fact I'd say they have one of the strongest infantry armies in the game. What they are great at is anti-cavalry and anti-archer units. Fast moving infantry, quick to strike and with long swords, often armed with glaives and polearms to bring down horses. What they are not is decent archers. Quite the opposite; their archers are markedly inferior to every single archer force in the game. Same with their mounted troops - while they are passable skirmishers they are the least cost-effective cavalry in the game. Pros: - Bladesmen and Blademasters are unquestionably the most badass infantry in the game. Nothing and no-one compares when it comes to cold-killin' infantry. - Amazing against cavalry with very little effort. Warriors and Bladesmen, heavy on the Bladesmen, everyone dies. - Great cultural environment and gear. D'Shar gear is light, protects well and generally looks cool as do their cities and villages. - Singali gear and neighbors. Local slavers are fun for the whole family! Cons : - Pitiful archers. Your infantry will kill more people at range than your Dervishes ever will. - Feeble cavalry. Even Windriders, your Knight-level units, function at about Mounted Rangers level. Otherwise your cavalry is expensive and excels at one thing - dying. - Mediocre Lords. They tend to have a lot of D'Shar archer units, which are about as effective as Outcasts - no, seriously. - Slow troop progression. With 10 training and 150 Bladesmen in the party, you'll generate one Blademaster every couple of days, if that. Tactical Overview: Forget everything you think you should do with D'Shar. It's all wrong. Your archers are not in the league of anyone elses archers, most especially Ravenstern Rangers. In fact if the D'Shar Dervish league exploded in a massive plume of nuclear fire, the league that the Rangers are in wouldn't hear about it for several days in the news - as a footnote. D'Shar Raiders, being mounted Dervishes, are slightly more useful. Against anything more than Bandit class enemies, Heretic Minions and the like though, they are more useful as polearm infantry (they tend to pack glaives) than archers. I had a group of 70 Dervishes in a line raining arrows on a group of 20 Vanskerry Raiders - they failed to KO even one of them before melee range, where upon the Vanskerry KOed 22 of them before I largely took them down myself with a Ruby Rune Bow. The top line archers from every other culture would have wiped them up in that situation. However. Infantry are another story all together. D'Shar Warriors make exceptional polearm infantry; faster and generally more effective than Sarleon Halberders for only 21 a week. D'Shar Bladesmen are absolutely deadly; each one will drop 2 Huscarls, especially in the field. Then they turn into Blademasters, who will mop up Hero Adventurers and Knights of any culture! Gather some Dervish Raiders, a handful of regular archers (to draw fire, accept that their purpose is to die while distracting enemies from your valuable troops) and fill the rest out with 70% Bladesmen and 30% Warriors. Making friends with Singali Slavers is also a great idea; help them against your enemies and they will provide huge allied armies to patrol your lands. That and Sengali Death Sabers and Noble Sabers are damn sexy weapons and gear. Use your D'Shar archers as fodder, D'Shar Raiders cost a painful 60 a week and quite simply don't provide that much. Wait until the enemy closes then tell them to 'charge', so they scatter and draw enemy mounted units with them until they die. This will help your Bladesmen keep numerical advantage, which equates to utter slaughter. Keep your Warriors in with them and enemy cavalry will just dissolve when it hits your locust style army. After you've chewed up the enemy foot troops, command your cavalry to 'follow me' so any straggling survivors of your Dervish Raiders will draw enemy cavalry back into your horde, who will drag them down and kill them in stunningly short order. The D'Shar are a swift, deadly, effective infantry army. Archers and cavalry exist to draw attention to or away from your infantry, nothing else. The slow building up of a core of Blademasters should be the goal as a force of them will destroy anything and everything you encounter - even archer units, who they can literally chase down and kill on foot! Sieges: Do not do the archer trick. If you line your archers up outside a castle they will die before you have time to realize what a silly, silly thing you just did. Just charge the wall. Fortunately your Bladesmen and Warriors have great weapon range; better than anything but enemy polearm troops who are rare. They will hit first, pushing the enemy back and giving themselves room on the wall. It's like watching an earth-tone flood spilling over a dam. In defense your archers are passable, but any army with decent shields will literally push a siege tower to the wall before 200 Dervishes can bring down more than five or six of them. Fortunately that long weapon reach and incredible attack speed will kill 90% of your attackers before they get a single swing in. Enemy archers will do you most of the damage you take. Unit Overview: Archers: The value of D'Shar archers is roughly approximate to, say, a fart in a mitten. I don't know if it's the quality of their bows or their armor or what, but they are just feeble. They serve as fodder to draw enemy attention. They are expendable; utterly and completely expendable and should be viewed as such. Fortunately they tend to carry polearms so that when they are inevitably over-run by enemy cavalry they will whip them out and hopefully do a little damage. In a 50/50 split army of Dervishes and Bladesmen holding position against an advancing enemy the Bladesmen scored more ranged kills with throwing knives. Archers- Mounted: These guys are skirmishers, which isn't bad. They are also on fast horses, which is good - against cavalry-heavy enemies always have some on hand and order them to 'charge' when the enemy gets close. Being horse-archers they will scatter, plinking otherwise weak arrows at the enemy who will give chase, considerably reducing the number of enemies who actually close at any given time with your infantry. Infantry - Warriors: Great garrison troops, these guys are solid battlefield additions and should be cultivated and used like polearm troops. They compliment Bladesmen very well and should always be cultivated for a measurable chunk of your army. Infantry - Bladesmen: Surprisingly easy to train up, fast, shield packing and throwing reasonably deadly assassins throwing knives, these guys are top-tier infantry. Kiergard, Legionaries, Huscarls, they stand up to any infantry without flinching. While not perfect you can even effectively field a pure-bladesmen army. I did and defeated equal sized armies from every single culture with little trouble. Infantry - Blademasters: Not to put too fine a point on it, but these guys are it. The top of the list for all infantry armies. Crossbows aside I'd happily throw them against Knights of the Ebon Gauntlet. Stunningly fast I've seen one of them kill 4 Huscarls on the field. In groups it's just absurd; they are stunningly fast and will hit enemies so quickly that most will be chain-staggered and unable to respond before sent to their grave. It takes forever to train them so always have a good sized horde of Bladesmen, constantly moving them towards this exalted rank. Nobles - Raiders and Windriders: Meh. That's the best I can say. Useful, certainly. They make far better archers and skirmishers. Yet having fought other ones, with damage all the way up a D'Shar Noble Raider will plink arrows at a target that will hit for <10 points at full damage against average armor. Windriders who've been enhanced are more dangerous but still; treat them like Ravenstern Mounted Rangers. That's what they're like, just far more expensive. While fast all their horses are frail, don't expect them to go the distance on the field. Assassins: Odd troops. Good, fast, fierce, sometimes mounted sometimes on foot, in small numbers they are great - just not as proficient in the field as Blademasters. I kept a few as bodyguards of sorts though, what D'Shar warlord wouldn't? Primary Troop Tree 1st D'Shar Tribesman 2nd D'Shar Tribesman Hunter 3rd D'Shar Spearman D'Shar Desert Bowman 4th D'Shar Veteran Spearman D'Shar Dervish 5th D'Shar Bladesman D'Shar Warrior D'Shar Dervish Raider 6th D'Shar Blademaster D'Shar Scorpion Assassin You may also see D'Shar Djaha Archers , who spawn only in D'Shar armies. They are a special unit and not on any troop tree. Noble Troop Tree 1st Noble D'Shar Nobleman 2nd Noble D'Shar Noble Raider 3rd Noble D'Shar Noble Cavalry D'Shar Noble Cavalry may be further upgraded to D'Shar Windriders if you meet the special requirements. Summary : Everything should drive towards Blademasters Always have troops training towards that. It slowly, painfully slow, but these guys are your ultimate weapon. Archers and cavalry are expendable and weak Have them, use them, accept they will die a lot, but don't neglect them. They will drive enemies from or too your infantry as needed. Don't dawdle; get to the melee The D'Shar are an infantry powerhouse. Standing at range getting shot with crossbows is not a good tactic. Use the Sengali, they compliment you well Their infantry fit very well and their horse archers are more effective than any of your own. Local troops, I'd consider them fair game for a D'Shar army. D'Shar vs results : Noldor: Send your Dervish Raiders to scatter, drawing fire. They buy time for your Bladesmen/Blademasters to get in range. Blademasters can easily match Noldor foot troops and your Warriors do a solid job of bringing down their horse troops. Jatu: Same tactic as the Noldor and the D'Shar don't need water or hills and trees to beat the Jatu. Hit F9 three times before the Jatu horde hits, then hit F8 four times so your men gank back up on the collapsed Jatu horde. Simple and shockingly effective. Snake Cult: Their heavy cavalry was a big pain to bring down and their crossbow infantry trouble for a culture with feeble archers. Keep moving, advancing, try to use terrain to slow down their cavalry so they can be brought to a halt and laid out. Blademasters can literally get just shy of chasing a Netherworld Charge on foot. Heretics: Lacking the powerful Netherworld steeds of the Cultists their cavalry melted like butter on a stove when they met my Warriors and Bladesmen. Keep advancing until they hit the Minions, who seemed to just die from proximity to just badass infantry. Mystmountain Warriors: The difference between Wolfbodes horde and a peasant army was semantics. I killed all 700 of them with 120 mixed Bladesmen/masters/Warriors and 20 Dervish Raiders and suffered 8 dead Dervishes (which is what they're good for) and 3 wounded Bladesmen. Utter slaughter. Sarleon: They actually have the only military with a reach-advantage over the D'Shar in most battles, which makes them uncharacteristically difficult. Armored Bowmen need advanced on and killed quickly, and make certain that you're advancing or charging into their attack or you'll get a bloody nose from the encounter. Their cavalry does what all cavalry does when hitting D'Shar Glaives - they get unhorsed and killed. Ravenstern: Bloody, miserable bastards and their ******** Rangers. Have a good supply of Dervish Raiders to ride around and draw arrow fire, getting killed, while you move your infantry in on them and kill them. Lacking any useful cavalry their Mounted Rangers are going to play hell with you, but in the end it's just a matter of time. Once range is closed your faceless horde of Bladesmen are ten times the match for any of their infantry. The Empire: Move quickly or their javelins and heavy crossbows will shift the nature of this battle in a bad way, but once closed they are just too slow. Legionaries, generally a difficult enemy, die like common militia in the face of your lightning quick saber-armed horde. Fierdsvain: Surprisingly easy. Only difficult in sieges, where their axes play a bigger roll in the shield to shield slugging matches, but in the field the D'Shar are everything the Fierdsvain infantry are.... only faster. A surprisingly powerful force, in the end well balanced just in the opposite direction I expected. They are a very aggressive force, requiring you to constantly move in on the enemy to make up for the weak ranged presence, but once battle is joined they are absolutely ferocious. The Kingdom of Pendor The Kingdom of Pendor is the sixth major faction of Prophesy of Pendor. It represents a unified Pendor, which will not come about without your intervention. For it to exist, you must create an independent kingdom; you are not required to follow the Pendor culture, nor name it the Kingdom of Pendor, although those are "canonically" the proper choices. YOU ARE THE HERO: You play the Hero or Heroine who fulfills the Prophecies of Madigan, and becomes the champion who brings forth the lost glory of the Kingdom of Pendor. You are also the same Champion that creates an alternate path or Prophesy for the Oracle to choose from in order to save Pendor. The Kingdom of Pendor, the player's Kingdom, should he or she choose to create their own kingdom instead of siding with one of the other lords, contains unique units not seen anywhere else in Pendor. These units are trained from the humble Farmer, and can grow into fierce warriors, or noble knights. These elite troops are designed to be hard to get, and worth holding on too. A new resource, Prestige, comes into play when recruiting top tier units, and it is vital that the player knows how his troops function. Primary Troop Tree 0th Farmer Refugee 1st Pendor Recruit 2nd Pendor Militia Pendor Light Bowman 3rd Pendor Footman Pendor Heavy Bowman 4th Pendor Swordsman Pendor Cavalry Pendor Armored Bowman 5th Pendor Man-at-Arms Pendor Mtd. Man-at-Arms Pendor Recruits can only be recruited from your own fiefs. However, it is possible to recruit a number of Pendor units directly from fiefs; Militia, Footmen, Swordsmen, Light Bowmen, and Heavy Bowmen have all been confirmed. If you want Pendor troops in the early game, you will need to recruit Farmers or Refugees from rescued prisoner stacks. Noble Troop Tree 1st Noble Pendor Nobleman 2nd Noble Pendor Squire Pendor Noble Bowman 3rd Noble Pendor Foot Knight Pendor Knight Pendor Grey Archer All 3rd Noble Tier Pendor units may be upgraded further if you meet special requirements: Pendor Foot Knights may upgrade further to Knights of the Ebony Gauntlet . Pendor Knights may upgrade further to Knights of the Griffon , Knights of the Falcon , Knights of the Raven Spear , Knights of the Radiant Cross , Rangers of the Clarion Call , Knights of the Dawn , or Knights of Eventide . Pendor Grey Archers may upgrade further to Silvermist Rangers
- With the new, more aggressive Empire, the 20+ noble armies the Empire fields are a force to be reckoned with.
- Empire Armored Crossbowmen are freaking hardcore. They are like the new version of the Silvermist Rangers, you just line them up and watch people die. They also handle sieges very, very well.
- Their infantry line is just crushing. Absolutely crushing. As opposed to the Fierdesvain axe-heavy approach the Empire has a very well balanced combat lineup.
- Empire Knights kick a lot of ass against other cavalry.
- Lots of local 'visitors'. Mettenheim expeditionaries, Persinoe armies, Snake Cultists, Noldor neighbors, always something going on.
- No non-noble cavalry. Even the noble cavalry is weak against infantry. This is a big one if you're sticking to just Empire troops - it takes a whole different tactical approach.
- No super-infantry. Their troops are very well mixed but you don't have any infantry/cavalry super-units. Huscarls, heavy-duty knighthood orders, elite mounted archers, etc.
- So many damn nobles. When the Empire is really going to war it can be tough to find the *correct* Lord Legatus to turn your quest in. Also tough to get them together for anything.
- Constant troop-training. Well balanced troops win battles but suffer a steady casualty stream. You're always replacing fallen soldiers.
Crossbow Line: Best ranged foot units in the game in my opinion, bar none. Accurate, with a slower rate of fire but high damage so they can keep killing through several waves of enemies. You can also tell them to hold fire so they turtle up behind their big shields when advancing in sieges. These are in many ways your core units in a pure Empire army. 30-40% of your troops should be crossbowmen.
Your cavalry is for chases and harassing the enemy! Don't treat them like heavy, infantry-chewing cavalry. They do great against enemy cavalry, weak against infantry.
Hold ground and advance slowly! This is not a rush army. Hold ground or make steady advances.
Locusts over the earth! You've got a ton of nobles with noble armies. If you rule the Empire, take advantage of this! 20 noble armies can just grind over the map. Put them to work!
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