Fantasy Route Help

lozza

Beginner
Joined
Feb 27, 2012
Messages
1
Hey
i used to play this game a while back but just got into it again. be searching the forums for help but cant find any on the fantasy route really. if anyone could help me out tips and hints for the fantasy route would be greatly apprieciated :) Vampire route would be best :)
thanks
 

Garrett2

Landscape Designer
Joined
Jan 19, 2012
Messages
1,703
in all serious honest, you are better off playing a different route.

however, if you insist on play vamps... ww's and gargs are your friends to the vampire. vamps are good against health routes, but get stomped by anything armoured. killing thugs and rpgs are your best bets.
 

Max

Garden Designer
Joined
Dec 14, 2007
Messages
1,015
Location
London
Hi Lozza :)

The fantasy routes can be incredibly enjoyable to play, so in my personal opinion, great choice!

While the below comments voice my suggestions, my biggest advice is just to toy with different setups yourself :) They are great routes to tinker with, and there's no single solution, so keep fine-tuning to work out your favourite way to beat each route setup!

~~~~~

Dragon Route

This is a brilliant route, with or without the P-Unit, because it is so versatile, you can change your route setup to kill literally anyone in the game.

If you do not have the P-unit, I'd advise focusing on Iron Golems and Sorcerors. Due to their initiative - the Golems will kill a lot of cheap flak first, allowing the Sorcs to kill some of the more heavy lethals of a target. This works particularly well again Political Mastermind targets. However, you really just want to experiment with witches and sirens, which have target lethals directly but do not do as much direct damage, they are more there to protect you from trouble such as Terrorist Leaders, so buy them as and when you need them.

If you do have the P-Unit, then you are in for a treat because Dragons are one of the most fun units in the game :D They have IMMENSE firepower. I'd suggest using a combination of Golems and Dragons, 2:1, and then buy the other units as you need them depending on the target you are attacking and the enemies who tend to attack you. You will want to look for SA players in particular, but quite frankly this setup can be used to kill any route in the right hands. Just be careful to check your enemy doesn't defend MID-TICK, as the dragon doesn't fire then.

Vampire Route

This route has a few tricks up its sleeve to deal with lots of enemies as well, but there is one gaping hole that you immediately need to be aware of. This route has a lack of armour damage attack power on the RANGE tick, so avoid attacking routes with lots of armour unless you know you can survive to the mid-tick!

If you don't have the P-Unit this is a tough route to play. However, it does have lots of cheap units, and their targetting is useful because a lot of units have secondary innocent targetting, great for making sure some gardeners die when you are defending :) I've seen combinations work well that use lots of cheap Werewolf flak, Gargoyles and Mummies acting together, say 2:1:1. However, the RANGE tick really is weak firepower wise, but you have LOADS of cheap lethal flak :)

If you do have the P-Unit, this route becomes very playable. Vampires are an excellent all-rounder unit, so they can be used to kill lots of routes. They have 2 *s of armour damage, which doesn't sound much but it makes a big difference to your survivability. The best setups I have seen with this route use a main combination of Mummies and Vampires - you'll see why when you look at their initiatives. Mummies do armour damage before Vampires fire and do mainly health damage - the perfect combo, and early firing too! The challenge is to make sure your units survive to the MID-TICK, since mummies do not fire at RANGE, only MID and CLOSE. Then just use a few of the other units to ensure you target some innocents - werewolves and gargoyles are good choices. You'll absolutely demolish TLs and RPGs, but depending on the target you can also perform well against most routes.
 

CFalcon

Official Helper
Joined
Dec 14, 2007
Messages
680
Location
Kent UK
Vamps are definitely one of the most under-appreciated units in the game. This is mostly because they're eta 5 and reveal eta 2, which makes them a liability for an alliance; in defence their high eta might make them too inflexible, and in attack their eta 2 reveal scuppers any chance of successfully faking.

However, alliance concerns aside, they are phenomenal. They are essentially secret agents with more armour damage and less health points. Think of them as the mirror image of the harrier (more vulnerable than the Striker, but better able to deal damage).

Their armour damage allows you far greater choice of targets than secret agents have. Rangers, strikers, robos without many CWs, RPGs with lots of snipers, and well flakked thugs, can all be easy prey, while a secret agent player would have to steer clear of them.

So my advice would be just to mass vampires. Max's advice is generally good, however I would have to disagree about mummies complementing vamps. Mummies barely have 50% more armour damage than vamps themselves, and they don't fire range tick, which essentially means they have 25% *less* armour damage than vamps (because over 2 ticks the vamps will overall do more damage).

If you can't purchase vampires though, I'd definitely recommend a different route.
 

Dax

Hydroponics Developer
Joined
Apr 22, 2009
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3,126
Location
Northants, UK
Both Max and CF are in the very small handful of people you should definitely listen to regarding understanding of the routes themselves ,and more importantly the uses of them - As they have ample experience in varying rankings, and have tested all routes thoroughly.

I personally used pure Vampires about 8 rounds ago. I loved rushing and defending alike - It was brilliant. In contrast to most people, I would pick Vamps over SA anyday.
 

Franny

Head Gardener
Joined
Dec 14, 2007
Messages
251
I played with a mass WW setup last round as an anti rushing route. Was it last round?
played with a 10:2.5:1 Setup, Werewolf, Gargoyle, Mummy.

Wouldn't recommend it for solo play but I found it enjoyable.
 

Garrett2

Landscape Designer
Joined
Jan 19, 2012
Messages
1,703
last round i chewed up jiggy (big vamp) pretty good with lots of pa, very few cw and a handful of td. vamps are not great at robos. unless they do something like nanos, or don't buy shields.
 

LuckySports

Landscape Designer
Joined
Jul 7, 2008
Messages
1,243
Location
Nonya
I played both routes once, not enough for an in-depth understanding of the route, but it was enough to pick up what you should and shouldn't do. Here are a few of my notes.

Dragons - This route is pretty powerful, early round the Apps are a good way to clear flak and keep your alliance safe. they also get one of the better ratios on CGs, so tend to get used pretty heavily. Later in the round, IG are some of the best armored lethal flak around. They have just enough health to be safe from RPGs/Strikers, and they are cheap and quick, so are great for countering rushes from most routes. Sorcs are very good at clearing Poms, probably the best unit in the game for it, as once the flak is cleared, they can put all their firepower onto the NLD. I'd pick them over bikers, as they do more damage, and can still be used to fight other troops aswell. Sirens are amazing for stopping TL and Snipers, very useful unit to keep RPG and TL off your back, as without them, you are vulnerable to both these routes. Witches are amazing health flak. They have just a bit of armor and are incredibly difficult to kill, they usually survived when none of my other troops would. The dragon unit is a bit over-hyped though, it does amazing damage, but it is also fairly squishy for an armored unit. You will want to flak it quite well with Golems and Witches.

Your targets should mostly be SA, RPG/TL (With lots of Sirens), Poms, and smaller strikers, depending on your route setup. You should avoid Harriers and Robos with lots of CW. Cybernetic Warriors will put a nasty dent in your troops, and mass harriers do surprisingly well against most of these troops.


Vamps - I had a lot of fun with this route. Early on, the skeletons and zombies are good for clearing flak, and zombies convert at a high rate, making them great for amassing score early-on, they are extremely squishy and only fire last tick though, so thats not advised. Were-Wolves are great lethal flak aswell, they are hard to kill, cheap, and fast, much like the witch, except they fire all ticks and convert a few of their kills. Gargoyles, if teched quickly enough, are great for rushing early on, I didn't spend much time with them, so I cannot speak for their usefulness later though. Mummies do add a bit to the route, they are seen for armor damage, but what people don't mention is how hard they are to kill. A fairly tough unit, if you get mid or last-ticked with armor, they can make the difference between a wining fight, and a losing fight. I wouldn't rely too heavily on them though, as they don't do enough armor damage to be worth massing. The vampire is what really sets the whole route apart. If you rush well enough, you can get vampires at least a day or 2 people anyone else gets SA or TL, making you a force to be reckoned with. They do a less HD and more AD than the SA, with the same initiative. They are slower and reveal ETA 2, so they aren't ideal for rushing active alliances (though still plausible) and you have to be on when attacks are eta 4 in an alliance to be there in time for defense. This route definitely has its routes set in solo or selfish play if you plan on massing Vampires, as SA tend to meet the HD need much better in an alliance, though taking longer to get to them.

Your targets will be RPG, TL, and Rangers for the most part. Vampires aren't AMAZING against rangers, but at a 2:1 ratio on them, they do better by themselves than most other single units. You will want to avoid Poms, SA (on your attack), and robo. Dragons depend on route setup, but most of the time, you won't want to attack them either.


Those are just my observations, you should really try them out and play with them a bit to find out how they best fit your play-style. I'm a hard-core alliance player, and tend to play for my alliance, rather than myself, so I tend to lean more towards how I can help my alliance. Most people prefer a balanced play-style, and it will reflect in how they play their routes, and some people play for their own enjoyment, find out what kind of player you are, and use that to determine how it will affect your game.
 

willymchilybily

Landscape Designer
Joined
Dec 14, 2007
Messages
1,418
Location
uk
Seen lots of in depth descriptions of set up. So I'd use those if I were you to start off. One thing I'd like to add if you buy vamps... Don't just mass pure vamps? They will be the main part of your army. Fine massed for allied play but if solo not great alone. Cf I disagree with there. Get a good helping of gargoyles. This is because poms don't stop them and they fire before HV. Else the route can be pommed past. Also getting gargoyle, you may want some mummies for attacks incase they last tick you. They fire before vamps so can help strip for them if getting last ticked, otherwise only really useful to strip/Hit innocent so good vs cg flak too. And useful in allied play. To give layers of ad. But otherwise mass vamps with some gargoyle should do well once you've built up some lesser flak.

Everything else has been covered so good luck
 
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