Tactics - Magic the Gathering style

[Bard]

I'm still very new to the game, so I clearly have alot to learn. I've only had it for a few days, though I DID win the Persephony campaign very quickly. (within 2 days) The more I see of the game the more I love the design. It's beautifully crafted - very elegant. The point of this thread is to see what people have come up with as far as fundamental strategies that can be successfully fielded.

Yeah, I know about rock-paper-scissors, concentration of power, hotkeys, map study, and cheese whizz rushes. But I'm looking for the unexpected - unorthodox strategies that leave opponent's baffled about what you're up to. Are they possible? or is the game too chaotic to offer the necessary control?

For example... I wonder if anyone has had any success with a basic mana-denial strategy like this...

The basic approach would be to set up Guardians near your altar, and move quickly around the island avoiding battle (with teleport) and claiming enemy manaliths. You have to avoid direct battle because you will need to set Guardians at multiple strategic locations and your mobile forces will probably be weaker than your opponent's. The next phase is to harass the enemy with the longest range artillery you can get and teleport away if he rushes to engage with superior forces. The goal here is to be the one who gains the most experience from the battles, and gain a level advantage.

Cut his mana supply as much as possible and when you feel you can shut down his mana regeneration, try to draw him into a battle with mana draining spells and flyers. The only thing that can touch them is spells and ranged units (which require mana to keep firing). In theory - if you can mana starve him, his best counter is flyers, since his ranged units will run out of steam quickly, and his melee units can't touch your flyers.

Along with the specific goals stated, you would make a priority of gathering as many map souls as possible, and of course keeping your own out of enemy hands. But the typical approach of engaging to get souls from your opponent is 'sacrificed' in the interest of putting him at a mana deficit.

You can't afford to engage except to defend positions where you have Guardians though, and I don't know if its practical to shut down an opponent's mana enough to render his ranged units useless.

Has anyone seen this (or any other innovative approaches) work?

[This message has been edited by Bard (edited 01-09-2001).]

[Terminotaur]

I usually have a force of two low level melees that I hotkey. Before I engage the enemy, I send these two to go manalithe hunting where the enemy is not. Then, I show my opponent my forces. When he moves over to engage my main force, I retreat all my units, stand back a bit to cast some spells, and then retreat myself. If my opponent buys the bait and continues to follow me or engage me, I can easily take out several manalithes. This tactic is especially effective with very fast frostwulves or the extremely high damage output of scythes.