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Nationalist Strategies

[Kalisari's Tactics] [Nulak's Tactics] [Nulak's Tactics-Military] [Orional's Tactics] [Rapid's Tactics]
[Terra Kahn's Tactics] [Wyldrage's Tactics]

Nulak's Tactics: Nationalists

INTRODUCTION

I have been reading these boards ever since I got the game a few weeks back. I have played each and every faction but I am a huge fan of the Nationalist Faction. So, I would like to start a thread for people to share their nationalists ideas and strategies. Today, I would like to share my strategy, especially building good economy.

NULAK:

I will assume a few things before I share my strategy:

  1. There are no independent villages/towns/cities on the map.
  2. There are no techs seeded (heroes optional).
  3. This is a team game on a mid-to-large size map (160x160 to 256x256).
  4. Starting gold is 500-750.

Why all of the things above?
Well, first, independent towns can really throw off the balance of the game. So can the techs. With those 2 features disabled random game will start off fair for all the players (mines are not huge game deciding factor, imo).
Also, I've only played on maps 160x160 and larger. So I can only speak from my personal experience. Games on smaller maps could be totally different, I don't know.
Starting gold is also important. The less gold you have at the startup, the more tough decisions you must make. If you start with 900 gold, well then its just a game of who can get the most units faster.

Anyway, moving on. If you play nationalist, you know what makes them unique:

  • Bonus component slot.
  • 20% increase in supply range.
  • Upgrades are 25% more expensive.
  • Elite guard (probably the deadliest infantry unit)

With those things in mind, here is what I recommend you do while playing nationalists.

In your first village, build market and upgrade to bank. Then you should build blacksmith and upgrade to iron export. In the mean time, you should have had 1 company of settlers out already and probably start building a new village. Doing this will boost your economy to +35 gold/minute (15gold for the bank + 15 iron export + 5gold from taxes).
In your second village, build market first. Why? Because while you are going to upgrade that market to a bank, it will be selling off 1 extra iron that you have left over from your first iron export. Sure, it is only extra 3 gold/minute but it is better then none. Upgrade your market to a bank as well. If you started the game with 500 gold you should have run out of cash right around this point. So, what do you have going for you at this point? your economy will be at +55 gold/minute, you will have 2 villages, and no troops.

This is not as bad as it may look though. Like i said, if you were playing on a mid-large sized map you and your team-mates wouldn't have probably even revealed the fog between your towns. Depending on where you are on the map and what resources you have around you, you can continue to build banks/iron exports and expand with limited troops for defense or get some engineers out and build mines and use them as defense.
As your army grows, you can sell off iron exports 1 at a time for 99 gold and build blast furnaces if you need iron.

Here is a link to a game I played a few days ago that demonstrates what I am talking about.
http://timur.iserver.net/files/kohan/nationalist_economy.TGF

That game lasted for 63 minutes. If you look at the end scores you will see that I produced the most amount of gold but I did not have a big army at all. Why do you ask? Because I started behind the front lines I told my team-mates that all I will do is build my economy and give them cash throughout the game. Hell, for the first part of the game all I had was my 1 group of engineers. I kept donating cash to 2 of my team-mates as they needed it or I just had too much of it.

I guess that's about it for my first edition of nationalist faction.

Basically, here are a few important points about nationalists:

  • Expand constantly
  • Build Banks and Iron Exports in at least your first 4 settlements to boost your economy
  • Do not upgrade to a town early on! It is a waste of your resources!

I would like to hear any comments you might have. If I made a mistake, please let me know. And if you want to keep a copy of the film above on your site or a database, feel free to do so.

TERRA KHAN:

What you describe above is a really nice econ start for the Nats. I've used it myself, and you can get a really incredible economy up and running fast and cheap.

When you're ready to start pumping out troops, it's fairly easy too.

It's often good to go Blacksmith/Library in one of your early settlements so that you can pump out Inf/Mage combos. You'll probably end up with several towns like this since it's also provides the resources for the troops you will need.

A variant of this is the blacksmith/temple/nightbringer settlement, which gives you Inf with Zealots. The only problem with this is that Temples aren't great mana producers. I don't see much reason in having more than one temple on the map unless your 'temple' is really far away from the front and you'd like to commission Zealots closer to the enemy.

If at all possible, don't upgrade one of these mini-military settlements and make it your 'main', since that isn't cost effective. Instead, settle another town later, and do the 'pure' path.

The 'pure' path to elites for nationalists is: Woodmill/Upgrade to Carp/Library/Upgrade to town/Temple/Barracks/Sell Woodmill/Blacksmith/Nightbringer (Zealots)/Armory (Cheap troops).
Cheap, fast, effective. A general guide of when to build this building is when your income can support it w/o any pauses. That is, as soon as one component is built, you can easily afford the next.

This building can not only crank out elites, but any other combination of magic supported inf or grens to balance out your forces.

You'll save 140 on the library, temple, and barracks plus get most of the money you paid for the carpentry back. The nice thing is you'll still have the original blacksmith/lib settlement(s) pumping out iron and mana to support any troops.

Other than this 'pure' military base, I avoid upgrading nationalist settlements more than once unless I've got nowhere to expand and have cash to burn (that my teammates don't need more). Upgrading beyond a town is near pointless, unless you're stinking rich... and upgrading to a Nationalist Citadel is the biggest waste of gold on the map.

XADELIOUS:

With Nationalist, I always try to go for Grenadiers/Zealots. And I pretty much do the same strat as you (Nulak), at least economy-wise. I always Make Banks and Iron Exports in my 1st 2 Expansions and in my Main. Then its just a matter of time until I get 2 companies of Grenadiers/Zealots going. Between that time. I make Infantry and Zealots. This way I can get some Indies, of course on your map, there is no way. But just for the defense at least... Then, when I get enough money I upgrade. And make Grenadiers/Zealot. Then I expand. Until I have enough of everything to get 6 companies of Grenadier/Zealot. I do this process in very fast and reasonable time. After I get the 6 companies, then its game over... especially if someone on my team goes for Elites. Then that's even better. 12 Zealots do Frail, that's some damage Alright, and the elites take out anything on their way, while my grenadiers add even more forces. In this kind of game, I never lost yet. Had only 6 of them however. Since I've recently discovered the true power of Zealots =)

 

Nationalist Strategies
[Kalisari's Tactics] [Nulak's Tactics] [Nulak's Tactics-Military] [Orional's Tactics] [Rapid's Tactics]
[Terra Kahn's Tactics] [Wyldrage's Tactics]