guides:xibalba_expansion_guide
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guides:xibalba_expansion_guide [2025/06/21 10:26] cybertron2 [Hold attack vs regular attack] |
guides:xibalba_expansion_guide [2025/09/02 00:34] (current) cybertron2 [The 3 basic formations] |
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| =====EA Xibalba Expansion Guide – Dom 6===== | =====EA Xibalba Expansion Guide – Dom 6===== | ||
| + | By Cybertron2 | ||
| ====Introduction==== | ====Introduction==== | ||
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| - | We’ll start off with the way scorpions interact with the AI. When units face the dominions AI, the targeting starts unlocked. When a unit gets close, there’s a chance the ai ‘locks on’. Once locked on, they won’t lock off. So as scorpions are either far weaker and cheaper, or far stronger and better defended than your bats (depending on the variant), it is usually beneficial to lock some of the AI targeting onto them, so your badly Armoured bats take less hits. | + | We’ll start off with the way scorpions interact with the AI. When units face the dominions AI, the targeting starts unlocked. When a unit gets close, there’s a chance the ai ‘locks on’. |
| Then we go onto the number of groups your units are in. Broadly, a group looks for two things. An available landing square – and its targeting ‘rule’. The square means if you send 1 group, you’ll get a blob, where a lot of bats block one another from combat. If you send 2, you’ll get 2 groups both with at least some contact area. Loosely, this means, more parties, more surface area. What’s important is a new unit won’t land on a ‘filled’ tile, if it would, it checks another tile. As such, more groups = more spread. | Then we go onto the number of groups your units are in. Broadly, a group looks for two things. An available landing square – and its targeting ‘rule’. The square means if you send 1 group, you’ll get a blob, where a lot of bats block one another from combat. If you send 2, you’ll get 2 groups both with at least some contact area. Loosely, this means, more parties, more surface area. What’s important is a new unit won’t land on a ‘filled’ tile, if it would, it checks another tile. As such, more groups = more spread. | ||
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| Then we go onto how attack rear works. Essentially, | Then we go onto how attack rear works. Essentially, | ||
| - | Finally - its worth a brief look at the targeting AI. Units in midair will not be targeted. My (limited) understanding says there is a prioritized list system, where the AI first looks for models in units on attack commands (not in fly) and if that fails, then cycles down to fliers and casters. The reason this matters is with your flying units - you can ' | + | Finally - its worth a brief look at the targeting AI again - but in a little more detail this time. Units in midair will not be targeted. My (limited) understanding says there is a prioritized list system, where the AI first looks for models in units on attack commands (not in fly) and if that fails, then cycles down to fliers and casters. The reason this matters is with your flying units - you can ' |
| ====The 3 basic formations==== | ====The 3 basic formations==== | ||
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| To determine how many parties you need, start at a default 6*4. That is the basic optimal number. Never go below 5*3 unless you’ve done some serious testing (I haven’t bothered, this would only work on small provinces in specific circumstances). As a rule of thumb, you want another group of 4 for every 10 troops. So if there’s 70 enemies, you want 7x4. My recommendation is once you get above 6x4, the cost of failure is very high, so be cautious and take extra groups. 10x4 is the upper limit, this clears almost all provinces the x4 would. | To determine how many parties you need, start at a default 6*4. That is the basic optimal number. Never go below 5*3 unless you’ve done some serious testing (I haven’t bothered, this would only work on small provinces in specific circumstances). As a rule of thumb, you want another group of 4 for every 10 troops. So if there’s 70 enemies, you want 7x4. My recommendation is once you get above 6x4, the cost of failure is very high, so be cautious and take extra groups. 10x4 is the upper limit, this clears almost all provinces the x4 would. | ||
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| + | There is always a temptation to use a 5x4 or 5x5 formation as it only requires one commander. This can work - but the 'magic number 6' was the result of a lot of testing. The issue with 5x4 is essentially a saturation one - it seems at 6x4 against most indies it consistently gets a block on the commander, when 5x4 is somewhere between 66% and 80%. Given an entire expansion party is expended success or failure (but you keep the commanders), | ||
| ===Scorpions=== | ===Scorpions=== | ||
| Broadly, by attaching scorpions to the smaller formations, you reduce the number of enemies that attack your units, and in turn reduce attrition. Similarly, that little extra survivability can really help your bats (the damage units) do better. | Broadly, by attaching scorpions to the smaller formations, you reduce the number of enemies that attack your units, and in turn reduce attrition. Similarly, that little extra survivability can really help your bats (the damage units) do better. | ||
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| + | ===Special Above Ground Addendum=== | ||
| + | When attacking above ground indies - the sweet spot seems to be nx5 or nx6. This is because you need to usually attack through slightly higher defense and armor values. nx4 still works somewhat - especially on unarmored things like tribesmen, but the parties will be considerably more consistent at nx5 and nx6 (albeit nx4 should still be somewhat reliable). The exact sweet spot for above ground indies is unknown but it sits somewhere between 4 and 7 - and varies substantially based on the poptype. | ||
| ====Troops==== | ====Troops==== | ||
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| If you split the starting army into 2 commanders, and give each 3 groups of 2 lances 2 Armoured swordsmen, with the troops on hold attack rear and the commanders on hold hold hold hold hold (w/e, attack closest is best though), Xibalba can semi-reliably blind expand turn 1. For complicated reasons you leave them in the middle, don’t move the units (you can offset them back a tile or two but not much more). If I had to guess, it works around 75% of the time. You have 2 parties of these to start, plus whatever else you recruit. If you’re feeling dramatic and are using lucids research mod, you can use the research pips and Double Blind expand. If you’re feeling Really dramatic, take an awake expander and t1 triple blind expand. | If you split the starting army into 2 commanders, and give each 3 groups of 2 lances 2 Armoured swordsmen, with the troops on hold attack rear and the commanders on hold hold hold hold hold (w/e, attack closest is best though), Xibalba can semi-reliably blind expand turn 1. For complicated reasons you leave them in the middle, don’t move the units (you can offset them back a tile or two but not much more). If I had to guess, it works around 75% of the time. You have 2 parties of these to start, plus whatever else you recruit. If you’re feeling dramatic and are using lucids research mod, you can use the research pips and Double Blind expand. If you’re feeling Really dramatic, take an awake expander and t1 triple blind expand. | ||
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| + | Alternatively, | ||
| ====Indie volume and troop totals==== | ====Indie volume and troop totals==== | ||
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| At a theoretical level, some sort of scorpion + hold attack rear formation should work. The caster falls to the back of the formation, the lord runs to the front like a barbarian, and your frontline kills the lord and your attack rear snipes the caster. I’ve yet to get this consistent enough to recommend it, but at a theory level, Xibalba is potentially able to exploit these 2 behaviours. That said, the dogs kill your units incredibly quickly, and take a long time to kill, so this would need to be very heavily tested before I’d recommend it. | At a theoretical level, some sort of scorpion + hold attack rear formation should work. The caster falls to the back of the formation, the lord runs to the front like a barbarian, and your frontline kills the lord and your attack rear snipes the caster. I’ve yet to get this consistent enough to recommend it, but at a theory level, Xibalba is potentially able to exploit these 2 behaviours. That said, the dogs kill your units incredibly quickly, and take a long time to kill, so this would need to be very heavily tested before I’d recommend it. | ||
| + | ====A really fancy trick==== | ||
| + | Xibalba using a 5 * 4 or 5 * 5 formation can blind expand. With lucids research mod, this provides extra commanders. As such, to a fairly high degree of success (I'd guess 75-80% per party but that may be overshooting), | ||
| ====Above Ground Expansion Notes==== | ====Above Ground Expansion Notes==== | ||
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| • Apparently this works on certain hard provinces [ER_Zero – amazons] [Send 60] 3x attack close 3x attack rear | • Apparently this works on certain hard provinces [ER_Zero – amazons] [Send 60] 3x attack close 3x attack rear | ||
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| + | - Heavy Cav commanders - use a 5 * N or 6 * N above ground rather than a 4 * N for consistency (5 should suffice against lighter heavy cav) | ||
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| + | * Above ground do a 5xn, 6xn or 7xn to factor in the higher armor/hp of most commanders. This can be ignored on a few provinces, but its tricky to min/max. The increased success rate is worth the extra gold | ||
| ====Many thanks==== | ====Many thanks==== | ||
| Many thanks to ER_zero, a longtime pillar of the EA Xibalba community for all his help RE expansion. This guide wouldn’t have been possible without him. The 10x formation is his. | Many thanks to ER_zero, a longtime pillar of the EA Xibalba community for all his help RE expansion. This guide wouldn’t have been possible without him. The 10x formation is his. | ||
guides/xibalba_expansion_guide.1750501576.txt.gz · Last modified: 2025/06/21 10:26 by cybertron2