I know I know, it was a jest because of the eternal debate of TB vs RTwP in which I'm pretty sure everyone knows where I stand :)

It might work in RTwP, but you would need a lot of micromanaging that probably gets extremely tedious.

I just looked at my Steam, and I have 143 hours recorded, so that's how long it took me to finish the game in TB as I never played again after I finished it for the first time. That's with full exploration, all quests done, all areas visited. That's a significant increase from the average 70-80 hours that took most streamers playing RTwP, so yeah I can see why some feel it's a drag.

I learned this from a friend I got hooked on the game. Been through the market place many times but I never considered going back after the Defenders Heart and re-checking places. Apparently …

Yes, this is part of the achievement but I think only if you do it on core or higher. I never done this fight because 1. I forget and too lazy to load up earlier save and lose progress 2. I skipped tavern attack by being so time efficient :P

My Azata final level stat (still got 1 more mythic level to go but yeah):
https://i.imgur.com/d0lEaEt.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/d0lEaEt.jpg

My stats are pretty good because I used all the tomes on me :D Just in case some of you didn't know, there are 6 tomes in game which increases your stats - STR, DEX, CON, WIS, INT and CHA. I found all except STR :(

I'm really enjoying the game but my goodness the crusader/kingdom management is a time-consuming struggle for me. I turned it on auto but it seemed to block many pathways and made party vulnerable to corruption (and with no fast travel). I've gone back several saves, turned difficulty up and down. My little men get battered really easily. I wonder if I am missing something.

Any tips gratefully received, even if you think "she can't be this dim" - just type it anyway :-)

I assume you are in chapter 2? Giving some money to Irabeth (by talking to her at war camp) should give you some troops straight away. At this point, footmen are really weak, so try to get hellknight unit as soon as possible - you can recruit them when you meet Regill, a hellknight companion. Clerics are also decent unit this early on. I found mage general much stronger than other generals - but hiring second general is very expensive at this point if you hired different type of general already.

Thanks. I did somehow get myself to Chapter 3, got the teleport and then it just went from bad to excruciating. The rest of the game is fab, really enjoying the stories. I shall go back again, give Irabeth some cash and also get hellknights.

I actually found two Intelligence tomes, but it only applies once to a single character, so you can't get +4 to any stat with it. There was some other effect it also didn't stack with it, but I can't recall which one. Basically, it's some form of rare, magic enhancement, not a passive increase to the stats. Interesting implementation, and it differs from the one in BG1 where the tomes simply increased the base stat.

There is debate on how good the hell knights really are. I used them twice and twice I skipped them. Overall I agree with @joxer in that they are not that great. They are not all that effective and are extremely expensive to buy, wasting money better spent on other recruits/mercs IMO. That being said at the very early levels they can make life easier for you. I just find I don't need them later so prefer to build up my troops with units I know will stick around to act 3 … at which point choices you made at the command center will upgrade them to better units.

I find the fights a breeze but there are some things that make them much easier IMO (people's mileage may differ):

- FIRST under difficulties make sure your crusade management is on the easiest mode. It has its own setting.

- Save your gold so you can buy resources and always max out hiring new recruits and mercs (when mercs are available). Every week when you can buy more units max out what you can buy.

- Plan on what units you want. One of the biggest wastes with the crusade (again IMO) is making choices and ending up with tons of different units with low numbers, making them essentially useless. In act 3, when you start to make decisions that open up new options for army units read what each choice does and align it with the type of army units you want to maximize.

- Archers are hands down the number one best unit IMO. You start with archers but later can upgrade to Rangers (my favorite as they can also melee but also still fire arrows while in melee) or Marksmen (these do insane damage but can't shoot arrows if enemy is next to them and are weaker in health). Review the various ranged attackers (later you can get mongrels, headhunters, and the sorcerers do excellent range damage with spells). I usually try to have a minimum of two ranged unit types in my party.

- Units that can heal themselves and others can be useful to help prevent a unit from being destroyed. I use the WAIT command sometimes on them so that if another unit gets hurt on a round I can heal them, so the healers I tend to make go last in the fight each round. Paladins are great, as are clerics. In addition the enemy always likes to attacks them and they take damage well. I put them out in front a bit to divert attention from the archers. Also healing self is free so heal yourself first then attack/move but don't move/attack first as then it ends the units turn. Healing others will use up their move/attack, however. If you have a SMITE attack use that first as well as you can't use it after moving/attacking, unless high morale gives you another free turn.

- A good solid tank type to help protect the archers.

- In general, until I really get a strong general and army, I only fight enemies that are at least one level below my army and I always save. If the battle goes bad I reload and try another tactic or wait till I can hire more recruits/mercs.

- GENERALS: By far the sorceress lady is the best IMO. I wipe the enemies out with ease with her spells. With her and archers and some tanks I can take down armies 2 ranks higher than her army later in act 3.

- When you go to hire a general if you see none you like close the hire general window and re-open. They load at random.

- Besides spell casters the best skill you can get for them is the master of maneuver ability. Each rank lets you add another type of unit to your army. You start with 3 for base and then each rank of that skill adds another. At the highest you get 6 or 7 (forget what max is) unit stacks to fight with versus 3. This makes a HUGE difference in how powerful your army is.

- Keep morale as high as possible, including getting skills that improve it for the general. High morale means a chance for each unit stack to get a second free attack/move.

- A high infirmary (buy a lot of hospitals when building forts, as well as skills but don't have to go crazy) level means wounded troops will be revived after you win the fight (if you didn't have a chance/ability to heal them during the fight). This means not losing troops after a fight which is something you want to totally avoid as much as possible.

- I focus on one "super" army with the best troops and general to be my main clearer of the enemy armies. I then create a second army that I try to keep high enough to handle random enemy attacks that occur on forts. I keep this second army far away from the primary one so I have more area covered in an emergency. Lastly I usually have some random units that I can't use in my main army and I use them as scouts to reveal paths on the map.

For Act 2 I explore all that I can and if I have to click on "skip a day" for a whole week to pass to hire more units I will.

In regards to attacking the enemy I always try to take out their casters. The Dretch especially I kill with prejudice as their stink cloud is dangerous. I also take out any ranged enemy as soon as possible. The slow moving units I tend to leave to last.

Using the above I never lose a battle at this point, although have a few I will reload if I lost too many units. This applies to act 2, 3, and 5.

I think 2 INT tome is a bug in earlier version - it should be fixed now and should get 1 tome per each stat.

I never lowered crusade combat difficulty - well, before there was only 1 difficulty setting and now I'm finding it ok enough on normal (not sure if its due to rebalancing or I just simply got better - maybe its both).

Yeah, Hellknight units aren't so great in late game but they are very good in early games. I got so attached to them, I'm still using them in late games (altho, hedge knights are way better).

Hellknight signifiers are great tho in late game. They can really destroy enemy units and can take quite a bit of hit as well. I have only 15 HK signifier and they 1 shot 100+ units.

Ohhh, my giddy spinning aunt, lol. I thought I read on the internet that it had no difficulty setting of its own, and in darker moments it was purely a conspiracy to irritate me.

There was no army combat difficulty setting at release - now there are 3!

Thank you so much Wolfgrimdark for taking the time to type all this out. Really helpful to me (and maybe others). My crusade difficulty is now on "story" and those demon armies need to watch out, Qayto's Crusaders are back in town!!

The patch today fixes Latverk's quest yay! I know you were all bumming about how it broke earlier so sharing the good news :)

It was nice timing for me as I went to do the quest last night and discovered the issue so put that quest on hold … and they already fixed it so that was cool.

I finally started again after a months break or so. I had run into a bug bug and wanted to let it stew a bit more.

Seems to have been a good decision. The bug is no more and I'm making good progress.

Going through the Midnight Fane now.

Quick question, how much longer is the game after the Fane?

I do want to finish the game now :)

Still quite a bit to go - Fane is end of chapter 3.

You still have chap 4 to 6 to go (although chap 6 is super short).

Wow, so another 80 hours?

Not sure I'll last that long :D

I just finished and now I don't know what to do with myself.

Steam says I did 230 hours but I re-started once, and also went back quite far again when Wolfgrimdark and Purple B rescued me from my disastrous crusade. I read more than I usually do and I also just leave it idle when I get distracted.