Troop Movement

The way to remain competitive without large groups of lessers on the board is to build fortresses at regular intervals.  If you build a new fortress three steps away from your last one, then all the regions between them will be vulnerable to Suckerman spells.  Also, a fortress three steps closer resupplies troops one turn faster (including build time).  If the tide of battle should ever turn against you, having these fortresses in place also means that you can deploy defensive troops within two turns no matter where the attack is coming from.  Also, if you're in a tightly pitched battle, building fortresses in each region as you advance (assuming you can hold these regions until they are completed) can be a way to turn the tide of battle; usually, this is only cost-effective in the mid-late game when Suckerman spells are common.

The Wall of Ants

This is a concept that was originally invented by Dylor in a war with Saotome Ranma.  The idea is to move 1-3 lessers into every region along the border every turn, including your own, from every territory you own.  This can effectively stop your opponent from taking regions with only scout forces, and it is also useful for protecting your own regions (and sometimes taking your enemy's) if they use Suckerman or concentrate their forces in one region.  If everyone leaves a region, one lesser is enough to take control of it.  You don't have to have a lot of Treasure coming in to do this, and it can slow down your enemy significantly.  Every fortress should be like a dispersing post, where you order enough troops to spread out and cover the fronts but save most of your T for the big battles where you can pick up lots of Fury.

Oblique Attacks

Another common mistake is to do only frontal assaults.  It is often better to sidestep a large group or fortress to get into the relatively undefended interior of your enemy.  It is a military truism that if you can flank your enemies you can kill them.  This is as true in Evernight as it is in the real world.  Remember, land is the key; the more land you can take from your enemy the weaker they will be, the easier your conquest will become.  Having troops on more than one side of a fortress can also be useful for special attacks (see below).   In games with the elimination rule, it is often a good idea to sidestep intermediate fortresses and head straight for the home region so you can take it out with a spell/lesser or spell/form combination.

Taking Fortresses

Karash Backwards

This tactic needs to be used sparingly.  It is very expensive in terms of Fury, most players will not fall for it more than once, and it is not as powerful as most people think it is.  A Karash Backwards spell cast on a region with a fortress can win a battle for you if the difference between your troops and your enemy's is less than 60 lessers (depending on type).  It is imperative that you not lose the border battle or else the spell is wasted.  For this reason, it works best when you have more lessers in the adjacent region than your enemy has in the fortress.  If this is not the case, and particularly if you can count on your enemy advancing out of the fortress, a Vision Nerve spell can be useful (averts border battles), but this raises the cost of this maneuver significantly.  This tactic works best with the element of surprise; for example, if your enemy has no lessers in the fortress and you only have 5 in the area around it, you can count on them ordering reinforcements, but not a lot, and a Karash Backwards can win the day.  This is another good reason to use scouts.

The counter to this maneuver is to order 100 lessers more than you need to win the battle at your fortress; you will lose some lessers, but your enemy gets no Fury from the lessers killed by the pseudo-form and has just spent 80 F on a lost battle.

Optic Terror

This spell can be very effective if your enemy has a lot of troops but little Fury.  You need to have a large group of lessers next to the fortress (also good if you have medium groups of lessers in more than one region next to the fortress), which makes it very important that your opponent cannot cast a Suckerman.  Calculate how many troops will be sent into each region (on average), and send in enough troops to win the border battle, the region battle where the fortress is, and as many of the other region battles as you can manage.  If you can't win both the border battle and the region battle, you can cast a Vision Nerve on the territory you're sending troops from to avert the border battle.  This is especially potent in situations where there are a lot of regions adjacent to the fortress because your enemy's troops will be divided into small groups.  It can be particularly profitable, however, in situations where there are few regions adjacent to the fortress, as you can win both the border battle and the region battle and take the fortress while killing most of their troops.  It is also good because any reinforcements they have ordered get divided along with the troops already there, so your enemy will not have nearly as secure a position as they think they have.  Since forms are not affected by mind-control spells, advancing into a fortress with a form and using an Optic Terror at the same time will take most fortresses with most forms.

There are a number of counters to this move.  The easiest is casting Hand of Nergal on your enemy's lessers outside your fortress; they may divide your troops, but they will not get the fortress, and they will have spent more Fury than you.  Another counter is to move troops into your fortress from adjacent regions in sufficient numbers to hold the fortress.  A third is to move a form into your fortress.  Note:  FORMS ARE NOT AFFECTED BY OPTIC TERROR.

Suckerman Slide (The Rning Maneuver)

This tactic is only useful in the mid-late game where speed is more important than Fury or the numbers of lessers are large enough to justify the cost.  In the diagram, your regions are in green, your enemy's in red, and the brown are impassable; and the fortress is splant in the center; the number of troops there is irrelevant (lets say 1 in each).  Cast the Suckerman on the region on the far side of the fortress; it will suck all the forces out of the fortress, and you can sneak in the front door with as little as one lesser.  If your enemy has a lot of troops in the fortress and you have a lot of T, you can follow this up with a second Suckerman spell to kill the troops you just sucked out of the fortress.

The best counter for this is to not let your enemy get next to or flank your fortress.  Other than that, you have to waste a lot of Fury and are probably better off regrouping.   If you have a form in the area, moving that form into the fortress (or stationing it there) can also defeat this maneuver. (Remember forms are imune to that group of spells).

 

Using Forms

Picking a Form Type

     Each form has particular advantages.  You don't necessarily need to be of the same religion as the form type to use them; you will need to have chosen a religion in order to build temples, but acquiring temples in conquest or from friends can give you a variety of form types to work with.  The small forms (Woodens, Magma Demons) are most useful in the early game; once people get up to Rip Lizards and incomes of 300+T a turn, these forms become slightly slow to deploy if you want to effectively keep up with a moving front.

Magma Demons have the advantage of being the cheapest forms, so one can be brought in for less than the first Black Between.  This is particularly useful if you are immediately engaged in a war with someone from whom you can take the Plains BB; however, it has the downside that you will have to choose Incinerak early in the game and that may not be the winning religion. Magma Demons also have the strength of having the greatest experience curve, if used properly with lessers they can come out of each battle with considerably more health each time. They also, like woodens, have low fuel costs and are a useful companion to lesser based strategy up to the late game. Every one of your lessers within a battle, so long as there is atleast one of your magma deamons present, will get a bezerker bonus (fight as if they were 1 black between lever higher, Amra as Rip Lizards etc). It is irrelivent how many magma deamons you have, and units cannot be upgraded past Glow.

Woodens are also cheap, but they are more useful if you are fighting in terrain that is dominated by Forests because of their cloaking ability. They are also particularly useful when ambushing opponents, or just having them constantly second guess what you are hiding. Woodens are good ways to make a Suckerman based strategy that much harder for your opponent. (Also any battle report where a wooden is present cannot be visible by anyone that did not participate in that battle)

Iron Hulks are among the most cost-effective forms in battle strength, but they do not work well with large groups of lessers, so you want to deploy Iron Hulks as independent forces or pair them with other Iron Hulks (or small numbers of lessers).  Iron Hulks are also useful in areas with lots of mountains.

The Amber Dragons and Black Dragons have the best mobility, as they are able to cross both mountains and water, they are the all purpose form.  Amber Dragons are cheaper, so they can be brought in faster and it is easier to bring in groups of them.  Black Dragons are more durable, so they are more valuable in pitched wars between large empires. Both of these can both participate in large battles effectively, and cross large stretches of land (and be immune to enemy transform spells as they can cross both impassible regions). Their only main weakness is having the lowest fuel amount in the game (9)...So be careful.

The Colossa is the strongest form; it can defeat any other form in a one-to-one battle; however, they suffer from limited mobility, being able only to cross water.  Pairing a Colossa with 100-200 lessers can be a good tactic for expansion, but the lessers will tend to get slaughtered in close battles. A Colossa is the fastest way to deploy the strongest force, in the early game a Colossa is largely an over kill. Though both of the large forms are only economically viable in the mid and late game.

I would suggest starting without forms unless they are necessary in the early game, then adding forms to your arsenal in the mid-game and acquiring various temple types so that you can tailor your form use to the situations you are facing.  The only exception to this is in games with the elimination rule, where bringing in a form early and marching directly into your enemy's home region can provide a significant advantage.  Note: forms work best when paired with other forms of the same type; pairing an Iron Hulk with a Magma Demon will result in the Magma Demon's destruction in any close battle.  Be sure that you have enough Fury coming in to support your forms with spells; unless you are in danger of being destroyed in the short term, bringing in lots of forms is not as effective as bringing in fewer forms and supporting them with spells at key moments

Deploying Forms

It takes time to bring forms into play, as you have to capture a territory, order a temple, then wait for it to be completed before summoning the form, so you will need to plan ahead.  Try to position your temple to take advantage of your form's mobility factor.  For example, when working with dragons it is often possible to place your temple behind the front line for security but not lose time to the front by moving them through mountains/water.  This tactic can also help boost your points in the long run.  The same is true of Iron Hulks and Colossa, though to a lesser extent.  Using Fractal Hooka to hide a temple is a good way to set a trap for someone who is advancing into your territory; using a Fractal Hooka, then bringing in a form with a Neural Implant (and sometimes advancing with another) is also a good way to surprise your enemy.

Wars tend to move through a well-defined cycle.  First, there are border skirmishes, then both sides build up forces (sometimes with border regions changing hands repeatedly) until one side or the other has a decisive advantage in forces or uses a spell to get that advantage.  Temples should be ordered once the border has been defined so that by the time they are brought in they can provide that decisive advantage.

Since forms are immune to mind-control spells, they can be a powerful force in conjunction with spell-casting of your own.  For example, casting a Suckerman next to a form will not affect that form, but it will affect your lessers and your enemy's.  This can allow you to march on an enemy fortress and do a Suckerman Slide maneuver (see above) without having to flank the fortress first.  Optic Terror and Terrible Slobber can also be effective in using forms to dictate how many forces your enemy will have in battles.

Finally, in the late game, forms can be a good way to pick up extra territories.  If you have extra Fury, an Amber Dragon can pick up mountains/water cheaper than an equivalent number of GrunchGuards; you will need to start doing this five or more turns before the end of the game, though, for it to be cost-effective.

 

Nursing Forms

Forms are a significant investment, so you want to try to make them last.  Also, as forms kill lessers, they gain experience, which increases their maximum health; this is especially useful when fighting forms of your type, a 280 health Iron Hulk can defeat a 250 health Iron Hulk...and can wind rider or absorb to heal afterwards.  To preserve your forms, first, follow the scout rule wherever possible.  You don't want to walk your brand new Iron Hulk into a stack of Hatchlings and hand your enemy 250F.  Second, support your forms with lessers and spells.  If your form is your only attack force, it will be easy to isolate and kill; use lessers for backup or in conjunction with your forms (though only in limited numbers with Colossa or Iron Hulk) to make them more powerful.  Third, move your forms through the most advantageous territory available, i.e. keep Woodens in Forests when it won't lose time, move dragons through mountains/water where they are less susceptible to attack from lessers.  Fourth, beware of situations where your enemy can use a Slappy Bomb or Axe of Nergal to incapacitate or kill your forms.  Casting your own spells, particularly Battery Club and movement-restricting spells, can protect your forms by overcasting enemy spells or otherwise shifting the battle dynamics.  Finally, absorb your forms or use Wind Rider spells to heal your forms when they low on hit points, either from battle damage or low fuel.  In almost all cases, using a Wind Rider is more cost-efficient than conjuring a new form if your form is in danger of dying.  Casting a Wind Rider on a territory with more than one form in it can be particularly effective.  Wind Rider can also buy you time to build a new temple to absorb your forms and refuel them.

Killing Forms

The Separation Strategy

Forms can be very difficult to kill if there are several of them in the same region or if they are paired with large numbers of lessers.  If someone is coming at you, for example, with an Amber Dragon and 500 Hatchlings, you may want to break that up into two groups.  The way to do this is to cast either Hydromide or HyperBlaze (depending on form type) on the region they are advancing into.  The form will advance, but the lessers will not.  This works particularly well in narrow corridors.  Lao Tzu is rumored to have invented this one.

The Temple Trap

The temple trap is a very tricky move that isn't used as much anymore, The idea is to drain your enemy's Fury, and thus limit their options, by getting them to bring in forms.  It was easier to pull off when Suckerman worked on forms (Remember that it no longer does!), but it can still be useful.  The idea is that you build a form on a hostile front, preferably one region up from a fortress you own, then let your enemy take that region with a small force.  They will be so excited to get a temple, that they will immediately bring in a form.  If you cast a Slappy bomb the turn after they take the temple, though, that form will be frozen as soon as it comes in and they will not be able to bring in additional forms, so you advance with a bunch of lessers (using a Suckerman to bring in forces from the fortress or casting an Axe of Nergal) and kill their form, generating more Fury for yourself and draining your enemy's supply.

Using Spells

Suckerman

     Suckerman is probably the most powerful spell in the game.  You can use it to dictate where and in what numbers battles will take place, effectively guaranteeing victories, and since the spell cost is relatively high, it will overcast most other spells or ruin them by causing the battle to take place elsewhere.  Suckerman is most effective in conjunction with fortresses, since it can cause troops ordered that turn to move into any region adjacent to a fortress.  This allows you to stockpile T and then use it where you have guaranteed Fury gains.  Don't be afraid to use Suckerman anywhere you can get a victory and a net Fury gain; if you're winning the battle, you're doing more harm to your enemy than they are getting benefits in Fury, and this is also good at disrupting their moves.  Suckering forces into a fortress also gives your lessers the upgrade advantage and protects against spells such as Star Piercer, and Optic Terror.  If you keep enough Fury on hand, your fortresses can function like guard towers, protecting all the adjacent regions.  With strategic placement of fortresses, this can keep your enemies from being able to advance into your interior.  Suckerman can also be used as a defensive tactic to keep your enemy lessers from advancing.

Sacrifice (formally known as T-Check)

In the mid-late game this spell can be useful for keeping your Fury totals up, particularly if you have a lot of T coming in every turn.  In general, try not to cast it with less than 600 lessers; the more lessers you Sacrifice at once, the more cost-effective the spell is.  This spell is also a good counter to Suckerman: if you have a large group of lessers (200+) in a vulnerable position, you can Sacrifice them and get all of the Fury from them; if your enemy casts Suckerman, all they get is air, and they've just wasted 160+ Fury.  Judicious use of Sacrifice can give you enough Fury to overwhelm a smaller opponent, even an entrenched one, by letting you cast spells to disrupt their moves.  Note:   Sacrifice will affect lessers ordered that turn if cast on a fortress, because spells happen after production.  However, you will not be able to move any lessers out of that region (they will all be converted into Fury), and lessers moving into that region will not be converted because movement happens after spells.

Using Psylicides

Cloaking your forces can be a good way to keep your enemies off balance.  Rning, for one, holds that Fractal Hooka is the most powerful spell in the game for precisely this reason.  Neural Implant can be very effective for moving dragons over mountains/water to get a surprise attack; a good player is aware of this and checks border regions for battles.  Because of the battle reports, it is usually not worth it to cast psylicides on border regions.  If a battle happens there, the battle report will reveal the true number of troops present and fortress upgrade effects, effectively ruining the spell.  This is a good reason to check all the battle reports on active fronts. This strategy is most effectively when you are on the defensive.

GrunchGuard

First, never GrunchGuard more than 30 lessers if your opponent has (or will have) enough Fury to cast Hand of Nergal; lessers held on mountains/water are destroyed, and this is cost-effective with large numbers of lessers.  In general, you are better off changing the land type if you are on the attack; if you can't hold the region, then you have no reason to be attacking that person.  At the very end of the game, it can be a useful thing to cast lots of GrunchGuards and move into lots of mountains/waters to up your points.  Be sure to maintain some Fury, though, in case the game doesn't actually end when you expect it to.  Note:  GrunchGuard will not allow forms to cross into regions they normally cannot move into.

Land-morphing

In general, it is best to use Inertia Capsule because the additional T will make up for the additional cost in F.  This can be useful, for example, in picking up plains surrounded by mountains/water because you will make back the cost in 8 turns.  When morphing lands in attack mode, though, it is sometimes good to turn them into forests so that your enemy cannot see how many troops you have moved in.  You may have to do this in conjunction with cloaking spells if you don't have a forest next to the land you want to morph, but it can be a very effective way to penetrate into your enemy's interior quickly.  Land-morphing spells are also useful for destroying your enemy's Black Betweens, though if you do not own that type, capturing the BB is more cost-efficient. Occasionally you may see players transform regions into Dunes to dwindle down enemy numbers (roughly 10% are lost on Dunes) or vice versa. One strategy that has recently been popular is the swamp spell, it is a nice alternative to Star Piercer because not only does it destroy the fortress in the region it is cast, but it also prevents the enemy from rebuilding it (and acts as a permanent omnisity if you cast it on a forest fortress, as the region is no longer a fortress). The Mountain/Water transform spells are useful as long lasting terrible slobbers, but probably more often to slow down forms (which terrible slobber can't do)

Additional Tips

• Look for patterns in your enemy's moves.  You can exploit their habits if you can anticipate what they are going to do.  Scout your enemies thoroughly: read their battle reports, talk to their enemies, watch their moves.
• Conversely, you can set up false patterns to mislead your opponent.  The psylicides are particularly effective for this.
• Keep an offensive mentality.  If you believe you are going to lose, you will.  Find a way, no matter how far-fetched, to win the war, then work to put the right conditions into place. But don't be thick headed, if you cannot win a particular battle, pull back and regroup.
• Concentrate resources.  It's better to have 200 T off the board than to have 4 groups of 50 on the board.  Especially in the mid-late game, most wars are fought as sequences of large battles.  Make sure you have enough resources on hand to take advantage of mistakes your enemy makes.
• The counter-strike can be much more effective than the frontal assault.  Let your enemy commit all of their forces to the board, away from their fortresses and temples, then collect up their forces with Suckermans and other spells and go on the offensive with the Fury you have gained.
• Keep multiple fronts open.  If you can fight your enemy to a standstill on one front and keep expanding on another, you will eventually be able to outspend them. Even a defeat on one front can provide the fury needed to win the other (which can perhaps eventually suffice in turning the tide for the loosing front)