I finally found a use for the Mad Scientist.

After having had him for several years, I finally had a legitimate use for the Mad Scientist general where he was actually the best choice for the situation (at least that I could figure out).

A few weeks ago I was chasing down the Third Thief achievement to get the Noble Bookbinder Tribute. Since you can't use recruits for this achievement, I had planned to run the whole thing using mainly soldiers instead. For 3 of the attacks, the Mad Scientist turned out to be a better solution than the Major General, and some of the other options I tried. For some attacks in which (non-achievement) guides called for using a Major General with cannons, I ran sims starting with cutting the number of cannons in half for the Mad Scientist, and then adjusting the numbers between cannons and soldiers and any other troops until the attacks made sense. If the enemy had flanking, I used Militia instead. Since Mad Scientist carries a more compact army than the MG, using soldiers with a smaller number of cannons seems to work naturally for that general. I found that usually I could add more than half the number of cannons for the attack, meaning greater overall firepower compared to the MG.

Yeah, I know… a really limited situation, but it seemed noteworthy for a general that I've hardly ever used otherwise.

How about you? Have you found any unique uses for Mad Scientist? Or any other generals that don't get much attention for that matter?


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(For anyone interested in the details, these are the specific attacks I had him make. The first one didn't work out quite like I thought, and I lost a few more cannons than I'd anticipated. I probably made an error running the sim somewhere. The other two attacks ran as planned.)

11. 80 Sword Clasher, 70 Dune Marksman, 70 Horseman
250 - 250 Cavalry
250 - 250 Cavalry (500 C)
Mad Sci. - 140 Soldier, 20 Elite Soldier, 40 Cannon (140S, 20E, 1 Cannon)

13. 50 Desert Marksman, 50 Sword Wielder, Boulder Worm
270 - 270 Soldier (270 Soldier)
Mad Sci. - 50 Militia, 150 Cannon (50 Militia)

32. 90 Dune Marksman, 90 Stone Cannon, Snooty Thief
250 - 250 Longbow
Mad Sci - 110 Soldier, 90 Cannon (250 Longbow, 80 Soldier)

good job, HortonsWho, that's a lot of work!

you know you can complete 3rd thief using nukes?

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Originally Posted by ghannima

good job, HortonsWho, that's a lot of work!

you know you can complete 3rd thief using nukes?

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Thanks! Yes, I heard about using nukes. But honestly, building up the specific troops for this one adventure, and planning things out and running sims for attacks, camp by camp, and doing things all on my own rather than just following a guide and rushing through just for the sake of getting it done, was some of the most fun I've had in the game.

:)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by HortonsWho

Thanks! Yes, I heard about using nukes. But honestly, building up the specific troops for this one adventure, and planning things out and running sims for attacks, camp by camp, and doing things all on my own rather than just following a guide and rushing through just for the sake of getting it done, was some of the most fun I've had in the game.

:)

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I hear ya :)

I made a few guides for achievements too, just for fun of it hehehehe

Very helpful information, HortonsWho! Thanks for sharing your research!

There is at least one camp in the MCC campaign that the Mad Scientist improves the results, but it's like a 2 MS savings, so I never bothered to book him just for that camp.

I wasted a lot of time on math when he first came out... glad you finally found a real use for him somewhere, even if it was a "one-time use" situation.