generals, MMA vs MG

[honnolea]

It seems I'm obviously not up on my generals. I have both and wonder why the MMA is more expensive in the Easter store.

Is the MMA that much better?

Thanks for all replies in advance.

[alice007]

nods..

[SweaterPuppies]

The Master of Martial Arts is a very special general. He has first strike, splash damage, and attack weakest unit. To over simplify it he attacks like about 50-60 cavalry without the danger of losing them. When introduced he pretty much broke the combat mechanics of the game in our favor. I have seen a lot of people ask what splash damage {area of effect} is and that can get overly complicated as well. Basically if you have a unit that does 50 damage and he attacks a group of enemies with 25 hit points each he only kills one. If your unit has splash damage he will kill two.

With that said, is he better than the Major general? Depends on what adventures you like to run. If you like Black Knights you do not need a Major. If you do fairytales the Major will save you many lives. Most of the lower level adventures, excluding The Nords and Surprise Attack, are better suited for the Master of Martial Arts. Some adventures, Secluded Experiments, come to mind that can go either way depending on your play style. If I send recruits the Major will save lives. If I am in a militia killing mood the Master of Martial Arts is better.

Since the Master of Martial Arts is first strike and attack weakest a lot of people will use him as a sacrifice wave, he is an excellent murderer of enemy cavalry. If you are casually going through an adventure this technique can save you boat loads of troops. Dark Brotherhood is a great example. With the Witch Tower at the end you previously had to send wave after wave of cavalry at it just to get the camp weak enough to finish off. With a Master of Martial Arts all you need is 6 recruits which you can send to their demise every couple hours while you are at work or whatnot.

Now you say Easter store so I assume maybe you meant the Veteran? Again you can treat the Veteran like a less powerful Major. That only means that on more occasions the Master of Martial Arts will save you a few lives over the Veteran. If you are curious about the Master of Defense, that is a sore subject for most around here. I like to refer to him as the Red Headed Step Child of the Master of Martial Arts. For the most part you can treat him like a flowerbed, just something to make your island look pretty. He has very specific and very few uses. His description implies that he should be used for that "no no" word that you should never mention to Blue Byte in conversation... blocking. In a lot of low level adventures he can be, and just as successful as the tavern generals most people tend to use. With the way I play there is really no time saved by using him for blocks. My main use for the Master of Defense is weakening or defeating of traps. It does not save you many lives, but it makes me feel slightly better inside for spending so many eggs to acquire him. Again, you will get a lot of people saying the Master of Defense is the worst general in the game, I disagree. He has his uses and Dracul is way, way worse. The rest of the generals {Battle Hardened, Grim, Big Helmet, and Log} are more or less clones. Log holds 220 units while the others only hold 200. If all you have are the tavern generals, these guys are great. Would I spend gems on any of them? No, another Master of Martial Arts is all I would consider. If the Major suddenly showed up available for gems I probably would not buy it. Again if you like the fairytales more Majors equals faster completion as the march times on them are quite ridiculous to the point you feel like you have the time to watch a movie and go play 18 holes of golf.

That is my opinion on the generals. Is the Master of Martial Arts worth that many eggs/gems? Every single one. Is the Master of Defense? Ha ha, no. Is the Veteran? Until you get the Major, yes. Even after that on fairytales he makes an more impressive sacrifice wave for those tougher camps. Also any of the fast guys make for better troop transports as sometimes, if you have them, dual Quartermasters are not enough. In the end more general equals faster completion of the bigger adventures. The Master of Defense makes a good a sacrifice wave as any other when you throw 200 recruits in him or whatnot.

If that is too long and boring and you just skipped to the end, here is a nice list from favorite to least favorite of the generals {Yes tavern is up there. If I could get more than six I would keep buying them, but I like to block, some do not touch the stuff.}...

Master of Martial Arts
Major General
Tavern General
Veteran General
Log
Grim/Battle hardened/Big Helmet
Master of Defense
Dracul

[Gwalben]

I wasn't sure I wanted to spend all those eggs on MMA during the first Easter, but now he's my favorite. I use them a lot for the 1r sacrifice, but also in general he's my go to guy.

I got a major, but I haven't made much use of him. Perhaps I just never figured out the use.

I use MoD at most for transporting. But I'll still probably buy another one anyway.

I like Dracul because it's basically like having an extra MMA on BK. Very situational, but I do a lot of those. I also get in a couple of attacks with Dracul in VLT.

[Koshko]

The MMA is a Must Get for everyone. The MMA is so ludicrously overpowered, it's a big reason why most new stuff isn't that special. The Majors are the best for the toughest maps. If you only do lesser maps, he's not really necessary but still nice for saving a few troops here and there. The Master of Defense is Not really worth the extra cost. Basically everything you'd do with him can be handled by tavern generals. I've been using it to attack the Easter invaders, just to give him something to do. If you need extra blockers though, get him. Just note that tavern general blocks won't work with him. You'll have to experiment to get the right troops to use with him.