Hi everyone. I have two or three brand new players in my friend list and I keep going back and forth on what sort of advice to give them during the upcoming Halloween event. Right now they only have tavern generals (maybe Tremblebeard too), and I would expect that for Halloween, they might be in a situation where they'd be doing pretty good if they can just pick up one new general during the whole event.
Based on the preliminary information showing up in the Settlersonlinewiki.eu, it looks like there are two viable options to recommend for a brand new player: the Younger Gemini General or the Ghost General.
I am tempted to say that for a brand new player, the Ghost General might be the best recommendation, and here are my reasons:
1. It holds 215 units compared to YGG's 140 units. In my opinion, any general who holds more than 200 units should be considered a good general, and not a waste of time. Basically, you can follow any guide for a regular tavern general, but you'll be ahead of the game. And the YGG is not necessarily a universally useful general. 140 units does limit the number of troop combinations you can have, and it's a very "Hulk Smash" kind of playstyle. The Ghost general seems like it would have a more traditional and balanced kind of game play. (Although I have not tried it out on the test server to see if this is in fact the case.)
2. The +20% Unit HP, and -50% enemy accuracy might effectively put this general at par with the Veteran general. Potentially, you might need fewer defensive units and could pack it with more ranged and swift units.
3. Last Strike isn't the most desirable thing in a general, but the damage is about equal to Boris, and Flanking and Splash damage are great to have.
4. The general has One-Up, without having to book it. For a brand new player this is almost like getting two generals for the price of one. It will be useful for attacks calling for multiple waves, and nice to send on a loot spot tag, and then continue onto another adventure. It's also just good in allowing for the occasional booboo. The general also apparently recovers 4 times faster than normal.
5. 20% troop recovery. For new players without high level barracks, troop production boosts, and the capacity to churn out large numbers of weapons and beer and population, this would make a big difference.
6. It looks like it will also be 1,000 pumpkins cheaper than YGG, which might make the difference in getting another explorer, or a storehouse, or any of a bunch of other items which are also important.
So basically, there are a ton of reasons why this general would be really good for a new player.
On the other hand, if you're looking down the road, YGG is a good general to have in combination with an array of other generals. And the opportunity to get him is only once a year, outside of buying him with gems. He has the highest damage and health combination of any general in the game, which is hard to pass up. But he's not necessarily the most efficient in using troops; He's great to bully across a lot of enemy camps, but he isn't necessarily ideal for all situations.
So what do you think? If a new player might only be able to get one general out of the event, which one would you recommend, and why?