

Defender strengths: Normal (for stronger AI) or Strong (makes site clearing more challenging but makes it harder for AI to snowball).Treasures + Treasure structures: Few (particularly harder for the human player).Cities: Many (allows the AI to capture many independent cities to help them snowball).

Roaming units: Few (fewer roaming monsters helps AI).Starting Distance: Far (allows AI more time to snowball before you can start to take them out and prevents human from rushing AI).Thus, I believe the hardest setting is 4 or 5 allied AIs, having played everything from 1v1 to 1v7. The more AIs forced to occupy their side the of map, the less space each of them has to expand and snowball. There is some debate about what is the hardest number of AIs to face. 5 to 8 total players: human player (team 1) and 4 to 7 Emperor AI opponents (all on team 2).Map Type: Land (AI has an easier time navigating land maps harder for single human player to defend against multiple AI when there are many more choke points).Map Size: Large (the larger the map, the stronger the AI can snowball).It is designed with the below settings in mind, some of which increase the difficulty of the standard game for added challenge and enjoyment. It is not designed for multiplayer or auto-combat contexts. This guide is designed to help you defeat 4 to 7 allied Emperor-level AI opponents using the strong race/class combination of Draconian Necromancer, but most advice applies equally well to any Necromancer regardless of race.Other helpful resources include Hiliadan's AOW3 Wiki tutorial videos webpage and AOW3 Strategy and Tactical Guide webpage. I've learned a lot from these folks since I started playing AOW3 in 2016. For introductory and advanced strategy video walkthroughs for AOW3 more generally, Bob at Black Arrow Gaming is good for foundational strategy, whereas Hiliadan and Marcus Persson are good for pro-level strategy. You can read up on this information at Fandom's AOW3 website, if necessary. This guide assumes you are familiar with basic AOW3 gameplay and strategy, as well as the Necromancer units, Empire Upgrades, Strategic Spells, and Combat Spells.I also provide advice for certain other race/class combinations in the "Challenge" sections toward the end of the guide. This is an advanced strategy guide for playing Necromancer on Age of Wonder III (v1.802) with all DLC installed (i.e., Golden Realms + Eternal Lords expansions).
