Hey. One of my scouts with no soldiers was attacked by an enemy noble with 1 soldier. My guy killed the soldier, wounded the other noble and won the battle unharmed.
Code-delving and Weaver's school of combat has told me that the only unit which comes anywhere near the combat effectiveness of a First One is another First one or a broadsword/plate/warhorse with 5k+ xp. (The XP may be exaggerated here, though. I can't recall the exact figure off the top of my head)
However, since most battles involve 2 or more first ones, this is mostly a moot point. With one soldier, the rolls were ever so slightly in his favor, but it was still close enough to a 50/50 chance.
I just looked at this to check, First Ones are set to have 1k experience every battle. The only thing it effects is your ability to hit or not get hit in melee. Might be something I change in the future.
It, in no way, makes first ones all powerful, but it does make them significantly harder to hit and more likely to hit. Ranged fire does not, to my understanding, have any effect based on experience.
As for the equipment, it's a sword actually, not a broadsword (which is odd), but that is something that is already on the todo list for future updates: no more starting with high end equipment.
Would I give you this advice if I were, you dummy?
Some neighbouring realms have strong Idraei lobbies and you never even sent an envoy anywhere. Everyone else believes you are the bad guys and dozens of knights are just waiting for their lieges to allow them go kick your ass. Some wiser lords are still concerned that Idraei might not be entirely truthful about their dire situation, but once they see you steamrolling through Idraei territory, you're screwed.
This is not just a war game, you need to think about global politics or you will lose bitterly and complain about old players, cliques, gang ups and other crap afterwards.
As the ruler of a neighboring realm, this. So much of this. Although, it has been refreshing to see people play their characters as separate characters.
I would love to hear about border conflicts actually staying as a border conflict though. It'd be beautiful to see neighbors just fight without involving their 18 allies on either side.