Grunker said:
Hmm, Scarlet Wind seems considerably harder than the first map. I was squandering my money at first because I got so much of it (like five times as much as I could use), but on the new island I can barely handle a single fight at a time - I HAVE to restock after each fight, and I lose a ton of units in each battle. So my gold is slowly running lower, I gain less than I spend.
My army consists of Royal Snakes, Marauders, Sea Dogs, Black Knights and Skeleton Archers, all with positive morale save the Black Knights. I have the Higher Magic talent but with my extremely low mana cap (26) I can only cast around 3 or 4 spells before I run out. Half the fights on the island are Invinceble or Lethal. The best I can hope for is Very Strong or Strong.
To make money I'd like to use my pet's treasure searcher ability, but I really need to use it's attack (crushing blow) if I want to win the fights. I really need an AoE spell like fireball, but I haven't been able to find one.
So yeah, hanging from a thin thread atm.
It can be pretty difficult in certain patches, but does get easier. Also, you don't need to 'clear' an island before going to the next. In fact, my strategy was
the very moment I discovered a route to a new island, I would travel there and try to kite around mobs just to pick up treasure or sneak my way into a building. You can find lots of stuff that way, and you may also see a few encounters on the new island that are easier than those on the island you came from. I would also, if I saw a searoute while on board my ship, try to find a way to 'bait' a mob to follow me, run around it with my horse, grab the route, and see if I could make it back to the ship. Those extra routes (maps to new islands) are priceless.
As far as the fireball spell, it's not crucial. As I'm sure you've noticed, in this game the RNG plays a very large role. Try taking stock of your current spell set and building a strategy around those spells until finding fireball. I didn't find 'Geyser' until the end of the game and it's a major OMGZIWIN spell. Hang in there, if I recall the 2nd and 3rd island was probably the most challenging part of my playthrough. You will lose some units more often than not, unless you are rolling with a 'shrek' crew (ogres and trolls and giants and dragons etc. which is mid-late game).
Oh, and shops can carry more items than show on the screen, be sure to use the (arrow icons?) to view the entire inventory. Your fireball spell may be the next one over.
And lastly, don't overlook the importance of the red-robed 'mages' (Inquisitors) especially at the beginning when you really need rage regen. Rage is a very important part of the game because your dragon pet depends on it for his abilities like crushing blow, and later some very nice AE attacks like lava call etc.
Edit: Also, some people like to spam the search key while running over areas, there's lots of treasure buried around. When you are standing near it a beacon will shine there, but you can just run around and spam the key and any treasure you run by will pop up.