Qwerty
Auto-translated
Well, you weren't even expecting a sequel, were you?!
So, Qwerty presents!!
Recommendations for amateurs playing as the Knight Castle.
To start, I want to share the following concept.
Gameplay in Heroes II can be conditionally divided into three groups:
1. Online tournament play;
2. Offline tournament play;
3. Amateur play for pleasure, without restarts, saves and loads, map scouting, etc.
Amateur play most often occurs against the computer. A more complex version is playing with another person, usually hot-seat (less frequently via LAN).
At the request of readers, I will try to give a series of tips for amateur play as the Knight Castle against computers.
The Opening.
In Heroes, certain conventional designations for game time are used. The first digit denotes the month number, the second - the week number, and the third - the day of the week. That is, the game starts on 111.
So, the Opening: 111 - 117 (the first week of the game).
First, understand which version the game is being played in. If it's PoL (The Price of Loyalty), on the expanded (new, improved) version, a Knight MAY (depending on the map) get a serious boost. This is a structure called the stables, because there not only does the movement allowance until the end of the week increase for any visiting hero, but absolutely free of charge (meaning for nothing), cavalrymen turn into blue and swift champions!
Now let's formulate the first weakness of starting as a Knight. This is, of course, the low speed of standard starting troops.
As a reminder, a hero's movement range depends on the speed of the slowest unit (stack) in their army. A starting Knight is equipped with peasants and (most often) archers; both have very slow speed (2). Moving several heroes at such a speed is an unaffordable luxury, so I suggest two options:
1. The hero unloads the entire army into the castle, keeping only one peasant for themselves. After taking the nearest gold chests, a second hero—not a Knight—is bought in the castle. He approaches the first hero and shares his units with speed 4 (better 6), and the peasant is simply dismissed.
2. The hero goes with their entire army and takes the gold chests. Next, again, a non-native hero is bought; he keeps 1 unit with speed 4 (better 6) for himself and goes scouting. Subsequent heroes already run with units of speed 4 (better 6), while the first either conducts battles or brings them troops.
Which hero is best to buy second? Of course, a Warlock with an army of 4 gargoyles and 9 centaurs (the ideal option). Firstly, we get a fast scout with advanced scouting, which is extremely useful in the first stage of the game. Secondly, we get a strong additional force that can solve tasks extremely difficult for a Knight on the first week. What are these tasks? For example, breaking through a pack of upgraded elves. 10-19 Grand Elves are a big problem for Knight troops even on the fifth day. However, adding at least three split gargoyles decisively changes the picture! The algorithm is simple—the gargoyles block the elves (without attacking), and the archers shoot them down (Grand Elves deal 4 times less damage in melee than ranged; gargoyles have 7 defense + the Knight hero's defense...). Of course, the choice of collector-scout heroes depends on a number of factors, and if a Warlock with gargoyles hasn't arrived, you can look at what is available. Options:
-) Barbarian. Very good in the case of "heavy" terrain (advanced pathfinding); moreover, his goblins will be enough to equip all heroes. 3-4 orcs can also be quite useful for early battles. By the way, under certain conditions, you might even think about making him the Main hero later, but we'll talk about that later;
-) Wizard, but necessarily with pigs. We need the speed of the pigs (6). In my opinion, the worst option for a second hero is a Wizard without pigs, only with halflings (because their speed is slow—3);
-) Necromancer. Skeletons will be enough for all heroes. In certain situations, it's possible to conduct 1-2 battles specifically with the Necromancer (due to starting "Haste" magic), but you must carefully weigh the factors of morale and army strength before joining zombies and skeletons with a Knight army—perhaps +2 morale is stronger than an army boost;
-) Warlock without gargoyles. This is not exactly what's needed, of course, but it's better than 2-3 heroes with minimal movement, plus scouting can help quite a bit;
-) Sorceress. There are several immediate plusses: enough fairies for all heroes, obtaining at least some flying squad, and dwarves can also help in the first week. Specific questions will be considered in the chapter "Knight and the Sea".
Thus, we will solve the problem of low starting army speed by buying a second hero of another race and equipping other heroes with their relatively fast troops.
Scouting.
Let's find out the following:
-) what terrain surrounds us;
-) is there access to the sea and can we sail away;
-) where is the wood mine and what is needed to capture it;
-) where is the stone mine and what is needed to capture it;
-) is there a crystal mine and how to get to it;
-) is there an external market and how to get there;
-) is there a foundry within at least 5 days' travel for a boosted hero;
-) is there a stable and how long does it take to get there;
-) what skills are given in the huts;
-) what magic is given in the huts;
-) are there deposits of archers, as well as other units;
-) if possible: where is the opponent, on what terrain, is there a passage defense and what kind.
Based on the analysis of the obtained data, we will build the primary strategy.
The wood and stone mines must be captured. Two wood mines would be better. A crystal mine is also highly desirable. Stables will help boost all heroes and allow free upgrading of cavalrymen to champions. The foundry will paint spearmen and swordsmen a beautiful light blue color, making them faster and healthier, and for free. Analysis of the surrounding terrain, location and racial affiliation of the nearest opponent, and skills in the huts will allow for the choice of the main hero (this will be discussed in the chapter "Knight Hero: is there an alternative?"). Magic in the huts may introduce corrections to the castle build-up and unit purchases (more details in the chapter "Knight Hero: is there an alternative", section "Knight and Magic").
Castle Build-up.
In the first week, a Knight can have five levels of troops built on many maps. Besides levels 1-4, this is level 5 OR 6 (in a Knight castle, you can place the sixth level without having the fifth!). This is if you're lucky with wood. If you're unlucky with wood and no external market is found, there will be four levels of troops. An important nuance is that archers can only be upgraded after building the fourth level, and they are most often upgraded on 121 (remember the terminology? first month, second week, first day!). The situation is further complicated by the fact that wood is needed to build the market, and that's exactly what's lacking. Therefore (and not only), one can even sacrifice part of the army to break through to an external market (it will be very useful for us later!). Wood deficiency is usually felt up until 131, which is a bit sad in the case of captured villages (to build a village into a castle, you need 20 wood in addition to 5000 gold and 20 stone).
Building both levels 5 and 6 simultaneously in the first week is rare due to lack of wood.
Some recommendations on gameplay technique in the opening stage.
1. A hero's base movement range (without considering visits to stables, oases, or other structures that give a temporary increase in movement range) is formed immediately before the turn transition. A Barbarian without goblins, a fairy without dwarves, a Necromancer without zombies, bought in the tavern, will travel further than their brethren born with two stacks of troops. Use the technical trick "boosting": speed up your heroes by leaving them before the turn transition (players also say "for the night", "overnighting") with the fastest squads. A tip relevant not only for the opening: if a hero is attacked during the turn transition and has approximately 12 skeletons and 1 zombie or 5 spearmen, 3 swordsmen, and 1 peasant left—try to lose 1 zombie or 1 peasant; they won't fight much anyway, but they will seriously slow down the hero's movement. Always monitor your heroes' speed. Overnight (meaning stay for the turn transition) with the slowest troops with no more than one hero!, only that way!!
2. Let's move the concept of "chain" from theory to practice. A "chain" is a relay. Why a chain is needed: to transfer troops and artifacts to a hero located 3 days' travel from the castle, you could spend 6 days: 3 there and 3 back. To avoid walking like that for a week, you can do everything without spending any of the main hero's moves. Technically it is done as follows: transmitter heroes are placed at movement range, then troops are bought. One hero reaches the second, transfers troops to him (and artifacts if they exist and are needed), the second hero transfers to the third, and the third to the main one. This really needs to be done in practice, not just saying "I always knew that".
3. Play with several heroes! This will allow you to:
-) save troops (peasants aren't very relevant against archers, but archers aren't very relevant against flyers), by transferring irrelevant troops before a battle to another hero;
-) "boost" (remember? Let's remind! "Boosting" is a technical trick that allows a hero to move further on the day after boosting. Technically achieved by "overnighting" with the fastest squad) the needed hero, shifting all "slow-movers" to another;
-) not spend the main hero's time placing flags over objects and collecting resources;
-) visit witches' huts (which give secondary skills) and magic huts with same-tier heroes, and only send the leader there if it's relevant (for example: Ballistics and Leadership are unnecessary for a Knight hero because he already has them);
-) conduct some battles not with the potential main hero, but with the strongest hero in that specific case. Haste from a Necromancer, less frequently Bless from a Sorceress, sometimes Attack from Barbarians can be a more weighty argument in separate concrete cases than a +1 bonus to troop morale.
4. The hardest part. You know well the power of the main hero in Heroes. And throughout your heroic experience, you've always tried to give all possible experience specifically to the main hero. You'll have to slowly unlearn this. The army available in the first week is small. And most often, quite a lot needs to be fought off. Instead of running the main hero around the map, who won't make it everywhere, you need to pass the army along a chain and fight things off with that same army using other heroes. Deciding to do this, restructuring from a playstyle backed by success in years of crushing mighty computers—is not easy.
Knight and the Sea.
There is such a concept as "unpopular measures". Thus, the content of this chapter will be "unpopular" and may cause bewilderment among some lovers of the wonderful strategy "Heroes of Might and Magic II".
As we know, building a Knight castle requires a huge amount of wood. It's needed for many structures, including upgrading most troops. Moreover, in case of capturing a village, we cannot place a castle there without 20 wood.
And where to get this wood? On a number of maps, there is a sea in which debris floats, often containing this very wood.
From this arises the following thought: can these pieces of debris be collected and used when building the Knight castle?
We won't consider the ideal case (a Sorceress in the tavern, a lighthouse nearby, and a hut with the "Summon Ship" spell, ship arrives on first summon).
Let's consider the following situation: the starting Knight castle is located by the sea; the shipyard is not built, but theoretically can be.
What is needed to make a decision?
1. Good heroic intuition (or its substitutes: approximate knowledge of the map, an overview right by the sea).
2. Determination, the ability to take a justified risk.
If by any signs ("I saw the map once, there's a bunch of debris in the sea", the overview revealed 6 pieces of debris, "I feel like the sea should be rich here") we can assume that plenty of wood can be collected from the sea, we must stop and think.
The hardest part here is risk analysis. To build the shipyard and ship, 30 wood is needed. A Sorceress hero is highly desirable. You can roughly estimate how much she will collect by which day, but only approximately, as the contents of the debris are hidden by sea waters.
In 2008, at the highest level in Heroes II, several online games were played in which a Knight went to sea around the third day and managed to build level 5 or 6 on the seventh day depending on crystals (we remember that for building level 6 in a Knight castle, it's not mandatory to build the fifth).
Generally, the "Knight and the Sea" theme is quite ambiguous, and there are no universal recipes here. Much depends on the map (base sea saturation, presence of a lighthouse) and the specific save (what exactly is in the debris, if there is a Sorceress hero).
I suggest remembering this strategic trick and considering it as one of the possible development paths. And intuition and determination will help!
Knight Hero: is there an alternative?
Choosing the main hero is not as simple a question as it seems at first glance. The practice of "always playing with the native hero," followed by some amateurs, is far from always the strongest. Leading players in most cases use so-called "power heroes"—the Knight and Barbarian.
Today we will try to analyze the Knight hero specifically as the leader of a Knight army and at the same time think about whether it's better to play with someone else.
To start, let's try to identify the main characteristics of Knight troops.
1. Even non-upgraded troops starting from the third level have defense no lower than 9. For comparison: a Bone Dragon has the same defense. The defense rating for Paladins and Crusaders is 12 (on par with Green Dragons; only Titans, Black and Red Dragons, and Mighty Liches are higher). In general, it can be noted that breaking through Knight troops in melee is very difficult.
2. Knight troops are quite fast: in the upgraded version, level 3-4 has above-average speed (5), Crusaders—fast (6), and Champions are one of the two fastest units in Heroes II (speed 7, along with Phoenixes).
3. The number of hit points is not so great: 10 for second level, 20 for third, 30 for fourth, 40 for fifth, 65 for sixth level—this is for upgraded ones. For non-upgraded it's even sadder: 15 for third level, 25 for fourth, 30 for fifth, 50 for sixth.
4. Magic immunity and special abilities: Bless and Curse do not affect peasants :))), but that's not what we're talking about now. Double strike is had by upgraded archers (correspondingly they hit 4 times weaker in melee), Paladins, and Crusaders. Crusaders cannot be cursed, and they deal twice as much damage to undead. Remember this for the future: same-looking hordes of skeletons, Vampire Lords, Bone Dragons are chopped like cabbage by a Crusader's sword.
5. Damage. In general, considering parameters and growth, damage is quite comparable with other castles.
6. Flying creatures are absent.
7. There is only one archer, second level, with 10 health and average speed (4).
Based on the above, a brief list of requirements for the leader of Knight troops can be compiled:
1. Ballistics is needed;
2. Fast contact with enemy troops is needed (via magic or morale);
3. It would be good to have high Attack;
4. True Resurrection magic is very relevant for practically any unit.
Thus, from a basic superficial look, we found two types of heroes who could lead Knight troops:
1. A power-user with Ballistics and morale;
2. A mage with True Resurrection and Mass Haste.
Since True Resurrection and Mass Haste still need to be obtained somewhere, and you have to play right now, we most likely choose a power-user hero with Ballistics and morale.
This is exactly what the starting Knight hero is.
So, parameters 2-2-1-1, no spellbook, secondary skills Leadership and Ballistics.
When leveling up a Knight hero, Defense initially grows mostly, and to a slightly lesser extent, Attack. Thus, a tenth-level Knight hero (without considering visits to structures that increase primary skills) might look roughly like: 5-7-2-2. Subsequently, skills grow approximately evenly.
Now about secondary skills. Usually, upgrades to Leadership and Ballistics are offered most frequently, then Logistics, Pathfinding, Diplomacy, Finance; to a lesser extent Archery, Navigation, Wisdom, Scouting. Even more rarely should they offer Eagle Eye, Luck, and Mysticism (Necromancy upon leveling up is generally only offered to Necromancers and occasionally Warlocks).
When forming a hero with Leadership, Ballistics, and Logistics skills, we are in good shape. Wisdom is needed, but for many maps the first level will suffice; Pathfinding and Navigation depend on the specifics of the map terrain. I would prefer to also take Luck, but that's just how it goes. We won't talk about playing with Diplomacy; that's a separate topic. Archery: if there are long-term plans to absorb a Titan castle—you need to take it.
Thus, the Knight hero looks very dignified at the head of his army.
Now let's briefly consider some other types of heroes as leaders of a Knight army.
1. Warlock. An extreme option with the pluses of good spell power and large vision. Should be considered only in case of early discovery of a hut with direct damage magic. Doesn't look very good overall; better to let him remain the second hero.
2. Sorceress. Lots of mana and Bless in the book. But advanced Navigation in skills. If the map is not water-based, I don't see much point in this.
3. Titan Castle Hero. The obvious plus here is the absence of "extra" skills (only has advanced Wisdom). The justification for choosing this hero would accordingly be only the presence of high-level magic.
4. Necromancer. Haste in the book—good; minus two to morale because of undead (extra race + undead)—not good. Can be used if there's a possibility of fastest possible Expert Necromancy leveling and building up several hundred skeletons. In other cases, it's not expedient.
5. The most complex case—the Barbarian. The Barbarian has a very serious argument—good starting Attack that grows quickly upon leveling. A Barbarian by the tenth level (without visiting objects that increase primary skills) can look like 9-4-1-2. Defense for Knight troops of levels 3-6 is good, and damage will be added due to Attack. Moreover, unlike the Knight, the Barbarian continues to level with a slight lean toward power stats (by level 19 he might look like 12-7-3-3). Counterarguments: lack of base Leadership and Ballistics, lower probability compared to the Knight of Wisdom appearing and leveling, advanced Pathfinding is useless on maps with simple terrain, as well as a high probability of Scouting appearing.
Based on what can one consider the question of an alternative to the Knight as the main hero:
-) lots of sea now and later, absence of Sailing in witches' huts;
-) "heavy" terrain now and in perspective;
-) presence of Ballistics and Leadership in witches' huts;
-) presence of huge crowds of low-level troops like peasants combined with the ability to quickly raise levels 3-4;
-) presence of good direct damage magic or high-level magic capable of key influence on the course of the game.
Knight and Magic.
As we remember, Knight troops are not famous for great magic immunity. And health is a bit lacking. That is, Knight troops are defenseless against both direct damage magic and "pleasant" arguments like Slow (possibly Mass), Blind/Paralyze, Berserk...
In connection with this, I recommend acquiring a Sphere of Negation instead of a magic book, which prevents the use of magic on the battlefield.
If obtaining a Sphere of Negation failed, you'll have to consider the possibility of the opponent using magic.
What can we do against magic? Cover ourselves in artifacts protecting from all sorts of spells or prevent the opponent from casting or compensating for losses magically. In this sense, we will be interested in the following spells: Anti-Magic, Mass Haste (third level, requires basic Wisdom), Mass Slow (4th level, requires advanced Wisdom), True Return (5th level, Expert Wisdom), as well as Paralyze (3rd level, basic Wisdom), Blind, Haste, Slow (Wisdom not required). As we see, the greatest number of spells that interest us can be obtained with just basic Wisdom.
Terrain scouting in the first week should include investigating the contents of spell huts.
Usually when playing as a Knight castle, we don't build a magic guild, or at least we don't hurry its construction. However, if we notice fundamentally important spells for us in the huts, we must carefully weigh what is better: the hero having a book and that spell, or buying additional troops. And after this weighing, make corrections to the original plan. Often the presence of Haste and/or Slow (Blind) will allow saving on unbought spearmen.
Exiting the Opening.
To be continued ...
So, Qwerty presents!!
Recommendations for amateurs playing as the Knight Castle.
To start, I want to share the following concept.
Gameplay in Heroes II can be conditionally divided into three groups:
1. Online tournament play;
2. Offline tournament play;
3. Amateur play for pleasure, without restarts, saves and loads, map scouting, etc.
Amateur play most often occurs against the computer. A more complex version is playing with another person, usually hot-seat (less frequently via LAN).
At the request of readers, I will try to give a series of tips for amateur play as the Knight Castle against computers.
The Opening.
In Heroes, certain conventional designations for game time are used. The first digit denotes the month number, the second - the week number, and the third - the day of the week. That is, the game starts on 111.
So, the Opening: 111 - 117 (the first week of the game).
First, understand which version the game is being played in. If it's PoL (The Price of Loyalty), on the expanded (new, improved) version, a Knight MAY (depending on the map) get a serious boost. This is a structure called the stables, because there not only does the movement allowance until the end of the week increase for any visiting hero, but absolutely free of charge (meaning for nothing), cavalrymen turn into blue and swift champions!
Now let's formulate the first weakness of starting as a Knight. This is, of course, the low speed of standard starting troops.
As a reminder, a hero's movement range depends on the speed of the slowest unit (stack) in their army. A starting Knight is equipped with peasants and (most often) archers; both have very slow speed (2). Moving several heroes at such a speed is an unaffordable luxury, so I suggest two options:
1. The hero unloads the entire army into the castle, keeping only one peasant for themselves. After taking the nearest gold chests, a second hero—not a Knight—is bought in the castle. He approaches the first hero and shares his units with speed 4 (better 6), and the peasant is simply dismissed.
2. The hero goes with their entire army and takes the gold chests. Next, again, a non-native hero is bought; he keeps 1 unit with speed 4 (better 6) for himself and goes scouting. Subsequent heroes already run with units of speed 4 (better 6), while the first either conducts battles or brings them troops.
Which hero is best to buy second? Of course, a Warlock with an army of 4 gargoyles and 9 centaurs (the ideal option). Firstly, we get a fast scout with advanced scouting, which is extremely useful in the first stage of the game. Secondly, we get a strong additional force that can solve tasks extremely difficult for a Knight on the first week. What are these tasks? For example, breaking through a pack of upgraded elves. 10-19 Grand Elves are a big problem for Knight troops even on the fifth day. However, adding at least three split gargoyles decisively changes the picture! The algorithm is simple—the gargoyles block the elves (without attacking), and the archers shoot them down (Grand Elves deal 4 times less damage in melee than ranged; gargoyles have 7 defense + the Knight hero's defense...). Of course, the choice of collector-scout heroes depends on a number of factors, and if a Warlock with gargoyles hasn't arrived, you can look at what is available. Options:
-) Barbarian. Very good in the case of "heavy" terrain (advanced pathfinding); moreover, his goblins will be enough to equip all heroes. 3-4 orcs can also be quite useful for early battles. By the way, under certain conditions, you might even think about making him the Main hero later, but we'll talk about that later;
-) Wizard, but necessarily with pigs. We need the speed of the pigs (6). In my opinion, the worst option for a second hero is a Wizard without pigs, only with halflings (because their speed is slow—3);
-) Necromancer. Skeletons will be enough for all heroes. In certain situations, it's possible to conduct 1-2 battles specifically with the Necromancer (due to starting "Haste" magic), but you must carefully weigh the factors of morale and army strength before joining zombies and skeletons with a Knight army—perhaps +2 morale is stronger than an army boost;
-) Warlock without gargoyles. This is not exactly what's needed, of course, but it's better than 2-3 heroes with minimal movement, plus scouting can help quite a bit;
-) Sorceress. There are several immediate plusses: enough fairies for all heroes, obtaining at least some flying squad, and dwarves can also help in the first week. Specific questions will be considered in the chapter "Knight and the Sea".
Thus, we will solve the problem of low starting army speed by buying a second hero of another race and equipping other heroes with their relatively fast troops.
Scouting.
Let's find out the following:
-) what terrain surrounds us;
-) is there access to the sea and can we sail away;
-) where is the wood mine and what is needed to capture it;
-) where is the stone mine and what is needed to capture it;
-) is there a crystal mine and how to get to it;
-) is there an external market and how to get there;
-) is there a foundry within at least 5 days' travel for a boosted hero;
-) is there a stable and how long does it take to get there;
-) what skills are given in the huts;
-) what magic is given in the huts;
-) are there deposits of archers, as well as other units;
-) if possible: where is the opponent, on what terrain, is there a passage defense and what kind.
Based on the analysis of the obtained data, we will build the primary strategy.
The wood and stone mines must be captured. Two wood mines would be better. A crystal mine is also highly desirable. Stables will help boost all heroes and allow free upgrading of cavalrymen to champions. The foundry will paint spearmen and swordsmen a beautiful light blue color, making them faster and healthier, and for free. Analysis of the surrounding terrain, location and racial affiliation of the nearest opponent, and skills in the huts will allow for the choice of the main hero (this will be discussed in the chapter "Knight Hero: is there an alternative?"). Magic in the huts may introduce corrections to the castle build-up and unit purchases (more details in the chapter "Knight Hero: is there an alternative", section "Knight and Magic").
Castle Build-up.
In the first week, a Knight can have five levels of troops built on many maps. Besides levels 1-4, this is level 5 OR 6 (in a Knight castle, you can place the sixth level without having the fifth!). This is if you're lucky with wood. If you're unlucky with wood and no external market is found, there will be four levels of troops. An important nuance is that archers can only be upgraded after building the fourth level, and they are most often upgraded on 121 (remember the terminology? first month, second week, first day!). The situation is further complicated by the fact that wood is needed to build the market, and that's exactly what's lacking. Therefore (and not only), one can even sacrifice part of the army to break through to an external market (it will be very useful for us later!). Wood deficiency is usually felt up until 131, which is a bit sad in the case of captured villages (to build a village into a castle, you need 20 wood in addition to 5000 gold and 20 stone).
Building both levels 5 and 6 simultaneously in the first week is rare due to lack of wood.
Some recommendations on gameplay technique in the opening stage.
1. A hero's base movement range (without considering visits to stables, oases, or other structures that give a temporary increase in movement range) is formed immediately before the turn transition. A Barbarian without goblins, a fairy without dwarves, a Necromancer without zombies, bought in the tavern, will travel further than their brethren born with two stacks of troops. Use the technical trick "boosting": speed up your heroes by leaving them before the turn transition (players also say "for the night", "overnighting") with the fastest squads. A tip relevant not only for the opening: if a hero is attacked during the turn transition and has approximately 12 skeletons and 1 zombie or 5 spearmen, 3 swordsmen, and 1 peasant left—try to lose 1 zombie or 1 peasant; they won't fight much anyway, but they will seriously slow down the hero's movement. Always monitor your heroes' speed. Overnight (meaning stay for the turn transition) with the slowest troops with no more than one hero!, only that way!!
2. Let's move the concept of "chain" from theory to practice. A "chain" is a relay. Why a chain is needed: to transfer troops and artifacts to a hero located 3 days' travel from the castle, you could spend 6 days: 3 there and 3 back. To avoid walking like that for a week, you can do everything without spending any of the main hero's moves. Technically it is done as follows: transmitter heroes are placed at movement range, then troops are bought. One hero reaches the second, transfers troops to him (and artifacts if they exist and are needed), the second hero transfers to the third, and the third to the main one. This really needs to be done in practice, not just saying "I always knew that".
3. Play with several heroes! This will allow you to:
-) save troops (peasants aren't very relevant against archers, but archers aren't very relevant against flyers), by transferring irrelevant troops before a battle to another hero;
-) "boost" (remember? Let's remind! "Boosting" is a technical trick that allows a hero to move further on the day after boosting. Technically achieved by "overnighting" with the fastest squad) the needed hero, shifting all "slow-movers" to another;
-) not spend the main hero's time placing flags over objects and collecting resources;
-) visit witches' huts (which give secondary skills) and magic huts with same-tier heroes, and only send the leader there if it's relevant (for example: Ballistics and Leadership are unnecessary for a Knight hero because he already has them);
-) conduct some battles not with the potential main hero, but with the strongest hero in that specific case. Haste from a Necromancer, less frequently Bless from a Sorceress, sometimes Attack from Barbarians can be a more weighty argument in separate concrete cases than a +1 bonus to troop morale.
4. The hardest part. You know well the power of the main hero in Heroes. And throughout your heroic experience, you've always tried to give all possible experience specifically to the main hero. You'll have to slowly unlearn this. The army available in the first week is small. And most often, quite a lot needs to be fought off. Instead of running the main hero around the map, who won't make it everywhere, you need to pass the army along a chain and fight things off with that same army using other heroes. Deciding to do this, restructuring from a playstyle backed by success in years of crushing mighty computers—is not easy.
Knight and the Sea.
There is such a concept as "unpopular measures". Thus, the content of this chapter will be "unpopular" and may cause bewilderment among some lovers of the wonderful strategy "Heroes of Might and Magic II".
As we know, building a Knight castle requires a huge amount of wood. It's needed for many structures, including upgrading most troops. Moreover, in case of capturing a village, we cannot place a castle there without 20 wood.
And where to get this wood? On a number of maps, there is a sea in which debris floats, often containing this very wood.
From this arises the following thought: can these pieces of debris be collected and used when building the Knight castle?
We won't consider the ideal case (a Sorceress in the tavern, a lighthouse nearby, and a hut with the "Summon Ship" spell, ship arrives on first summon).
Let's consider the following situation: the starting Knight castle is located by the sea; the shipyard is not built, but theoretically can be.
What is needed to make a decision?
1. Good heroic intuition (or its substitutes: approximate knowledge of the map, an overview right by the sea).
2. Determination, the ability to take a justified risk.
If by any signs ("I saw the map once, there's a bunch of debris in the sea", the overview revealed 6 pieces of debris, "I feel like the sea should be rich here") we can assume that plenty of wood can be collected from the sea, we must stop and think.
The hardest part here is risk analysis. To build the shipyard and ship, 30 wood is needed. A Sorceress hero is highly desirable. You can roughly estimate how much she will collect by which day, but only approximately, as the contents of the debris are hidden by sea waters.
In 2008, at the highest level in Heroes II, several online games were played in which a Knight went to sea around the third day and managed to build level 5 or 6 on the seventh day depending on crystals (we remember that for building level 6 in a Knight castle, it's not mandatory to build the fifth).
Generally, the "Knight and the Sea" theme is quite ambiguous, and there are no universal recipes here. Much depends on the map (base sea saturation, presence of a lighthouse) and the specific save (what exactly is in the debris, if there is a Sorceress hero).
I suggest remembering this strategic trick and considering it as one of the possible development paths. And intuition and determination will help!
Knight Hero: is there an alternative?
Choosing the main hero is not as simple a question as it seems at first glance. The practice of "always playing with the native hero," followed by some amateurs, is far from always the strongest. Leading players in most cases use so-called "power heroes"—the Knight and Barbarian.
Today we will try to analyze the Knight hero specifically as the leader of a Knight army and at the same time think about whether it's better to play with someone else.
To start, let's try to identify the main characteristics of Knight troops.
1. Even non-upgraded troops starting from the third level have defense no lower than 9. For comparison: a Bone Dragon has the same defense. The defense rating for Paladins and Crusaders is 12 (on par with Green Dragons; only Titans, Black and Red Dragons, and Mighty Liches are higher). In general, it can be noted that breaking through Knight troops in melee is very difficult.
2. Knight troops are quite fast: in the upgraded version, level 3-4 has above-average speed (5), Crusaders—fast (6), and Champions are one of the two fastest units in Heroes II (speed 7, along with Phoenixes).
3. The number of hit points is not so great: 10 for second level, 20 for third, 30 for fourth, 40 for fifth, 65 for sixth level—this is for upgraded ones. For non-upgraded it's even sadder: 15 for third level, 25 for fourth, 30 for fifth, 50 for sixth.
4. Magic immunity and special abilities: Bless and Curse do not affect peasants :))), but that's not what we're talking about now. Double strike is had by upgraded archers (correspondingly they hit 4 times weaker in melee), Paladins, and Crusaders. Crusaders cannot be cursed, and they deal twice as much damage to undead. Remember this for the future: same-looking hordes of skeletons, Vampire Lords, Bone Dragons are chopped like cabbage by a Crusader's sword.
5. Damage. In general, considering parameters and growth, damage is quite comparable with other castles.
6. Flying creatures are absent.
7. There is only one archer, second level, with 10 health and average speed (4).
Based on the above, a brief list of requirements for the leader of Knight troops can be compiled:
1. Ballistics is needed;
2. Fast contact with enemy troops is needed (via magic or morale);
3. It would be good to have high Attack;
4. True Resurrection magic is very relevant for practically any unit.
Thus, from a basic superficial look, we found two types of heroes who could lead Knight troops:
1. A power-user with Ballistics and morale;
2. A mage with True Resurrection and Mass Haste.
Since True Resurrection and Mass Haste still need to be obtained somewhere, and you have to play right now, we most likely choose a power-user hero with Ballistics and morale.
This is exactly what the starting Knight hero is.
So, parameters 2-2-1-1, no spellbook, secondary skills Leadership and Ballistics.
When leveling up a Knight hero, Defense initially grows mostly, and to a slightly lesser extent, Attack. Thus, a tenth-level Knight hero (without considering visits to structures that increase primary skills) might look roughly like: 5-7-2-2. Subsequently, skills grow approximately evenly.
Now about secondary skills. Usually, upgrades to Leadership and Ballistics are offered most frequently, then Logistics, Pathfinding, Diplomacy, Finance; to a lesser extent Archery, Navigation, Wisdom, Scouting. Even more rarely should they offer Eagle Eye, Luck, and Mysticism (Necromancy upon leveling up is generally only offered to Necromancers and occasionally Warlocks).
When forming a hero with Leadership, Ballistics, and Logistics skills, we are in good shape. Wisdom is needed, but for many maps the first level will suffice; Pathfinding and Navigation depend on the specifics of the map terrain. I would prefer to also take Luck, but that's just how it goes. We won't talk about playing with Diplomacy; that's a separate topic. Archery: if there are long-term plans to absorb a Titan castle—you need to take it.
Thus, the Knight hero looks very dignified at the head of his army.
Now let's briefly consider some other types of heroes as leaders of a Knight army.
1. Warlock. An extreme option with the pluses of good spell power and large vision. Should be considered only in case of early discovery of a hut with direct damage magic. Doesn't look very good overall; better to let him remain the second hero.
2. Sorceress. Lots of mana and Bless in the book. But advanced Navigation in skills. If the map is not water-based, I don't see much point in this.
3. Titan Castle Hero. The obvious plus here is the absence of "extra" skills (only has advanced Wisdom). The justification for choosing this hero would accordingly be only the presence of high-level magic.
4. Necromancer. Haste in the book—good; minus two to morale because of undead (extra race + undead)—not good. Can be used if there's a possibility of fastest possible Expert Necromancy leveling and building up several hundred skeletons. In other cases, it's not expedient.
5. The most complex case—the Barbarian. The Barbarian has a very serious argument—good starting Attack that grows quickly upon leveling. A Barbarian by the tenth level (without visiting objects that increase primary skills) can look like 9-4-1-2. Defense for Knight troops of levels 3-6 is good, and damage will be added due to Attack. Moreover, unlike the Knight, the Barbarian continues to level with a slight lean toward power stats (by level 19 he might look like 12-7-3-3). Counterarguments: lack of base Leadership and Ballistics, lower probability compared to the Knight of Wisdom appearing and leveling, advanced Pathfinding is useless on maps with simple terrain, as well as a high probability of Scouting appearing.
Based on what can one consider the question of an alternative to the Knight as the main hero:
-) lots of sea now and later, absence of Sailing in witches' huts;
-) "heavy" terrain now and in perspective;
-) presence of Ballistics and Leadership in witches' huts;
-) presence of huge crowds of low-level troops like peasants combined with the ability to quickly raise levels 3-4;
-) presence of good direct damage magic or high-level magic capable of key influence on the course of the game.
Knight and Magic.
As we remember, Knight troops are not famous for great magic immunity. And health is a bit lacking. That is, Knight troops are defenseless against both direct damage magic and "pleasant" arguments like Slow (possibly Mass), Blind/Paralyze, Berserk...
In connection with this, I recommend acquiring a Sphere of Negation instead of a magic book, which prevents the use of magic on the battlefield.
If obtaining a Sphere of Negation failed, you'll have to consider the possibility of the opponent using magic.
What can we do against magic? Cover ourselves in artifacts protecting from all sorts of spells or prevent the opponent from casting or compensating for losses magically. In this sense, we will be interested in the following spells: Anti-Magic, Mass Haste (third level, requires basic Wisdom), Mass Slow (4th level, requires advanced Wisdom), True Return (5th level, Expert Wisdom), as well as Paralyze (3rd level, basic Wisdom), Blind, Haste, Slow (Wisdom not required). As we see, the greatest number of spells that interest us can be obtained with just basic Wisdom.
Terrain scouting in the first week should include investigating the contents of spell huts.
Usually when playing as a Knight castle, we don't build a magic guild, or at least we don't hurry its construction. However, if we notice fundamentally important spells for us in the huts, we must carefully weigh what is better: the hero having a book and that spell, or buying additional troops. And after this weighing, make corrections to the original plan. Often the presence of Haste and/or Slow (Blind) will allow saving on unbought spearmen.
Exiting the Opening.
To be continued ...
Орден Феникса – харизматический :) лидер