Qwerty
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This material was written specifically for the "Herald of Heroes" magazine, No. 8 (April 2012) - http://www.woggrad.ru/ru/vestnik-heroes.html
Mighty Rangers
or
The Strongest Strike.
Today we will talk about the damage dealt by units in Heroes II.
Let's start, of course, with a small theoretical overview.
Everyday Power Meter
or
Strike Formulas.
So, in Heroes II, the damage dealt by a stack depends on the base damage of the attacking creatures (UnitDamage), the attack parameter of the attacker and the defense parameter of the defender—more precisely, on the DIFFERENCE between these parameters.
And there are two such formulas. You can't understand this; you just have to remember it.
If the attack of the attacking (A) stack is greater than the defense of the defending (D) stack, then damage (Damage):
Damage=UnitDamage*Number of units*(1+0.1*(A-D)).
If the attack of the attacking stack is less than the defense of the defending stack, the formula looks different:
Damage=UnitDamage*Number of units*(1+0.05(A-D)).
For both formulas, there are limit values for damage. If the attacker's attack is higher, the limit value of the modifier (1+0.1*(A-D)) will be 3. If A is less than D, the limit value of the modifier (1+0.5*(A-D)) will be 0.2 (it is often mistakenly believed that this parameter is 0.3).
UnitDamage is the damage dealt by a unit. It is specified in the properties of each unit; you can also use the Heroes2info reference by Qwerty. For all units except peasants, damage is distributed within a certain interval. For most subsequent calculations, we take the average damage (the middle of the damage interval). Thus, for halflings (damage 1-3), the average damage will be 2 (in melee 1).
Turning the Page
or
Magic in Alliance with Strength.
There is a whole range of spells that can affect the damage dealt by a stack. Since the formula includes the damage dealt by 1 unit and the difference between attack and defense, the main magical "gadgets" in this case will act specifically on these indicators.
The damage of 1 unit will be affected by (mass) Bless and (mass) Curse spells. They fix the damage at the upper or lower bound (except for undead and colored dragons; Curse also does not work on crusaders)—in this case, the damage will be either at the upper bound (Bless) or the lower bound (Curse) of the "damage interval." We will analyze specific examples a bit later; here I will only say that 10 halflings under Bless, shooting, will deal 30 damage to a creature with defense 2, while those same 10 halflings under Curse when shooting will deal only 10 damage to the same creature (and in melee even 5).
The rest of the spells will act on the difference between attack and defense.
Bloodlust will increase the stack's attack by 3 for 3 rounds.
Stone Skin will increase the stack's defense by 3 for a number of rounds equal to the hero's spell power (excluding artifacts that extend spell duration).
Steel Skin will increase the stack's defense by 5 for a number of rounds equal to the hero's spell power (excluding artifacts that extend spell duration).
Disrupting Ray reduces the stack's defense by 3 until the end of the battle. Furthermore, this spell cannot be removed and can be applied until the stack's defense equals 1.
Dragon Slayer increases the stack's attack only against dragons by 6 for a number of rounds equal to the hero's spell power (excluding artifacts that extend spell duration).
Strictly speaking, there is also "stone" magic cast by medusas; when hitting a petrified stack, it receives 50% damage.
We will talk about Shield spells below.
Indian Fedot Shoots Accurately
or
Peculiarities of Damage Calculation for Ranged Stacks.
First, let's remember who can shoot. Halflings, centaurs, shooters, archers (2 times), orcs, orc chieftains, elves (2 times), grand elves (2 times), druids, great druids, trolls, war trolls, mages, archmages, liches, mighty liches, titans.
All except mages, archmages, and titans deal 2 times less damage in melee. That is, the base damage of one unit will be 2 times lower.
Additionally, creatures that shoot 2 times—archers, elves, and grand elves—deal only one hit in melee. Thus, their base damage in melee will be 4 times lower (and they'll get a counterattack on top of it).
When an attacker shoots through own castle walls that are not destroyed, the damage will be 2 times less (in the absence of the Golden Bow artifact).
The same secondary skill Shooting removes the penalty when shooting through castle walls and increases damage: basic by 10%, advanced by 25%, expert by 50%. Thus, archers with expert shooting deal damage 6 times greater than in melee.
The (mass) Shield spell reduces the damage received by a stack (in the mass version—by all non-immune stacks) from ranged attacks by 2 times for a number of rounds equal to the hero's spell power (excluding artifacts that extend spell duration).
That's it? No, not everything! We must figure out one more nuance. For shooters to shoot, there must be space free of enemies next to the shooter and an availability of arrows. Let's immediately note the "ammunition supply" artifact, which makes the number of arrows infinite. However, a hero may not always have such an artifact, so let's stop in more detail on the issue of the number of arrows.
There are 8, 12, 16, and 24 arrows. First, let's list those units that have only 8 shots, as they are often insufficient for a battle: centaurs, orcs, druids, trolls. Halflings, shooters, mages, and liches have 12 arrows in their quivers. Orc chieftains, great druids, and war trolls have 16 shots in reserve. This will be enough for most battles. And archers, elves, grand elves, archmages, mighty liches, and of course titans have 24 shots. Let's also note that archers, elves, and grand elves can use up their 24 arrows in as little as 12 rounds, because they shoot twice per round (if the target remains alive after the first shot).
A logical question arises: what happens to shooters after exhausting their supply of shots? This is where double standards come into play: for computer troops, these shooters stop being a priority target, becoming one of the moving stacks (by the way, in Heroes II there are no flying ranged stacks), but!, and this is important for the topic of this material, shooters regardless of whether they have arrows or not will have half damage in melee (of course, except for mages, archmages, and titans).
Who is the Strongest in the World
or
The Best of the Worst and the Worst of the Best.
Statistical data on creature damage can be seen in the Heroes2info reference by Qwerty; we will focus on separate nuances.
First of all, we already know that abstract damage does not exist. There is damage dealt against a specific stack with a specific defense.
In calculations, I took this defense to be equal to 9. Why 9? There is an answer to this question, but it falls outside the scope of our research, and therefore instead we will provide examples of units with defense 9. Defense 9 is found in pikemen, veteran pikemen, swordsmen, swordmasters, cavalrymen, medusas, champions, unicorns, hydras, djinns, cyclopes, and bone dragons. Generally speaking and summarizing (although generalizations are not very appropriate here)—defense 9 most closely corresponds to fifth-level troops.
A very interesting question: what should be compared? The damage of one unit? But there is little sense in that.
I see three possible approaches: comparing the damage of a weekly growth, or comparing the damage of a stack with a certain number of hit points (HP), or comparing the damage of a stack achievable by a certain point in the game.
The damage of weekly growth is quite obvious and predictable: 3 black dragons with 14 attack and 25-50 damage are obviously the best (over 168 damage). Red, green, and bone dragons are also among the leaders.
The outsiders are naturally peasants with 13.2.
Damage from a stack with a certain amount of HP is more interesting. However, here a question arises: what does this parameter practically give us? Apparently nothing...
The third aspect is the damage of a stack of a certain cost. Here, of course, a question arises about the methodology for calculating the cost of a stack. Should building construction be included? If so, should castle construction be taken into account? And how to account for external dwellings: what to do with shooters (since rangers are truly mighty, their piercing power when shooting is equal to grand elves, and their growth is 4 higher, plus they come with heroes, plus shooter houses), halflings (whose damage under Bless is quite significant), and even dwarves?
The damage of a stack of a certain cost is a practical question, and its application is obvious. In calculations, we get an indirect dependence. Obviously, the cost of 1 black dragon including construction will be monstrously high, while the cost of 10 black dragons divided by 10 will be an order of magnitude less.
Therefore, we will try to give a very rough estimate of the damage of a stack that can be at our disposal by the third week. Why only the third week? First and foremost, so that this material is read to the end. For certainly, I would like to provide such an analysis for the first week, second, fourth, and upon completion of the first month of play. However, a stream of monotonous information does not contribute to increasing interest. Specifically, the third week is because on most maps by this point it is possible to build sixth-level troops (as for upgrades—that depends on the situation).
Analyzing indicators is extremely difficult, but we will still try to highlight leaders and outsiders.
Taking into account various factors, which we include: potential presence of an external "external dwelling", relative ease of taking a village, cheapness in construction, potential arrival of units with heroes, potential sharp increase due to the "Shooting" skill, susceptibility to the "Bless" spell (and also "Bloodlust")—first place is awarded to the mighty rangers!
When this stack can shoot—it simply has no equal. On the first day of the third week, we could quite possibly have around 90 archers (28 home castle, 24 captured unbuilt village, 12 come with heroes, about 30 from an external shooter house). 90 archers under a zero-level hero will deal 288-432 damage to creatures with defense 9. Naturally, everything said refers exclusively to ranged damage, because in melee archers deal only 80-120 damage; moreover, low defense (only 3) and small number of hit points (only 10) immediately start to take a toll.
But during further analysis, we encounter questions of double attack. If it is possible to strike the opponent's stack first so that it responds, and only then pile on with a stack with a double hit (this tactical maneuver is called "removing the counterattack")—then it seems one should account for double damage. However, when a stack enters direct contact with an enemy, you must be prepared for the fact that we will also receive hits, and the counterattack of any stack with a double attack is only single. That is, if paladins hit—they deal two hits (if neither participating stack dies), but if paladins are hit—they respond once.
There is no counting methodology. There is an idea to use a coefficient of 1.5 with approximate justification: in 1 round with two fighting stacks (without unopposed damage) a stack of paladins, crusaders, or wolves will deal 3 hits and receive 2 (3/2=1.5). Such a methodology is not correct, but would another be better? There is another nuance. Units possessing a double hit receive a counter-hit after the FIRST hit, meaning only those who survived it deal the second hit. Let's look at an example. 4 wolves deal 27.2 damage over 2 hits against a creature with defense 9. So, in a couple of rounds we'll take down a djinn with some to spare? But here is what happens in reality. Wolves attack, deal say 14 damage; in response the djinn deals 45 damage, killing two wolves; the remaining 2 deal another say 7 damage. After this the djinn moves and simply kills the remaining wolves.
Let's try to accept a coefficient of 1.4 (although even it is clearly inflated).
So, sixth level troops.
Let's consider a hard-to-reach stack of 12 paladins (built them in the home castle on the first week, grabbed a bunch of wood and finally managed to build them in a captured village, but already on the third week). Then damage for one hit will be 168-336; with a coefficient of 1.4 it's already 235.2 – 470.4. We won't talk about how to find 40 crystals and 90 wood in 2 weeks (without an external market this is practically impossible on the vast majority of maps), we'll only say that this option is much harder to achieve than red dragons. At the same time, paladins have only 50 hit points, so they will perish at a considerable rate.
Among others, it makes sense to highlight possible bone dragons on rich maps. Now we will not consider the option of building dragons in the first castle on the first week plus in a village on the second—this happens too rarely (although it is possible). Let's consider the option simply with dragon construction on the first week. Then on the third week we have 7 of them. They will deal 210-378 damage, which is an excellent indicator.
4 red dragons, however, will deal 140-280 damage to such creatures; moreover, "Bless" does not work on them, just as it doesn't on their bone brethren.
In the fifth level, in case of a large amount of wood (from the sea, for example), construction of cavalrymen in two castles is possible (and in the case of an external stable they are upgraded to champions for free!). There can be up to 21 of them (13 from starting castle + 8 from built village). The price of the matter—90 wood. They will deal 115.5-231 damage, which is quite serious.
At the fourth level of troops there are very interesting units; however, the question of the expediency of their construction in two castles is not simple. In terms of damage, minotaurs certainly stand out. There can be 21 of them (13 from starting castle, 8 from built village). They will deal 105-210 damage.
Rooks. Here, strictly speaking, it's not about them themselves, but about the construction and purchase of titans. Let's stop on this point in more detail, as it is extremely important. Suppose we are playing as Barbarians. On day 6 we gathered 20 stone and 20 wood; a village was captured. In the vast majority of cases, we will place trolls, not a castle. The same situation on the second week. With crystals collected and at the end of the week (day 6-7), one's hand still reaches to place cyclopes. The same applies even more so to the black dragon castle; a roughly similar situation for Sorceresses. Let's look at Knights. When wood is needed for everything, levels 5-6 troops are built quite easily (if that wood exists); wood is also needed for the key archer upgrade—it's extremely hard to make a decision about building a village into a castle (20 wood is insanely regrettable).
But Necromancers and titans depend much less on stone and wood. To get bone dragons or giants, 25 wood is needed, and even less ore. But if Necromancers have a worthy alternative in the form of vampires, requiring an additional 15 wood (another 5 for lords), then for the titanic castle gold for upgrade and purchase of titans is much more important. One of the gold generators is the castle (especially since many stones are not needed for titans, meaning you can spend 5 on a statue, further increasing income). Thus, in the first week we often simply have no other business than building a village into a castle. Considering that if the village already has second-level troops (and we are considering exactly such an option in this article)—rooks are placed the very next day after castle construction, it turns out that by placing a castle on day 5, by the end of the second week we will earn at least an additional 2000 gold, and further this income will increase; moreover, rooks won't be superfluous (you need something to fight with before titans appear). Based on the above, we can have up to 26 rooks on the third week. However, I suggest considering their number as 24 (there is a high probability of either losing two rooks or simply not having enough days to build a well in the first week). 24 rooks will deal 86.4-172.8 damage. Not so little, especially if you consider the following nuance. To build mages and giants, construction of a magic guild is necessary. Halflings, who are the main weapon in the first and partly second weeks, are extremely sensitive to the Bless spell. Thus, we will obtain and use this spell whenever possible, which means 172.8 damage will turn from a statistical corridor (for undead troops and dragons) into actually dealt damage.
At the third level, a stack of wolves is easily achievable. Suppose by day 131 we have a stack of 31 wolves (19 from starting castle, 12 from village built into a castle on the second week). In terms of gold this is very easy to achieve; the problem is exclusively in finding 20 scarce stones, so needed for building trolls and cyclopes. 31 wolves will deal 79.05-131.75 damage with one bite. With a coefficient of 1.4, this turns into 110.67-184.45.
Under certain conditions, golems can be interesting. The conditions are simple—an external building "foundry", which free of charge, that is for nothing, will turn iron golems into steel ones and at the same time increase the damage they deal by 20%. We could have 26 (or maybe even 32!!!) golems. Here's the thing: titans are extremely expensive, both in construction and purchase, but not demanding of wood and stone. Therefore, under certain conditions we can not only capture a village on the first week (and doing so will be quite easy, as Qwerty wrote in the article "Is there life without titans?"), but also, perhaps, place a castle there and even build golems (although in most cases it makes sense to build rooks). 26 steel golems deal 93.6 – 117 damage; 32 steel golems already 115.2 – 144. It seems that if you look on average, these are quite unremarkable figures. But! The damage of golems when the "Curse" spell is cast on them by an enemy decreases much lower than for others, and defense 10 with reduced damage from many spells makes battles possible with serious troops under the command of mage-heroes...
Speaking of second-level troops, we will assume as a hypothesis that in the village captured by us on the first week they are already built. However, we do not build this village into a castle, but upgrade second-level troops either in the home castle or in an external building "hill fort" (orcs, dwarves).
Besides the leaders of our chart—the mighty rangers—it is simply necessary to consider the super-stack of dwarves very often encountered in practical play. With an external building where they join for free, taking into account those who came with heroes and provided a captured village, their number by the third week can reach 90. Note that if a hill fort is found, they will also be upgraded.
90 dwarves will deal 153-306 damage, which is an excellent indicator.
Among first-level troops, skeletons clearly stand out. Talking about skeletons in isolation from necromancy, I think, is not entirely correct, as it's clear that any growth of first levels is incomparable in strength to higher ones. Let's only note that for example, 150 skeletons (more than realistic by the first day of the third week, even without hyper-active use of necromancy, with a main hero having no necromancy at all) will deal as much as 225-337.5 damage to creatures with defense 9, which is simply an excellent indicator.
Fairies, possessing an impressive hit, only have two hit points, which combined with defense 2 removes them from the list of leaders. Meanwhile, let's note that those same 150 fairies will deal UNOPPOSED 112.5-250, meaning under Bless 250!
Halflings are good fighters in a ranged attack (especially under Bless). 150 halflings deal 97.5-292.5, and obtaining Bless is quite possible (for example, when buying a Sorceress hero). Let's also note that blocked halflings deal 48.75-146.25; meanwhile defense 1 and only 3 hit points will quickly reduce their number.
Of course, speaking of damage, one must also speak of receiving damage, at least for non-ranged troops. But this will be the topic of a separate material dedicated to the legendary strategy—"Heroes of Might and Magic II".
Mighty Rangers
or
The Strongest Strike.
Today we will talk about the damage dealt by units in Heroes II.
Let's start, of course, with a small theoretical overview.
Everyday Power Meter
or
Strike Formulas.
So, in Heroes II, the damage dealt by a stack depends on the base damage of the attacking creatures (UnitDamage), the attack parameter of the attacker and the defense parameter of the defender—more precisely, on the DIFFERENCE between these parameters.
And there are two such formulas. You can't understand this; you just have to remember it.
If the attack of the attacking (A) stack is greater than the defense of the defending (D) stack, then damage (Damage):
Damage=UnitDamage*Number of units*(1+0.1*(A-D)).
If the attack of the attacking stack is less than the defense of the defending stack, the formula looks different:
Damage=UnitDamage*Number of units*(1+0.05(A-D)).
For both formulas, there are limit values for damage. If the attacker's attack is higher, the limit value of the modifier (1+0.1*(A-D)) will be 3. If A is less than D, the limit value of the modifier (1+0.5*(A-D)) will be 0.2 (it is often mistakenly believed that this parameter is 0.3).
UnitDamage is the damage dealt by a unit. It is specified in the properties of each unit; you can also use the Heroes2info reference by Qwerty. For all units except peasants, damage is distributed within a certain interval. For most subsequent calculations, we take the average damage (the middle of the damage interval). Thus, for halflings (damage 1-3), the average damage will be 2 (in melee 1).
Turning the Page
or
Magic in Alliance with Strength.
There is a whole range of spells that can affect the damage dealt by a stack. Since the formula includes the damage dealt by 1 unit and the difference between attack and defense, the main magical "gadgets" in this case will act specifically on these indicators.
The damage of 1 unit will be affected by (mass) Bless and (mass) Curse spells. They fix the damage at the upper or lower bound (except for undead and colored dragons; Curse also does not work on crusaders)—in this case, the damage will be either at the upper bound (Bless) or the lower bound (Curse) of the "damage interval." We will analyze specific examples a bit later; here I will only say that 10 halflings under Bless, shooting, will deal 30 damage to a creature with defense 2, while those same 10 halflings under Curse when shooting will deal only 10 damage to the same creature (and in melee even 5).
The rest of the spells will act on the difference between attack and defense.
Bloodlust will increase the stack's attack by 3 for 3 rounds.
Stone Skin will increase the stack's defense by 3 for a number of rounds equal to the hero's spell power (excluding artifacts that extend spell duration).
Steel Skin will increase the stack's defense by 5 for a number of rounds equal to the hero's spell power (excluding artifacts that extend spell duration).
Disrupting Ray reduces the stack's defense by 3 until the end of the battle. Furthermore, this spell cannot be removed and can be applied until the stack's defense equals 1.
Dragon Slayer increases the stack's attack only against dragons by 6 for a number of rounds equal to the hero's spell power (excluding artifacts that extend spell duration).
Strictly speaking, there is also "stone" magic cast by medusas; when hitting a petrified stack, it receives 50% damage.
We will talk about Shield spells below.
Indian Fedot Shoots Accurately
or
Peculiarities of Damage Calculation for Ranged Stacks.
First, let's remember who can shoot. Halflings, centaurs, shooters, archers (2 times), orcs, orc chieftains, elves (2 times), grand elves (2 times), druids, great druids, trolls, war trolls, mages, archmages, liches, mighty liches, titans.
All except mages, archmages, and titans deal 2 times less damage in melee. That is, the base damage of one unit will be 2 times lower.
Additionally, creatures that shoot 2 times—archers, elves, and grand elves—deal only one hit in melee. Thus, their base damage in melee will be 4 times lower (and they'll get a counterattack on top of it).
When an attacker shoots through own castle walls that are not destroyed, the damage will be 2 times less (in the absence of the Golden Bow artifact).
The same secondary skill Shooting removes the penalty when shooting through castle walls and increases damage: basic by 10%, advanced by 25%, expert by 50%. Thus, archers with expert shooting deal damage 6 times greater than in melee.
The (mass) Shield spell reduces the damage received by a stack (in the mass version—by all non-immune stacks) from ranged attacks by 2 times for a number of rounds equal to the hero's spell power (excluding artifacts that extend spell duration).
That's it? No, not everything! We must figure out one more nuance. For shooters to shoot, there must be space free of enemies next to the shooter and an availability of arrows. Let's immediately note the "ammunition supply" artifact, which makes the number of arrows infinite. However, a hero may not always have such an artifact, so let's stop in more detail on the issue of the number of arrows.
There are 8, 12, 16, and 24 arrows. First, let's list those units that have only 8 shots, as they are often insufficient for a battle: centaurs, orcs, druids, trolls. Halflings, shooters, mages, and liches have 12 arrows in their quivers. Orc chieftains, great druids, and war trolls have 16 shots in reserve. This will be enough for most battles. And archers, elves, grand elves, archmages, mighty liches, and of course titans have 24 shots. Let's also note that archers, elves, and grand elves can use up their 24 arrows in as little as 12 rounds, because they shoot twice per round (if the target remains alive after the first shot).
A logical question arises: what happens to shooters after exhausting their supply of shots? This is where double standards come into play: for computer troops, these shooters stop being a priority target, becoming one of the moving stacks (by the way, in Heroes II there are no flying ranged stacks), but!, and this is important for the topic of this material, shooters regardless of whether they have arrows or not will have half damage in melee (of course, except for mages, archmages, and titans).
Who is the Strongest in the World
or
The Best of the Worst and the Worst of the Best.
Statistical data on creature damage can be seen in the Heroes2info reference by Qwerty; we will focus on separate nuances.
First of all, we already know that abstract damage does not exist. There is damage dealt against a specific stack with a specific defense.
In calculations, I took this defense to be equal to 9. Why 9? There is an answer to this question, but it falls outside the scope of our research, and therefore instead we will provide examples of units with defense 9. Defense 9 is found in pikemen, veteran pikemen, swordsmen, swordmasters, cavalrymen, medusas, champions, unicorns, hydras, djinns, cyclopes, and bone dragons. Generally speaking and summarizing (although generalizations are not very appropriate here)—defense 9 most closely corresponds to fifth-level troops.
A very interesting question: what should be compared? The damage of one unit? But there is little sense in that.
I see three possible approaches: comparing the damage of a weekly growth, or comparing the damage of a stack with a certain number of hit points (HP), or comparing the damage of a stack achievable by a certain point in the game.
The damage of weekly growth is quite obvious and predictable: 3 black dragons with 14 attack and 25-50 damage are obviously the best (over 168 damage). Red, green, and bone dragons are also among the leaders.
The outsiders are naturally peasants with 13.2.
Damage from a stack with a certain amount of HP is more interesting. However, here a question arises: what does this parameter practically give us? Apparently nothing...
The third aspect is the damage of a stack of a certain cost. Here, of course, a question arises about the methodology for calculating the cost of a stack. Should building construction be included? If so, should castle construction be taken into account? And how to account for external dwellings: what to do with shooters (since rangers are truly mighty, their piercing power when shooting is equal to grand elves, and their growth is 4 higher, plus they come with heroes, plus shooter houses), halflings (whose damage under Bless is quite significant), and even dwarves?
The damage of a stack of a certain cost is a practical question, and its application is obvious. In calculations, we get an indirect dependence. Obviously, the cost of 1 black dragon including construction will be monstrously high, while the cost of 10 black dragons divided by 10 will be an order of magnitude less.
Therefore, we will try to give a very rough estimate of the damage of a stack that can be at our disposal by the third week. Why only the third week? First and foremost, so that this material is read to the end. For certainly, I would like to provide such an analysis for the first week, second, fourth, and upon completion of the first month of play. However, a stream of monotonous information does not contribute to increasing interest. Specifically, the third week is because on most maps by this point it is possible to build sixth-level troops (as for upgrades—that depends on the situation).
Analyzing indicators is extremely difficult, but we will still try to highlight leaders and outsiders.
Taking into account various factors, which we include: potential presence of an external "external dwelling", relative ease of taking a village, cheapness in construction, potential arrival of units with heroes, potential sharp increase due to the "Shooting" skill, susceptibility to the "Bless" spell (and also "Bloodlust")—first place is awarded to the mighty rangers!
When this stack can shoot—it simply has no equal. On the first day of the third week, we could quite possibly have around 90 archers (28 home castle, 24 captured unbuilt village, 12 come with heroes, about 30 from an external shooter house). 90 archers under a zero-level hero will deal 288-432 damage to creatures with defense 9. Naturally, everything said refers exclusively to ranged damage, because in melee archers deal only 80-120 damage; moreover, low defense (only 3) and small number of hit points (only 10) immediately start to take a toll.
But during further analysis, we encounter questions of double attack. If it is possible to strike the opponent's stack first so that it responds, and only then pile on with a stack with a double hit (this tactical maneuver is called "removing the counterattack")—then it seems one should account for double damage. However, when a stack enters direct contact with an enemy, you must be prepared for the fact that we will also receive hits, and the counterattack of any stack with a double attack is only single. That is, if paladins hit—they deal two hits (if neither participating stack dies), but if paladins are hit—they respond once.
There is no counting methodology. There is an idea to use a coefficient of 1.5 with approximate justification: in 1 round with two fighting stacks (without unopposed damage) a stack of paladins, crusaders, or wolves will deal 3 hits and receive 2 (3/2=1.5). Such a methodology is not correct, but would another be better? There is another nuance. Units possessing a double hit receive a counter-hit after the FIRST hit, meaning only those who survived it deal the second hit. Let's look at an example. 4 wolves deal 27.2 damage over 2 hits against a creature with defense 9. So, in a couple of rounds we'll take down a djinn with some to spare? But here is what happens in reality. Wolves attack, deal say 14 damage; in response the djinn deals 45 damage, killing two wolves; the remaining 2 deal another say 7 damage. After this the djinn moves and simply kills the remaining wolves.
Let's try to accept a coefficient of 1.4 (although even it is clearly inflated).
So, sixth level troops.
Let's consider a hard-to-reach stack of 12 paladins (built them in the home castle on the first week, grabbed a bunch of wood and finally managed to build them in a captured village, but already on the third week). Then damage for one hit will be 168-336; with a coefficient of 1.4 it's already 235.2 – 470.4. We won't talk about how to find 40 crystals and 90 wood in 2 weeks (without an external market this is practically impossible on the vast majority of maps), we'll only say that this option is much harder to achieve than red dragons. At the same time, paladins have only 50 hit points, so they will perish at a considerable rate.
Among others, it makes sense to highlight possible bone dragons on rich maps. Now we will not consider the option of building dragons in the first castle on the first week plus in a village on the second—this happens too rarely (although it is possible). Let's consider the option simply with dragon construction on the first week. Then on the third week we have 7 of them. They will deal 210-378 damage, which is an excellent indicator.
4 red dragons, however, will deal 140-280 damage to such creatures; moreover, "Bless" does not work on them, just as it doesn't on their bone brethren.
In the fifth level, in case of a large amount of wood (from the sea, for example), construction of cavalrymen in two castles is possible (and in the case of an external stable they are upgraded to champions for free!). There can be up to 21 of them (13 from starting castle + 8 from built village). The price of the matter—90 wood. They will deal 115.5-231 damage, which is quite serious.
At the fourth level of troops there are very interesting units; however, the question of the expediency of their construction in two castles is not simple. In terms of damage, minotaurs certainly stand out. There can be 21 of them (13 from starting castle, 8 from built village). They will deal 105-210 damage.
Rooks. Here, strictly speaking, it's not about them themselves, but about the construction and purchase of titans. Let's stop on this point in more detail, as it is extremely important. Suppose we are playing as Barbarians. On day 6 we gathered 20 stone and 20 wood; a village was captured. In the vast majority of cases, we will place trolls, not a castle. The same situation on the second week. With crystals collected and at the end of the week (day 6-7), one's hand still reaches to place cyclopes. The same applies even more so to the black dragon castle; a roughly similar situation for Sorceresses. Let's look at Knights. When wood is needed for everything, levels 5-6 troops are built quite easily (if that wood exists); wood is also needed for the key archer upgrade—it's extremely hard to make a decision about building a village into a castle (20 wood is insanely regrettable).
But Necromancers and titans depend much less on stone and wood. To get bone dragons or giants, 25 wood is needed, and even less ore. But if Necromancers have a worthy alternative in the form of vampires, requiring an additional 15 wood (another 5 for lords), then for the titanic castle gold for upgrade and purchase of titans is much more important. One of the gold generators is the castle (especially since many stones are not needed for titans, meaning you can spend 5 on a statue, further increasing income). Thus, in the first week we often simply have no other business than building a village into a castle. Considering that if the village already has second-level troops (and we are considering exactly such an option in this article)—rooks are placed the very next day after castle construction, it turns out that by placing a castle on day 5, by the end of the second week we will earn at least an additional 2000 gold, and further this income will increase; moreover, rooks won't be superfluous (you need something to fight with before titans appear). Based on the above, we can have up to 26 rooks on the third week. However, I suggest considering their number as 24 (there is a high probability of either losing two rooks or simply not having enough days to build a well in the first week). 24 rooks will deal 86.4-172.8 damage. Not so little, especially if you consider the following nuance. To build mages and giants, construction of a magic guild is necessary. Halflings, who are the main weapon in the first and partly second weeks, are extremely sensitive to the Bless spell. Thus, we will obtain and use this spell whenever possible, which means 172.8 damage will turn from a statistical corridor (for undead troops and dragons) into actually dealt damage.
At the third level, a stack of wolves is easily achievable. Suppose by day 131 we have a stack of 31 wolves (19 from starting castle, 12 from village built into a castle on the second week). In terms of gold this is very easy to achieve; the problem is exclusively in finding 20 scarce stones, so needed for building trolls and cyclopes. 31 wolves will deal 79.05-131.75 damage with one bite. With a coefficient of 1.4, this turns into 110.67-184.45.
Under certain conditions, golems can be interesting. The conditions are simple—an external building "foundry", which free of charge, that is for nothing, will turn iron golems into steel ones and at the same time increase the damage they deal by 20%. We could have 26 (or maybe even 32!!!) golems. Here's the thing: titans are extremely expensive, both in construction and purchase, but not demanding of wood and stone. Therefore, under certain conditions we can not only capture a village on the first week (and doing so will be quite easy, as Qwerty wrote in the article "Is there life without titans?"), but also, perhaps, place a castle there and even build golems (although in most cases it makes sense to build rooks). 26 steel golems deal 93.6 – 117 damage; 32 steel golems already 115.2 – 144. It seems that if you look on average, these are quite unremarkable figures. But! The damage of golems when the "Curse" spell is cast on them by an enemy decreases much lower than for others, and defense 10 with reduced damage from many spells makes battles possible with serious troops under the command of mage-heroes...
Speaking of second-level troops, we will assume as a hypothesis that in the village captured by us on the first week they are already built. However, we do not build this village into a castle, but upgrade second-level troops either in the home castle or in an external building "hill fort" (orcs, dwarves).
Besides the leaders of our chart—the mighty rangers—it is simply necessary to consider the super-stack of dwarves very often encountered in practical play. With an external building where they join for free, taking into account those who came with heroes and provided a captured village, their number by the third week can reach 90. Note that if a hill fort is found, they will also be upgraded.
90 dwarves will deal 153-306 damage, which is an excellent indicator.
Among first-level troops, skeletons clearly stand out. Talking about skeletons in isolation from necromancy, I think, is not entirely correct, as it's clear that any growth of first levels is incomparable in strength to higher ones. Let's only note that for example, 150 skeletons (more than realistic by the first day of the third week, even without hyper-active use of necromancy, with a main hero having no necromancy at all) will deal as much as 225-337.5 damage to creatures with defense 9, which is simply an excellent indicator.
Fairies, possessing an impressive hit, only have two hit points, which combined with defense 2 removes them from the list of leaders. Meanwhile, let's note that those same 150 fairies will deal UNOPPOSED 112.5-250, meaning under Bless 250!
Halflings are good fighters in a ranged attack (especially under Bless). 150 halflings deal 97.5-292.5, and obtaining Bless is quite possible (for example, when buying a Sorceress hero). Let's also note that blocked halflings deal 48.75-146.25; meanwhile defense 1 and only 3 hit points will quickly reduce their number.
Of course, speaking of damage, one must also speak of receiving damage, at least for non-ranged troops. But this will be the topic of a separate material dedicated to the legendary strategy—"Heroes of Might and Magic II".
Орден Феникса – харизматический :) лидер