Posts from Castles and factions in "Heroes II". An analytical guide by Qwerty.

Well then, we won't put it off any longer—shall we continue?
Since there are no objections, let's get started.
I want to note that my observations are quite debatable. Furthermore, I know that I haven't reached a "grandmaster" level in the game. Therefore, my advice is addressed to "novices" and "amateurs," and to a lesser extent to the "veterans."
As a reminder, we are discussing the comparative strength of castles in Heroes of Might and Magic part 2 on maps of various sizes. Moving on to
3) size "L" maps, large.
The main feature of such maps is the increasing role of magic and the construction of higher-level troops. In this case, we are talking about fourth or even fifth-level magic. Examples: mass haste/slow/bless, chain lightning (according to one poll, this spell is recognized as the strongest in the game), town portal, storm of elements, etc.

Knight Castle.
A brisk start, a peak by the end of the fourth week, and then... And then the archers dwindle, then the relatively low health of the units takes its toll, and finally, the lack of magic immunity becomes apparent. This means you must either try to play your main trump cards (the high speed and morale qualities of the troops) or capture another castle and build up there. To implement the first plan, third-level spells like "mass haste" and "anti-magic" are excellent.
Pros:
-) good combat stats for heroes, particularly defense;
-) high speed and morale qualities of the troops;
-) especially powerful play against Necromancer troops;
-) weeks 2-4 of the game are the Knight's peak.
Chances are slightly below average.

Barbarian Castle.
A good start, decent archers, high-health fourth-level troops (60 health!). If a fort on a hill is found—it is one of the strongest castles. After the first month of play, the main drawback begins to show—the lack of a super-unit, as cyclops are not that strong... Third-level spells "mass haste" and "anti-magic," as well as artifacts that prevent blinding and berserk, can be very useful.
Pros:
-) excellent combat characteristics for heroes, particularly highest attack;
-) presence of powerful troops of various types, specifically two archers;
-) weeks 1-5 are the Barbarian's peak.
Chances are normal.

Necromancer Castle.
A difficult start, but starting from the third or fourth week!
Vampire lords, skeletons, bone dragons, and the prospect of learning the "raise dead" spell. If such a spell is obtained—the chance of winning is very high.
Pros:
-) vampire lord abilities;
-) necromancy, more precisely an army that grows with the help of skeletons;
-) potentially—super magic;
-) balanced amount of resources for construction, which allows for building a magic guild.
Chances are high.

Elf Castle.
A good start, then problems with mercury and stone. If there is enough wood and the castle is by the water, everything can turn out quite happily: build a dock and sail. Once a bunch of things have been collected at sea, wood is exchanged for mercury on the external market and problems are solved. If not, it's much harder. The combination of phoenixes + storm of elements is very strong, and if dimensional door (teleport) is added to this—the chances of victory are magnificent. But the probability of this is not so great.
Pros:
-) two fast squads of archers;
-) dwarves with their stats and magic resistance;
-) phoenixes with their speed and immunity to some direct damage spells.
Chances are average, no more; much depends on when the phoenixes were built.

Titan Castle.
A good start. Then a long wait for titans. Leprechaun gardens are needed, and several of them, and they should more often have five gems and less often 500 gold... there are two problems: gems and gold. The thing is, titans are very expensive both to build and to buy (5000 + 2 gems; in one week, there isn't even enough money for two titans).
On the other hand, if titans are built—most troops are wiped out without losses. Practice shows that buying a titan before the fourth week is impossible. More often they enter battle in the second month. I think it's clear to what extent the opponent will have developed by then.
Here I would like to expand the scope of the topic slightly and talk about both the features of this castle and some other aspects.
Giants are usually placed on the third week. For this, you need: 23300 gold + 25 wood + 20 ore + 5 mercury + 5 sulfur + 5 crystal + 25 gems. If you add a statue to this, it will be an additional 1250 gold and 5 stone. To buy them, you need 2000 gold and one gem.
Let's compare with other castles.
Knight. For paladins you need 10000 + 35 wood + 15 ore + 20 crystal (this is the second week); for crusaders it's an additional 5000 gold + 10 wood + 10 crystals. This is the third week. Meanwhile, to buy them you need 1000 gold and that's all. No extra resources.
Barbarian. For cyclops you need 13800 + 15 wood + 50 ore + 20 crystal (this is the second, maximum third week). To buy them you need 750 gold and one crystal.
Elf. For phoenixes you need 19000 + 15 wood + 45 ore + 20 mercury + 10 gems. This is the second, maximum third week. To buy them you need 1500 gold and one mercury.
Necromancer. For bone dragons you need 17000 + 25 wood + 15 ore + 5 mercury + 5 crystal + 15 sulfur + 5 gems. This is if you don't build vampires. Without vampires, dragons are placed on the second week; with vampires—on the third. Here, however, other problems arise: no one to capture mines, troops are a bit weak. Therefore, usually, one has to wait until the third week for the dragons. To buy them you need 1500 gold and that's all!
Black Dragons. For green dragons you need (to be realistic) 25000 + 40 ore + 30 sulfur + 10 gems plus 15 stone, 5 wood and 3750 for the basement and statue. This is not before the third week. For red ones, an additional 5000 gold, 10 sulfur and 5 stone are needed. Now that's serious. I won't even mention black ones; there you need another 5000, 10 sulfur and 5 stone.
To buy green dragons you need 3000 gold and one sulfur; to buy red dragons—3500 gold and one sulfur.
What do we get as a result:
Green dragons are placed practically in the same week as giants. Well, maybe a week later. Other troops are placed even earlier. And what kind of troops are these giants? 150 health, damage 20-30 (which is not bad), attack 13, defense 10. That is, they are wiped out by one lightning strike with magic power 6. Moreover, their speed is "medium." And serious resources and money are needed for construction. But that's not all! The thing is, in HOMM2 to upgrade troops you have to pay DOUBLE the difference in cost. That is, to upgrade a giant to a titan, you will have to shell out 6000 gold and 2 gems!!!!! Which is more expensive than buying a titan (5000 + 2 gems). Furthermore, I assume it's clear that if you buy giants and build titans, then later there simply won't be enough gems for upgrades...
It turns out that if we stop construction at giants, we get the same troops as everyone else, only in smaller quantities and more expensive L
Now let's look at the parameters of green dragons.
Health 200 (quite decent), damage 25-50 (excellent!), attack-defense 12, speed, however, is medium. This is the fourth strongest unit in HOMM2, and moreover, it is magically immune.
One can also look at the parameters of a red dragon. Health 250 (very good!), damage 25-50 (excellent!), attack-defense 13, speed fast. This is the second or third strongest unit in HOMM2 (together with titans). And it costs 1500 less, and moreover only one sulfur is needed, while a titan needs two gems! Considering that the income of a Black Dragon castle is 1750 per day, and a Titan castle (and all others) is 1250, we find that in 4 days we can buy two red dragons or just one titan, while the Black Dragon will still have two sulfur left for the next guild level...
Pros:
-) strength of titans;
-) theoretically—the best magic in the game (in practice it usually doesn't come to this on these maps);
-) golems that are powerful for their level;
-) a large number of archers, which allows many battles to be conducted without losses.
Chances are average, no higher; everything depends very heavily on leprechaun gardens.

Black Dragon Castle.
A normal start, then waiting for dragons. The problem of sulfur availability is the only thing that leaves chances for opponents of this castle. If there are dragons, it's not necessary to wait for black ones; red ones are quite enough.
Pros:
-) potentially—the strongest unit in the game;
-) other units are also normal.
Chances are good, everything depends on sulfur.

Now let's try somehow to summarize the results.
On size "L" maps (also known as "L", or large), the "survivability" parameter of the army begins to play an increasingly large role. For example, a hero fights six battles, losing 100 hells in each. If he has paladins or cyclops, then he will lose six of them. If bone dragons—then not one. Thus, the role of army "leaders" increases. Naturally, when fighting against non-flying troops, archers minimize losses, but to compensate for this, the computer prioritizes dealing damage specifically to archers. And archers usually have little health, up to 40. Except for one single unit—the titan! But to compensate for this, the path to obtaining titans is made as difficult as possible.
Now about magic. With blinds, slows, berserk and other joys, you can leave "nothing but same" of an opponent's army. However, there are a number of units with partial or full magic immunity. These are undead troops, giant-titans, phoenixes, dwarves, golems, and green-red-black dragons.
On maps of this size, it also has huge importance who to attack and when. A Knight attacking a Black Dragon castle on the third or fourth week has decent chances to simply win the game. An Elf visiting a Titan on the first day of the fourth week is also no small thing. A Barbarian stopping by to visit a Necromancer on the last day of the second week has a chance to feast in glory.
Let's try, conventionally, very conventionally, to rank the castles in HOMM2 by strength when playing on large maps: necromancers, black dragons, elves and barbarians, titans, knights.

The time has come to try and conclude the very debatable topic of the comparative characterization of HOMM2 castle strengths when playing on maps of various sizes.
Naturally, I am presenting my own, far from indisputable point of view. And once again I want to emphasize that the whole situation can change very sharply both due to specific map conditions and on the same map: in one case a couple of leprechaun gardens will bring 20 gems in two weeks, in another—2000 gold. When playing as titans, this difference is simply global.
So,
4) comparison of HOMM2 castle strengths when playing on the largest maps (XL).

Knight Castle.
Main chances lie in capturing another castle. If that's not possible, and there is no anti-magic or mass haste—everything is very difficult.
Pros:
-) hero parameters;
-) hero leadership, allowing the use of troops from other castles without significant loss in morale;
-) ballistics, allowing a quick breakthrough into castles with strong foot troops while reducing damage to archers.
Chances: below average.

Barbarian Castle.
Same as for knights. Although this time the amount of health for units is slightly higher; direct damage magic, while dangerous, is not fatal. Still, mass haste is extremely relevant, and anti-magic would be very useful...
Pros:
-) good start;
-) hero attack;
-) amount of health for upgraded ogres and generally decent trolls.
Chances: no higher than average.

Elf Castle.
Archers play well in weeks 2-5, then their number begins to decrease. After all, grand elves have only 15 health, great druids—25. On the other hand, speed is high...
Phoenixes are a good argument, given their speed and partial magic resistance. The problem is that there are no units capable of taking down super-units like titans and black dragons...
Pros:
-) good development;
-) high troop speed, particularly archers;
-) sailing (on maps with sea);
-) combination of phoenixes' partial magic immunity, their speed and storm of elements magic (particularly when using the "hit and run" tactical maneuver).
Chances: average.

Necromancer Castle.
Here a lot depends on the number of "potential skeletons." On most huge maps, necromancers get a solid amount of "free" skeletons, around several hundred. Besides this, a balanced amount of resources for construction allows for relatively quick building of the magic guild. And in it are some very interesting spells: "raise dead," "wave of death," not to mention the trivial combat teleport, town portal, dimensional door and chain lightningJ
The weak point is troop speed. Titans, elves and even knights can cause trouble.
Pros:
-) skeletons, more precisely their number;
-) vampire lord abilities;
-) "raise dead" magic;
-) ability to build up magic;
-) high troop survivability;
-) cheapness of bone dragons.
Chances: high; with "raise dead" magic—highest.

Titan Castle.
Here the whole question is when titans will be built and when they enter the game. That is, a question of money and gems. But! If the gem issue is resolved, a colossal trump card of the titanic castle can come into play—the library, which adds one spell to each level of the magic guild. And that is very, very serious. If there's dimensional door, chain lightning and something like that in there—it's victory!
Pros:
-) titans;
-) potentially—the strongest magic;
-) a decent hero focused not only on magic and without "extra" skills.
Chances: high.

Black Dragon Castle.
It is precisely from playing on maps of this size (and at lower difficulty levels) that the myth of the invincibility of the black dragon castle arose. If the sulfur problem is solved within the first three weeks—it looks very much like victory. If, in addition, Armageddon's Blade can be obtained somewhere—that's victory.
Pros:
-) strongest unit in the game;
-) combination of dragons' magic resistance and "Armageddon" magic (storm of elements is worse, but also works).
Chances: highest.

Now let's try to make some conclusions.
On maps of this size, magic plays a large role. Moreover, we are mainly talking about mass spells. Mass haste, slow, bless, and berserk play a larger role than, for example, lightning. If speaking of direct damage magic, then it's chain lightning, Armageddon, and less frequently storm of elements. And of course travel spells—town portal and dimensional door.
One of the key parameters is army "survivability." This is due to the large number of battles and magical strikes from opponents. As a result, magic resistance, even if partial, is also a serious trump cardUnit buffing magic is a very powerful tool when you have a sufficiently large number of units. The previously mentioned mass blessing, true return (very good for phoenixes), clone, and of course, the necromancer's "raise dead" are excellent arguments in battle. By the way, this brings to mind that every coin has at least two sides—you cannot bless, resurrect, or clone dragons...

I can try to conditionally rank the castles by their chances of winning on very large maps: black dragons, Necromancer, titans, elves, Barbarian, Knight.

And now for some brief conclusions.
In principle, it is possible to win with any race on any map; everything depends on the specific map. A cunningly captured castle with strong troops or magic can key-//change the balance. The availability of resources and game duration, the security of resources and mines, the distance between castles, the time it takes to interact with the opponent, and the presence of seas are all of great importance. Every castle has its own strengths and weaknesses at certain stages and on certain maps. The strategic maneuver "changing the main castle" (sometimes called "castle swapping") levels the playing field for those temporarily lagging behind; suddenly slaughtered skeletons or vampires shot down by magic can nullify the advantages of Necromancers, and the appearance of super-magic for one side also key-//affects the game. Cyclops, wolves, and ogres piling onto a squad of dragons under the leadership of a hero with serious attack can quickly deprive an army of its striking stack, while suddenly reborn phoenixes can annihilate titans. So everyone has a chance; the main thing is to try and determine the game strategy for a specific map and a specific position in one of the best strategic games—Heroes of Might and Magic Part II.


Today we will talk about an extremely important aspect of the game, an aspect that must be taken into account in any game strategy—the "survivability" of troops.
First, let's clarify what is meant by the somewhat strange term "survivability." Troops constantly engage in battles. They take certain damage. Thus, in the case of low troop "survivability," losses occur; in the case of high "survivability," there are no losses or they are small.
Obviously, the highest "survivability" should belong to ranged troops, as they enter direct contact with the opponent the least. This is compensated for by the computer's peculiar approach to conducting battles—almost always, the maximum number of hits fall upon the shooters.
Let's examine the survivability of the troops of each castle.

Knight.
I believe there is no need to mention the survivability of peasants. They are the least "tough" of all units in HOMM2.
Archers/upgraded archers. The survivability of these troops is not high. 10 health is very little. And considering that this is the only ranged unit of this castle, it becomes clear that hits on them lead to a rapid melting of this interesting unit.
Pikemen/upgraded pikemen. Well, for pikemen, with their ridiculous amount of health (15), survivability isn't great. Upgraded pikemen have slightly more health—20, and higher speed (5 vs 4 for pikemen), which combined with decent defense (9) and usually the high defense of a Knight hero gives some hope of survival.
Swordsmen/upgraded swordsmen. Swordsmen have 25 health with average speed. For their level—very poor. Upgraded swordsmen have 30 health, brisk speed (5), and 9 defense. So-so.
Cavalry. 30 health, though the speed is fast (6) and defense is 9. This would be normal for a fourth-level unit. But they only cost 300 gold!
Champions. 40 health, very fast speed (7!), 9 defense, price 375 (!!!). A normal squad in terms of survivability for its level, naturally taking the price factor into account.
Paladins. 50 health, brisk speed (5), 12 defense, price 600. The relatively low price and double strike are pleasing. It would be an excellent 5th-level unit, simply superb, but it doesn't work as a leader. With magic power 6 (a quite achievable figure for a mage hero), lightning will take out 3 paladins at once. I believe the rest needs no comment.
Crusaders. 65 health, fast speed, 12 defense, price 1000. Powerless against direct damage magic; furthermore, berserk works on them.
Overall, it can be said that Knight castle troops are not very suitable for a sufficiently long game due to low "survivability," however individual units (primarily champions) can be a good addition to another army.

Barbarian.
Goblins. 3 health with average speed (4), 1 defense, but price 40. Survivability is small.
Orcs. 10 health with very low speed, 4 defense, price 140. Survivability is low.
Upgraded orcs. 15 health, sluggish speed (3), 4 defense, price 175. Survivability is average, but the damage from these troops is too small and the speed is still a bit low.
Wolves. 20 health and 2 defense. They are only good for attacking, preferably without retaliation. Survivability is low.
Ogres. 40 health, 5 defense, but very low speed (2). Without magic, they are powerless against shooters; because of this, survivability is small.
Ogre Lords. 60 health, though 5 defense and average speed (4). Considering the price (500) and growth amount (6 per week)—the most survivable unit in the castle. The computer loves to blind them.
Trolls/War Trolls. 40 health, 5 defense, speed 4/5. High survivability in the first stage of the game due to a special ability: restoring the last troll's health up to 40 at the end of the round (meaning in a one-on-one fight, a troll can actually defeat ANY unit, at least a bone dragon). However, in subsequent stages of the game, the small amount of health and low defense take a toll. Therefore, survivability is no higher than average.
Cyclops. 80 health, 9 defense, brisk speed (5), cost 750 + 1 crystal. This very crystal is redundant. And the defense is a bit low. A good additional unit, but not too suitable as an army leader for a long game—weak against direct damage magic and also against hits from titans and dragons...
In general, the survivability of Barbarian castle troops is slightly less than desired. However, the presence of Ogre Lords combined with high attack still allows one to hope for something. Various artifacts that prohibit or weaken magic, as well as the "anti-magic" spell, can be of great use.

Elves.
Sprite Fairies. 2 health, 2 defense... A non-retaliating strike is the only consolation. Survivability is very low.
Dwarves. 20 health, 5 defense. Everything is great, plus chances to reflect enemy magic, but very low speed makes them almost helpless against shooters.
Upgraded dwarves. A hit! 20 health, 6 defense, chances to reflect the enemy army, average speed (4). A very survivable unit!
Elves. 15 health, 3 defense, average speed (4). If they are reached—it will be very bad. Survivability is low.
Grand Elves. A favorite of many, but not a very survivable unit. 15 health, 5 defense. Defenseless against direct damage magic; if enemy troops are allowed close to them—they die very quickly.
Druids/upgraded druids. A murky unit. 25 health, 5/7 defense, brisk (5)/fast (6) speed. Dies quickly from magic.
Unicorns. 40 health, 9 defense, brisk speed (5), and there is a chance to blind the opponent (meaning they won't retaliate—a plus for survivability!). Price 500 (compare with 375 for champions!!!). Survivability is normal.
Phoenix. 100 health, 10 defense, very high speed (7). Most importantly—lightning, ice ray, fireballs, and storm of elements do not work on them. It is precisely because of this that survivability is quite high. Although in close combat, the relatively low amount of health and defense stats unfortunately make this unit quite vulnerable...
Overall, it must be admitted that the troops of this castle possess rather mediocre survivability; when encountering flying or simply fast troops, as well as strong mages, the troops melt... The total number of health for the weekly growth of this castle is the smallest in HOMM2, and that is sad...

Necromancer.
When considering the issue of survivability for Necromancer castle troops, we will not consider the possibility of using "raise dead" magic, returning to it at the end of the review.
First of all, one should note the special ability of Necromancer heroes—namely "necromancy," which allows raising up to 30% of the opponent's killed warriors into one's own army as skeletons in classic HOMM2. Thus, after a battle, a necromancer often ends up with MORE troops than before the battle.
Skeletons. 4 health, 3 defense. Good survivability for their level.
Zombies. Rarely encountered in practical play. 15 health, 2 defense, very slow speed (2). Survivability is not high; rarely does anyone use them after the first or second week.
Mutant Zombies. 20 health, 2 defense, average speed (4). Survivability is average.
Mummies. 25 health, 6 defense, average speed (4). Average.
Royal Mummies. Yes, the little kings were clearly tougher: 30 health, 6 defense, brisk speed (5). Considering the increased probability of casting "curse" on the opponent (mummies also cast it)—survivability is quite normal.
Vampire. Fairly rarely encountered in practical play—vampire lords are just that good. 30 health, 6 defense. The main thing is the non-retaliating strike; thanks to this, survivability is decent.
Vampire Lord. A monster that somehow wandered into the fourth level. 40 health, 6 defense, non-retaliating strike, and most importantly—a special ability allowing the vampire lord to regenerate health by reducing the health of the attacked squad. Survivability is highest, especially for a large squad of vampire lords (20+).
Lich. Health... 25. However, defense is 12. Defenseless against direct damage magic. Meanwhile, it costs 750 gold.
Mighty Lich. 35 health, 13 defense (!!!). But still very expensive: 900! Survivability is average (excellent defense is offset by a small amount of health, plus the melee penalty prevents this defense from being used effectively).
Bone Dragon. A good squad. 150 health, though defense is 9. But cost is 1500 and no resources!!! Survivability is good.
Overall, the survivability of this castle's troops is very high. This is due to the good stats of the three main squads used in battle: vampire lords, bone dragons, and, of course, skeletons, whose losses are compensated by troops raised via necromancy.

Titans.
Halflings. 3 health, 1 defense... If you start hitting them with magic or troops—that's it. Survivability is low.
Pigs. 15 health, 4 defense. Normal survivability.
Iron Golems. 30 health, 10 defense (!!!). However, speed is very low (2). But they have reduced damage from direct magic. Very survivable troops.
Steel Golems. 35 health (!!!), 10 defense, sluggish speed (3), reduced damage from direct magic. Magnificent survivability, especially considering the cost (350). And if you manage to get them for free via a foundry on the map from iron golems—it's a fairy tale—for 300 gold we get super-troops!
Rocs. 40 health, 7 defense. Considering the price (400 gold)—normal survivability, although steel golems are more survivable!
Mages. Some kind of misunderstanding: 30 health and 7 defense at a cost of 600. Survivability is low, though there is no melee penalty.
Archmages. Now these guys are more serious: 35 health, 8 defense, no melee penalty plus the spell-dispelling effect. Survivability is slightly below average.
Giants. Rarely encountered in practical play. But nonetheless 150 health, 10 defense, average speed (alas), and a price of 2000 plus 1 diamond on top of that. The strong point of this unit is damage (20-30). Overall, considering the price, survivability is average, even slightly lower.
Titans. Shooters, and that says it all! Health—300, defense 15. Survivability is very high.
Overall, the survivability of this castle's troops is quite high. And when titans appear in the army, it increases even further. The thing is, the computer constantly hammers the titans while other troops don't die. And titans have 300 health, and enemies often simply don't reach them—they are shot down on the way!

Black Dragons.
Centaurs. The only shooter in the castle; usually plays only at the start of the game. Health 5 (and that's good!), 1 defense. Survivability is normal, but they die quickly.
Gargoyles. Excellent unit!! 15 health, 7 defense (!!!), flies, fast speed (6). A unit that is survivable due to its defense!
Griffin. 25 health, 6 defense, average speed (4), but it flies and retaliates to all strikes (of course, except for strikes from non-retaliating troops: vampires, vamp lords, fairies, and hydras). Average survivability.
Minotaur. 35 health, 8 defense. Average speed (4). Mediocre survivability.
Minotaur King. Now this is a completely different story! 45 health, 8 defense, fast speed (6). Though they cost 500. Survivability is good.
Hydra. 75 health (!!!), 9 defense, unfortunately very slow speed (2), but a non-retaliating mass strike! Survivability is very great!
Green Dragon. Immunity to magic, 200 health, 12 defense. Excellent survivability.
Red Dragon. Immunity to magic, 250 health, 13 defense. At a cost of 3500 and 1 sulfur, it is the most economical unit in the game. Considering the same factor, it is super-survivable.
Black Dragon. Immunity to magic, 300 health, 14 defense. In the absence of problems with sulfur and money—the most survivable unit in the game.
Overall, the troops of this castle are very survivable. If you take the first four units, their amount of health is not too great, which allows serious losses to be inflicted via magic. However, the presence of hydras and, most importantly, dragons in the army increases the overall survivability of the troops significantly.

Now let's try to draw some conclusions.
In the absence of resurrection magic in the game, the most survivable castles are black dragons, Necromancer, titans. The least survivable are Knight troops.
However, if "raise dead" and "true return" magic appear, the picture changes.
First, let's honestly admit that the presence of highly effective resurrection magic for a knight or barbarian is less likely. This is due to both the lack of the "wisdom" skill in the starting heroes of these castles and the weak magical stats of these heroes.
Let's try to rank the troops by degree of survivability, taking all factors into account:Necromancer, black dragons, titans, elves, Barbarian, Knight. Let me explain briefly: elves and knights have many strong but low-health units. However, the probability of elves learning magic is noticeably higher than for knights. For titanic troops, Resurrection is extremely effective on archmagi. Unfortunately, casting Resurrection on titans requires very serious magical stats from the hero (because a titan has 300 health), but if such a hero exists, the titanic castle becomes MORE durable than the black dragon castle—after all, you can't resurrect dragons!
Naturally, army durability is only one of the indicators, which moreover gains importance on large and very large maps. There are many other factors that are no less, and often more, important, such as mobility and army power.

Today we will try to figure out such a complex topic as The main task is building up. This is achieved by capturing mines and gathering resources.
To capture, as one might guess, troops are needed. To gather resources—heroes.
Thus, a typical start of the game looks like this: during the first or second turn, a second hero is purchased (a third would be even better). Troops are loaded onto one hero, who will conduct battles at this stage. The other heroes scout the area and collect unclaimed resources.
Which starting troops handle this best? In my opinion, these are Barbarian troops (they have shooters and goblins who are quite normal fighters for their level), titans (they have shooters, and pigs are quite fast), black dragons (presence of shooters and sturdy flying troops). The hardest time is had by Necromancer (no shooters or flyers, very low zombie speed), which is compensated to some extent by innate "Haste" magic and the reanimation of some skeletons via necromancy, as well as knights (peasants die very quickly).
On the second week, more serious troops are pushed out and heroes go in search of glory. Elven troops led by grand elves look very interesting here, as do Barbarian (wolves, shooters, goblins + hero attack). Titanic troops with their runes are also strong.
On the third week, besides elves and Barbarian, knights provide serious troops. Probably the strongest troops. Necromancer also begin to awaken.
How many resources on average are collected by the end of the last day of the second week when playing on Impossible level? Naturally, everything depends on the map, but let's try to make a very rough average estimate.
Wood, ore – 30-40.
Mercury, sulfur, crystals – 10-15.
Diamonds – 15 - 20.
Gold – 15 000 – 20 000.
For information: the cost of building last-level dwellings:
-) knights – paladins - 10000 + 35 wood + 15 ore + 20 crystal;
-) Barbarian – cyclops - 13800 + 15 wood + 50 ore + 20 crystal;
-) elves – phoenixes - 19000 + 15 wood + 45 ore + 20 mercury + 10 diamonds;
-) Necromancer – bone dragons - 17000 + 25 wood + 15 ore + 5 mercury + 5 crystal + 15 sulfur + 5 diamonds;
-) titans – giants - 23300 + 25 wood + 20 ore + 5 mercury + 5 sulfur + 5 crystal + 25 diamonds;
-) black dragons – green dragons - 25000 + 40 ore + 30 sulfur + 10 diamonds.
These figures are given without taking into account the construction of the statue (1250 gold and 5 stones), as well as the cellar in the BD castle (3000 gold, 10 stones and 5 wood).
If these buildings are constructed (which they usually are), and making adjustments for "fast start", we get the following:
-) knights almost certainly reach level 6 on the second week;
-) Barbarian might lack stones, but there is a chance;
-) elves might lack both stones, as well as gold and mercury; chances are below average;
-) Necromancer can only place bone dragons if they don't build vampires;
-) titans will most likely lack both money and diamonds;
-) for dragons, there won't be enough stones, and it will not be easy with money and sulfur.
During the third week:
-) knights are already fighting with full-fledged troops,
-) Necromancer have 18 vampire lords + free skeletons,
-) Barbarian have goblins, orcs, wolves and trolls. The fifth squad depends on the presence of a ford on the hill—either these are same-cost upgraded ogres or cyclops;
-) elves actually have grand elves, remaining fairies, unicorns and either phoenixes or dwarves;
-) dragons wait for actual dragons with gargoyles, griffins and centaurs (there isn't enough money to buy the rest of the army—it is being saved up for last-level buildings);
-) titans play with runes, halflings, pigs and maybe golems. Money is being saved for titans.
Thus, it can be assumed that with classic development (building up and buying the strongest creatures), knights, Barbarian and elves achieve the best development by the end of the third week.


A continuation may follow …
Best regards, Qwerty

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 ...

Exiting the Opening Stage.
The second week and the first day of the third week (days 121-131) can be conditionally called the “exiting the opening stage.” During this time, we must finally decide on the main hero, determine which troops he will take with him on the campaign, complete the construction and upgrade of these troops, resolve the issue of magic, develop a plan for capturing nearby territories, and a plan for the rest of the game.
The issue of choosing the main hero and magic was discussed in some detail in the previous chapter, so now we will talk a little about the strategic issues of capturing nearby rivals and the related issue of building up our forces.
So, our scouts worked well during the first week and reported that, after a formidable guard (a group of Cyclops, for example), within a distance of 2 moves from an undeveloped player or 1 move from a developed player, there is an enemy Castle. We see heroes with some troops emerging from it, which were previously frightening to us, but not now that we are armed with a powerful Strategy. And based on this Castle, we will build a strategy for the game as we exit the opening stage.
What needs to be decided:
1. Will we build the remaining highest-level troops (correspondingly, the sixth or fifth level, which we built in the first week);
2. Will we upgrade troops, which ones, and where;
3. Purchase of a magic book (2500 + 5 ore + 5 wood) – at home or in a captured Castle (500 gold);
4. Which troops will go on the campaign;
5. Will we ever return to the starting Castle;
6. Will we have to defend the starting Castle, depending on the most likely course of events;
7. Who will we fight after exiting the opening stage.

To be continued...

... and here is the continuation ...

How will we solve this?
First of all, let's pause. Carefully examine the map, its open and semi-open areas. If you see computer-controlled heroes in the distance, carefully observe their troops. Thoroughly assess the location of your own castle. By the way, an "amateur game" reaches a new quality level when you stop losing your castles; let's remember that. When evaluating the location of your castle, it is necessary to pay attention to the following: how many different directions can you send your heroes, and from how many different directions can they come to you. The general trend in building is as follows: if the castle is in a dead end, build almost only what you can take with you on day 131; the more different paths to/from the castle, the more buildings you need. Moreover, these troops can be useful not only for equipping new heroes but also for defending against computer-controlled heroes that have broken through.
A mandatory analysis of available magical capabilities (that is, spell shops and scrolls, and there doesn't seem to be anything else) in combination with predicting the nearest tasks. Conditionally speaking, if a knight-leader has gained first-level wisdom, and the spell shop offers the "battle teleport" spell (level 3, teleports your squad to any unoccupied location on the battlefield), then this is a serious reason to build a magic guild and buy a spellbook there (the knight has many infantry units; they will look great teleported behind the castle walls; besides, the teleport effect does not depend on the strength of magic). Slow, accelerate, blind, antimagic, and mass accelerate spells (if you have wisdom) are arguments in favor of building a magic guild. If they are not available, then, given a shortage of wood and gold, the expediency of building a guild is questionable. As experienced players in Heroes used to say, "I'll buy the spellbook from the computer."
Assessing the nearest "target for absorption." This is quite simple. We see a computer-controlled castle in the distance; based on its contents and the troops its heroes use, we try to understand what has been built there. We capture this castle on the seventh or first day of the week (see my article "Heroic Numerology" for more details) and on the first day, we buy (perhaps after building on the seventh day) additional troops.
One of the key questions is the formation of the first army that goes on an expedition. Many important issues are outlined in the article "Heroic Numerology"; here, we will only focus on the most specific nuances.
If there is a foundry outside, then we choose swordsmen or spearmen as one of the main units. It is better to take 4 squads with you. In most cases, it makes sense to upgrade archers (there are exceptions: sacrificing un-upgraded archers when breaking through defenses and storming a castle to compensate for their absence with another unit). We aim to form a powerful stack, that is, it is better to have more swordsmen or spearmen than approximately the same number of both. We protect the powerful stack.

Some questions about the beginning of the "contact game."
So, we have moved on from the opening, left our territory, and headed towards the computer opponent. And we have entered into direct contact. Thus, the game has moved from the stage of "playing against neutral troops plus building the starting castle" to "now we can start."
The main and most difficult piece of advice.
Dear fans of the second Heroes game. Don't delay the game, postponing the moment of meeting the computer. Don't try to "first build everything in your castle, buy all the troops, develop a good hero, and then go and beat everyone." Add some intrigue and dynamism to the game. Experiment, boldly venture out and storm castles! Yes, especially at first, it may seem that just a little more, and everything will collapse. And there will be defeats. But the overall strength of the game and the PLEASURE DERIVED FROM THE GAME PROCESS (and pleasure from the game is the main indicator of an "amateur" game of Heroes) will increase.
So, once again: we go on expeditions, without waiting for the complete construction and purchase of troops. We'll buy the rest in the computer's castle :)

There is another important aspect that I want to focus on. This is the completion of the knight's army in the computer's castles.

To be continued...

Possible approaches to reinforcing a Knight army while traveling on the map.
I conceived this section quite a long time ago. But only now did I realize that the original title "Reinforcing a Knight army in computer castles" does not fully reflect the issue, since one of the main resources for reinforcing a Knight army is capturing Draco-grad and purchasing red dragons there. This move is quite obvious, so let's now move on to considering the possible reinforcement of a Knight army in computer castles.

So, after capturing a castle, we have 3-4 squads; among them, there are likely 3 quite sturdy ones (pikemen, swordsmen, champions, paladins - most likely 3 squads from this list) plus a somewhat diminished squad of shooters.
One feels the desire to add someone.
Let's reflect on this topic for a bit.
Intuitively, we understand that, for example, taking 18 skeletons into this army is unnecessary. Let's try to figure out why intuition unerringly told us this and if there are any general rules regarding this.
Right now, our morale is +4. General rule: without visiting special objects, morale +3 is the most useful in battle, and +4 in the case of a battle with bone dragons. But we probably won't specifically plan for a battle with bone dragons, so we will strive for morale +3. And adding undead immediately reduces our morale by 2 points, down to +2. There have been attempts to calculate how much 1 morale "costs" in an army, but for now, we will not touch upon that and will approach the question from another side.
What are our strengths? These are infantry units, power stats, morale, and a fairly fast army.
What are our weaknesses? Magic vulnerability, lack of flying units, and quickly dwindling shooters.
Now we understand why taking 18 skeletons is probably unnecessary: they lower morale, while adding neither flyers nor shooters.
Therefore, when evaluating possible reinforcements, we will rely specifically on these factors.
Now let's try to formulate a general hypothesis (which does not claim precision, but only provides general guidelines).
We will consider the possibility of adding a squad from another castle in the following cases:
-) for infantry: if the squad's strength is at least 20% of our army's strength (for Necromancers - at least 30%);
-) for shooters: if the squad's strength is at least 10% of our army's strength (for Necromancers - at least 15%);
-) for flyers: if the squad's strength is at least 10% of our army's strength (for Necromancers - at least 15%).
At the same time, we take into account the squad's speed. It should also be kept in mind that it may be more important to preserve the ability to merge/tactically reposition by having 4 squads instead of 5, than to increase the army's strength by adding 5 minotaurs (rocs, vampires) or 4 unicorns (mages, liches). And in most cases, it only makes sense to add units of level 5-6 to the army at the cost of reducing morale.
1. Necromancer castle. The main feature is that upon reinforcement, morale drops immediately by 2 units. Skeletons and zombies are not considered. Mummies. Only if upgraded, and even then, not very desirable. How many could there be? Maximum scenario: capturing the castle on day 7, placing mummies, upgrading and buying them out on the first day. That would be 10 units. But more likely it will be 6 units, because building and upgrading mummies without the goal of further developing the castle is unlikely to be profitable. That is, according to our hypothesis, we probably won't take mummies either. Vampires. Better if they are lords. They can be taken for the next 1-2 battles (as well as liches), simply to block enemy shooters, but we will not consider them as a full-fledged squad.
Bone dragons. 4 bone dragons are a fairly serious force, and they also lower the opponent's morale by 1. In general, they can be taken.
2. Barbarian castle. Here we can only talk about the last two levels. They can be taken.
3. Phoenix castle. The best candidates are the phoenixes themselves. It makes sense to take them; morale will hardly change, but you gain the possibility of the first move, a unit with partial magic immunity, and the possibility of "acceleration" (when spending the night in the castle, we station all units in the castle except the phoenix and champions; in the morning, we take everyone back and proceed with full mana and a long move). Shooters of level 3-4 can be taken only as a means of reducing losses for the rest of the army in the next few battles (like fairies). It makes sense to take unicorns in sufficient numbers (according to our hypothesis).
4. Titanic castle. This is where it gets most interesting. When playing on "impossible" level, one can often find unbought titans!! Of course, we buy them! It makes sense to buy rocs if there are archers in the army (since they have the same speed of 4); mages/archmages can be bought, although they will die quickly.
5. Black Dragon castle. Well, buying the dragons themselves is always interesting, that's obvious. We won't buy hydras because of their low speed. Minotaurs depending on their number and the strength of our army (according to our hypothesis). Griffins - similar to rocs in the titanic castle.
But! A magnificent unit dwells in this castle - the gargoyle!! And I strongly recommend (despite the unit's modest level) seriously considering the possibility of adding gargoyles to your army. They will block shooters, distract the opponent's forces, reduce the losses of the main troops, and finally, if necessary, allow you to equip a purchased hero with them so that he runs fast and captures mines.

Of course, much more could be told about amateur play with the Castle faction. But the longer we play on the map, the less the initial racial differences of the hero and the army matter.
I hope some of my tips will be useful, or at least were interesting to read!
Thank you for your attention,
Qwerty

A continuation may follow, but on a different topic...

Poor Yoriks
or
Private Issues of Necro-Strategy.

Necro-strategy is the use of undead as one of the main strategic factors in the game. In this material, we will refer to necro-strategy as playing with a Necromancer hero NOT for Necropolis, with active use of the Necromancy skill, that is, with skeletons obtained as a result of battles. We will not call buying and playing one or two battles with a Necromancer hero (with the aim of using the "haste" spell) a necro-strategy, although in the event of victories in such games, skeletons will be added. It implies playing with a main or one of the main heroes with active use of skeletons.
So, the essence of necro-strategy is collecting skeletons using necromancy.

"Please announce the entire list"
or
The main cases of using necro-strategy.

1. Offline.
When playing offline (that is, when there is only 1 live player in the game), necro-strategy is used at all levels. In competitive marathon-style arena games, necro-strategy is one of the main attributes of the game for the best heroes. You can also see necro-strategy in a relaxed game for pleasure. The general rule for determining the feasibility of necro-strategy: the more potential skeletons (enemy troops, including neutrals) on the map, the more interesting the necro-strategy.

To be continued...

Let's divide offline gameplay into several possible scenarios and examine each of them more closely.

1.1. Playing in Tournaments with the goal of winning. In this case, the necro-strategy is used very often in arena tournaments. There are also tournaments focused on skeleton gathering, where the necro-strategy is practically a mandatory and key element of the game. In other cases, the necro-strategy is used much less frequently.
1.2. Playing in Tournaments for the sake of enjoyment. In this case (excluding skeleton gathering and arena tournaments), the necro-strategy may actually be encountered more often than when striving for a result rather than the process.
1.3. Single-player game for the sake of enjoyment. Here, obviously, the player is not bound by any external factors other than time. And the temptation to use the necro-strategy is extremely high.
The difference between these three offline gameplay scenarios:
Scenario 1.1. usually involves complete map scouting and "digging out" heroes with the required actual and potential skills. In this case, when deciding whether to apply the necro-strategy, a Master will easily find the necessary hero(es), and this choice will be justified and lead to a good or excellent result.
Scenario 1.2. differs from the previous one by much less thorough map scouting and a more philosophical attitude toward the heroes that arrive. In this case, the skill trees of ALL heroes are very rarely checked; the game is much more often played by those available initially or by ANY hero of the required type.
Scenario 1.3. differs from the previous ones by the absence of map scouting, as well as a small number of reloads/replays. The game is most often played "by the rules" that existed in the late 90s in amateur online play: no more than 0-3 reloads per game, no looking at the map, no using cheats, etc., but it is allowed to move a hero who has fled or bought their way out on the same day. The game is usually played on the "Impossible" level (the chess king piece). Amateur online play is still played by these same rules today.

2. Online play.
Online is a game involving two or more live people playing different colors. Here too, we will distinguish between amateur play (often even hot-seat, meaning at one computer) and professional play.
We will not touch upon the issues of professional play—professionals will figure it out themselves—but in amateur play, the application of the necro-strategy is quite justified under the same condition: the more potential skeletons on the map, the more interesting it is.

How is THIS done?
or
Basic technical techniques of the necro-strategy.

The secrets of the necro-strategy's appeal lie not only in its obvious goal but also in the extreme simplicity of the technical techniques for its implementation.

Main stages.
1. Obtaining Expert Necromancy.
Gameplay depends on the availability of morale artifacts and the ability to visit objects that increase it.
A possible technique is to fight in the early stages NOT WITH NECROMANCER TROOPS, making sure to leave one empty troop slot by the end of the battle so that skeletons can be born there.
The Necromancer hero is accompanied by a squire to form an army for a specific battle, as well as to "push" the leader (leaving him with the fastest troops at the end of the turn).

The most cynical play in this case is as follows: buy a Warlock hero with gargoyles and centaurs. Take 1 gargoyle and move forward. Advanced scouting allowed you to see money; take it, buy a Necromancer. He leaves zombies in the castle, takes the remaining gargoyles and centaurs, and heads toward the +1000 experience boosters and necessary objects. At the end of the turn, he swaps troops with the Warlock hero. Then, he feeds single centaurs, cynically ignoring their morale, levels up Necromancy, and increases the skeleton population. When the centaurs and gargoyles run out, he buys more centaurs or fairy butterflies (they also work) either from the terrain or in a captured village and continues. In captured castles, Warlock heroes (best of all) and flying shooters with speed 4 or higher (centaurs, fairies, upgraded archers, gargoyles, elves, griffins, etc.) are bought; at a certain point, it's time to think about gargoyles (the first turn will be needed to cast magic). In the home castle, we build only money (if other heroes are not heading in other directions). In captured ones—only magic. Cynically clear the entire map with skeletons.

This is the harshest version of the necro-strategy, which causes a certain repulsion in the progressive part of humanity. It is characterized by complete indifference to the types of starting and captured castles. All troops are perceived only as support for the skeletons.
Of course, a combined version is more often used, where units from either the starting or captured castles actively join the fight alongside the skeletons. We will talk about this a bit later.
Let's look at a real example from one tournament.
We have a substantial squad of skeletons; against us are fairies—3 squads of about 50 each, I believe. Clearly, one does not want to enter direct combat with them. Here is how this task is solved most simply.
Purchase a Warlock hero. Transfer 3 centaurs to the main hero. Arrangement: 1 c - half the skeletons - 1 c - half the skeletons - 1 c.
Attack. The centaur shoots or skips a turn due to low morale. The fairies fly specifically toward him and kill him. The skeletons kill the fairies. The fairies kill the second squad of centaurs. Haste on the second squad of skeletons, they kill the fairies. The last squad of fairies flies to the bottom centaur and kills him. Second round. The squad of skeletons that was Hasted in the first round kills the squad of fairies.

Many examples against any types of troops can be provided, but I am not sure they are necessary.

To be continued ...

This material was written specifically for the "Heroes' Herald" magazine, No. 5 (April 2011) - http://www.woggrad.ru/ru/vestnik-heroes.html.

Heroes II: Is there life without Titans?
or
an analysis of the early game for mages.

The wizard castle, home to white mages, is one of the most popular in Heroes II. This is primarily due to the Titans themselves. These magnificent ranged units have no penalty in melee, 300 HP, and the highest attack and defense stats in the game (15), making them capable of winning many battles single-handedly. Furthermore, if you consider that troops sharing an army with Titans are usually not targeted (everyone hits the Titans) and therefore do not die (while the Titans hold on thanks to 300 HP and 15 Defense!), it becomes clear why their popularity is well-deserved. And the phrase "Titans are cool," which has become a symbol of some forums, also says a lot...
But today we will talk about something else. About how to start the game, and how to play during the first week. Or put another way: what needs to be done in the first week so that Titans appear as early as possible, and how to achieve this. Or perhaps try it differently: could we actually play a map without building Titans at all?

Troops from the Mage Castle
or
How we lived without Titans.

First, let's analyze in detail the troops that will be available to us during the first week.
Halflings. Ranged, 12 shots, Attack 2, Defense 1, ranged damage 1-3, half as much in melee. Speed slow (3), 3 HP. Cost 50 gold. Rating 4.0605. Growth 8, with a well 10, with the special building 18.
Let's draw some conclusions from this information. Defense 1. Combined with halved damage in melee, it becomes clear: Halflings must not be allowed into close-quarters combat. They take a lot of damage (1 Defense), die quickly (3 HP), and deal too little damage themselves (melee penalty). On the other hand, they have as many as 12 shots, which is not few—most battles with neutrals end much sooner. Next. Halflings have an unusually wide damage range (1-3), which suggests using the Blessing spell. Also, we should calculate that the total ranged damage a Halfling can deal to a unit with Defense 2 (for example, zombies) is 12-36. One more thing: a Halfling moves after ANY immediate flying troops in Heroes II (minimum speed for flyers is medium—4). This means enemies will immediately swoop down on an unprotected squad of Halflings...
Pigs. Two-cell units. Speed very fast (6), Attack 5, Defense 4, damage 2-3, 15 HP. Cost 150 gold. Rating 14.939. Growth 6, with a well 8. What can we get from this information? First, their two-cell nature allows us to screen our ranged units with two squads of pigs (rather than three, which is required for ordinary single-cell units), and that's good. Second, the modest damage parameters combined with unremarkable attack and defense stats make Pigs a not-so-serious unit. Pigs lose a fight against any non-ranged unit of their level except unupgraded zombies. Although in melee they confidently deal with upgraded ranged units (but they have to reach them first).
Iron Golems. Speed very slow (2), Attack 5, Defense 10, damage 4-5, 30 HP. Cost 300 gold. Rating 28.818. Growth 4, with a well 6. Half damage from magic: Ice Ray, Lightning, Rings of Frost, Fireball, Fire Blast, Elemental Storm, Armageddon. The defense stat immediately draws attention. For comparison: the Bone Dragon has 9 Defense. 30 HP is an excellent figure for the third level (for example, both mages and unupgraded cavalry from the Knight castle have 30 HP). On the other hand, it's still 300 gold and very low speed... Unfortunately, while the damage dealt is quite decent for its level, it is not high enough to wipe out serious troops with a small number of Iron Golems. Conclusion: Iron Golems are good as screens for ranged units. Also, in certain cases, as a means of fighting flyers.
Steel Golems. Speed slow (3), Attack 7, Defense 10, damage 4-5, 35 HP. Rating 40.121. Cost 350 gold, other stats same as the Iron Golem. Here we primarily note the possibility of free conversion from Iron Golems to Steel Golems in the Foundry building on the map. In this case, for 300 gold, we get a unit with the same speed as Halflings, but with a larger (and for its level simply huge) amount of HP and excellent combat characteristics.
Rocs. Flying, two-cell units. Speed medium (4). Attack 7. Defense 7, damage 4-8, 40 HP. Rating 52.6965. Growth 3, with a well 5. Cost 400 gold. For its level, considering flight—a very good cost. The only flying unit in the castle. A fairly substantial damage range makes "Blessing" magic interesting. Rocs are simply indispensable for conducting a number of battles in the first week, but we will talk about that later.
Mages. Ranged, 12 shots. Speed fast (5), Attack 11, Defense 7, damage 7-9, 30 HP. Rating 58.636. Growth 2, with a well 4, cost 600 gold. No penalty in melee. What characterizes mages? A high attack stat and a small amount of health, both for their level and for their cost. The lack of a melee penalty is certainly pleasing, however, 7 Defense combined with 30 HP prevents them from being used widely in close combat.
Archmages. Archmages can appear in the army on the second week, but some maps have non-standard starting conditions, so we'll say a few words about them too. Ranged units with 24 shots, speed very fast (6), Attack 12, Defense 8, damage 7-9, 35 HP. Rating 74.818. Cost 700 gold. No penalty in melee; in 20% of cases upon hitting, they remove all spells from the enemy unit. Archmages, like most ranged units, are expensive, but 12 Attack along with other stats commands respect.

What are these numbers for?
or
Why do you need to know the rating?

First, I'll give an example I saw in one of the videos dedicated to Heroes II. A wizard hero attacks ranged units; he has 6 mages and several dozen halflings in his army. He casts Stone Skin on the halflings. The ranged units shoot at the mages. 3 mana points are wasted, not to mention a certain risk of losing a mage.
By calculating the rating (even approximately), we can determine in advance the priority target for computer troops (except for witches, liches/archliches, and the use of magic).
So: 1 Archmage is heavier than 18 Halflings, but less than 19. 4 Archmages are heavier than 5 Mages, but 4 Mages are heavier than 3 Archmages. 1 Mage is heavier than 14 Halflings, but less than 15.
Rocs are attacked if there is no possibility to attack ranged units, so there is no point in comparing them with other troops.
2 Steel Golems are heavier than 5 Pigs, but 4 Steel Golems are less than 11 Pigs. 3 Steel Golems are heavier than 4 Iron Golems, but 7 Iron Golems are heavier than 5 Steel Golems. 2 Pigs are heavier than 1 Iron Golem, but 10 Iron Golems are heavier than 19 Pigs.
Now that we know this, it will be easier to model the battle in advance (we'll know who the computer will hit) and also use the Stone Skin magic available in the wizard hero's spellbook effectively.

Use what is at hand
or
Heroes of the Wizard Castle.
First, let's talk not about wizard heroes, but about all other possible heroes when playing this castle during the first week.
Above all, I want to note that wizards are the only castle for which I personally have played with every possible hero. The thing is, for this specific castle, each type of hero brings its own benefit.
First, an option that has become a kind of template for many strong players: the Barbarian hero. A Barbarian hero possesses a number of undeniable advantages, specifically high attack, which also grows quickly. In practice, this means that Halflings, who are the core of the wizard's army in the first week, will deal, for example, 1.5 times more damage with a level 3 Barbarian than with a level 3 Wizard.
Now another option, slightly less popular, but one I personally liked very much: the Knight hero. The thing is, the Knight hero has good defense along with decent attack. Moreover, during leveling, he has good chances of obtaining both Logistics with Wisdom and Finance. You're wondering what Finance has to do with this? Well, it does. A hero who has fought 4-5 battles in the first week isn't necessarily the main hero, and if he was given Finance—he can become an excellent, useful sidekick.
Necromancer heroes need no recommendation; with Haste in the book and Necromancy, they have a chance to become a terrifying force, especially on a large map. If anyone approaches our ranged units—the skeletons will do their job.
Warlock hero. At first glance, it seems the author of the article has started raving. But in fact, this happened several times. It is necessary on the second day to break through 20-49 Halflings or 10-19 Orcs (ranged). Rocs are not yet available. But a brave Warlock with 9 Centaurs and 4 Gargoyles is available for hire in the castle. Buy him and go forward. The battle is fought, and the fast Warlock moves on. At some point, he learns an interesting spell + something was given in the magic guild at home... Magic power grows rapidly, and then Logistics was granted early... That's how my main hero grew from a Warlock, using his primary advantages in the first week of the game: scouting, excellent starting troops, and speed; if magic is found—a powerful striking effect (Magic Power 3!).
And one more option that is quite interesting. 20 Halflings deal 20-60 damage, averaging 40. And under Blessing, 60! Therefore, a Sorceress hero with the Blessing spell has often performed excellently in the first week.
Now let's stop in detail on the native Wizard hero (white mage).
First, hiring own heroes as second and third leads to an increase in squad strength: the number of Halflings and often Pigs increases. And this is very important.
Second, one of the heroes conducting battles will almost certainly be a Wizard.
So, the white mage has stats 0-1-2-2, advanced Wisdom, and a magic book with the Stone Skin spell. Magic and Knowledge are prioritized for leveling. Among secondary skills, Necromancy is unavailable (besides Necromancers themselves, it's only available to Warlocks), and there aren't very high chances for Archery (which is sad). However, having 7 empty slots for secondary skills, with the necessary Wisdom in the eighth—is very good. You can take Logistics, Archery (if offered), Ballistics, and other useful skills! For now, we'll note the following aspect important for first battles: 1 Defense + 3 gained from using Stone Skin (in the book) = 4 Defense. This is not bad. A Knight has only 2 Defense.

What you sow...
or
Building up the Wizard Castle.

First of all, it's necessary to understand what kind of map we are playing. What its size is, how many opponents there are. Roughly how long the game will last. Based on this, we will adopt one of the game strategies, and based on the strategy, we will build up the castle.
On a small map with a likely quick encounter with an opponent, you can do the following: Build only birds, buy out as much as possible, hire as many native heroes as possible, combine troops, and storm the enemy castle. And once inside, either buy more or act according to circumstances. This is the so-called "rush" strategy.
On a map with less rapid contact, you can try the following strategy: In the first week, build up to Mages; on the first day of the second week, buy everything you can and wipe everyone out.
On a slightly larger map, an option is possible involving building the Library and Archmages; then, by the first day of the third week, we will have a very capable army that, with clever management, can achieve great things.
If the game promises to be long, we will build Giants, later turning them into Titans (honestly, capturing a built-up castle with Green Dragons is much more interesting).
In all cases except the "rush" strategy, our task in the first week consists of building Mages with a well, and preferably with a statue as well (less relevant for an attack at the start of the second week).
Castle build order: Pigs (often already built) – Rocs. Golems (can be placed without building Pigs and Rocs) – Mage Guild – Mages. That is, there are two paths.
We want to place (assuming Pigs are built from the start): Statue (1250 gold + 5 stone) – Rocs (3000 gold + 5 wood) – Well (500 gold) – Golems (1500 gold + 5 wood + 5 stone) – Mage Guild (2000 gold + 5 wood + 5 stone) – Mages (3500 gold + 5 wood + 5 stone + 5 crystal + 5 mercury + 5 sulfur + 5 diamond). Total of 6 buildings. One day in reserve; Pigs might not be there from the start, or if necessary, a Fruit Orchard can be placed to increase the Halfling population by 8, although this is a questionable investment.
What follows from this? That you need to build almost every turn. That we will need at least 10500 gold + 20 wood + 15 stone + 5 crystal + 5 mercury + 5 sulfur + 5 diamond; and if placing the statue, another 1250 gold and 5 stone are needed. The castle will bring us 6000 gold by the seventh day. The castle in Heroes II does not provide resources. This means we need to play as actively as possible, interacting with several heroes.
Based on the plan for further play (whether we build Titans or not), we choose priority targets for capture in the first week. For Giants, besides everything mentioned before, 12500 gold, 5 wood, 5 ore, and 20 diamonds are needed. The same for Titans. Plus, hiring a Titan requires 5000 gold and 2 diamonds. If we choose the "Titanic" line, we need to capture a gold mine, as many Leprechaun gardens as possible, and a diamond mine as early as possible.
If we decide to definitely build Archmages, then we'll have to build a Library (which also adds one spell for each level of the magic guild). The Library will cost us 1500 gold + 5 wood + 5 stone + 5 crystal + 5 mercury + 5 sulfur + 5 diamond; after that, Archmages can be built for 4000 + 5 wood + 5 stone. Here, besides gold, either mines or resource piles are needed.
It is not hard to see that with such a variety of required resources, the external market is also one of the priority objects.

continued in the next post

"Let's go!"
or
Game Mechanics in the First Week.

So, the priority targets for capture have been determined. It is also clear that regardless of the strategy, we will need several heroes.
Let's begin. Leave 1 pig with the starting hero; send the rest to the castle. Exit the castle, grab the chests (take gold from them, as we need to buy heroes and build troops) and piles of gold. Buy a second hero, have them take the army stationed in the castle, and move forward. It is highly desirable to build at least something, even just a well.
Fight the first battles. We will stop on this aspect in more detail.
So, our hero is a Wizard (0-1-2-2, Stone Skin). Let's say our troops are 5 pigs and 16 halflings. Let's consider possible opponents and determine if we can defeat them, how, and with what approximate losses. To do this, first calculate the maximum ranged damage the halflings can deal (Energizer's method). 16*(1…3)=16…48, multiply by 12 shots, resulting in 192-576 against creatures with defense 2. On average, let's take 380. For this to happen, the pigs must hold out for 12 rounds (for this, we have Stone Skin and the possible sacrifice of 2 pigs).
Now let's deal with possible opponents.
Peasants. Up to 249 – easy. You can actually break through up to 500 peasants – just remember about morale.
Goblins. 20-49 are broken easily. We will take out one squad of goblins per round, so there should be no problems here. 50-99 goblins is already a serious problem. The thing is, goblins can engage the pigs as early as the second round. Let's assume this squad has already been shot by halflings in round 1. Let's try to model the battle slightly. We have 16 halflings-1 pig-1 pig-1 pig-2 pigs, against us are 16 goblins * 5. Halflings take out about 11 goblins per shot. It turns out we just need to push back 1-2 goblin squads by sacrificing 2 pigs. Stone Skin must be used extremely precisely here. 16 goblins deal 14-29 damage to a pig, but if the pig is under Stone Skin, the damage is reduced to 12-24. If we put pigs against squads already shot down to 5 units, it turns out a pig under Stone Skin can withstand 2 attacks, and maybe even 3. Thus, in case of acute necessity, you can attack; you just need to be prepared for losses.
Halflings. It is preferable not to break them. Either break them with the help of gargoyles or fairies from the second hero. If that's impossible, consider the following option. Leave 3 halflings split one by one; move forward with pigs split into two squads. Thus, we will take 3 shots at the pigs: 2 in the first round and 1 in the second (in the best case for us). With an army of 3 halflings and 5 pigs, we can break 10-19 halflings at best, and there may be pig losses.
Centaurs. Same situation as with halflings. Only worse. 16 centaurs have 80 health, and it takes 15 hits from a pig to kill them. Moreover, centaurs have 3 attacks, and one blocked centaur will still deal 1 damage to a pig under Stone Skin. 2 pigs take down 3 centaurs in melee in 3 hits, while the remaining stack of centaurs shoots all this time. Apparently, this battle is only possible with the involvement of most halflings. However, even against halflings with Stone Skin, 16 centaurs will deal 15-30 damage (which kills 5-10 halflings), and they move first. This means a different tactic must be chosen: take all halflings, pigs in 4 squads, then the pigs block while the remaining halflings shoot. Almost the entire army will perish. If there are 3 gargoyles from a Warlock – there's a chance to play without losses or almost without losses.
Fairies. 10-19 without problems. Setup: halfs – 4 squads of pigs. Pigs cover the halfs, then shoot them down. Maximum 1-2 pigs will die. But 20-49 won't be that simple – unopposed fairies in the first round will kill 1-2 pigs depending on the number, and by maximum the third round our shooters will be blocked. Such battles can be conducted "under save," knowing the number of fairies in advance and trying to counter this with, for example, a detachment of 1 halfling on the right flank, or even adopting a setup of 14 halfs-2 pigs–3 pigs–half-half so that in the first round 2 fairy squads hit single halflings. And the top pig was covered by Stone Skin. Fairies have 4 attacks, which is unpleasant, and a strike by 8 fairies deals 8-16 damage to a pig, or 7-14 with Stone Skin. This means from the first two attacks in the first round, the pig will likely die, after which the third squad has a chance to take out another pig. Halfs shoot one squad. We cover the second squad of pigs. Then with two hits they'll take 1 pig and fairies will enter close contact with halfs, which must not be allowed. Thus, with this number of pigs, it is better not to attack 20-49 fairies.
Skeletons. 10-19 are naturally taken out. Just don't be surprised if 6 skeletons take down a pig. But with 20-49 skeletons, the situation is complicated. On one hand, skeletons have no morale, which makes fighting them quite predictable. On the other hand, they have 4 attacks, 3 defense, and 2-3 damage. Our 16 halfs will take 15-30 health from skeletons per round, which corresponds to 4-7 skeletons. But a skeleton squad of 8 will almost certainly take down a pig even under Stone Skin. It's easy to see that by the 4th round there will be no pigs left. And there will still be about 12-15 skeletons. In the sixth round, our halfling squad will fight in melee with 6-9 skeletons. And that means defeat.
Non-upgraded zombies. Non-upgraded zombies have only 2 defense (though upgraded ones do too). Which, combined with very slow speed and lack of morale, is pleasing. Here we use our calculations. We can shoot down 13-38 units. On average, let's take 19-31. This means we can easily attack 10-19 zombies (even if there is an upgraded stack among them), but attacking 20-49 without knowing their exact number is not yet possible. More halflings are needed. By the way, one can calculate how many halflings are needed to attack 20-49 zombies. For this, we calculate the possible amount of zombie health (735 without an upgraded stack, 785 with an upgraded stack of 10 zombies), divide by 12 shots = 65, and divide by average halfling damage – 2. That is, having 33 halflings with at least 4 pigs, we can risk attacking 20-49 non-upgraded zombies. Halflings can be taken from an external dwelling on the terrain – "burrows".
Upgraded zombies. Only 10-19. They also have 2 defense, but 20 health, and average speed (4).
Non-upgraded dwarves. These are serious guys. They have both 20 health and 5 defense. Suppose there are 10-19 of them. Halfs will deal 163-489 damage. This is 8-24 non-upgraded dwarves (and maybe an upgraded stack!). On average 12-20. And they will reach us; no later than the 5th round they'll say "here we are." And there will be about 8 of them in the fifth round. And they might get a morale boost. They have 6 attack and 2-4 damage. If absolutely necessary, you can risk it, but remember: if Stone Skin runs out, a squad of 3 dwarves will deal 9-18 damage to halflings, knocking out 4-5 units with each hit...
Upgraded dwarves. Two problems compared to non-upgraded ones. First is average speed (4), which allows them to make contact no later than the 3rd round (plus they move before halflings shoot) and 6 defense. Against 6 defense, halflings will deal 153-460 damage, which equals 8-23 upgraded dwarves. It's clear that 5-9 upgraded dwarves are killed quite simply, but 10-19 will likely emerge victorious...
Gargoyles. Do not attack. We cannot protect our shooters from a gargoyle attack without Haste magic. If there is a Necromancer hero, then they can actually attack: first move Haste on the second pig stack, the first covers from above, the second from the side. But only 5-9; gargoyles have 7 defense.
Although, honestly, a way to break 5-9 gargoyles with the existing army also exists for a Wizard hero. I will not describe it in this material; I hope readers experiment themselves and find "Qwerty's method".
Pigs. Fairly easy opponents. They don't deal too much damage, and they only have 15 health. For evaluation, calculate how long our 5 pigs can hold out. Cover them with Stone Skin. Then a squad of 3 pigs will deal 5-10 damage to our pigs. That is, in 2-3 rounds they'll take down a pig. But pigs are two-cell creatures and most likely each of our squads will attack only 2 opponent squads. Halfs will take out three pigs with two shots. We should strive for the following setup: squads of 1 pig attack us, while a squad of 3 pigs stands and waits its turn. I believe that if the first squad of enemy pigs doesn't get morale in the first round, we can successfully take out 10-19 pigs.
Non-upgraded shooters and non-upgraded orcs. These battles are quite unpleasant for us. Because untimely morale can lead to a loss, because after this battle we might have no troops left for further conquests. It is highly desirable to involve either gargoyles or fairies, or wait for Rocs. The loss minimization method I mentioned above does not work, as pigs alone cannot handle shooters (given the numbers). Usually, two setup options are used: all halfs – 4 pig squads, or some halfs – 3 pig squads – some halfs. Accordingly, in the first round, Stone Skin on the top stack and everyone forward. The idea is to block all shooters in the second round and then shoot them down. However, morale or the appearance of an upgraded stack could lead to having almost nothing left to shoot with...
Artifact guardians – single units of the sixth level.
Against titans, any dragons, phoenixes there are no chances. Let's consider the remaining options.
Paladin. A paladin has 50 health and 12 defense. Our halflings will deal 8-24 damage per round. This means we just need to hold out for 4 rounds. There are absolutely no problems with this; depending on terrain and morale, losses will be from 1 to 3 pigs.
Crusader. This task is more serious. Here it's 65 health with 12 defense. We need to stand for 5 rounds, while starting from the second round the crusader will move first. Setup: 4 squads of 1 pig, halfs at the bottom. First pig moves (not into attack, of course), crusader moves forward. Second pig goes as far as possible, standing in the top row as far as it can (tactical "luring" technique by Qwerty). Third and fourth pigs make the half inaccessible, trying to stay close to the crusader. Second round. Crusader hits the top squad, pig moves forward (striving for the upper right corner), other pigs provide support. Third round. Crusader kills the pig that was moving toward the upper corner in the previous round. Pigs move out of the crusader's strike zone. Fourth round. Crusader doesn't reach anyone. Here are 2 options for the pigs. The most reliable is to stand with pigs so that in the fifth round the crusader hits one, while another is nearby, and halfs are far away. Fifth round – crusader kills a pig – victory with loss of 3 pigs. The battle is not simple, but with a little practice it's like clockwork.
Cyclops. 80 health with 9 defense, but has a double strike. Our halfs will deal 10-31 damage per round, so we need to hold out for 5 rounds. Act according to the usual algorithm, just remember that we must not place pigs such that the cyclops kills two at once and in the 5th round pigs should not be in front of halflings, otherwise the cyclops might "blow through" them. Since the cyclops' speed is 5 and our pigs' is 6, everything is relatively simple.
Giant. 150 health with 10 defense. Halfs deal 10-29 damage per round, so we will need 8 rounds and endurance. Act according to the usual algorithm; in even rounds, feed a pig to the giant, sending it back. Everything should work out.
Djinn. This is the hardest task. A djinn has only 50 health with 9 defense. Per round halfs will deal 10-31 damage, so in the third round we can celebrate victory. This is achievable with 16 halflings and 5 pigs. I hope readers find "Qwerty's method" themselves.
So, we have considered the main battle options with an army of 16 halflings and 5 pigs for a first-level Wizard hero with 20 mana.
Now let's briefly talk about the main changes that will occur after adding 3 Rocs to the army.
1. Breaking ranged squads.
Halflings in numbers of 20-49 are broken without losses.
Battle with centaurs. Pigs should be given to the second hero, after which a battle with 20-49 centaurs is likely conducted without losses.
Orcs. 10-19 without losses, 20-49 may resist but will be broken (replace the most "wounded" birds with pigs, then rotate birds based on remaining health).
Non-upgraded shooters. Give pigs to the second hero (there is a possibility of an upgraded stack). 10-19 without losses, 20-49 are broken, but losses are possible (Stone Skin must be used clearly and birds rotated based on remaining health).
Upgraded orcs. 10-19 without losses, 20-49 losses are possible; must not lose the birds (3 pigs are acceptable).
Upgraded shooters. Give pigs to the second hero, further as with non-upgraded.
Elves. This is a lottery. If there's no upgraded stack – give pigs to the second hero and break 10-19 without losses. More can be broken, but losses are possible. But if there is an upgraded stack and we know about it... The ideal option is to find a gargoyle somewhere. If there's no gargoyle and breaking elves with an upgraded stack is absolutely necessary, go with the whole army (including pigs), first move Stone Skin on halfs and mourn their losses after the grand-elves' volley (theoretically if morale hits the pigs in the first round – we can block the grands). 10-19 with an upgraded stack are broken with significant halfling losses; I wouldn't want to push for more yet.
Upgraded elves. Leave 3 halfs (split by 1), maximum pigs and birds. Stone Skin on birds immediately. 10-19 upgraded elves can cause unpleasant losses.
Druids and their upgrade. For acceptable losses in a clash with druids, we need gargoyles.
2. Flyers.
20-49 fairies are broken easily, but carefully. It makes sense to think about the setup halflings-pigs-pigs-1halfling-birds (if terrain is known in advance, a more interesting setup can be made by putting 1 half in the second stack instead of the fourth, but that's risky). Don't forget Stone Skin on birds. Birds will take 3 attacks in the first round, 2 in the second, 1 in the third. In total they will be hit by 24-58 fairies. Considering Stone Skin and hero defense, we will have 11 defense. Fairies have 4 attacks, so 24-58 fairies will deal 16..31 – 38..75 damage, however we might have morale during this time, and the hero may have already raised defense by the time birds appear. However, most likely 1 bird will die.
Gargoyles are broken by "Qwerty's method," but they have very high defense and more than 10-19 cannot be broken.
Griffins. These guys retaliate to everyone indiscriminately. They have 6 attack and defense. 3-5 damage and 25 health. Unless absolutely necessary, do not attack 10-19 griffins. Primarily this is because we need 3 birds to break shooters (to block everyone), and after a battle with 10-19 griffins there will be fewer of them. Unfortunately tactical tricks (placing a Roc next to pigs so that pigs take the retaliation while Rocs hit unopposed) also don't work here – griffins retaliate an unlimited number of times. Real loss minimization is in using their two-cell nature, but here we need the monsters not preoccupied with the Roc to not break the pig barrier and reach the halfs.
Rocs. 40 health is no joke. Of course, 5-9 Rocs, considering their two-cell nature, are broken, but losses are quite likely.
Vampires. A very unpleasant option. 3 Rocs don't even take down 1 vampire, and they have no retaliation. Let's consider a battle with 5-9 vampires without an upgraded stack (if there is an upgraded stack – it will be a total disaster). Setup: 15 halfs-half-1 pig-4 pigs-3 Rocs. The setup is very risky; a much more stable option is halfs-pigs-pigs-half-Rocs, but we'll consider the "under save" battle option now. Against us let's say 2-2-2-1-1. Stone Skin on birds. Cover halfs with pigs (1 pig on top). 2 vamps kill a half. Birds fly to this vamp and attack it, dealing 20 damage. Vamp retaliates, takes out 9-10 halflings, then other vamps move, taking another 29 halflings let's say. Halflings shoot, take out 24 own units. In the second round Stone Skin on 4 pigs, they hit the nearest squad (which halflings shot before) and kill 1 vamp. The rest is obvious. In this round after the first strike 1 bird dies (it could have died earlier), in the third round (don't forget to cast Stone Skin on birds during the pig turn) another one. After the third round we will have 1 bird left, and we'll have killed about 4 vamps in that time. If the battle lasts another 3 rounds – our losses will be all three birds, 1-2 pigs and a halfling. This is sad. And if there are 2 upgraded among these vamps - it could even be fatal (1 vamp lord in melee defeats ALL our halflings, so you'll have to shoot him for the first 4 rounds; meanwhile the other 6 will take two birds). Of course, if the hero has leveled up a bit, everything can go much better, but 2 Rocs likely perish.
3. Infantry
Here the presence of 40-health Rocs, who have 11 defense considering the hero and Stone Skin, allows "tanking," i.e., holding 1-2 squads in place by absorbing hits. This allows halfs to make more shots. We will not stop in more detail on fighting infantry today.
4. Village.
Native. Setup: 15 halfs-pig-pigs-Rocs-1half. A village without mages with a reasonable amount of guards is taken with the loss of 1 half (birds fly at him in the first round).
Knightly. Setup: 16 halfs-pigs-bird-bird-bird. Put different birds under attack, shoot down shooters.
Barbarian. Setup: 15 halfs-pig-pigs-birds-1 half. Cover halfs with pigs. Goblins move to our birds. Birds block orcs. Depending on the situation in the first round, shoot either at orcs or goblins or even wolves. In the second round wolves eat 1 half and we all (or almost all) pile onto them.
Sorceress's. Setup: 15 halfs-pig-pigs-birds-1 half. Pigs cover halfs, fairies fly to 1 half, our birds act before elves. After killing the elves, deal with fairies, and shoot the dwarves.
Necromancer's. The problem here is only vampires. If skeletons stand to the left of vampires, you can try a setup of half-half-pig-birds-half, but there must be enough halfs. It is also necessary to remember the quite heavy strike of skeletons.
Warlock's. This is a problem. "Qwerty's method" must be applied here, but it's not simple. Minotaurs have a very strong strike; moreover, we can only have one pig stack so that our bird goes before centaurs.
5. Castle.
With castles, on one hand everything is simpler, on the other – harder. What castle can we storm with first-week troops? Probably those without towers and other super-fortifications. On the other hand, a castle will bring us at least 1000 gold per day and we can specifically buy troops for the same purpose of storming. We can buy them in structures on the terrain, castles, and villages. Now it's necessary to remember the low health of halfs – after all, they are who the central castle tower will shoot at. And you can't block it with birds.
To storm a castle we need:
-) have enough halflings, considering the penalty when shooting through a wall;
-) it would be good to have secondary skills in Archery and Ballistics;
-) it would be good to pump up power parameters;
-) it would be good to slightly expand the magic repertoire.
To start, let's try to figure out which troops could strengthen us for storming castles.
Of course, gargoyles (apparently I just need to write a separate material dedicated to this unit sometime), but not as a strike force, but as one of the tactical elements. Next: any shooters (the main thing is that morale remains at the proper level), for example orcs or knightly shooters themselves. Flyers, for example, fairies. Against castles of sorceresses and warlocks, as well as, in case of having level 4 – wizards and necromancers, dwarves would be suitable (or native golems, though there would be too few of them).
The following difficulties await us compared to a village:
-) in the absence of an artifact or archery skill – penalty when shooting through walls;
-) constant damage to ranged squads from castle structures;
-) hindered participation of pigs in the fight.
However, we also have certain pluses, the main one being the lengthening of the path of strong enemy infantry to our shooters and possible "dosing" of collisions (for example, on a bridge).
In general, storming castles will be similar to taking villages, only in the first round we cannot afford Stone Skin on birds, as we will need to cast it on shooters.

"Here and Now"
or
Playing from Day One.
So, we have considered the main tactical techniques when playing for a Wizard's castle in the first week.
The main thing is to start playing not from the moment titans appear, but from the beginning of the game. A lot can already be done with existing troops, and due to earlier breaking of key objects, opportunities for faster development, map exploration, building, and ultimately a more convincing game result will open up. Solving difficult tasks will bring great pleasure, and I wish you joy from the magnificent strategy – Heroes of Might and Magic 2.

Qwerty, 21.02.2011.