Posts from Tactics for playing against Sylvan.

Nature has two distinct phases in its development: before and after building the creature portal. It's best to try and eliminate them BEFORE. It will be more difficult afterward.
Therefore, if the opponent is playing as Nature and I have a chance to break through their defenses, I do so without hesitation.

Nature has two periods in its development: before and after building the creature portal. It is better to try to kill them BEFORE. It will be worse later.
Therefore, if the opponent is playing as Nature and I have a chance to break through to him, I do it without hesitation.

I would think about the condition of my hero and his army before attacking. I like playing as Death against Nature; it seems more interesting to me. Magic is quite suitable against Nature. And the enemy building a portal... I'm not interested in that because he doesn't use it. (Champion difficulty level) When the portal is built, Hive-Oses appear. The AI doesn't hire them at all. And when I capture the enemy city, their number is quite decent. Personally, I prefer to hire Mantises from the portal. Divide the total number of Hive-Oses by six, and you will get the number of Mantises that I will hardly hire. In general, the Nature Castle is unique in its own way - it is the only place where you can hire all creatures belonging to this race. The only creature that is not available is the Gargantua because it appears with the Armageddon's Blade expansion. But I like playing against Nature, but I prefer to see my opponent as the Might race.

The AI in Heroes of Might and Magic IV is quite simple. It never uses the portal to summon creatures. However, when playing against a human opponent, the portal becomes a crucial element. Specifically, I'm talking about Mantises and water elementals. I find elementals to be more dangerous. Buying a dozen and distributing them across stacks allows you to hide behind them from ranged attacks, as they are difficult to kill. Meanwhile, a nature mage with his summon or an archer can wreak havoc.

P.S. I have the "Armageddon's Blade" expansion. Does anyone have a link where I can find instructions on how to install a program for playing online?

The situation with the portal has changed dramatically since the release of Heroes 3.51. Now, the AI no longer builds a portal in the castle to prevent troops from accumulating there.
Moreover, the developers promised to fix this "reluctance" of the AI to recruit troops from the portal. If they do, who knows, maybe the offline gameplay tactics against the AI will undergo radical changes.

The situation with the portal has changed dramatically since the release of ERA 3.51. Now, the AI no longer builds a portal in its castle to prevent troops from accumulating there.
Moreover, the ERA team promised to fix this AI's "reluctance" to recruit troops from the portal. If they do, who knows, maybe the offline gameplay tactics against Nature will undergo radical changes :)

If that happens, then you can surrender immediately... The portal is the most powerful thing Nature has, in my opinion... Without it, I wouldn't say it has a strong army, but with mantises... water elementals... hives...
In principle, Nature is not very good at dispelling spells (although nothing prevents you from leveling up Life), its main magic is focused on summoning and increasing the number of creatures. For some reason, I think that Order has a good chance against Nature - banishment, a couple of curses, hypnosis... And dragons are weak against titans... Death - perhaps, with a tactician and by loading up the Nature units with curses (antimagic on everyone - IMHO, not the best option), while bypassing the necromancy ward. Strength can only counter with a large amount of Strength units against a certain number of Nature units, and with barbarians and immortals :) Life will act similarly to Death - tactics plus abundant casting of spells, only this time on its own warriors. Chaos can throw black dragons closer to the dwelling and quickly eliminate them, and at the same time, the hero. Again, you can cast some nasty spell.
But in principle, as was said earlier, prevent Nature from building a portal and take down the hero as quickly as possible... And what is more convenient for others is better known to fans of other factions, because I mainly play AS Nature ;)

I wouldn't say it's absolutely necessary to push them all the way to the portal; besides, it can appear quite early, and it doesn't require much to summon. The portal doesn't give them a decisive advantage. Water elementals can only be purchased for defending the castle, as they significantly slow down the hero. If you want to use them in battle, acquire the appropriate summon. But mantises are quite suitable for the army. And who else? I don't see any other candidates from the portal...

Lock, are you saying that having at least two level 4 units is not enough? And for defending the castle, I think Hives are better... In principle, yes, a portal isn't the worst thing, but you have to agree – it's noticeably harder to defeat Sylvan with a portal ;)

it's not necessarily easier, but you still need money for the creatures from the portal :[br][/br]and sometimes there isn't enough to buy the main creatures.
The portal is a good thing, I agree, I use it myself:), but I don't see it as giving a decisive advantage.

A couple of weeks after rebuilding all the creatures, the economic situation stabilizes, and there is more or less enough money for units :) Including for the beauties from the portal :) Then the hives with mantises start to dominate :smile08:
And a druid hero with the Summoning skill will also help, especially in Equia :)
So, with or without the portal, one thing is clear - the longer the player sits and waits, the larger the Nature army will become. In Heroes of Might and Magic 4, Nature is quite comparable to Death in this regard, IMHO :) And the beauties from the portal will still, IMHO, add to the decisive battle in favor of Nature, and significantly ;)

And what about money? Money is only needed for creatures of levels 3 and 4; the rest are useless, especially for the Sylvan faction. So, there are rarely problems with money once you have built up your infrastructure.