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Griffin Conservatory, Dragon Fly Hive and Dragon Utopia
Sea "vaults" Derelict Ship and Shipwreck
Damage dealt by Arrow Towers when repelling an assault
Damage dealt to attacking units by city moats
The Grail (Грааль)
Hero's use of magic without a Spell Book
Formula for calculating points recorded in the results table
Map objects
Strategy
Tactics
Magic
Artifacts
The Grail
Preparing an army for battle
Strategy
Tactics
Use of magic
City construction
Playing on Impossible level
Choosing a starting Hero when playing a separate scenario
Separate scenario with an ally
Author: vsk 06.03.2002 12:57:00
Reference information and useful tips, kindly provided by Vsk.
Of course, a stitch in time saves nine. I won't say all, but many fans and gamers have already played through "Heroes 3" itself and all its add-ons, and haven't ignored the six "Chronicles." They are eagerly awaiting autumn, when 3DO plans to release "Heroes 4." My "experience sharing" is as useful to them as a screen door on a submarine. However, I hold onto the hope that this article may still be useful to fans (if only because it contains certain reference information and tips gathered together and systematized). The proposed list was compiled based on many days (many years) of experience gained in the "Heroes 3..." series games (the foundation of which began with the first "Heroes"). Only a variety of game situations allows a commander to accumulate new knowledge in strategy and tactics for military campaigns. Nevertheless, what is presented here for your judgment is only a small subset of the variety of tips, as some points from the games have been forgotten, while others the author simply never encountered. For the most part, these tips are intended for newcomers to the world of "Heroes..." (don't be surprised—there are still such people), but even an experienced gamer will find a couple or three useful tips here that will be a revelation. Enough with the introductions—let's get down to business... Since the tips will concern all games in the “Heroes 3” series, for convenience of presentation, we will introduce several abbreviations:
Heroes of Might and Magic 3: Armageddon’s Blade - ABlade Heroes of Might and Magic 3: Shadow of Death - SoD
1. Some useful reference information "Unfamiliar" creatures
In the lands of "Heroes of Might and Magic 3: Shadow of Death," in addition to the usual creatures from the seven city types, representatives of the Conflux city type and neutral creatures that successfully migrated there from the "Armageddon's Blade" add-on are also encountered. However, while descriptions of neutrals can be found in the "Town and Creature Reference" section, any attempt to find information about representatives of the Conflux city type will be futile, because the Manual says not a word about them. This is obviously because there is no Conflux city type in "Shadow of Death," and their description was linked specifically to that city. Interrupting the game and trying to obtain information about these creatures using the map editor is a tedious task. Learning their capabilities when your Hero has already entered battle with some army of these strangers is also very dangerous—such neglect of the opponent can end miserably for him. I will attempt to fill this gap in documentation and provide the characteristics of all Conflux city creatures.
Sprite - At = 2, Def = 2, Dam = 1-3, HP = 3, Speed = 9. Enemies do not retaliate.
Level 2 Air Elemental - At = 9, Def = 9, Dam = 2-8, HP = 25, Speed = 7. Vulnerable to Lightning and Firestorm spells.
Storm Elemental - At = 9, Def = 9, Shots (Sh) = 24, Dam = 2-8, HP = 25, Speed = 8. No penalty in melee. Vulnerable to Lightning and Firestorm spells.
Level 3 Water Elemental - At = 8, Def = 10, Dam = 3-7, HP = 30, Speed = 5. Immunity to ice (Ice). Vulnerable to Fire Magic.
Ice Elemental - At = 8, Def = 10, Sh = 24, Dam = 3-7, HP = 30, Speed = 6. Immunity to ice (Ice) and mind-affecting magic (Mind). Vulnerable to Fire Magic.
Level 4 Fire Elemental - At = 10, Def = 8, Dam = 4-6, HP = 35, Speed = 6. Immunity to Fire Magic. Vulnerable to ice (Ice).
Energy Elemental - At = 12, Def = 8, Dam = 4-6, HP = 35, Speed = 8. Casts protection magic against Fire Magic. Immunity to Fire Magic and mind-affecting spells (Mind). Vulnerable to cold (Cold).
Level 5 Earth Elemental - At = 10, Def = 10, Dam = 4-8, HP = 40, Speed = 4. Vulnerable to the Meteor Shower spell.
Magma Elemental - At = 11, Def = 11, Dam = 6-10, HP = 40, Speed = 6. Immunity to mind-affecting magic (Mind). Casts protection against Earth Magic.
Level 6 Psychic Elemental - At = 15, Def = 13, Dam = 10-20, HP = 75, Speed = 7. Attacks all adjacent enemy units without retaliation from them.
Magic Elemental - At = 15, Def = 13, Dam = 15-25, HP = 80, Speed = 9. Immunity to magic. Attacks all adjacent enemy units without retaliation from them.
Level 7 Firebird- At = 18, Def = 18, Dam = 30-40, HP = 150, Speed=15. Fire breath affecting two cells. Immunity to Fire Magic.
Phoenix- At = 21, Def = 18, Dam = 30-40, HP = 200, Speed = 21.
Fire breath affecting two cells. Immunity to Fire Magic. Once during the entire battle, a "phoenix" unit, after being destroyed, can be reborn from the ashes (but with reduced numbers, unless, of course, the unit consisted of only one bird).
Documentation errors in some creature stats
When an enemy is encountered on your Hero's path and you (before the start of battle) consult the Manual to check the characteristics of its units, keep in mind that since the very first appearance of "Heroes 3," errors were made by the compilers in the description of some creatures' stats, which were successfully replicated in subsequent same-series add-on Manuals:
Resource exchange rates in the Marketplace depending on quantity
One market is no gift. Trading in it only costs you more, although sometimes it's necessary. However, as the number of your cities increases, the trade network of their markets provides increasingly larger discounts for resource exchange operations. For convenience, let's call resources mercure, sulfur, crystal, gem "valuable" (v), wood, ore "common" (c), and denote gold as "g", and see what the mutual exchange rate of these resources is:
Further construction of Marketplaces no longer affects the exchange rate, which remains equal to the rate for nine markets. The cost of artifacts sold in Artifact Merchants depends on the number of Marketplaces built in controlled cities. Dungeon and Tower type cities have Artifact Merchants among their buildings, where you can exchange your resources for artifacts. "Untouched" shops contain seven artifacts, the price of which decreases depending on the number of Marketplaces at your disposal. The larger the market network, the cheaper the artifacts. Two markets reduce the standard artifact price by 20%, three - by 33%, four - by 43%, five - by 50%, six - by 56%, seven - by 60%, eight - by 64%, nine - by 67%. A larger number of markets does not provide additional discounts. The publicly accessible Black Market always sells each of its artifacts at the same price, equal to that which it can be purchased for in a city shop with five Marketplaces. (Source – astralwizard, Maneater)
Guarded resource and creature vaults
Surprisingly, information about some objects of this type (number of guards and reward amount) reported in the Heroes 3 Map Editor does not match what is in the game. Furthermore, information about such objects (like many other things) is missing from the game Manual, and details on the placement of "guards" on the battlefield and their order of "appearance" can only be learned during battle, when it is no longer possible to change your Hero's army layout. I propose full information about such objects and their guards in this section.
All of these are guarded vaults containing gold and some amount of a valuable resource (Cyclops Stockpile gives only resources, but all four "valuable" types). They are guarded by an army of creatures whose type (except for the Crypt) is indicated in their name. The "Crypt," however, is guarded by units of various Necropolis representatives. In the poorest—these are Skeletons and Walking Dead, while in those that are "richer," you may encounter Wights and Vampires. For all vaults, a single principle exists: the larger the guard, the larger the reward. The guard army consists of five (for Crypt, four or five) units. On the battlefield, they are positioned as follows: four units stand in the corners to the left and right of the field, and the fifth is in the middle between the two "right" units. The order of their entry into battle is as follows: top right - bottom right - bottom left - top left - center right. The order changes slightly if the bottom left unit consists of an "upgrade"—then this unit starts the battle first.
Crypt. There are 4 types of "crypts," differing in guards and reward size (like other vaults, they are placed on the map with a certain probability: 30%, 30%, 30%, 10%): 1) Guard of five units - 10 Skeletons, 10 Skeletons, 10 Skeletons, 10 Walking Dead, 10 Walking Dead (unit placement is clockwise, starting from top left). Reward - 1500 gold, 2) Guard of five units - 10 Walking Dead, 13 Skeletons, 12 Skeletons, 10 Walking Dead, 5 Wights. Reward - 2000 gold, 3) Guard of four units - 5 Vampires, 20 Skeletons, 20 Walking Dead, 10 Wights. Reward - 2500 gold and 1 artifact, 4) Guard of four units - 10 Vampires, 20 Skeletons, 20 Walking Dead, 10 Wights. Reward - 5000 gold and 1 artifact.
Cyclops Stockpile (Guard - army of five units):
1) Unit size - 4 Cyclopes. Reward - 4 units of each "valuable" resource, 2) Unit size - 6 Cyclopes. Reward - 6 units of each "valuable" resource, 3) Unit size - 8 Cyclopes. Reward - 8 units of each "valuable" resource, 4) Unit size - 10 Cyclopes. Reward - 10 units of each "valuable" resource.
The bottom left unit may consist of Cyclops Kings.
Dwarven Treasury (Guard - army of five units):
1) Unit size - 10 Dwarves. Reward - 2500 and 2 crystal, 2) Unit size - 15 Dwarves. Reward - 4000 and 3 crystal, 3) Unit size - 20 Dwarves. Reward - 5000 and 5 crystal, 4) Unit size - 30 Dwarves. Reward - 7500 and 10 crystal,
The bottom left unit may consist of Battle Dwarves.
Imp Cache (Guard - army of five units):
1) Unit size - 20 Imps. Reward - 1000 gold and 2 mercury, 2) Unit size - 30 Imps. Reward - 1500 gold and 3 mercury, 3) Unit size - 40 Imps. Reward - 2000 gold and 4 mercury, 4) Unit size - 60 Imps. Reward - 3000 gold and 6 mercury.
The bottom left unit may consist of Familiars.
Medusa Stores (Guard - army of five units):
1) Unit size - 4 Medusas. Reward - 2000 gold and 5 sulfur, 2) Unit size - 6 Medusas. Reward - 3000 gold and 6 sulfur, 3) Unit size - 8 Medusas. Reward - 4000 gold and 8 sulfur, 4) Unit size - 10 Medusas. Reward - 5000 gold and 10 sulfur,
The bottom left unit may consist of Medusa Queens.
Naga Bank (Guard - army of five units):
1) Unit size - 2 Nagas. Reward - 4000 gold and 8 sulfur, 2) Unit size - 3 Nagas. Reward - 6000 gold and 12 sulfur, 3) Unit size - 4 Nagas. Reward - 8000 gold and 16 sulfur, 4) Unit size - 6 Nagas. Reward - 12000 gold and 24 sulfur.
The bottom left unit may consist of Naga Queens.
Here I will allow myself a slight digression. The three previous vaults contained crystal, mercury, and sulfur resources—so necessary when building the most senior "military building" in Rampart, Inferno, and Dungeon cities, respectively. It was natural to assume that the Naga Bank should store the gem resource in its "safes," needed for the appearance of the pride and beauty of wizard troops—Titans—in Tower. The editor reports the same (Naga Bank contains gold and gems). But no. In the game, the Naga Bank stores the exact same "valuable" resource already offered in Medusa Stores. The "leprechaun" from the Mystical Garden has to make up for others; his love for gems partially saves adherents of the Tower city type (even on Impossible, Giants appear quite quickly, but the problem with promoting them to Titans exists not only on the maximum difficulty level).
Griffin Conservatory, Dragon Fly Hive and Dragon Utopia
These are objects in which, after defeating their guards, you can receive Angels (in the first) or Wyverns (in the second) for free. The layout of the guard units on the battlefield is similar to that mentioned in the previous point.
Griffin Conservatory (guarded by five units of "musical birds"):
For RoE:
1) Unit size - 8 Griffins. Reward - 2 Angels, 2) Unit size - 12 Griffins. Reward - 3 Angels, 3) Unit size - 16 Griffins. Reward - 4 Angels, 4) Unit size - 20 Griffins. Reward - 5 Angels, The bottom-left unit may consist of Royal Griffins.
For ABlade and SoD:
1) Unit size - 10 Griffins. Reward - 1 Angel, 2) Unit size - 20 Griffins. Reward - 2 Angels, 3) Unit size - 30 Griffins. Reward - 3 Angels, 4) Unit size - 40 Griffins. Reward - 4 Angels, The bottom-left unit may consist of Royal Griffins.
The richest vault, guarded by four units of dragons at once. The following types of vaults are possible:
1) Guards - 8 Green Dragons, 5 Red Dragons, 2 Gold Dragons, 1 Black Dragon. Reward - 20000 gold, 1 treasure artifact, 1 minor artifact, 1 major artifact and 1 relic artifact 2) Guards - 8 Green Dragons, 6 Red Dragons, 3 Gold Dragons, 2 Black Dragon. Reward - 30000 gold, 1 minor artifact, 1 major artifact and 2 relic artifacts 3) Guards - 8 Green Dragons, 6 Red Dragons, 4 Gold Dragons, 3 Black Dragons. Reward - 40000 gold, 1 major artifact and 3 relic artifacts 4) Guards - 8 Green Dragons, 7 Red Dragons, 6 Gold Dragons, 5 Black Dragons. Reward - 50000 gold and 4 relic artifacts
Sea "vaults" Derelict Ship and Shipwreck
Ships that have run aground on reefs or been attacked by pirates and abandoned by their crew are by no means empty. If your ship docks near one of these objects, and the Hero's army searches its holds thoroughly, gold and perhaps an artifact are guaranteed. However, these treasures were not left unguarded, and to seize them, the Hero must first fight a small army of Water Elementals or Wights.
Derelict Ship (guards - an army of five units):
1) Unit size - 4 Water Elementals. Reward - 3000 gold, 2) Unit size - 6 Water Elementals. Reward - 3000 gold and 1 artifact, 3) Unit size - 8 Water Elementals. Reward - 4000 gold and 1 artifact, 4) Unit size - 12 Water Elementals. Reward - 6000 gold and 1 artifact.
Shipwreck (guarded by five units of restless "souls" - Wights):
1) Unit size - 2 Wights. Reward - 2000 gold, 2) Unit size - 3 Wights. Reward - 3000 gold, 3) Unit size - 5 Wights. Reward - 4000 gold and 1 artifact, 4) Unit size - 10 Wights. Reward - 5000 gold and 1 artifact.
If a Hero visits a ship hull that has already been searched, their morale (Morale), and consequently the morale of their army's creatures, will decrease by one. Exceptions are creatures whose same stat does not change (undead, golems...). 1.5. Defensive properties of cities when repelling an assault Damage dealt by Arrow Towers when repelling an assault
As is known, a city may have a central "shooting tower" (Citadel) or a central and two side towers (Castle). The damage dealt by the central tower is twice as much as that from one of the side towers. The amount of damage depends only on the number of "structures" (buildings) currently present in the city (the defense level of the attacking unit and its position on the field do not affect the amount of damage, which does occur during ranged attacks by defending shooting units). However, not everything that can be built in a city falls under the definition of a "structure". Firstly, all "upgrades" to military buildings, the administrative building (starting from City Hall), and the Mage Guild (starting from the second level) do not increase the number of "structures", as the main building is already constructed. Secondly, additional population increases (such as Griffin Bastion - Castle, Sculptor's Wings - Tower, Miner's Guild - Rampart, etc.) are also not "structures". These "upgrades" are not even reflected in the city view when entering the Hall (they cannot be selected with the mouse to get a name in the information bar). Thirdly, Citadel or Castle are not included among such "structures", as they already deal damage to attackers with their "towers", and much more so than each "structure". Fourthly, some cities have other "upgrades" which, naturally, are not "structures". Their names are mentioned below when considering the number of "structures" for all eight city types. The formula for calculating damage in Hit Points (HP) dealt by the central tower of a specific city is as follows: <10-15> + <2-3> x (number of structures). In an "empty" city (Village Hall and Citadel), the central tower deals 10 to 15 HP damage. Each constructed "structure" adds 2-3 HP to the possible damage dealt by the tower, bringing it (in a fully built city) up to 46-69 HP (for example, Dungeon). It should be noted that practical damage often exceeds the upper limit and never drops below the lower one. Different types of cities have different numbers of "structures" and, therefore, different tower capabilities at their maximum ("structure") build-out.
Castle. Includes 17 structures. Brotherhood of the Sword is not included, as it is an upgrade to the Tavern. It should be noted that a non-coastal city of this type immediately loses two "structures": Shipyard and Lighthouse, with all resulting consequences (regarding the strength of "shooting towers"). Maximum damage from "shooting towers": 44-66 HP (central) and 22-33 HP - each side tower.
Fortress and Necropolis. Include 18 structures, one of which is "coastal" - Shipyard. Maximum damage from "shooting towers": 46-69 (24-36).
Rampart. Includes 16 structures. Fountain of Fortune is not included, as it is an upgrade to the Mystic Pond. Maximum damage from "shooting towers": 42-63 (22-33).
Dungeon, Stronghold and Tower. Include 18 structures. Maximum damage from "shooting towers": 46-69 (24-36).
Inferno. Includes 17 structures. Maximum damage from "shooting towers": 44-66 (22-33).
And lastly, The Grail (see later in the text) is also a "structure" (the number of which is indicated for cities including it).
Damage dealt to attacking units by city moats
Cities of each type build their own special moats. When any unit falls into a moat, its movement for that round ends. For Ablade and SoD, additionally, as long as a unit remains in the moat, it takes damage every round, the amount of which depends on the type of moat.
Castle. The Moat deals 70 HP damage to any unit falling into the moat.
Dungeon. Boiling Oil deals 90 HP damage to any unit falling into the moat.
Fortress. Boiling Tar deals 90 HP damage to any unit falling into the moat.
Inferno. Lava deals 90 HP damage to any unit falling into the moat.
Necropolis. Boneyard deals 70 HP damage to any unit falling into the moat.
Rampart. Bramble Hedge deals 70 HP damage to any unit falling into the moat.
Stronghold. Spike Barrier deals 70 HP damage to any unit falling into the moat.
All listed moats are crossed by units in one round, except for the Fortress moat, which is wider and takes two rounds to cross.
Tower. The walls of the wizards' city are surrounded by Land Mines. As is known, they pose a threat only to attacking units. The amount of damage dealt to an enemy unit by each mine appearing on the battlefield after casting the Land Mine spell is determined by the formula (10 x SP + A), where A equals 25 if the Hero lacks the Fire Magic secondary skill or has it at the basic level, 50 - with Advanced Fire Magic, and 100 - if the Hero has this skill at Expert level. The amount of damage from "city" Land Mines is not constant and is determined differently for the base game and its add-ons. For RoE: 1) If the city has only a garrison, the damage from each mine equals 55 HP 2) If there is a Hero in the city, the amount of damage dealt by Land Mine is determined by the formula given above. In this case, the damage from a mine can be lower than 55. For ABlade and SoD: 1) If the city has only a garrison, the damage from each mine equals 150 HP 2) If the defending Hero has Spell Power and/or the Fire Magic secondary skill such that the amount of damage calculated by the specified formula exceeds 150 HP, then the damage from the "city" mine will be determined by this value; otherwise, the amount of damage equals 150 HP. Interestingly, in this case, mines appearing on the battlefield after casting the Land Mine spell can deal significantly less damage than "city" ones. It should be noted that Land Mines along Tower walls are less reliable than the defensive moats of other cities, as they deal one-time damage and can be easily destroyed by the Mass Dispel spell. (Source – astralwizard, Dan McGraw) One should also remember that various Golems units (resistant to magic) will take much less damage than all others, and therefore should lead the infantry vanguard.
The Grail
If, while traveling through the lands of the kingdom, any of your Heroes encounters an Obelisk, know that you have the opportunity (as do your opponents in the scenario) to dig up the great artifact The Grail. To do this, you must visit all "obelisks" on the map to find the exact spot where you need to dig, or at least have some idea of the area where the artifact is presumably buried. In this case, the most desperate will gather several Heroes in that area and begin methodically digging up the entire territory. I should note that computer commanders (at Impossible level for a human) often engage in such nonsense, as they have money to burn. If any Hero becomes the owner of this artifact, the commander should quickly send them to one of their cities to take advantage as soon as possible of all the benefits provided by constructing a unique building in the city. The main advantages of such a building in a city compared to ordinary ones are an additional daily income of 5000 coins and a weekly 50% increase in creature population. Other benefits from having this unique building are determined by the type of city:
Colossus (Castle) increases the morale of all Heroes belonging to the commander who owns such a city by 2
Guardian of Earth (Dungeon) increases the Hero's Spell Power value by 12 for as long as they are participating in repelling an enemy attack on a city with this building
Carnivorous Plant (Fortress) increases the Hero's Attack and Defense values by 10 for as long as they are participating in repelling an enemy attack on a city with this building
Deity of Fire (Inferno) makes all weeks, starting from the one after its appearance in the city, "imp" weeks (in every Inferno-type city at the start of the week, there is an opportunity to hire an additional 15 Imps or Familiars)
Soul Prison (Necropolis) increases the Necromancy secondary skill by 2 for all Heroes of the commander (who owns a city with this building) who have such a skill
Spirit Guardian (Rampart) increases the luck of all Heroes belonging to the commander who owns such a city by 2
Warlord's Monument (Stronghold) increases the Hero's Attack value by 20 for as long as they are participating in repelling an enemy attack on a city with such a building
Skyship (Tower) adds 150 spell points (Knowledge +15) to the Hero for as long as they are participating in repelling an enemy attack on a city with such a building. Additionally, Skyship reveals the entire map of the area (!) to "its" commander, which significantly eases further management of their own armies.
Aurora Borealis (Conflux-type city, only in the “Armageddon’s Blade” add-on) gives ALL spells available in the game to ALL Heroes who have visited the city, regardless of whether they have the Wisdom secondary skill or its level.
Hero's use of magic without a Spell Book
Everyone knows that before casting a spell, one must look into the corresponding magical tome and memorize the spell thoroughly so as not to mix anything up. No tome - no magic. This small (in volume) section earned its right to exist because the following piquant situation was discovered in the game. Getting acquainted with Hero Yog during actual events that happened to me on the lands of Antagarich (described in the monumental work "How I Became a True Commander of Erathia") seemed to confirm my opinion that a Hero without a Spell Book is a Might Hero and never Magic. Until, however, when I hired a Hero for one of my subsequent military campaigns who also did not have a Spell Book. This one, unlike Yog, could buy a book. But there was no book, the cities were far away, and I decided to temporarily provide him with a Tome of Earth Magic, reasonably assuming that this magic book was just as good. To my surprise, in the very first battle encountered, the Hero was unable to cast a single combat spell from its arsenal. He read the spells aloud correctly, but the result was similar to Yog's attempt to cast Chain Lightning (the formula for which he stole from the Academy of Brakada) - nothing happened! Immediately after the fight, which he managed to win anyway, I asked him to try the Town Portal spell. And what do you think? He successfully teleported to our nearest city. It turns out that all non-combat magic spells (travel magic) from a book of any school of magic are within a Hero's power even without a Spell Book, but combat ones from the same book cannot be cast. One can't help but wonder: what did the game developers have in mind when granting a Hero such abilities?
Formula for calculating points recorded in the results table
For those playing for a score, the formula for calculating virtual gold coins (points in the results table) that the Red Dragon bestows as rewards for victory in a separate scenario will be interesting:
(200 - (A+10)/(B+5) + C + D) x E, where
A - number of days spent completing the map (including the current day), B - number of your towns, C - equals 25 if all enemies were destroyed, and 0 otherwise, D - equals 25 if you managed to bring The Grail to one of your towns and build a unique structure based on it. Otherwise D = 0, E - difficulty coefficient (for Impossible, for example, it equals 2)
From this, it is clear that for the best result, you must destroy all enemies and capture ALL towns (including neutral ones) on the map in the shortest possible time. And do not forget about the Grail. It can also be noted that those wishing to earn the highest rank (Archangel) will need to play only on the hardest difficulty level (Impossible). To set a personal record, you should use scenarios with a large number of towns (usually "L" or "XL" size maps), where a result of, say, 490 points would be quite achievable for you. Note: Only the integer part of the fraction (A+10)/(B+5) is taken.
As for the bonus for destroying everyone, it is not always given. There are two types of scenarios in the game: those with one victory condition or two. In those that have two conditions, the second will necessarily be "Defeat All Enemies". Now then: in all scenarios where such a condition exists (or scenarios with this single victory condition), the bonus is given! But if there is no such victory condition in the scenario, sorry — the bonus is not granted! For example, in a scenario with the victory condition "Capture Town", destroying all enemies makes no sense from the perspective of the final score. If the player strives for a high result, then in scenarios with two conditions, they should always fulfill the second one (destroy everyone). Of course, after first digging up the Grail. Then they will have two bonuses. Scenarios where the first condition is "Build the Grail Structure" can be an obstacle to this arrangement. But there's nothing to be done here — you have to choose one bonus out of two. Personally, I prefer the second. At least you won't have to spend precious time on tedious digging.
The result of a successfully completed campaign is calculated as follows: 1) the results of each individual scenario (map) are calculated using the formula provided above; 2) the average value for an individual scenario is calculated: the sum of all results is divided by the number of scenarios; 3) the campaign result is determined: the average value of an individual scenario is multiplied by 5 (Source - astralwizard, Gus Smedstad through Maranthea through Quebec Dragon)
Some game changes that appeared in Ablade and SoD compared to RoE:
Only two Heroes who can be hired in the tavern during a week now have a normal army. The others are accompanied by only one first-level creature. Thus, the possibility of quickly building up a large army has been eliminated, provided you have money and some luck with new Hero candidates.
In the object called Garrison, you can now only leave your soldiers. You can no longer take them from there.
In town buildings that weekly produce creatures which have undergone an "upgrade", both versions (basic and upgrade) can be hired. Sometimes it is more logical to purchase basic creatures, as their number will be greater for the same amount of money spent. For example, when defending a town against a planned attack, and there isn't enough gold available to hire everyone. In resource sources, you can leave squads of creatures to protect them from the encroachments of enemy Heroes.
Useful Tips
They are "useful" because the tips contained in "Heroes..." or "Chronicles" (Tutorial mode) are tips for gamers playing for the first time and try to help on the "training map" in mastering the game, but they do not bring you any closer to victory in a real scenario or campaign. The "Chronicles" Tutorial is more advanced in this sense, but if you have a good command of English, it is better to use the original source rather than the localization from "Buka". "Russian" tips should be treated with great caution — they often provide incorrect information due to poor translation (about which you can read in my article "Heroes Chronicles: Localization Errors and Flaws of the Original"). I must state immediately that the tips in this article were compiled based on playing against the computer (AI), and in a struggle against fellow humans, a gamer will likely have to reconsider their approach to some of them.
Traveling the Map
Moving their heroes across the kingdom map, the commander solves both tactical tasks to build up their "muscles" in the game (collecting resources, establishing control over various objects, etc.) and strategic ones (timely hiring of a new hero, planning the capture of enemy towns, etc.), which should lead him (the commander) to a well-deserved victory.
natasha
19 years ago
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Map Objects
Warrior's Tomb. If you send a Hero to dig in a sarcophagus, where they lower their "morale" by 3 units in addition to receiving an artifact, send them immediately into battle with a weak opponent after visiting the Tomb. A small squad of creatures guarding some object is best suited for this role. Then your Hero can painlessly get rid of the consequences of disturbing the dead warrior's peace.
Teleport or Monolith. As soon as your Hero "looks" into one of these magical structures for the first time (we are talking only about two-way ones), once it manifests at the location of another similar structure, you should immediately determine the entire "network" of entrances and exits. Do not be lazy to use the "space" key repeatedly to get a full idea of the capabilities of this group of "teleports" and open areas of terrain in their vicinity. Unfortunately, this tip is only suitable for game add-ons and does not apply to ”Restoration of Erathia”, where space does not work and you have to waste time moving away and entering the teleport again.
Whirlpool. A "teleport", but only on water. It is useful to follow the same instructions given for the Monolith, but there is one problem. The thing is that each passage through a "whirlpool" to another location on water can lead (with a 50% probability) to some losses in the Hero's army (unless they have the Sea Captain's Hat artifact, which protects the sailor from such trouble). Therefore, moving repeatedly through the network of whirlpools is costly. An exception is the case where the Hero has only one squad with one creature. In this case, although a message appears that you lost part of your army, in fact, nothing happens — the Hero simply cannot lose their only soldier. If you plan to transport your Heroes and armies through whirlpools, you should have no more than six squads in the army for minimum losses, so that one weakest creature can be allocated to a separate squad, which will then fall overboard. (Source - astralwizard, Fizban the fabulous).
Cartographer. If you encounter such a structure on your path, consider yourself very lucky. You must visit it, and for only 1000 gold coins, they will open the entire map corresponding to the type of this "cartographer" (land, sea, or underground).
Magic Well. If your Hero is facing a battle with an opponent in the vicinity of a magic well, and the amount of "mana" (spell points) is not at maximum, although sufficient for battle, you should not rush to the well. It is better to conduct the battle first and then satisfy the Hero's "magical hunger," so that by the end of your turn (and the beginning of the opponents' turns), they are ready to fight other armies with a full magical "ammo load."
Learning Stone. Such "stones" are very useful at the start of the game, quickly advancing the Hero from level to level. When your Heroes, already decently "leveled up," encounter such a stone in enemy territories, they may well not be distracted by visiting this object, which will add little to their large experience value (unless, of course, you are a masochist and have set yourself the goal of reaching the maximum possible Experience with each Hero before finally dealing with all your opponents).
Arena, School of Magic, School of War. Obtaining Primary Skills in these buildings involves some choice. If you have no particular need to increase one specific skill out of the two offered, you should choose the one whose probability of increasing for this Hero class upon moving to the next level is lower. You can find out about the probabilities of developing a given Hero's primary skills from the corresponding table in the Manual (Руководства) without even leaving the game (press "F4", select "Help" in the menu, "On Line Manual", "Primary Skill" and read the section "Primary Skill Advancement by Class").
Library of Enlightenment. An object of desire for every Hero, allowing them to simultaneously increase all their primary skills by two units. Only not everyone will be let into the "library" by the discerning keeper — the Hero must have a level no lower than 10! An exception is a Hero possessing the Diplomacy secondary skill. Depending on the diplomacy level, such a Hero only needs to have level 8 (Basic Diplomacy), 6 (Advanced), or 4 (Expert) to visit the ”library”. (Source – Hermann Salzmann).
Shrine of Magic (Incantation, Gesture, Thought). These give one spell of levels 1-3. It makes sense for a Hero who has a Spell Book to visit the first two, and to receive a spell in Thought, the Hero must have Wisdom at a level no lower than Advanced. "Pavilions" higher than the Magic Guild level of your cities (at the very beginning of the game) may be of particular interest. It is not bad to get the Lightning Bolt spell in Gesture if your Hero has decent Spell Power but only has Magic Arrow in their arsenal of attacking spells. I must, however, note (based on my own experience), that such gifts are extremely rare — usually "junk" unworthy of a decent wizard's attention is stored in the "pavilions."
Tree of Knowledge. Each "tree" once per game increases the Hero by a whole level (adds the experience "delta" of the current level). If the Hero only needs a little more "experience" before moving to the next level, it is better to do this elsewhere (destroy a neutral squad or fight an enemy Hero), and then visit the tree. Then your Hero will receive more "experience" because the amount of experience equal to the "delta" of the next, higher level will be added. An exception is a first-level Hero, as moving to the second and third levels requires the same amount of experience — 1000. Such a novice Hero should be sent to the tree immediately, and only then can you think about a "heart-to-heart" conversation with an enemy Hero.
Witch Hut. If a Hero who has 1-2 "slots" left for secondary skills encounters such a hut, they should not take the risk — the witch may teach something useless. It is desirable, before the main Hero visits the mistress of the hut, to send another Hero with few secondary skills ahead. Let them scout how useful this Witch Hut is.
University. If any of your Heroes runs past this building, let them not be lazy and look inside. Even if you have little money and do not plan to provide your Heroes with secondary skills from there right now, it is still useful to know the capabilities of this "university." If you find something interesting for yourself, you can always send the corresponding Hero for training later.
Pyramid. Only a decent wizard with Expert Wisdom should be sent here in search of a fifth-level spell. Otherwise, the visit to the "pyramid" will be in vain. And don't forget to take a strong army with you, because 40 Gold Golems and 20 Diamond Golems guarding it are by no means a gift.
Stables. It should be firmly remembered that field "stables" differ from city ones in that they upgrade Cavaliers to Champions for free. And if they are located near the city, then (at first, while money is scarce) there is no need to do Upgrade Training Grounds in it, periodically sending Cavaliers accompanied by a Hero serving the surroundings of this city for this free "upgrade."
Fountain of Youth, Watering Hole, Oasis. Encountered on the path, they are useful not so much by increasing the Hero's "morale" until the end of the next battle, but by an additional movement bonus on the current turn, which often allows the Hero to reach a place they couldn't otherwise. It should be noted that the oasis bonus (+8 movement) is greater than the other two (+4).
Rally Flag. Same as the previous objects, but here both morale and luck are increased (+4 movement).
Altar of Sacrifice. I am not a supporter of sacrificing any creatures, but I consider getting rid of unnecessary artifacts in exchange for "leveling up" Heroes to be very useful. Trading soldiers for Experience makes sense in a campaign when the mission ends, and the Heroes who will continue the campaign in the next mission have not yet reached the maximum Level.
Tavern. Differs from the "taverns" of your cities in that you can hire other Heroes there, who may currently be better than the "city ones."
Sanctuary. Besides the fact that your weak Hero can hide in this temple (with their entire army, of course) from enemy harassment, sometimes this building can be used in a slightly different tactical key. I'll suggest a couple of options. If the Sanctuary is located near some important object (a city, for example), then the presence of one of your Heroes with an army will force the enemy to keep a garrison in the city at all times. Your Hero can periodically run out of the "temple" and establish control over resource sources if they are within half a turn's distance (usually Ore Pit or Sawmill), and calmly return to their refuge. If your and an enemy Hero (with a large army) "accidentally" end up on a small island near a city not yet built, this trick will allow you to delay the enemy Hero on the island, or weaken their army, part of which they will be forced to leave in the garrison.
If you are chasing an enemy Hero and they intend to hide in a temple, it makes sense to occupy the Sanctuary yourself with one of your Heroes to eliminate such a possibility for the pursued.
Prison. Be sure to visit the "prison" and free the Hero languishing in it, who will gladly join your banners. Sometimes a very useful representative of the Heroes Guild may be there. Even very, very... For example, in one of the "Shadow of Death" scenarios, I encountered two "prisons" containing Gelu and Drakon (not to be confused with the "swamp" Dracon).
Golem Factory. Contains all four types of "golems." The best choice among those offered is Iron Golems. Of course, diamond and gold ones are stronger, but they give few (and ask for a lot of gold). In the game, these two types are encountered so rarely, and even then only as enemies (Pyramid, for example), that it makes no sense to form one of the Hero's army squads from them, with very rare exceptions at the start of the game. Stone Golems can also be taken, but only if you quickly "dump" them into a Tower-type city where they can turn into Iron Golems. Carrying them for a long time in the army of a traveling Hero is highly undesirable due to their low movement speed — this will slow down the entire army. If the Golem Factory is located near your city, Stone Golems must be taken. After their "upgrade" — 12 Iron Golems will be a good addition to its garrison. I should note that cities protected by a crowd of "golems" (besides other squads) cannot be taken by a cavalry rush — the assault will definitely drag on.
Griffin Conservatory and Dragon Fly Hive. Regarding the first object, the following advice can be given: never pass it by and, as soon as you discover it, try to visit it immediately. After victory over the "musical birds" in Ablade and SoD, one to four Angels can be obtained. However, this is not for every Hero — 160 Griffins and 40 Royal Griffins may "accidentally" (with a 10% probability) be in the "conservatory" (that's where the Hero will get four Angels if, of course, hehe, they can destroy such guards). Sometimes it is useful to sacrifice an extra (auxiliary) Hero to find out the possibilities of this "conservatory." The tree (Dragon Fly Hive) is "poorer" than the Conservatory. Here you will receive 4-12 Wyverns if you free this "tree" from evil Dragon Flies. It's better to go to them without shooters, but if there are any in the army, split them into several squads (provided that your army has fewer than seven squads) to reduce their losses. The battle with the guards of these objects differs from those that occur when capturing guarded vaults because the speed of the guards (Dragon Flies and Royal Griffins) here is very high, and the requirements for the army composition, magical arsenal, and personal characteristics of the Hero are much higher in this case. To visit such objects, you need to assemble a corresponding army (40 Griffins or 18 Dragon Flies in one squad is not the same as 60 Imps from an Imp Cache), and before the battle with the guards, you must correctly position the army squads to exclude the attack of the slowest ones.
Traiding Post. A very useful market that allows economic operations for exchanging resources according to a rate equivalent to the trade network rate of five city Marketplaces.
Magic Spring. An analogy to the Mana Vortex building in a Dungeon-type city. Restores the Hero's spell points to maximum and then doubles them. If you encounter such a "spring," try to become its full master and do not allow enemy heroes access to it until you have tasted a sip yourself. The restoration of "mana" will occur once a week for the Hero who managed to drink first (this is not a free Magic Well), and therefore — all late Heroes will simply be left empty-handed.
Strategy
If the location of an enemy city has been determined, it is best to storm it on the first day of the week. Then, after the storm and possible numerous losses, you can receive reinforcements from the creatures of this city; it's especially pleasant if they are of the same type as yours.
Field creature sources are convenient to visit on the last day of the week so that on the next (first day of a new week) you can immediately take another reinforcement. Moreover, if the Hero has few "movement points" left after receiving the first reinforcement and there are no other useful objects nearby, they should be left in place so as not to waste time getting the second reinforcement on the next turn.
If a Hero has the Resurrection spell (best at Expert level, but in extreme cases Advanced will do) and a significant Knowledge value, it makes sense to equip their army with only one squad of the most senior non-dead (Titans, Angels/Archangels, Red Dragons...). Such an army will have no losses in battles (thanks to Resurrection), if its commander can replenish their "mana" reserves in time. It should not be forgotten that the Resurrection spell at Basic level restores fallen creatures only for the duration of the battle (after which they "die" again).
If your Hero has Blind in addition to the Resurrection spell, and the opponent lacks Dispel Magic and Cure, you can fully restore your Hero's army at the end of a battle if you manage to cast "blindness" on the last enemy unit so that it does not flee. In doing so, you must be sure to destroy the ballista and first aid tent if any are present in the enemy army. The presence of a ballista with your own Hero may hinder this plan, as the ballista fires automatically and will remove "blindness." In this case, having the Artillery secondary skill will help you control the ballista (Source - astralwizard, Gavin Watkinson).
If you start a scenario on a small island, you should capture or build a Shipyard as quickly as possible (a coastal town will provide such a facility immediately). This is especially true if various items are floating on the open water, just waiting for you to pick them up.
It is advisable (in the mid-game) to leave some gold cash at the end of your turn (and other resources, if there is a Marketplace). "Computer" Heroes love to pop out from the "darkness." If, in such a case, one of them happens to be near your town, you can change your plans on the next turn and use all resources for its defense. Naturally, if this becomes necessary. If an enemy unexpectedly pops up "from around the corner" and attacks your Hero, you can use the gold left (for a rainy day) to buy your way out from a stronger opponent and preserve your Hero's army.
At the start of the game, as soon as the opportunity arises, you should assign one of your Heroes a "scout" mission. With an army consisting of a single, fastest soldier, he should set out to open new (unexplored) territories, not forgetting to visit all useful objects available to him. Dragon Fly, Thunderbird, Royal Griffin, etc., are convenient for this purpose. Give the trailblazer one soldier and send him into the unknown distances. If you also have the sea "at hand," there should be at least two such "scouts" (one on land, another at sea). Thanks to the high speed of his companion, the Hero will quickly open new territories (and, by the way, not fear any whirlpools at sea), and when attacked by a stronger but slower enemy army, he will get the right of the "first move." This will allow your Hero to buy his way out for "ridiculous" money (since there is only one soldier) or run away (don't forget to "treat" the enemy to some attacking spell before disappearing). By the next turn, you can re-hire this Hero, who has gained skills, magic, and artifacts during his journey and managed to rise several levels. The high HP of a Thunderbird can serve as protection against the loss of your Hero, even if the first move belongs to the enemy.
Weaker creatures that also have low movement speed (6-9) may not withstand a hit from an opponent who moves first. You should give such creatures to the scout Hero in several units, splitting them into squads of one soldier each. The probability of defeat will thus be minimized (except for encounters with a wizard possessing the Chain Lightning spell, or a Hero with Expert Tactics and several fast units).
If your scout Hero does perish, the benefit from his raid will be much greater than the hiring cost, especially considering that his army was transferred to another of your Heroes and continues to be useful.
If your Hero, who has the Tactics skill, is attacked by a stronger opponent and you are offered the chance to arrange units before starting the battle, you can immediately (in this phase) begin peace negotiations or simply run away, leaving the army to fate. This is especially true if the right of the "first move" in battle belongs to the opponent, and your Hero has a small army that could be destroyed before there is an opportunity to flee from combat.
If one of the Heroes is facing a battle with an uncertain outcome, it should be conducted first, while you have not yet spent your money. Then, if necessary, the Hero, in case of obvious defeat, can buy his way out (surrender) at any moment of the battle and preserve his remaining troops.
If there are Necromancers among your Heroes, entrust battles with large crowds of weak neutral units only to them. A free increase in the ranks of Skeletons (Skeleton Warriors) is guaranteed. And another nuance: if your Hero has only Skeleton Warriors among his skeletons (if there are also a small number of ordinary skeletons - dismiss them), then before the battle, split his army into seven squads so that the "freebies" also come in the form of "warriors" rather than ordinary skeletons.
The most suitable candidates for filling "empty slots" are Wraiths with their ability to steal two units of mana with each of their squads.
If you start with a town (towns) of the Dungeon type, it makes sense to be more selective about establishing control over field objects that produce creatures weekly. Since the Portal of Summoning, one of the buildings of this town, allows hiring creatures from "flagged dwellings," it makes sense not to waste time on trifles and establish control only over those dwellings that produce higher-level creatures, preferably seventh level. Then every week in such a town, you can additionally hire one more such creature. However, keep in mind that building a Portal of Summoning in the town only makes sense after the first field dwelling of creatures appears on your path - the scenario might not contain such objects. In that case, spending on the "Portal of Summoning" is unlikely to make sense.
If you start with a town (towns) of the Necropolis type and your main force consists of undead soldiers, remember an inexpensive way to instantly obtain a large (60-100) number of Skeletons. For this, you only need to build a Skeleton Transformer in the town and find a Hero for hire in the tavern whose squad consists of a large number of first-level creatures (such as Shakti from the Dungeon castle with a hundred troglodytes). Spend 2500 gold, put the horde of troglodytes or gremlins to death – and your skeleton squad will grow significantly. As for the Hero, you can act depending on the situation: keep him in your armies or dismiss him. Interestingly, if you are playing RoE, such a Hero must not be dismissed under any circumstances. Give him one fast creature and send him to search for an enemy Hero. When such a "victim" is found, your Hero attacks them and quickly surrenders. Immediately in the Necropolis tavern, he is hired again with a new pile of food for the Transformer. In Ablade and SoD this trick will not work, as the Hero after surrender appears in the tavern with only one creature. When you play a campaign or a separate scenario with a large map, you almost always have eight Heroes (or even more) at your disposal. It is very desirable to have at least one among them with the Expert Scholar secondary skill. Then very useful spells such as Chain Lightning, Town Portal, Meteor Shower, Resurrection, Armageddon, Clone, Prayer, Water Walk, held by individual Heroes, will pass to the "scholar," and from him to all other wizards who have reached Advanced Wisdom in their development. Moreover, this will happen much faster than Hero raids to towns whose magic guilds have such spells. Tactics
If your Castle type town has a building called Stables, don't forget to stop by the town at the beginning of the week so that the Hero already there can "change his horses for fresher ones" (receive a new movement bonus for the entire upcoming week).
If you have a Tower type town, which allows adding an additional tower called Lookout Tower to the Castle to increase the range of territory observation, its construction (which is very often declined) can, in some cases, bring significant benefit. Here is an example from one scenario. North of the Tower is an enemy town, separated from it by water and reachable by land (by a detour) in many days. Your powerful mage Hero has the Fly spell, but there is no landing spot on enemy territory - everything is covered in darkness (including the town). The construction of the Lookout Tower "opened" new lands and allowed capturing the enemy town in one day.
The movement range of a Hero's army depends on the "speed" of the slowest squad. While the Hero is in the town, all squads of his army except for the fastest should be moved to the garrison. Then, on the day he leaves the town, his movement range will be the maximum possible. If faster creatures can be hired (or built and hired) in this town, you should do so, hiring one for now and giving it to the Hero as the fastest squad. However, keep in mind that the maximum movement range of a Hero on the map (during one turn) occurs when the slowest creatures in his army have a speed equal to eleven. Further increasing the army's speed will not increase the move distance. Additionally, the Hero's movement range will be the same if the slowest creature in the army has a speed of 3 or 4, 6 or 7, as well as 9 or 10. The values specified in the Manual (15-20 squares) are valid for simple terrain (Dirt, Grass, Lava, Subterranean) and assume movement in a straight line. Other types of land make adjustments, reducing the specified movement range.
If two Heroes are in the town and both face a long journey on the next turn, it is better to lead one of them out of the town with the fastest squad. Leave the other Hero with the fastest squad as well, and send the rest (if possible) to the garrison. Then both Heroes will have the "longest" move the next day.
If two Heroes are in the field nearby, and you want one of them to have the maximum possible path length on the next turn, exchange at the end of the turn so that this Hero has only the fastest squad. At the beginning of the next turn, return his army and - forward!
(new) If in Ablade and SoD your Hero established control over a resource source and his turn ended, it makes sense to "drop" all squads of his army on "defense" of the source, except for the fastest. Then on the next turn, the Hero's path will be maximally long. Just don't forget to return his guard soldiers back to the army.
If in Ablade and SoD you need to transfer some soldiers from one Hero to another, they do not necessarily have to meet. It is enough to leave reinforcements at the nearest resource source and move on with your business, and the other Hero will visit this "resource point" and take the guards. Using this possibility in the game for its intended purpose - placing guards against enemy attacks - is only possible if you have soldiers "galore," or in the case of a scenario where victory requires capturing all resource sources.
It is useful to use the possibility of a Hero "relay," when one reaches another and transfers additional troops so that he can defeat an enemy Hero nearby, or storm a town with a more powerful army.
In Armageddon’s Blade and Shadow of Death, there is no need to make preliminary exchange calculations before visiting a Trading Post. After the Hero enters this establishment, you can temporarily exit to the Travel Screen without leaving the market with this Hero. If it becomes necessary to continue exchanging, just select this Hero, press "space," and continue trading operations. Unfortunately, this tip only works for the game's add-ons and is not suitable for ”Restoration of Erathia,” where space does not work and you have to waste time moving away and re-entering the Trading Post.
If an opponent wants to dock at your shore where there is only one landing spot, you can occupy this spot with your Hero, and the enemy will be unable to reach the shore.
If eight Heroes (the maximum for traveling) are already participating in your troops, and there is an opportunity in the Tavern to hire an advanced Hero (of those who lost a battle and returned to the Guild), and you want to do so, do not rush to dismiss one of your own. It is enough to send some Hero to the town garrison so that the possibility to hire a new Hero appears. You can immediately transfer him to the garrison if you need (on this turn) to lead an old Hero (whom you put in the garrison) out of the town for some urgent actions.
Sometimes it is very useful to have your Hero attack an enemy one and surrender or run away, even if your Hero is stronger (in this case, it's useful to reduce the opponent's army to a minimum, although this will not bring experience to your commander), in order to appear in one of your towns on the same turn. I highly recommend doing this if an opportunity has arisen in one of your towns to acquire the Town Portal spell, and the Hero already has the Earth Magic secondary skill at Advanced level, but it would take many days for him to run to that town. Another need for such a maneuver may arise if you need to defend your town which has no Hero, and the capabilities of a novice from the Tavern do not satisfy you, or you have no possibility to hire one (full set of traveling Heroes, none of whom can be transferred to the garrison).
If a Hero entered some creature dwelling and his "turn" ended, hiring creatures is necessary only if they are needed to strengthen the army of a Hero who may be attacked by enemy armies on this same turn. Otherwise, it is better to use gold for other acquisitions and hire these creatures on the next turn (select the Hero and press "space"). If the "speed" of the hired creatures is lower than those already in the Hero's army, then even without experiencing gold problems, you should postpone the purchase of these creatures until the next turn, so that the movement range for the next turn (which depends on the "speed" of the slowest squad in the army and is set at the beginning of the turn) does not decrease. Unfortunately, this tip only works for the game's add-ons and is not suitable for ”Restoration of Erathia,” where space does not work and you have to waste time moving away and re-entering the creature dwelling.
When an enemy Hero with a strong army appears near your town, you face a dilemma: do you want them to attack the town (and "fail miserably," of course), or not? Experience suggests that the opponent's behavior toward your town depends on how you position the troops within it. If you put all units into the garrison except for the "fastest" one (if they don't attack, the Hero will have the "longest move"), the probability of an attack is very high. Putting the entire army of the hero "on display" very often cools the enemy Hero's enthusiasm, and they abandon their claims to your town.
Remember that a guest Hero may surrender or flee when attacking a town, but a host Hero (the garrison commander) cannot (with the exception of a Stronghold type town in which an Escape Tunnel is built). If a strong enemy appears in the vicinity of your town and you want to preserve your Hero (who will certainly be the "host" if there is only one in the town), do not rush to leave the town. The town may not be attacked yet, or the enemy Hero may not have enough movement to reach it on this turn. However, to fully protect yourself from losing an important Hero, hire another one in the town (after first moving the existing one into the garrison). Then swap the Heroes so that the "big shot" becomes a "guest" and wait for the opponent's move. If the town is attacked, the guest Hero will be the first to engage in battle, meeting the enemy in the open field (but he can surrender or flee). Try to reduce the size of the enemy army as much as possible before "slipping away." It may turn out that the new Hero, protected by shooting towers and reinforced by the town's garrison, seems too tough for the weakened enemy or "holds out" during the siege. And the "big shot" can reappear in your forces as early as the next turn.
If you really need to find out the characteristics of an enemy Hero, and your Heroes do not have suitable magic or Rogue at hand, you can hire a new Hero, give him one creature whose speed is higher than the fastest unit of the enemy, and send him to attack the Hero of interest. The cost of such information is not that high.
If your Hero has visited some useful object and there are a few "steps" left until the end of the turn, and an enemy Hero is nearby, it makes sense not to move yours anywhere else. Let the opponent try to win the right to visit this object in battle, especially if it is a Hill Fort or Obelisk.
Before directing a Hero into battle with the defenders of a treasure vault or objects such as a Dragon Fly Hive and Griffin Conservatory, it would be wise to know the number of guards to reduce the risk of defeat. To do this, perform the following manipulations: Place the cursor on the object and send the Hero there. When asked by the guards, ”Do you wish to attack the guards?”, answer ”No”. Right-click on the object to get information about the creatures protecting it and their approximate number. In most cases, this will answer whether it is worth attacking the guards with this Hero or sending another, stronger one. (Source – astralwizard, Quebec Dragon).
Magic
Summon Boat. Having the secondary skill Water Magic at a level no lower than Advanced and this spell allows the Hero to not worry about buying a ship. If such a need arises and there are no free ships in your fleet, this Hero will provide a ship for himself, pulling it "out of his pocket." Obviously, such a Hero can easily provide you with any number of ships, and completely for free.
Fly. "Flight," of course, loses to Dimension Door in terms of the Hero's movement distance, but it has one invaluable property. It allows you to "steal" items scattered on the ground that are under the constant guard of neutral troops. A Hero using this spell flies past and, as if by chance, picks up the item, leaving the guards to watch an empty spot. This property of Fly is especially impressive when collecting artifacts and "scrolls" with "cool" spells. View Air. A very useful and, importantly, cheap spell. If you play "fairly," the location of enemy Heroes (provided your Hero has the Air Magic skill at Advanced level) located in unexplored lands will not be a "closely guarded secret." As a result, the danger of an attack on your Heroes "from around the corner" will sharply decrease, and it will shorten the search for enemy Heroes at the end of the game when they are hiding from your righteous wrath in still-hidden territory.
Town Portal. Having this wonderful spell with any of your Heroes (with Earth Magic skill no lower than Advanced) will immediately solve the problem of town defense and free other Heroes from this difficult duty. After casting the spell and moving your Hero to the selected town, do not send him on his way immediately; actually enter the town so that the Hero receives everything in it (magic, possible primary skills, etc.). Having this spell with a Hero who has Basic Earth Magic (or none at all) transports him, as is known, to his nearest "own" town, but only on the current map level (surface or underground). If there are no "own" towns on the current level, using this spell is useless—it will not send the Hero to a town on another level.
View Earth. If you have a Hero with Expert Earth Magic who has such a spell in their arsenal, it is convenient to use the services of such a wizard to view all unexplored lands (including the underground world), which will open at the wave of his magic wand. In addition to learning the location of enemy towns (images of the towns themselves are not on the opened map, but they are easily guessed by the roads leading from their gates), you can see traces of "Grail" searches on the map—holes dug in the ground if one of your opponents has started this difficult task (the computer usually does not try to get information from all "obelisks" and may start digging after visiting only one of them). In this case, you should try to obstruct such an operation if you do not want to be left without the "Grail."
If a Hero has a choice between several Elemental magic skills (as a result of leveling up or those offered in the University), and you don't know which to prefer, I advise first choosing Earth Magic, which has a whole set of magnificent spells: Slow (in the form of Mass Slow, of course), Animate Dead, Meteor Shower, Resurrection, Town Portal, Implosion, and only secondarily Air Magic (Chain Lightning, Fly, Dimension Door).
Artifacts
If your Heroes have artifacts that increase creature population, do not forget to "place" the Heroes with these artifacts in selected towns by the end of the week (on the seventh day).
A Hero has only 5 "pockets" for artifacts. If the number of "pocket" artifacts the Hero possesses is greater, a problem arises regarding their use. You should ensure the timely movement of such artifacts from the backpack of unused items into "pockets" and back. When a Hero is moving, mana restoration artifacts are useful in the "pockets," which can be replaced before battle, for example, with artifacts that extend the duration of spells.
If you have several artifacts competing for the same equipment slot (head, hands, torso, shoulders, feet), they should be handled just like "pocket" ones. For example, a Hero has Boots of Speed (feet: movement speed) and Dragonbone Greaves (feet: SP+1, Knowledge+1). The Hero travels with the first artifact on their feet, but when approaching a Magic Well, changes shoes, drinks from the well, receives an extra 10 units of "mana," and puts the first artifact back on.
The Grail
If you have dug up the Grail and you have several different towns, it is preferable to take it to the Tower. The Skyship built on its basis, in addition to three usual "gifts," will give you a fourth—it will open all unexplored territory of the map (which is very valuable if such territory exists and the game is still in full swing).
If one of your opponents has dug up the Grail, under no circumstances should you attack this Hero to seize the great artifact. After losing a battle, they will unconditionally give up all "ordinary" artifacts they have, but the winner will not get the Grail—it will disappear forever! Therefore, it is worth tracking where the lucky owner takes their find and capturing the town that already has the corresponding unique structure. The building, unlike the artifact, will not disappear anywhere and will immediately start working for you. A small nuance concerns your result for winning a separate scenario: since you did not dig up the Grail, the corresponding bonus is not due to you.
Preparing the army for battle
It is useful to divide the Hero's army into seven detachments, filling empty vacancies with units consisting of one weak creature, and placing them to the left of the main detachment of the same creatures (so that they move earlier). Such suicide loners are useful for the first strike on enemy detachments or serve as an additional line of defense for a "fortress" with shooters inside. However, it should be kept in mind that such army division is very problematic if there are Liches (Power Liches) or Magogs in the opponent's ranks. As well as when meeting Heroes who have the Meteor Shower spell in their arsenal (for example, Deemer or Aislinn). If your Hero does not have an advantage in the Tactics skill or superiority in speed, it is practically inevitable that the central group of three detachments will be covered by fire or a spell. In this case, six detachments and no military equipment are better!
If your hero's army, having fewer than seven detachments, is defending a town and a siege is imminent, it is necessary to divide it into seven detachments to increase the number of units capable of "plugging" breaches made by the catapult.
To reduce losses in battles with defenders of guarded resource vaults and creatures, it is important to correctly determine the formation of your Hero's army before the battle so that weaker and slower (compared to enemy detachments) units do not immediately fall under their attack. Remember that the arrangement of army detachments on the battlefield depends on their number. Keep in mind that the likely presence of stronger and faster brethren among them (bottom left detachment) requires some correction (this detachment will start the battle first). Thus, in a battle with defenders of guarded resource vaults and creatures, the Hero's detachments are located in the center of the field in several horizontal rows (the number of rows depends on the number of detachments). Placement on the field occurs as follows: rows are filled with detachments taken from the Hero's initial army formation, starting from the leftmost (until they run out). In the maximum version (7 detachments), the first (top) row contains two detachments, the next (below it) three, and the last one again two. Thus, the arrangement on the battlefield depending on the number of detachments in the army takes the following form: 2-3-2; 2-3-1; 2-3; 2-2; 2-1; 2; 1.
Battle Strategy
At the beginning of a fight, it is useful to use "Wait" for your detachments rather than rushing forward headlong as the AI does, in order to: first, not expose detachments to enemy attack and instead be the first to "strike" reachable opponent detachments; and second, ensure that your detachments, which are faster than the opponent's, get two strikes in a row (at the end of the first and beginning of the second round). If you also have units that enemies do not respond to, as a result of such actions after two rounds, the enemy army will suffer significantly greater losses than yours.
If you have the Tactics skill and the field has only a few narrow passages, and the enemy has strong detachments, it is useful to place detachments consisting of one soldier in these passages to slow their advance toward your shooters.
One of the recommended ways of fighting against defenders of guarded vaults (most acceptable against slow but sturdy Dwarves): If you are able to destroy one detachment of guards in the first round, a detachment of shooters is placed in the leftmost position of the army formation (before entering the vault), and the army begins by destroying the top-left detachment of guards. All detachments gradually converge into this corner and perhaps arrange a "living" fortress for their shooters.
If a mage Hero has the Ballistics skill and has many shooters, then during a town siege, you can block the gates with some detachment, decline the services of the catapult, and destroy everyone in the town who does not fly, without letting them enter close combat.
The Ballistics skill gives the Hero attacking a town one undeniable advantage—in the initial phase of the siege, even before the catapult fires, the Hero has the opportunity to cast a spell! Blind or Berserk, cast on the fastest detachment of the garrison defenders, are very useful in this case. The use of collective magic such as Mass Haste or Mass Slow is also possible, which will give the attacker a great advantage in speed. (Source – astralwizard, Qurqirish Dragon)
If your town defender possesses a powerful spell that allows removing 1000 HP in two-three rounds (better, of course, in one, but such cases are quite rare), and the besieger's army is numerous (although "flyers" are not that many), it is useful at the beginning of the siege to destroy the catapult to prevent the main forces of the opponent from entering the town and to preserve the city towers (note that Implosion does not work on a catapult!). After "dealing with" the enemy "flyers" who have entered the town, your defender's magic together with the shooting towers will finish off the besieging Hero's troops if he doesn't manage to flee. Your own "flyers" with speed 11 and above can be involved in the operation to destroy the catapult, positioning them behind the walls so that they reach the catapult. First use Wait, attack the catapult at the end of the turn, and move back under the protection of the walls at the beginning of the next. And so on until the catapult is destroyed.
In a battle with a strong enemy Hero, strive not to let him escape, even if you need to sacrifice several extra warriors. In addition to your Hero receiving the maximum amount of Experience in this case, you will remove an already "leveled-up" Hero from the enemy army for a long time (if not forever). If you are lucky, he may appear at the beginning of next week in your town's tavern, and you can invite him to serve under your banners. At the same time, you will get some information about the magical arsenal of the opponent he previously servedTo prevent the Hero from fleeing the battle, lull them into a false sense of security. Do not overwhelm them immediately; plan the engagement so that in the final round you have enough strength to completely destroy all remaining enemy squads.
Do not ignore enemy machinery. If a "free" squad or a magical strike becomes available, destroy the Ammo Cart, Ballista, and First Aid Tent. If the Hero flees, the enemy will have to spend 4250 gold on new equipment.
If the enemy is standing at the gates of your city, which houses a powerful mage with high Spell Power and Knowledge stats, while the city garrison (together with the Hero's troops) leaves much to be desired, the following well-known practice is quite likely. Leave the Hero with one squad consisting of a single fast soldier, attack the enemy, strike with magic, and then surrender or pay them off (which also solves the problem of the new fast soldier). Hire this same Hero in the tavern and go back into battle... Further progress depends on the duration of the Hero's turn, their "mana" reserves, the amount of gold in your treasury, and the size of the enemy army. Eventually, the mage may "thin out" the opponent's army so much that they can no longer capture the city. Such a powerful mage can also be used as an initial strike against a strong enemy field army before your main Hero enters the fray.
Tactics
To protect shooters from melee combat with enemy soldiers during a battle, you should surround them with other squads, creating an artificial "fortress" around the shooters. The easiest way to do this is as follows: before attacking the enemy, divide the Hero's army into several squads (four or more, but five is optimal). Arrange the squads so that the shooter squad is on the far left, placing them in the corner of the battlefield. To the right, place three (or two, if there are creatures that occupy two cells on the field) squads, which will act as active fortress walls (they can attack the enemy and respond to hits while staying in place). Beyond those, you can place "dummy" squads consisting of a single weakest soldier, needed only to "shift" the shooters into the corner of the field and deliver the first strikes against enemy squads.
It is also possible to build a "fortress" in the center. In this case, the army must consist of five squads. The shooter squad is placed in the middle, and the combat formation is set to "Tight". Then the shooters on the battlefield are covered on the flanks by neighboring squads; you only need to place one of the outer squads in front of the shooters on the first turn. Such a formation is advantageous if only one of your squads manages to make a move (placed first or fifth) before the fastest enemy squad gets the right to move and can immediately attack your shooters due to high speed or the enemy Hero's Tactics skill. If the enemy squads are not that fast, and you have at least one squad of creatures that occupy "two cells" in your army, you should prefer the "corner" fortress, which in this case is created by only two squads, as described in the first option.
To avoid wasteful losses of weak squads (when the Hero has the Tactics skill), they can also be placed inside a "fortress" created from soldier squads with high HP values. While the "long-livers" hold back enemy strikes and the shooters rain their deadly weapons upon the foes, the weak squads can watch the battle as spectators. If the enemy Hero has the Resurrection or Animate Dead spell, then to ensure a certain squad of the enemy army cannot be "revived" after its complete destruction, you must place one of your own squads on its position. Of course, not a "frail" one, so that it cannot be destroyed too quickly.
The presence of weak flyers within a "living fortress" who deliver unanswered strikes (Sprites or Harpy Hags) will allow them to take direct part in the battle without any losses on their side. The former can strike at the end of the turn and flee at the beginning of the next, while the latter can make sorties every turn, returning to their starting position independently. (Source - Hermann Salzmann)
Use of Magic
During an assault on your city, it is useful to use the Blind spell to "patch holes" in the fortress wall and breached city gates. You should place one of your squads (preferably the smallest number of "weak" creatures) in front of the breach so that enemies cannot slip past. When an enemy squad (usually the strongest and most numerous squads push through the defensive "moats") hits your barrier and stops, likely destroying the obstacle, you cast Blind on it and pray that the enemy Hero does not have Dispel or Cure spells. If they have already used magic in this round, you can put off the prayer and, in the next round, avoid rushing to use another spell, instead watching how the enemy reacts (magically) to the "blinded" situation. The Force Field spell can also be used for these purposes, but remember that it only lasts for two rounds of battle.
The application of magic depends on the situation: sometimes it is useful to wait until the enemy Hero says their "magic word" (especially if your spell does not attack, but only changes the combat qualities of some enemy squad), and only then use your own spell. For example, it is dangerous to be the first to cast Slow on an enemy squad — the opponent might have Haste, and your magical "shot" will be a blank.
If the opponent uses Mass Cure, especially at Expert level, you should only attack those squads where you can reduce the "headcount." Otherwise, your attack or shot will be wasted.
natasha
19 years ago
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Specific Properties of Individual Creatures
Of course, almost all "city" soldiers have some peculiarities documented in the Manual. The tips in this section are based on some especially notable properties of these "city" units.
If the opponent uses Blind against your squads, and your Hero does not have Cure or Dispel spells, then a good (albeit more expensive) alternative can be the Teleport spell. A "blinded squad" can be teleported right up to enemy shooters, who will attack your squad in melee combat more weakly and automatically remove the effect of the spell from it. If the enemy Hero moves the blocked same shooter squad to another place on the battlefield instead of attacking so that no one blocks them, then you can use the Teleport spell again on the next turn. Cast it as soon as any of your squads gains the right to move, in order to block the shooter squad before its turn comes. (Source – astralwizard, Rich Browne)
Royal Griffins. If there are enough of them in a squad (since the HP of a single bird leaves much to be desired), it is useful to send it into the thick of battle so that the birds "respond" to everyone attacking their flock. The same property is based on the rapid capture of an enemy city with a weak but multi-squad garrison. The faster Royal Griffins get behind the city walls, the sooner the battle will end. If your Hero storming the city fortifications has the Tactics skill or Haste spell, which allow the birds to immediately "visit" the besieged, then the assault may last only one round.
Cavaliers and Champions. Do not forget that their striking power depends on the length of the "run-up" and try to attack enemy squads at the limit of cavalry attack range.
Archangels. Do not forget to use their one-time ability in battle to restore (or even resurrect) some allied squad. If a Hero has a squad of archangels, the Clone spell, and the Water Magic secondary skill at Expert level, he can restore original archangels (after losing one or several) using a squad of cloned archangels. Given that one Archangel restores 100 hit points, you can use the Clone spell repeatedly so that by the end of the battle not a single "real" archangel is lost. As long as there are enough spell points for all the spells. (Source – astralwizard, Ye olde sorcerer (Florian Trombach))
Master Genies. If the Hero's army has few of them, then in battle against a strong opponent it is better to use their magical abilities three times during the battle to "cast" useful spells on your own army squads than to rely on insignificant combat qualities. At the same time, they can be split into several squads (if there are free slots) to increase the number of useful spells.
Nagas and Naga Queens. While other squads Wait in battle, they can attack any reachable enemy squad without any pain to themselves, reducing its size so that other squads of their army take less damage during attack and "retaliation." And a large amount of HP will allow the "nagas" to withstand a possible attack from their opponent.
Devils and Arch Devils. Here everything is simple: you Wait and attack the enemy twice without any "response" on their part. However, if the battle with the enemy can end in the first round, then "waiting" is unnecessary.
If your Hero, who has a squad of Devils (Arch Devils), is defending a city, having the Teleport spell and Expert Water Magic skill (so that squads can be teleported through walls) allows you to attack the enemy with this squad on every turn without punishment (after Waiting, of course) and at the beginning of the next turn teleport it back behind the walls, Wait, and attack again at the end of the turn. You should only keep in mind that your "horned ones" must be the fastest on the battlefield.
Vampire Lords. Self-sufficient warriors. A single squad with a decent number of these beauties can handle a numerous army of "living" opponents, whose lives Vampire Lords will use to restore themselves.
Ghost Dragons. Use the 20% probability property to "age the opponent" in attacks on strong squads - do not waste them on low-level same small fry.
Harpy Hags. During a siege of your city, place "harpies" right by the wall so that as many enemy squads as possible are reachable for their attacks. It is good if they can reach shooters standing in the back line. Their property - to deal damage to the opponent without "retaliation" and return "home" - will be of significant importance when repelling an attack on a city. Especially if they are not bothered by enemy shooters and flying squads. When besieging an enemy city, it is sometimes useful to prevent garrison squads from coming out. Especially if it consists mostly of heavy infantry. In this case, the most convenient place for your Harpy Hags squad is right in front of the gates, from where they can attack any defender squad and return back, continuing to hinder the sally of the garrison infantry. (Source - astralwizard, author - Tianyun)
Cyclopes and Cyclops Kings. They shoot well at the enemy, but when storming fortresses, if the number of cyclopes in the attacking army is insignificant, it is useful to use their "catapult" ability (throwing their stones at walls and towers), splitting the cyclopes into several squads when there are vacant slots in the army.
Mighty Gorgons. Due to their additional death stare ability with a certain probability to instantly destroy several creatures of the attacked squad, these "bulls" are better used in attacks on the opponent's strongest creatures. The number of destroyed depends on the number of Mighty Gorgons and ranges from 1 to (N:10)+1 (where N is the number of Mighty Gorgons. For example, 31 "bulls" can additionally destroy one to four creatures of the attacked squad). The probability of a death stare appearing depends on the number of Mighty Gorgons and for one bull equals 10% (as stated in the Manual). Increasing the number of Mighty Gorgons in a squad leads to a significant increase in the probability of a death stare. Without providing a general formula for calculating this probability, I will only report the probability values for some Mighty Gorgon squads that were tested in practice and matched theoretical calculations: 10 MG – 0.65; 20 MG – 0.88; 30 MG – 0.95 (Source - Mironov@piter.com)City Construction
The first week, and if funds permit, the subsequent ones, should be entirely devoted to the daily construction of your city's buildings. This is what lays the foundation for your future victory. Every day resources must be allocated for the erection of some structure. Here is the necessary list of what you should have built by the end of the first week: Town Hall, Fort, Citadel, creature buildings levels 1-4, and for the other two days depending on city type and availability of resources: City Hall, Castle, Mage Guild Level 1 etc. (for a city of the Castle type, for example, it is good to build a Griffin Bastion). At the initial stage of development, you should strive for maximum growth of creatures and postpone "upgrades" of soldier buildings to a later time. Exceptions may be flying creatures (Griffins, Rocs, Serpent Flies etc.). It is useful to perform their "upgrade" as early as possible. They will add speed to Scout Heroes, and in the armies of other Heroes they can more quickly (Dragon Flies even in the first round) block enemy shooters of neutral squads, who very often stand guard at resource sources that are so necessary for you at the beginning of the game.Playing on Impossible Level
There is no money, and not much is to be expected from the city, which usually brings almost 500 gold at the start of nearly every scenario. Therefore, much in playing at this difficulty level depends on the choice of Starting Hero and the initial accumulation period, which should put you on par with other commanders in the scenario. Here are a few tips that will to some extent help compensate for the complete lack of resources at the beginning of the game.
When choosing a Starting Hero, everyone else should be preferred over the Hero whose specialization is a contribution of 350 gold brought by them to the lean coffers of your kingdom every day. A supplement to this freebie should be the gold that you prefer in the Starting Bonus over other resources. I must note, however, that not all city types have such "rich men." In Fortress and Stronghold type cities they do not exist (but Necropolis and Conflux even have two). I don't think, however, that anyone would want to play on the hardest level as swamp creatures, and those who prefer barbarians can settle on a Hero named Dessa. She runs fast thanks to the Logistics skill and will be able to explore the area more quickly, gathering scattered resources and establishing control over their sources. Experienced players, however, can ignore monetary Heroes even at this difficulty level and use the services of "top specialists." Such examples include: Dungeon - Jeddite or Alamar, who initially have Resurrection, Necropolis - Thant with his Animate Dead, Tower - Solmyr (Chain Lightning), Conflux - Ciele (Magic Arrow +50% damage).
On the very first day, you should try to capture the Sawmill and Ore Pit located near the city. If you have only one Hero at your disposal who cannot be in two places at once because these resource sources are not located nearby, then you must capture the resource near which there is a Treasure Chest or gold deposits. The Hero must manage to pick up the chest, taking gold from it, and/or money lying on the ground, so that together with the bonus from the previous tip they can gather 2500 gold and hire a second Hero, who will then take care of the other resource source.
When encountering Treasure Chests, you should always prefer money over "leveling up" the Hero. Your Heroes will have to increase their characteristics in battles with field squads and armies of enemy Heroes. The thing is, when you have enough money not to take it from chests, your main Heroes will already be quite "cool," and "chest" experience can only be useful if a Hero is just a little bit short of moving to the next level.
When forming a Hero's army in the first week, special attention should be paid to the development of "advanced" flyers, who will allow you to quickly "tie up" shooters standing guard at resource sources and other useful objects.
If a passage protected by a field squad of creatures is discovered, it must be destroyed as early as possible. It is quite likely that it is an exit from your territory into the outside world, which contains resources, sources, and cities common to all opponents. If you manage to loot there before others arrive, you will be able to catch up with your rivals in development. Procrastination, in this case, is like death.
If there is an opportunity to send a Hero sailing, it should be done as early as possible. Even if there are no wooden debris on the water, the sailor can land on one's own land that has unclaimed resources, and at the same time show you the paths of other sea expeditions with stronger armies capable of capturing neutral cities and destroying obstructing field squads of creatures.
City development (construction) in the first week is greatly hindered due to a lack of resources. And yet you should try to adhere to the same tips that were indicated earlier. You will always be able to put up a Citadel and level 1-3 creatures. The rest of the construction depends on the promptness of your Heroes exploring the territory in search of resources and the availability of the resources themselves.
Since you have several Heroes in the first week and, most likely, only one army (assembled from those soldiers who arrived with these Heroes) that is capable of "dealing" with field squads, try to use its transfer from one Hero to another during a single turn to speed up the process of destroying all enemies and establishing full control over your territory.
The presence of a Hill Fort, which allows you to "upgrade" creatures without spending on constructing corresponding buildings in cities, also provides considerable savings when performing the "upgrade" itself: first-level creatures perform such an operation for free, second - for 25% of the usual cost, third - for 50% of the usual cost, fourth - for 75% of the usual cost. And only starting from the fifth is full cost required (Source – astralwizard, Quebec Dragon).
Choosing a Starting Hero when playing in a separate scenario
The choice of Hero depends largely on the scenario and difficulty level. If the chosen scenario already offers you certain cities, then the choice of Hero is limited only to their representatives. Otherwise, the choice is determined only by the difficulty level, at low levels of which (when there are enough resources for everything) you can be more selective about this point, according to your preferences. The Impossible level has some peculiarities. Without claiming the final truth, I will still venture to suggest a few candidates for the role of starting Hero in scenarios with low difficulty levels. Castle - Orrin (Archery), Dungeon - Jeddite/Alamar (Resurrection), Fortress - Tazar (Armorer), Inferno - Xarfax (Fireball), Necropolis - Thant (Animate Dead), Rampart - Alagar (Ice Bolt), Stronghold - Dessa (Logistics)/Crag Hack (Offense), Tower - Solmyr (Chain Lightning), Conflux – Ciele (Magic Arrow +50% damage). Sometimes, in the list of starting Heroes for a Castle city, Sir Mullich appears (the soldiers of his army receive an additional two units of movement speed), who becomes the best candidate among Heroes of this city type.
Separate scenario with an ally
This type of scenario, besides the fact that the ally does not bother you with their intrusions and cannot use the "fruits" of objects marked by your flag, turned out to be surprisingly rich in nuances, most of which are reflected in this section.
It is very useful (especially for Impossible difficulty) on the first day to hire a Hero for yourself in the tavern of an allied city and send him on a quest for money, resources, and other freebies through friendly lands. As some compensation, you can give the ally part of this hero's army (leaving only the "fastest" squad so that he can grab as much as possible)This hero, of course, will not reach your territory quickly to fight alongside your other Heroes, but the benefit from his acquisitions will more than make up for those 2500 gold that you allocate from your treasury's meager purse. And if he manages to set sail faster than the allied Heroes (to clear the sea of "trash" as well), then one could not dream of anything more.
Since almost everything marked by your ally becomes unavailable to you, keep a close eye on the movements of enemy Heroes. As soon as they establish control over any allied object, it immediately becomes available to you. Try to reach it faster than your ally's Heroes and establish your own control over that object. If you are playing for a high score, try to capture a former city of your ally before his Heroes—who are capable of reclaiming a city captured by the enemy—arrive there. Even if (by this point) you do not need this city, it will be very useful for achieving a higher result.
Allied Heroes leave information about various objects when visiting them. Knowing what is contained in a Witch Hut, various Shrine of Magic, or Tree of Knowledge allows you to choose which ones to visit and which not to. And if there is a Den of Thieves on the ally's territory, you can have full information every day on the current state of affairs for all your opponents (there is no time to visit such an object on your own territory).
The advantage of the first move allows your Hero at the beginning of each week to "check in" at storage objects such as Windmill, Water Wheel, Mystical Garden...
In an allied city, you can buy a Spell Book and stock up on spells from the Mage Guild. However, you are not allowed to build structures or buy soldiers in such a city.
Allied cities allow you to "upgrade" creatures located in your Heroes' armies. (Source - Hermann Salzmann)
If an ally visits an Obelisk, your Hero no longer needs to—your Puzzle Map will automatically open the territory taking such a visit into account. Keep in mind, however, that the ally will receive similar information from your same visits to new "obelisks." And if he digs up the Grail and places a unique structure in his city, it is unlikely you will get this city—the ally will try not to give it to the enemies.
Regardless of which one of you establishes control over the Shipyard, the shipyard becomes general for both. Only in this case can you not buy a ship "from afar"; you must visit it with a Hero.
If there is a Hut of the Mage on your territory (which opens the territory in a certain vicinity of all Eye of the Magi linked to it), do not rush to visit it. Your ally will do this for you, and you will receive additional information about unfamiliar terrain for free.
If a Hero has acquired the Town Portal spell at Advanced level, both their own and all allied cities will be available to them.
From the editor.
If those who have read these materials have their own tips (not present in this article) on various aspects of strategy and tactics in "Heroes 3...", they can share them with other gamers by sending their tips to: vladimirvis@fcenter.ru. All sent tips will be analyzed and posted on the site as additional materials to this article, noting their "authorship." Those who wish to communicate directly with Vsk can use the address _VSK@mail.ru
Blondie
19 years ago
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What is a skeleton transformer? Where can I get it, and how do I use it?
Night
19 years ago
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The Necropolis's Skeleton Transformer building allows you to transform any creature into a skeleton.
A Necropolis building that transforms skeletons; it allows any creature to be turned into a skeleton.
Additionally, all dragons and hydras can be transformed into bone dragons. And in the Tournament Edition, even cavalry and unicorns can be turned into black knights!
Also, you can transform all dragons and hydras into bone dragons. And in the Tournament Edition, you can even turn unicorns into black knights!
:eek: I didn't know that! Although, I don't really play as Necropolis... Thanks for the information.
Blondie
19 years ago
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Interesting... I've never used it before. Although I'm a beginner gamer. Unicorns are still somewhat acceptable, but why bone dragons? They're completely useless; I don't buy or build them, except in cases where a witch in a hut needs them for trading artifacts.
Blondie
19 years ago
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I tried it... even with dragons and hydras, I still ended up with skeletons. It was disappointing.
celt
19 years ago
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And before the patches were installed, Cyclops, with a well-developed strategy, could shoot down the castle walls!
Prorock
19 years ago
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Unit of level 7 - This is the KEY to success; it represents the entire castle.
Its characteristics determine the strength of the ENTIRE castle.
Simple, but true!
celt
19 years ago
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It's not a certainty... After all, there are bone dragons!
A 7th-level unit is the KEY to success; it represents the entire castle. Its strength reflects the strength of the ENTIRE castle. Simple, but true!
Not entirely, I think... There are many situations where building 7th-level creatures is simply unnecessary for victory... For example, on a map size of 36x36... there are also many situations where you can manage without them...
Not really, I think... There are many situations where building level 7 creatures is simply not necessary for victory... For example, when the map size is 36x36... there are also many situations where you can manage without them...
Well, yes, you don't necessarily need to build Bone Dragons... But I prefer to build them all. My friend and I play Sylvan with 6 companions on KING difficulty on a generated map, and EVEN UNDER THESE CONDITIONS, WE BUILD THEM ALL!
