Posts from Necropolis and Demon.

I can only suggest playing Ganseng in a normal late-game scenario as a Demon against a Necromancer. Of course, theoretically, Imps can drain 400 mana, but this requires at least 8 Inferno castles to achieve. And with 8 castles, the Necromancer will have so much undead that no force can defeat him. As for the Demon's high initiative, the first few turns will likely be spent opening gates because without gatekeeping, the Demon has virtually no chance. And regarding mass slowing, why bother investing in it? The Devastating Ray is also available to the Lords. Perhaps mass acceleration would be a better option?
Readiness with defense is needed to keep the main units (not gate units) alive for as long as possible. The Necromancer won't attack those in defense, and while that happens, we can focus on heavily attacking with Divine Retribution those who are distracted by the gate units. So, don't rely too much on anything; Necromancers are practically unbeatable now, and they are almost the strongest faction in the game, with only Dwarves with the Academy being able to compete with them.

Well, if you let the battles drag on to the 20th or 30th weekly reinforcement, then of course it's a problem. And that's why you need to eliminate the Necromancer starting from the first month. And since I hardly play on maps larger than average (first, it takes too long, second, the game starts to lag), this is quite achievable. Again, I repeat, IF you're lucky and get a good starting position, then of course you go for Haven. But that's probably a one in 20 chance. And besides, where will the demon learn light magic if there's no neutral city like Haven, Sylvan, Dwarves, or Academy? So you might end up with neither a holy weapon nor even teleport, if you don't get the "surprise attack" skill.
And Necropolis is far from the strongest faction. Since Heroes 3, they seem to have been strengthened with abilities, but their overall stats aren't that high, with average defense and almost zero attack, especially for dragons, which frankly aren't worth the resources spent on them. It's better to use those 20 gold and 20 mercury, which you would spend on them, to upgrade vampires and undead or build a level 5 guild of mages; you'll get much more benefit from that.

Therefore, you need to eliminate the Necromancer starting from the first month.

By the first month, the Necromancer will have a decent army, and defeating him will be quite difficult. You can't just rely on Imps with mana. First, the Demon will have to work hard to gather a reasonably suitable army. This means he'll have to take Dael. Meanwhile, the Necromancer will capture some Sulfur, build a Castle, and sit in it. Capturing the Necromancer's Castle is much harder than capturing the Demon's Castle, especially if the Necromancer has a spiritual connection. I don't understand how the Demon can easily defeat the Necromancer in the first month. Unless he attacks in the first week.

Added 6 minutes later

And the Necromancer faction is far from the strongest. Since Heroes 3, they seem to have been strengthened with abilities, but their overall stats aren't that high, with average defense and almost zero attack, especially for Dragons, which frankly aren't worth the resources spent on them.

My friend, you clearly haven't played Heroes enough to reason like that. It's well known that Necromancers rely on quantity, not quality (although, looking at it, what's so low quality about them? Just consider the cost - how much do Messengers, Liches, and Vampires cost!). Yes, the Necromancer's attack is weak, but that's not a problem - there are artifacts, magic, and other options. You can gather hundreds of Dragons, Ghosts, Skeletons, and Zombies, and you can gather thousands of them if you know how. And gathering several hundred Vampires, Liches, and Banshees is also not a problem. And what about the magic, what about the Phoenix, so many development possibilities. So, you're wrong to criticize the Necromancer faction.

No, you are simply overestimating the Necromancer's capabilities. Taking the Castle of Daleb isn't that difficult, considering the skillful management of machines and the ballista with fire arrows (which essentially ignores half of the armor, meaning even through a wall, the damage will be considerable). A catapult has a 40% chance of destroying a wall/gate/tower with a single shot, and if the gate is breached, the siege won't last long. And the gatehouse will provide decent assistance during the siege. As for gathering "hundreds of dragons," it would require astronomical amounts of money, especially if there are a lot of cities on the map, or if the map is standard, i.e., 1, maximum 2, neutral cities, it will take about 5 months of game time. The only undeniable advantage of the Necromancer over the Demon is a relatively easy start. It's quite difficult for the Demon to defeat some monsters that the Necromancer handles better, and if there are losses, the Necromancer quickly replenishes them with necromancy. I base my judgments solely on my experience in online battles, where I played exclusively as Necromancers for about six months, and the highest percentage of defeats were inflicted upon me by Demons. In skilled hands, the Demon is a very dangerous opponent; I don't play as Demons often myself, as it's quite difficult for me. P.S., I've been playing online for 2 years, about 130-150 games. So, I haven't played that little, and I can draw my own conclusions. Yes, and also: in "Lands of Exile" on the "Hero" difficulty, you shouldn't even try to defeat Kaspar in the first week. The Plague Tent deals damage in the first week that is comparable to a volley from a rocket launcher. Only the Academy can withstand this, thanks to the gremlin saboteurs.

Ganseng, you should have mentioned how many matches you've played at the beginning (if it wasn't a joke). Otherwise, it always turns out that if you're new to the forum, people think you're a noob... I myself haven't played many online battles, and even when I did, most of them were with inexperienced players. Regarding the topic, I agree that it's difficult with Demons, but with Deleb, it's much easier because of her machinery. However, a lot depends on the creatures on the tree and the rocks. If there are Elder Fairies or Gremlins, you can consider it a loss. But with Necropolis, it's not that difficult to defeat typical creatures, and Kaspar is just awful!

Well, as far as I understand, Lordesat only plays epic battles where the army size exceeds the two-month norm by over 9000. In such battles, Necromancers are naturally unmatched (although a Winged Horror level 28+ can still be tried; maybe something will come of it). But to consider Necromancers the strongest race solely because of this, I think, is a misconception. In the early and mid-game, for example, Dark Elves are very strong; I wouldn't consider them the strongest just because of that.

It's not that difficult to take a Castle from Daleb, considering his skillful use of machines and the ballista with fire arrows (which essentially ignores half of the armor, meaning even through a wall, the damage will be significant). A catapult has a 40% chance of destroying a wall/gate/tower with a single shot, and if the gate is breached, the siege won't last long. And the gating during the siege will provide decent support.

This isn't serious. By the time you upgrade the ballista and start attacking the Castle, the Necromancer will already have a decent army, and you think you can finish everyone off with just one ballista? If the Necromancer has a Pain Lord and General Plague, Spiritual Link, and upgraded Liches by that time, nothing will help you. And the fact that you constantly lose to Demons indicates that you don't know how to play as a Necromancer. I also played online, and I dictated the terms to the Demon, not the other way around.

Added 2 minutes later

Well, as far as I understand, Lordesat only plays epic battles where the army is more than twice the normal amount, over 9000. In such battles, Necromancers are naturally unmatched (although a Winged Angel of level 28+ can still be tried, maybe something will come of it). But to consider Necromancers the strongest race just because of that, I think is a misconception. In the early and mid-game, for example, Dark Elves are very strong, and I don't consider them the strongest because of that.

Funny:D :D :D. No Winged Angel can kill a Necromancer if he develops on a large map. Moreover, a Winged Angel is killed by a Necromancer even with 2 Castles, or even just one (this has already been tested). Your Dark Elves are nervously smoking in the corner.

So, what's stopping me from upgrading the ballista? And what's so bad about demons having the most powerful ballista in the game? Managing machines has been possible from the very beginning at a developed level. It's impossible to have a very decent army by the end of the first month. It could have been possible with unlimited necromancy, but not with dark energy.

Come on, is it really that he won't kill? And the fact that he can attack 3, or even 4 times before the necromancer, doesn't count?
And I'm curious, have you ever played the "Art of Strategy" map? And have you ever wondered why almost no one chooses necromancers on this map? That's right, because Hafiz can easily defeat a necromancer in one, two, or three turns. The Dark Elf too. Chaos is simply devastating for the necromancer's army at this stage. And about "hiding in the castle," I laughed for 10 minutes. So, what, you're giving the rest of the map to the enemy? That's already 90% of the defeat, no matter who you play as.

I assure you, with a bit of luck, by the end of the month, the Necromancer will wipe out your army with just vampires. You only need about 50 of them. And it seems you're not reading the posts carefully. Don't you know what upgraded liches in the castle are? At least two of your stacks will fall from the plague, unless you have spell dispel. And if the Necromancer gets to general plague and spiritual link, then nothing will help you, especially your ballista, even with fire arrows (if you manage to upgrade it by the first month). And your hero will be too weak to do any significant damage there. I've never heard of a ballista attacking 3 or even 4 times. That's just your imagination. And I've easily defeated your arrogant Hafiz on other maps. Well, maybe Dark Elves can do something against Chaos, but that's only if they're lucky with their knowledge skills, which they rarely have – they might cast a couple of frost rings, but the liches will resurrect everyone. And in general, rushing is for weaklings; I can't stand these rushers because the true strength of a race is revealed in the late game, and rushing will never be and never has been.

So, let's paint a picture: it's the 2nd month of the game. You're sitting in your castle on your piece of land, a demon is freely roaming the map, attacking neutrals, capturing mines, and collecting artifacts, and by the end of the first month, it reaches level 17-20.
What do we have? The Necromancer is lagging behind in development by 4-5 levels, has almost no artifacts, and also lacks resources. You want to upgrade some unit, but there's not enough money left to buy an army. Conclusion: there's no decent army. You can't win with just vampires; if the Princes don't blind the enemy during an attack, they'll get completely crushed. You'll have about 15-17 Liches, enough for two squads. A ballista will destroy half of the first squad with its first volley. There's a 60% chance that you won't have a Plague Cloud on the first turn because Imps almost always move before the hero. If things go well, you'll have Cave Goblins in your army, and if they reach the Skeletons or Zombies, the result will be disastrous. If the hero is Marbas, the demon won't even care about your Plague Cloud. A Tent of First Aid also removes the Plague Cloud, unfortunately.

The Dark Elf's mana problem is easily solved: build a Mage Guild and use the Magic Attraction skill, and if the hero is Ianna, they already have it from the start. And, of course, hit-and-run tactics are always an option. The Hunters go invisible for 3 turns, and the Sorcerer throws Fireballs for 3 turns without being punished. Then, they safely retreat if things get dangerous. There is, of course, a risk of getting hit with Shackles, but without risk and a bit of luck, you can't succeed in Heroes.

I wasn't talking about the ballista; I was talking about Wingard's troops. He's the most famous fast attacker in Heroes.

But I think the opposite is true: in the late game, you need much less control over your troops than in the early stages; there, it doesn't matter if you lose a dozen soldiers or three dozen. But in the beginning, every soldier counts, and I don't like those who intentionally prolong the game. This is usually done by beginners because they need to "settle in, gather a huge army, and then dominate everything." Later, they realize that speed is often very important.

Added after 12 minutes
And according to your logic, any player playing Dark Elves is weak because they rush. But maybe they rush not because they're weak, but because they understand that Dark Elves usually lose spectacularly in epic battles, especially against Necromancers? Your logic on this is questionable, very questionable.

Are you laughing at me? Do you think I'll just sit in my Castle and wait for your overpowered demon to arrive? (Which you can hardly train to level 20 without losses, and it's doubtful that it can become so strong in such a short time). And by that time, your imps will have been thoroughly beaten up by the mobs, so they won't be able to steal a hundred mana. A ballista certainly won't destroy half of the squad, don't even dream about it (the Necromancer has half of his perks dedicated to defense). Your Deleb is only good for clearing out neutral creatures, and even then, only melee units. You can't eliminate the entire plague with a single tent; it only affects one stack, and, as you say, it can be reapplied, unfortunately. Don't worry about the skeletons and zombies; they will survive anyway. The mana problem has always been, is, and will be a problem for the Dark faction. And if you have 30 mana, 45 won't make much of a difference. Furthermore, for those who like to play tricks, there is a quite effective way to deal with such players. You just need to approach their Castle. Then, if you leave it, you lose everything. And in general, we're not talking about them, but about demons. I think everyone understands that the Dark faction's gameplay revolves around rushing and trickery. In general, such games, where some players tried to rush me, like Hafiz or the tricksters, usually ended in failure because I know how to counter rushers. If you're planning to clear the surroundings, who will guard your Castle? And for the Necromancer to inflict significant damage on your army, it's enough to develop a secondary hero (up to Plague and Spiritual Link) and leave him in the Castle, along with the liches. Meanwhile, the Necromancer will capture your Castle, gather an army from it, convert it to undead, and then how will you defeat him? And in general, normal people don't play like that. Only cunning rushers on the quick-play mode play like that, to increase their rating at the expense of some newbie.

Yeah, it seems pointless to keep talking to you. Let's play.

Yeah, it seems pointless to talk to you. Let's play.

I only play late and right now, only on Komodo. If you want to play with me, register on Komodo in the Heronets network, password 12345. I'm usually there in the evenings, at 9:00 PM Moscow time.

And what is your name on this network?

What's your username on this network?

Same as on the forum - Lord De Sat:)