Posts from Gameplay

Hello, forum members! I decided to create a thread about tactics in the game. Share your ideas on how to best advance on the map and how to fight better in battles.
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Let's start by analyzing combat. You need to fight differently against different opponents. If you have a strong army with many ranged units, then:
1. It's better to fight weak opponents in a quick battle.
2. But you need to fight strong opponents in a "melee" battle. Otherwise, you will suffer many losses – I had such an experience. I went to besiege a castle, activated quick battle, and... I was defeated. After that, I decided to replay. And guess what happened? I won! And I saved almost the entire army!
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Let's move on. During battle, it is best to place weak units in the front and strong units in the back. Weak units will be useful as "cannon fodder." Send them forward, and then, under their cover, lead the strong units into the attack. And if the weak units are defeated, the strong units will remain almost intact.
Also, something else. Lead the main troops into battle, and during the hero's turn, cast useful spells on your units or harmful spells on the enemies. And also, use ranged units (if you have them) to decimate the enemy (it's even better when ranged units, such as cyclops, attack in an area).
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Now, share your tactical ideas.

There's a guide called "Game Guide v.1.1" – it's small, around 100 pages or even less. It describes the tactical principles of different races in quite detail, both for playing as them and against them. Therefore, there's no point in explaining the basics. But I still want to add something.
In Heroes 4, and perhaps even more so than in Heroes 3, the outcome of a battle depends not only on the player's skill but also on luck. For example, the fastest unit doesn't always go first; it's the one that rolls high for morale at the beginning of the round. Morale is determined randomly, and a unit's morale value only affects the probability of getting good or bad morale. So, even a good player can lose if they're unlucky.
And, of course, the outcome depends on choosing the right tactics in battle. Use one tactic – destroy the enemy and win the battle without losses. Use another – and you're completely defeated. Sometimes, a single wrong move (a wrong decision) can turn the tide of the game.
Considering these two factors, I want to add that you shouldn't fight every battle using the same template. Sometimes, you need to think and find a non-standard solution to what seems like an impossible situation.

There is a guide called "Game Guide v.1.1" – it's small, about 100 pages or even less. It describes the tactical principles of different factions in detail (both how to play as them and how to play against them). Therefore, there's no point in explaining basic things.

Where can I find it, and is there a Russian version?

It's in Russian; try searching for it online.

It's in Russian, try searching for it online.

Hmm, I can't find it. Could you send it to me as a file via email?

I meant exchanging experiences, discussing tactical cases, problems, and so on. That is, things that can be useful in practice, and things that have been tested in practice by different players.

Against weak opponents, it's better to fight in a quick battle.
2. But against strong opponents, you need to fight in "melee".

It would be more appropriate to say "manually". Because "melee" is when you simply send almost all your creatures into close combat, as the computer does.

Using the Interportal 2011 maps as an example: Of course, when choosing, you should select familiar maps, as well as those with a similar play style. Conditionally, the current 16 maps can be divided into: 1) **Gameplay focused on diplomacy** (Power Spot, Tron) On these maps, monsters are usually not built in the Castles, and the entire army is accumulated through joining. Races with a wide selection of monsters perform worse on these maps. These are Nature, Death, and Chaos. The point is to gather 1-2 large and strong stacks of troops, rather than 4-5 small ones. And for these races, you might only get a little of each. For example, for Death, on level 2, you have ghosts, gargoyles, mummies, and dogs; on level 3, you have demons, vipers, and vampires. Therefore, the chance of getting only one stack decreases. Moreover, if you get the same mummies and demons, it becomes much more difficult to play later. That is, the probability of a bad outcome increases. The same story applies to Chaos and Nature. Although, if Chaos gives you Evil Eyes, that's a big plus. But still, Order, slow-paced Life, and Barbarian are more reliable. 2) **Gameplay focused on rushing** (Showdown, If these walls could talk, Eldorado, Lezkandra) Here, too, monsters are not always built, and the game revolves around a tank. Therefore, the most convenient races are those that have quick access to a hero with the initial "Martial Arts" skill. These are Life, Chaos, Nature, and Might. Then, as quickly as possible, you level up a combat unit (it's better to take ranged attack skills last, as melee damage is significantly higher + you'll be able to keep monsters away from support heroes). 3) **Classic maps** (seemingly all the others, except Bizarro and Danger Zone) Here, you build level 4 monsters as quickly as possible, and then use them to clear the map. It's better to choose races where the building path is the shortest and the cheapest. The longest path is for Life (if you're building angels; in my opinion, building cavalry only makes sense for a rush strategy, but you must go without losses and maintain a very high pace), a long path for Chaos (you need GM 2 (or 3?)), and for Might. On some maps where a Stronghold or Castle is located at the beginning (specifically, Heart of the Winter, Autumn War), the chances for Might and Order increase (because you don't have to spend time and money on Strongholds and Castles). Separately, I'll note Bizarro and Danger Zone. Here, the beginning is classic (you can also rush on Bizarro), and closer to the end of the game, it transitions into a diplomacy-focused game. These maps generally require a good ability to use all available tactics. Especially Bizarro.

Could you post a link to this website? I'm interested in seeing examples of maps of these types (diplomacy and rush).

Added 1 minute later
P.S. St.Snake, that's what I meant. Manual combat.

/topic/8526/ – surprisingly, but the site is the same :)
All 16 maps are attached in an archive in the first post.

Since we're already sharing, I decided to post the result of one battle. The final image looks the best. I'd like to add that vampires don't regenerate on undead, fear doesn't affect undead (meaning no retaliatory strike), nor do fatigue or aging (slowing down fast stacks and splitting the army), and I didn't use any summoning spells (to remove the retaliatory effect); I fought in close combat.:smile34:

But that's easy. The main thing is that tactic 5555 is available, and that's it.

Thank you for the maps, Zybr. They are indeed quite good.

Actually, I expected slightly higher losses – it seems the AI messed up. At the very least, it should have taken down one or two more devils.

dnaop-wr, how did you manage to fight without any losses? Judging by the situation, your army has an advantage, but not enough to win without any casualties.