Posts from Discussion about the Stronghold faction.

I played Orcs against Demons on a map with a bridge. First, I set the AI to strong, which led to a stalemate, so the second time, I played with medium AI on normal difficulty. I will describe the second game.

The Orc warrior hero starts with Ogres and Goblins. I initially built Harpies, which was a mistake, as 5 units of this type cannot provide any help :). For lovers of tactics, you can first build Crushers (Ogres?), divide them into several squads, some of which are single units, and divide them into two equal squads of Goblins. In theory, this could allow you to capture a mine and a lumber mill without losses. But I went the Orcish way, head-on, so by the end of the week, I was missing two Harpies and three Ogres (Crushers?). So, the first stage of the game on this map is capturing the most important mines.

Next, you need to accumulate troops and capture an artifact that is more useful to you (closer to the city is more useful for a warrior, and closer to the fort is more useful for a mage). After that, the following week, my crystal mine guard ran away, and the auto-battle dealt with the champion near the fort (it is not necessary to immediately attack the champion, but this is experience that the enemy can gain). The following week, I captured the fort, also capturing the second mine (it may be easier to defeat the second champion). Then the computer went on the attack, and for the next few weeks, we "played tag": the computer bought reinforcements - I ran away, I bought reinforcements - the computer ran away, and I captured everything except the crystal mines and the lumber mill (if you don't leave it, it will remain under your control). Then, one week, the computer made a mistake and started guarding its mine, and I had enough movement points to capture its city :). Then the enemy hero recaptured the fort and went to my starting city. I exchanged money for a portal to the city, teleported, took a risk and attacked, and won :). But, in fact, only because of the AI's stupid moves.

Conclusion: for Orcs, the start is quite sad :(. Unimproved Harpies receive a counterattack (!), and Goblins only attack at half range. I think that an effective start would be with a Naga or Demon mage hero, if you take a specialization that gives + to magical power, a skill in Prime that gives + to magical power, and a dynasty bonus that gives + to magical power (starting from the "Silver" rank!). Then their basic ranged units will deal very decent damage, and the spell that can be obtained by spending a skill point on a knowledge dolmen will help clear the mines. But it is not a fact that such a start will pay off later. But I will try to play like this tomorrow, as a Sanctuary hero :).

Well, I don't know, but the initial start for the Orcs seemed very good to me because of the traps from the goblins, of which there were 4 at the beginning, which means 4 traps, so practically no one could reach me, and if one unit did reach me, they were met by 12 Ogres (building Ogres on the first day is a good force).

Orgazma is right. I think the brutes, or whatever they're called, are the strongest units among the early-game units.
Winner, I'll tease you again! You always play hide-and-seek on the bridge. I remember playing as Barbarians, gathering an army, and brute-forcing my way through (with losses), but I don't remember the time. But I can definitely say that buying everything on the 3rd week is the final stage. The game ends for both creeps and the AI at that point.

In the second mission, I was finally caught by the bugs of Heroes. When Sharka captures you, you are given a quest depending on the hero's reputation; in my case, it was a sentimental orc. After the dialogue with him, a notification appears stating that it is impossible to side with Sharka because there is no reputation with the Blood faction. Ideally, I should be completing the quest for the rebels. But this damn notification doesn't close, no matter what I do; it doesn't highlight, it's a problem. Before that, I played as the Blood faction, and everything was fine.

la2days, the FAQ contains information about the bug with the window. However, before that, Ment stated that no reputation could be chosen in this and the previous mission. This means that only Tears cannot be selected. Thank you for the correction.

Hello! The best faction in the game is Stronghold; I liked everything about it, including the troops, the war cry, and many of the hero skills! I'm stuck on the 2nd mission of the campaign because I don't have enough time to play; school has started.

I didn't really enjoy the Orc campaign. The first mission was a drag: choosing a mage hero turned out to be a bad decision, there were few types of troops, and I suffered many losses. Capturing all the cities was boring. The second mission was unenjoyable because of the large armies of enemy heroes. I had to spend a long time holed up in the secondary starting city, and then defend the center. Because I defeated Airini in order to get the Staff of Thunder, I couldn't even use 1000 points of tears to retrain into a Tears hero. The third mission seemed interesting: find seven NPCs, gradually unlocking improvements... But four whirlpools ruined everything. Although by the end of the mission, I started to enjoy crushing the enemy with minimal losses. Also, the developers should have made a "Defeat Mukao" quest – it's unclear why there's a quest to defend the city after finding all the veterans. Hai Ro was very pleasing. The last mission is interesting. An unusual task, intense enemy elimination, and well-placed portals provided some amusement. True, the lag slightly spoiled the experience. I liked the final boss. This campaign was the least enjoyable. But still, the Orcish language lessons were very amusing! Stronghold is a powerful faction, but I took the longest to find the key to them. And I still consider the lack of Prime magic for the Orcs to be a disadvantage, although it did add variety to the game.

I'm currently enjoying the Stronghold campaign. By the way, my hero is a mage! If anyone else is playing a mage, please share your builds.

imo - no! It seems to me that it was easier in the 5th installment.

In my opinion, the Orc campaign is the most interesting. I'm playing through it for the second time as a Warrior (the first time was in the demo), and it's still enjoyable. As for the most boring campaign, it's definitely the one for the Humans. When I was playing as Anton, I lost interest in the game for two weeks and could barely force myself to finish the last mission...

I liked the Stronghold faction. They're cool. The brutes are very strong. At the beginning, they're simply overwhelming. This race is focused on attack. Everything here is about increasing initiative and the speed of units. After level 15 and acquiring Havens, they become incredibly powerful. And with fire magic, it's just insane.

The faction is excellent and, along with Sanctuary, is currently the most balanced in terms of gameplay mechanics. With skillful play, you can compete on equal terms with Necropolis and Haven.

A cool faction overall, especially the "Dreamcatchers" or "Dream Finders." And "Tribal Fury" 1, 2, 3, 4 is just insane.

After level 15 and taking the "Aura," it just becomes a whirlwind of destruction.

And "Mother Earth, Father Sky" is completely mind-blowing; imagine a whirlwind sweeping across the enemy positions, dealing 280-800 damage.

Quote

Message from Arhangel 622

Why did you decide that orcs could live in the jungle? The steppes would suit them; they look like African tribes (except for the harpies).

For me, it's obvious, judging by the coloring and especially the harpies, that they will live in the jungle, although I hoped that the Necromancer would be the inhabitants of the jungle.

Well, yes, and there is a map with orcs in the steppes.They look so much like Native Americans that they should be in the steppes. And the Necromancer should live in damp, spider-infested Dungeons.

I don't see anything particularly good about this ability, except that it doesn't show how many Cyclops are still alive, but that doesn't seem very useful.

The first attack on a strong enemy unit is carried out by the Cyclops, who absorb the counterattack without losses – after that, the remaining units finish it off.

Yes, the Cyclops' ability to not die immediately is indeed useful. If you're confident that you can finish off the enemy with other units after the Cyclops attacks, you don't have to worry about its survival. I haven't played with other factions yet, so I can't say anything about them, but the Orcs have quite convenient units that allow you to start quickly and eliminate units on the map without losses. First of all, these are Harpies and Furies. This unit has a high movement range and initiative. In addition, it occupies one cell and flies, and Furies don't get retaliatory attacks. This means you can fly away from many melee units, either avoiding combat or delaying it. The Orcs' racial ability, which increases initiative, also contributes to this tactic. This trick is not new; it has been known since Heroes 5. But back then, the Forest Alliance's Furies were weak and not very durable, while the current Orc Furies can not only fly away but also put up a fight. On top of that, I usually take a mage hero with the "Restoration" specialization. On the first turn, I buy a hero who increases the growth of Sprites, and who also has 8 Harpies. Together with mine, that makes 16. I leave the rest of the troops to the second hero and capture the lumber mill, mine, and more, using only the Harpies. In addition, the "Reinforcement" ability is added later, which doesn't consume mana. That is, in each battle, you get one or two additional Harpies (and then more), which can be sacrificed to end the battle without losses. Thus, if you use Harpies/Furies effectively and enhance them with the hero's abilities, you can eliminate many units without losses in the first and second weeks, until more worthy elite units appear. That is, you can start quickly with the Orcs, and this is important for winning the game.