Posts from Artifacts. Do It Yourself. (a tutorial for Academy players)

I'll write down everything I could find out about creating custom artifacts. I ask other scholars to share their observations on this matter as well. 8)

ARTIFACT CREATION, ARTIFACT CREATION COSTS.

You can imbue an artifact with 1 to 3 properties, depending on the level of development of the main academic ability. Each property has its own specific cost, which consists of 2 types of resources, 5 of each. If an artifact consists of 2 useful properties, the cost of the second element (property) is doubled, and with a combination of 3, it is tripled accordingly. Example: we create an artifact from 2 components, one of which costs, for example, 5 wood and 5 mercury, the other 5 gems and 5 crystals. Depending on which component is placed first when creating the artifact, its cost will change. That is, this artifact can be created for 5 wood, 5 mercury, 10 gems, and 10 crystals, or for 5 gems, 5 crystals, 10 wood, and 10 mercury. As you can see, changing the order of the addends changes the sum - thus, you can tailor artifacts to the most advantageous current resource cost. The same dependency applies when creating a three-property artifact. However, I haven't yet figured out how the price is determined if the cost of 2 different components includes the same resource (for example, one component costs 5 ore and 5 sulfur, the other 5 gems and 5 ore).
Another huge plus, bordering on cheating, is the ability to disassemble a previously made artifact. The resources are returned COMPLETELY!!! That is, after creating an artifact at the beginning, using it to conquer the map, and significantly leveling up the hero, you return to the Castle, disassemble the artifact, and create it again, even if it's exactly the same, but its properties will be much stronger due to the hero's level. 8)

ARTIFACT POWER.

The power of an artifact's properties depends on the hero's knowledge. To increase the hero's parameters, increase Education, as academics are always trying to sell it to you, and the bonuses for levels are awarded starting from level 1, so it doesn't matter at what level you take Education.

ARTIFACT APPLICATION.

Experience in application. IMHO, it's a bit expensive to create your own artifacts at the beginning; you can spend resources on an artifact with 1, MAXIMUM 2 properties. Perhaps the best thing is to imbue Gremlins with an artifact with +HP and +Initiative. Later, when the hero becomes stronger in levels and can create triple artifacts, this one can be extracted and inserted, for example, into Gargoyles. IMHO, it is necessary to insert a reduction in defense upon impact into Golems, because Golems usually tank in the front and, with an upgrade, receive unlimited retaliatory strikes. It is also difficult to assess the usefulness of properties + to attack/defense; a hero of approximately level 15 gives a property of attack/defense +5; I'm not sure how good this is. The properties of morale/luck are very useful, and the coolest is + to initiative. Imbuing a unit of Gremlins with an artifact +17 to initiative + 4 to HP, a hero specializing in Gremlins, with developed leadership, is a terrible sight; the Gremlins' initiative is 16!!!! (a small bonus from the hero's artifacts) and maximum morale - every second turn in battle belongs to the Gremlins!!!

PRODUCTION COSTS.

Now, the downsides of artifacts, perhaps only one: if you get carried away with artifact building at the beginning, you won't develop the Castle beyond upgraded Golems due to a lack of resources. It is better to seriously engage in the creation of artifacts after building level 6.
I look forward to your feedback, additions, and comments. 8)

I've already tried creating a list of resources for each attribute:
Health - wood and gemstones
Minus defense for the enemy - sulfur and stone
Attack - stone and crystals
Initiative - sulfur and mercury
Speed - stone and mercury
Morale - sulfur and stone
Luck - stone and crystals
Magic resistance - wood and gemstones
Defense - wood and crystals

First of all—my condolences. It seems the Academy faction is in the least favor with the developers (their army is far too mismatched, somehow "styleless").
Hm! My apologies... :D
Regarding artifacts: as I've already written, it is more practical to improve the natural properties of the soldiers, but sometimes it's worth experimenting (more on this below). In general, in my opinion, the most important are: Attack, Defense, Luck, Health, Initiative, and Speed (not in order of priority). Making artifacts with fewer than three properties is irrelevant (better to spend resources on city development; besides, the Academy army is quite formidable despite its weird appearance, and doesn't especially need artifacts... by the way, I like difficult battles, on the edge so to speak, where everything is decided by chance or correct calculation, and artifacts tip the scales quite noticeably in favor of their owner).
Now in more detail...
1) Health. Obviously, giving this property to Rakshasas or Titans is just stupid, but for frail Gremlins and Mages—it's perfect.
2) Initiative. An excellent thing. Can be recommended for any unit, but it looks especially good on Djinns, any ranged units, and Mages.
3) Speed. A must-recommend for Gargoyles. With this property, they truly fly across the entire map. It's also suitable for Rakshasas—they have some awkward speed stat (they might not reach main events on the first try and get a beating). Gremlins, Mages, and Titans have absolutely no need for speed. For Golems, it will change almost nothing at all.
4) Attack\Defense. I give the combination of attack and defense only to Rakshasas—their own stats are already very good, and such an implication only strengthens them. Attack can also be given to Titans (for Gremlins, health, init, and luck are more important, imho). Defense would be good for Gargoyles (they are armored themselves) and Golems.
5) Morale. Perhaps a decent thing, but only with additional morale bonuses. I haven't applied this property anywhere yet.
6) Armor Piercing and Magic Resistance. Well, I don't know... better to speed up or strengthen the troops, imho...
So, if you build artifacts according to the principle I laid out in the guide (not written here), the main consumable will be crystals (hm... or maybe not, I don't remember...)

I would suggest:
1) Gremlins..... Increasing health is the first priority. If you've decided to slap together a "single-property" artifact, set it to health. For further reinforcement, you can give them some defense...
Let me systematize a bit... gr-r-r!... more specifics, less reasoning... bear with me... :rolleyes:
a) gremlin-armored-car (health, defense, magic resistance)
b) gremlin-armored-car-with-Lenin (health, defense, initiative)
c) gremlin-killer (health, attack, initiative)
d) gremlin-mad-killer (attack, luck, morale)
e) gremlin-nasty-one (armor piercing, init, attack)
f) gremlin-my-soldier (health, attack\luck, initiative)

2) Gargoyles..... Defense and speed are the favorite treats of evil gargoyles. Give them this and they will never forget you, even if you perish because of them in battle!:cool:
a) gargoyles-standard (defense, speed, initiative)

3) Golems..... Dreadful slowpokes, constantly performing what seems to be St. Vitus' Dance. In my opinion—the most useless Academy creatures... IMHO... :p
a) golem-maybe-someday-I'll-join-the-battle-and-probably-it'll-help (armor piercing, defense, health)
b) golem-same-as-above-but-faster-and-probably-pointless (speed, initiative, health)
c) golem-bodyguard (defense, health, attack)

4) Djinns..... Excellent high-speed fighters, decent mages. True, they are a bit frail and, for some reason, the primary target of all enemy ranged units! Did they grant some bad wishes, perhaps? Like in the joke about the goldfish and the hamster? My sympathies... :o Initiative and defense would be good for them. Speed isn't needed—they fly just fine on their own. Also, it's a good idea to protect them from enemy mages... and also... and also...
a) djinn-over-insurer (magic resistance, defense, health)
b) djinn-aggressor (init, attack, armor piercing)
c) djinn-sprinter-and-not-a-bad-mage (initiative, morale, defense)

5) Mages..... Somehow they swapped places with the djinns for me... Oh, whatever... Senile old-timers. That's how it is. And don't argue! How long can they unroll their scroll, so slowly and thoughtfully... and everyone waits for them... I've even seen them manage to play cards with the enemies... and lose a weekly resource growth AMONG OTHER THINGS!!! As if new spells will appear there! Hm! I got distracted... By the way, the old-timers are something else! When they fire from their stick across the whole field, through friend and foe...(when there are many of them, it's better to shoot like that, without any unnecessary magic!!)
a) mage-mage (init, health, defense)
b) mage-absolutely-not-a-mage! (attack, luck, armor piercing\health)

6) Rakshasas..... Real lawnmowers. My respect. They only lack speed...
a) rakshasa-interceptor (attack, speed, init)
b) rakshasa-action-hero (attack, defense, speed)
c) rakshasa-maybe-luck-will-strike-and-everyone's-done (luck, attack, speed)
d) rakshasa-into-the-thick-of-battle-him-smartass! (speed, morale, attack)

7) Titans..... Cool salt-and-pepper guys. Love to cast lightning, and if they're backed into a corner, they cowardly kick back with their feet... These demons need to be given weakening artifacts so they don't get too arrogant!
a) titan-cool-guy (attack, init, luck)..... I mean, WHAT else can you give them?!

P.S. Wrote this from memory (too lazy to launch the game, check, etc.), so sorry for any possible mistakes... All the above is harmful misinformation, so that you die more often in battles, especially network ones... HE-HE-HE!!! :D :D :D

I have to reconsider my opinion about golems... These creatures are simply incredible! I withstood two consecutive sieges by full-fledged Haven armies, having only a large detachment of golems and a small number of gremlins... The "a" art variant is the best for all golem-like units. :) Plus some necromantic spells. He-he...

And what quantity will you get from a mini-artifact if you fully upgrade the artifact creation skill + use an artifact that increases the skill by 1 level, create a mini-artifact (you need half the resources for this), and then remove and dismantle the artifact that increases the skill by 1 level? Will you get twice as many resources as were required to create it?;)

2 MoZeS: That was true before patch 1.3, but now you get back the same amount of resources that you spent to create the unit.

In my opinion, it's the most useful.

In my opinion, in the first stage, Life and Initiative are important for the Gremlins, and in the second stage, Initiative is important for everyone. And good luck, so that the stat is 5 (I have 5 because I take Luck).

I have a question – what is the purpose of having different types of artifacts? Amulets, necklaces, rings, and so on. What are the differences between them?

Just keep it simple, so as not to get confused... for example, I always implement the same schemes in the same way.

I listened to your suggestions, and here's what I came up with:
I decided to give Gremlins life, initiative, and luck.
I'll give Mages life, magic resistance, and either initiative or luck.
I'm still thinking about the rest!

Great topic. My favorite build for Gremlins: Life, Initiative, Armor Penetration.

I listened to your suggestions and here's what I came up with:
I decided to give Gremlins life, initiative, and luck.
For Mages, I'll give them life, mage defense, and either initiative or luck.
I'm still thinking about the rest!

Luck for Mages is canceled because they attack with spells, and shooting is dangerous if they are protected. Imagine if a protected Mage shoots with luck and hits their own units. Heat.

Luck is canceled for mages because he attacks with spells, and shooting is dangerous if he is protected. Imagine if a protected mage shoots with luck at his own units. Heat.

But I always give them luck. Protect mages? Ha. It's like standing in the way of Bozar from Fallout 2.:smile38:
Besides, their magical-super magical fist is completely useless against the undead. And piercing is an excellent way to eliminate both enemy shooters and the unit protecting them.

Okay, let's focus on the initiative for mages;
and I think we should give genies speed and magic resistance from the base stats, or we can switch it to health, but that's not as beneficial.
Titans need initiative, luck, and morale; instead of the latter, we can give them attack!