Posts from Tactics for the Swamp (Fortress).

Oh, come on, I only ever play on Pawn

Well, what can I say... the other day I played a Jebus Cross game against a guy on Pawn difficulty, and there you can upgrade almost any level 7 unit to 121. :D I guess Fortress doesn't look so great under such circumstances.

...if the map is small, then it won't be possible to level up a hero to level 20 or higher...
...if there is a difficult battle between heroes with достаточно large forces, then at the end there should be a few gorgons, basilisks, and maybe lizards or wyverns left (but this is unlikely)...
...I don't understand any of your SoD and etc., because I have the complete collection of Heroes 3, there is no experience for the troops, and etc., there are no mods, only the original game...

On a small map, you won't be able to level up a hero to level 15 - the game will end.
And hydras on small and medium maps are a waste, an unnecessary expense, which you still need to collect (at 200%).
In a difficult battle between heroes with large forces, you can not only lose almost the entire army, but also, on the contrary, lose only 10-30% of the army (depending on luck).
Actually, the complete collection is SoD, only with added campaigns and scenarios from previous parts (RoE and AB). And experience for troops and other stuff is in WoG, which is not being discussed here.

the spirit of despair and the items that remove luck, whatever they are called, are needed by the Necromancer because the undead do not have morale and luck...

Actually, everyone has luck, even the undead

Please tell me how to take a Swamp resource node. (excluding using Hydras on quick cast)

Everyone has luck, even the Necropolis.

They do have it, but the luck that appears seems to override the Death Knights' ability. In general, it would be useful for the Swamp to have the Hourglass of the Doomed against the Necromancers themselves, so that the vampires don't get too cocky. :smile24:

Could you please explain what “upgrading a wyvern from external hives” means?

Could you please explain what "upgrading a wyvern from outer hives" means?

It's the same as with regular wyverns – you upgrade them in the town or on a fort hill. However, in outer hives (which are not dwellings), they cannot be bought; instead, they are obtained as a reward after defeating the guards.

So, does that mean that other towns cannot upgrade to Wyvern, but the Swamp can, and that's it?
Okay, thanks.

This castle play hard in the beginning. Then it was getting easier when we build wyverns and Hydra. At the beginning we have little Lizard and it's hard to beat someone from a distance. For example, the castle can be played at a distance because we have a great crossbowmen who did not stop one unit!

On a small map and before level 15, you won't be able to build up your hero—the game will be over.
And hydras on small and medium maps are just a toy, a waste of resources that you still have to scrape together (at 200%).
In a difficult battle between heroes with large forces, you can not only lose almost your entire army, but conversely—lose only 10 - 30% of the army (depending on luck).
Actually, the Complete Collection is just SoD, but with added campaigns and scenarios from the previous parts (RoE and AB). And troop experience and other crap go into WoG, which is not discussed here.

bolotnikthe spirit of gloom and the clocks that remove luck, whatever they are called, are needed by the necromancer since undead have no morale or luck.../QUOTE]
Everyone actually has luck, even necros.

well yes, I agree....
my apologies for the mistakes, I've figured it out.

it's just that I usually play large and very large maps, often custom ones, and there is obviously plenty of room to build up the hero, and more troops to collect, which is why the clashes become significant. I chose that hero level simply because around level 20 to 23, all secondary skills are maxed out. So it's conditional. On medium and small maps, you might not even make it to level 10 (everything ends faster, many monsters aren't upgraded and some can't even be built).
On small and medium maps, the game is faster, more dynamic...
Well, tactics and the choice of actions generally depend on the map, its density, size, and so on...
Building scheme:
1st week:
-lizards (if the gnoll dwelling is already built at the start, then day 1, usually if difficulty is not 200%)
-wyverns (if resources allow and difficulty is not 200%, then day 2-3)
-serpents (then definitely upgrade days 3,4-4,5; if resources are tight and there's no chance for wyverns, they are built on days 2 and 3)
It is desirable to have the resources to immediately buy the creatures from the built dwellings..
then a level 1 mages guild (it's better to find 500 gold for the book, as there will likely be cure or remove curse spells, which are useful when encountering an enemy hero.
After that, I usually don't build anything, I save money to hire creatures,
Then on 121 troops are bought, preferably hire some hero there as well, after which the troops are brought to Bron, who with such an army will already be able to break through to the enemy; well, the tactics there are actually simple: gnolls are meat, shooters provide support, the main strike is dragonflies and wyverns (mandatory wait at the start of the battle, then dragonflies remove the retaliation and weaken, and then wyverns deliver the main strike, [that's why I sometimes like to take the hero Korbak, a serpent specialist, to slightly improve their stats, as serpents are used to remove retaliation, apply weakness, remove beneficial spells, also it's worth separating a few dragonflies from the main stack into 1s]), basilisks for support, they can be used together with gnolls to pin the shooters in a corner. Of course, there can sometimes be gold problems on the Queen's side and buying everyone, but overall there are usually no such problems...
As a result, in the 2nd week on a small map, the breakthrough begins with the goal of attacking the opponent. Neutrals on standard small maps, and on random small maps, are usually not strong and should in principle be cleared easily by such an army. Therefore, by the middle or end of the second week, a meeting with the opponent is expected, and accordingly, with correct and reasonable further tactics—victory; the main thing for flyers is to use wait first, and then act.
On medium maps, everything is slightly extended and you already need several heroes for scouting, clearing, and then passing troops down the chain to the main hero...
Everything changes on large and very large maps, especially if there is a Dungeon and many castles; there, as a rule, all troops are built (upgraded), and heroes get all secondary skills maxed out. Due to the presence of other towns and mages guilds, there is a large choice of spells. There, the best tactic seems to me to use two strike stacks: basilisks and mighty gorgons; for removing retaliation, either gnolls or dragonflies with weakening are used, after which basilisks strike first, then gorgons strike; wyverns are used either for the pile-on (swarming one stack, or blocking shooters, or attacking and weakening some other stack), and hydras, due to their non-retaliating attack and attacking multiple units, are better sent to attack several stacks or a strong/strike enemy stack. Magic usually takes a secondary and auxiliary character (if ours are slowed, blinded, or something like that, we heal them); if the enemy used it to buff their own, depending on the circumstances (if there is no mass dispel, but it's best to have a water expert—mass cure, dispel, bless, plus enhancement of ice bolt and earth—mass slow, stone skin, shield); if it's strike magic, then for buffing your own or weakening enemy troops. Against neutrals, it's all simpler. Against the computer, everything usually goes fine in principle.
Against a human player, of course, everything becomes significantly more complicated.

But XL maps, especially with +U, and L as well, allow combining tactics and troops, spells, as it becomes possible for a hero to collect troops of different races. Moreover, when playing with the computer, it gets the chance to develop and accumulate strength, to evolve, so battles with it will be more interesting and more difficult.
Well, that's roughly how it is...

I don't quite agree that there's enough time to build up strength against the AI.
I play on very large maps (only random ones, as it's more interesting) against 7 AI opponents with one team at 200%. Sometimes I choose Dungeon, but more often I play without it.
Usually, by week 2-3, a couple of AI opponents come to visit.
As a result, with Swamp, you have to defend more than attack. Slow heroes, sluggish units (it's difficult to win without losses, as even with speed boosts, the AI can charge up Chain Lightning), no 4-5 schools of magic, and the warehouse doesn't provide sulfur.
For comparison:
Undead - unbeatable. Widomakin and the AI doesn't matter. By the end of the game, there are 10,000 skeletons wandering around.
Elementals - birds + fakes + storm riders, and again, the AI and monsters don't matter.
Dungeon - minotaurs + 2 archers + harpies without retaliation - that's cool. Especially with doubled mana, a decent school of magic, and good heroes (like Gunnar). And as a bonus, a cheat portal summon + magic immunity for the fighters = hello Armageddon, if it appears.
Humans - a couple of conservatories (and they almost always appear, unlike Hives) and you get a bunch of angels, which can handle things even without upgrades. I won't even mention what happens when they become archangels. + 2 archers. With Orin, they deal good damage - perfect for the beginning. I don't use diplomacy.
Magic - Chain Lightning from the start with the hero... a great school of magic... meaty units and a lot of archers. Protect the archers and let the AI hit golems and gargoyles head-on.
Elves - excellent archers for the start (later replaced by something else, as they don't live long), thick dendroids and gnomes, decent dragons, and fast centaurs. There's a great hero for the start - the Logistician.
Orcs - the lack of crystals is a problem. If there are crystals, you get monsters in the first week... And then a quick clearing of the map. Insane damage from the hero. The downside is that they are slow, like Swamp, but this is compensated by the damage + monsters.
Inferno... I don't like it. The troops are too weak. Only the Ifrits are decent.

...first, there's a mandatory wait before the battle, then the dragonflies retaliate and weaken the enemy, and finally, the wyverns deliver the main blow...

That tactic won't work for you. Figure out why.

You won't be able to pull off that trick. Figure out why.

Well, it's clear that it won't always work. Some enemies can't be stalled, some will immediately attack with high speed, and there can be various other situations, such as ranged units, and so on. The main idea is usually to meet the enemy on your side of the field.
I had a different problem when playing with a friend on an L-shaped map without an underground. He took a Castle, and I took a Fortress. He started with an Ogre, and since he later used that tactic, I placed one stack of archers in the upper corner before the battle, protecting them with other units, and did the same in the lower corner, so it didn't make sense for him to advance; he just kept shooting. With this setup, everything became more complicated.

Inferno... I don't like it. The troops are too weak. Only the ifrits are decent.

Castle is for true pros. But that doesn't mean it's weak. For example, in this thread, some forum users are vehemently arguing that Fortress is a weak castle and that a player using Fortress on easy and normal difficulty maps can be easily defeated. I disagree. For example, I recently played on an easy map, and the first neutral castle I found was Barbarian. I simply formed an army of dragonflies, wyverns, and thunderbirds, to which pegasi later joined. It's true that I had to use one leadership slot. But I had a great, fast army with significant damage. They put up an elven army with golden dragons against me. The result pleased me. =)
Continuing the topic of Inferno's weakness, I'll tell you this: have you ever heard of thousands of demons on easy and normal difficulty maps?

You won't be able to pull off that trick. Guess why.

Maybe because dragonflies have more speed and move last on the battlefield? :)

I've gone through almost the entire thread about the Swamp.
There are such heated debates here; it really touches your heart. I've repeatedly seen posts arguing that the Swamp's magic isn't great and that the castle is weak against archers, and that in defense, the lizards are taken out first, and the rest are shot down.
On this subject, I want to add my two cents. As has been repeatedly written in the thread, the castle leans towards water magic and is limited to 3 levels of guild building. So, if, theoretically, you level up Gervulf in water magic (or any other hero), and preferably bring the magic to the expert level, then the castle's defense against numerous archer units is significantly simplified. I'm talking about the spell "Forgetfulness," which is somehow not mentioned in this thread.
And in general, it's a very useful spell. With it, having only one dragonfly in a unit, you can break through any (except liches and titans) archer units, even with gnolls, with almost no losses.

Maybe it's because dragonflies are faster and they move last in the initiative order?

Of course. And the Fortress is far from weak – you just need to use its advantages correctly. Just one powerful Gorgon is worth something – who else can take down a Blue Dragon so easily?

Well, here, as with Might and Magic, there's one small detail. It doesn't work against Necropolis. So, I'm thinking that when playing against Necropolis, Gorgons can be upgraded last, and the 7,000 gold, as well as 10 stone and 5 wood, can be spent on something else. Is the +1 speed increase worth sacrificing something else for? We need to think about Wyverns. There's a whole +4 speed increase, which is significant and critical. And in general, if we're talking about a fast and powerful army, upgrading Wyverns is what the doctor ordered.
By the way, I hadn't noticed: does the Expert Water Magic spell weaken only one enemy snake at a time, or all of them? Or does that property only occur on magical terrain?
P.S.: Azure Dragons aren't for me. I'm more drawn to Stronghold. =)