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| Thread: I love academy! |  This thread is pages long: 1 2 3 4 · «PREV / NEXT» |
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Elvin
Admirable
Omnipresent Hero
Endless Revival
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posted August 20, 2007 03:55 PM |
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Guilty! It won't happen again 
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MartectX
Adventuring Hero
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posted August 20, 2007 06:09 PM |
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Quote:
Guilty! It won't happen again
Havez your new friend now? 
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Elvin
Admirable
Omnipresent Hero
Endless Revival
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posted August 20, 2007 08:15 PM |
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Edited by Elvin at 20:16, 20 Aug 2007.
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I'm not a warmachine guy, a ballista with academy will be good only with counterspell tactics which I dislike or with flaming arrows that are hard to get. If they get triple ballista in TotE I will change my mind 
As for Havez I always buy him when I see him in tavern.
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sdfx
Famous Hero
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posted August 20, 2007 09:08 PM |
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Havez with flaming arrows is easily the most powerful rusher in the game. With no mistake made and some luck(getting dark and summoning spells, getting attack->flaming arrows) on academy's side, he is pretty much unstoppable. At least I fail to see how can he be stopped..
He simply moves around, easily kills everything and easily gets what he wants from the map. Then, he moves to castle to artificer his troops and after that he moves to meet the enemy who is simply executed by 2 magic schools and precise shooting ballista.
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emilsn
Legendary Hero
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posted August 20, 2007 09:09 PM |
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Havez is lovely... And Academy is okay - Sadly i never found their power except a huge amount of mana
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Don't walk behind me; I may not
lead. Don't walk in front of me;
I may not follow. Just walk
beside me and be my friend.
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Elvin
Admirable
Omnipresent Hero
Endless Revival
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posted August 20, 2007 09:30 PM |
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He can't hold a candle to Deleb but he's ok 
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Tenaka
Famous Hero
Makes sense
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posted August 20, 2007 09:44 PM |
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Just wait until The saboteur gremlins...Bye-bye, Deleb! 
I love academy too, for the reasons you liked to love it, Elvin. Havez has gotta be my favourite hero. Just love the damage the greamlins do at high level.
He's of course also nice if you pick any other hero as primary. 100+ gremlins on day 1! ^^
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Houseism of the week:
As fascinating as our bodies are, they're also stupid.
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sdfx
Famous Hero
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posted August 20, 2007 10:49 PM |
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Havez easily owns Deleb any day. Precise shots and gremlins will kill deleb's ballista in no time. It's not even like Havez > Deleb it's more like Havez >>>> Deleb because Havez has MotW + spells and will artificer his troops. Of course, Deleb may try attacking faster but she will still lose anyway because gremlins with A/D bonus, wizard's mana and spells are just too much.
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LiZaRdMeN
Disgraceful
Known Hero
The king of Grimheim
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posted August 27, 2007 08:47 AM |
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I think that galib is the strongest against dungeoun because of the spell twister ability.Artificer is usefull ability,becuse the artifacs provide good bonuses,and are great for the low level creature,djins do great damage,but can die wuickly,because of the stinkin 4 level 5 hp.The raja is very strong level 6 creature,because of the high hp,the dash abilty and are very deadly because of the no retal. ability,archmages have powergull spells,and powerfull magic atack and nice ability,titans are very strong because of the ranged atack 4 level 7 creature.Usefull town,especaly against might factions like in Inferno,or Haven
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Elvin
Admirable
Omnipresent Hero
Endless Revival
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posted August 27, 2007 10:22 AM |
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Not necessarily. You may not want luck, nobody in their right mind will try a single target spell anyway, cleansing is of limited usage vs dungeon(ok it can cleanse the destructive effects buut..) and he's slower at creeping unless you are lucky.
Rajas are not exactly very deadly, a few good attacks on them may weaken them too much and dash is usually not an option etc. It is exactly might factions that can walk over it assuming they get light and/or upgrade some units to gain speed 8/get windstrider boots/take tactics.
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Doomforge
Admirable
Undefeatable Hero
Retired Hero
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posted August 27, 2007 10:51 AM |
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Quote:
Havez easily owns Deleb any day. Precise shots and gremlins will kill deleb's ballista in no time. It's not even like Havez > Deleb it's more like Havez >>>> Deleb because Havez has MotW + spells and will artificer his troops. Of course, Deleb may try attacking faster but she will still lose anyway because gremlins with A/D bonus, wizard's mana and spells are just too much.
don't forget the warmachine control perk 
Deleb can still win, I think.
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Elvin
Admirable
Omnipresent Hero
Endless Revival
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posted August 27, 2007 11:06 AM |
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Yeah Deleb's damage is too insane I might give Havez the edge with flaming arrows but. I made the mistake to try remote control in one of my first toh games only to remind myself that people will find a factory and buy all warmachines. The chance is still good but pretty unreliable.
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sdfx
Famous Hero
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posted August 27, 2007 11:49 AM |
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Nope, because stupid overgrown gremlin stack(maybe split in 2) will repair ballista. With flaming arrows Deleb is owned by Havez any day but even without it Havez can summon a phoenix, mass slow, frenzy.. etc. If no dark, then he will win with mass haste, other masses and resurrection. And yes, control perk is wicked -> better for a demonlord to have ammo cart.
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kermit
Known Hero
Soul hunter
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posted August 27, 2007 02:06 PM |
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Hi, I got myself into a rather tight situation fighting Zoltan in the Mehir's quest (or something like that) scenario. I'd like to hear your ideas about playing this with minimum damage.
Brief battle description:
Enemy: Zoltan Necro
lvl 20
A: 10
D: 9
SP:18
K: 10
Army:
90 Vampire Lords
45 Liches
43 Arch Liches
29 Wraiths
280 Spectres
490 Skeleton Archers
490 Zombies
magic, Expert Dark, basic-expert? summoning
Spells: Berserk, pupet master, mass slow, mass weakness, phantom forces.
Me Mehir:
lvl 19
A: 5
D: 6
SP: 12
K: 21
Army:
350 master Gremlins -2 Def Reduction, +5Hp, +20% initiative
150 Gargoyles -2Def Reduction, +5Def, +20%initiative
100 Golems +5Atack +5Defense, +20%initative
70 Arch Mages +5Def, -60% Magic Damage, +20%Initiative
50 Master Genies +5 Atack, +2 Speed, +20% Initative
16 Rakshas +5Atack, +2 Speed, +20%Initative
7 Titans +5 Atack, +5Def, +20%Initiative
Magic Expert summoning, basic light
Spells: Summon Phonex, Arcane Shield, Raise Dead, Firewall, Land Mines, Endurance, Deflect, Ice circle, parchement of Berserk,
Luck = 5
Boot of magic resistance +10%, Armor of magic resistance +20%
+20% Initiative ring
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I can deal some good damage, but I start getting in trouble when zoltan pupets one of my units on first turn (the rakshas or mages), and I can't dispell. Also he has a high chance of blocking my spells, so after a while I'm left with few options.
My best result was keeping 5 Titans 10 rakshas and 10 Mages alive
Don't really know how to start the battle.. or in what order should I use my spells, units.. I don't have mass spells either.
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Into this house were born
Into this world were thrown
Like a dog without a bone
An actor out alone
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Elvin
Admirable
Omnipresent Hero
Endless Revival
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posted August 27, 2007 02:42 PM |
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Usually first thing I do is make sure that my shooters will not be blocked so I try to kill the vamps and spectres with my units. A good way to start is motw+arcane armour on 2 units you want to last, say titans and rakshasas or golems. If you have bought a phoenix feather cape you may be tempted to place a firewall on the first row hitting wraiths and possibly liches so that when they move/shoot they'll be hit again. Liches usually have no choice but be killed slowly.
After that or as an alternative put a minefield in front of the wraiths or summon a phoenix to help with the already advancing vamps. And maybe find ways to block the wraiths or distract them from getting to your phoenix too early.
Either your phoenix or units can be puppeted so keep the mages for cleansing. It may not always work but it's your best bet to counter dark. Naturally you will keep circle of winter as a phantom counter and wait for the opportunity to summon another phoenix when the wraiths are down or not within reach. Look where there is available space in your area so that you know where the phoenix will appear, plan ahead to avoid it being summoned close to them.
And considering he has a pretty good army losses are to be expected
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alcibiades
Honorable
Undefeatable Hero
of Gold Dragons
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posted August 27, 2007 04:38 PM |
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I think Zoltan has a very unfair advantage in this map, because he will easily grow to high level and therefore have good chance of blocking your spells. Also, because of flaws in the map design, he will abuse Instant Travel and come to you possibly a bit before you'd really want him to (he jumps acrosss the rings rather than fighting his way through - sloppy design!  ).
It did take several tries for me on hard to get it right, and when I finally did, what turned the tide for me was not so much the Magic as the Might aspect of my army. I must admit I got lucky and found the Pendant of Mastery just underground next to my castle, and thanx to efficient creeping (the Sphinx helps a lot there, because you will go to level 12 on day 1!), I had been able to make very powerful mini-arties to my whole army - which ment increased Initiative to all of my stacks. Furthermore, due to some luck in the artifact merchant, I also had the Rings of Speed, Ring of Cele(b)rity and the Staff of the Netherworld (), plus the greaves that made me immune to Slow - so, after casting Expert Mass Haste, there was not a lot to gamble on - I think my units acted five times for each time his acted once, lol.
The problem with your situation is that you've put a lot of energy into Summoning Magic and not a lot into Light, which is going to make it very difficult when he has such a massive army + Dark Magic. I'm actually impressed that you managed to beat him with the army he brings.
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What will happen now?
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sdfx
Famous Hero
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posted August 27, 2007 05:29 PM |
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The thing that makes this scenario way easier is dark magic. Mass slowed Zoltan is not that scary. Also, mass slow, frenzy will let you to break that haven garrison easily. In final battle you would have much easier task because you would own him easily with MotW + phantom forces. Not to mention all that time to send arcaned armored elementals(as a distract troops) and arcane armored phoenix.
You don't have dark so IMO you should kill wraiths ASAP(fire trap will help), summon a phoenix, arcane armour it and keep it alive with raise dead(a bit luck is needed so that Zoltan doesn't block it). Armour is also great for your own troops because your troops durability is the main thing that can win this battle for you because the more durable troops are the more you can move your troops -> the more you can move your troops the more you can make AI "catch" firewalls/mines - but again luck is needed so they are not blocked by Zoltan too fast.
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kermit
Known Hero
Soul hunter
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posted August 27, 2007 06:14 PM |
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Actually when Zoltan successfully puppets any of my units on first go, I'm dead meat since all of my units are pretty packed together. One time I simply resisted the spell, which bought me a turn. The rakshas got pupeted next turn but then I already had arcane shield on my titans and a phoenix. By that time his wraiths and vampire lords were dead (so were my genie sultans ofcourse), leaving me with the hard to hit spectres.
I believe I can do better though, seeing in the replay that I made some pretty stupid moves... perhaps with your insight I can make it work
In terms of difficulty, I found the Dungeon scenario much harder, fighting against the human knight Rutger commanding 1K peasants, 500 marksmen, 300 squires, 150 imerial griffs, 70 Inquisitors + 5-10 archangels and/or 20-30 paladins beginning of month 3 was kinda overkill.
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sdfx
Famous Hero
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posted August 27, 2007 07:42 PM |
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It's not that hard if you have summoning magic(high spellpower phoenix) and dark magic(slow, confusion). Even frenzy can be learnt if there are shadow matriarchs on the map so that you can learn it by acrane intuition.
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Elvin
Admirable
Omnipresent Hero
Endless Revival
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posted December 17, 2007 12:38 AM |
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Edited by Elvin at 22:35, 12 Jan 2008.
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Time for some more ranting!
My first games since I learnt to play academy though the MMR insight(thanks 86wyp! ) looked a bit similar, get 2 magic schools/sorcery and enlightenment or a 3rd school. While I never had the exact same skills or spells, that was my basic build and still each game varied something that is not true for most other factions.
Since TotE came out I lost interest in academy in favour of some more direct factions such as sylvan, stronghold and dungeon and thankfully my skills have improved quite a bit there Not sure about sylvan but now I can easily break in battle for honor during week 3, or week 2 with a little luck for dungeon.
Recently I have began playing a bit academy and things are not exactly as I left them, I feel a bit of a noob again The core of the gameplay is still the same but now there are many more possibilities and adaptability is even more so a necessary requirement in learning to exploit your current situation.
Creeping has become a little easier and now there are true alternatives in your skill build so you have to make the decision of what you want very early, being a jack of all trades is not the way to go - you must specialize.
In the few times I tried academy I took some alternative paths.
Warmachine Focus
One was the ballista way when I was offered attack in my first levels and soon I had warmachines skill and an early triple flaming ballista that cut down all hordes of tier 3 in week 2 and some lots of tier 4. And yes even if you don't get a hero that carries one 4500 is totally worth it, just defeat the guardians and get gold.
Of course that and my starting sorcery leaves little room for more skills so early you are restricted to one magic type, preferably summoning because it is great in creeping. Later you can make an easier decision on your second based your already build guild and artifacts.
A good example of the ballista's strength can be seen in my 54 archangel replay, week 3. But there it's easy to see that the ballista alone is no good, you need magical aid.
Destructive Focus
In my most recent attempt at playing the faction I saw a tome of destruction and was offered destruction magic so naturally I waited for luck. While still in earlygame I had the choice for attack but I bailed, I knew it would disrupt my plans and I wanted a pure destructive build. It was too late to consider a flaming ballista and I wasn't particularly interested in attack perks which proved a sound decision.
I got secrets of destruction(yay fireball ), then ignite and arcane brilliance and my creeping was a piece of cake. A few spellpower arties, a trident of titans and the slippers were all I needed after my creeping was done and I had to break through the devils. My destructive and some elemental gargoyles were enough to defeat them, something new to me
Maybe I should have tried obsidians and armageddon, ignite and 600+ damage would probably be enough. A shame I had no phoenix cape
In the endgame battle(early week 5) my first cast could kill 76 arcane archers. Yes, AI, easy to defeat but that's still a good sign. I had gotten warlock's luck just before the battle so you can imagine the destruction that ensued
Luck's duality in both might and magic is amazing! By going destructive you also improve your damage output
My Jhora looked like that after the battle.
Old habits die hard and I still got summoning but I didn't need it. Enlightenment would be better for this build.
A few replays:
A good motw+ignite replay.
Lots of archdevils week 3.
Here you can see the potential of elemental gargoyles, lots of untamed cyclopses.
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After these games I see why people worry a bit when facing academy, they have no idea what they will face - even you cannot know
Sometimes it's fun to let the game decide your course for you, you are just along for the ride  As long as you know what you need to be effective against powerful neutrals you can't go wrong.
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H5 is still alive and kicking, join us in the Duel Map discord server!
Map also hosted on Moddb
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