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| Thread: An inexpensive strat that can really pay off | |
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armageddonun...
Tavern Dweller
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posted May 24, 2002 02:27 AM |
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An inexpensive strat that can really pay off
Thought I'd mention this here cos it's something I do in most games but havn't read it here yet:
I never waste the oppurtunity to buy Heroes. I buy everytime on the day they're available and move them to a close mine to garrison until I've got 7 of them. If you have a 2 towns and a tavern this takes only 2 weeks to build, but is worth doing even with only one town. The class I pick is based on what skill/level power-ups are available (free power-ups are most important, but some skills can be worth the 14,000 gold to upgrade the group).
When I have my 7, I run them about to all the free power-ups and even the worth-while cost power-ups if I can afford them. 7 Archers has usually proved the most worthwhile. Several XP power-ups and they can all become expert archers very quickly and for free. By them a bow of either type each and they can be a great tactical hit & run commando unit. You only need flee when most are dead, and presto, squad back to full health and fine back at your town. If you have can get em scout upgrades and turn em into a ranger unit they are lethal and do more damage than any group of creatures you can buy for the same outlay. What's more, if you had like a couple nature towns, after several months you have a bunch of these commando squads. Tree's of life are really great if you've got the cash/gems.
Other great combies for me have been: 6 druids (and keep a spare slot) when I have a summoning upgrade available; 7 of any mage that can get easy access to a damage spell (or give each of em one of those wands/scrolls that you got piled up in the back-pack - can be really cool); 7 lords, pick estates/mining for most and advanced nobility for each town (governer at each one that way) and just leave em garrisoned in some mine so they're outta the way. Over time you get huge incomes (I had over 50 level 4 lords garrisoned in mines in one game).
Anyway, Archers have proved the most useful and the cost is a mere 10,500 gold spread over several weeks. Occasionally, I have gotten them all to grandmaster archery with some being rangers, and this has made the group not only savagely hard-hitting for their cost, but completely impossible to kill due to the no-cost flee ability (save someone having the shackles of war - ouch).
The pussy 'no hit & run' rules I keep hearing about would make this useless (cept the lords or summoners), but I wouldn't be caught dead playing with no stupid tard rules anyone so dun bother me Just some strat advice some of ya may like anyway...
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bestanden
Adventuring Hero
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posted May 24, 2002 04:20 AM |
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h&r
There will be no serious h&r rules in homm4 because the imbalance of fourth level casting heroes has been removed. My response to a no h&r rule request will be... whatever. All players will be using h&r because of no cost retreat. I imagine that there will be lots of shackles in toh maps.
More likely rule requests in homm4 toh will be related to when the game ends. Because a player can still have a high level hero/army running around without a castle, it will be hard to admit defeat, especially if that army consists of high level summoners, necromancers, charmers or thieves. This will become a real issue in tournament games because it will be difficult to hunt down such heroes/armies and maintain an exciting endgame. One possible sensible solution is to impose a time limit, at the beginning of the game, to be without a town. Something like ten days is probably reasonable.
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My daddy drives a UFO
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Jenova
Famous Hero
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posted May 24, 2002 07:08 AM |
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Interesting idea.. But how do you level up your heroes if the XP is split 7 ways?
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Djive
Honorable
Supreme Hero
Zapper of Toads
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posted May 24, 2002 12:11 PM |
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Quote:
More likely rule requests in homm4 toh will be related to when the game ends. Because a player can still have a high level hero/army running around without a castle, it will be hard to admit defeat, especially if that army consists of high level summoners, necromancers, charmers or thieves.
This works a bit different between AI players and human players. You usually have a "capture all castles" to win condition.
If an AI player has all castles then human players don't lose the game.(There is no time limit in this case.)
However, in the case where another human players takes all castles, then other human players gets 3 days to capture a castle, or they'll lose the game.
So the restriction you ask for is already in the game.
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"A brilliant light can either illuminate or blind. How will you know which until you open your eyes?"
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bestanden
Adventuring Hero
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posted May 24, 2002 04:40 PM |
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three days
Good to know, Djive. Wow, three days, IMO it should be more.
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My daddy drives a UFO
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armageddonun...
Tavern Dweller
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posted May 24, 2002 06:27 PM |
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Quote: "Interesting idea.. But how do you level up your heroes if the XP is split 7 ways?"
It's only split 7 ways from combat XP. Those round XP-ups give 1,000 per guy (i.e. 7,000) and the Dream XP-up things give 500 per guy (+500 cumulative per dream thing). Trees and other skill power ups that cost money to do every guy but for such expensive fees that you're not likely to do it early on in any game (14,000gold total for each guy to grab a skill for example).
This is just something I do cos I'm one of those players that feels compelled to milk every limited benefit to it's maximum potential. As the rate at which you can buy Heroes is time limited, I feel inclined to take advantage of this (if you could buy unlimited amounts of Heroes, I'd over-do it to make many groups cos it's economically worthwhile. Would've been a huge imbalance if you could).
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Henl86
Known Hero
oLd SkOoL RA2 OwNaH
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posted May 24, 2002 07:53 PM |
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LOL. Those lords haven't been earning you anything at all.
A bug in the game, money making heroes(whether it's skills or arties) and peasants needs to be on the adventure map to make any money. They make zilch inside a garrisonmine. Huge bug IMO. VERY annoying to have to have another army on the adventure map just standing there. And since the sleep command dosen't work like it used to(skipping sleeping heroes at the start of a turn), this is even more annoying.
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HappyPike
Known Hero
Pikeman
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posted May 25, 2002 03:13 AM |
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It may be fun to do that, but not very practical. I would rather develop a Grandmaster Stealth hero instead.
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Jenova
Famous Hero
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posted May 25, 2002 06:00 AM |
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Quote:
Quote: "Interesting idea.. But how do you level up your heroes if the XP is split 7 ways?"
It's only split 7 ways from combat XP. Those round XP-ups give 1,000 per guy (i.e. 7,000) and the Dream XP-up things give 500 per guy (+500 cumulative per dream thing). Trees and other skill power ups that cost money to do every guy but for such expensive fees that you're not likely to do it early on in any game (14,000gold total for each guy to grab a skill for example).
In my games, most of the XP I get ARE from combat.. Those 1000 exp-ups and chests won't get you to a very high level..
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armageddonun...
Tavern Dweller
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posted May 25, 2002 07:08 AM |
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RE: Lord's not earning anything due to bug in the game:
lmao, that is a sad bug. Actually, I did suspect that their estates wasn't working cos it wasn't accounted for in the empire income read-out, but I wasn't sure. However, the mining skill really does seem to work cos when I had 21 garrisoned lords (most with mining), I really did appear to have a huge amount of ore & wood. Still, without estates, its not as economically viable. On the other hand, if they only have to be on the adventuring map, this is still workable. You can have 7 groups at one time on the adventure map, and I rarely require that many, so you can just leave a couple groups of 7 lords sitting idle on the map.
RE: "It may be fun to do that, but not very practical. I would rare develop a Grandmaster Stealth hero instead. "
I wouldn't suggest doing it 'instead' for a second. That would be stupid play. This was a suggestion to do it 'as well' due to the fact that it costs very little, you always have the spare slots, and it's the most cost effective army you can make. Just plain strategic play - makes a difference vs good human players when every detail counts.
RE: "In my games, most of the XP I get ARE from combat.. Those 1000 exp-ups and chests won't get you to a very high level.. "
Again, you're missing the point. Your main Hero (or Heroes) will still be romping about like in every game gaining high levels and power from killing. These are SECONDARY groups that support your war effort by making hit & run strikes that are damaging and impossible to prevent. Those 1,000 exp-ups get your group to level 4-6 on most maps without cost you a cent. If all archers, that's enough to get most to master archery. 7 Master Archers that CANNOT die for 10,500 gold. There is no unit as cost effective as this. Spend 10,500 on any units that you like in the game and the master archer group WILL beat them. Hence, economically (& strategically) worthwhile. If you can afford a couple 14,000 gold skill purchases or tree level-ups (as you frquently can later in the game), it is very easy to get the entire group to become Rangers with Grandmaster Archery. Buy them a bow/armour each, give em excess potions and magical items which you ALWAYS have spares of, and presto, the group doesn't even have to hit & run cos they are tough as hell (and STILL impossible to kill to boot).
Getting it yet?
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Scorpius
Hired Hero
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posted May 27, 2002 12:44 PM |
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lords
henl86 and others>>
im pretty much sure that lords DO earn you the gold from estates. (i havent checked the mining btw)
it true that when a lord is in garrison, you suddenly lose the lord income on the income screen.
however you still get the income!
it doesnt matter if the lord is in the castle or not, you always get the amount of gold shown when the lord is on the adventure map.
the only odd thing is the the additional income over the base gold from the estates starts with level 2 instead of level 1.
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