Looking backward: First impressions on HoMM4

[Gaidal Cain]

There are red dwarf mines in MM7 too.

[Humakt]

You know that, at least in Equilibris, large stack of genies (>20 or something) can cast Mass Slow or Mass Mirth all by themselves. Same goes for other spell casters.

[Bandobras Took]

This may be a leading question, but have you figured out why they even bothered to put Golems and Nagas in the game?

I have started using my "slow-bomb" strategy- splitting one genie into every empty army slot, so I can cast slow on 3-4 stacks of walkers.

There's another one of the reasons I eventually grew disenchanted with the game, truth be told.

[Qurqirish Dragon]

You know that, at least in Equilibris, large stack of genies (>20 or something) can cast Mass Slow or Mass Mirth all by themselves. Same goes for other spell casters.

As I state in my introductory post, I am not installing Equilibrus until after I have played all 18 campaigns, so things like that will not have en effect on my impressions of H4. If I were just trying Heroes 3 for the first time, I would not intall WoG for the same reason.

I do realize that Equilibrus has many additions / changes that are supposed to make things better. I do intend on eventually installing it also.

@BT: (By the way,do you like lettuce? )
So far, I haven't seen any reason to get naga or golems, except when required. I have found that ranged attacks (whether spell or missile) combined with slow and teleport are generally more than satisfactory. However, the dragon golems do very nicely also with this tactic, since they have first strike and good movement.

[Meandor]

This may be a leading question, but have you figured out why they even bothered to put Golems and Nagas in the game?

Golems aren`t that bad, nagas on the other hand...

[TheUndeadKing]

Hey, don't underestimate Gold Golems. They are very good tanks, if not great. I usually pick them over Magi. They have massive hit points (50 for a lvl2 creature!!!), and 75% Magic Resistance!!!

[ThunderTitan]

Golems aren`t that bad, nagas on the other hand...

That's only cause Genies are overpowered.

[Meandor]

Yes i know. Thats the problem with such system, it`s hard to make units different and yet balanced.

[ThunderTitan]

Especially when you're going bankrupt.

[gravyluvr]

The Order Campaign - which everyone loves... tended to be too long for me.

In regard to the faction, it's either shooter/caster or tank at every level and most people tend to go shooter/caster over tank. At Level 1 you get both and at lvl 3 you'd be a fool not to take Genies so you really should get at least one other tank to compliment your "team." If you go Dragon Golem at LVL4 then I guess mages are okay.

I tend to go for c3p0 instead of mages too since I know that I try to go for Genies and Titans and c3p0 is a much better melee unit to protect my big guys. They also tend to be good units with the dwarves to protect my halflings in early game.

In general though, I think most people let the neutrals around them decide which they go for at the start... If you have a bunch of flyers around your resource mines then you should get c3p0. If you have shooters then I guess you get mages.

[ThunderTitan]

The Order Campaign - which everyone loves... tended to be too long for me.

The thing i loved about it was the different perspectives in the beginning. I want more missions where you play both opposite factions with the same town.

[Qurqirish Dragon]

I have completed the next few maps in the campaign, and have gotten up to the point wither the alliance has formed. I was very pleased to find I was right that my main heroes from the two side did not fight each-other. (indeed, the only time they met was via the scripted event at the end of map 6).

Only a few comments to make up to now, from a gameplay perspective:

In map 6, Solmyr went by himself for about 2/3 of the map. The combination of mass slow, forgetfulness, and teleport (along with bind wounds for emergencies) let him walk through almost everything. Only water elementals, who couldn't be stopped from casting, and devils (who effectively can't be slowed) required other units. Thus, I could build the towns up to full, and let the money build, so I could use the treasuries and easily buy most level 4s (two towns with titans, one with angels, and later one with dragon golems), which allowed the defeat of the more difficult forces.
I think that one hero, alone, no matter how strong, should not be able to take out 100 hydra by himself (and yes, I did this, although it may only have been 80 - there were 4 stacks of between 20 and 30 each; 100 is the average)

The other thing is the power of Illusion. You can actually create a stronger illusion stack than the original! Later on, I had about 100 genies, and when casting illusion on my stack of 4 angels (I had them along mainly to ressurrect Solmyr if I goofed up!), the illusion formed 10 of them! I know the description say it forms x health of creatures, but it really didn't register. I must not have noticed this before, but it explains why battles in earlier maps where I had a large stack of genies were easier than I expected - I cast illusion on an enemy stack, and my illusion probably outnumbers the enemy I copied it from!

Now onto the double-map (one hero on the surface, one underground). Basically playing two maps smultaneously. This should be interesting.

[pepak]

I think that one hero, alone, no matter how strong, should not be able to take out 100 hydra by himself (and yes, I did this, although it may only have been 80 - there were 4 stacks of between 20 and 30 each; 100 is the average)

Wait till you get Poison spell - L2 Necromancers rule the game :-)

The other thing is the power of Illusion.

Do not overestimate illusions. A simple Dispel or Cancellation and it is gone.

[ThunderTitan]

The other thing is the power of Illusion.

Do not overestimate illusions. A simple Dispel or Cancellation and it is gone.

It's power lies in the XP you get from neutral stacks.

[Qurqirish Dragon]

I think that one hero, alone, no matter how strong, should not be able to take out 100 hydra by himself (and yes, I did this, although it may only have been 80 - there were 4 stacks of between 20 and 30 each; 100 is the average)

Wait till you get Poison spell - L2 Necromancers rule the game :-)

The other thing is the power of Illusion.

Do not overestimate illusions. A simple Dispel or Cancellation and it is gone.

As opposed to the corresponding spell from Heroes 2, 3, or 5, where 1 HP damage dispels the stack? I'll take this weakness instead.
As for poison, I know its power from a moderate stack of mages. In this campaign, however, only solmyr has even had the chance to learn death magic (I actually gave him four different magics + combat, but the stupid combat skill prevents him becoming an archmage )

[HodgePodge]

… In this campaign, however, only solmyr has even had the chance to learn death magic (I actually gave him four different magics + combat, but the stupid combat skill prevents him becoming an archmage )

A Hero only needs three (3) schools of magic (I think at Expert Level) to become an Archmage.

So if Solmyr has Death, Order & one other Magic type (Life, Chaos or Nature) he can still become an Archmage. Combat skill is a very necessary skill for all Heroes.

Also, if you haven't discovered it yet, Death & Nature Magic together will give you a very plesant surprise … especially as you reach higher levels.

[asandir]

I always love that combo HP, just a great bonus!

[Akul]

Combat skill is a very necessary skill for all Heroes.

!?
I play H4 on great difficulties and I NEVER use Combat skills.

[Qurqirish Dragon]

… In this campaign, however, only solmyr has even had the chance to learn death magic (I actually gave him four different magics + combat, but the stupid combat skill prevents him becoming an archmage )

A Hero only needs three (3) schools of magic (I think at Expert Level) to become an Archmage.

I realize that, but apparantly combat takes precidence over the magics, so I need to get 3 magic skills all at higher levels than combat to get this. There haven't been enough levels yet to do this.

So if Solmyr has Death, Order & one other Magic type (Life, Chaos or Nature) he can still become an Archmage. Combat skill is a very necessary skill for all Heroes.

Also, if you haven't discovered it yet, Death & Nature Magic together will give you a very plesant surprise … especially as you reach higher levels.

My Solmyr has life, death, order, and chaos. life is at expert, order at master, chaos at basic, and death at advanced.

Since I have read the manual, I do know about the death+nature combo.
When I actually play the nature or death campaigns, I fully intend to get it, if I can.

Onto the campaign again:
Another RPG map under the belt. Although Solmyr had a normal troop build-up, my other party of 7 heroes got no reinforcements. This made many battles tough, since other than the two carry-overs, all the heroes were only level 6. With no potions available to protect them, it took some careful playing to gain them a few extra levels and skills. Fortunately I realized early that there were not going to be many speels available, so I avoided the magic schools for the new characters. In fact, the only new spell I learned was guardian angel near the end (I barely got up to grandmaster life before there.)
Once again I found the problem of luck in many of the RPG battles. Any creature stacks (even those with heroes) that posed any potential of threat were so overwhelming that it all came down to whether or not my two spell casters could cast mass slow / mass precision and/or forgetfullness (as the situation required) before the enemy could get to me. Mass healing was also a useful spell, particularly against stacks of mages.
most large battles consisted of removing the enemy heroes or shooters through any means possible, then using slow and teleport to keep stacks away until they were weak enough for my GM melee heroes to slice them up in close-range. Battles were quite formulaic in this respect.
Those melee heroes often got clobbered, and so I raised them at sanctuaries quite often. Good thing this isn't D&D, where you lose stats every time you get raised
Nothing spectacularly new to report, however.
The next map once again has me with only the main 3 heroes, and a town I can actually build up. I'm hoping for divine intervention from the magic guild

[Jolly Joker]

As far as I know a skill "registers" for the advanced classes with the 2nd level you get for the skill whether being it al skill level or a secondary skill - and once you ARE an advanced class you cannot change it except when you are a class consisting of 2 magic skills and you get the 3rd.