defense

[HOMMV_N00B]

Hi, this is one of the thinks I can't figure out.
How much defense should you left behind? Time and time again, the opponant that attacks my castle is way more powerfull, with way more shooters/casters then me. This means that I have to go back with my main hero to take my town back. Because of this I can almost never conquor large parts of the map, meaning I lose at the end because I don't have enough towns/income.
Is there an easy way to determen how much you should leave behind?

[Bonzer]

It depends on what level you are playing at and what race.

Personally I usually play on "Normal" difficulty. As I have said before I hire a second hero on day 1 for housekeeping etc but quite often hire a third in the second or third week if they specialise in defense or "defensive troops" - for example Rasak (Academy) - Golems.

Each race has at least one defensive tank (Golems, Treants, Hydras....) and my main hero rarely travels with them. Obviously run the guy around locally getting him buffed up, but then leave him in town. Great if he has recruitment as well, and he can hold the money / resource artfacts as well.

After a few weeks he will have ALL the tanks, and a week or so of other creatures.

Now....I think that when the AI comes calling, or before any battle, they check to see what chances they have of winning, and the difficulty level determines at what chance they will attack. I don't think the AI is clever enough to work out various combat strategies beforehand, and maybe goes by total hit points and not much else. So if you have a large contingent of tanks and several others they may look and decide against attacking. If they do attack your tanks should last long enough for the towers to cause a lot of pain.

Oh, and though this isn't always useful, if you can cause 1,000 hp of damage with spells / missiles in the first 2 rounds, it is always worth going for the catapult. If he can't get through the walls you only have flyers to deal with. If he has an ammo cart go for that as well to limit his missile capability.

Though I do sometimes lose my main castle, it is rare, and they usually pay!

Hope this helps
Bonzer

[tb5841]

A huge factor is the level your hero is at. If you have two high-level heros, you can leave one behind with a relatively small army, and decimate them with spells before they can take down your walls. But if your secondary hero is very low-levelled, you can lose to an army much smaller than yours even when behind castle walls.

If playing with only 2 players, then you often don't really need to defend at all as they'll be too busy defending themselves. In games with lots of players, check the tavern on day 1 of every week - eventually you'll find a high-level hero that someone else has lost, which makes castle-defending far easier.

Something else worth noting is that because creature spell damage is non-linear, small caster stacks let you inflict a lot of damage from behind castle walls without costing much.

I usually consider a town well-defended if I have at least one weeks worth of creature growth in it, as well as a high-level hero.

[wimfrits]

An easy method is to determine beforehand which units are suited for defense and which are suited for offense; based on hp, init, speed and other tactical traits. Your main hero will then only use 3 to 4 unit types; the ones that are useful in offensive combat. The rest is not bought, available for defense in case the need arises.

With inferno for example:
imp: low hp, high init: attack
demon: low init, low speed: defense
hell hound: low hp, high init, high speed: attack
succubus: ranged, ranged defense: attack/defense
nightmare: low hp, high init, high speed: attack
pit lord: low init: defense
devil: average: attack/defense

So with inferno, my main hero will most likely carry: imps, hell hounds, nightmares and later, devils. The rest will most likely not contribute to offensive combat and is better left at home.

[JurK]

when it comes to defending the castle there a proven strategy that usually does work for me..

first hero: the offender. he clears the pathes and conquer enemy towns/castles. he kills all the units and rogues that guard mines/resources. this hero also grabs mines and artifacts

second hero: his first use is exploring, picking resources & primary skill buildings. this hero also holds all resource artifacts. if u got the possability, choose are hero expertised in defense for this. this hero will guard ure main castle (why? he has had all buildings, so his exp & stats will be good enough to resist an enemy hero)

third hero: choose a logistics hero for this. this hero is the supplier of the first hero. his job is to run errands from ure main castle to ure first hero. this is only needed on large maps.


a few good defensive units & combo's:

sylvan:
3 stacks of ancient treants, circled arcane archers & elder druids (high druids blow).

haven:
inquisitors. these are obviously the best townguarding tiers that the game knows. spellcasting, good life, ranged attack, good stats. 1 of my favorite characters in the game. anyhow. support ure inquisitors with footmen (shield allies, cuts ranged dmg by 1/2). its handy to have some cavaliers positioned on the other side of town, so u can deal massive dmg once a flyer reacher ure archers.

Inferno:
demon spawns are really handy for defending. all u need is some succubi, some demon spawns and nightmares. devils arent rly required, cause imo they blow..

acadamy:
i got my doubts with this team.. magnetic golems are a great option for defending, but dont underestimate the rakshasas. they are the absolute top notch for defending in this team. some defense & luck increasing artifacts would do great here.

necropolis:
well, this is again one of the best available teams. vampire prince's torpor is a great ability, with soldiers luck this almost equals the no retaliation ability. banshees are also very good for their high life & death wail ability. handy against big groups of flyers. stack skelleton archers, lich masters and defend them by the rest of the team and everything will be allright. u can even offend with vampires while defending! (wicked no?). ps; dragons blow.

Dungeon:
foul hydra's. everything that attacks them get mass psn dmg. its just a must. furthermore stalkers & shadow mistresses are great. invisibility + a no-retaliation strike is everything u want to turn tides while defending ure castle.

Stronghold:
i have fallen in love with this team, for its blood rage absorbs both spell & physical damage. centaurs are extremely strong for lvl 2 units. make sure they or the ammo cart can NOT get hit by an flyers. use executioners to raise the initiative of the centaurs, by standing next to them. additionally ure bloodeyed cyclopses can shoot too (goblins). but when flyers reach ure core, use the cyclops to decrease their luck, so casualties will be minimized.

fortress:
what can i say. they most defensive team in my eyes. magma dragons are an absolute must for every player. fire shield is still once of the hardest abilities in the game, hence it works so well. thane's are offensive chars, so for castle defending they arent rly the best possible units.. last but not least. the shieldguard. shield wall will make u survive ranged attacks. conclusion: defending was never this easy.


thats the bottom lines. there's ofc a lot more, but wont reveal all secrets

gl!