Hey, newbie here looking for some tips. (HoMM III)

[Perihelion]

Well, I recently started playing this game with some friends who are a lot better than me, and in the interest of improving and making the game more interesting for all of us, I have a few questions. I realize the answer is "it depends" for most or all of these, but I'd appreciate some general insight or tips for a few common scenarios if you can. If it helps, we usually play on random L or XL maps, and since the difference in skill is so large, I'm probably going to stick to Conflux for the time being. Apologies if there's a guide somewhere that covers this stuff, but I couldn't find one, sooo...

1. What order should I build things in? Is it better to focus on getting creature dwellings quickly or on getting more income (e.g. capitol)?
2. How aggressively should I expand, and what are your thoughts on a bunch of weak heroes vs. one or two strong ones?
3. Which troops should I focus on buying? Assuming I don't have enough money to get everything, are low-level ones worth it even though they die faster?
4. Any tips on battle strategy?
5. Any other tips?

Thanks!

[MadMax]

1. I always start with building up the moneymaking things first and then go for a superstrong army later when i have money also..

2...

3. Well try to afford them all.. The weaker ones are stronger when they are many.. Many small outnumbers 1 big, alltough the big ones is needed to to crush and destroy your enemy..

4 Dont underestimate the power of the magic! Disrupting Ray is one good magic that lowers your enemies defense and makes the enemy target easier to kill! Also you can cast it more then ones which is a big +! And there are alot of other cool magics.. Just learn to control them!
5...

[Vlaad II]

Do the opposite of what he said.

[Storm-giant]

1-On he first week, if the map isn't small(so no enemies near) go for the city hall and then either some troops or go for the capitol(although it needs a lot of resources, in high levels of difficult you can't afford in the first week). Don't forget to hire at least one hero on day one(you pass his troops to your main hero and this second hero is used for picking resources&other minor things(exploring, some chest tresuares you exchanged them into gold, etc...)
2-Don't go suicide, but learn some tactics(with your own experience) and having shooters(and hand to hand units too, but the most shoothers you can) and attack the slow walking units(like walking dead, dwarfs, peasants, pikemen, etc...)
3-Go for shoothers and then others units. Fast flyiers and level 6&7 units are good too.
4-use spells when needed as they can be critical, and use the turtle tactic(your unshooters units surround the shooters stack, so enemy units can't kill your weaker shooters, except vs magogs&both liches)
5-Choose the best heroes if possible(like Crag Hack on the stronghold)
Cheers

[Pol]

1 Expand like a mad rabbit, build money resources later. That's go in rich or medium maps - where the majority falls. (ie having four gold mines is better than going for a capitol in two weeks)

2 Speed is life, life is speed. Pick Gunnar and sweep it all. The difference between so called good and bad heroes can be abysmal.

3 Buy the units which you need to defend your enemy, neutral monsters. None the less or more. (Example army composed from 20 imps 20 gogs and 2 efreets and 6 pit lords usually don't need any demons or hell hounds, or maybe just few hell hounds no more than six. Just build dwellings and accumulate. Split units.)

4 Thousands. Upgrade for free. Declare total Armageddon War, .. whatever.. be happy!

Tips 1 - Maps to learn from
Tips 2 - Game know how

Do the opposite of what he said.

I'm inclining to agree almost totally. PS Vlaad's maps are splendid, heartily recommend.

[Paulus1]

1. If your opponent is far away, in general go for the money structures. With Conflux you could choose to build and upgrade lvl 1+2 creatures for clearing mines.
2. Be aggressive in clearing vital mines and expanding. I usually build up one strong hero to do the fighting.
3. In Conflux, lvl 1, 2, 6 and 7. Don't buy lvl 5 unless you have an abundance of gold.
4. Practice makes perfect
5. Selecting skills is very important.
Skills you can't live without are Logistics, Earth Magic(get Expert ASAP) and Wisdom.
Top contenders are Air Magic, Water Magic and Offence.

[MadMax]

If you should do opposite of what i say that means that.... omg im a n00b

[Angelspit]

If you should do opposite of what i say that means that.... omg im a n00b

We all start as noobs, nobody became an expert in a couple of days. What matters is our ability to learn and improve our game.

[MadMax]

If you should do opposite of what i say that means that.... omg im a n00b

We all start as noobs, nobody became an expert in a couple of days. What matters is our ability to learn and improve our game.

Well ive been playing Heroes for like 11 years soon Alltough i were 5 years when i started so i guess its okey anyways XD Btw im developing a campaign with Yurian_Stonebow helping me You can read about in a thread called New Heroes Campaign on its way!

[Storm-giant]

If you should do opposite of what i say that means that.... omg im a n00b

We all start as noobs, nobody became an expert in a couple of days. What matters is our ability to learn and improve our game.

Thats the thruth
And I'm serious, years ago I wasn't able to pass the RoE first castle campaing(though I never tried to much the third scenario). One year ago I passed the seven RoE campaings with no problems, only on the last scenario of the six campaing, but having an experienced Craj Hack lead me to the easy victory over the undead(Sandro wasn't there )
The experience is the best teacher, trust me

[Banedon]

1. Depends strongly on what race you're playing, but my general guideline is - get as many creatures as you need to clear neutrals safely and efficiently, and then concentrate on economy. If there are enough gold-generating buildings on the map (other towns, gold mines, trading posts, etc) then you can ignore the Capitol for a while and go for the top-level dwellings.

2. The faster you expand the better. One strong hero is typically better than multiple weak heroes, but a strong hero cannot adventure in two directions. If you really need to clear two areas at a time (not often) you can use two heroes, but since both heroes need the bare minimum of creatures to begin with you usually cannot set out at the same time. The first hero might leave a week before the second, for example.

3. Depends strongly on what race you're playing. Go for your key creatures. These are -

Castle: Marksmen
Rampart: Grand Elves
Dungeon: Evil Eyes, Mage Guild level 1
Tower: none of the early creatures are particularly strong, go for Mage Guild -> Nagas
Necropolis: Skeleton Warrior, Vampires / Liches / Dread Knights whichever is easiest to reach
Inferno: Efreet Sultans
Conflux: Storm Elementals
Stronghold: Thunderbird
Fortress: Basiliks and Gorgons

Early in the game other creatures tend not to matter - for example, if you're playing Inferno and have 6 Efreet Sultans in the second week, you're going to thrash all the neutral stacks on the map easily already and might as well go without any other creatures, which would add to your movement speed on the map as well. Castle armies need to maximize their Marksmen stack as soon as possible and then add some Pikemen or similar units to guard them from attacks, but that's all - any early Griffins for example are not going to be of much use. Go for the key creatures, and leave the others for later. You'll want the dwelling so you can stockpile them, but definitely not hire them.

4. Practice makes perfect. Identify the most potent threats on the battlefield, and neutralize them.

5. Perhaps the people best qualified to teach you are those that beat you. Ask them what you could've done better.

[ByteBandit]

On a large or extra large map with no enemies about:
Go for troops. Get what you can and amass 1 hero. A "Superhero."(Don't forget to have at least a level one mage guild and your hero has a spellbook.) Then go out and get some gold and resources and level your hero up. Expand the town to Castle to produce even more troops. Return and buy as many troops as you can get on the second week. Go out and get more stuff. Preferably mines and creature generators by this time. Now you can build up your wealth. After you've built up your wealth, you can buy upgraded dwellings. Then you can finish by building your mage guilds. If all goes well, you'll be broke and beaten up the first month and a half, but you'll be ready for anything once you go back to your Castle to amass for real enemy exploration. (Gathering wealth in the beginning and leveling up is critical. If you don't get the stuff outside your castle, your opponent will.)
After your town is built up and your superhero is ready to seek enemy opponents, purchase a second hero. One that generates income or resources. Have him/her go out and gather creatures from the generators and place them in your castle to upgrade them if the creatures are affiliated with that town. Do this for every town you get your hands on.
Works for me.

[csarmi]

Tower: Master Gremlins - week 1, any high level suitable - week 2

Conflux: Sprites (walkers), anything else (rest) - week 1, (storm, magic or firebird - week 2 (note: conflux is hugely overpowered)

Stronghold: goblins, wolves, bird + behemoth - week 1, upgrade birds - week 2

Rampart: grand elves, centaurs - week 1, war unicorns - week 2

Inferno: whole army - week 1, sultans - week 2, key: demon farming

Dungeon: harpy hags or infernal troglodytes with Shakti - week 1, army - week 2 (manticores often help but careful! usually its minotaurs and damage)

Castle: marksmen, then champion or angels

for more info: visit the heroescommunity library, howto threads, tips and more (am I allowed to post links?)

Things that are important and new players (or offline players) tend to get wrong:

1) ALWAYS pick gold from chests (and not with your main!) - its a good rule of thumb, later when you are a very good player, you can find that 1% when you want to take xp (to get an important skill asap maybe)

2) Have as many heroes as you can afford (its often the max, eight), have the minor heroes transfer creatures, flag dwellings, fight less important fights while your main hero does nothing but visit the powerups, xps and do the important battles

3) Unless you have a definite plan or the map is very poor, its always dwellings first, castle+capitol week 2

4) play on 130% or 160%, on 100% battles are stupid (AI fights even worse with neutrals as usual), on 200% the game is way too random (in the beginning)

5) with fortress and stronghold build level 7 week 1, with the rest its usually week 2

6) always take money from chests and with a secondary hero (yea i know I said that already)

7) Listen to Banedon, Pol and Paulus, their advices are sound