H3: Fav Lvl2 critter.

[kitcat0]

I agree with Csarmi that knights and clerics get crappy skill choises. Leadership would be an ok (not good, but ok) skill if there wasnt so many artifacts and other boosters that already give hero leadership. I would stick wizards and alchemists in the same pot with castle heroes. Ok, they get scholar instead of navigation. Still crap. Necro heroes are the best when it comes to getting right skills after my experience.

[Bandobras Took]

True; overall, Castle might have the weakest set. Witches may suck, but a lot of the Beastmasters rock.

[Sir William S Titan]

Go archers!

[LordScimitar]

Diplomacy is banned because it's implemented badly in the game (it's much better in h4 and still has some problems). If you play with diplomacy enabled, unless the mapmaker did an extremely good and careful job, it all comes down to pure luck. No skills involved. The one who gets it going sooner wins. Wow, what a great game!

Yes, all these skills ave their uses, but they are bad on main heroes 99% of the times. Meaning you have a much worse chance to get a useful main.

No, +2 speed does not suck and helps a bit in early map clearing... but still Mullich has the same problems as other knights (will most likely get crappy skills) and he actually starts with leadership and advanced of it... Level 3 can well be a nightmare.

Mullich is not that bad, but not amongst the best either.

While I do not 100% agree, you have good points, and thus you make a fair statement. I've never had problems getting anything other then earth magic for my clerics it seems. But, maybe I'm just lucky, and expert slow is one of the best spells in the game IMHO. But, they get water pretty easily, and mass bless/prayer almost as wicked.

So, I'll accept your opinion. In fact, I'll amend my statement.

I think Castle has some great specialties that shouldn't be underestimated.

[Orfinn]

We better stay on topic, I see some dark clouds or shadows hovering above

[Monte Cristo]

Battle Dwarves, they are brilliant fighters in the early game with Haste spell and/or Stone Skin

[Banedon]

@Banedon: Having 2 angels is a zillion times better than one. You can do all the shooter fights, for example. You can do all the banks. Both are impossible with only one.

Disagreed. You can win the shooter fights normally (Angels move, cast Mass Haste, Marksmen shoot them down) and the banks equally normally (Angels move, cast Mass Slow, shoot them down). The difference is of course there, but it is not as great as you make it to be.

Rarely starting towns, that's a given... but often secondary towns.

You mean no mines around secondary towns? That's not a problem. Just rely on the mines that are around the starting town - you'll have stockpiled a huge reserve of resources anyway.

Good question, and very comparable troops. Personnally? Grand Elves, but it is more a question of style, faction preferance and early game usefulness. In certain situations like defending a town, He would rather chose E-Eyes, who get about every advantage over the Elves, but for cost, and Damage, where the difference is indeed greater than between L-Warriors and M-Men.

Grand Elves are particularly targeted by the ennemy, and as the Rampart's only shooters, Nucleon would understand that a rampart players would use all of his ressources to defend them, as opposed to the Castle player.

The next question is: Who wins a 1v1 fight between Grand Elves and Evil Eyes?

1v1 fights are irrelevant. No point pursuing it. They are irrelevant.

What does it have to do with the lack of spells?

If you have Marksmen but no spells, you can still win a fight with few or zero casualties. If you do not have powerful ranged creatures (or fliers), you may have to use spells. Marksmen allow you to win fights without spells. That is their power.

Royal Friffins will help you get these towns.

You do not need Royal Griffins.

Point Taken. However, Royal Griffins are fast enough to take one doule shot at half damage from G-Elves, then obliterate them near the start of turn two.

Your opponent is not clever to allow that to happen. I've already shown you what to do when this happens. Surround the Grand Elves with Centaur stacks, such that the Royal Griffins MUST take full damage when they attack.

Because of the 3000 gold expense? Like you said yourself, the time taken to build them is much more of a concern.

And the extra gold you're spending to buy those creatures. It's not 3,000 only; it's rather more than that.

That you have; Don't stress it.

It will be done. But not yet - I haven't the time. Till Monday.

More like artefacts and visiting locations...

And resources. Once you've finished building your towns, you don't need much resources and they stockpile. You also have a ton more mines to exploit and claim. Once you, for example, conquer Fortress, you can lay claim to all of the Fortress player's mines.

Just played "All for one" on impossible with Dungeon to try the special of the harpy hags. They allowed to win the fight with the fire elementals without a scratch. Beat blue player on day 8 and tan on day 14 ( I had to run after his last heroes). 4 towns captured, score 446. I'm sure it's possible to win some more days but I was lazy with chaining smile.

If that is so, then surely you should prove it to Nucleon instead. My best efforts did not allow me to eliminate either player by day 14.

[csarmi]

Yea but generally, you don't have spells at all! Surely not mass haste, mass slow and the like... in that case that's alredy easy. Havin two angels on day 8 is a tremendous advantage opposed to having one. You don't have to go home for spellbook. You don't have to have expert magic already which you don't have. Etc...

Btw, I'm doing that impossible map i promised, but i advance very slowly cause I am bored to much by heroes 3.

In the end of week 1, I have:

the 1000 gc building, Blacksmith, Citadel, Mage guild, marksmen, swordsman, monk dwelling built (one outside monk dwelling taken as well) in main town

the 1000 gc building + marketplace built in secondary town (archers and pikemen prebuilt there)

making 2700 gold/day + I think I will be able to get about 20k+ next week from the map (chests, medusa store, resources)

I shall flag another zealot dwelling next week, possibly the griffin ones too (though most likely I won't be able to build/buy griffins at all)

I plan to build both angel dwelling AND capitol in main town by the end of week 2 (I will make 6700 gold/day from then).

All the army I lost so far is about 17 centaurs, a few pikeman and 1 marksmen. My main army is now 3 monks, 18 marksmen and 4 centaurs (on level 5 Mullich)

[dallasmavs41]

Personally, I like the Walking Dead/Zombie combo, they are extremely slow, but they're also pretty underrated, and Zombie's Diease is an all right special....I play Necro alot, so I'm used to them.

[csarmi]

Well, they are definitely good fodders in the beginning because of their big hp, bad stats and bad damage. AI tends to attack them often (AI is a chicken and will only hurt the weak if possible). Plus, later on they are completely useless so you don't care if you lose them all. Only downside is that they are speed 3 which slows your hero down a lot.

[Banedon]

I'm wondering if I should go ahead with my test, since csarmi seems to be doing the same thing (albeit on Impossible)?

csarmi -

You don't really need Mass Haste, Mass Slow, etc. Haste and Slow should be good enough. You also seem to be building the Portal of Glory inside the first week - a tremendous achievement; I don't think it is possible in normal circumstances.

[csarmi]

I'm wondering if I should go ahead with my test, since csarmi seems to be doing the same thing (albeit on Impossible)?

csarmi -

You don't really need Mass Haste, Mass Slow, etc. Haste and Slow should be good enough. You also seem to be building the Portal of Glory inside the first week - a tremendous achievement; I don't think it is possible in normal circumstances.

On the contrary, it is possible under normal circumstances. It's usually not possible on impossible, however.

You can go ahead with your test. Or better yet, I send you my day 7 save, I am too lazy to continue

[Banedon]

Are you playing on Expert?

[csarmi]

Nope, I am plying on 200%. On 130% (that's the normal in MP) it is usually possible to build angels week 1. Even on 160% it's not impossible.

[Banedon]

Only in certain maps. Building Portal of Glory by Day 7, Week 1 is impossible in most maps. If you claim you can do it, I would ask you for some proof.

I've given up on running the test myself, since it does not appear necessary.

[csarmi]

Only in certain maps. Building Portal of Glory by Day 7, Week 1 is impossible in most maps. If you claim you can do it, I would ask you for some proof.

I've given up on running the test myself, since it does not appear necessary.

Look, building portal of glory by day 7 is easy on most maps on 130%. IF, and that's a very big if, not on all maps.

On 160% it's still possible lots of times.

On 200% it's rare.

Ask for proof? Do it yourself...

As I said, I will have angels + capitol by week 2 day 7 on impossible, and on the balance template (that's a harsh one).

[Pacifist]

Yes, on most maps it's possible to build angels + capitol in 2 weeks on impossible level. The rare maps where it's not possible are specially made maps with very poor ressources and lack of mines. If you have a map in mind where you think it's not possible, I can try it if you want.

[csarmi]

Yes, on most maps it's possible to build angels + capitol in 2 weeks on impossible level. The rare maps where it's not possible are specially made maps with very poor ressources and lack of mines. If you have a map in mind where you think it's not possible, I can try it if you want.

Try the Extreme II or Angelito's Fiesta templates

@Banedon:

welcome to post a map/template on which angel week 1 is not possible on 130%

i shall assume archers are prebuilt

[Pacifist]

How do we use those templates? they are txt files?

Do I have to put them in some folder?

edit: I just saw the extreme 2 map is not meant to be played with castle. Is this just a rule for online balance? Maybe you can make a savegame on first day?

To Banedon,

As for Angels first week on 130%, I was one of the first to do it online in the first times of h3 online competitions and people said it was foolish (still I won many matches like that ) while now it's considered the best tactic for Castle .

Well I hope we are not too much off-topic ...

[csarmi]

these are txt files
you should place them into the data folder under the name "RMG.txt"

you may find them on www.toheroes.com (map page) for example
well I managed to start with castle on that map... but it's not a funny one to play on impossible - guess it's optimized for 130% (you'll see why)