auto-combat vs manual combat.

[saugeen123]

In heroes3 and 5 I would use auto combat most of the time as a result I never really learned hot to fight properly But with heroes 6 it has be come nesesary to do manual combat many times And I am not very good at it, some times I can't the special abilities to work

[maltz]

In general, players manually fight every combat where auto-combat loses units (so you won't lose any). This is 99% of the case as a might hero.
Even if you get a perfect victory, the calculation leaves you with very little mana.

[parcaleste]

The amount of spells that the AI is casting is ridiculous. I am getting so pissed every time that I "skip" some battle with 5 Ghouls to find that my Mass Heal, Implosion and Regeneration scrolls are missing from the back pack. WTF???

[Mhorhe]

I hear that, frustrating Incredibly spell-happy, and sloppily careless with high speed/initiative units.

Although, for me, worst of all is that auto-combat does not register as Dynasty XP. Seriously annoying, does anyone else get that?

[Tale]

I turned off spellcasting during quick combat almost as soon as I turned on quick combat (i.e., day 1). I have played the Stronghold (might), Sanctuary (magic), and Necromancer (magic) campaigns in that order. This has led me to an interesting conclusion: despite the Sanctuary army being quite good with self healing, they absolutely suck at quick combat. My Stronghold armies could get away with a number of quick combat fights with no losses; my Sanctuary armies had a loss virtually every single time. Both, of course, pale in comparison to the Necromancer quick combat victories: there were some fights I walked into thinking it impossible I would NOT take losses, only to have quick combat pop up and show me a perfect victory. And again, this is with magic casting OFF on my magic-inclined Anastasia.

I almost dread playing the underpowered Inferno campaign. Between weak units and no heal abilities whatsoever, I foresee a lot of stupid combats that I should obliterate due to poor quick combat AI.

- Tale

[Mozared]

I turned off spellcasting during quick combat almost as soon as I turned on quick combat (i.e., day 1). I have played the Stronghold (might), Sanctuary (magic), and Necromancer (magic) campaigns in that order. This has led me to an interesting conclusion: despite the Sanctuary army being quite good with self healing, they absolutely suck at quick combat. My Stronghold armies could get away with a number of quick combat fights with no losses; my Sanctuary armies had a loss virtually every single time.

This is funny. I've experienced the exact opposite. I played Sanctuary magic and Stronghold might as well. I keep getting no losses on my Sanctuary hero (not sure about spells used, but I've yet to run into mana problems and I don't even have meditation) and always end up with losses on Sandor.

[Tale]

This is funny. I've experienced the exact opposite. I played Sanctuary magic and Stronghold might as well. I keep getting no losses on my Sanctuary hero (not sure about spells used, but I've yet to run into mana problems and I don't even have meditation) and always end up with losses on Sandor.

hm. I suspect the difference might lie in how I turned off casting during quick combat, but I do distinctly remember how mission 4 at the start I would constantly fight armies that my hero alone could kill with her basic attack and yet I'd be losing kappa (if stacks were melee) and priestesses (if ranged) left and right. It got worse as my troops got stronger. I eventually attributed it to the movement range and initiative of my troops and the dot nature of the priestess heal. Three of my melee units in Sanctuary could reach the other side on turn one (with tactics), all before the enemy had a chance to act, and fights would rarely last longer than two turns. Thus, the priestess wouldn't heal until the second round and that heal would never have a chance to tick. That is, of course, entirely conjecture as I have no way of knowing how any given quick combat went.

I don't know how to defend the Stronghold one though. It just seemed like, after getting upgraded harpies, I stopped having quick combat losses in general. The only reason I can think of is that I rarely carried around the jaguar/panther warriors. They were too much of a target when I used them that I started prioritizing centaur and dreamwalkers instead. Meanwhile, the remainder of the combat losses I was having were the unupgraded harpies, so turning them into the no-retaliation unit must have helped. Of course, judging from the reviews of the Stronghold faction lineup I may have underestimated the panthers, but... it never was my favorite faction, so meh.

[Mozared]

I have to specify, I think; when I made my previous post I had only completed the first level of the Stronghold campaign. I've now started level two (about a month in, I think?) and am totally noticing what you meant. There's plenty of fights that I thought would be fairly close in terms of not losing units if I'd manually play them, yet auto-combat immediately pops me up with no losses. Sanctuary was definitely worse for me. Probably not as disastrous as you described, but definitely not as surefire as I'm already finding my level twelve Sandor.

[2vasort1corppor]

idk why, but it seems auto-combat is very useful for sanctuary and necropolis. its really easy to end missions that way. haven has support/healer troops too, but i suspect ai cant use marksman properly and ends up damaging your own troops in auto.