Haunting Mines

[Alamar]

Well, I'm with JJ on this one. You get, what, 10 ghosts a mine at most? Considering you also can get a number of skeleton archers per fight (and you'll be fighting more battles than you'll be flagging mines), I don't see what the big deal is.

Even if the exploit is small [you end up with an extra 100-200 ghosts]there really isn't a reason to have an ability called "Haunt Mine" whose sole purpose is to just add even more free creatures to your army.

[HenL]

Does not sound like a bug at all to me.

Also: The number of ghosts is determined by the week, so the longer the game has been going on, the more ghosts you get.

[Blue_Camel]

A nice solution would be increasing this to 10xhero level,and making it unmovable from the mine.

BTW,did any of you ever guard a mine(except if it was some victory condition or a joke)?

in h4 MP this was a bit of a trick.. leave a small army split into many stacks (so it can't be killed with 2 or 3 magic arrows) in a mine which has been switching hands multiple times, and hope that the enemy tries to take the mine with a 1 sprite scouting hero without noticing that the mine is guarded.. granted it didn't always work, but it was a small risk/reward thing. and let's face it, it was damn cute when it worked.

[Gaidal Cain]

Even if the exploit is small [you end up with an extra 100-200 ghosts]there really isn't a reason to have an ability called "Haunt Mine" whose sole purpose is to just add even more free creatures to your army.

THere's no reason to have an ability that increases the damage output of lucky attacks further either. I think the ability is quite balanced and see no reason for why it should be removed.

Blue_Camel: You sure that it wasn't a H3 trick? You'd have to take care of that hero as well otherwise.

[Blue_Camel]

true, it may have been.. i can't even remember anymore. i just remember using it on occasion.

[Wolfshanze]

Well, I'm with JJ on this one. You get, what, 10 ghosts a mine at most? Considering you also can get a number of skeleton archers per fight (and you'll be fighting more battles than you'll be flagging mines), I don't see what the big deal is.

Nope... I've seen 25-Ghosts generated at a mine with this ability. If there is a cap, it's definately MUCH higher then 10. It's AT LEAST 25.

[DaemianLucifer]

25 ghosts per mine does seem a bit too much.

[Wolfshanze]

25 ghosts per mine does seem a bit too much.

Mind you, this is the first time using the ability with a level-22 Necro late in a scenario, but yeah... first time I tried it, I got 25 Ghosts!

I'm guessing level of the Necro and/or expertise in Necromacy might have something to do with the number produced.

[Lord Zeus]

25 ghosts per mine does seem a bit too much.

Mind you, this is the first time using the ability with a level-22 Necro late in a scenario, but yeah... first time I tried it, I got 25 Ghosts!

I'm guessing level of the Necro and/or expertise in Necromacy might have something to do with the number produced.

The number of ghosts depens only on the number of the week:
week 1&2 5 ghosts
week 3&4 10 ghosts
week 5&6 15 ghosts
week 7&8 20 ghosts
week 9&10 25 ghosts
....
so for odd numbers : nr of ghosts=(n+1)*5/2
and for even numbers : nr of ghosts=n*5/2

also it is NOT once per mine , if a enemy captures your mine and you take it back you get another set of ghosts.
These two things combined do make Haunt Mine a very powerful ability, maybe too powerful. I personaly don't care because I don't put my ghosts into combat a just take them for power rating. I use vampires liches and skeletons.

[Gaidal Cain]

That does seem to be a too high output of ghosts. I maintain that the idea itself is OK, though. It's just the actual numbers that need adjusting.

[Jolly Joker]

also it is NOT once per mine , if a enemy captures your mine and you take it back you get another set of ghosts.

If that's true, it's crappy. Can't imagine why they changed that. It was a bug early on - you would let the AI scouting heroes take all your mines and retake it for easy Ghost gain - and I think it was changed later so that you can't do that anymore. But it doesn't look like it and that is too easily exploitable then. Has to be patched once again then.

[Blue_Camel]

I wouldn't jump the gun so quickly.
First week observations are often looked back on and laughed at. Doubtless i've produced a few laughers myself. Not necessarily saying that "haunting needs patching" is a laugher, but on this one it isn't clear enough to immediately say "patch it."

[Alamar]

also it is NOT once per mine , if a enemy captures your mine and you take it back you get another set of ghosts.

If that's true, it's crappy. Can't imagine why they changed that. It was a bug early on - you would let the AI scouting heroes take all your mines and retake it for easy Ghost gain - and I think it was changed later so that you can't do that anymore. But it doesn't look like it and that is too easily exploitable then. Has to be patched once again then.

It's exactly for this sort of reason that you don't want to let in a "small exploit". If there is a bug or other unintended side effects the small exploit may turn into a large one.

Just setting a flag that would indicate that you can't remove troops from the garrison would largely eliminate the exploity nature of the skill and would allow you to change the number of guardian units without having to worry as much about the Necro getting an unfair advantage.

[Lord Zeus]

I wouldn't jump the gun so quickly.
First week observations are often looked back on and laughed at. Doubtless i've produced a few laughers myself. Not necessarily saying that "haunting needs patching" is a laugher, but on this one it isn't clear enough to immediately say "patch it."

Your right. It appears that the amount of gosts is capped at 25.
I'm in my 14th week and I still receive 25 ghosts.

[Lord Zeus]

Just setting a flag that would indicate that you can't remove troops from the garrison would largely eliminate the exploity nature of the skill and would allow you to change the number of guardian units without having to worry as much about the Necro getting an unfair advantage.

That whould resolve the problem if they could set individual stack flag.
Also that meens that if I put 100 ghosts on top of the summoned 15 you couldn't remove all of them?

[DaemianLucifer]

Just setting a flag that would indicate that you can't remove troops from the garrison would largely eliminate the exploity nature of the skill and would allow you to change the number of guardian units without having to worry as much about the Necro getting an unfair advantage.

That whould resolve the problem if they could set individual stack flag.
Also that meens that if I put 100 ghosts on top of the summoned 15 you couldn't remove all of them?

True,but this can bea easily countered by adding a numeric value to the mines saying how many ghosts were gained by haunting.