Leveling up an enemy hero?

[Ari]

Perhaps this has already been reported, but I encountered an odd bug in the 3rd Dungeon campaign map (though it may not be map specific). At the beginning of day 11 (before any actions on my part), I was given the chance to level up one of the enemy warlocks (Kythra, to be precise). Starting at level 6, I was able to level her up to level 14 (which I think is her level when I encounter her). I was able to then hire her in a tavern. I've been replaying this map a few times and haven't encountered this before, though reloading from an autosave recreated the exact situation. As far as I can tell, I hadn't done anything to directly precipitate this.

If I had to guess, I'd say that perhaps whatever script activated her either mistakenly assigned her to me and then "killed" her, or perhaps the comp killed her against some neutral stack and somehow then defaulted to me. Has anyone seen anything like this before?

[ThunderTitan]

If I had to guess, I'd say that perhaps whatever script activated her either mistakenly assigned her to me and then "killed" her, or perhaps the comp killed her against some neutral stack and somehow then defaulted to me. Has anyone seen anything like this before?

As I recal the third dungeon map was a breeze for me because when I killed an enemy hero he would show up in my tavern the next week or even sooner if i hired one of the 2 heroes of the current week.

In the end I had about 5-6 heroes that were over lvl 16. I think this is already in the bug thread.

[Ari]

Hmmm, I'd looked in that thread first and couldn't find it but perhaps I missed it. Hiring defeated heroes is all well and good (and on this map probably more important than most) but the enemy has at least half a dozen or so of them, and my experience is that even when I hgire them there are new ones that they throw at me afterwards (not even including the random level 6 heroes of all types they seem to get). As irritating as this map is becomming for me (I'm not really a power gamer. Perhaps not even a skilled gamer ), I'm loath to "cheat" and benefit from this bug (which clearly benefits me and hurts the AI). Sigh, time to restart.

[jeff]

Hmmm, I'd looked in that thread first and couldn't find it but perhaps I missed it. Hiring defeated heroes is all well and good (and on this map probably more important than most) but the enemy has at least half a dozen or so of them, and my experience is that even when I hgire them there are new ones that they throw at me afterwards (not even including the random level 6 heroes of all types they seem to get). As irritating as this map is becomming for me (I'm not really a power gamer. Perhaps not even a skilled gamer ), I'm loath to "cheat" and benefit from this bug (which clearly benefits me and hurts the AI). Sigh, time to restart.

This is just another H-III carryover. If you lost a hired hero you had until the end of the week to rehire them, if you lost 2 or more of your hired heroes in the same week prior to hiring the previously lost hero, then they would be lost. The same was true for AI heroes if you killed off several or when the week cycled you had a chance of picking them up in your tavern.

[ThunderTitan]

No, he was talking about hireing the enemies defeated heroes.

[Ari]

I'm not actually sure this was a defeated hero. I merely know that I was given an option to *level up* a hero that wasn't mine, and then saw that same hero in a tavern the next day. Clearly this isn't intended, since I never saw this on this map before (normally this is an enemy I face). Hiring the hero itself makes sense, but since there are no other players, it's hard for me to understand how a) it was defeated and b) even if it was defeated, why I should be leveling it up if it's not my hero.

[ThunderTitan]

Wait, you got to lvl him up before you bought him/her? That's double weird.

[ClownRoyal]

I was able to hire an Academy hero in the Necromancer campaign. He kind of sucked though. He was level 21, had Expert Academy skill, Arcane Omniscience, and nothing else.

[Ari]

Wait, you got to lvl him up before you bought him/her? That's double weird.

Exactly

[Ari]

Just noticed something interesting. If you have expert logistics and make a dash for the first castle on this map (3rd warlock map, "the cultists") ignoring all else, you can actually defeat the first hero on the first day (technically, you can't reach her, but you can enter her "red zone"), which is what I did on the playthrough that triggered this bug. It turns out this is the same hero I was leveling up in the bug. When I fought her she was at level 5, not level 14 (which is what she and all other enemy heroes are normally).

I guess the mapmaker didn't realize that you could reach any heros on day 1, and had a script leveling them only on day 2 (interestingly, she appears to have bought most of the units from the castle without actually having set foot in it!). Presumably, by defeating the hero before the script kicked in, the comp had no idea what to do when they finally awarded all that experience to that particular hero. This still doesn't explain why the *player* then levels up that hero, but at least now I see why the comp is confused.

[jeff]

Just noticed something interesting. If you have expert logistics and make a dash for the first castle on this map (3rd warlock map, "the cultists") ignoring all else, you can actually defeat the first hero on the first day (technically, you can't reach her, but you can enter her "red zone"), which is what I did on the playthrough that triggered this bug. It turns out this is the same hero I was leveling up in the bug. When I fought her she was at level 5, not level 14 (which is what she and all other enemy heroes are normally).

I guess the mapmaker didn't realize that you could reach any heros on day 1, and had a script leveling them only on day 2 (interestingly, she appears to have bought most of the units from the castle without actually having set foot in it!). Presumably, by defeating the hero before the script kicked in, the comp had no idea what to do when they finally awarded all that experience to that particular hero. This still doesn't explain why the *player* then levels up that hero, but at least now I see why the comp is confused.

Assuming the editor is at all the same as previous ones, they could have put a run only if owner is either the computer or a certain color. Just an example of careless or hasty programing.

[Qurqirish Dragon]

I was able to hire an Academy hero in the Necromancer campaign. He kind of sucked though. He was level 21, had Expert Academy skill, Arcane Omniscience, and nothing else.

Well, AO does come with expert skill in all 4 magic schools, so it was still a good deal. At level 21, you still have a few levels that are not too far apart, so you can choose combat skills, unless you want a magic ability.

[Gaidal Cain]

What you really should do is to hire another hero, give it enlightenment and scholar, and then you won't have to worry about building any mage guilds any more...