thats it,im always using@GiveArtifact_Shackles Last Man

[myythryyn]

ok this is my rant.
i am now going to use the @GiveArtifact("heroscriptname", 7);
at the beginning of every map to give my main heroes Shackles of the Last Man.
and for anyone who isnt using this cheat, just go ahead and save yourself the aggravation of fleeing heroes in battle. if your like me, and like to fight battles to the death, then this cheat will make your game alot more enjoyable.

im so sick of fleeing cowardly running AIheroes. i play this game to fight battles and defeat heroes. neutral armies are boing to fight, the only actually challenging fights are against AI hero armies. maybe if its a really large stack of high lvl neutrals is it challenging, but for the most part, its all about fighting AI heroes.

so, then i get ready for a fight, i want a fight. i dont want to be fighting, almost about to enjoy killing my foe and winning the battle, only to have see that annoying "hero has fled" screen, taking away my victory. never again will i have to see that screen now with this cheat.

in this game AIheroes flee way too much. especially if you get a large army, then every battle ends, and even starts with them fleeing.

sure i know it makes logical sense that a hero should flee, but since when is this game logical? we got mostly naked women running around in high heels, hordes of huge dragons somehow fitting in one space, untouchable heroes that can run through castle walls, there isnt anything logical. this game is about fun, and to me fun is winning battles.
the worst, even worst then when they cast armageddon then flee, is the one where you take the time to set your army up, get all ready for a fight, then right after tactical phase, the enemy flees before you even get to move one unit. that is the most aggravating, cuz then you dont even get to fight at all, and its a complete waste of time.
but no more, now that i have those shackles.

[DaemianLucifer]

Or,you could just reinstall and play 1.0 where AI flees only if outnumbered 10 to 1

[Cyrox]

When I used to play Normal difficulty on 1.2 and before the AI used to flee alot, making it really frustrated.

Since 1.3 I've always played Hard and above and the AI never fled on me even once. Yep, not once. It was all fight to the last man, no matter how big or small their armies were.

Maybe its the difficulty that affects their chance to flee?

[maltz]

If you see a lot of AI fleeing, probably you are playing at a too-low difficulty.

Try out heroic then. You can usually find a decent match in the campaign missions. It is far more fun than hoping to get a good slash at a weakling (and resort to cheat to satisfy a little ego).

[Killroyan]

Yup number of fleeing heroes on heroic is very very low (at least in the campaign).

[Shuyssar]

Whats the problem? If the enemy heroes runs, YOU WIN! You don't like to win? I surely do!

[asandir]

some people like a challenging AI .... and the AI would flee if the AI was smart enough, but it's not programmed well enough, so it doesn't flee (enough) - this is from my experience with 1.1 though, where i could never get ai to flee ever!!!

[Cyrox]

Whats the problem? If the enemy heroes runs, YOU WIN! You don't like to win? I surely do!

Sure we do, but we get no artifacts from the enemy hero and less exp.

You have to defeat the enemy hero thoroughly to get the goodies they've picked up around the map.

[okrane]

Well I played 1.3 on Hard mostly and I can say I fleed more often than the AI. In fact I don't recall the AI to flee...

[Kristo]

im so sick of fleeing cowardly running AIheroes. i play this game to fight battles and defeat heroes. neutral armies are boing to fight, the only actually challenging fights are against AI hero armies. maybe if its a really large stack of high lvl neutrals is it challenging, but for the most part, its all about fighting AI heroes.

It sounds like you might enjoy duel mode better. (Can you play duel mode against the computer?) In the grand strategic sense, enemies that run away are good for your war effort. It means you win without firing a shot and you probably take fewer losses than if you fought to the death.

FWIW, this isn't new. Veterans of the earlier games will remember the computer heroes constantly using a spell-and-run tactic. You'd attack a weaker hero, he'd cast one damaging spell and retreat, only to be re-hired the same day at the home castle and pick up a new batch of creatures. It's annoying, frustrating, and it works. The answer is to focus on the AI's towns, keep your towns defended, and force the cowardly heroes to come to you.

[myythryyn]

Whats the problem? If the enemy heroes runs, YOU WIN! You don't like to win? I surely do!

i dont consider it a win either. the hero can still be recruited by theAI again, and the hero is still alive. victory to me is when i kill the last unit, and i get the battle reward screen, and the hero is dead never to be seen again. and i get artifacts, but thats not as important.

fleeing is affected by lvl difficulty, i remember hearing there was a bug where the AI never fled on hard+, but i think they fixed that, or the enemy flees on hard again now. not sure
i would play on hard, but then by week 3 you have to deal with the AI having look at how much i cheat armies, fully upgraded with lvl 7 troops. so lately ive been just playing on normal, where you can actually take your time and let the enemy build rather than rush every game.
and it also totally depends on how the map is made, the two maps i made are actually challenging on normal.
and its not about ego, its about having fun battles. having the enemy flee the second the battle starts is boring, ive had games where every single AI battle the AI fled. add to that neutral armies that flee, and then your game ends up being your hero moving around the map unchallenged not fighting a single challenging battle. what fun is that?

[Cyrox]

You could try playing on Hard. It isnt as hard as it seems. It will need some adjusting initially but very soon you'll be able to overcome the AI early in the game and the rest is cheesecake.

I used to play Normal too but found it too easy because I always beat the AI. Then I started playing Hard and initially I got trashed, but after a few thrashings I now play very well on Hard and I trash the AI everytime now. I love to beat their rushing armies =) and cripple them for awhile while I go explore the map.

Btw the AI 100% does not flee on hard. I've played against them many many times on hard difficulty and not once they flee. You wont ever need shackles of the last man and can leave that item slot for another more useful item =).

[myythryyn]

you see and thats another reason why i use the cheat to give my heroes the shackles, i read that the reason the AI doesnt flee on hard is a bug. so there is no reason people who play on hard get to have no fleeing heroes, but people who prefer to play on normal have to suffer with fleeing heroes.
and not just every now and then, but every single battle the AI flees.

ive played on hard, i dont like the rushed playstyle, must build captitol by this day, must build this by then, must kill as many AI as possible in the first couple weeks. ill agree any nival made map is too easy on normal, but there are lots of player made maps that are challenging on normal.

there is just no reason why people playing on hard get to have all the fun of fights to the death.

[maltz]

What you say is a little ironic here. You don't like AI fleeing and you don't like AI not fleeing. You hate easy victory and you hate hard-earned victory.

As far as I know, AI fleeing or not is controlled by a chicken factor. When the ratio between AI's power to yours drops below the chicken factor, the AI flees.

So AI does not flee on high difficulties means the chicken factor has been set a little lower -- but you should also consider the fact that they have larger army.

[Kashrlyyk]

What you say is a little ironic here. You don't like AI fleeing and you don't like AI not fleeing. You hate easy victory and you hate hard-earned victory.

As far as I know, AI fleeing or not is controlled by a chicken factor. When the ratio between AI's power to yours drops below the chicken factor, the AI flees.

So AI does not flee on high difficulties means the chicken factor has been set a little lower -- but you should also consider the fact that they have larger army.

From a german forum. AI hero had this army:
118 Paladins
480 Markmen
8 Angels
20 Inquisitators
47 Griffins
197 Squires

AI hero fled from player, who had:

23 Phantom dragons
13 Spectre
800 Skeleton Archers
63 Vampirs
118 Ghosts
34 Archlich

Ai level 24 and Player level 26.

That is one weird chicken factor.

[myythryyn]

i agree, the above example shows that the current fleeing system is broken and messed up. on normal difficulty, the AI flees too much. while on hard, the AI never flees. which has been said due to a bug.

on this map im playing the AI flees every battle, alot of the time before the battle even starts. which means i never get to have a fun battle. and once you take away the battles from the game, whats left? fun battles are a big part of what HOMM V is about, not fleeing heroes at the start of combat.

i dont think im being ironic, but a very good point is you could have two exactly the same armies and heroes, the player fighting the battle on normal would have to deal with the AI fleeing, the player on hard wouldnt have to worry, all because of a bug and messed up system.
that makes no sense to me. which is why im glad i have those shackles, now i can play on the difficulty lvl i want, and not have to have fleeing heroes.
i dare any of you players who play on hard to try out a game on normal, and im sure you would end up being just as annoyed as i am when every battle you fight ends in the "enemy has fled" screen.

[maltz]

Your reason of not playing on harder difficulty doesn't sound good to me; that's what I was trying to say.

Although I do agree with you that fleeing like that on normal is just BS.

AI not fleeing on heroic doesn't sound buggy to me, not at all. If the AI has a chance to weaken you, it should do so. Who is the reference you repeatedly use that "it is said to be bugged"? This guy is so used of AI fleeing, so they now think AI not fleeing is a bug? That's laughable.

[myythryyn]

so if its not a bug, then you really think that its inteneded for the AI to flee alot on normal, but never, ever flee on hard+ difficulty lvl?
so far, everyone who talks about fleeing heroes says it doenst happen on hard. i have to agree, ive never seen the AI flee on hard.

to me, thats either a bug, or something messed up. there is no reason for the AI to never flee on hard. it doesnt make the battles any harder or easier if the enemy flees, since if they flee its because they are supposed to be weaker to you anyways. all it does is take away gameplay and the fun factor from battles.

[DaemianLucifer]

I dont think it was inteded because I did see AI flee few times on hard in 1.0.

[Bonzer]

on this map im playing the AI flees every battle, alot of the time before the battle even starts.

Did you mean the AI moves away from you on the adventure map, and the combat is never started unless you chase him down?

I have experienced this many times. It has always seemed to me to be that the AI is trying to lead me away from an area, or allow another of his heroes to close on my town while I am away (flanking).

I have experienced this many times in H3 and H5 and always thought it was pretty clever.

I do know that usually if I don't chase, but move to the area he came from there is usually something there, either his town, or a stronger army.

But perhaps I am being paranoid.