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sinistabg
Tavern Dweller
Pirate King
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posted December 02, 2013 05:23 PM |
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Heroes 3 noob
Hello, I've been playing this game since I was 6 years old. Since then I haven't progressed much, I only found that I'm most effective with Rampart, Ivor, Elven archers and making Ivor half might half magic.
My biggest feat was XXL map, normal difficulty, 7 enemies, no teams, took me 2-3 days, playing ~3 hours a day to complete it.
My strategy is pretty noob - I only focus on one hero - Ivor and I only hire a new hero for each town to protect it with the local army. I know it's really stupid to use just one hero and go on a hunt trough the whole map, only relying on Dimension Door and artifacts that ease travel.
My question is: Is it possible to become better while still playing with only one hero?
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my mind's got a mind of its own
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OhforfSake
Promising
Legendary Hero
Initiate
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posted December 02, 2013 05:38 PM |
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I do the same as you vs. AI, and I don't find it difficult to win, so sure. In my opinion the games just tend to get unnecessarily long when you've to hunt down its remaining heroes.
For an easy time against the AI:
#1
Week 1 get all creature buildings (if you can, castle as well, depends on the town and what you start with). There's most often plenty of resources on the map, even if you're not particular good at playing versus monsters on the map, there's usually still plenty. Use level 6's and 7's on different heroes and start clean up the map.
The computer usually only has up to level 4 units the first couple of weeks, unless scripts are involved or it finds dwellings.
#2
When choosing a hero, try to go for a hero who gives you a lot of troops, best examples are Galthran and Shakti. Further, get even more troops from other heroes in the tavern. This is usually plenty to start taking on the map from the very beginning even if you're not very good at playing against monsters on the map.
#3
Priotize according to what you need. Early on it's usually gold, gold and more gold. Each town usually have one resource they're more interested in in others, etc.
After getting to level 7 first or second week + castle, you can just recruit a few high level units, clean out the map, get some income and your army will grow faster than the AI's as it'll likely only have up to level 4 units anyway. You don't need several heroes to fight the AI, but it will probably shorten the game a lot.
Finally when it comes to confrontation with the AI, more often I tend to find that the hero he puts the most army on can be very weak, like 4 / 4 / 5 / 8 in stats or similar. Whereas you're probably in the 20's in all stats overall when going half / half (though I think it's better to go fully might or fully magic, but that's up to you, shouldn't matter against the AI on any difficulty). Also the spell selection of the AI is usually terrible, so once you get the good spells of the game, level 7 as quickly as you can, and work up your hero's stats, it should be pretty tough to end up losing against the AI.
(If you've trouble locating the AI, view air and view earth with expert school levels can come in handy).
Edit: Level 7 first week is when I play on hard diff. On impossible it's more likely to be around week 3, depending on how rich the map is and what town I got, but it shouldn't matter, because the first couple of weeks your initial army should be plenty to hold back any AI on small maps as it only uses up to level 4 units anyway. So on all difficulties, there should be plenty of time to get more powerful than the AI and then crush it as it never surpasses you anyway.
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sinistabg
Tavern Dweller
Pirate King
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posted December 02, 2013 10:48 PM |
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Thanks for the thorough answer. I will reconsider my strategy and give Dungeon or Fortress a go. I have an observation that might heroes tend to be a little bit stronger than magic heroes.
OFF TOPIC: I wish that one day there will be a Heroes 3 2D remake with some improvements.
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my mind's got a mind of its own
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Salamandre
Admirable
Omnipresent Hero
Wog refugee
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posted December 02, 2013 10:59 PM |
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There are 70+ mods for H3, check wog subforums.
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demarest
Known Hero
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posted December 02, 2013 11:30 PM |
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I would say might heroes are better than magic heroes by more than a little. There are artifacts that shut down/limit magic use, but none that cripple enemy troops. You can run out of MP, but creatures will continue to benefit from the direct buffs of attack and defense ratings. You can only cast one spell per turn, no matter how magically powerful you are. Finally, going first and casting mass haste can sometimes be a game turner even if you only have 1 spell power.
It's the same concept as it's more powerful to have the earth tome than for one hero to have learned Implosion for example. Because that power can be conveyed to other heroes. Likewise, if you favor might, as you pass creatures from one hero to the next, they'll retain that power. Whereas if you favor magic, you'll have higher losses most of the time and your fighting will be more hero-specific based on who has what spells.
Don't get me wrong, playing against the AI, it's fun to sometimes take our time and build for cash and magic schools. It's even more fun when you're doing it as taking a break from playing stronger.
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markmasters
Famous Hero
Dragon of justice
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posted December 03, 2013 01:19 AM |
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On very small maps i would prefer magic over might. Solomyr in example can devastate really badly in short games
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Maurice
Hero of Order
Part of the furniture
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posted December 03, 2013 10:15 AM |
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While some Heroes have an awful specialty (like Eagle Eye  ), some Heroes are exceptionally powerful (Logistics is very good if Fly and Dimension Door are not available, Estates - though only Lord Haart has it in his Human Knight form - can be a real gold mine at higher levels, and some spell specialties really shine, etc). Archery specialty can be extreme, if you load up a lot of ranged units on that Hero, especially when combined with blockers or teleport.
It's a matter of regarding a Hero and his specialty, and finding ways to "exploit" the specialty he or she has. Perhaps the best way to look at these specialties is realising that they are mostly icing on the cake while your Hero provides a lot more than that specialty (stat boosts for your creatures and Magic spells), so it may become easier to leave your 'comfort zone' and try some other specialty.
For secondary Heroes, the best bet is usually the resource producers, since these Heroes will likely not see much combat at all, primarily being used to visit external dwellings and unflaggable resource producers like Water/Wind Mills and such.
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OhforfSake
Promising
Legendary Hero
Initiate
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posted December 03, 2013 10:49 AM |
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sinistabg said:
Thanks for the thorough answer. I will reconsider my strategy and give Dungeon or Fortress a go.
You're welcome. 
If you've trouble against the AI, I'm not sure Fortress is the best pick, as the easiest way to defeat the AI and the monsters on the map, in my opinion, is with fast level 7 units, and while Hydra + blind can be awesome, it requires some experience/knowledge to pull off.
Also Dungeon & Rampart suffers a little in that they usually can't get level 7 units the first week. Not that it's really required against the AI, but it may make the game a bit cumbersome depending on experience. Personally I think Castle and Conflux, to some extend Necropolis too, are the most friendly choices for the inexperienced. Despite the level 7 unit of Necropolis isn't that good, they've the much needed speed + Vamp Lords are easy to get, and can do more or less the same, so you don't have to worry about farming Skeletons against the AI.
Btw. try to make sure to take out the conservatories, utopias, etc. you pass on your journey as they'll often be key to some amazing improvement for your team. Utopias can be rather challenging though, but you don't have to rush them against the AI, so take the time you need.
Might heroes can be bought in the tavern, I think Barbarians are the best choices, and Crag's the best Barbarian in avg.
In the end though, it shouldn't really matter if you choose might or magic, or both, or which town you go for. (btw. just to be clear, a might hero also has the spells of a magic hero, more or less, only that he isn't nearly as invested in power/knowledge, whereas a magic hero isn't nearly as invested in att/def).
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sinistabg
Tavern Dweller
Pirate King
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posted December 03, 2013 10:04 PM |
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As I recall, might hero needs Eagle Eye or whatever it was in order to learn higher level spells... or was it Wisdom?
Also MARKSMASTERS mentioned Solmyr - with his Chain lightning, one can really do a lot of devastation.
My original question was "Can one go with only focusing on one hero ONLY?", but something makes me feel the discussion went a little bit off, although I read carefully all you responses and taken them into account, thank you for that.
So if I use just one hero and give him just about enough army so he can take everything on the map on, and he becomes really powerful compared to the AI, can this work out well?
Also is the same strategy - focusing on just one hero work in a multiplayer game, where the enemy can be relatively unpredictable?
Cheers!
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my mind's got a mind of its own
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OhforfSake
Promising
Legendary Hero
Initiate
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posted December 03, 2013 10:58 PM |
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sinistabg said:
As I recall, might hero needs Eagle Eye or whatever it was in order to learn higher level spells... or was it Wisdom?
Eagle Eye won't do you much good, the only exception I can imagine is to copy Armageddon with an Eagle Eye / Scholar hero from an opponent who attacks and flees and use the same tactic against this opponent.
(Sadly, I'm pretty sure Eagle Eye doesn't even have 100% chance of working).
Wisdom if you want beyond expert skills and beyond from your mage guild, but tomes and lvl 1-2 spells can be sufficient as well. As far as I recall, Wisdom is one of the skills which are offered to you most often and one of the skills you need the latest if it happens to be the only way to get DD/Fly to shorten a long game when only using a single hero.
So when you pick a might hero, you don't have to worry about getting wisdom the first few weeks.
Quote:
Also MARKSMASTERS mentioned Solmyr - with his Chain lightning, one can really do a lot of devastation.
I've heard it can work. It never worked well for me, not even against the AI. Most of all, I'd trouble with mana at low levels. At higher levels I'd have similar spells anyway. I think there are also guys who starts with Meteor Shower, Resurrection, etc. I believe the Res guy also has Scholar, so it's an easier way to get this spell, but iIRC it's only Dungeon who can rely on getting this guy in the Tavern.
Quote:
My original question was "Can one go with only focusing on one hero ONLY?", [...]
So if I use just one hero and give him just about enough army so he can take everything on the map on, and he becomes really powerful compared to the AI, can this work out well?
Also is the same strategy - focusing on just one hero work in a multiplayer game, where the enemy can be relatively unpredictable?
Vs. the AI, having only one hero can work. The games are gonna be somewhat tedious though, in my opinion. I suppose TP, DD & Logistics, probably Pathfinding as well, depending on the map, will be more important than ever. You'll move through your land slower than the computer at first, but the computer won't take full advantages of its resources anyway, so it should be okay.
In multi, it depends on your opponent. In the general case, definitely not, your opponent will expand much faster with a chain of heroes passing creatures along and clearing out his zone quickly, while you've only about 1/8th of his movement. You can't expect your opponent not to take advantage of his resources.
But if your opponent also only uses one hero, maybe goes for capitol the first week, walks around with slow units (making his hero slow on the map), in general goes for the wrong fights, takes experience from chests, even at high levels, etc. etc. then I'm sure it could work as well. So don't count on it, but if you know your opponent, you may be able to figure out if it'll be sufficient or not.
Quote:
but something makes me feel the discussion went a little bit off, although I read carefully all you responses and taken them into account, thank you for that.
Sorry about any off topic comments, and I'm only glad to be helping.
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demarest
Known Hero
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posted December 03, 2013 11:34 PM |
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Maurice said:
It's a matter of regarding a Hero and his specialty, and finding ways to "exploit" the specialty he or she has.
Like Luna 
http://youtu.be/s5hEh-MnIQ8
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Salamandre
Admirable
Omnipresent Hero
Wog refugee
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posted December 04, 2013 12:16 AM |
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If we look closely at original template generator (ok, it sucks but still gives a hint) we see that the way the game is played today is not the way they had in mind when setup the specialties, skills and creatures specificities. There are no guards between areas, therefore early skirmish was unavoidable and often you fought opponent before getting a second town, if any.
A lot of maps in early ToH were made that way, two towns, treasure area in middle (treasure means a few chests and resources not bigmama topias), and you had to praise you get the good spells in your unique guild, OR an eagle eye hero who could pass the goodies received from scouts wars. There were no wells, so mysticism was not so underrated as today, and often the guy with more mana won the middle before day 4-5, and before day 7 already 20 scouts were dead from early fights.
The concept "two big heroes"/one ultimate fight is a result of the "closed maps" fashion, which occurred with the arrival of thousand of newbies in ToH, a few years after H3 release. They were totally destroyed in a few days by multi-skilled veterans, so they started to pump strange maps where you could harvest your starting area for 2 weeks or so before meeting the other.
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sinistabg
Tavern Dweller
Pirate King
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posted December 04, 2013 12:12 PM |
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I really like your reply, SALAMANDRE. I guess I have to start multitasking now, if I want to be better at Heroes 3. It's just that I've been affected by games such as Diablo 2 and World of Warcraft where you control one hero and dont have to worry about anything else.
DEMAREST, looking at your avatar and the amazing video you posted, makes me think you really like the character Luna. I've always neglected her and chose Ciele when playing with conflux.
OHFORSAKE, I had a friend who I would visit and play Heroes 3 from time to time. At some point he was playing Septienna, who had Death Ripple, and he explained that this was the "ultimate character" (keep in mind that we were 12-13 years old at that time) and I was really amazed - "Why didn't I think of something like that?!" But I guess every hero can be amazing in its own way. Like Sir Mullich, who has speciality Speed.
Thanks guys for the awesome answers, this community is really awesome, I've had this account for years but never bothered to use it, I might as well start now.
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my mind's got a mind of its own
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markmasters
Famous Hero
Dragon of justice
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posted December 04, 2013 11:32 PM |
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Who could neglect such enthusiasm
Not everyone is pro here. I never played anything else then hot-seat or single player and i often farm my start area with a single hero. It is the style i like
I probably will try an online game some day (and get devestated) but i do not care to much about that 
Against the AI it should be perfectly fine to use only a single main hero.
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alfred
Tavern Dweller
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posted December 19, 2013 08:53 PM |
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sinistabg said:
OFF TOPIC: I wish that one day there will be a Heroes 3 2D remake with some improvements.
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www.thehannibalproject.net
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