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| Thread: General tips |  This thread is pages long: 1 2 · NEXT» |
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xtdhero
Tavern Dweller
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posted October 21, 2023 08:23 PM |
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General tips
Hello. I'm new here. I used to play Homm3 ages ago and have recently come back to it. I'm not really good at it. I tend to win games on the easiest level of difficulty but on the one higher I'm not that successful. I've noticed the following issue with my gameplay.
At the beginning I create a few heroes and gather resources but there's a point where I'm locked in in the original area as my heroes (or my skills) are not strong enough to break through some monsters blocking me. So what I tend to do is just move aimlessly building/upgrading the town structures until i get level 7 creatures. Then I keep wondering endlessly or just finishing the turns just to wait until I have enough army to break through. By that time, other fractions (AIs) are usually stronger than me (as they have not been wasting time just waiting until they have enough level 6/7 troops to break from the original area.
In the past I would normally play Dungeon or recently started reading about skeleton ressurection so I've switched to Necropolis.
Any tips on the above or generally?
Thanks
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FdgK
Known Hero
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posted October 21, 2023 10:50 PM |
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Hi and welcome,
Being idle is one of the things that you want to avoid at all cost. Like you said, the enemy will gain mines, external creature dwellings, artifacts and more while you are waiting for your army to grow. I perfectly understand your situation because I used to play the game the same way for the first years when I started as a kid in ’99.
Usually, even strong monsters are beatable with weaker troops (the art is to know how much is enough to beat a certain number of wandering creatures). Make use of spells, shooters, the wait function, one stacks to block and/or draw the retaliation, the terrain (if possible) and the AI’s flaws. On YouTube you will find some guides that might help you. Some are for advanced tactics and very specific situations (like how to beat a creature bank with a day 1 army etc.) but there are also those that are for people like you who want to get (back) into the game and who want to improve on a broader level.
If you want to practice your skills dealing with difficult fights, you could use the editor to set up different fight scenarios and then try to win them consistently. Give your heroes different spells, creatures and skills to learn how to make the most of what the game might give you.
I hope that helped you. If you have more specific questions, just post them and I am sure that you will receive some good advice from the forum memebers here.
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heymlich
Famous Hero
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posted October 22, 2023 07:37 AM |
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Edited by heymlich at 07:46, 22 Oct 2023.
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If you have problems breaking out of your starting area, you are doing something wrong. Try the following:
- Focus on one main hero. He will do all the fights. Other heroes are only for resource collection.
- If you don't have enough money to buy everything, focus on the high level units. With dungeon, just buying all the black dragons and nothing else will probably work (against the AI). If there is money left buy Minotaurs or ranged units. Of course, in week 1 you will need to buy whatever is available in order to flag mines and dwellings.
- Every faction has two hero classes, a Might hero and a Magic hero. Might heroes are superior in the long run. With Dungeon that would be Overlords. When you start a new game, pick Gunnar, he is the best hero in the game (and often banned in competitions).
- Get Earth Magic. This is mandatory. Earth Magic alone is better than the three other magic schools combined.
- Pick the right secondary skills. The most important ones are Earth Magic, Logistics, Tactics and Wisdom (Gunnar starts with Logistics and Tactics), followed by Offense or Archery and Armorer. Support Skills like Learning, First Aid, Scouting, Mysticism, Estates or Scholarship are generally unwanted on your main hero.
If you follow along this line you should manage. If not, you are just lacking experience which will come after a few games.
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Phoenix4ever
Legendary Hero
Heroes is love, Heroes is life
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posted October 22, 2023 09:09 AM |
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I would'nt say Tactics is mandatory, it can be very good in the beginning and especially with slow towns like Stronghold, Fortress, Necro and Tower (and Cove if you play HotA) though.
It can also be used to prevent enemy heroes using Tactics against you.
Air Magic is mandatory if Fly and/or DD are allowed.
Mass Haste is also OP, just like Mass Slow and can be used to counter Mass Slow.
Archery is mostly for Tower or at least for towns with 2 decent shooters.
Town Portal, Dimension Door and Fly are the 3 most important spells to learn.
Other important spells include Slow, Haste, Blind, Animate Dead/Resurrection, Meteor Shower, Chain Lightning and Implosion.
If you pick Fire Magic, Berserk can make impossible battles a piece of cake.
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heymlich
Famous Hero
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posted October 22, 2023 10:20 AM |
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Edited by heymlich at 10:20, 22 Oct 2023.
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We are talking about the problems of a beginner. Basic advice that always works is more useful than a large amount of information followed by "if".
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xtdhero
Tavern Dweller
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posted October 22, 2023 11:03 AM |
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Thanks all for all the useful tips. I'm going to focus on improving my battle skills. I kind of suspected that the initial battles are winnable and I don't have to wait until my army grows.
Any recommendations of some youtube channels for beginners? Don't have to be entertaining, just useful. haha.
Thanks
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Phoenix4ever
Legendary Hero
Heroes is love, Heroes is life
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posted October 22, 2023 11:10 AM |
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heymlich said:
We are talking about the problems of a beginner. Basic advice that always works is more useful than a large amount of information followed by "if".
Well if it has to always be useful, I would say try to get Expert Earth Magic, Logistics, Offense, Wisdom, Air Magic and Armorer. (I ranked them by order of importance.)
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Ghost
Undefeatable Hero
Therefore I am
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posted October 22, 2023 11:51 AM |
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So beginner goes to youtube heroes 3 (tactics).. Ok later on beginner can give an answer what's good strategy and beginner plays like a grandmaster: https://youtu.be/bxeufhjuRQs?si=iEpNxyBuuFXExkCB Isn't video wonderful?  So without looking at the version = no important more specific details.. Read also https://heroes.thelazy.net/index.php/Main_Page.. When you beat the AI on the impossible level, it after you play different maps also HoMM3 versions are RoE, AB, SoD, WoG/ERA, HotA, and others, and the last multiplayer or world champion tournament before you watch his/her twitch Heroes 3, so you can challenge him/her later.. Thank us later!
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Fight MWMs - stand teach
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bloodsucker
Legendary Hero
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posted October 23, 2023 08:39 AM |
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xtdhero said:
Any recommendations of some youtube channels for beginners?
In my opinion that's the way to go... Look for Lexiav first, he plays a lot of MP with only a single hero allowed, pretty good to get a taste of how to battle. When you feel your fighting skills had become decent, check for Maretti's old videos. He was a master at controlling movement and chaining (use one hero to bring troops to another). Since your goal is single player, check for Glennyoutube and later on, when you feel it's time to become an expert, this thread here.
I hope you find this useful, cheers.
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OhforfSake
Promising
Legendary Hero
Initiate
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posted October 27, 2023 12:09 PM |
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I don't know if you already know this, but level 1 creature specialist are excellent starting heroes. They tend to have more units than other heroes you can recruit, and +1 speed to lvl 1 units can make early battles easier.
Recruiting two more heroes from the get go, to maximize your early army size, together with day 0 town troops, and your army strength should look fine.
Other common advice could be pick gold from chests, focus on creatures in town, +stat boosters raise your stats much faster than leveling, don't forget your spell book, remember to use wait, etc.
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Living time backwards
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Hourglass
Supreme Hero
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posted October 27, 2023 10:15 PM |
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For your two go-to factions, I would try the following:
Dungeon:
Heroes:
Gunnar is very likely the best hero in the game. Logistics is an insane skill to start, let alone having specialty for it. Overlords are in general the most powerful hero type in the game due everything they have access to.
Shakti ensures you having an actual army from the get-go. The scaling of his skill falls of quickly, but this isn't anything to get scared of. Shakti starts with pristine secondary skills, and the Overlord tag will make sure he will be super powerful even in the end game.
Town tips:
I really would like to highlight the Dungeon's Summoning portal special building. It works like an "extra" external dwelling - in other words, the building checks all external dwellings you have, and chooses one at random. As a Dungeon player, it is not adviced to flag each creature dwelling you find right away, but instead try capturing a high level (tier 5-7) one. After capturing the wanted dwelling, simply proceed building the Summoning portal. Since the portal now only has one target, the dwelling type you just captured is chosen, and you can start building a strong stack even on just week 1.
At this point, I would also suggests finding a guide for the "fake breath" method. (simply google it) In short, it's technique you can use to fool Dragons (both green and red dragon) to partially waste their attacks.
When speaking of special buildings, also take note on the Mana Vortex building. It simply restores all your mana, and most importantly, doubles it for a period of one week, and the building only works for one hero per week. Now, this is super powerful ability, as it really enchants the casting capabilites of your main hero. Since it's also restores mana right away, I would suggest building the Vortex the turn your hero visits the town.
This is also one the easiest places to misplay hard - countless Mana Vortexes has been wasted over the years for useless secondary heroes that happen to be in town.
Necropolis:
Heroes:
Galthran is one the best heroes in the game due having really good early game precense by having more skeletons than other heroes, but he also remains really strong over course of whole game.
Thant the Necromancer is also one of the strongest magic heroes in the game. With enough skeletons and mana, pretty much any fight becomes possible.
Town tips:
The first step for basically all necropolis games is to go and build the Skeleton transformer on the very first turn. This way, we can turn whichever creatures we want into skeletons. I suggest hiring the second hero within tavern with non-necro troops asap. Now, convert all that hero's troops into skeletons - expect if the hero has faster troops you currently have, as you can give those troops for your scouts in order to increase their map movement. Also, I would recommend converting Walking deads also, but only convert the one's you can purchase from town if you feel you have money, and/or you feel the need for more skeletons. Prisons are also really good objectives for Necropolis, as you convert the released hero's troops, too.
Normal necro build path should focus on getting the Vampire Lords basically as soon as possible, but this is especially adviced if you can capture an external Vampire dwelling. Vampire Lords are the best tier 4 troops in the game, as they can solo fights without losses. (simply have rest of your army on another hero) I think around 15 or so Vampire Lords with at least some help from spells/hero primary stats can usually manage to clear most of the starting zone's objectives. Just remember that the life drain ability doesn't work against all creatures. I usually farm objectives with Vampire lords by having a secondary hero next to hero that's farming. In-between fights, the helping hero should grab skeletons from the fightning hero - this way you're not only having any losses and gaining artifacts/resources etc, but your army also grows in the meantime.
General tips:
- It is adviced to start with heroes that have some sort of early game advantage, eg. low level creature specialists.
- Buy at least few new heroes during the first turns in the game. Heroes are dirt cheap compared to all value they bring to the table, basically making them always good investments.
- When game starts, you should use heroes that you're not planning to use as main to scout around before moving the hero you're (currently) planning to use as main.
- If the map uses roads, your main hero should move along and stay close to it by a thumb of rule. Only go "deep" off-road when there's something really juicy, or if a spesific guard requires main hero to be there. At the start of the game, look for paths that have experience or primary stats modifiers close to each other or along the way of same road and send your main hero to that path. Main hero should be treated like a king, not necessary like a great general. This means that other heroes should pick up things such as resources, and even artifacts should be picked up by secondary heroes and traded afterwards. Generally speaking, movement on secondary heroes aren't nearly as important as the main hero's movement is. Eg. Secondary hero could easily spend 5 movement in order to save 1 movement from the main hero. As time goes and you play more, you start to realize when this rule stops being true, thou.
- When picking up treasure chests and choosing between experience and gold, note that there's no definitive answer which one is better than the other. Gold is usually the safer option, as even if you wouldn't need it right away, you will most likely need it later. However, picking up only gold is a wasted opportunity - the experience passed there is too valuable to be just ignored. 10,000 exp is required for lvl 8, which is equal to 3 maxed out secondary skills, and you will reach that in no time if you at least some chests are converted to experience. Player should also be aware of how much experience is needed for the next level, as that should also indicate if the player should choose experience over gold. Note that these tips are obviolsy for main heroes, secondary heroes should pick gold by default, but even there might be some cases where experience is the better choice.
- When building a hero, the initial goal should always be towards building Earth magic as soon as possible. Earth is a busted skill in this game, as it has very good spells under it's name, but at the early game we're mostly looking for it in order to get access to Mass Slow. It makes earlier impossible figths doable, and makes the previously easy ones as total cake walks.
- In order to make Earth appear on lvl 4 (fixed chance) as frequently as possible, I recommend using Overlords and Beastmasters as mains, as those have the highest chances of learning the skill among might heroes. Barbarians are not as likely to learn Earth, but they're otherwise exellent hero class. Note that there's no need of using the hero as main you happen to start with. Usually it's better to search for better heroes from taverns.
- As for secondary skills, my personal standard go-to list would be Earth Magic - Air magic - Logistics - Offence - Armorer - Intelligence - Tactics - Wisdom. (not in that order thou) Diplomacy is a busted skill in this game, but it isn't required to be on a main hero. Other good skills to look for would be Water and Fire magic, Archery and Leadership.
- You should avoid situations where you have too many basic or advanced level secondary skills, even if they would all be good. Wisdom and schools of magic don't scale like most of the other skills, and thus won't necessary be maxed out in phase you would like. There is a huge difference between Basic Wisdom and Advanced Wisdom, and the same is true for Advanced Earth and Expert Earth.
- Always remember to make one-stacks (a stack of creature with only a single unit) on each slots before fights. Hopefully you already have the hd mod installed on your computer, so this method can be performed with two button presses.
- During battles against melee creatures, use movement imparing spells and fast one-stacks as baits to separate enemies from each other. This way, enemies can presumably be dealt one-by-one. Your best against shooting creatures on the other hand are expert Haste and Tactics.
- When building up town you should have sort of rough plan what you want to achieve by the end of the week. Check what buildings are required to build other buildings, and how much or what resources they require. You should mainly focus on creature dwellings and not income, as you don't really grow much in power by going solely for income. Also, there are bunch of gold in the map.
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xtdhero
Tavern Dweller
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posted October 27, 2023 11:27 PM |
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Amazing tips. Thanks
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thecastrated
Famous Hero
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posted October 28, 2023 04:13 AM |
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Any reason Gunnar is better than Mephala? And in some cases one with diplomacy is better
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Phoenix4ever
Legendary Hero
Heroes is love, Heroes is life
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posted October 28, 2023 07:47 AM |
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Logistics specialty is insane, it provides so much additional movement each day, which is your most valuable resource, especially for the main hero.
Just the fact that a hero starts with Logistics, gives them an advantage, it allows for additional movement from day 1 and you won't get unlucky and end up without Logistics.
Gunnar might be the best hero in the game, being a Logistics specialist, being an Overlord, which often get perfect skills and also starts with Tactics, which is not bad at all. (In HotA Logistics was nerfed, making the 3 Logistics specialists worse. In tournaments Logistics specialists might even be banned.)
Mephala is great for surviving a physical battle, she might not really help you accomplish objectives faster, like a Logistics specialist would though.
Kyrre is a better choice for Rampart, unless you are playing HotA.
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thecastrated
Famous Hero
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posted October 28, 2023 05:43 PM |
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Why is gunner better than Dessa
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phoenix4ever
Legendary Hero
Heroes is love, Heroes is life
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posted October 28, 2023 05:57 PM |
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Overlord is a better class than Battle Mage.
Overlords can't learn Water Magic, so only have 3 magic schools to worry about, making it easier and faster to get Expert Earth and Air Magic.
Battle Mages have the same chance of learning all 4 magic schools, which sometimes makes it hard to get those you want.
Wisdom does'nt really help you in the early game either, Tactics will.
Dessa is also a great hero though.
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xtdhero
Tavern Dweller
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posted October 28, 2023 09:54 PM |
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So I played another game today (on the second easiest difficulty level) and must say was rather pleased with the outcome. I did lose in the end (or really abandoned the game) but the beginning was much better.
I played Necropolis and had a one of the starting heroes with necromancy spacialty (can't remember the name but it wasn't the one that most people consider the best one). I created a couple of other heroes and transferred the skeletons to the main hero. In the first week, I used the main hero to fight (and as it turns out easily defeat) all monsters guarding mines / resource places in the starting area. In the past I'd usually wait until week two with trying to fight those monsters. By day 7 I had also built Black Knights (I skipped Wights).
It was all going well for a long time as I was conquering 4 other towns but I think I got too cocky, I conquered perhaps too many towns too quickly (sending all the troops to the conquering hero, leaving my towns hardly guarded) and at some point, the opponent's hero appeared on easily took two of my towns, which got me discouraged.
Question:
So as I was gaining other towns (with factions that I wasn't interested in. I'd produce troops in necropolis towns (2 out of 5 I had) and pass them to the main hero via other heroes).
In each new town, I'd build all the structures (focusing on the ones producing troops). This take time and money. I wanted to produce troops for each town so it can defend itself. But perhaps that was a mistake. I wasn't going to use the troops for conquering (as they were different factions to my main hero) and built most of the structures. I wasn't actually buying creatures as I wanted to spend money to finish building all/most of the strucutures. Then, when I lost 2 towns, i felt disheartened with the money/time I've put in them.
Perhaps, now I'm thinking, for the faction that I'm not interested in, I should just build building that would produce gold and resources and don't even bother with the creature dwellings? If I lose such a town, doesn't matter and I'd save money on development of the necropolis (or whatever the chosen faction is) towns and buying creatures?
Any thoughts?
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Salamandre
Admirable
Omnipresent Hero
Wog refugee
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posted October 28, 2023 10:03 PM |
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Vs AI, once you have the first week army, focus on spells week 2 and get town portal. Once you get better at the game, you won't need it so badly as you will be able to chain the entire map in one turn.
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Hourglass
Supreme Hero
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posted October 29, 2023 12:38 AM |
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xtdhero said:
I played Necropolis and had a one of the starting heroes with necromancy spacialty (can't remember the name but it wasn't the one that most people consider the best one). I created a couple of other heroes and transferred the skeletons to the main hero. In the first week, I used the main hero to fight (and as it turns out easily defeat) all monsters guarding mines / resource places in the starting area. In the past I'd usually wait until week two with trying to fight those monsters. By day 7 I had also built Black Knights (I skipped Wights).
I think that sounds really good week overall! Black Knights one week one is a solid phase. As you develop, you can more ask yourself if some mines are really needed or not, sometimes they're in really hard to get places and if the whole army is needed there, you may end up using many turns for very little benefit.
xtdhero said:
It was all going well for a long time as I was conquering 4 other towns but I think I got too cocky, I conquered perhaps too many towns too quickly (sending all the troops to the conquering hero, leaving my towns hardly guarded) and at some point, the opponent's hero appeared on easily took two of my towns, which got me discouraged.
Question:
So as I was gaining other towns (with factions that I wasn't interested in. I'd produce troops in necropolis towns (2 out of 5 I had) and pass them to the main hero via other heroes).
In each new town, I'd build all the structures (focusing on the ones producing troops). This take time and money. I wanted to produce troops for each town so it can defend itself. But perhaps that was a mistake. I wasn't going to use the troops for conquering (as they were different factions to my main hero) and built most of the structures. I wasn't actually buying creatures as I wanted to spend money to finish building all/most of the strucutures. Then, when I lost 2 towns, i felt disheartened with the money/time I've put in them.
Perhaps, now I'm thinking, for the faction that I'm not interested in, I should just build building that would produce gold and resources and don't even bother with the creature dwellings? If I lose such a town, doesn't matter and I'd save money on development of the necropolis (or whatever the chosen faction is) towns and buying creatures?
Any thoughts?
I think your post game analysis is pretty spot on. It isn't adviced to build creatures for non-alligment towns for purely defensive purposes. What you can build for those towns are income, tavern, marketplaces, mage guilds and special buildings (such as Mana Vortex on Dungeon) Losing towns you have previously captured isn't the end of the world, and happens to everybody as maps usually have multiple routes towards town zones. Some towns have better position on the map such as crossroads or other "high trafic" areas and it is within your interests to hold them (fortify these!), as losing them will also lose an important bridgehead.
Another way to fight against losing towns you have taken is to stay in the town you just captured for the rest of the turn (obviously you should use you movement points as effiently as you can), and if it's possible, buying a fresh hero(es) to scout around and seeing if there are other heroes nearby. AI will obviously be put on alert if that's the only town they have, but they don't necessary rush for the town right away. This way, you can avoid them taking it right back, and you will have the defender's advantage and possibly mana advantage, too, if they decide to attack.
This method is usually the begining of end for that AI player, as they're kinda forced to either make a bad play, or just accept their fate, wandering around before getting abandoned. You can get better idea of that player's situation by using the Thieves guild (inside taverns), as it shows their best hero, and even it doesn't exactly tell how many towns that player has, thinking the paragraph logicially usually tells everything you need. Avoid unneccesary town sitting, as it can take multiple turns without you making any progression. If you see their main hero before they can attack, their best bet - surprise - has already been taken off. If you have better army, just go for the kill and proceed the game.
As for your next game, try keeping the focus on building your main town first. At the second week focus on the mage guild, as mage guild lvl 3 can offer animate dead (only availabe in necro town), and as Sal above stated, lvl 4 will may offer the super useful Town portal spell, which makes the will make your game much, much easier. Mage guild lvl 5 can be a bit of hit or miss, it can offer really useful spells but really bad ones, too. Better to wait for it when you have more resources to spare. (if you really feel like it, note that every town has it's spells created during the start of the game. So, you can save and check first if you wish, nobody will know, nobody will judge.  )
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Ghost
Undefeatable Hero
Therefore I am
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posted October 29, 2023 06:16 AM |
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Ok I suggest you to play Unholy Quest (RoE), when sorts maps by number players must be less than 4 players to you.. So first you develop your troops in the Unholy Quest is excellent XL map, you against only one AI computer.. Later on you develop lesser troops, but you develop more your Primary Skills.. Yes time demands.. But I know it helps you..
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Fight MWMs - stand teach
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