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I like you, Halon. Well, not exactly true. I like your Heroes 3 version, where your hero specialty is a 5% per level bonus to Mysticism, meaning a high-leveled Halon can regenerate mana in insane qualities. Anyhew, a lot of the gameplay changes in this game are indeed very welcomed (pretty much all the ones mentioned by Darth and Snob). Makes managing and exploring very helpful and not as stressful. Also, voting on War Trolls.
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May 6, 2015 23:00
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AradoBalanga posted:I like you, Halon. Well, not exactly true. I like your Heroes 3 version, where your hero specialty is a 5% per level bonus to Mysticism, meaning a high-leveled Halon can regenerate mana in insane qualities. Yeah, that's what I was referencing. I wonder if anyone remembered Brother Zam from Might & Magic 1, even if just from the famous Let's Play (by Thuryl) The_PC_Snob fucked around with this message at 23:13 on May 6, 2015 |
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May 6, 2015 23:05
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The_PC_Snob posted:Yeah, that's what I was referencing. 
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May 6, 2015 23:28
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Go for the smug Elves! Although I play Heroes virtually daily, it still gives me fuzzy feelings seeing it in action. Every time I see one of the Might and Magic bundles on sale, like HB has right now, I feel an impulse to buy them, even though I already have every title in physical and digital form. I'm fully convinced that there's no franchise with as much gameplay as the Might and Magic series.
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May 7, 2015 05:54
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I'm very happy to see you both LPing HoMM2 -- was my introduction to the series, one of my earliest PC games I owned, and I love it to pieces. I was inspired to get the GOG version, and started playing again (but didn't want to get too far ahead of the LP!). First - the GOG version has different music for the Necromancer's castle, and it is very disappointing compared to the actual music! Does anyone know how to get the original music back? Second - with the bountiful starting resources, an ambitious general can have bone dragons before the end of the first week! Super-handy. You have to skip mummies, thieves' guild, and vampires to get the mage's guild and mausoleum (liches) - but then you're free to grab the laboratory if you can scrape up enough gold and resources slightly more than a 2nd level mage guild. Many maps, I wouldn't want to count on it (which might be why you didn't go this route!) - but this can be pulled off on the first map. (Probably on the 2nd map too, but I'm trying not to get too far ahead!) As for halflings - they're slow, but they pack more punch than many 1st tier, and they are ranged. Sprites fly, but they're going to get cut down if they do their job and tie up the archers on the opposing side. Centaurs are faster, but I can't remember if they have 1-3 damage. They are 2-space critters, though, which makes them harder to guard. And against goblins & skeletons - I'll take halflings. Neither critter can get across the map in one turn, meaning the halflings get one free strike. And peasants? ...oh, their role will be made clear. Rocs are a strange unit (arabic mythical huge-ginormous raptors) until you recall the Hobbit/Lord of the Rings -- these are the Eagles that flew to assist Gandalf. I am puzzled by DarthTNT saying that the 1-3 depends on size of stack - I thought it was sum of each critter *(1d3 damage) ? Maybe that's just a misreading of mine? Anyways - super excited for the rest of the LP!
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May 7, 2015 06:32
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Kacie posted:I am puzzled by DarthTNT saying that the 1-3 depends on size of stack - I thought it was sum of each critter *(1d3 damage) ? Maybe that's just a misreading of mine? I think Darth just had a grammar fail and he did in fact mean that it is stack size * 1d3 I mean stack size is pretty dependent when it comes to damage output, sort of why everyone talks about how broken Archangels are in Heroes 3 because their output is 50 as a base damage stat
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May 7, 2015 06:46
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Kacie posted:First - the GOG version has different music for the Necromancer's castle, and it is very disappointing compared to the actual music! Does anyone know how to get the original music back? Oh, I know how to get to Bone Dragons on week 1, but that wouldn't be very fun, would it? Besides, I got ingrained into me to not use cheesy builds from low handicap matches, as I'm used to play any Heroes on a difficulty you either get no resources at the start or very, very small amounts. It is almost like another game where true success is ending week 1 with more than creature dwelling in your castle. As for the music, you're probably hearing the Heroes II expansion soundtrack. There's some fiddling in there as regarding to which soundtrack the game is going to give you, but it boils down to which version of Heroes II DOSBOX "sees" when it mounts the game files in the GOG version. If it sees the original Heroes II, it'll mount that soundtrack, if it sees Price of Loyalty or Heroes II Gold, it'll mount the expansion tracks. I did the fiddling to get the original tracks for my update, but mostly so I'm getting the original Heroes II experience (well... technically, if I was really going for nostalgia purism, I'd be playing the MIDI versions, since those are the ones that I actually heard when I first played it since my father's Sound Card wasn't up to snuff for the opera version). Here you can see some instructions as to how to change to the original soundtrack, but it is kind of technical stuff. And the instructions are for the precise opposite problem (originally the GOG version only had the original tracks and people wanted the expansion ones). http://www.gog.com/forum/heroes_of_might_and_magic_series/homm_2_not_using_pol_town_music The reason why they changed for the expansion seems to be because the original were a bit low quality (too much synths, but you'd only really pick it up if you're a music snob/nerd) and the themes were kind of similar between factions. The expansion themes are very different one from another and in some cases I really like the expansion version (Warlock and Sorceress in particular) and they are higher quality, as far as the compression and instruments are concerned. Aces High posted:I mean stack size is pretty dependent when it comes to damage output, sort of why everyone talks about how broken Archangels are in Heroes 3 because their output is 50 as a base damage stat Well, that and the fact they were extremely powerful in all areas and ridiculously fast, giving Haven first strike every time until Phoenixes showed up. And that the 50 damage was usually the maximum damage of other Tier 7 creatures, so it was like Archangels were naturally blessed, which, alright, makes complete sense, on the other hand it is way too high. 40 would be less broken, but I really believe the only way to "fix" them would be to lower their damage to 30 or something, to compensate for the fact that only their health was not far above all other Tier 7 (and it was still high). The_PC_Snob fucked around with this message at 08:01 on May 7, 2015 |
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May 7, 2015 07:13
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The_PC_Snob posted:
Althoe in a few places like the dwarfs its literally just a couple of pixels different. Heroes 3 was generally slightly better about differentiating upgrades with things like extra armor, better weapons, extra frills ect. Except for the poor Ents who were so smiler to their upgrades that one of the manuals got their pictures swamped. I do like some of the little touch on the heroes 2 upgrades though, like how un-upgraded knight units have a match color scheme while the upgraded ones have another.
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May 7, 2015 07:17
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Kacie posted:
I'd make the case that getting a good stack of vampires going in week one is better than having bone dragons that early. A big enough stack of ancient vamps is pretty much self sustaining. I don't remember if 2 did the thing where the gimmick only works on living creatures, but since you can get skeletons from golems I'm guessing it didn't. Upgraded vamps let you essentially steam roll the map and get all sorts of goodies you really should have to come back later with more dudes for. Bone dragons are better for hero battles, but they can wait until week two.
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May 7, 2015 07:19
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SIGSEGV posted:The only grey things I can see near the cliff nest are the two roc eggs sitting on it.  For years I saw some kind of weird flying beetle.Aces High posted:I think Darth just had a grammar fail and he did in fact mean that it is stack size * 1d3 Grammar fails don't sound like me....sometimes. I actually misread the real explanation for damage. So let's put that right. WanderingMinstrel I posted:I'd make the case that getting a good stack of vampires going in week one is better than having bone dragons that early. A big enough stack of ancient vamps is pretty much self sustaining. I don't remember if 2 did the thing where the gimmick only works on living creatures, but since you can get skeletons from golems I'm guessing it didn't. Upgraded vamps let you essentially steam roll the map and get all sorts of goodies you really should have to come back later with more dudes for. Bone dragons are better for hero battles, but they can wait until week two. This. Vampire lords are pretty much the best unit the Necromancer has, especially from a cost/damage/hp ratio. Those two specialties they have are a match made in
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May 7, 2015 07:46
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Vorpal Cat posted:I do like some of the little touch on the heroes 2 upgrades though, like how un-upgraded knight units have a match color scheme while the upgraded ones have another. Well, Ubi's Heroes V they took that idea and ran with it, as to whether that's a good thing or not is up to debate. Then in Heroes VI they actually made the colored theme glow on the creatures... which was odd. Necropolis - Normal - Grey Upgrade - Green Alternate upgrade - Pink Haven - Normal - Blue Upgrade - White Alternate upgrade - Red Inferno - Normal - Orange Upgrade - Red Alternate upgrade - Grey/Black Dungeon - Normal - Greenish/Red Upgrade - Purple Alternate upgrade - Orange/Red Academy - Normal - Brown/Orange Upgrade - Blue/Red Alternate upgrade - Dark brown/Green/Rainbow Sylvan - Normal - Green Upgrade - Gold/Brown Alternate upgrade - Blue Fortress- Normal - Orange/Green Upgrade - Red Alternate upgrade - Blue Stronghold- Normal - Earthly Brown Upgrade - Reddish Brown Alternate upgrade - Greyish Brown (Huh, looks like the Stronghold was designed by a modern military shooter... either that or the Orcs hadn't yet invented colors) Darth TNT posted:Looking closer I can now finally see a nest with two eggs. lol, I did find that comment odd when I saw it on the preview you sent me, but I chose not to dwell on it. I thought "what is he talking about? The eggs? Is this a joke? A joke so meta I'm supposed to be a goon for a couple more years to get it? The mist? Eh... better not bring it up." Turns out it was the Eggs! Also, the eggs give me enough proof to call one thing: I always liked how progressive the Might & Magic games were (so long you ignore Catherine's metal g-string...). In Heroes II, for instance, I always felt there were at least one female creature per faction: Neutrals - Ghost Sorceress - Sprite Knight - Ranger Barbarian - Troll Warlock - Gargoyle Necromancer - Lich (they really look female to me, ever since I was a kid, which made me think that "lich" meant something along the lines of "female skeleton" or "skeleton witch", but maybe that's just me) Wizards - Rocs (the eggs say it all... though what really made me think of them as female was that I looked up a translation for Roc and found out it was "Roca" in my language, which is definitely a female denomination) Not only that, they always kept a 50/50 ratio of male/female heroes, which I find nice. Well, except for Sorceress/Warlock, but one is 100% female and the other is 100% male, so it balances out. (EDIT: Sorry, I meant 50/50 from Heroes II onwards. Knight and Barbarian have some carry-over heroes, but Necromancer and Wizards are 50/50ish...) The_PC_Snob fucked around with this message at 10:43 on May 7, 2015 |
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May 7, 2015 07:49
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if you guys think Darth not seeing the eggs is weird then boy there is a Warcraft 2 thread in the Blizzard sub that all y'all should check out. Tiny hint, apparently a lot of people grew up thinking that the headshots for the various Orc units in War2 were...not the headshots that they actually are
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May 7, 2015 07:59
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Heroes 2 town music has been on every music device I have owned since the game came out. It is probably some of the finest music in a video game ever. I think Necropolis is my favorite if I had to pick one. But they are all top notch.
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May 7, 2015 09:27
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The_PC_Snob posted:I wonder if anyone remembered Brother Zam from Might & Magic 1, even if just from the famous Let's Play (by Thuryl) Astral Brother of Zom. I certainly remember Portsmith from my M&M1 playthrough a couple years back.  I never got anywhere in the Heroes games, but now I mysteriously (read: GOG) own a vast number of them. I'm thinking of starting with 2 to play along.
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May 7, 2015 10:40
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Aces High posted:if you guys think Darth not seeing the eggs is weird then boy there is a Warcraft 2 thread in the Blizzard sub that all y'all should check out. You mean the peon? I've parsed him as a beak-face for years 
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May 7, 2015 16:11
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Ahhhh, and from the very first update, a 5 vote. Because PC Snob knows exactly how to please. BLEIGH! (Although, obviously, there is some disagreement whether it's BLAGH, BLEUGH, or BLEIGH. Doesn't actually matter, it is the sound of vampires attacking, being hit, or even saying the vampire equivalent of "Ummm...", and it is glorious!) ...Also, y'know, both parties being very informative.  Also, voting Elves.
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May 10, 2015 09:39
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Elves had already won. My update should be done tomorrow.
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May 11, 2015 02:51
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JamieTheD posted:Ahhhh, and from the very first update, a 5 vote. Because PC Snob knows exactly how to please. BLEIGH! (Although, obviously, there is some disagreement whether it's BLAGH, BLEUGH, or BLEIGH. Doesn't actually matter, it is the sound of vampires attacking, being hit, or even saying the vampire equivalent of "Ummm...", and it is glorious!) ... suddenly that one running joke from Magicka makes sense. 
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May 11, 2015 03:27
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JamieTheD posted:there is some disagreement whether it's BLAGH, BLEUGH, or BLEIGH. Doesn't actually matter, it is the sound of vampires attacking, being hit, or even saying the vampire equivalent of "Ummm...", and it is glorious! To be fair the Vamps do say it differently when they are being attacked so yeah. Also the Necromancers have a so-so Tier 6 but poo poo they have Vampire Lords so they're pretty good on that front
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May 11, 2015 05:20
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Oh, just to build some hype, the second week will greet you with quite a surprise.
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May 11, 2015 05:31
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General Snob, Mission 1, Part 2 A NEW CHALLENGER HAS APPEARED! Day 8   "drat you, Astrologers, do you have any idea how dangerous that can be?"  General Snob's Journal posted:The quartermaster told me that if I add a little attic to the Mansion the Vampire Lords, who like to watch their lessers from high above, will supplant the regular lowly Vampires. I didn't even know there was a hierarchy within the vampires themselves, but if I can get a better pedigree of these bloodsucking monsters, then I see no reason why not to.   The Vampire Lord might not seem like much at first, with Attack, Defense and Damage remaining the same while its cost increases to 650 gold, but he is likely the single greatest upgrade in the whole game, after the Giants to Titans from the Wizards. Their health increases by a fair margin and their speed increases to fast, making them the second fastest creature under the Necromancers (but unfortunately still slower than the best ranged creatures, including Grand Elves). What truly changes is his new special. Vampire Lords still avoid retaliation, but also drain health from their enemies. Half the damage a Vampire Lord inflicts is recovered in health and this drain can even bring back destroyed Vampires in the stack. Vampires, when well utilized, can be a great strategic asset for the necromancers.  “BLAGH! That's trivial affair, ve also have a much better taste than our inferior breed. Red undercoating vith yellow jewels? They couldn't be more unoriginal. Yellow undercoating vith red jewels are much more fashionable.” General Snob's Journal posted:Inside the outpost I saw two new faces eager to join my cause. Or rather, one new face... and one new skull.   “I see you're Archibald's new errand boy. What a pitiful job you've done. All these resources and you're still squabbling for dominance in your little peninsula.” "I beg your pardon? I am Archibald's General and you will address me as such!" "The emperor of all mousekind is still a lowly rodent. The way I see it, I should slay you where you stand and take this outpost for myself, then oust both little king cubs and claim Enroth itself. I should, but I am in a good mood. Maybe I ought to just take you out and claim your post as Archibald's right arm. Less targets over my head, this way.""Or... you could take my gold and serve my cause. And I'll see if I can arrange for Archibald to sign some lands under your name after Roland is dealt with.""The mouse knows his fangs are blunt and weak so it pleads for its insignificant life, I see. I have no need for lands nor titles, but I do have need for more power. Very well, I will grant you a favor: Slaying all other squabbling lords in this little corner of Enroth. In return, any artifacts you and your minions find are mine and mine alone. I have a... let's call it a long-term project to see into.""Not so fast. First I want you to prove yourself to me. Slay the orcs, goblins and rangers east of this outpost. Do this and we can strike a bargain.""That's all? Want me to laugh at the dungeon inmates and defeat the zombies at a card game as well? Or is this single easy task enough? Pathetic, but agreed.""Oh, just go already, boney. Then later you can go face a muscle-bound oiled man in a leather tong riding a tiger, for all I care.” General Snob's Journal posted:The lich, Sandro, left the outpost with only a handful of Vampire lords and his own small entourage of skeletons, leaving his zombies behind. He refused any other reinforcements, saying I could feed them to the ghoul for all the good they'd do.  "Tomorrow, these orcs will be nothing more than reinforcements to my army.""Our army, you mean, surely.""It's actually cute that you think so." "Rialdo, report back to the outpost, I want you to retrieve something." "At once, General Kabob!"   "I visited the knight in the gazebo. He taught me wondrous things." “Always glad to help. Hope you use this knowledge well and avoid unnecessary conflicts.”"Good, good. Go and see if that Leprechaun has come out of hiding to shake him down again." "Normally, I would do it under protest. But, after what that bastard called me, it will be my pleasure.” “I guess not...”Halon has leveled and increased his knowledge. He also has the choice between Diplomacy and Ballistics.  Diplomacy is one of the most powerful skills in the game. It increases the chance that wandering monsters will join the hero and monsters who'd typically retreat will offer to join you instead. Two caveats, though. First, they'll ask for gold in order to join, unlike Followers who'll join for free, and the cost is double their regular price. Second, only a fraction of the stack will join. 1/4 at basic, 1/2 at advanced and full at expert. Since I don't plan for Halon to participate in any sieges (at least, not as sieger) I chose Diplomacy. I might find a way to exploit this skill yet.   "So much gold. The boss vill be pleased!"  “What you do in Baba Yaga's house! You filth nosferatu, out, out!” "Sorry, vise crone. I did not know this vas your property." “That's an idiot's excuse! If that's the case, I'll brand your mind! Now you can see further than the horizon and will have no excuse to barge into an honest witch's house the next time!”"I can see everywhere! Thank you, crone, the boss vill like this.”Scouting increases the view range of the hero by 1, 2 and 3 tiles at basic, advanced and expert, respectively. It is equivalent to the Warlock's innate ability to see further in Heroes I. It is great for secondary heroes but it can also be useful for primary Heroes, though it does generally lose its usefulness as the game progresses, since the game only has hard Fog of War and it doesn't regenerate. Day 9   "So how, exactly, do you keep the graveyard filled?" "Oh, we have body seekers and plague wagons in our employ. They travel the land and offer a few coins for the recently deceased. Sometimes, though, the peasants are just too healthy and simply won't die. But that's nothing a little push at the right time in the right direction can't solve.""You know, you're all unrepentant sociopaths. But since we're talking about peasants, I can't help but think you're doing a public service."  "The gods of the roads don't like me.  " "That's too close to the zombies. I'll hang up a few wind chimes around camp to keep them away." "Bow before me, and I will grant you a swift death!"  “OINC! We orcs finally found a nice, good smelling place to settle down. You'll never break us!”"I will break, cut, mince and chop you. You will be nothing but a distant memory of a long-forgotten feast for my vampires." “You already invoked my vrath just because I'm now forced to actually feast on your disgusting blood to patch my vounds. You should feel privileged for such an honor.” "There's nothing but death for those who stand in my way. If an avalanche dares to fall on top of me, it is its duty to divert itself away from me, lest I grant it sentience and make it know nothing but regret." “That last one almost tickled. You really have some gall, svine! BLEIGH, now die!”  " Yeesh! There was barely anything left to raise!""They are dead and more will follow. Do not question my methods, I will do my job and you can keep doing whatever it is yours." "These goblins dare to block my way? Do you think they're really brave or really stupid?" “Ve think the answer is clear.”"It was a trick question. There's no difference between bravery and ignorance.” “Bow to the tuxedo, vermin!”  “Bone-man want to take goblin gazebo! But gazebo too pretty. Goblin-folk can't let bone-man to take it!” “Cousin Ned! And uncle Alf! Uh... me thinks gazebo not that pretty, bone-man can take it!”"It is too late for mercy. Now there are only two things in your future: unbearable pain followed by certain death."  "Very unfortunate. If only there was one more goblin in this group, I could have had the bones for one more skeleton. My art needs improving."  “I saw what you did to those orcs and goblins. Even for beasts as they were that was horrid!”"Oh, I try." “Look, if I teach you a bit of the necromantic arts (don't look at me like that, everyone had a minor in college), will you leave me be?”"I might consider it."Sandro learns Advanced Necromancy and starts to grow his spell power.  "Zam, take the sulfur mine Sandro 'liberated' from those orcs. And the knight in the gazebo might teach you something to make you useful at last.""Is all the gold I got for Archibald not useful? "Day10  "Good news, General. The Liches said your graveyard is adequate and are willing to join as soon as you build a Mausoleum where they can study undisturbed." "Isn't a Mausoleum just a place to stuff the remains of important people?""That's the beauty of it. Everyone is already wary of mausoleums and know better than to breach into one, so if we build one the liches can get the quiet and privacy they need... to orchestrate orgies in the name of hedonism and SCIENCE!""I see. It is counter-intuitive but... wait, wait, wait. What was that last part?""What last part?" "Forget it. Half the time I get the feeling you're all goading me to see if I take the bait. I'm smarter than that. Rialdo, take the liches and deal with those golems to the south. I want to know what manner of artifact they're protecting.""Bone-witches be like bitches. But less tasty." "Watch your tongue, ghoul, if you prize it exactly where it is." Liches have two distinctions in the Necromancer army. They're the fastest Necromancer unit and they're the only ranged necromancer unit. While they have their strengths, like high base damage and incredibly high defense on par with tier 6 creatures while they're tier 5, they suffer from low hitpoints, making them extremely vulnerable to spells, and a low attack skill, making it so their high damage isn't even close to being on par with the Archmages, for instance. They're also quite expensive at the 750 gold mark. Liches are a double-edged sword in battle since their attacks affect an area around their target. In the right circumstances, this can be a great multiplier that allows to compensate for their low attack. Most often than not, though, it means you'll need to refrain from attacking with them or else you'll hurt your own troops. Large creatures are good targets since you can position you troops in a way that they can be clear from the blast radius.  Golems. Goddamn golems. Ridiculously sturdy, high damage, tons of hit points... their only weakness is their speed, but that's one Haste away from being solved. They're a bitch to fight, though.  "Hold! Let the metal-men come, see if the bone-witches can blow some of them up. They're inedible anyway." "RARGH!"      Liches are tier 5 and yet two of them can't even kill a single tier 3 golem after two shots. That's the problem with liches when they attack high-defense creatures...  "I think I'm going to die of old age if we wait for the liches to finish them off. Posh-men, go there and take the iron metal-men separated from the others. These are not quite that inedible, maybe your fangs can even penetrate them!” “BLAGH! Ugh, tastes like rust.” "Mummies, see if you can keep the shiny metal-men occupied while the skellies advance." "Yeesh! These metal-men are real troopers. Over two dozen skellies kicking and mobing over them and they barely blink! Wait... maybe they can't blink..."Yeah, the Liches can hardly be much to blame here. Golems are so tough they might as well apply to stunt for Clint Eastwood.  "Agh! The steel ones are joining the fray down here. This does not bode vell!" "We will finish the last steel golem ourselves.""Vait! No!" "  ""What? The golem is down."I had no real way of saving that Vampire unless I was willing to risk more skeletons, which I'm not. Unfortunately, this few vampires can't outdamage the golems enough to recover themselves in a practical manner.  The skeletons really start to pull their weight for Rialdo. It is like Darth's strategy to have someone else bait the retaliation from a stack and have the peasants charge in. Except they're, you know, not poo poo.  "Unfortunately, the bone-witches ashed one of the Vampire Lords. Victory really doesn't feel like it when there's nothing to eat after the battle is won...""Liches and Vampires do have a long standing rivalry among the Necromancers, I'm not surprised of this attitude."On the bright side, Golems are a neat bundle of experience after it is all said and done. They're tough like Knight troops, but at least they are worth it.  "I found a dead guy among the metal-men. His skeleton was intact, so it was easy to raise. Strange, I thought metal-men were more brutal than that.""It is probably the wizard who built these golems in the first place."  “Seems like there was a battle here. Nothing really edible or raisable left, but hey, this is a nice cart! Full of arrows, rocks and scepters inside. I wonder if the bone-witches can make a good use from it.”"Don't they use their own spells? What could they possibly store in this cart?" “Skulls n' scrolls.”  “Ack! Ye ag'n? 'S ye mat'r as oogl' as yer for'ead?” “My mother was a saint! Alright, boys. Break his legs.” “You're in the wrong part of town, cheap green knock-off.”  “Sisters of battle, defend this shrine with your...”  "Dead? Was that the word you were going to say? I'm sorry, I may have interrupted you." "That's too easy." "Remarkable!" "Here's the deal, either you teach me whatever spell you're protecting here, or you'll join my army just like your pitiful guardians. No-one can say I'm not fair." But our bones would make terrible skeletons!"Do I even remotely look like someone who cares? They can be moving target practice or dog chow. I'd adopt a mutt just to feed you all to it one bone at a time. Just teach me the spell." Blind is the game's most useful crowd control spell. Low level, cheap and effective, it effectively takes the target creature out of battle as it can't act. It lasts 1 turn per spell power and the affected creature can't act until damaged, but it will still retaliate as normal. Very useful. Overpowered, in fact.   “Kill the bone-man, he is friends with the cowardly green thief!” “ 'Tis means nothing! Our wounds regenerate faster than you can hurt...” "Sorry? What was that? 'Finish me off with a magic arrow, please?' Don't mind me if I do."Vampire Lords and Trolls in low numbers can keep fighting effectively forever at this rate. Trolls do little enough damage at melee that the vampires can keep healing to full, while the trolls regenerate back to full at the end of every turn. Luckly, Sandro can lend a helping hand to our Vampires.  "And that was the last of them. What a waste of magic." "Halon, now that Sandro cleared the way, go fetch the gold you failed to last time.""What else is new?" After claiming the Sulfur mine Zom visits the knight in the gazebo. “Hey, I like you, purple freak. You're my bro. Here, take these loaded dice. For some reason, they always brought me luck whenever I waged a bet with them.”"Really? This is fascinating! Maybe they're magical?"This was actually very lucky. Necromancers are not likely to be offered Luck. The way I interpret luck is that the hero starts collecting personal lucky charms. Day 11  "Halon, I just discovered the Liches also want to lounge in the Mage's Guild, but want it to have a second floor. For whatever reason, it needs lots of rare resources to do so.""Procuring these rare scrolls can be very costly.""Whatever. Go to the trading post and see if they have some gems, will you? I was banking on that leprechaun forking some over to us, but apparently all he has is gold." "Fine, fine. Use my good looks and charm to broker with the merchants. I can't really complain." "Here, they'll give us a vase full of gems for 5 caldrons of mercury.""Good, good, with all the mercury we took from the goblins and rogues, it won't really be missed." "The second floor jacuzzi is finished now.""I really wished I could say I was shocked, but at this point... I'm not even surprised anymore. I'm afraid to ask but... Jacuzzi? Really?""Hey, just because most of us are technically dead it is no excuse to let go and get filthy. We're not orcs!""And you see nothing wrong with zombies preparing the baths?""We are also not picky." Inside the Mage's Guild we've got Steelskin, Lightning Bolt and Disrupting Ray.  Lightning Bolt would probably be the strongest 2nd level spell, if it wasn't for Blind. But some creatures can't be blinded, so Lightning Bolt is, overall, the best spell since it works against anything... well, with one exception. It does astonishing 25 points of damage per Spell Power for 7 spell points. That's enough to kill a Swordsman per Spell Power, or half a Paladin, or 25 peasants (that universal metric).  Steelskin is Stoneskin's big brother and increases the defense of target creature by 6. That's anywhere from about 40% to about 30% less damage from other creatures, usually, unless it goes against something with an unusually high attack. Remember that there's a cap at 14 defense over attack, so this might not be optimal on the higher tier creatures.  It is a tough choice between Lightning Bolt and Disrupting Ray. Suffice to say that, as the armies grow, Disrupting Ray probably becomes the better option, but only at the point where Lightning Bolt doesn't even kill 1/5 of a stack. Each cast of Disrupting Ray decreases the defense of target creature by 3 PERMANENTLY and it is cumulative. With a few casts most creatures are reduced to 0 Defense, which makes them extremely vulnerable.  "So hungry. Metal-men terrible second breakfast. I guess I'll just eat these zombies.”"Fine, but get back to the outpost when you're done. We need to do something about your liches." "Hmmm... it is raining man-bits."Against the Zombies the Liches fare much better than the Golems, doing about twice as much damage.  "Careful, not to tip over."Zombies when hit have a funny animation where they almost stumble backwards.  "RARGH!""Heh, using posh-men as bait to bunch the zombies together makes for great target practice for the bone-witches." "Huh... fighting these zombies now I know just how to command the bone-witches better so they don't ash the pale-men along with our enemies.""You're still on about that? Sheesh, let it go, ghoul. It is the vampires' fault for staying in our way anyway.""I feel more knowledgeful. And you know, knowledge is half the battle! Because knowing is power!"  "Now I feel stupid for sending Halon to deal for crumbs." "Very well, Sandro, now take the gold and..." "Not so fast... I need to perform some experiments in order to master Necromancy once and for all. Who wants free gold?" "Yes... kissing... that's what I did... with no lips... No, no, no. I most certainly did NOT break off a bit from its nose as a keepsake."Day 12  "To the north I found a chest of gold and a strange house on bird's legs. Some witch told me she could teach me to be more knowledgeable, but I told her I obviously already know more than her. Otherwise her hut is a dead-end." “Ingrate bastard.” "Ah, the 'pointy-bit-of-power'. Now the liches can syphon it's secrets to become Power Liches!""I can't believe this small extension cost me more than an entire freaking pyramid." The Power Lich is a small improvement overall, increasing defense by one and having more ammunition than it'll ever be able to use (especially with the ammo cart), though it's real buffs are it's health and it's speed, ultimately making it worth the 900 gold. With a Very Fast speed now we can actually tackle those Grand Elves while the health greatly increases its resistance to damage spells.  "Zam, go and relay with Rialdo, I want those liches sent to Sandro at once!""Ok, boss!" "I guess I'll see if I can distract the wolves and rob some of their gold."DAY 13  "You can keep the Skeletons, Rialdo, go back to the outpost and wait for reinforcements. Give the Cart to Zam though. I know it is hard, but I don't want to risk the liches running out of ammo somehow.""Too much time without fighting... getting hungry. Wonder how edible the skellies are.""Don't you dare. You can nibble on the zombies when you get back." "How nice of you. Now I can destroy those golems and restore my magic reserves." "Some mean-looking dwarves block the way east... and yet another gazebo."Day 14  "What is this? The binding spell powering these golems is so amateurish I could easily disrupt them and appoint myself as their master... hmm... actually, why not? I could use some muscle." "Just short of my new recruits. What a pity." "We need some crystals and some gems to finish the laboratory. Halon, since you like so much to babble with merchants, why don't you do the honors?" "In retrospect, beats commanding the living dead."Day 15  "Pikemen? They're pathetic, so this is not so bad... but how much do I need to bribe you... I mean, donate to you so you can give me a Week of Vampires?" “How dare you! The astrology is not chosen by us, but set in stone by the universe!”A bunch of lies. Every time you reload and start a week again, a new random week will be chosen. You cheater.  “Och! Nae' ye ag'n! Me l'gs h'vent rec'vered yet, ye thugs!” “Just fork over your riches and no-one needs to get hurt, wet punch-bag.”"You know... maybe these necromancers are being a bit of a bad influence on us. Nah..." "More posh-men! Now, I do feel a bit peckish. I think I'll order some pork." "Almost thirty elves. Some liches are going to have to make a sacrifice for the team." “What do you mean? How dare you? You're one of us!”"Oh, I assure you. I am NOT one of you." "Hmm... they're quick to draw. I guess I'll need to encourage some vampires to be quicker still." "RARGH! We will not allow you to slay us so easily.!” "Vampires, block that group immediately!""BLAGH! Fear our grope of death!"  “That horrid leprechaun has kept us imprisoned for months intimidating us with that terrible eye! And now even worse nightmares come to haunt us! Come my brothers, concentrate fire on those abominations!”Just as I feared. That's another downside of the liches: they are extremely, ridiculously, hilariously hated by everything and everyone. They are the main target of the AI, always. Even though liches have ridiculously high defense, Elves still shoot twice each. This is going to hurt...  Ouch.  Double ouch.  “Acknowledging. Master orders received. Master equals lich. Error, error. Rebooting.”"Stupid safeguards...”Weirdly enough, Golems are affected by morale in Heroes II. By heroes III onwards they are considered mechanical and therefore immune to morale.  "Alright, I'm feeling generous. I'll use up some of my magic to blind that last group of elves. Remember who spared your unlives." "How kind of you to expose your jugular so vide. Your politeness is appreciated." "Grope of death!" "No, no. You're just cutting them down. No class. Tsc, tsc..."  "Victory, as well as the spoils, are mine! That training I performed on the peasants was well worth it." Sandro's megalomania increases his ego, increasing his attack by 1. He also learns Advanced Wisdom so that he'll have access to Level 4 spells if I get that far. The other option is Mysticism, already covered by Darth. It is a nice skill... but this map has a lot of magic wells in case I really need to recover spell points.  "I have a better deal: I will kill you, recruit your mangled corpse to my army and take the eye for myself." The artifact is an Evil Eye. It reduces the casting cost of Curse by half, rounded down. It is kind of nice and allows you to cast a curse with the last bit of your spell points, but it only becomes really useful with a costlier version of Curse. As it stands now, it is too expensive for me to pick it up if I want to build that laboratory any time soon.  "That little trickster! He disappeared and took the eye with him! No matter, I'll come back later." "As I clear the grime from my bones, I can see the fountain withering. I feel luckier already." "Kind of weak production this week, miller. Do better next time or Grumpy, Slashy and Bashy are going to have a talk with you."Day 16  "Hmm... I love the smell of bacon in the morning."Here's Lightning Bolt in action... or at least I tried. The Lightning is way too goddamn fast to capture. You can barely see its sparks on the bottom orc, though.  “This shrine is haunted! It brought down a bunch of hungry bats on top of us! OINC!” "Finish them, skellies!" "Huh, it really WAS haunted."Haunt is a very weird spell. It populates a neutral mine with ghosts, which are a pain in the rear end to deal with. Suffice to say, ghosts are a bit like vampires, but much, much more terrifying. Its use is sort of “deny this mine”, which can be mildly useful against the AI, since it is terrible at fighting ghosts. But overall, it is rarely used as it is too situational for you to find a mine that you don't want to simply claim for yourself.  “Remember. Just because you're surrounded by the dead, it doesn't mean you have to become dead yourself. Cheer up!”"You're right! We may not be fighting the big battles, but we're certainly putting our few resources to good use!"I let Halon learn Leadership, which acts as the Heroes I Knight bonus by increasing morale.  "The sheep marches into the slaughterhouse. The knight of the yellow lord has been spotted!""Block him! Do not let him through."Day 17  "Some gems for the spirit purifiers, mercury to clean the bones, sulfur to cleanse the tools and crystals to amplify the magical auras. Or at least, that's what I think all of this is for, in any case. The laboratory is ready, General." The Bone Dragon is the Necromancer's most powerful creature... of sorts. They are the second weakest of the low-growing Tier 6 creatures (base growth of 1 per week), ahead only of the phoenixes, but their slightly higher damage is offset by their lower attack, defense and sluggishness. In fact, they have the worst base stats of all Tier 6 creatures. Thankfully, speed doesn't affect flying creatures too much, it only means Bone Dragons are some of the last to act. At least they're cheap-ish at 1500 gold. They also decrease the morale of enemy armies by 1, which means neutral stacks have a chance to freeze in fear during their turn, but this is very unlikely to make the morale of an enemy hero go into the negatives. It might cancel a positive morale or diminish a high morale, though. Other than that they're pretty straight-forward. Send them to run interference for the Vampires.  "The sheep has retreated, terrified of it's butcher. But in doing so it only led me to the herd. I've found the castle of the yellow lord. Or A castle, at any rate. I wonder if they saw me as well." "Yay! I am gonna feast like a german today! So many horsie-men!" "Gem mine is ours. Ooo! Dwarf zombies!" “Heeeeigh hoooo... frooom woork to wooork we goooo.”"Such beautiful singing! And tasty too!"Day 18  "They left? The ram has left the lamb to be slaughtered? If that's the case, the wolf feasts!" Another new little improvement on Heroes II, you can build a captain's quarters so there's someone to defend the castle even if the heroes are away. Though, as you can see, the captain is even weaker than a level 1 hero.  “Monster! We'll never allow you to breach these wa...” "Oh, I'm sorry, what was that? It is very difficult to hear you with that magic arrow perforating your lungs through your plate. Maybe next time we can chat." Ugh. Even with just 1 spell power, a lightning bolt and a shot from the arrow tower is enough to take my last lich down.  Vampires still boss though.  "Was that supposed to be a joke? I had baths more challenging than this." “Easy for you to say”"Oh, shush, you!" "Now, that's more like it."And now the meaning of this LP's title reveals itself.  "Tastes like crayon. GROPE OF DEATH!""Hey, leave some for me! I've already uncorked the butter!" “So, what are you going to do when you find the cross-dressing adventurers again?”"I'm gonna drink all their blood! I vill bleed them dry!" “Hmm... needs work.”Zam learns Mysticism and makes an oath of vengeance, increasing his attack in 1.  "The defenses of this castle are awful. Build a moat at once!" The Knight's Mage's Guild some new spells for us. Bloodlust is the opposite of Stoneskin, increasing the attack of the target by 3, though it is a mind effect and therefore nearly useless for us.  Dragon Slayer is kind of like Bloodlust, except it increases attack by 5 but only against Dragons. The Bone Dragon counts. This spell is very, very circumstantial. Day 19  "Now that you lost the liches you need some reinforcements, Sandro. Improve their armory and sign up as many swordsmen as are willing to join you." "Zam, Rialdo is spent. Take this bone dragon and go trade places with him.""Ah, finally, some pover for Zam!" "I've cornered the wolf in lamb's skin. And now, he is about to discover Death is the true apex predator." Probably some small tribute to the original Heroes, slow still uses the same generic “debuff” animation from it.  Meanwhile, Bloodlust's animation literally makes the target red with anger.   “DIE, SNOBBY ARISTOCRATS! SANDRO IS OUR MASTER NOW!”"Should I be worried about their choice of words?" "BLEUGH! Grope of death! So bashful, so shameful.” Sandro, upon learning ultimate Wisdom, decides to be more careful and increases his defense in 1.  "Oh, my! That's Xanadu, the repository of knowledge! Only the best of the best are allowed in... I wonder if they'd know a way to complete my ritual!"Day 20  “These wolves vill not take a single step, because I, Zam, have stolen their eyes.” "Skeletons, protect the liches vith your non-life!" "Taste the lightning!" "The last stragglers are no match for the mighty morphin' bone dragon!" "Say... have you druids seem a party of meddling transgendered adventurers and their dirty gnome? No? Vas vorth a shot. Thanks for your secret magic recipes!" Next turn starts the 4th week. We've already dealt a blow at the Yellow lord but half the map still needs exploring. Do we go northeast or southeast in search of the next lord? The_PC_Snob fucked around with this message at 23:41 on Sep 18, 2015 |
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May 11, 2015 21:35
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Instinct tells me to look southeast. Anyhew, I did find it silly that Sandro reclassed from Warlock to Necromancer between Heroes I and II back in the day, but then his more manipulative side came out in Heroes III, so Sandro switching town factions felt right up his alley. Shame that Heroes players only got to see a fraction of his scheming, and not the whole picture that the Might and Magic games continue on with.
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May 11, 2015 22:29
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And introducing one of the main villains of the series, Sandro. Let's give him a hand, or he'll figure out a way to take one. Well, seems like this map won't be lasting too much longer.
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May 12, 2015 00:18
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Southeast assuming you clean up around the coast on the way. No good having rear end in a top hat sneaking up behind you. edit: I decided to play this map and the stupid necro castle gave me bless, cure, and mass bless. Guildenstern Mother fucked around with this message at 01:36 on May 12, 2015 |
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May 12, 2015 00:27
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Southeast, use your newly acquired castle as a stepping stone.
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May 12, 2015 00:32
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WanderingMinstrel I posted:Southeast assuming you clean up around the coast on the way. No good having rear end in a top hat sneaking up behind you. At least it wasn't something actually actively harmful. My last play through I did during Darth's Heroes I LP had a map with the Necromancers where it offered me Holy Word or Holy Shout in every single castle 
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May 12, 2015 02:03
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The first artifact I got granted immunity to death ripple as well. I'm glad they made spell selection based on faction in the third game.
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May 12, 2015 02:21
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WanderingMinstrel I posted:The first artifact I got granted immunity to death ripple as well.
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May 12, 2015 03:55
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I love bone dragons in this game. They look incredible and this gorgeous action shot shows how incredibly detailed they are.  And that's not even accounting for their idle pose, where you see small bits fall off and their eye glow.Also, that's not how you kill golems.  I'll show everyone how it's done tomorrow.AradoBalanga posted:Instinct tells me to look southeast. I think it makes sense even in meta. They introduced a new faction that was all about the dead and had a guy who was a literal skeleton running around in the previous game. 
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May 12, 2015 07:07
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AradoBalanga posted:Anyhew, I did find it silly that Sandro reclassed from Warlock to Necromancer between Heroes I and II back in the day, but then his more manipulative side came out in Heroes III, so Sandro switching town factions felt right up his alley. Shame that Heroes players only got to see a fraction of his scheming, and not the whole picture that the Might and Magic games continue on with. Too bad some missions from Shadow of Death suffer from insufferable, atrocious writing. It is not all, but the main characters to suffer from it are Sandro himself and Gelu. Almost every single piece of writing involving Gelu fails and devolves him into a boring Marty Stu, the mysterious brooding elf who is just too good at what he does and blah, blah, blah... Sandro varies a lot from mission to mission, but in particular there are two missions that stuck out in my mind. The one where he gets an apprentice and falls in love, "The Master". It is ridiculous and infantile, with Sandro throwing a tantrum against his own troops for gossiping about it, which is several levels of wrong. And let's not forget, Sandro is a freaking lich! Then there's the mission where he faces off against the Kreegan and spends the whole time posturing like a simple-minded thug and intimidating kreegans through BRUTE FORCE. HIS brute force, not his minions. Someone was trying really hard to make him look cool and badass but just ended up cutting his own supposed strengths as a character short and making him look like a dunce with super-powers. Fortunately his second campaign is much better written, but yeah, I really don't see much of special in Heroes III writing in general, it has highs and lows, but the highs aren't that high while the lows can be really low. Heroes II writing is not exactly smart, either, but it is unique and fun throughout during the cutscenes, simple and straight during the missions. And smarter than it looks in some areas. Darth TNT posted:Also, that's not how you kill golems. Heh, easy to say when half your units are ranged and your Tier 5 ranged can actually pierce their neigh-impenetrable freaking armor. Looking forwards to your bloodbath... or should it be rust bath? That's a lot of golems you found. The_PC_Snob fucked around with this message at 07:56 on May 12, 2015 |
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May 12, 2015 07:30
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AradoBalanga posted:Doesn't that only really affect higher level spells (like tier 3 thru 5) in the end? Castle can't get Curse or Bloodlust, Necros don't get bless or cure, etc. Its more thematic than level based.
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May 12, 2015 09:25
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WanderingMinstrel I posted:Castle can't get Curse or Bloodlust, Necros don't get bless or cure, etc. Its more thematic than level based. You can't bless undead units, so it's fairly important gamewise, too.
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May 12, 2015 10:56
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quote:Another new little improvement on Heroes II, you can build a captain's quarters so there's someone to defend the castle even if the heroes are away. Though, as you can see, the captain is even weaker than a level 1 hero. An interesting trait that never showed up again. Wonder why?
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May 12, 2015 18:37
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Bloodly posted:An interesting trait that never showed up again. Wonder why? Because Heroes3 introduced the ability to garrison any old hero. Sure, it costs five times as much to hire said hero, but they come with their own skills that can improve and even come with units to help defend. They might have just kept the option to get a captain, it's not like there aren't situations where you might prefer a captain and a dragon over a hero and some level 1 units.
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May 12, 2015 20:57
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The_PC_Snob posted:Sandro varies a lot from mission to mission, but in particular there are two missions that stuck out in my mind. The one where he gets an apprentice and falls in love, "The Master". It is ridiculous and infantile, with Sandro throwing a tantrum against his own troops for gossiping about it, which is several levels of wrong. And let's not forget, Sandro is a freaking lich! Then there's the mission where he faces off against the Kreegan and spends the whole time posturing like a simple-minded thug and intimidating kreegans through BRUTE FORCE. HIS brute force, not his minions. Someone was trying really hard to make him look cool and badass but just ended up cutting his own supposed strengths as a character short and making him look like a dunce with super-powers.
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May 12, 2015 21:30
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AradoBalanga posted:Yeah, and then there's Sandro's opinions on Finneas Vilmar. Sandro takes time (read: nearly every loving discussion related to Finneas) to tell the player just how stupid and dumb he is...only for Finneas to later betray Sandro, and become one of Deyja's better rulers up until he decided to resurrect King Gryphonheart and kicked off the events of Restoration of Erathia. I guess that they wanted to make Sandro into this grand schemer, but like you said, they wound up making him look stupid and/or arrogant and full of himself. No problem in making him arrogant (half of the fun of this update was playing up his arrogance), but you have to make him arrogant and smart instead of arrogant and way over his head... He was supposed to be a magnificent bastard, but most of the time he looked more like an overachieving mook. Yeah, it was a smart plan to assemble those ultimate artifacts, but you can't bank on that plan alone to convince us of his intelligence, otherwise it feels like a lucky guess. On another note, the consensus seems to be to go southeast and defeat Darth's surrogate. I'd rather save him for last, but the goons have spoken. The_PC_Snob fucked around with this message at 00:51 on May 13, 2015 |
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May 13, 2015 00:39
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Update 2 Last time we learned how to play Heroes of Might and Magic 2, got acquainted with the Wizard faction and Dawn’s quest for a kiss.. This time, we’ll get serious. Day 12  You may remember that I had Dawn pass of her slow units to Flint. Now look at her movement. This allows her to quickly head back after visiting the gazebo and recollect her units with minimal loss of time. As soon as I have enough Archmages I'm probably going to drop the Halflings and give them to a secondary hero.  Eagle eye is a really blah skill. Basic gives you a 20% chance of learning a second level spell when it's cast on you. From there, each level adds a spell level and 10% chance of learning it. It's not really worth it if you ask me. Too random and you’ll get their spells anyway when you take their castles. I’ll take Wisdom instead. Also, defense +1.  Fineous the not-Kelzen is going to visit the standing stones and the gazebo as well. It never hurts to have a decent back up hero.  I really need to get some more mines. I can’t build anything worthwhile at the moment. The Wizard and the Warlock faction are the most expensive factions in the game and both require lots of rare resources to construct their dwellings. I build a thieves guild. This will be useful for when I start laying siege on castles.  In the meantime the information is pretty useless. The more thieve guilds you have the more information you get. At best you can get the same information that the oracle gave PC Snob in his update, which is pretty great. Day 13  So Flint is going to make himself useful and free up the windmill. Waiting around is just costing me time and it's not like that tiny bit of experience will be missed in the long run.  These Halflings are ready to kill.  As the bottom goblins found out.  Now for the rocs to earn their keep.  Easily done.  The windmill gives out a small amount of a random resource each week. It can be very useful. I usually have a hero standing by to visit locations like the windmill and mushrooms. That little bit of extra resources can go a long way. Day 14  Good job Flint. Day 15  Battle dwarf week. A good week for the sorceress, but we don't really care. A week of gives a +5 to growth of a specific unit, whereas a month of doubles the growth that week.  Yes I do. Come back here and join us you bastards!   Victory!  There is a lot of gold near the crystal mine and there is a laboratory on the way there. I’ll just do those things and then leave my safe nest to strike out.  Fineous the not-Kelzen has some nice options. Leadership gives his morale a plus, whereas luck gives his luck a plus. I’ll give him some leadership. Day 16  There’s our target.   "I am most grateful my loyal miller." The miller knows what’s up. We need more gems for our giants. Right, in order to get things moving faster I’m going to give Fineous some units as well. Day 17  I’ll probably regret following them. Fighting rogues sucks. Like the sprites that PC Snob fought, they have the no retaliation perc. So each rogue has to be killed on your turn.  I probably should’ve split my Archmagi stack for faster killing. But meh, it's not like they're much of a threat.  The most important thing to remember with rogues is that they have armor made out of soggy slightly used toilerpaper.  Every little bit of experience helps, which is the sole reason that I'm following these weak stacks. Currently, taking out these weaklings is worth it since I only need 1.000 experience points to level up. However as the level grows so does the experience requirement and there comes a point where you're better off just letting them run away.  And here we have the effect of the passage of time. Wandering stacks slowly grow in power each week.  I’m the rightful king, look upon me and despair!  The only thing of note was that everything was over in one round due to good morale. Day 18  After kicking some rogue rear end I decided that we need more resources. I currently have plenty of money, but I’m lacking in the gems needed for my sky castle. I’m also pretty sure those dwarves are working for Archibald, so let’s clear those dwarves and raid those campfires, but first preparations.  You may fire when ready.    I didn’t need to split the archmage stacks, but it doesn’t do any harm either. It gives me less chance of overkilling and attack power going to waste. Unlike normal dwarves, battle dwarves have an average speed rating combined with the usual dwarven sturdiness. They could feasibly make it to the other side.  That’s not how you clip a birds wings you fool, this will only get you killed!   High morale means a second attack.This went well.  This is actually the first time ever since I started playing that I’ve been splitting stacks as much as I have. My old strategy was to just turtle until I had a few of the highest level units and then go out to try and kill everything. I’d love to say that I used to be great at these games, but that’s one thing I can’t claim with a straight face.  No gems here.  Dawn picks up some gold and then I realize I have bigger fish to fry, so she leaves to make room for Flint who will pick up behind her.  Even if Fineous the not-Kelzen is unlikely to ever become even decent at spell casting, having a spell book is pretty much a necessity. Even a single well placed low level spell can spell defeat for the enemies. Day 19  I’m keeping the formation as it is now. Those goblins don’t stand a chance either way.  And they know it. They probably work for Archibald, better fix this.  Boom! One down. I will be posting quite a few soundbites through the LP. It’s not just the music that’s good about these games, all games benefit from having sounds that punctuate what you’re doing and some of the Heroes sounds really hit that sweet spot. Like the Archmage laser which actually sounds pretty powerful or the all-important BLAH! (Darth TNT officially sanctioned spelling). Then there are some sounds that I just like because, I don’t know. One of those is the goblin walk. They have this really weird rhythm to their walk and some soft other sounds surround which sound like cheap wooden jewelry of feathers that move as they go. To me it always invokes this tribal feeling without going overboard.  And then there were none.  Just a quick visit to the newly liberated gazebo.  I still don’t want eagle eye, so stop offering me that.  I just need three days. Fineous the not-Kelzen buys the units I haven’t bought yet and moves to give them to Flint who can give them to Dawn. Day 20  These units aren’t needed to take on those Archibald loving orcs, but I want them so Dawn can move on from there.  And we’re ready.  They obviously tried to run, but Roland would have none of that cowardly stuff in his kingdom.  It was sort of like a battle, but only if a battle looked like someone taking a pit stop.  Victory!  This is going well. Day 21  A dead end, what a waste. I could try to take those veteran pikemen, but I’d rather not. They’re the upgraded form of the pikeman and are actually pretty good. That gold is not worth it. I’ll go and attack those trolls near the temple and mushrooms. That holds more promise. In the meantime, tomorrow I can buy giants. Day 22  A new week. I can buy the sky castle, but I’m struck with indecision. I’ll hold off for a bit, Dawn isn’t nearby yet. Reason I’m holding off is that building the dwelling will use up all of my money leaving me unable to buy anything.  I know I said was going after the trolls, but my magic sucks since I only have a level 1 mage guild. The wizard faction needs a boat load of every rare resource you can find, which makes upgrading a pain. I aim to fix that with that blue tent behind those golems. It´s a shrine of the second circle which teaches a random second level spell. Let’s check it out and gain some experience at the same time. Also, I’ll bet those golems have pictures of Archibald in their foundry. I'll teach them who should be hanging over their bed. Day 23  I’ll go into more detail whenever I get around to buying these things myself. However I'll just repeat what PC Snob already said. The most important part is that golems are tanks. Their defensive stat is the same as the archmages attack stat despite the 3 level difference between them. In addition, they can dish out the damage fairly well and they can tank magic easily thanks to their magic resistance. So let’s use indirect magic and bless an archmage stack. We need to stop these things from reaching the other side at all cost.  That only killed one.  But it does give me a chance to post this. It’s the Golems get hit sound and I like the sturdy empty steel sound it gives, especially when combined with the laser beam sound. The one thing I have going for me is that golems are in desperate need of some grade A lubricant and thus are slow as can be, which is the reason why I haven’t bought them yet. They make excellent garrison units. Another bless on the other Archmage stack and let’s focus fire on the center steel golems. They’re the upgraded version.  The Halflings brought them down after the first stack of archmages weakened them and the second stack killed the top iron golem stack. [This is actually one of my favorite sounds. It sounds just right.  We’re running out of ground between us and them.  Another one down and well out of reach of the other golems. I’m very happy that the battle maps are much larger than in Heroes1.  The remaining two die easily and I win. Finally a worthwhile bit of experience. And that's how you defeat golems.  Finally a good second skill. I’d like that luck please. Now to claim my prize.  That’s some great luck, just what I wanted. Lightning bolt: Deals 25 times your spell power in damage to a single unit. It’s the most damaging single target spell in this game.  These things are expensive. Day 24  Here you can see one of the biggest problems a wizard faces. Their units are expensive as hell. Day 25  The trading line is set up. She’s not getting much, but it’ll have to do. Day 26  The trade is done and the Halflings stay back home. They just slow us down and setting it up like this also allows me to break up my stack of rocs or archmages depending on my needs.  I’m not chasing those trolls. Trolls are excellent shooters and thus I’m likely to incur unwanted losses chasing them. They’re probably running to join Roland’s army anyway. Day 27  She picks up the fire and also visits the well. We spent quite a few spell points against the golems without refilling. Better do that now.  That yellow hut is a Witch doctors hut, you can get a +1 to knowledge from there. The fact that there is a campfire here tells me that the enemy hasn’t been here yet. I’m going to send Flint to join Dawn. On his last level up he gained scouting, so he should be able to help her see a bit more and collect the resources. Day 27  A repeat performance? Very well. Time to kill those Archibald worshiping steel constructs!  I wish I still had my Halflings now. I bless the archmages. Fire! I kept my archmages as a single stack. This group of golems was larger than the previous so I preferred the extra damage and the extra warm bodies to help draw fire should it be necessary.  Only three died. This is going to take some time.  Right on time.  This kills the top iron golems.  And this kills the steel golem. The best part about slow units controlled by AI is the completely horrible pathfinding as they get in each others way almost every turn forcing them to try to go around each other.  I retreated the boars back to buy me another turn without getting hit. The archmages can half a stack each shot. Looks like my giant is going to get a workout. So they get my blessing.  Zap!  So Giants. I don’t like them. Costing a hefty 2.000 in gold and 1 gem they are the penultimate wizard unit. They do pretty good damage, but can definitely use your blessing. The reason I don’t like them is their speed, defense and cost to upgrade. They’re never quite as sturdy as I think they are and thus I fully expect this dude to die before I get the chance to upgrade him. His speed is only average making him one of the slowest level 6 creatures (Tied with the green dragon and bone dragon) combined with no flying means that he will be unable to get away from combat should he find himself in trouble. Meanwhile, their ultimate form costs a hefty 5.000 in gold and 2 gems. That’s a 3.000 difference, multiply by two. You would need to cough up 6.000 per giant to upgrade them, I hope you have a terrible cold.  The boars and the archmages team up on the bottom one.  Bolstered by such camaraderie the giant pulls out all the stops and overkills those golems with a lucky strike. With one stack left everyone attacks!  And that's how you take care of golems. Very nice experience reward. All right, I’ll take mysticism. I can break most walls easily enough already.  The gazebo doesn’t allow us to instantly level anymore. Day 28  I’d better check the surrounding area that no stray stacks have appeared.  Nope, no stray stacks. Fineous the not-Kelzen heads off with a small force to liberate some minor territories.  I’ll take that gold mine thank you. That should go a long way to fixing my gold problems. Day 29  That gem mine will work much better for us. Can I have it?  Flint looks around a bit more.  That camp can provide you with a free attack boost, excellent. I also spot some horse legs at the top. Enemy contact!  Meanwhile, Fineous the not-Kelzen has his own adventure. He’s going to take out those Archibald worshipping fools.  I don’t know why they didn’t try to run from me.  I had Fineous the not-Kelzen bring his starting units along this includes his goblins and orcs. I’m going to leave the more detailed description of these vile units to PC Snob. But in my opinion goblins aren’t half bad, they’re the most average level 1 unit.  And then it was over.  Suddenly more zombies! Good thing these things are terrible.  6 died to this blessed shot.  Speaking of terrible. Orcs are contenders for being the worst units in the game, despite their competition having the likes of peasants and zombies.  Zombies are terrible.  Now that’s a rare skill for a barbarian and it’s probably worth getting. Fineous the not-Kelzen has an eternally tiny mana pool that would be helped greatly with enhanced regeneration.  Well done.  Flint finds some wood and a hill fort. I’ve forgotten what it did in this game, so let’s check.  Oh right, free upgrades for three types of units. Unfortunately, all I have are a few orcs.  Run away Flint! Notice the mine at the top, it’s unguarded and has a minor vertical line on top. It’s been flagged! Day 30  A nice upgrade to her stats. This update is getting quite long, but I wanted to attack an enemy castle.  I saw the enemy hero head in this direction and guess what I found?  We can probably easily take question mark enemies.  Fineous the not-Kelzen found an observatory which allows him to scout a long way around him. We spot a gold mine guarded by ogre lords. Let’s not tangle with those guys with this army.  What can orcs possibly teach us? Looking back, I apparently forgot to visit the witch doctor with Dawn.   Just a bit more and I can add some gold trimmings to my sky castle. I usually make my updates around 100 images so by now I really want to end the update, but what I want even more is to attack the enemy castle. So let’s do that and then end this update. Day 31  Kalindra shows up from nowhere (slightly to the left, where there is apparently something of interest), visits her castle and parks her sweet rear end in front of Dawn.  I’m not impressed.  Oh no, she brought reinforcements. The castle has zombies now! Sorry guys, this changes everything. A foe of this might needs careful deliberation before taking action. Next time, I rekill them all. 
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May 13, 2015 06:46
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Eh, Pikemen are not that good. Basically the same stats as the mummy except much less health and a bit more defensively oriented. As for the orcs, they're quite bad ranged units in general, but unlike the Zombies they remain useful to the Barbarians for a good while as depending on the map it can take a while for them to get their second ranged unit. I almost took a sound sample of the orcs. For such hog-like creatures they have quite human-sounding voices when they're being stabbed. One on one the Bone Dragon actually defeats the giants thanks to their higher damage, since otherwise their stats are almost exactly the same (yeah, Giants are too expensive for their stats). They haven't got the slightest chance against it's upgrade, though.
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May 13, 2015 11:45
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I think pikemen were only good in Heroes 4, where they have the Negate First Strike and Long Weapon abilities. The former prevents anyone from striking them first (in HoMM4 retaliation occur simultaneously to the attack) and the latter allows them to attack from a short distance (effectively giving them No Retaliation, if they have space to maneuver to use it). Is there any unit that requires the upgrade as badly as giants?
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May 13, 2015 12:18
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Poil posted:Is there any unit that requires the upgrade as badly as giants? I wouldn't say as badly as the giants, but Ogres are probably the second in the list, since they receive improvements all around and a worthwhile movement speed. Knight units are all solid as they are before the upgrade, with the upgrade being more of a nifty bonus; the Minotaurs and Vampires becomes a beast but are already incredibly good before the upgrade, Dwarves don't really have the aggressive stats so the upgrade don't really matter that much and golems are already very solid units before the upgrade, just becoming even more hardy. The ogres, however, are kinda weak, incredibly slow and can't put their offensively-oriented stats to good use, but after the upgrade they get enough speed to be put to use and a huge health bonus (the largest non-tier 6 health upgrade, in fact) so that they become both very powerful and very tough. But Rangers are probably close to the top of the list too, going from being as bad as orcs to being almost as good as elves.
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May 13, 2015 14:11
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