Heroes3: What's Your Favorite Town Type?

[axi]

The word in the net says that by pure number comparison, Necro is the worst city type, followed by Fortress. The best is Rampart by far, followed by Castle. This is done by comparing the total production of military might (combination of stats) divided by the funds required to build both the troops and the buildings.

[Jethro83]

Castle is my favourite. They are a well-balanced side with tough units from L1 to L7. They also have my favourite hero Loynis the Cleric. If you can start with him, build up experience, and attain expert Water Magic, his mass Prayer will elevate the army's power IMMENSELY!!! Even with inferior numbers, I hardly ever lose.

Necropolis is second, as the Vampire Lord is a solid unit (especially since they can reanimate their dead and recover HP from attacking the living), and thousands of skeletons are tough to take on. They also make good support units for strong magic use.

Tower in third because of the superior number of ranged units, and solid defensive ones (Golem, Naga) to protect them. Though their upper level unit dwellings are expensive, they are well worth the investment. Wizards possess superior knowledge, and as such can cast many spells before their mana is spent.

Dungeon in fourth. Though their units can be prohibitively expensive, warlocks possess superior Spell Power. I generally like to use massively destructive spells to destroy the enemy. The units simply mop up.

Rampart. Though they tend to be quite slow, they have the best lower level ranged attacker. Gold dragons tend to be quite strong when they can be attained (dwelling is quite expensive). Their lack of speed really bogs them down (literally) though.

Inferno. Early units are weak. Later units don't quite make up for the deficit. However, heretics tend to be quite solid magic users. Like Dungeon, I prefer to use magic more exclusively in this town type and use the units to mop up the effect. However, the Order of Fire isn't quite enough to build up that godlike spell power the warlocks manage to obtain.

Stronghold and Fortress. Both are exceptional physical town types, but their lack of magical ability drags them down immensely. Their level 7 units are the slowest lvl 7 units in the game. Its all about overwhelming with numbers. But how to attain such numbers to withstand the magical onslaught is anybody's guess.

Conflux. So much promise, but didn't deliver. Though the Magic University and Aurora Borealis add a nice touch to the magical capabilities of this town type, its not quite enough, as there aren't any elementalists with decent specialities, and getting the spells you want isn't really that hard. Elementals tend to be quite weak, with a deficit that the immensely fast phoenix doesn't quite balance.

[Andemagne]

Ionburger: moral is not a factor for the undead.

axi: all I've heard is that Castle is best by far, when comparing unit strenght and unit production (but not unit costs)

LordA: what I've seen, speed of the phoenixes makes a BIG difference, so big IMHO that it makes conflux better than inferno/fortress/rampart/stronghold.



still
1)Castle
2)Tower & Dungeon

[SnowFire]

axi: Not TOO surprising. In terms of bang for the back, Rampart is quite good, if you can coordinate your troop tactics well. That said, if you're on the offense (happens often playing against the CPU), Dendroids can be nigh on useless, because they don't get there in time. And against a human player, he can do even more to make you pay for your slow troops. So they aren't as good as that would suggest.

Also, the Necropolis is weighed down by one of the worst Level 7s, which doesn't matter in many games. So they're a bit better than that, too.

[DarkCloud]

But then it's actually useful. Unlilke the Inferno

Don't forget Inferno Castle Gates! IF you have two, they are invaluable!

Rampart would be the best if someone had... say tactics... because the units are so fast that they can just fly across the board (and with their initiative) bang up the enemy. Especially those Dwarves (dam absorbtion) and centaurs (best level 1 unit)

[Jethro83]

Originally posted by Andemagne
LordA: what I've seen, speed of the phoenixes makes a BIG difference, so big IMHO that it makes conflux better than inferno/fortress/rampart/stronghold.

I know that phoenixes make a huge difference, but it still doesn't change the fact that the spells elementalists specialise in are too weak. Which would you prefer, a heretic specialising in Inferno or Fireball, or an elementalist specialising in Fire Wall or Magic Arrow?

As I said, Inferno make up for their weak units (which aren't as weak as the conflux units) with magic, as heretics have a solid magical capability which can be further increased by the Order of Fire.

And as for Rampart, the only unbearably slow units are dwarves and dendroids. In my experience, unicorns are actually quite powerful, Grand Elves are downright dangerous in huge numbers (especially since they fire twice), and Gold Dragons are well worth the investment. And the druid isn't too bad at magic to boot.

[DarkCloud]

Unicorns compared to Dragons or other level 6 creatures really aren't that good- except for their blinding stare and speed... but their initiative negates that when they face a spellcaster... and you don't have Pegasi. Because first off, they'll be blinded and they cost too much... and are useless in small numbers to really be used effectively... unless you are rich in which case you COULD split them- but for small poor maps... I don't think they are that useful

oh well

[moomin]

I don't understand this obsession with offensive magic. In H3, the very best spells are low-level - haste, slow, bless, prayer. Any hero can get these and gain the necessary skills to mass them, which makes far more of an impact on the battle field then any direct damage spell.

[axi]

Rampart is best because of the sheer mass of troops one can buy. One can go out with centaurs, elves, pegassi and unicorns, while he can amass dwarves and dendroids to guard his castles (or to help in major battles being carried by a squire or two) with his spare money (if he has any). A rampart castle with dendroids in it is a very hard nut to crack.

Plus grand elves are the best shooters in the game (apart from sharpshooters).

And don't forget the dwarf bank.

[Main_Brain]

Well Undead tend to amass HUGE Skeleton Armies as one of my Friends does at LAN
"150 gremlins wanna join my Army? Sure thing put on the Mixer ehh I mean Skelton Converter"
But after all the Poll wasnt about might but about favourite And im still a Proud Dungeonmaster
(but Tower really really comes close..)
Last Weekend I went heavy on Manticors and Harpy's only :=)
And got my Ass kicked quite badly..
Will go back to the Usual Minotaurs guard the Distance attackers Tactic and Rush for Dragons in the meanwhile...

[St Leo]

In H3, the very best spells are low-level - haste, slow, bless, prayer.

Don't forget Town Portal, Water Walk, Fly, and Dimension Door.

[DarkCloud]

And don't forget the dwarf bank.

Invaluable

Main_Brain- get 20-40 Scorpiocores and you are nearly invincible My diplomacy on Heroes Chronicles DRAGON section helped me gain them and allowed me to win the level

Just wondering how do you use the skelton converter?
I've never really figured out Necros.

And don't forget the dwarf bank.

Amazingly useful

haste, slow, bless, prayer.

I don't know about Bless or prayer, how much bonuses do they give to the player?
Slow and haste I understand, but bless and prayer? How much do they help?

But if you have Implosion and Chain Lightning or Lightning Bolt... it's probably better to use them... Unless your enemy is a spellcaster, then Anti-magic nad the haste/etc. spells are useful

-We need a HoMM section

[Ubergeek]

I prefer to play Rampart -- the units generally stink, but it's the prettiest town IMO. I love beuilding each new structure or upgrade and gradually creating a lovely, pseudo-Viking town in a misty mountain dale.

Oh, and dendroids are terrific castle defenders.

[moomin]

Originally posted by St Leo
In H3, the very best spells are low-level - haste, slow, bless, prayer.

Don't forget Town Portal, Water Walk, Fly, and Dimension Door.

Oh, quite. I've should have said battle spells. But since anyone can get these biggies, any kind of direct damage specialisation seems week to me. The towns live and die with what they can reasonably be expected to produce and field in the first two-three weeks.

[Heresson]

FORTRESS
My first game. Sucks. I mean, it's not all that bad,
I experience problems sometimes when I fight them,
but generally they're not fun to play.
Those dragonflies weren't all that bad, hydras were good,
second and third from the best weren't bad too... But it sucked somehow.

CASTLE
All units were good, and I enjoyed playing it;
pikemen were great compared to all 1-type units but gremlins. Those double-attacking warriors and champions,
gryfs and monks -all were very good, and archangels' ability
of resurrecting units was quite nice.

RAMPART
Quite good in fact. I like to have money, and this treasoury
was the only thing that made me have it enough.
Units... Elfs were great, and those trees were strong
as well as those little men and unicorns (made some blind
-very usefull). I didn't like that centaur unit but it was good as it could reach anything. I didn't like the Golden Dragon. I didn't see anything good in it, it
was a weaker version of Black Dragons.

TOWER
+gremlins could attack from distance, which is pretty useful hen it comes to type 1 units; titans and magicians
could attack from distance too, so it was the best thing for
those that like fight from distance -like me. Gins were good because of their spells, and Nagas were great warriors too. Those gargoiles or whatever were as someone already said dieing too willingly but I was never considering them spare units. Golems were good too.
Quite tough to kill, esp. when I had Josephine.
Yes, it was expensive. That's why I liked to have the Rampart as the secon thing.

Barbarians
Never played them. When I played against them for the first time I got scared because of Behemoth but usually
they weren't all that big threat in battle except for three
best units; Behemots, cyclops and this big birdie.

Inferno
Not all that bad, but I didn't like to play them. They were boring and not enough different from each other.

Dungeon
Quite good, but I didn't play it all that often.

Necropolis
I liked to play it.
Skeletons -more and more, it made me believe that
I'll never run out of soldiers.
Zombies - well, it was slow and quite useless for me,
but it wasn't bad cannonmeat.
those that were taking the mana - not too bad; they were giving me mana that I needed in long sieges.
vampires - simply great.
liches -great as well. Dark Knights were very good,
and if they had their luck, they were more than great. Skeleton dragons I always found a bit weaker than
all other higher type units, they were dieing easily and weren't good in attack, but I liked their look, its spells and
the building was generally good.
So, my ranking shall be;

1)Castle
2)Necropolis/Tower
3)Rampart/Dungeon
4)Inferno
5)barbarian
6)Fortress
What is Conflux?

[Jethro83]

Originally posted by Heresson
What is Conflux?

The new town type in the Armageddon's Blade addon.
Lvl1. Pixies/Sprites
Lvl2. Air Elementals/Storm Elementals (ranged)
Lvl3. Water Elementals/Ice Elementals (ranged)
Lvl4. Fire Elementals/Energy Elementals
Lvl5. Earth Elementals/Magma Elementals
Lvl6. Psychic Elementals/Magic Elementals
Lvl7. Firebird/Phoenix

They are quite weak really, but sport the fastest Lvl 7 unit in the game, that is also capable of a rebirth.

[axi]

Conflux is much more powerful than all the other towns, but much more expensive too. It seems unnatural and I don't like it at all. Those psychic elementals are annoying.

[Main_Brain]

Golden Dragon is in fact a weker Version of even the Red Dragon

The Necro Converter simply converts any Creature (for free i think) to Skeletons 1to1..
Useful when you accidently upgraded Skeleton to SkeletonWarriors (A Big NoNo)
or to convert those bad Troops which joined your Army (Undead Morale Modifiers nullify their Combat Usefulness anyway at most Times)

[loinburger]

Originally posted by Andemagne
Ionburger: moral is not a factor for the undead.

Yes, but morale is a major problem if you've got a living stack in your army of undead, since living stacks get an automatic -1 morale penalty for fighting alongside undead and your heroes don't have a morale-boosting skill (at least they'd better not). Bone/Ghost dragons are slow compared to other lvl 7 units, so most people you fight will have initiative unless you manage to get a lvl 8 stack (preferably an Azure Dragon or Faery Dragon, but any of the Special dragons will do), an Archdevil stack, or an Archangel stack in (to replace your zombies or your wraiths, zombies are nice as a suicide stack but wraiths have speed so it's up to how you play as to which stack you leave out). Strictly speaking you don't need a living stack in your army, but I always found that including a powerful stack will pay off in spades so long as you can keep its morale at a respectable level.

[loinburger]

Originally posted by moomin
I don't understand this obsession with offensive magic. In H3, the very best spells are low-level - haste, slow, bless, prayer. Any hero can get these and gain the necessary skills to mass them, which makes far more of an impact on the battle field then any direct damage spell.

If you're in love with necro armies, like me, then bless and prayer aren't useful (although curse can come in handy). That'll often leave my hero with nothing better to do than cast an Implosion.

[Jon Miller]

I usually have as one of my goals to have a super pumped up in moral army

Jon Miller

[DarkCloud]

The Necro Converter simply converts any Creature (for free i think) to Skeletons 1to1..
Useful when you accidently upgraded Skeleton to SkeletonWarriors (A Big NoNo)
or to convert those bad Troops which joined your Army (Undead Morale Modifiers nullify their Combat Usefulness anyway at most Times)

Is it an option ONLY when you play as a necro character (sorry for my ignorance, but I only hve the Heroes chronicles and haven't been able to play as a necromacer yet.)

[loinburger]

Originally posted by DarkCloud
Is it an option ONLY when you play as a necro character (sorry for my ignorance, but I only hve the Heroes chronicles and haven't been able to play as a necromacer yet.)

Only Necro towns can build a Converter. I'd assume that you could use a captured Converter in a Necro town if you aren't Necro, but you probably wouldn't want to--skeletons or any other undead give a -1 morale penalty to all living units in an army.

[Heresson]

That Conflux sounds interetsings...
What are the specifics of Psychics elementaries?

[Main_Brain]

Only -1 Moral`? Are oyu sure I whought it was worse

[Traianvs]

Hmm any unit can be good, some need numbers, some need lots of gold...


think of the mighty gorgons, place 100 of those against 30 ancient behemoths, their death gaze is invaluable if you have an enemy with lots otf lvl7 units..

cyclops kings are frreaking powerful, they have good hit points, attack, can crush walls..

i once faced yog with 8000 cyclops kings

unbeatable, i had masses of other troops, anything you like, couldn't kill him...prolly cos he had like 40 attack etc and ranged items


i have lots of difficulties with barbs, their thunderbirds are crushing, their ogre magis don't die, a few thousand goblins, those qcuik raiders, the mighty behemoths... and they always have a crushing offense (their heroes)

[loinburger]

Originally posted by Main_Brain
Only -1 Moral`? Are oyu sure I whought it was worse

It's -1 in addition to the penalty for fielding an army with mixed town types.

[Heresson]

Yes... Barbs are bad... But I had luck; in most of my games tehre were no barb castles and even if there were their owners weren't strong.

[Main_Brain]

*plays never Necro*

[muxec]

I love confluxs due to phoenix and tower due to titans