Brand Spanikin New

[wizaerd]

I've never played a real game of HoMM... I've dinked around with it, but have always given up in frustration, because I'm not exactly sure what I'm doing in it. I've read through some walkthrus for the campaigns, and even on easy I still eventually give up. I'm just not sure how to efficiently play it. Then when I try playing a regular map or scenario other than the campaign, I'm completely lost.

I seem to waste a lot of time heading out into the map, getting in a battle, losing many army members, have to backtrack to recruit more. The number of available units is usually low, so I can never seem to get a decent enough army without having to keep hitting End Turn.

So how does one play this game without so many days and weeks passing by? Or is a map supposed to take (in-game) months to play because of all the backrtacking?

I learned how to play Civ4 by watching all sorts of "Let's Play" videos on YouTube. Does anyone have any good reccoemendations for the same type of gameplay videos for Homm5 TotE?

[wizaerd]

whaaaa...?

[Mirez]

I'm terrible sorry it seems it has posted in the wrong thread ^_^ imma move it now

I can make a vod of me playing a simple 1v1 or something, showing you how to clear mines effectively.

What faction do you want me to play?

[wizaerd]

I can make a vod of me playing a simple 1v1 or something, showing you how to clear mines effectively.

What faction do you want me to play?

I don't have any real preference for factions since I'm not familiar enough wih any of them specifically yet. Just trying to get a feel for how the game plays out, how to efficiently move around on the adventure map, how/when to recruit, secure resources, etc...

Thanx!

[Spin]

the most important part for you i think is to choose your battles well. On the later patches there are creature threat levels, just stick with the easier fights for the first few weeks of the game and don't try to kill everything in your path. This way you won't lose so many creatures. The more you play however, the more of a feel you will get for battles you can win and can't win.

To not make your hero return back to town, i think it's best to get another hero at town who brings new units to you at the start of every week/2 weeks. This is only if you can afford to have very few units at your town though.

Have fun playing.

[Kristo]

Unfortunately, it's not at all obvious how to play this game if you just sit down for the first time. Your instincts are correct - if you're jamming on End Turn and constantly returning to town, you're doing it wrong. Here are some things that might help you get started.

1. Hire a second hero on the first day. Combine their armies so one hero has nearly all of the troops. This hero will be the one doing all the fighting. Leave all of the loose stuff (resources, chests, etc.) for the secondary hero.

2. Always take gold from the treasure chests. You're not yet fighting battles efficiently (that takes a lot of practice), so you'll be spending a lot of gold on hiring more creatures.

3. Don't fight everything in sight. Focus on the resource mines you need to improve your town. Take out the creatures guarding that stuff and ignore the rest initially.

4. Don't bother defending anything. If you don't let the bad guys get between your main hero and your towns, then you won't have to worry. This is easier to do on the lower difficulty settings.

5. Don't be afraid to lose. You're in the exploratory phase right now, so wander all over the map and see what stuff does.

[wizaerd]

All good tips, thanx... On average, starting out on easy and playing a map, how many in-game days, weeks, months ( ) should a game be taking for a brand new player?

[Mirez]

depends on the map size really, some can be over in 3 weeks, other can last months or years

[ThunderTitan]

No way a new player can do a map in 3 weeks...

If you are just learning to play how fast you finish the map should be the last thing to worry about... learning how to pick your battles and minimize your casualties should be your first priority.

And as mentioned by everyone, use secondary heroes to get troops to your main, you can even make hero chains where the secondary hero without any movement points give his units to the next hero and so on until you get to your main.

[Mirez]

No way a new player can do a map in 3 weeks...

If you are just learning to play how fast you finish the map should be the last thing to worry about... learning how to pick your battles and minimize your casualties should be your first priority.

And as mentioned by everyone, use secondary heroes to get troops to your main, you can even make hero chains where the secondary hero without any movement points give his units to the next hero and so on until you get to your main.

well I never said I was talking about a new player didn't I

My point was that the length of the game depends on the mapsize

[ThunderTitan]

But you didn't mention you weren't... which might confuse ppl.

[wizaerd]

I can make a vod of me playing a simple 1v1 or something, showing you how to clear mines effectively.

I'd still be interested in seeing something like this if you're still up for it

[Mirez]

But you didn't mention you weren't... which might confuse ppl.

Well of course, you always mention what you are not talking about....

I can make a vod of me playing a simple 1v1 or something, showing you how to clear mines effectively.

I'd still be interested in seeing something like this if you're still up for it

Yeah I tested a little a few days ago, imma try if I can get a full game this weekend. It won't be uploaded before monday though.

[wizaerd]

Yeah I tested a little a few days ago, imma try if I can get a full game this weekend. It won't be uploaded before monday though.

Thanx, I certainly appreciate it...

[orionsector]

I've been playing HOMM since version 2 and the gameplay is the same for all of them. Not sure why it bothers you how many weeks go by - you only get new creatures at the beginning of the week, so a new week is a good thing : )

I usually concentrate on getting my creature dwellings purchased before the week ends. You can always upgrade them to higher levels later, but getting them producing creatures every week is vital. Also getting & upgrading a mage guild to learn new spells helps alot too.

[Mirez]

Well it doesn't matter how long a game lasts, however you should NEVER find yourself keep clicking end turn week after week just to rally up an army.

Well, today I uploaded the first 2 parts (out of 7) on youtube in HD. I try to have it done as soon as possible but converting 150GB into reasonable size takes a while.

part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZsLEpqf9Nw
part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Jcz4K8fTkc

[wizaerd]

Thank you, I will begin watching them this evening!

[intipacha]

this whole story reminds me of how bad my ass got kicked when i thought i played heroes 3 well. i played a 1v1 against a friend.

then he taught me the REAL tricks and tactics, and then i knew how to find those by myself in the next game, H5.

my point - you should play and lose. and then analyse and discuss. best way to learn. especially fun with H5 because it's waay more balanced than H3, and richer.

[wizaerd]

Its been a while since I've been able to get back here to respond, as well as thank you for the videos, got caught up with some work things and haven't had much time to play...

Thanx for the videos, are you going to upload the other 5 parts?

So I get the idea, and please correct me if I'm wrong, but you're not really paying much attention to the amount of passing time, meaning you're in no big hurry to find the enemy. I noticed you spent a lot of time in the upper portion of the map, collecting stuff, leveling, and collecting more stuff. I assume this was so you could build your city, get better and more troops?

Since I'm not too familiar with the overall genre, my assumption was to "rush" to find the enemy, and win the scenario, but that's not really it, right? But isn't the enemy also building troops in this time, scouting the map, collecting resources and building their own city?

Again, thanx for the videos, I look forward to the rest of them.

[Mirez]

It's kinda hard to develop your town if you don't have all mines. Besides the guards to the neutral part of the map were pretty tough, I didn't feel like risking half my army.

I was planning on uploading the other parts, but I've been busy. They should be up soon though.