Test the MMR in No man's land——Heroic level

[asandir]

what it means to me is that MMR is not really a strategy for academy alone, it kinda works for them all to certain degrees and is a bit map dependant, but can give you a pretty strong early hero, as for the benefit of this on a non time limt map? not sure

[BoardGuest808888]

Yeah, you're right. After several testing, countering, and thought, I think this MMR is not a strategy at all.

It's about recognizing the Academy/Wizard's strength and use it at the right moment and the right place, just that.

The magic-happy wizard can only works so much at such pre-determined timing, neither before nor after that. For a long game, after the 10th week this MMR would start to falter since creature generations and other kind of town would race up what they lost, and after they reach their own phenomenal powers, the wizard's magics won't help so much.

This also be limitation since the wizard's magics would be maximized around week 6th- 9th, not before. Without maximized the magics skills, the wizard won't stand a good chance (though still fairly OK).

Map recognization and familiarity would also help very much, since it would maximized the wizard's skills and power to get to that 6th -9th week condition. It is best used when you're sure you can force your opponent into all-out battle within that time span.

It's like using a drug. You'll get high and nigh invincible for a short time, at which you should strike at your most, and then RIP.

[Alamar]

I'm finding the strategy a little hard to pull off on heroic difficulty.

When I'm not "rushing" I will often take $ from chests so I can keep my castle builds going on schedule. Unless I get 3 heroes of my alignment in my castle I generally will not buy a 3rd hero either.

When I do try MMR I assumed [incorrectly?] that you should concentrate on building up your hero's levels but I'm finding a hard time balancing taking chests for XP vs. taking it for $ so I can buy levels on the spell tower, keep the economy going, afford to buy out the low level creatures that I do build, afford a 3rd hero, etc.

Am I doing things incorrectly or do I just need to suck it up and hope that any $ lost initially will be more than made up for when I start taking out neutrals more quickly than others?

[Grumpy Old Wizard]

I'm finding the strategy a little hard to pull off on heroic difficulty.

When I'm not "rushing" I will often take $ from chests so I can keep my castle builds going on schedule. Unless I get 3 heroes of my alignment in my castle I generally will not buy a 3rd hero either.

When I do try MMR I assumed [incorrectly?] that you should concentrate on building up your hero's levels but I'm finding a hard time balancing taking chests for XP vs. taking it for $ so I can buy levels on the spell tower, keep the economy going, afford to buy out the low level creatures that I do build, afford a 3rd hero, etc.

Am I doing things incorrectly or do I just need to suck it up and hope that any $ lost initially will be more than made up for when I start taking out neutrals more quickly than others?

On heroic IMHO you shouldn't hire the third heroe unless you absolutely have to have the troops or you see a lot of gold nearby.

I take *most* but not necessarily all of the chests as experience. If I see that I really need the gold I will take it.

MMR is a good rush strategy, but it can also be hit and miss and is harder to pull off on some maps. Sometimes the combination of your skill and spell selection and mine guardians just plain suck early on and that will put a damper on your ability to pull it off.

You will suffer loses, sometimes severe, to capture needed mines quickly but that is all part of the risk of the rush. Make sure to hold vulnerable troops out of the battle (like your gremlins against shooters) unless you have to have them.

GOW

[zuraffo]

MMR is especially viable for Academy for a few reasons:
1. high knowledge
2. School (? The building that gives you extra spells).
3. Most Academy heroes start with magic related skills and magic enhancing specialization (Jhora and Nur comes to mind)
4. Mark of the Wizard. While less powerful than Empowered Spell + Warlord's Luck in total damage output, it's more useful (works well with Mirror Image, Wasp Swarm, high level dark/light magic. etc)
5. Academy creatures, while lacking in damage, are very durable. Their level 2 and 3 creatures come with Elemental Immunity and magic resistance respectively. Not to mention the level 2 creature in question have 20 hp and high defense.

While MMR is a risky business for other race like Necro or Dungeon, it's a safe bet for Academy. Most Academy heroes can easily reign supreme within the first 4 to 5 weeks without straining much resources. If the player cannot end the game within this time frame, Academy can safely morph into late game with mini artifacts and a few selected high level troops.

IMHO it would be hard for other magic town, most notably Necro and Dungeon to pull off the MMR without some kind of solution to the Mana problem. Theoratically, Dungeon with it's high SP and empowered spells and warlock's luck should be ideal for this, but for these issues: Their creatures are fragile and expensive, and the decidedly lack of mana (Dark Ritual Not withstanding)