Heroes Of Might And Magic II - Playing Guide - part 2 Original author unknown Supplied by Keeks @~Concluded from last issue General hints Once again, there isn't space to cover everything, so here are some key points to bear in mind... Planning: Your troops are arranged on the combat screen from top to bottom in the order they appear on the hero screen from left to right. In an army with strong ranged attacks, put the ranged units at each end, and strong, slow units next to them, put your fast units in the middle. In this way you can protect your ranged units, letting them pepper the computer as it advances. Planning (again): In an army without ranged units, put the fast units at the edges, with the slow ones in the centre. This lets the fast units sweep in from the sides while your slower units push forward. Planning (last time): As a rule, the 'spread out' formation is better than the 'close ranked' one - it prevents the computer from hitting lots of your units with area affect spells. Strike first: Try to time your movement so that your units always get the first attack. In many battles this will be the deciding factor in who wins or loses - a few hundred peasants can actually kill a dragon if they get the first strike, but the dragon will wipe them out in a turn if the situation is reversed. Because the computer tends to charge in, simply wait until its units are within range, and then go for it. Tie up the archers: When facing an army with good ranged units, use fast-moving units of your own to close in as quickly as possible and prevent the enemy from firing while your slower units move in. Fliers are particularly handy here. Choose your targets: Identify the enemy unit that poses the most threat, and pick on it first. It's no good wasting time with goblins or peasants while the dragons or crusaders tear your army to pieces. Ganging up: Try to take out big, tough enemies by ganging up on them. Most units only get one retaliation attack a round, so strike first with either your toughest unit or the one you don't mind sacrificing (depending on what is available), then follow up with the rest of your army, allowing them to attack safely without being hit back in return. Spells Most of the HOMMII spells that affect the adventure screen are less than critical, but the combat spells can mean the difference between success and failure. There are two broad types of combat spells - those that directly inflict damage, and those that affect a unit in some other way. Knights and Barbarians should steer clear of damage spells, as their Spell Power stats will rarely be high enough to inflict significant damage. They should stick with unit spells such as Bless and Curse. Spell-casting heroes, on the other hand, can be devastating, with damage spells at high levels. As a rule, those that target a single unit are better than the area affect ones because they have greater damage potential. Towards the end of the game, though, when units consist of large numbers of the toughest creatures, damage spells become less efficient again. There are several combat spells in the game that are best to focus on. Bless and Curse (especially Mass Bless and Mass Curse) can easily turn a battle when properly used - never underestimate their effects. Stoneskin, Steelskin, and Bloodlust are often more powerful than you think, especially when used in conjunction with baiting units. Blind and Paralyse - use them to negate the enemy's best units, mop up the rest (for once), and then gang up on the big guys. Lightning and Chain Lightning - the best combination of damage for spell points. Know your Enemy One of the keys to beating HOMMII is understanding the computer opponent and how it thinks. If you can predict what your enemy is likely to do, your plans have a greater chance of succeeding. The difficulty levels Although the AI is largely the same regardless of the difficulty level you choose, it does change in a couple of important ways as the difficulty increases: Easy: The Easy level is the only one that actually limits the computer AI. As such, it will often make bad decisions, typically attacking when it can't win and ignoring resources that it should collect or secure. In addition, while the human player begins the game with 10,000 Gold, 30 Wood and Ore, and 10 of each of the rare resources, the computer starts with only 7,500 Gold, 20 Wood and Ore, and 5 of each rare resource. Normal: On Normal level the computer AI is more or less identical to that used on higher levels, although not quite as cautious. Its only regular failing is to start fights that it might not be able to win. On this level the human player starts with 7,500 Gold, 20 Wood and Ore, and 5 of each rare resource, while the computer opponents have 10,000 Gold, 30 Wood and Ore, and 10 of each of the rare resources, giving them an early advantage. Hard: Playing at Hard level is much more of a challenge. Although the AI is largely the same as on Normal difficulty, it won't attack you unless it has a 60- 40% hit point ratio advantage over your forces. It does take into consideration other factors, but it's the total hit points of each army that plays the largest part in its thinking. As such, it only makes occasional mistakes. The computer also starts with an even larger resource advantage, having 10,000 Gold, 30 Wood and Ore, and 10 of each of the rare resources, while the human player only gets 5,000 Gold, 10 Wood and Ore, and 2 of each of the rare resources. In addition, it receives a 10% bonus to its Gold income and 1 free Wood and Ore each turn. Expert: Things start to get really tough here. The computer only attacks when it decides it has a 75-25% hit point advantage, meaning that if it starts a fight with you, you're probably going to lose. Making matters worse, the human player starts with only 2,500 Gold and 5 Wood and Ore. The computer, on the other hand, gets 10,000 Gold, 30 Wood and Ore, and 10 of each of the rare resources. The computer also gets a 25% bonus to its Gold income and 1 of every resource, every turn. Impossible: An aptly named difficulty level, Impossible is often just that - no matter how good you are, you're unlikely to win more games than you lose at this difficulty. The computer only attacks if it has a 90-10 advantage, so you will lose any fight it starts. The human player starts the game with nothing, nada, zip. The computer, on the hand, gets 10,000 Gold, 30 Wood and Ore, and 10 of each of the rare resources, plus it generates double the Gold, and gets 2 of each resource free every turn. How the AI thinks As well as the income benefits that the computer AI enjoys at all but the Easy and Normal levels, it also knows more about what's going on than you do. For a start, it always knows the exact military strength of your heroes, towns and castles, and their locations. This means that it won't overlook any weakness you might have, but will instead always make use of it. In addition, as the difficulty level increases, so does the computer's knowledge of the map. It knows the locations of all resources and treasures without having to explore the map, which is a huge advantage in itself. It's one of the last remaining problems with computer opponents. So, that covers the computer AI's advantages over you. But how does it actually play the game? The answer is 'annoyingly well'. The computer doesn't attack unless it feels it has an advantage, always goes for your weakest heroes or castles, and is careful to always guard its own territory well. Rarely, if ever, will a computer opponent leave one or more castles weakly defended - it tends to spread its attention (and resources) equally, meaning that it has few if any weak spots for you to exploit. Beating the computer Despite its advantages, though, the AI is far from unbeatable. As it doesn't have many weaknesses, you have to learn to use its strengths against it. The computer's greatest strength is its consistency and its knowledge. The AI will always know more about the current situation than you, regardless of how many thieves guilds you build and how much exploring you do. Likewise, the AI always tends to do the logical thing, and tends to protect all its territory equally. Potent as these strengths are, they are also the two things you can exploit. The computer is always quite obvious about its intentions, and isn't sophisticated enough to bluff. For this reason you should always play with the 'show enemy heroes moves' option on. Simply by watching the computer's heroes and seeing where they go you can learn a great deal about its plans. If the computer sees a weakness, whether a hero or a castle, it will move directly towards it. By watching where (and in which direction) the computer moves, you can normally spot its target early enough to try doing something about it. Likewise, if an enemy hero is within range of one of your heroes but doesn't attack, you know that the computer isn't happy about the odds. This is especially useful on the higher difficulty levels - the computer simply won't attack unless it has an overwhelming advantage. Thus you can prevent attacks without needing huge armies. You can also use the computer's directness to test your defences. Not sure if your castle's garrison of units is strong enough to prevent an attack? Move your hero out, and if the computer makes a beeline for the castle, you know it's too weak. You can even tie up the computer's big armies by moving away from one castle, then the next turn moving back and moving away from a different one. The computer will get stuck moving towards first one and then the other castle. The other way to exploit the computer's strength is to concentrate your efforts on building one 'superhero'. As most of the computer's castles and heroes tend to be of fairly even strength, concentrating your forces means that you should be able to defeat any one of its castles or heroes on a one-to-one basis. The concept of the superhero was covered earlier in this guide, but it becomes more and more useful at the higher difficulties. - o -