Some questions for veterans of the game

[Gato]

Hi, I'm really starting to study and experiment with this game in the hopes of improving my skill significantly. To this end I keep a blog of post-match analysis but I'm not here to plug my blog. I came up with a short list of questions after my last match, and I think if I could get these questions answered it would go a long way toward improving my understanding of the game. I'm going to copy/paste that list here and if anybody has any answers I'd really appreciate it.

QUESTION 1
I had selected that Dynasty Weapons be active in this skirmish map but my hero stubbornly refused to equip one. I also have a Dynasty Pet that's supposed to summon a dragon once a week, but again this was grayed out. I don't know why? I think the Dynasty Traits were active (they weren't grayed out) and I was definitely earning Dynasty experience. Just not for my weapon. Is there a reason this happened?

QUESTION 2
I'm not clear on this but it seems like once you capture a town from another faction, you could theoretically start building units from another faction. And if this is the case, that means there's suddenly incredible army combinations possible. No longer constricted to seven unit types, there's a potential 42 unit types out there to mix and match with the right setup. Is this part of advanced play? Or is there some inherent disadvantage to leaving your cities unconverted?

QUESTION 3
The Tear of Asha item is very powerful and required to build the Tier 4 faction structure in your capitol. I collected up four disc fragments and it combined into the Tear of Asha -- but then before I had a chance to use it to build that structure (which would have increased creature growth by 50%!), I conquered Inferno and got more disc fragments, which apparently eradicated my first completed Tear of Asha. Bug or not, I need to be very careful about acquiring additional disc fragments before building that Tier 4 structure. Is there something I'm missing here?

QUESTION 4
Still not exactly clear on the utility of secondary heroes. Obviously this is a case where diverting any experience to additional heroes is detrimental to your main hero's development -- so are they just used to ferry units back and forth? Do I pick up a bunch of them for their resource and creature growth bonuses? Do I use them to station token troops at my conquered cities?

[Gato]

Okay so I actually figured out Question 1. Even though I had selected Dynasty Bonuses to be on, I must have restarted a couple times and then not checked them to be on for the playthrough I kept. I'm still curious about Questions 2-4 though. Thanks anybody if you're reading this.

[Yarkey]

I guess what you are asking depends on your game play preference. My opinion is that when you convert a town and city to the same faction you are playing it allows you to get extra creature growth which can be a bonus when they are all the same so you have a stronger and higher number of the same troops. I usually will buy an extra hero and keep them in the castle garrison in case it gets attacked but yeah I don't really move them too much because I like to keep the main force of my army to my main hero cause the enemy hero usually have about twice the army size. They are useful for trading troops once the dwellings population increases so you don't have to wory about staying too close to your castle when you are conquering. I'm not certain about question 3 I only bought the game a few weeks ago so I haven't played as much as others have.

[Gato]

Thanks for your response. I wonder if the situation in Question 3 is a bug or not. Well I'll keep experimenting. The game is vastly improved from when I purchased it two years ago.

[Mr.Jeremy]

Regarding Question 2:
Having troops from multiple factions may yield a powerful army but will negatively affect your moral. I am not sure of the exact math or numbers of it but I believe having 2 factions reduces it slighty, 3 a fair amount and 4 is quite significant and this will cause your troops to loose turns. For this to work you would need some significant moral boosters and even with them all equiped your troops will still miss turns, but just not quite as much.

Regarding Question 4:
A 2nd hero can serve many purposes, and it all depends on your play style. I personally have 3 sometimes depending on the map. 1 main hero, 1 castle hero that i will get skills to buff my castle and creature growth, and another hero to just explore and help open up the map, this can sometimes be tricky as it can trigger battles your not quite ready for yet. You have to be prepared to loose the 3rd hero but it's handy to have a scout sometimes. The castle hero will also ferry your troops for you, I try to get a town portal built pretty quickly when I get a second castle or fort, makes for easy re-enforcements.

I can't really speak about question 3 as I have not experienced that issue myself.
I hope this helps you out.

[Gato]

Thanks, very helpful. I hadn't realized about the morale penalties to balance the potential gains from increased unit variety. It's an elegant design solution!

[Yarkey]

So I have finally encountered your question number three about the tear of asha. Here was my experience. I was on the third campaign of Anton son of the Duke when I got the quest to find four of the moon fragments when combined will form the tear of asha. The pieces for me were scattered randomly but fairly grouped together on the northern part of the map guarded by creatures. When I found the fourth piece only then did it reveal a location so I went there then I took my same hero who found it, Anton, I went back to my capitol city which already had all the available options for buildings completed then I was able to construct the final 4th tier structure. I should also say that it was during the naga rebellion quest so I didn't encounter an inferno building so maybe if you decide to redo that campaign again immediately after you find all the fragments transport your hero to the main capitol before you conquer any other forts or towns

[Gato]

Good call. That was one of my way earlier games and I'm still not exactly sure what happened there. But I think it's probably good policy to utilize the Tear ASAP anyway, to maximize strategic advantage.

[Blackwall]

Question 2: If you have a hero of the captured faction town, which you sometimes do in campaign mode, then having a town that can generatre troops for him without a loss of morale is good. When your opponent is of a different faction, you definitely want to convert the town or fort so that if he takes it, he cannot instantly recruit. So, in generally, it is a good idea to convert, you may encounter instances during the campaign where it might not be.

Question 4: Secondary heroes. You are right that they will take XP away from your main hero. However, every map is level capped and in some campaigns your secondary hero will travel with you, so don't neglect them. Make sure to send them out to grab the freebie increases in stats. Town-hired heroes are useful for providing a deterent to a an opponent hero with a small army from taking towns or forts, to shuffle troops to your hero when he is not near a friendly town and to stash oddball troops that you acquired in your travels. .