Building a hero and other questions

[OakenWall]

Hi,

1.
Do I have to research mercenary market to create a hero?! I just want a hero of my own faction.

2.
How early should I get a govenor? I got a govenor to get more dust but he cost a quite a bit upkeep, not sure if its worth it..

3.
I seem to have trouble with dust in general, any tips on what to research or build? I have researched the empire mint, but should be something else I could do than allways have tons of people on dust in the cities? Maybe im buying to many military units. I am focusing on learning Allayi at the moment.

[RottenTomato]

you cant create a hero. Im assuming you mean acquiring a hero.
1)If so then you need to do the research in era for mercenaries & heroes. You can purchase heroes in the market. They keep changing every few turns in a random fashion

2)You can get a governor as early as possbile but make sure to get the ones that attributes for the faction you are playing. For example some governors have dust boost 3 or industrial boost 3 or food boost 3. Try getting such type of heroes that are more focused towards city building.

3)Make sure you set your empire plan for gold(cant remember the exact name for it) make sure your city approval ratings are happy or fervent

Not very versed with allayi gameplay so dont know much but they hate expansion. So dont colonize too much with them

[Gilmoy]

2. Governors are (eventually) a win. Their upkeep is high, but with the right hero skills, they pay you back way more than that in profit. Carefully browse the market and go for the heroes who have most of their skills in city boosts.

Also, study their faction hero skill trees (rightmost subtree); these skills are usually half or more skewed to governor skills (since all the combat-related skills are covered in the class-specific leftmost tree). All heroes of the same faction always have the same faction skill subtree. You can (and should) hire heroes from all different factions, to get the best ones suited to the job.

- Drakken heroes have an insanely good +2 Influence per district x 3 levels, but no easy path to Cold Operator
- Cultist heroes have very good +% to FIDSJ (J = influence)
- other heroes do other things well. Compare.

3. It's normal for Dust to be very tight until about mid-Era III, when you build Dust Transmuter in every region and your trade routes start getting very long (30+ hexes). If you're using buyout to insta-build units, strongly consider going for the full Buyout Economy. This means:

- empire plan tiers for -33% building costs, and eventually also -25% military costs
- Era II Prisoners, Slaves, and Volunteers for -25% buyout costs
- empire plan tier for +3 dust/pop
- Era II Alchemical Armor for hero accessories, and equip the +2 dust/pop accessory on your dust-pumping governors (Broken Lords or Cultist heroes are good for this), on cities with all of their pop set to dust (else the +5 dust/pop isn't helping you)
- and shift almost all pop into dust, in most cities

This full stack can get going by mid-Era II, and the net result is that it's cheaper, in pop-turns of production, to move all your workers into dust and buy things out, than it is to leave workers in industry and build things slowly. Broken Lords does this best because they don't use food, so this is part of the exponential turn-on in their power growth curve. All other factions can still do this, but there's no way to convert dust into food, so their city growth rates are still hard-capped by food. Nonetheless, a Buyout Vaulters will probably beat a Building Vaulters in the endgame, and so on.

If you're not doing most of the above, then avoid buyouts like the plague. The buyout cost ratio is deliberately set to be far, far worse than just building things via industry. Only with the above two-pronged approach of lowering buyout costs and boosting your dust-per-pop can you get onto the profitable side of that curve.

[OakenWall]

Guess I should make a city focusing on Dust then and add one of those govenors. I only have 2 cities, my faction(Allayi) dont seem to like expanding but im about to make a 3rd.

I kinda skipped the merc market but will have to go back research it(im in era II) since I want more heroes anyway.

Dont think il research slaves since I am playing as a good guy(roleplay).

[Gilmoy]

In that case, get the Era II tech Volunteers, Volunteers, and Volunteers. It does the same thing :)

[Senok el Tirun]

1.) You not "create" one, but "hire" from the mercenary market. If you are lucky, then you get one in from your own faction, but that's not necesseraly the best option for your empire. Always take a look at the "Exclusive" ones - they are usually stronger, than the avarage ones.

2.) You can get a governor instant, if you put your beginner hero in that position - and if your territory is scarce in ruins and other resources, that's a good way to get XP, until you reach the right technology level. After you get the Mercenary Market you can get one, who you can place there permanently, and - if you improve it wisely -, it can catch up, or even overtake the most strongest hero position from your adventuring hero.

3.) I would always advise to get a Cultist Hero for Governor, if you doesn't see one for your own faction, and for the first 2-3 level, aim for the more XP on the skill tree, so it would gain more xp, and level up faster, while sitting in your city. After that, concentrate on their own faction-based skills - they boost your income, depending on the number of citizens. If it governs a larger city, then improves your income even more.
Also, look for the dust marks on the research table, when you choose your scientific route. Each little symbol tells you, for what part of your empire will be stronger by it. Also, go for the different luxory resources, if you can, their boosts cansolve most of your problems, if you has enough of the right one (gold can gave you a huge discount on Heroes upkeep for example). You can activate your boosts on the window, where you can see your empire plan.
Also, during dust eclipses, you can go back to temples and ruins, what you already searched before, you can gather extra dust until the dust eclipse end.

[grognardgary]

Also note there is a goodie hut that requires and infantry hero to complete. and of course what you equip your hero with depends on what you have him doing and his promotions like wise.