How do you play? (playstyle)

[joasoz]

Hi

When I read the forums here I would almost believe that most players play impossible/full kiting/no losses.

My playstyle is as follows:
1. I dont reload if I make a bad desicion ( I might reload if I ever misclick a button or if something goes wrong due to my laptop that gives me stuttering performace). I havnt reloaded yet.
2. I dont kite (no save and reload ensures that).
3. I will read about the tips and tricks of this forum, but try to avoid too many spoilers.
4. My reload rule will also prevent me from using a Call collossus until I get the desired result.

Any others who would like to share their rules/playstyle?

I am playing now as a mage on hard. This is my fourth try and I now feel that I am in control and could finish it. The problem might be the boss fights. There are some things happening in them that could break my army without me really doing any mistakes (there is a collapsing bridge I have read somewhere).

[TemjinGold]

1. I don't reload. I play pretty carefully though (I spend a decent amount of time analyzing a battle and calculating ahead before I make a move, similar to a game of chess.)

2. I don't kite.

3. Haven't used a Wanderer Scroll yet (I'm always too cheap to use temp booster items in games and usually end up finishing the game with them.)

4. Not going for any kind of time bonus. I like to take my time and enjoy the game.

5. I don't use the save game scanner. It feels like cheating. I won't condemn others for using it though.

6. I do try to get a favorable start.

I am playing a mage on impossible and this is my first full game of AP (Started a warrior first but stopped when I got bored because she just wasn't my playstyle.) Currently at Level 48 with no losses but my game has stalled for a while due to work getting much busier. There is no geyser and no deathstar in my game it seems... :(

[DGDobrev]

1. I reload a lot, trying to perfect my game all the time.
2. I quicksave before each battle. I rarely fall back to that quck save, but it is nice to know you have something to go back to without re-doing the last 10 battles. Saves a lot of real world time, and I have that in short supply...
3. I use the save game scanner thoroughly, as soon as it became available (which means in my last 2 play-throughs), because I need fun and keeping in mind I play KBAP since the launch of the Russian version, I need to know why I am making this new play-through, or I'll get bored and throw the game away as soon as it becomes way too easy.
4. I kite if I have a reason to do so - meaning: I want to start with a different army lineup, I want to get Moro right from the start, etc. If I have no reason to do it, I don't. Besides, I know I can do it without kiting - I only started using it after some guys on the forums posted how it's done.
5. I use wanderers' scrolls if I have a reason to do so. I usually leave the Ancient Knowledge scrolls for the last 20-30 battles in the game and if I have a surplus of Titan's Armor/Titan's Sword scrolls, I use them on castle sieges.
6. In each play-through, I like to know what I'm going for. Knowing what I'm going for helps me focus, get a good time out of the game and challenge myself. Doing one just to pass the time is unproductive for me.
7. I like to strive for perfection. I haven't attempted a 7-day playthrough yet, but I always try to win my battles cleanly and use the proper spells, abilities, and such each time, constantly improving my in-game tactics.
8. Depending on the challenge, I can do with a favorable or without a favorable start. The game ends the same way for those that got unlucky and for those who got lucky, so... :)

Most of the things I wrote above are a result of me, playing the game for over 8 months now. I need new challenges, I need new ways to amuse myself... When I started it, I was simply starting a game and going for it. Looking back at those days, it was all the same - with a favorable start I'm usually ending the game on day 12-14, without one - the same time. So it would appear to be all the same :)

[Meeporized]

1. Saving everytime i set foot on a new island (mainly because i want to see if i can get a better army with the new troops or if i should keep mine)

2. didnt knew theres a quicksave so never used it :) (or i just forgot)

3. no kiting

4. i dled the scanner started it but after reading a few lines i thought its a waste of time (also to restart the game always to ensure the best possible set's) still its something good cuz what use is a "set" ingame if theres no chance of obtaining it.

5. i always skill scout to see if it is even possible to win this fight or if i should come back later

6.I try to get no losses in very weak- slightly stronger till i get the 3rd medal for it after that i dont really care

7. Always trying to stick to my Troops, personally i dont like to change each new troop into something better (too bad theres no LvL 5 Human troop at least i dont know of any)

Well im playing simoultanesly Pal 12 and Mage 42 to "feel" the difference between the chars.

[joasoz]

They should put out another Kings Bounty game so that you dont have to go to extremes to get an interesting game :)

I would love a game where more things were randomized. Maps/Areas/Missions and such

JOA

[loreangelicus]

Given my KBTL experience, I play Impossible difficulty, no-loss, complete all quests, and target 7 days, similar to what I did using a Paladin in KBTL.

1. I save and reload a lot. The no-loss requirement in itself makes this a requirement. Sometimes I even reload from a save game 15 battles back if I found out I made a bad path decision that could adversely affect the 7 days target.
2. I don't map kite due to the 7 days target. I do item and quest kiting if this leads to a faster, more optimal route.
3. I use the KBScanner, specifically for these items: Ancient Knowledge and Hand of Necropolis. This is due to a 4th goal of mine, to reach level 60. I look for other items as well, just for kicks. Spells are not much of a concern since I dig for treasure chests a lot.
4. I use the following wanderer scrolls: Call Colossus (at the start, or for mid/late game Bone Dragons), Call of Death (Bone Dragons, Black Knights), Ancient Knowledge (for level 60 push), and Depth of Knowledge (just 1 needed, to get Elenhel as early as Debir-Scarlet-Bolo-Verona path, even with a warrior/paladin). All other scrolls I'm too frugal to use and just sell.

My laptop died on me last Tuesday... I'm just using my wife's netbook (ie. no games possible) to read forum posts. So no KBAP for me for around 2 weeks... :(

[Zechnophobe]

I don't map kite (maybe a few of the ones that just beg for it) and don't do any tactics that involve lots of reloading. Only thing I do that is risky is running around continents trying to pick up all the loot, and sometimes I'll save and load a few times when trying to get from place to place.

The only battles I reload are against bosses, since it is a lot harder to determine before hand if you have, say, enough physical resistance, or enough leadership, mana, etc, to beat them.

I play most games on impossible, and try to minimize losses, (Last game had less than 200) but I don't freak out about it. I am currently doing a no-loss run on Hard that hasn't necessitated more than a few extra reloads. Similarly I don't try for least possible time, but I do try to be a bit more efficient in the mid to late game, and in my last game finished in about 20 days. Not really fast, but better than some.

[Hento]

t really care

7. Always trying to stick to my Troops, personally i dont like to change each new troop into something better (too bad theres no LvL 5 Human troop at least i dont know of any)


You will see here that humans are the only race of all 8 races that don't have level 5 unit-
http://www.celestialheavens.com/kingsbounty/hs-en.htm

I am very disappointed with this, at least they should have 1 more lvl 4 unit then.

[PineNeedles]

I've only done one complete playthrough (did a handful of partials that I had to restart on, I skipped KBTL so I had a lot to learn) and on that one I reloaded constantly and my time was atrocious. I didn't bother checking at the end, but I did so much backtracking and traveling that I'm sure it must have been several months.

My biggest annoyances were that I didn't the kind of troops I wanted to experiment with and I never got Geyser or Turn Back Time (though when I scanned my finished game it turned out Geyser was at Debir after the 6th stone, but I didn't realize it worked that way).

I absolutely cannot imagine doing another playthrough of this game without being certain I will get a chance to complete at least one of the new giftbag sets and getting Turn Back Time and Geyser, hence I will always scan from now on.

I also have zero qualms with kiting, though I find the process annoying so I tend to avoid it, and I don't understand people's obsession with time. I play a handful of 'competitive' multiplayer games so when I sit down to play a single player one and -and RPG at that- I don't push myself to match or beat anyone else's scores.

For me the fun of the game is the item collection and army building, so generally any choices I make are going to be focused on facilitating those.

[Zhuangzi]

In KB:TL I never tried to play without losses, although I could win on Impossible fairly easily with all classes. Eventually though I got annoyed that other people seemed to be achieving more in the game than I was, so I vowed to master no losses playing AP, which I ended up doing with the Warrior and Mage. This was a good choice for me, as it made me pay more attention to what I was doing in battles and provided a good challenge for me.

There was some need for reloading though - I don't see much of a way around that. The one thing I've never mastered at all is the time factor, but I absolutely refuse to pause the game and try to find optimal paths between places etc. That would kill the fun for me. All power to those who do this, but it's not for me.

If I play AP again (which I'm not sure if I will) it will be an Ironman game (i.e. no reloading at all) and probably on Hard rather than Impossible.

[jake21]

I never kite. I save often and occasionally reload. I've played all the classes on hard but find it very difficult to play mage on impossible; the start is incredibly hard (for me). However on hard I find all the classes way to easy after I reach level 22 or so (which is why I want to play on impossible).

I only use wanderer scrolls near the end (last two bosses which are grim and that final critter you fight to end the game). I never restart just to get certain items and I have never 'scanned' to see what mobs/items are in the game. I play it like it is but if the game becomes too difficult i restart (this only seems an issue with mage on impossible).

[kalafus2002]

1. I don't kite
2. During every battle I try to get all the chests (dug with dragon too)
3. If loose a troop i have surplus of (can buy more) I don't care
4. If I loose a rare troop I'll reload again and again or come back later when I'm stronger
5. I usually start battles with no rage and full mana

This is my first run of the game. I'm a Paladin and just arrived at Montero.

[Elias_Maluco]

1- I will only reload if I really mess up, but I can take some deserved losses (unless I lose a unit I absolutely cant lose);

2- Now Im trying to always dig for chests, but sometimes I will skip it cause is too boring;

3- This time around (second game), Im not kiting at all.

4- I dont care about time or high-score.

5- I try to use a good variety of units;

6- Playing on hard, warrior (finished hard/paladin).

Next game Im thinking of playing "ironman": no reloads, saves before and after any battle, dont matter the result. But I will do it in hard.

[KongMysen]

My first game was an impossible warriors game... I struggled the first 20 levels or so but learned eventually to master it somehow. The first very hard 20 levels made me save before each battle, since replaying an old battle is simply too boring for me. That first playthrough was a 27 day run with loads of cassualties.

2nd game was an impossible no-loss mage game. Again lots of saving because I'm too lazy to replay more than one battle. I just learned to kite maps, which I sincerely regret. I didn't Kite much, but enough to get 2 red Dragons from a Call Colloseus Scroll. Combined with the scanner and the entire challenge was gone. I guess I feared my skills wouldn't cut it without the kiting, but this I never found out.
I tried to beat the game fast, but due to the kiting and several forgotten quests it ended up taking 13 days. My final level was 58. The first 20 levels ARE the most fun part of the game, and after level 30 everything gets easy, so I sincerely regret that I made the challenge of those 20 levels too easy.

If I try my luck in a 3rd game I would properly follow tthe footsteps of those doing a speedrun no-loss game. However it wouldn't be 7 days game, but more likely 9 or 10, and I wouldn't reach lvl 60. I'm simply too impatient to try to reach lvl 60 as it requires alot of reloading with elenhel to get Ancient Knowledge scrolls.
I really wish I could do a 3rd run with lots of casualties, but I don't think I would be able to accept the dead allies.
The author of this thread chose all the right things to make this game most valuable. It's just hard to play like that if you are somewhat of a perfectionist.

[impy]

1. i save before every battle. it is down to a fact i only play no loss impossible with extra challenges to make it very very difficult. It is the only way that gives me buzz after game has been conquered standard way.
2. i personally despise kitting, unless required for specific purpose arising from my challenges - demon line up etc. Kitting is sort of on the border of cheating, but then not everyone wants to play like a pure angel:-). It makes the game significantly easier and ruins otherwise interesting and challenging first 20 levels or so. Also, each game on the market has some (intentional?) weaknesses which can be exploited. Remember gremlin rush with wizard in original hmm3? here it is summoning dragons with ancient scroll at the beginning, black knight strategy, troll strategy..
3. i do not read about other people strategies until i have mastered game myself and still feel satisfaction when discover something new. currently playing with single red dragon and discovered invisibility, spell which i never used before, for example
4. Never used wanderer scrolls before k'tahu, apart from experience scroll.
5. i now use scanner i'm afraid. again it is down to a fact that i push for the extreme and do not want to game fall apart around level 40 due to one artifact not found. I'm not a student anymore so time is precious:-)

[Droom]

The best way is to use the tools you've got. It wil give you the deepest satifaction.

For example, all i could get were pirate/robber tools and they were dying bad. So I just ploughed though the strongs in Verona, hugh losses, so what?

Don

[KongMysen]

Remember gremlin rush with wizard in original hmm3?

I have absolutely no clue, what you mean. - and I've played alot of HoMM3. I'm not sure how you rush in HoMM3 at all...

[Zechnophobe]

Also, seems odd to refer to 'homm3' as the original, when even of the HOMM line it is clearly the third installment heh. I don't recall rushing gremlins either, but it has been a LONG time since I played that game.

[impy]

Also, seems odd to refer to 'homm3' as the original, when even of the HOMM line it is clearly the third installment heh. I don't recall rushing gremlins either, but it has been a LONG time since I played that game.

here we go then..
original hmm3 refers to first instalment in homm3 series, can't remember the name, before armageddon's blade and shadow of death expansion packs came out. these expansion packs removed this wizard's exploit, where especially with solmyr (remember him? - chain lightning) creeping was piece of cake even on impossible difficulty.

Gremlin rush strategy: wizards had superbly easy access to shooting unit. For 1000 coins and no resources you upgraded gremlin tower, which was doable on the first turn. Recruited wizard heroes (either new or retreating from battle) had cca 70 unupgraded gremlins in their starting army. Before expansions came out you could recruit unlimited number of heroes and they all would have cca 70 gremlins. So what you did on your first game turn was buy 3-4 heroes, upgrade gremlins a you had straight away 300 shooters. creeping was done the following way: split gremlins in two groups and 5x 1-2 gargoyles for their protection, off you go.
Later expansions lowered starting number of gremlins to 30-40, and after hiring first two heroes, new offered heroes in tavern for hiring had only one unit, which eliminated this strategy.
I played hmm3 for good few years, really good times. Anybody played Vengeance is mine map from Andrew Tanzi?

[TemjinGold]

You're referring to Heroes 3: Restoration of Erathia. Grem rush was so brutal we started banning it in multi until the expansions came out.

[Zechnophobe]

Oh, I see now. Yes, I remember that change from the expansion now! Mr Lightning was bar far the best hero in that. I completely forgot about that quirk of the game. He started with Chain lightning, and cast it better right? What a pimp.

(And I see what you mean by 'original' homm3 as meaning no expansions yet, makes sense to me :) ).

[KongMysen]

Wow, it's been too long since I played the game..

I don't remember being able to buy more than 1 ekstra hero with units pr week, så appearently that's the huge difference between Restoration of Erathia and the expansions. - Besides their numbers.

Solymr was by far the best Wizard, but this strat was never banned in my multiplayer games. (I only played lan games, so I'm not even sure how online games are). Maybe because Castle was superior and creeping also was easy here, with peasent guarded Marksmen. Maybe because I don't recall any multiplayer games from before Armageddons Blade, Even though I did play a few HoMM2 games with my friends.

[impy]

we should never have started this discussion about good old hmm3:)
it's been my old habit to come back to my favourite games every couple of years and give it a nice one playthrough.
So it will be hmm3: shadow of death campaign on impossible and might and magic 6 with 3x sorceress+1xdruid
I never personally liked Solmyr though, would take Tazar or Crag Hack instead any day any race

[Zechnophobe]

I've actually liked each HOMM better than the last, and I like KB better than any of them (Maybe some of the more RPG campaigns in 4 were a unique and worthwhile experience).

[impy]

zechnophobe, you did not mind cartoonish look of hmm4? That really put me off, i did not "feel" the game - example Phoenix looked like fat chicken, behemoth like silly monkey as far as i remember. Also income from castle was capped at 1000/turn which was bad. I liked original hmm5, expansions were a bit messy, and overcomplicated system of rage etc.

[Zechnophobe]

zechnophobe, you did not mind cartoonish look of hmm4? That really put me off, i did not "feel" the game - example Phoenix looked like fat chicken, behemoth like silly monkey as far as i remember. Also income from castle was capped at 1000/turn which was bad. I liked original hmm5, expansions were a bit messy, and overcomplicated system of rage etc.

Homm 4 didn't use cartoon style art, I'm not sure what gave you that impression. (Cartoon style art generally refers to strong colors with little detail). If anything the art was too detailed as it ended up looking a bit dirty. I really liked the more complicated hero advancement from H4.

I don't remember 1000/turn cap, which means it obviously didn't effect my opinion all that much. The number means little, it is how well balanced it is that is important.

I rather like the two expansions for H5 much better than the base game! The two expansion races were very interesting and powerful. The dwarves had uses for their resources other than to build stuff. The Dark Messiah based orcs played substantially different... and that expansion came with a 50% increase to the unit counts for each other castle. Totally worth it.

The base game (and the skill 'wheel') just didn't feel like they were quite rewarding enough to the player. You leveled up and got one of three really terrible little perks. I did like that your hero could just make a basic 'attack' on his turn though.

Overall H5 had some very slick mechanics. I really liked the time bar that showed the order of things, and that initiative effected how OFTEN something got to act during combat, not just in what order. That said, I still prefer KB, since it throws out the very flawed castle building side of the game. Castle building just gets very thin and boring when you start capturing more than one.

And if you only have one... it isn't really much of a mechanic.

[impy]

I should have been more specific and say I did not like the appeareance of the monsters. Generally, low level monsters may look funny - goblin in KBAP, leprechaun in hmm4, but high level monsters should look powerful and respectable. But my hmm4 examples - behemoth, phoenix did not. I do not remember being too impressed with thunderbird or mechanical dragon, or poison spawn? either, to name a few. That's why I did not "feel" the game.But there's more.
after over a decade of playing mainly turn based strategies (gosh, remember Fantasy General? I never conquered it on highest difficulty. But I was rookie then:-) ) I know what must be present in the game to attract me:
-very few melee attackers may reach the opponent in one turn, otherwise it is a hack'n'slash slaughter with strategic element - buffing, slowing, debuffing etc. reduced. Typical example is haste rune on magma dragons in hmm5 exp. Brutally powerful dragons with magma shield, dragon breath, blind imunity, fire imunity have a weakness - they're slow. With haste rune they are unstoppable. (i hope i got it right:-) )
- element of luck kept at acceptable minimum. Whereas KBAP pirate units have 30% evasion, it is ok, because they are very low level, and 30% is acceptable. But minotaurs in hmm4 had 50%!! evasion against all kinds of attacks. too much.
- non-existence of chance to hit%. This simply silly idea which may ruin your strategies appeared in disciples2. otherwise great game. KBAP is ok, no chance to hit, but chance to do critical damage, lot better.
- non existence of too powerful skills. Examples being hmm4 genies mirror image on titans, sea monster swallow ability to name a few.
I also mentioned very limited income in hmm4 - 1000g/turn/castle. creators must have realised it was not good, so they went back to 4000g/turn as in hmm3