02-19-2012, 01:44 PM
by Lucifere
Part 1: The Heroes
All heroes are good (with a few exceptions) some are better than others but the reality of the matter is that each hero has it uses. When looking at a hero there are three things to look at.
1) The Stats
When you look at a hero there are three stats you see, Valor, Sprit, and Element. Each has different uses and affects different things.
Valor affects both the damage dealt and the damage taken from regular attacks. It also affects the damage on certain BM's (such as Thetis' and Richard's Armored charge attack). You will want you tanks to have high valor ratings as it will allow them to absorb more damage.
Spirit affects the damage your hero's BM does, all BM's. No BM does anything but spirit damage unless it is stated in the description. It also affect the damage you take from BM. This is useful stat not just for heroes who you want to deal high BM damage (Herc, Conan, Belle, Paris etc.) but also those support units you place in the back which can only be hit from BM attacks.
Element affects the damage you give and receive from elemental attacks. It also affects the amount healed by healers such as Asclepius. This is necessary for mages but also quite a useful stat in general as it reduces the damage you take from mages who are able to bypass such abilities such as Rally. It is also the only protection you get from elemental attacks (besides the tech) as no equipment gives element shield.
2) Troop Type
This is the most interesting part of the Hero selection process and the one that can decide whether you hire or skip over a hero. To begin with there are 5 Groups of troops. Each group has a specialization, that all troops of that type are able to do, regardless of any secondary specialization (discussed later)
Group Types - Specialty
Archers- Critical Strike These units fire from range. As such they do not take back damage when blocked by another units. They are also BM based having high damage dealing BM's (Soul Taking Arrows etc.) If you are looking for a High damage Spirit User archers are your best bet.
Infantry- Block When Infantry block they return damage equal to a regular attack of their (using their Valor and weapons not the enemies). They cannot block BM's. Infantry also have naturally high defense. They are also the only units to have abilities such as Rally. They make excellent tanks.
Calvary- Dodge While dodging does not deal any return damage. Dodging has the added bonus that you are able to dodge BM's. They have weaker than average defense but a greater attack because of it. They are the only unit to have such BM's as Armored Charge Attack.
Machines- Valor Machine specialize in Valor by which I mean they have high attack or defense. A machine with the same weapon will always deal more damage than any of the above troops (exception is the armor chariot). Most Offensive machines have a secondary specialization of Critical Strike. However they are also blocked/dodged more often than other units, and have low defense. (exception armored Chariot)
Mages- Element Mages are unique. I am clumping bugler/dancer units in here for ease. Most mage type units have high elemental damage/resistance. As such they can be devastating to the earlier troop types as they have little to no elemental resistance. However all mages have a single flaw in common, they are all weak to BM damage. Getting a good spirit shield on these guys is crucial as it will win you battles.
Now each group of troops have their own specialty as show above. This specialty is common for all troop within that group. However each single troop type has it own secondary specialty, which is some that that troop type alone can do. I have noticed that certain key word in the troop type description tend to point out secondary specialties (some just come right out and say it).
Defense - Block
Mobility - Dodge
Strike Power/Offensive - Valor Hit
Raid - Critical Strike
Defensive - Valor Shield
So to compile these together you get something like this
Bellerophron - (INF) - Block/Valor Hit
These troop specialties help as they allow you to pick what formation you will want to use to accent the troops you have. For a complete list check this out:
List of All Batheo Troops
3) The Battle Magic
Battle Magic or BM is a major part of determining what hero to use. A Bm is used when the morale of a hero reaches 100. It increases by 1/3 each hit you deal/take. Certain troops are also able to raise morale. Battle Magics fall into 4 categories: Single-Target, Line, Area of Effect and Support
Single Target: These Bm's deal the most damage hands down. They can one-hit a target easily regardless of the spirit shield. However as the name states they hit only a single player. They are best used from the back lines where you can take the time to pick off your opponents heroes one by one.
Line: This group of BM's attack players in a line either horizontally or vertical. As far as damage goes it does about half the damage of the single target to each target but can hit up to three targets at a time.
Area of Effect: This Group attack all your opponents players on the map. It deal significant less damage than single target, about 1/4th but hits up to 5 targets at a time.
Support: My personal favorite of the group. These BM's not only deal damage but have secondary effect. Some set of the Rally condition (Rally), Some Stun (All-Around Ambush), some heal the attacking unit (Mutiny Outbreak), some restore or remove Morale (Morale Absorption/Nocturnal Blitzkreig). All do damage along the lines of the # of targets they hit however they do a little less damage than BM's that just do damage.
Well that the wrap up for the Heroes section. Hope this will help you in choosing a hero. If you would like to see where heroes are found check out these two links.
Expedition Heroes
http://sols9.com/batheo/Guide/Recruitables.php
Note: Cupid and Pandora's BM are listed wrong. Cupid has Phantom attack, Single Target about 50% chance of striking twice in row. Pandora has Pandora's curse, AoE with about a 20-30% chance to stun each target.
Prestige Heroes
http://sols9.com/batheo/Guide/PrestigeHeroes.php
List of all Battle Magic
Part 2: Equipment
Equipments are a major part of getting stronger. A player with lower levels but stronger equipment will invariably win out over a higher level player with better equipments. There are 6 types of equipments
Weapon- Increases Valor Hit, upgrading it will increase the damage you deal on regular attack.
Armor- Increases Valor Shield, upgrading it will reduce the damage you take from regular attacks.
Horse- Increases Spirit Hit, upgrading it will increase the amount of damage your BM's do.
Cloak- Increases Spirit Shield, Upgrading with reduce the damage you take from BM's
Book- Increases Element Hit, Upgrading will increase the damage you mages/healers deal/heal
Horn- Increases faculty, you faculty is the units HP. All equips give 4 faculty per level but horns give much larger boosts.
In addition the 6 types of equipments there are 6 levels for each: White, Blue, Green, Yellow, Red and Purple. Each type will give a bigger bonus but also cost more to enhance
Enhancing
Enhancing your equipment will make it stronger. There are two things to know when enhancing: The Psyche Gauge, and the Cost of the Enhancement
The Psyche Gauge
The Psyche Gauge comes into play once you get past level 10. Until level 10 the Psyche Gauge remains at 100%. Afterward the Psyche Gauge changes every half hour going from 100% to about 20%. Next to the Percent is either the word UP or DOWN. This is not a prediction of what it is going to do next but rather a statement of which direction the Gauge last went. The percentage of the Psyche gauge states the success rate for enhancing for the next half hour. Enhance when it is high and ignore it when it is low.
Cost Of Enhancements
Each enhancement cost an amount of drachmas if you succeed. If you fail you receive a percentage of the drachmas back (not exactly sure what that percentage is based on but will post it as soon as I do.)
The cost of enhancement depends on what you are enhancing and its color. Purples are more expensive than red which are more than limes etc. The price of each item increases by a set amount each time depending on its grade. To demonstrate this I will use the Blue Weapon Endless Regret (100% completion reward for Trojan War)
At G1/1 Endless regret costs 150 drachmas. That is the base cost and the one that each consecutive enhancement is based off. Each time you upgrade the Endless regret while the Grade is G1 it will cost 150 more drachmas than the previous one.
However once you get the Endless Regret to G2 the enhancement cost starts to increase by 300. At G3 the enhancement cost increase by 450. As you can see a pattern is occurring. The enhancement cost increases by the Base Amount (or amount for the first enhancement) * the Grade Level of the Item. This holds true except in a few cases (between levels 8-9 of a grade) where the cost difference for that level doubles.
Here are the various types of equipments and their base costs.
http://goo.gl/IsFX3
Buildings: Part A
Buildings are a crucial part of the game. They dictate how your heroes level, how much money you make from levies as well as techs and other such thing. To begin with I'm going to give a quick Overview of each building and then go over the two building strategies there are about leveling them.
The Buildings
Due to Length and importance of the Assembly this post will be purely about the assembly the rest of the building will follow next post.
The Assembly - This building limits the cap of your other buildings as well as your heroes. Increasing it increases your visual level to all other players. It also affects these other elements.
1) Laurels gained by expeditions - The greater the level difference between your assembly and the level of the monster you are fight determines the amount of laurels received from the mob. This difference seems to cap out at about 15 levels between you and the mob any more than that and the laurel amount will not change in either direction.
2) Laurels require for fast tracking - Increasing the assembly level increases the amount of laurels you must spend to fast track your heroes. At level 1-10 is increases about 2-4 laurels each level. By level 60+ its increasing 8-10 laurels each level.
3) Laurels Required for Inspiration - The Laurels required for inspiration during battles is equal to your Assembly Level * 2
4)Laurels Required for Promotion - These increase as your assembly level does. The progression is similar to that of fast track laurels except *10.
5) Prestige acquired from investing - The Prestige you receive from investing is equal to the prosperity you invest * 2 * your assembly level.
6) Prestige from PvP - Similar to laurels from inspiration the greater the difference between the levels of you and your opponent the more/less prestige you will acquire. Again this amount seems to cap out at a 15 level difference (not sure on this one might be 20)
7) Silver From Silver Mine Wrestle - The Silver you receive from each mine in the silver mine wrestle is equal to Assembly Level * 150 * the percent of the mine you are on.
8) Grain you receive from league Farms - The grain you receive from each league farm take is equal to Yield * (Assembly Level/5) (not sure how its rounded but i think its rounded down)
9) Drachmas you receive from events - Increases as your Assembly Level Increases (not sure of the math yet)
10) Contribution to League - The amount you can contribute to the league each day Assembly Level *200
11) Contribution received from League Battles - If you do not fight you receive Assembly level * 200 if you league wins or 100 if your league does not. For each battle you fight and win you receive and additional Assembly Level *100
12) Prestige received From Area Battles - Same figures as League battles except the multipliers are * 5 if you lose and * 10 if you win.
13) Laurels Received from Daily Quest - These also increase as your Assembly level increases. The Laurels you receive are equal to the (Difficulty of quest * 2 +2) * Assembly Level
14) Laurels Required to Wash a Hero - Assembly Level *4
15) The level of equipment you can buy in the VIP Shop (thats right its not based of your shop level)
16) Grain cost per 1000 troops is equal to Assembly level *3
17) Amount of drachmas return from failed enhancements is equal to 100 - (Assembly level *.8) %
Lastly as you increase your Assembly your unlock certain milestones/buildings (I'm ignoring cottages)
Assembly Levels - Benefits
Part 3 Buildings B
Each building has a specific function here are the ones below.
Cottages: Raising the Cottage will increase your daily Drachmas levy. They are cheap and quick to build. You receive a total of 10 cottages.
Training Ground - Upgrading the Training ground will increase the amount of experience the heroes receive each hour. There are 6 parts to the training ground screen.
Training - This screen allows you to decide what heroes you would like to train as well as using laurel/transcendence to speed up their training. The amount of experience you will receive for a fast track is one hours worth of experience at the normal level. Other modes obtainable with gold allow your heroes to receive a greater percentage of that amount (120, 150 etc.). You begin the game with 1 training space and may use gold (50,100,200, 500, 1000, 2000 etc) to purchase additional ones.
Equipment - This screen allows to you attach equipment in your chest to your heroes as well as remove equipment on them.
Recruitables - This screen shows all the heroes you are able to recruit. When you click on a hero a screen will pop up showing the heroes stats, troop type and BM as well as the recruiting price.
Formation - Here is where you may set up your heroes for formation. In order to deploy a hero you click on the hero you wish to deploy then click on the spot you wish to deploy him. To undeploy a hero, click on the hero and press undeploy. You may also dismiss a hero from this screen. Dismissed heroes will retain their level but all equipments will go into the chest, if the chest doesn't have enough room you cannot dismiss the hero.
Technology - We will talk more about in the Academy section.
Evolution - This is where you can wash your heroes to give them added bonuses to their stats. You may use Laurels or gold to do so. Also once a hero reaches 51 you may use the Renascence feature. This resets the hero back to one, without removing his equipments, but gives him a higher troop grade.
The Shop - The Shop is where you manage your equipment. The level of the shop affects the maximum level of equipment you may enhance or buy. It has 5 panels
Chest - This is where your equipments are stored. You begin with 5 slots but may use gold to buy more. If you chest is full you may not buy equipment or unequip equipment. However you may still commission and receive equipment in drops. When this occurs the item will appear in the chest are with a yellow clock on the left side. You have three days to claim the equipment or sell it. If you make room in your chest the equipment is not automatically placed in the chest you must manually claim it by clicking on the claim button.
Shop - This is where you may buy beginning equipment (white) of different levels. You may only buy equipment that is lower or equal to your shop level. Higher level equipment unlocks as your Shop level increases.
VIP Shop - Sells Colored Horns. More horns become available as your shop level increases. However the maximum level of the horn you can buy is based on your Assembly level.
Enhancement - See Section 2 Equipment
Commission - Allows you to spend drachmas to get a random chance as a set of horses/cloaks. Each dealer has a chance (20% or so) to unlock the higher level dealer.
Dealer - Cost
Regular Horse Dealer - 8000
Mid Level - 11000
Senior - 25000
Superior - 40000
Regular Cloak - 10000
Mid Level - 13000
Senior - 30000
Superior - 60000
Silver Vault- Stores your drachmas. The higher this level the more drachmas you can store.
Granary - Stores your grain. The higher this is the more grain you will be able to store.
Market - Allows you to buy and sell grain. The price of grain fluctuates between .5 drachmas per grain to 2 drachmas per grain. Buy low and sell high. You have a set quota per market level that refreshes each day at 0000 server time. However when you upgrade the market a new quota refreshes.
Barracks - Stores your reserve troops. You use grain to recruit troops. You are also given 10 volunteer quotas a day. These quota give you a set number of troops based on your barracks level. The Barracks also dictates the maximum number of reserve troops you can hold at a time.
Tax Office - This increases the levy amount by about double what each cottage upgrade gives.
Mint - Increases the chances of getting 10 gold when you levy. While the increase chance is small the reward is still well worth the drachmas it takes to upgrade this building.
Trading Post - Similar to the Market The trading post gives you a set amount of caravans which you may send to player around you to receive bonus drachmas. When you send a caravan bear in mind that the receiving player must accept in order for you to receive the drachmas. Colonies accept automatically. Both receiving and sending gives you drachmas. The number of caravans you can receive and send reset at 2000 each day. You may send only one set of caravans to each player however that factor resets at 0000 as well as 2000. Each Trading post level breaks down the caravans into 4 sendings with amount of total caravans increasing by one each time you build a new level. The amount of caravans you can receive is equal to 2 times the amount you can send. Whereas the caravans you can send reset each time you upgrade the building the amount you can receive does not.
Treasury - This affects the drachmas thats each caravan nets you. As you increase this building the amount of drachmas you receive both from sending and receiving increase.
Alchemy Lab - I know very little about this but Batheo recently put out a guide on it here:
About Alchemy Lab and Refining
The Academy - The Academy is where you train your technologies. Your technologies break down into 3 categories.
Basic Technologies - These technologies are affect the hit and shield of the three attribute types as well as Hornblowing. The maximum level for these technologies are equal to your Academy Level.
Advanced Technologies - You get these starting at level 40 Academy. The maximum level of these technologies is equal to your Assembly level divided by 2 rounded down. These technologies affect different aspects of the game such as laurels received and troop return.
Formations - These are the formations you are able to use. Their maximum level is equal to your assembly level divided by 5 round down. At level 2 formation you are able to deploy three heroes, at level 5 you can deploy 4 and at level 10 you can deploy 5 heroes.
List of Technologies
Basic:
Blacksmithing - Upgrade Valor Hit by 10
Hornblowing - Upgrade Faculty by 10
Armorforging - Upgrade Valor Shield by 7
Magic Penetration - Upgrade Spirit Hit by 25
Magic Resistance - Upgrade Sprit Shield by 18
Elemental Penetration - Upgrade Elemental Hit by 12
Elemental Resistance - Upgrade Elemental Shield by 8
Advanced:
Semaphoring - Upgrade Faculty by 20
Declaration of War - Upgrade Laurel gain by 1%
First Aid - Return troops after battles
Elixer - Reduces overall damage taken during battle
Supplying - Returns troop during? battle (not sure on this one)
???? - Increases chance of destroying building when attacking.
Formations
Testudo - Increases Block Chance
Lochoi - Increases Valor Hit
Boar's Head - Increases Spirit Hit
Crescent - Increases Critical hit Chance
Inverted Wedge - Increases Dodge Chance
Gramarye - Increases Element Hit
Padmavyuha - Increase Counter Strike chance
Skein - Increases Valor Shield, Spirit Shield, Element Shield
Building Strategy
Basic Strategy
1) Always keep your training ground as close to the level of your assembly as possible. The training ground should be leveled before you level any other buildings.
2) If you plan on leveling cottage/tax office/mint during the day always hold a portion of your levies in reserve for the end of the day so you can net more drachmas from them.
3) Do not level your Trading Post/ Market until you have used up all the quota for the previous level. Remember once your Market/Trading Post hits the level of your assembly you only get to use the quota once a day.
4) Silver Vault/Granary/Shop are low importance buildings. Since for the most part you use drachmas up as fast as you make them the silver vault should be no higher than you absolutely need. Same Goes with the granary. Since the Level of the shop only affects the the maximum level of your enhancing and the level of equipment you can BUY, it is also low priority. I'm not saying you shouldn't level these, you should just after you've leveled everything else.
The Three Schools of Thought
There are three broad strategies for building your city up. These are: Rush method, Equality Method and Hybrid Method. I will discuss each method as well as the pro's and cons of them.
The Rush Method
In this method you level your assembly up to the area maximum first, followed by your Training Ground (so your heroes level up faster) Than as your Heroes are catching up to the new level limit, you level the rest of your buildings and technologies.
Pros - You get the benefits of higher Assembly fastest, more drachmas from silver mine wrestle more prestige from area battles, more contribution to league/contribution from league battles, grain from league farms etc. You also look stronger than you are which often deters players looking for PvP. You unlock Assembly level specific things fastest such as Aide, Commission, Free Commission, Daily Quests etc. You are also able to use 3,4,5 heroes in formation faster. Last your heroes will level faster as the training ground is higher to level them with.
Cons - Laurel Prizes from Expeditions decrease quickly. If you are attacked you are much weaker than your level suggests. The negative effects of the Assembly occur more quickly, such as laurel expenditure for washes and fast track and inspiration becoming more expensive.
The Equality Method
In the equality method you level everything equally. Once your buildings and Techs are at the level of your assembly you level the assembly.
Pros - Your heroes are at the level of your assembly making you just as stronger than your level suggests. Also you receive more laurels from the expeditions you complete. Your laurel expenditure in area/league battle decreases as well as the laurel cost of washing/fast tracking heroes.
Cons - Your heroes receive less experience as your Training Ground is lower. You also receive less prestige/contribution from area/league battles as well as less silver from the silver mine wrestle. You also unlock Assembly level specific thing later as well the ability to use 3,4,5 heroes in formation.
The Hybrid Method
This is a combination of the two above methods. It also takes into consideration certain Assembly milestones. The basic strategy is this. You level your assembly by 5-10 level at a time. Then you wait for every thing to catch up. However make sure you stop and wait for things to catch up at these levels.
1) Level 15 - After this level you begin to lose troops based on the troops you lose.
2) Level 35 - After this you begin to lose divinity when you lose battles.
3) If you are leveling up by increments of 5 make sure you stop at 51 not 50 at 51 you get a free commission that will net you good items or a few extra k worth of drachmas.
4) Level 85 - At this point you get a second training which makes renascence more effective, but more on that later.
Which every one you choose, be aware of this:
Laurel Gain per Level Table
This is a basic overview of the building strategies. The next section is where we get into battles strategies of various kinds.
Strategy Section
This starts the section on strategy. In this section (or sections) I will be discussing various aspects of formation, heroes and other such things. So to get the ball rolling.
Equipping your Hero
One of the most common questions I'm asked is "What should I give (Hero Name)"
So I decided to put together this guide. I will break this down by equipment type and state what types of hero should receive that equipment in what order of priority.
Horses
Highest Priority - Heroes with the following B.M's
All Out Onslaught
Strike In Line
Strike In Column
Soul Taking Arrows
Sally Outburst
Phantom Attack
Crash and Burn
Sacred Stardust
Angel's Wings
Morale Suppression
Second Highest Priority - Heroes with the following B.M.'s
Nocturnal Blitzkreig
Morale Absorption
All Out Ambush
Mutiny Outbreak
Sneak Raid
Armored Charge Attack
Third Highest Priority - Heroes with the Following B.M.'s
Pandora's Curse (Could be Highest Priority also if it's your only hero in formation)
Rally
Lowest Priority - Heroes without a B.M. such as seige weapons mages, healer buglers, dancers etc.
Weapons
Highest Priority - Machine troop type characters except for Cyclopes' Armored Chariot
Second Highest Priority -
Any one with troop specialty of critical strike.
Any one with a troop specialty of Valor Hit. (Check the troop type link in the first post)
Lowest Priority - The rest of your Valor attackers starting with the highest Valor stat first.
Books
Highest Priority - Healers, Mages
Lowest Priority - Everyone else
Armor/Cloaks
I'm lumping these two together as they make up your defense.
Highest Priority -
Cyclop's Armored Chariot
Heroes with Rally
Heroes with Pandora's Curse (Yes these guys should be tanks)
Strongest Attacker
Front Line Heroes
Second Highest Priority -
Buglers (these guys you want to survive)
Characters with high mobility.
Mages/Healers
Lowest Priority -
The rest.
Horns
No real Priorities here I would give your best horn (if you have one) to you strongest attacker the second to your tank. The rest don't matter.
Part 4 Strategy B
Part 4 Strategy C : Builds Part 1
Part 4 Strategy C : Builds Part 2
Part 4 Strategy D: The Expeditions
Part 1: The Heroes
All heroes are good (with a few exceptions) some are better than others but the reality of the matter is that each hero has it uses. When looking at a hero there are three things to look at.
1) The Stats
When you look at a hero there are three stats you see, Valor, Sprit, and Element. Each has different uses and affects different things.
Valor affects both the damage dealt and the damage taken from regular attacks. It also affects the damage on certain BM's (such as Thetis' and Richard's Armored charge attack). You will want you tanks to have high valor ratings as it will allow them to absorb more damage.
Spirit affects the damage your hero's BM does, all BM's. No BM does anything but spirit damage unless it is stated in the description. It also affect the damage you take from BM. This is useful stat not just for heroes who you want to deal high BM damage (Herc, Conan, Belle, Paris etc.) but also those support units you place in the back which can only be hit from BM attacks.
Element affects the damage you give and receive from elemental attacks. It also affects the amount healed by healers such as Asclepius. This is necessary for mages but also quite a useful stat in general as it reduces the damage you take from mages who are able to bypass such abilities such as Rally. It is also the only protection you get from elemental attacks (besides the tech) as no equipment gives element shield.
2) Troop Type
This is the most interesting part of the Hero selection process and the one that can decide whether you hire or skip over a hero. To begin with there are 5 Groups of troops. Each group has a specialization, that all troops of that type are able to do, regardless of any secondary specialization (discussed later)
Group Types - Specialty
Archers- Critical Strike These units fire from range. As such they do not take back damage when blocked by another units. They are also BM based having high damage dealing BM's (Soul Taking Arrows etc.) If you are looking for a High damage Spirit User archers are your best bet.
Infantry- Block When Infantry block they return damage equal to a regular attack of their (using their Valor and weapons not the enemies). They cannot block BM's. Infantry also have naturally high defense. They are also the only units to have abilities such as Rally. They make excellent tanks.
Calvary- Dodge While dodging does not deal any return damage. Dodging has the added bonus that you are able to dodge BM's. They have weaker than average defense but a greater attack because of it. They are the only unit to have such BM's as Armored Charge Attack.
Machines- Valor Machine specialize in Valor by which I mean they have high attack or defense. A machine with the same weapon will always deal more damage than any of the above troops (exception is the armor chariot). Most Offensive machines have a secondary specialization of Critical Strike. However they are also blocked/dodged more often than other units, and have low defense. (exception armored Chariot)
Mages- Element Mages are unique. I am clumping bugler/dancer units in here for ease. Most mage type units have high elemental damage/resistance. As such they can be devastating to the earlier troop types as they have little to no elemental resistance. However all mages have a single flaw in common, they are all weak to BM damage. Getting a good spirit shield on these guys is crucial as it will win you battles.
Now each group of troops have their own specialty as show above. This specialty is common for all troop within that group. However each single troop type has it own secondary specialty, which is some that that troop type alone can do. I have noticed that certain key word in the troop type description tend to point out secondary specialties (some just come right out and say it).
Defense - Block
Mobility - Dodge
Strike Power/Offensive - Valor Hit
Raid - Critical Strike
Defensive - Valor Shield
So to compile these together you get something like this
Bellerophron - (INF) - Block/Valor Hit
These troop specialties help as they allow you to pick what formation you will want to use to accent the troops you have. For a complete list check this out:
List of All Batheo Troops
3) The Battle Magic
Battle Magic or BM is a major part of determining what hero to use. A Bm is used when the morale of a hero reaches 100. It increases by 1/3 each hit you deal/take. Certain troops are also able to raise morale. Battle Magics fall into 4 categories: Single-Target, Line, Area of Effect and Support
Single Target: These Bm's deal the most damage hands down. They can one-hit a target easily regardless of the spirit shield. However as the name states they hit only a single player. They are best used from the back lines where you can take the time to pick off your opponents heroes one by one.
Line: This group of BM's attack players in a line either horizontally or vertical. As far as damage goes it does about half the damage of the single target to each target but can hit up to three targets at a time.
Area of Effect: This Group attack all your opponents players on the map. It deal significant less damage than single target, about 1/4th but hits up to 5 targets at a time.
Support: My personal favorite of the group. These BM's not only deal damage but have secondary effect. Some set of the Rally condition (Rally), Some Stun (All-Around Ambush), some heal the attacking unit (Mutiny Outbreak), some restore or remove Morale (Morale Absorption/Nocturnal Blitzkreig). All do damage along the lines of the # of targets they hit however they do a little less damage than BM's that just do damage.
Well that the wrap up for the Heroes section. Hope this will help you in choosing a hero. If you would like to see where heroes are found check out these two links.
Expedition Heroes
http://sols9.com/batheo/Guide/Recruitables.php
Note: Cupid and Pandora's BM are listed wrong. Cupid has Phantom attack, Single Target about 50% chance of striking twice in row. Pandora has Pandora's curse, AoE with about a 20-30% chance to stun each target.
Prestige Heroes
http://sols9.com/batheo/Guide/PrestigeHeroes.php
List of all Battle Magic
Part 2: Equipment
Equipments are a major part of getting stronger. A player with lower levels but stronger equipment will invariably win out over a higher level player with better equipments. There are 6 types of equipments
Weapon- Increases Valor Hit, upgrading it will increase the damage you deal on regular attack.
Armor- Increases Valor Shield, upgrading it will reduce the damage you take from regular attacks.
Horse- Increases Spirit Hit, upgrading it will increase the amount of damage your BM's do.
Cloak- Increases Spirit Shield, Upgrading with reduce the damage you take from BM's
Book- Increases Element Hit, Upgrading will increase the damage you mages/healers deal/heal
Horn- Increases faculty, you faculty is the units HP. All equips give 4 faculty per level but horns give much larger boosts.
In addition the 6 types of equipments there are 6 levels for each: White, Blue, Green, Yellow, Red and Purple. Each type will give a bigger bonus but also cost more to enhance
Enhancing
Enhancing your equipment will make it stronger. There are two things to know when enhancing: The Psyche Gauge, and the Cost of the Enhancement
The Psyche Gauge
The Psyche Gauge comes into play once you get past level 10. Until level 10 the Psyche Gauge remains at 100%. Afterward the Psyche Gauge changes every half hour going from 100% to about 20%. Next to the Percent is either the word UP or DOWN. This is not a prediction of what it is going to do next but rather a statement of which direction the Gauge last went. The percentage of the Psyche gauge states the success rate for enhancing for the next half hour. Enhance when it is high and ignore it when it is low.
Cost Of Enhancements
Each enhancement cost an amount of drachmas if you succeed. If you fail you receive a percentage of the drachmas back (not exactly sure what that percentage is based on but will post it as soon as I do.)
The cost of enhancement depends on what you are enhancing and its color. Purples are more expensive than red which are more than limes etc. The price of each item increases by a set amount each time depending on its grade. To demonstrate this I will use the Blue Weapon Endless Regret (100% completion reward for Trojan War)
At G1/1 Endless regret costs 150 drachmas. That is the base cost and the one that each consecutive enhancement is based off. Each time you upgrade the Endless regret while the Grade is G1 it will cost 150 more drachmas than the previous one.
However once you get the Endless Regret to G2 the enhancement cost starts to increase by 300. At G3 the enhancement cost increase by 450. As you can see a pattern is occurring. The enhancement cost increases by the Base Amount (or amount for the first enhancement) * the Grade Level of the Item. This holds true except in a few cases (between levels 8-9 of a grade) where the cost difference for that level doubles.
Here are the various types of equipments and their base costs.
http://goo.gl/IsFX3
Buildings: Part A
Buildings are a crucial part of the game. They dictate how your heroes level, how much money you make from levies as well as techs and other such thing. To begin with I'm going to give a quick Overview of each building and then go over the two building strategies there are about leveling them.
The Buildings
Due to Length and importance of the Assembly this post will be purely about the assembly the rest of the building will follow next post.
The Assembly - This building limits the cap of your other buildings as well as your heroes. Increasing it increases your visual level to all other players. It also affects these other elements.
1) Laurels gained by expeditions - The greater the level difference between your assembly and the level of the monster you are fight determines the amount of laurels received from the mob. This difference seems to cap out at about 15 levels between you and the mob any more than that and the laurel amount will not change in either direction.
2) Laurels require for fast tracking - Increasing the assembly level increases the amount of laurels you must spend to fast track your heroes. At level 1-10 is increases about 2-4 laurels each level. By level 60+ its increasing 8-10 laurels each level.
3) Laurels Required for Inspiration - The Laurels required for inspiration during battles is equal to your Assembly Level * 2
4)Laurels Required for Promotion - These increase as your assembly level does. The progression is similar to that of fast track laurels except *10.
5) Prestige acquired from investing - The Prestige you receive from investing is equal to the prosperity you invest * 2 * your assembly level.
6) Prestige from PvP - Similar to laurels from inspiration the greater the difference between the levels of you and your opponent the more/less prestige you will acquire. Again this amount seems to cap out at a 15 level difference (not sure on this one might be 20)
7) Silver From Silver Mine Wrestle - The Silver you receive from each mine in the silver mine wrestle is equal to Assembly Level * 150 * the percent of the mine you are on.
8) Grain you receive from league Farms - The grain you receive from each league farm take is equal to Yield * (Assembly Level/5) (not sure how its rounded but i think its rounded down)
9) Drachmas you receive from events - Increases as your Assembly Level Increases (not sure of the math yet)
10) Contribution to League - The amount you can contribute to the league each day Assembly Level *200
11) Contribution received from League Battles - If you do not fight you receive Assembly level * 200 if you league wins or 100 if your league does not. For each battle you fight and win you receive and additional Assembly Level *100
12) Prestige received From Area Battles - Same figures as League battles except the multipliers are * 5 if you lose and * 10 if you win.
13) Laurels Received from Daily Quest - These also increase as your Assembly level increases. The Laurels you receive are equal to the (Difficulty of quest * 2 +2) * Assembly Level
14) Laurels Required to Wash a Hero - Assembly Level *4
15) The level of equipment you can buy in the VIP Shop (thats right its not based of your shop level)
16) Grain cost per 1000 troops is equal to Assembly level *3
17) Amount of drachmas return from failed enhancements is equal to 100 - (Assembly level *.8) %
Lastly as you increase your Assembly your unlock certain milestones/buildings (I'm ignoring cottages)
Assembly Levels - Benefits
Part 3 Buildings B
Each building has a specific function here are the ones below.
Cottages: Raising the Cottage will increase your daily Drachmas levy. They are cheap and quick to build. You receive a total of 10 cottages.
Training Ground - Upgrading the Training ground will increase the amount of experience the heroes receive each hour. There are 6 parts to the training ground screen.
Training - This screen allows you to decide what heroes you would like to train as well as using laurel/transcendence to speed up their training. The amount of experience you will receive for a fast track is one hours worth of experience at the normal level. Other modes obtainable with gold allow your heroes to receive a greater percentage of that amount (120, 150 etc.). You begin the game with 1 training space and may use gold (50,100,200, 500, 1000, 2000 etc) to purchase additional ones.
Equipment - This screen allows to you attach equipment in your chest to your heroes as well as remove equipment on them.
Recruitables - This screen shows all the heroes you are able to recruit. When you click on a hero a screen will pop up showing the heroes stats, troop type and BM as well as the recruiting price.
Formation - Here is where you may set up your heroes for formation. In order to deploy a hero you click on the hero you wish to deploy then click on the spot you wish to deploy him. To undeploy a hero, click on the hero and press undeploy. You may also dismiss a hero from this screen. Dismissed heroes will retain their level but all equipments will go into the chest, if the chest doesn't have enough room you cannot dismiss the hero.
Technology - We will talk more about in the Academy section.
Evolution - This is where you can wash your heroes to give them added bonuses to their stats. You may use Laurels or gold to do so. Also once a hero reaches 51 you may use the Renascence feature. This resets the hero back to one, without removing his equipments, but gives him a higher troop grade.
The Shop - The Shop is where you manage your equipment. The level of the shop affects the maximum level of equipment you may enhance or buy. It has 5 panels
Chest - This is where your equipments are stored. You begin with 5 slots but may use gold to buy more. If you chest is full you may not buy equipment or unequip equipment. However you may still commission and receive equipment in drops. When this occurs the item will appear in the chest are with a yellow clock on the left side. You have three days to claim the equipment or sell it. If you make room in your chest the equipment is not automatically placed in the chest you must manually claim it by clicking on the claim button.
Shop - This is where you may buy beginning equipment (white) of different levels. You may only buy equipment that is lower or equal to your shop level. Higher level equipment unlocks as your Shop level increases.
VIP Shop - Sells Colored Horns. More horns become available as your shop level increases. However the maximum level of the horn you can buy is based on your Assembly level.
Enhancement - See Section 2 Equipment
Commission - Allows you to spend drachmas to get a random chance as a set of horses/cloaks. Each dealer has a chance (20% or so) to unlock the higher level dealer.
Dealer - Cost
Regular Horse Dealer - 8000
Mid Level - 11000
Senior - 25000
Superior - 40000
Regular Cloak - 10000
Mid Level - 13000
Senior - 30000
Superior - 60000
Silver Vault- Stores your drachmas. The higher this level the more drachmas you can store.
Granary - Stores your grain. The higher this is the more grain you will be able to store.
Market - Allows you to buy and sell grain. The price of grain fluctuates between .5 drachmas per grain to 2 drachmas per grain. Buy low and sell high. You have a set quota per market level that refreshes each day at 0000 server time. However when you upgrade the market a new quota refreshes.
Barracks - Stores your reserve troops. You use grain to recruit troops. You are also given 10 volunteer quotas a day. These quota give you a set number of troops based on your barracks level. The Barracks also dictates the maximum number of reserve troops you can hold at a time.
Tax Office - This increases the levy amount by about double what each cottage upgrade gives.
Mint - Increases the chances of getting 10 gold when you levy. While the increase chance is small the reward is still well worth the drachmas it takes to upgrade this building.
Trading Post - Similar to the Market The trading post gives you a set amount of caravans which you may send to player around you to receive bonus drachmas. When you send a caravan bear in mind that the receiving player must accept in order for you to receive the drachmas. Colonies accept automatically. Both receiving and sending gives you drachmas. The number of caravans you can receive and send reset at 2000 each day. You may send only one set of caravans to each player however that factor resets at 0000 as well as 2000. Each Trading post level breaks down the caravans into 4 sendings with amount of total caravans increasing by one each time you build a new level. The amount of caravans you can receive is equal to 2 times the amount you can send. Whereas the caravans you can send reset each time you upgrade the building the amount you can receive does not.
Treasury - This affects the drachmas thats each caravan nets you. As you increase this building the amount of drachmas you receive both from sending and receiving increase.
Alchemy Lab - I know very little about this but Batheo recently put out a guide on it here:
About Alchemy Lab and Refining
The Academy - The Academy is where you train your technologies. Your technologies break down into 3 categories.
Basic Technologies - These technologies are affect the hit and shield of the three attribute types as well as Hornblowing. The maximum level for these technologies are equal to your Academy Level.
Advanced Technologies - You get these starting at level 40 Academy. The maximum level of these technologies is equal to your Assembly level divided by 2 rounded down. These technologies affect different aspects of the game such as laurels received and troop return.
Formations - These are the formations you are able to use. Their maximum level is equal to your assembly level divided by 5 round down. At level 2 formation you are able to deploy three heroes, at level 5 you can deploy 4 and at level 10 you can deploy 5 heroes.
List of Technologies
Basic:
Blacksmithing - Upgrade Valor Hit by 10
Hornblowing - Upgrade Faculty by 10
Armorforging - Upgrade Valor Shield by 7
Magic Penetration - Upgrade Spirit Hit by 25
Magic Resistance - Upgrade Sprit Shield by 18
Elemental Penetration - Upgrade Elemental Hit by 12
Elemental Resistance - Upgrade Elemental Shield by 8
Advanced:
Semaphoring - Upgrade Faculty by 20
Declaration of War - Upgrade Laurel gain by 1%
First Aid - Return troops after battles
Elixer - Reduces overall damage taken during battle
Supplying - Returns troop during? battle (not sure on this one)
???? - Increases chance of destroying building when attacking.
Formations
Testudo - Increases Block Chance
Lochoi - Increases Valor Hit
Boar's Head - Increases Spirit Hit
Crescent - Increases Critical hit Chance
Inverted Wedge - Increases Dodge Chance
Gramarye - Increases Element Hit
Padmavyuha - Increase Counter Strike chance
Skein - Increases Valor Shield, Spirit Shield, Element Shield
Building Strategy
Basic Strategy
1) Always keep your training ground as close to the level of your assembly as possible. The training ground should be leveled before you level any other buildings.
2) If you plan on leveling cottage/tax office/mint during the day always hold a portion of your levies in reserve for the end of the day so you can net more drachmas from them.
3) Do not level your Trading Post/ Market until you have used up all the quota for the previous level. Remember once your Market/Trading Post hits the level of your assembly you only get to use the quota once a day.
4) Silver Vault/Granary/Shop are low importance buildings. Since for the most part you use drachmas up as fast as you make them the silver vault should be no higher than you absolutely need. Same Goes with the granary. Since the Level of the shop only affects the the maximum level of your enhancing and the level of equipment you can BUY, it is also low priority. I'm not saying you shouldn't level these, you should just after you've leveled everything else.
The Three Schools of Thought
There are three broad strategies for building your city up. These are: Rush method, Equality Method and Hybrid Method. I will discuss each method as well as the pro's and cons of them.
The Rush Method
In this method you level your assembly up to the area maximum first, followed by your Training Ground (so your heroes level up faster) Than as your Heroes are catching up to the new level limit, you level the rest of your buildings and technologies.
Pros - You get the benefits of higher Assembly fastest, more drachmas from silver mine wrestle more prestige from area battles, more contribution to league/contribution from league battles, grain from league farms etc. You also look stronger than you are which often deters players looking for PvP. You unlock Assembly level specific things fastest such as Aide, Commission, Free Commission, Daily Quests etc. You are also able to use 3,4,5 heroes in formation faster. Last your heroes will level faster as the training ground is higher to level them with.
Cons - Laurel Prizes from Expeditions decrease quickly. If you are attacked you are much weaker than your level suggests. The negative effects of the Assembly occur more quickly, such as laurel expenditure for washes and fast track and inspiration becoming more expensive.
The Equality Method
In the equality method you level everything equally. Once your buildings and Techs are at the level of your assembly you level the assembly.
Pros - Your heroes are at the level of your assembly making you just as stronger than your level suggests. Also you receive more laurels from the expeditions you complete. Your laurel expenditure in area/league battle decreases as well as the laurel cost of washing/fast tracking heroes.
Cons - Your heroes receive less experience as your Training Ground is lower. You also receive less prestige/contribution from area/league battles as well as less silver from the silver mine wrestle. You also unlock Assembly level specific thing later as well the ability to use 3,4,5 heroes in formation.
The Hybrid Method
This is a combination of the two above methods. It also takes into consideration certain Assembly milestones. The basic strategy is this. You level your assembly by 5-10 level at a time. Then you wait for every thing to catch up. However make sure you stop and wait for things to catch up at these levels.
1) Level 15 - After this level you begin to lose troops based on the troops you lose.
2) Level 35 - After this you begin to lose divinity when you lose battles.
3) If you are leveling up by increments of 5 make sure you stop at 51 not 50 at 51 you get a free commission that will net you good items or a few extra k worth of drachmas.
4) Level 85 - At this point you get a second training which makes renascence more effective, but more on that later.
Which every one you choose, be aware of this:
Laurel Gain per Level Table
This is a basic overview of the building strategies. The next section is where we get into battles strategies of various kinds.
Strategy Section
This starts the section on strategy. In this section (or sections) I will be discussing various aspects of formation, heroes and other such things. So to get the ball rolling.
Equipping your Hero
One of the most common questions I'm asked is "What should I give (Hero Name)"
So I decided to put together this guide. I will break this down by equipment type and state what types of hero should receive that equipment in what order of priority.
Horses
Highest Priority - Heroes with the following B.M's
All Out Onslaught
Strike In Line
Strike In Column
Soul Taking Arrows
Sally Outburst
Phantom Attack
Crash and Burn
Sacred Stardust
Angel's Wings
Morale Suppression
Second Highest Priority - Heroes with the following B.M.'s
Nocturnal Blitzkreig
Morale Absorption
All Out Ambush
Mutiny Outbreak
Sneak Raid
Armored Charge Attack
Third Highest Priority - Heroes with the Following B.M.'s
Pandora's Curse (Could be Highest Priority also if it's your only hero in formation)
Rally
Lowest Priority - Heroes without a B.M. such as seige weapons mages, healer buglers, dancers etc.
Weapons
Highest Priority - Machine troop type characters except for Cyclopes' Armored Chariot
Second Highest Priority -
Any one with troop specialty of critical strike.
Any one with a troop specialty of Valor Hit. (Check the troop type link in the first post)
Lowest Priority - The rest of your Valor attackers starting with the highest Valor stat first.
Books
Highest Priority - Healers, Mages
Lowest Priority - Everyone else
Armor/Cloaks
I'm lumping these two together as they make up your defense.
Highest Priority -
Cyclop's Armored Chariot
Heroes with Rally
Heroes with Pandora's Curse (Yes these guys should be tanks)
Strongest Attacker
Front Line Heroes
Second Highest Priority -
Buglers (these guys you want to survive)
Characters with high mobility.
Mages/Healers
Lowest Priority -
The rest.
Horns
No real Priorities here I would give your best horn (if you have one) to you strongest attacker the second to your tank. The rest don't matter.
Part 4 Strategy B
Quote: Battle System
Before I start talking about builds and other such strategies. Let do a brief overview of the battle system. As you may have seen formations occurs on a 3x3 grid like such
[ ] [ ] [ ]
[ ] [ ] [ ]
[ ] [ ] [ ]
When you battle each team takes turns mounting 1 attack at a time in the following order.
[7] [4] [1]
[8] [5] [2]
[9] [6] [3]
Therefore is we have two players against each other in the following formations
AttackerDefender[ ] [x] [ ][x] [ ] [ ][x] [x] [x][x] [x] [x][ ] [ x] [ ][x] [ ] [ ]Since the attacker attacks first the turn order would go like this.
AttackerDefender[ ] [3] [ ][2] [ ] [ ][9] [5] [1][4] [8] [10][ ] [ 7] [ ][6] [ ] [ ]Despite the defending player having heroes in the first three spots the attacking player will still have his attacks occur after his opponent regardless of where his heroes are.
This makes it also possible to have two attacks in a row for the attack as if he kills a troop on an attack so that all his opponents remaining troops have already done for the round. the next round would begin with the attacker attacking again.
Formations
Going to give a quick overview of the placement sin each formation
Testudo - Increases Block Chance
[ ] [X] [ ]
[X] [X] [X]
[ ] [X] [ ]
Lochoi - Increases Valor Hit
[ ] [X] [X]
[X] [X] [ ]
[X] [ ] [ ]
Boar's Head - Increases Spirit Hit
[ ] [ ] [X]
[X] [X] [X]
[ ] [ ] [X]
Crescent - Increases Critical Strike Chance
[X] [X] [ ]
[ ] [ ] [X]
[ ] [X] [X]
Inverted Wedge - Increases Dodge Chance
[X] [X] [ ]
[ ] [ ] [X]
[X] [X] [ ]
Gramarye - Increases Elemental Hit
[ ] [X] [X]
[ ] [X] [ ]
[X] [X] [ ]
Padmavyuha - Increases Counterstrike Chance
[X] [ ] [X]
[ ] [X] [ ]
[X] [ ] [X]
Skein - Increases Defense
[ ] [X] [X]
[X] [ ] [ ]
[ ] [X] [X]
Battle Information
Morale - Each time you successfully hit and are hit by a Valor attack you will gain 34 Morale. (Spirit Attack/B.M.'s and Elemental attacks will not raise Morale). There are also two types of units that raise morale each turn. Nymph Dancers will raise the Morale of a single allied unit to 100%. Bugler will raise all allied units Morale by 34%.
Block - All damage is negated to the Blocking Unit. If the attacker is a Calvary, Infantry or Siege type troop they receive damage equal to a single regular attack from the blocking unit. Elemental attacks and Spirit attack can not be Block.
Dodge - All Damage to the dodging unit is negated. Only Elemental attacks cannot be dodged.
Critical Strike - Critical strikes deal roughly 1.5 - 1.75 times the regular damage. Both Spirit attack and regular attack can be affected by Critical Strike. Elemental Attack cannot. A critical Strike cannot be dodged or blocked.
Multi-Target B.M.'s - Multi-Target B.M. target the immediately opposing unit first. If they hit that unit then the remaining targets are automatically hit. If the opposing target dodges then no targets are hit.
(e.g. If My Bellerophon targets my opponent's Atelante and she does not dodge then all of my opponents units would be dealt damage, if she does dodge then none of my opponents units would receive damage.)
Elemental Hit - Elemental Hits cannot be dodge nor blocked, however they can fail. Each unit has a different success rate, Thunder Mages have the lowest (about 25%), Hydromancer's Average (about 60%) and Pyromancer's the highest (about 90%). The damage vary inversely to the success rate (Thunder Mage - Highest damage, Pyromancer - Lowest damage) However the success rate increase/decreases based on the difference between the mage's and the targets troop grade. If the Mage has a higher troop than its opponent it will have a higher success rate.
Part 4 Strategy C : Builds Part 1
Quote: Okay Now we are up to the pat I've been looking forward to
The Builds (Part 1)
There are tons of good heroes out there. But what is going to make each player unique is the build they choose to use. So I decided to create this section on possible builds. All of these are usable, some may be better others. Note I have not tested all of these. The format for each build will be as follows.
Build Name
Starting hero - What hero you should/must start with for this build
Faction Choice - What faction you should choose.
Formation Choice - What formation you should level up first.
Hero Requirements - What heroes you MUST recruit to use the build. Sometimes this includes a broad type (i.e. Bugler) in which the actual type is up to you.
Hero Options - Most builds have one to two slots that are up in the air. This line will mention some good hero ideas.
Equipment Focus - What types of equipment you should prioritize. This will be for the required heroes. Since the optional heroes are up to you, use Strategy section Part A to help you decide.
Tech Focus – Basic Technologies you Should Focus on (All advanced technologies are good)
Notes - I will tell you a bit about the build.
Pros - The good points
Cons - The bad points
Now lets get started.
Sniper
Starting hero - Augustus
Faction Choice - Athenian or Zeusian
Formation Choice - Boar's Head
Hero Requirements - Paris, Medea (Athena 500 Prestige), Lacedeamon (Zeus 500 Prestige)
Hero Options - Nymph Dancer, Bugler, Asclepius
Equipment Focus - Horses, Horses, Horses
Tech Focus – Magic Penetration, Armorforging, Magic Resistance, Elemental Resistance, Hornblowing
Notes - The easiest of the Builds to get. You can have this up and running by the time you get to Defense of Athens. The concept revolves around power of Soul Taking Arrows, which has the ability to one shot most targets. Up your horses to as high as you can before worrying about anything else. You can have a fully functioning 5 person team with this by the end of Beats in the Wilderness with the additions of Artemis and Asclepius. Artemis will allow you to use a Soul Taking Arrows Each turn, conceivably ending the fight in 3-4 turns.
Pros - Ability to One Shot targets resulting in quick fights. Very powerful spirit attack.
Cons - Soul Taking Arrows is Single Target.
Stunner
Starting hero - Orianthi
Faction Choice - Poseidian or Zeusian
Formation Choice – Crescent, Lochoi
Hero Requirements – Adrastus/Doris (Poseidon 18k prestige), Pandora, Electra (Zeus 12k prestige) Daphne (Poseidon 190k prestige)
Hero Options – Asclepius, Perseus, Bugler, Mage (Thunder works well with the motif any is good though), heroes with Sneak Raid
Equipment Focus – Weapons, Armors, Cloaks
Tech Focus – Blacksmithing, Armorforging, Magic Resistance, Elemental Resistance, Hornblowing
Notes – An interesting build the main focus of the build is strong Valor attacker who B.M. cause your opponents heroes to miss their turn. The two heroes with Pandora’s Curse (Electra/Daphne and Pandora) Should be outfit to be tanks and tanks alone. Their BM doesn’t do much damage but can stun up to all five units on the field (seen it happen). Your best horses should be given to Adtrastus/Doris and Orianthi whose ability does more damage. Otherwise focus on weapons and armor to take advantage of the extra turns stunning your opponents gives you. Can create a basic version early on but full version takes time.
Pros - Ability to mount successive attacks. Ability to disable a target for possibly many turns. Good counter to B.M. formations as the stuns delay the time the B.M. come off.
Cons – Very Weak against Rally type heroes as if you stun a unit in defense, its keeps defense for the extra turn. Mages can be used to counteract. Takes a long while to full develop due to Pandora being towards the end and the Prestige heroes (especially for Poseidon). Works best if Pandora’s Curse characters are Renascenced many times.
AoE Spam
Starting hero – Conan/Any
Faction Choice – Any
Formation Choice – Boar’s Head
Hero Requirements – Bugler, Nymph Dancer, Healer, A single Hero with All Out Onslaught
Hero Options – Seige Weapon (Attacker or Cyclops Armored Chariot Work well)
Equipment Focus – Horse on the AoE. Great Armor/Cloaks on everyone else
Tech Focus – Magic Penetration, Armorforging, Magic Resistance, Elemental Resistance, Hornblowing
Notes – The most hated Meta build right now why, cause its incredibly powerful in the mid game. That’s right Mid game. It power will die out as people start getting their equipments to high levels. This build relies on getting your single AoE characters attack off each turn with a combination of Nymph Dancers/Buglers. The Healer keeps people alive so that those units which are on the front lines don’t die.
Pros - Very Powerful AoE attacks with built up horse. Cheap Build to upgrade as you focus almost entirely on a single horse.
Cons – Only a single attacker. If that attacker is killed/stunned your effectiveness is done. Front line units are very weak to Spirit attacks themselves.
Tank Attack
Starting hero – Kratos
Faction Choice – Any (Although Poseidon has more options and Athenians have best Total Defense Character)
Formation Choice – Skein, Lochoi
Hero Requirements – Heroes with Total Defense, Asclepius, Hermes
Hero Options – Other Rally Heroes
Equipment Focus – Weapons, Armor and Cloak
Tech Focus – Blacksmithing, Armorforging, Magic Resistance, Elemental Resistance, Hornblowing
Notes – This build is the classic attrition build. It uses heroes who have either Rally (Damage + Rally Status: Until next turn take one damage from all Valor/Spirit Attacks) or Total Defense (Damage and puts all troops in Rally Status). Since you are looking to have tanks with High Valor damage you want to ignore horses and just focus on building up your defense and Armor.
Pros - Very good survivability, is able to take a lot of damage due to Rally effect.
Cons – Weak against Mages as they can bypass the Rally effect, with their damage.
Morale Deprivation
Starting hero – Robin Hood/Beowulf
Faction Choice – Any (Although Athenian’s have the most Morale Suppression Heroes)
Formation Choice – Inverted Wedge, Skein or Testudo (Defensive formations)
Hero Requirements – 1-2 Heroes with Morale Absorption/Nocturnal Blitzkrieg, 1 Hero with Morale Suppression, 1 Bugler
Hero Options – Healer, Second Morale Suppression hero, characters with stunning B.M.
Equipment Focus – Armor, Cloak, Horses for Absorption/Blitzkrieg, Weapons for Suppression.
Tech Focus – Everything but Elemental Penetration
Notes – This build is about getting rid of your opponents Morale and keeping that way. It can be devastating to Spirit Builds if done right but requires a certain amount of luck and timing to truly reach its potential. Early game you will use Nocturnal Blitzkrieg characters which you should replace for character with Morale Absorption as soon as possible.
Pros - Can cut the legs out from underneath heavy Spirit reliant builds. Most heroes boast decent defense troops.
Cons – Weak against Siege weapons and Mage as they have no Spirit attack.
Magical Assault
Starting hero – Any
Faction Choice – Poseidon/Zeusian (Poseidon allows you to create a basic build earlier Zeusian allows you to unlock its full potential earlier)
Formation Choice – Gramarye
Hero Requirements – Asclepius, Mages, Any are good. You’ll want a Meteorite Mage, Furious Pyromancer and either a second Pyromancer or a Hydromancer.
Hero Options – Other Mages, Cyclops Armor Chariot Heroes to act as damage sponges.
Equipment Focus – Books, Cloak, Armor
Tech Focus – Elemental Penetration, Hornblowing, Armorforging, Spirit Resistance, Elemental Resistance
Notes – This build can be devastating or a joke depending on how your opponent is set up. It is very hard to reduce the damage your mages deal as only the tech gives elemental resistance. However your guys are squishy and can be killed easily. That is why Asclepius is of paramount importance. He’ll keep your mages alive so they can dominate the opponent.
Pros – Can deal damage regardless of opponent’s equipment and Rally Condition. Can be incredibly powerful to troops that rely on tanks. Ignores block and dodge. Immune to Morale Suppression
Cons – Very vulnerable to Spirit attacks. Mages are very squishy as take a lot more damage from attacks than the other troop types.
For more information on the Poseidon part of this build look here: http://forum.clapalong.com/showthrea...=2642#post2642
This post has run out of Characters so I will part up part 2 of the builds section tomorrow.
Part 4 Strategy C : Builds Part 2
Quote: Here are some more build. (not complete thread will add more to this as i think of them.
Damage Hybrid
Starting hero – Any
Faction Choice – Any
Formation Choice – Any
Hero Requirements – 1-2 Spirit Attackers, 1-2 Valor Attackers, 1-2 Mages
Hero Options – Any
Equipment Focus – All (depending on heroes)
Tech Focus – All Depending on heroes
Notes – Versatile Formation that can deal all types of damage. A good set up with this would be Valor siege, Healer, Spirit Attack, Nymph Dancer (Bm each turn) and mage. This formation would allow you to deal all types of damage and cover many holes.
Pros – Ability to deal all sort of damage, able to take care of all weaknesses.
Cons – No specialization causes this build to take time. Also since you do not specialize your going to be very dependant on equipment enhancements. Expensive, time consuming.
Cross
Starting hero – Atelente
Faction Choice – Any
Formation Choice – Boar’s Head
Hero Requirements – 1-3 Heroes with either Strike in Line or Strike in Column. (Herracles, Siren, Phologois) Don’t just use one as you want to be able to attack in a cross shape, Bugler
Hero Options – Nymph Dancer, second Bugler, Healer, Hero with Angel Wings
Equipment Focus – Horses, Armor, Cloak
Tech Focus – Magic Penetration, Hornblowing, Armorforging, Spirit Resistance, Elemental Resistance
Notes – Similar to AoE, This build relies on the more powerful BM of Strike in Line/Column. These two abilities have twice the attack power of AoE and still hit up to three units each. This will devastate people using Boar’s Head or Testudo Formations especially.
Pros - Incredibly Powerful Spirit Attacks that hit multiple targets. Devastatingly powerful against Boar’s Head and Testudo Formation making it good for anti spirit and anti tank. Attacks can reach into the back and get rid of those pesky units hiding behind tanks.
Cons – Some formations really screw it up normally those such as Inverted Wedge, Padmavyuha and Skein. Vulnerable to Dodge. Most units have low defense. Second non-prestige Strike in Column heroes is not until Roaring Seas and he sucks.
Outburst
Starting hero – Any
Faction Choice – Any (Zeusian and Athenians have best options for this build, Poseidon gets theirs the earliest)
Formation Choice – Any (Boar’s Head would probably be best)
Hero Requirements – Ares, Zephyrus/Palaemon/Aether (prestge heroes). 1-2 Buglers
Hero Options – Healer, 3rd Bugler, Cyclops Armored Chariot
Equipment Focus – Horses for Sally Outburst Guys, Armor, Cloak for everyone else
Tech Focus – Magic Penetration, Hornblowing, Armorforging, Spirit Resistance, Elemental Resistance
Notes – Again similar to AoE this build uses the Sally Outburst BM which has the added effect of restoring the units Morale back to 100. Allowing you to repeatedly use your BM every turn, if not hit by Blitzkreig or Morale Absorption. The Buglers are there to hurry your guys to their first BM and to counteract the effects of enemy buglers/ morale suppression.
Pros - Repetitive BM attacks with good damage. Doesn’t rely on a nymph dancer to use BM each turn. 2 -3 attackers each require no Morale intake once they get to 100.
Cons – Weak to Morale Deprivation. BM is only single target. Hard to get second Sally Outburst from prestige.
Mutiny
Starting hero – Any
Faction Choice – Athenian/Zeusian
Formation Choice – Any (Boar’s Head would probably be best)
Hero Requirements – Antaeus, Dionysus/Thalia (prestige heroes), Asclepius
Hero Options – Combination of buglers and nymph dancers ( I would go one of each)
Equipment Focus – Horses for Mutiny Outbreak Heroes, Armor, Cloak for everyone else
Tech Focus – Magic Penetration, Hornblowing, Armorforging, Spirit Resistance, Elemental Resistance
Notes – Since Mutiny Outbreak heal the attacker for the damage dealt this set up can have great survivability. Once you give Antaeus and your prestige hero a good horse. They can last quite a while if they get of their BM’s constantly, which is where the nymph dancers and buglers come in. The healer is necessary to keep whatever support troops you use alive.
Pros -BM’s heal the user allowing you units to receive extra healing as well as damaging the opponent.
Cons – Weak to Morale Deprivation. BM is only single target. Second Mutiny Outbreak hero is high in prestige.
Part 4 Strategy D: The Expeditions
Quote: Its been a while since I have posted here. Sorry for the absence.
Expeditions
Expeditions are the Player vs. Computer part of this game. You may begin you expeditions by clicking on the expedition button from your city screen (Crossed Swords).
Each expedition is set up in maps. These are the following maps I have discovered so far. When you complete all battles in the map you receive a 100% completion reward, which I have placed in parenthesis. The numbered maps are those that need to be completed to progress the story forward the maps with a letter next to it are maps that may be complete for additional rewards/heroes.
Map Name (numbers of NPC's) - 100% reward
1) Trail of Perseus (19) - Mammoth Spear (level 4 white weapon)
2) Trojan War (29) - Endless Regret (Level 12 Blue weapon)
3) Defense of Athens (20) - Raging Fang (Level 21 Blue Horse)
3a) Beasts in the Wilderness (20) - Grey Magic Cloak (Level 21 Blue Cloak)
4) Jack and the Bean Stalk (20) - Achievements in Charming (Level 29 Green book)
4a) Labyrinth of Crete (10) - Barbarians Armor (level 29 green armor)
5) Dispute of the Golden Apple (30) - Bloody Treachery (level 38 yellow weapon)
5a) Heath Aflame (20) - Cychreides (level 38 yellow mount)
6) Roaring Sea (30) - Caged Desire (level 42 yellow Armor)
7) Falling Earth (20) - Cloak of Runes (level 55 Yellow Cloak)
8) Burning Sky (20) - Spartan Charms (level 63 Yellow Book)
9) Endless Underworld Rivers (40) - Greetings at the Doorstep (Level 72 Yellow Horn)
10) House of Hades (20) - Brigsingamen (Level 80 Yellow Weapon)
11) Poseidon's Roar (20?) - ????
11) Athena's Wisdom (20?) - ????
11) Zeus' ? (20?) - ???? (You only receive 2 of the 11's the two correspond to the two faction that are opposing you, you only need to complete 1 of them to move on.
12') Tartarus (???) - ????
12') Ragnarok (???) - ???? (not sure which of these advances you as I haven't gotten there will update this when I do.
The Armies
There are 4 different types of NPC armies. Each has there own color and special conditions.
Regular Army (Blue)
These are the weakest of the armies and are made up of 5 regular units. Each unit has a set BM and strength. For instance a regular unit with the troop type White Dragon Rider will always have the same BM (Soul-Taking Arrows). The same hold true for all regular unit trop types. You may attack Regular Armies as many times as you want. However they offer the least laurels.
Elite Armies (Yellow)
These are stronger units composed of 4 regular units and one elite unit. The Elite unit has increased Faculty Attack and Defense as well as often sports a different BM from a regular unit with the same troops type. For instance a Elite unit with the troop type White Dragon Rider will often have a different BM then the Soul Taking Arrows which all regular units would use. The amount of times you can defeat an Elite armies is limited by the quota, which will be discussed later. They offer medium amounts of laurels. However some Elites drop equipment.
For a list of which Elites drop which equipment look here. Please note all equipments above blue are dropped in fragments. Green - 2 Fragments, Yellow - 5 Fragments, Red - 10 fragments and Purple - 20 Fragments. Legions have a small chance to drop the entire equipment instead of fragments.
Mercenary Armies (Red)
These are the strongest unit composed of 4 regular armies and a mercenary unit. Mercenary units are the strongest unit type boasting higher strength and defense than the Elite units. However once the army is defeated the Mercenary troop becomes a recruitable hero. As such Mercenary troops can only be defeated once. However they offer a tremendous amount of laurels.
Legion Armies (Large Yellow)
Legion armies are a collection of Elites/Mercenaries from the Map, with a few extra occasionally. You need to fight them with a group. With the exception of the first legion all legion can hold at most an 8 man group. Each member can kill no more than 3 members of the opposing army. Once that occurs they leave the battles field. In order to win you must have at least once army of your side remain on the battlefield. If you last group kills the other team but then leave the field with maximum wins you will lose. Legions offer a tremendous amount of laurels and the amount of time you can defeat them is limited by quota. You may also modify a legion to be available to faction or league only. Once you get past the Defense of Athens map you may only run legions with your faction members. There will be a strategy section of legion runs later.
The Quota
The quota determines the number of time A FACTION can defeat an Elite/Legion. The quota is not how many times a single player can defeat an Elite but how many times the faction as a whole can defeat an Elite/Legion. However the quota fully refreshes 4 times during the day with a special refresh at a fifth time.
The full refresh times are (server time)
23:30
3:30
10:00
12:00
The Special Refresh
At 00:00 every player in the server is given a single quota against all Elites (not Legions) This quota can only be use by that player and cannot be taken by others players. That means that no matter how fast a quota goes every player can fight every Elite at least once during the day.
Once a quota is finished the Army cannot be attacked until the quota refreshes. Certain VIP levels allow you to spend gold to continue to fight a depleted Army after its quota has gone.
Legion Strategy
Fight legions take some strategy. Since you lose if your final guys walks off after 3 straight wins you don't want to place you strongest players at the very end. Instead you want to stagger them.
Given an 8 man formation like this
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
You want the order of strength to look more like this
6
4 (streaker)
3 (streaker)
8
7
1 (cleaner)
2 (cleaner)
5
What are Streakers and Cleaners?
Streakers are players who are placed early to run up a three streak and clear up the board for the later players. Cleaners are the strongest players who are placed to clean up the board and remove the strongest legions.
Two of the strongest players are in the first 3 why?
Easy 3 streaks. Most legions are arranged from weakest to strongest. Therefore if you place 2 of your 4 strongest players up front they can easy round up a streak of three and remove 6 units from the battle. Since most legions only have 10-12 units in total that leaves 4-6 units left and your team still with its strongest 2 in the bullpen.
Why isn't the strongest player going last?
Again if the last player cleans up the remaining legions but achieves a streak of 3 wins he walks of the field and your team loses. Therefore you need at least one player to go after him, two for extra insurance. You don't it to be your weakest player either in case there re remnants of armies on the field.
The second strongest player is going after the strongest why?
Besides the above reason, insurance. Often in the higher legions there is one army that always causes trouble even for the best players. And as luck would have it he often comes to the strongest player when he is weakened from killing off two other armies. You place the second strongest player after the first so if the strongest player falls you have a little back up to make sure the board is cleared.
Is the formation above set in stone as the best set up?
Of course not first of all you may not always be running 8 man legions, I know I don't. Second of all everything is open for experimentation. been running a few legions likes this recently.
4
5
7
8
3
1
2
I'm sure there are other usable formations that work. I just know the first formation has the highest success rate.
How do I modify this formation for 6 or 7 man legion runs.
Easy go back up the first formation (64387125) and remove the 8 and/or seven and shift everyone up accordingly.
Transcendence battles
Starting with the Dispute of the Golden Apple map, special battles will appear on the right side of the screen. They normally once you have defeated the last Main Force Regular Army, but on some maps its could be later. The maps are special in that they do not give laurels. Instead they give Transcendences (free fast Tracking) and Drachmas.
To Start a battle clock on the button of the right side of the screen. A screen similar to the legion screen will appear. The earlier battles are solo however later ones require multiple members to complete. Once you have created/filled you group. REFRESH THE SCREEN. Otherwise the battle will not show properly. Then once all screens have been refreshed launch the battle. A map with a series of armies will appear and certain tokens. Defeat all the armies on the screen within the time limit to receive rewards. Each action has a specific cooldown
Movement - 3-10 second (depending on terrain)
Attack - 15 seconds
Refresh - 15 Seconds
When attacking armies you may attack from the front, sides or back. Attacking from the sides gives you a +10% boost to attack/defense. Attacking from the back gives +20 attack/defense while attacking from the front gives +0%.
The faster you complete the map the better rewards you will get. The Drachmas you receive are based upon you assembly level and there is a maximum of 10 Transcendences per battle. The first battle cost one divinity with each subsequent battle cost and additional one divinity (2nd - 2, 3rd - 3 4th - 4 etc.)
Once you are done fight these battle refresh your screen again or else the regular fights will not show correctly.
As mentioned before each map certain token will appear. Here is a list of tokens and their effects.
Guide to Dungeons
Well thats all for Expeditions. Next section is on PvP and Prestige. Hopefully that will go up sooner than this one did.
Quote: Prestige and PVP
Okay I'm going to break this section into two posts, the first dealing with gaining prestige and PVP. The second deals with prestige based heroes.
Getting Prestige
There are multiple ways of getting prestige.
1) Investing - Every 3 hours you may spend a set amount of drachmas to invest in your city. Investing has two benefits, one you get prestige equal to the amount of prosperity you invested * your assembly level * 2 and two investing in your area increases the amount of drachmas you receive from levy a little bit each time. You may only invest 3 times a day however.
2) Player vs Player combat - or PVP You may send a divinity or an "a" token and attack another player from another faction. You will receive more prestige based on 3 things.
The level of the person you are attacking, if you are attacking a higher level player than yourself you will receive on average more prestige than if you attack a lower level player.
The status of the player you are attacking. There are seven status: No threat (grey), Normal (white), Agressive (blue), Warlike (green), Bully (yellow), Bloodthirsty (red) and Archenemy. The higher the status of the player the more prestige you will receive from them.
The amount of heroes you kill. You will always get more prestige for killing someone with five heroes fielded then for killing someone with 1,2,3 or 4 heroes fielded.
3) Promotion - Every two hours you may spend a set amount of laurels to gain a small amount of prestige. Given the large amount of laurels you need to spend and the small amount of prestige you receive this is very very much not worth it. Laurels are way to valuable.
4) Levy Events - As you are levying random questions with two choices will appear, occasionally one of the these will give you prestige. For a full list of these events and what you receive for each answer visit this link
http://sols9.com/batheo/Guide/Levy.php
5) Small Scale Area Battle - These occur automatically after x number of PVP fights have been fought between two factions in the same area (Level 30 area, 40, 60, 80, 100) Member who have fought any number of those x amount of battles will receive a bonus amount of prestige.
6) Large Scale Area Battles - These occur every autumn after 10:00 server time. They are very similar in nature to farm battles in that the contestants have 20 minutes to arrive and may inspiration. However instead of receiving contribution they receive prestige. Each city may initiate a maximum of two area battles per year. Only an Archenemy can initiate an area battle. There must be at least 5 people in both the city that initiates the battle the the target city for an area battle to take place. Political Centers may not have their occupation % reduced
Occupation
At higher level areas occupation becomes important. The faction with the highest occupation percentage of a city controls that city. There are three way to change the occupation % of a city. Political centers cannot have their occupation rate
1) Investing - Every 10 prosperity invested into a city raises the occupation rate of that city by 1%. Economic centers double this and every 5 prosperity raises their occupation rate 1%. Trade Centers have the ability to invest in any city they choose.
2) Attacking - Each successful attack raises your occupation % by .5% in the opponent's city. Military Cities double this and each successful attack raise your occupation % by 1% in your opponent's city.
3) Area Battles - The winner of an area battle between two city gains 20% occupation % in the losers city.
The faction with the higher occupation % in each city controls that city. The cities controlling faction are the only people who can do that following in that city.
1) Refine - This is a big deal in the level 100 areas. Refining is a very successful way to gain drachmas later on and if you don't control the city you cant refine in it.
2) Move into that city.
3) Participate in any area battles in that city.
4) Your levy amount is directly related your occupation rate. While your occupation % is above 75% you receive 120% your actual levy rate. Once you go under that amount your levy amount % starts dropping until under 50 where it drops below 100% levy amount.
So keep the occupation rate of your city high.
Perks of Prestige
For complete list: All about Prestige
1) Prestige Heroes - Again I will talk about these in the next post but some of the best heroes are prestige heroes.
2) Able to recruit more heroes at one time - At M1, M9, M17, M25, M33 you are able to recruit me 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 heroes at a time respectively.
3) More colonies - At M5, M13, M37, M40 you are able to have 2, 3, 4, and 5 colonies respectively.
4) At M21 you are able to hold another farmland.
5) At M29 you can hold another silver mine.
6) Your daily salary increases each rank you increase.
7) Attack Defense bonuses - After M40 each successive rank gives you a 5% attack or defense bonus. However each day you will lose a set amount of prestige until you are once again M40.