S / L tricks

After spending several weeks with this game, I have found some ways to “play” with better advantages. Some of them may be useful, but some may seem crazy/extreme/torturing, so choose which ever suits you Smile . Most of the things here are achieved through repeating save & reload (S/L) function. This could be a cheat or whatever you want to name it. I would say most of the points I listed down is useless in multiplayer game because no save & reload is allowed, lol… You DO NOT need to follow what I write here to win the game. What I did is just to provide some advantages for starting. I find it pretty useful for those who like to torture the AI, which beforehand you need to torture yourself first.

Before that, I will list out some mechanisms of the game I noticed. These apply to version 1.03 and may not work with future version.

The game will automatically save the game at last slot when you click end turn.

The game result is seeded (or predicted in next few moves) to prevent player from changing the result by simply save/reload. The game allows only reload 1 (one) time if you are not satisfied with the result, and after that reload again with always get the same result as 2nd time. To explain this with an example; you saw a Gazebo and you save the game before approaching it. Later when you approached you get the experience and lvlup during that time, offering 2 skills A&B. You are not happy with the skills offered, so you reload the game and approach the Gazebo again. This time the offering skills may be different, let’s say A&C. If you are not satisfied and reload again, the result will always be A&C, you can’t even get back A&B.

In order to change the result with save/reload, you need to end the turn and do the next step in new day. If you are not satisfied with the result, reload from the Autosave slot (bottom slot) and end turn then repeat again. With this you can obtain different result. For the case in 1.0.2, park your hero in front of the chest then click end turn. On the next day, pickup the chest and you will get a fresh result. If you are not satisfied with the result, reload from the last slot and end turn then pickup again. Results that you can be changed with this method are:

• a) Secondary Skill offered through lvlup.
• b) Primary Skill point offered through lvlup. (Atk or Def or Pwr or Knw)
• c) Combat damage, chance of morale and luck
• d) Event on every first day of week.
• e) Type/amount of resource obtained from Windmill on every first day of week.
• f) Hero in tavern on every first day of week.
• g) Spells offered when you build the Magic Guild.

Results that are fixed and CANNOT be changed with S/L are:

• a) Puzzle map from Obelisk
• b) Skill offered in Witch Hut
• c) Skill offered in Magic Stroll.
• d) Amount of gold/experience from Treasure Chest
• e) Artifact/gift obtained after defeating Treasury.

Each class has some skills that will not be offered during lvlup. Victorash has summarized them as below. The only place to learn those skills is through witch hut.

• Knight : no Necromancy, Mysticism, Sorcery, Fire Magic
• Barbarian : no Necromancy, Mysticism, Sorcery, Water Magic
• Wizard : no Necromancy, Archery, Ballistics, Offence, Armorer
• Warlocks : no Offence, Armorer, Water Magic, Leadership, Ballistics, Archery
• Sorceress : no Necromancy, Offence, Armorer, Fire Magic
• Necromancers: no Water Magic, Offence, Armorer, Leadership

This applies to magic guild as well, for example knight magic guild will not offer fire spells.

During lvlup, one existing non-expert skill and one new skill will be offered. If your skills are all expert and still have space, then 2 new skills will be offered.

During combat, attacker has the advantage to move first if both sides have the same highest speed creatures. Next turn the defender will move first if highest speed creatures are still the same from both sides.

Magic resistance % means the opportunity for your troop to avoid harmful spell from opponent. It will not reduce the damage; if you fail to avoid the spell then full damage will be inflicted. This rule does not apply to creatures that carry special spell damage reduction ability.

Experience Points through combat is calculated as below:-

Basic Exp = Total creatures killed x their hit points. Hero Exp = Level x 500 Big Town Exp = 3000 Small Town Exp = 1000

Total them up to get the experience points. If enemy hero fled, you lose the Hero Exp and get only the Basic Exp. For example you defeated enemy lvl 5 hero with 19 peasants and 25 archers.

Basic Exp = 288 Peasant HP = 2, 19 x 1 = 38exp Archers HP = 10; 25 x 10 = 250exp

Hero Exp = 5 x 500 = 2500 Total Exp = 288 + 2500 = 2788. If that hero is in castle, you will get additional 3000 exp.

Starting up a game

If the map does not have option for player to choose, then just start it up. Otherwise choose the favourite class and location. Start the game and save it at 1st slot and then survey the surrounding for a few days. Reload from 1st slot if you are satisfied with it. I will try all starting locations and evaluate the following before I accept and continue with the game:-

• Is there a Obelisk nearby.
• Which location has Witch Hut.
• Is the location on rough or smooth surface.
• Is the location at corner of the map or center.
• Which location has more Gabezo.
• Type of unit outside of town that can hire every week. You will always want the same creature from your class or the useful type.
• Artifacts nearby and type of creatures that guards them.

Always save the game on the very top slot at every new game and never overwrite it.

The crown is buried in 2 ways depends on the map maker – fixed location or random generated.

If there is obelisk nearby and I found that the crown is at random place, I will get the conqueror’s crown within the first week. I achieve this by starting at location that is easy to identify the landmark, i.e. edge of map or by seaside. I will then start the new game again and again and again until the obelisk shows that the crown is at place I recognize. This requires many repeating steps to quit, start new game, go to obelisk, identify the place… If the obelisk is guarded by creature then time taken to repeat a cycle will be much longer. If the map size is large it is even more difficult to have the crown appear at your location. If lucky enough within 20min you can find the crown. I have tried up to 1 hour just to get the crown and continue with the game. Sometimes the obelisk only reveals 2-3 blocks, so it is not an easy task. Whether you call this a cheat or crazy, this is “allowed” in the game without involving 3rd party program. I have several saved file that showed I get the crown within first few days of game.

If there is no Obelisk during game start, I will go for Witch Hut. I will make sure it offers the skill I want, same as above, through repeating restart. The skill shall be skill that is not accessible through normal lvlup, for example Offence/Armor/Archery for magician. I personally prefer the Estates skill. The main hero will not get the Estates skill, but the rest of the heroes will. Having 3 heroes with expert Estates (+3000 gold each turn) in early-mid game is very helpful. Leave some treasure chest for that 3 heroes to achieve expert Estates, Gabezo will be helpful also. Follow the S&L steps in 1.0.3 to get only Estates skill lvlup; and yes, this requires repeating reload. If there is no Witch Hut to offer Estates skill, use Gabezo or treasure chest to get it. This is very painful because for each hero you need to spend average 10-20min to get only basic Estates, not to mention to lvlup until expert. I have a saved file here where I spend more than 1 hour to have 2 Witch Huts with both offer skill I need, Wisdom and Estates. Call me crazy . That map has fixed Crown location, so I did not play with obelisk.

When there is no Obelisk and Witch hut to play around, I will look at unit that can hire from outside of town. It is highly preferred to have unit same as your class.

Some artifacts are random and some are fixed. You may try to restart the game to get good artifact. Example is Ring of speed, Shackles of War. I hate to see Necromancer’s artifact when I do not need it.

Most of the time first hero is given by random. I will sometimes restart the game if the hero carries skills that I do not need. Hero in tavern can be changed on 2nd day of the game with S/L.

If there is no other thing as above to consider, I will restart the game if there is only little treasure chest around and the nearest treasure chest give me <1000 experience point.

• Try to start at location with minimum path to the town so that it is easier to handle invasion. Usually it is at map corner.
• If you found the starting town is small, it may be better not to choose magician class because the most you can have is lvl3 spell. Furthermore, there is no guarantee there is a magic class castle somewhere in the map.

Normally I will not care about Primary Skill. I am concerned about Secondary Skill and I always S/L to get the skill I want, especially for main hero. Personally I like Barbarian class because they have access to all the melee skills and most of the magician skills, and I prefer the following skills (not in sequence):-

1. Offence
2. Archery
3. Logistics
4. Pathfinding
5. Wisdom
6. Earth Magic
7. Armorer or Leadership or Air Magic or Water Magic, depends on the map

I will always choose experience points from treasure chest. I will not pick up all treasure chests and will leave a few of them for S/L when my hero is close to lvlup. Always keep an eye on remaining experience to lvlup. Use neutral creatures to earn the experience points close to lvlup, then approach the treasure chest. It is much easy to control the skill lvlup with this way.

If you undergo an inevitable tough fight with enemy troop and earn lots of experience points that give you many lvlup, then just choose the skills wisely because noone is willing to S/L the tough fight again and again. You may be able to overcome this situation by having more Basic skills during early lvlup and not pushing them to Expert. When the tough fight is over, you can just choose to lvlup existing non-expert skill and avoid new skills that you do not need.

Use S/L to avoid plague week. If you really need to have extra creatures in your town, then use S/L during change of week to get either +5 creatures or double population of your type. I prefer +5 creatures because double population will add many neutral creatures on the map. Double population of specific creature will only double those are not hired. Creatures that are hired and left in town will not be affected.

If you are in need of certain resource, park your hero at windmill and S/L at change of week to get the resource you need.

If you are under attack and are weaker, then S/L from some earlier saved files and do your best. Do not think of flee, you must win the cambat.

If you are stronger, try not to let enemy flee. Make wise use of Slow/Haste and Wait function in order to wipe the entire troop. Always refer to the turn sequence on top of screen and decide what to do next. You may need to sacrifice some own creatures by not attacking that turn and let enemy finish their moves. If you hit enemy too hard at the beginning but unable to finish them in that round, they will flee.

I love Shackles of War. Another good way to capture enemy hero is to let them capture your town, an empty one of course. I will not build turret or moat in that town normally. Enemy will tent to capture the town even if you are waiting nearby. They will stay in town in that turn and that is the best time for you to defeat them and grab all the artifacts. Furthermore, you get extra 3000 exp for defeating town. Just avoid doing this during change of week…

Get the spells you need by S/L. I will always have Town Portal and Resurrect.

S/L is not a must to win the game. In fact it is not the spirit of playing game; that is why the author has tried to stop it, but kind enough to leave an exception for player that is willing to spend extra effort for it. It may give you preferred result or great starting advantages by doing that, but will waste you a great amount of time. If you feel S/L will build your blood pressure up, forget it; you play game for pleasure not for pressure. Impatience and elite player will not care about this. S/L is useless in multiplayer game. However, your game, your choice!