Hints: long before your academy is level 3 idling will become the most efficient in-game time use. Students will level faster and you'll gain gold faster than questing. Focus on the lounge, not it's less-profitable cousin, the canteen. That said, more than 2-3 is excessive. The best way to increase income is not another lounge at that point, but another classroom. Your parties for hunt quests should be one medica and 3 paladins. While the other classes have quest lines, they're underpowered, so trash their buildings and build more classrooms when you finish the quests. Don't forget to upgrade and put a mentor in each of your classrooms.
'We had the same interests' - "Yeah, sometimes when I'm bored I just like to break the laws. ...the laws of PHYSICS!"
"Oh really? Me too!"
"Yeah, and I also like to walk in traffic."
"Hmm. That seems a bit-- OHNOLOOKOUT!"
I've got to be honest: I feel like I was suckered into playing (for the second time) a game that I thought was mediocre but had neat potential the first time. I feel a bit insulted that you didn't fix ANYTHING that folks wanted the first time, including a "bunch up" button, the ability to buy off (or, for an exhorbitant rate, buy the ability to toggle) team mates that we didn't want anymore, having healthy teammates replace injured teammates, a teammate preference list that allows our preferred teammates to replace a less-preferred teammate, something to do with our massive quantities of cash after we've already blown through the upgrades, etc. Add in bugs that weren't present before (like the way that buying flamethrowers automatically adds grenadiers even if you didn't unlock them) and this just feels like an inferior version of the last game.
I knew from the last game that I didn't want to buy any of the allies other than the rocket launchers and maybe marksmen, so I didn't. ...so why when I bought the grenadier UPGRADE (to flamethrowers) but not the grenadiers themselves did the grenadiers now start showing up? >:(
If I am ever a battalion commander and then am forced to a) walk onto the battlefield alone, b) only allowed to command about a dozen men, and c) am surrounded by riflemen who insist on only shooting straight forward, as opposed to actually AT the enemy, well, that'll be a bad day.
I am sure that special forces units around the world would be happy to be educated on the fact that if you want to rescue an ally and keep him safe from harm that you should run him over with a jeep. Twice, if possible.
Man, it would be REALLY nice if we could get ANY help on where the last few red blots are in a level. I'd be happy to get no blue blots (and thus, not see them or be confused) if only I could actually FIND the last few red ones.
The auto-lock is FANTASTIC. The only thing better would be some sort of visual indicator that the piece was locked when we put it down, like a glowing outline or something.
If I never saw the pre-fight animations again ("Whoa! There's too many!" and the big, strong, mysterious boss animations, etc.) I'd still have seen them a few thousand times too many. What the hell is the point of making us watch an animation several thousand times for no reason? I KNOW I'm fighting a monster. You already made me click a confirmation box to prove that I was aware of it. And while we're at it, why the hell do I have to click the FIGHT! button every time? Just let me use items if I want before my first action that actually depletes AP.
It occurs to me that there are a lot of people complaining about the delay between things you can do and a lot of dev comments along the lines of, "it's realistic and you should just do other things." This seems tantamount to me to saying, "it's a GOOD thing that you can't do the parts you find fun, go do other things in the mean time." While I hope the game makes the money that the developer hopes for, I think I'll go right ahead and do other things.
An "Auto-sell anything weaker than the gear I have on" option sure would be nice. As would a "shift-click to sell this piece of equipment/scroll" option.
There's too little variety in high-end loadouts. No one in their right mind, for instance, would ever equip a ring if they have any ankh at all. The swords that reduce dex do so much more damage that they're a far better deal than the penalty-free swords, too. It's possible that you might decide to go with a high-def/high-arm suit of armor, but by the end you're casting so many spells (and healing is so cheap) that there's little reason not to use the weaker armor that provides all of the neat bonuses like bonus MP production. By the end I felt like I was walking through a museum with things that shot at me, not like I was adventuring and had meaningful choices to make.
Joshtch's strategy is absolutely right for ALL maps, with a few small tweaks: Max out hero's attack. Then max health and speed. Fill the mage, then cannon, then soldier trees. For each map: 1. Put 1-2 mages at all entrances. 2. 1 solder by each exit, on last build point. 3. 1 cannon at points next to soldiers. Have soldiers attack only minions and cannons attack enemy closest to end. 4. Mages everywhere else. 5. Have hero kill giants. Prioritize mammoth. 6. Upgrade smart based on what's coming next. Keep towers around the same level. 7. Spells: save berzerk and meteor for giants. Use wind to pull back minions (esp. ghosts) that get past your defenses. Click the promotion links for the 28 points. Please + this if it helps. Easy peasy.
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