Elemental Forums
I've been trying a lot of different openings with my first champion, wanted to hear what other people do.
Do you put them in a city to knock out unrest, have them scout the map, focus on army building and get them to go monster hunting, monster hunt solo because your that much of a baller, etc.
Have him scout whilst his troops are training, then he typically becomes the Home Guard. Commander path is automatic for the first hero, and when not fighting invaders he's parked in the city with highest unrest.
I'll make a commander if there are no other pressing matters to attend to.
But sometimes if I really need a lot of assistance taking out monsters (or other trouble) nearby my cities early on, I make my first champion an all-out healer. Especially if one of the first champions offered has life magic. This way I don't have to worry about my vulnerable (at this point anyway) sovereign getting taken out in battle, or losing my precious early-game henchmen.
Getting a strong healing mage/cleric early on has saved my butt many times.
It depends in part as two which Champion options I have available to me as well as what my start game conditions are as well as what compliments my choice of sovereign.
- I've styled a healer hero.
- I've styled a Commander for roads and research.
- I've styled an assassin for AI sovereign ganking.
- I've styled a defender to keep my fragile units alive,
It really really depends.
When playing seriously (only for ridiculous or insane) -> Either Commander (mainly for road, -unrest is automatic nice bonus too) or Mage (couple of Summoner traits then either go life 3 or blizzard and mantle of ocean if the game hasn't reach the point of winnable).
Other than that, depends on the faction i use. (i don't play custom faction/sovereign)
My first hero always stays in the sovereign's stack. If possible, I choose a healer hero. What path I choose for him depends on his abilities, but I like to make my first hero go down the defender path.
My second hero starts a new stack, which goes exploring to gain xp and level up, and then "stays home" to guard against wandering monsters or enemy. AI.
If my Sovereign is a Mage, I have him join up with me at first and maybe get him a level, possibly two. Then use him to manage unrest.
With everything else, I am always looking for a good a mage to run an army, and I might level him up more. But if he isnt suited for being a Mage, unrest management.
Most end up being weaker than a unit you can build, and trying to level them late game can end up troublesome.
Early game they eat way too much exp, and it simply isnt worth it.
All in all if they didnt manage unrest I probably would just dismiss them. (Unless I need a Mage, or they have magic spells I could use)
Playing insane difficulty....
If Mancers, commander -> unrest 1 and sit somewhere to reduce unrest by 15%, or mage -> summon units and lead an army.
If any other faction, commander -> road building and run around in front of the sovereign's army, building 3 roads so that the army can move 4-6 steps instead of 2-3.
my first champ usually becomes a defender and joins the army of my sov. doesn't take long to get him to level 4-5 at which point he's quite solid. later on i may split them up. my armies often end up with 2 champs, since i find them more useful than another trained unit and i don't really care about the XP penalty (it's not as bad as it may seem - two champs sharing their XP are about 75% of the level of a single champ without split).
This is my first game mind you, so take it with a grain of salt.
My first hero I made a commander. For a while he stayed with the sovereign army running around, collecting loot and leveling up.
Now a little later in the game he leads the army that is dedicated to defending the only iron mine I've been able to get access to so far. It's at a choke point in the land between the rest of my nation and two empire nations that I'm constantly at war with. He holds them back, and ensures that I keep getting iron from that mine because I never seem to have enough.
Usually commander for roads
Somewhat depends on what I make my sov. If my sov is a mage I may go with a warrior, but usually I go warrior with sov so first is commander.
Commander, road making is priceless.
Also, they are always with my sovereign to help in quests and fights, and tend to have over 5 wounds by the time they are strong enough to not die all the time. Then it just rolls from there.
I am about to get another champion and its past my stack cap, so maybe I will send him to some city to reduce unrest. (First playthrough, was NOT expected that massive bump in unrest. And just now learned of the fortress special improvement.)
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