Leaders and heroes

Version 4.1

Leaders

• In addition to the three generals for the different types of troops (swordsmen, spearmen, bowmen, horsemen), every army is captained by a commander-in-chief. This commander-in-chief can be a hero. If the army does not have a hero, the level of the commander-in-chief will be 10. If the commander-in-chief is a hero, the level of the respective hero will be used for calculating the combat value - the individual abilities of the hero play no role here.
• The leader of militia always has level 5.
• The level of the commander-in-chief is used to calculate the troop size factor.

Heroes

• You need a heroes' shrine to gain the loyalty of heroes. For each hero one shrine is needed. After completion or reconstruction of a shrine, a random (regarding the main ability) hero (1) appears after a random amount of ticks.
• If you select a hero's shrine, you can see the probability (2) that a hero will join you next turn. This probability will increase each turn.

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• As soon as the hero has pledged eternal loyalty to you he can be picked up by one of your armies and be instated as their commander-in-chief. You can use a single hoeseman to pick up the hero and deliver him quickly to another army. If you click on the picture of the hero at the hero's shrine (1), a popup window will open and you can assign the hero to an army (3) on the same field.

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• As soon as the hero has been assigned to an army, he will be shown next to the army (4):

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• A hero can be passed from one army to another army by placing two armies on the same field. The take-over army must not have a hero. In the hero popup the hero can be switched to another army by selecting the target army.

• If two armies are merged and both are led by a hero, the hero with the higher experience will become the new leader. The other hero will be lost for ever.

• In addition you can temporarily park a hero at a hero's shrine. The assignment of the hero to his original hero's shrine will not change. You can park up to three heroes at one hero's shrine.

• New heroes start with level 11 and are therfore better suited as commander-in-chief as regulars. Similar to generals, heroes gain experience by fighting battles and will increase their level. The higher the upgrade level of the heroe's shrine, to which the hero is assigned to, the more experience a hero can gain from battles. The level of your hero directly influences the troop size factor of the army he is leading in battle, but not other (allied) armies on the same field.

• Heroes are immortal. If the army of your hero is annihilated, your hero will be "broken" and return to his hero's shrine after some time. If there is no free shrine available at his time of return, the hero will have to wait until a new shrine is finished or becomes available. A broken hero will loose some of his XP, but none of his levels.

• In addition to the effect on troop size factor calcualtion, a hero has special abilities which also influence the leading army. How strong these abilities influence the army is dependent on the hero’s experience level. There are main abilities (attributed to a hero right from the beginning) and extra abilities.

• The level of a hero is dependent on the experience he has (= XP). This level is distributed between main and extra abilities. New heroes start with level 11 (exception: late breaker get heroes with with a higher base level right from the beginning). The main ability starts at level 10 and you can add one level of your choice to a new extra ability or the already existing main ability. The main ability can only be upgraded until level 20, the extra abilities until level 5 (the ability "scout" only until level 3).

• The additional level upgrades for extra abilities are continuously activated. The first level of an extra ability is available at hero level 11 (at the very beginning), the second level at hero level 15, the third at hero level 20, the fourth at hero level 25 and the fifth at hero level 30. That means that you can add a new extra ability at level 1 or upgrade the main ability by 1 level if the hero reaches hero level 12. By reaching hero level 15 you can decide to either upgrade an extra ability to level 2, to add another new extra ability at level 1 or to upgrade the main ability by one more level.

• By reaching the next hero level you have to add the new level upgrade by yourself. That means that the level of the abilities don´t upgrade automatically, if the hero gains the next hero level while fighting several battles in a row, the combat values remain the same as before reaching the next hero's level.

• In the hero popup an assortment of abilities appears when reaching a new hero level. A “+” indicates that you can choose a new extra ability, a “green arrow” that you can upgrade the main ability or one of the already existing extra abilities. You can also see the green arrow in the unit summary, if you can upgrade or add an ability.

The heroes and their main abilities

Hero	Ability
Master Strategist	Armorer
Born Leader	Leader
Master Archer	Bowyer
Spearmaster	Spearmaster
Swordmaster	Swordmaster
Outstanding Cavalier	Crusader
Mighty Warrior	Might
Healer	Healer
Castle Master	Engineer
Resistance Fighter	Ambush
Admiral	Seafarer

The main and extra abilities

Ability	Description	Playing style
Armorer	quicker gain of unit experience (+1.5% each level)
Leader	quicker gain of experience for the generals (+2% each level)
Bowyer	increases the moral points of the army (2 × level of ability × contingent of archers). The limit for the maximal usable fraction of archers increases by 1.5% per level	settlers only
Spearmaster	increases the moral points of the army (2 × level of ability × contingent of spearmen)	settlers only
Swordmaster	increases the moral points of the army (2 × level of ability × contingent of swordsmen)	warriors only
Crusader	increases the moral points of the army (2 × level of ability × contingent of horsemen)	warriors only
Might	increases the moral points of the army (1.5 × level of ability)	warriors only
Healer	reduces the casualties of the army by 1.5% per level and the exhaustion caused by the battle by 3% per level. This has no influence on the exhaustion caused by the passove resistance of the populace(= population/100)	settlers only
Engineer	increases the moral points of the army when attacking or defending castles (3 × level of ability)
Ambush	increases the moral points of the army (2.5 × level of ability × contingent of archers) when fighting in woods or mountains
Negate	increases the terrain factor of horsemen in woods, mountains, castles, harbors, and towns by 0.025 per level (max. 1) and therefore reduces the penalty for horsemen in difficult terrain
Builder	Construction is faster and cheaper on the current field of the hero (per level 10% faster / cheaper). The hero must stand on the field at the time the order for construction is given (after the order he can leave the field)	settlers only
Purser	reduces the pay of his army (10% for each level)
Influence	increases the moral points of the militia (3 × level of ability)
Scout	the army's range of sight is increased (like Lighthouse, max. 3 level = 3 fields)
Blessing	increases the moral points of the army (3 × level of ability)	settlers only
Blacksmith	increase of the weapons quality (0.5 × level of ability)	warriors only
Glory	raises the probability that new recruits can be won from the population of a newly conquered field (1-5% of the militia / level). This does not apply for armies which consist solely of horsemen. These new recruits have 40 XP and are 1/5 swordsmen, 3/5 spearmen, and 1/5 archers (like militia).
Transport	the number of units needed for the transport of siege towers and trebuchets is reduced (each level 10% less units)
Seafarer	Increased the combat value of your fleet during the ramming phase of sea battles

Differences between Settlers and Warriors

The following abilities are only available to Settlers:

• Bowyer
• Spearmaster
• Healer
• Builder
• Blessing

The following abilities are only available to Warriors:

• Swordmaster
• Crusader
• Might
• Blacksmith