Leaders and heroes
Leaders
In addition to the three generals for the different types of troops (swordsmen, bowmen, riders), every army is lead by a commander-in-chief. This commander-in-chief can be a hero. Does the army not have a heroe the leader value of the commander-in-chief is 5. The leader value of a hero is half the hero level. (e.g. hero level 30 -> leader value 15). The hero abilities do not count regarding the combat value of the hero. The leader of militia always has a combat value of 2,5.
Heroes
You need a heroes' shrine to gain loyalty of heroes. For each hero one shrine is needed. After completion or reconstruction of a shrine, a random (regarding the main ability) hero appears after an unpredictable amount of ticks. 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 one single rider to pick up the hero to deliver the hero quickly to another army.
If two armies get merged and both are leaded by a heroe, the heroe with the higher experience will be the new leader. The other heroe will be lost for ever. . A hero can be passed to another army by placing two armies on the same field. The take-over army mustn´t have a hero. In the hero popup the hero can be switched to another army by selecting the target army. In addition you can park a hero at a hero shrine temporary. The assignment of the hero to his origin hero shrine will change. You can park three heroes parallel in one hero shrine.
New heroes start with level 11 and are better suited as commander-in-chief as regulars. Similar to a general heroes gain experience by fighting battles and will increase their level. The higher the heroe's shrine is upgraded, to which the hero is assigned to, the more experience a hero can gain from battles. Due to the leader value, the level of your hero directly influences the troop quality of the army he is leading in battle, but not other (allied) armies on the same field.
Each hero has in addition to the leader value 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 (attribute a hero has from the beginning) and extra abilities. The level of a hero is dependent on the experience he has (= XP). This level is divided between main and extra abilities. New heroes start with level 11. The main ability starts by 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 a 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 a extra ability to level 2, to add another new extra ability 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 ero level while fighting several battles in a row, instead the combat values remain the same as before reaching the next hero's level.
In the hero popup an assortment of abilities appears by 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
- Master Strategist -> Armorer
- Born Leader -> Leader
- Master Archer -> Bowyer
- Swordmaster -> Swordmaster
- Outstanding Cavalier -> Crusader
- Mighty Warrior -> Might
- Healer -> Healer
- Tactician -> Regeneration
- Castle Master -> Engineer
- Resistance Fighter -> Ambush
The main and extra abilites
- Armorer -> quicker gain of unit experience (+1.5% each level)
- Leader -> quicker gain of experience for the generals (+2% each level)
- Bowyer -> raises the fighting power of the archers. The limit for the at most usable archer's portion of an army rises by 1.5% per level. The effect of the light support fire is slightly increased.
- Swordmaster -> enhances the value of swordsmen
- Crusader -> increases the combat power of horsemen
- Might -> increases combat value +1 each level
- Healer -> reduces the casualties of the army by 1.5% each level
- Regeneration -> reduces the exhaustion caused by the battle by 3% for each level. This has no influence on the exhaustion caused by the population (= population/100)
- Engineer -> increases the combat value in castle battles (defence or attack; +1.33 each Level)
- Ambush -> increases the combat power in wood and mountains (+1.2 each level)
- Negate -> reduces malus of horsemen in wood, mountains, castles and towns (2 for each level)
- 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)
- Purser -> reduces the pay of his army (10% for each level)
- Influence -> enhances militia, i.e. increases the value of militia by 5 for each level
- Scout -> the army's range of sight is increased (like lighthouse, max. 3 level = 3 fields)
- Blessing -> increases the moral (+1 each level)
- Blacksmith -> increase of the weapons quality (+1 each level)
- 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 2/3 swordsmen and 1/3 archers (like militia).
- Transport -> the number of units needed for the transport of siege towers and trebuchets is reduced (each level 10% less units)
Exceptions
For the hero types Master Archer, Swordmaster, Outstanding Cavalier, Mighty Warrior, the following extra abilities are not available, because of the strength of their main abilities:
- Swordmaster: Bowyer, Might, Crusader
- Mighty Warrior: Swordmaster, Bowyer, Crusader
- Master Archer: Swordmaster, Might, Crusader
- Outstanding Cavalier: Swordmaster, Bowyer, Might