What would you buy?

[tabanli]

Griffons really are very slow now. I don't always pillage them, but I don't buy them.

To answer the "what would you build" question. Tablani, you haven't given me enough information to make an informed choice. Are there many ruins nearby? What level are they? Are there temples nearby? Those are factors that I usually consider when making my intial unit purchase.

For example, I would build green dragon over demons if I will have access to a strength temple.

This is a good note. I think ruins and how much gold the cities are generating are important parameters as well. Will II get more gold in the future or it is all there is? So if I think if I am likely to get more gold, demons could be a good choice since I can buy at multiple cities one by one and still keep enough for gold every turn for good hero offers and bonus units. However if it is unlikely to get more gold, than maybe I should save some for the future and train Green Dragons at one city only.

I agree with you about Gryphons. They are too slow and eagles eat them like cupcakes out in the open. I don't auto-pillage them but I never buy them either.

[KGB]

Gryphons now only have value on maps where there is a lot of ridge/water terrain that they can lurk on while raiding cities and to avoid having to change to boat mode like land units do.

Maps such as:

Land of Ghosts
Dantes Inferno
Hibbletops
Colorful Snowflake

Remember you can group 1 boat with flying units and that allows the flying unit to travel at the boat movement rate. That's a tremendous boost to the Gryphons to be able to go 15 squares.

KGB

[SoulMan]

Very strange ideas for me. What I will buy in this situation depends mostly on terrain around and distance between cities around.

1. If the distance is small (8 or less) or i need to pass mountains I will buy dwarfs (1 turn / 20 battle).
2. If the distance is avarage (9-11) and i don't need movement bonuses - spiders will be best choice for me.
3. If the distance is big (16+) i suggest to take cavaliers.
4. If huge - Wizards are not bad choice.

Then, in plundered cities i will buy spiders and heavy cavaliers mostly, then at least one catapult and elephant. Mammoth in some cases (aspecially if i have many dwarfs or there will be many snow to pass in early/mid-game). Those units are way cheaper than Demons and Dragons, they let me expand even quicker, and they are more powerful in the most cases (fighting in cities or open terrain). Red dragons and mass Demons are very nice to buy in mid-game in this conditions, but i prefer to get Devils and Great Archon to support my spiders/elephant stacks). Massing Medusa, aspecially if You are using assassin hero is not bad idea as well. With this strategy I will be able to buy more heroes early as well, so my heroes will be more powerful according to their price. In early-mid game I will sacrifice some cities to produce just Heavy infantries to be sure that enemy will not raze my cities with scouts and to be able to put something to defense after I take enemy city. It's important to scout enemy as early as possible, so I will need to sacrifice some productions for eagles or scouts. If i notice that enemy has many dragons/demons (like you suggested) I will counter it with just those eagles and - Wizards.

[gil]

id go for hero + allay offer

[smursh]

For me it would depend on the terrain as I want to expand quickly with my second hero. If it is broken terrain with few roads the GD would be best. If there are a lot of roads available I'd probably buy hv. calv and hope for a hero with allies offer so that I can start taking more cities faster.

[Versace]

Greed Dragons every time, now that they are 3 turns only. They are great from start to finish.

Interestingly green dragons can be better for a good hero stack than demons as they can get to 75 or close with bonuses and they have that one extra hit. Another big thing is that the rest of them don't suffer from losing swarm when some of them are killed.

Huge individual speed for taking neutrals on their own and +2 group move. Allow for a really fast moving hero stack were demons would slow it down.

This is my favourite thing to buy really. Another good buy for long games are ghosts who stack their 8% ambush and they allow searching of higher level ruins, either because you can't get enough UL otherwise or so you can spend the points to other things.

[fantastory]

Deamons are better than greens dragons only when there is 5 of them.