Best hero? (Beta3)

[ams16]

On almost any map, I start with the Dark Knight, unless there are a significant number of ruins to hit in the first 5-8 turns. In that situation, I'm not sure whether the Paladin (levels faster) or the Valkerie (gets to various places on the map faster) is better.

I start with the Dark Knight because of the +1 stack, which is awesome for gobbling up neutral cities at the beginning. However, in a larger game, when I end up building pegasi or elephants or something, I tend towards the Paladin.

Thoughts?

[LPhillips]

I find the heroes to be highly situational. Dreadlord is often a good choice in the absence of allies or if you choose to accept elementals/medusas, but that's about it. I generally choose Valkerie if I buy fast-moving allies, and Paladin if I expect the opportunity to capitalize on XP.

I find that Paladins tend to quickly become the prominent hero because of their XP gain. Level~10 is just better than level~7. Etc.

I chose Valkerie recently to grab up the large number of accessible ruins on one map. I chose it again on another to keep up with the two Demons she came with, and search distant ruins and look for backdoors to the enemy. I was successful in both tactics.

Dreadlord is very useful in certain circumstances. But he quickly loses his advantage when +stack allies enter the field or enemy heroes with better movement get the drop on him. He can't afford not to strike first. Then again, that's his advantage. I lost my position in one of those games because I had to attack the enemy Dreadlord with a 60% chance of victory, or defend from him the next turn with a 20% chance (he was also being reinforced). I lost the battle, boosting his hero's level, and I didn't manage to kill the guy off until today. Now I'm sitting on 6 cities instead of 11, practically out of the game

[Pillager]

I find grabbing ruins is (usually) the most productive task for my first hero. So, the valkyrie is my early hero of choice, due to her speed advantage. The paladin is nearly as good, since he will benefit from the XP granted by ruins more than the other heroes. The dreadknight is, far and away, the worst ruin hunter.

My most powerful heroes have all been paladins.

[kenc80]

likewise, its very situational, i usually pick paladin first and in late games i get the valkyrie if i get dragon or demon allies. I'm also basically a pegasi whore in mid-late games so i usually dont pick the dreads bc he moves so slow.

However at a place like high seas combat i will start with a dreadknight since there is a lot of boat action at the beginning. same at inland sea war.