LIFE Realm

[Nelphine]

Also recall, while summons can have conjuror, life can get divine order - and give it away to AI, who will cast it if it helps them. Buffs can be even cheaper than summons, especially in later game. (Buffing a unit to rare summon status only costs about 300 mana before reductions.)

[Seravy]

(Buffing a unit to rare summon status only costs about 300 mana before reductions.)

The problem might be that rare and very rare units are still not powerful enough for their cost. I've buffed them several times already but it's really hard to judge how powerful they need to be.

(then again, rare summons are 300-500 mana. Only very rares are more. So it might be ok, as their abilities are generally better than just having high stats)

[Nelphine]

I think rates and very rares are fine. I even think buffing is fine, even if the AI can't do it as well as the human. My point is that if life AI spammed buffs like other AI spam summons, they'd be better off.

[Seravy]

I think rates and very rares are fine. I even think buffing is fine, even if the AI can't do it as well as the human. My point is that if life AI spammed buffs like other AI spam summons, they'd be better off.

Since failing to find a summoning spell automatically redirects to casting a unit buff, they should be doing that, at least until they get Unicorns they have nothing else to cast (same is true for city buffs, if none can be used, summon is done, which then falls back to unit buffs). Until Archangel, they are unlikely to spend a significant portion of their skill on summoning, unless they have another realm, as Angel and Unicorns don't boost summoning priority that much. (They are expensive though compared to a typical buff so this might be wrong.)

(Divine Order should also help for this, as it boosts buff priority and reduces summon priority at the same time.)

I don't think it's too hard to deal with buffed units as a human player though, as long as it's the common Life buffs, and Lionheart. Invulnerability can be a problem.

[Nelphine]

Of course its not hard to deal with them. But its not hard to deal with normal troops or summons either. But every little bit adds up.

[Catwalk]

I agree that part of the problem with Heroism on heroes is the economic traits, but the problem definitely persists without them. Give me any two starting heroes + Warlord + 6x Life + Tactician and I'm going to tear up the AI. Add some riff raff and their fortress goes down. That's way too much power. Part of Seravy's vision for heroes is that heroes should be cultivated over a long period of time. This isn't what's happening if you have Life books. You get a monster straight out of the gate, with zero effort.

[Seravy]

What about this :

Heroism
The target non-hero unit becomes Elite. The target hero unit receives +5 experience at the end of turn. The spell is automatically dispelled if the unit reaches Elite.

or something like it. The idea is, you don't get the levels instantly, but get it over time instead.

[Catwalk]

That's still pretty easy, why have it work on heroes at all? It's much easier to balance heroes without a "win" spell, and it's much easier to balance Heroism without heroes as possible targets. And for lore reasons (not the main thing for me, but of some relevance), it's just silly to have a spell that makes your heroes heroic. Heroism is an excellent spell without casting it on heroes. And with higher starting health, it's very doable to find lairs they can take on together with a small stack.

[Nelphine]

I'd be willing to try the experience version. That would take long enough to be reasonable in my eyes. (I agree somewhat with catwalk as well, but I already simply don't play with heroes as offensive units. -).

[Catwalk]

That would be a messy solution, imagine the help text. And it would encourage players to sit around with their heroes waiting for XP before using them. If possible (probably not), I'd go the opposite direction and remove the 1 free XP from and the 2 from Armsmaster.