[iOS] Hero Academy Review and Discussion

[leo8877]

However I'll always have this:

[wonderpug]

Basically my Wraith is eating Pug's whole team this match 

It's been interesting (read: painful) to experiment in ways from recovering from the wraith onslaught.  In retrospect, I should have discarded tiles aplenty until I got a scroll to help me take him down in one turn.  The only reason he went down just now was because I think you basically felt sorry for me.

[Harkonis]

How exactly is TYT pronounced?  Is it "tight" or "tit"?!??!

Hark likes playing with TYTs 

there is truth in what you're saying 

[USMC Kato]

However I'll always have this:

 

[USMC Kato]

However I'll always have this:

 

Leo's got my number in this game
Ritt too
Hark sometimes 

[skystride]

I lost 90% of my matches but somehow I beat Kato so it's all good 

[USMC Kato]

I lost 90% of my matches but somehow I beat Kato so it's all good 

I'm a whore, everybody in this thread got a piece of me 

[rittchard]

I lost 90% of my matches but somehow I beat Kato so it's all good 

I'm a whore, everybody in this thread got a piece of me 

...and it tastes soooooooo good!

[Isgrimnur]

I'm in as Isgrimnur.

[wonderpug]

I'm getting a better sense of how you need to play conservatively enough to protect your guys, but it's pretty funny playing others with the same idea. Big ol' standoff.

Much like the standoff seen in Yojimbo, starring Toshiro Mifune!

[Thry]

Wow love the polish! Awesome so far...

I'm in as "Limes"

[Harkonis]

Prepare to be put in a coconut 

[Purge]

I dl'd it. Purge. I just need to learn it.
Sent from my SGH-i917R using Board Express

[Jarrodhk]

Found the game fun for a day or so, but, for some reason it just doesn't hold my attention.

Will try and finish out the games I have going.

[kathode]

I really enjoy it.  I just wish there was an AI mode I could play against.  And as long as I'm wishing, also wish it came in native ipad resolution.  But I play scaled up and it's not bad.

I'm also pretty terrible at the game and get steamrolled quite often.  I did manage to eke out a win against Hark, but it came down to literally the last unit for both of us, both of them doubled over from being hurt, and I was just one turn ahead and took him out.  I have a lot of trouble putting off attacking units in favor of attacking the crystals.  

[Gratch]

Found the game fun for a day or so, but, for some reason it just doesn't hold my attention.

Will try and finish out the games I have going.

Kinda how I'm feeling as well.  Will finish up my current games, but can't imagine I'll spend much more time with it.

[Harkonis]

There are a lot of intricate things i like, but being able to move right through enemy units has decided two games today and feels very wrong

[USMC Kato]

There are a lot of intricate things i like, but being able to move right through enemy units has decided two games today and feels very wrong

 

[Isgrimnur]

Good lord, I'm bad at this fucking game.

[Harkonis]

Good lord, I'm bad at this fucking game.

That depends, is the goal of the game to make your opponent feel like a tactical genius?
 

[Gratch]

Good lord, I'm bad at this fucking game.

That depends, is the goal of the game to make your opponent feel like a tactical genius?
 

If so, it worked.   

[msteelers]

You can't be as bad as me. I'm 0-7.

[Isgrimnur]

I'm exactly as bad as you.

[wonderpug]

I'm still enjoying the game and I'm eager to see what new teams come out, but as people learn the game mechanics it seems like more and more of my matches are turning into lines of cowardly soldiers lined up on opposite sides too afraid to make attacks. 

I'm not sure what you could do to fix it, but I think it's a side effect of allowing multiple moves with one unit.  With other turn based strategy games, there's more emphasis on positioning than there is on hit and run tactics--well, I guess because you can't do hit and run tactics.

The other thing about the multiple move mechanic is that it supercharges any damage upgrades, since that one unit can attack five times.

[USMC Kato]

I'm still enjoying the game and I'm eager to see what new teams come out, but as people learn the game mechanics it seems like more and more of my matches are turning into lines of cowardly soldiers lined up on opposite sides too afraid to make attacks. 

I'm not sure what you could do to fix it, but I think it's a side effect of allowing multiple moves with one unit.  With other turn based strategy games, there's more emphasis on positioning than there is on hit and run tactics--well, I guess because you can't do hit and run tactics.

The other thing about the multiple move mechanic is that it supercharges any damage upgrades, since that one unit can attack five times.

LOL, you and I had a match like that.  The middle of the board seemed like Korea's DMZ at times.

[skystride]

I'm still enjoying the game and I'm eager to see what new teams come out, but as people learn the game mechanics it seems like more and more of my matches are turning into lines of cowardly soldiers lined up on opposite sides too afraid to make attacks. 

I'm not sure what you could do to fix it, but I think it's a side effect of allowing multiple moves with one unit.  With other turn based strategy games, there's more emphasis on positioning than there is on hit and run tactics--well, I guess because you can't do hit and run tactics.

The other thing about the multiple move mechanic is that it supercharges any damage upgrades, since that one unit can attack five times.

This is not the only viable strategy.  Rittch beats me every game by going balls to the walls for my crystals.

[Purge]

I'm still enjoying the game and I'm eager to see what new teams come out, but as people learn the game mechanics it seems like more and more of my matches are turning into lines of cowardly soldiers lined up on opposite sides too afraid to make attacks. 

I'm not sure what you could do to fix it, but I think it's a side effect of allowing multiple moves with one unit.  With other turn based strategy games, there's more emphasis on positioning than there is on hit and run tactics--well, I guess because you can't do hit and run tactics.

The other thing about the multiple move mechanic is that it supercharges any damage upgrades, since that one unit can attack five times.

This is not the only viable strategy.  Rittch beats me every game by going balls to the walls for my crystals.

[wonderpug]

One thing I still haven't figured out about this game is why Kato cheats.

[Harkonis]

One thing I still haven't figured out about this game is why Kato cheats.

I know, right? 

[rittchard]

I think the beauty of this game is its absolute incredible depth.  As much as it looks like a cutesy TBS/JRPG, the more I play the more I liken this game to Chess than I do to FFT.  It's like Chess meets League of Legends in many ways.  You can win by flat out dominating the battlefield with a "fed" champ, or kill everyone in a war of attrition, or try to "backdoor" and take out the nexus/crystals.  And then there are sub-versions of each of these methods on how you go about achieving them.

That kind of answers Hark's complaint - does anyone ever complain that a Knight can jump over pieces in chess?  Or that a queen can move so much further than any other piece?  She's OP!!!  To me it's simply part of the game.  Things that seem "overpowered" are really just part of the way things were designed.  Once you know all the rules you have to counter them or just account for them when you play.  Sometimes that means deliberately sacrificing a piece, or using pieces as bait.  The 5 move a turn certainly changes the overall dynamic from a conventional turn-based game, but part of that helps to acheive a chess-like aspect where a single piece can completely remove another in a turn.  

There are so many ways to approach a match, it depends a lot on who you are playing and their moves.  The games I've won have generally been because people will expose their crystals and neglect to defend the crystal buff spots.  The games I lose tend to be the unit attrition ones, as I tend to not save up units the way others seem to do well.    

I suspect real "masters" of the game will emerge, ones that have moves and countermoves, memorizing which pieces you have put into play, trying to calculate things ahead of time and envisioning all the possible outcomes, etc.

[skystride]

Things that seem "overpowered" are really just part of the way things were designed.

I think you're giving a little bit too much credit to the developers.  Since when has anyone ever delivered a perfectly balanced game with asymmetrical sides?  There's almost always balance patches.

[USMC Kato]

One thing I still haven't figured out about this game is why Kato cheats.

I know, right? 

All lies and propaganda.  And at this point, everyone here has beaten me soundly over the past week.
Besides, it's Wonderpug that's been hacking

[Harkonis]

Kato cheats, Pug hacks.  Case closed! 

[rittchard]

Things that seem "overpowered" are really just part of the way things were designed.

I think you're giving a little bit too much credit to the developers.  Since when has anyone ever delivered a perfectly balanced game with asymmetrical sides?  There's almost always balance patches.

Actually that's a good question.  I've played with approx. 20 (?) different people now, probably closing in on a hundred games.  Almost always I just pick random as I don't feel like either side really has a definitive advantage.  I've had good and bad games with each, dominated with the wraith a couple times but I think won more overall as Council.  So far no one seems to have claimed one particular side is better than the other, that I know of.  Which seems like a pretty solid job of balancing if you ask me.  I think given that the game is turn based, the number of units relatively low, and the field is so small, they may have done calculations to ensure certain things balanced out. 


P.S.  Yeah, pug definitely haxx!

[wonderpug]

The devs have said on twitter that they're closely monitoring the stats, and that so far the win/loss between the two teams are pretty even.

[wonderpug]

The devs have also said that Kato cheats.

[Harkonis]

Things that seem "overpowered" are really just part of the way things were designed.

I think you're giving a little bit too much credit to the developers.  Since when has anyone ever delivered a perfectly balanced game with asymmetrical sides?  There's almost always balance patches.

Actually that's a good question.  I've played with approx. 20 (?) different people now, probably closing in on a hundred games.  Almost always I just pick random as I don't feel like either side really has a definitive advantage.  I've had good and bad games with each, dominated with the wraith a couple times but I think won more overall as Council.  So far no one seems to have claimed one particular side is better than the other, that I know of.  Which seems like a pretty solid job of balancing if you ask me.  I think given that the game is turn based, the number of units relatively low, and the field is so small, they may have done calculations to ensure certain things balanced out. 


P.S.  Yeah, pug definitely haxx!

I will, Council is the stronger team of the two.

[USMC Kato]

The Devs have twittered that Wonderpug has been fined for unsportsmanlike conduct for buying 50 taunts, and using them all in one match

[wonderpug]

Scrolls - Use them early-mid game when it will give you just enough to take out a high value unit, or throw them back into the bag for those late-game sticky situations?

It's so hard to resist the former, but I've had several matches recently on both offense and defense where an upgraded unit is stomping all over the spawning area and there is literally no possible way to recover without having a scroll to fight back that upgraded unit enough to get a new foothold.

[Harkonis]

Both are legitimate uses imo.  If using them early will get you easy damage on their crystal or turn the tide at least with a 2 kill in one turn play.  Otherwise you are better off saving them for a ninja or wraith imo.