How do the AI Heroes level up so fast?

from Elemental Forums

I started my first game with difficulty of best AI but without the cheating.  My Leader has done all the exploring and participated in every battle.  I declared war and forced one of my enemies to surrender after my Leader (with army) captured several of his cities.  My Leader is now level 8 which I thought was pretty good.  I discovered the enemy Leader, who surrendered, and he is level 14!  How did he outlevel me by so much?  My Leader has been battling almost constantly.  Am I missing some game fundamental?

 

Thanks for the help!

14,851 views 8 replies
Reply #1 from Elemental Forums Top


If you leader is battling with other champions that can reduce the XP your sovereign gets and thus you have a lower level. Note that you get reduced XP only with other champions in the party not the other units.

Reply #2 from LittleTinyFrogs Forums Top

Make sure you're going on quests. They give a lot of XP. Also, like Parrot said, don't group champions together. 

Offworld Trading Company
Reply #3 from Elemental Forums Top

The AI uses Autobattle which in some cases is better off than using manual battle, in other cases it is worse off. Without experimentation its hard to say if there is an advantage to using it but that could be the case. The benefit is loosing less hp/battle letting you fight without having to rest.

 

Another thing is that the AI isn't afraid to suicide their sovereign and champions against monsters. This means that potentially they can level up faster by fighting battles that they can just barely win while human players might wait until they are sure they can win. 

 

I know personally my leveling is slowed because I like to have my heroes trade items which the AI probably never does. I also focus on picking up treasures lying on the ground more than killing monsters, while the AI sometimes ignores treasures and focuses on monsters. Over the course of 100 turns these small advantages can add up. Also, now the AI seems to get potential pretty often so not choosing potential could slow you down as well. Don't forget about the 10% bonus for Altar and the 10% bonus for having the Brilliant trait. 

Reply #4 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting Frogboy, reply 2
Make sure you're going on quests. They give a lot of XP. Also, like Parrot said, don't group champions together. 
End of Frogboy's quote

I would love if both of these were clear by playing the game, I never get a notice that tells me how many XP I get from completing a quest, for example.

That said, I usually run around with my sovereign solo all game, or with trained units (running with trained units doesn't drain xp), and outlevel my enemy by pretty big margins.

Sincerely
~ Kongdej

Reply #5 from Elemental Forums Top

Its not the number of battles you fight, its what you fight.

Tougher monsters give tons more exp than weaker ones. The cignys (sp?) for example gives tons of exp. Kill 3 of them in one fight to get what you get from 10 mite battles.

Reply #6 from Elemental Forums Top

In my games, it is not unusual to have a level 15 sovereign by turn 30.  In fact, in my latest one, I hit level 15 on turn 32, and that's on Insane, where monsters have three times the hit points. 

Of course, Gank, your sovereign was busy taking over an enemy Empire, while the enemy guy was wandering about doing quests and leveling up. History proved YOU right.

Reply #7 from Elemental Forums Top

Thanks for the answers!  My Sovereign has been in a party with 2 other Champions, so the XP has been shared.  I'll have to split them up if I want to level them faster.

Reply #8 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting Gank, reply 8
Thanks for the answers!  My Sovereign has been in a party with 2 other Champions, so the XP has been shared.  I'll have to split them up if I want to level them faster.
End of Gank's quote

 

One way to take on more powerful enemies with fewer champions is to allow summons to take up a part of the slack.  Archer units developed in cities help, too.