Diamond suit

Thanks to Gen. DARK505 for providing the stats on the Diamond suit.
The Diamond suit is a new suit introduced during this current Easter event.

Here are the comparisons :

1. Main stat :
Each piece (both Diamond and Lion) adds 28 to 29 to one of the main stat (STR/DEF/AGI/DEX).

2. Armor :
Each piece (both Diamond and Lion) adds 280-300 to Armor.

3. Contest Resistance :
Each piece (both Diamond and Lion) adds 48 to 51 to one of the combat resistance skill (Slash resistance / Pierce resistance / Blunt resistance).

4. Skill :
Each piece (both Diamond and Lion) adds 8-9 to one skill, and that skill can be combat, contest or politics.

5. Secondary stat :
I chose this last, since this is the differentiator.
A piece from the Lion suit will add to TWO secondary stats, both stats will be for contest (DMG, AMR, EVD, Crit).
A piece from the Diamond suit will add to ONE seondary stat. That stat can be war (ATK/Tactic) or contest (AMR/EVD).
Whether this stat is war or contest will greatly affect how good this suit is. See summary below.
Not sure if other secondary stats are possible from a sample size of 5, so if you have a Diamond piece with different stat, please message me in w5 (id : Sisland), pm in in forum (id : sisland).

6. Suit bonus :
When completed, the Diamond suit gives a bonus of STR +29, DEF + 29, HP + 1100.
The Lion suit bonus is DMG + 87, AMR + 116, HP + 1100.
The stat equivalent for the bonus are identical (STR + 29 = DMG +87 for the purpose of contest), but the Diamond suit bonus applies to all 3 categories (war, contest, politics).

Summary :
If you want a suit for contest, the Lion suit is clearly better as it has at least one stat in contest more than the Diamond for each piece.
If you want a suit for politics, the blue Knight suit will give 325 stats, while the Diamond suit will give 200.5 on average. So the blue Knight suit, with is clearly preferred, and if you add a purple Knight gaiter, the comparison favors the Knight suit more.
Now, this last comparison will need a table :

Suit	Military value
Blue Knight	650
Blue Knight with purple Knight gaiter	689.5
Diamond with no pieces military	563
Diamond with 1 piece military	591.5
Diamond with 2 piece military	620
Diamond with 3 piece military	648.5
Diamond with 4 piece military	677
Diamond with all pieces military	705.5

For non-donating players, the Diamond suit can be better than the blue Knight suit in war. This will depend on the secondary stat on each piece. If the secondary stat for all the Diamond pieces are military, then it will be better than the blue Knight suit with a purple Knight gaiter.

Another advantage of the Diamond suit is that it is not BoE.

For me, that advantage is too little, and the chance of getting all pieces with military stat too slim. I will stop hunting for this suit. For those who wish to continue, best of luck.

Planning a hero's skill

I don't normally recommend diversifying the skills in a hero. A hero's focus, with the exception of off-race hero, should be military. However, a hero ultimately gets 320 skill points at war level 80, and he will only need 310 skill points to master all skills in a given category. More so when a hero's specialty does not include Cav-4 and Inf combination. I hope the breakdown below helps you plan a hero's skill.

Hero with Cav-4 and Inf-5/Inf-6 specialties.
You will need to master all skills in the military tab. That leaves only 10 points for 'other uses'.
9 points in First Aid does not make sense, as a mayor without Local is rather useless. So I recommend putting the remaining 9 points in combat tab, Power Attack.

Hero with Cav-4 specialty only.
You will need 250 skill points to master the necessary skills for Cav-4. That leaves 70 points. Here, my suggestion varies depending on a hero's aptitude. If the defense aptitude is high, I'll suggest using 42 points to master Local, and he can be a standby mayor. That still leaves 28 points for some skills in combat.

Hero with Inf-6 specialty
This hero may also have Inf-5 specialty, but that won't make any difference. 217 skill points will be needed to master the necessary military skills. That leaves 103 skill points. Since Inf-6 heros don't really do well against devils or in FC, I suggest putting them in mayor position, especially at the higher levels to gain experience. Again, if the aptitude for defense is high, he will make an excellent mayor too. You will only need 73 skill points to master Local and Military Zeal. The remaining 30 points can be used in combat. If you are low on resources and intend to sit the hero in mayor most of the time, you can consider using those 30 points in other political skills.

Hero with only Inf-5 specialty
This hero require only 155 skill points to master the 5 relevant military skills. That leaves 165 skill points, more than half for other skill category. Again, I will suggest 73 points to master Local and Military Zeal, leaving 92 points for combat.

Blue Darksteel vs Purple Knight

As usual, I had wanted to write something on the Darksteel set, but I kept procastinating. However, I'll put what I know into this blog, since it is now rather urgent.

Hithere just launched an event where you collect lucky ribbons to be traded for prizes.
2000 ribbons can get you a purple knight suit.
1000 ribbons can get you a blue darksteel suit.

I shall be comparing those 2 suits, so you can quickly decide which is a better reward to claim for this event.

Purple Knight :
The min level to wear the suit is level 59.
Each item gives 2 stats (42 or 43) .
The armor bonus on each item is equivalent of 71.5 DEF stat (average 286 armor).
The suit bonus is 1000 HP + 43 STR + 43 DEF.
So it gives a total of 868.5 stats and 1000 HP, applicable to contest and military.
For politician, it is 511 stats.

Blue Darksteel :
The min level to wear the suit is level 70.
Each item gives 1 primary stat (34 or 35) and 2 secondary military only stats.
The armor bonus averages 350, similar to the Mammoth set. It translate to 87.5 DEF stat.
The suit bonus is 1300 HP + 105 ATK + 140 Speed.
The 140 speed came as a surprise, since it translate to 46 stats instead of 35.
Overall, it gives 1036 stats and 1300 HP for military.
For contest, it's value is only 691 stats and 1300 HP.
Political stats total is 172.5.


Summary ::

	Military	Contest	Political
Purple Knight	868.5 stat + 1000 HP	868.5 stat + 1000 HP	511 stat
Blue Darksteel	1036 stat + 1300 HP	691 stat + 1300 HP	172.5 stat

Intangibles :
The purple knight has a lower level requirement.
Only the purple gaiter can be found in regular game (via top legguard box).
The blue darksteel set is NOT BoE.
The blue darksteel set can be found from hunting blue maps.

Overall :
Granted that the purple knight set might be rare, but the stats, especially for military is overwhelming for the blue darksteel. This is especially true for non paying players, and offers a great chance to level the playing field. I strongly recommend getting the blue darksteel set over the purple knight, and if you can get 2000 ribbons, trade for two blue darksteel set instead of one purple knight.

Acknowledgements :
I am writing this blog in between waves of hunting for those ribbons. So I had help on some research. Thanks to pectrox for spotting the stats for purple knight and Stephanie for the stats of blue darksteel.

Good hunting.

Scroll Month Event

I was dragging my feet on writing this post, but I should write it before tomorrow, before someone makes a decision and take the first reward available.
This month, hithere decides to run a month long event. I believe this is the first time hithere runs a month long event.
Everyday in this month, you can claim a Wildered Bottle. And you can trade in for the following prizes :

5 Bottles : Scroll Month 1
Gold Key x 1, Synthesis Stone 1 x 1, Synthesis Rune 1 x 1
This is the basis for the comparisons below.

10 Bottles : Scroll Month 2
Gold Key x 1, Synthesis Stone 1 x 1, Synthesis Rune 1 x 1, Scroll Ash Lv2 x 1
It is not clear that this is better than the first prize. It may be possible to get TWO of the Scroll Month 1 rewards and the trade-off is (gold key, synthesis stone, synthesis rune) against a (scroll ash lv2).
Keep in mind that a scroll ash lv2 is worth only 1.67 synthesis rune, and a synthesis stone when used on level 3 to level 4 synthesis is worth 4.2 synthesis stone. And you get an extra gold key.

15 Bottles : Scroll Month 3
Gold Key x 2, Synthesis Stone 1 x 2, Synthesis Rune 1 x 2, Scroll Ash Lv2 x 2
Compare this with 3 times Scroll Month 1, you are trading (gold key, synthesis stone, synthesis rune) for (scroll ash lv2 x 2). If you use the synthesis rune for level 3 to level 4 synthesis, you are still better off getting Scroll Month 1.

20 Bottles : Scroll Month 4
Gold Key x 3, Synthesis Stone 1 x 3, Synthesis Rune 1 x 3, Scroll Ash Lv3 x 1
A Scroll Ash Lv3 is worth 13.67 Synthesis Rune. So now, the trade off is (gold key, synthesis stone, synthesis rune) for (scroll ash lv3). If you are using the synthesis stone for level 3 to 4, then you are better off claiming Scroll Month 4.

25 Bottles : Scroll Month 5
Gold Key x 4, Synthesis Stone 1 x 4, Synthesis Rune 1 x 4, Scroll Ash Lv4 x 1
A Scroll Ash Lv4 is worth 118.67 Synthesis Rune, so this is clearly a better reward than all the above.

30 Bottles : Scroll Month 6
Gold Key x 5, Synthesis Stone 1 x 5, Synthesis Rune 1 x 5, Scroll Card V x 1
Finally, a Scroll Card V can be used to trade for any of the level 5 scrolls. And a level 5 scroll is worth more than 900 synthesis runes, so this is definitely the ultimate reward. There are 31 days in March, so to get this, you are only allowed a single day off.

Good luck and don't jump and claim the first reward tomorrow, or you'll deny yourself the ultimate reward.

Magic Crystal

You get magic crystal from crystal mines.
Each hour, you gain one magic crystal for every crystal mine your union holds.
They are needed only for upgrading your weapon and armor technology, above level 10.
Approximately no more than 5k magic crystals are needed to upgrade Cav4 to level 30, and no more than 80k for level 40.
Prior to level 40 structures, a player never need more than 100k magic crystals (5k * 10 types * 2 {weapon/armor}). But now, to upgrade all, a player will not need have more than 1.6 million crystals. To upgrade only 3 types, no more than 480k magic crystals will be needed.

I choose to write about this now because tomorrow, there's an event to compete for the crystal mines. However, there is a bug that may cause some confusion. Usually, the number of magic crystals you have is shown on the top banner (beside where it shows the number of gold coins you have). It also shows the number of crystal mines your union holds. A bug exists that when you get more than 1 million magic crystals, those counts disappears from the banner.

There is an easy workaround. To see the number of crystals (and the number of mines your union hold), click on Union and on the Union Info tab, you should see on the bottom left a count of the magic crystals you have and in parenthesis, the number of crystal mines your union holds.

Good hunting tomorrow.

Ga-dearg

pisspounder found the Ga-dearg today, so he sent me his hero equipped with this spear, so that I can document it. Thank you pisspounder.

Ga-dearg is a Spear (weapon), and can be found from Superior Map (blue). I have hunted over 200 maps and have not seen one, so that gives you an approximation on how rare it is. It is a Purple item, BOE, with required level of 60. You can sell it for 2871 gold, but don't do that, unless you are dismissing the hero it is bounded to. The stats of the one pisspounder is :

1. DEF + 46 (primary stats - affect war/category/politics)
2. Attack + 319 (secondary stats - affect war and contest)
3. ATK +140 (secondary stats - affect war only)
4. Armor + 191 (secondary stats - affect war only)
5. Mounted Combat +12 (skill stats bonus)

Stat #1 can be any of the primary stat. Stat #2 is always attack, as it is with all weapons. State #3 and #4 can be any 2 different secondary war stat. Stat #5 can be any skill.
Keep in mind that a single point in primary stat raises 3 points in secondary stats of both war and contest, except for DEF, which rasies 4 points in the secondary stats. For this reason, #3 and #4 are usually about 3 times that of primary stat, unless it is Armor (like above), where it will be about 4 times.

Compare this with a Purple Knight's Pike, requiring level 55 :

1. +38/39 {primary stat}
2. +38/39 {primary stat}
3. +253 attack

A Purple Lionheart Sword, requiring level 70 has these stats :

1. +54 {primary stat}
2. +54 {primary stat}
3. +385 attack

For a political hero, the Purple Lionheart has a value of 108, the Purple Knight Pike has a value of 77, while the Ga-dearg is only worth 46. So clearly, one should not use it on a political hero.

For a contest hero, the Purple Lionheart has a value of about 236, the Purple Knight Pike has a value of about 161. The Ga-dearg is valued at about 152. So it is also a waste on contest hero.

For a war hero, the Purple Lionheart and Purple Knight Pike values are the same as contest at 236 and 161 respectively. But the Ga-dearg is valued at about 246, which makes it better than the Purple Lionheart! And it's required level is lower at 60, so it is an ideal military weapon, just as hithere intended it to be.

Mount Upgrade Bug

There's a bug in mount upgrade. When a mount is upgraded while it is equipped on a hero, the hero will be "damaged" and have a lower troop speed. This sorts of offset the upgraded mount. The mount however, is not affected, it continues to improve.

So until hithere fixes the bug, please do the following :
1. Unequip the mount
2. Upgrade the mount
3. Re-equip the mount

That way, your hero will not be "damaged".

How do you determine if a hero is "damaged"? I'll refer to this post by crumpet that contains the image of a damaged hero.
http://forum.hithere.com/viewthread.php?tid=44293&page=8#pid2513967

In that post, you can see that the hero is trooped with Inf-6. The base speed of Inf-6 is 40, and therefore the speed should never be lower than 40. But the image shows that the speed is 37. That means the hero is damaged by the bug.

Remember, if a hero has never visited your main since they introduced Training Center, that hero cannot be damaged. The easiest way to determine if a hero is damaged is to :
1. Unequip any mounts.
2. Remove all troops from the hero.
3. Add to the hero a troop that is NOT in the hero's specialty.

The speed should correspond to the following table :

Troop	Speed
Infantry-1	40
Infantry-2	20
Infantry-3	50
Infantry-4	30
Infantry-5	30
Infantry-6	40
Cavalry-1	60
Cavalry-2	40
Cavalry-3	30
Cavalry-4	50

That's the base speed of the troops, and your speed should never be lower. If the hero's specialty does not include that type, then the speed should be exactly equal to the base speed.

If you have a damaged hero, I'll like to test the following methods of "resetting" the damage.
1. Unequip the mount, and send the hero to his/her death, let it recover in hospital. (Tested by crumpet, did not work).
2. Unequip the mount, reroll the hero's aptitude. (If this work, the easy way out is for hithere to give every player one card of relearn for every hero).
3. Unequip the mount, refresh the hero's specialty.

If you do test any of the above, please message me in w5 (my id is 'Sisland').
Thank you.

Update (2/10/11) :: Bug has been fixed in today's unannounced maintenance.