Here are some details about game mechanics I found looking through the code.
How difficulty works:
x=what level you are on, 1-25, so first map you play x=1, 2nd map x=2 etc.
nUpgrades=number of random upgrades from the shop that the enemy gets. This is always an integer (whole number), but it can be negative, where upgrades can be removed as well. The difficulty percentage you see in game is calculated from nUpgrades.
For "V. Hard" (all the demon areas only):
nUpgrades = floor(1.6*x) + x - 10, but in this case nUpgrades has a minimum of 25. This means that at level 13 and below, nUpgrades is always 25. At lvl 14, nUpgrades=26, at lvl 15, nUpgrades=29. It increases FAST after lvl 14, my routes finish demons before level 15 because of this. Also note that if you get unlucky with what upgrades they get, for example spear (which they already have +2 of), and armor, they can be almost impossible to beat.
For "Hard" (thareth, orthshire, azzitha, battaka, eastern forest, dead plains, mylen, nartoth):
nUpgrades = floor(1.5*x) + x - 10, note that nUpgrades is negative until level4, where nUpgrades=0 Fighting "Hard" early makes a lot of sense.
For "Medium":
nUpgrades = floor(0.5*x) + x - 10, negative until level 7, where nUpgrades=0, but doesn't increase as fast. At level 15, nUpgrades=12.
For "Easy":
nUpgrades= ceil(-0.5 * x) + x - 10, negative upgrades until level 20.
How money works:
Money is ONLY gained from killing enemy units, the gold value is based on the cost of buying the unit divided by 50. Spears are 5, sword is 12, archers are 10.
I made some calculations on which areas should give the most money by dividing their cost/recharge time, the battle axeman from the northern orcs stand out here giving 18 gold per kill while recharging only every 60 frames (for reference, the game runs at 24 fps and spearmen recharge every 50 frames).
| Soldier name | Cost / rechargetime |
|------------------------------------|------------------|
| strSoldiers += "Spearman | 5 |
| strSoldiers += "Swordsman | 8.57142857142857 |
| strSoldiers += "Archer | 7.14285714285714 |
| strSoldiers += "Mage | 5 |
| strSoldiers += "Mounted Spearman | 7.77777777777778 |
| strSoldiers += "Halberdier | 8.33333333333333 |
| strSoldiers += "Mounted Halberdier | 7.33333333333333 |
| strSoldiers += "Scout | 6.66666666666667 |
| strSoldiers += "Longswordsman | 7.69230769230769 |
| strSoldiers += "Battle Axeman | 15 |
| strSoldiers += "Whirler | 10 |
| strSoldiers += "Axe Thrower | 8.57142857142857 |
| strSoldiers += "Ranger | 10.8333333333333 |
| strSoldiers += "Javelin Thrower | 6.15384615384615 |
| strSoldiers += "Spearmaster | 9.23076923076923 |
| strSoldiers += "Axeman | 5 |
| strSoldiers += "Giant Troll | 8 |
| strSoldiers += "Flailer | 7.22222222222222 |
| strSoldiers += "King\'s Guard | 8.88888888888889 |
This information was gotten by using the JPEXS flash decompiler. I found code for how the AI works but I could for the life of me not understand it, if someone could figure it out i'd be happy. It seems like it either spreads units out randomly or tries to match their sends to your sends, but I don't know.
It seems that Men of the west is the best choice because it can fight 5 hard levels at first, and it have +2 sword bonus.
I think death plains and azzitha should play first because flailer and whirler are very hard to deal with, especially flailer, one attack is enough to kill spearman, even if you adding armor to it. If computer send too much flailer or whirler, you have to restart.
I don't have a good strategy fight against battakka because giant greatly counters our core strategy, so I put it on third, if too slow on this level restart will not waste too much time.
Maybe thareth put on 4th is better because it can give more money than nartoth.
Level 6-10 should clear rest of the hard areas: orthshire and eastern forest. I choose to attack orthshire as fast as possible because king's guard is very hard to deal with. Although eastern forest is also a hard level, but it have no strong units.
Of course you can fight Vorth(Demon) and then you can fight orthshire next, but I think fight Vorth at level 7 is not a good choice, level 11's Vorth is the same difficulty as level7's, but level 11 we can get more upgradation on our units(usually we can upgrade after level 8).
According to these, level 6 forest of the damned, level 7 farreshire, level 8 acity, level 9 orthshire, level 10 eastern forest.
About level 11-15:
If Demon areas put in level 12-15: Medium's nUpgrades = 6,Demon's nUpgrades = 25,25,26,29
If Demon areas put in level 11-14: Medium's nUpgrades = 12,Demon's nUpgrades = 25,25,25,26
Usually we can get upgradation after level 12.
I think put Demon areas in either level 11-14 or 12-15 is okay. For me, I prefer to put in 12-15 more, although demon's nUpgrades in level 15 is 29, I don't feel it too tough to fight, meanwhile we usually get upgradation after level 12, means that we can use upgraded units in 3 demon levels.
According to these, maybe level 11 goroth is a better choice.
For 4 demon areas, I prefer attack Vorth first, based on my analysis, sweeping the line is harder if computer uses spearman or spearmaster to defend, spearman is very fast, spearmaster can jump and doesn't easy to kill, they all can form a group of people easier than other units. So maybe uses upgraded units to fight other 3 areas is better.
So I suggested level 12 Vorth, level 13 thray(spear 2/6), level 14 sath(spear 2/5), level 15 othok(spear 1/4).
After several attempts, I think nartoth at level 4 is better, for their axe thrower is tougher than thareth's battle axeman, and usually you can just get enough money to upgrade after level 1,3,5.
battakka at level 3 is no problem, I tried a new strategy that send swordsman if computer doesn't send giant, send spearman if computer is loading giant or a swordsman is ahead, and this seems fine, at least better than depending luck.
