It is a bit strange to click the Inventory tab in the Shop and not have the units "actual" Inventory of stuff come up?

After having accidentally Sold back more items that I just purchased, yes my bad, I simply no longer click on the Inventory button, while in Shop, ever...

While I'd like differentiation beetwen champions, I don't think they should be uberfighters. I see them mostly as generals who should have skills to improve the performance of other units. But it's true that having champions specialize in different directions could add some fun.

(goodgimp tell me that's not an actual picture of you)

If we were playing a strict materialist medieval game, I'd agree. But this is a fantasy TBS, and I'd prefer to see champions be able to play a range of roles in the game, including surreal combat prowess. The only way something like that would bite badly is if it just fed into the stack-of-doom problem instead of having risks well-connected to the rewards of being able to field a fighter like Aragorn or Legolas.

I think only a few things need to be done to make champions useful late game.

First and foremost is fixing the damn horse animation that makes using horses torture. With mounts it is easy to get an extra move in and also the better move on overland map.

Iniatiative will change the whole dynamic of battles too. If champions moved faster they would be worth more even if not quite as strong as squads of 12. This could be a stat that you can pump points in as they level up.

The prices of gear for champions needs to be balanced against other resources like when you train units. I spend thousands fully equipping a champion out with all the attack bonuses, armour, health bonuses, all the move gear you can get and bows and you are down maybe 2.5k per hero.

Finally I have found when you get to level 5 in adventuring a couple of +8 ATK books can really make a big difference given to the better heroes. I often get one or 2 heroes with 3 shots per turn and 80+ ATK.

It's the moohoo armor system that gets high level combat heroes killed.

You've got your 20 armor suit, the enemy unit of 12 has their 20 armor suit on each unit, but you've got 20 dex so your armor weighs in at 40.  Instead of being nigh invincible, as the number would suggest, you roll a 1 for your armor roll, and die.

A unit of 12 with 240 combined defense is much, much easier to damage than a champion with 40, the problem is one lucky strike kills the champion, but only kills one of the 12.

It is not the hero's that are the problem, it is the squads!

Squads are only there as a way to compensate for the limitations of the battle screen so you can physically fit more troops in the battle, then squads 'cheat' in replacement troops if their number is depleted in a battle.

It would be better i think if squads were simply a formation that the player has full control to add or remove troops, and the advantage would be that all the units in the squad take damage and strike as 1 unit (but individual units could still be selected in battle if desired). Being able to put Hero's in squads would give them greater protection. You could have a rule that squads will be automatically dispersed into individual units when under the minimum number of troops to be allowed to have squads.

If squads are the problem, then allowing them to combine with squads is a great idea. (again like Warhammer IIRC), That way they would behave like a body guard whilst the hero did his/her thing. The enemey would have to then destroy the squad before getting a shot at the hero. It wa mentioned that a squad of 4 with att 10 each still attacks as 4 hits of attack 10, so if you then allow the hero to have his attack too it wouldn't be unbalancing. Also Charisma could ultmately decide how good a quality of troop would allow the hero to join their ranks, bad charisma? Go fight with the peasants, good charisma come fight with us knights.

The problem is a hero at that point has maybe 30 to 40 hit points and he is facing ranged units and spellcasters that deal more than 50 points a damage a shot. Against a human player those heroes are dead. After investing the time and effort to get the hero to that level of equipment and ability, he is still far too fragile and needs to somehow keep pace with the hp of the squad he is facing, otherwise he is just good for monster hunting and ai killing at this point. I believe that is the argument that is being made here.

perhaps the protection versus magic is supposed to solve part of this problem with regards to facing enemy spellcasters ( i have yet to actually use the spell and don't know how well it works) but archers still remain a problem in this situation.

Which is why i think heroes in might and magic 5 went back to being leaders of the army after the experiences the game designers learned from in might and magic 4.

However, this is not might and magic - this is inspired more by MoM and AoW and we want to fight with our heroes.

Now in those games, the heroes gradually leveled up - they started as being more fragile than tier 1 creatures, then got gradually built up to be stronger than a tier 4 creature and were virtually unstoppable. They were the ultimate tier 5 monsters, and perhaps one or two summoned creatures, or 1 tier 4 creature, could match them in strength.

EDIT: OF course, after finishing my message, i realize that this problem is exagerated by the nature of the open field of battle in the tactical map and that our poor spellcaster does not have the opportunity to hide behind some cover while he casts his/her long range spell that don't require line of sight. Although that still leaves our poor archer hanging in the dust.

i want the hp system reformed to be determined primarily by level (whether squad level or sov level) instead of directly linked to CON.

so a sov gets 10hp + 5/subsequent level

while troops might be 8 + 4/subsequent level

then apply constitution afterwards as a multiplier (so level 1 sov with 11con gets 1.1 x 10 = 11hp)

this would seem like a more consistent system. we are also then open to nice possibilities such as racial characteristics (ie, ironeers get 11con so +10% hp for troops, wraiths get 11 dex so +1 defence or whatever)

the numbers of course are totally out of whack; but the damage and attack system is being redone entirely, so this would need reasessing anyway.

i agree sovs shouldn't be walking over multiple units of infantry, but we also can't have a situation where archers or spells can just snipe a champion because of their low hp (currently very possible). merging into squads is a great idea. i think that squads need to be opened up and redesigned anyway, to allow things like combining leftovers.

i also want 3 men to become the basic minimum unit size. this would be the easiest way of giving battles a more epic feel and speeding up combat by putting fewer units onscreen. the first squad tech has become "essential" before building any units and this is wrong. a 200% increase in unit effectiveness is too much for one tech. starting at 3, then going to 5, 7, 9 is much better paced imo.

as for specialization: it's desirable but i don't think it requires a new game system or anything. mostly it could be done by improving equipment. you should be able to buy equipment for individuals before you are able to give it to squads. by the mid game you should have low level magical items for champs and good mundane items for squads. there should be a "craft" button on the store screen that buys items for champs with resources instead of gold for when you can't afford the latter.

if melee items are more achievable and effective, champs will be better able to specialize in this field. this could be done for magic specialization too by adding some "wizard's robes" to the store that provide less defensive bonuses but boost spellcasting stats. currently there is no reason not to take armour and this is also wrong. if people don't want to go down the magic route than give them another use for their mana, instead ofadding a new system. for example, a long term buff spell with low low requirements that permanently boost fighting abilities, but has a mana maint (like summons are going to have).

give the man a cigar.

I'm happy with the current strength of champs in relation to squads.

The only thing I would add is that adventure type heroes (perhaps notables too) should be allowed to be added to squads (one hero per squad). They would share the fate of the squad if the squad died, or have a % chance of getting killed each time a squad member dies. They would add their strength to the squad.

They really aren't that weak, it's just the bleeding system.  A champion is much, much tougher, it's just too random and damage numbers are absurdly high in comparison to hit points.  Combat is like a river, it's either fast and shallow, or slow and deep.

I agree.

As a fan of Master of Magic, I enjoy powerful and unique heroes.

Hopefully that will change in future versions, or it will have to be modded in.