JoeUser Forums
Monster Lairs, it turns out, were using a different object identifier. Thus, the AI couldn’t “see” them. It saw the monsters but not their lairs which is where the treasure is. It’ll be interesting to see how much impact this has.
Can the neutrals be 'vassels' as well? So much can be done if we turn the neutrals into actual 'minor factions'. By allowing them there own chance to grow & spread, plus the ability to have negotiations, neutrals would go from being temperary nothings to an actual part of the 'living world' - I have a couple posts that explain this better.
No, that's not it. They're wandering around, searching for champions with eyepatches.
I have never really like the whole monsters attack/retreat once you territory envelops them thing. It allows players to build cities 4-5 tiles away from powerful monsters. The cities are usually safe for quite awhile before their territory expands. This encourages players to spam cities off the start and cram those cities in the stupidest places, just look at the AI. It constantly builds on 2/2 spots when if they killed a monster they could have a 4/4. You should actually have to gradually clear the land of monsters before you carve out your kingdom, not just sorta build around them in a big rush off the start. Making the AI cities monster proof actually hurts them sometimes. I have seen a Hoarder spider sit outside an AI city and just eat their champions in a endless stream.
I was assuming that the AI is set to not attack cities because there are more things to be added that will change things. I would guess that at some point in the beta monster logic will be addressed to properly wipe out weak cities.
It isn't a gamble at all. You can move at twice the speed of the monsters on the strategic map. Where is the risk? They are chained beasts, limited so they don't kill you (or truthfully, the AI players) too early.
Taking out these lairs prematurely means that the land is empty and sterile in act II and III. You have to do the highest level quests just to fight something other than players. In WoM monsters banded together, fought and leveled. They could be a threat later in the game. There isn't much now that you can't take out with a hero and 2-3 trained units.
This sounds like an experience farming exploit waiting to happen.
For the record, I made a few black Champions for the Human Kingdoms to recruit (during the WoM character creation contest).
-> As an unrelated note, does anyone else notice the completely GREEN champion from the Arena, and not begin to wonder where exactly he comes from? 
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