How come the team message suddenly required a tick? And now when writing this message it was pre-selected?

Damn, the fever is clearly not 100% passed

So game hosted, here are the settings:

Balance mod: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=661597466


Turn timer = 2 days
Large Map with Surface and Underground on Continents
Normal Game flow speed

Start town: Village
Starting units: Weak
Starting distance: Far
Roads: Few
Roaming units: Average
Treasures: Average
Cities: Few
Dwellings: Few
Ressource structures: Average
Visit structure: Average
Treasure structures: Average

Water Slider at 25%
Undiggable walls and Diggable Wall Sliders down to 15%
All other sliders left untouched at standard 50 %

Ironman Mode: on
Seal Victory: off
Unifier Victory: at 2 Beacons
Tactical Combat Mode - Against AI: Always Ask

Game speed: Normal
Starting Resource: Standard
Starting Skills: Normal
All Heroes Have Resurgence: Never
Defenders Strength: Strong
Cosmic Events: Medium
Maximum Number of Heroes: 3 (1 Leader + 3 heroes)
Maximum Heroes Level: 15

Map Exploration: On
City Founding: On
Random heroes match player race: Off
Empire Quests: On

So basically, standard tournament settings except: Large map, 3 heroes, max level = 15.

Game name = Academy Game
Password = happylearning

Please join IN THE SAME ORDER as at the top of the game blog to help a bit with the turn order, based on our time zone and play time.

For the scouting role, I usually take Explorer + Destruction Adept + Partisan.
Destruction is very very good for the role as Scorched Earth + Hasty Plunder mean you can destroy most cities you manage to take with your front-line armies (this is even too strong I think and both techs should be nerfed a little).
Partisan not only provides concealment to solo units in late game (concealed Crows being the best thing) but it also can allow you to recruit for 25% less gold - which is quite significant - a rapid attack group of 4 units at an Inn near an enemy's lands with your Crow. This group can then take the city you'll Scorch and Hasty Plunder. By the way, I didn't check if Cloaked in Shadows can target ally (but not owned) stacks.
Explorer fits Rogue especially well of course, but its +1 vision range on city is good for anyone.

@Dreamon: please use "Blog entry" to discuss with us, and keep the box "Viewable only for team members" ticked to send messages only to your team. Please do NOT use the tabel above to select your class and race as it displays it to EVERYONE, including guys (like me) that are not in your team.

@Elysian: yes but that's precisely the aim, to let other people be more familiar with the standard settings we use and how to host a game, because it's an Academy game. We're not just training AoW3 skills but also skills to benefit from all the tools on the BF and other websites as much as possible, so that everyone joining this game can really enter the PBEM community.

Ok I'm going to host later today. Looks like Dreamon is active, so no replacement planned.

Here on team 2 we're waiting for Dreamon to pick their race/class. So if they're not playing in this game we should get a replacement in..

Honestly I think either Marcuspers or Hiliadan should host the game. That way we can start without worrying about the map settings being off. I'm assuming we're playing standard/tourney settings.

EDIT: Thanks to everyone offering tips and strategies for us newbies  

Goblin theocrat with dedicated to evil get greater life steal crusaders which are awesome. The blight doctor also gets more versatile and you get lots of blight + spirit damage with this class+race combo. If it's the best I don't know, but I greatly enjoy playing them.

To complete on what Marcus said regarding Theo (I'll do the other classes later, probably after we start):

Synergies of Theo with each race:

• High Elf:




• Not a Theo powerhouse, already has a Flying unit so does not benefit from Exalted's Flying that much. The Irregulars evolve into Support units, which can be good to move from early to mid-game and benefits from Order of Healing...




• Frostling:




• Quite a good Theocrat thanks to the quality of its Support, the White Witch, with its Frozen Flame, opening one or two damage channels, giving Fire Protection. White Witches also Swim, are Concealed on Artic and have Artic Walking. Their T3 is also a Support and benefits from the Supports' bonus. Frostling Exalted are also superior to most others as they have double damage channels, which is very good for a Flying unit.




• Human:




• Human Evangelists have a ranged attack, distinguishing them from all others but Draconian. Humans' production bonus also means it's easier to 1-turn Martyrs and rush an Exalted Martyr strategy. However, Human Priests already have Spirit damage and a healing ability, so Theo is a class that reinforces existing strength and do not open new ones.




• Orc:




• The big HP of Orcs makes them harder to kill and more likely to be here to receive a Healing (compared to Goblins who will be dead before you can heal them). Their Support is among the best. Their Crusaders have Tireless, making a very strong unit an excellent one. Orcs also benefit greatly from the Exalted and enjoy the few Spirit damage opportunities offered by Theo.




• Halfling:




• Halfling benefits from Chaplain and the potentially happy cities where they can be procuced (Sanctified Sites). Their Martyr has a 3-shot weapons and can thus potentially level up more quickly to evolve into Exalted. However, they already have healing on their Support and a Flying T3.




• Draconian:




• Draconian have Fire, Theocrat have some Spirit damage, a Draconian Theocrat gets more damage channel and is more flexible. Their Evangelists have ranged damage, like Humans. Theo brings Healing to the race, though Flyers make Exalted less useful.




• Goblin:




• Not the most obvious combo due to the -5HP of Goblins, it can be quite strong thanks to the dual damage channel Spirit brings to Goblins, and the quality of the race's Support. Theocrat Goblin can expand very quickly (Expander can make that even faster) but may struggle in the long run. Exalteds bring Flying to a race in great need of it (no Swimming, no Flying, poor surface mobility).




• Dwarf:




• A very safe combo, Theocrat Dwarf combines the toughest race with the class with the most defensive/healing abilities. Dwarves also lack Flying and have Fire damage, making Dwarf Theo a powerful combination.




• Tigran:




• A bit similarly to Draconian, Tigran Theocrat is a good combo with interesting synergies (Healing, new damage channel) but nothing crazy. Its T3 does not fly so Exalteds are a good addition to their line-up. Tigran Theocrat is surely versatile and good both UG and on the surface, with many potential viable strategies.

I actually haven't played most of the combos listed above, so I probably forget many things. Feel free to share your experiences!

@El_Lobo: the game hasn't started yet. You'd like to join? I contacted one guy on the official forum who were interested, to replace Dreamon. If that guy also doesn't show up, you could maybe take the slot.

@all: we've more or less chosen our class/race in my team. Are you ready in the other one? I'll host tomorrow then if nobody is willing to host.
I wanted to share here some thoughts I posted on the Steam forum, initially about Necro and Cadavers:
Cadavers with a Necromancer hero are very good to take many sites, including very high level ones, like Lost City and Castle of the Lich King. 1 Elite Cadaver is also excellent to act as a bait on any high level sites, as it has Resurgence.
Cadavers also do quite significant damage, especially when flanking (as any units of course), and can thus be quite effective at taking down enemy units, even high level ones. Mastering Cadavers is clearly one key to mastering Necro.

Before turn 20, when there is no way you're going to produce any decent T3 (or even T2) to replace a Cadaver. Using Cadavers efficiently early game allow for a very very strong early game and snowballing. If you want to wait for "something which is going to hit harder, live longer", you'll just take a lot more time to be ready to clear sites.

Also taking some losses while playing Necro is not such an issue, especially if it's Cadavers, because you can refill your army pretty easily. You should not aim for a "0 loss" in battle, because that would slow down your clearing a lot too (need to wait for strong enough army to take no loss).

Two big advantages of Cadavers over other baits is that the Elite ones have Resurgence and the other ones can still be "Raised" with your Necro (while you can keep your Lesser Reanimate Undead for non-bait units). And their Devour Corpse allow them to heal back to 100% most of the time.

Then more generally, about the pace of the game...
You should get your first settler out by turn 5-15 and then you can reach 8 cities under your control by turn 35-50 (including mostly settled cities, not conquered ones).
Basically for me:
- turn 0-20 = early game, T1-T2, 1-3 cities
- turn 21-40 = mid game, T2-T3, 3-8 cities, small map finished
- turn 41-50 = early late game, T3-T4, medium map finished
- turn 51-60 = late game, T3-T4, ultimate spells or close to them
- turn 60-70 = very late game, T4, ultimate spell, large map finished
- post turn 70 = ultra late game