🤺 Using Hero Academy as a Troop Training Camp

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tl;dr This isn’t a particularly good use for Hero Academy, at least for Leveling Up 4* Troops. It’ll take years to make any significant progress.

But it’s not really clear to me that much else is a better use for Hero Academy, so here we go.

:clipboard: Introduction

Being able to Train Troops has been a frequent request, dating back at least to December 2018: [IMPLEMENTED] Training/Creating Troops

Hero Academy finally introduces that ability, by providing levels to Train 1*, 2*, and 3* Troops.

4* Troop can NOT be Trained in Hero Academy. Existing 4* Troop can be “Retrained” into DIFFERENT 4* Troops, but no 4* Troops can be produced. This usage isn’t really applicable to leveling up other Troops, so I won’t be discussing it in this post.

:iphone: Note About Table Scrolling

Some tables in this post may extend beyond the edge of your screen if you’re using a mobile phone.

If so, you may need to scroll horizontally, or rotate your device to Landscape, in order to view all information.

:person_fencing: Troop-Related Hero Academy Levels Overview

Level Ability Recruits Iron Other Costs Time
2 Train COMMON Troops 50 50800 3x Dagger 9h 0m
4 Train UNCOMMON Troops 100 103k 5x Arcane Scripts 21h 0m
6 Train RARE Troops 150 151k 5x Tall Boots, 5x Scabbard 2d 12 h

Hero Academy allows running up to 2 different Levels simultaneously once the building has been upgraded to Level 2.

So 2 different Troop Trainings can be run simultaneously, or one can be run while running some other Level of the building.

The building can NOT be upgraded while Trainings are in progress.

:dizzy: Time Needed for 4* Troop Leveling Goals

I’ll start here with the end conclusion — assessing the time needed to use Hero Academy for leveling up Troops.

Some takeaway observations:

For context, this game was released approximately 3.25 years ago, as of the publication of this post.

  • Maxing a rainbow set of 4* Troops from Level 1 to Level 30 using Hero Academy running only a single building level will take from 8.22 to 10.95 YEARS

  • Maxing a rainbow set of 4* Troops by running two HA levels simultaneously will take 4.18 to 4.79 YEARS

  • Taking a rainbow set of 4* Troops from Level 1 to Level 23 by running two HA levels simultaneously will take 2.54 to 2.91 YEARS

  • Taking a rainbow set of 4* Troops from Level 17 to Level 23 by running two HA levels simultaneously will take 1.09 to 1.25 YEARS

  • Taking a rainbow set of 4* Troops from Level 23 to Level 30 by running two HA levels simultaneously will take 1.64 to 1.88 YEARS

For each leveling goal, the tables below provide:

  • Total XP needed to go from the first level to the second level

  • A duration in YEARS for producing that much XP per color, on average, using each Level or combination of Levels

So these tables document the time needed to Level Up a rainbow set of 4* Troops from one level to another.

(Tables farther below in the Detailed Analysis section provide the incremental steps leading up to the calculations in these tables.)

REITERATION: Durations are in YEARS

Take a 4* Troop from… XP Cost Lvl 2 Lvl 4 Lvl 6 Lvls 2 & 4 Lvls 2 & 6 Lvls 4 & 6
1 to 5 2550 0.33 0.34 0.44 0.17 0.19 0.19
1 to 11 10125 1.30 1.35 1.74 0.66 0.75 0.76
1 to 17 22200 2.86 2.96 3.81 1.46 1.63 1.67
1 to 23 38775 4.99 5.18 6.66 2.54 2.85 2.91
1 to 29 59850 7.71 7.99 10.28 3.92 4.40 4.50
1 to 30 63800 8.22 8.52 10.95 4.18 4.69 4.79

REITERATION: Durations are in YEARS

Take a 4* Troop from… XP Cost Lvl 2 Lvl 4 Lvl 6 Lvls 2 & 4 Lvls 2 & 6 Lvls 4 & 6
11 to 17 12075 1.55 1.61 2.07 0.79 0.89 0.91
11 to 23 28650 3.69 3.83 4.92 1.88 2.11 2.15
11 to 29 49725 6.40 6.64 8.54 3.26 3.66 3.74
11 to 30 53675 6.91 7.17 9.22 3.52 3.95 4.03

REITERATION: Durations are in YEARS

Take a 4* Troop from… XP Cost Lvl 2 Lvl 4 Lvl 6 Lvls 2 & 4 Lvls 2 & 6 Lvls 4 & 6
17 to 23 16575 2.13 2.21 2.85 1.09 1.22 1.25
17 to 29 37650 4.85 5.03 6.46 2.47 2.77 2.83
17 to 30 41600 5.36 5.56 7.14 2.73 3.06 3.13

REITERATION: Durations are in YEARS

Take a 4* Troop from… XP Cost Lvl 2 Lvl 4 Lvl 6 Lvls 2 & 4 Lvls 2 & 6 Lvls 4 & 6
23 to 29 21075 2.71 2.81 3.62 1.38 1.55 1.58
23 to 30 25025 3.22 3.34 4.30 1.64 1.84 1.88

REITERATION: Durations are in YEARS

Take a 4* Troop from… XP Cost Lvl 2 Lvl 4 Lvl 6 Lvls 2 & 4 Lvls 2 & 6 Lvls 4 & 6
29 to 30 3950 0.51 0.53 0.68 0.26 0.29 0.30

:notebook_with_decorative_cover: Note on Costs Needed for 4* Troop Leveling Goals

Similar tables to those above could be created easily to also show the Recruits, Iron, and material costs needed, in addition to the time.

But given the very long duration needed for any meaningful progress on Troops, that seems like a superfluous calculation (plus I’ve run out of ■■■■■ to give), so I’ve omitted them — though the reference calculations needed to do so are in the Detailed Analysis tables below.

:bar_chart: Detailed Analysis

Weekly Production

This table covers the output of running each of the three Levels, normalized to a weekly basis, to make comparing them easier.

The Recruits, Iron, Hours, and XP columns are per-run, and are included solely for reference.

  • Num/Week: Number of Trainings completed per week
  • XP/Week: total XP produced per week
  • XP/Week/Color: Average XP produced per color per week (total/5)
Recruits Iron Hours XP Num/Week XP/Week XP/Week/Color
Common (Lvl 2) 50 50800 9 40 18.67 746.67 149.33
Uncommon (Lvl 4) 100 103000 21 90 8.00 720.00 144.00
Rare (Lvl 6) 150 151000 60 200 2.80 560.00 112.00

Weekly Costs

The companion to the table above, this table covers the costs of running each of the three Levels, normalized to a weekly basis, to make comparing them easier.

The Recruits, Iron, Hours, and XP columns are per-run, and are included solely for reference.

  • Num/Week: Number of trainings completed per week
  • Recruits/Week: total cost in Recruits per week
  • Iron/Week: total cost in Iron per week
Recruits Iron Hours XP Num/Week Recruits/Week Iron/Week
Common (Lvl 2) 50 50800 9 40 18.67 933.33 948,266.67
Uncommon (Lvl 4) 100 103000 21 90 8.00 800.00 824,000.00
Rare (Lvl 6) 150 151000 60 200 2.80 420.00 422,800.00

Costs Per 1k XP

This table covers the production costs to create 1k XP worth of output Troops.

The Recruits, Iron, Hours, and XP columns are per-run, and are included solely for reference.

Recruits Iron Hours XP Recruits/1k XP Iron/1k XP Weeks/1k XP
Common (Lvl 2) 50 50800 9 40 1,250.00 1,270,000.00 1.34
Uncommon (Lvl 4) 100 103000 21 90 1,111.11 1,144,444.44 1.39
Rare (Lvl 6) 150 151000 60 200 750.00 755,000.00 1.79

Costs Per 1k XP per Color (i.e. producing an average of 1k XP for each of the 5 colors)

This table repeats the one above, but on a per-color basis — i.e. what the costs are to produce 1k XP in each color, rather than in total. This is obviously simply 5 times as much as the table above.

This is useful for calculating the number of weeks or years to produce a particular amount of XP for a leveling goal, as well as the number of Recruits and Iron needed.

The Recruits, Iron, Hours, and XP columns are per-run, and are included solely for reference.

Recruits Iron Hours XP Recruits/1k XP/Color Iron/1k XP/Color Weeks/1k XP/Color
Common (Lvl 2) 50 50800 9 40 6,250.00 6,350,000.00 6.70
Uncommon (Lvl 4) 100 103000 21 90 5,555.56 5,722,222.22 6.94
Rare (Lvl 6) 150 151000 60 200 3,750.00 3,775,000.00 8.93

Costs Per Week

This table is useful if you wish to complete the work I didn’t, calculating the Recruits and Iron needed for various leveling goals, for which you already have the duration of time needed.

It’s also useful for getting a sense of the weekly upkeep costs for keeping Hero Academy running nonstop for various Levels.

Level(s) Recruits Iron
Common (Lvl 2) 933.33 948,266.67
Uncommon (Lvl 4) 800.00 824,000.00
Rare (Lvl 6) 420.00 422,800.00
Lvls 2 & 4 1,733.33 1,772,266.67
Lvls 2 & 6 1,353.33 1,371,066.67
Lvls 4 & 6 1,220.00 1,246,800.00

XP Production Per Week for Running 2 Levels Simultaneously

This table assists in the calculation of the number of weeks/years needed to achieve a particular amount of XP for a leveling goal.

XP/Week XP/Week/Color
Lvls 2 & 4 1,466.67 293.33
Lvls 2 & 6 1,306.67 261.33
Lvls 4 & 6 1,280.00 256.00

:trophy: Credits

Thanks to @flyingsolow for some useful guidance on Troop Levels worth noting: New Mana Troops goals after +20 Class Talents? - #13 by flyingsolow as well as @FrostbiteXIII: Troop Guide and Levelling Suggestions

Thanks to @SkiParty for 4* Troop XP Leveling info: Troops summarized - #47 by SkiParty

:link: Related Threads

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TY

Plus 19 more TY’s

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Thank you for the detailed analysis @zephyr1. Really appreciate the effort gone into this. :slight_smile:

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@zephyr1 you are amazing and my hero!! Don’t need an academy for that! :smiling_face_with_three_hearts:

11 Likes
5

Wow, color me unimpressed with what is being added to the game.

Thank you @zephyr1 for the time taken to give us this glimpse into the new building.

7 Likes
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Um ugh remember when we were so excited for hero academy now we’re struggling to find any use for it :sob::sob::sob:

Thank you Zep for the awesome job like always. You rock.

(Being a little too drastic but you feel like that too)

9 Likes
7

Thank you for the deep analysis, if there was a clever way to make this function work I believe you would’ve found it. Thanks for doing the hard work for us all.

100% understandable. I can’t even imagine what you and your calculator went through to confirm bleak suspicions. Just the fact that leveling times are measured in years is enough to suck the wind out of anybody’s sails.

16 Likes
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For comparison, F2P who almost never waste flag can do this in around 1.5 years (Edit: without spending gems on Epic Troop Summon).

That means using 2 level of HA along with troop from farming & ETT will be 51-59% faster than only relying on troop from farming & ETT.

10 Likes
9

I was wondering if anyone would actually notice that line. :rofl:

It does pretty much summarize where I’m at with Hero Academy — I want to be excited about it, but really can’t find a reason to be, no matter how hard I try.

17 Likes
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Wow. I want a 5 star multi-colored hero named @zephyr1. Thanks for this analysis.

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There’s definitely a subtext story in your post of a man trying to find the silver lining and just getting rained upon like the sad scene in a John Cusack movie.

9 Likes
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AWESOME work by @zephyr1. Not so much by SGG.

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Wholeheartedly agree… but then I realise SGG would probably hit such a hero with a nerf hammer so hard when they realise how valuable it is for the playerbase and what a threat it is to their bottom line… :expressionless:

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So if 4* heroes can’t be trained in HA, what’s this for?

1 Like
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Thank you @zephyr1 for this detail and painstaking analysis. It gives a clearer insight.

Well, it has always looked like , if you want to achieve some goals here , great , due to your unwavering dedication, we 'll give you some features to use, you may not pay some gems, but then it will take you many years or tending close to eternity…em to achieve those goals, but of course. If you want to achieve them in a shorter time…we have it all figured out too :point_right:t3: in-game shop… We truly appreciate your long and devoted dedication to the game!

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Thanks a lot Zephyr.

Weekly Production

This table covers the output of running each of the three Levels, normalized to a weekly basis, to make comparing them easier.

The Recruits, Iron, Hours, and XP columns are per-run, and are included solely for reference.

  • Num/Week: Number of Trainings completed per week
  • XP/Week: total XP produced per week
  • XP/Week/Color: Average XP produced per color per week (total/5)
Recruits Iron Hours XP Num/Week XP/Week XP/Week/Color
Common (Lvl 2) 50 50800 9 40 18.67 746.67 149.33
Uncommon (Lvl 4) 100 103000 21 90 8.00 720.00 144.00
Rare (Lvl 6) 150 151000 60 200 2.80 560.00 112.00

Weekly production of S1 8-7 with 21% to get a troups and let’s say 25% for uncommun and 75 % for commun with 12 hours of activity per day.

7126/30.21(0.2590+0.7540) = 1852 XP / Week
So, HA give a 79% boosts with level 2+4.

No recruits, no iron and no other costs. Quite the opposite.
It will generate 1512 recruits / week. Seems like the recruits costs of level 2 + 4 can be assumed.

Analysis is really well detailled. Maybe the cost in jam to upgrade the troup is missing because at some point, you might lack of jam if you produce too many troops.

1 Like
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Maybe the academy should produce some kind of trainer troops that will give much more xp to troops than normal troops.

I was expecting the lab as well as the academy would become something worthy, something that transmutes farmable things into unfarmable things at odds like our TCs.

All the new buildings are very disappointing. Farms and Mines need over half a year for amortization, lodge items are cool, but way too resource consuming, alchemy is just a waiste of time and the academy probably won’t help anyone at the point where it will be available.

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@zephyr1 you are awesome for crunching those stats and publishing them here.

If there is a player somewhere in the universe that will be able to build the HA upon launch and finds a use for it I will be amazed

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@KiraSG any chance you or someone from the development team could explain what is useful and valuable about that? Obviously you guys see something the rest of us don’t

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If it makes you feel better, SG did announce this is the final version of hero academy and they feel this building is very useful and valuable to the playerbase

What they see is beyond me, but i think myself and others took the announcement as more of a “this is the best we’re goin to do, deal with it”

There’s no way this thing comes close to helpin the players, there’s so many things wrong with it that idk where to even begin

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