Hero
From GenieWiki
A Hero is a special unit in Age of Empires and Age of Empires II.
Heroes are generally famous historical figures, such as Hero Alexander (Alexander the Great) and William Wallace though some are very obscure, like Hero Hersifon and Aethelfirth, while others are more unusual or humorous units like the Scythian Wild Woman or God's Own Sling. Heroes cannot be trained, so are not available in a normal random map type game. They are generally superior to other units in most areas, with notably high HP, armor and attack, though their defensive properties tend to be raised by a larger ratio than their attack.
In AoE there are no Gaia heroes, though in Rise of Rome a select few heroes are available as Gaia units (see List of Heroes in AoE for more details). Heroes are generally just regular units with the same icons and appearances as other units. There are some exceptions, for example Hero Jason has a unique Egyptian appearance, though has the same icon as a Short Swordsman.
In AoK heroes often have their own individual icons, though usually share the same graphical appearance as another normal unit. Some examples are the Sheriff of Nottingham (same icon and appearance as a Long Swordsman); Sieur Bertrand (unique icon, with Knight appearance; Harald Hardraade has the icon and appearance of a Berserker but the ranged attack of a Throwing Axeman; while Joan of Arc has her own icon and unit. The reason few heroes in either game have their own graphics is that it takes a lot of time and space to create a whole new set of frames (for movement, attacking etc), and heroes are only used in custom scenarios anyway. Icons however are relatively simple to make, which explains their relative abundance.
The power of the hero was increased in AoK:TC by making heroes self healing and not able to be converted (though a select few heroes could not be converted in AoK either). The self healing property works by the hero unit gaining around 1 HP every 2 seconds while it has less than maximum HP. This allows the hero to recover from injuries much like a berserker while the slow healing rate stops the unit from being overpowered. Scenarios where the player must rely on a hero unit slowly healing, e.g. a role playing scenario, can be boring though, as it simply takes time and not skill to advance in the scenario. This is also a concern in terms of balance.
Making a unit heal like a hero
In 2003 Scenario_t_c posted a thread at AoKH describing how to make a regular unit heal in a similar way to a hero using triggers. The process uses the mathematical properties of AoK:TC to allow a unit to regain HP, without going over the maximum HP figure like it normally would.
Looping Trigger
Timer: (1 ~ 3 - controls how fast it recovers. The longer the time, the slower the unit recovers)
Damage Object: - 1
Damage Object: - (16777216 - MAX HP)
Damage Object: (16777216 - MAX HP)
