Talk:Thief

Has anyone tried raiding settlements larger than pitiful? What happens?

Have a look at Raiding. --EvilGrin 06:24, February 21, 2011 (EST)

It seems they changed something with thiefs because the statement "It is usually safe to send a level 35 thief against a medium size settlement, with level 40 thieves being completely safe." is wrong. I just lost my level 40 thief in his first raid against a medium settlement... Valfor 00:25, March 9, 2011 (EST)


 * According to the patch notes from 03/02/11: "Thieves now have a base 2% chance of being detected by a detector regardless of level." So your assertion is correct. Pho Kadat 03:58, March 9, 2011 (EST)


 * Thanks for that information, didn't see that. Seems I was just damn unlucky there. :( Valfor 07:42, March 9, 2011 (EST)


 * I have been raiding T2 settlements with level 50 thieves without being detected. While the global 2% stealth detection should guarantee that this will eventually happen, it appears that heroes within T2 settlements are not high enough to add any stealth detection chance to that 2%. I remain hopeful that my thieves will still be high enough to fight their way out. Deome 04:24, April 23, 2011 (PST)


 * Are Alarm traps useless against Thieves ? I had a T1 trip an alarm and none of my creatures noticed him 2 squares away ?

That 2% detection rate can be misleading.
That 2% detection rate can be misleading. Even if we assume that each creature in the settlement only does a detection check once (and not every round), and we assume that each creature makes a detection (and not just a single check for the entire settlement), that 2% isn't really 2% unless there is only one creature that has the ability to detect stealth. If there are more than one, then the actual detection rate for the raid is higher, possibly significantly higher than some might assume at first glance.

Let's say there are 5 troops on a T2 raid that can detect stealth, and your thief is high enough level that they all have the 2% minimum chance. Since each troop has a 2% chance, the actual odds of NOT being detected by all 5 is 90.4%, meaning you have a 9.6% chance of being detected, not 2% that some might casually expect without thinking about it. Now, if you do a 3x raid on that settlement you drop down to a 73.9% of not being detected, or a 26.1% chance of getting caught with 5 stealth detecting troops at some point on a 3x raid. T3 raids are almost guaranteed to cost you your thieves with so many able to detect stealth. Even with an insanely high level thief, with even just 10 troops in a T3 that can detect stealth, your odds of surviving a 3x raid is 54.5%

Thieves are great for T1, and are decent for T2 for the risk vs reward. But that 2% will be more than enough to burn you on T3, because no level thief will survive if he's seen in a T3.

Jaradis 12:59, June 3, 2011 (EDT)


 * Does the thief attempt to escape after being detected or just stand and fight? I wonder if you could throw some low level cannon fodder (orcs perhaps?) in with a raid to distract the guards while your thief tries to do his business. You WILL lose them, but maybe they could pull the defenders out of position enough for the thief to have some chance of escaping if detected? Probably not...


 * Also it would be nice to know at what level difference between thief and defender that the detection rate stops dropping and sticks at 2%. Training a thief beyond that given level for the highest level defenders of a given settlement would not provide any benefit other than survivability... maybe. But then if your thief can solo the settlement they are raiding that's kind of a waste.


 * They aren't the most expensive creatures to train, but it would be nice to know if you're actually getting any benefit from your investment.


 * I would really like to know what the detection rates are and how all this works. Unfortunately it sounds like much is still unknown at this point. I was wondering, for example, if it might be worthwhile sending level 1 thieves to T1 settlements so you can focus on training 1 thief at a time. Some will get picked off, but you have no training investment and they will be automatically replaced. For that matter you could probably shock them lots, though I kinda doubt that increases their stealthyness like it does damage. Seems like getting that 1 thief high enough to hit T2 faster while continuing to hit the T1 with both him and lvl 1's would potentially payoff better than trying to train all your thieves at once, or even just two, for that matter. Then again, it's not terribly difficult to get a thief up to level 10... Unfortunately without the math we can't really figure out a truly optimum strategy.


 * Mannon 15:11, July 13, 2011 (EDT)


 * Using a leveled thief for anything but a T1 is a waste. They will get caught on T2 or higher.  You are better off using your leather to level up Dark Elves because they have no problems beating a T2, and you get the benefit of being able to burn down settlements.  Thieves are really only good for T1 and raiding other players.  Jaradis 08:49, July 15, 2011 (EDT)