I finally managed to defeat the army blocking my way to Dezen. My army is now basically just 47 Hellknight with nothing else left.
Okay this does it.
I'll replay the game from the start only for the crusade part in acts 2 and 3.
Screenshot one by one where you'll see just as everyone else that hellknights, at least on normal difficulty, are waste of ress, time, money and especially your nerves.
I made it to the Abyssal city in Act 4 or 5 who the hell knows as the game doesn't tell you. Anyway man I hate it's layout, to much backtracking and moving parts.
It's act 4 and there is not much of annoying backtracking past lower city because the brothel portal you'll unlock connects mid and upper map and there are more other portals to make the exploration fast.
But now Pladio says Seelah went with an animal.
I'm autoleveling companions.
It's my first playthrough and if I wanted micromanaging companions I'd go with storyless mercenaries.
Seelah does not get any animal companion as developers by default did not want her to. She also doesn't become lawful evil nor a ranger or something.
Not that additional "traits" would help me reconsider to keep her in the team A or not.
She's a paladin and in my case she loses her usefulness fast - the game does have a fair share of undead trashmobs where she'd do the job nicely, but nothing that can't be won without her.
A hint - do not kill her as there is a very interesting story to learn about her in later chapters.
If you killed her because you're playing a bloodthirsty character who kills everything (which in chapters 1 and 2 turns out to be the most stupid and least useful choice in each such case), ah well, don't do that in the second playthrough.
You will have to be a bit careful, and will also most likely have to spend a fair bit of gold to get the funds needed to build both a new army and important structures (such as stables and the archery building) at the same time, but you should be fine. You'll just have to forget buying fancy, magic items for a while.
You need to do that in chapter 5.
In chapter 3 it's not needed at all.
Not on normal difficulty.
However, as I've hinted what will happen in chapter 5, before proceeding to chapter 4 a player should build 4 buildings in each outpost.
Three that give +25% on army recruitment (melee, ranged, riders) and one that generates more materials per day.
Upgrading an outpost and building teleport circle plus other stuff is not necessary, but if you can, do that too.
Try to place teleport circle only in outposts close to the west part of the map (Tower of Yeath is the most useful pick for teleport circle).
To sum up.
On normal difficulty I have never bought any fancy item from stores. A few pots and scrolls I did for an ignorable sum. And a diamond for resurrection sakes.
On nightmare difficulty I have no idea, ask JDR.
So, I have actually no objection if you decide to use all the money you have on the crusade needs in chapter 3. Although it's not needed, why the hell not?
But on buildings in outposts and capital,
not on units! Especially
not on moneywasted hellknights!
Because, remember, you'll have more than a million coins in chapter 5 to spend on fancy +5 outfits and equipment.
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A word of warning.
Chapter 5 is not as polished as previous ones.
There are plenty of bugs everywhere, so I'm gonna suggest to either not rush to it or wait for one more patch or two.
Most of the broken stuff is annoying only and won't stop your progress, but I've stumbled upon an invincible trashmob - you kill it and it revives, rincerepeat till doomsday.
If you just started chapter 5, concentrate only on crusade, it's not bugged. But leave the party at home for a while.