I'm thinking maybe this is bad strategy - doesn't having a hero help your units level up?   I seem to get clobbered mid-game by AI units with insanely high stats (which I can't figure out how they get). 

Any tips on buying hero's?   How many do you end up with?   Do you get one for all your armies?   And all your cities?    Cities first or armies?  When do you start? 

I'd love to hear any tips or comments on coming up with a better hero buying/use strategy. 

All comments welcome. 

I think the best answer is that it depends.

I prefer getting my 2nd hero pretty soon and assign him to the city. He'll get some good experience while managing the city.

Wow.   This forum is so dead.  

Is anyone still playing this game? 

This forum category is a little buried, so I bet a lot of people don't find it.  Plus your question is a very complicated one to answer and has many variables.

Usually I go for extra heros as soon as I can stabilize my economy in the early game and get 40-50 Dust per turn coming in.  However, if I get really lucky with dust from ruins in the early game I will try and snag the market as my third tech and buy one very quickly.

I buy them as soon as I can afford them. 

Heroes can make a very significant difference.

In the end I have governor in every city, 2-3 hero lead armies, couple pearl collectors, couple spies.

Different faction heroes have different roles:

Governors:

Cultists - best all around governor, great for influence, good for science.

Wild walkers - best for industry and building production.

Broken lords - best for dust production and resource boost.

Necro with slavery - best for unit production in 3 vilage regions, best for food.

Roving clans - best for trade routs, pacifying captured cities.

Ardent mages - good for science, but no access to cold operator from that branch.

Other faction heroes are not so good as governors. They still can be used if nothing better is available

Drakken for influence, vaulters for science, forgotten for some dust, allayi for pearl cost reduction, morgawr for ship building and coastal approval.

Generals:

Drakken are probably the best as they can heal.

All ranged heroes are good for armies heavy in ranged units.

Well equipped infantry heroes can kill stuff by themselves quite well, but their army bonuses are a bit inferior. 

Speciality heroes:

Allayi are good for pearl collecting.

Forgotten are good for spying.