Sorry for my useless last post, somehow I thought you were asking about MM1... don't know why...

I can't give you exact data but if you move enough squares, a day passes and resting wastes around one half or one third of a day.

180 days are one year and there a a few events that can be only done on certain days. If you miss them, you can try again next year.
There might be a time limit but I'm not sure. If there is one, then I finished the game with many years to spare.

I didn't knew about the town bonus, so I nearly always trained in the first town. The game was still pretty easy most of the time.

I don't know the exact formula, just that Atlantium gives the best HP increase per level. But it's also the most expensive place to train. I didn't actually know about the HP bonus until later in the game so I did most of my early training at MIddlegate, then switched to Atlantium later, and I didn't have any trouble with the game being too hard. There are lots of optional challenges to do in the game that are VERY hard and for those it helps to get to really high level and try to maximize your HP, but I was still able to complete them even though I'd done my early training at Middlegate.

That said, there's no reason, other than cost, to not start training at Atlantium right away, especially if you import your characters which means you're starting at level 7.

Oh, and ZFR is pretty much spot on about time in the game... you'll have way more than you need so you don't have to worry about wasting it. It's mainly just for a few things which require arriving on certain days of the year. It does mean that, unlike MM1, your protection spells will eventually run out even if you didn't rest, but it takes a long time.

Thanks Dotur and Waltorious.

It would be nice if age was day dependant then rather than level dependant. The way it is now, characters age at different rates, and they can become 1 year older, with 0 days having passed by...

EDIT:
Just found the HP formula at some other FAQ. Basically, the values in the manual are what you get in Atlantium. Training at other cities gives you less than what the manual says... (or you can consider Middlegate values to be the "base" values, and other cities giving you bonus, but then the base won't correspond to what the manual says).

In effect: Depending on class/city you get:

Middlegate Sansobar Tundara Vulcania Atlantium MAX
Sorcerer 0 1 1 2 3 21
Cleric 1 2 2 3 5 23
Ninja 1 2 2 3 5 23
Robber 1 2 2 3 5 23
Paladin 2 4 4 5 7 25
Archer 2 4 4 5 7 25
Knight 3 5 5 6 9 27
Barbarian 5 7 7 9 12 30


From Endurance you get:

Stat Rating: Bonus HP
0-13 3
14-15 4
16-17 5
18-19 6
20-22 7
23-26 8
27-30 9
31-45 10
46-60 11
61-75 12
76-90 13
91-105 14
106-120 15
121-135 16
136-150 17
151-175 18
176-200 3
201-225 3
226-250 3
251-255 3

(Notice how at higher endurance greater than 176, HP bonus gets reset to the minimum 3... apparently a bug).

So a sorceror for example training at Atlantium with 13 endurancegets 3+3=6, which is what the manual says... Trainging at Middlegate he only gets 3.

Source:
http://www.gamefaqs.com/pc/564550-might-and-magic-ii/faqs/29710

EDIT2: Sorry but the forums reset my formatting. If anyone knows a way of making tables and is interested let me know. HTML doesn't seem to work...

Is that true? In MM1 characters aged when gaining a level, casting certain spells, getting resurrected, and when certain enemies magically aged them. In MM2, I'm pretty sure that characters only age "naturally" when a year goes by but most aging will be caused either by enemies or by casting certain spells. Fortunately, you can learn the Rejuvenate spell to lower your characters' ages again. I only ran into trouble with age when I was using the highest-level spells very often, and by then I was able to use Rejuvenate to counteract the effects.

I don't know, I got that info from the manual......

Right now I'm fighting skeletons and ageing is the least of my concerns ;)

If ageing does occur naturally then it's pretty cool... In MM1 it was funny how companions travelling together would get older at different speeds...

Wow. Love this game... same engine, but the colours/animations are such a nice improvement...

Ventured outside a little, but still it's mostly grinding in Middlegate... The experience seems to be bigger than MM1...

So nth random question: is Location the most useless spell? It does same thing as pressing M. And M doesn't waste a spell point. Is this a bug, an oversight, or does Location do something extra that I just don't see?

Doesn't pressing M only work if someone has the Cartography skill? In that case, Location would let you figure out where you are even if no one has Cartography.

If that's not the case, then yes, it's fairly useless.

As for grinding in Middlegate, make sure you explore everywhere. There are many different places you can go before you have to go outside.

Just on the training hit point thing. Its not absolutely critical to go to Atlantium from the start as in one of the castle dungeon there is someone who will maximise your hitpoints (my maps say it cost a million gold.. can't remember if that is per character).

So you miss a few levels early you can get those hit points back late in the game (when you are drowning in gold).

This is true. I think it's 1 million gold for the whole party.

There are also other locations where you can gain additional hitpoints. But late in the game hitpoints aren't problematic, just like in might and magic 1 you can face monsters which can kill you instantly.

This was a good tip, and I did, am doing this currently in my MM1 game before transferring to MM2. Since I still have my level 14 characters, and plenty of gold and gems; why not train up some Robbers now?

So I rolled up Robber 1 and Robber 2, duplicated my main Robber's equipment for both of them; I mean a 14-16 Armor Class at level 1 is not bad. Putting them in the back behind my Knight, Paladin, Archer, and Sorcerer, we set off to the Wyvern Peaks. Let's just say they popped to level 7 in no time.

Then I tried something I wasn't sure would work, but if you don't try, you'll never know. I mounted up my full party, and went to visit the Clerics of the South for the... ah, fifth time. Becoming "worthy" again, I head back to Sorpigal, and picked up my new Robbers. Surprise, surprise, I was able to fly, teleport, and etherealize my way to the stat-increasing places, and Robber 1 & 2, who had not been dubbed "worthy" received stat bonus too!

So, I still have Robber 3 & 4 to finish, and then I should be finally ready to finally make the transfer. Plus I almost have all my new charts done too.

I'm pretty sure that all characters in MM1 start out as "worthy". By which I mean, you can just go ahead and visit the stat-boosting locations and get a boost once, but if you want ANOTHER boost, you have to go to the Clerics of the South and get judged as worthy again. So unless your new robbers had already been to the stat-boosting locations once, it is normal behavior for them to get the boost even if they hadn't been to see the Clerics yet.

On HP:

I got my first 6 levels or so at Middlegate in order to conserve gold and then got the rest at Atlantium.

Within the game, you'll find a few spots that will, in total, raise your HP to 1200 or more. So when you have 1585 hp vs. 1525, it's just not that important.

Of course, if you don't find the HP-boost locations, then you may need those extra few HPs.

It's been quite a while since I've played MM2. The monsters sure can beat you up fast, even starting with Level 7 characters. Weapons and armor are limited, and some of these new monsters pack a punch, especially when many of them get 2 attacks per round. Quite a change from MM1; just run into a pack of Jugglers and prepare to have your butt handed to you!

Right now I'm hiding out in the Middlegate Inn, using the secret door inside to farm the fixed encounter in back. Starting to get some decent equipment from the various types of monsters, from whom I'm compiling a Special Abilities list. So far the Jugglers are the Sprites of MM2!