Other Features
- by Marelt Ekiran
Building Summary
This is just to summarize the buildings that were mentioned in the article about the economy, and a number of extra ones. They will all be written in the following format:
Name of building
- Prerequisits
Function/effect
The following abbreviations are used:
(T) Traders town only
(F) Farmers town only
(M) Miners town only
(U) The building described is an upgrade of this building
Common to all towns of all forms:
Bare terrain
Nothing
This is not a town, but a hero can found a town here.
Village hall
- Bare terrain
500 gold per day. Allows building of other structures. The minimum definition of a town.
Town hall
- Village hall (U), tavern
1000 gold per day.
City hall
- Town hall (U), marketplace, blacksmith.
2000 gold per day.
Capitol
- City hall (U), castle, mage guild 3 (2 libraries for might), guildhouse.
4000 gold per day, one per game.
Capitol in exile
- City hall, castle, mage guild 3 (2 libraries for might), guildhouse.
3000 gold per day, can be build when actual capitol is taken, disbanded when occupied or actual capitol is regained.
The six levels of creature dwellings
- Various
Produce creatures.
Fort, citadel, castle and other defensive structures
- Various
I'll be going into more depth about the defenses in separate articles.
Marketplace
- Village hall
Increases town income by 25%, allows resource trading.
Market square
- Town hall, marketplace (U)
Increases town income by 50%.
Caravan
- Village hall
Allows fast transport between towns.
Portal
- Town hall, caravan (U), mage guild 1 (one library level for might), blacksmith.
Much faster transport between towns (not instantanious).
Blacksmith
- Village hall
Sells unenchanted items (may sell more, depending on situation).
War factory
- Town hall, blacksmith (U), marketplace.
Sells siege catapults, ladders, rams and storming towers (see: sieges).
Tavern
- Village hall
Recruit heroes of your own and allied alignments.
Thieves guild
- Village hall, tavern
Gives information about the other players and displays location and ownership of towns.
Lieutenants quarters
- Village hall
Sets a lieutenant to govern and guard the city in absence of a hero.
Captains quarters
- Town hall, lieutenants quarters (U)
Sets a captain to govern and guard the city in absence of a hero.
Five levels of the mage guild
- Village hall, the lower guild levels (U)
Learn spells (not available in might town).
Two libraries
- Mage guild 1
Learn spells from any other school of magic (distrusted and enemy libraries cost more). Available in might town. Libraries advance with mage guild, but maximum library level is 4.
Magic schools
- Town hall, mage guild 2, libraries (U)
Teach the primary magic skill for a price.
Shipyard
- Town hall, a coast
Sells basic boats (lower speed and maximum transport of 3000 XP of creatures).
Harbour
- Town hall, shipyard (U)
Also sells clippers (high speed and maximum transport of 3000 XP of creatures) and galleons (lower speed, unlimited creatures).
3 horde buildings
- Level 1/2 dwellings
Horde buildings for the two level 1 and one level 2 creatures.
All Traders towns:
Merchants guildhouse
- Town hall, marketplace, caravan
Allows initiation of trade routes. Minimum definition of a traders town.
Warehouse
- Merchants guildhouse
Adds 500 gold per day for every connection with a farmers town. Cannot be build if a storage has been build.
Storage
- Merchants guildhouse
Adds 500 gold per day for every connection with a miners town. Cannot be build if a warehouse has been build.
Wood depot
- Warehouse (U)
Allows production of wood as a result of a trade route with a farmers town.
Ore depot
- Storage (U)
Allows production of ore as a result of a trade route with a miners town.
Spell merchant
- Merchants guildhouse, 1 building point
Randomly sells 1,2 and 3 level spells from all schools.
Spell market
- Spell merchant (U), 1 building point
Randomly sells 1,2,3 and 4 level spells from all schools.
Spell hall
- Spell market (U), 1 building point
Randomly sells any spell from all schools.
Gathering hall
- Merchants guildhouse, 1 building point
Allows recruitment of heroes from mistrusted alignments (not available in might town).
Gathering beacon
- Gathering hall (U), 1 building point
Allows recruitement of all heroes (available in might town).
School of elegance
- Merchants guildhouse, 1 building point
Teaches nobility to any hero for a price.
Academy
- School of elegance (U), 1 building point
Teaches nobility, attack, tactics and scouting to any hero for a price.
Bankers hall
- Merchants guildhouse, 1 building point
Better rates on all non-creature money transfers.
Improved blacksmith
This is not a building that you buy. Your normal blacksmith will sell more things in a traders town if there is a trade route with another town that has certain buildings.
All farmers towns:
Silo
- Farmers guildhouse
Increases creature production in home town and possibly other town.
Wood depot
- Farmers guildhouse
Increases wood production in various ways.
Potion store
- Farmers guildhouse, city hall
Sells a variety of potions.
Fishermen's wharf
- Farmers guildhouse, shipyard
Increases gold production by 500 per day.
All miner's towns:
Extractor
- Miner's guildhouse
Increases gold production by 1000 per day.
Ore depot
- Miner's guildhouse
Increases ore production in various ways.
Gem depot
- Ore depot, not another depot
Increases gem production in various ways.
Crystal depot
- Ore depot, not another depot
Increases crystal production in various ways.
Mercury depot
- Ore depot, not another depot
Increases mercury production in various ways.
Sulfur depot
- Ore depot, not another depot
Increases sulfur production in various ways.
Master smithy
- Miner's guildhouse, city hall
Sells variety of artifacts: item, treasure and minor.
This was it for the the buildings that are common to all towns. The following buildings will be for each town specifically. I will attempt to keep everything as balanced as possible, but still keep the towns unique. Note that I did not include the buildings related to defenses and sieges.
Alchemy:
Tower of animation
- Town hall, mage guild 1
A hero linked to the tower gives a 10 increase in adventure map movement to all animated objects (golems, catapults, ballista's, etc.) in the same army.
Master forge (M)
- Town hall, master smithy
Master smithy also sells one major artifact per month.
Transformer (T)
- Town hall, blacksmith, mage guild 2
Turn a resource into gold at a better rate than most marketplaces.
Salver
- Village hall, marketplace
Permanently adds 5 defense to visiting hero.
Pinnacle of fate (F)
- City hall, mage guild 3, level 4 dwelling
Decreases luck of all enemies on the map by 1.
Archeon:
Plasma pool (M)
- Town hall, mage guild 1, level 4 dwelling
Adds 10% to creature growth.
Vines (F)
- City hall, mage guild 2, castle.
All enemy movement within 15 tiles from the gate takes double movement points.
Firefly swarm
- Village hall, mage guild 1
Adds some mana to a pool each day. Pool can be accessed during siege or used instantly by visiting hero.
Stoneskin pool
- Town hall, mage guild 2
Permanently adds 8 ranged defense to any visiting hero.
Barbarian:
Breeding pits
- City hall, market square, level 5 dwelling
Increases creature production by one third on base production.
Training hall
- Village hall, level 2 dwelling
Permanantly adds 3 to melee and ranged attack.
Wrestling pits
- Village hall, level 1 dwelling
Permanently adds 3 to melee and ranged defense.
Ram foundry (M)
- Town hall, war factory (U)
Allows the sale of steel rams, which do 50% more damage to walls.
Freelancer's guild (T)
- Marketplace, merchant's guildhouse
Allows the sale of creatures for resources.
Chaos:
Mana Vortex
- Town hall, Mage guild 2
Doubles a hero's spellpoints once per week.
Thieves Guild
- Village hall
Gives visiting heroes 1,000 XP once.
Firehall
- City hall, mage guild 3, level 4 dwelling
A firestorm permanently rages over the city.
Ash pit (F)
- Town hall, mage guild 1, farmer's guildhouse
Trade wood for mercury or sulphur at a very good rate.
Goldrain tower (T)
- City hall, mage guild 1
Adds another 500 gold to daily production.
Death:
Pinnacle of darkness
- Town hall, mage guild 1
Town and 10 tiles surrounding are permanently dark (weather effect).
Necromancy amplifier
- Town hall, mage guild 1
Increases necromancy effects by 10%.
Labour fields (F)
- Town hall, farmer's guildhouse
Daily gold production increases with 2 for every skeleton sacrificed and with 5 for every zombie sacrificed.
Skeleton Transformer
- Village hall, mage guild 1
Transforms any creature into a skeleton.
Undead transformer
- Town hall, mage guild 2, skeleton transformer (U)
Transforms any creature into an undead of choice at a maximum level of the creature level -1.
Pinacle of despair (M)
- City hall, mage guild 3, level 4 dwelling.
Lowers the morale of all enemies on the map by 1.
Life:
Abbey
- Town hall, level 2 dwelling, mage guild 1
Raises the morale of any visiting army by 2 and by 3 during a siege.
Stables
- Town hall, blacksmith
Increases adventure map movement for a week.
Spirit temple
- Town hall, abbey
Raises a hero instantly from death (in other towns, it has a cost and takes one day).
Pinnacle of Hope (T)
- City hall, mage guild 3, abbey
Raises the morale of all allied troops by 2, regardless of position.
Rally flag (M)
- Town hall, marketplace
Increases creature production by another 10%.
Healing pool (F)
- Town hall, mage guild 1
Permanently adds 5 spell points to any visiting hero.
Nature:
Clover field
- Village hall
Raises the luck of any visiting army by 2.
Pool of visions
- Town hall, mage guild 1
Shows the exact composition of any army within the town viewing radius.
Pool of mystery
- Town hall, mage guild 2, pool of visions (U)
Gives the owner one random resource per day (not gold).
Pinnacle of fortune
- City hall, mage guild 3, clover field
Raises the luck of all allied troops by 2, regardless of position.
Concocter (F)
- City hall, mage guild 2, potion store (U)
Sells any potion in the game, excluding immortality.
Order:
Watchtower
- Town hall, blacksmith
Increases viewing radius of the town by 10 tiles.
Observatory
- City hall, mage guild 3, watchtower (U)
Displays the location of all enemy heroes on a map.
Treasury (T)
- City hall, blacksmith, market square
Provides 10% interest per week.
Beacon of winter
- City hall, mage guild 2
Turns 5 tiles surrounding the town into snow, per day.
University
- Town hall, mage guild 2, level 3 dwelling
Hero staying in town gains (100 + 10xLevel) XP per day.
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- by Marelt Ekiran
HoMM 5 >Buildings
In all installments, the Heroes series had two main limitations on the growth
of forces. The first one was money. The second one was the number of
creatures available in town. Personally, I believe that money should be the
primary limiting factor.
In the various installments, the value of money could increase or decrease.
In HoMM3, the value of money was clearly the lowest. A town could produce
4000 per day (9000 with a grail), but the top level creature could cost 5000
gold per unit. In HoMM4, gold wasn't worth much more, but it did become a lot
scarcer. A town could only produce 1000 gold per day as a maximum. Many maps
did not have goldmines and the nobility skill wasn't a whole lot of help,
since it would only contribute a few hundred per day, unless you were at high
levels. A money creating artifact could therefore also imbalance MP severely.
To do a bit of math: In HoMM3, a fully build capitol was almost self-
supportive. This means that the amount of money that a capitol produces was
almost enough to buy all creatures in the town on a weekly base (assuming
that a castle was build). However, in HoMM4, the amount of money that a town
produced per week was not even enough to buy the top level creatures alone
(and that's not even counting the nobility skill). While this could add some
strategy, it was usually just frustrating. The only way to get enough money
to buy all creatures from one town was to conquer other towns, just to use
them as "moneybags".
I plan to go back a bit to HoMM3 in this aspect and severely devaluate the
worth of money. This means that a town may produce up to 8000-10000 gold per
day (after lots of building and planning), but one black dragon may then cost
up to 12000 gold per unit (and other level 6's between 7000 and 9000). In
other words, you have more gold, but things will cost you more.
This leaves quite a number of possibilities to get more gold, while not
having the problem of an infinite amount of gold, so that your only limiting
factor is the growth of creatures. It also allows the scheme to build many,
many buildings in your towns in order to make them produce actual large
amounts of money. The economy may also be more complicated (though I'll try
to keep the amount of micromanagement at an absolute minimum) and it will be
more important than ever to hold on to your towns. But then again, the plan
for more buildings also includes the use of many defensive structures. Taking
over the enemy stronghold will become really hard, if it has been fully
build, and every town will have different defenses.
I realize that the descriptions of the buildings can be confusing here. So I put them all in a list, which makes it much easier to look at, but there won't be any extra descriptions. Just the building, the prerequisits and a basic description of what it does. As you will later see, a fully build town with all economic and defensive structures can easily require over fifty builds.
Economy:
This is where choices will have to be made in the build-up of towns. The bare minimum is the village, which produces 500 gold per day and does nothing else. The marketplace comes back as a building which has to be build. It is more expensive then ever, but now actively contributes money, aside from being a trading post. The presence of a marketplace increases the town income from all structures by 25%. The marketplace can be upgraded to a market square, which increases the income by 50% (but requires quite some resources). The next level is the town hall, with a base gold production of 1000, then the city hall with a base gold production of 2000 and the capitol with 4000 per day, but there is only one of those in the country. As most of you already noticed, this is the HoMM3 system.
The maximum amount of money that a town can produce by itself is therefore
6000 gold per day (and 3000 for the others). That makes the black dragon of
12000 still a hard pill to swallow. Especially since, theoretically, a town can be upgraded to the point where production is tripled. The castle would provide a 50% increase in town production. 50% would be provided by GM Nobility. And 20% increase each from 5 farming towns.
This is where other towns and town interaction comes in. When the town has a
marketplace (or a market square, which doesn't matter in this case), you can
buy a guildhouse. This guildhouse will determine what kind of economy your
town has. The options are: "Traders Guildhouse", "Farmers Guildhouse"
and "Miners Guildhouse". They all interact and all build up differently. The
landscape is also going to matter, since miners would not be able to get a
whole lot of stuff from a grassfield or a forest. Neither can farmers grow a
whole lot on rocks.
Towns can now have trade routes with each other. The trade routes with the
traders towns are the most important, since they actually produce the money.
But there can also be trade routes between the miners town and the farmers
town, because the miners need to eat and the farmers need tools and
materials. In order to start a trade route between two towns, you need the
following:
- Marketplaces in both towns.
- Guildhouses in both towns (not the same guildhouses if farmer or miner).
- Caravans in both towns (which should be less expensive than in HoMM4).
- A governour (either a hero, a lieutenant or a captain).
- A distance of less than 5 caravan days.
*Note: You can upgrade the caravan to a portal, which increases the distance
per day, and therefore the 5-day radius.
The links with other towns works as follows:
Trader- Trader:
- 500 gold per day if both have a marketplace.
- 1000 gold per day if one has a marketplace and the other has a market square.
- 2000 gold per day if both have market squares.
Trader- Miner:
- 500 gold per day if trader has a marketplace.
- 750 gold per day if trader has a market square.
- 1250 gold per day if trader has a market square and a storage.
Added to that a certain amount of gold, depending on how much mining ground (rocks and mountains) surround the Miner in a 20-tile radius. With more buildings, other resources may also be produced.
Trader- Farmer:
- 500 gold per day if trader has a marketplace.
- 750 gold per day if trader has a market square.
- 1250 gold per day if trader has a market square and a warehouse.
Added to that a certain amount of gold, depending on how many trees (forests) surround the Farmer in a 20-tile radius. With more buildings, other resources may also be produced.
Miner- Farmer:
- 50% increase in production for both towns (only for the variable amount).
*Note: A Farmers or Miners town can only link to one Traders town.
As you can see, the environment around the castle is actually going to matter, and the mapmaker can make some decisions about that. Additionally, I would like it if the mapmaker could specify certain spots where a town could be founded (the player would build a village hall of the town of his choice). It would make some interesting campaign possibilities. Only heroes would be able to do this, and they would have to sacrifice a certain amount of XP worth of creatures (because towns don't grow out of nowhere, they have to be build).
The point is that the towns cannot just initiate as many trade routes as they
want. The amount of trade routes that can be formed is equal to the nobility
skill of the governour of that town. So it will become important to have a
hero with a good nobility skill.
The problem would be that you need to hire a hero with nobility for every
single town that you own, just to benefit from the trade routes. Personally,
I disliked all those semi-heroes in the first place, and I believe that HoMM2
had the solution.
Lieutenants and Captains.
In every town, you can build a Lieutenant's Quarter. The lieutenant cannot
travel, but acts in the town as a hero that has Basic Nobility, Basic Estates
and one of the following (choice of the player): Basic Attack, Basic Tactics
or Basic Magic (depends on town). The Lieutenant's Quarter can be upgraded to
a Captain's Quarter. The Captain has Advanced Nobility, Basic Estates and
(depending on the choice of Lieutenant):
-Advanced Attack, Basic Melee, Basic Marksmanship.
-Advanced Tactics, Basic Defense, Basic Magic Resistance.
-Advanced Magic, Basic Spell Points, Basic Spell Power (magic of town).
The Lieutenant or Captain will fight during a siege, as long as there is room in the garrison. The Lieutenant with the statistics of a level 1 hero. The Captain with the statistics of a level 4 hero. The advantage is that you will still have a hero-like figure without having to buy a hero (which may not even be possible, because of the one-hero-per-week rule). The disadvantage is that this hero can only learn the spells of this town's mage guild, does not level up, cannot travel and cannot use artifacts. The Quarters will be less expensive than a hero, though.
Traders town:
For the whole thing to work, you must have at least one Traders town, since
this is where it all happens. I therefore strongly recommend that the Capitol
is always a Trader's town (since you will probably put your highest noble
hero in the capitol, and you need high nobility here).
The Trader's town is formed by having a Merchant's Guildhouse, which is the bare minimum of the Trader's town. After that, you can build a lot to start increasing the production of the town. The guildhouse by itself doesn't do anything, except that it allows the formation of trade routes and it may be a prerequisite for other buildings.
The next building is a choice between the warehouse and the storage. The warehouse increases effectiveness of trade-routes with farmers. The storage increases effectiveness of trading with miners. Since this is a choice, you can't have both.
If you went for the warehouse, then you can build a timber shop, which produces an amount of wood per day, depending on the amount of trees surrounding the farmers towns. Since every tree counts, you can get really weird numbers, like: 2.587 wood per day. This just means that this much wood is added to the tally each day, and when a whole point has been filled, one wood becomes available. It works the same as the creature production of HoMM4.
If you went for the storage, then you can build a bricklayer shop, which does exactly the same thing, but then for ore. Note that the timber shop and the bricklayers shop will only function when a wood or ore depot have been build in the farmers or miners town.
Regardless of which way you choose, you can spend 3 building points in the following. You can use your building points to upgrade the structures or have some variety, that is up to the player.
- Spell merchant: Sells spells randomly of all schools, from level 1,2 and 3.
- Spell market: Sells spells randomly of all schools, from level 1,2,3 and 4.
- Spell hall: Sells spells randomly of all schools, from all levels.
- Gathering hall: Allows recruitement of heroes from mistrusted alignments.
- Gathering beacon: Allows recruitment of all heroes.
- School of elegance: Teaches nobility to a hero for a price.
- Academy: Teaches nobility, attack, tactics and scouting for a price.
- Banker's hall: Get better rates on all other non-creature money transfers in town.
And you will always be able to build the blacksmith dwelling. Without any trade routes, it will just sell unenchanted items. With a trade route to the farmers town, you will also be able to buy potions and with a trade route to the miners town, you will be able to buy treasure artifacts. All shops replenish their stock every week (except that the treasure artifacts that a shop sells are always the same, depending on town type).
Farmers town:
Note that when I write "farmer's town", that also includes forestry and possibly fishing. The counting of trees is for the fertility of the land. It's just easier to visualize. When you decide which guildhouse to build, you will be told how many tiles with trees and plants (that includes farmland) and how many tiles with rocks or mountains there are surrounding the town. But on the adventure map, trees are just easier to visualize for the player when deciding whether to attack the town and add it to the economy.
The farmers town is more straightforward to build than the traders town. After you have a farmers guildhouse, you can build a silo, which increases creature production in the town by 20%. If you have a silo and a caravan, you can build a food trader post, which increases the creature production of one specified town that is connected to the farmers town by 10%. This number increases to 20% when the caravan is upgraded to a portal.
The wood depot is another important building. It doubles the wood production of any sawmill within the 20 tile radius of the town and allows the production of wood in a connected traders town. Note that this may boost your wood production by possibly more than 5 per day, but the demand for wood may also increase significantly. A level 6 structure could easily demand 50 wood and/or ore. A lot of resources could also be spend on advanced defense structures.
Then there is the potion store, which will sell a variety of potions and replenishes it's stock each week. When you have this structure in the farmers town, the blacksmith in the associated traders town will also sell potions, though not as many and not with as much variety as the farmers town.
If the town has a shipyard, you can also build a fishermans wharf, which just increases the gold production of the town by 500 per day (requires a trade route to a trader).
Miners town:
This town deals with resources that are dug up and extracted from the ground. On average, a miners town will produce more gold per day than the farmers town, to compensate for the farmers ability to increase creature growth. So it will be a decision for the player to make a proper farmer/miner ratio. After you build the miners guildhouse, you will be able to build the extractor, which increases the town gold production by 1000 per day (requires a trade route to a trader).
Another building is the ore depot, which doubles the production of ore of any ore pit within the 20 tile radius. It also allows the production of ore in the connected traders town. Once you have the ore depot, you can choose one depot for a rare resource (gems, sulfur, mercury, crystal). This will double the production of any mine of that resource in the 20 tile radius and allows the production of that resource in the traders town in the same way as ore, but with half the amount (so if the ore production is 3.016 per day for that town, then the rare resource production would be 1.508 per day). This works as long as the connecter traders town has a ore depot. No extra building is needed.
Then there is the master smithy, which allows the sale of a large variety of items, treasures and minor artifacts. When this building is build, the blacksmith in the associated traders town will also start to sell treasure artifacts, but with less variety than the master smithy.
These are the buildings for the economy that are common to every town. There are a number of economic structures that are town-specific. I'm not going in more depth about those, but you will see them in the list of economic structures.
Now for a bit of math. Let's assume that everything is maxed out. You have three towns (trader, farmer, miner). Remember that the market square increases all income by 50%, which is calculated into the numbers.
6000 (capitol)
6000 (two city halls)
1875 (trade route and storage)
1125 (trade route)
1500 (extractor)
750 (fishermans wharf)
3000 app. (farmland yield, 50% for miner-farmer link added)
3000 app. (mining yield, 50% for miner-farmer link added)
23250 per day
162750 per week.
Had these towns been individual, the gold production per day would have been 12000 per day. As you can see, the trade routes make a significant difference. But now for the costs on a weekly base per town. Again we assume that everything has been maxed out for creature production. This number will vary per town, but I'm making an approximate average. With these three towns, the increase in creature growth will be 120% for the main town, assuming that you have a GM Nobility governour of the main town.
16000 (2 level 6, 8000 each)
8000 (4 level 5, 2000 each)
5600 (7 level 4, 800 each)
3300 (11 level 3, 300 each)
2160 (18 level 2, 120 each)
1500 (30 level 1, 50 each)
36560 per week base
80432 per week in actual cost
Now, we assume that the the miner and the farmer are maxed out on buildings as well, but they only have a captian as governour, meaning that the total bonus in creature production will be 90% for the farmers town and 70% for the miners town. Calculating from the base amount:
62152 per week for the miner
69464 per week for the farmer
212048 per week for all three towns
49298 per week deficit
So the total yield of money does not pay for all the towns. But how often is it going to happen that you have three towns and build every single building in all three of them? According to the numbers, you can get all creatures from two of them and have a bit left. However, it would take months before you have gathered enough money to build all dwellings and structures. By then, you probably occupied a number of new towns, which you can add to the economy, but not build up.
Notice that the total amount of micromanagement is minimum. Once the trade routes are there, you don't have to bother about anything anymore. You just have to initiate the trade routes and make new ones if you (re)capture a town.
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- by Marelt Ekiran
HoMM 5 >Towns and creatures >Barbarian
The town of Might
The barbarians are still in their own country and usually don't bother with other peoples. However, the elves dragged them into a conflict with the Alchemy-Necro alliance and the Life-Order faction. They will have to concentrate more on the organization of their army and their sheer strength in order to survive in a world were everyone blasts around with magic.
Level 1:
Goblin (Mess hall)
The goblin has returned as a small green spearfighter. They come in high numbers and have a very high damage spear attack. They are permanently under influence of the bloodlust spell. Their defenses are quite low, so be carefull with how you use them.
Berserker (Longhouse)
The berserker is also a strong creature with the double attack and that unfortunate berserk ability. They come in lower numbers than the goblin and are unfotunately, killed fast because of that berserk ability.
Level 2:
Centaur (Centaur stables)
The centauri are still ranged attackers, but a bit stronger now. They are low on shots, but shoot them like any other ranged attacker and they have no melee penalty. They have good defenses and fair numbers.
Boar (Boar pen)
The boars have finally ended up with the barbarians. As with most barbarian units, they do a lot of damage. Their defenses are good enough and they are very fast. They also have the ignore obstacle ability.
Level 3:
Orcs (Orc tower)
I don't know what the orcs were doing with the sorcerers, but they belong here in the barbarian town. They throw with axes, doing good damage. But they have a melee penalty and are not that good on hitpoints and defenses. Better to give them a decent protection if you take them.
Nomads (Nomad tents)
The nomads are very fast and attack with a first strike. They put equal emphasis on attack and defense, but it is still not a good idea to send them out all by themselves into the enemy ranks. The presence of nomads in your army decreases the movement penalty over hostile terrain by 25%.
Level 4:
Ogre mage (Shaman circle)
A shaman-like magician from the barbarian hordes. The orge mage's spellbook has been extended with the slayer and, more important, the precesion spell. They are tanktroops, but put the emphasis more on defense, which is unusual for barbarian troops. Highest hitpoints of their level and high defenses. Attack is no more than average and low speed.
Troll (Troll cave)
Medium speed (definitely better speed than the ogre) and both fair attack and defense, with good numbers. The troll also regenerated all hitpoints each turn and is therefore a fearful opponent on small maps and in early stages. Aside from that, they also have a 50% magic resistance.
Level 5:
Thunderbird (Lightning mountains)
This bird is basically the same as the bird from HOMM4, although it has been scaled down to fit it's level. It still does lighting damage, along with its normal damage, but this should be only 10 to 15 per bird. The HOMM4 animation looked good, so they should make something similar.
Wyvern (Wyvern nest)
It should be possible to mightify this creature, so that it fits in the town of might. The wyvern would of course be a flying creature, but no longer with the poisoning ability. They are extremely fast and have a permanent stoneskin and increased hitpoints. Their damage is not that good. The wyvern would be excelent for taking out ranged attackers.
Level 6:
Behemoth (Behemoth lair)
The behemoth should regain its ability to lower the defenses of its victim, in stead of that impersonal strenght ability. Because of the new system of damage calculation, the defense reduced should be modified, but it could still work. Visually, take away that big hairy ape look and make it look more like the HOMM3 version. The ancient behemoth actually looked scary.
Cyclops (Cyclops cave)
The cyclops is now an ultimate irritating factor. It still has the ranged area attack, but it also has the statistics that fit a level 6 creature. On close range, the cyclops attacks with its gaze (no melee penalty). This gaze has the chance to paralyse a number of creatures per turn. The cyclops actually does not do much damage for its level, but the area attack makes up for that.
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- by Marelt Ekiran
Archeon magic
Level 1:
- Darkvision
Basic: Eliminates the penalty for moving in darkness on the adventure map.
Advanced: Increases viewing radius by 1.
Master: Increases viewing radius by 3.
- Tending
Basic: Heals number of hitpoints on target, determined by level and entomology.
- Raise plants
Basic: Plants act as an obstacle for shooting, but not for movement.
Advanced: Does not count as an obstacle for own troops.
- Constitution
Basic: Increases hitpoints of target by 20%.
Advanced: Increases hitpoints of target by 25%.
Expert: Increases hitpoints of target by 30%.
- Rock sling
Basic: Damages target, determined by level and entomology.
- Firefly scout
Basic: Summons a firefly who can fly past any creature stack, but only look, not do anything. Has 25 movement, dispelled at the end of the day.
Advanced: Has 30 movement.
Expert: Has 35 movement, can give exact numbers of all hostile armies.
Master: Has 40 movement.
GM: Can fly into enemy town and take a look.
Level 2:
- Skill
Basic: Increases target attack and defense by 20% each.
Advanced: Increases target attack and defense by 25% each.
Master: Increases target attack and defense by 30% each.
- Set vines
Basic: Vines appear at number of spots randomly, determined by level and entomology. Only caster's army can see them. Stack stepping on them is bound for one turn.
- Mind immunity
Basic: Target becomes immume to mind spells (fear effects not included).
Advanced: Fear spells included.
- Fear
Basic: Target loses next turn.
Expert: Target loses next turn by moving in opposite direction of caster (if possible).
- Summon stonemaulders.
Basic: Lets a horde of insects loose on certain spot on enemy castle wall, which will do damage per turn, determined by caster level and entomology.
- Slow strike
Basic: Target retaliates after it's attacker has striken. Cancels a first strike spell.
Expert: Overrides a first strike ability or spell.
Level 3:
- Ground shatter
Basic: Damages all targets within 3 yard radius, determined by level and entomology.
- Broad strike
Basic: Target's attacks hit all three hexes in front of it.
Master: Target's attacks hit all enemies in a 5 hex half circle in front of it.
- Earth hold
Basic: Target cannot move for three turns, but can still cast spells, shoot and attack adjacent targets. Has 25% increase in defense.
Advanced: No defense increase.
- Power
Basic: Increases attack and defense with 25% and speed by 2.
Advanced: Also adds 2 to movement.
Master: Also adds 25% hitpoints.
- Living earth
Basic: All friendly targets have 1 increase in movement. All enemy targets have 1 decrease in movement.
Expert: All friendly targets have 2 increase in movement.
Master: All enemy targets have 2 decrease in movement.
- Paralysis
Basic: Target loses 2 turns and does not retaliate when attacked, but spell is dispelled the moment target suffers damage.
Expert: When target suffers damage, spell is dispelled at the end of the same round.
Level 4:
- Shockblast Expert: Larger damage to target and lesser damage to units surrounding target, determined by level and entomology.
- Stone shell
Expert: Castable on both friend and foe. Target loses next three turns, but cannot be harmed in any way.
Master: When allied target leaves shell, all negative spells will be removed and top creature fully healed.
GM: Stone shell on allies lasts 4 turns, but target has option to leave after 2 turns.
- Mass skill
Expert: Increases all allies target attack and defense by 20% each.
Master: Increases all allies target attack and defense by 25% each.
GM: Increases all allies target attack and defense by 30% each.
- Mass mind immunity
Expert: All targets become immume to mind spells.
Master: All targets become immume to fear spells and effects.
- Tempest
Expert: Sets the weather to "Misty".
Master: A Tempest storm appears on the battlefield.
Level 5:
- Petrify
GM: For three rounds, no unit on the field can act, except for the caster. The effects of regeneration, poison, tempest, etc. continue.
- Mass Power
GM: All friendly targets gain 25% attack and defense, increase of speed and movement by 2 and 25% more hitpoints.
- Giant's force
GM: Increases target's speed and movement by 5, attack by 100% and damage by 50%.
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- by Marelt Ekiran
HoMM 5 >Towns and creatures >Archeon
The town of Archeon
This town is a newcomer. It was founded by a renegate order mage and a scouting sorcerer and is a strong ally of the Chaos Empire. The creatures are either dwellers of the dark underground swamplands or former chaos creatures that felt more comfortable in this new environment than in the volcanic lands that became the favoured environment of the chaotic sorcerers.
Level 1:
Troglodyte (Warren)
After wandering around for so long, the troglodyte finally returned to its underground roots. They are immume to both blindness and darkness. Aside from that, they are nothing special. Average attack, decent defense and low speed.
Kobold (Stalagmite caves)
These small creatures are native dwellers of the underground. They have the ability to dig themselves in, thus gaining a 50% increase in defense, as long as they remain on the same position. They can still attack from this position and are therefore good to protect shooters and spellcasters.
Level 2:
Lizard Sniper (Hidden den)
The portals that went from Tatalia led to the mountains where the Archeons are based. Many of the fortress creatures remained with the native dwellers and were not seen again until recently. The lizardmen also survived and they improved their shooting skills during their stay in Axeoth. They have no ranged penalty and the ranged first strike with good damage. Their defenses are horrible, so they should be protected at all costs.
Magreeb (Magreeb hive)
These giant insects are natives of Axeoth and also live in Chedain. They look more impressive than they are, for they are quite easy to kill. High hitpoints, but defense no better than a level 1. Their damage is average, but they have a 10% chance to do triple damage.
Level 3:
Medusa (Statue field)
The medusa was never really comfortable among the fire-wielders and they happily transferred to the Archeons when their realms were discovered. They returned to their HoMM3 looks and shoot with bows again. They still have the stoning ability, which works only in melee, but has a 30% chance. The stoning lasts for three turns, and during this time, the statues act as line-of-sight obscurers, so the medusa's can't be shot or hit with certain spells if they are behind statues. Only medusa's profit from this.
Blade Serpent (Temple of snakes)
These creatures look like completely serpents with two arms, which each hold a sword. In melee damage, these creatures are the best of level 3, but their defense is fair at most. They have good speed, first strike and they have the option to attack two nearby stacks at once, with half strength.
Level 4:
Basilisk (Basilisk dungeon)
The basilisk has gained a 30% chance of paralysing the victim during an attack. A paralysed victim cannot retaliate when attacked and suffers of this situation for two turns. However, the paralysis is dispelled when the victim suffers damage. They are quite fast for ground troops and have decent attacks and defenses.
Wyrm (Acid pool)
These large worm-like hideous creatures are natives of the underground domes, where they usually dwell near sources of acid. They spit with acid, which does good damage and acts as an acid attack, lowering attack and defense and destroying corpses. On close range, they do full damage by attacking with their sharp pincers. However, their defenses are weak and they are really slow.
Level 5:
Hydra (Hydra pond)
The hydra was tired of being laughed at by the dragons, so they decided to move to the Archeons as well. They have become a bit weaker and are no longer the highest level. They still attack to all sides without retaliation, and have average attack and defense capabilities with good hitpoints.
Mantis (Mantis hive)
The mantis suffered heavy during the various skirmishes and the remainder decided that it was no longer worth fighting for the elfs. So they turned to their fellow insects and other cave-dwellers. The mantis is not as tough as in HoMM4, but they are really fast and still come with the binding ability.
Level 6:
Dragon Fly (Dragon hive)
This is not, and I repeat, not the little flying rainworm from HoMM3. The Dragon Fly can fly, and looks like a slender serpent-like dragon. The wings should take up a large percentage of the creature's surface area. The Dragon Fly can cast "shockblast" (like the fireball, but with more damage in the center and less outwards), "bloodfrenzy" and "windstorm" (all flying creatures except for itself can only cover 50% of their normal distance when flying).
Dark Spider (Poison web)
They are big and not easy to move around, but they have decent defense and really good damage. A creature that is attacked by the Dark Spider is bound in it's place, in the same way as the Mantis. Except, that a creature bound by the Dark Spider suffers 25 hitpoints of damage per spider, per turn (like the poison spell), as long as it is bound. The spider can only bind one stack at the time.
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- by Marelt Ekiran
Alchemy magic
Level 1:
- Decay
Basic: Lowers ranged defense of target by 25%.
Advanced: Lowers ranged and melee defense of target by 25%.
Master: Lowers ranged defense of target by 50%.
- Shrapnel
Basic: All creatures within 2 yard radius of caster take damage, determined
by level and metallurgy.
Expert: Only affects enemy targets.
- Poison weapon
Basic: Adds minor poison damage to initial attack of target, determined by
level and metallurgy.
- Disintergrate death
Basic: Destoys a number of dead hitpoints, which can no longer be raised or
ressurected, determined by level and metallurgy.
Expert: Destroys entire stack.
- Shielding wall
Basic: Increases target hitpoints by 15%
Advanced: Increases target hitpoints by 20%
Expert: Increases target hitpoints by 25%
- Blades
Basic: Damages target, determined by level and metallurgy.
Level 2:
- Shackles of pain
Basic: Target suffers minor damage for every yard moved, determined by level and metallurgy.
- Force armour
Basic: Increases melee defense of target by 40%
Expert: Increases melee defense of target by 50%
- Hope
Basic: Increases morale of all friendly targets by 2.
Expert: Increases morale of all friendly targets by 3.
GM: Increases morale of all friendly targets by 4.
- Transform weapon
Basic: Lowers target attack by 30%.
Expert: 2% chance per skill of metallurgy that attack fully fails.
- Remove obstacle
Basic: Removes one specific obstable (can't eliminate water).
Advanced: Removes all obstacles in a 3 yard diameter.
Master: Cancels the create obstacle spell and the dendroid bodies.
- Acid burst
Basic: Reduces attack and defense by 20% each.
Advanced: Reduces attack and defense by 25% each.
Master: Reduces attack and defense by 30% each.
- Bridge
Basic: Creates a magic bridge over quicksand, pools and creeks (combat map).
Expert: Creates a bridge over a moat.
- Caustic blast
Basic: Damages target, determined by level and metallurgy.
Level 3:
- Arsenal
Basic: Target regenerates one shot per two turns.
Expert: Target has unlimited shots.
GM: Ranged attack increases by 25%.
- Breach
Basic: Damages part of the defense wall of city. Damage determined by level and metallurgy.
- Sulphur flame
Basic: Damages target, based on level and metallurgy.
Advanced: Target poisoned by one third of damage done.
- Mass decay
Basic: Lowers ranged defense of all enemy targets by 25%.
Expert: Lowers ranged and melee defense of all enemy targets by 25%.
GM: Lowers ranged defense of all enemy targets by 50%.
- Charge weapon
Basic: Adds a lightning bolt to the normal attack of the target, damage determined by level and metallurgy.
- Crystalize
Basic: Kills top creature of a stack of level 5 or lower.
Advanced: Kills top creature of any stack.
GM: Kills two top creatures.
- Reflection shield
Basic: Target takes (40% + 10% x metallurgy) less damage from direct damage spells. Other spells unaffected.
Level 4:
- Mass decay
Expert: Lowers ranged defense of target by 25%.
Master: Lowers ranged and melee defense of target by 25%.
GM: Lowers ranged defense of target by 50%.
- Hammerhands
Expert: Increases melee damage done by 100%.
Master: Target obtains 20% per attack to inflict stun.
GM: Increases melee and ranged damage done by 100%.
- Weapon mirror
Expert: Target uses it's turn to attack itself with normal attack and defense modifiers.
Master: Target gets 25% increase in attack during spell.
GM: Target gets 50% increase in attack during spell.
- Solidify mind
Expert: Target loses ability to retaliate. Spell cancelled when confusion, wasp swarm, terror, weapon mirror or blind is cast on target.
GM: Target loses 2 speed as well.
- Mass force armour
Expert: Increases defense of all allied targets by 40%.
GM: Increases defense of all allied targets by 50%.
- Repulsion aura
Expert: Enemy movement within 3 yards of caster takes 3 times as much movement.
Master: Enemy movement within 3 yards of caster takes 4 times as much movement.
GM: Enemy movement within 4 yards of caster takes 4 times as much movement.
- Cold Ridge
Expert: Sets the weather to "Dry Cold".
Master: A Cold Ridge storm appears on the battlefield.
Level 5:
Forced dispell:
GM: Dispells all beneficial spells and all natural abilities of target (including magic resistance). Spell is not influenced by any magic resistance, except for the "divine magic sield" spell. When cast on a hero, it dispells the advanced class ability.
Force displacement:
GM: Target gains ranged ability with number of shots determined by caster level and metallurgy. Spell cannot be used with the arsenal spell. All special abilities of the creature during melee combat are not carried over the ranged combat.
Meltdown:
GM: Works the same way as poison, but a decent hero can cause hundreds of damage per turn.
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- by Marelt Ekiran
HoMM 5 >Towns and creatures >Alchemy
The town of Alchemy
The alchemist town is a newcomer. Founded by the people who refused to follow the dogma's of the Life and Order factions and allied themselves with the necromancers instead. You will find a lot of elements from these two towns, but their magic also has influences from death magic and almost completely reserve the rights to mechanics and technology.
Level 1:
Red dwarf (Dwarven mines).
This dwarf is the equivalent of the Order dwarf (which will have to be renamed "Field Dwarf"). The mountain dwarf is also strong, sturdy and slow. The mountain dwarf's magic resistance has changed. They now have a 25% magic mirror. This means that every spell has a 25% chance of backfiring (leaving the dwarfs unharmed). Direct damage spells are split. 75% to the dwarves, 25% to the caster.
Pikeman (Pikeman keep).
The pikemen abandoned the haven out of protest of the town's backwardness. They have become a bit weaker because of all the traveling, but are decent level 1 units. They still have the long weapon attack.
Level 2:
Acolyte (School of chemistry).
Acolytes throw with small vails of magic. Most of these are direct damage explosions (technically ranged attacks). They can also throw with poisonous vails (half damage of ranged attack each turn) or with vails of acid (lower attack and defense).
Field catapult (Craftsmen guild).
These small catapults shoot their projectiles high into the air. This allows them to shoot with a very large range. No penalty for range, obstacles and can shoot anywhere beyond castle walls. Unfortunately, the accuracy is not that high. Low speed and little damage. Catapults are mechanical.
Level 3:
Duergar warrior (Training field).
These dwarves are stronger than all their counterparts and have been trained for battle. They are still slow, but have higher attack and defense than the others. They have the special ability that their armour and weapons hit one third of the ranged damage done to them back to the ranged attacker (after doing full damage to the dwarves).
Dark elven ranger (Ranged fields).
The hatred of the drows for the elves drove them to this town as the opposite of nature. They were welcomed by the alchemists and equiped with bows made of springsteel instead of wood. These bows allow them to shoot better than the elves without ranged penalty.
Level 4:
Runic guardian (Tower barracks).
These creatures were made by complex animation procedures and are very capable fighters. They have medium speed, and better attack but lower defense than the golem. They are also able to cast the "force armour spell.
Steel golem (Foundry).
These slow animated monsters do good damage and are extremely hard to kill. They are mechanical and the metal they were made of gives them extra protection. They are immume to to direct damage spells caused by fire, lighting or spirit shocks. All other spells are reduced by 60%. They are low in numbers.
Level 5:
Drow Mage (Magic pinnacle).
These drows are extremely dangerous mages. They combined their spiritual powers with the power of the control of the materialistic world. They are spellcasters. Spells include: Sulphur flame (direct damage by raising a poisonous flame on the spot of the target. Target is also poisoned). Mana well (target regenerates one spell point per round per 7 drows casting). Repulsion aura (movement within 7 yard range of target takes triple movement). Anti-magic (normal version).
Shockbolt ballista (Ballista works).
The bolts of these large ballista's have been magically and alchemically prepared. They do much more damage than the old ballista's. They are still slow and defense is mediocre. Ballistas do full damage on range and obstacles, but cannot shoot past defense walls like the catapult does. Ballistas are mechanical.
Level 6:
Lance titan (Temple of lighting).
These titans abandoned the academies to follow the alchemists. The alchemists equiped them with special shocklances. The titans lost their ability to shoot, but instead, they gained a long-weapon attack with a very special feature. If the lance strikes an enemy target, then all other enemy troops in a range of 5 yard recieve half the damage that they would have recieved if attacked. Visually, this looks like chain lighting shooting from the initial target. Lance titans do good damage and have defenses equal to a normal titan (which I renamed "cloud titan").
Dragon Golem (Dragon factory).
They look like large mechanical dragons with good damage, but are much more useful than their HOMM4 counterparts. They are large, which is a problem in manouvring and fairly slow, but they have both a first strike and unlimited retalitation. If you get them near the enemy stacks, they are an absolute nightmare.
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- by PeteusMax
After 1000 posts, I decided to pull together some of my favourites that I think would contribute to making HOMM V a game that builds on the HOMM tradition while becoming better (of course that's the point!) I could have provided more links and such, but I got lazy... I may build on this and reformat especially if people ask questions for clarification. Better grab a comfy cushion for bum-sore relief now, and enjoy! (Of course I welcome all comments.)
Hero Development
I’m putting this first because I find it to be arguably the most important part of the game to me – Or at least it’s the “cherry on top” that keeps me addicted.
I was very happy with the heroes in HOMM IV in general. The skill trees were good, levelling was at a decent pace to keep interest up, and I liked being able to use specialist heroes for different things (Maybe a Mage and a Combat/Tactics General in the army, and a Thief and a Lord doing their own things separately. HOMM IV heroes were a leap forward from HOMM III, where every hero was basically the same at highish level. The specialists add a lot to replayability (and strategic decisions/options.)
- The experience popup after combat was much missed from HOMM III – Thank you Equilibris team for bringing it back!
Ban Exploits !
I saw exploits as a big problem in HOMM IV. (Exploit = Some illogical trick, usually involving a bunch of micromanagement, that gives you an advantage for no good reason.) My advice to the developers would be "Avoid game design decisions that encourage counter-intuitive micromanagement!"
Topic: Tactics vs. Exploits - is "making sense" important?
Hero Equipment
I’m happy with the HOMM III-IV way in general – The inventory and backpack.
- I would like to see some way to use more than one sword at a time, etc. though. This isn’t just a “wouldn’t it be cool” thought – I do find it legitimately frustrating in a long game (Say an XL map like Zanfas’ Challenge) to collect all kinds of cool equipment that I can’t use because I don’t have enough hands. It also would reduce the amount of juggling back and forth between different special-purpose items, although some amount of that is fine. A Dexterity skill could serve to allow the use of a right handed weapon in your shield hand (or a left-handed spellbook in your right), two-handed weapons or Staves in one hand, and/or more than two rings. Alternatively this ability could come naturally to all heroes with high level – That would avoid having the ability limited to one type of hero.
- Inventory clutter – Would be nice to reduce. I’d like to be able to sell useless treasures and artefacts. I’d also want a better idea “at a glance” of what I have. Mouse-over text is important for this. HOMM IV made using spell-learning Parchments annoying – A good step would have been to show the spell’s icon and/or the icon for the magic skill (ex. Expert Nature) needed to use the scroll.
- Switching equipped items (in combat) would be nice. Cast Mass Slow from your scroll, then use your next turn to switch it for a shield of Chaos.
- In HOMM IV potions would have been much more useful if they were drinkable before combat began (as a first phase, without needing to waste a turn for each.) Even if the enemy army ambushed me, I certainly should have time to make sure I’ve topped up my potion of Immortality (and Quickness, Cold, etc.) before the two armies actually engaged. (May not be in HOMM V, with heroes on the sidelines.)
Creature Equipment :
It seems to me that units should be able to equip stuff. I would like to see special-purpose treasures and artefacts that benefit stacks – Giant-sized armour or weapons specially made (or stripped from dead titans) for your behemoths, a totem that allows your stack of Ogre Mages to regenerate mana each combat turn, or siege engines like rams or towers would be good fits. Some things could be built at your castle blacksmith, others would be found on the adventure map.
When a stack with armour merged with an unarmoured stack, the benefit would be halved until you had a chance to buy/find armour for the new units. In the inventory you would see “Giant-Sized Plate armour – 12” if you had enough for 12 Behemoths. The totem or the siege tower would benefit the whole stack, so you only need one and adding more units doesn’t matter.
Faction Lineup
I was very happy with the HOMM IV lineup (I’m talking about the way it was structured, rather than the specifics.) Most importantly, each side played very differently. This was partly because of the types of creatures available, and partly because of the spells available, but also because of the specialized heroes and the way they were available. Order couldn’t buy a Thief, and Chaos couldn’t buy a Lord, so deal with it! Nature built their army partly via the Summoning skill, Death via Necromancy, and Might via the Breeding Pens (if they even used creatures.) Very good for replay value.
Spell Books
Again HOMM IV was a step in the right direction, because dividing the spells into factions enhanced replay value. I could make a case for some spells being available to all or most factions (magic missle, dispel, maybe even slow), but I definitely like having the experience of playing a Priest much different from a Necromancer.
One problem with HOMM III and IV was that some spell options were just much better than others at the same level. This is nearly impossible to balance, especially since it the value of a spell varies based on the map and the opponent. Mass Chaos ward is game-breaking vs. Chaos, but useless vs. Order. A suggestion – Reduce the random factor of spell selection by allowing the hero to research the spell of his choice each time he learns to use a new level of magic, or each time he upgrades his mage guild (maybe makes more sense.) Either way, if you want Hypnotize you won’t get stuck with Pain Mirror. This would make balancing much easier, because you eliminate the problem of a game being decided mainly by (un)lucky spell selection. “I got Dimension Door and Town Portal and you didn’t – Guess I win!”
Creature Lineup
A number of people have put endless time into assembling precise lineups of exactly what creatures should be in each town. I really don’t care about that – I’d just like to see a bunch of creatures in the tradition of HOMM, each with their part to play in their side’s overall strategy.
I did like the creature choices in HOMM IV, and I think that has great promise both for replay value and for balance (giving side A one creature that helps them vs side B and another that helps vs side C, or one that is good on a Small map and another that is great on a Large one.) I also liked the selective upgrades in HOMM II, where a few creatures could be upgraded or even upgraded twice, but others were just what they were. (HOMM III got silly with every creature needing to be upgraded.) A combination of creature choices with selective upgrades seems best.
I leave it to the developers to figure out what creatures with what special abilities in how many distinct levels work well with the game they create. They have a rich tradition to draw on – Of course I’ll expect to see life-draining Vampires, missile-resistant Skeletons, Resurrecting Angels, fire-breathing Dragons, etc. in there somewhere!
Caster Creatures
I loved them in HOMM IV for what they added to combat tactics, but hated what I call the single-caster-vs-large-target-stack exploits. The ability of a single genie to paralyse a huge enemy stack had several impacts on gameplay – It made caster creature very hard to measure for balance purposes, because when casting stack-effecting spells 100 genies were no more powerful than 5; It forced me to do a lot of annoying micromanagement if I wanted to maximize my progress (resplitting genies into empty army slots, and Passing on their turns after the first couple of rounds of combat); And I suppose I just found it plain offensive to my ideals of logic and fairness.
My proposed solution involves pooled mana (if one Genie has 30 SP, 10 would have 300 SP) combined with scaleable spell effects. If one Genie can Slow one Behemoth (half movement) for 3 SP, then 10 Genies can Slow 10 Behemoths for 30 SP from their pool. If there are 20 Behemoths, either it will cost 2x as much mana, or it will be half as effective (the Behemoths will be moving at 75% instead of 50%) Hypnotize could be scaled down when used on large stacks, with the effect having less duration or being downgraded to a Berzerk, Song of Peace, or Slow spell as the target stack gets bigger. Heroes might suffer from the same limitations when trying to disable really large stacks, or not – Whatever proves better balanced. In any case, a L20 hero would have disabling power equivalent to a lot of genies.
Topic: RE: A new system for spellcasters
Adventure Map
The turn-based Adventure map of previous HOMMs is a stand-by that works well in general. Rushing around to gain experience and treasure is the heart of the game.
Grand Strategy
HOMM IV was essentially all about massing as big an army as possible so you could win the race to kill more of the neutral monsters as soon as possible. Eventually the two big armies would meet, and the winner of that one fight simply won the game (sometimes they never even met, if one side fared much better in the race against the neutrals!)
I’d like to see the game change significantly in a way that encourages the campaign vs your MP (or even AI) opponent to be more direct. Have some skirmishes, where one battle does not win the war. Trade territory back and forth. Divide your forces to protect multiple fronts, deploy garrisons to command territory, key resources or bridges, etc. Feint on one front and then launch an all-out surprise attack on his capitol, to catch his main army out of position. All of that stuff is strategic goodness, and pretty much absent from previous HOMM titles. Topics: Force Concentration - Let's replace it with strategic allocation of troops!, Subject: RE: Heroes V - Down with the conventions!
Combat Avoidance
A sub-problem that contributed to the one-fight-to-win nature of HOMM has been the near-impossibility of avoiding a fight you don’t want. If your last few movement points bring you just into sight of a larger enemy army that can reach you on his turn, the game is over. You have no movement left, you can’t flee because you will lose your entire army, and you can’t surrender because it’s far too expensive. That’s just wrong. - One option is simultaneous movement. If properly implemented, it could resolve the “one day’s lead isn’t enough” side-effect of turn-based movement. It may prove difficult to implement well, but it’s been discussed in other threads.
Topic: The Problem with escaping Heroes and Experience for the Fallen
- In any case, it needs to be easier to Flee with your army (more or less) intact. Fleeing should cause your army to kind-of caravan back to the nearest friendly city, perhaps with some percentage lost and perhaps trickling in over some time. Taking the army out of play while they travel and regroup would be a significant penalty, but it wouldn’t be the end of the game as it is now.
- Same idea for Surrendering – In HOMM IV the cost is the purchase cost of your entire army, plus a big price for your hero (who otherwise could flee for free). So it effectively triples the price of the creatures –
You pay for them initially, then you lose the price again for them to surrender and your opponent gains the same amount! Clicking the Surrender button for any significant army ends the game as surely as the Flee button does. The idea of Surrender is OK, so the price just needs to be adjusted. (Or maybe the price is OK, but a whole additional layer of diplomacy needs to be built around it – Your Surrender comes along with a peace treaty to give you time to catch up.)
Borders
What if territory became really important? If running around the map flagging mines was fine, but they didn't do you much good if you just abandoned them behind you? If more land area under your close control resulted in more tax income for your war chest?
I propose that each city, garrison, and army (possibly only if stationary) project a perimeter of control on the map. The stronger the garrison or army is, the bigger the bubble. All of the overlapping perimeters together make up the effective borders of your empire. Strategic Logistics can be easily abstracted, by saying that an army moves faster and/or gets morale/combat bonuses for fighting on home territory, and penalties if there is no clear "supply line" path back to their home base. The Logistics skill could help reduce the "cut off" penalties.
Topic: Borders - New strategic possibility?
Flying on the Adventure Map
Without getting into great detail, I’d like to see all-flyer armies able to pass over low obstacles like rivers, walls and trees. It would add an additional layer of strategy, so I am in favour in principle. Tough to balance (especially for map designers), but surely doable.
Combat Map
I’d like to see the map bigger (probably scrolling), possibly including multiple armies if they are close together when combat is joined. Opponents should start out of archery range, so that the first shot (Cyclops rock through to the heroes and shooters) doesn’t tend to be so completely crippling. It should be more difficult to reach through the front ranks to hit the soft underbelly.
Topics: Tinkering with the mechanics to make Mages survivable (Closed Topic), HOMM Combat screen
Siege Combat
HOMM IV was a big improvement, by letting you actually fight with all of the castle defenders (the HOMM III arrow towers backed by 7 single dwarves were extremely silly.) The implementation certainly needed to be improved – Units should have stood on top of the wall instead of fighting through it, etc. A variety of siege weapons would be very nice (rams, ladders, siege towers, various defences and counters like boiling oil.)
I’d also like to see the castle assailable from multiple sides (combined with the larger combat map.)
Combat Tactics
Here are some examples of logical “real” tactics that I would like to see the game emphasise more (as opposed to exploits like single-caster and retaliation fodder):
a) Ranged attack - pick the enemy apart while preventing them from engaging your archers in melee. Use meat shields, bottlenecks, elevation, fortifications, etc.
b) Tactical spellcasting - use of fatigue, curse, mirth, blur, quicksand, etc. (But 10 casters are 10x as good as 1.)
c) Use of terrain - Shoot from cover, make them attack you in a defensible position, force them to ford a river or struggle over rough terrain or uphill to reach you, so they will be half-defeated before they can even engage.
d) Deployment - give yourself ready access to their soft white underbelly from the get-go, and keep your own vulnerabilities out of reach. (I loved the HOMM III Tactics skill too!)
e) Manoeuvring - flank or surround your enemies, lead them into meat grinders, hit them from behind, divide and conquer, hit-and-run with your sprites.
f) Concentration of force - Attack 1/3 of their army with 2/3 of yours, so that they suffer attrition twice as fast. Deploy your elite troops so that they can win quick victories to sway army morale.
g) Use of fortifications - HOMM III castles are nice, although they seem too expensive and the implementation needs patching.
THOSE are legitimate tactics. We've all used each of them, some with more skill than others no doubt. I would love to see HOMM V emphasise tactics as the way to triumph over an equal or stronger foe, rather than the clever use of exploits that multiply the strength of your units.
Air units in Combat
Add more tactical options to combat by introducing units that can’t attack other units because of altitude. Thunderbirds can attack pikemen with lightning bolts while staying out of reach of the retaliation. Gargoyles can choose to fly safely over the pikemen or to fly down and melee with them. Archers or Angels (Anti-Air units) would block their movement though, so the gargoyles would need to fly far around them or fight their way through. Both Air and Anti-Air units would become more tactically powerful, and a clever general might be able to arrange to attack Ground-only units with Air units like the Thunderbirds or Dragons that could kill them without fear. That would need to be carefully balanced somehow for neutral stacks especially, but I would be interested in the result!
Combat Graphics
- “Easy” one – I’d like to see the Hero’s equipment on him as he stands on the sideline, using skins and then overlaying the graphic for his sword, shield, armour, etc. Tricky, but doable and very additive.
- “Tough” one – I’d like to see combat graphics move towards the look (and in a way the tactical play) of the Total War series. Stacks/Units still exist (you don't ever have to command each individual creature in the group), but big stacks are displayed as a mob (or more organized phalanx) of troops. A stack of 10k Skeletons can’t just walk across a bridge or through a castle gate – They have to file through slowly. And the same legion of Skeletons can’t all attack five Angels at the same time, even though the Angels tower above them on the battlefield. I think there is a lot of promise here – The battles would become much more interesting to watch, new tactical options would open up, and some exploits would automatically become obsolete if they only work because of stacking.
Combat Indicators
I would like to be able to see a lot more information at a glance, rather than having to do calculations in my head or sift through info screens. Some examples to improve, taking HOMM IV as the base:
- Is the target ready to retaliate? His “readiness” could be displayed by his stance on the screen – Erect if ready and reclining if unready, for example. A “thermometer” icon would be an easier-to-implement substitute. Additional note about retaliation – Eliminate the retaliation-stealing-fodder exploit by allowing target stacks to retaliate multiple times until their full retaliation potential is used up (if attacked by stacks that they can easily destroy with less than one full retaliation.) So the stance could have perhaps four levels to indicate the creature’s percent readiness.
- Does the target have high morale? A simple (un)happy-face icon would serve, or the unit’s face could actually change (I wonder what a happy waspwort looks like? :)
- What target should I attack? The HOMM IV attack cursor is pretty good, showing “x 1/2" for range penalties, etc. It should be a little more prevalent – There are situations where the attack factor doesn’t show up, such as the castle moat – Just display any attack multiplier possible. Same goes for DD spells vs Magic Resistance, ward protections, whatever
– Show me an attack multiplier cursor. Also show me how many creatures I can expect to kill in the target stack along with the expected damage – With those tweaks I’m happy with the HOMM IV way. But I’d also like to see more information about range combined with the right-click movement shadow (which is great) – One shade for x 1/4 damage, another for x 1/2, etc. This would show me exactly where things are blocking my Line of Sight, and about where I should move to get a clear full-damage shot.
Multi-Player
I'm finishing with something else near to my heart, in the hopes that UbiSoft makes a step change improvement in the MP experience. HOMM IV hotseat had a place, but on-line MP just didn’t work (IMO) because of transfer lag combined with the necessary waits involved in a turn-based game. (Somewhat) simultaneous moves would be very challenging to implement well, but could be The Key. The best way to improve at a game is to play against fresh opponents, lose, and then be able to see what they did that was so effective. WC III is fantastic for this, and HOMM IV isn’t even in the ballpark. I’m light on specifics here, so I will leave those up to the talented designers at Ubi!
Topic: How to avoid MPs inevitable (?) Anti-climax?
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- by White Wizard
HEROES
Heroes exploring lands, seas and undergrounds, gathering treasures, recourses, artifacts defend towns and conquer new ones, travel with troops in order to lead them to victory. To gain new skills and increase their abilities at skills they already possess. That is how I used to know "Heroes".
There are two herotypes for each castle. One type specializes in the use of magic and the other is specialized in battle. My game will get the medieval fairy tale atmosphere from H2 back.
For THE MAGICIANS there are 3 levels of spellcasting.
· The first and lowest class of spellcasters need to use a spellbook in order to cast spells, which takes a turn to cast a spell.
· The second class are the magicians who cast spells with their hands.
· The third and highest class are the magicians who can cast spells with mind and can cast spells in battles they aren’t present, they can control nature. This third class belongs to grandmasters only
THE FIGHTERS TYPE also has levels of combat art. But this depends on which type of fighter: warrior, archer, etc.
A MIXED TYPE: type can never obtain a grandmaster level.
TOWNS
RAIZING TOWNS:
Possible... will have the advantage,you can build the same town as your first one and musn't play with towns you don't want to play with. disadvantage:you won’t share knowledge between the diffrent kind of towns
TOWN DEVELOPMENT LEVEL:
Depends on 3 things,resources,employee,inventions.
RESOURCES:are basically needed for constructing buildings and for creature recruit. It also a bargain tool in diplomatic relations.
INVENTIONS:needed to improve the abilities of your buildings.
(so a townhall can become a cityhall and eventually a capitol,also the castle development,and other developments like extra wall/watchtower defence,every None-creature building has the ability to expand )
For creature dwellings you must do X inventions so the higher level creatures will become available(and ofcours,like in the previous games you should have build x other buildings first too)
EMPLOYEE:
The represent the workforce available to your town. The amount of staff in your town depends on development of the town.you need staff to be able to build everything. How fast everything is built (how many turns it takes)depends on the quantity of the staff present at your castle.
The number of staff members depends on the town development.The staff is also used for castle defences, extra resources,watchtower,digging canals around the castle,repairing damage to walls after siege. When conquering a town you could send some supplies and staff to that town in order to start rebuilding it. When conquering a neutral town you can send some staff/supplies to aid the construction of the town. You can give the staff the order to build up the conquered town automatically(at least as much as your first town is developed)
HALLS:
- settlement (max. 200 staff) à income of 500 gold/day
- village hall(max. 400 staff) à 1000 gold/day
- town hall(max. 600 staff) à2000 gold/day
- cityhall(max 800 staff) à 5000 gold/day
- Capitol(max. 1000 staff) à 10 000 gold/day
CASTLE:
- fort:Level 1-2 creaturedwellings available
- citadel:Level 3-4 creaturedwellings available
- castle:Level 5-6 creaturedwellings available
- Palace:Level 7-8 creaturedwellings available
CREATURE DWELLING ADDITION/DWELLING TYPES:
Instead of building all creaturedwelling levels, you have the possibility to build additions to the same level dwellings you already posses instead,when building additions to a dwelling a higher quantity of that specific creature will be available every week.
You can also build diffrent dwelling types of the same level. However,they will be replaced with the higher dwelling levels.So the higher level dwelling will be disabled. But you have more dwelling types of the lower level wich means you get more creatures You can max build 4 additions and you can max build 2 diffrent creature dwelling types of the same level.
HEROES LEADERSHIP/ MORAL and CREATURE CHARACTER
There is great strategy involved knowing your armies strengths and weaknesses during battle.
LEADERSHIP LEVEL OF A HERO:will decide wich level creatures he can command and how good he can command an army. This means a new, Low level hero with almost no leadership can’t command big armies very well or can’t command a high level creature at all. The leadership of a hero decides the dicipline of an army.
MORAL:The enthousiasme of creatures toward the hero. Decided by what kind of places you visite on the map (like previous game) But Every castle type will get diffrent moral visiting diffrent places. So e.g an undeath army increases moral by visiting tombs,graveyards,ghostships. And decreases moral by visiting gardens,springs etc.
While the nature town increases moral by visiting gardens, springs and decreases moral by visiting graveyards,tombs etc. The moral you get also depends on wich kind of armies you battle with. If your army fights with another army that your army hates their moral will increase.
But when your army attacks another army of their own kind,or an army that they like their moral will decrease.
CREATURE CHARACTER:
Beside the resistance of creatures to all kind of spells and attacks Every creature in the game will hate,like,fear,or be neutral to another creature. So you’ll have to know wich creature you use to attack another creature.
HATE: chance that creature attacks the creature it hates without waiting for your command.With increased damage. it depends on discipline in your army however.
FEAR: chance that a creature is afraid to carry out a task. this depends on discipline. Some creature stack could get the fear freeze after you have ordered it to do something, and the chance of freeze should depend on what you ordered it to do and moral.
There are two different levels of fear effects: one that freezes and the other that just causes reduced damage when attacking melee.
LIKE:Big Chance that a creature betrays you and joins another.It also depends on your dicipline in the army. E.g a Necromancer has pixies in the zombie army.And attacks a nature army. The pixies will betray the necromancer.(if the hero has bad leadership and the army has bad dicipline)
NEUTRAL:the creatures are in most cases willing to carry out a task. Whether a creatures betrays you will depend only on the moral, the dicipline and the leadership of your hero.If the enemy hero has better dicipline and moral,or is from the same castle as the creature,there is a chance your creature will betray you. Also whether the creature in your army is in nature hostile or not toward you/the enemy hero type will decide this.
CREATURES ON WRONG TERRAIN
Besides the character of the creatures also the terrain has an influence on battles. Creatures that fight a battle on native terrain could have an advantage opposed to creatures from another terrain. Creatures that fight a battle on a totally wrong terrain will have lower defence and attack. Creatures that fight a battle on native terrain will have higher defence and attack
When both creature types could belong to a terrain this won't have any effect on the battle
[/b]CREATURE STACK SPLIT-UP[/b]
you_ll have the possibility to split up your creature stacks every turn during combat. This will give more strategic possibilities to combat. A player could make more tactical decisions with the contitutional advantages/disadvantages of his action. When you split up a creature stack you can attack more diffrent enemy troops in one turn, But the smaller stacks will do less damage and will be weaker. Whether it's smart or not to split up a stack depends on a lot of things, like your creatures type(flying/shooting, groundtroops....),level,amount,moral,type of battle:castle/or outside,terrain,strenght of enemy.
MAGICGUILDS/WARRIORGUILDS:
Every town has a magicguild with unique spells And a Warriorguild ,in both of them you can invent things.like E.g.
in a warriorguild: catapult with common rocks to attack a town, could be improved to rocks with fire in later stage,and finally to dynamite and bombs,better hooves for cavalary speed,all this depends on the type of castle too
MageGuild:The type of magic is individual/unique for every town,you need a mageguild if you want to obtain the higher level spells of a type of magic,by research you could improve the power of magic,with this you can also invent better equipment with magical protection for the town creatures. protect your townwalls with a magic aura,vision stones,If there are magical creatures present in your castle,the powers of their magic can be upgraded
LIFE :
has only been present in the land with the others for a few centuries,although they've spread across all parts of the land and have become varied in appearance and nature. Their adaptability allows them to live and thrive in nearly any climate. they are destined to dominate the entire world
Also are they known to use a wide array of combat tactics against other enemies.depending on the nature of the enemy. they are a sign of life
LEVEL 1:squire:Men with mace ,2% chance to stun
LEVEL 2:pikeman:with their spear they can attack from some distance wich makes it difficult for the enemy creature to do something back.
LEVEL 3:Scout : archer with poor defence
Upg choice 1 :Bowmen:aways do 100% damage to a creature in ranged attacks,marksmen have stronger defence
Upg choice 2:Marksmen:2 shots in each ranged attack
LEVEL 4:Swordmen:the towns elit troops,troops normally used for castle defence
Upg choice 1:Crusader:Better equipment,shining sword.better defence
Upg choice 2:Paladine:can cast bless upon the allied units,glowing yellow,red sword
Upg choice 3:gladiator:Although they have less defence,they are very muscled men with lots of endurance carrying 2 swords
LEVEL 5:griffin: ,half loin,half bird,flying unit,good defence/attack
Upg choice 1:royal griffin:better defence/attack than a normal griffin and 20% chance to stun a creature
Upg choice 2:Hippogrif:The Hippogrif is legendary animal that is half
Griffin and half horse. The forequarters and head is that of the griffin,larger than the common griffin,much faster than the normal griffin,the further they must fly to attack their opponent ,the more chance they have to increas their damage to an opponent
OR choose
LEVEL 5:Lammasu:A Lammasu has the body of a lion the wings of a giant eagle the face of a human(old man)mixed with lionface Lammasu's are said to be noble creatures that look after those that are good. They prey on those creatures that are evil. They are strong creatures they can easily take down larger creatures with its lions claws.extra damage to undeath
LEVEL 6:Initiate:specialize in the learning of magic of the Mind, Spirit and Body
Upg choice 1:Monk:strong defence,cast heal,no ranged attack.but can dodge in an attack(specialized in bodymagic wich is heal,bless and stuff)
Upg choice 2 :zealots:controle and project their personal energie force,ranged blast,can't dodge(controle the magic of spirit)
Upg choice 3:priest:ability to cast some of The "damage spells" of light(specialized in mind magic) And able to cast heal
LEVEL 7:Cavalier:horse mounted cavalier deal extra damage,elite troop,light cavalry first strike
Upg choice 1:griffin ridder: cavalier on flying griffin,griffin equipped with armour.
Upg choice 2:Champion:heavy equipment,high defence --->slower,heavy cavalry (jousting bonus).
Upg choice 3:charioteer: 2 horses/attached carriage with warrior on it.very fast
LEVEL 8:Angel:can resurrect some allied units,greater offence and defence.immune to expert spell level
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NATURE:
They make their homes in the ancient forest where they feel at one with the natural beauty of their surrounding.they take pleasure in the finer points of life,and arts of nature.they don't trust others easly
Herotypes:druids/Ranger
LEVEL 1 : Pixie:fast,small,hard to hit in combat…2%chance to blind a creature
Upg choice 1 :Fairy :stronger defence,faster 6%chance to blind or confuse.but more chance to hit them
Upg choice 2:wood spirit:they can make themselfs invisible for the enemie because they are so small,at least...until they attack an enemie unit.
LEVEL 2:Gnome:Weak hand to hand fighter, but because of their intelligence the know the basical nature spells,reasonable defence
OR choose
Satyr: stronger hand to hand fighter,casts luck,bless upon the whole army
OR choose
Leprechaun:can also cast luck upon the army,able to teleport themself and to duplicate themself( two weaker versions)
LEVEL 3: Elves:because of their shap eyes they are excellent fast archers..
Upg choice 1:bladedancer: have 2 glimering swords ,hits more then one enemy in a attack
Upg choice 2:WoodElves:carry bow , shoot twice and does max damage
LEVEL 4:Dendroid:strong living trees with high defences and strong attack
Upg choice 1:dendroid gaurd:can bind a creature to the ground
Upg choice 2:Ent:Ancient ,gaint living tree with high defence and strong attack,does extra damage to watchtowers and walls.
Upg choice 3:Dryad:Ancient woman spirit trees,that increases moral of troops,posses some mind spells.and when you choose for dryads you'll be able to craft a special poweful staff (artifact) from ancient enchanted dryadwood in your blacksmith (only available in the game when choosing dryads)
LEVEL 5:Pegasus:immune to magic,does extra damage to creatures of evil orgin.
LEVEL 6: Unicorn:protected by an aura of magic Immune to expert magic,if a creature is attacked by a unicorn it loses moral+30% chance to blind a creature,+30% damage to creatures of evil
LEVEL 7:Gold dragon:very big,powerfull breath ,immune to all master level spells,involk fear
OR choose
Green dragon:poisionous attack,poison immune,immune all master level spells
LEVEL 8:fairy dragon:incredible strong,knows all spells ,immune to all spells
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DEATH:
death has many secrets , but knows all, undead creatures seek solely to destroy all living creatures and add them to their soulless ranks.they are already dead and have little to fear. They can be destroyed most often by brute force, Undead often resort to victory by numbers. Expecting such tactics, many towns has been surprised and overrun by the high quantities of undead
herotypes: Necromancer-death knight
LEVEL 1 : Skeleton:weak but high number/week production.
Upg choice 1:Skeleton warior:stronger equipment
Upg choice 2:Skeleton archer:with bow,lower defence
LEVEL 2:Zombie:regular zombie,diseas attack (rotten limbs missing,flies,the works )
Upg choice 1:Ghoul: stronger,faster,corps eating ability,(may use a turn to "attack"(eat) a dead stack to regain hitpoints,and wake some other ghouls from the corpses)
Upg Choice 2:doppelganger:Can duplicate another humanoids of level
2,3,4, this duplicated creature has the HP of the normal creture,however special abilities of that specific creature,defence will be weaker for some of the duplicates
LEVEL 3:Wight:mind damage,
Upg choice 1:Wraith:spellpoint drain,curse,regeneration strong in close combat
Upg choice 2:banshee:unholy scream attack,damage all enemies,regeneration
Upg choice 3:spectre:energie drain,immune ice magic,regeneration.
Upg choice 4:incarnate:regeneration,chance to possess body of enemie unit,depending on the quantity of incanates
LEVEL 4:Revenant:pale yellow eyed humanoids with sharp teeth,like revenant from MM7. No relation,limited lifedrain,not a vampire yet
Upg choice 1:Vampire:bloodsucking,regeneration,lifedrain,sometimes wake other dead enemie creatures as vampires
Upg Choice 2: Nosferatu:ability to teleport themself,invisibility,lifedrain
LEVEL 5:undead sorcerer:know all expert death level spells
Upg choice 1 :Skeleton mage:a better spellcaster(looks like H3 lich)
Upg choice 2:Lich :instead of learning better and stronger magic,liches focus all their strenght into a devastating deathcloud
LEVEL 6:undeath champion:like an undead crusader,curse attack,negate first strike. Sinister black full plate armour.lots of spikes and sharp edges
Upg choice 1:black champion:adds undeath horse to black knight,stronger faster,(H3 type)
Upg choice 2:dread ridder:with an undeath pegasi,or wyvren(several options),the ability to fly,faster.
LEVEL 7: Undeath dragon: the rotten corpse of a dragon,slow,can’t fly,decay breath-attack(hits creatures behind initial target,target gets max Low moral,an diseas) Looks like a dragon well into decomposition.
OR choose
Bone Dragon: immune to ranged attack,involk fear.can fly. H4 looks
OR choose
Ghost dragon:Ability to fly,ability to curse a greater
LEVEL 8:Reaper:incredible strong,hand of death.casts all death negative spells on the enemy in one turn,very powerful ,hand of decay,everywhere an army goes with reaper in it,that part of the map will become cursed ground.can raise all enemy units that have died in battle as undeath creatures for one time.
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known for their brutality in battle.they believe they are supreme,They have little, if any, respect for others,....Pride, wealth, and territory are highly valued.they believe the best way to obtain things is through war and battle.When not at war,they often fight amongst each other for lack of any other way to express their aggression
Herotypes:Warlock-overlord
LEVEL 1 Troglodyteimmune to blind,fast growth,weak
LEVEL 2:ORCS:like to kill,loves pain,weak armour,(are berserk,can't controle them)
Upg choice 1:shaman:increases bloodlust of troops,trained,and listen to the hero,stronger better armour
Upg choice 2:warlord:stronger armour,carry an axe,if an enemy army has some basical orcs,the orc veteran can try to command the normal orcs ,the bigger the amount of veterans,the higher the chance that they succeed in controling a amount of orcs
LEVEL 3:Harpy:half woman,half vulture in appearance,return to hex they started from,poison ability
Upg choice 1:Harpy hag:attacks with such a violence ,their attack can’t be countered.
Upg choice 2:harpy witch:can involk poison,sleep,insane upon an enemie
LEVEL 4:beholder:attack is a ray projected from their eyes,weak in close combat,but better then their upgrade in ranged combat
LEVEL 5:Manticore: combination of a bat ,lion,scorpion,strong ,paralyzing ability
OR choose: Chimera:has a loin and goat head,and a snake as tail,fire breath
OR choose Minotaur:men with bulls head ,carrying golden heavy armour and a big golden axe.20%to do critical hit
LEVEL 6 :Medusa:armed with bow,good archer,their hands to hand is the same damage+40% chance to petrifying a creature.(looks like H3 Medusa queen)
LEVEL 7:Black dragon:a very powerfull breath weopon,immune to all master level spells,raises troops moral
OR choose Red Dragon:immune to all fire spells(also grand master),and master level spells
LEVEL 8 :Hydra:,lives deep beneath the earth,very powefull.
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Justice is the most important thing for them,everyone is equal in their eyes and they don't like war,but have no problem to accept a war if challenged ,they study the arts of magic,and have very powerfull one
Herotypes:Alchemist-wizard
LEVEL 1:Halfling:small,trow little stones (H4 looks)
LEVEL 2:Dwarf:slow,but strong ,small fighters
Upg choice 1;Battle dwarf:use two axes ,can hit more enemies in one turn,slower
Upg choice 2:dwarvenlord:Golden chainmail,golden axe,golden helmet,faster then the others.
Upg choice 3:Runemaster:magic protected armour, carry one axe with mana points absorbing ability,can cast the basic spells of order
Upg choice 4:dwarf luitenant:A dwarf with heavy armour,big axe,possesses a horn and has the ability battlecry
LEVEL 3:Gremlins: they have attached bells and chains,ranged attack ,stronger then in the previous games ,green ugly,H3 looks
LEVEL 4:Obsidain Gargoyle:can transform themselves in stone,so an attack has less effect . immune to the medusa attack
OR choose Automaton:Mecanical swordmen with the ability to repair an amount of themselves(takes a turn),not so strong,normal defence and attack
OR choose gold golem:stronger animated creatures by migic,gets only 50% damage of a magical attack LEVEL 5:Magi:under the mentorship of wizards ,serve as order troop,in order to become full master of their craft.
Upg choice 1:Arch mage:attacks penetrate cover and deal full damage to enemies behind walls and such.
Upg choice 2:enchanter:casts spells randomly on allied troops,(below the master level)And some spells to damage an enemy(looks like enchanter from H3)
Upg choice 3:Oracle:Weaker in close combat than a magi, mental , spiritual is their way of attacking.can see how another player thinks about you
Upg Choice 4:summoner:worships the realm of elemental and can summon them all to aid in battle,air,water,fire,earth,energy,wisps,.... can also summon some low level creatures of nature, ships weaker in close combat than a magi(the choice for summoner will also unlock a few spells in your mageguild,looks like yuna in Final fantasy X)
LEVEL 6 :Genie:caster of air magic,casts positive/negative spell on a single friendly/enemie unit
Upg choice 1:master genie: casts all expert order level spells,negative,positive spells on a friendly/enemie armie
Upg choice 2:djinn:lightning strike,whirlwind: enemies will become slower
LEVEL 7: Naga:are guardian,defender of graet strenght ,immune to all master level spells
LEVEL 8:Titan:incredible powerfull,immune to all level spells,can take down watchtowers and walls in one turn,can crush an enemy with their feeth.hurl lightning bolts in ranged attack
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MIGHT:
They only use strength and brute force,they aren't very clever,and their magic is weak.they are extremely aggressive and prefer melee combat to missile attacks.
Herotypes:Barbarian,battlemage
LEVEL 1:Berserker:can't controle them,big muscled men,high attack
LEVEL 2:Goblin:good basical troops,fast,bloodlust
Upg choice 1:wolf raider:hobgoblins mounted to a wolf
Upg choice 2:goblin archer:shoot posoinous arrows,weaker defence
LEVEL 3:Centaur:fast,great defence,pierce their enemies with spear(can trow them)
LEVEL 4:Ogre:deal great damage with their mace,can stun an enemy
Upg choice 1:ogre magi:ability to casts the stone skin,bloodlust spell upon an allied unit,can't stun an enemy,but greater defence
Upg choice 2:battle ogre:stronger equipment
LEVEL 5:Troll:strong,high defence,attack with clubs
Upg choice 1: Cavetroll:bigger,fat ,slower ,skin like an elephant,grey,half damage of archer attacks....but can easly destroy walls and watchtowers
Upg choice 2:river troll:green ugly big fat troll, with a club of rotten meat,faster then a common troll,higher defence(looks like the H3 troll)
Upg choice 3:Mountain trollA gaint fat black/brown haired troll with a big mace,able to hit more than one creatures in an attack with it
LEVEL 6:cyclops:one eyed gaints.throw boulders from a certain distance on townwalls and other enemie creatures
OR choose Calydonian boar:a gaint monster boar,pierce the armour of the enemy,ability to involk fear
LEVEL 7:thunderbird:when they attack there is a 50 %chance that a chainlightning will strike the whole enemy army,doing full damage
OR choose cave wyrm:a slithering giant serpent. 30% to poison a creature 20% to paralize their target.
LEVEL 8:Behemoths:the attack of those gaint creatures is very strong,greater defence,armour..always MAX damage,high defence or not
GAIA TOWNS: Are towns you can’t choose at the beginning of a game,although there is an option so you can choose if you want them to participate in a game or not. they are sort of nations ,inhabiters in the world of Homm .those castles are kind of terrain oriented and can only be found on a certain terrain.Each of those gaia towns has a leader of that gaia town… those leaders has a rare and powerfull artifact that you only can obtain if you defeat the leader(not available elsewhere in the game) In order to attack the gaia town,you must attack the throne room Their you’ll find the leader with a few gaurds depending on how much the gaia town is developed(same system as attacking a town) If the leader is defeated the castle is yours to command,but it’s not always the best decision to attack them ,sometimes it’s better to conspire,trade,betray them.give them money so they’ll attack an enemy and so on. Every normal town,chaos,life,death and such... has an amount of recources ,..depending on how much mines there are around that castle,how much the castle is developed ,staff/employee.... the development of a gaia town you posses depends on the well-being /amount of recources and such of the normal towns.you could look upon the gaia town as a parasite of the normal towns.if you have enough recourses,it isn't a problem to controle a gaia town.however if you have to little it could become difficult... the leaders inclination to become an enemy is much bigger when he is more powerfull then you are or when he has enough mines /recourses in the environment to produce a big army,when a gaia town is weak it will more easly become friendly.this also depends on the town you’re playing with.
KIND OF GAIA TOWNS: HELL:
LEVEL 1 Imp-----------Upgrade:familiar
LEVEL 2 :gogs
LEVEL 3:Hellhound----Upgrade:Cerberus
LEVEL 4:Demon
LEVEL 5:Pit fiend-------Upgrade:Pitlord
Level 6: efreet ------------Upgrade;Sultan
LEVEL 7:devil:very powerfull(h3 looks)
-----------------------------------------------------------
OCEAN:
LEVEL 1:Mermaids---------Upgrade:siren(hypnotizing ability)
LEVEL2:Neptune------------Upgrade:triton(lightning bolt from their trident)
LEVEL3:Nympfe-------------Upgrade:seawitch(spellcaster)
LEVEL4:Sea demon----------Upgrade :seadevil:another demon kind,green body filled with sharp poisonous needles.
LEVEL 5 :octopuss------------Upgrade:kraken
LEVEL 6:seaserpent------------Upgrade:scylla
LEVEL 7:seadragon
----------------------------------------------------------
DESERT:
LEVEL 1:Nomads
LEVEL2:Mummy--------------upgrade:Tomb guardian
LEVEL3:Scarabian( flesheating bug)
LEVEL4:Anubis :can jump on any ememy target on the battlefieldàextra damage
LEVEL5:scorpion man----------------Upgrade:scorpion king
LEVEL6:Sphinx
LEVEL 7 :phoenix:incredible strongfire breath,a fireball can resurrect the phoenix
----------------------------------------------------------
SWAMP:
LEVEL 1: gnoll
LEVEL 2:lizardmen
LEVEL 3:swampspider--------------Upgrade:dreadspider
LEVEL 4:serpentfly---------------Upgrade:dragon fly
OR choose Lurker: a strong gaint frog, ability to spit poison
LEVEL 5:basilisk
OR choose:cocatrice
LEVEL 6:Gorgon(the bull)-------------------Upgrade: mighty gorgon
LEVEL 7:wyvern -----------------------------------------------------------
DARKLAND:
LEVEL 1:Bandit----------upgrade:assasin
LEVEL 2:Dark Elf(several options,archer,ridder)... ------------upgrade :Patriarch
LEVEL 3: Black wolf------------------Upgrade:Werewolf:big black wolf,chance to turn some opponent creatures into werewolf
OR choose Kobalt:a small skinny earthlings,casts misfotune/curs upon the whole enemy troop(looks like gollem of Lotr)
LEVEL 4:Nightmare:the horse from H4,with a few changes
OR choose drider: Gaint black spider with a blue/grey womans body and a crown.Ability to paralize/poison
LEVEL 5:ooze OR choose venom spawn:needs a big change
LEVEL 6:Incubus:the seducive male version of the ancient demon of darkness:has the”demon-seed”ability:when a enemy creature is infected with the demon seed ,every turn a certain amount of the creature will die(depends on level),and from that certain amount a small percent of the born Incubus will join your troops
OR choose Succubus:the seducive female version of the ancient demon of darkness:ability to seduce creatures(strong version of hypnotyse)
LEVEL 7:Black Angel
------------------------------------------------------------
ICELAND:
LEVEL 1:snowscaper---------------Upgrade:frostling L
EVEL 2:viking
LEVEL 3:icedemon
LEVEL 4:Frost witch--------------Upgrade:valkyrie
LEVEL 5:Frost gaint--------------Upgrade:Yetti
LEVEL 6:mammoth--------------------Upgrade:mammoth rider
LEVEL 7:Azure dragon
SPECIAL DAYS (Can switch this on/off at the beginning of a game) In homm every town should has unique types of cellebrations. depending on the character(good/evil)and behaviors of that town type..... So E.g: Necropolis will have days they sacrifice they prisoners.And spread a toxic air around town that raises an extra amount of undead But the Life town: will have a honouring day for a hero,or they build a monument for the hero
| Comments (8) | Add comment |
- by Jörgen Linde
H5 Ideas/Suggestions
A Quill suggestions compilation.
| Sections | ||||
| 1. General ideas | 2. Game Options | 3. Basic Principles | 4. Questions | 5. Miscellaneous |
| 6. Basic Troop Ideas | 7. Detailed Troop Ideas | 8. Magic System Ideas | 9. Hero classes & Unique abilities |
Introduction
These ideas are a compilation from different members of the Quill. They have been arranged to provide a more easily readable structure (which could be further enhanced). To see each individual contributor, please read through the messages on the Quill starting from the 14th of November, 2003).
An important aspect is that the developers should study what made the previous HoMM games successful and try to come up with the best elements and modify them with fresh ideas in order to revive the series to its past glory.
The basis of the game is Might, Magic and Heroes, indicating strategy in a fantasy environment with an rpg element in the form of heroes.
Therefore a brainstorming of ideas followed by iterative discussions and revisions, leading to a compilation of these resulting ideas would be useful and hopefully productive.Here is a compilation of ideas that have been discussed on the Statesman's Quill (Yahoo Groups Quill). The spirit of some of these suggestions could for example be included in polls to determine which is the most popular concept. Some of these ideas are different alternatives to certain game elements.
General Ideas
- A solid design plan that basically includes old concepts and some new concepts, forming the whole concept.
- Solid AI (needs to be improved compared to H4).
- Atmospheric and consistent town factions, buildings and creatures. H4 was not the epitome of the HoMM series in regards to this point, I think.
- Atmospheric and functional GUI, map, mini-map, sounds and animations.
- Several different building and management paths for each town type, with pro's and con's.
- No inflation of different high level creatures.
- Some kind of hero participation inspired by the one in H4.
- Map objects that are inspired by H4 but adapted for the H5 environment.
E.g: Adventure objects, Landscape objects, Artifacts and Characters. - A design tool for mapmakers that is inspired by the one in H4, but well documented and intuitive.
- A tool for creating/replacing and/or modifying existing creatures and artifacts could also be nice from a mapmaker's point of view.
- Possibly a new inspiring and effective Magic System.
- A resource system that is consistent with the former HoMM series.
- Heroes should be an intuitive game ... where you do not really need the manual to start the game...
- Incorporate an option screen with a number of optional "rules" -- some more extreme than others, and a way for these options to be set by the mapmaker or left as player-selectable. For random maps (if a random map generating program can be made) they would always be player-selectable.
Options
One thing that has been very successful in WoG is the WoG Options screen and I think a similar options screen would be an excellent addition to Heroes 5. This allows for a LOT of different options in the game, but controllable by the player. A lot of the WoG options add new functionality to weaker skills, monsters, artifacts, etc. or create new objects through use of scripting and most of these shouldn't be necessary in a new well-balanced Heroes game, but there are other options too that add diversity, especially for random map games. If an option screen is included, mapmakers should then have the choice to set any of these options as On/Off/Player Choice. This is similar to the idea of random towns and castles, but extends to many more options.
For example, the WoG option for Arrow Towers gaining "experience" in the game, the longer the castle is owned by a player and/or the more battles won against an attacker, would be a good option to include. With this off, castles are easier to capture at any time, making for one type of game, but with it on, the arrow towers will provide a much stronger defence later in the game (until the castle changes hands), making for a somewhat different experience. Another example is the Rogues Map Rule option, where Rogues will attack the player at random, after the player visits certain objects or picks up treasures. This makes exploration more dangerous and scouts must carry more troops with them to survive a sudden Rogue attack (or not touch anything!). The Rogue attacks add spice to a game, but it won't suit all players or even every map so it's perfect as an player-selectable option.
(Back to top)Basic principles
Principle 1 - Quality and Fun
The Quality and Fun factor of the H5 game should be in preference to a fancy looking game.
I'd rather have 4 balanced factions than 10 imbalanced ones; I'd rather have 20
creatures that are truely unique in ways that impact strategy rather than 800 with
different names, pictures, but only minor variations in statistics (probably 80%
of HoMM II creatures are superfluous); I'd rather have a game with no memory
leaks than one with elaborate graphics; I'd rather have 4 cities with real
atmosphere than 20 with matching templates; etc.
Principle 2 - A New Game
Not a re-make or routine expansion of an old game. The one thing heroes IV did
right was to introduce new gaming experiences. Many games produced
today are realtime garbage in which I have no interest, and most of the turn-based
games are inferior clones of Master of Magic. Heroes is different, but I would enjoy
more than a choice between two games. And I think WOG proves that there is no need
for another update of HoMM I-III.
Principle 3 - Keep things simple
There is a tendancy for a community to demand more and more with each successive
release of a title, but the result often is an inferior product. As much as I
appreciate the progression from HoMM I to HoMM III (HoMM II in my opinion is simply
a good expansion pack to HoMM I) to HoMM IV, we need to recognize what has been lost.
Mapmaking has become infinitely time consuming (to the point I cannot finish maps);
play against human opponents is limited to those with massive amounts of free time
or limited to tiny maps; interfaces become increasingly complex; steep learning
curves weed out new players. I hate that the best HoMM strategy is to send out as
meany weak scouts as possible in all directions; I hate having to constantly change
formation, ordering of troops, equiping of artifacts, and other micro-management;
I hate trying to figure out which troups are immune to which attacks; I hate trying
to memorize the form of 20 different quest huts; 80 creature dwellings, 40 powerups
that all do very similar things, etc.
Principle 4 - Strategy, tactics, and role playing are all key elements to the HoMM series.
I most value being rewarded for wise decision making and empathizing with steadily
progressing heroes. The only reason I haven't shifted all my playing time to competing
titles such as disciples, age of wonders, warlords, etc. is that none of these games
handle role playing and tactics as well as heroes. Still, I dislike all or nothing
effects like magic resistance, morale, minitaur's blocking, etc. as these depend more
upon luck than skill. And to me the biggest failing of HoMM IV is not the AI but
the idiotic 3-D battle map where I can't even tell where my troops will be moving,
when they block enemy shooters, or whether they are aligned for a dragon breath
attack. One can't plan what one doesn't know. I believe heroes and magic are central
to heroes of might and magic: the focus of the game should be on small numbers of
groups rather than deployment of troops all over the map, and that a well planned
skill tree and magic system is vital.
Questions
- Should the player be able to found new towns?
E.g: there could be "Town site locations", a kind of adventure objects, on the map. They would require a hero with a certain amount of resources and a set of necessary skills (some of which certain kinds of units could also have, like dwarves are good builders) in order to found the new town of the faction type that the hero (or unit which has the necessary building skill) adhers to. The hero (player) gets to name the town by the way.
Or (alternatively), should the towns only be allowed to be pregenerated and thus only conquered and reconquered without any new potential building sites on the map? - How many faction types should be in the game and which kinds?
- Would a new kind of resource system add to atmosphere and could it be done?
- Should conquered towns be razeable and should some structures be damaged/destroyed during sieges and stuff? Should there be a skill that can prevent such damages from occurring?
Miscellaneous
- Implement skill requirements for being able to pick up some artifacts. This could be an option for players to turn on/off if there are a set of default requirements for some artifacts. The editor should be able to manipulate each artifact's pick-up requirement attributes.
- Implement possibility to create 'self-designed' artifacts by collecting special resources and an item to a new special adventure object (called artificer or witch or so). This idea is reminiscent of the Diablo 2 style of putting gems and runes into slotted artifacts.
- Implement an AD&D 2nd edition type of limit to how much extra it costs to get a new level, once you reach higher levels. If it costs 500.000 experience to go from level 36 to level 37, does it really have to increase even further to 700.000 from level 37 to level 38? When you reach such figures, it takes long enough to gather the first amount.
- Implement more animal creatures in Heroes 5. Creatures such as spiders, bears, snakes, lions, etc. Of course, many of the natural creatures would have to come in giant versions to be a realistic challenge.
- In the Heroes 4 expansions a couple of really peculiar creatures are added, but I'd also like to see more lower level creatures that could be used in campaigns without huge armies available for the player. I'd like a large number of non-attached creatures for use.
- What could be really nice is a town editor of some sort, perhaps one that lets you create your own graphics as well, but even if it just lets you customize the creatures available in a default town (change which ones and/or stats) that could be great.
Basic Troop Ideas
We currently have four basic ideas:- One thing I'd like to see back in Heroes is the ability to upgrade creatures,
although I don't think it should be in the same way as in Heroes 3. I'd just like
to see creatures being able to develop their quality, even if it's only a marginal
development, instead of only their quantity.
- One different way to do this would be to have buildings that can produce arms
and armour for troops. These buildings can be upgraded to make more effective arms/armour
for certain troop types.
There could similarily exist magic buildings for improving spell caster units. When such a building is in place it will cost to manufacture the arms (etc) before the troop could get them and therby increase its different attributes.
That way, all units can potentially be eligible for upgrading, but in reality (you have to choose how to upgrade your armouries as a strategic component) only some units can benefit (= be upgraded) from these upgrades while others can't (i.e. in that town). In order to reach the best level upgrades, maybe some quests need to be fulfilled as well as fulfilling resource requirements.
For example: In order to get a special kind of Paladin Armour, a hero needs to bring to town the scales of a certain dragon.
Also:
If you have a talented hero(ine) (- talented in certain magic or certain martial skills or other skills), he or she can become a teacher - by being in garrison for example - and if this requirement is coupled with some kind of training facility, the appropriate troops can be trained to gain experience and thus become more effective offensively/defensively/magically/resistantly/morally/luckily.
- Give upgrades a plus and a minus. In H2 and H3 upgrades got both and it was
just a matter of resources... Imagine from Swordsman to Crusaders.... they get more
defence and more attack, but they get slower... (more armour slows them down) Or
from Stone Gargoyle to Obsidian Gargoyle... they are faster, but lose defence,
being more brittle...
- I would suggest a base race (e.g. humans, elves, dwarves, orcs, goblins, etc.)
for each city, with most units from that city being derived from that base unit.
Military units available to each race could include a base citizen unit (e.g. peasant,
hunter, miner, raider, slave), an infantry unit (pikeman, sworddancers, axemen,
skull crackers, grunts), a scouting unit (spies, rangers, cave creepers, reavers, assassins)
, a cavalry unit (horsemen, unicorn riders, donkey brigades, wolf riders, wolverine tamers)
, a chariot unit (e.g. iron wagon, walking tower, a steam powered digger, a flame belcher,
a cauldron on wheels), an archery unit (archers, bowmen, hammer throwers, spear throwers,
ravenmasters), and an aerial unit (dragon tamers, pegesus riders, balloons, orcish
cannonballs, goblin kites). Citizen units could be trained (at a cost) into any chosen
military unit provided necessary supporting structures are available. Clearly, some
of my unit ideas are silly; they are simply possibilities that came to mind quickly.
What I like about the approach is its potential to develop logical atmosphere for
each city -- dwarves with affinity for earth and magine, elves as a race of culture
and finesse, orcs as forceful brutes, goblins as sneaky scoundrels. Other races could
be available as allies (e.g. pixies), through creature dwellings (e.g. rocs), through
construction (e.g. golems), through summoning (e.g. imps), or only as monsters
(e.g. hydras).
Conclusions (of 1-4):
Decisions are important and fun. Not all units should be upgradeable (at the same place).
Atmosphere in troop themes are important.
Detailed Troop Ideas
I've been thinking a while about creatures and towns and stuff, trying to form a new but still familiar, concept for H5 town dwellings and troops.
All towns in the HoMM series have had dwellings, and so should H5. In the past, the series introduced upgrades to these dwellings (- some of which needed other buildings as prerequisites).
I'd like H5 to use something similar, maybe expand on a few things. However, for starters, the troop building system in H4 is good I think. I like the way you have to choose between one of two dwellings for each dwelling level. I also like that when it has been built, you can't build the other alternative too (- unless it is built using a scripted event).
Here's an early vision of how things could work in H5 regarding township troops ...
Important structures for building creatures:
The basic creature dwellings
These dwellings produce the creatures and the creatures range from level 1 to level
6 (or so). The basic creatures that are being produced differ in features depending
on level and town faction. Some creatures are inherently weak (- e.g. Peasants and
Goblins) but can be upgraded in several ways by being trained and equipped with
different weapons and armour and even mounts. I'll give some examples later on.
Other creatures are inherently more powerful and inherently have special abilities
(- e.g. Dragons, Vampires, Trolls, etc.). Such creatures usually don't use armour
or weapons and are subject to a different kind of upgrade.
The equipment facilities
These buildings are specific to each town faction. They include Weapon smiths,
Blacksmiths and Spell towers. Usually they have a certain dwelling prerequisite.
These buildings can be upgraded, the basic Blacksmith building in a certain town
faction could be called the Tannery and become available when you have built a
Farmstead (- a dwelling that generates Peasants). The tannery produces leather
armour. When you build a Tannery, you can equip the peasant into a slightly better
unit (better in defence). If you also build a weaponsmith (level 1) you will be
able to equip the peasant with flails instead of pitchforkes, which increases the
offensive capability of the peasant a little bit. We can call these modified units
Peasant (armoured), Peasant (armed) and Peasant (Armed and Armoured). The blacksmith
can be upgraded to include for example ring mail and plate armour for the Life faction.
The Life faction Weapon smith can similarily be upgraded (from the basic flails)
to include pikes, halberds, bows (= fletchery), crossbows and lances. The wepons
and armours increase offensive and defensive capabilities of the equipped unit.
They might even add special abilities to the unit (if it receives training in
these armaments). The Spell Towers add spellcasting abilities to certain spellcaster units.
Mountdwellings
These buildings are housing and breedingplaces or playgrounds for mounts such as horses,
griffins, wolves and pegasi. Some town factions can have more than one kind of
mount and if that is the case, there is a mount facility to build for each of
these mounts. A mount is needed when you want to upgrade a certain unit to a mounted
version. Example: One of the two level 3 dwellings (of the faction known in H4 as Life)
is the Barracks. This dwelling produces (already) trained fighters known (here) as
Swordsmen. The mountdwelling for this town faction is the stables which can be built
at any time after the presence of a fort and the farmhouse. The stables temporarily
increase movement of visiting units and now that the Barracks are in place it can be
used for upgrading Swordsmen into Knights. However, this would require a training
facility (the Sparring Grounds) to be present as well.
Training facilities
Training units into an improved version is often important. Not all units can be
trained though. Note also that undead units need no training at all. There are
different training facilities for different units (and different factions), here
are som examples: Archery Range (- for peasants to become Bowmen. Requires the
Fletchery upgrade at the weapon smith), Sparring Grounds, Gladiator Arena, Fighting
Pits, Cathedral, Druid Henge, Wizard Tower, Warlock Tower, Mausoleum, etc.
Example:
Barracks + Stables -> the upgrade known as Knight becomes available.
It is a mounted and specially trained version of the swordsman. If we on top of this
buy Lances for the knights, the Knights (with lance) will receive a charging bonus
to attacks.
In the following examples, "[ ]" means optional ...
Living creatures
Now we have a formula for the different living creatures that a dwelling can produce:
Basic Creature Dwelling [+ Training] [+ Equipment] [+ Mount] --> Actual [upgraded] Creature
Some living creatures are inherently very strong but they can become upgraded through
different means (- Dragons is one example. Dragons can be upgraded by their own
growing experiences, by fierceness in battle).
Undead creatures
Undead units follow a slightly different formula, because they don't need any
training (they retain old experiences):
Basic Undead Dwelling [+ Equipment] [+ Mount] --> Actual [upgraded] Undead Creature.
Example: Skeleton + Sword + Ring mail -> the upgrade Skeleton Warrior is available.
Magically artificed creatures and mechanical units
Creatures such as gargoyles and golems don't need training and have no post creation
equipment.
Artificed Dwelling --> Actual Artificed Creature
Magic system
I don't have precise suggestions for a magic system, but it seems to me that there is much potential for improvement. I would like to see a system where magic interactions themselves have tactical richness and spells grow in power (rather than number) as a character advances in level. I would like a system where the player must experiment, burning mana and resources, to learn how to cast a spell rather than having them handed out in mage guilds. (For instance, having randomly generated formulas for spells, with experiments showing how close the player came to the spell.) And I think it is silly to have a dozen different spells that do essentially the same thing (e.g. magic arrow, flames strike, lightning bolt, implosion, disintegrate).
Virtually all combat spells do one of the following things: direct damage, alter a creature stat (attack, defense, morale, movement, damage, etc.), grant or deny a unit special abilities (forgetfulness, guardian angel, first strike, fly, etc.), create (or recreate) units (summon elemental, raise dead, illusion), or alter the battlefield (quicksand, teleport, displacement, remove obstical). I think it might be intresting to see fewer spells that can be enhanced in numerous ways (e.g. greater impact, affecting larger area and more creatures, better overcoming magic resistance, casting with less mana, casting more than once per round. And perhaps each school of mana can have one major spell specialization and one or two minor spell areas. For example, summoners would focus upon creature creation, having wider choices of types and larger numbers of summoned creatures, with minor effects on battlefield manipulation (summon a small pool of quicksand) and special abilities (summon a spirit to guide your sword into a first strike).
I can say I prefered HoMM III spell casting to HoMM IV because different levels of expertise truly enhanced spells -- to the point that some first level spells were worth more than 4th level spells. In HoMM IV, increasing levels doesn't make much difference unless one learns a new level spell.
(Back to top)Hero Classes and Unique Abilities
What I'd really like to see is a 3-tiered system with both Basic and Advanced classes:
- Strong but balanced abilities for each Basic class -- this would serve to really
define the heroes of different classes. These abilities would probably be level-based
and remain with the hero the whole game. For example, a Wizard may cast multiple spells
each round in combat, a Warrior may get multiple attacks, a Necromancer may raise enemy
creatures it kills as allied Undead, and so on.
- Advanced classes with interesting, varied, useful and balanced abilities. These
would be in addition to the basic class abilities and would distinguish heroes of the
same basic class from each other. They could be similar to the better abilities of
Heroes IV.
- Individual unique abilities as in Heroes III, but again, better balanced. This would further distinguish heroes as individuals. I would suggest dropping the abilities relating to bonus gold or resources -- I think the Estates skill adequately covers that. These abilities would mostly concentrate on bonuses to a specific secondary skill, monster or spell, but with better bonuses (especially for monsters) than H3, in order to really make it POWERFUL to give those monsters to that hero, not merely a minor bonus.
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