CJlee's Replay of the Official Campaigns using H5.5 mod.

[cjlee]

I wasn't able to lose skills. According to the http://www.heroesofmightandmagic.com/he ... ills.shtml
the syntax you suggested was disabled after v1.2.

Now what works is something like this
@GiveHeroSkill("Linaas", 124)

But @TakeHeroSkill @ForgetHeroSkill, Unlearn, Lose, Remove all didn't work.

I checked Curio's Cheating Guide thread, but there was no mention of how to remove skills. Someone else has asked before.

Also, there are really a lot of custom skills in 5.5, or skills associated with TOTE/ HoF, that don't show up when I try to type them in. I can gain these skills when levelling up naturally, but typing in the cheat console doesn't get them. I am guessing Magnomagus gave these skills new codes. EG counterspell doesn't work at all. I suspect H5.5 guys gave it some unique code to distinguish it from the Academy Wizards' Unique Racial Skill Counterspell, but I don't want to type in everything from 1 to 999 to figure that out.

I don't know if this has something to do with the scripts used in the vanilla campaign.

So far I can only give Findan (or any other hero I hire) the basic skills found in H5 Vanilla. I don't know how to remove these skills, and I can't add skills created/ modded by H5.5. I also cannot give him skills that the game doesn't want him to learn.

EG I was able to add Dark Magic to Shadya earlier on. But the same code doesn't work for Findan. In the vanilla campaign Rangers are not supposed to learn Dark magic and I really can't add dark magic to Findan. Not that I want to, but it's just something I noticed while fiddling.

I will put the same reply on my thread. Maybe someone has ideas. I won't necro the Curio's Cheating Guide because I notice it has been inactive for several years.

[magnomagus]

Hi it is afaik not possible to remove skills from heroes with console commands also it is not possible to add perks to heroes with console commands.

I have no idea why you saw might heroes walking around with counterspell, because it is normally impossible for might heroes to get sorcery. So maybe the campaign designers added sorcery by scripts. Also they let raelag start with summoning & light magic? odd.

[cjlee]

hi magnomagus

OK, so I have to restart my game? That's all right, I really want to try out your 5.5's new Rangers. The turnaround from all-defense/knowledge to all-attack is very big; I really want to explore what your 5.5 mod has to offer.

I've been writing a lot about different maps that I played through. Warlock Campaign, Map 3 involves lots of Dungeon and Inferno heroes attacking you. Some of them had counterspell although they were Might heroes. I am actually quite disappointed when you say that wasn't intended by h5.5 guys. However, if you need sorcery to get Counterspell, that explains things. All of these guys were originally Dungeon Warlocks in h5.0 and would be scripted to get sorcery.

If you are a might hero with, say, 70 mana and only 3 spellpower. The enemy is a spellcaster with like 25 spellpower and 200 mana. In any war of spellcasting you would be trashed. But you'd like to keep the enemy from casting spells in the first 3 rounds of battle while your troops smash the spellcaster. You don't want the enemy to cast Meteor Shower, Mass Weakness, Puppetmaster, etc. So it makes sense for a human Might player to get Counterspell, which your h5.5 mod allows. 2-3 turns later your might hero would be left with zero mana, but his hope would be that he has inflicted enough damage to win.

In any case doesn't 'Sorcery' actually apply to all hero turns? IE even if your hero is not casting a spell (eg he is Barbarian Shouting, Knight choosing target for retaliation strike, anybody employing Standard Hero Attack), doesn't the skill Sorcery make his turns come quicker anyway?

In contrast, I rarely used Counterspell against the AI when I was playing Wizard in h5.0. AI rarely can outcast or outsmart me, so what the hell, let them cast their dumb or poorly applied spells.

Raelag did not start with summoning or light magic. I got them by reflex, because I have played H5.0 before on hard and heroic and that's what I did in the past. Only after I chose these skills and built up my mage guild, did I realize that Raelag was screwed because h5.5 mod turns Dungeon castles into Dark and Destructive magic + mage vault no longer teaches high level Light magic as a reward.

Now I have the same problem with Findan in the Sylvan campaign. Sylvan campaign used to be all about Findan casting resurrection. h5.0 Sylvan was the three Ls - Light, Luck and Leadership. Now H5.5 Rangers are very different. Findan's spellpower and knowledge is close to zero even at level 12 and he has no way to learn resurrection anyway.

This means I have to replay this map and work out a different hero build. I'm not complaining. Game has a new lease of life, and it's very interesting. HOMM game is all about puzzles to solve, and hero build is one of the biggest puzzles. Sylvan campaign is extremely demanding on the defense, so the question is what can I do to help Findan survive? Sorcery and Counterspell are not good choices, since you are expected to be defending castles against prolonged sieges. Probably have to explore your h5.5 War Machines offerings. In the past I would never consider getting war machines for Sylvan.

But magnomagus, how do I make my heroes forget all their skills (not their stats) in future if I need to redo my hero build? Parcaleste talked about being able to forget and redo skills like memory mentor, but I didn't understand how.

[magnomagus]

It is not possible to fully tryout any new classes or H5.5 by playing the campaigns therefore you need to play ARMG maps. Campaigns maps are very basic in design and have very little diversity in adventure objects. ARMG has much more variety and endless battles on an epic scale not available before. Most of the content available now, did not exist when the campaign maps were made, this even applies to the scenery. So I do not recommend replaying the campaign for that purpose, campaign is mainly about storyline and cutscenes.

Also have you checked out the ingame skillwheel? the small pizza button in the levelup window? If you have then you will see the ranger skillwheel is loaded with magical defenses. Ranger is supposed to be a barbarian kind of class and can also learn shatter skills. For a magic/might mixup you are supposed to choose the warden class.

So homework: read ARMG manual pdf and the ingame skillwheel extensively and you will figure all this out.

[cjlee]

Quick reply magnomagus, because I'm quite excited

One problem with longtime gamers is that they get stuck in bad habits or ruts. So did I.

Now that you have created a new heroes with new possibilities, I remain stuck in my old habits. So I need to have a change in mindset also.

For instance, I know about your pizza and have parsed it extensively. But I had my old habits, which was to ignore lots of things that I already knew were useless. But they were useless only because of my old habits.

In H5.0 it is worthless to get Ranger shatter dark or shatter destruction even if the system allowed, since Rangers were always equipped with light magic. I just ignored these slices on your pizza.

But now that you have changed the Ranger to an all-out attack Might hero, he needs magical defense. I was ignoring the Shatter skills, as per my old habits. That's my blind spot that you have pointed out.

With the kind of stats he is getting, Findan won't be a mediocre attacker like he was in H5.0. So my job is to give him shatter dark and shatter destruction. That should just about take care of all Demon and Necromancer opponents.

Just one question, does Shatter Destruction bring down the spell powers of creature casters as well? (I'll probably know in a few hours, lol.)

[magnomagus]

Shatter destructive should also help against creature casters, but taking 2 shatters is a bit risky when you play in a 6 skill system, in multiplayer you can have an 8 skill system but this is not available in campaigns.

you probably have enough from shattter dark + protection perk or armoroer + forgemaster perks.

also consider totally different approach: luck + 2x magic resistance perks + aura from unicorns + maybe an artifact = massive amount of resistance.

[cjlee]

Interesting, Magnomagus. I was not able to finish the first map of the Sylvan campaign because of the overly powerful AI, but I noticed that two witch huts offered Shatter Destruction and Shatter Dark. Since these are not H5.0 original skills, did something your team did make that possible?

Strangely I was not able to learn Shatter Destruction. Skill slot simply refused to fill up. (I have 5 skills, so it is not a question of not being able to learn a 7th during the campaigns.)

In any case I am on map 2 of the Sylvan campaign now, The Emerald Ones. it would have been too hard for me, but for some reason the AI got extra stupid. When I got off my boat I found that Alastor's army far outnumbered me. He would have easily killed me in the open field, let alone if he holed up in his Castle. (It is a castle, so 3 turrets shoot.)

More than that, there were 3 other heroes hanging around with modest sized armies. Any 2 of them combining armies would have been a threat.

But the AI did something totally and bizarrely stupid during its turn. I was waiting for AI to kill me, but Alastor combined armies with one of his underlings, making an even bigger army. Then Alastor RAN AWAY. This is one of the most WTF moments I have ever experienced with Heroes V.

Alastor emptied his castle and ran away with his underling. Other underlings such as Agrael stood around during their turn. So they left their castle totally empty, with me only half a day's march away.

Obviously I said thank you, I don't have to activate the cheat console anymore. I walked right into the castle, and was rewarded with one Emerald Dragon. So now the odds have changed from 99% certainty of defeat, to maybe 60% certainty of defeat. Alastor's army still vastly outnumbers me but now I have a castle and if I survive 2 more days I will have Devils to hire so odds will be 40% or less likely of losing.

Also out of an irony - one of the enemy heroes wandering around is Agrael. Fortunately he only has a modest army.

I holed up in the Inferno castle in the NE (the first enemy castle) for the longest time I have done with Heroes V. 9 days. Alastor was just outside, walking around randomly, and he was far too powerful to beat with a one week strong Inferno army. But I couldn't afford to go anywhere as he could attack me. The only way to survive was to hang around in his castle until after a second week had passed and I had 2 weeks worth of Inferno forces. It was truly bizarre.

After re-running the scenario from a savegame, I think one reason why Alastor would run away, was because he wanted to grab a very important artifact. The Cloak of Death's Shadow. For a human player that isn't worth abandoning your castle for, but the -2morale -2luck definitely make it one of the best artifacts around. If my town was empty and didn't have Citadel/Castle built, I would also be happy to abandon it for a few days to grab the Cloak.

[cjlee]

After not being able to learn Shatter Destruction, I visited another witch hut that offered War Machines. I clicked OK to learn it, but when I opened my hero slot I found my 6th slot still empty.

I visited the witch hut again but was told I had already learned War Machines.

Later I managed to get a 6th skill Leadership anyway.

...

Awesome, just awesome. Just fought a really awesome battle, real narrow against an enemy Castle garrison 3x my army size.

Back in H5.0 I would have been resurrecting and shooting imbued arrows like crazy, but odds like these would still not have been possible.

H5.5 mod gives us Chain Attack, making it possible for Findan to link his attack to his troops' attack.

Then we have the Avenger ability applicable to all troops under a Ranger's leadership. H5.5 mod has done away with the old restrictions where a hero's abilities were faction-restricted. So I was able to use a Demon Army, inflicting outsized damage on the enemy because I'd earlier defined the top 3 tiers of Inferno as my favoured enemy.

Finally Heroes 5.5 has done it. Turned a former racial ability, into a global ability. Now a Ranger hero can lead anybody to victory against his favourite enemies.

[cjlee]

I looked through the ARMG manual but it seems made for mapmakers. Hardly any info useful to end users.

Questions:

1) in the Sylvan towns there is a structure called Sparkling Fountain. It is supposed to increase Druids' spellpower.
In H5.5 now Druid is a name that applies both to the level 4 unit, as well as to the Spellcaster class for Sylvan. So does this structure increase the spellpower of both the unit and the hero?

2) How does the Ai work for determining crypt, mage vault, pyramid etc guardians? It seems to have changed, but I'm not sure if the changes are that useful.

Reason I'm saying this is that I find the crypts are now harder, and pleasingly so. But they don't really scale up. I can visit a second time with another hero but all that happens is I meet a slightly stronger army of basically the same arrangement. Do they scale based on the Week Number, your Hero Level, number of times they have been visited, or what? Having visited many structures I believe this AI scaling can be tweaked over time. As things stand, crypts are still too hard for the first and second weeks, just right for the end of the first month to the second month, and become too easy again in late game.

[magnomagus]

This is a known unfixable issue introduced by AI coder who made the 8 skill system a witch hut cannot fill last slot on basic level, but can still advance it to advanced or expert.

The sparkling fountain only boosts the class.

I don't understand what you mean battle sites don't scale they literally scale up to 100.000s of creatures if you play the game long enough.

I looked through the ARMG manual but it seems made for mapmakers. Hardly any info useful to end users.

I'm sorry this makes so little sense I have to ask: Have you ever generated a random map? if not please check 3 minutes of this movie
change setting to HD if the text is not readable:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8As9FAPEZN4

P.S The narrator says experience should be 4, but i actually recommend 3 in most cases.