
                   HEROES IV SCENARIO

Map Name:	Bizarro Blitzkrieg (Bizarro Blitzkrieg v1.0.h4c)
Version:	1.0	
Map Maker:	Laelth (Alan Taylor)
E-mail Address:	laelth@vandea.com
Domain:     vandea.com

Map Type:	Single or Multi (2 human)
Map Size:	M (no underground)
Game Version:	HOMM IV Standard
Language:	English

Description:	You and your opponent are eager to fight, but Lord Bizarro has 
		declared 22 days of peace, after which he will open a portal between your 
		territories.  Thereafter, he may open others as suits his fancy.  He is, 
		after all, as bizarre and unpredictable as the land he rules.

Special Win:	None.
Special Loss:	None.

Difficulty:	Intermediate.

Notes:		"Bizarro" is a first-of-its-kind, randomized-layout Heroes IV map.  
		In this version, 25 possible layouts are included, and more may be added 
		later.  The map is intended to be completely resistant to set patterns of 
		play, requiring players to make important choices and revise their strategies 
		during the course of the game.  The "Blitzkrieg" version allows for early 
		rushes.  Gates begin to open day 23 (day 2, week 4, month 1)."Bizarro" 
		should provide a fresh and challenging game experience each and every time 
		it's played.

		Includes a Heroes IV standard version and a Heroes IV equilibris version.  
		The standard version will not work properly with the equilibris mod, and the 
		equilibris version will not work with Heroes IV Standard.  Be forewarned.     

Testers:	Sha' Plet (dad@samanthafisher.net)
		Jinxer (Jinxer@wcnet.org)	

Spoilers:		Heroes: You begin with one hero.  Another hero with expert magic 
		ability is imprisoned directly behind your home town, but depending on the 
		variant you get, that hero may be very close or very, very far away.  There 
		are also 2 imprisoned lords on each side of the map.  One has GM nobility 
		and the other has expert nobility.  Their locations are randomized.  Heroes 
		will be hard to get, generally, on this map.  There are no external taverns.   
			Towns:  There are 2 towns on each side of the map that are linked 
		to the players' native alignment.  A third town on each side is linked to 
		the player's opponent.  This insures maximum balance.  The fourth town on 
		each side is random, but its lvl. 4 dwellings have been disabled to prevent 
		one player from benefiting too greatly from an alignment match.
			Alignment Bonuses:  Might starts with an extra altar linked to the 
		third town on that player's side of the map to insure the might player has 
		some access to magic.  Might also gets an extra treasure artifact.  Nature 
		loses a might-hero skill altar.  Other alignments get no bonuses. 
			Skills Disabled:  Charm, Diplomacy, Seamanship, and Stealth.
			Spells Disabled:  Mass Cancellation, Sanctuary, Summon Ship, and Town 
		Gate.  Note that there is a small chance that a player may get Mass 
		Cancellation as a quest hut reward.
			Artifacts:  too many disabled to list.
			Quests:  Three huts per side allow players to alter the terrain layout 
		by removing blocking objects.  Two additional huts per side sell boats that 
		have the same effect.  One hut sells an advanced might hero skill (either 
		combat, scouting, nobility, or tactics), one hut sells grandmaster diplomacy, 
		some huts sell magic items (randomly determined), a number of huts sell 
		spells (also randomly determined), and the "Bizarro Huts" are, shall we say, 
		self-explanatory.  Dragon Cities in the corners of the map are guarded by a 
		temple that requires you to fight roughly 4,500 peons-worth of lvl. 4 troops 
		in order to gain access.  Be forewarned.  This is a tough fight.
			Mushrooms:  Mushrooms increase your movement by 20!  Each player (one 
		army group only) may eat mushrooms and gain extra movement once per day.  Each 
		side of the map has two permanently set mushroom patches guarded by the 
		Mushroom Guild's greedy syndics.  They must be paid a one-time fee in order to 
		access their mushrooms.  In addition to these "set" patches, however, 
		there are also 20 mushroom patches placed around the map (10 per side) that, 
		during initialization, are randomized.  The computer flips a coin (a 1 in 2 
		chance) for each patch to see if it will show up during that particular game.  
		On average, each player should have 5 or 6 "random patches" per game, though 
		it's possible to have as many as 10 or, if one is very unlucky, none at all.
			Cacti:  Cacti are good (similar to the Pandora's Boxes in "Imperial 
		Prison").  Just make sure a hero is present when you step on them.  Note that 
		"Equestrian's Gloves" are a possible cactus reward, and that this is the only 
		way to acquire the gloves on this map.
			Attacking Your Enemy:  For the first 47 days, the map is completely 
		closed.  On day 48 one portal into enemy territory opens.  Thereafter, there's 
		a chance (on each day) that one or more of the remaining three portals will 
		open.  Two portals are static (one opening appears in the wall at the bottom 
		of the map, and the other is a pass through the trees near the top of the map).  
		There's also a one-way portal with a static entry point but with randomized 
		exit points in enemy territory.  Finally, there's a two-way portal, both ends 
		of which appear in random locations.
			One Way Portals:  Each side of the map has three one way portal 
		entrances.  Each of these entrances has three possible exits.  Bombs destroy 
		the extra one way exits that lead into your opponent's territory on day 1. In 
		other words, your oponent will know where your one way exit is, but you won't be 
		able to see it.  If you go through, you'll not know exactly where you're coming 
		out, nor will you know how to get home.  (The teal one way portal goes from the 
		blue side to the green side.  The red one way portal goes from the green side to 
		the blue side).  The other two one way portals on each side of the map have 
		exits inside your home territory, but you won't know which two exits will be 
		destroyed and which one will remain until you pay the portal guards to access 
		the portal.  It's a pure gamble that you'll get a useful exit, but given how 
		difficult the map can be to navigate, it will probably be worth it to pay for 
		access.
			Hint:  The only way to know what to do on this map is to scout it out well 
		before making a firm plan.  Be aware, however, that bandits are lurking near key 
		structures to interfere with your scouting activities.  In addition, once you're 
		ready to attack your enemy, some advance scouting of his or her territory may be 
		necessary in order to plan an effective attack.  
			Logic of Map (How It Works):  Each side of the map contains forty 
		"squares," arranged in a 5 square wide by eight square high formation.  In 
		total, the map is 10 squares wide and 8 squares high.  The "sides" of the 
		squares are closed off by blocking terrain features.  As the map is being 
		loaded, only the three squares in front of the player's home town are 
		accessible.  On day 1, though, before either player acts, the computer 
		randomly chooses one of 17 layouts for the "paths" that will be formed through 
		the map.  The blue-side layout and the green-side layout are chosen 
		independently. (Note that more layouts, called "variants," may be added later.)  
		Bombs then explode, creating holes in the "sides" of the squares that allow 
		access from one square to another as determined by the variant that was chosen 
		for each side of the map. All areas of the map should be accessible every game.  
		The variant merely determines how easy (or how difficult) it will prove to get 
		to each area.  In addition to the randomized layout of the map, the locations 
		of key structures (gold mines, beastmaster's huts, witch's huts, war 
		universities, level 4 creature dwellings, and portals) are randomized.  It's 
		possible, though unlikely, for both players to wind up with the same variant 
		(layout) in the same game, but given that the locations of mines, dwellings, 
		and other key structures are randomized, it's virtually impossible to play the 
		same game twice on Bizarro.    
			My intent was to create a map that was completely resistant to any set 
		pattern of play.  While I had tried randomization in some earlier attempts 
		("Mystic Vale" and "Eruption"), these maps failed to create the truly random 
		experience that one gets from a random map generator.  While I won't say that 
		this map is the most randomized (but still relatively balanced and fun) Heroes 
		map that can be made, I think it's a big step in that direction, and I would 
		like to thank my mapmaking colleague and comrade-in-arms, Jinxer, for 
		challenging us all to break the set patterns that dominate online Heroes play.  
		It's fun to master a map, I admit, but once it's mastered, a map becomes a 
		mere vehicle for climbing the ranks and wasting the unwary.  What fun is that, 
		really?  "Bizarro," I hope, will remain challenging and fun for years to come.
			The Variants:  There are 21 programmed paths through the map.  In general, 
		they're about equal in complexity and difficulty (though I couldn't test all 21 
		thoroughly for perfect balance.  In each of them (for each side of the map) the 
		game will delete between 37 and 39 of the 61 possible blocking objects.  This 
		sounds like a large number, I know, but this number makes for a pretty 
		challenging (and irritatingly indirect) path to a number of key structures.  
		Note that in nearly every variant, you will have a fairly direct path from your 
		home town to another town (but not neceessarily your linked town).
			Terminology:  In the event that someone finds an error in the map and 
		would like to report its location to me, or simply to help players understand 
		the layout, we can refer to the squares as a color and number combination.  The 
		upper-left hand square (with the Dragon City) is "blue 1."  The top row on the 
		blue side, then, would be "blue 1" through "blue 5".  Since there are eight rows 
		of five squares per side, the blue side is composed of squares "blue 1" through 
		"blue 40."  The green side is composed of squares "green 1" through "green 40."  
		If you're playing green, the town on your side that's linked to your opponent is 
		in "green 2."  Your random, unlinked town is in "green 21."  Your home town 
		opens into "green 23," and your linked town is in "green 34."  Hope that helps.  
		Enjoy!

Version 1.1 Notes:

		1.  Fixed a passability error on the Blue side (Lvl. 1 dwelling was placed one 
		square too low.)
		2.  Enriched the map with some random piles of gold.
		3.  Further enriched the map with a randomized start bonus (either an artifact, 
		or gold, or resources, or gold and resources).
		4.  Added four new variants.
		5.  Disabled the Necromancy skill on the stardard version.
		6.  Disabled the Summoning skill on both versions of the map.
		7.  Customized the north towns (B2 and G2), disabling shipyard.
		8.  Changed the date the gates begin to open to day 48 (as opposed to 29).
		9.  Removed "Necklace of Charm" and "Statesman's Medal" from available artifact 
		list.
		10. Made "Shackles of War" a quest hut reward.  Nature, Might, and Death can find 
		them at their northern temples of good and evil.  Chaos, Order, and Life find 
		them at their southern temples of good and evil.  The shackles remain a possible 
		random actifact that may appear elsewhere on the map.  Shackles also remain a 
		possible Bizarro Hut reward.
		11. Added an altar of scouting to each side (B1 and G5).
		12. Added an altar of tactics to each side (B36 and G40).

Version 1.2 Notes:

		1.  Added a script that gives players 250 gold/day if they own their home town.  
		If you own your opponent's home town, you get an additional 1,000 gold/day.
		2.  Added a shipwreck survivor to each side of the map.
		3.  Removed a lvl. 2 shrine and replaced it with a Water Wheel.
		4.  Corrected a scripting error on the equilibris version by which you could gain 
		+1400 movement for stepping on a cactus (instead of the +14 I had intended).

Version 1.3 Notes:

		1.  Cut in half (divided by 2) the number of lvl. 4 creatures a Bizarro Hut may 
		give.
		2.  Cut by two-thirds (divided by 3) the number of lvl. 3 creatures a Bizarro Hut 
		may give.
		3.  Reduced the amount of gold the Bizarro hut may give from 50,000 to 15,000.
		4.  Cut three days off the length of the map.  Gates now begin to open on day 45 
		instead of day 48.
		5.  Added 4 new variants, bringing the total number to 25.
		6.  Replaced a Training Grounds with an Arena.
		7.  Added several Sapphires of Defense to each side of the map.
		8.  Added an event in front of northern Dragon Utopias that gives +18 def. to the 
		first hero in the army that triggers the event.
		9.  Increased the amount of +def. that map events give.
		10. Increased the +exp. that some map events give.
		11. Replaced School of Magic with Magic University.

Blitzkrieg Version Notes:

		1.  Gates begin to open on day 23 (in other respects, the map is identical to 
		version 1.3).

Hints:		1.  When he asks, be sure to tell the guy in the Bizarro Hut that you won't leave.
		2.  The trading posts are always in squares Blue 32 and Green 32.  Find how to get 
		to them and use them as soon possible.
		3.  Be sure to save up 25,000 gold to purchase your "great spell."  These can make 
		the difference in the game.  If you spend the cash, you will get a scroll allowing 
		a hero to cast one of the following spells: Mass Cancellation, Disintegrate, Cloud 
		of Confusion, Steal All Enchantments, Vampiric Touch, Hand of Death, Dragon 
		Strength, or Divine Intervention.  One "great spell hut" appears on each side of 
		the map.  Only one spell can be purchased from each hut.

ACWOW version:
                1. firts quest sells an basic might skill u can choose(either 
		combat, scouting, nobility, or tactics) for 1500 gold
                2. Bizarro Huts add might artis and erase some shitt....
                3. big cactus give level 4 creatures of wow or tgs extension
                4. WOW bizaro is blitzkrieg version, gates begin to open on day 23, u need playing on advanced level game

Bizzaro v1.3 WOW WC09 1.0
		Quests: translate to english quest which gives no-magic skills for 1500 gold.