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Tapani's HOMM V Random Map Generator v1.01 beta
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LEGAL
=====

Anyone is free to use this software for his/her personal enjoyment.
Anyone is also free to copy this software, and make it available 
for copying, as long as no fees or purchases of any kind are required 
to obtain it. ANY OTHER USE, INCLUDING COMMERCIAL, IS PROHIBITED.



Brief description of the settings:
==================================

MAP SIZE
---------

The largest settings might take some time to generate, the
320x320 usually takes about a minute or two on a 3.2GHz P4.


MONSTERS
--------

First, note that when playing on heroic settings all monsters
are ~50% larger than in the editor. Also, on heroic all stacks
grow 11% per week.

On "normal" most monster stacks are pack-lots
on "strong" lots to horde
on "very strong" most are close to throngs.

The "hairy" and above settings should be played only be expert
players who know what they are getting into. Playing extra hairy
on heroic will likely to require you to pound through a swarm or
a zound of upgraded lvl 7:s

On OMFG setting, there might be even legions of level 7s out on 
the map. You have been warned :-)

Also note that the map size does not affect the size of the largest
stack - the stack sizes are determined by ther relative distances to
the starting areas.


RESOURCES
----------

Richer gives generally more of everything on the map. We prefer to 
play on "poor". The filthy rich setting is not recommended, the
map will be cluttered with stuff.


FAIRNESS
--------

Basic fairness means: isomorphic maps (that is, for each area there
are corresponding areas for each opponent) with similar objects. The 
number and kind of objects may vary. For instance if you encounter 
an area with several stat-improving buildings (like marletto tower), 
your opponent will have at least some stat-improving building in his
corresponding area as well.

Also on basic fairness, all players receives equal number of towns 
(throughout the map), roughly the same mines, and roughly the same
objects in the starting areas.

Advanced fairness: all players have the same border guards between
areas, and also, exactly the same guards guarding the key objects
in the starting area (like wood and ore mines).

Expert fairness: the "too fair to be fun" setting. All players get
exactly the same objects in their corresponding areas, as well as
similar guards (as above). The main difference is which artifacts
you find, this setting only guarantee the same number of say relics
in the corresponding areas.


Disable instant travel/fly
--------------------------

Disables the fly artifacts as well as the instant travel spell.


Disable necromancy
------------------

With this setting no necropolis heroes can be hired. Necropolis 
players start without a hero.


Disable puppet master
---------------------

Disables the puppet master spell.


HoF expansion compability
-------------------------

Enables objects, artifacts, monsters, spells and heroes from the Hammers of Fate expansion.



PLAYERS
-------

Number of players. So far, a maximum of six players is supported.


TEAMS
-----

Allows you to select the among a few team configurations. Only two teams
are supported. In the created maps usually the path between teammates is
easier than the path to the opposing team. Team maps takes slightly longer
to create than maps without teams.


TERRAINS
--------

This is just for aesthetics, if one of you is going to play inferno
it is nicer to select "lava" as his(her) terrain. This causes all
areas having a town of player 1:s alignment to have the specified
terrain.

The snow terrain is a bit experimental and *might* not work with the
earliest patchlevels of HoMM (tested with 1.2 and upwards).


BROWSE
------

You can rename the map file, as well as set the file format for it.
The default filenames are chosen in a way that the newest map will
appear topmost in the list of maps displayed by the game.

//Tapani Utriainen
tapani@cs.chalmers.se

