Hello to all fans of the third Heroes game. A few years ago, I encountered the problem of weak AI opponents.
When I just started playing (a long time ago), in any version of the game, the AI opponents were very strong. If you hesitate even a little, they will come and tear you to shreds with creatures of level 7. For example, on the Champions map, the AI would accumulate a huge army for its Castle, many times larger than mine.

But in recent years, the AI seems to have forgotten how to play. I create a map, or play on a standard one - I already have a level 7 upgraded Castle, and the AI opponents are running around with some pathetic armies that are easily defeated in one or two turns. I thought it depended on the version of the game, so I installed the original versions of Era, Armageddon, and Breath, but everywhere it's the same: the AI plays worse, or rather, it doesn't play at all.

What could be the reason? Some kind of system glitch? A bug in the x64 version of Windows? A secret entry in the registry that causes the AI to become stupid? Has anyone encountered something similar?