DISCUSSIONS on “Rules for online games in HoMM3 and formulas for calculating player rating.”

if a free attack were so terrible, everyone would start Dungeon with Lorelei.

It's not so much about the free attack, but rather the number of fairies and the damage they deal – that's the real issue. At the start, there can be around 50-70 of them, so calculate how much damage they will inflict.