Dsquared
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I see rational play precisely when the map is explored, and irrational play when the map is unexplored. No matter how you look at it, sending the main hero with the entire army through rough terrain when the main directions haven't been scouted is irrational. This is obvious to many. Hence the questions arise. Of course, this is Heroes, and you can always say: "I just decided to go and found it," but when this happens more and more often, suspicions arise.
So Brissa went — she sees no path upward. Saurog went — he sees a path upward along the road. Doesn't it follow from this that the respawn is above? Yes, there is a path downward, BUT how important is that path to justify going against air elementals (which could have a grail-stacked unit) and grail-buffed gargoyles? A situation could easily arise (grail stack, gargoyle morale) where losses would amount to a couple dozen goblins, only to find a dead end. That doesn't seem rational to me, but I could be wrong.
Saurog went, and he doesn't see where the road curves or whether it curves at all. The little gargoyles and air elementals aren't intimidating at all.
I said it before, and I'll say it again: I always try to break through such blocks, because:
1. Freebies are necessary: chests and gold.
2. The chance to find a consulate, dwelling, and so on.
This is an absolutely rational move. Even if there were just a couple of chests and a couple of piles of gold — that's already like taking a dwarf's hundred — such blocks must be broken through.
Oh, and yes, if maphack is taken into account, the game is completely inefficient. I would play completely differently. The other question is that I don't understand at all what the point is in playing with maphack, since the point is lost... There's no suspense, no surprises, and as everyone knows, that's the main component of this game.
