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

Message from NumOne:
Doesn't the Moon, breaking the game with units on the first week, bother you? Doesn't Grindan, often getting mass slow on day 111, bother you? Are you scared of Isra/Vidomina level 5 from a prison (the chance of finding which is simply tiny), but not scared of Galthran, used without any restrictions for almost any town?

Andrey, what does ГО have to do with it? We're talking about XL+U templates. They are the most necro-imbalanced; Jebus Cross always has a separate approach. On these templates, if you play wisely, you can drag out the game for a long time to raise more skeletons and definitely try to avoid contact.

Let's consider a specific case: Isra level 5 on 8mm6a freed on week 1 or 2. By the end of the month you can have a huge number of skeletons, at least 1.5k I think. Let the percentage of finding Isra be small, but imagine it happened. So in this specific case, why turn a blind eye to the imbalance? Galthran can't be taken as a starter, what does he have to do with it? And when he is found, he won't raise skeletons as much even with his growth.
In essence, Gosha [Galthran] is banned from starting with him because he is imbalanced, and no one argues with that, but Isra and Vidomina can be taken from the start, and imagine they have a different restriction - in the quantity of necromancy, because the imbalance is exactly there. These 3 necromancers are imbalanced and therefore have restrictions in their own directions:
- one cannot be taken from the start
- the others cannot necro to the maximum.

Regarding Jebus Cross, I agree with your wording, I disagreed with their complete unbanning in general.

Message from =Stinger=:
Those same skeletons will only really be decisive in the late game; on weeks 2-3 they are not a formidable force

By week 3, especially at the end, Isra will be very, very dangerous. Moreover, in Shadow of Death there are plenty of late games! A prolonged game lasting 4 weeks and further into the second month is a fairly common occurrence.

Message from NumOne:
About specialists at level 4. I definitely think they should be unbanned on all standard L and above templates. On M-size templates — ban. Believe me, mass slow and mass haste are much more frightening than that meteor shower. And Solmyr himself is a rather weak hero: poor stat growth, and almost all points go into intelligence, and he is easily countered by tactics, just like the meteor casters.

And what makes you think we're talking about when the mage is the daddy? Here we're talking about cases where one player has 3-4 heroes with a level 3-4 magic specialty, and the other player most likely has various useless scouts. The main criterion will be spell power and who cares about leveling a demolition mage. For example, on L and XL maps, scout warfare is very important. In the vast majority of cases, you need to wait for the 2nd round and your own mage's turn - cast and retreat. A couple of attacks and the prospects become foggy, having been more than optimistic before. That's why I say that in battles where the game ends on the 2nd week, beginning of the 3rd, the advantage in heroes specializing in level 3-4 magic is very important and imbalanced no matter how you look at it.

Another important downside could be the thinning of the army (destroying any stack of shooters will slow the pace and drag out the game). For example, if both have mages - they'll thin each other out and go their separate ways, development will be slowed down for solving big tasks.

Why doesn't it bother you at all that the game is called Heroes of Might and Magic, but we only have the might? Isn't the Sphere of Permanence and Cloak of the Undead King enough for you? Personally, I feel sorry for the mages.

What an exaggeration? You probably meant high-level might and magic. That's the point of level 4-5 magic, to use it you need to make significant efforts! The same can be said about might, to use high-level battle artifacts you need to try very hard. But here it turns out that from the very beginning of the game we are allowing the use of 4 levels of magic out of 5!!! This is nonsense!

If you look at the physical-magic aspect, you can see that shields and swords are divided into 6 types (by analogy with the 5 mage guilds in the Tower + the Library, one might say).
So if from the start we give level 4, then when choosing an artifact, items like shield +5 or club +5 should appear. It seems that this is exactly how the game will turn into heroes of magic (without the might).

Then this phrase should be interpreted as follows: "In the hill fort, it is allowed to upgrade those creatures whose dwelling upgrades are built in the controlled castles at the time of upgrading in it"

Why the complication? It's clear that it's at the time of upgrading. They can't be called controlled if they don't belong to you :)

I propose to ban the use of Fly, Angel Wings, and Dimension Door on the Panic and Balance templates and include this in the rule amendments for these templates.

I agree with this 100%