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

But why does he necessarily have to lose? For example, if it's a Necromancer who has turned his opponent into mincemeat and is left in the final with 1000 skeletons against 1 angel, and he can't win.

Because he ATTACKED! The question is: why? What was he thinking? What result did he expect?

In general, the comparisons of legions of skeletons with an angel or a fly are amusing. Do you think that a pile of meat is a strategic advantage, but greater speed is not?! I believe these advantages are in the same weight category! Even if you have a billion skeletons, if you can't catch up to the enemy, what's the point of your advantage?!

From what does it follow that he must lose such a game instead of winning?

At least from the fact that he deserves to lose, since he makes such mistakes: if he's not sure of his victory, he shouldn't attack; if he didn't take some nuance into account, it's his own fault. Let's step away for a moment from virtual reality and look at the real world, in this case, the animal world: a wolf decided he wanted to have a snack on an eagle. Wolves are quite intelligent creatures, and if a wolf can't do something alone, they organize into packs. But even a pack won't catch an eagle; it will simply fly up and sit on a branch, watching the wolves' clumsy attempts. The wolf can even climb a tree, but by the time he climbs up, the eagle will quickly fly to another tree. What do you think will happen in this encounter? That's right: the attackers will retreat, tails between their legs...

There can't be a draw here simply because this isn't chess. If in chess the only condition for victory is capturing the king, and the whole game is one big battle, then in Heroes, victory can be achieved in different ways, and one specific battle doesn't always decide the outcome, even if it's the final. There are many examples of players losing their entire army in the final, but still winning. But in this particular battle, you ended up in a stalemate; no one wants to retreat, so what should you do? Wait until the electricity is turned off for non-payment? Someone has to lose, so they decided that the attacker is "guilty" for taking the initiative (maybe you've heard that initiative is punishable?). It wouldn't make sense to declare the defender the loser, who was just living his life, not bothering anyone, quietly collecting resources, and then suddenly got attacked! And he's actually a pacifist...

Added after 18 minutes

In our case, a draw in battle = victory for the defender in the game.

Why is it =? Because after the battle, the attacker refused to continue the game, surrendering? Didn't see any prospects? But another player might see them, raise a new army, or get more magic and win... but he made that decision himself. Or maybe there really were no prospects... Well, he should have thought about it before attacking. Who could have predicted that? Maybe no one - that's the hero's fate. Bad luck, it happens...