Discussion about Heroes 4.

I actually liked that in the fourth installment, unlike the previous parts, you can move more freely around the battlefield, the units have drastically different sizes, and the terrain is uneven and hilly. Regarding calculations: firstly, when hovering over any part of the field, the number of turns required to reach that point is displayed. Secondly, you can also see the turns of the enemy unit by right-clicking on it. Thirdly, you can enable the combat grid, which clearly shows where a unit can fit and where it cannot. Furthermore, the retaliatory strike is restored after a full turn, i.e., if there are 14 units on the field, and your unit has used its retaliatory strike, it will reappear after all 14 units have taken their turns. A log is certainly lacking, but you can still manage without it, knowing that units with higher initiative go first, and it's not difficult to remember who has gone and who hasn't.

Unit sizes are even more pronounced in Heroes 5. As for the calculations, it's all known, but it's still inconvenient and doesn't help. Perhaps such technical requirements would be justified if the game consisted of 1 battle against an opponent, rather than a series of numerous battles with neutrals.

Practical example: you need to calculate what area a unit will control if it moves to a specific point. In Heroes 4, this simple action is very time-consuming, so you have to rely on guesswork, and every mistake can lead to a major failure (loss of a turn).

Many units have significantly different damage values, to the point where the minimum is three times less than the maximum, so it's not even close to 1:5. Moreover, attack, defense, and speed also play a big role; for example, 60 rogues, with a total health of 600 and damage of 60-180, cannot cope with a single black dragon, which has 400 health and 55-110 damage.

I assessed it, of course, taking into account the parameters. The stats in this part are worse than in all the others (except for the Sixth). Mainly, it's 1:5 (damage:health), and approximately the same damage ranges, with the biggest differences only in level 1 units. Starting with this installment of Heroes, there have been equalizations in the balance, but it's most noticeable here in terms of stats.

It's precisely with those random units that you mentioned that you can see: the black dragon has stats of 40/40, damage to hit points = 82.5/400 = 20% (approximately). Rogues: stats 9/9, damage to hit points 2/10 = 20%. Why, for example, couldn't they have made the rogues more interesting, for example, with damage of 3-5 or 2-6 per 10 hit points? Especially since this is a unit without combat abilities, and its physical stats are standard.

And the so-called assessment of the battle "by eye" exists in almost any tactical game, even in chess; it's just that in the fourth installment, it's more difficult to think everything through perfectly.

In chess, there is no assessment of the battle "by eye" if we mean calculating distances. Everything is clear and specific there.

As in any game, a novice cannot simply take and play without problems on the highest difficulty. You need to learn how to break through large armies of neutrals with minimal losses, and this takes time.

However, I am not a novice, and I can give tactical advice to many. This is not about the highest difficulty; it was unplayable in the previous Heroes games (i.e., you can play, but with meaningless time wasting). But about difficulties 3-4, when the minimum number of neutrals is higher than the starting army (with purchases from the city).

Chests and various buildings that give experience for free help with this. And if there are none on the map, it's not the game's fault, but the map creator's.

Chests are usually taken for gold, which is always in short supply. And the game should provide that the main source of experience is battles. Apparently, the rate of experience gain was tailored for various single-player games and campaigns, where the player can afford to play for a long time.

But everything else can be built quickly and without particular problems on the highest difficulty if you learn to do everything correctly.

According to the standards of the Third installment, quickly means top-tier on week 1. Even with a 5-turn payback, the economy is often not built.