Moreover, there are some minor differences from the VT version of h3dm1, seemingly trivial at first glance, but you never know...
For example, the "Mini-Nosta Syndrome" is clearly evident — many quests at the starting respawn. The reason is likely the same — mass treasure zones within 2 turns' travel.
Also, in the treasure zones, the end-point objects are a village + a teleport, rather than 2 teleports (as in VT). The reason is that in VT there was no technical capability to place a village + a teleport (since villages were replaced with teleports), and in SoD I didn't know that you could place 2 teleports (I've since learned). The second reason is to expand the number of towns for magic building; in VT this is not critical due to the guild rebuilding, but in SoD there is a risk of losing control and ending up in a stalemate with running around in circles.
A possible side effect is a chain takeover of towns (capture a town, buy a hero, transfer the army, capture the next town with him, and so on). This results in more aggressive gameplay. Whereas in VT, it usually takes 3-4 days on the road to walk to the opponent. Who knows which is better.
Also, the zone sizes have been slightly adjusted — the starting respawn and secondary zones have been slightly reduced, while the treasure zones have been slightly increased on the contrary. During testing, the treasure zones seemed somewhat too sparse, so I increased them. In VT, the treasure zones seemed richer, although maybe my memory is failing me.
A possible side effect — a shortage of gold for the initial expansion. Needs testing. Although in VT there was an excess of gold, necessary for ordering rewards at the Griffin Conservatory / Dragon Fly Hive, so maybe the gold amount is fine.
Another observed thing — in VT, the starting respawn is almost always strictly in the center of the map, while in SoD it is sometimes shifted towards the edge. I don't know why, the zone generator hasn't changed. In particular, because of this, treasure zones sometimes appear in the center of the map, which looks funny; as for the impact on gameplay — I don't know.
In summary — it is possible and necessary to play, complaints are accepted, both on the listed points and on anything else you find. I am especially interested in the opinion of those who played the VT version of h3dm1 and can provide a reasoned comparison.
Added after 7 minutes
The only thing is that it seems you can't play with identical heroes.
When playing as Dungeon or Necropolis, it is recommended to ban starting with Warlock/Galtran, as the bids for the blue color will be indecent; it's better to choose from the remaining heroes.
In the future, Wizard threatens to make an identical hero pool, meaning not only the starting heroes but the entire chain of heroes purchased from the tavern will be identical. But it's unclear when that will happen.
