Heroes 5.5 WarGame Edition - Tactical Edition.

Initially, it might not be advantageous, but gathering troops becomes more powerful over time. Discarding it in the first couple of weeks won't drastically reduce its effectiveness.

What's the point of a troop gathering perk for a hero who travels with almost no troops?

- To the nearest one at the time the ability is acquired
- To the most developed one in order
- To the one that came under the player's control earlier
- Provide a selection menu via script

That's possible. But how do you show it in the game so the player doesn't forget?

Everyone uses chains; troops are transferred within a day.

The chain mechanic won't be supported (as in Heroes 4). Due to the high movement range, troops will be transferred quickly, but not instantly. Spending time on troop reinforcement is a fundamental strategic element.

Subjectively. But objectively, it's less versatile. I won't argue about its simplicity, though.

From the perspective of a map with neutral creatures reduced to "impossible" levels, it's certainly true that you don't need to carry a full army with you, and it's even detrimental (due to losses), which means the Troop Gathering perk won't be worthwhile.

On the other hand, if you take a normal map (of any size), with adequate neutral creatures, where you can effectively break through with a large army, the picture is the opposite: city-based troop gathering is useless (you have to wait for the beginning of the week, hire a creature, wait for it to deliver reinforcements), while equipping new soldiers directly at the army's location is in demand.

It's worse when a creature (a hero without an army) takes the city-based troop gathering perk. With my implementation, it wouldn't be able to provide bonuses out of thin air, but with a link to the city, it could. So, you either need to make it an overpowered perk because of creatures, or a perk whose power should increase with level. In that case, it's a useless perk for the main hero at the beginning of the game.

And finally, the most important thing is that it's a level 1 perk, i.e., something that can be offered almost always when leadership is available, regardless of the player's desire. On Monday, do you want to be annoyed seeing a perk in the distribution that only increases the number of troops in the city after a week (and in the army after a few more days)? There might be a solution: give creatures to the city immediately upon taking the perk, plus weekly. But such a perk already exists for the Barbarian in The Shadow of Death: summoning a manticore, with the difference that the manticores will arrive once and weekly directly in the hero's army, which is much more practical and convenient.

Also, I want to remind you that there are also role-playing maps without cities at all (hire creatures from external dwellings or via scripts). What should the perk be tied to in that case? And yet, it's a basic perk, i.e., it will be annoying to see often, especially without it, access to a tasty guild leader is blocked (or should we support the perk as a purely passable one? That's not our choice).