A more interesting topic is supporting rushes. We'll define a rush as a powerful attack on the main base (town) in the first week.
If you remember Starcraft, there are many diverse cheeses (rush openings) for each race. For example, for the Protoss: Photon Rush, Pylon Rush, Proxy 3 Gates, Proxy Robo, Proxy Stargate, Dark Rush, Mothership Rush, Zealot Rush, Adept Rush. Rushes can be of 4 types: through the use of aggressive buildings, through placing production structures near the enemy, through early access to certain technologies, through a massive attack with early units.
It's interesting how diverse rushes can be in Heroes, and how to achieve this. To do this, you need to provide opportunities:
- to get "immortal" early-game units, for example, regenerating Wyverns for Shaka in the starting army
- to get early effective spells ("technologies") that provide a greater threat
- to receive instant reinforcements from the castle by spending mana and a turn (reach level X as quickly as possible, learn the reinforcement summoning in the guild, go rush along the path cleared by scouts, without spending turns on clearing it)
- to get an effective force for quickly capturing a high-level dwelling with minimal losses and hiring reinforcements on the way to the enemy
- simply gather a massive force from the starting troops and go to the enemy
What other rushes can be introduced? And, of course, there must be opportunities to defend against any rush, with the right strategy and scouting – this is already a matter of balance.
I believe that the diversity of rushes and ways to defend against them lays a good foundation for further gameplay, providing a large number of strategies in the future.
Possible defenses, for example, could be:
- defensive fortifications and upgrades (allowing you to quickly get a lot of troops)
- blocking passages with "roaches" (gaining time)
- clever tactics with magic or artillery
- gathering a stronger force to repel the attack (starting troops + from the castle)
- going for a trade (counterattack on the enemy's town)
- moving the main base to another location (actively building another town, having an economic advantage)
- specialized counter units, perks, or spells to repel the rush
- early capture of high-level dwellings so that the rusher doesn't get them
Another interesting option is the ability to delay a hero by introducing a 50% penalty to the NEXT turn if the hero was attacked. This would further enhance the defensive function of a clever tactic.