Posts from Why did I switch to TE?

Of course, it would be right to immediately write about what the title indicates. But first, I will write a little about the topic raised by one of the users of this forum.

Town portal on fire, Dimension Door in water - who needs this?

To understand this issue, I suggest taking a closer look at the state of affairs with the magic schools in SoD. Let's divide all spells into three types: transport, direct damage, and combat support. Also, let's call spells that do not require wisdom "low-level," and spells that require wisdom to learn "high-level." School of Air. Transport spells are excellent. Dimension Door, flight, air vision. Direct damage spells. Excellent low-level lightning and good high-level chain lightning. Combat support. Mass haste - as they say, in the world of kung fu, speed determines the winner. Dispel - not bad. Everything else (hypnosis, air shield, destructive ray) is used in games on random maps quite rarely. School of Earth. Transport spells. Town portal and earth vision. The situation is slightly worse than in air, but still very good. Direct damage spells. High-level meteor shower and implosion rule here. Low-level mines are practically not used. Combat support. Mass slow - a legend. The most desired spell in the early stages of the game, and it doesn't get any worse over time. Shield, stone skin - spell number one in utopias. Also quite often used in other battles. Among the high-level spells are antimagic and restoration, which are widely used. School of Fire. Transport spells. None. Direct damage spells. Mostly area-of-effect spells. There are many high-level ones, but due to the large area and not the highest damage, their effectiveness is not very high. Low-level wall of fire is good against neutral melee units, but practically useless against flying units, archers, and enemy troops. Combat support. Here, everything is great. At a low level, mass curse and blindness. At a high level, berserk and rage. All are used frequently and are very effective. School of Water. Transport spells. None. Direct damage spells. Decent low-level water bolt and dubious high-level ring of cold. Bad. Combat support. Not bad blessing, healing, weakness. High-level spells are also good - clone, prayer, forgetfulness, teleport. As you can see, the schools are quite diverse in terms of combat spells. Some are better with point damage, some with area damage, and some with support spells. Variety and the choice that comes from it are very good. But in terms of transport spells, two schools are simply deprived. If you want to move quickly around the map and not wander aimlessly, take air and earth. Otherwise, it won't work. And transport spells are not called by one capacious word for nothing: "Control." The one who controls the map better has more chances to win. Statistics of games on random maps confirm that earth and air are much more popular among players than fire and water. That is why the developers decided to make it so that transport spells are represented in all schools.

Air School.
Transport spells are excellently represented. Dimension Door, Fly, Air View.
Direct damage spells. Excellent low-level Lightning and good high-level Chain Lightning.
Combat support. Mass Haste - as they say in the world of kung fu, speed determines the winner. Dispel - not bad. Everything else (Hypnosis, Air Shield, Disrupting Ray) is used quite rarely in games on random maps

Uhh, but isn't Dispel related to Water in SoD?

Uhh, isn't dispel related to Water in SoD?

That is correct, dispel is 1st level Water Magic.
Perhaps the esteemed Balamut just made a slight mistake... ;)

In principle, that's true, but I don't like moving the dimension door to the water magic school; it's already strong enough.

In my opinion, Water Magic in SoD is super magic! I strongly disagree that it's useless!!! Clone, Blessing, Dispel, Healing! and even teleportation is helpful!

And in TE, they even moved DD there, making it a must-have!!!

Regarding moving Teleportation to Fire, the ideas about antimagic, moving Slow to level 2, and Armageddon to level 5 - it's a great idea! Bravo!

The specializations have been improved nicely :)

However, in TE, I don't like the idea with hero classes; IMHO, it just adds unnecessary complexity!

P.S.: Heroes III is a game that needs to be balanced and rebalanced!!

Classes can be disabled in a special file.

Why was Slow made a second-tier spell?

Let's take a marathon race as an example. I wouldn't stand a chance in such a competition. Now, let's modify the competition – give each participant a car. Suddenly, I'm on equal footing with the other runners. The point of the competition is lost because the cars negate the difference between us. Similarly, mass Slow negates the difference between players.
Just as a car doesn't require physical strength to operate, mass Slow doesn't require the player to have technical skill in conducting battles. It is battles with mass Slow against powerful units that can be described as dull or mindless. All other magic requires you to use your brain, making battles more interesting. And only mass Slow turns a battle into a boring, tedious shootout with no losses.

The advantage that mass Slow provides in battles with neutral creatures is enormous. However, there is one caveat – this advantage decreases as the game progresses. By the fourth week, it usually doesn't matter whether you have Slow or not; there are enough troops anyway to defeat neutral creatures with minimal losses.
As for the resources spent on obtaining mass Slow, luck plays a bigger role than resources. After all, building the first level of a Tower doesn't require many resources.

In <might and magic>, the problems with mass Slow (I'll remind you – there are two: boring, tedious battles and a large advantage with low cost) were solved by moving Slow to the second tier. Thus, obtaining Slow in the early stages became more difficult. This requires more resources and time. On the other hand, the influence of luck on obtaining the spell in <might and magic> has been reduced, because any floor of the Guild of Mages can be rebuilt until the desired spell appears.
Nevertheless, I believe that the ideal solution would be to make mass Slow a separate spell on the fourth tier, as it was in Heroes of Might and Magic II. That's where it belongs in terms of the ratio of effectiveness to the difficulty of obtaining it.

2 Balamut
I still don't understand why everyone needs to switch to TE. Is it because of the improved balance and interface? As a long-time fan of Heroes, what matters most to me is that the game is more interesting, but TE makes it more predictable. Of course, it's better and fairer for tournaments. In terms of developing Heroes, WOG is much more interesting than TE.

2 Balamut, please gather your thoughts and put them in the first post; it will be easier to read that way.

Here's a question:
Comrade Horn – and everyone who helped make the decision – are you sure that you chose the best option for reassigning the magic schools?
Let me explain. The thing is that Air and Earth magic are more versatile (according to the developers' intention) than Fire and Water. This is because there are 18 hero classes, and Earth and Air can be learned by all of them, albeit with varying probabilities. However, some hero classes have a zero percent chance of learning Fire and Water... if I remember correctly, the "Ranger" and "Beast Master" classes will never learn the Fire school naturally, and the "Barbarian" and "Lord" classes will never learn the Water school... This means that 25% of the heroes are simply deprived of key spells as a result of the changes. What's even more unfortunate is that in the Elven castle, "Town Portal" was often given, but now, even if it does appear, all the Elven monsters (Kir, Mephala, Thorgrim, etc.) will simply be rendered useless.
The same applies to other monsters: Tazar, Korvak, Bron, Gervulf, Gunnar, Shakti, Damacon, Arlargh, Kraghak, Gurnisson. :(

To be precise, in the "Ranger" and "Beast Master" troop types, the chance of getting Fire is 1, and for "Barbarian" and "Lord," the chance of getting Water is 2, although, in my opinion, this is still too low. 3-4 would be just right. P.S. Perhaps you, as a potential participant in the tournament, should read the manual.

To be precise, in TE "Ranger" and "Beastmaster" have a chance of 1 to get Fire, while "Barbarian" and "Lord" have a chance of 2 to get Water, although this is, IMHO, still too low. 3-4 would be just right.
P.S. Maybe you, as a potential tournament participant, should read the manual.

I was talking about probabilities in SoD...
Does that mean this has changed too?:smile07:
The manual is worth reading - if I participate - but most likely I'll limit myself to only what the rules touch upon - otherwise I simply won't have time :(

On the other hand, the influence of luck on obtaining a spell in the Tower of Destiny has been reduced, as any floor of the Guild of Mages can be rebuilt until the desired spell appears.

But if they also implemented the idea of hiring the desired available hero without tedious searching, that creation would be priceless! :)

Nevertheless, I believe that it would be ideal to make mass slow a separate spell on the fourth level, as it was done in the second Heroes game. That's where it belongs in terms of the ratio of effectiveness to difficulty of obtaining.

I absolutely agree! The more secondary goals there are in the gameplay, the more interesting it becomes – in the variety of ways to achieve them... And, accordingly, the more important the player's skill becomes, there is something to strive for... And first-level "breakers" often negate the legitimate advantage of an experienced player over a novice, which is not entirely correct... Although not everyone will agree with my position... :)

2 AmberSoler: It's strange that no one mentioned this. In The Eastern Expedition, you can recruit the hero you need (from those available) in the tavern. Of course, this only works in offline mode.

Added 2 minutes ago

Faster than lightning. Part one.

The most important resource in Heroes for me is undoubtedly... time.
Time in the game is spent on three things: technical actions (a classic example is transferring troops between heroes), tactical calculations (thinking through a turn in battle), and strategic planning (building chains, for example).
Technical actions are usually streamlined for players with many games under their belt, and different players spend roughly the same amount of time on them.

The duration of tactical calculations depends on two things: the complexity of the battle and how many moves ahead the player can calculate the situation on the battlefield. Here, the time spent on the same battle can vary significantly between different players. But again, if the players are not new to Heroes, they are experienced in battles with neutrals and think through the moves in such battles for the same amount of time. As for battles between players, such battles are usually the culmination of the game, one of its most important aspects. I like to think carefully and expect the same from others. Accordingly, there are no problems with the opponent taking a long time to think through their move in such a battle.
This leaves strategic planning. This is where players clash, figuring out "why is this slowpoke taking so long, is he asleep?".

I've heard opinions that when playing online, you can plan your turn during the opponent's turn, and then all that's left is to make your moves. This is complete nonsense. During the opponent's turn, you can only plan your turn based on what is visible on the map. If a new territory opens up during your turn, then you need to plan further development without leaving the "cash register." Good players attach great importance to reconnaissance, that is, they explore new territories almost every turn.
Another important factor in accusations of being slow is the apparent low efficiency of such time expenditures. That is, often, if the opponent spends an extra 5 minutes to ensure that five more centaurs survive out of 50 in three battles, this is met with hostility. This is a sign, if not of skill, then of a serious approach to the game. After all, you don't know in advance whether these centaurs will play a decisive role in one of the subsequent battles, or simply turn out to be wasted time. But if you are playing to win, and not just moving pieces around, then you will do the right thing by using all the chances, including those poor five centaurs.

As a result, I have developed the following position. I divide all players into three types: amateurs, athletes, and military personnel. Amateurs are those for whom the process of the game is more important than its outcome. That is, they are not ready to sacrifice their time for a possible improvement in their result. Athletes are players for whom it is important to show the optimal result. They need comfortable conditions to show this result. Military personnel are those for whom efficiency is important, that is, the result in less time (or with other restrictions). They often show worse results than athletes in ideal conditions. But they do not lose psychologically in more rigid frameworks.

In Competitive events, I think there are two ways to proceed. Either prioritize the interests of athletes or military personnel. But keep in mind that various player metrics will be measured, in one case, skill, and in the other, efficiency.

For those who enjoy the game, a beautiful game and a beautiful victory are more important than simply achieving the optimal result (which is usually achieved in a predictable manner). This is even more important in tournaments. But often, this approach is rather simplistic in terms of strategy.