Posts from Open alpha testing of the 5.0 HD mod (online lobby). Auto-translated

Predicting outcomes depends on too many factors.

When can we expect the button to "disable those pesky pirates from the game"?

The creators of VT had a relatively good handle on the mathematics.

Who told you that? :rolleyes:

As a direct participant in many discussions regarding TE and VT balance, I can tell you how they went:
- Something is a bit weak with N, let's buff it by 20%.
- Won't it become OP?
- It might, then we'll cut it down to 10%.

There is no fundamentally different way in Heroes and there cannot be; experimentation is the basis of everything, only rough estimates are possible in one's head.

To understand the complexity of the task, try answering this question, for example: how many elves should Ivor be given at the start so that he has a 50-50 chance against Kirill on 6lm10a? Or at least describe the methodology for mathematical assessment.

Or an example from TE-VT — Brogh's OP status is well known; people would switch to him regardless of their Castle, sometimes even in the late stages of the game, but for the first 2 years of online TE (2006-2007), no one suspected this, starting with Vistan or Tazik. Experiments with Brogh began in 2008, a full transition to him happened in 2009, and he gained the status of an universally recognized OP in all of VT in 2010. Back then, admittedly, fewer games were played and there were no streams, so the evolution of strategies moved slower, but still.

Regarding "obvious Jeremy" — if you remember, when Cassie had 20-30 nymphs, she was considered the primary starter, although from the height of modern experience it's clear that Jeremy was already better back then. But the general prejudice against artillerymen was too strong: "well, and how are you supposed to take cons-hives-Dragon Utopia with them without a strike stack and off-def?" The fact that the cannon and log compensate for this only became clear after extensive testing.

Before HotA came to light, I said exactly this: "there will be no balance on the first attempt, so we'll do it by eye, and then fix it based on the results of tournament playtesting." And, by the way, note that for such a volume of innovations, the castle balance turned out very good, much better than in both SoD and VT.

Overall, you've written everything correctly. And by the way, this implies that the number of Elves can be chosen without using a mathematical evaluation method, but rather based on intuition. By asking (and carefully listening to!) the opinions of top players. Even at the level of feeling – this is currently too powerful in the game (it strongly affects the final result), and this is useless. These will be guidelines for which direction the numbers should change from what they are now. Regarding Warlords – I see the problem there as the project's overall development having stalled. They would have continued experimenting, even with Brogh, but it became clear that the project's engine had shut down, and the community's morale was steadily declining. However, it's a huge step forward compared to SoD, which is obvious to me. And the changes that have already been made, including minor balance adjustments and starting armies, are simply excellent. When I compare Warlords and HotA, I mean some kind of overall cumulative desire to do everything in terms of balance in a smart way. In Warlords, they were ready to reconsider anything. Any immutable foundations for the sake of balance and overcoming excessive randomness in the game (so that skill, in its original meaning, would decide the outcome, and not the skill that Reddit has). For example, I recall that they were considering shuffling spells from one school of magic to another, and from one level to another. A bank, credits (insurance against the generator simply not placing certain units), monster experience (increasing the importance of micro, the ability to fight with minimal losses), and by the way, you can play with these features or without them, there are checkboxes. The project fizzled out, but the initial desire to balance the game and increase the weight of skill over randomness (which I call "mathematics") was higher. I'm not criticizing now. The main idea of making HotA more popular, more mainstream, is clear. But the consequences of this are exactly what I'm writing about. When the question arises – to make the balance less precise but simpler, more understandable, prettier, without unnecessary checkboxes. Or to make it more complex, but more hardcore, more accurate, "more correct" – HotA will choose the simpler and prettier option, while Warlords chose the more hardcore option. And this approach permeates specific decisions. If it's not possible to balance the game in a smart way, then here, have a Diamond – we'll add so much randomness that its quantity will hopefully reduce the randomness. And why, interestingly, do almost all (except maybe Lizardmen) top players, especially those who still remember Warlords, laugh at the Diamond (at best)? "Coincidence? I don't think so." The main direction influences all the specifics. And I think that the main direction in both cases was chosen precisely because the founding fathers were more inclined towards that direction. That's why the formulation above about mathematics and taste turned out the way it did. (This is also an answer to Pikolan).

Why couldn't the fix for the overpowered Jeremy be released in some kind of micro-patch?

//whispering//
... remember how the GM restructuring appeared in HotA...

We need to add a link to the tutorial.

1. What's so heretical about the new castle?
2. Wouldn't you like a "Eraфия style" option in SoD (minus the Conflux and other things)?
Why not? Hota is a complete and balanced game (not perfect, of course), and it doesn't need to pretend to be part of it or another game.

1. Style. Setting. After all, there is a classic Might & Magic universe with its worlds - from Enroth to Jadame, refined and, in a good way, conservative, and is there enough reason to deviate from traditions? To defile the magical world with firearms, to cram historical figures from the 18th century (pirates) into it?
1, 2. After all, the community formed during the heyday of SoD. The set of castles, monsters, magic, artifacts, and objects on the map - all of this has become an analogue of a set of figures and rules in chess, which can no longer be uprooted from individual experience. It's like a programmer being uncomfortable with another programming language because his fingers are used to the old combinations.
Let Hota be complete and self-sufficient, but... I would like the same advantages for SoD as well.

1. Style. Setting. After all, there is the classic Might & Magic universe, with its worlds – from Enroth to Jadame, refined and, in a good way, conservative, and is there enough reason to deviate from traditions? To defile the magical world with firearms, to cram historical figures from the 18th century (pirates) into it –?

http://skygams.com/showskyquest.aspx?ID=314

http://skygams.com/showskyquest.aspx?ID=314

Yeah. Disappointed.

it would be great to have a separate chat in the online lobby, where you could enter using a password from this thread; there wasn't such chaos even in Hamachi networks, there needs to be a way to ban spammers in the chat.

Oh my god. Now, to play Heroes, can we do without all that crappy Hamachi, GameRanger, and other garbage? Just log into the game, create (or join an existing) lobby, and play? My dream has come true, too bad it's in a parallel reality.

A short review of the latest update. Currently, I only have access to satellite internet, which means a high ping of 600-900ms, which sometimes drops for 5-6 seconds. Before the latest update, it was possible to play in the lobby with almost no problems (occasional disconnections during turn transfer in Online Battles don't count). Now, even connecting to the server is problematic. The connection time used to be 2 seconds, but now it takes about 20 seconds after clicking the "Login" button. Consequently, there is almost always a problem with receiving and sending turns. In general, it has become impossible to play at all, and I really want to find something to do during my work shift while on standby.

http://skygams.com/showskyquest.aspx?ID=314

After the brilliant Heroes of Might and Magic III and the masterpiece Might and Magic VII, it was Might and Magic VIII (along with Heroes of Might and Magic IV) that ruined 3DO. ))))

I won't claim that it was because of pirates with firearms, but it certainly played a role. ))))

I wonder, if Hota-Kru didn't call herself that, and the game had a new title, like "Hota," or perhaps "SoD 5.0," would there have been any disputes or problems... Hmm... It's all about words and conventions!

After the brilliant Heroes of Might and Magic I, II, and III, and the masterpiece Might & Magic VII, the company 3DO was ruined by Might & Magic VIII (along with Heroes of Might and Magic IV)).

I won't claim it was because of pirates with firearms, but it certainly played a role.

I started my acquaintance with Might & Magic with the eighth installment.
And it became one of the best and most beloved RPGs for me. I played it many times in different ways. After a significant time, having read about how great Might & Magic VI and VII were,
I tried playing them, but after Might & Magic VIII, I didn't find anything particularly interesting or engaging in them, and I couldn't finish either of them.
Although, it's possible that this is because I simply lost interest in RPGs in general.
Comparing Might & Magic VIII with Heroes of Might and Magic IV is completely wrong. Might & Magic VIII is closer to Might & Magic VII than any other Might & Magic game. The ninth installment was the failure.