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In any case, there are too many critical changes to immediately make the new version the main one for tournaments, as Vic is already trying to do.

I won't object if someone decides to play matches on version 1.4.2.

Or, if someone needs extra time to learn the new version, I'm willing to extend the deadlines for the rounds.

Experience shows that software isn't really tested until it appears in tournaments. And a trial run immediately provides the necessary feedback.

It would be more logical to create a new tournament for the new version, which would also serve as a testing ground.

Regarding the Silence cloak. I suggested banning it as well, and I provided two arguments: 1) Playing with a Silence cloak can lead to a significant imbalance in magic in the late game. For example, there will be nothing to counter Prayer with. With a full set of spells, it can be compensated for with haste, or by simply dispelling it. But with the cloak, you cast it once, and it lasts for the entire battle. The same applies to Berserk – with Silence, it can only be countered with Antimagic, but this is a targeted spell, while Berserk can affect several attack stacks at once (and there are many of them in HotA). And even advanced Antimagic (basic Antimagic is not enough) is not always available, unlike the basic dispel. Yes, there is a certain advantage in that it increases the value of Water and Fire spells, but in my opinion, this is not a healthy way to balance the schools of magic. 2) Players acquire spells unevenly; usually, players play with 1-2 level spells for about 2 weeks, and then immediately switch to 4-5 level spells. And if someone gets higher-level spells a little earlier, they can catch their opponent off guard with a Silence rush. And then an unhealthy situation arises, in which even a weak spell like Force Field can give an unbeatable advantage in the late game – the opponent simply cannot cast anything at all. I don't think that such episodes will improve the gameplay of HotA. The combination of these two reasons led me to the conclusion that if something is to be banned, then the whole group should be banned at once. I have already presented these arguments, but they had no effect. However, I will not insist or demand anything about this. If people want to experiment, let them experiment; it's never too late to revert. Maybe I'm wrong, and the gameplay with Silence and without the Orb/Cloak will turn out to be adequate. Although, most likely not.

It would be more logical to create a new tournament for the new version, where testing could take place.

You understand that the same people who participated in the old tournament on the old version will also participate in the new tournament on the new version, and perhaps even a few more.

There may be certain criticisms of version 1.5 (this is inevitable), but overall, it is significantly better than version 1.4.2. The new interface features, for example – how did we even live without them before...? Or Jeb the mirror.

Therefore, a mass transition of all tournaments to version 1.5 is a historical inevitability, and if that's the case, why delay it?

No more than 30% of players have played BT and, in principle, know how to play :rolleyes:.

p.s. The idea of banning KS and Recant, but keeping the Cloak of Silence, belongs to me. Apparently, I am an idiot and understand nothing about this game. Happy Holidays to everyone once again! )))

I support Lizard! I think the game will only benefit from this! It will become more diverse! And the balance will surely improve: when one player gets 3 external dwellings of bears, and another gets nothing for melee except leveling a mage! Well, as for every game turning into a wild late game, that's what bracers and full control are for!
P.S. I am in favor of banning KS and the Cloak, in any case I am not opposed to this.
P.P.S. And of course, this all still needs testing!
P.P.P.S. And I would also like to see and participate in a tournament on a mirrored Jebus Cross. Thank you.

I tried playing version 1.5 twice today. Both times, when I joined a game on my side, a bug occurred – it wouldn't let me replay a quick game. The first time, I attributed it to some incompatibility with the HD mod, thinking I might have installed something incorrectly. The second time, I installed the game with a full setup from Yandex Disk in a separate folder. The same bug still occurred. I'll play version 1.4.2 for now.

We just finished playing a full match with Bishop on a mirrored Jebus map. No bugs or glitches were noticed. In my opinion, the HotA team has done a tremendous and brilliant job. For me, this template is immediately and irrevocably the best.

I will review the changes in version 1.5 that affect online play. Because the size and dryness of the changelog may cause some changes to go unnoticed or be misunderstood.

So:

1) Flux. Moved to a new terrain - Highland, with all the consequences. For example, it has become easier to break Griffin Conservatories, gnome huts, and other castle-ramp guards.

A number of new objects have been added that only generate on Highland. Imho quite decent ones, the full list can be found in the changelog.

However, some grassy objects do not generate on Highland - stables, crypts, experience trees, etc. (better to check the exact list with Sav)

2) Cove:
- decreased speed of priestesses/enchantresses by 1 (they were very mean)
- decreased attack/defense of greater nixes (for the same reason)
- for pirates, speed changes depending on the upgrade - 6/7/8 (for aesthetics)

- Jeremy has offense instead of logistics
- Miriam has logistics instead of offense
So instead of one OP hero, now there are two, but weaker :rolleyes:

- the cannon's damage reduced 5-8 => 4-7 and the price proportionally reduced 5000 => 4000.

3) Dungeon:
- harpies have been given a "hit and stay" mode
- the number of harpies in starting stacks increased from 4-6 to 6-8
Lora, welcome back :smile02:

4) Following the same scheme, the ability for unlocked shooters to perform a melee attack, for two-hex units to step back, and for archangels and pit fiends to move onto a corpse instead of resurrect/summon demons has been added.

5) A custom guild restructuring has been made; it works slightly differently than the XWrulz one, waiting for a video manual from Nick.

6) The ability to automatically count movement points in a plotted route has been added, including the ability to do this during the opponent's turn. This will noticeably speed up building chains and make them more accurate. Also waiting for a video manual from Nick.

7) Red Sphere and Mantle of Abnegation have been banned - the most controversial point. We've been wanting to do this for a long time, and finally got around to it.

8) Map generator improvements:
- roads have become straighter and shorter, serpentines now generate much less often
- various shrines, quests, and other crap on which you can carelessly lose movement points can no longer be placed on the road
- guards on the road cannot be stronger than 1/3 of the zone maximum (for standard respawns this is 5K value), this will allow us to eventually abandon the block restart rule. For now, I'm not canceling this rule, so if you happen to get a generation suitable for a block restart - report it to the developers
- the shifted guard bug has been fixed, this will allow us to eventually abandon this rule. Again, for now, I'm not canceling this rule, so keep an eye out - just in case a shifted guard generates somewhere.
- the drowned zone bug, the buried zone bug, and many other generator bugs have been fixed

Many sincere human thanks for all this :smile41:

9) Creature banks:
- the frequency of zephyrs decreased from 80 to 70, because stacks of cyclops, as practice has shown, have turned out to be somewhat more impactful than stacks of wyverns
- the internal guard of the factories decreased by 20%, because often the max factory was harder to break than the max Griffin Conservatory, yet less rewarding.

10) You can refuse the skill given by a hut or a monk.

11) Lamp of the Genies does not generate on random maps

12) Control scrolls now have 20K value, similar to relics, meaning they do not generate on standard templates (including h3dm1).

13) Minor interface improvements:
- you can dismiss a hero from the castle (without tricky manipulations with kingdom overview)
- you can view the guild contents without buying a spellbook
- you can view artifacts in a previously visited black market and monsters in a previously visited refugee camp.

14) Galthran is unbanned on Jebus Cross :smile24: , this is not mentioned in the changelog, be careful.

15) Things that were supposedly planned, but I didn't find a mention of them in the changelog:

- the ability to view the artifact vault without a hero in the town

- fixing the scouting specialty - so it rounds to the nearest integer (as all similar specialties do) instead of rounding up (as in 1.4.2)

There's a lot of other minor stuff, but I think that covers everything critical for online...

Did they remove Luna on mirror Jebus as a starter? Or did they remove her entirely?
Are there any other features of mirror Jebus?

On mirrored Jebus Cross, the following are banned:
Luna, Jebus Cross, and Loga specialists.

There is no such function as banning only as a starter.

Goshan is available on a regular Jebus Cross, but not available on a mirrored one. Is this intended or an oversight?

Why ban Jeremy now?

Goshan is available on a regular Jebus Cross, but not available on the mirrored one. Is this intended or an oversight?

Yes, it is intended. Everyone would ban him anyway.

Why ban Jeremy now?

Because even in this form, he is imbalanced when appearing in the tavern, a free artifact is so free...

There was a suggestion to allow him as a starter, but forbid him from appearing in the tavern; however, they didn't add such an option to the template structure, so that's why.

When symmetric tavern technology becomes available, all these heroes will return.

Hooray! A new version of HotA! For me, this is a reason to continue the celebration!

Added 18 minutes later
By the way, why does the map editor never generate a hidden spot with basilisks on the map?

On a mirrored Jebus Cross, the following are banned:
Luna, Jeremy, and Logic specialists.

There is no function to ban only as a starter.

A huge thank you to the entire HotA development team, guys you are truly doing a necessary, good, and timely thing, I will try to help in the foreseeable future, thank you again for your work, I sincerely bow before you!!!!
And yes, Happy New Year!