Posts from NTR – a multiplayer rebalance of mods for new towns. Auto-translated

NTR (new towns rebalancing mod) – A modification that balances gameplay mechanics and fixes bugs in various mods that add new factions to replace existing ones. First of all, I am NOT the author of the city replacement mods that will be discussed here. The original mods were created by other people, and I will try to provide links to their sources whenever possible. The NTR file is a modified version of the original mod's file, significantly changing the gameplay; therefore, installing NTR does not require installing the original version of the mod. List of rebalanced factions: 1. Sanctuarium - Truly a legendary mod with a long history. As far as I know, several people worked on it, but currently, development has ceased. I will mention a couple of sources I know about. https://www.moddb.com/mods/snctuary-mod - The mod page on ModDB. From the screenshots, you can see that the mod was still being developed further, but these changes are not present in the release version, and no development is currently underway. /topic/at/802503/ - A must-have addition to the mod, made by a legendary modder from this forum. His additions included adjustments to creature costs and other useful features. 2. Citadel, Conflux & Fortress – I don’t believe anyone is unaware, but just in case, these 3 factions are part of the large RTF project. Link: /topic/11443/. In the first post, the guys list the people who helped develop the mod, so I won't duplicate that information. This is a very large and ambitious project, and most importantly, it is high quality. At the moment, even the magic school system has been reworked, which I use even when playing with the original cities. Highly recommended for checking out. For now, Fortress is provided as a separate file, while Conflux and Stronghold are mainly referred to as RTF_"version". The file attached below uses version RTF 0.1.6. Answers to possible questions: 1) Why were именно these modifications chosen, given that there are many mods that replace cities, often with significant balance issues? -The selected mods have excellent execution; their faction models and city designs are of excellent quality and look great compared to the original factions. Using them in the game does not cause dissonance or the feeling that "something is wrong or unfinished." 2) Are the authors of the original mods against their use in NTR? Development of Sanctuarium ended quite some time ago, so it’s unlikely anyone would object =) I honestly asked the guys from RTF for permission to publish it. 3) Why was a rebalance performed, and what is it based on? The rebalance is designed for multiplayer games. It was not intended for campaigns at all. For the original game, I use the TE_6.7 modification; if you're interested, here's the link: http://forum.heroesleague.ru/viewtopic.php?t=7029 The balance of the new factions was adjusted to match the originals, accordingly, with this modification. The reason for undertaking the rebalancing was my personal feeling of "immaturity" in the balance presented in the mods (which is understandable, as developing other things included in their package takes tons of man-hours), as well as the presence of minor but sometimes very unpleasant bugs. Some of them cannot be fixed by someone who is not experienced in modding, but I still want to play =). However, waiting for a new version where the balance will truly be good, and all bugs will be caught, can take a long time, and in the case of Sanctuarium, there may be nothing to wait for. The desire to create and the abundance of my own ideas and vision of how certain creatures should play and what abilities they should have also played a role. 4) How long has NTR been developed, is its balance ideal, and are there any bugs? NTR has been developed over many years in small steps because I personally love trying new things in the old fifth Heroes game. It is gradually being modified and continues to be updated today. Balance, however, is subjective. Even Nival made the damage of devils 36-66 and health 166/199, clearly not during balancing, but these indicators were balanced by others). Perhaps some changes will not suit you personally, and that is perfectly normal; if you have a strong sense of balance and see problems, you can write your comments in this thread. Welcome =) Bugs have been identified as much as possible; if an activated ability was added to a creature, then an animation and icons (if there is more than one ability and a spellbook opens) were definitely added. However, it is still possible that I missed something, and if you notice a major bug, you can report it too. 5) What has been changed? Where can I find justification for specific changes and fixed bugs? Almost everything related to the factions' creatures =). Growth, cost, stats, abilities. Also, in the case of Stronghold, rare resources required for building buildings were rearranged. Later, I will create a small manual with explanations for each of the modified factions. I don’t know yet what format – a document or a post in the topic. I decided not to delay the release because of this. 6) Will further development of the mod continue? Yes, the balancing will continue in any case. If a new version is released for one of the rebalanced factions, it will be adapted accordingly. Here is a link to the folder with the mods; manuals will also be uploaded there as they become ready: https://yadi.sk/d/rrC8VQzoG0D-ug The files should be placed in the data directory in the game folder

I would like a list of changes and images. In general, it's a very good idea. Something similar also occurred to me, but I didn't have time to implement it.

I will present the list of changes in a narrative format, including screenshots of the new attributes in a text file, along with comments about them. I don't see the point in creating a table or list to compare the old and new attributes because: - There are many of them, and they are often much more extensive than something like "+2 attack, -1 to health"; - From the previous point, I would have to spend a lot of time creating a large amount of material, which... - Only the most persistent and knowledgeable will read. And most people will simply not be interested in a large amount of dry material. When it's ready, I will upload one file per Faction and let you know.

Added 2 hours 58 minutes ago
I've created a manual in narrative format for the Sanctuary Faction. If this format works well, I will create a similar analysis for the other Factions. By the way, I found a bug: for some ranged units, the range in the description does not match the actual range. This does not affect the gameplay; just be aware that if there is no penalty-free shooting, the range is 1/2. I will fix it later. https://yadi.sk/i/bl1sVXr0gRAOkQ

For some reason, I can't open the link to either the file or the manual. Instead of the mod, it just opens Yandex Disk, and the manual says that I don't have sufficient permissions to view it.

the first attempt didn't go well, I fixed the link.

Very good work, I must say. But I think the creature names should be in the plural, just like in the original.

I've released updated versions of the files. You can simply copy them, replacing the previous ones in the data directory; your saved games won't be affected. Several minor and not-so-minor bugs have been fixed, including:
-In the descriptions of creatures and abilities. All creatures are now in the plural. Descriptions end with a period, and all renamed skills start with a capital letter.
-Descriptions of the attack range for ranged units have been corrected. They now match the actual values.
-A bug with the mercury cost for Citadel dragons has been fixed.
-The mana cost for Limneads has been corrected. An incorrect value (15 -> 8) made it into the release from the testing phase.
-A different spellcasting animation has been implemented for the basic unit of the Dark Elf mages.
-For the Altgreid mages of the Dark Elves, the "mine" spell has been replaced with "wall of fire," with adjustments to the mana cost. It was discovered that the AI for neutral creatures couldn't place mines, which could cause the game to crash. Now, they synergize with the "fire mark" spell of the grenadiers.
-The mind resistance for the Faceless has been changed. Now, the basic unit has immunity to the "berserk" and "enslave" spells, and both upgrades have complete immunity to mind-affecting effects.
-A bug with the attack pattern for grenadiers and Adepts has been fixed. Now, the cross attack is with the Adepts, as intended

Will other factions be added to improve balance?

Rebalancing, and in the case of NTR, reworking the mechanics for new Factions, is a very long and painstaking process. You need to play many games, evaluating whether the race loses at any stage, whether the new mechanics are interesting and fresh compared to the existing ones, how well it performs against different Factions, and so on. If significant changes are made, you essentially need to repeat the process. You can imagine this yourself). Currently, there are a huge number of mods for adding new cities, but very often, in my personal opinion, the new creatures have low detail, they don't fit together (and the feeling of wholeness of a Faction is very important in Heroes), the balance was most likely set using an automatic utility or according to the principle of "it will do," the skills were thrown in haphazardly, and the balance was not manually refined (that is, it doesn't exist).

I don't see the point in reworking such mods (remember how many of the mods, for example, from the numerous Polish ones, that replace cities, you have used and how long you kept them before removing them from the active game directory, and whether you even played a single map seriously with them). I try not to delve into the process of graphically reworking units. It's a slippery slope that will be difficult to get off. Why wait for new Factions or a new part of HoMM when you can create your own heroes with blackjack and your own ideal Factions? And no one has rejected the harsh reality, because this undertaking requires time. A lot of time. At most, I've only done personal experiments using other people's models from NCF, for example:
my current Town Editor lineup: https://yadi.sk/i/CG72bSzamT4ooA

In RTF, the creature models look great, and although the balance is a bit off in the early iterations, it is more than playable. The units are logically connected within the Faction, they are organic, and it's a pleasure to play. And I'll note that now, in version 1.6, the balance is very, very good, just take it and play. However, I started the rework a long time ago, so now in the NTR version, there are large discrepancies in the mechanics compared to the RTF version.

All of the above is my personal opinion, of course =)

Of the things I might take on in the near future, I'd like to rework the Alliance of Light. I'm interested in the future version of the Faction from RTF. Judging by the unit models for it in NCF format and screenshots from the topic, it's coming soon. I'm waiting for news from the developers, just like everyone else. There are also very high-quality models for the Alliance in ChaosTheory. Theoretically, you could contact the developers, find out what stage the development is currently in. But, as they say, that's not certain.

If you have a link to an interesting mod with a new lineup, you can send it over, maybe I missed it, but for now, of the mods I know, besides RTF, nothing suitable comes to mind.

If you have a link to an interesting mod with a new lineup, feel free to share it so I can take a look. Maybe I missed it, but for now, out of the mods I know, besides RTF, nothing else comes to mind that would be suitable.

There was also a group with a bunch of mods for replacing races, and Skull of Shadow, also here, totaling about 15 different factions.

Speaking about Polish factions, I meant Skull of Shadows among others. Just compare the lineup of Sanctuary there and in the one used for NTR. Or Stronghold. The difference is huge. I don't see any reason to seriously consider factions from this mod.
Regarding the post with other mods, maybe you mean this: /topic/11301/.
Here, again, the mods have the problems described above. There's a much less polished Stronghold (I think it's an early prototype for the Stronghold from RTF). A pre-RTF Conflux, and lots of other things. Really high-quality stuff in this post relates to Sanctuary. In fact, I provided links to them in the header. The rest is just so-so. I don't see any Factions here that would make me want to stay up all night and grind units :/

When I mentioned the Polish factions, I was also referring to Skull of Shadows. Just compare the Sanctuary lineup there and in the one used for NTR, or Stronghold. The difference is huge. I don't see any reason to seriously consider factions from this mod.
Regarding the post with other mods, maybe you mean this: /topic/11301/.
Here again, the mods have the problems described above. There’s a much less polished Stronghold (I think it’s an early prototype for the Stronghold from RTF). A pre-RTF Conflux, and many other things. Really high-quality content in this post concerns Sanctuary. In fact, I provided a link to them in the header. Everything else is just so-so. I don't see any factions here that would make me want to stay up all night and grind units :/

You were talking about ChaosTheory, who made Polish factions; perhaps we could take Imperials from there? When I last visited the site with this mod, the developers wrote, "Well, everything is bad, development has been discontinued."

Added 1 minute ago
In general, I have a suggestion to create one balanced replacement so that it would be possible not only to change one race but all of them, but it would be better to use the Polish Skull of Shadows for this purpose; it has many problems, but at least it has been brought to completion

Skull of shadows meant* - it was a case of a typo :D Well, I don't know, the models there are just too garish.

Regarding replacing all the factions - you just described the idea of RTF!)) There's a rule - don't reinvent the wheel if it already works perfectly.

Actually, I wasn't planning on creating new factions myself, I just wanted to play with new, cool castles, but I'm very particular about balance (it's not fun to spend half a day playing with a friend, only to guarantee a win against them with OP units). Well, and it just snowballed...

Speaking of the alliance from Chaos theory - theoretically, you could take a few units from there. For example, the animation of the ranged attack of the mages there is simply masterful. It all comes down to the fact that Haven will soon be replaced in RTF, and I would like to see what they come up with first. Maybe there will already be a great balance at the start, and then I can evaluate it from the point of view of an ordinary player).

Skull of shadows meant* - it was a case of a typo :D Well, I don't know, the models are just too garish there.

Regarding replacing all the Factions - you just described the idea of RTF!)) There's a rule - don't reinvent the wheel if it already works perfectly.

Actually, I wasn't planning on creating new Factions myself, I just wanted to play with new, cool castles, but I'm very picky about balance (it's not fun to spend half a day playing with a friend only to then guarantee a win against them with overpowered units). Well, and it all started...

Speaking of the alliance from Chaos Theory - theoretically, you could take a few units from there. For example, the animation of the ranged attack of the mages is simply masterful. The whole thing boils down to the fact that Haven will soon be replaced in RTF, and I would like to see what they come up with first. Maybe there will already be excellent balance from the start, and then I can evaluate it from the point of view of an ordinary player)

The RTF mod is certainly good, but rebalancing the existing Factions will be implemented much faster than it will take for the mod to reach that stage.
And the Alliance can simply be made into a separate Faction, without mixing in undead

It seems I've lost track of the conversation a bit. Let's go over it step by step and in more detail, because it's not clear what we're talking about in just a few words: 1. Rebalancing existing factions - which ones? It seems we've already decided about factions from different mods. Taking the "Holy Mission" approach to rebalance any set of creatures from NCF with color correction of textures in Photoshop, or using unfinished pre-alpha graphical assets, doesn't appeal to me (if anything, theoretically, you could balance squares with the inscription "I am a level 2 creature" and create factions, but in my opinion, Heroes 5 has a quality standard, and new factions should meet it). If we're talking about the original factions, I'm generally satisfied with the balance in the "Trials of Endurance" expansion, except that the Orcs and Necropolis factions are extremely powerful in the late game, but this is a feature of their mechanics, and the only thing that could help is removing the free converter to undead and nerfing "Blood Rage" (but we still need to figure out if it's possible to do this without access to the executable code, which I personally don't have). 2. The Alliance as a separate faction without any undead - what is meant by this? As far as I know, in "Rise of the Phoenix," the Alliance is replaced by the Free Cities, and there is no undead there. In "Chaos Theory," it's a reskin of the Alliance with the replacement of several units with new ones, and there is no undead there either.