Posts from Harmony - Troop Symmetry

I'll just throw in a ready-made idea.

Actually, a wild idea came to mind - since Heroes 5 is so similar to Heroes 3 (armies, number of magic schools, etc.) and so different from the lore of Heroes 6 and 7, you could create a mod called "Axeoth" - NWC actually wanted to continue the fifth part in this world, and everything that was there could have been transferred through portals from Enroth to Axeoth - i.e., it would be a kind of fusion of parts 3 and 4, which are connected by lore. Well, this is just something to think about in my spare time.

Added 1 hour 30 minutes ago

The secondary Specialization Unit (SU) shouldn't be overly powerful. What do you think about the dwarven runes? Will you be nerfing them?

Reflections:
Given that the second special ability for Dwarves is related to the spell "Wrath," there's a conflict with the "Holy Hammer" specialization – Wrath from Holy Hammer will be applied on top of Wrath from the special ability, leading to the following:
Firstly, why have two ways to apply mass-wrath simultaneously?
Secondly, when Wrath is applied through the special ability, it’s permanent. However, applying Wrath from the specialization overwrites the existing effect, resulting in the removal of the permanent wrath and the application of a temporary one.
Due to these reasons, I decided to remove this spec from the Dwarves. One option is to give it to the Elves and replace the Wrath application with a dispel charm spell – I tested it (it works), but now I'm wondering if it might be too situational since it would only truly shine against an opponent using mass dark magic. On the other hand, it could become overpowered, almost completely countering the enemy on dark magic (berserk still wouldn't be removable). Otherwise, it provides mass-dispel for all your units.
What do you think about changing the specialization? What can we put instead (what spell)? I tried regeneration – not bad, but probably also imbalanced (mass regen is strong) plus I fear they'll start dragging out battles to benefit from it.

Another new feature:
I have an idea to introduce racial and class bonuses to differentiate characters.
Currently, there are 10 races and 8 classes (classes remain unchanged - we won't use the new exe file).

Races:
1) Humans
2) Demons
3) Light Elves
4) Dark Elves
5) Dwarves
6) Orcs
7) Djinns
8) Angels
9) Faceless Ones
10) Nagas

General principle:
1) Initially, before applying racial and class bonuses, all hero stats are equal to one.
2) Then, depending on the character's affiliation, they receive bonuses (two stat points or one skill point per race, and two stat points per class).
3) Specialization bonuses will be applied on top of the results, so even heroes from the same city will start the game with different stats.



Explanation for the table:
Class – Bonuses for the class
Race – Bonuses for the race
Total – Sum of bonuses for class and race
Total_2 – Sum of total and base stat values (one for each parameter)

Note that in Ashan, there is no "Mage" or "Necromancer" race - characters like Zehir, Ora, Arantir, and Zoltan are humans. This creates a slight problem: they should have bonuses like other members of this race, which aren't necessarily magical abilities (starting bonus +1 to attack and defense), so I had to introduce an eleventh race: human-mages.

P.S.: The four races highlighted in blue represent a small number of characters, and their racial bonus is proficiency in a particular type of magic. Thus, any angel (4 heroes), including Belquet (Necropolis) and Sarah (Inferno), always starts with light magic; every djinn (3 heroes) possesses innate magic; the Faceless Ones race (1 hero), represented by Jorgen, wields dark magic; and the Naga race (1 hero), represented by Osiro (Dungeon), controls frost from the school of destruction magic.

Super Abilities (Perks)
Now each faction has two, one more effective but harder to obtain, while the second is weaker but easier to master.

Knights
1. Holy Host. The hero's army cannot be cursed by the "Weakness" spell and is always under the effect of the "Divine Might" spell. The hero also receives the "Haste" (general) spell.
2. Dawn's Charge. At the beginning of each turn, the last fallen unit in each squad is resurrected. The hero also receives the "Spiritual Armor" (general) spell.

Demons
1. Call of Urgash.
2. Legion of Ruin. Initiative of units commanded by the hero increases by 20%. The hero's army cannot be cursed by the "Slow" spell. If the hero wins a battle, they receive some resources proportional to the defeated army.

Necromancers
1. Scream of Terror.
2. Undying Legion. All units commanded by the hero become undead and gain the ability to absorb life force from enemy squads upon attack (20% of damage dealt). When excavating Tears of Ashi, the chance of finding it increases.

Rangers
1. True Luck.
2. Power of Nature. During combat, the hero's army is always under the effect of the "Spiritual Armor" spell. The hero receives the "Earthquake" spell, dealing damage and stunning all units behind city walls.

Warlocks
1. Coordination. All squads commanded by the hero can attack twice; the second strike occurs after a counterattack. (RedHeavenHero’s idea implemented in his “Haven_SA_AbsoluteCharge” mod)
2. Fury of Elements.

Mages
1. Magical Omniscience.
2. Great Engineer. Initiative of war machines commanded by the hero increases by 10 units. (needs testing - might be too much)

Rune Priests.
1. Absolute Protection.
2. Fiery Resolve. The hero's army is always under the effect of the "Wrath" spell and cannot be cursed by the "Weakness" spell.

Barbarians.
1. Pure Rage.
2. Challenge. All enemy ranged attacks are weakened (all damage spells and shooting); their effectiveness is reduced by 50%, forcing the opponent to fight the Horde army in melee combat.

Given the impossibility of implementing your initial idea for the 2nd Specialization for the Dwarves, and considering that the Great Rune currently blocks access to both Specializations, I have a suggestion for replacing the 2nd Specialization at your discretion.

Added 6 minutes ago


That's a rather interesting idea, but please clarify regarding the Faceless Ones and the Nagas. Do you want to introduce new creatures? I'm afraid that introducing them will significantly increase the mod's completion time, which is already quite long.

Added 4 minutes ago


Don't you think that the new Specializations: Dawn's Radiance, Immortal Legion, and Coordination are quite powerful and could lead to imbalance? Perhaps they should be weakened?

1) Dawn of the Sun is effective only on units of tier 5-7 and resurrects exactly one creature (regeneration with a 100% effect).

Demon, but there's a purely visual problem: can anyone make out what the super abilities are? (what exactly is depicted on the icons) In the game, the icons will be larger and clearer, but on the wheel, they are reduced in size and get lost against the background of the demon's image (especially the right icon, "Ur-Gash's Call").

Overall, I played a few test maps (small ones), everything works as it should. The only question left is about the units – most likely, there won't be any major changes in this regard in the first version. I'll get to work on Friday and Saturday – I have two free days. Drawing textures is an unpredictable process – Belket once took half a day from me, Sarah took much longer, but after that, already having the groundwork for the angels, Lauriël was put together in about two or three hours, and one of the first versions was the final one.

Considering I changed jobs and had to rework some parts, the development has slowed down a bit.

As a result, after considering many options, I came to the conclusion that the option that would be mathematically correct (i.e., consistent with the concept of maximum difference between the eight combinations) would conflict with the game's mechanics and canon (for example, it would require giving Orcs or Humans a 15% bonus to magic, which does not correspond to the canon, and would also force me to increase the Gnome's magic percentage and decrease the knowledge percentage, which has already been described in the Gnome's case).

Thoughts:
Given that the second special ability for dwarves is related to the "Wrath" spell, there's a conflict with the "Sacred Hammer" specialization – the "Wrath" effect from Sacred Hammer will be applied on top of the "Wrath" effect from the special ability, leading to the following:
Firstly, why have two ways to apply mass "Wrath" at the same time?
Secondly, when "Wrath" is applied from the special ability, the spell is applied permanently, but when "Wrath" from the specialization is applied on top of it, the spell is refreshed (replaced), and as a result, the permanent "Wrath" is removed, and a temporary "Wrath" from the hero is applied.
Due to the reasons mentioned above, I decided to remove this specialization from the dwarves, and one of the options was to give it to the elves and replace the "Wrath" application with the "Dispel Magic" spell – I tested it (it works), but now I'm thinking – on the one hand, it turns out to be very situational, because the specialization will only be truly effective when playing against a hero using mass dark magic, and on the other hand, it's overpowered – it will almost completely counter the opponent on dark magic (removing Berserk will still be impossible), and in other cases, it will be mass dispel magic on all your units.
What do you think about this – should the specialization be changed, and what spell could be used instead? I tried regeneration – it's not bad, but it's probably overpowered again (mass regeneration is too strong), plus I'm afraid they'll start prolonging battles to break even.

I contacted LordKhorne, and he gave his permission to use his models from the "Sanctuary" mod, for which I am very grateful.
We discussed the Kirans (I will add them as a neutral faction) and the coral priestesses (I have repainted them, turning them into jellyfish, and they will naturally go to the Dungeon faction).
The hero specializing in Jellyfish will be Osiro http://ru.mightandmagic.wikia.com/wiki/Осиро.
All that remains is to come up with a name for his specialization; possible options include "Renegade General," "Naga Outcast," etc. Essentially, it was his actions that led to the transformation of the coral priestesses under his command into jellyfish, and, consequently, to the appearance of these units in the first place.
I also suggest we discuss the abilities of the jellyfish – they will be on the second tier instead of beasts (based on the lore and their abilities in Heroes 7).
P.S. The combination of the "strike and retreat" and "enemy cannot resist" abilities will now be available to the Faceless Ones from fktifzobr@mail.ru, and I am also very grateful to him.