Posts from Плагин Fresh Mod для SOD

I have a suggestion: in the new versions of the plugin, all added strings should be moved to a txt file next to the dll (similar to SuperPack_Rus), which could be localized and configured to seamlessly integrate into the game. And where possible, data from ARRAYTXT and GENRLTXT, etc., should be used instead of hardcoding.

For example, for the Gnomish Outpost: Amount: 100-249 -> Guarded by a Hundred Gnomes (the same format as in the window that appears when right-clicking on the object).

Maybe someday I'll get around to it, but definitely not in the near future.

Added 3 minutes ago

Hello. Can the optional changes of this plugin be used together with the SP-plugin? Is it possible to make it so that the non-optional fixes can be turned off and the optional ones can be turned on?

In SP, the calculated battles have been replaced with quick battles between AIs. This allows the AI to resurrect more than one skeleton and resolves some other issues from the original game. Has this functionality been ported to this mod?

Could you please move the improvement of this skill into a separate plugin? For example, a plugin that would make the "First Aid" skill grant +1, +2, or +3 to the health of all living creatures in the army?

We tested the mod with Gorbunak on 5.5 and with Hosenko on 6.1. I wrote to Quentin about the bugs we found. I ask you to pay attention to the balance. I played, and although I am weaker than Gorbunak and especially Hosenko, I still won 3 out of 4 games. All 4 games were Castle against Tower. The Tower needs a buff. I understood this even without playing the games. The Tower was never particularly strong, and now it has become useless. Here are the reasons:

1) Building is extremely expensive; all buildings require (5 of each resource!!!) through mages. When Angels and Ducks were available, we didn't build anything except the Guildhall, but now the troops from buildings are very weak without upgrades, as I will explain later.

2) The Nag in the Lair gives very few, as I understand it, 1 Nag for 2 Ducks, and they are extremely slow, with a speed of 5!!!! Any T6 unit is more interesting and functional. To upgrade the Nag, it requires +5 of all resources for building mages, +2 of all resources for building Nags, +3 of all resources for the upgrade, for a total of +10 of all valuable resources. In terms of resources, upgrading Nags is almost as expensive as building Angels!!!

3) Giants are one of the weakest and most useless T7 units. You can compare them to Bears, but there is a good chance of upgrading Bears, and building them is almost guaranteed. It is difficult to build Giants, and upgrading them is almost impossible. I believe that the other T7 units in the game are balanced. Dragons and Angels are strong, but they are difficult to upgrade. Roosters and Skeletons are weak, but the Castles are very strong. Beholders and Hydras are weak, but they can be built and even upgraded. Only Giants are weak, difficult to build, and almost impossible to upgrade.

4) They removed the ability to rebuild the Library in the Tournament, so to speak, they fixed the most overpowered Castle!!! I agree with Hosenko that rebuilding the Library is too overpowered, especially if another Castle finds the Tower, but in combination with the above, this is the final nail in the coffin for the Tower, given the specifics of the mod.

Something needs to be improved for the Tower.
Perhaps, it is necessary to allow rebuilding the Library only when starting with the Tower, since we have different building options in the mod depending on the starting city. Perhaps, it would be good to give the Tower another buff in the form of built Golems at the start, or a larger number of Gremlins. Perhaps, it is necessary to change the building system as in HotA, so that it skips the very expensive mages. I would also like to note that the Tower was improved in HotA for a reason. They improved the building system and added Lamps. But in the mod, it has become weaker.

In brief:
1. I agree that in many builds, the Tower is currently the weakest Castle.
2. I disagree that it has become weaker; it has definitely become stronger, at least due to the removal of the penalty.
3. The bidding for the Castle hasn't been canceled; the main thing is that in some of the matchups, there isn't a constant setback of 10k. I'm sure this won't happen with the Tower now.
4. Conclusions can only be drawn based on a statistically significant sample.
5. It is important to objectively analyze all factors; for example, Hosenka's loss was due to a blunder in the endgame, and something similar may have happened in the other matches.
6. At the moment, I don't see any elegant ways to strengthen the Tower. I changed the building tree, looked at it, and reverted it to how it was – it's too jarring.
7. I think that for many players, there is significant potential to improve their game specifically with the Tower. Now, with Kira and Astral, there are even more opportunities.

Point by point:
1. Indeed, the Tower is expensive.
2. The 1/2 ratio only applies to small Hives. I don't think this is critical; otherwise, instead of a clear and transparent system based on HP, we would have to invent some kind of value table, since the AI value wouldn't work either.
We just need a speed boost so that 4-5 regular Nags become a powerful offensive stack against neutrals. In tempo builds, you can improve Djinns instead of Nags.
3. The drawbacks have been listed. But there are also advantages – for example, high damage and an additional number in large Conservatories. The upgrade is difficult, but XL+U is quite possible, and that's the trump card that the Tower can use to its advantage.
4. There's no other option – rebuilding the Library is a huge bonus for a top player.

Has the possibility of generating a golem factory on snow been considered? It seems that the Tower is unfairly deprived of such an interesting and unique ability. At the very least, it could be implemented to "increase the variability of the gameplay."

Interesting idea, I doubt it will provide any significant boost to the tower. But it does fit the purpose:
"4. Increase the diversity of tactics and strategies by bringing back original objects into the game."

Freshmod 6.0 is ready.
You can download it in the first post of the topic.

Description of changes:
Basic changes:
1. *Fixed "shifted" guard posts.
2. *Guard posts can appear along the entire border of the zone. The minimum distance between guard posts is 3 cells.
3. *Fixed "open" objects.
4. Fixed "mountain" zones.
5. Increased density of guards along roads.
6. Increased density of objects in treasure rooms.
7. In the starting zones of human players, only a guard with 1/3 of the maximum value of the zone can block the road.
8. Fixed bugs: increased damage from ranged towers, battle ending due to an earthquake, AI always missing one skeleton (source SOD SP, author RoseKavalier).
9. Fixed crash when setting the flag "Always second level".

Plugins:
1. *The specialization of Isra and Vidomina has been reduced to 1%. Their usual "leveling up" has been restored.
2. *Construction of Necromancy Amplifier allowed. Its bonus has been reduced to 2%.
3. *Construction of Vampire Lords allowed. A Vampire Lord restores 25% of the damage dealt.
4. *Construction of improved fairies allowed. Requires "Garden of Life" for construction.
5. The cost of Gates of Hell has been increased to 4000.
6. Heroes from campaigns are allowed (except S, M maps and mirror templates. Jelu is forbidden everywhere). All heroes appear with their city's starting army.

*Only applies when the "HW rules" flag is set.

A new RAI (Riot AI) template has been created.
Template scheme:


Software changes that only apply to this template and with Freshmod 6.0 and higher:
1. Enhanced AI algorithms (with the help of Ben80 and AlexSPL).
2. Green and orange AI start with a larger gold and resource bonus.
3. AI receives triple experience and double effect from "enhancements".
4. The artifact "Wings of Angel" has been removed.
5. The cost of spells City Portal, Fly, and Dimension Door has been increased by 5 times.
6. For human players, the effectiveness of the spell "Raise Dead" has been reduced by 3 times.
7. Seer huts with a value less than 5001 are generated in the same zone as the sought-after artifact. Those greater than that are generated in a random adjacent zone.

Installing the template:
1. Connect Freshmod 6.0.
2. Launch the game and immediately close it.
3. Launch the game again; the template will appear in the list of templates.

IMPORTANT
The save format has been changed; games started on other versions of the mod can only be finished on those versions.

Huge thanks to:
- AlexSPL, Ben80, RoseKavalier for their help in development.
- Xocenk for his help in testing and constructive discussion.

If you are interested in further development of the mod, the best support would be participation in this tournament.

5. The cost of the spells City Portal, Fly, and Dimension Door has been increased by 5 times.

Seriously? Guys, stop, this is already too much.
:smile52: :smile52: :smile52:
If you move them to level 6 magic, Wojciech will be happy!

Software changes that apply only to this template
I guess we don't read this.

Otherwise, it implies an incredible ability to understand all the nuances of the new template, even without running it.

It would be good to bring back one-way paths (with a check to prevent a dead end, where the only path on the map leads to an exit) in the next fresh mod update (in the part without gameplay changes). Because when they are completely absent, it feels a bit dull.

Otherwise, the face shows incredible abilities to understand all the nuances of a new template without even running it.

With such a preview, I didn't feel like launching it. Although maybe it's just me, and this template will completely replace Jebus Cross and 6lm.

In general, my opinion applies to both HoMM and SoD: everything should work the same everywhere. It's very bad when a skill or spell works one way on one template, another way on another, and yet another way on a third. (the only exception is the number of Dimension Doors)

It would be nice to bring back one-way paths (with a check that prevents a dead end when the only road on the map leads to an exit) in the next freshmod update (in the part without gameplay changes). Because when they are completely absent, it feels a bit dull.

The proposed option doesn't seem successful, and there are also some implementation difficulties.

The proposed option doesn't seem successful, and there are some implementation difficulties.

Nevertheless, opponents have repeatedly refused to play with FM (without AI), arguing that one-sided maps have been removed. Personally, this is not so critical for me, but it's more interesting with them, if you don't take into account broken layouts where there is only an exit and no entrance.

Idea: Move the "Horde Growth" skill improvement so that it doesn't work when splitting units on neutral creatures. And as an addition: If you attack neutral creatures that don't cast spells (and there are very few of them), then "Leadership" should not work, just like "Recanter".