Posts from Heroes 5.5 WarGame Edition - Tactical Edition.

Looks cool, and such a racial unit is indeed powerful.

This is, of course, good... But what about the Sylvan faction? Their racial skill was weak, didn't work from the start, didn't work in breaking through defenses, and (possibly) won't work in the "battle of titans" (i.e., the main heroes' battle) - and it remains the same. And NCF further exacerbates the situation.

P.S. As for the machines, there's an option - they are heavy (let's see, carry siege equipment with your army) - so let there be a movement penalty for each unit of equipment. The rushers with machines will die out as a class.

Well, there were already some ideas for starting spells – they can be applied en masse at the beginning, or individually to each hero. For example, you can set all tier 6-7 creatures as starting spells (monster hunting), and then the "Death Ripple" spell will work as intended right away. Regarding siege weapons – without "Overpowering Shot" (OS), there are no problems with extremely high damage at the start. Or, there are ranged attacks, but only as a tier 3 upgrade from a catapult (incompatible with "Multi-Shot"). Otherwise, it just won't work in WGE; the bonuses from ranged attacks are too strong with a small army size and doubled stat effects (which they penetrate). A ballista without OS in WGE will require fewer perk investments but will perform well, roughly equivalent to a couple of extra dragons in terms of skill (i.e., a full-fledged combat stack). At the start of the game, when stats are modest, it's roughly equivalent to a tier 7 unit, say, a Titan. And rushing with a ballista won't be much different from rushing to tier 7 in the first week. The fact that reaching tier 7 should be possible in the first week is my firm belief. I've always been annoyed by the sluggishness of strategic gameplay (reaching top tiers only in the 2nd or 3rd week) in Heroes 5, unlike Heroes 3. I've already had enough time to play on a special test map for castle development to confirm that the ability to build tier 7 units already in the first week (essentially, reaching any technology by the end of the first week, maybe with an upgrade on the 8th day) is very good and provides variety – provided that such advancements are balanced (you fall behind in other tiers). Such advancements are extremely interesting when you build your strategy already in the first week to obtain all the necessary resources (and a lot of resources are required for tier 7).

Well, there were already some ideas for cursed enemies – you can set them up in bulk at the start, individually for each hero.
For example, you can set all creatures of tiers 6-7 as cursed enemies (monster hunting), and then the "Death Blow" ability will work as intended.

I know. I did it that way – initially, all creatures of tiers 1-3 were cursed enemies. Both "Rain" and "Death Blow" work well for clearing out enemies. Some of the Elves' special abilities become more interesting – Dirael can easily control 3 stacks of enemies with "Hive", and Anwen deals so much damage to cursed enemies that only their ears fly off... But this is just a workaround. And it smells like cheating.
As far as I know, there is a way to summon a town to an empty map using scripts and enter it (hello, Zehir). If only someone would write such a script...

What kind of cheat is this – a racial ability that works normally? Having three tiers at once is too much; one or two tiers would be ideal, preferably higher tiers, so that the "Nemesis" ability works better. But what's the point of leveling up the racial ability for the Elf? In HRTA, the functionality of replacing a hero with duplicates with pre-set skills/perks is implemented through scripts. So, here, we can repeat this and automatically assign 1-2-3 tier "Nemesis" units when leveling up the skill. Added 10 minutes later: However, if you create a lot of duplicates, you can configure it so that "Nemesis" units are automatically selected before each battle from among the troops the hero is fighting (the 1-2-3 strongest units). Added 4 minutes later: It would be more balanced to have 20/40/60/80% of random enemy creature types assigned as "Nemesis" units. In the case of fractional numbers, use a random number proportional to the fraction (for example, when encountering 1 type of creature, there will be a 20/40/60/80% chance of making it a "Nemesis" unit). Added 1 minute later: Although, no, that's too crude. The best approach is to use scripts to allow the player to choose when entering a Castle, similar to a "Light Ritual" (which would consume 50% of the turn, for example). However, considering that the same type of unit needs to be encountered first, spending a turn on a ritual would definitely be unnecessary; it should be free. If you know that you've already encountered these units, use that information. Added 8 minutes later: But the problem is that in WGE, heroes won't have that many encounters before the final battle, maybe 20-30 at most. It's unclear whether the racial ability will have enough time to develop in these encounters. Added 2 hours 12 minutes later: I calculated it in Excel – when attacking 40 random types of neutral creatures, 25-30% of them will be repeats, which means that the racial ability will work consistently in this case. It may not seem like much, but it's better than nothing, and the skill is clearly more focused on the final battle, where its effectiveness is twice as high. Added 1 minute later: However, if neutral creatures are generated in a more structured way, according to their terrain, rather than just randomly, I think this would significantly enhance the Elven racial ability in encounters.

In general, the very name of the skill, "sworn enemy," feels a bit forced. What kind of enemy is it that you can choose? Is it like, "Okay, guys, the lizards ran through and trampled our lawn today. Now they're our sworn enemies!" Something like that?
It's more like training soldiers, explaining the weaknesses and vulnerable points of specific opponents, and also customizing weapons for specific enemies (like, against hydras, use one type of sword; against gargoyles, use another; against golems, use one type of arrow; against zombies, use another).

And "Light Ritual" could be something like this: the hero casts a "virtual training ground" where there's a two-week boost to a specific unit (chosen through dialogue windows), and a battle is started. After the battle, the hero performs a scripted action, entering the Castle, where he can designate that enemy as a "favorite target" (by the way, in the English version, it's exactly "favorite," meaning "liked").
You could spend, say, 1/3 of a turn and some mana on this. The turn and mana costs could depend on the level of the racial skill.
Rain of Arrows is just a spell. You can safely remove it as a perk and replace it with, say, Forest Fury.

P.S. I also often miss Heroes 3.0, where the AI, although it messed up with invisibility (it didn't try to find invisible units), and the ballista could be destroyed with Support, but you could apply Mines, Hive, Crystal, and Wall to Rain of Arrows.

For now, I prefer the option where cursed creatures still need to be defeated first, but then can be summoned for free, rather than spending action points. This is as close as possible to the original, and the hero is directly motivated to search the map for specific creatures and hunt them down. If it turns out that this option is effective enough, it will be used as the basis.

The second priority, which is already guaranteed to be very effective in defeating enemies, is to summon cursed creatures of tiers 1-2/1-4/1-6/1-7 before the battle using scripts, without thinking too much, but with guaranteed power.

The second priority, which is already guaranteed to be very effective in dealing damage, is to use scripts to apply the "Cursed" spell to 1-2/1-4/1-6/1-7 ranged units before battle, mindlessly but effectively.

Horrible. 7 guaranteed shots on Storm. That's rough.
By the way, don't forget (as the Nival developers did) to apply the "Clean Arrow" spell.
Let me explain - after "Enchanted Arrow," the spell remains on the arrow, even if it's no longer needed. That is, the spell is cast automatically with each shot, and with Storm, it can happen 2-3 times. But mana isn't unlimited.
I solved the problem by taking a spell from the campaign, something like "bigbossfirewall," and setting its mana cost and damage to zero. Now, if I want to clear the arrow of the spell, I have something to use.

But with Rain, you could place Mines, Hive, Crystal, and Wall.

Yes, unfortunately, Rain isn't tailored to the native Elven Summon spell.
Native because, with the exception of Enchanted Arrows, Summon is simply perfectly suited for the Elf, both in terms of lore and gameplay (unlike the Necromancer), due to its high defense.

Added 1 minute ago

Horror. 7 guaranteed arrows on Rain. Tough, though.
By the way, don't forget (as the Nival guys forgot) to place "Arrow Cleanse."

It looks intimidating, but these are just neutral creatures. If the Elf uses Enchanted Arrows at the same time, they risk running out of mana after the battle.
And what is "Arrow Cleanse"?

Added 6 minutes ago

I solved the problem like this - I took a spell from the Campaigns, something like "bigbossfirewall," and set its mana cost and damage to zero. Now, if I want to cleanse an arrow of a spell, I have something to use.

You can try it, although in WGE, it's not that relevant, since tier 1 spells, including Chaos and Summon, will only cost 1-2 mana. This was done so that the hero can actively use magic at any mana level (top-tier spells are still expensive and even more expensive than in the original).

Yes, unfortunately, the Rain spell isn't tailored to the native Elven Summoning skill.

I think it's possible to adjust it – reach out to an expert in executable files to compare how the 3.0 and 3.1 executables differ in terms of Summoning spells and patch it.
By the way, in the 2.1 executable, you could apply the General Overseer buff, after which the ability was lost. The Overseer buff exists on units, but there's no effect. Now, only the General Support skill remains (it's quite powerful – 5 stacks of Centaurs, each with Support, and the hero attacks with a stun. It's quite the control...). And there's more to explore in that direction...

Native – because, with the exception of Enchanted Arrows, Summoning is simply perfectly suited for Elves, both in terms of lore and gameplay (unlike the Necromancer), due to their high defense.

I completely agree. Light – Light + Summoning, Dark – Chaos + Darkness. That's how it should be.

Tier 1 spells, including Chaos and Summoning, will cost only 1-2 mana.

What about the Shaman-Mages? Low-level spells are cheap, high-level and mass spells are expensive. There are Shamans that have both mass/high-level and low-level spells. Give them a lot of mana so they can cast a mass spell at least once? But with 1-2 mana, they'll be overwhelmed by low-level spells.

Maybe just reduce the mana from Knowledge? Instead of 10, give less? This is quite adjustable.

Although, in the realities of WGE, the "Hive" and "General" might be just as effective as "Chaos" when it comes to casting spells. Simply because of the cost, an Elf won't be able to afford to cast a "Rain" spell and then follow it up with a barrage of meteors. However, the cheapest spells costing 1-2 mana are perfectly suitable for "Rain" (and area-of-effect spikes and fireballs are still available to the Elf even without native "Chaos" magic; in WGE, "Fireball" is a tier 2 spell). Due to pricing, the policy is that top-tier tier 4-5 spells should be cast only a few times per battle (and even gathering enough mana for a single such spell requires effort), while low-level spells are cast much more often due to their low cost. But the power of top-tier spells will be worth it; increasing their cost is not just a weakening, but rather an enhancement of their power. In other words, there will always be plenty of mana in relation to low-level spells, but a severe shortage in relation to top-tier spells. In WGE, 1 unit of knowledge grants 5 maximum mana (not 10), while tier 1 magic costs 1-2 mana, and tier 5 costs a whopping 20-30. For example, "Armageddon" costs 30 mana, so you'll have to spend 6 knowledge points just for one use :) Considering that stats are valued twice as high in this mod (attack and defense provide twice the bonuses, and magic stats are in the same balance), it can be said that this "Armageddon" would cost as much as 120 mana in terms of the original game. Although, for penetration, it's 60 mana if you look not at the maximum mana, but at the speed of its regeneration.

Added 19 minutes ago

What about caster-mages? Low-level spells are cheap, high-level and mass spells are expensive. Some casters have both mass/high-level and low-level spells. Should we give them a lot of mana so they can cast a mass spell at least once? But they could overwhelm with 1-2 mana low-level spells.

Maybe just reduce the mana from Knowledge? Not give 10, but less? This is quite adjustable.

It's already been reduced from 10 to 5. And what's the problem with low-level spells from casters? Let them overwhelm as much as they want. It's like the shots from archers. The main thing is that they don't overwhelm with top-tier spells. The composition of spells in caster spellbooks will be such that tier 5 and tier 1 spells will definitely not be in the same spellbook. The maximum number of spells a caster can have (in terms of quantity) is 5-10 tier 1 spells. But it's more interesting with "Secrets of Light," because 1-mana spells will most likely become free and, accordingly, infinite (just like for the hero under "Tactical Supremacy").

Added 10 minutes ago

By the way, in the executable from 2.1, it was possible to set "General" Overseer as a buff, after which the ability was lost.

No, a mass "Overseer" is not interesting because it's no longer an activated ability. But another "Overseer" is interesting - a tripled one (in other words, the Human "Tactical Supremacy" will replace the regular "Overseer"), especially in conditions where the hero's damage is good across all tiers, and not just tier 6-7. The trick of "Overseer" in penetration is to motivate the player to expose the "Overseer" stack to attacks from neutrals (and not the entire army under "Overseer"), and with a triple "Overseer," this will be a powerful thing. And in the final battle, using "Overseer" will effectively give the buff "attacking this unit in melee combat is more expensive for them; it's better to leave it for later."

We've more or less sorted out these issues. Now, there are questions regarding the special abilities of heroes. How should it be? How is it in the original?

Will there be new videos about the mod on the YouTube channel? The last video was released 2 years ago.

There will be, but videos are for entertainment, and right now, the priority is to release the long-awaited update.

So, for now, I've decided on the race characteristics.

PowerTank = Dwarves (reduced initiative, super survivability)
BattleTank = Humans (high survivability)
RusherTank = Mages (increased initiative, increased survivability)

PowerFighter = Undead (low initiative, powerful physical attack)
RusherFighter = Elves (high initiative)

PowerSlayer = Orcs (reduced initiative, super damage)
BattleSlayer = Demons (high damage)
RusherSlayer = Shadows (increased initiative, increased damage)

The race characteristic will directly affect the main properties of the units.
For example, the PowerTank characteristic of Dwarves means a large number of durable and/or low-initiative troops. With a complete absence of RusherSlayer units with the opposite characteristic in the army.


Added 8 minutes later
I also decided to expand the initiative range:
For Power units, this is an initiative of 6-8.
For Battle units, this is an initiative of 9-11.
For Rusher units, this is an initiative of 12-16.

And if in the original, the main part of the units is concentrated in the middle range, then in WGE, the upper and lower ranges are actively used. That's why it's interesting to expand the lower range to 6 initiative, so that Power units become more diverse (and even more powerful, since with the right balance, initiative and power are opposite to each other).

They will be, but videos are for entertainment, and right now, the priority is to release the long-awaited update.

Is there an approximate release date for the update? And was your website taken down because of content for adults?

I'm not interested in the website right now; it's too time-consuming to allocate time to both development and the website simultaneously – I think it will be possible to revive it after the key releases, to boost its popularity.

I want to release it next month.

P.S. Is it just me, or does the forum constantly complain about an expired certificate?