Posts from Heroes 5.5 WarGame Edition - Tactical Edition.

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

I want to release it next month.

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

I have the same issue, but I decided to ignore the antivirus warnings; we just need to wait for the Creator to notice it.

I have distributed the creatures into classes, corresponding to the racial characteristics (see the attachment). I managed to achieve 100% consistency across all creatures. Now, let's go into a little more detail about the racial characteristics. 1. Dwarves = PowerTank (low-initiative tanks). In the original game, dwarves were not characterized by low initiative. However, I wanted to particularly emphasize the dwarven "invulnerability," which is achieved in two ways: by reducing initiative (the lower the initiative, the stronger the physics) and by increasing tanking ability (that is, focusing physics on survivability rather than damage). There are no units with high initiative and damage (RusherSlayer, BattleSlayer, RusherFighter). 2. Humans = BattleTank (tanks with low damage). In the original game, humans did not have a clear direction, but specializing in defense is the most logical approach. Since humans have access to both Light and Dark magic, human combatants (heroes with spellcasting skills) have the greatest potential in a long game, and to realize this potential, a high level of survivability and the absence of too fragile units are necessary. There are no units with high damage (RusherSlayer, BattleSlayer, PowerSlayer). 3. Elves = RusherTank (high initiative, low damage). In the original game, elves had a pronounced preference for damage, which contradicted the low attack of the heroes. But since the elves' native school is Summoning, plus the physics of the heroes is focused on defense, it is logical to choose a tanking direction (having a super champion of survivability - the Ent). There are no units with high damage and low initiative (PowerSlayer, PowerFighter, BattleSlayer). 4. Mages = RusherFighter (high initiative, low power). In the original game, mages could not boast particularly high initiative without mini-artifacts. But it turns out that many of the mages' creatures simply lend themselves to high initiative (gremlins, djinns, rakshasas). And the physics of mages is traditionally weak, so the emphasis should be on initiative. There are no units with low initiative (PowerTank, PowerFighter, PowerSlayer). 5. Shadows = RusherSlayer (high initiative, low survivability). Like elves, they have high initiative, but with the opposite direction - towards damage, which perfectly corresponds to the character of the heroes of this race. The complete opposite of dwarves. There are no units with low initiative and high survivability (PowerTank, PowerFighter, BattleTank). 6. Demons = BattleSlayer (damage dealers with low survivability). The opposite of humans, focusing on combat damage. There are no units with high survivability (PowerTank, BattleTank, RusherTank). 7. Orcs = PowerSlayer (low-initiative damage dealers). In the original game, orcs were not characterized by low initiative. But, similarly to dwarves in defense, I wanted to particularly emphasize the super-powerful attacks of this race, which is achieved by reducing initiative and distributing all physical power to damage. The opposite of dwarves in damage, but similar in initiative. The opposite of shadows in initiative, but similar in damage. And finally, completely opposite to elves. There are no units with high initiative and survivability (RusherTank, RusherFighter, BattleTank). 8. Undead = PowerFighter (low initiative, high power). In the original game, the undead were characterized by low initiative, but also had a tendency towards low damage. Here, I wanted to focus on the maximum physical power of the undead, both in attack and in defense. So that the attacks of the undead, as well as its invulnerability, would inspire real fear in players. The opposite of mages. There are no units with high initiative (RusherTank, RusherFighter, RusherSlayer).

Hmm, an interesting idea has emerged regarding the development of the heroes themselves. What if we created starting heroes with a well-defined racial skill and all the perks from that skill maxed out? Plus, a standard skill and perk from it, as well as 10 total stats instead of 5. This would essentially accelerate development by +5 levels from the start. However, this would be done without accelerating specializations, so that by level 13, you could obtain heroes with a perk set similar to those of level 18 in the standard game. The decision here is crucial because, with this approach, it would be necessary to return racial perks to the base stats, in addition to the 3 standard ones.

interesting idea

Hmm, an interesting idea has emerged regarding the development of the heroes themselves.

What if...

This idea was almost literally implemented in one old, old mod by Psionic.

4. Starting hero stats:
All heroes have a racial skill of level 4 and 4 additional skills.
The starting stats of the heroes are equal: stat probability / 10.

Stat probability/10 gives 10 stats at the start.

And in general, his mod had many ideas that seemed strange/unbalanced/shocking at the time, but which, after some time, other mod developers also came up with.

Nargott, are you, by any chance, a reincarnation of Psionic? :D

No, it's not a reincarnation, but I read about his mod. Maybe it just came to mind subconsciously. There's a thing: on the one hand, I don't want to see heroes of level 20+ in the game, because specialists in creatures become too powerful (since physical stats in WGE are twice as strong, and +10/+10 effectively doubles the unit's power). On the other hand, from the point of view of the interest in leveling up, the optimal levels seem to be 18-22 for the final stages, in terms of the number of perks taken. That is, the most versatile builds are when, in addition to the racial skill, 3 other skills are also well developed (sometimes 4). Added 21 minutes ago I have prepared the spells of Light and Darkness (level/spell/cost): 1 Evasion (1 mana) = ranged damage is reduced by 3 times for 2/4/6/8 rounds. General evasion (2 mana) affects everyone. 1 Blessing (2 mana) = maximum damage, for 2/4/6/8 rounds. General blessing (4 mana) affects everyone. 2 Stone Skin (3 mana) = +(Spellcraft+4) to defense for 1/2/3/4 rounds. General skin (6 mana) affects an area of 4x4. 2 Haste (4 mana) = +(10 x Spellcraft)% to initiative for 1/2/3/4 rounds. General haste (8 mana) affects an area of 4x4. 3 Righteous Might (5 mana) = +(Spellcraft+4) to attack for 1/2/3/4 rounds. General might (10 mana) affects an area of 4x4. 3 Exorcism (6 mana) = removes spells with 100% probability, but only affects allied targets (i.e., does not remove buffs from the enemy). General exorcism (12 mana) affects an area of 4x4. 4 Antimagic (8 mana) = removes spells and grants immunity to magic for 0/1/2/3 rounds, affects any targets (including enemies, removing buffs). 4 Teleport (10 mana) = only works on allied targets (as in the original). 5 Holy Word (20 mana) = 4 x Spellcraft + 0/10/15/20 damage to each stack of undead, demons, and orcs. 5 Resurrection (25 mana) = 20 x Spellcraft + 0/20/30/40, without any negative HP penalties. (outside the guild) Regeneration (7 mana) = +(10 x Spellcraft)% to creatures each turn for 1/2/3/4 rounds. (outside the guild) Divine Retribution (12 mana) = 15/20/25/30 x Kills (completely removes the dependence on Spellcraft). 1 Daze (1 mana) = only 1/3 of enemy creatures can shoot and retaliate, for 1/2/3/4 rounds. General daze (2 mana) affects everyone. 1 Curse (2 mana) = minimum damage, for 1/2/3/4 rounds. General curse (4 mana) affects everyone. 2 Weakness (3 mana) = -(Spellcraft+4) to attack for 2/4/6/8 rounds. General weakness (6 mana) affects an area of 4x4. 2 Slow (4 mana) = 50% initiative for 2/4/6/8 rounds. General slow (8 mana) affects an area of 4x4. 3 Destructive Ray (5 mana) = -(Spellcraft + 0/2/3/4) to defense permanently, stacks. General ray (10 mana) affects an area of 4x4. 3 Plague (7 mana) = 7 x Spellcraft, for 1/2/3/4 rounds. General plague (14 mana) affects an area of 4x4. 4 Blindness (10 mana) = duration 0.3/0.4/0.5/0.6 x Spellcraft rounds (with a skilled awakened enemy, it does not retaliate to the attack). 4 Berserk (15 mana) = 50% damage (debuff), duration 1/1/1/2 turn. 5 Wave of Death (25 mana) = 4 x Spellcraft + 0/10/15/20 damage to each stack of humans, elves, mages, dwarves, dark elves, and orcs. 5 Domination (30 mana) = 50% initiative (debuff), duration 0.1/0.2/0.3/0.4 x Spellcraft rounds (t7 can be a target at a skilled level). (outside the guild) Grief (6 mana) = -4/6/8/10 to morale and luck for Spellcraft rounds. (outside the guild) Vampirism (8 mana) = 100% vampirism and undead for 2/4/6/8 rounds. Added 7 minutes ago Note how cheap the spells of lower levels are (and some of them are cast for free at all when you have Secret Knowledge!). And how expensive the spells of higher levels are (at 5 mana per unit of knowledge!). This approach is used so that magic is cast gradually, of all levels, from top to bottom (there is not enough mana to spam only top-level spells, but there is more than enough when playing with lower-level spells). Level 5 spells are so powerful that 1 such cast can decide the whole battle, so they should not be cast repeatedly (or there should be a lot of knowledge - motivation to level it up!). Comments - what has changed. The duration of all buffs and debuffs has been sharply increased to support heroes playing with casts (but at the same time, the duration is tied to the skill, and with a weak skill, the duration will be short). There is also a clear trend that the greatest increase in spells occurs when leveling up the basic school, and the least - when leveling up the skilled one (increasing the duration from 1 to 2 or from 2 to 4 is much more important than from 3 to 4 or from 6 to 8). This is very important, as it motivates you to play with several schools of magic. When you take a basic school, it imposes certain restrictions on the player (specialization in this school), but when the school is leveled up further, it is simply an enhancement of the specialization that has already been chosen. I also increased the effectiveness of spellcraft for Light magic, making a direct dependence on spellcraft not only on stone skin and might, but also on haste. So that rush heroes playing with powerful attacking casts of level 2-3 on righteous might (haste and might) have the opportunity to actively increase damage and tempo with spellcraft (and in such builds, spellcraft should not be much inferior to attack). I will immediately answer the question of why Destructive Ray is so powerful (in WGE, physical stats give +10% damage per unit of difference instead of +5, that is, twice as strong). Because mass casts are cast in 1 turn, and not in 0.5 turns, as in the original. Accordingly, spamming mass ray happens twice as rarely, and the ray must be powerful enough. I have slightly weakened the effect of evasion (from 1/4 damage to 1/3). And also weakened daze (earlier there was 100% no shooting and retaliation). Why? Too harsh a counter to ranged builds, and in general, it's extremely unpleasant when your shooters are completely deprived of shooting, it's better to have 1/3 ranged damage than none and run to fight in melee. Also, the knights have an entire racial skill tied to retaliation (and yes, there will be 150/200/250% retaliation - in practice, it turned out that it's okay and there is no imbalance here), and it's not very correct to completely nullify the entire racial skill with one spell (daze). Moreover, the duration of these buffs/debuffs has been increased. Keep in mind that in WGE, reduced increments, for example, in duels are proportional to 1 dragon in the squad (about 200-300 HP per squad), and the spellcraft of heroes in duels is from 3 to 9. Accordingly, level 5 Resurrection with maximum spellcraft 9, raises 240 HP, or often an entire squad. And level 5 Wave of Death with the same parameters deals 60 damage to each squad of the enemy, "blowing" 25% of the entire army in 1 cast. That's why level 5 spells are so powerful, and that's why they consume more than half of the mana with high knowledge

Unfortunately, my skill level in Heroes of Might and Magic V isn't what it used to be, so I can't mentally calculate and estimate all the options "on the fly" anymore (a very long break has taken its toll). It would be clearer to try out the archetypes with spellcasters and armies in real battles.

P.S. Is teleportation not applicable to all targets, so as not to disrupt the concept of gradually bringing armies closer together (and building defensive "boxes")?
Is vampirism only effective on your own units? Why not on any target?

The teleport spell has already been tested for all purposes, and the results weren't great – it's an ultimate spell for pulling out vulnerable ranged units and immediately destroying them with troops. It was rarely used on one's own troops in that case. Vampirism – you can enable the option to cast it on the enemy, but what's the point? To break morale and inflict retribution? Oh, I see – to break control. Yes, I think we should push for a release with an approximate balance, because all the abilities have been distributed qualitatively for a long time. Precise calculations may take time, while there is an interest in trying it out immediately.

We've already tried using Teleport on all targets, and it wasn't very effective – it's an ultimate spell for pulling out vulnerable ranged units and immediately destroying the enemy army.

That's what I'm saying – if the opponent is clearly playing a defensive game with closed-in ranged positions, then Teleport on all targets simply breaks their entire tactic, which isn't ideal.

It was rarely used on our own troops in that case.

Probably only with Surprise Attack.

Vampirism – you can enable the option to cast it on the enemy as well, but what's the point? To break morale and retribution? Oh, I get it – to break control.

You can break morale, resurrection (as a spell and from Archangels), prayers, empathy, retribution... There are many things you can break with Vampirism. You can slow down high-initiative ranged units in a defensive formation, which you can't immediately reach with Vampirism.
There was also the idea of making Raise Dead affect all targets – instantly reducing the stack's HP by 20%. :D

Yes, I think we should push for a release with an approximate balance, because all the abilities have been distributed qualitatively for a long time. Precise calculations may take time, while there is an interest in trying it out immediately.

I'd be happy to try it.

Raising and resurrecting in the mod does not reduce HP, because it is unnecessary. The HP reduction mechanic was artificially introduced in the original game to prevent battles from being won through endless resurrections, but with the current prices, this is impossible anyway. Vampirism, as an anti-subjugation mechanic, should obviously work. Therefore, let's apply it to all targets.

Raising and resurrecting in the mod doesn't reduce HP because it's unnecessary.
The HP reduction mechanic was artificially added in the original to prevent battles from being won through endless resurrections, but with the current prices, that's impossible anyway.

That's what I was saying about the original.

Vampirism - as an anti-subjugation, should obviously work. Therefore, let's make it apply to all targets.

If it's only for that reason, then it's not necessary. Vampirism already removes Subjugation.
By the way, Inspiration doesn't work on a vampirism stack either.

1 Arrow (1 mana) = 4 x Magic + 0/10/15/20
1 Thorns (2 mana) = 3 x Magic + 0/10/15/20
2 Fireball (4 mana) = 3 x Magic + 0/10/15/20 = 100% Thorns
2 Ice Bolt (6 mana) = 9 x Magic + 0/12/18/24 = 150% Ring
3 Lightning (7 mana) = 8 x Magic + 0/20/30/40 = 200% Arrow
3 Ring (8 mana) = 6 x Magic + 0/8/12/16
4 Chain Lightning (12 mana) = 8 x Magic + 0/20/30/40 = 100% Lightning = 200% Arrow
4 Meteor (15 mana) = 4 x Magic + 0/16/24/32
5 Shock (20 mana) = 10 x Magic + 0/40/60/80 = 250% Meteor
5 Armageddon (30 mana) = 6 x Magic + 0/20/30/40 = 200% Thorns = 200% Fireball
(outside the guild) Fire Storm (5 mana) = 5 x Magic, 1/2/3/4 rounds
(outside the guild) Cold (10 mana) = 9 x Magic, +100% damage for 1 round

Principles for building damage formulas:
1) Double step from level zero to the base level, to motivate players to level up the new school of magic.
2) The multiplier for magic does not depend on the skill level; only the fixed bonus increases. This allows for significant damage scaling either through high magic or high skill, independently of each other. And most importantly, it makes it even more advantageous to cast low-level spells as magic increases. Low-level spells will be especially beneficial for the Necromancer, as they are very cheap and scale well in damage with Arcane Wave.

This is a fundamental difference from the original – to use not the most powerful spells, but the most effective ones, based on the remaining mana. The damage level of the original Tier 5 Shock is approximately equal to Tier 3 Lightning (when scaled to troops). Everything above that is much more powerful and expensive.

I will say right away that the Chaos perks will be truly powerful:
- Armor Piercing = 50% (as in the original, but defense is twice as strong)
- Freezing = 60% (in the original 30%)
- Stun = 60% (in the original 30%)
- Lethal = several times stronger than in the original (due to the low number of creatures)

For comparison with Chaos, I have adjusted the damage spell formulas in Light/Dark:

3 Plague (7 mana) = 7 x Magic, for 1/2/3/4 rounds. The total plague (14 mana) affects an area of 4x4.
5 Wave of Death (25 mana) = 4 x Magic + 0/10/15/20 damage to each group of humans, elves, mages, dwarves, dark elves, and orcs.
5 Holy Word (20 mana) = 4 x Magic + 0/10/15/20 damage to each group of undead, demons, and orcs.
5 Resurrection (25 mana) = 20 x Magic + 0/20/30/40, without any negative HP penalties.

Wave of Death and Holy Word deal damage exactly equal to 100% of the damage of Arrow, but to all targets.
Resurrection is the most powerful targeted spell related to damage; it has twice the multiplier for Magic compared to Shock (but twice the smaller additive for skill).

Plague is, as always, the most damaging spell :D

Plague is, as always, the most damaging spell :D

Tier 3 spell that scales up to the level of a top-tier 5 spell with the corresponding perk; that's how it should be, considering its nature (it won't deal all that damage right away).
The same can be said about Tier 3 Righteous Might in Haven – with the perk, it becomes a top-tier light spell for dealing damage (albeit with troops).
And Tier 3 Ring of Deadly Cold will also be quite effective against tier 7.
We haven't looked at summons yet, but there, Mines at tier 4 will also be competitive in terms of damage with Plague, because they also don't deal all the damage at once.

Tier 3 spell that scales up to a top-tier 5 level with the corresponding perk; it should be this way, considering her nature (she won't deal all this damage right away).

I'm not arguing, I'm just stating a fact. :)

By the way, are you planning to update the executable? Judging by RTA 2.0, you can pull off many "tricks" in battle, including with spells.