Posts from Heroes 5.5 WarGame Edition - Tactical Edition.

I already wrote that sustain effects aren't needed – they are duplicated by the distraction effect from the summons.

I always thought they stacked, both of them.


I imagine it something like this: you choose a Haven structure, and inside that Haven structure, you can also upgrade to a full Chaos structure, or other structures from Haven and Chaos. The same goes for Dungeon and Necropolis.

I always thought they stacked, one and the other.

 
But that doesn't matter – you can't push a hero further than 30% of their Action Points (with skillful spellcasting), and it will push them exactly 30%, and Distraction itself will do that.
Mass casting in this mod will also push to 0% Action Points, not 50% (meaning it will take up the hero's entire turn). So, Distraction is a counter to Spellcasting, and nothing more.
Technically, as far as I remember, Stun is capable of pushing a hero into negative Action Points, but this is a temporary bug – any negative position on the Action Points is reset when any unit's turn begins.

I imagine it something like this: you choose a Light specialization, and within that Light specialization, you can also upgrade to a full Chaos specialization, or other things from Light and Chaos. The same with Darkness and Summoning.

No, the decision was made to abandon skill-based dampening altogether. For the same reason of redundancy: the power of a spell is weakened through Weakness, and there is already a perk for that (and a powerful one – the penalty will be 50% to spellcasting).
So, all that remains of the actual dampening is dampening perks.

I absolutely don't understand why you would invest more than a couple of perks in countering something specific (which each school of magic is individually). And together with the native skill-based dampening mechanic, that's how it worked – the player invested up to 6 (!!!) perks just to ban 1 school.

The closest example of a specific counter is the counter to archers. There are 2 perks: one is Dodge (-30% ranged damage) from Defense, the second is Mist Veil (-30% initiative) from Logistics. The player can invest in one of them (if they are worried), or invest in both (if they are 100% sure that there will be many archers). In this case, with just 2 perks, they will deal with enemy archers with 70% damage and 70% initiative, so their influence on the battle per unit of time is already reduced by half. Why counter even more? Any specific counter of more than 1-2 perks is redundant.

Is there a single place where I can find complete information about the current game mechanics, creatures, and skill tree?

Oh, news! I was very happy to see something new on the forum.

By the way, is the bug with "Last Hero" still present? (This is when the Archangel didn't resurrect anyone after the animation, which essentially negated the perk.)

There is no full information yet. Haven't looked at bugs yet. I will start updating the skills (will add to the thread header later):

ATTACK (10/20/30%)
1) Battle Frenzy (+1) -> Cold Steel (+10%)
2) Archery (30%) -> Offensive Style (each hero on the battlefield receives +3 attack)
3) Tactics (+1) -> Offensive Hird

Fire Arrows removed. Haste Magic removed. Retribution in Leadership.

DEFENSE (10/20/30%)
1) Fortitude (+2) -> Endurance (+10% health)
2) Evasion (30%) -> Defensive Style (each hero on the battlefield receives +3 defense)
3) Readiness -> Defensive Hird

Shield Wall removed. Reflection removed. Stone Skin removed. Fight to the Last in Leadership.

LEADERSHIP (1/2/3), not available to undead heroes
1) Inspiration (50%) -> Retribution (5%)
2) Recruitment -> Fight to the Last
3) Diplomacy -> Empathy (10%)

Recruitment: for every 4 hero levels (including those already gained), creatures of levels 1-3 join the hero (+3/+2/+1).
Diplomacy: before battle, part of the creatures from the enemy's strongest stack join the hero for the duration of the battle, with a total cost not exceeding 250 gold per hero level. If there is no room, they leave the battlefield.
Treasury removed. Speed Aura in Logistics.

LUCK (1/2/3, 50% luck bonus)
1) Soldier's Luck -> Critical Luck (100% luck bonus)
2) Luck of the Road -> Magic Luck (when luck triggers, mana is not spent)
3) Magic Resistance -> Double Resistance (dwarven luck)

Luck of the Road: for every 4 levels (including those already gained), the hero receives a random minor artifact.
War Trophies removed. Asha's Favor removed. Arcane Luck in racial.

LOGISTICS (10/20/30% bonus to hero's map movement and to unit speed at the start of battle)
1) War Path (+1 initiative) -> Speed Aura (+1 speed)
2) Scouting (-1 initiative) -> Fog Veil (-30% to enemy shooter initiative)
3) Looting (-1 speed) -> Storm Wind (-2 speed and -20% to enemy flyer initiative)

Scouting: additionally, in battle against an enemy hero, his troops receive a -1 penalty to initiative.
Looting: additionally, in battle against an enemy hero, his troops receive a -1 penalty to speed.
Navigation removed. Pathfinding removed. Silent Stalker removed. Death March removed. Acute Mind in Sorcery. Surprise Attack in Light Magic.

ENGINEERING (+100/200/300% machine health and +1/2/3 attack for shooters per cart).
1) Ballistics -> Rapid Fire
2) First Aid -> Plague Tent
3) Artillery -> Elite Machines (+3 machine initiative)

Ballistics, First Aid, Artillery do not double the health of the respective machines.
Tent healing depends on the hero's level and does not depend on the Engineering skill.
Ballista damage depends on the hero's stats (Attack + Knowledge) and does not depend on the Engineering skill.
Artillery (catapult): additionally, before battle on open field, kills 10% of enemy creatures (rounded down).
Sulfur Rain removed. Earthquake removed.

Added after 10 minutes
Comments: updates are highlighted in bold.
Offensive and Defensive Hirds added - due to the fact that it became possible to use them not only for dwarves (bonuses are twice as strong as in the original).
Haste Magic, Stone Skin removed - to standardize basic skills for all races, including orcs. A possibility is moving them to racial.
For the same reason, Arcane Luck is moved to racial (too situational, and useless for orcs).
Replacing Arcane Luck, Magic Luck is added, allowing significant mana savings (in fact, with +5 luck, the hero spends mana half as often!).
Receiving random artifacts is now moved from Logistics to Luck (perk Luck of the Road).
The mechanics of Diplomacy are changed: now it directly affects battle, allowing the use of enemy troops.
Logistics will give a combat bonus to the hero's troops (bonus to starting ATB).
All perks in Logistics now revolve around bonuses and penalties to initiative and speed; Storm Wind and Fog Veil are also placed here.

Please note that a large number of perks are being cleaned out. In order to simplify leveling and leave only truly interesting perks in the game.
Target - 6 perks per skill, without level 3 perks.

Added after 3 hours 29 minutes
ENLIGHTENMENT (+2/4/6 random stats), not available to orcs
1) Counterspell -> Distraction (30%)
2) Intelligence (+40% max mana) -> Academic Style (each hero on the battlefield receives +3 knowledge)
3) Scholar -> Mentoring (+6 hero level)

Scholar: additionally, the hero learns 1 random level 1-2 spell for every 2 levels, including those already gained.
Dark Revelation removed. Keeper of Secrets removed. Secret Unraveled removed (possible transfer of the perk to specialty).

RESISTANCE (+10/20/30% to creature health), available only to orcs
1) Light Weakening (-50% magic) -> Light Corruption (+100% cost)
2) Dark Weakening (-50% magic) -> Dark Corruption (+100% cost)
3) Summon Weakening (-50% magic) -> Summon Corruption (+100% cost)

New orc skill, replacing 4 dampenings. All wards removed.

SORCERY (10/20/30%), not available to orcs
1) Arcane Knowledge (-20% spell cost for hero) -> Elite Warlocks (-50% spell cost for warlocks in the army)
2) Mysticism (+1) -> Wisdom
3) Acute Mind (30%) -> Sorcerer Style (each hero on the battlefield receives +3 spellpower)

Mysticism: each turn in combat, the hero restores 1 mana, and after battle, the hero restores all mana to maximum.
Wisdom: additionally, the hero learns 1 random level 3 spell for every 4 levels, including those already gained.
Arcane Advantage removed. Arcane Revelation removed. Volatile Mana removed. Distraction moved to Enlightenment. Counterspell moved to Enlightenment.

WAR CRIES (10/20/30%), available only to orcs
1) Arcane Knowledge (20%) -> Elite Warlocks (50%)
2) Mysticism (1) -> Mighty Cry (+6 hero level)
3) Cry of Rage -> Distraction (30%)

LIGHT MAGIC (3/4/5), not available to orcs
1) Master of Wrath -> Surprise Attack
2) Master of Blessings -> Eternal Light (additionally +regeneration)
3) Master of Protection -> Seal of Light (additionally +holy word)

Fire Protection in racial. Twilight in racial. Secrets of Light in Sorcery. Storm Wind in Logistics.

DARK MAGIC (3/4/5), not available to orcs
1) Master of Pain -> Spiritual Bond (additionally +vampirism)
2) Master of Curses -> Weakness of Darkness (additionally +sorrow)
3) Master of Mind -> Seal of Darkness (additionally +unholy word)

Dark Regeneration removed (critical bug). Tormenting Strike in racial.

DESTRUCTIVE MAGIC (3/4/5), not available to orcs
1) Master of Fire -> Mana Explosion (additionally +wall of fire) / Pyrokinesis (additionally +armageddon)
2) Master of Ice -> Deadly Cold (additionally +stopping cold)
3) Master of Lightning

Secrets of Chaos removed. Fire Fury removed. Magic Exhaustion removed.

SUMMONING MAGIC (3/4/5), not available to orcs
1) Master of Earth -> Cursed Ground (additionally +earthquake)
2) Master of Life -> Heavenly Shield
3) Master of Elements -> Elemental Balance (additionally +elementals)

Banishment removed. Exorcism removed. Fire Warriors removed. Fog Veil in Logistics.

Do the changes take effect only after downloading the file from the header? Which .exe file is it?

Artillery (catapult): additionally, before the battle in an open field, it kills 10% of the enemy creatures (rounding down).

Wouldn't it be better to make it similar to Leto's passive ability? Otherwise, it seems too straightforward. The difference could be that Leto's passive ability randomly selects a unit, while this ability could target random cells. And there probably needs to be some dependence on the characteristics, because the armies differ in both quantity and characteristics, and the catapult is always one, and simply mowing down 10% seems strange.

To make the changes take effect, do I need to download the file from the header? Which exe file?

The changes will take effect after the release, and for now, the discussion is ongoing.

Maybe it would be better to make it similar to Letos's passive ability? Otherwise, it seems too straightforward. The difference could be that Letos's passive ability randomly selects a unit, while this ability can attack random cells. And perhaps some dependence on characteristics is needed, because the armies differ in both quantity and characteristics, and the catapult is always one, and simply mowing down 10% seems strange.

Is there a need to complicate the formulas for the skill's operation in any way?
Currently, the catapult works mainly against low-level, numerous troops, and for high-level troops, the rounding goes to 0.

Is there a need to complicate the skill's formula in any way?
Currently, the catapult works mainly against low-level, numerous troops, and for high-level troops, the rounding goes to 0.

This approach, in a way, devalues low-level creatures. I remember you once said that one of the key ideas of your mod was taken from chess - that is, creating threats and deflecting them. And with this skill, it's unclear - there is a threat, but how do you deflect it? It feels like such an ultimate skill doesn't fit into the overall concept.

This approach, in a way, devalues low-level creatures. I remember you mentioning that one of the key ideas behind your mod was taken from chess – creating threats and countering them. And with this skill, it's unclear – there's a threat, but how do you counter it? It feels like such an ultimate skill doesn't fit into the overall concept.

Low-level creatures also have positive perks: battle frenzy, resilience, and troop gathering.
And high-level creatures have negative perks as well: deadly cold.
Artillery is at its strongest in the late game and weakest in the early game.
Furthermore, there's a way to defend against it by using rounding when splitting units: for example, splitting Knights into 9+9 instead of a single unit of 18.
Or you can focus on high-level troops and avoid losses using the method described above.
Does artillery seem so powerful that it needs additional defensive measures?

Doesn't artillery seem powerful enough as a perk that it doesn't need any additional protective measures?

It's best to judge the power of a skill based on, let's say, real-world testing. What bothers me about it is its inevitability; there doesn't seem to be anything similar at all.
And by the way, I wonder if it's technically possible to split a unit into stacks during the preparation stage of a battle? If so, I think such an option would be a good fit for the Tactics perk.

Looks like we'll have to bring Fortress back into the game, because Readiness needs to be moved to the Human racial; this perk is too obviously tied to the strength of retaliations.
Counterstrike will grant +50/100/150% to retaliation damage, so creatures under Readiness will be able to retaliate with 250% strength. However, Readiness will not work against no-retaliation attacks (this option will be specifically disabled).

Fortress will double the defense bonus, i.e., from +50% defense to +100% (for Ancient Ents from +100% to +200%).
With normal defense, incoming damage in WGE is reduced by about half, and with fortified defense, it will be reduced by a factor of 3.

Let's see where such a powerful emphasis on defense leads; if necessary, defensive bonuses can be weakened.

Let's consider examples.
Suppose both sides have heroes with attack and defense 5/5.
Also, conditionally, there are creatures of category A (attack/defense 5/5, total 10/10). Creatures of category B (15/15, total 20/20). And creatures of category C (25/25, total 30/30).

Creatures A take 100% damage from A, 200% damage from B (difference +10), 300% damage from C (difference +20).
When defending (+5), creatures A take 67% damage from A (reduction factor 1.5), 150% damage from B (reduction factor 1.33), 250% damage from C (reduction factor 1.2). Average damage reduction - factor of 1.3 ( -25%).
With Fortress (+10), creatures A take 50% damage from A (reduction factor 2), 100% damage from B (reduction factor 2), 200% damage from C (reduction factor 1.5). Average damage reduction - factor of 1.8 ( -45%).

Creatures B take 50% damage from A (difference -10), 100% damage from B, 200% damage from C (difference +10).
When defending (+10), creatures B take 33% damage from A (reduction factor 1.5), 50% damage from B (reduction factor 2), 100% damage from C (reduction factor 2). Average damage reduction - factor of 1.8 ( -45%).
With Fortress (+20), creatures B take 25% damage from A (reduction factor 2), 33% damage from B (reduction factor 3), 50% damage from C (reduction factor 4). Average damage reduction - factor of 2.8 ( -64%).

Creatures C take 33% damage from A (difference -20), 50% damage from B (difference -10), 100% damage from C.
When defending (+15), creatures C take 22% damage from A (reduction factor 1.5), 28% damage from B (reduction factor 1.75), 40% damage from C (reduction factor 2.5). Average damage reduction - factor of 1.8 ( -45%).
With Fortress (+30), creatures C take 17% damage from A (reduction factor 2), 20% damage from B (reduction factor 2.5), 25% damage from C (reduction factor 4). Average damage reduction - factor of 2.6 ( -62%).

Thus, even against Fortress, properly matched attackers reduce damage only by a factor of 1.5 (against A - attacker C) or 2 (against B and C - attacker A).
And of course, abilities that ignore defense will work excellently: magic damage, defense burn (-50% defense) and defense bypass (up to -100% defense).

Added after 5 hours 45 minutes

ATTACK (10/20/30%)
1) Battle Frenzy -> Cold Steel
2) Archery (30%) -> Offensive Style (+3 attack to each hero on the battlefield)
3) Tactics -> Offensive Hird

DEFENSE (10/20/30%)
1) Endurance -> Stamina (+10% health)
2) Evasion (30%) -> Defensive Style (+3 defense to each hero on the battlefield)
3) Fortress (x2) -> Defensive Hird

LEADERSHIP (1/2/3), unavailable to Undead
1) Encouragement (50%) -> Retribution
2) Troop Gathering -> Fight to the Last
3) Diplomacy -> Empathy

Troop Gathering: for every 4 hero levels (including those already gained), creatures of levels 1-3 join him (+3/+2/+1).
Diplomacy: before battle, creatures from a stack already in his army, but of a different upgrade, join the hero for the duration of the battle, for a total value no greater than 500 gold per hero level.

LUCK (1/2/3, 50% luck bonus)
1) Soldier's Luck -> Critical Luck (100% luck bonus)
2) Traveler's Luck -> Magic Luck (when luck triggers, the hero does not spend mana)
3) Magic Resistance -> Double Resistance (Dwarven Luck)

Soldier's Luck: additional +1 luck.
Traveler's Luck: for every 4 levels (including those already gained), the hero receives a random minor artifact.

LOGISTICS (10/20/30% bonus to hero movement on map and to unit speed at start of battle)
1) Path of War (+1 initiative) -> Aura of Speed
2) Scouting (additional penalty to enemy hero -1 initiative) -> Fog Veil (-30% ini)
3) Marauding (additional penalty to enemy hero -1 speed) -> Storm Wind

ENGINEERING (+100/200/300% machine health and +1/2/3 attack to shooters per wagon).
1) Ballistics -> Rapid Fire
2) First Aid -> Plague Tent
3) Artillery -> Elite Machines (Rune Machines)

Ballista damage and tent healing do not depend on the Engineering skill.
Ballistics, First Aid, Artillery do not double the health of the corresponding machines.
Artillery (catapult): additionally, before battle in the open field, kills 10% of the opponent's creatures (killed rounded down).

EDUCATION (+2/4/6 random parameters), unavailable to Orcs
1) Counterspell -> Distraction (30%)
2) Intelligence (+40% max mana) -> Scholarly Style (+3 knowledge to each hero on the battlefield)
3) Scholar -> Wisdom

Scholar: additionally, the hero learns 1 random level 1-2 spell per every 2 levels, including those already gained.
Wisdom: additionally, the hero learns 1 random level 3 spell per every 4 levels, including those already gained.
When knowledge changes, the hero's mana always scales: NewMana = OldMana * (NewKnowledge / OldKnowledge).

RESISTANCE (+10/20/30% to creature health), available only to Orcs
1) Weaken Light (-50%) -> Corrupt Light (+100%)
2) Weaken Darkness (-50%) -> Corrupt Darkness (+100%)
3) Weaken Summoning (-50%) -> Corrupt Summoning (+100%)

SORCERY (10/20/30%), unavailable to Orcs
1) Arcane Knowledge -> Elite Wizards (Secrets of Light)
2) Mysticism -> Mana Explosion
3) Keen Mind (30%) -> Sorcerous Style (+3 spell power to each hero on the battlefield)

Mysticism: each hero turn in battle restores 2 mana, but this bonus is lost after battle.

BATTLE CRIES (10/20/30%), available only to Orcs
1) Arcane Knowledge -> Elite Wizards
2) Mysticism -> Mana Explosion
3) Cry of Rage -> Mighty Shout

LIGHT MAGIC (3/4/5), unavailable to Orcs
1) Giver of Wrath -> Surprise Attack
2) Giver of Boon -> Eternal Light (additional +regeneration)
3) Giver of Protection -> Seal of Light (additional +holy word)

DARK MAGIC (3/4/5), unavailable to Orcs
3) Master of Minds -> Dark Recovery (additional +vampirism)
2) Master of Curses -> Dark Weakness (additional +sorrow)
3) Master of Pain -> Seal of Darkness (additional +unholy word)

CHAOS MAGIC (3/4/5), unavailable to Orcs
1) Master of Fire -> Pyrokinesis (additional +fire wall)
2) Master of Ice (40%) -> Deadly Cold (additional +stopping cold)
3) Master of Lightning (60%) -> Magic Exhaustion (additional +armageddon)

SUMMONING MAGIC (3/4/5), unavailable to Orcs
1) Master of Earth -> Cursed Ground (additional +earthquake)
2) Master of Life -> Shield of Immortality (Rune Shield)
3) Master of Elements -> Elemental Balance (additional +elementals)

COUNTERSTRIKE (+50/100/150%), available only to Humans
1) Double Strike -> Oversight
2) Prayer -> Guardian Angel
3) Readiness (does not work against no-retaliation attacks)

Double Strike: double damage from hero attacks.

OCCULTISM (additional +1/2/3 mana at start of battle per hero level, this bonus is lost after battle), available only to Dark Elves
1) Mark of the Cursed -> Weakening Strike
2) Fallen
3) Wave of Arcane -> Sense of Elements (Warlock only) or Arcane Luck (Assassin and Witch only)

DEMONOLOGY (50% for levels 1-2/4/6), available only to Demons
1) Fast Gate -> Wide Gate
2) Hellfire -> Desiccating Flame
3) Corpse Eater

RUNES (additionally, exactly 6 of each resource are granted per battle), available only to Dwarves
1) Renewed Rune
2) Greatest Rune (200%) -> Rune Harmony
3) Completed Rune (discount does not work on the Greatest) -> Rune Cooldown

Now the resources for using runes in each battle are fixed and effectively do not depend on the map (you can freely use the racial for clearing, and in the final battle there won't be an imbalance).

AVENGER (chance of double damage 50%, sworn enemies are tied to the whole tier - by default 1/2/3), available only to Elves
1) Enchanted Arrow -> Enchanted Ballista
2) Forest Leader (during battle, hero level is considered +5 higher)
3) Deadly Shot -> Rain of Arrows

BLOOD RAGE (30% damage absorption), available only to Orcs
1) Blood Memory -> Battle Frenzy
2) Fire of Rage
3) Reinforcement -> Stun (50%)

NECROMANCY (10/15/20%), available only to Undead
1) Banshee Wail -> Deadly Misfortune (-2)
2) Lord of Death (1 Death Knight joins the hero per every 2 levels, including those already gained)
3) Spiritual Connection -> Grave Cold (20%)

CRAFT (additionally grants 1/2/3 random resources per every 2 hero levels; wood and ore bonus is double), available only to Wizards
1) Wizard's Mark
2) Artifact Absorption -> Machine Devotion (additional +1 morale)
3) Magic Mirror -> Unraveling Secrets

Now Wizards will be able to craft mini-artifacts, compensating for the damage done to the economy (or conversely, boost the economy with crafts instead of troops).
The cost of crafting mini-artifacts is reduced by 5 times, and the bonuses from mini-artifacts are fixed and do not depend on knowledge. Thus, early crafting of mini-artifacts is now justified.

Added after 13 hours 20 minutes

Decided to compare 2 skill variants:
1) 6 perks without forks (each t1 goes to one t2 perk)
2) 7 perks with a fork (one of the t1 skills leads to two t2 perks)

So, from the point of view of the difficulty of leveling a given build of 3 perks (t1, t1, t2), provided that all other skills except the target one are already closed, the chances are as follows:
1) 97% for a skill without forks
2) 69% if the build includes a forked t2

This is a colossal difference.
Thus, skills with 7 perks, which look nice, create significant difficulties and a high risk of not hitting the desired progression (with 10-11 possible combinations of 3 perks).
And simpler skills, with 6 perks without forks, are very convenient to level up (with 7 possible combinations of 3 perks).

If a 7th t3 perk is added to a forkless skill, it will drop the leveling chance from 97 to 82% (if the player needs to level a t2-perk before it, and another t1).
That is, t3 perks are almost as bad as forks.

Came to the conclusion that a skill with 6 perks without forks (3 t1 perks + 3 t2 perks) is the ideal variant, having sufficiently good diversity with maximum leveling convenience.

Added after 15 hours 3 minutes
Updated the skill descriptions in the post above.
All forks removed, racial skills now have 5 perks each (the rest have 6).

The mechanics of racial skills have been reworked so that the racial works from the first days of the game, even before building the corresponding structures.
- Humans: the entire emphasis is on retaliation damage, not on training (which is attached only as an additional city-dependent option).
- Elves: racial enemies are assigned automatically by 1-3 tiers (depending on the level of the skill). The city building only gives the opportunity to change these tiers. There are technical nuances here; perhaps in the end it will work a little differently, but the essence is the same.
- Dwarves: rune resources are decoupled from the map, and heroes will be given 1 random level 1 rune from the start, thus, using runes will be possible from the first days.
- Wizards: regardless of building the Artifact Forge, Wizards will be able to receive resources from their racial from the first days of the game.
- Dark Elves: the racial skill is now tied to gaining mana, rather than being a dummy leveled up later through perks and buildings.

The stats of heroes in duels are planned to be reduced from 9/7/5/3 to 8/6/4/2. This will bring them closer to the stats that heroes of an average level (8) should have.
This will affect the amount of mana heroes have: from 10 to 40. From this amount, a squad of imps (50 units) will steal 5 mana each.
The spells will cost accordingly:
- 1st level = 1 mana
- 2nd level = 2-3 mana
- 3rd level = 4-6 mana
- 4th level = 8-12 mana
- 5th level = 15-25 mana

I think it would be worth trying to introduce free spells costing 0 mana into the game (some of the 1st-level spells: Dodge, Distraction (50%), Arrow, Fist). These spells would be significantly weaker than spells costing 1 mana and would serve as an alternative to the hero's attack.

Good news: the next release will be literally any day now. However, it will focus specifically on the economic component (the arena is a city-building simulator).
The base is already a working map plus updated city schemes. Those interested in economics in Heroes and city building can give it a try.
Such a release can be made very quickly, allowing further work to proceed.

Map announcement from 2017:

Very cool news: during the development of the arena (which is currently being made by Foenix), it turned out to be technically possible to implement customizable serial city building over 1 day; this opens up the fundamental possibility to control not only the upgrade build, but also the city build—specifically, adjusting the amount of resources/magic/specific units and their upgrades in the city, tailoring it to a chosen strategy. There will no longer be questions about where random troop growths come from, as in RTA. The element of randomness can be preserved here by granting random resources each building turn.

How it works:
- via the city menu: enter city + (press "build"/B + buy building) repeat for every construction
- if it is necessary to skip a "turn" without building (accumulating resources), simply exit the city and have the hero visit the corresponding turn-skip object

Technically, this is implemented via scripts through a city transform that resets the fact of building on that day.

First player:
- start tavern + fort/guild (depending on race)
- 16 turns for building (7 first week, 7 second week, 2 third week)
Second player:
- start tavern + fort/guild + town hall
- 15 turns for building (7 first week, 7 second week, 1 third week)

On the 7th and 14th building turn, a pause is applied, allowing troops to be bought before they burn at the start of the next week. Firstly, this reflects WGE standard realities (unbought troops cannot be accumulated in the city), and secondly, it creates gold tension during the building phase, where you worry not only about maxing out meat growth but also about managing to buy them by the end of the corresponding week. Thirdly, the pause serves as a convenient marker that the building week has ended and a new one begins.

+

Update on the resource generation system.
Now, the chances of receiving resources directly depend on how much of that resource the player currently possesses.
Chance of generating 1 portion of a resource = (15-X)%, where X is the amount of that resource held by the player (2 times less for wood/ore).
Each building turn (including the first) generates 10 portions of resources. In the end, after construction finishes, an additional 30 portions of resources + 30 thousand gold are generated (simulating visiting utopias).
One portion may contain:
- 1 rare resource
- 2 wood or ore
- 500 gold (if no other resource was rolled)

The constant 15 is the base drop chance for a common resource; different races may have values of 20 or 25 for specialized resources (for example, humans have 20 for wood, ore, and crystals).

Player starting resources: 3 thousand gold, 6 each of wood/ore, 3 of each rare resource.

A fundamentally important rule—the more of a resource we spend, the faster it regenerates, and vice versa.
Each unit of spent resource increases the generation chance by 1% (wood or ore by 0.5%) in each portion.
Resource regeneration:
- 26% over 3 days (30 portions)
- 51% over 7 days (70 portions)
- 76% over 14 days (140 portions)
- 84% for the entire time from start to finish (150+30 = 180 portions)
This means that with an 84% probability, a resource spent on the first day will return to the player during the entire building process.

+

Added ROI for creatures built in weeks 1-2:
- Week 1 Garrison provides gold income at the end of week 2 equal to its cost
- Week 2 Garrison provides gold income at the end of construction (week 3) equal to its cost
Thus, creatures bought in week 1 pay off twice (ultimately bringing profit), while creatures from week 2 compensate for their hiring cost. Creatures bought in week 3 bring no income.
The additional gold grant at the end of construction has been reduced from 30 to 20 thousand.

ROI for early creatures allows meat builds to compete on equal footing with economic ones (with forced Capitol placement in week 1). This simulates a standard situation, as the more creatures we buy in the early stages of the game, the stronger mobs we can break and the more gold we can collect. Thanks to this, placing upgrades in the first week has become more profitable than in the second (and even more so than in the third), not by total meat bonus (which is constant), but by ROI.

City schemes are already ready (on paper); transferring them is a matter of technique (I've already transferred the first Castle). Old prices can be left for now; it's not critical for release and testing.
Scripts for the new growth mechanics are already implemented and working (fort, Stronghold +100/200% growths for tiers 1-3, Castle +100% growths for tiers 4-6).

The only thing left to figure out is the final building day. In 2 weeks, a city can be built exactly 50% (14 out of 28 buildings, not counting the 4 starting ones).
It's definitely not the second week, as such terms only allow for troops totaling 40-60 thousand (1-1.5 times more than in duels).
And it's definitely not the fourth week, as there would be too much meat.
So, an optimal day on the third week will need to be chosen (or a random value from 1 to 7 can be set, totaling 15-21 building days).
The specificity of the third week is that it's no longer profitable to place basic dwellings (they won't have time to pay off); effectively, this is the week for polishing the main build (upgrades, Mage Guild, same auxiliary buildings).

Added after 23 minutes
Update: I'm thinking of making the last building day exactly 21 (end of week 3), without receiving week 4 growths. Then up to 80% of all buildings will be constructed (25 out of 32). If for some reason the income branch was ignored in weeks 1-2, then constructing a Capitol on week 3 even from scratch will still make sense for the build (ROI for Town Hall is 2 days, Magistrate and Capitol are 3 days).

I'll also add:

A rating system has been introduced to evaluate the comprehensive efficiency of builds (meat, magic, spells). The rating is shown when visiting the Thieves Guild after construction ends.
Calculation principle:
= (total value of bought meat) / 10k
+ (total remaining gold) / 20k
+ magic
+ auxiliary (racial, smithy)

I'm thinking of making the Market a free building that only takes 1 day. This is the cheapest building, valued at approximately +250 gold income per day (on average, I think the utility of the Market is lower than that of the Town Hall, which increases income by +500 gold per day).
In this format, building a market will be equivalent to "skipping" a day without construction; for convenience, such a market can be rebuilt as many times as desired, however, it will only provide +1 to city level (as for real construction) after the first build. The ability to exchange resources at a 1:5 rate (as with 3 markets) is available on the map via an external market, which can only be activated if a Market was built in the city (i.e., at least 1 building turn was skipped).
Currently, the city Market on the map works almost exactly like this (as a skip of a day without construction); the only difficulty is how to technically increase the city level by +1 (probably try via an invisible Shipyard).

Added after 15 minutes
The general sense of city building turns out to be this:
- in week 1, main troops are placed (even t7 is available in week 1)
- in week 2, additional troops are placed
- in week 3, the build is polished (upgrades, income, magic)
Although upgrades and income are relevant in weeks 1-2 as well (both convert to extra gold), the Mage Guild in this format is specifically tailored for week 3.
Perhaps it makes sense to add guild floors to the garrison income to motivate building the MG in weeks 1-2. Then the fundamental difference between the MG and the same income branch would be that ROI comes not gradually, but in the long term (for MG in week 1—end of week 2; for MG in week 2—end of week 3).
Writing these scripts wouldn't take long either.

It would also be good to refine the ROI of the Smithy through the purchase of war machines (and add their total cost to the garrison income).
But these refinements (for the Smithy and MG) are non-essential; the primary release can proceed without them.