I think it would be wiser not to make a mod right away, but to discuss the balance of ideas without it in order to make a mod with a minimum number of errors and fixes.
So, I will only be guided by my own choice of upgrades, and where my choice is unambiguous, I will write my ideas for buffs or debuffs to creatures so that my choice ceases to be unambiguous.
Humans: 1) There's no point in upgrading Peasants. I always leave them in the town, not leading them into battle, because they generate income, and I'm a cheapskate with money. So instead of Shield Bash and Stunning Strike, I would do this: Soldier: 2 gold each day per 1 creature. Mayor: 1 gem per month per 1 creature (because with creature growth, there would be too many gems).
2) Of course, the Crossbowman deals good damage to armored targets up close, and the Sniper at range, but what prevents the enemy from never approaching them? Instead of Precision Shot, I would add damage: 4to8 (+2 to minimum), thereby making him not as accurate as the Sniper and therefore stronger. Well, for the Sniper I would do: 5to5 because how can he deal less damage if he is a sniper? Snipers hit exactly where they need to. They see all the enemy's weaknesses from afar.
3) The Swordsman upgrades are ideal. I realized this on a map with few resources, whereas before I always took Crusaders.
4) I would also make the Battle Griffin's dive unlimited, because in PvP maps everyone just runs away with shooters from two rows, and therefore it, like the Royal Griffin's dive, has the right to unlimited attempts. But the damage, of course, should be less than the Royal Griffin's dive, namely 24 times less, because the Battle Griffin's dive covers 24 cells. Also, I would remove the other abilities from both Griffins, since everyone will always save the Griffin by lifting it into the air and will never fight with it.
5) Inquisitor: Dispel, Adept: Retribution and Blessing. Mana for 1 cast of each spell. Creature stats are equal. Let the player's choice be purely based on the spell book.
6) An ideal choice. Just need to rename Isabel's Knights to Champions. Because outside the campaign, they are ours, not hers).
7) Resurrection depends on the number of Archangels, and Vengeance depends on the number of killed creatures. Attention, question: what is greater: the losses of each squad or the number of Archangels? The answer is obvious. Firstly, I leave only Divine Vengeance for Seraphims and take away Retribution: Adepts already have it. Secondly, I give Archangels the Regeneration spell instead of Resurrection and mana for 1 cast.
Inferno: 1) Mana is more important for the hero than creatures because his spells are more powerful, but the hero can take Corpse Eating, making the Imp unnecessary. Conclusion: a good choice.
2) Remove Explosion, give Fire Resistance. Yes, I know this is in another mod, but it's logical and easily comes to mind.
3) An ideal choice. On/off breath, because it can harm your own).
4) As I wrote above, I make the choice, and since I choose the Arch-Succubus and not the Demoness, that means I'll buff the Succubi: Seduction is no longer a mind spell and can be used infinitely in the sense that you can cast it, but control only one squad, provided that the target's squad does not exceed the number of the Succubi squad. Damage: 1-2, so that the main strength lies in control.
5) Seriously? Offer me Fear or Poison? In short, for Nightmares: damage: 7-14(-3) because their ability is tied to their number, so that their harm is completely dependent on their quantity.
As for the Aura of Fear, I don't like the local morale. Moving initiative around like this is useless. Yes, it's faster, but it's still sometimes slower than the enemy, breaking the very point of the upgrade. I unfortunately understand that the game mechanics cannot be changed. So we simply remove the Aura of Fear so that: "Oh, don't disgrace yourselves! You should be ashamed of such an ability!" and we give the Fearsome +1 initiative.
6) Calculation: 40 Peasants with 3 HP each. 120 HP. 31 damage + Death Blade will leave only nine Peasants alive now, while an Arch Devil will leave as many as 18 Peasants. Twice as many! How is that acceptable? My tier 7 is weaker than tier 6... also, the Pit Lord will cast Orb and Meteor only once and be left without the Warlock's ability. So let the Lord of the Abyss be completely dependent on his sword: damage: 1-3. Now 11 Peasants will remain alive, which is still more than the Arch Devil, but still just as dependent on the ability as the Pit Lord.
7) Oh, developers, it would have been better if the Arch Demon summoned Lords of the Abyss from corpses as an alternative to summoning Pit Lords... well, what is there is there... I'll leave fixing this creature to you.
Gate summoning is not performed through walls during a town siege.
Necromancer: 1) Of course, due to their shooting, Skeleton Archers will be attacked, while Macemen will not be touched by anyone, and so the choice could be called ideal, but still, the shooters deal more damage over their lifetime. I'll give the Maceman No Retaliation, because shooters also don't get a melee counterattack.
2) Cough or Sweat? I always choose Cough. Let the second Zombie be a spellcaster with Frailty for 1 cast. This will allow the player to choose: always active, but in melee, or once from afar?
3) Seriously? Take away enemy ammo with a cart? Poltergeists, don't disgrace yourselves. I'll give you Vampiric Touch instead.
4) Remove No Retaliation from Vampire and Vampire Lord, remove Blindness from Vampire Prince but give him No Retaliation. Give Vampire Lord Cleaver. Like, he loves blood more).
5) Archliches: take away the spell book. Higher Liches: leave only Raising.
6) How often does the enemy have a status effect? How often do Messengers deal less damage than 1 Victim? How many enemies are there without morale? Okay, Banshee, I'll reduce the ability range from three to 1, and we're even.
7) Don't disgrace yourselves, both dragons, with your abilities. I don't even know which one is worse. I've already written above how I feel about Morale. I'll give you both Ethereal, equalize all stats to the Bone Dragon, and then give the Ghost Dragon: +2 attack, and the Spectral Dragon: +2 defense.
Necromancy brings only Skeleton Archers in the amount of 10% of the total enemies defeated in battle, 20%, 100%. Dark Energy is removed. Endless Slavery now gives +1%.
With the hero skill "Messenger of Death", 20% of the joined squad become Skeleton Archers, and 80% attack. Flooding mines with ghosts is removed from the game.
Dungeon: Ideal upgrades. Just: 1) Assassin, Ninja, and Spy. 3) +1 for yourself or +1 for allies? Well, for yourself it's one squad, but around allies there are several squads. So let it be +1 Morale for allies with an Aura of Bravery, and Cowardice for himself, because the allies absorbed all his own courage).
5) Remove all spells from Night Mistresses except Invisibility, give them Ranged Attack with damage: 16-19.
Sylvan: Ideal upgrades. Except maybe remove Battle Dance from Death Dancers and give them Cavalry Bonus. The choice will be: run for yourself or against the enemy. Rename the ability to Run-Up.
Druid-Elk: only Spikes, Blue one: only Lightning. Both: Mana Channel.
Reduce the Vengeance requirement for the Ranger to: only 1 creature is needed. Because otherwise his ability activates later, while for others it's immediate.
Academy: 1) Sabotage and Repair are both one-time use. The amount of Golem and Gargoyle repair: target's total HP = total HP of Master Gremlins, rounded in the enemy's favor.
2) I don't use Gargoyles.
3) Battle Dance for Steel Golems. Healing of the Obsidian Golem = cost of the spell cast on it. The Obsidian Golem is not a machine, so the Master Gremlin cannot repair it. Otherwise, there are too many ways to heal.)
4) Warlocks: remove Spell Cleansing and Smiting Strike. Otherwise, it's like a hybrid of an Adept and an Inquisitor that has also been upgraded. Also remove Spell Cleansing from Battle Mages. Remove Chain Strike from the entire Mage branch, but give 1 ammo to the Mage, 2 ammo to the Warlock, and 3 ammo to the Battle Mage. Due to this, the price of the cart for Academy: +100 gold.
5) Remove the building that gives +2 growth and +500 gold. Otherwise, the Academy's high cost is not felt as strongly.
6) Lion Cubs: remove No Retaliation, since it's not upgraded. Lion - doesn't change, Yellow Lion: remove Whirlwind and Rush, but give Battle Dance. Why have two upgrades with the same ability, especially since Rush was even more useful for the Yellow one? Equalize the stats of both lions.
7) Titan: make Lightning a one-time use. Otherwise, shoot, ranged attack isn't needed otherwise. Colossus: the Cloud doesn't hit your own, lasts 7 turns.
Dwarves: 1) Man, the Warrior is tough. So: -1 speed and initiative. Mountain Guard: if his calling is to stand guard, then he certainly doesn't need to move: -1 speed and -2 initiative.
2) I still won't take Harpooners. Change them yourselves.
3) Ideal choice) Enemy retreat distance adjustment)
4) Ideal.
5) Remove Wall of Fire and Mark from Arcate Priests and give them to Flame Priests. Let all fire belong to him. But the Taunt spell* is cast only by Arcate Priests and at the Expert level with Spellpower 4.
6) Ideal.
7) Ideal.
* - Dodge. Renamed due to a bug against the bot. Also, mana cost increased by 12 and it becomes a tier 5 Conjuration spell.
Horde: 1) Trappers: Trap activates 100%. Shaman: Hex activates 100% and the spell hits the weakest enemy stack.
2) +1 initiative for all three Centaurs. Gaining Frenzy as in melee combat.
3) Ideal.
4) Useless in any case. I'll give them at least +1 damage to all three and No Retaliation attacks for the upgrades.
5) The Chieftain encourages without killing, but only once per battle.
6) Useless in any case. I'll give them Frenzy to all three and an initial Blood pool of 40.
7) Free doesn't shoot goblins, +1 initiative. Bloodeye: deals damage by shooting goblins: 60 damage.
Spells in addition to Taunt: Slow down based on parameters = using Haste parameters for Slow down.
Divine Vengeance is cast once per battle.
Resurrection is cast once per battle but doesn't penalize HP.
Raise Dead works only on undead, raises creatures in the amount of the hero's Spellpower, but is free, yet penalizes HP by 2 times.
Banshee's Wail instead of Morale lowers the initiative of all living creatures by 2% and increases the initiative of dead ones by 2%. It is not a mind spell. The heroine gets +1% for each hero level for Banshee's Wail, and also enhances the Banshee's ability by +2 range when she reaches level 6.
Every spell except Regeneration, Resurrection, Raise Dead, Berserk, Domination, Vampirism, and Blindness has a General version, an Empowered version, and a General Empowered version. If a spell was always mass (e.g., Holy/Unholy Word or Armageddon), then they only have the Empowered version because they are already General. Can you imagine how expensive in mana a General and Empowered spell would be? Example: an Ice Bolt that is both Empowered and General would cost: 24 mana: 6x2 from Empowered and another x2 from being General.
For this, the hero must have the skill: Spell Empowerment and one of the Light skills with the inscription Power of Speed/Master/Lord/Master (explanation: if you want an Empowered General Plague, you need: Spell Empowerer + Lord of Pain; if a Mass Empowered Haste, then Power of Speed + Spell Empowerer. And yes, Spell Empowerment is no longer just for Dark Elves but for everyone and is a Learning skill. Requires an Expert level of Learning.
As compensation to remain the best sorcerers, Dark Elves have their Chain of Elements building effect increased: not 10% but 30%, and each level of Irresistible Magic: +5%.
So, what do you think of these ideas? Write a rebuttal or agreement.
