Posts from Heroes 5 – by Azmadon (Izmail).

I feel sorry for the dogs, but the jumpers turned out well.

I feel sorry for the dogs, but the jumpers turned out well.

Cerberuses will now, like Griffins, become High-tier units. (They are still present, but we don't encounter them in the game). However, they may still return as Neutrals.

I'll add my two cents again... just curious (not trying to convince anyone or anything) - why were the hounds specifically removed from Inferno? I think it was a perfectly logical unit for the faction... and, shall we say, unique (like with the Dwarves, where units 1, 2, and 4 are essentially the same Dwarves, just with different weapons). And why did centaurs suddenly become the embodiment of Inferno?

I'll add my two cents... I'm just curious (I'm not trying to convince anyone or anything) - why were the hounds specifically removed from Inferno? In my opinion, it was a perfectly logical unit for the faction... and, let's say, a unique one (like with the Dwarves, units 1, 2, and 4 are essentially the same Dwarves, just with different weapons). And why did Centaurs suddenly become the embodiment of Inferno? ))))

The changes don't remove units from the story or the world as a whole; they only change the current "doctrine" and the active troop composition.

Since the mod is largely based on gameplay, this is more of a question for the "Dead-End Concept" team. It's difficult to come up with something reasonable based on Cerberuses and Horses that doesn't deviate from their image, but it's easier with a replacement.

Tier 5 doesn't feature Centaurs, but Kerastas (Human-Buffaloes), which is more consistent with the model available in the game. Since their original textures were literally made based on the Inferno Horses and also match the color scheme, there wasn't much to think about. And they look quite natural in this faction. In general, their appearance in the game was clearly inspired by Motaro from Mortal Kombat, which led to the idea of fierce and bloodthirsty tribes living next to Demons; a high tier for them also seems more logical. Since this replacement has been in place for a year or more, they have already been well thought out and tested in terms of gameplay and story.
*from a technical point of view. The Centaurs faithfully served the Horde and carried their burdens; now that the Horde is gone, it would be a shame to discard a good concept... So they found a new job...

So, now it's time to discuss the changes to Inferno creatures.

T1

No significant changes. Imps received Immunity to Fire, Familiars learned to cast "Dispel," but initially have zero mana.

*The main value of imps has only recently begun to be understood and appreciated. Sure, they die in every other battle, but! That's precisely their value — for some unknown reason, they draw all the Boulder throws, shots, and so on onto themselves... and thank you! As we said back then, "Yes! Let them die, even entirely, but the valuable troops will survive and that Boulder won't fall on demonesses, for example. We'll hire more imps later."
*The change to familiars is situational and aimed more at making them useful in situations where you don't have magi in your army. Plus, this still won't give them anything in regular PvE. So, the goal of the experiment is to add some autonomy to them as a unit.

T2

Demons, aside from the Fire ones, are unchanged. They received Immunity to Fire (the first to get it) and "self-destruct" (cleansing flame).

*Initially, "self-destruct" was used in its default form, and since this is one of the oldest mod changes, it was very useful back then for the vanilla Inferno lineup with its early-game problems. However, people got used to these "giblings" pretty quickly, and at the same time, demons gained a sworn enemy in Dwarves, with their Pyro-Resistance (especially when used by the AI, which unlocks its top-tier units around week 2 and can use Runes without worrying about the Economy).
*Currently, the damage of "self-destruct" is equal to "6" (per demon), making it more balanced. Especially considering the other Inferno changes and that they'll now face fewer of the old early-game difficulties.

T3

Here's the first unit replacement. Instead of Cerberi, now Sadists.

General feature of Sadists — "Pack Hunting." This provides synergy with the Portal and the ability to effectively split in the early game and in PvE encounters.
"Crippling Wound" is a useful debuff, but like other similar effects, it only applies properly when you are already stronger than or roughly equal to the enemy in terms of squad HP. That is, this will mainly be viable only in PvP, where you use Sadists as a single squad, and your troops are roughly equal in strength.
Jumpers cannot cripple and are, overall, weaker than their brethren, but they can jump and enter berserker rage (uncontrollably attacking the nearest enemy without receiving a retaliatory strike). Additionally, while their "Berserker" doesn't grant significant bonuses from converting Defense into Attack (since they have little Defense to begin with and an Inferno hero doesn't invest many points into it), it could be more beneficial for a T3 specialist (who grants bonuses to both parameters per level).
*In both cases (Jump/Berserker), Jumpers go all-in on offense, at the cost of zero survivability.
*The second general feature of Sadists is "Carrion Eater" — this will allow them to situationally replenish losses and more effectively counter "resurrectionists" like Necropolis.
Additionally, as experience with Zombies has already shown, the AI will often prefer to eat "that distant corpse" instead of pursuing your squad. This will add some "liveliness" and situational moments in PvE encounters.
*Another unlisted feature — "Jumpers" are the only Inferno unit capable of summoning the Portal Twice!

T4

General change — now all Succubi have "Seduction," which is more logical and functionally useful. Demonesses received Immunity to Fire, and the upgrade is now different — "Destroyers."

Destroyers are more of a specialist unit. They have a set of useful features.
1) In ranged combat, Destroyers attack all enemy creatures and war machines, so despite their small damage, the actual damage grows in direct proportion to the number of enemies; additionally, this allows them to roll "Hellfire" on all enemies (yes, and instantly drain their hero's mana pool 😫). But of course, in PvE they are not as good compared to Demonesses. Demonesses are still taken by default, simply due to better single-target damage.
2) The low damage of Destroyers means they are practically ignored by enemy Towers and shooters, often being attacked almost last. This can be useful against the AI if you want to artificially reduce your Succubi losses.
3) Destroyers can cast "Earthquake," but their initial mana won't be enough. Here, a partial "Sara's" set, a Perk, a week, or Familiars will help.
*As a result, the new Upgrade still isn't an Equal competitor to Demonesses, but it has its unique features. If you plan to play through T4 and, for example, with Jezelbett, Destroyers might be a good favorite. And any Damage boost (especially Damage — Necklace and Battle Frenzy (Attack)) will multiply their total damage in large battles many times over.

T5

Second replacement. Instead of Horses, now Kerasts — "Human-Buffalos"

Overall, this is also a fairly old change, which I've written about a bit in previous messages.
Currently, the main focus here will also be on "balancing" the value of the upgrades. I reduced the damage of Soothsayers from 13 to 6 and slightly changed and supplemented the abilities of Pursuers. For the obvious reason, Soothsayers were an OP choice from the moment they appeared — "Spellstrike" on a shooter, as a poll showed, it didn't even matter what damage they dealt themselves; what mattered was the effect they applied (Weakness on the first shot, which kills the damage potential of the enemy's Dimension Door stack; Slows; and Dispels...)
So now the tweaks and changes will be based on the logic that Soothsayers are primarily support, with the ability to shoot. But Pursuers are already a shooter, with some support elements, like the added "Crippling Wound." Some of their abilities might still be tweaked in the future, perhaps removing ones that aren't particularly needed or are "redundant." 🤔 (but that will be after the Mod release and subsequent tests/feedback)

T6

Pit Fiends are almost unchanged. Only Pit Lords received Immunity to Fire, and Pit Spawn now have much more initiative (the change essentially came from their original description).

*Pit Fiends will still have one more change before the mod release, but it's more situational and related to "Mercenaries." But briefly, it's the ability for Pit Lords to sacrifice them (Absorb Souls), replenishing their own mana pool and increasing their stats (the effect stacks up to 5 times). This would allow things that already work to be indirectly buffed, adding the potential for them to perform better, especially Pit Lords in the late game.
*There's also an interesting idea for Pit Spawn from the same Mercenary theme, but it's not yet certain if I can implement it the way I want. 🙄

T7

Now for the Daddies!

General change — now Daddies can roar at enemies ("Roar"), frightening them, and if successful, receive a buff for 2 turns (+25% HP and +3 morale); repeated activations refresh the effect.
Archdevils gained a fire aura and immunity to fire. (Aura damage 13, per daddy)
Archdemons received an aura of demoralization (-3 morale) and can also roar at allies, speeding up their turn. (the ally takes 1 damage per Daddy — seems to be morale damage, and their ATB increases by 10% per Daddy, meaning 10 Daddies in a squad are enough for a cap. This ability was adjusted based on the T7 ability calculation)
*The logic applied to the Daddy upgrades was that of mutually exclusive but functionally complementary abilities. As you can notice, the auras of the Daddies won't activate if they successfully frighten enemies, but if the scare fails or is impossible — the Aura will work. Additionally, "Roar" only works when attacking on their own turn, meaning the Auras can provide Daddies with some defense against excessive focus in melee.

General and Concept.
*Inferno is positioned as specialists in close combat, easily dealing with stray single squads, while potentially having difficulties with organized formations. (No more Hounds with AoE burn, except maybe the Daddies and Succubi helping with control effects)
*Inferno units rely on special abilities and active skills, various synergies — in fact, each unit carries its own mechanic, and the hero's task is to maximize the realization of these mechanics. Additionally, Inferno creatures gain huge advantages from Light magic buffs (wouldn't you know it, a rare magic not studied in their native town). But even a simple "Divine Strength" can remove the damage variance, which incredibly increases the army's total damage.
*Inferno's main vulnerabilities are ranged damage and magic. Inferno has no inherent ways to defend against shooters, and its units are often not very durable against any kind of focus. The second and more painful topic is magic, and not even so much the damaging kind, but rather curses. Just as Light magic can significantly empower demons, Darkness can nullify their potential. Demons have no intrinsic solutions for dealing with debuffs and control effects.
*The hero's task here is obvious: maximize strengths and seek measures and solutions to eliminate weaknesses against enemy Magic and Ranged units.
*Inferno feels excellent when it controls the battlefield and imposes its initiative on the enemy. However, if the enemy turns out to be faster and imposes their own initiative on Inferno, the latter can easily crumble. In a pure defense in the field, they are not strong. This should also be taken into account when playing as or against Inferno.

hunting in packs is an interesting idea for Inferno 👍

Good day. I have a question regarding weeks in Heroes.
1) Is it possible to change them in principle?
--- -- [If "Yes", then:]
2) Is it possible, and if so how, to change creature weeks? To change the IDs of existing weeks and, if possible, add new ones (for example, for new creatures added by a mod).
3) Is it possible to add/change something in other Weeks (not creatures), use their effects for other purposes, or conversely, apply other effects to them?

I've never encountered issues with weekly changes; usually, they just rename them if the creature is changed.

By the way, regarding the weeks. I wanted to remove the "week of plague," I started digging through the game's files, but I still don't fully understand if it's possible to remove it from the list of weeks.

I've never encountered issues with weekly changes; usually, they are simply renamed if the creature is changed.

As you may remember, I have "Mercenaries" made using the Goblin ID and a T1 Mech made using the Yeti ID.
If the dwellings on the map can be adjusted (I just haven't gotten around to it), the question is about the Weeks. 🤔

By the way, regarding the weeks. I wanted to remove the "plague week," I started digging through the game's files, and I still don't fully understand if it's possible to remove it from the list of weeks.

It's possible!
For example, in S.T.A.L.K.E.R., all the weeks are about plague, disease, or fever, and in "What, Where, When?" all the weeks are about exams.

Good evening. I can't find the Yeti Camera, could you please tell me where it is? And preferably explain a bit how this Camera binding works (i.e., where its Path is specified).
 

Good evening. I can't find the Yeti Camera, could you please tell me where it is? And preferably explain a bit how this Camera binding works (i.e., where its Path is specified).
 

\Cameras\Interface\HireCreatures.(Camera).xdb - that's the yeti; more accurately, the unit has no camera at all, and it receives this one automatically

in the UI folder there is a file UIGameRoot.(UIGameRoot).xdb, which contains a lot of information, including cameras, for example lines from 2454
       
            - camera file
           
                CREATURE_FAMILIAR - creatures
                CREATURE_IMP
                CREATURE_QUASIT
           
       

Good afternoon. The "Orcs" really don't want to cooperate with Magic.
1) Talisman.

Since I changed the order of adventure spells for the Factory, I needed to come up with something interesting for level 4, because, for obvious reasons, making level 4 artifacts simply pointless on most maps. The idea was to add a combat ability, reworked to suit my needs. I took "Uber-Meteor" as a basis; it used to work fine when I simply gave it to one hero (although not Varr). Now it says that the spell is forbidden on the map (although this is a special ability and it is not in the list of magic).
If anyone understands what the problem is, please explain.
2) These are attempts to add and modify existing "Shouts." I wanted to remove "Wrath of the Horde" and replace it with Wave of Fire (based on the boss's special ability).

Previously, it worked fine when I simply gave it to a hero (not Varr) for testing.
But now, it appears in "Shouts," it can be learned. But it cannot be used.
3) This is the cost of spells in Resources; as the test on Spells showed, it doesn't work. That is, it only applies to Runes? Can this be fixed? (I initially intended to make most of the "Shouts"/"Abilities" of the new Factory cost Resources. 🤔
--- --
4) I would like to add some "special abilities" as new spells in the regular schools, with some modifications. (Of course, this refers to those that the hero can actually use, such as the Waves, Meteors, and similar ones described earlier – I understand that these are Abilities – spells of the bosses from the Campaigns, Lord/Biara).
So, the question is, how to properly transfer them? (*If the answer to the first questions already gave the answer, then I understand everything)

I once recorded a demonic chain spell in Chaos magic...
When used, the spell did nothing (no damage), and I haven't changed the magic since then.