Posts from DISCUSSIONS on “Rules for online games in HoMM3 and formulas for calculating player rating.”

This topic discusses the rules for online games in Heroes III.

Based on discussions, polls are conducted, and changes, amendments, and clarifications are made.

Rules that were in effect from November 18, 2007 to November 30, 2010.
Rules that were in effect from December 1, 2010 to May 31, 2013.

What I would change in Vold's rules (I likely won't be able to respond to discussions, as there will be internet troubles now):

1) If you fought for the wings - then use them however you want, without building a level 5 guild

I honestly don't understand where it came from that a level 5 guild is required when obtaining the wings. It would be much more logical to force the construction of a 5th tower upon receiving magic from pandoras. Let me explain why—all fifth-level magic from pandoras can easily be obtained on the second week, as the guards of such pandoras are twice as weak as the guards of the wings (the Value is different) and a pandora with all fifth magic can be guarded by a small lot of villains (that's how it was for me), which is easily broken through by a second-week army for any Castle without mass slow; whereas my wings were guarded by a pack of archangels—and generally, this artifact is mostly found in utopias... And if a player, losing a huge amount of troops, managed to fight for these wings, then after that he should be able to use them normally, as you don't just get them (like scrolls, for example, which can be taken on the first day of the game) or pandoras with all 4th or 5th levels—which are twice as easy to take (in terms of guard strength, since the Value is half), and moreover, besides flight, they also give DD (albeit for mana) (although I believe that upon receiving magic from pandoras you also shouldn't have to build the guild, since when taking pandoras you still need to upgrade wisdom, and rarely does anyone take it immediately on the second week)

As for scrolls—I completely agree, only the restriction needs to be even stricter; besides the built guild, introduce a rule that they cannot be used before the 4th week (otherwise, someone finds flight on the first day of the game and immediately starts building the guild in the secondary town (since we already know guaranteed control awaits us, so you can avoid building troops altogether and put all resources into the guild), gets a bit lucky with resources—and we have flight at the beginning of the second week; after that, we fly around almost without an army and take artifacts and pandoras with magic and troops for free, which normally could only be taken on the third-fifth week, and then on the 7th day we fly over ГО and take the empty castle of a stunned opponent—is that fair???

2) Prohibit specialists in this magic from using 4th level magic against an opponent (against the computer in battle—allowed) without building the corresponding level of magic in the Castle's guild

I was also very surprised when I discovered that such a prohibition doesn't exist, unlike on other resources. It simply turns out that such a hero is stocked with mana and goes ahead to hit-and-run the opponent (and you can even run him around for +1 to strength and knowledge, and give artifacts for strength and knowledge). In the end, you can boldly go kill the opponent on the first or second week when armies are still small, and magic specialists simply wipe out half of the opponent's army due to the 50 percent bonus and buy their way out (and then it can be repeated again), and in the end, the main hero with the army is left only to finish off the scraps that remained after the 4th level specialist, and that's it... And meanwhile, if the other player didn't get lucky with a 4th magic (combat) specialist, they have to build the 4th tower to be equally cunning—how unequal is this compared to someone who can hit-and-run with 4th magic for free (and even reinforced by 50 percent, that's another problem). Simply put, if a 4th magic specialist arrived, it's already a bonus; crush neutrals with this magic, which in a normal battle would have cost many troops (a chain of archers, for example), until you reach enough experience to be just short of level 3 (but using this magic immediately against a human—that is too much, of course)

3) I believe that visiting the refugee camp and buying troops there should be allowed

I think so because: 1) The refugee camp is quite strongly guarded—and if you broke through on the first week, then get the reward 2) In the refugee camp on the first week, they give spearmen 95% of the time—and on the second week even a level 7 unit doesn't decide things anymore 3) Level 7 units appear there extremely rarely. And even if a level 7 unit appeared there on the first week, what's so own-cheating about that??? If you immediately rush to the opponent, it will be a reset upon meeting, and on the second week the opponent with a castle and bought growth will fend off two level 7 units along with the rest of the army if you attack (all other parameters and magic being equal). And why is it allowed to take minimal "cans" (for some castles they are taken without problem on the first day, for many—on the 3-4th day of the game) and receive a strongest level 7 (angel) for FREE or take level 7 dwellings (which are sometimes much easier to fight for than the refugee camp), moreover there you already know for sure that you will buy a level 7, whereas in the refugee camp—only with very great luck (and even then, 95% (even more, since 5 percent remains for all units from - to 7) — you won't get a level 7 on the first week, and on the second, even if a level 7 comes to you (which is also not a very high probability)—it will give you almost no advantage anymore, as the opponent might already have two level 7 units from an external dwelling by the second week (and if there's a Summoning Portal—then 4 :eek: ), or generally—the opponent may have already gathered a bunch of angels on the second week from small cans. Therefore, I see no sense in prohibiting buying units from the mercenary camp and cutting the game even further...

4) I believe that Necromancers should be prohibited from upgrading vampires, building the magic amplifier, and choosing a starting hero (the hero should be random)

Let me explain why.... I recently played with Invisible as a Necromancer against Rampart, heroes were random (not Galtran) + on the second week banned ones arrived who couldn't be leveled—and yet, I still managed to accumulate in total on the second week (excluding those I stupidly lost at the Naga bank)—more than 600 skeletons!!!!! (and this is while there is a report on Vold with Bay describing how a person with 300+ skeletons already took Dragon Utopia on the second week, and didn't even take angels there, like—no need!!!!!) And if upgrading vampires is also allowed, and choosing a starting hero—then Necromancers become simply an unkillable castle that will be boring to play for or against (if the player playing as Necro plays more or less normally, and if the one playing against the Necro didn't get a mega-super layout (level 7 dwellings in a row and a sea of cans...)
Simply put, upgraded vampires are a mega unit; with them alone at the beginning of the second week you can break a level 4 can!!! (for which castle without mega luck would you even do that???), and moreover break it without losses, receiving a bunch of skeletons besides angels. Not to mention that with upgraded vampires many guards of pandoras, artifacts, and the Naga bank are easily broken as early as the second week, and this is while Necros also have a powerful (the strongest, on par with upgraded Nagas) 6th level, very powerful 5th—and a sea of skeletons—why give him such a mega cheat as upgraded vampires????

Regarding the ban on choosing a hero—again, this was done to bring the Necro even slightly closer to ordinary castles; it's already super powerful (I showed using the game with Invisible), and if at the start you have not a random hero with 20-30 skeletons, but Galtran with 100 bones from the start + from the hero and castle, plus speed +1—then it's a disaster; from the first day of the game, the Necro's breakthrough power is no less than Shakter's, only in this case skeletons are not lost like troglodytes, but immediately begin to accumulate, and by the end of the first week there can be hundreds... But otherwise, for the first three days a Necro usually loses skeletons until he builds liches—then skeletons start going into the plus (if, of course, you're lucky and Galtran with full stacks comes as a random starting hero). But then, with random heroes at the start—you can waive the banned ones (since for a Necro it is extremely important to level all necro-heroes (to have more skeletons), and if some of the necro-heroes can only be leveled to the third level—then this strongly hinders the Necro's game...
Simply put, with banned necro-heroes you can do this: Specialists in necromancy are allowed to level, but cannot advance necromancy above advanced level (since they already appear with advanced—the necromancy skill cannot be leveled further), a hero with the specialty of raising dead can be leveled as much as you want and used against the computer in battle, but against a human raising the dead can only be used UPON THE APPEARANCE OF SUCH A SPELL IN THE BUILT GUILD (and not just building the guild to a certain level, like with ordinary 4th level magic specialists who cannot be leveled), similarly for the specialist with meteor shower—can be leveled, but the shower against an opponent can only be used upon receiving such a spell in the guild...

Regarding the necromancy amplifier—here it's not straightforward; it could be allowed, or it could stay banned (although on other resources the amplifier is prohibited....)

1) If you have unlocked wings, you can use them however you wish, without having to build the 5th level of the guild

Against. Flying with wings does not cost mana, so wings are a more freebie thing than the Fly spell, and therefore an additional restriction is quite fair.

2) Prohibit the use of 4th-level magic and specialists in that magic against an opponent (against a computer in combat it is allowed) without building the corresponding level of magic

Against. The following restrictions usually apply to specialists: prohibit developing them to 3rd level (as in HeroesWorld) or restrict the use of magic against a human hero until the guild is built (as in HotA). Applying both of these restrictions undercuts magic users, considering that magic users are not particularly dominant anyway. So it’s better to keep either one or the other.

3) I think that visiting the Refugee Camp should be allowed

For.

4) I think that Necromancers should be prohibited from greeding Vamps, building the Mana Amplifier, and choosing a starting hero

For banning the Amplifier. Already being discussed in the topic regarding rating issues.

I suggest considering another rule:
If a player has at least 2 identical castles, troops of level 3 and higher can only be purchased in the first of these castles.

1) Wings don't actually require mana—but just try getting them... To secure wings, say, while heading to the Dragon Utopia, a player usually swaps all resources down to zero to fully buy out all troops from all castles—and then, after such effort in taking the Dragon Utopia, they get the wings (imagine how they feel at that point, since they have no resources left), meanwhile the opponent, for example, got the Cap of Five or the Book of Air—and they jump and fly freely (without any guild construction) (and there's usually plenty of mana by the time a player can secure the cap, book of air, or wings (all artifacts are equal in value, by the way, but for some reason it's only suggested to build the guild for wings... ) + Let's not forget that wings are practically useless underground, since there you can only jump from passage to passage, from respawn to respawn, and a person who gets both flight and DD immediately (in Pandora, book, cap) faces no restrictions. Although, IMHO, in my opinion, the cap and book are cooler than wings (so what if mana is needed, at least there's still the jump, and often it's exactly that which decides things (and underground, it's basically the only thing applicable))

2) Well, if it doesn't matter which restriction to adopt—then let's adopt the one from the Portal: not using magic against a person until the guild is built (but against monsters it's allowed, and training such specialists is also allowed) (I explained above why I think so, and recently encountered this in a game with Invisiblom, when on day 2 Solmir level 1 came to me with 80 mana and killed half my army, is that normal ??? (and if Solmir had come to me on the 7th day of the game—then he alone could have killed everything)

4) Regarding the ban on the Necromancy booster—I didn't find anything about this in the rules anywhere (although I read about it several times yesterday). But besides that, we also need to forbid choosing the hero; again, I already explained why above: shortly—Galtran starting with full stacks makes a Necromancer even with the same ban on the booster into a cheating, practically invincible castle, which in such a scenario no one would want to play against (if both players more or less know how to play)

Added after 8 minutes

Предлагаю рассмотреть еще один пункт правил:
Если у игрока имеется не менее 2-х одинаковых замков,
то войска выше 3-го уровня разрешается скупать только в первом из замков.

I fully support this, I wanted to suggest the same thing... Otherwise it becomes too powerful when the opponent builds all levels in both castles simultaneously and then combines them ...

What would I change in the rules?

1) If you have captured wings, then use them as you wish, without requiring the 5th level of the guild to be built.

I agree, in addition to the reasons given, I would also say that, for example, there is no prohibition on using spells from spellbooks.

As for scrolls, I completely agree, but the restriction should be made even stricter, in addition to the delayed guild, it should not be possible to use them until the 4th week.

I disagree, that would be too much.
I repeat, as an example, maybe we should ban spellbooks altogether?
So you get flight on the 1st week. But what about the mana reserve for using it?
Besides, collecting artifacts by flight is forbidden without breaking through the guards, everyone remembers that, right?
Also, after building 5 levels of the guild, you will be left without resources and without troops.

2) Prohibit specialists in a certain magic from using 4th-level magic against an opponent (against the computer in battle - it is allowed) without building the corresponding level of magic in the castle in the guild.

Yes, I agree, for simplicity, I suggest prohibiting the use of profile spells of the 4th level by the corresponding heroes, and Resurrection - by the Necromancer.

3) I think that it should be allowed to visit the refugee camp and buy troops there.

I abstain, but in principle, I think that the fewer prohibitions, the more interesting it is to play.
There are necessary prohibitions, I have nothing to say about the refugee camp.

4) I think that it is necessary to prohibit Necromancers from upgrading vampires, building a magic amplifier, and choosing a hero at the start (the hero should be random).

I agree with the ban on upgrading vampires.
As for the amplifier and the ban on choosing a starting hero, I will abstain.

First of all, I want to say thank you that we've finally started discussing/criticizing the ranked game rules :) . I haven't been very fond of them lately and many things need to be changed, so your opinions are very important, as we will be changing them slightly in the near future.
I'll express my thoughts on the proposals put forward:

1) If you've captured the wings - then use them as you wish, without building the level 5 guild

Yes, I agree that Pandora's magic is not harder to obtain than capturing the wings, BUT you answered exactly what I wanted to write on this matter yourself:

since when taking Pandora you also need to level up wisdom, and rarely does anyone take it immediately on the second [week]

That is, in the early stages of the game, rarely anyone levels wisdom, and few will specifically level it hoping that some Pandora will grant DD or flight. And even if they do, they will sacrifice a free slot for this, which would be better suited for earth or other more useful skills in the first weeks; moreover, it's not certain that you'll find high magic in any of the Pandoras.

As for the scrolls - I completely agree, but the limitation needs to be even stricter; besides the built guild, introduce a rule that they cannot be used before the 4th week (otherwise, you find flight on the first day of the game - and immediately start building the guild in the secondary [town] (since we already know that guaranteed control awaits us, so you can avoid building troops altogether and put all resources into the guild), you get a bit lucky with resources - and you have flight at the beginning of the second week, after which you fly around almost without an army and grab artifacts and Pandoras with magic and troops for free, which normally could only be taken on the third to fifth week, and then on the 7th day you fly over the GO and take the empty castle of a stunned opponent - is that fair ???

To build the 5th level tower in the first week, even at the expense of troop development, you would have to be mega lucky with resources, and even if you are, you won't fly for long with one flight, no troops, and no mana:)
But I am not against adjusting the rules based on this proposal if the majority are "for". That is, on this point, I am neutral.

2) Prohibit specialists in a certain magic from using 4th level magic of that type against an opponent (against the computer in battle - allowed) without building the corresponding level of magic in the town's guild

Here I agree with Dreamcatcher: wizards are already complete losers on random maps, and now they want to take away their last hope. What can poor Solmir do with his only custom chain at 110? On random maps, wells are very rare things; you're not going to run back to the castle constantly to refill mana, then run to the hard-to-break guard to cast chain, and then back to the castle to refill mana again?
In our recent game, I just got lucky with artifacts and stocked Solmir with enough mana for three chains to thin out your troops, and then attacked with the main force. And what? I sacrifice a hero, and consequently, money. What else could I have done against a Necromancer on the sunny map? Well, you took a hit from the chain? Did that strongly affect the outcome of the game? But I would cut the Necromancers down :rolleyes:

3) I believe that visiting the refugee camp and buying troops there should be allowed

I've been thinking about this for a long time and I think I'll cast my vote "for" allowing the use of mercenary camps. Indeed, the guard at this object is serious, and you buy them with your own hard-earned money just like from a dwelling. True, besides the guard, you also need to take the dwelling, but as a rule, the guard of the dwelling is harder to break than the hideout itself. And if the hideout is your own, it's much better than a camp.

4) I believe that Necromancers should be prohibited from upgrading vamps, building the magic enhancer, and choosing a hero at the start (the hero should be random)

An old and sore subject :). I'll probably agree with all of it, because after the last game with a good player ;) I realized how cheaty this race is even without the vamp upgrade and Galtran. A game that was 90% won was lost without a chance, because a Necromancer with flight and DD is simply unkillable.
I propose the following:
1. starting hero is random
2. prohibit vamp upgrade, but the necromancy enhancer can be built (so it's not exactly like on other resources ;))
3. Specialists in necromancy can be leveled, but prohibit upgrading sorcery to "expert" level. There are already too many banned heroes for Necromancers, and in my recent game with vbn I won because he didn't get a single allowed necromancer in two weeks and only started leveling his "papa" from the 3rd week. I suggest also allowing Tanta, but he can only be used with the third tower built. I don't know how to check at a glance if the opponent used resurrection without the 3rd tower, but a detailed analysis of saves could reveal it. Necromancers almost always get resurrection. These conditions will be in effect only if the first point is met, i.e., if the starting hero is random.

I suggest considering one more rule point:
If a player has at least 2 identical castles,
then troops above level 2 are allowed to be bought only in the first of the castles.

+1

I would also like to do something about the week of some native monster and the month of plague. I am against both the first and the second, meaning I propose to introduce mandatory loading of the autosave until there is a neutral week/month.
At first glance, it seems that a week of, for example, minotaurs wouldn't make much difference. But on the other hand, if you build minotaurs, and on top of that it's minotaur week (+7), and God forbid their hideout is there, and you build a portal, then 29 minotaurs on the second week will kill anyone. And the month of plague needs no comment.

Generally, I'm against wings, but since using books without GM restrictions is allowed, I think wings should also be allowed without building a GM structure. Regarding Necropolis, I think the enhancer should be removed, and upgrading vampires shouldn't be prohibited; otherwise, only skeletons will remain for Necropolis. And if a hero is chosen randomly, it's not worth playing as Necropolis at all – that is, I'm against random hero selection. I'll refrain from commenting on prohibited heroes. And the refugee camp – I'm hearing about it being prohibited for the first time.

I'm in favor of reloading the save when a plague week or a native monster appears. In my experience, there was a case where I was playing as Dungeon and quickly captured a Conflux, and on turn 1-1-7, there were birds stationed there. I think you can guess what happened next :) My win didn't take long.
However, the issue with native secondary towns is not as straightforward as it seems. Let's imagine that one player has two different towns, and the other has two identical towns. The first player builds an army everywhere and plays with two towns, while the second player frantically smokes. This is also unfair. There are two options: either completely prohibit developing secondary towns for troops (which would undoubtedly impoverish the game), or when a native secondary town is found, the opponent must notify the other player, and a mutual ban on building an army is imposed. At the same time, any other actions are allowed.

Regarding Necros, I think the amplifier should be removed, but upgrading vamps shouldn't be forbidden

Without the amplifier, vamps won't upgrade ;)

otherwise only skeletons will remain for the Necros

And they don't need anything else, just skeletons, and as many as possible)). With 300+ skeletons active, you can take down almost any non-shooting monsters, including the Dragon Utopia (I haven't done it myself yet since I'm a newbie, but we were shown that it's possible:) )

and as for the refugee camp—it's actually the first time I've heard that it's forbidden)))

Does that mean half of your games can be safely counted as technical forfeits? :D

Now, the question of native secondary dwellings is not as straightforward as it seems. Imagine one player has two different castles, while another has two identical ones. The first builds an army everywhere and plays with two castles, while the second frantically smokes. That's also unfair. There are two options: either completely forbid developing second castles for troops (which would undoubtedly impoverish the game), or upon finding a native secondary dwelling, the player must notify the opponent, and a mutual ban on building an army is established. At the same time, taking any external dwellings is allowed.

To be honest, I didn't even think about that. Regarding notifying each other, it would be too complicated and later it would be hard to prove that you notified them. We need to come up with something else—either the one with the native secondary dwelling looks for a non-native one :D or takes it from the opponent)))

suggest banning troop recruitment until level 2, 3, or 4.

The issue with native secondary castles is not as straightforward as it seems. Let's imagine one player has two different castles, while another has two identical ones. The first player builds an army everywhere and plays with both castles, while the second frantically worries. This is also unfair. There are two options: either completely prohibit developing secondary castles for troops (which would undoubtedly impoverish the game), or when a native secondary castle is found, the opponent must notify the other player, and a mutual ban on building an army is imposed. At the same time, any other castles can be taken.

To be honest, I didn't even think about that. Regarding notifying each other, it would be too complicated, and then it would be difficult to prove anything, that you notified him. We need to come up with something else, either for the one with the native secondary castle to look for another non-native one :D or take one from the opponent.

Based on probabilistic considerations, finding a native secondary castle happens much less often, so, indeed, if before those who didn't have a native secondary castle frantically worried, now those who have one will "worry."
But now this will affect a much smaller number of games and players.

Well, the ideal option is, of course, to come up with something optimal.

1) Regarding the wings—well, see for yourself, I've stated my opinion (but I'll clarify—getting the wings is not as easy!!!!, but much harder than getting Pandoras with the fifth magic, because the value of the wings is much higher, and therefore the guards are too). And about the Mage Guild—in my last game as Tazar against Necro, I almost every turn sold off resources I found for nothing (I couldn't even build the tavern because of this when I needed to), as money was very tight and I was constantly bribing someone. And then, having sold all my resources, what if I found the wings in a Utopia—what then? (And my troops were gone, as if I had taken the Book of Air). In a real game, I got about three books (in different Utopias), so I was hopping, flying, and Portaling (and I was FAR more glad for the Book of Air than if there had been wings there, because the jump specifically helped me a lot (and there weren't many mana problems, I had 21 Knowledge (and that wasn't even for a mage, but for Tazar), and as mana ran low, I found something to refill it with). As I say, wings are not Pandoras; by the time you have enough strength to get them, the main hero will already have enough mana that not spending mana on flight wouldn't be something mega cool (especially since there's no jump). Otherwise, it turns out you found the wings—but started using them who knows when, because all resources are sold (and good players, trying to take everything early, prefer to block something and buy it rather than build a guild—their resources might be at zero even in very late stages, and where to get them if everything is already picked up and all money-generating buildings are captured is unknown...). Meanwhile, an opponent who was lucky and found a book, a hat, or a box instead of wings—while you are frantically searching for resources and losing days on construction—will be hopping and flying all over the place, even though they got it from a Utopia too, or perhaps in an easier way—from a box; in my opinion, that's unfair...

2) Regarding attacking with heroes specialized in the 4th battle magic immediately against the enemy without building the Mage Guild. Again, in the last match Swamp vs Necro, I could use artifacts to make the stats of a level-0 specialist in 4th magic 15 15 (Attack and Knowledge), + it's also possible to buy Earth (for a rain specialist) or Air (for a lightning specialist) in the Conflux and raise the level to second so that the magic is advanced, run them through magic boosters—and you'll have such a monster hit-and-runner running around, wiping out the opponent's armies and paying them off, and then—back at the enemy... But I wouldn't be able to build the Mage Guild, as I sold all resources to zero almost every day (already wrote about this), so it seems completely logical to make a ban, like on the Portal—if you managed to build a level 4 Mage Guild at the expense of buying out and upgrading units—use it against the opponent, but if you went into the army, and moreover want to hit-and-run and torture the opponent with magic—that's not allowed, please build the Mage Guild first; otherwise, apply this magic only to monsters... (but this is my opinion, you decide how you decide...)

3) Regarding the use of scrolls immediately after building the Mage Guild—my opinion hasn't changed, but if it's forbidden to take flight via artifacts and Pandoras (I didn't find this in the rules, where exactly it's mentioned)—then let it be as it is now, then flight and DD won't be so broken in the early stages without power support...

4) And regarding native secondary towns—I've seen a discussion of this on the Portal somewhere before, whoever is from there—please copy it if you know where... The point is, that even after fully building two different Castles (which is very difficult, believe me, even with a lot of money, because you not only need to build but also manage to buy out the units)—you still can't give everything from two castles to the main hero at once, and with a noob's army, you can't do much... But even merging the first three levels of a native secondary town with the army from the native castle is capable of creating a powerful force by the second week, capable of easily crushing the opponent or various structures, like nagas and big cans in the second week (imagine Rampart+Rampart, or Castle+Castle, or Dungeon+Dungeon (and even a Portal if placed in the second Dungeon)—the first three levels are more than enough (especially since you'll rarely manage to put more than that in a secondary town in the first week, if you also have to build a guild for the main hero, or put in a Stronghold or Castle)). It turns out that, essentially, in the first week, both the one with a native secondary and the one with a non-native secondary have 3 levels in their secondaries, but the first one gets a powerful army the next week, while the second gets a heterogeneous army that doesn't increase its power much (since two stacks of archers are hard to cover at once and it's hard to spread monsters so that none are approached; level one units are not combined into a fist like for the owner of a native secondary, but are two different piles). Therefore, to somehow compensate for the advantage of the native secondary town owner—let the one who doesn't have a native one build their secondary town further... Although this often doesn't make much sense either, as then wyverns from trees, units from Pandoras, etc., are added to the army, and the stack of troops from the secondary town (hardly large, since it's difficult to fully build your native city and also put high-level troops in the secondary town with a castle, accordingly—what accumulated from the third week without a castle) will simply be redundant, as it's not "fat" compared to the amount of native troops and those same wyverns, and ruins morale (if wyverns are there, and someone good is given for free in a Pandora). And this is despite the fact that in the second week, the native secondary owner will be much more powerful in terms of army and breakthrough capability than the owner of a simple secondary town... Finally, as a rule, every player has two secondaries on two-slot templates (sometimes more—but that means you snatched the opponent's secondary under the cover of noise, or vice versa), and you can quite well, after building the first 3 levels in your native secondary—fully build the second secondary, if you really want to...

3) Regarding the immediate use of scrolls after building a Watchtower – my opinion hasn’t changed, but if it’s forbidden to take artifacts and Pandoras by flying (I couldn’t find this in the rules, where it’s specifically stated) – then let it be as it is now. Then flying and Dimension Door won’t be so overpowered in the early game without strong support...

5.9. It is also forbidden to take Pandoras, scrolls, artifacts, or visit various objects while under the effect of Shift, without defeating the guards first. It is allowed to take chests, campfires, and resources.

Dear invisible, please clarify whether it is necessary to defeat the guards when using Angel Wings or the spells Flight and Dimension Door?

1) Regarding the wings – well, see for yourselves; I’ve expressed my opinion (but I’ll clarify – obtaining the wings is not as easy!!!!, but much more difficult than Pandora’s Box with 5th level magic, because the value of the wings is much higher, and therefore, the guard is stronger.

Also, air is needed for flight, while with wings, you fly as if you are an expert in flying with air. This doesn’t play a significant role, but still.

I could use artifacts to make the parameters of a 0th level specialist in 4th level magic 15/15 (strength and knowledge), + I could also buy Earth (specialist in rain) or Air (specialist in lightning) in the Conflux and raise the level to the second, so that the magic would be advanced, and then use magic boosters to make this monster run around, destroying the enemy’s armies and retreating, and then – attacking the enemy again...

Firstly, hit-and-run tactics are prohibited, and in order for you to survive one round if you cast magic, you need to take part of your army with you, or if this kamikaze mage is defeated, all your powerful artifacts will go to your opponent.

3) Regarding the immediate use of scrolls after building a tower – my opinion has not changed, but if artifacts and Pandora’s Boxes are prohibited from being taken by flight (I didn’t find this in the rules, where it is specifically stated).

Dear invisible, please explain to us whether it is necessary to break through the guard when using Angel Wings or the Flight and Dimension Door spells?

This also applies to wings, Flight, and Dimension Door. It is not specifically stated in the rules; I apologize, I will add it now. Thank you for your help!