Posts from Best of HeroesWorld

XL+U threatens to cause many unfinished games and delays.

Well, they managed to make Spider work, and he's pretty much the same.

The template looks interesting. What is its name? I would like to see a detailed description. Is it part of the original template set or is it custom-made?

Is it part of the original template set or a custom one?

John van Caneghem burned the second volume of his templates, but some of them survived and were passed down to his descendants.

The template looks interesting, what is it called?

Its original name is lost; the fire in DvK's fireplace scorched the top edge of the sheet. You can come up with a name yourself. For now, its underground nickname is m03.

I would like to see a detailed description.

There's not much to describe; everything is visible in the picture. Each Castle has 3 native companions, although direct routes to all 3 are rarely available. When generating the map, make sure there are at least two, then the working area will be normal.

The path to the opponent almost always goes through the Guard Tower, so you won't get lost. A mini-treasure is placed between the opponents to prevent attacks with intercontinental missiles of the "Castle-Castle" type from "Kirill&Co ltd." So, be careful when making runs from behind the forest, near the Guard Tower; you might not make it.

The numerical parameters are as follows:

The sizes of the Guard Towers are standard. Thin lines - 3000, medium - 6000, thick - 12500, Guard Tower - 45000

The contents of the starting areas and the white spaces are almost standard - the lower range has been expanded from 500-3000 to 0-3000, as in Spider, meaning that altars, markets, stables, and other minor objects are generated more often.

The central treasure is like in SMD3, meaning that relics can be found there. The other treasures are like in Spider - quite rich, without junk, but relics are not lying around. Those marked with "horns" (18-23) contain villages. The others (16, 17, 24) do not have cities (although you can place them there in principle...)

Nice template, I've been wanting to play a more complex skirmish map for a while.

I strongly recommend playing this template with fast roads. Otherwise, you might get bogged down. The distances here are considerable, noticeably larger than on Spider or 8mm6.

If it's SoD, at least restart the slow roads.

I've already played 2 games on it with medium roads; it took at least 3 days of travel in a straight line to reach the computers, and 4-5 on average. This means that, on average, one computer is taken down in the middle of the 1st week, then you chain back, and the second computer is taken down on day 117-121. Sometimes it's better to collect money instead of going for the second computer, as it's not right to put all your heroes into a chain; you might end up without any cash. So, play it by ear.

And a small primer for true SM players: after taking a computer, so that you don't have to sit in the Castle fearing the computer will take it back, you need to force it to run toward the castle and be wiped out during an assault. To do this, move your entire army into the garrison, leaving only 1 fast unit with the hero. The computer will see a weak hero in the castle and rush toward him with all its heroes. Then it will either die during the assault or come within marching distance where it can be destroyed in the open field.

I strongly recommend playing this template with fast roads. Otherwise, you might get bogged down. The distances here are significant, noticeably larger than on Spider or 8mm6.

If it's SoD, at least restart the slow roads.

This might be off-topic, but why is preference given specifically to XL+U templates on the bay? Why not create L+U or even M+U templates, or at least XL-U. :confused:

Maybe it's off-topic, but why are XL+U templates preferred on the battle map? Couldn't you create L+U or even M+U templates, or at least XL-U? :confused:

The larger the size, the less the factor of randomness.

It's more difficult to achieve meaningful gameplay on L+U – it's much easier to implement an advantage in the layout than on XL+U. This is clearly visible in the skirmish mode – give a couple of good outposts and some tasty resource caches, and you can run around the enemy's castle through the Gate of the Month in about 124 turns. On this particular template, there's an intermediate treasure chest specifically to reduce this factor. And the abundance of castles, villages, and treasure chests with roads allows you not to worry too much about losing your starting castle.

XL-U is prone to numerous generation bugs. There are no lifts, so the generator may not have enough teleporters to create all the connections.

XL+U templates take up too much real time. That's probably why tournaments there take so long...

And at least 40-50% of the template isn't used. For example, you could cut half of the 8mm6 and fit it onto an L+U. The result would be the same, but with fewer delays.

IMHO, it's not a good idea to experiment with templates in a tournament (especially one as specific as this).
Let's stick to the regulations and play on the templates that the organizer has proposed. As an alternative, we could run the templates from the first 4 rounds in a second round during the remaining 4 rounds, so to speak, to solidify at least a couple of new templates... especially since some people didn't even play them in the first rounds :smile43:

XL+U templates take up too much real-time. Apparently, that's why tournaments there drag on for aaaavery long...

It's not about the size here, but rather a lack of habit. I've already cited tournament statistics from Kingisepp somewhere — 8mm6 on Light. Average duration was 3 weeks.

Based on experience playing with sm-players on 8mm6, I'd even guess why everything takes so long for them — on sms, the main goodies are located in treasuries, meaning not along the roads. This is where the habit of running off-road for 2-3 weeks searching for something comes from.

On the other hand, XL-template players venture off-road extremely rarely — either if there's something truly tasty there or out of desperation. The main events (movement of the hero and army) happen along the roads. Situations often arise where a conserve/hive/Dragon Utopia are ignored simply because it's inconvenient to run to them.

Essentially, most of these games went roughly like this — while the opponent spent 2-3 weeks exploring the nooks and crannies of their respawn and nearby treasuries, I scouted most of the road network, wiped out computers, cleared central treasuries (which are on the roads), and then paid a visit with an uber-army and stats. If I got wrecked, having traded units, I'd bring back no smaller army a week later (from 4-5 towns, after all), while the opponent only had +1 growth.

Accordingly, if two campers meet, the game drags on for N weeks until they polish everything clean. But if there are two aggressors, everything fits into 2-3 weeks — exploring the roads quickly leads to a combat clash.

And at least 40-50% of the template isn't used. For example, you could cut half of 8mm6 and squeeze it into L+U. It would be the same thing, just with fewer delays.

If that could be done, it would have been done long ago. Alas, but that's unreal here. Because the peculiarity of the generator is that the road network (along which the entire game is built) is scattered across the map extremely unevenly; there are crowded areas (usually the center) and large off-road spaces (usually the edges of the map).

That is, the actual working space on 8mm6 is small enough that it would fit into L+U. But it's impossible to force the generator to create an L+U with a fully functional workspace using standard methods. That's why people play on XL+U, ignoring the notorious 40-50% of the map. But they are still needed — simply for the possibility of choice. If you cut the bottom part of 8mm6, you'll get a template far more pathetic than an sm.

Each new round should ideally be played on a new map template to keep things interesting. Regarding the size, you can choose to play on either L+U or XL. For comparison, here are the area figures. Let's take the smallest map, S = 36x36 cells, as our unit. S+U = 2xS M = 4xS M+U = 8xS L = 9xS XL = 16xS L+U = 18xS XL+U = 32xS The sizes L, XL, and L+U are optimal for gameplay. For example, I personally prefer dirt roads, so I would restart the game if it generated paved roads. You can also move around the map without roads. I recently played a game on an L-sized map with a foreign player, and we both enjoyed it; the generation was good, and there were no bugs. Not all tournament participants prefer rushing or are at a level where they need to break the enemy's defenses on turn two. On average, a game on a medium-sized map (L+U) ends around turn 136. Therefore, playing on XL+U is a waste of time and, frankly, a perversion. The fun of the game lies in interacting with your opponent, not just clearing out neutral creatures. The main thing is that the template supports the size.

The interesting part of the game is interacting with your opponent, not clearing out neutral creatures.

Exactly. That's a serious drawback of templates with Garrison, as it makes contact with the opponent difficult – you either have to break the Garrison or find a roundabout way, losing development tempo.

So far, of all the templates I've played, Spider is the most conducive to interaction – on the one hand, it's easy to meet, and on the other hand, an unsuccessful battle doesn't automatically lead to defeat – because there's somewhere to retreat, and the opponent loses tempo by pursuing and taking castles. This leads to several waves of combat.

Added 20 minutes later

In my opinion, in a tournament (especially one as specific as this), it's not a good idea to experiment with templates.
Let's stick to the rules and play on the templates that the organizer has proposed. As an alternative, we could run the templates from the first 4 rounds in a second round during the remaining 4 rounds, so to speak, to solidify at least a couple of new templates... especially since some people didn't even play them in the first rounds :smile43:

Overall, I agree. I was just expressing an idea for the future.

Tanya, maybe you're not receiving my messages... I'm online right now, and if you're available today, please let me know either here or through someone on ICQ.

Dubrovin Pavel (Blue, Castle, Valessa, Valessa) def Captain (Red, Inferno, Pyrr, Pyrr), Jebus Cross, 1.3.5.

On the first week - Took the external dwelling of Horses, placed them with Castle, took the Gold Mine, Rider's Gloves, broke through with Mom into the Main for a vigorous start of the second week. Secondary of Stronghold. Unfortunately, the road up from Castle was blocked by 20-49 Medusas for an Artifact, so I didn't go that way.

On the second week - by 1.2.4. took Consu-Treshka, Maximalka and Maximalka, they stubbornly don't give Earth, but at least they gave Air. There was a choice to go with Simple Angels to the Treasury, or take the external dwelling of Angels, upgrade them, and only then go. Chose the second option, since there was no Pathfinding anyway. On 1.2.7. I stood at the ГО with 12 Archangels etc. Parameters left much to be desired, and on the other side of ГО was already Sasha and was rubbing salt in my wound that he already has all 5th level spells. Angels and Archangels in Castle accordingly, fortunately helped by the black market found on the second week. Found Shackles of War on respawns, Sandals of the Saints, Cloak of Speed, Boots of Speed, and a Library of Good.

On the third week - broke through ГО Nagas and 20-49 Angels with Archangels, finally gave Pathfinding, however I see another ГО below (ЧД and Nagas). First I broke them for Experience, but then I assessed that my 17 Archangels at best won't stand against Implosion, and went down the path to a neutral respawn in search of fortune. And indeed it was there in the form of a lookout by the road, opening which I finally saw at least one Dragon Utopia, to which I rushed. Sasha killed a Scout that wanted to transfer additional forces to Valya, but the second Scout managed to sneak through. I take a Dragon Utopia-three where they give: Red Ball, Oracle's Hat, and some other crap. I return the army via Scout to the Main, leave Valya with single units, Sasha's Scout almost reached her. I plan to break through with Valya to the Main for further planning of military actions, when suddenly with a Scout I spot Pyrr in the Central Stronghold in the Treasury. Valya Dimension Doors there, gets the entire army, about 17 Archangels 17 Champions, some other Bros, I place Red Ball, Shackles, attack, victory!

Thanks to Sasha for debut on Jebus Cross!