Posts from Useful information: templates, maps.

Pucharu Ciemnosci (Cup of Darkness) Templates,
or so-called Polish Balances, are played on two sizes – M and L.

PC M Template.
Size M.



It differs from our standard balance M & M + U template in the following:

1) there is no zone 10;
2) terrain type – everywhere it’s dirt, except for zone 5 – there it's sand;
3) neutral villages in zones 7 and 9 – towers;
4) a neutral town in zone 3 – only Necropolis;
5) increased protection of passages to zones 3 and 4 – they are now 11 and 12 instead of 8 and 9.

PC L Template.
Size L.



It differs from our standard balance L template in the following:

1) terrain type – everywhere it’s dirt, except for zones 5 and 10 – there it's sand;
2) neutral villages in zones 6 and 8 – towers, 7 and 9 – necropoli;
3) neutral towns in zones 3 and 4 – necropoli.

Additional text files when playing Pucharu Ciemnosci.

On the Polish Heroes website Liga "World of Heroes", a set of additional text files is used when playing on these templates, which significantly changes the game. The rules for games with these text files can be read here.
To use the text files, you need to place them in the Heroes III/Data directory.

Warnings:
- Using these files without clear agreement with your opponent is prohibited. To obtain consent from the opponent to play with these text files, you must provide him with complete information about the changes made to the game when using them.
- For correct operation, some of these files must be used on both players' computers.
- Please note that after installing these files on your computer, some words in Heroes will be in Polish.
- Using the HcTraits file and similar ones unilaterally without warning your opponent in games on the HW forum is equivalent to cheating.
- These files exist in various versions. The changes they make may differ from those listed below (for example, angels in conservatories may be replaced with resources and money or creature dwellings may be completely removed from the map).
- Before using the text files, familiarize yourself with the game rules; they are different from ours!

Changes in the game when using these text files:

- ArTraits - a file that removes artifacts of necromancy, navigation, diplomacy, eagle eye from the map; angel wings and boots of levitation. It also reduces the prices for these artifacts by 2 times. Artifacts for resistance, 5% and 10%, are moved from major (ART3) to basic (ART2), a bag of gold worth 1000 becomes a major artifact instead of a relic (ART4), and swift boots are now a major artifact.

- CrAnim - a well-known and permitted animation accelerator file.

- Objects - completely removes obelisks, cartographer, fort on a hill, adds crypts on lava, swamp, and dungeon.

- CrBanks - replaces sulfur in naga banks with gems.

- CrTraits - this contains information about creature parameters, it only works for the Polish version, correcting errors. In other versions, everything is correct anyway.

- HcTraits - changes the probability of heroes gaining skills (the chance of getting necromancy, diplomacy, or eagle eye has been reduced to zero). This file changes the hero's development tree only for the player who has it installed, i.e., it gives a one-sided advantage.

- HoTraits - changes the starting army of heroes: imps: 15-25 -> 25-30 (only first slot), ogres and archers 4-7 -> 5-7 (only second slot (Valeska and Kelh)).

- SpTraits - removes walking on water, Dimension Door, Town Portal, summon ship, and flood ship from the Mage Guild; magic mirror moves to level 3.

Template 6LM10

Text file with the template - 6lm10.txt
/To play on this template, you need to copy the text file of the template attached to the description into the Data folder (located in the folder where Heroes is installed), rename it to rmg.txt, and restart the game for the changes to take effect./
Optimal map size: XL+U + 6 AI players

Template layout:



Start – in zones 1 and 2, located very close to each other. Zones 3-6, 11, 12 are inhabited by AI players.
Zones 7-10, 13-16 contain neutral towns. There are no towns in the remaining zones; 21-25 are crossroads.
In the starting zones of players and AI players, there is one wood mine and ore mine each. In zones 7-10, 13-20, there is one valuable resource mine. In zones 21-25, there are four valuable resource mines (one mercury, crystals, sulfur, and gems).
The landscape of zones 1-16 is determined by the type of town; the rest are random.
Monsters in zones 17-20 are strong; in the others, they are medium strength.
Neutral towns and monsters can be any.
Passages: 21-22 and 24-25 - wide, without guards; 1-9, 2-10, 5-13, 6-14, 9-10, 9-21, 9-23, 10-22, 10-23, 11-21, 11-24, 12-22, 12-25, 13-23, 13-24, 14-23, 14-15 - standard guards (6000); 17-21, 18-22, 19-24, 20-25 - strong guards (9000); 1-21, 2-22, 5-24, 6-25, 15-24, 16-25 - double, weak guards (3000); 3-21, 3-23, 3-24, 4-22, 4-23, 4-25 - weak guards (3000); 7-21, 8-22 - double, standard guards (6000).
Zone contents: 1-6, 11-12, 21-25: 10000-15000*1, 3000-6000*6, 500-3000*9; 7-10, 13-16: 15000-20000*1, 10000-15000*6, 3000-6000*9; 17-20: 20000-30000*1, 15000-20000*6, 10000-15000*9.
Zones 1-16 have a size of 30, 17-20 are twice as small (15), and 21-25 are almost twice as large (50).

Template 6LM10a

Compared to 6LM10, the revised version (revised by Wic) – template 6LM10a – has the following bugs fixed:
1) The red and blue colors were too close together; now, blue and purple have been swapped;
2) There were intersections that led to map space being blocked off with unplayable terrain (mountains, darkness); now, their zone type is a regular zone, and the working surface area of the map is the same as on 8mm6;
3) Generation was allowed on sizes other than XL+U (players sometimes forget to enable underground or set the size to M); now it is not allowed;
4) Typos made by the author when creating connections: zones 14-15 are connected instead of 13-14, and connection 14-25 was also missed.

The text file for the template is 6lm10a.txt
/To play on the template, you need to copy the template's text file attached to the description into the Data folder (located in the folder where Heroes is installed), rename it to rmg.txt, and restart the game so that the changes take effect./
Optimal map size: XL+U + 6 computers

Template scheme:



Yellow – standard treasure locations with villages, gray – super treasures (no village, strong monsters), the rest of the zones have standard contents.

Connections:
3000 = all outgoing from green and brown computers + double from others (1-21, 2-22, 5-24, 6-25)
6000 = all other connections except passages to super treasures
9000 = passages to super treasures

Template 8XM12

Text file with the template – 8xm12.txt.
/To play on this template, you need to copy the text file of the template attached to the description into the Data folder (located in the folder where Heroes is installed), rename it to rmg.txt, and restart the game for the changes to take effect./
Optimal map size: XL+U + 6 AI players

Template scheme:



Zone contents:
[1-8] and [21-32] - [500-3000]*9, [3000-6000]*6, [10000-15000]*1
9-20 - [3000-6000]*9, [10000-15000]*6, [15000-20000]*1
33 - [10000-15000]*9, [15000-20000]*6, [20000-30000]*1

Starting zones for players – 1 and 2. Zones 3-8 are occupied by AI.
Guards of all passages are weak (3000), except for the passages to zone 33 – there they are strong (9000).
Neutral villages are located in zones 9-20.
Monsters in the starting zones of players and AI are weak; in the rest, except for 33, they are medium; in 33, they are strong.
Zones 21-32 are crossroads.
Landscape of zones: 1-20 – determined by the type of city in that zone, 21-33 – any.
All zones have the same basic size.
Cities – any; neutral monsters – any.

Recommended rule adjustments for playing on this template are the same as for the 8mm6 template.

Template 8XM12a

Compared to 8xm12, the improved version (modified by Wic) – template 8XM12a – has the following bugs fixed:
1) The presence of intersections leading to blocking map space with unplayable terrain (mountains, darkness) – now their zone type is a regular zone, and the working surface area of the map is the same as on 8mm6.
2) The path to the center goes through treasure locations, which consequently increases the risk of serious blockades – now the path to the center is direct, with a branch leading to the treasures.
3) Red and blue are relatively close to each other, increasing the chance of restarting due to encounters – now blue and pink have been swapped.
4) Generation on sizes other than XL+U is possible (players sometimes forget to enable underground or set the size to M) – now it is not allowed.

The text file with the template is 8xm12a.txt.
/To play on the template, you need to copy the template text file attached to the description into the Data folder (located in the folder where Heroes is installed), rename it to rmg.txt, and restart the game for the changes to take effect./
Optimal map size: XL+U + 6 opponents

Template scheme:



Yellow - standard treasure locations with villages. The central zone (number 33) is a super-treasure location (like on 2sm4d(3)), without a village, and the monsters there are strong. All other zones have regular contents.

All passages are weak (3000 value); only the passage to the central treasure location is strong (9000 value).

Recommended rule adjustments for playing on this template are the same as for the 8mm6 template.

Anarchy Template

Text file with the template - Anarchy.txt.
/To play on the template, you need to copy the template text file attached to the description into the Data folder (located in the folder where Heroes is installed), rename it to rmg.txt, and restart the game for the changes to take effect./
Map settings - L+U without computers, two players.
Game version - SoD or TE-Light, as close as possible to SoD, with diplomacy enabled, 4DD, and other overpowered features.

Anarchy template v1.01 - a set of 12 templates, some of which are well-known, and some are variations of well-known ones (to make them less recognizable). At the start and during the game, it is not visible which template was generated.

General patterns:
1) Many neutral towns (there may be areas where there is more than one). There may be native villages and castles on the respawn.
2) Many roads. Sometimes the distances are quite large. And sometimes not very. It depends on how it works out.
3) If you see a buggy passage, watch out for the possibility of an early encounter. Without buggy passages, an early encounter is unlikely (number of transitions + size of guards).
4) The guards of passages between zones are only 4 types - 3000, 6000, 12500, 45000. So, experience allows you to determine the approximate size of the guard.
5) Some templates may generate one-way paths.

AnarchyN1
AnarchyN2
AnarchyN3
AnarchyN4
AnarchyN5
AnarchyN6
AnarchyN7
AnarchyN8
AnarchyN9
AnarchyN10
AnarchyN11
AnarchyN12

Recommended rule adjustments for playing on this template:
- Difficulty - 200%, for TE-Light, start with 2500 gold, 5 wood, and 5 stone.
- All rules are canceled, except for fair play.
- Restarts - 111, 113, and per hero not of level 1. There are no restarts for encounters or blocks.
EVERYTHING ELSE IS ALLOWED! That is, there are no restrictions on diplomacy, shifted guards, profile castles, using scrolls, red rush, etc. There are also no restrictions on necromancers and flux.
- There are two options for choosing starting castles - either a standard pick, or a full random, that is, a random starting castle, hero, and resource. In the second option, with each subjective restart, the players change colors, with objective restarts (hero level, various bugs, etc.), the colors do not change.

Spider Template

Author - Wicc.
Template text file - spider.txt.
/To play on this template, you must copy the template text file attached to the description into the Data folder (located in the Heroes installation folder), rename it to rmg.txt, and restart the game for the changes to take effect./
Map settings XL+U, 2 humans + 6 computers, difficulty 160%.

Template layout:



Start - in zones 1 and 2; computers inhabit 3-8.
Zone contents:
1-16 - [6000-9999]*1, [3000-6000]*6, [0-3000]*9
17-24 - [16000-20000]*3, [10000-16000]*9, [6000-8999]*9
White zones - random villages; terrain type corresponds to the village type.
Yellow zones - treasure zones; terrain type is random. There are no villages in treasure zones, and since they are dead ends, there are usually no roads there (except for rare generator bugs).
All passage guards except for treasure zone guards are weak (3000). Treasure zone guards are strong (12500) and double.
Neutral monsters and towns - any.
Monsters everywhere are average.
The base size of treasure zones is half as large as other zones.
There are many different mines on the map.

Recommended rule adjustments for playing on this template are the same as for the 8mm6 template.

Spider template

Author - Wicc.
Text file with template - spider.txt.
/To play this template it is necessary to copy the text file attached to the description to Data folder (which is in the folder where heroes 3 installed) and rename it to rmg.txt./
Map settings XL+U, 2 humans + 6 computers, difficulty 160%.

Start is in zones 1 and 2, computers inhabit 3-8.
Objects, generated in zones:
1-16 - [6000-9999]*1, [3000-6000]*6, [0-3000]*9
17-24 - [16000-20000]*3, [10000-16000]*9, [6000-8999]*9
White zones are random villages with terrain corresponding to the type of that village.
Yellow zones are treasure zones with random terrain. There are no villages in treasure zones, so there should be no roads too.
Border guards are weak (3000) everywhere except guards to treasure zones, that are strong (12500) and the passages are double.
Neutral monsters and towns can be of any type.
Monster strength is average everywhere.
Base size of the treasure zones and twice smaller than other zones.
There are a lot of different mines on this map.

Mini-Nostalgia Template.

Template text file – rmg.txt.
/To play on this template, you need to copy the template text file attached to the description into the Data folder (located in the folder where Heroes is installed) and restart the game for the changes to take effect./

Template scheme:



Recommended generation settings – L+U for 8 players (i.e., with 6 AI opponents). You can also play with two players; in that case, neutral Castles will be placed instead of AI opponents.

Starting respawn points for players and AI opponents contain: [0-3000]*14 + [3000-6000]*6 + [10000-15000]*1. Almost standard, only the lower range is slightly expanded and more abundant.

Treasure zones (yellow areas) have contents similar to 2sm4d(3): [10000-15000]*9 + [15000-20000]*6 + [20000-30000]*1

Each side treasure zone has a village. The central one does not. The type of village may not match the type of territory.

Passages to AI opponents are weak – 3000, passages to treasure zones are normal – 6000, passage to the central treasure zone is ГО – 45000.

In most generations, each player has 4 roads (3 to secondary locations + ГО), and the passage to an opponent is only through ГО. Exceptions occur only in case of buggy paths being generated.

Recommended rule adjustments for playing on this template:

1) Players take turns choosing AI opponents, one at a time. The blue player starts the selection. There should be no repeats or matches with players' Castles. Before starting the game, the host assigns the selected Castles to the AI opponents.
Reason – to avoid double builds.

2) It is allowed to move to adjacent respawn points past shifted guards (with the exception of ГО).
Reason – AI opponents ignore shifted guards; therefore, to avoid any unfair situations, players can do so as well. In addition, it is much easier to break through to an AI opponent than to take their Castle, so there is no point in this restriction.

Mini-Nostalgia template
Text file with template - rmg.txt

Map settings: L+U humans - 2, computers - 6.

Rules differences:
- To avoid double-builds computer castles are chosen by the players. The blue players starts choosing, choses one castle for his computer (the one in the zone neighboring to blue's starting position), than red chooses one castle for his computer etc. There must be no repeats and computer castles must differ from players'. Computer castles are set by the host before the start of the game.
- It is allowed to move between zones without fighting misplaced guards. The exception is the strong guards to the central zone - they must be fought.

Decided to refine the scheme for Mini-Nostalgia.

I've tweaked a mini-scenario for practicing battles against the AI in single-player mode; it turned out to be quite interesting. I recommend playing with L+U difficulty, or L-U for those seeking a challenge, 200% difficulty, and 8-0-0-0 settings. With experience and taxes enabled, the roads will develop quickly.

Template 8xm8
Text file with the template - 8XM8.txt
/To play on this template, you need to copy the text file of the template, attached to the description, into the Data folder (located in the folder where Heroes is installed), rename it to rmg.txt, and restart the game for the changes to take effect./
Standard settings - XL+U, 2 players + 6 AI opponents, no water, strong monsters, difficulty 160%.

This template is included in the standard set from the game developer 3DO and has the following layout:



As can be seen in the diagram, zone 8 is not connected to any other zones, and some zones have 4 connections, which logically don't fit, indicating an unfinished design.

Template 8xm8a.
Text file with the template - 8XM8a.txt
/To play on this template, you need to copy the text file of the template attached to the description into the Data folder (located in the folder where Heroes is installed), rename it to rmg.txt and restart the game for the changes to take effect./
Standard settings - XL+U, 2 players + 6 computers, no water, monsters - strong, difficulty 160%.

This is an improved version of the 8xm8 template.
In the standard 8xm8, the numbers of several zones are not integers. The generator rounds these numbers according to its algorithm, and because of this, the map is generated somewhat crookedly. If you round manually (method can be found in the multiplayer topic with the Chinese сборная), then you get a symmetrical scheme with logical connections and without isolated zones.
Following the analogy with previous templates, we call this template 8xm8a.

Scheme of the template:



Zones 1-8 – starting locations for players and computers. They each have a wood mine and an ore mine.
Neutral villages of random type are located in zones 9-16. There are wood mines, ore mines, and one valuable resource mine there.
17-48 – zones without cities. Each has one mine of one of the valuable resources.
Contents of zones 1-16: (6000-12000)x1, (3000-6000)x6, (500-3000)x9; 17-48: (20000-30000)x1, (10000-20000)x6, (7500-10000)x9.
The base size of all zones is the same. The landscape of zones 1-16 is tied to the city type, in the rest - it is arbitrary. Monsters everywhere are medium. Passage guards - 3000 and 6000.

A selection of the best maps from Peter's championships:

1) Armor of the Damned
2) Guardians
3) Immortal Guards
4) Just Another Map 2
5) Land of Magic
6) Might vs Magic
7) Seven Lakes

Descriptions for JAM2 and MvM are in their respective folders; descriptions for the others are in Maps(rus).txt

The highest-quality maps are designed for the Town Editor (TE).

Tournament Maps "Seasons" (winter 2009-10).

To see which Castles, Heroes, Spells and Artifacts are allowed on each map, press Ctrl+Enter in the map editor. On most maps, Dimension Door and Fly are disabled + the Diplomacy skill is disabled for Rylando, Kyra and Adela + the ability to acquire it by any Hero is also disabled. + such heroes as Sir Mullich, Logisticians, Ciel, Luna, etc., are disabled. For Specialists at level 4 and Tanta, the signature spell has been replaced with an arrow or blind spell. Restrictions such as a ban on upgrading buildings in the Fortress, mandatory dismissal of a hero upon reaching N level, etc., adopted in random games, do not apply here!

1). Battle For Glory (first published on www.toheroes.com) Difficulty: 160%
A warm-up map. But without a certain amount of luck, Dragon Utopia cannot be broken before day 131. Native secondary castles are the same as the main castle of your opponent. Castle and Fortress are disabled. The Diplomacy skill is disabled. But you can still recruit monsters! Final battle (if required) - on sand (32,59,0) on the 4th day of the 3rd week of the 2nd month.

2). Battlemania (www.toheroes.com). Difficulty: 100%
Fun map! The passage between players is guarded by 10 black dragons that don't grow. There are external dwellings of level 7 for everyone except the Fortress on the islands. The Diplomacy skill is disabled. But you can still recruit monsters! Final battle (if required) - under the library (33,37,0) on the 4th day of the 3rd week of the 2nd month.

3). Boomerang (www.toheroes.com) Difficulty: 160%
A classic! Rampart and Fortress are disabled. Except for level 6, the central castle is guarded by 6 diamond golems in the Stronghold. The Diplomacy skill is disabled. But you can still recruit monsters!
Final battle (if required) - on sand (16,44,0) on the 4th day of the 3rd week of the 2nd month.

4). Danzer Zone (www.toheroes.com) Difficulty: 160%
The highlight of the map is the central castle, which is guarded by a rather strong mage with a lot of troops! But the reward is royal – the Grail! To the right and left of the castle, there are formidable scouts running around within a radius of 8 cells from their location. Be careful and plan your route in advance! :) Native secondary castles are the same as the main castle of your opponent. Be careful with the 4th monster under the blue castle, and near Dragon Utopia of the red one. :) Take care of the water quickly. The Diplomacy skill is disabled. But you can still recruit monsters! Final battle (if required) - on sand (55,65,0) on the 4th day of the 2nd week of the 3rd month.

5). Desert War (www.toheroes.com) Difficulty: 100% (until I find the original version)
A classic TOH. Necropolis and Fortress are disabled. Native secondary castles are the same as the main castle of your opponent. The Diplomacy skill is disabled. But you can still recruit monsters! Final battle (if required) - on sand (32,38,0) on the 4th day of the 3rd week of the 2nd month.

6). Divided Loyalities (remake of Singing Heart) Difficulty: 130%.
The very first map of St. Petersburg championships. Using the Fort of Hills is allowed! Diplomacy is allowed! Note that you can enter the tomb twice! The red player enters through the head, the blue – through the legs!! Final battle (if required) - on sand (40,32,0) on the 4th day of the 3rd week of the 2nd month.

7). Hourglass2 (www.toheroes.com) Difficulty: 130%.
The most popular map of TOH. Attention, diplomacy is allowed on this map! Final battle (if required) - on sand (16,44,0) on the 4th day of the 4th week of the 2nd month.

8). Just Another Map (www.toheroes.com) Difficulty: 160%.
Native secondary castles are the same as the main castle of your opponent. There is a native secondary castle at the bottom for each player!
Final battle (if required) - in the center under the library (36,33,0) on the 4th day of the 4th week of the 2nd month.

9). Kick Thy Neighbors Butt (www.toheroes.com). Difficulty: 160%.
Using the Fort of Hills is allowed! Native secondary castles are the same as the main castle of your opponent.
Final battle (if required) - on swamp near Dragon Utopia (36,39,0), on the 4th day of the 3rd week of the 2nd month.

10). Lands of Magic (creator – Master of Lightnings). Difficulty: 160%.
It is strongly recommended to view it in the editor before playing. Attention, diplomacy is allowed on this map! All heroes are allowed! Final battle (if required) - on snow (41,33,0), on the 4th day of the 3rd week of the 2nd month.

11). Masters (Creator Cardinal) Difficulty: 200%.
The map is "advanced", study it carefully in the editor! Fortress is prohibited. Now you can only start as blue and purple. Final battle (if required) - on lava (39,55,0), on the 4th day of the 3rd week of the 3rd month.

12). Seven Lakes (Creator NWC, transferred from HMM2) Difficulty: 160%.
Final battle (if required) - on stones (52,58,0), on the 4th day of the 2nd week of the 3rd month.

13). The_Challenge (www.toheroes.com) Difficulty: 200%.
Attention, diplomacy is allowed on this map! Using the Fort of Hills is allowed!
Final battle (if required) - under the central castle (39,35,0) on the 4th day of the 4th week of the 2nd month.

bar3_10.zip - maps for SoD
barTE_3_10.zip - maps for TE
Masters (BAR).zip - Masters map

Tactician's Corner Arena.

The player chooses 2 castles, purchases a five-week growth, then selects artifacts, secondary skills, and bonuses, and faces an opponent who has done the same. The point of the map is Frontline Battles (FB).