Posts from Journey

Well, sorry about the bug issue, but it really ruined the game for me:mad:. I'll try uploading a save file after deleting all mods and checking the disk for errors.

Let's continue with the global analysis of the heroes... :smile44:

Inferno:

Armatur - generally... balanced.
Suggestion: give him another artifact that increases knowledge.

Uragon - mistress of elementals... it's not entirely appropriate to give her racial skills, because the hero is focused on ranged attacks at the beginning. There's a lot of mana needed for phoenixes, and if you add demons, their chain shots will constantly hit their own units and the elementals that appear after the enemy stack is destroyed. If she uses fire elementals + phoenixes (both real and summoned), it would be better to remove the racial branch and enhance attack, elementals, and ranged attacks. Then the hero will be more interesting and won't attack his own units.
Suggestion: instead of the racial line, use skilled attack -> shooting -> battle frenzy -> cold steel + attach +1 defense/attack to elementals (any) and fire phoenixes for every 2 hero levels, starting from the first + fill the remaining 4 empty slots at the bottom with various skills that cannot be taken without the racial line: scavenging (to quickly recruit phoenixes at the beginning), earth tremor (we have an upgraded summoning skill, which should help a lot during an assault), fire fury, and elemental equilibrium (the hero will be able to complete the quest and get reinforcements from fire elementals from the start) + give the hero a bow that removes penalties for ranged attacks (elementals will then become really strong, because the effects will also apply to newly appearing units) + start with the magic crystal spell.
With this setup, regeneration is not needed, and losses will be minimal at the beginning. There is also no particular need to buy native creatures at the beginning.

Phobos - o_0 Well, it's a matter of taste... but generally balanced.

Warlord - at the beginning, he's so weak that centaurs will defeat him, but he can become useful as he levels up. Here, the tactic is rapid attack + wave of flame, and you can restore health with dark magic.
Suggestion: increase the initial stack to 30 units with the second upgrade of hounds (they have a larger attack area) + the vampirism spell + only those artifacts from the dragon set that increase initiative for small, melee units (I don't remember exactly, but it seems to be a shield and greaves) + replace the sword of power with a sword from the same dragon set + a ring of initiative (+10%).

Infarct - an amazing idea :) Tactic: global destruction with fire, but so that your own units don't suffer (after leaving the starting zone: phoenixes + armageddon). Since the hero can take pyrokinesis in the hellspawn dwelling, it's better to replace the initial army with them, but in a small number. And +1 spell power at level 5 is useless (it's easier to wear a +6 spell power crown), this hero can only become really powerful towards the end, at level 35, and the army on the hero is already quite strong, besides, spell power is not very easy to get for Inferno...
Suggestion: replace the initial stack with 2 cave hellspawns (I might be confusing the names, but these are the creatures that give pyrokinesis in the dwelling) + the regeneration spell.
+ reduce the interval for increasing spell power to +1 for every 2 hero levels, starting from the first + logistics basics -> sharp mind + a dragon artifact for the chest for the initiative of hellspawns.
It will be a great hero :)

Kragor - weak, but if you upgrade his attack, he will be tolerable.
Suggestion: give the initial stack an alternative upgrade to "jumpers" + in addition to the devilish skill, add stunning and agonizing strike to the hero + the vampirism spell + raising the dead.

Biara - almost perfect. But with your help, you can unlock the racial ability to its full potential. Tactic: effective summoning, ranged attacks, mutual initiative (hero-army-hero).
Suggestion: the regeneration spell + skilled leadership => master of gates => inspiration => empathy (this is the ideal set for a summoning demon, you can't get it honestly in the game :))
+ increase the initial stack to 9 demonesses (on a non-easy hero with 6 units - it's difficult) + instead of the ring of sinners (what does she need it for?), a dragon ring for archers.
It will be a fast mega-summoner-archer :)

Bitter - some kind of unfinished speedster turned out, without magic, with a weak army, it's terrible in general :) What does he need sharp mind for if there is no decent chaos or attack?
Suggestion: in logistics, replace what is there with finding the path, scavenging, silent pursuit + replace the army with 2 archdevils (the first upgrade of the devil) + regeneration + a sea artifact (+50 movement on the sea).
Even then, he will be a weak hero, you can also give him both (+10% and +20%) initiative rings at the start. And maybe instead of teleport, he should be given a general improvement (defense, attack, initiative, speed) for native level 7 creatures as the hero levels up (similar to Axel for the knights)

I apologize for the fuss about the bug, but it completely ruined the game for me:mad:. I'll try uploading the save file after removing all mods and checking the disk for errors.

As I already said, it won't help, because mods that affect the checksum store information about themselves in the save file. So, uploading the save file won't help, the game will still be the old version, but it might help, although I doubt it - there are all sorts of situations.

Necropolis:

Charon - at the beginning, he's normal, but starting with the Orcish hero with Chaos suppression, difficulties will begin, just as with large stacks of water elementals. He needs to be strengthened for a balanced game. Suggestion: we replace the useless Chaos secrets with mana burst + give the hero at the start what is needed to get a large number of ranged units as a reward in the nearby dwellings (as a result, we have a decent army, it's a pity that it probably won't be possible to increase the "hide" turn length of the ranged units, but it would be great) + we add to the Mystic's special ability the growth of the hero's initiative along with his level (+0.05, it seems, starting from the first, so that he has time to cast enough spells before the ranged units appear) + and somewhere else (instead of magic depletion, for example) we add grave chill (it will be a nice touch to the cold theme) + in attack, we change the tactics (why is it needed if we are a Chaos power unit + we play hide-and-seek, the enemies come to us) and magic speed to battle frenzy and fire arrows + vampirism + in the spellbook, we add a special ability of mages (I don't remember what it's called, but it duplicates a spell). As a result, we get a fast cold spellcaster with an endless mana pool and a decent stack of ranged units (taking into account the dwelling) who, in turn, can finish off if the spellcaster doesn't manage to do it in 3 turns. Chaos suppression will spoil the fun, and it will be difficult with water elementals, but it will no longer be so weak and will be able to complete the map with dignity.

Zoltan - he looks formidable, but he will be very weak, because spellcasting will not grow much, mainly knowledge, there are no normal Chaos spells, there is nothing to revive liches with, there is no simple undead resurrection, the artifacts at the start... I won't say anything:) in general, in practice, it's terrible, in my opinion, how ineffective he turns out. It makes sense to combine the special abilities of a mage and a dark elf, for example, a real berserker will turn out. But what to do with Zoltan, I don't know, you can conduct a poll in the header, "who played the game as Zoltan? and is anyone going to?" the result will definitely not be in his favor. In general, I suggest a global review and re-creation of the original hero instead of Zoltan.

Constantine - the perfect necromancer.

Caspar - one thing can be said for sure, Andragor or whatever his name is will have his fun with Caspar with all possible perversions that his imagination can come up with, as will any enemy necromantic large stack at the beginning. It is not very clear what the hero himself will do while his tent is "embalming". Maximizing the ballista + increasing the initiative of combat machines will help to improve the situation, and artifacts. Although the last super-necromancer will still rape him. Suggestion: add to the hero's existing special ability (gnomish) rune machines, increase the protection/attack of ballistas by +1 for each level starting from the first, a rapid-fire ballista, and fire arrows. If everything cannot be put on one special ability, then put it somewhere else, but only in this way, the technical hero will have a chance to look more or less decent at the end of the map in front of a real evil necromancer + dragon crown + berserk spell + ring of broken spirit instead of the ring of life.

Ornella - perfectly balanced.

Orson - the same as Zoltan, there is no effective tactic for him, his centaurs will start, and the 2nd-3rd Orcish hero, who returned with reinforcements, will finish him off, for spare parts and reassembly.

Vlad - weak with a useless special ability. When something increases by +1 for 5 levels of the hero, even on such a large map, it's just nothing, in the starting zone it's only +2 +3, and then you won't even notice it. Well, even if his ridiculous army is replaced with death knights and mummies, there will be a lack of initiative and mana. Suggestion: in the special ability, we reduce the interval to +1 for each level of the hero or every other level, no more, and somehow, when using the resurrection spell, we further reduce the time of the hero's turn and reduce the cost of this spell. + we raise necromancy to perfection and put it in the spellbook "magic sign" (from mages) + we replace skeletons with 2 death knights, 2 mummies + an artifact of +1 speed on the feet. + we change the abilities in the lower window to soldier's luck, grave chill, cold steel, leaving only lord of life. As a result, we get a really powerful ressurrector with a fast "cavalry" capable of destroying half of the enemy stack, neutralizing archers, and quickly recovering.

Gotti - a great idea, perhaps only the rings of kinship with machines are missing at the beginning

I created the heroes by dividing them into three groups:
-Easy to play;
-“Absurd”;
-Interesting.
Some even meet the requirements of several groups.
PavliG suggests making all of them easy to play, which I honestly don’t like. Initially, I didn’t maintain a balance between the starting heroes (why is it needed in single-player?), because the heroes are intended for different players. That is, if you want to play easily, you choose one; if you want to play with difficulty, you choose another; if you want to mess around, you choose a third, etc.
Therefore, I would like to focus more on the interesting aspects of the heroes rather than on how easy they are to play. So, I urge everyone to support this direction.
P.S. I won’t comment on the proposed heroes individually until I start working on the map again.

Barbarian:

Argamet - some kind of barbarian marker?:) Well, in the starting zone there is almost no undead before the water, so it's unclear how he'll be restoring them; he doesn't know how to cast Raise Dead, nor anything else, and he has no racial ability. The starting army is terrible; I wonder what % of it will remain
with a non-easied hero when encountering centaur bandits... And what exactly will the hero himself be doing while his army is being shot down? Killing 1-2 units with an unupgraded strike?:) I'll keep quiet about the serious opponents... Apparently, is the necromancer's cloak supposed to help somehow in exchange for skeletons? I doubt it...
Proposal: expert(maximum) necromancy + full necromancer set + in the spellbook, instead of Dark Ritual (what do we need that for? o_0), Necromancy and "Banshee's Cry" (and definitely give him the necromancer special ability Cry of Terror, since he won't be able to get it himself) + ring (-2 luck to enemy) + replace the starting army with min 15 vampires with the 1st upgrade + replace Devil's Strike in Attack with Cold Steel from the necromancer attack branch
(need to think about what the hero himself will actually be doing during battle; war cries aren't particularly effective for corpses, we can't cast anything except Banshee, so the only option is to upgrade the strike: attach Devil's Strike and Stun Strike to the special ability)
Total: we get a powerful necromancer-rusher who, from the start, will seriously upset everyone both in spirit and luck. Throughout the game, Mute Chaos and War Machines are upgraded (a tent for recovery/cleansing is mandatory for the Barbarian), Attack/Defense will grow well, as well as the army as soon as we loot the Necropolis.

Dyavur - original combination, it'll do, just strengthen slightly with artifacts
Proposal: boots of speed (+1) + barbarian shield

Gotai - almost a wonderful barbarian-shouter, just strengthen the hero's initiative and raise the defense
Proposal: attach "Sharp Mind" and "Distraction" to the special ability + give a barbarian shield and a first aid tent

Kirgan - a player choosing this hero must clearly understand that he will not leave the starting zone; it's hard to imagine a weaker hero and a more useless special ability. Definitely into the scrap heap for smelting!

Baghan - almost balanced, strengthen slightly and he's a gem
Proposal: increase Blood Rage to expert + boots of magic resistance + first aid tent

Garguna (if the proposal is accepted, can be renamed to Butcher :)) - an unfinished butcher :) In the entire line of barbarians, there is no ideal barbarian (like Nemesis for mages or Irina for T.E.), she could be made into one. Idea: a swift butcher-rusher with maximum barbarian privileges
Proposal: change chieftains to the first upgrade (with double attack) + Blood Rage to expert + Pure Rage special ability from the start + change the special ability from useless to a maximally effective strike: "Disrupter" special ability (I think it's one special attack at the start of battle + growth of damage from hero's direct attacks as hero level increases; attach Devil's, Stun, and Torment strikes to this "Disrupter", and "Fire of Fury" (from barbarian education))
+ skilled leadership -> empathy -> inspiration -> battle euphoria + abolish attack down to basic attack -> retribution + artifact boots of speed (+1)
Total: you get an ideal high-speed barbarian-powerhouse, with a high-quality strike squad that runs far and hits 3 times per attack, effectively beating the enemy stack to zero; a very interesting battle would result with a yellow player in the Castle, only Mute Chaos needs to be upgraded first)))

ShakKaruqat - normal, just strengthen slightly
Proposal: dragon wings + in the special ability, +2 health and +1% initiative growth per hero level

Varvara: without fury, these centaurs won't get far, especially since she knows inspiration; what's the point of giving that to a hero from the start who isn't intended to split the stack, but rather to gather a strike force. and there's no point in moving inspiration if she can neither shout nor hit properly.
imho, to the scrap heap along with Kirgan

Added after 18 minutes

I created the heroes by conditionally dividing them into three groups:
- Easy to play;
- "Absurd";
- Interesting.
Some even satisfy the requirements of several groups.
PavliG suggests making them all easy to play, which I honestly don't like. Initially, I didn't maintain balance between starting heroes (why is it needed in single player), as heroes are intended for different players. That is, if we want to play easily - we take one, if it's hard - another, if we want to mess around - a third one, etc.
Therefore, I would like to emphasize the interest of the heroes rather than ease of play ;) Therefore, I urge everyone to support this direction.

Well, according to your own philosophy, you don't just have "easy-to-play heroes" for the Knight, Inferno, Barbarian, Dwarf, and Elf factions :smile08: Absurd/interesting 60/40, which is not good...
Moreover, I am proposing a balance between ease of play (as you put it, but for some "very easy" includes a non-easied hero and they start experiencing the desired difficulties, although what ease of play is there with the yellow sphere-launcher or with the necromancer?) and interest, with a tiny remainder of absurdity (since the latter is neither interesting nor passable in the end). I propose to develop the potential of different races and different tactics to an optimal level on this wonderful map, keeping in mind that one won't be lucky enough to experience this via the skill wheel or on any other map, thereby increasing the uniqueness of this wonderful single player and creating an inevitable desire to replay the map again and again using this or that method/tactic/hero.:smile01:

In general, since this hasn't caused strong support yet, I'll hold off for now, let the people join the discussion.

I have a question for PavliG: you mentioned the need to defeat the super-necromancer in the second post. By any chance, are you referring to Andragor? But if you defeat him, the entire storyline will be disrupted... Again, you'll have to fight 16,000 creatures... :confused: If you are planning to do just that, then, of course, you need the same map, but with a different storyline:rolleyes:

I have a question for PavliG: you mentioned the need to defeat the super-necromancer in your second post. Are you perhaps referring to Andragor? But if you defeat him, the entire storyline is disrupted... Again, you'll have to deal with 16,000 creatures...:confused: If you are planning to do this, then, of course, you need the same map, but with a different storyline:rolleyes:

I'll correct this slightly: the storyline isn't disrupted, but you will have to fight them :)
And it's not difficult to defeat them, considering the AI is so simple.
The player creates the storyline himself ;)

As for the ease of playing with certain heroes and factions, that's relative. Or do you just want each faction to have an uber-hero?
What's wrong with the Inferno guy with the Hellfire spell? Isn't he an uber-hero?
The Knights are strong in themselves, and considering the length of the game... and the Orcs too, considering they have the most castles on the map.
I don't remember about the others... :) I need to take a look)

Added after 23 minutes
I'll still comment on what's close by:
Argamet - getting to the undead with him is a challenge... It will be tough ;)
Garuna - I won't give the "Disruptor" ability to anyone else - there's already one.
Keegan - he seems to be the most average among the Orcs (from the standard ones). Multiplayer players will probably agree, but that's just my opinion)
I took away the "Fury" ability from the Barbarian so that she wouldn't seem too uber... I tried it with Fury... it just becomes too easy afterwards

Okay, maybe we shouldn't make it so Necromancers are easy to kill, even though the temptation is there. But it won't be possible to complete a map on a difficult setting with weak heroes, at most with a Barbarian with some advantages. Is it fair that some heroes are strong and others are weak? So, will none of the heroes be revised or updated? At least one per faction?

Zoltan - I wouldn't take it (in the Necropolis, Necromancer, Vampire, Berserker build). What's the point of "Unstoppable Magic" for a Necromancer? Maybe I'm missing something?

I also played through with Zoltan and didn't understand what "Unstoppable Magic" is for. I defeated the first mentor easily without it.
Maybe the author can explain what the purpose is?

I also played through the game with Zoltan, and I didn't understand what the "Irresistible Magic" skill was for; I removed it during the first mentor encounter.
Maybe the author can explain what its purpose is?

It's for the Arcane wave. It's an exotic skill.

Necropolis:

Charon

Added Dark Ritual.

Zoltan

Completely changed.

Konstantin - the perfect Necromancer:)

remained perfect.

Kaspar

He already has Rune Machines ;)
Did not change the hero.

Ornella

Did not change.

Orson

Gave the guy regeneration and spell dispel as a bonus.

Vlad

Vlad already has six summoning perks at the start, upgraded summoning and Necromancy+summoning elementals.
Only added a fist. And now he starts with 4 mummies.

Gotti

Replaced the armor of the forgotten hero with a ring of kinship with machines.

Added a version of the map with the changed Necropolis heroes

As for the rest, we'll see :) Maybe we'll change it later, and will other players have suggestions?

Thank you very much for the exciting Journey :) ; unexpected "surprises", interesting opponents; pleasant landscape, also a special thank you to all the testers! I want to offer a weak argument in defense of Zoltan—having a super-shout skill in your arsenal, you can learn General Sclerosis, which is very helpful when storming barbarian castles, and perfect necromancy is also beneficial; after graduating from university as a mentor, you have the opportunity to develop mage assistants to the point of omniscience, which allows you to easily clear the treasure room; but I had to forget the alien skills :(, as they are effective in Chaos, and since you have to rush from the very beginning, I chose pillaging and fast spellcasting. I played on simplified Veteran difficulty. During the game, a question arose, possibly rhetorical: if clearing the Mausoleum of corruption is the primary goal, will other goals be set, i.e., does the esteemed Author plan to continue the story, in which, perhaps, we will find out where Don was in such a hurry to go?:smile01:

Will there be other installments, i.e., does the esteemed Author plan to continue the story, in which we might find out where Don was rushing to?:smile01:

Thank you for your feedback. Unfortunately, a continuation is not planned. For now, I've shifted my focus to mods, specifically the NHF mod, the link is in my signature.

Unfortunately, a sequel is not planned...

It's a pity that Travel will remain the only one. You have plenty of free time to create unique maps:smile20: and thank you for the quick response!

version 3.1, playing without mods, I've read everything, but the tavern doesn't offer any quests((( I attack, and nothing happens.