Posts from Artania

I downloaded it, took a look in the editor, and now I'm going to play. My first observation. Or rather, a question. Humans and elves start the game with four castles, dwarves with three, and orcs with two. What's the point? After all, there are no more castles on the map. Plus, there's too much water. Well, the rest will become clear as I play.

I started with the elves, and it seems interesting on "veteran" difficulty. At first, I wanted to play as dwarves, but the main dwarf already has all the skills, and you can't upgrade the super ability. I don't understand why? And a question: is there a mentor on the map?

I'm also playing as elves on veteran difficulty. As I said before, it wouldn't hurt to add some color to the area, because all around there is just dark green, monotonous grass. The heroes develop very quickly, I think soon auto-battles will solve everything. Therefore, it wouldn't hurt to make the neutrals much stronger far from the castles. For example, 2 powerful artifacts – a bow and a quiver – are guarded by 9 colossi, which a secondary hero easily defeated. On recruit difficulty, there would be 2-3 colossi. Don't be afraid to make the neutrals stronger. Regarding the silvan trees – they are not needed near the castles (it's better to upgrade a hero from level 38 to 39 than from 15 to 16). So, it's better to put them on neutral territory, if there is any.
The cities are interestingly located in relation to each other, but it would be nice to have some kind of road between them (this is in relation to the coloring). And more uneven terrain. So far, that's all. While I was exploring my territory, a lot of time passed, even with skillful logistics. A couple of stables wouldn't hurt either ))

Added 53 seconds ago
A, and one more thing. Make the shore look like a shore, i.e., with rounded or steep outlines, sand at the border with the water, etc.

I started with humans. On hero difficulty. So far, everything is interesting. The main hero started developing skills in the wrong direction. I need a mentor somewhere. I ran into 931 death knights in my territory. I'm not sure if I should go there. Is that how it's supposed to be? And one more thing. My comrades have an opinion)) to replace the orc race with necromancers. I like to play as a necromancer))

The number of recruitment camps and mines varies in the territories under control, and this is where the balance lies. The varying strength of garrisons and the different sizes of territories mean that different races emerge into the world in different ways. Orcs are almost immediately an attacking race, while the others are more defensive.

A mentor is present. I customized it for myself and forgot to reset it.

Neutrals near cities are very tough for leveling up on the map, and there are strict divisions of territories into "ours" and "theirs," so strong opponents are always far away. Serious battles involve specially reinforced units in specific locations (2 centers of power in neutral territories).
Elves specifically lack roads and stables. This is why Elven heroes are given logistics perks and artifacts that reduce movement penalties on difficult terrain. The idea is that the enemy moves slowly through Elven lands, while the Elves move quickly, which is why there are no roads and why cities are connected by a network of portals. Silvan trees and Ent groves are part of the environment. I wanted to create a magical Elven forest, so I minimized everything that couldn't be related to the Elven green theme. Did I succeed in creating such a forest?
I will work on the shores.

Added 1 minute ago


These are the locations mentioned earlier for those who enjoy challenging opponents. Yes, that's how it should be, and it's best not to wander there with weak heroes, as it can be dangerous, and there are not only Knights there.

If you want to create a magical elven forest, experiment with different tree types and effects. The editor has beautiful effects for decorating forests. If there's a hill in the center of the forest, it will look even better. + Add bushes, grass, stumps, fallen logs, mushrooms, etc. to the trees to make everything look cohesive.

I only found effects like light, which doesn't really fit in the forest, and blue lights that were scattered around lakes and elven cities. There aren't any other effects there.
It's a magical forest, so what kind of stumps are those? Stumps are where Ents grow. There are already plenty of mushrooms and grass scattered around. Oh well, I'll add some more.

Someone posted a file on the forum that unlocks some tabs with objects in the editor (including effects). Search for it if you don't mind.

The number of recruitment camps and mines varies in the controlled territories, and this is where the balance lies. The different strength of the garrisons and the different size of the territories mean that different races emerge into the world in different ways. Orcs are almost immediately an attacking race, while the others are more defensive.

Are Elves a defensive race? They have incredibly strong 3rd-level archers + druids covered by thick ents. + 2 melee units with mass attack, one of which doesn't even have a retaliatory attack.
In my opinion, they are not much weaker (if they are weaker at all) than Orcs in terms of map clearing speed.

Knights are also a quite offensive race. Not as fast as the first two, but not much slower either.

Dwarves, perhaps, but considering their ballistic defense, they also perform quite well in clearing territory. But in general, yes, they are slower than the other three races.