Posts from The intricacies of game mechanics Auto-translated

As far as I know, the AI doesn't analyze objects it can't see, but unexplored territory is attractive to it in itself. Furthermore, it's possible that the AI knows the paths to specific key locations – enemy towns and heroes. I haven't investigated this aspect in more detail.

The AI doesn't analyze objects it can't see, but unexplored territory is attractive to it in itself.

So, it turns out that it "doesn't see" after all?

Furthermore, it's possible that the AI knows the paths to certain key points – enemy towns and heroes.

It's unclear, it might know, or it might not...
I know for sure that it doesn't take into account the defenses that the player can break through. But does it see the entire map at once (but doesn't use the information it gets because it shouldn't), or does it not see it at all?

I haven't researched this aspect in more detail.

That's a shame.

Some believe that the AI can see the contents of chests without actually opening them.

By the way, I remembered something: although I can’t prove it, I’ve noticed many times that the AI in battle always knows what artifacts your hero is wearing. Here’s why: it never casts a spell that wouldn’t be beneficial to it, considering the effects of my artifacts. I can’t recall a specific example right now, but there were situations where one spell seemed obvious, which it could have cast at that moment, but it suddenly cast a different one. And this happened more than once! In particular, it seemed to “sense” that I had the Sphere of Vulnerability.

Purely subjectively, I agree with Sav. It doesn't seem like the AI sees the entire map, but for me, it's almost a fact that it sees the player's towns and heroes.

This reminds me of my old tests on this topic. I start playing a small map with 1 and 7 opponents, and the opponents behave actively. If I give my hero Archangels, they don't even leave their castles, even though they don't see my hero. Based on this, I assume that the AI does know everything that is happening on the map.

Well, you can run another test: if the map is completely empty (and the player is strictly separated from the AI), the AI will run around the map until it explores the entire area, and then it will stand still. If you give the AI a Grail in a tower right away, for example, it won't move at all. The fact that it sees heroes and cities of other players is quite possible, and I've seen similar checks. But most likely, its vision through the fog of war is limited to this. The AI doesn't see what's in chests; it always relies on an average amount of gold or experience. It does see artifacts worn by other heroes and their exact armies. It also sees the guard and reward in banks, but it doesn't distinguish between different artifacts in the reward (i.e., the value of the artifacts is determined by their quantity).

I have another question: does the AOTD cast spells for 50 rounds? After this time, are the spells recast by the collection, or not?

No, the spell can only be cast at the beginning of the battle, during the first turn of your creature.

Toganash, the questions are quite amusing, but is it really that difficult to check?

Igorёk, since we're here, I have a question.

In RoE or Armageddon's Blade, in the pyramids, they sometimes gave the "fear" spell, with the supposed effect being similar to that of the azure dragon. However, it didn't appear in the spellbook. I couldn't find the definition of this spell (I looked for it before my military service); it seemed to be earth magic, with an image of a frightened eye. Are you aware of where this came from? Or are you only familiar with the Soda mod? Because I checked on version 3.2, and it's not there. But in the pyramids, it was given as often as other spells.
I found this on the internet:
http://i.playground.ru/i/93/05/61/00/pix/image.jpg
(I'm not embedding it because of its size)

It seems to be a developer oversight. But there's a description and an image for the spell. And the spell itself is nowhere to be found. O_o

There is no mention of "Fear" in the code. Apparently, the developers abandoned this spell and didn't even implement its effect.
It definitely has nothing to do with the Azure Dragon; it just shares a common name. There's probably an analogy with "Cowardice" from Heroes of Might and Magic IV.
In RoE, due to a bug, this spell could be obtained in the pyramid, but it did nothing.
In SoD, "Titan's Thunder" replaced this spell, completely eliminating any mention of it and prohibiting it in pyramids.

There is something similar in the game, although it works completely differently: the "Sorrow" spell (one of the most useless: can anyone give an example of when it had a noticeable effect?). But lowering morale only increases the chance of a stack skipping its turn, while fear actually forces a stack to freeze: it neither attacks nor moves. Such a spell would be useful if it were implemented. Although, actually, Blindness has almost the same effect, with the exception of the reduced or absent retaliation of the blinded stack on the first enemy attack. Maybe that's why the developers abandoned the idea of Fear?

and how, I heard, can Cerberuses ignore the fire shield of the Sultan-Efreet?

Is the probability of digging up a native hero from the left slot the same as from the right slot?
Sav, didn't you check in the maps of fate?

They are the same, but you need to consider that a hero of the same class as the one in the second slot will never appear. That is, if there is already a native hero in the tavern, if you redeem another hero instead of him, the probability of a new native hero appearing will be twice as low as usual (since one of the two classes is blocked). At the same time, the probability of a native hero appearing in the Hall of Heroes is 1/9, regardless of the number of heroes already owned or in prison (with the exception of the case when all heroes of a certain class are occupied) - because first a class is randomly selected - with equal chances for each, and then a random hero from the selected class. If you need to redeem a specific hero, you need to consider that the probability of his appearance will be higher the fewer heroes of that class are available to appear in the tavern. For example, if the goal is to redeem Gunnar, it makes sense not to dismiss the redeemed Lords, as this will increase the chance of Gunnar appearing. Heroes of other classes can be dismissed without worry; their availability in the tavern will not affect the chance of Gunnar appearing (with the exception of the situation when, before the dismissal, no hero of the dismissed class was available for generation in the tavern).