Posts from Heroes 5.5 WarGame Edition - Tactical Edition.

You're suggesting increasing the cost of the rune – by approximately how much?

I haven't decided yet. First, I'll consider the possibility of removing the rune altogether. And then, perhaps, I'll try to reintroduce it at different prices and see how it affects the balance.
We're talking about the dragon rune. Firstly, it's buggy (for some reason, it doesn't work on dragon upgrades, but it does work on the base unit). And secondly, in the context of the mod (with its powerful stats), it's overpowered: for top-tier units, it's equivalent to a 400% increase in damage and survivability. In the original game, it was only 200-300% for titans and basic dragons.

Added 1 hour 5 minutes ago
I've updated the information on classes and skills in the first posts of the thread. Information about creatures and magic will be updated later, before the New Year (when I finish implementing them).

Regarding the dragon rune, I've done some calculations and it turns out that everything is fine; the actual increase in damage and survivability will be within 250% (but at the same time, the rune will be useful for a wide range of units, unlike the original). So, now the priority is perhaps just increasing its cost.

Firstly, it's buggy (for some reason, it doesn't work on dragon upgrades, but it does work on base units).

Perhaps the rune is configured so that it doesn't work on creatures whose base unit is a fire dragon, but this is just a guess.

The creature names are also being updated. The decision was made to abandon the strict limitations (always two words and always without repetitions). This has already yielded results, producing both some good and some awkward names. Now, we need to select the best ones and remove the unnecessary ones.

All the second words have been removed where it wasn't absolutely necessary. Also, some old names have been replaced with better ones.

It is possible to ensure almost 100% controlled progression without a mentor. 1. Perks. As a basis, you can use the "Mole" scheme: (3 basic perks + 3 level 3 perks) With this configuration, the player can guarantee to level up absolutely any perk or combination (while any basic perk is leveled up in 1-2 picks). Of course, for this, he must have the rest of the skills closed (closed = a skill whose level is equal to the number of perks taken, so new perks cannot be offered in it). But closing skills is not a problem for an experienced player, and it can always be done with a guarantee. However, this scheme has 3 significant drawbacks: 1) it is monotonous 2) few perks (only 6), no level 2 perks 3) few combinations (only 4) All these problems can be solved by adding level 2 perks with mandatory external links from the racial perk. Thus, the player can have 2 scenarios: 1) with a probability of 67% for each attempt, he can take a basic perk in the 1st pick, also levels up a guaranteed racial perk, and after it - a guaranteed level 2 perk 2) otherwise, he can repeat the attempt at the next level up, or take a basic perk in the 2nd pick, in which case he will have a 50% chance of taking the desired level 2 perk per attempt At the same time, due to external links, level 2 perks will not interfere with guaranteeing the leveling up of level 1 and 3 perks, if the player does not make a mistake by leveling up racial perks too early. In total, a skilled player, taking into account many attempts, will have very high (almost 100%) chances of leveling up level 2 perks, and 100% chance of leveling up any level 1 and 3 perks. 2. Skills. If a hero starts with 2 different skills + a racial skill, and there is no mentor, then this actually means that when leveling up to level 15, he will only need to take 1 new school. If the chances of popular schools are 12%, for the racial skill - 10%, and for rare skills - 3%, then with a probability of about 90%, the player will be able to get any popular skill by level 9-11, and this means that 80% of matches will occur with successfully implemented leveling up of both players without whining about bad luck and a mentor. In addition, there is a 33% chance of getting the desired rare skill and surprising the opponent. The downside of this system is that the player has less freedom to implement a specific hero, since in addition to the racial skill, 2 more skills are set at the start + he only gets 1 new skill in the leveling up (or tries to play with 2 new ones, but this is already a risk). On the other hand, if the player knows which hero the opponent is leveling up, then he has enough information about the general direction of his leveling up to build his strategy on this and play more like chess than poker. The above drawback is easily fixed if the player is given a choice of several heroes, so he can choose the hero that is predisposed to the desired leveling up. 3. How is this approach to stabilizing randomness better than its complete elimination in Heroes 6 or 7? - It will not be possible to spam the same leveling up if the heroes are different - Although the probability of the final leveling up is almost 100%, this leveling up requires some skill (and not just choosing any perk) - In addition, the order of taking perks may vary (randomly), which will affect the build (and in the end, even the same scheme will play out more diversely) - Knowing which hero the opponent is playing gives much more information - At the same time, there is still an opportunity to surprise the opponent (during the game, change the strategy if an interesting rare skill is offered).

I've updated the skill build scheme, making some minor adjustments.

Implementing the "Mole" scheme didn't work out (many skills don't fit well in it), but even without it, the build's stability should remain at a very high level. Since no perk has more than 2 child perks, choosing the necessary base perk as the first pick guarantees that any perk in that branch can be acquired, and this can be done with a 67% chance per attempt.

About the Mole, just as I said =)

It looks good. And what is the Manticore's perk? Is it just their growth rate?

Regarding speed, if you make Furies and Megeras too fast, they will lose their main purpose, and the same goes for dragons, although you could instead increase the speed of Necromancer dragons, and that would be great.

Added 3 minutes later
Yes, by the way, couldn't you add a new faction? I'm getting a little tired of these, for example, in the online Heroes game, there's a Barbarian faction, which is very cool. But that's just a thought.

About the mole, just as I said =)

It looks nice. And what's the perk for the manticores? Just an increase in their numbers?

Read about it in the perk description on page 1. Yes, manticores are added to the hero's army once and weekly. The same applies to wolves (but daily).

Regarding speed, what about furies and megaras? They would lose their main purpose, and the same goes for dragons, although you could, on the contrary, add speed to the necromancer dragons, and it would be great.

Beasts play better if they don't run across the entire battlefield. Harpies didn't lose their meaning in Heroes 3, and they didn't fly across the entire battlefield.
Gray dragons have a speed of 8, i.e., they can reach their destination from the first turn. Other dragons are slower, but that's their distinguishing feature.

By the way, in the next version, the speed of beasts/furies/megaras will be increased by 1 - to 5/5/4 (5 here is the top speed for a small, non-flying unit).

Yes, by the way, can you add a new race? I'm a little tired of these, for example, in online Heroes, there is a barbarian race, which is very cool. But this is just a thought.

It's not possible, and there's no desire to replace the existing ones. Our mod has a solid foundation (i.e., to improve what exists as much as possible). Adding new races, heroes, or units doesn't interest me much, because there are already enough of them, and besides, this niche is already occupied by numerous other mods.

Although, on the other hand, in our mod, the existing units/heroes/magic, and even races, change so much that they can already be considered new, except for the visual aspect.

Read about it in the perk description on page 1. Yes, once and weekly, manticores join the hero's army. The same goes for wolves (but daily).

It's hard to find there anyway.

In general, I think having spells in the spell wheel, as well as army growth, is a detrimental thing.
Army growth is the job of castles and dwellings. Spells are the job of cities (not even treasure rooms), but there might be an exception here.
I see the game on the map more as a strategy game than an RPG.

Manticoras and wolves are only available to the Orc faction.

I see the game as more of a strategy game than an RPG.

And I only see strategy; role-playing is just one of its factors. And it's completely unclear why getting troops and magic as perks isn't considered a strategic move. Moreover, such reinforcements cannot compete with the basic army and economy; it's just an addition.

If we remember Starcraft, there, units could cast other units into the army without buying them for money. Is that also an RPG element and did it eliminate the need to develop the economy and produce troops?

Regarding those spells that are added as perks – these are special spells; they are not available in the guild in principle and can only be obtained through perks (or learned from units or heroes, also through perks). With the exception of teleport (surprise attack) and ethereal shield (invincible warriors), which are also in the original game.

Regarding those spells that are added through perks – these are special spells; they aren't present in the guild by default and can only be obtained through perks (or learned from units or heroes, also through perks). With the exception of teleport (surprise attack) and ethereal shield (unyielding warriors), which are also present in the original game.

They were there until someone removed them.)

Done!

Thank you! I colored it and added 3D elements (for comparison, the version without 3D is attached).

I wonder how to beautifully depict racial and barbarian skills.

Well, you could do it like in the original – integrate the Barbarian skills into the skill wheel instead of the ones they replace. As for the racial skills… I was even considering integrating them into the main skill wheel, like in Heroes 7, but that would either require removing a skill (which would make sense, for example, removing spellcasting from the Knight, or machinery from the Academy) or integrating them by reducing the angle between the skills (i.e., not 180/12=15, but 180/13=13.8). But overall, I think it’s possible to place the racial skills separately – next to the wheel (or in the middle) – I don’t have any other ideas yet.

I don't want to have 8 wheels, as they are all standardized. Apparently, the additional wheel needs to somehow represent 8 racial factions + 6 barbarian factions. Perhaps a mini-wheel for the 6 barbarian factions + 8 "bubbles" for the racial factions.