Posts from The 3rd stage of the annual John Van Caneghem Tournament (2007).

P.S. Tournament participants who played on TE, please mention it in this thread. Thank you in advance.

Was it possible to play without TE? It's a pity that I didn't know this in advance and didn't think to ask:(.
P.S. I want to thank VDV_forever for this interesting tournament.
Also, a special thank you to Fireball for such an interesting walkthrough!

You can’t use it on the test server, why ask if it’s not possible? The question implies that it’s not allowed.

Added after 55 seconds
Although, I might be wrong.

why can't it be done... it can be... it's just that TE is slightly different from the standard version... for example, there the slow effect is at a different magic level, level 2... so it won't work on cursed ground... and the battle will play out differently (we and Setra encountered this on War of the Worlds - by the way, on a gift from VDV =)). TE (Tournament Edition) is a special version for online play... but you can also play it offline =)).

Why do you think they might have mistakenly implemented it?
After all, the ballista is a ranged unit... it's been tested... archers affect it... And all ranged units have a shots parameter, and their number is always limited.
Otherwise, the cart would lose its purpose.

Here, the question is interesting, and VDV drew attention to this – the ballista is more related to equipment (cart, ballista, tent) than to ranged units. The tent has infinite healing, the cart provides infinite shots for ranged units, so it is logical to assume that the ballista has infinite ammunition because it is equipment, just like the cart or tent, and not a ranged unit. Therefore, it is questionable to assume that one piece of equipment depends on another, i.e., that the ballista will only have infinite ammunition if the cart is present. Then they would have made it so that the tent's healing is also infinite ONLY if the cart is present, right? By the way, the catapult also seems to have infinite shots?? I wonder where it will shoot if the battle drags on so long that all the walls and towers are destroyed, but the battle doesn't end? :) I hope I explained it.

Good day to you. I played this map for the last 12 hours before the end of the tournament, just once, and I enjoyed it! The map is simply superb! Because I wanted to reach the artifact that grants victory, I developed until I had enough strength to defeat the 260-unit stack guarding this artifact. I would like to share a description of my last battle with the map, including where everyone went, and of course, the save file. For those who are interested in how I did it. My army consisted of 147 snipers and 17 dryads. ************************************** I chose a simple tactic for fighting the stack: Maximize snipers, moderate dryads (minimum 6), cast "Power Field," and determine the approximate amount of mana needed to cast the required number of Power Field spells, which cost 9 mana each. I had 180 mana – I thought 20 times whether it would be enough, and I even had some left over :) Also, taking into account the terrain and terrain objects, I positioned the "meat" (dryads) so that the dragon would eat only one stack of dryads at a time. BATTLE. /TACTICAL PHASE/ 1. Snipers (S) on k12 2. Dryad 1 (D1) on k3 3. D2 on k4 4. D3 on k5 5. D4 on k6 6. D5 on k10 7. D6 remains on k1 /BATTLE/ 01. Stack attacks with its front paw on k8, attacking D2* - it's finished. 02. Cast: "Accuracy." S -> Stack (-10*) //(Stack is defeated) 03. D1 -> Stack (-1*), in response - D1* is finished. 04. D3 -> Stack "Roots!" 05. D4 on k11 -> Stack "Roots!" 06. D5 on k9 -> Stack "Roots!" 07. D6 on k7 -> Stack "Roots!" 08. Stack -> D4*, but the "Roots" spell works from 4 stacks of dryads, so the dragons are stuck! 09. S -> Stack (-11*) //In the future, all dryads stay in place so as not to remove the roots. 10. Stack -> D5* 11. S -> Stack (-12*) 12. Stack -> D6* 13. S -> Stack (-11*) 14. Stack -> D3* 15. Here comes the tactic - dragons-meat. Cast: "Power Field" on k2. The point is that the Power Field lasts for one full turn; if you repeat it every turn before shooting, the dragons won't reach! It surrounds the snipers either closely or with a one-cell interval. This is enough to use it as an obstacle for a two-cell dragon. S -> Stack (-12) 16. Cast on k1 S -> Stack (-11*) 17. Cast on k2 S -> Stack (-11*) 18. Cast on k1 S -> Stack (-12*) 19. Cast on k2 S -> Stack (-11*) 20. Cast on k1 S -> Stack (-12*) 21. Cast on k2 S -> Stack (-11*) 22. Cast on k1 S -> Stack (-11*) 23. Cast on k2 S -> Stack (-12*) 24. Cast on k1 S -> Stack (-11*) 25. Cast on k2 S -> Stack (-12*) Morale! S -> Stack (-11*) 26. Cast on k1 S -> Stack (-12*) Morale! S -> Stack (-11*) 27. Cast on k2 S -> Stack (-10*) 28. Cast on k1 S -> Stack (-10*) 29. Cast on k2 S -> Stack (-11*) 30. Cast on k1 S -> Stack (-10*) 31. Cast on k2 S -> Stack (-10*) 32. S -> Stack (-6*) - this was the last shot... The battle is over. The losses are commensurate. 260 Stack against 17 dryads :). In the end, I even had 21 mana points left. After the battle, the hero's stats became 20 20 16 18. And the walkthrough took more than 50 days! :smile49: (from the end) :D :D :D **Map 79 Kb** **Save file 104 Kb - if there are problems opening it, rename the extension to *.rar**

Hello everyone!
Thank you, Airborne Forces, for the tournament!
Regarding the ballista: I didn't expect so many people to use this method (the ballista) to kill the Earth elementals. I also wanted to use it, but I didn't have a program that would do it for me (then it would take at least 9 days instead of 19).
And point 9 prohibited the use of any programs. And those who say that they killed them manually (clicked the mouse for about 10 hours and never missed) I won't believe! Because that's complete nonsense! In my opinion, a battle should not take more than 30 minutes (when I play with a friend, I won't make him wait for several hours). The battle should be within reasonable limits!
I think that in the next tournament, such important events should be guarded by stronger, faster creatures, and they should not be in one group! And the ballista should not be used as the main weapon in your army (or it should be considered a bug!).
The map was beautiful, but I would change the task (just conquer the sphere), it would be more interesting!
And for the next tournament, a rule should be introduced that specifies which programs can be used (for example: Hero Editor, etc.)
and links to where they can be downloaded. Then everyone will be on equal footing!

Sincerely, Perpolken!

And point 9 prohibited the use of any programs. And those who say that he(she) killed them manually (clicked with a mouse for about 10h and never messed up once), I won't believe it! Because that is complete nonsense! In my opinion, a battle should take no more than 30min (when I play with a friend, I'm not going to make him wait several hours). Combat should be within reasonable limits!

And I believe combat should take up to a reasonable 3 hours. And someone else will consider 50 minutes to be reasonable limits. And in Heroes 4, where you can save during battle—then it's all 40 hours. In an offline game, no one is forcing anyone to wait—that's why it's an offline game. And whether you believe it or not—who should that concern?

I understand that the dispute is between those who figured out how to defeat Elementals and those who didn't. The number of Elementals should have been reduced, for example, to 100, and this wouldn't have changed anything significantly. Using programs is indeed unfair, as some people have them, and others don't.

I understand that the argument is between those who figured out how to exploit the game mechanics and those who didn't.
The number of units should have been reduced, say to 100, and that wouldn't have changed much. But using programs is really unfair; some people have them, and others don't.

The fact that some people have them and others don't is your key point. Introducing any kind of ban won't make those who have these programs disappear; they'll still be there. And those who don't have them still won't. I'm tired of hearing about fairness on these portals. I know for a fact that on other resources, all sorts of automation tools are used, and long battles are completed faster (I won't reveal any usernames – it's pointless to ask). These methods aren't detected if they're applied to battles that can realistically be won, when a player cycles through the battle for several dozen rounds (up to 100 or more) manually and only then considers using these methods. And no bans will change this situation if the map allows for such long, but winnable battles, in my opinion. Because the player will think that someone else, not him, will be saving time on these battles and getting results, while he's wasting time pounding on the keyboard and mouse, or he'll have to give up on the battle and knowingly worsen his results. And then that player will say that he played manually (even though that's not true), and no one will be able to prove otherwise. These are obvious things. And if someone believes, feels, or thinks something about this, that's their right.

Good day, dear tournament participants!

The table of accepted saves has been updated in the first post of this thread.

The final results will be announced on 05/15/07, or immediately after I check the following:

1) IronAxe, daily saves, +save before the battle, after the surprise battle, +map description.
2) Mikki, daily saves, +save before the battle, after the surprise battle, +map description.
3) Perpolken, map description.
4) doka, save before attacking the Dragon Utopia.
5) Gmir, detailed description of the last battle.

P.S. Tournament participants who played on TE, please mention this in this thread. Thank you in advance.

Sage, Lexx, Mikki, OlegRS, Reist, GmiR, Richard_I, Ta_Kotoraya, Alex_R, RAPER.

(correct, or not)

Sincerely, VDV_forever

Here is my version, taken from the h3update.txt file:
New World Computing
Heroes of Might and Magic(TM) III
Version 1.2 Update
September 17, 1999

I have no idea if this is TE or not. It definitely isn't WoG:D :D :D

Good evening, everyone. I would like to thank all the participants of the tournament, as well as its organizers, for the excellent and interesting competition. Special thanks to vbn for his program, which he posted, and as usual, I missed the important moment. :( For VDV: If I understand correctly, TE stands for tournament edition. If so, then no :) (according to the rules), I have HoMM3 (platinum edition from Buka, version 4.0, March 2003). I also have WoG and TE installed, but each in a separate folder. It may have some effect on the save, but I honestly doubt it. I save the games in the HoMM3 folder, not the TE folder.

Is there anyone who completed the map without using an automator in less than 20 days?
So far, only Perpolken has done it.

I, of course, used an automator. But I can say for sure that the artifact can be obtained without it in no more than 15 days, and most likely even faster.

By recruiting harpies with the help of a diplomacy expert, earth elementals are destroyed on the 4th day. Let's add this to your result, and we get 3 more days, which is 11 days. In my opinion, the best possible result without a ballista is 9 days.

By combining harpies with the help of a diplomacy expert,
earth elementals are destroyed on the 4th day.

Let's add that to your result, and we get 3 more days, which is 11 days.

Something like that (maybe even 10). I overestimated and very roughly, assuming a straightforward playthrough.

In my opinion, the best possible result without a ballista is 9 days.

+1 (Fools think alike, right?)

Where can I get the program that fanat was talking about?