Posts from Heroes 5.5 WarGame Edition - Tactical Edition. Auto-translated

This is approximately how the city layouts will look in the game itself (based on Azard's interface). The appearance of visual arrows is a matter of time (it's a time-consuming task).

This is simply excellent!!! :smile20: It's a bit cramped, or maybe the parchment should be stretched out. However, if you stretch it, the building under construction won't be visible (it's visible to the right of the diagram), but visually it will be more pleasing to look at, and there's currently no room for the arrows. If you stretch it, there will be room for them too.

The point is that you can't just stretch the parchment arbitrarily; you need skills in working with textures for that (as well as for the arrows themselves). Reducing the size of the buildings is also not an option (I initially considered smaller buildings), because small buildings don't look good and make the layout more confusing. The main problem is the diagonal arrows, like the one from the town hall to the market (in this diagram). 1 column, 1 row (from the top) to 2 columns, 2 rows.

of course, we shouldn't just stretch it – we need to increase the size of the canvas for the diagram, spread out the building icons (to create space between them), and place the arrows in the resulting empty spaces – what's the problem with drawing textures? – it takes time, I can help if needed, but it all comes down to time – I haven't finished drawing the wheel of racial abilities yet; I might draw it tonight – I have a little free time.

The growth system in its new formulation (the essence remains the same):

Each creature dwelling has a certain "limit" parameter, which actually reflects its capacity (how many creatures it can accommodate). Limits can be basic, full (double), or enhanced (triple).

When a regular dwelling is built in a town, the basic limit of these troops is immediately available for hiring. When an upgrade is built, the full limit is available (in addition).
At the beginning of each week, all limits are updated: excess troops are evicted, or missing ones are added.

A Fort converts all basic weekly limits to full (double) limits.
A Stronghold converts the weekly limits of basic troops (levels 1-3) to enhanced (triple) limits, and also immediately provides the basic limits of these troops.
A Castle converts the weekly limits of elite troops (levels 4-6) to enhanced (triple) limits, and also immediately provides the basic limits of these troops.

Legendary troops (level 7 and Hydra level 6) are a separate case, as they are produced immediately with the full limit. There are no basic or enhanced limits for legendary troops.

External dwellings provide the full troop limit both immediately and weekly, and their capacity, unlike town dwellings, is not actually limited – creatures can accumulate. However, they do not provide any +1 bonuses to the player's towns.

All these limits only matter during hiring, because once recruited, the troops support themselves and are not limited in any way.

The limit system is introduced as a protection against passive accumulation. Now, simply building a dragon dwelling is not enough; you also need to manage to recruit a dragon before the end of the week so that the limit is replenished at the beginning of the next week and a new dragon appears. Due to the rebalancing of prices, this actually means that the player is buying dwellings at a huge discount in gold, which they must spend on recruiting the limit within the week.

For example, a dragon dwelling may cost only 2500 (+a lot of resources), while the dragon itself costs another 4000 (and 4 resources) to recruit. The cost of troops (in gold) is many times higher than the cost of the production building, which is a normal practice in successful strategies (like Starcraft). Since troops are a key element in the game, and not just support buildings.

Added 43 minutes later




The policy of "nice" or discrete prices is applied because accuracy is not so important here (the difference can be compensated for by the resources of the building). So you won't find skeletons costing 19 or shamans costing 360 here

Racial skills (three-layer archive).

I tried to minimize the intersections of the arrows with the circles – it looks a bit awkward because of this – the arrows could be redone.

Thank you, but the arrow to the Conflux is missing.

Thank you, but there isn't enough space for the arrow pointing to the Castle, Town, and Tower.

It didn't fit – the third-tier skills ring in the general skills ring didn't allow for arrows, so it didn't fit here either – you can reduce the inner ring, and then there will be space.

Added 6 minutes later
I'll redraw it a bit.

take two

Added 4 minutes later
I noticed that the Orc's magic resistance shouldn't be a racial bonus; it's part of his education. Which, like the shouts and silences, isn't yet represented as a separate wheel.

I'm working on the economy (building prices). Here's the concept: Basically, all cities require at least a moderate amount of gold, ore, and wood. These are the basic resources. Additionally, each race has specific resources that they heavily rely on. The requirements for non-specific, rare resources are low (usually only for the Mage Guild). Specific resources (resources for level 7 upgrade in parentheses): Castle (Humans) = gold, wood, and ore (crystals) Rampart (Elves) = wood, crystals, and gems (gems) Academy (Magic) = gold, sulfur, and gems (gems) Fortress (Dwarves) = ore, sulfur, and crystals (sulfur) Inferno (Demons) = wood, mercury, and sulfur (mercury) Dungeon (Dark) = mercury, sulfur, crystals, and gems (sulfur) Necropolis (Undead) = ore, mercury, and gems (mercury) Stronghold (Orcs) = gold, mercury, and crystals (crystals) Most profiles are built on the principle of: 1 basic resource + 2 rare resources, corresponding to the native schools of magic (mercury = dark, sulfur = chaos, crystals = light, gems = summon). The exceptions are: humans (demanding all 3 basic resources), orcs ("borrowing" the magic profile from humans - crystals and mercury, light/dark), and Dungeon (demanding all 4 rare resources). All profiles, except for Dungeon, intersect in pairs with only 1 resource out of 3. This means that any pair of different cities heavily requires 1 common specific resource, while a pair of identical cities heavily requires all 3 specific resources (much more difficult to build). Dungeon intersects with all others, except humans, in 2 specific rare resources; and it has no intersections with humans (an ideal pairing, except for morale). Building prices will be focused, with no more than 2 types of resources, in addition to gold. With the exception of the Mage Guild, and possibly other very rare buildings. The fact is that there are many more diverse strategies for obtaining specific resources than there are strategies for "collecting a little of everything." Furthermore, with focused resources, the difference between different city building options in terms of cost is amplified.

The concept of guardians (neutrals):

A) 6-8 dragons (utopias, top-tier locations), approximately 5% of locations
B) 3-4 dragons (relics, top-tier dwellings, cities, medium-tier locations), 15% of locations
C) 1.5-2 dragons (major locations, mid-level dwellings, villages, weak locations), 25% of locations
D) 75-100% of a dragon (minor locations, low-level dwellings, gold mines), 35% of locations
E) 35-50% of a dragon (chests, passages, portals, mines), 20% of locations
F) resources, gold - free for the taking

There is no concept of a GO (Guardians' Outpost) like 100+ liches (any passage can be easily cleared, no artificial game delays).

Hero roles:

1) Powerhouses (equivalent to approximately 5 dragons and above): capturing key locations, killing enemy combatants
2) Combatants (approximately 2-3 dragons): clearing passages, killing scouts
3) Scouts (approximately 50% of a dragon, starting army): reconnaissance, exploring zones, gathering free resources, transportation, sabotage, blocking powerhouses

Scouts need troops to clear passages and counter enemy scouts. A classic "roach" (scout with 1 peasant) will not be able to perform the main function of a scout - exploring zones, which will seriously limit reconnaissance capabilities.

Difference from the original: starting troops are many times stronger, and guardians are weaker, thus scouts are able to independently clear minor guardians and passages without purchasing additional troops.
Experience for killed units will be proportional to their total health, with a coefficient of x5, which is approximately three times higher than in the original (compensation for weak guardians).

Changes in turn mechanics (compared to the previous version):
1) A hero spends 100% of their turn on a battle conducted manually (previously 50%)
2) A hero spends 50% of their turn on a battle conducted with auto-combat (previously 25%)
3) If 2 enemy heroes are encountered, and the attacking side's troops are 5+ times stronger, then auto-combat is initiated

Expected turn time control - 3 minutes (previously 5). A battle conducted manually is played at the end of the turn (additional time). As a rule, only 1 battle is played manually per day (the most important one), the rest are on auto-combat. This significantly speeds up the game.
For comparison: turn time control in TE is 8-10 minutes.

It is also planned to strengthen fortifications during sieges. Since it is very problematic (and unlikely) to strengthen towers, bonuses can be given to the defenders:
1) +3 to attack and defense if it's a fort
2) +6 to attack and defense if it's a stronghold
3) +9 to attack and defense if it's a castle

The bonuses are calculated in such a way that a castle can withstand a siege by an opponent that is twice as strong. Perhaps the bonuses will be higher (and unlikely to be lower).

Added after 6 hours 28 minutes
The idea of unique starting armies for each hero (in terms of quality composition) will also be implemented. Using class differences: for example, starting troops for Knights are basic, for Paladins - upgraded, and for Templars - alternate. This will make it impossible for starting troops of different classes to merge when combined, until the corresponding upgraded dwellings are built for further upgrading.