The random map generator is viewed by the developers as one of the key tools for replayability. The Olden Era approach is close to previous games in the series, but the emphasis is placed on map quality rather than just quantity. The developers warn that technical details may change. Source: Devlog #6.
Problems with Old Generators
According to the team's rough estimate, about 15% of matches in Heroes III and other games in the series could be nearly hopeless due to poor generation. The devlog lists the reasons: crossroads too far from the starting castle and at different distances for players; a lack of external dwellings in the starting area for a single strike force; insufficient experience and stats for leveling up the main hero; roads shifted toward the edges of the zone; passages blocked by neutral squads that are too strong.
What RMG Olden Era Improves
- Guarantees that paths will not be blocked by a random opponent.
- Allows management of object availability: for example, placing a sawmill near the starting town, a road between towns, or a valuable item in a remote corner.
- Uses a flexible system of mandatory content not only for mines, but also for dwellings, hero stats, visibility, and other elements.
- Maintains a similar distance from the starting town to valuable biomes, such as treasure zones, for all players.
- Allows choosing Pandora Box types for each biome.
- Provides full control over which artifacts, spells, creatures, heroes, and skills can appear.
- Allows enabling and disabling biome types, for example, excluding lava.
- Allows configuring mandatory objects, including the number of dwellings or mines in a biome.
Analysis Tools
The team uses pattern analysis tools: it is possible to examine the map in more detail than a player, see the distribution of object value, random and mandatory objects, and exact zone boundaries. There is also statistical analysis: for example, one can simulate a thousand generations and calculate the average number of Dragon Utopias in a specific zone. This should help quickly find generation anomalies.
Mandatory and Random Content
Mandatory content must appear in a zone regardless of randomness: for example, a sawmill by the starting town, an object from the list [sawmill, quarry, gold mine], or four tier-6 dwellings in the starting area. Random content is taken from a customizable set of objects, which may differ for each zone and follow rules: for example, a treasure zone may receive expensive objects more frequently.
Template Flexibility
In a template, you can configure victory conditions, the ability to hire new heroes, the appearance of specific items, and other parameters. The generator can create a map of any size supported by the game, and even some unsupported sizes. The developers plan to provide many ready-made templates and a map editor, and the first Campaigns missions and the editor are announced for early access.
