I'm trying to get into this game, any beginner tips would be appreciated.

>>2028966 (OP)
are you the guy from /v/? were you able to find the guide to get you through the tutorial?

>>2028968
I think I found it.
https://heroes.thelazy.net/index.php/Tutorial_Manual

the best tip would be to play an actual good game

>>2028968
>the guide to get you through the tutorial?
The what? Why would a tutorial need a guide?

>>2028969
yeah that looks like it.
>>2028972
most tutorials have in-game prompts to teach you about the game, but homm3 doesnt since it was a physical game that came with a manual, and they just decided to throw all the text into the manual.

>>2028976
Oh. Right. Forgot about that. It has been so long. There is a PDF copied into the installation directory that you're supposed to print in the later versions of the game. I guess he didn't get one. Here it is: https://files.catbox.moe/hj4cvf.pdf

>>2028966 (OP)
Just play. Why are you trying to skip the discovery phase and ruin the fun?

Wait, what the fuck is with that UI in the OP? Is it some mod or some rebutchered version again? So tiresome.

>the devil invented high res patch
chudcell, please

Blue niggas

>>2028990
Last I tried to play, something was weird about it and the only solution was a program from some shady russian site. Can't remember what was wrong, though. Maybe I should try it again.

>>2028966 (OP)
Just enjoy it. These games lose some of their luster once you've mastered them, or at least mastered to the point of overcoming hopelessly powerful ai. Few have time to try to hotseat other players.
Remember to play it as a board game rather than an RPG. You'll want to try to use all the mechanics the game provides to you rather than cautiously dungeon crawling

>>2029884
>>Blue niggas
>Red flag
You ain't about that blue life

>take my starting area and develop into a mid sized army
>teleport
>take underdeveloped Rampart after a tough fight with hero who had it as their second settlement
>barely have any units left
>my main Fortress gets taken by another player who teleported near it while I was still at Rampart
>start building up Rampart
>get fucked by another player coming in with a full stack
>couldn't even recruit at any of the two places because this happened in one week
Unlucky.

>>2030624
That's what we call a skill issue

Your favorite faction?

>>2032451

Is there anyway to limit town and hero to one per player?

>>2030556
kek

>>2032451
>Half the towns don't have their grail structures built, while the rest do
Good that I don't have one of these fancy mental things or I would be very angry

>>2032892
>>Half
Third.

>>2032937
I pressed Post too quickly.
Also, Inferno and Dungeon Grails could have been better.

How many heroes do I want to have?

>>2032943
>Also, Inferno and Dungeon Grails could have been better.
In function or visuals? Visually all of them are somewhat underwhelming. But the ultimate artifact in III just sucks in general so such is life I guess. I also forgot what most of grail buildings do because I see them so rarely.

Don't worry too much about optimal unit chaining, it will kill your fun. Do however get a couple trash heroes to pick up all of the assorted junk for you.
Try some of the scenario maps not just random maps or campaign, they can be pretty fun and many of them focus on specific gimmicks.

>pick up the first campaign in the campaign list
>turns out it's not the first but the expac one
No wonder I was getting my shit pushed in after a 6+ hours session in the first mission.

>>2028966 (OP)
I would suggest finding this map and playing it. It’s really good for learning the basics of the game. Another thing I’d recommend is playing on impossible difficulty or spamming regular Jebus Cross while trying to hit milestones.

Also, I don't know about you guys, but I think they made "The Devil is in the Details" worse after the Factory update.

What do you think about Factory and Cove from HotA? Do you think they fit with the rest of the game?

>>2034087
Yeah Shadow of Death campaing can be a fucking migrane, particularly because the whole "can let a single hero die" which pretty muc forces you to restart an scenario pretty often.
Restaoration of Erathia on the other hand is pretty much a cakewalk, think of it as training wheels.

This is hilarious. I wonder how will it end.

HD+ or HotA?

>>2036092
If you're interested in the campaign too, then HD+ and SoD_SP plugin; otherwise, HotA.

>>2036112
I don't really care about the campaign that much, but why HotA?

Are a HOMM3 kind of guy or a Heroes 3 kind of guy?

>>2036112
So, HD+ and SoD_SP plugin for the original campaign and the original scenarios and HotA for random map and HotA campaign and scenarios.
Am I correct?

>>2036114
It has tons of new content, autistic balance changes, and an online lobby.

>>2036136
Yeah, that's right.

Who Rampart here?

What do you think about Factory?
I like their aesthetic but I think they're a bit on the weaker side.

>>2036162
Easily my favourite aesthetic and theme. Haven't learned how to properly play it yet, however.

And to add to it, I'm disappointed that in the upcoming HOMM there's no faction with a similar aesthetic.

>>2028966 (OP)
isn't this game completely and utterly broken? the meta at least for the wood town seems to be just restarting the game if you do not get the right spells in your first keep

>>2035664
Do I need to install HOTA to play that map?

>>2035664
>they made "The Devil is in the Details" worse
in what way exactly?

>[PC] Heroes of Might and Magic III: Armageddon's Blade (1999) #30
ayy lmao

What is the most pure skill based real gamer only scenario in the game?

For campaigns, it's obviously the one where you play as a Black wizard (very difficult because you're playing as a Black).

>>2038464
I tried listening to this, but this Singaporean/Chinese pretending to be Japanese has no rizz. I wish there was a rizzful playthrough by a real Nipponese anime girl, instead of this rizzless one.

How do I get good? I just lost 1v1 against a CPU.

>>2035885
Cove yes. Factory no. Ironically enough, Forge would've fit better than Factory.

>>2038620
Hire more heroes. Don't waste your main hero's energy collecting things. Have another hero do that for him.
Play more aggressively. Try to get a second town as soon as you can.

>>2038620
Start playing with an easier faction and pick easy heroes. Easiest possible is Necropolis + starter hero Galthran. He is a skeleton specialist and Necropolis gets shitloads of free skeletons. Otherwise, you should usually avoid unit specialists like the plague. The unit specialist specialization falls off bigly after tier 1 and maybe tier 2, because you need to get a lot of levels before the next bonus attack/def point kicks in. And yu might want to save your game before visiting witch's huts (the one's that give you free secondary skills) so you don't get shit skills.

You want Earth Magic on pretty much every hero ever, Logistics usually as well, Pathfinding on the other hand rarely (only if you're playing on a map that's covered in Swamp or Snow and you're not playing as Fortress or Tower). Might skills like Armorer/Offense/Archery are good on pretty much every hero, except for the last one if you're playing a faction with really bad ranged units (Stronghold) or even almost no ranged units (Fortress, though Lizardmen are tolerable).

Personally, as a beginner I also always avoided racemixing in my army, but it's actually not bad to mix in at least one other's faction units if you can get a decent stack of them or good ones. 100% racial purity gives you a +1 morale, if you mix 3 or more factions you get morale reductions. Getting morale boosts is okay (2nd turn is pleasant, but you never count on it), but getting morale fails is potentially devastating (turn loss).

When fighting AI, keep in mind that it is retarded and it will chase the nearest bait unit with slow walkers, so you can remove 1 unit from a cheap melee stack and put them on bottom, while your ranged units / bigger stacks deal with most enemies on top of the battle map.

>>2038683
Also, if you do start with Necropolis, you can just ignore the 3rd paragraph about morale, because Undead never gain good morale (no second turns) and never suffer from bad morale (never lose turns). But any non Undead units mixed in with Undead get big morale penalties.
I forgot to link the article:
https://heroes.thelazy.net/index.php/Morale

So yeah, TL;DR, easy mode for starting:
>Play Necropolis
>Get Galthran as your main hero, use other heroes as mules
>Get him Earth Magic, Armorer, Offense, Logistics, and if possible, if you find Haste somewhere on the map, Air Magic, try to get Wisdom later if possible, only after you see good higher level spells (Level 3: Animate Dead, Level 4: Town Portal) in Mage Guilds
When upgrading your town, rush Vampires so you can start building them up early, but buy them once you can also upgrade them to Vampire Lords, because the upgrades makes a huge difference
You can ignore Zombies if you're low on gold, Wights/Wraiths are only good if you need the speed letting you go earlier, don't bother upgrading Skeletons, because you will always get unupgraded Skeletons from Necromancy, unless you have a full party with a stack of ugpraded Skeletons only, and even then it reduces the amount of Skelets you get

Basically, if you build up your early Skeleton stacks you can easily snowball ahead of anything the CPU can ever pull off. If you want to try really hard, you can reload the game until you get a big stack of skeletons (Galthran always starts with Skeleteons and Skeletons, but the number varies a bit), or you can pick artifact starting boost and reload until you get a necklacke of speed (+1 speed for Skeletons is like a 25% improvement)

>>2038587

The only funny Japanese anime girl is Tenma, and she would never play a Cyka game like Heroes 3. Cykas don't have enough dollars to buy them superchat subscribers.

Why does the game let you hire heroes from every faction instead of those specific to the faction of the tavern you recruit them from?

>>2038683
Got any YouTube vids that show how people who know what they're doing playing the game?

>>2038768
Dunno, I only know of Russkies like https://www.youtube.com/@Lexiav/videos but he does autism tier list focused on multiplayer specifically (especially one specific type), which might not have much of use for new players. Maybe look at his spell tier lists if you want to know which spells are good / bad.

If you have a lot of time and can tolerate bad English / pretending to be Japanese, you can watch this >>2038464 creature. Pretty sure she goes from knowing almost nothing about the game to learning to play the game decently against AI/for singlplayer purposes. Can' tell which video though, I just had it playing in the background with the sound turned off but I saw that she could fight properly somewhere down the line.

If you look for something specific like "Heroes 3 beginner tips" on YouTube you're probably gonna get something better altogether, maybe some big Westoid Heroes 3 channel, I think the Westoids don't play multiplayer as much so they wouldn't have any tips besides singleplayer focused tips.

>>2038795
Thanks.

>>2032451
Bet there's no one (except for contrarians) who says Inferno. They have literally nothing besides a cool looking level 7 unit and a level 6 that can be used for Armageddon meme tactics. Conflux does everything they can do except better. Conflux being my second least favorite after Inferno.

>>2038694
I genuinely wish there was a mod/option that let you limit heroes only from the faction you are playing in. Maybe you can hire heroes from other factions after they are defeated in battle (not retreated). I unironically had so much autism that for some of my favorite Heroes 3 maps, I created versions of them that lock each faction to only heroes that they can hire. I also tried to lock them to only goodstuff heroes, but then you inevitably run into the editor rule that you need to have like... 4 heroes available per every single town on the map.

Which one is the actual normal difficulty?

>>2038967
Rook if only because you don't start with a resource bonus. But here's a detailed breakdown.
https://heroes.thelazy.net/index.php/Difficulty_level

Does HD+ do any changes to game balance or does it only fix bugs?

>>2028966 (OP)
what killed the hype?

>>2039258
Mobage artstyle and UI

>>2030624
Bad positioning and shit

I think I like Factory the most.
Any tips for them, fellow Factoryfags?

>>2039372
abuse the bank

>>2038620
i'm pretty sure you can win this fight

>>2039388
Would you recommend Couatl or Dreadnaught?

>>2039258
AIslop art, AIslop descriptions, world of warcraft artstyle, mobile UI, uniform one hex unit sizes

>>2039407
ideally you get both and ditch armadillos

>>2039412
>ideally you get both
70 crystals...

>>2039419
if your budget is tight then couatl, a t7 flying unit should have way more utility

>>2032459
*sends a death threat to your house*

>>2039402
He needs to split off centaurs into chaff stacks and spells can change it drastically at such a low level. His "main" might not even have a spellbook yet.

>>2038620
post exact enemy numbers and enemy hero stats so we >>2039457 can see if it's doable

>>2028966 (OP)
1) Play tutorial
2) Play default campaign of your (random) choice
3) Start playing randomly generated, L-sized, no water maps against max AI
That's about it. Should take you in total a single weekend and after 3d3+1 random maps, you will learn all the ropes.
Castle, Rampart and Dungeon are the most newfag-friendly factions. As long as you aren't playing Inferno, you are peachy.
Ignore every single faggot that tells you you must go for HotA right off the bat. They have brain cancer and are gay-hot for the deceased creator of that mod.

>>2039472
>Start playing randomly generated, L-sized, no water maps against max AI
Shouldn't you start with 1v1 on S map?

>>2039472
Is there any reason I shouldn't start with HotA?

>>2039503
If you're playing random maps/scenarios then there's no reason not to. If you want to play the campaigns start with vanilla ones because hota campaigns have crazy difficulty.

>>2039407
>Dreadnaught
ideally, if you plan on min-maxing, the best hero/strategy you can do is get mass haste + warrior hero, on your units first turn. Never played dreadnought, but they seem cheap, powerful unit that becomes a beast once the speed gets to about 13.

Not OP but I played HOMMIII a tiny lil bit as a lad and other than that I've only played HOMM 7 recently.

Does HOMM7 have like especially simplified combat or is this pretty much how it always was? It kind of disgusts me how simplistic it is. Like having a stronger army than your enemy is 90% of the factor, and unless you significantly overpower them you take so many unavoidable losses that you're just spinning you wheels most of the game

Like if units had a zone of control that enemies couldn't move around without eating a reaction attack the combat would be so much better just from that alone

Can I get a QRD of the campaigns? Which campaings have the most fun/best story?

I can't decide if I like Rampart or Factory more.

>>2039474
So there are no resources and AI is on your ass on 2nd week, while you have no clue how to play the game?

>>2039503
>Is there any reason I shouldn't start with an overhaul mod that alters bunch of mechanics to enforce devs meta as actual game rules?
Are you really this stupid?
And don't get me wrong. HotA is fine by itself. The issue is that you shouldn't be starting with it. You need to learn the ropes and you need to know what HotA is even changing and why, which in turn requires to understand at least the basics of the game in vanilla state.
There is also the fact that HotA is a "my way or high way" mod, so you can't adjust shit in it, it's a whole package, which is very fucking bad for a starting point of playing.

tl;dr don't start with overhaul mods, it will teach you bunch of shit that has no application to the game, but if you start with vanilla, you can actually apply that knowledge to any of the overhaul mods.

>>2039901
>no resources and AI is on your ass on 2nd week
I see, that makes sense. And why max number AI?

>>2028990
Last time I tried to "just play" and skip learning what my units do, my army got rolled over by the neutral enemies, and then a few dozen turns of not playing the game and waiting for the resources to tick up later, when i had another army ready, the opponent showed up and rolled over my castle and defenders, and i lost. Now i wanna actually play the game and not die like a dummy because losing is usually not fun

Imagine if one of the many, many, many Heroes 3 wannabes were actually just straight up Heroes 3 but with better features.
>AI plays the game for real, doesn't just conjure resources out of thin air (I think they do something like that for units?), can use the same tactics you use
>neutrals on higher tiers don't play like retards
>all the good and useful secondary skills are copy pasted, the worthless ones are balanced/changed/etc
>all specializations are valid and scale with levels usefully
>magic spells are balanced more, Town Portal is a universal spell like Magic Arrow
>more scenario editor options, or scenario options in general (rules and limits for the game that you can set for normal skirmish type maps, or multiplayer maps)
>keep caravans from Heroes 4
>maybe keep two different evolutions possible from Heroes 5

Heroes 5 was close, but it's missing the snappy gameplay, the memorable heroes and units, and fun singleplayer content of Heroes 3

>>2040391
But he is right. Have you learned anything from that? Losing should have made you want to do better next time. You can get spoonfed and learn absolutely nothing, just mindlessly repeating the steps you don't understand. Par for the course considering the age we live in but I too think you deserve a chance. Feel free to look up the optimal meta bullshit whatever otherwise, should be online as is or be getting some slop generator vomit in your general direction.

>>2040553
>(I think they do something like that for units?)
No. You can verify this by, for example, playing with a computer player allied to you. They do resolve battles in a different way to both auto-combat and quick combat, both of which suck as well anyway.

Overall I've been in the same dead-end mentality for about two decades. You're trying to turn this chess with extra steps into something it isn't meant to be. I bet you've thought about something like troop stacks gaining experience at least once too.
Might and Magic games already do a lot of that and more, even though they are far from being flawless. And they don't have retarded shit like an entire type of servants of the Ancients siding with Kreegans too.

>>2039986
Consider those
- L map is the optimal map size for learning without having to haul your ass that the XL brings (XL is however the optimal size for both playing solo and hot seat with friends
- Max AI means cities are a bit more dense on the map (everyone gets theirs + few neutrals), so there is much easier to conquer other cities, without instantly shifting the game in your favour (if there are 5 cities on the whole map, owning two completely shifts the game in your favour)
- L and XL maps have less issues with map generation itself, since you can very easily end up on smaller map (especially S) to have areas that contain things, but are inaccessible in any way (like one faction being locked in a bubble behind mountains with no way to get there). Mid-sized maps have often issues with roads looping in weird way and generating blockers, which makes movement really fucking weird
- L map has many obelisks to the Graal, but not the absurd amount from XL, so it's far more exciting when you are playing solo and learning the ropes to figure out where the Graal is (XL often requires to get them all to get the precise position, which is extra annoying, but balances out the fact you are playing with 5 friends, so everyone is hunting like crazy in the area where the X is)

>>2040553
You just described HoMM3 with WoG/ERA and setting up the things you've listed as optional features.
There is a solid chance WoG is older than you.

>>2040605
I was 10 years old when Heroes 3 itself came out, nice try buddy pal
I've heard about WoG hundreds of times and I never downloaded it because I get put off by the cheap cosmetic changes and everyone saying it's bugged to shit.
>current ERA 3 banner is a Gold Dragon sexually assaulting an Azure Dragon, somehow
>look up the Heroes 3 Launcher installation guide - it's written by a Butatoth (a Bupant/Bucant/a Butopia dweller; TL note: Slovak male)
https://heroes3wog.net/how-to-install-and-setup-heroes-launcher-with-era-3-wake-of-gods/

>>2040646
Reading through https://www.celestialheavens.com/h3maparchives/wog/wogfeatures.html, it reminds me a lot of that Disciples II mod which also did a few things I liked (made Undead less overpowered/unable to beat themselves in the campaign, gave every upgrade branch something unique) but also a ton of things I didn't like (and made the game crash a lot).

Why can't they just make the script they used to change what secondary skills do to be modifiable? That's about the only thing that I find interesting. Secondary skills can be fixed much easier just by merging two effects that make sense (i.e. Pathfinding & Scouting, Sorcery & Mysticism) together.

>>2039258
so this is the heroes 3 killer huh

>>2039258
>>2040711
I'm personally looking forward to it. There's just not much to talk about at this moment.

>>2040646
>cheap cosmetic changes
Main menu only. You can even mod it to restore the main menu pic. Restoring the music is trivial.
>bugged to shit
Some of the scripts. The ones that are on by default are fine, from what I remember. Maybe you will eventually need to turn off 1 option if you encounter a problem in 1 vs. 7 on XLs with underworld at around 3 months time. Maybe.

>>2040661
>Why can't they just make the script they used to change what secondary skills do to be modifiable? That's about the only thing that I find interesting. Secondary skills can be fixed much easier just by merging two effects that make sense (i.e. Pathfinding & Scouting, Sorcery & Mysticism) together.
Probably because it only makes sense to you. Pathfinding makes more sense merged with Logistics, although they are different enough that they should be kept as separate skills. WoG makes most SS worth having.

>>2039258
>supposed to be a remake
>doesn't have Fortress/Stronghold, might have a Tower/Academy type, replaced Inferno aliens with bugmen
"World of Enroth" my ass
M&M8 was literally FILLED with lizardmen on the opening island, didn't go past that

>>2040723
>Probably because it only makes sense to you. Pathfinding makes more sense merged with Logistics
Only because of how they function really, semantically Pathfinding goes more with Scouting. Just because someone's good at Logistic doesn't mean they can scout for the best road ahead on difficult terrain. But even if it makes sense just to me, that's fine, I would like to mod my own secondary skills myself and play against myself like the schizo I am (I play hot seat games against myself, super fun).

Why is pairing lizardmen with Mesoamerican aesthetic a thing? It's a thing here, and it's a thing in Warhammer.

>>2040788
Lizard people used to control Aztec society, now they control all of us

>>2040646
>>2040661
>I just parrot things others said
Friendly reminder those "others" are HotA faggots.
WoG is fine. The main element is that it is purely optional and fully adjustable. Meaning you can put ONE setting you want and ignore everything else.
Which drives HotA fags to the wall.

>>2040788
>Why is pairing lizardmen with Mesoamerican aesthetic a thing
Bitch, are you for real?

>>2040793
>Friendly reminder those "others" are HotA faggots.
I can tell as much, funnily enough I also refuse to play HotA because I don't like the two new OC donut steel factions they added, especially the Factory thing, it is an insult to Forge (which is cute and canon).
>Meaning you can put ONE setting you want and ignore everything else.
So I can just turn on the secondary skills script and play any of the existing maps in the base game (and the campaigns) "wogified"?

>>2040843
>Forge (which is cute and canon).
rpg games arent canon in heroes 3

>>2040776
>semantically
Ah, right. I completely missed that due to being overly focused on their in-game roles.
You can make your own mods with WoG but that requires some effort because you're basically dealing with an awkward wrapper for assembly.

>>2040793
WoG is fine until you start turning on cool looking options. Adventure cave or however it's properly called is one of the prime examples. And there is like a dozen of those that will not crash the game immediately on visiting a map object or even during the first week but far, far into a long and demanding map.
Problems with WoG absolutely are overblown and I won't be surprised if it's malicious, as in a smear campaign because they believe the mods can't co-exist.

>>2040843
>So I can just turn on the secondary skills script and play any of the existing maps in the base game (and the campaigns) "wogified"?
Generally yes, but some options have dependencies. Not sure about campaigns because I've only played random maps in WoG. Tried their campaign but it's basically a feature demo and it's of mediocre quality in other regards.

>>2040858
Go and stay go, tourist.

>>2040793
>>2040843
So should I use HotA or not? I'm getting mixed signals from this thread.

>>2040914
Both of the posts you've quoted say "no". My opinion is also "no". It's the mainstream thing today so if you don't mind playing with bandwagoners who flock to whatever is popular / socially approved / hip then go for it. Just remember that it's a mod with some really gay changes.

>>2040918
I mean other posts in this thread say it's good.
.>so if you don't mind playing with bandwagoners
I'm not a competitive player and mostly play random map and campaigns .

>>2040918
Also
>it's a mod with some really gay changes.
Such as? Anything I should be aware of?

>>2040794
are you? he literally mentioned it in the second sentence.

>>2040929
>I mean other posts in this thread say it's good.
See for yourself then.

>>2040932
>Such as? Anything I should be aware of?
Butchered the game world even further with at least two donut steel factions. Replaced Resistance secondary skill with some fan-made one because one of the developers gets butthurt when he can't mass slow his opponents. I think there were other things but I stopped caring about it back when its fans were few and too busy shitting on by then still active vanilla and WoG to try and get the active players all to themselves.

>>2040939
So what would you recommend? Just HD+ with SoD_SP plug in? I'm still new to this game btw.

>>2040945
I'm replaying the campaigns in the original games without any fan mods. If I ever get the desire again I'll finally fix the WoG scripts and will play random maps with that. If you're physically incapable of playing a game in anything but 16:9 then I guess get whatever does that. I dislike fan-made UIs and UI changes because they always fit poorly with the originals. Not sure whether it's lack of artistic skill (in this specific instance, NWC's team was incredibly good in this and some other regards), hubris or something else. But pretty much never fails.

>>2040914
>So should I use HotA or not? I'm getting mixed signals from this thread.
I wouldn't play HotA until I was absolutely desperate and/or wanted to play with Russkies on one semi-random (template) map that they exclusively play, called "Jesus's Cross"

>>2040951
From what I know HD+ is just graphics update + some bug fixes and improved QoL

>>2040843
>Forge (which is cute and canon).
>However, the town was scrapped in the end and replaced with Conflux town (which was supposed to appear later, in an untitled expansion, according to an interview with Gregory Fulton) – due to fan backlash, which involved threats of boycotting the game and even letters with death threats towards the developers. The issue was exacerbated by a few bloggers who encouraged the fans to hate the faction even more. In the end, the faction was scrapped and Conflux's release moved to Armageddon's Blade expansion, as 3DO was in financial dire straits and couldn't afford to take the risk of even a projected 5% of potential buyers boycotting the game. The expansion's storyline was reworked to accommodate the change.
What in the fuck happened there to cause that reaction?

>>2040914
hota gives you some extra content including random map templates and qol stuff, wogniggers are just autistic contrarians

>>2041135
>qol stuff
Anything that didn't already exist in HD+?

>>2040945
As someone who has only picked the game back up now after not playing it since childhood, here's my setup.

>>2040979
HD+ makes some gameplay tweaks that can be turned off from SoD_SP.

>>2041225
No HotA? And what SkipMapMsqs do?

>>2041233
No HotA, at least not yet, I want to finish all campaigns before I touch any substantial mods.
>And what SkipMapMsqs do?
It saves you some clicks but it cuts a bit of flavour text in the process. Top image is it turned off and bottom image is it turned on.

>>2041242
Side note: if the text is short enough to fit in the bottom right box, it will show you that.

Anyway, the best way to appreciate HD+ is to start playing the game vanilla, finishing a couple full scenarios that way, then installing HD+ and seeing what's different. It will help you better understand what exactly the mod changes in the first place.

>>2041026
Death threats from tourists who have never played the main games (not the Heroes ones).

>>2041225
>like 90% just WoG options
I wonder if it is by some of the same modders.

>>2041242
You can enable it back in the tweaks menu by changing 0 to 1

>>2041151
three examples off the top of my head:
hota shows how many enemies you can expect (for example 25-49 instead of just "lots"), it allows you to tell scholars and witches from witch huts "no" when they offer to teach you skills you don't want and it calculates your hero's specialty for you (pic related).
fundamentals of the game don't change between hota or vanilla so if you really want to learn on vanilla i see nothing wrong with it, but claiming that it's some kind of superior learning experience is just silly, you might as well tell someone he has to play restoration of erathia before he tries armagedon's blade or shadow of death

>>2028966 (OP)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qmgk4jWiOyo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qmgk4jWiOyo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qmgk4jWiOyo

>>2041691
that you?

id prefer a cute Japanese vtuber

>>2041640
>you might as well tell someone he has to play restoration of erathia before he tries armagedon's blade or shadow of death
yes? how is this controversial? we have a guy in this very itt that got his ass handed to him because he started the topmost campaign. you russkies are fucking insane, not everyone has been playing this game for 20 years like you.

>>2039713
>Can I get a QRD of the campaigns?
Whenever you finish a campaign, you're prompted to make a save file. It's OBLIGATORY to select a new campaign from a save file you've made after finishing a campaign (Singleplayer > Load > Campaign), and NOT from the Singleplayer > New > Campaign. Otherwise the game won't register you finishing the campaign, and won't unlock the greyed out campaigns.

>Which campaings have the most fun/best story?
IMO, Heroes II has more fun campaigns.

>>2039040
Do you mean the HD mod? Only bugs (like nagas' bank reward).

>>2039713
>Which campaings have the most fun/best story?
I was extremely disappointed by RoE campaigns. You invade faction A as faction B. You then play faction C who opportunistically grab some territory from faction A. Then, as A, you liberate the very same territories from B and C. Rinse and repeat. You end up with status quo. Except factions B and D are driven out from the continent. But they come back in the expansion so fuck everything. The only cool thing about that was recognizing map layouts and how some little things changed as the time passed.

>>2041026
From what I've heard, it was due to Forge being a sci-fi town which makes it really out of place in what otherwise looks like a fantasy setting. Might and Magic actually is sci-fi in disguise (apparently, not that I've played it) so Forge doesn't contradict the lore. Still though, I don't think there's anything in HoMM3 to suggest sci-fi so I would agree that Forge doesn't fit.

>>2032451
Honestly I like all of them. Except Conflux which I hate because I grew up playing Shadow of Death which didn't have Conflux and I was so excited when I heard there was a new town. It was a huge disappointment when I found out Conflux didn't even have any new units, they literally just tossed some neutral units together and called it a town. I'm guessing they had no time to do it properly and had to rush something out in place of Forge.

>>2041026
First paragraph of the bottom reply. Especially the part with the sociopathic marine. Mind you, it was still the early days of the internets. Nobody had managed to work out how to deal with these things yet.

>>2041906
>Forge scrap directly led to the death of the series
>Inb4 ubishit
Worst. Fucking. Timeline.

>>2040843
>So I can just turn on the secondary skills script and play any of the existing maps in the base game (and the campaigns) "wogified"?
That's literally the main point and appeal of WoG

>>2041135
>HotA
>QoL stuff
Pick one

>>2041819
>in disguise
No. You don't encounter tech from the start, that's it. Most of the games aren't even taking place on planets. It's just not blatant and in your face.
>Still though, I don't think there's anything in HoMM3 to suggest sci-fi
Yeah, probably because the first expansion was meant to show it overtly.

>>2041728
i'm talking about random maps. he said he wants to learn the game and he's not going to learn how to play the game well by playing campaigns

>>2041906
Man this is so sad. Now I wish they made a 3 remake where Forge is canon.

>>2041906
>include your background, photos of yourself, presumably also name and address while performing illegal activity
man people had very poor opsec back in the day

>>2040788
Quetzalcoatl is one of the most well-known deities in mythology, it makes sense to associate reptiles with aztecs when they literally worshipped one.

>Play the Might and Magic map by Technocrat
>CPU gets 35 resource and 70000 EVERY week
>CPU gets hundreds of free units in EVERY town EVERY week
>CPU is handed primary stat boosts, artifacts, and sometimes TEN FUCKING MILLION EXP on the regular
>"Just use Blind strats bro" except Blind isn't anywhere on this map
>If the AI even looks in your direction you are just straight-up fucked

I mean, it's a great map, really fucking great, but it hands the CPU an obscene advantage. I'll admit this map has massively ramped up my own skill as a player but come the fuck on do we really need people running about with multiple legions a few months in?

>aah00
Bless you.

Are there any other guides like a tribute to strategists?

>>2041225
Ehhh? Why do I not have these options in my Heroes of Might and Magic 3 HD Launcher-san?

>>2042534
This map?
https://www.maps4heroes.com/forum/opinions.php?map_id=2652&game=3
Is there any way to play it without HotA? I don't want HotA's non canon factions

>>2042568
>HotA's non canon factions
I heard Cove is canon now.

>>2042567
Top is just HD+ I got from their website. Bottom is the SoD_SP panel triggered ingame.

>>2042618
It is

>>2042333
Most of those who made NWC the font of magic it was have long moved on. Either from making games at all or from making good games (so it's just a job now). Maybe one of the new generations will look at the beautiful sprites and their framing, listen to the beautiful music and become inspired to create something great. Someday.

>>2042618
From where?

>>2042795
>Ubisoft
That's not NWC. So it's not and never will be.

>>2042548
>Are there any other guides like a tribute to strategists?
There is FizMiG (Fizika mira geroyev, "physics of the world of Heroes" in Russian); the current version 2.91 is 676-page-long.

So I'm making a small "cheese techniques" HOTA map and so far I have the following:
>1 Devil vs 150 zombies as a hit-and-run tutorial
>50 wyverns vs 100 cyclopes as a blind looping tutorial
>3 energy elements vs an azure dragon to prove a point (you have implosion since it's just to prove a point)

Rejected ones
>Luna day-1 wolf picket, the AI exploit doesn't work in HOTA
>1 devil vs a ton of magogs, AI exploit doesn't work in HOTA and ground-targeting is allowed now

Any suggestions? This is meant to be more entry-level cheese so none of the crazy bullshit that Richard Chen does

>>2043121
>>1 Devil vs 150 zombies as a hit-and-run tutorial
Can a real player win? No spells vs a ningen doing this.

>>2043162
Absolutely. it relies on Archdevil having no retaliation and one of the best speed stats in the game as a 1-hex-sized monster. Basically you wait until the zombies are in range, hit him at the end of the turn, and teleport away at the start of the turn well out of their range, then repeat the process.

It's based entirely on speed, so a single dragonfly could in theory bring down entire legions of melee units given unlimited time.

>>2043166
>dragonfly
I'm retarded. A single sprite. Dragonfly is a different tactic that relies on Blind.

>>2043032
Looks great but I unfortunately don't speak Russian.

>>2043166
Oops I didn't clarify. I meant if a real player can win with 150 zombies vs 1 devil, no spells.

>>2043197
Probably if you spread them out and the terrain doesn't have a cliff down the middle.

>A single sprite can solo an infinite number of stone golems
>If you have Spirit of Oppression, a sprite can also solo a dwarven treasury
>Even in the absolute bullshittingly insane scenario of 150 dwarves (including battle dwarves), straight 0s on hero stats, and no skills or magic on the hero vs a single sprite she can solo it, yes it'll take like 3500 turns but SHE CAN SOLO IT
Guys, there's something weird happening to my forehead!

>>2043448
Does the maximum combat turn limit not exist in III? I've either never gotten to that number and only read about it or have completely forgotten any particulars.
Although everyone is playing modded anyway so they wouldn't know either.

>>2043478
It's an optional tournament rule and can be enforced in maps. Outside of that, no there is no limit (if there is it'll probably end in a negative turn count or the game crashing)

Optimal map size and number of player?

>>2043121
Okay so I have the following so far on my map. I'm making this to be a somewhat-accessible advanced tactics map with some islands dotted around each with its own set of challenges. The first island is on rails but everything after that runs purely on the honor system.

>Archdevil vs zombies, goal is to take out a handful of zombies without taking a hit
>Sprites vs golems, a more typical scenario for kiting
>Sprites vs cyclopes, you have to split stacks and blind it repeatedly, second one is more of the same
>100 Sharpshooters and some sprites vs 40 hydra, a 101 on forcefield cheese
>Whatever is left vs a castle guarded by 1500 troops, you get Ballistics for this battle. I originally had it as a fort and using meteor shower to destroy the catapult but that is a very unrothodox tactic
>20 archdevils (just for sanity's sake) vs 2000 mighty gorgons, the power of Berserk
>Sprites or a vampire lord vs a dwarf vault, just a potential day-1 vault for conflux
>Archdevil vs Pyramid, just to show off

I'll come up with more ideas while I'm at work. I'm trying to keep it "reasonable" so you can see the technique in action without having to do really crazy shit like >>2043448

>>2043121
>>2043498
here's a funny thing. I have casually played heroes 2-4 when i was a kid and I have no idea what you're talking about. good luck, i guess.

>called HotA
>isn't hot at all
Where are the babes?

Wait, they change this in HotA?

>>2043579
sorry, Ivan said he needed this for his dragon rush strategy so we changed it.

>>2043551
amsterdam, berlin, warsaw. those who don't mind the scat fetish probably in dubai

>>2043579
This is why I play vanilla.

>>2042812
Hey come to think of it what the fuck happens with Olden Era if Ubisoft goes under

>>2043738
>if

>>2043738
the game is a guaranteed flop anyway, who cares

>>2043825
I care, I want to play it

Olden Era looks like a trash mobile game.
It's going to peak at ~500 players at the very best.

>>2043121
there's a way to mess with enemy tower's attack priority if you split your archers correctly during a siege (pic related), could be useful for newer players to learn how to take cities in early game without taking massive losses

Why is it so controversial?

>>2044104
My bad b

>>2044104
Because much like Mental Omega fags, HotA fags try to shill it as a replacement for the vanilla experience instead of merely a mod.

>>2040553
>AI plays the game for real, doesn't just conjure resources out of thin air (I think they do something like that for units?), can use the same tactics you use
>neutrals on higher tiers don't play like retards
lol, lmao even
>all the good and useful secondary skills are copy pasted
why are you afraid of not having every advantage?
>the worthless ones are balanced/changed/etc
>all specializations are valid and scale with levels usefully
pretty words, show me actual ideas for how you would balance things to be within cooee of each other
protip it's fuckin hard
>magic spells are balanced more, Town Portal is a universal spell like Magic Arrow
this sounds shithouse desu, town portal is fucked precisely because it flattens the curve created by map design + movement limitations and subs in "mana pool" which just to make mage builds viable has to be easy to increase - stronger/less random magic overall will lead to the classic linear fighters/quadratic wizards problem worsening
>more scenario editor options, or scenario options in general (rules and limits for the game that you can set for normal skirmish type maps, or multiplayer maps)
the first thing I wholeheartedly agree with and think is achievable - more options & tools for community mapmaking and scripting will only lead to good things, no matter how poor the actual implementation, simply due to the nature of crowdsourcing content
>keep caravans from Heroes 4
I'm on board with this too
>maybe keep two different evolutions possible from Heroes 5
you lost me again, I think this runs contrary to your "everything viable" stance

>>2043579
https://download.h3hota.com/upd/changelogs/eng.txt
>Building Dragon Cliffs and Upg. Dragon Cliffs no longer requires the Enchanted Spring and Unicorn Glade
But why?

>>2044450
Most likely some kind of e-sports autism.

Do you use cheat codes?
I heard the AI can see through map shroud so I was thinking maybe using reveal the map cheat is okay?

Which resolution do you use?

>>2044611
>Which
*What

>>2044603
>so I was thinking maybe using reveal the map cheat is okay?
it's a single player game, cheating doesn't matter if you're having fun.

>>2044603
I don't because the game shames you for it in the leaderboards

>>2044691
>the game shames you for it in the leaderboards
W-What?

>>2044611
See
>>2041225
It's literally perfect. And if you have multiple monitors, you can toggle cursor lock with ctrl-tab.

>>2036183
Just build treasury

>>2036162
>>2036183
>so you know, the elven faction
>yeah man
>think true neutral dnd druids, who are close to nature, but deadly
>yeah got you dude
>they will live in wooden houses thatched roof houses
>okay
>and their castle will also be a wooden thatched roof house
>well
>perched on a FUCKHUGE STONE BRICK WALL
>...

>>2044603
i used them when i played the game as a kid, no idea why would i use them now

>>2044370
>lol, lmao even
What's the problem? It's not impossible to implement an actual AI for turn based games, for battles at least. Even scripted AI decisions like in AoE2 would make the game way more challenging.
>why are you afraid of not having every advantage?
Strawmanning. The fact that some secondary skills are trash is not intended by the game's design document. Just like any other game which has weak options it comes down to lack of QA testing time.
>pretty words, show me actual ideas for how you would balance things to be within cooee of each other
Here >>1821914
>protip it's fuckin hard
Maybe for Hotards. I don't care about multiplayer balance. I just want all heroes to be useful in game, just like the designers of the game wanted to.
>this sounds shithouse desu,
I don't think you understand what I meant by universal. Universal as in doesn't get upgraded by Earth Magic. Because apparently if it was moved to Water Magic as it was supposed to be, everyone would pick Water Magic. I would make it a 5th level spell that isn't upgraded by Earth Magic. Maybe also have it impossible to appear in Mage Guilds.
I also posted other spell balance in the thread I linked, I think, probably, I will only know after I make this post.
>you lost me again, I think this runs contrary to your "everything viable" stance
How exactly? I don't know what the hot takes are for the Heroes 5 different upgrade types, but it shouldn't be like "this upgrade is better than the other one" but more in the design sense that you have different styles that are better/worse against different enemies. Something that rewards scouting/knowing what your opponent is focusing on. Like a more evenly spread out version of Disciples II's upgrades, in example you had warriors that were immune to weapons/death in the ultimate tier, or you could pick the ward against elements, for Undead. And for Empire, there was the knight tree with higher damage armor vs the inquisiton mind ward tree.

>>2044603
>Do you use cheat codes?
Pointless, there are no cheevos that you can put on your GOG Activity Feed to show off to all your friends (I don't have any friends btw) and unless you live in Eastern Europe, you will not impress girls with your epic cyka Hota strats neither (like that girl in Helltaker which will only date you if you don't play Necropolis).

>>2044697
If you finish a game with cheat codes, the game will take a picture of you with your webcam when you're nude and upload it next to your score. Better stop the cheat run right now...

Honestly I can't make up my mind whether I should stay with SoD + HD or go HotA
Been switching back and forth for the past few days now.

>>2044813
frankly i wouldn't care if this was per a single campaign/scenario. But the fact that it persists per campaign save file is borderline evil. No, I'm not a cheater. You're fucking stupid for not letting me play an advanced campaign without beating all prerequisites from a single save file. I will not play the other two campaigns again because I forgot it works like this.

>>2044825
hota became the mainstream version for a reason but you should probably play both and decide for yourself

How larp friendly is the game? Like, how much can I get away with not using meta heroes/spells on high difficulties and just going with thematically coherent choices?

>>2044941
It's Heroes. You just get an army of each unit type from your faction.

>>2044941
>How larp friendly is the game?
Easy. I always keep my armies racially pure and I've beaten even the most difficult scenarios on Impossible and with high scores. I.e. I never mix any units with Undead, and Undead Heroes only lead Undead, etc. I only sometimes make exceptions for aligned towns, like Tower and Castle, or Castle and Rampart even more so, but that's still just 1 army mixed in when every Knight starts with +3 Leadership which technically allows you to mix in way more, even complete opposites like Inferno.

The only scenario that is somewhat tempting to race mix in (because you play as a Knight with no Castle, and you encounter two Dungeon towns, lots of Dungeon and Tower dwellings and a Tower town, before your first Castle, which is also the end of the game) is the Jared Haret challenge scenario. But I recently finished even that one.

And if you don't go out of your way to get them, it is very rare for your faction's primary heroes to get nonstandard skills for them (like Necropolis is ulikely to get Water Magic, good Heroes are less likely to get Fire Magic, etc)

>>2040562
>Have you learned anything from that?
The starting units of the hero you pick, plus the units of the two heroes you get units from when you recruit them, are not enough to clear some neutral enemies, but enough to clear some other neutral enemies. AKA jack fucking shit, I still don't know what made the neutrals I died to any worse than the neutrals I didn't die to. Also learned that I suck at the battle minigame, and that autobattle/quick battle, while consistently bad if you don't have overwhelming forces, is still better than I am, and i've no idea why

Meta bullshit at least helps as a general guideline that you can look at and ask "but why are you like this" and then figure it out, and with it figure the game out too. Or maybe I'm too ADHD to learn, who knows, my grades sucked in school so who knows how good my brain really is.

>>2045027
you can always post screenshots of stupid situations you get yourself into so anons can give you more specific advice than "just get 2 starting heroes"

>>2045027
>The starting units of the hero you pick, plus the units of the two heroes you get units from when you recruit them, are not enough to clear some neutral enemies, but enough to clear some other neutral enemies. AKA jack fucking shit, I still don't know what made the neutrals I died to any worse than the neutrals I didn't die to.
Memorise their attributes.
>Also learned that I suck at the battle minigame
It's not a minigame. It's about 40% to 50% of what you'll be seeing, by design.
>autobattle/quick battle, while consistently bad if you don't have overwhelming forces, is still better than I am, and i've no idea why
It actually knows troop attributes and acts accordingly. Quick combat is utter trash, however. The only thing worse is computer player versus computer player (this includes "neutrals") where it's almost exclusively unit "power points" that are taken into account.
>Meta bullshit at least helps as a general guideline
You're trying to run a marathon before you learned how to crawl seems like. Lower the difficulty maybe. But knowing what troops have what stats even somewhat vaguely is important. The manual has all that and more. If you are playing a modded version I guess you either have to look things up all the time which will mean you'll end up completely helpless because you learn a few routines without understanding them or you'll have to look at troops and memorize (or write down) their attributes. Same for spells, same for hero specializations, same for hero primary and secondary skill probabilities and so on.
But the game only becomes more demanding on higher difficulties. No one was born with all that knowledge. Everyone started on 100% or 130% and lost a lot. Well, some started in previous games so they were well prepared but that's nearly the same thing.

>>2043448
that just highlights the importance of combined arms, have a few melee units and a few ranged units to cover all bases needed in battle

>>2044756
>perched on a FUCKHUGE STONE BRICK WALL
Well yeah? The Rampart faction is designed after old Japanese buildings.

>>2044825
Hold up anon, you're playing HOTA without HD?

>>2044697
instead of your name, it will literally show "I'M A CHEATER!!!"

>The HOMM3 devs were so damn lazy they made the underground generate in the same way every template
>Templates keep mandating subterra
I fucking hate the underground

>>2045821
Turn underground off or use different templates if your whatever supports that.

>>2039258
Probably the graphics, I'd say. And the trailer was really whack. It's ultra generic, almost sterile, devoid of any personality. HoMM3 seeps character, its main menu, character backstories, inspiration for factions, factions themselves, lore, creatures, etc.
This game is just yet another ultra-safe corporate slop, even though it wasn't made by a corporation, it was made by a bunch of fans with an aim of getting funding from EA (and they managed to secure those funds and the rights for the game)

It's really a shame, because I played a couple of early builds of the game and it was quite fun. Doesn't hit the same as HoMM3, though.
It feels like an updated HoMM5 without all that boring skillwheel shite but with new animations, QoL features, working multiplayer and RMG.
I also don't know about the story, but it's supposed to be alright, since it was written (for the most part) by that Russian girl who worked on Pathologic 2 and XEL, who is a Russian member of the HoTA-Crew Team responsible for any lore-related stuff, you can even chat with him and discuss the lore on their discord, he responds to anyone.
>>2040776
>supposed to be a remake
It's not a remake and it was not supposed to be a remake, nor was it ever marketed as such.
>doesn't have Fortress/Stronghold, might have a Tower/Academy type, replaced Inferno aliens with bugmen
This is lore-friendly since the game takes place on Jadame and not Antagarich. Braccada (Tower) doesn't exist there.
Same goes for Fortress/Stronghold. There ARE lizardmen and they MIGHT get their own faction, the devs have stated this on several occasions that one of the first DLC factions they want to release for Olden Era are the pirates/lizardmen.
>inb4 DLC factions
Yeah HoMM3 and HoMM5 both had this model as well. You can't play Conflux without Armageddon's Blade nor can you play Dwarves or Stronghold in HoMM5 without purchasing respective DLCs

>>2046013
>even though it wasn't made by a corporation, it was made by a bunch of fans with an aim of getting funding from EA
that's... not how it works, anon.
>a corporation wants to pursue a risky project but needs a way out in case it is a flop
>a minor studio struggling financially is contracted to do the project instead. money, workforce, and know-how is transferred to the studio, but all decisions are made by the corporation.
>the game is advertised as "indie", to gain hype and credibility for the kickstarter campaign
>if the game suceeds, all is good
>if the game flops, corporation blames the studio

>>2046018
Nah I know how it works and they've spoken about it many times.
They made a prototype of the game, went over to EA who are sitting on the license and aren't doing anything with it, they show the prototype to the EA, they like it, give them some money and provide them with the license.
>a minor studio struggling financially
They weren't struggling financially before because their game was quite successful when they started working on HoMM:OE's prototype.
>the game is advertised as "indie"
It's not advertised as 'indie' because it's not indie even by definition. Unfrozen are releasing a game with EA being their publisher. Indie means you're an independent small studio working on your own and releasing a game without a publisher.
>to gain hype and credibility for the kickstarter campaign
there wasn't a kickstarter campaign for Olden Era.

>>2038807
Inferno is unironically my favorite

>>2046122
based

>>2046018
fucking lel you got rekt
are you perchance the hota anon? you sound really faggy and whiny like a true hota player.

>>2046352
>fucking lel you got rekt
did i? well enjoy supporting the small indie studios who just happened to be lucky enough to create the next entry of an acclaimed video game series.

>>2046013
>girl
>him
>he

>>2046355
>create the next entry of an acclaimed video game series
There are no new entries after IV. It's all fan fiction from that point onwards.

>>2046122
Prove it. Whip out your dinkie and jerk it to an Inferno girl. No cheating with non-Heroes III characters.

>>2046373
I cannot... I lose

>>2046434
come on, Ash and Marius are easy mode

Will any of you lads want to try my first map once I finish finish making it? Will probably be unbalanced as fuck, my idea is that the central area is controlled by extremely strong purple necropolis AI who will own a shitton of low tier units. It would include a lot of kiting legions of zombies/skelys - something I personally find comfy.
Available players will be :
Castle,Tower,Stronghold, Rampart , Factory

>>2046824
You mean you want us to playtest your map? For free? In this economy?
Sure, I guess.
My only feedback as this point is that you gotta have more doodads.

>>2046824
sounds cool

>>2046824
v0.1 complete
where can I upload it, do we have a site for sharing homm maps?

>>2043582
Bsed Vanya.

>>2047056
I've never uploaded maps but maps4heroes seems like a popular site.

>>2047090
>maps4heroes
Send me your maps by email "evgkuz@yandex.ru" to ADD them to our site."
LMAO

>>2046818
bro... not even a year of nofap would be enough for this

>>2046824
What a nice looking ma---

>>2047056
>HOTA only
I vomit

>>2047104
Got any better ideas?

>>2047112
Is there something terrible about HOTA that I missed or is this post your typical 4chan purist spiel ?
>>2047114
I sent it to https://www.heroesmaps.org/index.php
I called it "Legions1"

>>2047122
>Is there something terrible about HOTA
probably rpg chuds malding because we made Factory good, unlike the non-canon "forge"

>>2047122
Already downloaded and playing, hill fort right near conflux seems really busted.

>>2047132
oh yeah it's not going to be anywhere near balanced, thus the "0.1" suffix.

Let me know how long it takes you to win, I personally dont enjoy chasing AI all over the map when I know I'm going to win so I made it a victory condition to simply capture purple's main town south.

>>2047146
I got a scout on vidomina's army and thought it looked kinda small so I tried to just go for her castle and ended up winning. Tomorrow I'll play this again, probably with castle or tower, but I'll clear the whole map properly this time.

>>2047239
Thanks for testing anon! Month 2 is indeed pretty quick.
Can you please go back and tell me how big was Vidomina's (And yours) army when you fought her?
Also don't bother replaying, I will re-adjusts few things and post updated ( hopefully harder ) version tomorrow.
Cheers

>>2047241
I spotted Vidomina's army with a scouting hero on week 2 and her most threatening stack had 100-249 skeletons. I never met her with my main hero. The castle was defended by Septienna and pic related was her army.

>>2047241
And here's my main hero and army. I had over 200 sprites and 6 more psychic elementals but i lost them by accident in the garrison fight.

>>2047255
>>2047251
much appreciated anon
I'm currently trying to figure out a way to force AI to get more zombies/skellies without straight up spawning them in her armies or setting their diplomacy rating to always join. I'm also debating if letting her recruit vampires/liches is in the spirit of the challenge. That change would result in only dreadnights/bone dragons being banned however - it turns out against a competent player you really do needs literal THOUSANDS of meat to pose any significant threat

>>2047260
You could set up a repeatable event at her castle that gives her extra skeletons and zombies to recruit each week, kinda like what the AI in pestilence lake gets.

>>2047277
oh shit I did NOT think of that, will do - thanks

>>2047122
>4chan purist
>retarded kid thinks anons complaining about his new favourite fanfiction weren't playing NWC games before 4chan existed

>>2047327
rude, I'm fine with you disliking it for whatever reason but pretending it makes you want to vomit is cringe.

I also sometimes prefer to play SOD when I want to abuse how broken conflux/necro is without nerfs

What are some good challenging maps? I'm tired of playing Back for Revenge all the time. I want
>big
>hard
>pretty
>playable with lots of factions

>>2047611
Pandora's Box (original name: Myths and Legends)

>>2047611
The Devil Is In The Detail

Hot seat playing with yourself is so fun!

>>2045821
Anon, how do you think the underground should be generated in the game? I am currently working on the decompiling of Random Map Generator and am gathering ideas on how to make maps more playable, diverse and aesthetically pleasing. RMG dungeons are indeed boring. I thought about changing their shape, for instance. My goal is to make the dungeons look more like campaign maps. The tunnels and player zones should become wider, see the first map of Mutare Campaign.

I'm open to any ideas

>>2048083
first of all, stop the spell scroll spam and pandora box with spell scroll spam. It's fucking crazy how after 2 weeks you end up with 20 scrolls, 3 for town portal and 17 for common t1 spells

>>2048084
>stop the spell scroll spam
Yes, it was one of the first entries on my todo list. It's really annoying. The question is, what they should be replaced with?

>pandoras spam
What's wrong with pandoras though? They're dependent on template settings anyway. I should ban empty pandoras, too.

>>2048095
Scrolls should be Lv3-5 spells only. Make them worth checking.

>>2048083
Larger areas with a bigger focus on lava and dirt, possibly with each cave being isolated from the rest of the layer.

>>2048098
>Larger areas with a bigger focus on lava and dirt, possibly with each cave being isolated from the rest of the layer.
Yes yes yes! Just like in campaigns. This will be very comfy

>Scrolls
Hmm, maybe instead of scrolls put more spell shrines and skill-increasing objects?

>>2048098
>each cave being isolated from the rest of the layer.

Like this?

>>2048110
In a way yes, but still enough size to be self-sufficient in the earlygame

>>2048083
>I am currently working on the decompiling of Random Map Generator
Straight up (is IDA still the go to?) or some meme shit?
>My goal is to make the dungeons look more like campaign maps. The tunnels and player zones should become wider, see the first map of Mutare Campaign.
Split things into categories and subcategories. One category should be the vanilla sprawling clusterfuck with generally OP rewards. Another closer to how campaigns work with only a bit of tunnels for connecting and/or circumventing things. Another is a sort of mirror of the surface but less packed with goodies so it isn't a "whoever successfully rushes first wins" pinata.
Bonus points if you manage to embed factions in a believable way. A Tower surrounded by grass on the surface looks just as retarded as Inferno. Not much can be done for underground as it only has 2 thematically fitting terrain types, aside from water.

>>2048140
>Straight up
From IDA Pro, yes. First decompiling the code into some high-level C++ looking code and then fix bugs, optimize, etc.

>Split things into categories and subcategories
Yeah, I thought about that, too. Also wanted to create "biomes" so that different grass zones are going to have different "style". Kind of like in Minecraft or Terraria and so on.
>A Tower surrounded by grass on the surface looks just as retarded as Inferno
This is actually embedded in the random map template settings(8XM8, Jebus Cross, 6LM10, 4SMd and so on). I can't interfere with that. Though I can place a little native terrain spot around the city, sure. Note that the zone terrain is either dependent on the main town or defined by the template.

>>2048147
>This is actually embedded in the random map template settings
Ditch or change those retarded templates. Having zone terrain determine available factions would be fine. So when picking a template for specified settings (if any are specified) just skip those that have no matches. I never looked that deep into the game's inner workings but I imagine they're doing some kind of linked list or array or something similar to get available templates.

>>2048147
Also obviously just rip out all the logic you're changing and put it inside a DLL or something like that (IIRC there were ways to call things from another PE even after the 16->32 change but it's been a long time and my memory isn't getting younger either). Adds plenty of space and even if you only publish an API others can do their own autism. Like adding their own templates.

>>2048236
>never looked that deep into the game's inner workings but I imagine they're doing some kind of linked list or array or something similar to get available templates

In the original game the templates are located inside the data packs inside rmg.txt file. It's a spreadsheet of templates and their settings. The game simply reads the table and populates std::vector with available templates. It then samples random template which is appropriate for current settings.

>>2048240
>DLL
Yeah, it's done via DLL. HD Mod supports custom plugins and loads .dll-s from the plugins' directory. The patching is done via patcher_x86, library created by the author of HD Mod, baratorch.
>only publish an API
About that...
I've been working on general modding API for HoMM 3. Still work in progress though.
https://github.com/void2012/nh3api/
Currently it has no interface for RMG but in the near future I plan to add some

Every good map should be
>[Town] gets its own territory to conquer around it, filled with 2x LVL1, 2x LVL2 and 1x other LVL dwellings, with increasingly challenging guardians, 2x Wood, 2x Ore, 1x of each other resource with increasingly challenging guardians, ranked based on how much the resource is used.
>[Town]'s territory is 100% it's native land. Except Conflux gets desert, and its neutral in the middle of the map, on an island. Rampart and Castle are on the opposite sides of the map.
>In the map settings, all players can only recruit heroes from their own faction.

That's about all. Peace out.

>>2048274
>In the original game the templates are located inside the data packs inside rmg.txt file. It's a spreadsheet of templates and their settings.
Huh. I can easily edit them in this case.

>>2048323
>Huh. I can easily edit them in this case.
Yes, but I recommend you creating them with HotA's template editor. It's a visual tool.

>>2048330
I don't like the mod's changes so I'll just unpack and edit the original data files.

>>2048337
No, the templates generated by the tool work for the original game. Do you have the HD Mod? Not HotA, just the resolution mod. It allows you to install any template without unpacking the game data. It's in the 'templates' directory.

>>2048346
I don't really need mods. I might eventually turn WoG v3.58 into something that works well enough for what I want. So for now only manual editing. No big deal, I've done plenty of similar things many times.

>>2048354
Ah, I see. I like to play WoG against 7 allied AI players. It's really fun. Unbalanced and stupid but fun.

Jeez, this one is annoying too.

According to Gus Smedstad, https://slideplayer.com/slide/13493747/
Sawmills and Ore Pits must be placed at least 12 cells away from the town. But it doesn't really check if it's freely accessible.

Also this time it was blocked by three(!!!) monsters. Madness

I played two games of Viking We Shall Go! (Allies) on rook difficulty, one as England (Rampart) and one as Spain (Castle). The map is incredibly unbalanced but fun. As England you have an incredibly weak start because you're confronted with severe wood shortages in the early game, which even stop you from building boats to explore. Also, your ally is Russia, on the other end of the map. Your saving grace is that your enemies are too busy fighting to explore outside the continent, so you can consolidate the home islands and grab Iceland. In comparison, Spain is extremely easy, as you have an avenue of uncontested expansion in North Africa, while having a bottleneck in the Pyrenees that helps with defence, and if you manage to link up with Italy, your ally, you will breeze through France and central Europe.

>>2048405
The map editor has tile passability with yellow for interactables (like monsters). Using that with something like a good pathfinding algorithm for some RTS should be enough.

>>2048405
That ore pit belongs to that other town in the image.

>>2048661
>That ore pit belongs to that other town in the image.
Ah, yes, my bad. You can see a better example here >>2044611

>>2048624
>Using that with something like a good pathfinding algorithm for some RTS should be enough.
Yes, they use pathfinding for building roads, creating zone connections, etc. I think it could be used in this case too. Although there may be a simpler algorithm.

>>2048669
>>>2044611 #
fuck, wrong one. Here is a good example. You have to beat the guards on the road and then do C-turn around the castle to get to the sawmill.

I'm new and I'm pretty bad at this game, even against normal difficulty AI. I think I take too long to go and fight enemy heroes because every time I find them they have armies way bigger than mine even though I feel like I'm making good time on my dwellings. What sorts of things should I be looking for to know it's time to go out and kill enemy heroes? My instincts tell me to wait until I hit a power spike like Black Dragons but that's always too late (Dungeon is way cool)

>>2048910
Just rush capitol and don't lose units in battle vs neutrals
You should maybe install the HD mod (it comes with it by defaut, doesn't need Hota) which gives you the instant battle resolution first, before it offers you to fight manually
Mark down the losses the autoresolve had and try to have the same or less losses

>>2048910
The first week is crucial. You want to hire two new heroes day 1, pass their army over to your main guy, and use them as exploration mules. Your main guy should only be fighting and not take detours to pick stuff up. Try to get as many dwellings as possible on your starting town, and eventually a citadel. Tier 7 units are strong, but you want numbers as much as possible, especially early game, so don't be afraid to spam trash.

>>2028991
There's only one notable modern upgrade mod, called HoMM3 HD+, it's just that OP chose standard display resolution

Just realised you can use whirlpools to make a map wrap around.

>>2049407
>by killing your troops

>>2049424
The sea is treacherous, anon.

>>2048910
Mass spells are a huge force multiplier for your army, especially mass slow and mass haste. The moment you get those is a massive power spike for you.

I understand haste, but does slow really have any strong benefit besides you get one or two more rounds with your archers?

if your archers are a cyclops doomstack, yeah that's all you need

>>2049424
One T1 creature per travel is not that bad. What is bad is getting into the destination spot you want, of the 6 possible.

>>2049577
Positioning and retaliations. Your getting a first strike with something that can endure it, then the rest of your stacks attack without getting hit back. This is why IV made strike and retaliation simultaneous.

>>2049577
>What is the benefit of your enemy being reduced to reacting to your moves
Ever tried to slow down Rampart?
Or Fortress?
It completely fucks them up, far more than you reaching them sooner with Haste.
Even if they dispell it, they are still at a serious disadvantage, because you can just re-apply it again.
You are gaining extra positioning and fucking over your enemy, rather than getting mere first strike.

Which is all part of why HotA is so retarded, because its devs think first strike is all that matters and Haste is better. Then they get their ass handled, throw a fit and nerf something out of spite.

>>2048354
If it's any help, I'm running WoG for just the following:
Witch asks if you want to learn the skill
Creatures accumulate in on-map sites
So do guardians of the top three tiers

That's literally it. First two solve the two most tedious things in MP, and the last one makes it fair to capture a site with 30 red dragons ready to be hired, if it is guarded by 16.

I just can't have fun with this game unless I'm playing custom maps where AI gets huge boosters to resources and growth and I get to fight thousands of units at a time.

>>2049633
First strike is important because the retaliating stack is now smaller. I have never played that mod and never will.
Positioning is very important too, obviously. There are even subtler things like unicorn aura.

>>2049639
>Witch asks if you want to learn the skill
This is indispensable, yes. I'm slowly replaying the original campaigns and it's a pain when you get something near useless.
>Creatures accumulate in on-map sites
>So do guardians of the top three tiers
I'm back to thinking that these two were bad decisions now, thanks to the original campaigns in no small part (I compare them now to how we used to play in hotseat). Dwellings getting huge numbers of recruits can lead to nasty turn-arounds and the game definitely wasn't designed for that. And the guardians bit can turn things like dwellings and creature banks especially into huge experience point pinatas.
I think both types of games can be fun but after re-visiting the originals I appreciate the way they do most things a lot. Although HoM&M games have major design flaws in general so ultimately all of this is futile.

>>2032451
Favorite: Fortress
Second bests: Castle, Dungeon, Stronghold
Odd one, depends on mood: Tower
Boring: Rampart, Necropolis, Conflux
Trash: Inferno

>>2041225
About the same. I have Real Casualties with Battle Queue Panel switched on. Resolution is the lowest widescreen, resampling is set only on Hermite.

>>2049796
Name of this map?

>>2050772
crapcore

>>2032451
It's hard for me to pick between any of them (except Inferno and Conflux)
Probably Fortress or Dungeon, they both have fun lineups that feel powerful early
I love Wyverns and Dragon Flies, Gnolls are a solid T1 unit and Lizardmen are deceptively strong
But Trogs are also a solid T1 unit that you can stack up quickly early on, you get effectively three ranged units between T2-T4, and Minotaur Kings are a great power stack. There's not really any standout weak units, especially with Fortress.
Fuck, stacking Golems and eventually getting Naga Queens as Tower is really fun too though, and zapping people with Solmyr, and you get awesome town music

I'm gonna stop now before I think up reasons for why I like all of them the best

Why are troglodytes so cute

>>2051042
they remind you of yourself

Nobody likes Inferno, the one guy who said otherwise ITT was a liar

>>2047110
>he doesn't get off to red skin and fangs
NGMI

Inferno is the coolest town

>>2051080
Inferno shines on turbo gay maps where arch devils can be used for extraordinary cheese tactics but on your average map? It's just mediocre, not bad just meh.

Tower all day every day.

>>2052076

I almost purchased Heroes IV today even though I probably already own an official digital complete edition on Ubisoft, but I can't be arsed to remember my account details, and I had it as a cover game on a computer magazine CD long ago too, on GOG. But then I remembered that all the campaigns are the same, and the scenarios are no fun, and the heroes are not unique.

Fact check?

>>2054917
yes, that's how peak CGI looked like in that time period.

>>2047650
Why is "Kyrre" using the female model if he's supposed to be a Greek man in the scenario?
I checked it in scenario editor and the lazy level designers haven't switched his SEX from female to male. But when I switched it myself, he still uses the Druid (female) model even though he is a Ranger (male). SEX is tied to portraits I bet.

What's the best player colour and why is it green?

>>2040391
>and skip learning what my units do,
first of all, it's your fault for ignoring or skipping in-game tutorials or tool-tops. secondly, getting rolled because you have zero experience and haven't yet formulated the best unit compositions and strategies is part of the intended discovery experience. True learning comes from perseverance through failure.

>>2056952
Yellow but for some reason HoMM3 doesn't have it. Probably because the dev deciding to cut it was turbo gay.

>>2057499
What did he mean by this?

>>2056952
Objectively incorrect. Objectively the best color is red, because it's the player 1 color, and player 1 gets to go first. And if you're talking camouflage, then tan is also objectively superior because it's harder to see on dirt than green is on grass AND it's ahead of green in the turn order.

>mic=dropped

>>2057540
>Objectively the best color is red, because it's the player 1 color, and player 1 gets to go first.
Then the best color is pink, because he gets to move after he's seen all others players moves.

Posting underneath a homosexual

HotA is better than the original game

How do I beat a stack of 100+ vampire lords as rampart? He keeps blinding my fucking shooters turn 1 and my mage guilds are crap.

>>2059035
stack debuffs and focus him

>>2059040
I've only got blind and berserk, and he resists the berserk every time.

>>2059049
Undead are immune to mind spells such as berserk.

>>2059054
fuck me. I wish you could demolish buildings in towns you take over so I could hamstring this fucking shit.

>>2059035
Resurrection is better than Animate Dead. Battle Dwarves are highly resistant to hostile magic to begin with, more so with SS and artifacts.

>>2059144
The dwarves are doing well, the problem is the vamps just fly away and full heal off of one of my other guys.

>>2059292
Why do you have other guys? You never mentioned anything but vampire lords for the enemy. One-on-one them. Keep buffing your dwarves.

>>2040788
because they copied warhammer and mesoamericans worshipped their unpronouncable god which was a serpent and primodal jungle = raptors

>>2059437
Its a full army but the vampire lords under 200+ spell points are the problem. After that its 30ish black knights and 160ish wraiths, everything else including the 60+ power liches I can take down

>>2059035
if you have dispel or heal then use either of them to get rid of blind, put shooters in the corner and body block them with tankier units also post screenshot of both armies

>>2059571
>Its a full army
Should have started with that. Focus vampires. You will have to tank one shot from the liches and probably at least 2 attacks from black knights. Be happy they aren't dread knights I guess. Wraiths are paper thin so they stop being a problem as soon as they get hit once or twice.
Use zoning and spells that let you control the battlefield better (Slow, Haste and so on). By "zoning" I mean something like putting a tougher stack you can afford to loose or suffer some losses sooner in the way of, say, black knights so they have to stop and hit it first. Ideally you put something like dendroids in single-tile passages and keep defending with them for that extra armour. Might not be exactly great against Necropolis because 3 of their troop types fly and 1 shoots but still.
Also the obvious things like preventing fliers from parking next to your grand elves. But you need to kill or similarly block liches or your "blob" is going to be eating AoE. It's not 100% for non-primary targets but it still hurts.

>beat a strong enemy hero
>every single time computer just buys him back the next week
I fucking hate how the computer cheats

>>2042795
Man is the board game really worth it? How good is it?

>>2061345
How is that a cheat? If a hero retreats instead of being defeated, he can be bought by his previous user on the next week, unless you luck out and find him in the tavern first. Meanwhile, you are even allowed to surrender, which lets you get the hero back instantly.

Git gut chudbud.

Is surrender as a form of fast travel an acceptable practice?

>>2061691
Surrendering or running away from battles is commonly known as poor man's town portal.

>>2061691
sure

>>2061691
it's a singleplayer game. there's no unacceptable practices

>>2061349
No reason to buy it when you can play either vanilla SoD with the HD+ mod or HotA. Boardgame is overpriced and simplified trash you'll get bored of after 2-3 games. Unless you want it for the artbook and/or minis, you're basically getting nostalgia-baited into scamming yourself.

>>2061845
t. CHEATER!!!

>>2061654
The computer hero did not retreat, nor could it since I had the Shackles of War.
A retreating hero is only available for the current week in the tavern.
The computer kept buying the same hero back each new week after it died to my hero.

>>2061881
You can buy the hero regardless of what happened to make him available if the pool is small enough

>>2061881
You can keep buying and dismissing heroes as long you have gold available, the further down you get down the pool the higher chance you can buy enemy heroes.
As long you're playing SOD that is, HOTA devs hate fun and buying enemy heroes is practically impossible there.

Hey, kholops. A new HotA update is out.

>>2062038

>>2062038
>Miscellaneous
>[+] Added 4 new maps: Just Win, Or Else; Key to Victory: The Second Key; Sails and Propellers; Treasures of the Pyramid
>[-] "Original template pack" template renamed to "Default Random Map"
>[+] Added the "Default Random Map (Legacy)" template, which contains a number of elements excluded from the standard HotA gameplay: allowed Cloak of the Undead King, monsters joining for free, Resistance instead of Interference, allowed Galthran and Sir Mullich, etc.
THANK YOU

>>2039713
>Which campaings have the most fun/best story?
The ones in HoMM 4

>>2063411
Bullshit, they're all the exact same pattern where you fight against your own faction.

>>2063405
>contains a number of elements excluded from the standard HotA gameplay
I hope that includes the ability to buy enemy heroes from the tavern, this is the one change that made me give up on hota.

>>2045646
>>2044756
Nippon ichi elves?

>>2044603
>I heard the AI can see through map shroud so I was thinking maybe using reveal the map cheat is okay?

they also produce units very fast. this game was never balanced or fair. and the HARDCORE modders only made it harder for chuckles.
>>2044837
most people just play the random maps or custom maps...

>>2061345
One of improvements in Heroes 4. Defeated Heroes will in nearest winner town jail or stay dead on world map

>>2061345
use cheat codes. BE THE CHEAT! this game is encouraging you.

>>2063411
>story
The MM5 plot. or the very "causal" King's Bounty plot.

>>2038807
Inferno is my favorite. You’re forgetting they can teleport between towns without spells via castle gates, which well-made maps balance the faction around. Upgraded efreet, archdevils, cerberi are great units despite the cost. Pit lords are great if you're able to demon farm. Fire magic is fun and pretty good in combat, if Blind actually benefitted from ranks/spellpower it might have been the best combat school. The theme and aesthetics of the town are cool as fuck, and there aren’t many other games where you play as hell demons (yeah i know they’re actually aliens in the lore).

>>2048423
There are newer, bigger, extremely detailed Europe fan maps you can download to enhance this experience tenfold. Custom map makers are WAY better than the developers at making them after 20+ years of experience.

>>2061881
This is why IV invented in-town prisons. They should have gone a step further and have heroes that belong to defeated players return to the pool or at least become neutrals somewhere on the map. Definitely should have allowed an ally of a defeated player to get his imprisoned heroes. But we'll never know how it could have been improved because the expansions were desperate cash grabs.

>>2063412
You fight against pretty much everything. The only campaign that truly suffers the most from mirror matches is Gauldoth's.

>>2064020
>Fire magic is fun and pretty good in combat
Fun - yes, good in combat - not so much. Bloodlust is too weak, Curse is not as good as Bless, Fire Shield and Frenzy are highly niche and can net you much higher losses than you can have with any other school, damage spells are mediocre except for Armageddon. Slayer can be very good but is also very niche. Berserk is great until the enemy has a particularly strong stack of mindless or mind-shielded something. Blind can be good but it's by no means enough to compensate for the general weakness of the school even after Berserk.
>if Blind actually benefitted from ranks/spellpower
It does. At Expert the affected stack does not retaliate if attacked while still under Blind. At Advanced retaliation happens at only 25% strength, at none and Basic at 50%. Spellpower determines duration.

Give me a mod that allows balancing the numbers (or even effects) in spells, and I will fix the spells

opinions on VCMI?
I would love it if it had better AI, it's not completely braindead as it used to be but still it's dumb

>>2065234
I still don't understand why VCMI exists when HD mod is just infinitely better.
>b-but just wait
>m-muh potential
It's been like a decade, possibly longer and it still can't compete with hd mod on any level. And decade from now it'll probably stay the same.

>>2065236
it competes in adding fuckton of mods
for me it's only way to have forge as hota team has pussied out and DoR is still ages away

>>2065228
that would be russiaphobic

Kek Steadwick's Fall was not that impossible in end

>>2065241
This.
I only play classic HoMM3 and sometimes VCMI for the real Forge.
Fuck the gay steampunk town the HotA devs shat out.

>>2064020
>fire good
underpowered and i don't like using magic much anyway.
>demon farming
good strat but takes lots of time? not efficient.
>upgraded good
you can say that for most units of any faction.
>castle gate
ok that's pretty good.

>>2032451
barbies' Stronghold.

as for style points: japanese Rampart, magick-technoky Tower, and spooky skeletons' Necros.
i also thought the monsterous units in Dungeon and Fortress are cool but i don't like their buildings.

>>2065228
WoG but the scripts are a chore to work with. Also your changes are likely not going to be well-received as many players have their own ideas.

>>2065769
That's okay, there is only one player that matters - me.

It’s time to admit Forge was a terrible idea implemented in a terrible way. No one wanted a faction of old units arbitrarily cut/pasted into robot bodies. The tone was retardedly off, and the excuse that the the lore is already scifi is stupid because none of that had been remotely reflected in the game’s aesthetic or tone prior to that. It was a glorified in joke that the devs took too seriously, then got pissy when it was shelved since no one else was really “in” on it.

Were there any design documents on Forge left off, be it from role-playing games or strategies? Otherwise it's nearly meaningless to argue as we have no slight conjecture on how they would've had befitted the game or intervened with the story.

>>2065811
This usually ends with the modder wanting to play over LAN or hotseat. But good luck.

>>2066220
The main games have robots with blasters, powerful energy shields and supercomputers so probably something like that. Although a more limited replication of that by basically yesterday's savages on one of the colonies wouldn't be as efficient.

>>2066179
>none of that had been remotely reflected in the game’s aesthetic or tone prior to that
the game where you seek help of robots to fight alien invaders in the second campaign mission?

>>2066430
Which campaign? Because Long Live the Queen has none of that.

>>2066179
>MUH AESTHETIC

the cowboys with rifles and robots sure fit with the game's aesthetic don't they?

Is there any custom map where cities can't produce any units but you have to use external dwellings instead?

>>2066519
Yeah, those are fine.

>>2066255
desu. realistically it should be like in Battletech or WH40K(before Clanners), where the tech is high-tech but not well understood, and they don't know how to make them from scratch.

that said MM5's sci-fi elements were techno-magical and quite cheesy like Buck Rogers or how 1950s imagined future-tech to be. so bunky impractical mechs and lots of melee fighting units ,even though they have laser guns and personal shields.
>>2066580
go away.

>>2066598
>Battletech(before Clanners)

>>2050146
Favorite: Tower
Shoutout to: Rampart, Castle, Dungeon
Purely based on I like magic and I like nature

Redpill me on Chronicles.

>>2066870
last attempt at a cashgrab before the company went down.

>>2067039
But is it good?

>>2067041
I only heard they are easy

>>2066252
Yes I would play my Balanced Spells mod in Hot Seat against the only one player that matters - me. I can do it without cheating easily because I can just have the schizo voices in my head take over between each players' turns.

This is absurd right?

>>2067600
Not necessarily if the map is balanced around an OP hero.

>>2067600
making a photo of a computer screen to post on the internet, yes, pretty much. at least it's not slavspeak.

>>2067706
not him but i'm a 35 year old slav and i still don't know how to take a screenshot of a game. if i use the printscreen method, it just gives me a blank screen. how does one actually take a screenshot of a game? i know steam has some easy method but let's just assume i'm not playing a game i bought on steam.

>>2067600
not on a big map with dragon utopias

>>2067600
In HOMM3 on some maps you get to advance to 99 in all stats so no this is not absurd, if the map has a check like that it's almost certainly possible.

>>2067719
Push print screen, then alt tab, open paint and ctrl+v

>>2068386
you're being a nigger, but i remembered a lot of old directx games had issues with printscreening and felt bad for making fun of him. i actually play in windowed mode with heroes hd on linux so it Just Works™ for me

>>2066220
There's this interview with lead designer Gregory Fulton
https://heroes3wog.net/interview-with-greg-fulton-about-angels-gelu-and-heavenly-forge/

>>2068780
>let's click that and have some fun reading about forge-related butthurt
>"yes, price of loyalty takes place on a different planet"
>mfw

>>2068780
There are theories making rounds about the 8th part of RPG series, that in the original script Kastore struck a deal with Regnans, which would explain the presense of high-tech submarine and canon on their main island; with all the elemental calamities being also the remnants of ongoing military campaign written off the game.
>Decimated forests of Murmurwoods as the source of local manufacturing
>Broken dam to flood and subjugate the minotaur population
>Lava pollution from a factory set on active volcano, or deliberate disaster
>Bombardment of Dagger Wound Islands with concurrent Regnan assault
Oddly enough, if the Forge plans went through, we might've also got an entirely different M&M8 as it also shared its development time with Armageddon's Blade.

>>2036627
No you need base game to play this one.
>>2037447
Simply cause I am weak and they removed the resurrection spell. I might be spewing bullshit but there was another spell in the new quest guard.

Why are there two different Crag Hacks?
>Human Barbarian hack
>Dwarf Fighter? in Celeste

>>2077335
HoM&M always took lots of liberties with the established setting.

Is every map defeatable on Impossible? I couldn't beat maps where you start with zero gold because you're without units and/or economy for a week

Also I hate new factions in HotA, love the buildings they added on the map

>>2054932
Not true, heroes had mid cgi for the period. Best CGI was in Diablo.

>>2077335
There's actually three, but the dwarf is from M&M and he started as a premade character.

>>2077417
>Is every map defeatable on Impossible?
Yes, if you're skilled enough of course

>>2077417
>Is every map defeatable on Impossible?
If not every it's pretty close to 100% for veterans impossible is the baseline difficulty. Certain maps may favor some factions or starting positions, so difficulty setting is not the only thing that can make a map harder.

Mom says it's my turn to win the game

>>2036183
All in on high elves, ignore drawves except for defending towns. Centaur captains can be good if you have master level haste. Dendroids pack a punch and are quite cheap for a tier 5 unit, however their speed is utterly atrocious, pegasi are their mirror opposite, quick as fuck but they are way too squishy for prolonged battles. Unicorns once they start rolling are prett beefy, however their blind effect is pretty unreliable. By the point you get access to dragons you more than likely already have enough resources to crush your enemy

anyone have the ayden/jayman meme?

>>2036183
based Rampart enjoyer

>dwarves and elves on the same camp
And that's how you know this is a fictional setting.

>>2082454
Stone City has perfectly fine relationships with AvLee. Everyone except Kreegans and possibly Deyja.

>>2066179
>No one wants a nagatank
>I did

Will it dethrone hota?

>>2032959
Sorry, I am two months late.
In visuals.
The giant devil looks out of place.
The humanoid figure in the rocks could be replaced by some structure, too..

>>2086488
Never heard of it, so no

>>2086488
Literally who

Does anyone know how to edit palette files from the game? There is a gui mod by Grayface that darkens the player colors and which I really like, but I think the changes sometimes can be too extreme. I'd like to tweak it.
>players.pal from the original
https://files.catbox.moe/50yuel.PAL
>players.pal used by the mod
https://files.catbox.moe/2lsilv.pal

>>2086488
Apparently, HotA team also has the Vori faction on their planning table. I don't really feel drawn to either of interpretations as they both feel as something out of left field, moreso than the Factory somehow, even if the peninsula was indeed depicted on the original campaign maps. Guess the main attraction for me would be their play to reintroduce the Heavenly Forge back into the game plot. I wish for overall success in either case, more food for fans to chew on.

>>2087845
>Does anyone know how to edit palette files from the game?
no idea where you got these files from, I have the gog version with heroes 3 hd installed and there are no PAL files in the game's directory. Still, it seems they are just lists of RGBA colors, you should be able to change them with any hex editor.

>>2089062
Damn, how could I not have thought of that? Thanks for helping out of my pinch anon.
>no idea where you got these files from
File is packaged in H3Bitmap.lod, which you unpack with MMArchive. You could fiddle with original files and then put them to a new folder created at .\_HD3_Data\Packs, after which the folder name will appear in the hd launcher plugins list. Or you could just put your modifications as is inside the .\Data, which is while messier but will also work. Think one could replace unwanted player colors with this, if it's really needed.

You guys would play mp if somebody hosted it ?

>>2090168
nah

>>2090168
no, unless it's jebus cross

>>2086488
it has forge so it's already kino in my book
though hota has cove which I also love
well as long as it won't have pvpfaggotry hota devs force then it will be better

>>2090291
Based and cykapilled

>>2086488
>Interestingly the Forge project is being developed in consultation with Greg Fulton one of the creators of Heroes III in order to replicate as much as possible the original concept that was to be released with the Armageddon’s Blade expansion.
I think I'm gonna ejaculate.

>>2090168
>You guys would play mp if somebody hosted it ?
I'm fairly scared ngl. Aren't HD Launcher and HotA lobbies populated enough?

>>2090360
>in consultation with Greg Fulton
Hope he will like it. They had no reference material for Vori with Dark Elves factions, and it shows. Personally I don't dig vikings, gnomes and mushrooms; but I guess Bulwark from HotA would be overall worse. Yetis? Mammonths? Sounds like someone discovered Australia continent of M&M universe.

>>2090168
i could play but definitely not jebus cross or the other 1v1 map

>Come back to this game after a long hiatus
>First game, get fucked in the ass by neutral creeps getting morale
>Uninstall
Fuck me, this game is awesome but just this one mechanic ruins all my enjoyment. Do you guys just grin and bare it or are there mods which fix it?

I recently took VCMIpill, installed like 5 modded factions (I only care about forge out of them) and I'm having fun

>>2091820
i really don't like the aesthetic of that

>>2091406
anon, if you are EVER getting fucked by neutral creeps, the problem is you and not the game.

>>2086488
ok but when is it ever coming out?

>>2091845
HOTard Jebus cross cyka detected

>>2091820
did you play the Forge maps?

>>2091852
I don't get your logic. There can be neutral encounters which you kill with no losses (or maybe a couple 1 stacks) UNLESS they get a morale proc and kill your shooter stack for example. This can lose you the game since it's fundamentally very snow-bally, even if it doesn't kill you outright.
It just adds unnecessary RNG to the early game where you have the least chance to mitigate the risk.

>>2091852
Even pros playing in tournaments sometimes get wrecked by neutral stacks, it's rare but it happens as example I've seen someone estimating their army strength vs "horde" stack and it was exactly 99 enemies and dude got wiped.

>>2091899
tasteless nigger detected

>>2092175
>There can be neutral encounters which you kill with no losses (or maybe a couple 1 stacks) UNLESS they get a morale proc and kill your shooter stack for example.
if your entire early game strategy revolves around the enemy not getting morale (which will kill your shooter stack and end your game), IT'S A SHIT FUCKING STRATEGY AND YOU DESERVED TO LOSE.
>It just adds unnecessary RNG to the early game where you have the least chance to mitigate the risk.
oh I'm sorry let's just make a game specifically just for anon here so he can win every time and never have to think or worry about anything.
>Even pros playing in tournaments
>pros
>sometimes get wrecked by neutral stacks
choose one and only one. You are not a pro, you are an obsessed slav larping as a korean starcraft player.
You get wrecked by a neutral stack in a TURN-BASED game where you have infinite time to think? Where there is absolutely 0 mechanical skill involved, and yet you STILL lose to neutral creeps? You are just not good at the game. That's it.
>I've seen someone estimating their army strength vs "horde" stack and it was exactly 99 enemies and dude got wiped
I've seen someone estimating their chances of winning blackjack and it was off by 1 cell and dude went bankrupt.
If only he had the foresight to get more fucking army and replenish their mana, he might have won. He took a retarded gamble and lost everything.
Story as old as time - the story of a shit player who thinks he's good and "pro", but isn't anywhere near that

>>2092581

>>2092345
rude cyka

>>2093007
i will rape you

>>2093084
we'll see who gets to be a corporal first

>>2092581
Yeah retard I bet you're winning tons of games being a fucking pussy that never takes a single risk even if it only has a 1% chance of going wrong.
Anyways you type like a schizo so I will not engage further. Sorry I insulted your favourite game that has no flaws whatsoever :^)

>>2090539
>I'm fairly scared ngl. Aren't HD Launcher and HotA lobbies populated enough?
I can just host a casual round (i will get curbstomped but being shit at the game wont stop me from having fun)
>>2091040
Sure is there any way we can add each other throught gog thing or steam ?

And if PVP dosent sound fun we could also try PVE like couple of us vs highest dif AI

>>2093650
>Yeah retard I bet you're winning tons of games being a fucking pussy that never takes a single risk
Yeah retard I actually am because I don't rely on coinflips to win games. What you actually want is gambling and not a strategy video game.

>>2093738
>add each other throught gog thing or steam
i'm never online on those. we could just use this thread to organise the game during the weekend

>>2094617
Sure im kinda sure that i will be free idk if senpai has any plans for me tho.

>>2094664

>>2094848
the chan auto replace senpai-ily with senpai

>>2094852
bruh
made me check >>2094858

>>2094861
Well for me it does lets the i LOVE MY FAMILY family senpai-ily

>>2094861
Also welcome newfag there is also another word that gets replaced but i forgot which

>>2094907
>also another word
newfag

>>2095123
So my son will you be ready for some PIKE COCK ? On friday ?

>>2091820

>>2095841
Nta but can i have HD mod and VCMI installed at the same time or do they conflict ?

>>2095938
bro. VCMI is the open-source reverse-engineered port of homm3. It won't work with HD, HotA or WoG unless there are dedicated versions of these mods for VCMI. And I'm pretty sure VCMI already has built-in graphics scaling and other improvements

>>2095998
I know but will it contaminate the HD mod if i install it like does it install itself separatly like how some modpacks for Bethesda games do ?

>>2096027
yeah dude you will get digital HIV if you even try.

>>2095938
It looks for the installed game and copies all the necessary files to the Documents, that's where it stores the downloaded mods as well. VCMI binaries can and should be kept in a separate of the game folder.

>>2096363
Yea it seems that is correct tnx !
>>2096294
See ? Being a troglodyte retard helps no one :)

>>2096391
OK, polack.

>>2096609
Im 3rd generation holocaust survivor byw

>>2096611
w dupie byłeś, gówno widziałeś.

>>2038967
Normal. It's just that people have been playing for so long that it might feel way too easy. After all, it has a x1 score multiplier.

>>2096778
Zydar is the coolest Inferno. Shame that there are no good Inferno heroes.

>>2028966 (OP)
Which version is the best for Steam Deck?

ATTENTION ALL FAGGOTS TODAY IS THE DAY WE PLAY SOME HOMO 3 MP
All interested >> me

>>2097258
I'm ready

>>2097294
HD mod or HIV ?

>>2097305
hd mod or hota

>>2097306
HD mod Hota
Name:Mongolian Forum
pass:4chan

I went back to playing the HoMM2 Roland campaign.
It was surprisingly easy when you rush the enemy straight away each map.
But it felt really unsatisfying in a way, like I was cheating.

>>2097306
>>2097308
Well that was intense and fun i got carried pretty much but still fun
NOTHING HAPPENED NEAR THE END BYW

>>2097365
did you guys do 1v1 or did more people show up? i planned to join but then some irl shit came up

>>2098008
we played 2v2 vs ai on 200% difficulty

>>2098008
We played as >>2098014 mentioned but i can still host one today or tomorrow

>>2032955
full stack ASAP. In the early game most of your money goes to heroes. They are crucial in exploring the map so you can plan your main hero's trajectory. Once that's done you'll be using them for the reinforcement chain of supply. That's why you should always take the money in the chests in the early game instead of the XP.

>>2039258
dude, just look at the quality of art in the pic you posted.

What changes would Conflux have needed to feel more like a real faction?

>>2099241
>we would have non rushed Conflux if people didn't sperg out about lore accurate Factory

>>2099241
>>2099333
I don't think Conflux could be saved, rebalancing four equally powerful midgame threats to fit tiered town roster was just a bad premise.

What's wrong with Conflux? (except the artstyle being different from the other factions)

>>2101274
>Pixies and Phoenixes are busted
>Air elementals are level 4 units disguised as level 2
>Magic University
>OP heroes

The creature lineup all being elementals except for two units is the cherry on top

>>2028966 (OP)
watch this guy AbsoluteZero, he's one of the best players of the game I've seen and you'll learn a lot from osmosis watching his playthroughs:
https://www.youtube.com/@Chris67132/videos

>>2063755
They have Dorfs too

I see all these streamers basically playing with autocombat, I never did that back when I played it 26 years ago.

So the idea is that you autocombat everthing and only fight if you dislike the losses it outputs? Anything else important I missed?

>>2102050
you mean instant results, not auto combat for sure
i always take the instant result if the losses seem reasonable enough/im not hurting/not up against a 0 loss possible fight

>>2102050
Well the nature of the game is, the longer the map goes on the more likely it is that most fights aren't worth your timee when even AI can win them with 0 losses on turn 1. Of course if you really don't like the feature you could just disable it in the HD mod but that's for hardcore purists only.
>>2101474
I find it really hard to hate on chris, I've first watched his videos probably like a decade ago but recently I've stopped watching his H3 content. He is without a doubt a pretty good player but he gets stuck on some annoying habits like preferring magic heroes or when things get tough he just instantly defaults to skeleton strats. If you're someone who struggles against 80% AI and is a complete beginner you can totally learn a lot from him but if you're a 200% player don't take what he says as a gospel there's certainly more to the game than the veterans will let on.

>>2102077
>>2102116
yeah instat results, thanks. Watching the videos I realized that while I was able to beat the game on impossible I never utilized insta results or had that many heroes. Do people take out a lot of heroes early because they play multiplayer or just to maximize both single and multi gains? I never played multiplayer, other than hot seat

>>2102276
it's never wrong to get 2 heroes at the start no matter the map you play and depending on how large the map is and how many resources are lying on the ground it's sometimes fine to get all 8 of them on week 1

>>2102276
There may be rare exceptions on an extremely poor or small maps where more heroes may not be desirable but for 99% of H3 experience 8 heroes should be the baseline. And if you're looking to minmax you should have more than 8, just stash them in castle garrisons roll for heroes that give resources or make them learn estate. At start of new week garrisoned heroes can visit weekly renewable resources, windmills, watermills, dwellings, etc. anything that gives money or gets you ahead one way or the other.
If the map allows for spellbinder's hat or tome of air/earth you can start doing ridiculous shit by utilizing DD/TP just rotating as many heroes as possible during a single turn but that's a really advanced strat.