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Juas
Adventuring Hero
Dragón Rojo
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posted January 04, 2025 04:03 PM |
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This one is THE BEST update you have done. It is so good, I was having a party while reading the changelog. My God..
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Eamar
Tavern Dweller
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posted January 04, 2025 04:59 PM |
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Phoenix4ever said:
phoenix4ever said:
So I just checked all the new creature specialists and I must say they have become MUCH stronger:
The best one is Anabel, at level 25 she gets 20/18 = 38 bonus points! (That's what happens when you make a unit with 2 upgrades and insane stats.)
Second place goes to Wystan 15/20 and Derek 20/15 = 35 bonus points.
Third place goes to Ufretin and Piquedram both 17/17 = 34 bonus points.
The 3 worst are:
Henrietta 13/5 = 18 bonus points.
Ignatius 10/10 and Jabarkas 13/7 = 20 bonus points.
Ryland 9/12, Gretchin 13/8 and Casmetra 12/9 = 21 bonus points.
Galthran gets 15/15 = 30 bonus points by the way, with a legion of skels he will also become quite insane...
Anabel yes, Henrietta not really...
I randomed into Conflux with Kalt and Lacus in the start and two water dwellings. I think their boost is quite nice even though static.
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weilan
Known Hero
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posted January 04, 2025 05:07 PM |
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phoenix4ever said:
Sorry to say, but the new Learning breaks some maps. (including mine)
Some maps are set up with Quest Guards or Quest Gates for heroes to reach a specific level, before they can be passed. The new Learning gives you +3 levels and +75% more XP, meaning a lot more levels.
This means that Learning becomes mandatory, in cases like that.
I understand it is hard to balance Learning, as it was considered (almost) useless before, but now it has the potential to break some maps. 
The difference between level 25 and level 30 heroes can also be pretty great, in relation to hero specialties, for example Offense, Armorer or Logistics.
For now I am actually considering banning Learning...
Maybe a middleground between the old and new Learning could be done?
I think this is impossible to balance so old maps don't break. Especially if they are made for the original HoMM3 game without HoTA being taken into account, especially if they are old maps from before 2010 when HoTA didn't even exist.
I also think it's kind of fun that some maps are "broken" as you call them, but I wouldn't go as far as to call them that, more that they now work differently in HoTA. If they are indeed Classic maps, then you can just play them through the Classic game as they are intended.
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Phoenix4ever
Legendary Hero
Heroes is love, Heroes is life
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posted January 04, 2025 05:24 PM |
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Eamar said:
I randomed into Conflux with Kalt and Lacus in the start and two water dwellings. I think their boost is quite nice even though static.
Yeah, personally I hate the static specials of Planeswalkers. I changed them to dynamic specials instead, then they also get speed bonus.
But +12 attack for Lacus and Kalt right from level 1 sounds good, but I prefer dynamic specials.
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LordCameron
Known Hero
Veteran of the Succession Wars
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posted January 04, 2025 05:58 PM |
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ArchDruid said:
I tried to rewrite (See keymaster) word to (Find Keymaster) (it fits better IMO) but if I add one plus byte to the file, it goes corrupt and the game crashes.
I found, that I can rewrite any text to anything until the .dat file keeps its size: 340 872 bytes.
If I add or take one single byte the file goes corrupt. Why is that? What defines the .dat file size? I guess there is something in HotA.dll file, what defines the dat file. I'm trying to learn some basics. 
Thank you for your responses.
With hex editing you typically can't edit the file size, though I have found with the Hota.dat file you actually can.
You are probably forgetting to change the number at the start of the string which tells it how long the string is.
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What are Homm Songs based on?
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Eamar
Tavern Dweller
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posted January 04, 2025 06:15 PM |
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Phoenix4ever said:
Eamar said:
I randomed into Conflux with Kalt and Lacus in the start and two water dwellings. I think their boost is quite nice even though static.
Yeah, personally I hate the static specials of Planeswalkers. I changed them to dynamic specials instead, then they also get speed bonus.
But +12 attack for Lacus and Kalt right from level 1 sounds good, but I prefer dynamic specials.
Yes me too. But the static +12 can be a huge boost for the start.
I wonder if in current meta Yog and Broghild will be seen more often now.
Bye the way: When you change your game by modding do you redo it every hota-update again?
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Phoenix4ever
Legendary Hero
Heroes is love, Heroes is life
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posted January 04, 2025 09:01 PM |
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Eamar said:
Bye the way: When you change your game by modding do you redo it every hota-update again?
Sadly yes, it's quite a lot of work, but worth it imo.
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weilan
Known Hero
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posted January 05, 2025 10:31 AM |
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Is there a way to ban some things in a template?
I want to use some of the changes from HoTA, but I've decided that I don't want to have the terrain types Badlands and Highlands, as well as Cove and Factory, I have nothing against them, I played them a decent amount of time, but I decided I wanted a more basic, toned down version of the game, so I tried to look into the Template Editor tool, but did not find any ways to ban terrain types or towns.
If I'm missing something, can someone point me to the right way to do this?
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Grell
Tavern Dweller
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posted January 05, 2025 04:04 PM |
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weilan said:
Is there a way to ban some things in a template?
For what I know, you can edit the zones in a template.
There are options for allowed towns and terrains. Normaly the terrain match with a town or it's sand in a neutral zone.
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weilan
Known Hero
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posted January 05, 2025 04:37 PM |
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Grell said:
weilan said:
Is there a way to ban some things in a template?
For what I know, you can edit the zones in a template.
There are options for allowed towns and terrains. Normaly the terrain match with a town or it's sand in a neutral zone.
But I think I've played lots of randomly generated maps that have the Badlands terrain without a town on it. This was even from when the terrain was released before Factory. For some reason I can't get into that look of the terrain, it looks unnatural to me. I also never played HoMM2 before the Succession Wars mod recently and this is the one terrain type I just can't get used to.
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Ghost
Undefeatable Hero
Therefore I am
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posted January 05, 2025 05:51 PM |
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What a hell! Russky has the matter/thing to us.. I don't interested in Russky war, but only HotA.. Ok I tell you that I downloaded HotA 1.7.2 from Acid, and virus program shut one file.. So ok, and then I want to see mapeditor, because some spoke/wrote a badlands, but in there isn't in a list i.e. virus program removed it.. Earlier the same thing was mapedition.. I must go to another site, and I download HotA 1.7.2 again.. When earlier I've experienced about it.. Ok I ask you HotA or terror?!
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Fight MWMs - stand teach
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weilan
Known Hero
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posted January 05, 2025 07:13 PM |
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What I meant to say was Wastelands, I guess I played too much WoW recently and not too much HoMM3.
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Dairy
Known Hero
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posted January 05, 2025 09:32 PM |
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Hota
Great update with a lot of content for testing new tactics ! Thank you HotA team.
I was always curious, have you considered, since you already improved water habitat by adding a lot of objects, to improve the appearance of it ?
And secondly you added Pendant of Reflection which is build out of Boots of Polarity, etc. but Charm of Eclipse, Seal of Sunset and Plate of Dying Light which are for the new added sec. ability doesn't have this treatment. Do you plan on adding combine artifact for those as well ?
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tzening
Adventuring Hero
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posted January 06, 2025 07:42 AM |
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Just finished Forged in Fire's map 7 New Order. OMG, version 1.7.1's rework stressed the hell out of me for the past few days because of all the town capturing.
After getting the golden bow, I had Wynona and Henrietta alternate smashing the invading heroes one by one until both were lvl 36 when they reached the airship yard and the bomber hero. Used Force Field and Anti-Magic combo. Until in the middle of month 6, they finally stopped coming, as if I actually KOed them all. Gave the TP spell to those two. I actually amassed 30 angels for the quest but I got 2 of them killed thinking that I only got enough for 2 heroes. Oops.
The other 3 new heroes boosted as any many stats and spells as I can while I had the dynamic duo amass troops and clear quests.
Mind lowering the number and strength of the heroes in next update along with the required number of angels? I barely made it.
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Floribert
Tavern Dweller
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posted January 06, 2025 10:12 AM |
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So I tested and played much the last days. In total, I really like the changes of the update 1.7.2. a lot and I want to thank the Hota-team for it!
Many heroes now can be much better, I think especially some magic heroes (overkill with Solmyr is now a real threat). And if you see a biom with a lot of dwells of some kind, you can now try to main that creature specialist. I could imagine new strategies.
I love changes in Mysticism and Learning, First Aid and Pathfinding. All these are good skills now. Eagle Eye and ballistics are still too weak imo. Problem with First Aid is the availability of the tent though.
A thing I noticed: It's now much easier to clear nearly all kind of non shooting weak wandering creatures on day 111. It feels a little bit to easy I think.
Some minor changes I would love: Torosar should start with Artillery. Tower should have a Pathfinding-Hero.
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Tevye
Adventuring Hero
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posted January 06, 2025 06:07 PM |
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Edited by Tevye at 18:30, 06 Jan 2025.
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Following the New Year's patch release and the big announcement of the new town in development for HotA, Tavern of Might & Magic interviewed HotA Crew on our latest achievements and further plans. Key points:
- The Bulwark was one of the first faction concepts in HotA, along with the Cove. For us, this is a return to our roots.
- The town is a community of inhabitants of the Vori island, belonging to a number of intelligent races: elves, jotunns, kobolds, and yeti.
- The town's image is based on a concept created by Docent Picolan and Alex-ander. The town's line-up of units was approved back in Docent's time.
- The style of the town, like of all others in HoMM III, is eclectic. It is based on a mixture of aesthetics of various northern peoples: Scandinavia and the Scottish Highland, as well as the indigenous peoples of Siberia and the Far North.
- The main focus of the faction is defense.
- The presented visuals of the Bulwark's inhabitants are preliminary; there is still a lot of work ahead on tuning animations, post-processing sprites, correcting lighting and camera angles, etc., which might yet dramatically affect the perception of creatures in-game.
- The town will be released with a campaign that will reveal its history.
- Our short-term plans include the introduction of an advanced event system for the scenario editor, which will allow one to create more complex and flexible events and tasks.
- Further plans involve rebalancing spells.
Enjoy!
The calm before the storm is over. The Tavern heads to Terra Incognita to find out what the HotA Crew has got in store for us. Without further ado, let’s dive in!
Important: all content related to the Bulwark and event system is under development, and may still change.
So, as we know now, the next town in HotA will be the Bulwark. Why?
The Bulwark, once known as Kronwerk, was literally one of the first faction concepts in HotA, along with the Cove. Of course, the town has evolved significantly since then, but for us, this is a return to our roots.
The inhabitants of the Vori island were covered very scarcely in the original games by NWC, and discussions about what a Vori-themed faction might look like in HoMM III haven't stopped since 1999. We keep receiving questions about the fate of the Kronwerk concept as originally envisioned by us on social media and on forums to this day. All of that makes this project all the more interesting, while lending us significant creative freedom.
The niche of a town associated with the archetypal North is not fully occupied in HoMM III. The Stronghold only fits the image to a small extent, while the Tower, despite snow being its native terrain, does not reflect it at all.
Vori is a mysterious frozen island located northwest of the Antagarich continent. There were a few bits of disparate information about it provided in the Might & Magic and HoMM series.
Map of Antagarich and Vori by MarkonPhoenix
How did the Bulwark town concept come about? How did it evolve from the initial idea to what we are going to see now?
The town concept was initially announced on the forum created by the former HotA Crew member hippocamus; this happened even before the inception of HotA, all the way back in 2007. At that time, it was a Viking town concept by the user d0s. Later, on the DF2 forum in 2007-2008, Alex-ander (the creator of the majority of visuals making up the Cove’s image) reworked this idea into the town of dwarves. In many ways, this new rendition was inspired by the style of dwarf factions from Heroes V and Disciples II, as well as the frostling faction from the Age of Wonders series. In this shape, it joined the group of towns worked on by HotA Crew at the very beginning of the project. Its main ideologist and graphic designer was (and still is) Alex-ander, an active contributor to HotA to this day.
Initial town screen background concept, 2008
In 2015, DrSlash joined HotA Crew; he had an independent concept for a Vori elf-themed faction. Similar ideas had been mulled over in the team before that, as a Northern-style town was ideally suited to their implementation, so the two concepts ended up being combined, finally establishing the Bulwark as a town of Vori islanders. This happened back when Docent Picolan was still at the team’s helm.
One of the earliest Kronwerk creature line-ups, by Alex-ander
The creature line-up was still undergoing changes, but at that moment, its backbone was formed. Interestingly, there is only one unit left over from the original Kronwerk line-up in its original form.
At one time, there was an idea to add Valkyries to Kronwerk, but the Jotunns were all but begging to join the faction; one of the few facts known about the Vori island is that ice giants live there. The valkyries appeared to be the most redundant unit in the line-up, given the existence of Pegasi in the Rampart and even angels in the Castle, so the decision was obvious. However, the valkyrie image was not entirely axed: we reused some of its elements when creating the image of the female Bulwark might hero.
Valkyrie concept, by Agar
All in all, we believe that the changes served the outcome well, in terms of being both organic for the setting, and simply aesthetically pleasing. The evolution of initial concepts is a natural part of our creative process, and literally all of our content goes through this grind so that only the best options make it into the final result.
Fun fact: initially, the rolling animation of armadillos from the Factory was supposed to be used by Tier 1 creatures of the Bulwark. However, later on, these creatures were equipped with helmets, which would make rolling look rather awkward. Therefore, the Bulwark “donated” this animation idea to the Factory.
Are there any other developments by Alex-ander present in the town? Did Docent Picolan participate in its development?
Yes; the current appearance of the town is based on what Docent and Alex-ander designed before the former’s passing. Docent was very active in discussing it, especially in terms of graphics. The town’s creature line-up was approved back when Docent was still alive. Of course, since then, we've made some changes to the graphics and gave more thought to the gameplay roles of certain units. And yet, quite a lot of things in the Bulwark have been carefully preserved from that time and improved upon, including with the active participation of Alex-ander himself.
Jotunn and Jotunn Warlord concepts, by Docent Picolan
HoMM III factions are all about eclectic styles. How does this manifest itself in the Bulwark and its inhabitants?
The style of the town is based on a mixture of aesthetics of a number of northern peoples. It features bits of visual influences from Scandinavia and Scottish Highland, as well as from the indigenous peoples of Siberia and the Far North. Moreover, the yeti harks back to the folklore of the Himalayan region. Classic fantasy motifs also play a significant role; players will see the full picture after the release, but for now, we wouldn’t want to be too rich on spoilers.
How long has the Bulwark been in active development?
There are several active periods in the development of the Bulwark/Kronwerk: first, at the very start of the project in 2007; then, some episodic activity after the decision to reimagine the faction in the 2010s. And now, the proper active phase has come, starting from late 2023.
How does the new faction fit into the gameplay? What niche will it occupy?
The main focus of the new faction is defense. Its creatures generally have a high defense skill and a significant HP value, but average speed, which sets them apart from, say, those of the Fortress. The Bulwark will not have any flyers, but there will be two intriguing shooters and two spellcasters, which should compensate for its shortcomings. The town's native terrain will be snow.
The Bulwark on the adventure map
Several Bulwark units were revealed in the announcement. Please do tell us about them.
- Tier 1 units seen on the adventure map are kobolds. They play the role of defensive-minded infantry, something like the spearmen of the Castle or the dwarves of the Rampart. These creatures are associated with Northern European mythology, and their images are often found in fantasy, so they are familiar to fans of the genre. In addition, they have already been featured in the early games of the Might and Magic RPG series.
Kobold from Might and Magic I (PC)
Kobold of VARN from Might and Magic I (NES)
Kobold of CRON from Might and Magic II (PC)
- Vori's snow elves are pretty tough for their Tier 3. They use javelins in ranged and melee combat, and equally effectively at that.
Gelu, the Forest Guard captain from HoMM III, was half Vori elf by blood
- Next up, yeti, the Tier 4 shock infantry. These creatures were present in several iterations of the line-up; we like this choice, because, like kobolds, they make for a popular mythological and fantasy image, no less familiar to fans of Might and Magic. One of inspiration sources for their image was the Gigantopithecus, an extinct prehistoric ape that, according to some estimates, could grow up to 4 meters tall.
Yeti of VARN from Might and Magic I
Yeti of Axeoth from Might and Magic IX
Yeti of Ardon from Crusaders of Might and Magic (PS1)
Yeti evolution: concept by Agar, models by Alex-ander
- Mammoths are Tier 6; they will be the tankiest unit on this tier. Their image embodies both the broad northern aesthetic and the defense-focused nature of the faction.
- And, of course, the Tier 7 unit: jotunn. These are meaty infantry with good damage-dealing ability, and at the same time, one of the town’s spellcasters.
Jotunn Warlord, by Alex-ander and DrSlash
Fun fact: Frost giants also appeared in Might and Magic IX and Crusaders of Might and Magic.
Yanmir, a Frost Giant from Might and Magic IX
Frost Giant from Crusaders of Might and Magic (PC)
In addition to the units shown in the announcement, the Bulwark will be home to two other units.
-The argali are Tier 2 units of the town. They are quite fast, so at the game’s start, most likely, they will be the army’s backbone, while their good damage should allow one to make a shock stack out of them. The Factory’s armadillos are not only fighters, but also a source of food; in the Bulwark, argali play a similar role for the inhabitants of Vori’s austere lands.
- Shamans were our choice as Tier 5 units. These are shooters and spellcasters, providing magic and ranged support to the troops. They are the keepers of lore and tradition, as well as the spiritual leaders of the Snow Elves.
Bulwark units in battle
The choice of units for the announcement was determined by the fact that they best reflect the faction’s spirit. In our concept, snow elves (javelin throwers and shamans), kobolds, yeti and jotunns are the main races inhabiting Vori, and they will also become the faction’s heroes. Argali and mammoths, on their part, are cogs of the Bulwark’s ecosystem and everyday life.
The presented visuals of the Bulwark’s inhabitants are preliminary. There is still much work ahead on tuning animations, post-processing sprites, correcting lighting and camera angles, etc. We are also interested in hearing the community's opinion, and we will be happy to receive feedback.
Which heroes will lead the armies of the Bulwark?
The might heroes are called Chieftains, and the magic ones are Elders. Their parameters and abilities will emphasize the faction’s strengths, as well as offset some of its weaknesses. For now, we can say that the Chieftains will be big on defensive tactics, while the Elders will focus on acquiring new knowledge. The Bulwark’s heroes are inclined to use the forces of water and air, since the lands of Vori are known to be inhabited by skilled cryomancers.
Evolution of the Chieftain, by DrSlash
Please tell us about the Bulwark’s buildings.
In addition to buildings that increase the growth of certain creatures, a structure is planned that improves the exchange rate in the market. There will be a couple more, but we would like to leave their purpose as a surprise for players.
Bulwark castle model, by Alex-ander and Don_ko
Are you planning a musical theme for the Bulwark?
Naturally. It is being composed by our great friend Maigret, who contributed greatly to creating the final version of the Factory theme. By the way, some of the music heard in the trailer hints at the future town theme of the Bulwark.
What is the new faction's philosophy and alignment?
Vori elves are isolationists. They rarely venture out of their native island (although other islanders may be more aggressive; for example, ice giants are known for raiding Jadame). However, should one trespass into their territory, they would defend it with all their might, sometimes even if the aliens have no intent to fight. They are adept at wearing the enemy down with defensive tricks and magic that strengthens their own and weakens the enemy.
How will the new faction fit into the overall plot? What is its backstory?
The history of the faction has a lot to do with the glaciation of the Vori island. Those who stayed there were forced to adapt to the harsh conditions. They allied themselves with the mountain dwellers and tamed the rare local animals. All of that helped the Vori elves survive, but the terrible climate wasn't their only problem.
Fun fact: AvLeean elves of HoMM III are descendants of the Snow Elves.
More detailed information about events related to the faction will be provided in its campaign.
Will the campaign's events be related to the Sword of Frost?
Yes. We won't reveal our hand entirely yet, but in a sense, the Sword of Frost will be one of the campaign’s protagonists.
The Sword of Frost
Will the Bulwark’s campaign feature characters from other HoMM III campaigns?
Yes; after all, the backstory of the Sword of Frost is intertwined with the stories of Gelu and Kilgor, characters known from the campaigns of the Shadow of Death and Armageddon’s Blade expansions, as well as from Heroes Chronicles. Kilgor, by the way, also appears in Dargem’s campaign, released in version 1.7.2.
Is the campaign to be released simultaneously with the town?
Yes. We considered releasing the town first and implementing its campaign later, but in that way, the new faction would hardly get a proper presentation. Therefore, they will be released in the same patch.
Speaking of new campaigns, do tell us what Dargem’s campaign, All In, is about, for those who haven't played it yet. Is this an independent story, or will it serve as a prologue to that of the Bulwark, or other events of the global HotA plot?
Ironically, Dargem's campaign was conceived more than 10 years ago, and some of our most loyal followers may even remember mentions of it by the Crew members. It ended up being postponed for a long time, and the Cove’s backstory creator had left the team for a while, before returning last year, which marked the revival of this story.
Creating Dargem, by Balkron
Back in the day, this campaign was conceived as a prequel to other Cove-themed campaigns. However, after Dargem getting featured in the Factory's campaign, his own story became not just a prequel, but a link. It has nothing to do with the Bulwark’s campaign; the new town will have its own story, not directly related to the Cove.
Dargem Llywellyn is an adventurer, a former member of the privileged warlock caste of Nighon. He is a fairly charismatic, but monumentally unscrupulous man.
Creating Dargem, by Balkron
As a young man, Dargem fled his homeland and took his talents to Regna, where they determined his quick rise. Even as a pirate leader, he retained some of his aristocratic inclinations and aspirations. After being vanquished by the halflings and their allies (events from the Factory’s campaign—ed.), he is back offering his services as a hired mage. In this capacity, Dargem is approached by a certain Stella, who offers him an unusual job. After the events that take place in the All In campaign, Bidley will stumble upon him in the labyrinths where the Horn of the Abyss lies (events from the Cove's campaigns released earlier by HotA Crew—ed.).
Creating the Doom Castle, by Balkron
Dargem was voiced by Mikhail Markov, a stage professional and a massive fan of HoMM games. We were extremely pleased to work with him; Mikhail took the most thorough approach to building Dargem’s image, studying his story, character and development in the course of the campaign. Moreover, Mikhail did a great job in recording soundbites to accompany the video clips.
Voice work with Mikhail Markov
Recording soundbites with Mikhail Markov
The only thing older than talks about new towns is the secondary skills and their problems. Some of them, like theEagle Eye, sparked a wealth of memes playing up their uselessness. In the latest patch, they were reworked. How did you come to this decision and what concept did you follow when implementing the changes?
Our approach was to strengthen or supplement the problem-ridden skills, but without deviating too far from their original concept. However, we do not believe that all skills should be equally useful:
- There are skills well-suited for the main hero (Offense) and others that work well for secondary heroes (Scholar).
- And also, there are skills that are always useful (Armorer) and the more situational ones (for example, skills that work well in final battles, like Interference). The main thing is that every skill should have some use in the current gameplay.
Now let's go through our expectations for changes in the gameplay:
- We want to make Eagle Eye useful for support heroes: assessing enemy magic and hit’n’run potential; using Scholar to teach the main hero spells learned from the enemy should be a fairly potent weapon in PvP. Since the skill now works similarly to Tactics (its level in battle is lowered by the level of the enemy's skill), it will also be usable for the main hero as protection against the opponent's Eagle Eye. In addition, one can use the skill to level out the advantage of an opponent who managed to get map control spells earlier. These spells can also be learned when attacking an enemy hero.
Learning the opponent's spells with Eagle Eye prior to the combat
Viewing the opponent's spell book with Eagle Eye
- Learning should be good for leveling up at an early stage of the game in cases where there is reason to think that the late game is not going to happen (L-size templates, or high-tempo starts on some other templates). Even when picked late, Learning will always give the hero 3 additional level-ups, which should be a positive for their specializations (a number of which we also updated to make them more useful), along with 3 primary skill points.
- First Aid should serve as a kind of Armorer substitute for magic heroes. Unlike Armorer, it also boosts endurance against damage-dealing magic, but the HP bonus is removed if the First Aid Tent is destroyed. This boost is hardly decorative; it should work particularly well in creature/resource banks, since in such situations, the Tent is not physically present on the battlefield, and therefore cannot be destroyed. Plus, with the increased survival rate of war machines when upgrading the relevant skill, destroying the Tent becomes harder in a regular battle. Artillery also gets the benefit from increasing the mar machine survival rate. At the same time, damage-dealing war machines have been made cheaper and harder-hitting, which should keep them relevant much longer than before.
- Luck should benefit from calculating damage using a fairer formula (doubling all damage with modifiers, rather than adding 100% of the creature's base damage with only penalties to it factored in, as was the case in the original game–ed.). This brings this skill closer to Leadership in terms of usefulness.
- Previously, Sorcery simply gave too little to be taken seriously. A quantitative update should bring this skill back into play.
- With Ballistics, we have increased the efficiency of shooting at walls and the probability of hitting the desired targets. In the future, we want to create more in-game situations involving sieges. As of now, there are very few of them, especially in online play.
- Pathfinding used to be almost completely irrelevant if the player had Wayfarer’s Boots, Angel Wings, or the Fly spell. In light of this, the skill now reduces the cost of a step to below 100 when traveling off-road.
- Mysticism now restores spell points as a percentage of the maximum to increase its effectiveness in the late game.
Bulwark on the adventure map
We've also boosted hero specializations, as most of those involving creatures and spells have never had any notable effect before. For creature-based specialties, only the speed bonus was a tangible factor. Now, boosts to attack and defense scores, and for spells, the effect on damage and other parameters, are significantly increased. This should diversify the gameplay and make the choice of the main hero less obvious. At the same time, all changes increase the original intended effect in order to introduce it into the game, rather than replace it with a completely new one.
We've even strengthened the specializations of a number of campaign-exclusive heroes. They are certainly not supposed to appear in standard gameplay, but they should look impressive enough when put next to such heroes as Gelu and Dragon, and considerably more powerful compared to the absolute majority of standard specializations.
What other changes are planned in the upcoming patches?
We have big plans, both for the near future and for later.
In the near future, we will focus on an advanced event system for the scenario editor. The scenario editor functionality in HoMM IV was significantly broader than in HoMM III. This was achieved through map events and seer quests, which were much more diverse there. They allowed one to create trees of “if..., then..., else..." conditions.
We intend to gradually introduce a similar system in the scenario editor for HotA. We are sure this should be in demand among map makers, and players will surely appreciate the new story-oriented scenarios; this should significantly increase their variety.
The system will include both new types of conditions—like the player's faction or the presence of a secondary skill—and new types of events altogether—including initiating battles with monsters, obtaining war machines, and completing quests. All of this can be combined with numeric values and logical expressions. In the initial version of the system to be released, we plan to add four types of advanced events—global, town, quest, and hero events—available on the adventure map and when opening Pandora's Boxes.
Advanced Event System in the Scenario Editor
Advanced Event System in the Scenario Editor
Also worth mentioning is the planned rebalancing of magic. There are currently many spells never used in the game, and the four magic schools are very different in usefulness; this is something that definitely needs addressing.
Our approach will be based on the same principles as when reworking skills: fix what is not working at all first. At the same time, the most important and difficult issue will be the revision of adventure map spells. These changes may include adding new spells, as well as editing existing ones.
Furthermore, it is possible that we adjust select balance factors so that no elements of base gameplay are either must-have or completely unusable. In particular, we do not rule out further tuning of the skills and/or specializations based on amassed real game experience, although we do not plan any more fundamental revisions of them on the same scale as the one that just took place.
In addition to gameplay changes, we also intend to add new content:
- campaigns that develop storylines previously introduced by both us and NWC;
- scenarios—both ones suitable for simply having good fun and ones rather challenging for the player;
- neutral creatures (for example, a Mermaid) and artifacts;
- map objects—in particular, to slightly strengthen the Inferno in standard play, as it is still the weakest faction in the game.
We have big plans for the development of our project, and we definitely are not planning on stopping anytime soon!
Bulwark on the adventure map
Bulwark units in combat
What would you like to wish the Might and Magic community in the new year?
We wish you all prosperity and happiness. And free time that you can spend playing our favorite game together, of course!
Bonus: All In-themed wallpapers
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Hourglass
Supreme Hero
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posted January 06, 2025 07:15 PM |
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Thanks Tevye, that's quite impressive read.
It seems that after the team managed to recruit some new blood, the things are suddenly moving very fast. I got that since we actually saw a Bulward related battle scene in the trailer, the things had already brewed nicely in the background.
However, this isn't something that I expected, not in this magnitude. At first glance, it appers that the whole line up is already there, there are bunch of pictures of heroes made and so on. Even the castle image doesn't look like anything that would be simple placeholder image. We even know very spesific pieces from the town, such as improved market. In short, it seems the team has done quite a bit more than just "simple" balance changes last year. Wow!
That being said, I'm quite confident this isn't as simple, and there's yet again some kind of hook with the creature line up. It was second upgrade of tier 3 in Cove, it was second tier 7 in Factory. I can only wonder what the surprise will be this time.
Honestly, I have to say it's quite heartwarming that even the upcoming town will feature things that have been designed by Docent Picolan. Overall, I think the town looks something I would really want to play. The no-flying creatures-policy is something not yet seen in the game, it will be quite intresting to see how you guys are going to solve the sieging issue with this town.
What comes to the recent chages, I'm really happy to see you guys feel confident spreading your wings, and this kind of more major update was possible. I agree that there's little reason keeping broken things the same as they have always been just for the sake of novelty.
One thing I would like to ask relating to neutral creatures; I remember it was stated back in the day that we wouldn't really see new neutral creatures, if they wouldn't necessary fill a certain niche. However, now it appears the team is planning on releasing more of them. What can we expect from the new neutrals, has there been a change in the former policy, and is the team perhaps planning on making neutral creature's having more presence and meaning in games?
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Phoenix4ever
Legendary Hero
Heroes is love, Heroes is life
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posted January 06, 2025 07:37 PM |
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Amazing.
I also love the Casmetra/Dargem wallpaper, will put that on my PC immediately.
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gatecrasher
Famous Hero
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posted January 06, 2025 08:00 PM |
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Very interesting read indeed. Thanks for the behind-the-scenes insights and for your unflagging spirit to improve the game. The event editor will be a real zinger.
Tevye said:
The presented visuals of the Bulwark’s inhabitants are preliminary. There is still much work ahead on tuning animations, post-processing sprites, correcting lighting and camera angles, etc. We are also interested in hearing the community's opinion, and we will be happy to receive feedback.
Due to their stoutness Jötunns look a bit like upscaled dwarves instead of giants. There's something a little off with proportions. Impression is stronger with the upgraded ones.
Mammoths look small in comparison to other units.
The upgraded Yetis with the tusk mask (or are the tusks an actual part of the body?) look somewhat heavily detailed with that structured armor. The hammer head stands out a lot, giving the expression of a wand, making me think the units are spellcasters.
The shamans aren't really recognisable as elves. Posture-wise and physique-wise as well as due to the mask.
Tevye said:
- map objects—in particular, to slightly strengthen the Inferno in standard play, as it is still the weakest faction in the game.
Ideas to slightly buff Inferno
- 125% terrain penalty for Lava. Makes sense with those cracks and puddles of molten lava.
- Efreets can cast random debuff spells on an enemy stack, making use of the unused animations. Spellcasting opposite to Genies.
- Pit Lords can cast Resurrection on (Horned) Demons.
Idea for a bigger buff
- Pit Lords can turn dead enemy stacks to Demons, maybe at lower rate. Very time consuming though, Necromancy+hassle effectively.
Hourglass said:
It was second upgrade of tier 3 in Cove, it was second tier 7 in Factory. I can only wonder what the surprise will be this time.
Maybe one without upgrade this time?
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planetavril
Famous Hero
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posted January 06, 2025 09:18 PM |
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Tevye said:
We have big plans for the development of our project, and we definitely are not planning on stopping anytime soon!
Can I ask if there will be other cities in the next plans, such as the asylum or new stronghold?reworked like the kronwerk
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