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darkdill
Hired Hero
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posted January 01, 2026 09:03 AM |
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Ugh, Kaspersky keeps flagging the HotA_Update.dll file as malware, even though that's obviously a false-positive.
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Syth1984
Known Hero
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posted January 01, 2026 11:06 AM |
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The new castle is very nice. Especially the creature abilities.
Yeti:Negative effects get shrugged off in one turn.(Awesome)
3rd Level: Can shoot while there is a unit standing nearyby
Jotun giving -2 speed to enemy flying units(Awesome!)
Shaman Freezing shot=> Very nice.
Finally there is a distinction between flying and teleportation. Now we just need an artifact version of that effect  .
Also spell and skill and a bit auxilary building balance(Warmachines?) would be awesome.
Thank you for your effort!
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SchwanzMundArs
Tavern Dweller
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posted January 01, 2026 12:04 PM |
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Hello & happy new year - the new faction is nice but definitely not my new beloved one. 
Anyways i was wondering since Bulwark has gotten it's own unique faction ability, have you ever considered doing that for every faction?! Necropolis already has one.
Cheers
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Hourglass
Supreme Hero
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posted January 01, 2026 01:33 PM |
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Phoenix4ever said:
Shield is new.
And how did I miss that one? x) Pretty cool actually, especially when combined with hero that has Armorer.
What's everyone's first impressions? Had some fun testing testing the Mountain Ram specialist, Logistics is always a good skill to start, and the Armorer specialty makes the Ram's surprisingly tanky when combined with everything else, such as the bonuses coming from the Runes.
Speaking of runes, the fact that taking defensive stance makes you obtain +3 points, and the fact that you can obtain speed especially, opens up some variety for gameplay that hasn't been present in the game earlier.
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Drakon-Deus
Undefeatable Hero
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posted January 01, 2026 03:28 PM |
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Looks like I'm back to playing H3 for a while after the HotA team's big update. Happy new year and many thanks for your great work!
____________
Horses don't die on a dog's wish.
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Nysteb
Tavern Dweller
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posted January 01, 2026 03:32 PM |
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Hi, is there a way to play with simultaneous turns enabled (multiplayer over LAN specifically) AND have the option to repeat neutral combat indefinitely?
We still learn the game, try different strategies and like to take risky fights, so it often ends up needing a reload... Repeatable combat is a feature in single player or hotseat, but I can't find a way to enable it in the multiplayer.
Could you point me in the right direction - is this a HDmod/HotA feature and is there a way to tweak/edit the mods to have repeatable combat in multiplayer? Also, is it possible to reenable simultaneous turns without reloading the game?
Thanks
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SchwanzMundArs
Tavern Dweller
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posted January 01, 2026 06:34 PM |
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The Jotunn being able to teleport allies but not themselves is kinda odd, why not let them have teleport like archdevils?!
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ArchDruid
Adventuring Hero
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posted January 01, 2026 08:55 PM |
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MMArchive is not working anymore? 🙁 I tried to open HotA.lod and I get this: (Previous lods are still good (1.7.2))
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ArchDruid
Adventuring Hero
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posted January 01, 2026 08:58 PM |
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MMArchive is not working anymore? I tried to open HotA.lod and I get this: (Previous lods are still good (1.7.2))
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Sigmaverick
Hired Hero
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posted January 02, 2026 02:18 AM |
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Love the town so far , but I wish in a future update the jotunns would have more in attack and defense skill ( yes I know the runes help but still). Also why the ressource silo is not gems instead of wood and ore . If one of the devs could respond would be appreciated . Again great work the town fits really well and love the rune skill.One last thing I know Bulwark is done and were all happy but do you envision in the future adding towns like Cathedral or 12 factions is the perfect number you envisioned either way pretty happy wirh the product .
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planetavril
Famous Hero
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posted January 02, 2026 07:32 AM |
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Sigmaverick said:
Love the town so far , but I wish in a future update the jotunns would have more in attack and defense skill ( yes I know the runes help but still). Also why the ressource silo is not gems instead of wood and ore . If one of the devs could respond would be appreciated . Again great work the town fits really well and love the rune skill.One last thing I know Bulwark is done and were all happy but do you envision in the future adding towns like Cathedral or 12 factions is the perfect number you envisioned either way pretty happy wirh the product .
If they add another city maybe in the 2.0 update, I would like the Asylum concept maybe combined with elements of the Cathedral, two city projects in one
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kesnarii
Hired Hero
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posted January 02, 2026 11:54 AM |
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Great news! A big thank you to the HotA team for delivering another new year's eve gift for us!
I still haven't tried it myself, because I am currently away from my pc.
But I consumed many videos and photos I found online. To be frank, cove and factory (especially) seem very much "compatible" with the existing homm3 graphics. From second-hand view, Bulwark seems a bit off. To the guys that have actually played it, is this a concern? Or maybe it is just me not having played it yet?
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phoenix4ever
Legendary Hero
Heroes is love, Heroes is life
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posted January 02, 2026 01:06 PM |
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ArchDruid said:
MMArchive is not working anymore? I tried to open HotA.lod and I get this: (Previous lods are still good (1.7.2))
Hmm yeah I seem to have some problem with HotA.lod as well, everything seems gibberish.
That is really bad actually, I had edited some stuff in movement.txt and building.txt that I can't add now. 
HotA_Ing.lod is fine though.
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gatecrasher
Famous Hero
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posted January 02, 2026 03:45 PM |
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I didn't play H3/HotA a lot in 2025 (nor did I have much time for gaming of any kind) and I haven't followed the progress closely so this comes as a big surprise. Almost feels rushed (the timeline, not the result) by HotA's standards.
Runes skill seems to be an entirely new game mechanic, eager to give it a spin.
With all those splendid behind-the-scenes renderings and concept art shown some pages back it's a pity so much is lost in the downscaling translation.
A big thank you to everyone involved.
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The_Polyglot
Promising
Legendary Hero
channeling capybara energy
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posted January 02, 2026 04:55 PM |
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Can someone please put the Bulwark town theme up on Youtube? I want to listen to it, but I don't want to install HotA.
____________
Friend-shaped
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Brevan
Hired Hero
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posted January 02, 2026 05:49 PM |
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Edited by Brevan at 05:02, 03 Jan 2026.
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EccoTheDolphin said:
Has anyone gotten the new Rune skill yet? I tried real quick to load it up but none of the heroes I leveled got it. Are there any special rules to how to get it, or is it pure chance? And what does it actually do?
As mentioned, there's a building in the Bulwark castle that acts as a Witch Hut that only teaches Basic Runes. It's still possible to learn the basic skill from random level-up, but I've only seen that with Bulwark heroes so far.
TL;DR: Runes kinda let you slowly build up your own Expert Prayer effect.
That rune-teaching building also has an upgrade that increases the level of Runes for all your units at the start of battle, and it stacks with other Bulwark castles (so you could enter battle with level 1+ Runes). The buff appears to last for the rest of the battle.
The buff from Runes comes in sets of 3 levels: +2 Attack, +2 Defense, +1 Speed in one set. The buff affects all creatures for the hero with Runes skill, but each creature has their own level of Rune-buffs. If a creature had 5 levels of Rune, then they'd have +4 Attack, +4 Defense, +1 Speed. There seems to be a cap of 9 levels of Rune-buff.
Basic Runes gives your creatures one set of buffs, Expert gives a max of 3 sets of buffs (so up to +6 attack +6 defense +3 Speed). The upgraded Yeti has it's own Expert Runes, so stacks of Upgraded Yeti independently get their own set of Runes buffs (so up to +12 attack +12 defense +6 speed if their controller also had Expert Runes).
When your creature attacks or uses an ability, it gets +1 Rune-buff level. I don't know if double-attacking creatures would get +2.
When your creature takes damage, it gets +2 Rune-buffs.
When your creature Defends, it gets +3 Rune-buffs.
For example, you could fly over your Angels with 1 level of Rune-buffs (from your Bulwark castle upgraded Rune building; i.e. the Angel has +2 Attack). The Angel attacks, gets counter-attacked, and currently this gets it +2 Rune level (not sure why it's not +1 or +3, or if a creature that doesn't provoke Counter-attack would get +1), so now it's at Rune level 3 (+2 Attack +2 Defense +1 Speed). It gets attacked 5 times that round, getting an additional +10 Rune level, but the cap is 9 (because you're Expert at Runes, so +6 Attack +6 Defense +3 Speed). Meanwhile your upgraded Yeti just Defend, going from Rune level 1 to Rune level 4 (they benefit from your Runes and their own, so +8 Attack +4 Defense +2 Speed).
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FdgK
Known Hero
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posted January 02, 2026 06:16 PM |
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I know that gameplay-wise it doesn't really have a big impact but I wanted to point out that I love the new map object ‘Trapper lodge’. I cannot exactly put my finger on the reason but it somehow reminds me a lot of Heroes II and for me it fits perfectly for the ‘Heroes-atmosphere’. More objects of its kind would be more than welcome for me.
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LordCameron
Famous Hero
Veteran of the Succession Wars
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posted January 02, 2026 06:26 PM |
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The_Polyglot said:
Can someone please put the Bulwark town theme up on Youtube? I want to listen to it, but I don't want to install HotA.
https://youtu.be/S_2p670BSC8?t=215
It's not a clean copy of it, but if you follow this link to the timestamp I let the whole song play with my mic muted.
____________
What are Homm Songs based on?
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pellish
Famous Hero
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posted January 02, 2026 06:28 PM |
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Wow, Bulwark is awesome. I am loving this update. You don't know how cool it is that Kronverk finally made it into the game one way or another. It's a very strategically interesting town. Having lots of fun. Thanks for blessing another start of a year, HotA Crew! You have my eternal gratitude.
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The_Polyglot
Promising
Legendary Hero
channeling capybara energy
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posted January 02, 2026 07:06 PM |
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LordCameron said:
https://youtu.be/S_2p670BSC8?t=215
It's not a clean copy of it, but if you follow this link to the timestamp I let the whole song play with my mic muted.
Thank you!
____________
Friend-shaped
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This Super Thread is pages long: 
