Panda_Tar 
Known Hero
CH mascot and right-wing
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posted October 03, 2026 06:26 AM |
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Poll Question:
Discussion: Day-Night, Weather and Terrain Effects on Heroes
I was writing a reply on my other thread, and came across the mention of day/night, weather and terrain effects on heroes game. However, I'm mostly talking about battlefield effects.
Still, we may extend to effects on the adventure map regarding weather or day/night, if you wish also.
I find it a glaring fault when these things are completely ignored by a strategy game such as heroes. The only thing they place there is an obstacle barrier. So ...
Points to consider:
1) maps are built on hexes;
2) maps have 3 ground levels: low, even and high – the image is mainly for a visual reference;
3) maps have different sizes: default is 15x15 hexes, then 25x25, 50x40, 30x25. It depends on the size of the armies, or if it's a siege battle or if it's an ambush battle (these battles where armies start by being flanked by foes).
TOPICS:
Weather – this is where things can get murky, because weather is a throroughly variable quantity. So, I'll try to simplify as much as possible, without making it feel like it was added for the sake of adding, of course. Elements regarding weather to be considered (I think these cover most of it):
[*]Wind: has 2 directions, favorable and opposing. 3 levels: no wind, windy, gale.
[*]Sky: meaning clouds, underground, obstacle cover. Sky has 3 levels: clear, partially clear (it can rain ocasionally), overcast (prone for raining).
[*]Rain: it has 3 levels: drizzle, torrential, deluge.
[*]Wildfire: it has no levels, but it intensifies in effect as more hexes are affected by it, with the central hex being the hotspot.
[*]Current: for underwater and sea battles. It has three levels: no current, fair current, undersea river.
[*]Air humidity: it has three levels: damp, normal, dry.
[*]Temperature: freezing, fair, infernal.
Extreme weather can enhance some of these elements into causing collaterals on the battlefield, or they can be just symbolic affecting specific situations, or penalyzing specific units. Also, weather can, and should, affect spell casting.
Some of those will eventually overlap, temperature + wind, wind + rain etc. If we delve into extreme weather, these nuances are even more pronounced, and would have collaterals both on armies and on the battlefield itself. So, effects:
[*]Wind: affects flying units (move, speed) and ranged units (range). There is favorable wind, there is no wind, and there's against the wind. Extreme wind amplifies those effects and starts affecting move and speed from ground units.
[*]Sky: affects all units, where clear skies favors visibility, allow proper use of sun-moon-star-based abilities and spellcasting. Partially cloudy might block some sun/moon-based abilities/spells and variable between clear and cloudy, or even have random drizzles. Underground has neither wind nor rain to consider, nor any sun/moon/stars-based effects. Obstacle cover protects a unit from wind and rain effects. Fog affects visibility.
[*]Rain: affects overall visibility (not as much as fog), penalizes fire-based units and fire-based spells/abilities. Will put out Wildfires. Torrential rain will slow down flying units, affect ranged units range, and slow down ground units, in a similar fashion as windy on all units. Deluges could cause, say, after 10 turns, flooding upon low ground hexes, drowning ground units standing on those hexes (in a similar fashion as to how whirlpools affect units). Now, combination of extreme rain with wind or extreme wind will cause tempests or hurricanes. Tempests/hurricanes cause both flooding and random lightning strikes, in addition to individual penalties/effects caused by wind and rain coupled together.
[*]Wildfire: when temperatures are high, and air humidity is low, dry foliage/grass/trees may trigger a wildfire, or a spell or a fire-based attack. Wildfire can spread, but it might not last long. It would feel like Fire-Wall spell, but more intense and propagating.
[*]Current: in battles underwater, current would act like wind, affecting positively or negatively the movement, speed and range of units. On the surface, it would also affect movement, but it all depends on which elements would be present there, if a battle has been engaged onto a ship, or while walking on water. Underwater river level would not affect battles on the surface of water.
[*]Air humidity: I would consider the one most prone of not considering, which would affect Wildfire as a natural occurrence, limiting it to just a collateral or fire-based spell/attacks. If we consider this, I would limit it to three levels. Damp makes flooding happen faster, makes fire-spells/abilities fade faster, prevents natural wildfires, improves chance of fog and how long it might last. Normal is a balanced state. Dry makes flooding take longer to happen, makes rain ends faster, may trigger wildfires, affects water-based spells/abilities, prevents fogs. Air humidity might not be variable, but tied to terrain type too, as means to simplification. Or it might just be 'implied'. If it's raining, then it's damp.
[*]Temperature: on its own, it might basically affect units on their attack, defense, speed values, or even max HP, when they're extreme opposites. Although temperatures may vary a lot, for the sake of simplification, I would also classify it in only three levels. Freezing may congeal water bodies/obstacles, will penalize units native to fair and infernal temperatures. The same applies for the other two levels. Now, combinations with wind and rain would cause things such as blizzards, hailstorms, frostbite, heatwaves, searing mists.
But how would the game govern weather on the battlefield after all? I don't think it would be necessary existing a weather forecast occurrying on the adventure map. I think that the native terrain should dictate the randomness of the weather at the start of the battle. E.g.: an enemy army is standing on snow ground. When checking (let's say, right clicking) that army, a hint will appear which weather is expected at the start of the battle. And it won't vary too much from that for the whole duration of the battle. And there, it shows freezing temperatures and rain. So, it's expected blizzards at most, and cold weather and cloudy at least. As we have in map-making the possibility of having snow switching abruptly to desert, battles occurying at these sections would have extreme weather nuances, but that would be exceptions. Or, if the goal is to simplify, the fact that both opposite terrains are present, weather forecast is nullified entirely.
I know it all sounds like a lot of things to bear, but in practice, it would be straighfoward, really. Check this:
Before battle, you right click on a foe. You see it's raining. So, you already know that there are rain effects to consider, and that there's a random chance to have deluge or storms, or even retract to a cloudy, windless weather. But given you're not going to be the one making calculations, you're just going to react when these things happen. If there's a deluge, you'll know that you must move your troops to higher ground. If there are lightings, you can move your troops out of high ground to an even ground. If your hero is a spellcaster, you know you can cast Tornado with more or less efficiency, or a weather blocking/changing spell etc.
Terrain – now, there's the terrain effect. It mostly affects ground units.
[*]Dirt: terrains that are usually bare, and won't provide much of a movement penalty/advantage on the battlefield. Elemental spells/abilities have default effects. Any weather pattern.
[*]Grass: just like dirt, but might be subjected to wildfires. Elemental spells/abilities have default effects. Any weather pattern, but infernal temperatures.
[*]Rough: rocky, basaltic; don't affect movement or speed, but favors flooding. Earth and Air spells are incremented. Water and Fire are decremented. Any weather pattern.
[*]Mountainous: slows down ground units. Favors landslides, rockslides. Earth, Air and Water are incremented, Fire is decremented. Any weather pattern.
[*]Sand, beach: considerably slows down ground units. Favors quicksands and sandstorms. Air, Earth and Fire are incremented, Water is decremented. Negates rain, fog and dampness.
[*]Snow, frozen water: considerably slows down ground units. Favors blizzards, hailstorms.
[*]Swamp: greatly slow down ground units. Air and Fire have reduced effects. Water and Earth have increased effects. Favors flooding, quicksands. Nullifies wind, wildfire and dry.
[*]Wasteland, deadland: slows down living ground units. Nullifies flooding. Favors wildfires.
[*]Cloud canopy: only flying units led by flying heroes can fight there. Air effects are exponential. Water and Fire have default effects. Earth is nullified. Only affected by temperatures, air condition and lightning strikes. Favors gale.
[*]Underground: partial penalties to large flying units, no weather patterns. Earth effects are exponential. Air effects are greatly reduced. Fire and Water have default effects. Favors cave-ins.
[*]Water surface: slows down ground units. Air effects remain even. Fire and Earth are reduced. Water is increased. Favors freezing, watersprouts, fog, flooding, tempests, hurricanes. Negates wildfires.
[*]Underwater: unables fliers to fight without external factors, penalizes all non-native units in a constant flooding effect. Air and Earth are greatly reduced. Fire is nullified. Water effects are exponential. Favors whirlpools. Negates normal, dry air; temperature; wind; sky; rain.
[*]Enchanted grounds: no penalties, nullified bad morale, boosts luck to max, amplifies spell casting. Weather patterns are fully neutralized.
[*]Cursed grounds: no penalties, nullifieds good morale, decreases luck to minimum, nullifies spell casting. Weather patterns are fully neutralized.
Circadian cycle – I personally think that circadiam cycle could be fully ignored on the adventure map. If implemented, it would affect only the battlefield, assuming some spells, abilities, skills and units worked differently depending if it's day or night. Taking that into consideration, my idea is that every 2 turns, you have one cycle: 2 turns of daylight, 2 turns of night. But if we start every battle with day, it would bring a disadvantage to a night-based troop from the get-go. To 'solve' this, I think that the engaging army, the one which started the battle, decides whether it starts during the day or the night; keeping in mind that in larger battlemaps (25x25, 50x40 etc), it may take more than one or two turns to have troops clashing against each other. Combined with weather and terrain effects, it already gives a rich combination of strategies. Day and night is also directly tied to Sun-moon-stars-based abilities and spells. Spells like Sunray, Eclipse, Starflare, Scorch Ground etc, can be cast during the day, under sunlight. On the other hand, during Moonlight, other spells will take hold.
[*]Day: Sunny (Clear), Partially Cloudy (halves sunny effectiveness), Overcast (Eclipsed).
[*]Night: Moonlight (Clear), Starry (Clear), Partially Cloudy (halves moonlight and starry effectiveness), Overcast (New Moon).
Gosh, and I was thinking it would be just a bit of writing.
So, if you wish, give your approach on what I have proposed, or propose your own ideas. It's mostly to help me find a solution for this, without having it get too overcomplicated.
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 Beware the ultimate fluffiness. PUUUHOHOHO
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