/vr/ - Retro Games

Being in these threads feels weird sometimes because even after 20 years of casually playing--there's still so much of the mechanics that I've either ignored or just didn't know about. I feel that I have more fun that way though, because things are still a challenge even on Expert. Sometimes I get rekt, sometimes I'm a god blazing through the fields. Learning all the ins-and-outs just feels lifeless to me.

So who's the best hero for general exploring and playing, Crag Hack or Tazar?

I'm thinking that Tazars tankiness would allow you to lose less units against guardians but I dunno

>>6600334
Gunnar
Getting to the resources first is more important than losing a little less units.

bleh

>>6599756
>Worst hero rooster of them all
>One of the worst Magic hero classes of them all
>Terrible units in general
>Terribly overpriced units in general
>Terribly expensive to build
>Awful spell chances in the guild
You need to do far more than just slight rebalance of demon farming to make Inferno stop sucking ass

>>6600334

>>6600334
If you absolutely have to pick from those two, Crag Hack. That implies playing as Stronghold, which has MUCH more potent and faster early game and slightly faster early game armies.
Your top priority is to get Logistics.

>>6600396
make all the units cheap as fuck and double the growth rate, for the demon horde type of style.

>>6600475

Hey HoMMos, what's the trick to enable changig difficulty in the RoE and AB campaigns?

>>6600507
>Polish baton
Kek'd twice as strong

>>6600507
You take out the campaign files from the DATs, reenable difficulty selection and put them back in but if you truly can't be arsed
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1KLnxy6PDYtK2Fp_cAnkAEzFMsDt4ApJR/view?usp=sharing
Extract this into the DATA folder and run the bat

>>6600537
oh yeah forgot to mention this is obviously for English versions, SoD (3.x) or Complete (4.0), if you've got a localized copy you're gonna have to just gonna have to use good old MM Archive and fix it yourself

Why is MM8 so uninspired?
>plane of water where you have to get the orb of water and also where the water grand master is located
>repeat 3 times
>last missions are in "plane of chaos" or some shit and it's boring as fuck
>last "boss" is a fucking riddle
compared to shit like TOMB OF VARN it's like 1% as fun

>>6600568
The game much like all later 3DO projects was rushed out the door.

>>6600568
Like >>6600573 said. Ambitious but rushed. This was at time when 3DO already had financial troubles.

>>6600568
Dagger Wounds Island is pretty cool.

>>6600626
yes Dagger Wound was cool and also a few other stuff
but even the other towns are boring as fuck
>town where it's necro guys
>town where it's the sun cult guys
it's like The Pit / Bracada except 10x less cool

Why were the late 90s - early 00s so goat for everything?
>super good vidya
>super good music
>good movies
what the fuck happened?
I realize now that the reason why I love MM6 to 8 and HOMM3 are because it reminds me the aesthetics of this GOAT period

>>6600928

I want to be angry about something

>>6600943
Ok

>>6600943

In Heroes of Might and Magic 3 I lost two heroes on the first level and I can't even complete the second level where you need to get all the griffin conservatories. How do I get good?

>>6601087
not sure, why did you fail the level?
Try to rush to hit all the stats bonus building and pick up the good skills when you level up

>>6601087
are you picking eagle eye?

>>6601087
get one of the following skill ASAP:
eagle eye
sorcery
mysticism
intelligence

>>6601095
>why did you fail the level?
I can't keep up with the enemies, I get drowned out by sheer numbers. Most of my creatures goes into Christian's army, he's my main hero, and because I keep him well stocked he can win most of the fights he gets into. But then since he sucks up my city of all its resources my other heroes remain small and can't defend themselves when the enemy starts sending raiding parties. Christian can't keep going back and forth to clean up the mess, I need someone to charge forward and actually try to accomplish the missions goal, but the enemy eventually eats through my lesser heroes and resources leaving Christian doomed.

>>6601115
this, many people dont know but eagle eye gives a secret bonus to griffins and rocs while also giving a 20/40/60% chnce of them to join on the world map

>>6601236
Is it worth upgrading to Advanced and Expert? Or is the first level of Eagle Eye all you need for that griffin/roc bonus?

>>6601259
you're getting trolled son

>>6601263
I figured, but its the kind of believable shit you could see in a game like this

>>6601268
You should get diplomacy though, the skill doesn't say it but it has a hidden bonus where you can get the +stats from this site earlier.
Great for tempo.
:^)

>>6601263
I don't get what the point is of being no fun allowed

>>6600943

>>6601779
And that's what you get for playing with mods

>>6600928
Passionate people weren't replaced by coprorations yet.

>>6601116
Only your heroes have limited movement during a day, not your army. You can pass army by a chain of heroes from one distant place to another in a single day.
It's fine to split experience between several heroes, main can't be everywhere, but some fights must be taken - be it an important mine for your faction or some elusive enemy hero.
The most common rookie mistake is using not enough heroes.

>>6600334
tazar stomps crag hack at mid-high level
stronghold is squishy and one enemy morale from >muh offense being out the window
FORTRESS RULES STRONGHOLD DROOLS

>>6601779

>>6601863
>main cant be everywhere
say that to my dp and tp

>>6600943
.

>>6601779
this is what you get for using witches

>>6601835
explain h6&7? werent they made by heores fanatics?

>>6601076
>Archery Range for Dwarves
>Upg. Archery Range for Battle Dwarves
>Cottage for Elves
>Upg. Cottage for Grand Elves

>>6601934
>SOUL vs soulless

>>6601779

>>6601934
>2011 was 9 years ago

>>6601934
Heroes IV is the most soulful
I just wish they had more time to polish it

>>6602157
You can't polish Heroes IV.

>>6601236
Man, I wish this was true

>>6602125
>complain about the flow of time
>on /vr/, out of all boards

>>6602168
just wait only they pull this kind of retarded shit in HOTA

>>6602194
Fucking OBSESSED.

How come there's no indie game that is basically HOMM3 except with 2020 graphics?

>>6602272
Because Homm V was basically that but was also a flub.

>>6602167
Brainlet take

>>6602272
It's very hard to develop these kinda games and also make them marketable, there's some indies that take inspiration from the concept though

>>6602272
>>6602285
I was thinking that mostly what is making it complex is the shitton of enemies and animation / art for them.
That's why I suggested a few topics back that maybe a game like HOMM mixed with Heartstone could be done. Where the battles would be done with card fights
Some shit like:
>keep the overworld explorations
>mobs and spells are replaced by cards
>???
>not sure how it works when you finish a fight, should cards be removed?

>>6602292
See? You're already fucking it up.

>>6602272
because there are no indie devs as good as JVC and co were?

>>6602292
>HOMM mixed with Heartstone
So, Etherlords?

>>6602395
I've watched videos of Etherlords but it's so slow and low-res I can't undersand what's happening
how are the game mechanics with cards working?

>>6602272

there's a billion phone games like homm

all of them terrible though

>>6601934
bimboification

Has anyone successfully beaten "The Devil is in the Detail"? I've tried it but around month 3 the teal cpu enemy (Dungeon) shows up and kicks my ass with several hundred Medusas and Beholders. Also Crystal Dragons.

Is there a winning strategy, like do I have to rush to a specific zone?

Apart from that good map though, nice to look at. Visually my favorite of HotA maps so far.

What's the best combat music? Vote now:

>1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hbaNfHToT8
>2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSwATqPUsv0
>3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ea5RiOfcF6k
>4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0ObS62Js-4

>>6601779
all the more reason we need the Market of Time adventure map location reeeee

>>6602272
Because HoMM3 is too big to be an indie game, plain and simple.

>>6602194
If anything, WoG had a rework on various skills, but the one for Eagle Eye was just plain OP, rather than fixing it into being useful.

>>6602601
WoG called to say it has both the MoT and, much more useful, witch hut's rework. The witch rework allows to:
1) Politely decline learning the skill the the witch offers
2) Ask to forget the skill you have if the witch happens to teach it

>>6602565
The one from HoMM4.

Otherwise 1 or 4 from the listed, most likely 1, simply because it sounds similar enough to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAQ3oJkjtyk

>>6602614
what's the fix for Eagle Eye in WoG ?

>>6602625
too OP desu, wouldn't allow for it; there should be a price to pay for the skill reroll

>>6602272
Because to make a good HOMM3 clone, you would need:
1. A decent faction rooster
2. Some PVE balance
3. A good art style
4. A good system for the hero's growth/skill wheel

HOMM do all of these by drawing its fundamentals on a first person dungeon crawler, that it spun off from. Each game was a huge scope expansion until it peaked at 3, and 4 was crippled by 3DO bankrupcy.
A small team could make a clone, but without the additional PVE scope and adaption of dungeon crawl mechanics it would kinda a bad game.
But scope is a bigger problem. There is no substitute for consistent art, a good style and the tons of playtesting needed to make a large functional faction rooster.

>>6602640
some meme tier bullshit
>Eagle Eye I - gain a choice of spell when going up a level (1-2, 2-3, 3-4)
>All heroes with Eagle Eye specialization let all own 1st and 2nd level units fly in a battle
>Eagle Eye II - Eagle Eye grants the ability to counter a beneficial spell cast by the enemy at 10/20/30 per skill level. Drains 8 spell points from caster (7 with water magic skill). Bird of Perception, Stoic Watchman, and Emblem of Cognizance increase the chance. Eagle Eye artifacts now form a combination artifact that further increases the chance to counter a spell by 30%.

The last one is most in line with the idea that I had for the skill, which would be effectively Spell Stealing, not just another magic resistance with bonus effects just because.

>>6602649
do you have that pic in bigger res?

>>6602672
>>All heroes with Eagle Eye specialization let all own 1st and 2nd level units fly in a battle
>flying centaurs
wtf

>>6602674
not that guy but 10 sec reverse image search gave this

>>6602672
>All heroes with Eagle Eye specialization let all own 1st and 2nd level units fly in a battle
i think they might have taken the eagle part a little too fucking literally. what the fuck.

Basic Eagle Eye - Lets you see the exact numbers of creatures in neutral stacks and on enemy heroes within the hero's visual range.
Advanced Eagle Eye - Lets you see enemy heroes' secondary skills.
Expert Eagle Eye - Lets you see enemy heroes' spellbooks and artifacts.

In addition to the current effects.

Wheres the screeching homebrew hater? Is he late today?

>>6602391
JVC isn't a god. The lad is working on mobile games and we haven't heard of a single one.

>>6602609
>Because HoMM3 is too big to be an indie game
This is true. The volume of content in HoMM3 especially after updates is incredible. To even match that in a modern game takes effort that Ubisoft could never muster to say nothing of other complicated matters such as AI.

>>6602649
after a dreadful flop of the latest Assassin's Creed game, Ubisoft gets you on the line and says they are reviving the homm franchise and putting YOU in charge of making the next installment in the Heroes series - it has to either succeed big and save the company or it will go under, permanently. How would you do it /vr/?

Eagle Eye would be a lot easier to fix if there weren't so many heroes who specialized in it. You can't just raise the percentage to (for example) 100% at Expert because then the 5%/level bonus of those heroes would be useless.

>>6602824
the issue is that the effect is pretty much useless and niche, the % bonus or spec is irrelevant there

>>6602706
not a bad idea but I think this would be better for the Scouting skill or a Spy skill of sorts

>>6602836
well it would stack with scouting; visual range

>>6602808
-do nothing
-let Ubisoft go under
-let JVC buy his IP back with his mobile game blood money
-JVC does a kickstarter or something
-maybe we get a decent HoMM game again

>>6602649
>HOMM do all of these by drawing its fundamentals on a first person dungeon crawler, that it spun off from.
m&m is really irrelevant to homms success

>>6602679
>harpies, gargoyles and pixies already have flying
>now they have double flying

Learning spells through eagle eye shouldn't require wisdom

>>6602808
The main problem is that Might and Magic is made from a different mindsets than modern RPGs. Its a mindset of TRPG murderhobo, with a decent spray of Dying Earth and Star Trek in the mix.
Heroes is just a extrapolation from THAT concept; Where weird post industrial societies ruled by Wizards engage in continental warfare, with a unending appetite for land and artifacts. All in the guise of still being feudal due the descent into barbarism.

5-7 has so far been a weird mix of World of Warcraft and Warhammer Fantasy. Without any ambition or cross media franchising to build a solid brand.
Its basically "Homm Ubisoft, for the Slav marked with nostalgia sprinkles".
So Ubisoft can't make a good Heroes game, because of this issue. It can't and won't project extreme fatalism. The Fatalism is a very critical component to presentation and world building.

>>6602889
From a design perspective? The multi franchising with sharing render models expands scope. Its part of the reason why 3 is so much bigger than 2, because you get a extra game to draw resources from.
It also means the game is designed around a complete disregard for human life, where Victory justifies everything.

HOMM5-7 is neither of those things. Might and Magic itself as a game isn't a necessary ingredient, but all the flavor it brings when ported to a TBS is.

>>6602895
DUDE BDSM ELVES LMAO

I seem to have gotten myself into a bit of a predicament.
I'm stuck in the floor.

>>6602931
Jump spell? Town portal? Beacon?

>>6602935
Can't jump while airborne, can't fly indoors, Don't have a beacon set up, not enough spell points to town portal, so it looks like I'm going to have to use Wilma to master town portal to New Sorpigal.

Greetings and salutations!

>>6602885
>JVC
isn't he like fossilized by now lol? 60+ years old? Not sure that I would like to see another heroes game produced by him after he sold out his soul to mobile gods

>>6602947
just sleep and recover SP

>>6602962
Let's not pretend we know what it's like to see your beloved studio and series get raped by the lying shitweeds of 3DO and then have the rights bought up by the soulless swine of Ubisoft. He was another victim of the purely profit-driven turn the industry was taking.

>>6602931
CORLAGON'S ABOUT TO MAKE YOU HIS BITCH

>>6602836
The other idea I had for Eagle Eye would be to let heroes with it learn all spells from their opponents' spellbooks, whether those spells are cast or not, up to level 2 (basic), 4 (advanced), or 5 (expert).
But even then I think it would be too situational.

>>6602782
sadly ever since he saw the writing on the wall with 3DO it seems like he mentally checked out since we got mm9/heroes 4. he seems much more interested in sitting on his pile of money and racing cars. maybe one day...

>>6602895
DnD /tg/ would probably rip Might and Magic to shreds
>"and then the world explodes and everybody gets warped to a new world" wtf??? fuck you too DM

>>6602983
Nah. He's just stuck behind a wall uselessly casting magic which hits the wall whilst I attack hi, through the wall.

>>6602645
But there is. It costs you 3k and you need to have a witch hut with a matching skill. ANOTHER script allows you to re-roll skill on the witch hut, also for a hefty price, but it's picked at random, so short from save-scum, no way to get the matching skill

>>6602962
And currently because of that he doesn't need money anymore, so he's set and can do whatever the fuck he pleases.
If we want to talk about fossils that went out without any fanfare, how about Brian Reynolds of SMAC fame? Any more than 10 seconds of thinking of what the fuck happend is a guaranteed way to ruin anyone's day

>>6602895
Anon, ever heard about Legends of Amberland? It's basically modern take on Wizardy, but with the "le early 90s graphics" to pretend it's a bad game.
Try it out. It's pretty good. And it got really warm welcome, along with good reviews

>>6602808
Can't just make another 3, and obviously not making more ubishit. Keep in mind I'm just having fun with spitting ideas.

1/
Gameplay would largely be a continued evolution after 4 instead of a reimagining like 5-7.
Let's spice it up and make the battlefield an octagon, tiles are like pic. You can move diagonally but say it takes 1.5x movement. Each unit has a determined "reach". If their reach is short, they can only attack from touching hexagons; if their reach is long, then they can attack from spaced hexagons (diagonally).
Units can attack while moving by sacrificing half their movement, ie. dragon breathes fire while flying over enemy to another tile, knight can swing at enemy while riding past, etc.
Obstacles directly in front of a unit block ranged attacks, outside of that, line of sight doesnt matter since archers can obviously shoot in an arc.
Potential weather/environment effects on both the battlefield and adventure map. Wind blowing in one direction can give flying creatures more speed when moving in that direction. Rain lowers speed. Lava burns units throughout the battle. You start to lose units in the desert if you haven't visitted a well in the past 3 turns? Would make each battle more unique and require even more strategy.
Keep the building options from 4 where you can pick between two dwellings, so 14 creatures in total per town to choose from. Can choose a second lower tier by sacrificing the current? Pick two tier 4's by voiding the tier 5? Would also allow the game to be creatively new while sticking to its roots by allowing new creatures to be brought in without having to ditch the long standing ones.
If creatures in a dwelling haven't been purchased in a long time, they leave the dwelling and become a mob nearby on the map.

>>6603252
2/
Ditch the shitty ubisoft lore/story and return to campy M&M flavour or at the least create something in a similar vein. Teleported to an alternate dimension/timeline or just start from scratch, who gives a fuck. I personally would like more influence from real world mythology at least in terms of creatures.
2.5D pixel artstyle in the vein of https://www.artstation.com/danielriise, just less cartoony. Environments are animated, both adventure map and battlefield. Can zoom in, but not relegated to the 5-7 camera's claustrophobia.
Can build roads on map? Requires resources, time, and hero with a dedicated skill.
TP takes a whole turn just like digging? Can't cast it if you've moved that turn.

Now, since this has to save the company, not just the brand, it can't just be good, it has to sell as well. Some sins will need to be committed, but they won't hurt the experience. A mobile port would need to be made. UI would have to be navigable on mobile devices, would be playable on consoles just as easily. Nothing huge and bubbly, think of 3's side panel but with drop down menus and appropriately sized UI for small screen sizes. Graphics would remain the same since they wouldnt be resource heavy and mobile users can zoom in to see well enough. Gameplay would remain the same as it's not complicated or controll/hotkey heavy. Would have a Chinese language option, but that's all the catering they get. Microtransactions bring in nice money, especially from chinese mobile fags, so we have to exploit that appropriately. You can create a custom hero, choosing their class, specialty, and starting skills. The microtransactions come in with buying cosmetics for this hero to show off when playing online or just for yourself. Simple character creation, nothing extravagant since it's pixel art. Special effects or animations that they can apply to spells or creatures. Can be obtained without spending money, just with a really low rate to entice more spending.

>>6603252
>>6603258
... have you tried playing AoW2 & 3?
Sounds to me you might enjoy it. A lot.

>>6602808
I think there's a big line to draw between what I would like to see and what would be marketable. Myself I just would want a good, finished for once game that doesn't strive too much from the formula, a game that would learn from 3 and 5 and deliver lots of content in a pleasant package. But I just don't think people are interested in a turn-based board game like that anymore. I kept thinking what other turn-based strategy games are out there and the only big hit I could think about was Fire Emblem. Fire Emblem never had a grand strategy component but what did put it on the map was waifus. Lots and lots of visual novel elements and waifus.

I don't know. Maybe the game as it is could work, maybe all it needs is just a quality delivery but at the very least UI and controls would have to be reimagined for consoles. You can't make it PC-only, that's suicide. And you can't market it to 3 fans, because they've got 3 already. I'm sure the big reason Ubisoft gave up and started making cheap trendy mobile games for Chinese is because there just aren't many people interested in playing slow, methodical grand strategy board game simulation. You COULD make a smaller, less technologically ambitious game and make it really good but you'd need to find good talent that knows a thing or two about UI design, AI and how to make lots of appealing visuals on a tight budget because by god Ubisoft failed to hit all those marks repeatedly. Now of course Age of Empires 2 remaster was great, and profitable enough apparently, but I don't think just renewing Heroes 3 is a good move, I think the franchise has room to grow and Heroes 3 has too many deep-seated problems for us to exclaim "that's it!" and just give it a couple bells and whistles. One thing I wouldn't do though is I wouldn't try to turn it into some kind of different 4X game just because those concepts might be interesting in a vacuum. Heroes should stay Heroes, otherwise just don't even bother with the brand name.

>>6603334
Master of Magic would be up his ally too

>>6603334
I've looked at AoW3 and seen some gameplay videos, but something about it just doesn't click with me. Maybe it's something I have to play to see if I actually like it or not.

>>6603368
Haven't played it in at least a decade, but definitely loved it.

>>6603402
Try 2 instead. The reason why it might not be "clicking" is that you are commanding not armies, but squads, with each unit representing exactly that, a single instance of something. But gameplay-wise it's what you described

>>6603402
AoW3 is simplified and uglier AoW2SM in some regards, but greatly improved in others. It is a mixed bag but a lot can be learned from it. The race/class mechanic and how it affects your units in one of the better parts of it.

>>6603407
Visually, at least, I like it a lot more. I'll give it a go. Curious though, what was it in my spaghetti throwing that made it seem like the series is my kind of shit?

>>6603420
Guess it won't hurt to try both.

>>6603367
Civilization still sells these days, and is a lot more complicated than HoMM3. Tactics games work on the console too, I actually prefer playing the new XCOM games with a controller and would probably play it on my Xbox if Firaxis spent two minutes on the port. I don't see how 3 couldn't work with a controller.

>>6603436
Because it simply fits the things you've listed, some even word-by-word.

>>6603453
>Civilization still sells these days, and is a lot more complicated than HoMM3
You didn't play the last two Civs, did you?

>>6603453
>is a lot more complicated than HoMM3
not the ones that are selling

For some reason I kept playing Era of Chaos past the first hour and now I no longer have the will to continue living.

>>6603680
Don't do this to yourself. It's so made by the checklist it hurts.
>here's "story", every battle can be three-starred
>three different currencies
>game won't let you do anything on your own for first hour
>game will fucking shower you with prizes for tapping where it allows you to, so your monkey brain feels satisfied
Not even mentioning how supposedly prized franchise was given away for some no-name chink company for development.

I tried extracting arts from that shit, since it's all this "game" has going for it, but sadly I'm too stupid to figure out what kind of format those "png" files really are.

If underrail can be such a high-quality and successful game while being made by like five people, I'm sure somebody could do a homm3 successor and make it work.

>>6602679
Flying skeletons you say

>>6603849
It's completely different things. And on top of that underrail is an exception rather than a rule.

>>6602808
Constantly Lie about the product and actually use the budget and dev team to make as many mm6 - 8 clones as possible

>pic related
>one of my favorite heroes in my favorite castle (Castle :*)
>Specialty: Prayer - really awesome 4th lvl. spell that boosts attack&defense&speed of a selected stack for +2/4/4 (all stacks)
>starts with Basic Wisdom and Learning (essentially dead skill slot)
>no Water Magic, sometimes until late in the game
it fucking sucks and can be frustrating at times - I even played games where I almost lucked out and didn't get WM at all - but somehow I can't shake of the feeling that this is a really good way and game design choice within the rules of the game, to balance a hero while still providing him with an awesome OP boon at the same time? Evens out almost perfectly in a way imo

>>6603868
didnt you guys say the main issue was all the animations? underrail has as many or more

>>6602808
demand an outrageous budget. pretend to work but embezzle it all. release nothing. leave the country. celebrate the death of ubisoft.

>>6603978
thats the kind of shit people get assassinated for

>>6603998
it is ok to die for a worthy cause

>>6603892
yeah right, just like that balista specialist 0 attack beastmaster, Geowlf or whatever his name was - Christian's wierdo cousin in my headlore

>>6604245
I meant only that Loynis was balanced good with the "toolkit" that he has, not every single hero in the game

>>6603813
artwork for it is still pure mobile paper-kawaii garbage, why would you want it lol?

>>6601934
3 is literal perfection.

>>6603208
>Legends of Amberland
Not with those graphics. CGA + fullcolor isn't a good graphic scheme.

>>6604324
Like I've said, it loves to pretend to be a bad game, which is probably the biggest filter possible

>>6603947
Underrail doesn't have running, because the dev team couldn't afford to make running animation, you dumb fuck.
And like the other anon said, it's not only a different genre entirely, but also an exception of a rule, not a norm. Most indie games are utter trash, because, well, it's an indie game and there is nobody supervising the project. Other indie titles coast solely on their own hype and then are stuck in eternal early access (Project Zomboid and that guy who managed to get married and get his two kids to school, while the game isn't finished yet, anyone?). And strategy games are simply far, far too complex for an indie fag to even bother, because you need to write a complex AI script for it all, along with keeping the strategic depth. THEN you have to extensively play-test it, THEN deliver it for open beta and upgrade on that without ending up swayed by some vocal minority (like 9 out of 10 indie projects that then end up fucked by their "fandom") and THEN deliver the final product. On top of that, you also have to make a good, compelling game with good crunch and fluff, on top of which offering variety. And all of this in situation where people who might buy your game ALREADY HAVE their game, in form of HoMM3, which is still perfectly playable, even for a zoomer scrub that's younger than the game in question.
Aka a job for mid size studio with big-budget marketing to even hit the market.
But sure, let's use single player cRPG as an example for completely fucking different genre.

>>6603947
>>6605179
Also, most indie games coast on having intentionally terrible graphics, since it's not only easier to make them that way, but gains easy points for "oh so quirky" crowd. Cue stuff like Curious Expedition, which could easily afford from the get-go decent graphics, but deliberately used faux-8bit shitness, simply to make then a sequel using faux-16bit shitness and always retain the "oldschool game" creed for easy selling point.
So if anyone ever bothered with making HoMM as an indie game, it would be something in tune of King's Bounty - not even HoMM1.

>>6602679
>can't get assed to give every monster a flying animation
>just have them noclip across the map

>>6603947
Styg is a rare passionate genius; underrail is an exception. It's *possible* that somebody like that could make a good indie homm successor, but I wouldn't ever expect it.

>>6602565
>What's the best combat music? Vote now

For me, it's a draw between 4th and 2nd theme. I experienced some of the most challenging battles (that either ended in clutch victories or disappointing defeats) with the 4th song playing, so I always feel a smidge of sadness, pride and determination whenever I listen to it. In contrast, 2nd theme was the one who most often played when I was fucking shit up and it's also the hypest one of the bunch. 1st one is just boring and the 3rd is jack-of-all-trades type of song, suitable for all situations, but not really elevating any of them. I actually wrote what I feel about each of the songs in one of my previous posts here a year or so ago:

Battle theme 1 - early fights with neutral monsters or a fight between two weak heroes.
Battle theme 2 - a definitive 'fuck their shit up' theme mandatory for sieges and fights in which you overpower your enemies, be they enemy heroes or large stacks of neutral monsters.
Battle theme 3 - a balanced combat between two strong heroes or a even fight against larger stacks of higher-leveled neutral monsters.
Battle theme 4 - a 'last stand' kind of theme when defending against sieges, encountering heroes that overpower your own forces or fighting against a very tough monster stack - all of will result with you losing almost all of your army (or just losing outright)

Honorable mentions from other HoMM games (excluding the ones made by Ubi because I honestly can't remember their battle themes) are the following:

HoMM IV's more contemplative and sorrowful battle theme 4 (this was a tough choice since theme 2 and 3 are also really good);
>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNYV7vCpayg
HoMM II's tribalistic sounding drums in battle theme 2 (kinda reminds me of the "Populous the Beginning" soundtrack):
>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NbicLyBjwM
HoMM I's battle theme 1 (but I fluctuate between liking theme 1 and 2 more frequently):
>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwgODYMxv-8

>>6603252
>>6603258
Overall I pretty much like these ideas. How would building roads work though? Most maps dont have huge open spaces without roads, and when they do--it's key to how the map is played. I guess you can make maps with road building in mind, but I feel like it'd just end up hurting map design.

For the map shape, I feel like the top and bottom won't end up utilized. Unless your attacking while moving has units ending up/down there. The attacking while moving would have to be limitted as well, otherwise fast units would just toy with slow units without any repurcussions outside of a counterattack.

>>6602565
number 4 is the best of your list, but heroes 2 had the best battle theme

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=mj0kFVHYPZ0

>>6602565
why do they all start with drums ?

>>6605871
is correct though, that's the best theme of all the entries

>>6605878
>why do they all start with drums ?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martial_music
TL;DR: To get you hyped up.

>>6605878
Good combat music has drums you cuck

>>6605878
what are battle drums

>>6603208
>ever heard about Legends of Amberland
A fucking trash that only runs on widescreen resolutions. God forbid if you are trying to run it on anything else

Why do the newer (3D) HOMMs look and play like ass?

>>6605928
because there’s no such thing as NWC anymore, anon

>NWA
>NWC
???

>>6602565
4>2>3>1 I think.

>b1
https://youtu.be/PHWxMHHOHyw
>b2
https://youtu.be/6NbicLyBjwM
>b3
https://youtu.be/4uPRUonK0f4

b1>b3>b2

b1>b3>4>b2>2>3>1

>>6605197
to my memory they just walked accross obsticles

>>6606258
Niggas With Cunnies

>>6605928
because 3d world scale is all fucked up and they cant make up their mind if a square represents 10km or 20 meters, which leads to the maps feeling small and empty even when they are actualy not, also 3d killing fun shit like hidden resources behind mountains/buildings/trees

>>6606625
B3 is for those light and breezy skirmishes in the first week. B2 is when a strong CPU hero attacks you during his turn and you have to fight for your life, anxiously trying to turn the tide. B1 is for the big ones, the sieges and decisive battles where the outcome of the match is on the line.

>>6605871
Excellent anon, I didn't have to post it. Great job.

>>6608170
What the fuck is the guy in the mirth icon even doing, crouching while dumping water on his head?

>>6608256
>[DRUNKEN SCREECHING]

>>6600626
HOLA SOTEK HOLA SKINKS!

>play Fortress
>Tavern has Crag Hack
Enemy is gonna get hit with a thicc stack of Giga Offense 20+ Attack Mighty Gorgons. Pray for his fucking soul lmao

>>6608690
>Play Castle
>Start out with Orrin for Marksmen Shenanigans
>Buy the other castle hero in the tavern¨
>Crag Hack appears, buy him
>Gunnar appears, buy him
>Find stable like 15 steps away from the castle

Needless to say I won that game very easily

>>6608690
>>6608789
>Play Stronghold, random starting hero
>Gundula, very noice
>Check tavern
>Dessa, hire
>Sir Mullich revealed
Still lost to the guy playing as Rampart, but it was very, very close.

JUST

>>6608170
explain this meme please.
how the fuck a single pikeman + mirth gonna fight a big stack of pikemen + halberdiers?

>>6608926
Teal'c

Here's my basic layout plan for the underground portion of the map. I'm not entirely sure if that's too large a space for each terrain and I should make the subterranean area larger instead.

>>6608949
With high morale.

>>6609139
gonna press F soon for this brave pikeman

>>6609139
ganbatte pikeman-san

>>6608789
>>6608882
>start match, check Tavern
>both heroes have Eagle Eye specialty
t-thanks

>>6608949
Expert players (aka slavs) would probably come up with some Fire Wall/Mass Slow shenanigans and through sheer strategic fuckery somehow win

>>6609667
Usually I see people using a single stack of Sprites for Fire Wall tactic.
And you need some SP, Fire Magic skill helps (Luna).

>>6609058
>non subterrarian terrain underground
heh enjoy having every battle take place underground despite being obviously on grass, should have made it in Hota.... kid

>>6610067
You can play the map in HOTA if it bothers you. The main thing, movement penalty, still applies.

>>6610135
what about actual combat

>>6609721
Luna's trick is that her wall does double damage.

>>6609058
Looks good so far

>>6594570
>>6594578
https://campaignwiki.org/gridmapper.svg

>>6610748
That can't be helped. As I said, you can play the map on hota if that bothers you. I'm making it in SoD so people without hota can also play it.
Besides, it improves balance if nobody has the native terrain boost underground since that's where the actual deciding battles will be. Nobody starts as dungeon.

>>6610795
I forgot about her specialty, only remember she starts with Fire Magic skill and Fire Wall in her spellbook.
It's her specialty which significantly increase the damage to Fire Wall spell.

>>6611393
its not like hota costs 60$ or something, everybody and thier granma plays with hd mod atleast

>>6611843
Not everyone plays hota, I don't know why you're pestering him--he's just making a map.

>>6611393
>I'm making it in SoD so people without hota can also play it.
>>6611843
>noooooooooo you can't do that
Jfc this thread was doing pretty good too

How would you guys recommend getting into Homm3? I played it when I was younger but like most games didn't really get it, just played it and messed around.
But whenever I try to boot up the game now I just feel lost, like I got no clue what I'm doing. What should I do to actually learn the game? Play the campaigns, just fight against AI in random maps, etc?

>>6611975
>back to 3 posts per day
>pretty good

>>6613251
I can post pics of my map as I work on it if that'd make you feel better. I'm not very fast, though.

>>6612996
Play on an easy difficulty on some of the simpler medium sized maps, like:
Island and Caves, Free For All, Warlords.
You'll become familiar with the different creatures, map objects, spells and various heroes.

Then play through the main campaigns of the restoration wars.
The other campaigns for the expansions are trash, though more challenging sure.

>>6613294
why are you making a "balanced" map when the ai is complete dogshit and needs a big advantage to but up any sort of challange?

>>6613540
Maybe it’s for him and his friends to play, or for competitive play. Why do you keep giving non-constructive criticism?

>>6613547
>competitive play on non random maps
bullshit, some nigger will complain his sawmill is 2 tiles further away than the other guy, nobody plays competitive non rng
>his friends
top fucking kek

>>6613540
Because I want to, Anon. It's somewhat balanced so you can play as any faction. Also so it's balanced enough for friends and family multiplayer play, though I doubt anyone will ever use it for that.

I thought you can place multiple grail objects on the map so the game would randomly pick one of them when you start the map, but I was mistaken. I can't even limit the random placement to just the underground. Guess I'll just have to place it somewhere.

>>6613564
>taking competitive multiplayer seriously and just not enjoying the game together with your friends.

>>6613596
>play as any faction
and win because the ai couldnt play its way out of the tutorial

>>6613841
>having friends

>>6613564
>nobody plays competitive non rng
I don't think that's true

Anyone else dislike maps with water, especially islands? I started one large map where all the cities and things to explore are on small islands and it feels like fuckery.
On the other hand, I never learned to play them since I avoided them so maybe I just need to git gud. Thoughts?

>>6614139
on the contrary, ive noticed the maps I enjoy most have lots of islands
I think because it fucks with the AI and gives me more peace in the early game

Has anyone played wizards isle campaign? Do you really need the sphere in the last map?

>>6614146
I really like the aestethic when you fight on ships against your opponents, really comfy

FUCK HARPIES

>>6600248
So what racee is Thorgrim supposed to be, elf? He's got darnk hair and yellowish tan skin but pointy ears. Is he a troll or some king of elfo-orcish mutt? Dwarfo-goblin becuase of the resistance?

>>6614561
dwarf

>>6614561
he's just a dwarf dude

>>6614804
>Kyrre female (male) elf

>>6614954
she transitioned in homm4

why is the random map generator so shit lads

>10 maps later
>every fucking map either has no underground or a throng or ranged attackers just outside the starting town door

it's almost like the options don't mean anything

>>6609667
i've tried a lot of those 'expert tactics' and can never get them to win.

like using dummy stacks. the monsters just nope right past them and gangbang my main stack to death. so every game just goes back to an overwhelming force grind.

>>6615668
learn the sun tzu's art of homm3 from slavs.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3V8CYU6qE7s

>>6615906
good thing i am fluent in russian and the video is not sped up.

>>6613376
>The other campaigns for the expansions are trash,
?
SOD is good

How do I become an Inferno pro?

>>6616134
be shit at the game

>>6616142
It was that easy all along? Thanks

>>6616134
git gud

>>6616134
expert magic, sorcery, and fire
only use efreets
cast armageddon every turn

>>6616335
>expert magic
jesus christ, meant intelligence

>pick grack
>get expert might
>attack with cave bears

>>6614572
>>6614802
>>6614804
but dont dwarves have round ears? aint he just a south-east asian?

>>6614954
>>6615419
how did the devs fuck that up considering she's one of the top10 heroes for her speciality

>>6616134
play another faction

And it's done! I finished the underground portion and added some more resources for all players because I was immediately out when I tried it. 2nd go was tight but doable, tho I played as fortress so building was cheapo.

Here's a link: https://mega.nz/file/D4oz0RYC#E6RW3zpvHKJwh1VgocBNOxepInekdR3mPgmdNl7k9K8
I guess I could toss it onto maps4heroes, but I'd like someone else's opinion on it first. Do give it a shot and tell me what you think of it. Image spoilered in case you want to go in somewhat blind.

>>6616134
Play HoTa. They buffed it so they're playable, but still the worst faction, probably

>>6616814
How does this in any way tell him how to get better at playing inferno?

>>6616581
Looking good, I'll play it once I finish my current game

>>6616830
It doesn't, it's just furries advertising their mod. Again.

What were they thinking when they made the skill?

>>6617163
this

>>6617163
it was good in homm2

>>6617163
Well, it can get you some really strong spells that you have no access to yourself that can change the game in your favor.

>>6616581
Started a play on Hard, stronghold.
The map is fun, full of goodies. Just got underground and took the middle town. It's pretty open ended with fights leading to rewards, and only the underground gate guards being neccessary.
It's fun so far and looks nice. My only complaint would be that some enemies in bottlenecks are hard to see, for example if the only way in is from a single tile to the west and both north and south are impassable, it gets hard seeing the enemies.

>>6617163
I assume the design plan was to have it work off monster casting spells.
I.e Genie buffs, Angel Rez, Blind, Petrification, etc.
And have the enemy heroes/neutrals be a bit more prolific about their spell usage.

But the monsters are not that proactive, nor are your own buffers something you can acquire a library from.
So its essentially a neat flavor skill that would also make sense in Might and Magic if the monsters casted slightly more spells.

>>6617715
>I assume the design plan was to have it work off monster casting spells.
Nope.

>>6617257
Was it?

>>6618014
not him, but imho homm2 has less skills than homm3 so my heroes got eagle eye more often.
because they often got eagle eye, they got more chance to learn spells in combat compared to homm3.

>>6616581
I chose Fortress with Tazar. His mega-defense helped me a great deal when I had to hold the central Dungeon while all 3 enemies laid onto me heavily. Tazar eventually beat their main heroes and collected their artifacts. Meanwhile, I found the Grail which helped me boost my creature growth enough to begin the counter-attack. That's where I'm right now. One down, two more to go. But the rest should be easy since I already destroyed their main forces.

This was a lot of fun. Thanks for sharing it here.

>>6616581
One more thing. Since this is a map without water I'd consider going to the setting and disabling these spells:
>Summon Boat
>Scuttle Boat
>Water Walk
As well as the artifacts "Necklace of Ocean Guidance" and "Sea Captain's Hat".

>>6618014
Yeah.
There weren't as many skills, and spells were comparatively more powerful so getting a good spell like cold ray or lightning bolt early without putting resources into your own mage guild is great.

There were only 14 skills in the game, and you could have 8.
Say you're on a grass map without water, and you're not necromancer/warlock.
Then you have 11 skills left to consider for your 8 slots.

>>6618468
I disabled these in the map specs. Should I also disable the Navigation secondary skill or would that fuck with something?
I hope the allowable placement radius on the grail means it's somewhere around the general area instead of being always right there in front of the dungeon town entrance.

>>6618629
what's the warlock-only skill?

>>6618690
you should, I'd go so far as to ban any navigation-specialist heroes and to change the skill on any heroes who start with it

>>6618690
>Should I also disable the Navigation secondary skill
I suppose it wouldn't hurt.
>I hope the allowable placement radius on the grail means it's somewhere around the general area instead of being always right there in front of the dungeon town entrance.
For me it was right next to the transition of underground and swamp

>>6618736
There's no warlock only skill.
Warlocks can get Necromancy though which Necromancers start with. The other 4 can't get it.

>>6618895
Okay, so what's the skill we're missing? Navigation, necromancy, ....?

>>6618927
Pathfinding.
>Say you're on a grass map without water
Key word being grass.
Only really Knight and Wizard who would be open at that point though.
Point is there aren't as many options to compete with eagle eye in homm2 as there is in homm3.

>>6618939
Gotcha. I missed the clue.

>>6617257
>>6618249
>>6618629
dont know what krokodil you guys are taking, its still by far the worst skill in that game too

Diplomacy was more balanced, dont want to buy 25 grand elves for the cost of 100? Well now you have to fight those 100 elves where without diplomacy they could have just ran away.

>>6618690
Are you sure you disabled them? I found Sea Captain's hat on the ground.
Playing Hota if it matters.

>>6619671
>Missing the point on purpose
>Posting retarded country ball comics
>Bitches about krokodil
Why are Ruskies so fucking dense?

>>6620046
Also got the Create boat and Shatter boat spells

>>6620089
>point on purpose
what? that its still a dogshit skill? just becasue there are less good skills to pick from doesent mean its not the bottom of the barrel, its even weaker than heroes 3 counterpart where its a 40/50/60% while in homm2 its 20/40/60
ALSO theres a lot less monsters and hp in h2 so leveling up is SLOWER and its more important to chose proper skills

meme is relevant to heroes2 diplomacy

>>6618468
>>6618690
Don't forget Levitation boots. Also you should disable 3 eagle eye artifacts, Eagle eye and Learning skills too, they are useless. And disable Diplo skill because it's OP and consider disabling necro artifacts because they're useless for non-necro and can be assembled into OP combo.
Banning skills isn't a problem, but you should know that banning spell on a map also bans artifacts that provide these spells (in this case, only Tome of Water), if I'm not mistaken.

Explain to me why Phoenixes are 2k gold and twice as numerous as other 7s.

>>6620565
because conflux is not a real town, the devs were lazy and thought lumping in a bunch of random neutral creatures in a faction and calling it a day but now we have to live with that abomination

>>6616134
Ignaitius start, build familiars day 1

>>6620565
Because balance is a concern for normies.

>>6620429
>Don't forget Levitation boots. Also you should disable 3 eagle eye artifacts, Eagle eye and Learning skills too, they are useless. And disable Diplo skill because it's OP and consider disabling necro artifacts because they're useless for non-necro and can be assembled into OP combo.
t. autistic slav

>>6620429
As useless as Learning and Eagle Eye are I think outright banning them would go too far. You never know if there's a crazy son of a bitch out there whose strategy relies on one of those skills somehow.

>>6621153
> You never know if there's a crazy son of a bitch out there whose strategy relies on one of those skills somehow.
There isn't.
Also there are a lot of heroes who start with Eagle eye (almost every town has one), so if you want to play hero with EE so much, just start with one.

>>6620046
That link is from before I disabled those. It's not the most up to date version.

>>6620429
No. Getting fucked by having to pick between learning and eagle eye is an essential part of HoMM and I don't want to remove that. As for the artifacts? You can just choose not to use them and equip something else instead.

>>6621556
>No. Getting fucked by having to pick between learning and eagle eye is an essential part of HoMM and I don't want to remove that
this

>>6621556

>>6621153
>You never know if there's a crazy son of a bitch out there whose strategy relies on one of those skills somehow.
In case of Learning, there absolutely, mathematically, cannot be.
You have to waste three level ups on getting Learning and the amount of XP you get doesn't pay back until like level 30, in which case wow, you got a level back, amazing

>>6621797
>not willing to max out your raw stats

Was the wheel system of HOMM5 cringe or based?
I thought it was super good, the way you had tons of perks that would be based on what combinations of skill you have, and that would unlock other perks
They went a bit too far with the ultimate skill or some shit, it's impossible to get unless you really read the manual and are lucky

>>6621852
Was a necessary and welcome evolution of the skill system, but, like the rest of the game, could have used a lot of work. A great starg in the right direction.

>>6621872
what would you have added?

>>6621852
I thought it was great, I loved finding out new weird combination skills, even if half of them weren't great. They absolutely shat the bed with the horse shit skill system in 6 tho.

>>6621153
I would love to see this galaxy brain strat. Anything is possible in heroes.

>>6621879
From an rpg standpoint, there's a sensible progression. Like with pathfinding, it makes senes that you know logistics, but others seems needless. Having to get basic attack before you can unlock archery, basic defense before protection, war machine before first aid, etc... is a drain on things you might not care for. Then you have others that belong in a different tree like tremors not being in a magic tree and magic insight not in the enlightenment tree. These can be easily fixed though without changing much.

Overall though, I feel that for the magic wheel to really work, you need two different types of skill points. A skill is something you learn, an ability is something that comes natural to you. So when you level up, you get one of each. To apply this to the homm5 skill wheel, let's say that the base skills in the outer ring, the ones that go from basic to expert, all require skill points. The middle ring, the offshoots, will require ability points. The inner ring, the race skills, could require both a skill point and an ability point. I feel this would make things less tedious to unlock so you don't feel like you're wasting points to get something else while also keeping it so you can't progress too quickly. Perhaps you could slow it down by giving an ability point every other level so that the player isn't given too much freedom but doesn't feel restricted either.

>mouse over skeleton stack, right click
>hit points: 6 (9)

>found a typo

https://mega.nz/file/fkZEVCBA#ZvD1mF3ARSvklmxZ39_0ziBFZwYMiYTKu24UdsOXGFk

>>6616581
Here's this map's newer and most likely final version. Changes are removing the scuttle boat, summon boat and water walking spells, the navigation artifacts, the boots of levitation, and the navigation secondary skill. Also added a few more gold piles for the tower player.

>>6622742
*blocks you're path*

>>6616581
I'm actually stuck with the middle town, I hold it but can progress nowhere since the AI fights me every couple of days and sometimes even takes it from me.
Guess I got there too slow. Might need to restart.

>>6623110
If the middle town isn't built up then you might let an AI have it and go take his capital, better to have his fully built main town than that middle one and even if the middle is built, your opponent won't be able to reinforce his armies with creatures from a different town. Leaves your own capital vulnerable but it sounds like you need to take a risk.

>>6623110
The middle town is supposed to be a kiss and a curse. On one hand, it's a defensible location in the main chokepoint of the map. On the other, it makes whoever holds it the target for all other players. You could just leave it for the AI and go steal their mines and main town.

>>6613894
So basically, you’re so butt hurt about not having any friends that you’re using your spare time to complain on a Cambodian basket weaving forum about a guy making a map for friendly games? Yikes...

>>6623173
>>6623205
A covert mission it is. Thanks.

>>6623257
my point still stands

>>6623110
I ran into that problem myself and solved it by retreating temporarily (into my part of the underground zone, while a secondary hero brought reinforcements) and let the CPU main armies duke it out. Blue attacked Tan destroying Tan but losing a lot of troops in the process. Then I waltzed in and attacked Blue.

>>6621852
It was a shit-tier system that tried to be both HoMM3 and HoMM4 in the same time, failing at both.

>>6621852
I mean, I liked it.

>>6623376
And what was your point then, retard? That no one should make anything intended for friends to play? Jesus man just kys.

Is it possible to make it so that I can launch HoMM3 complete from steam when I launch the HoMM3 HD? I've heard people did that with openxcom and steam X-COM, with eduke32 and steam Duke Nukem: Megaton, OpenMW and steam Morrowind and bunch of other games.

>>6624889
>steam
ask in /v/

>>6624889
the real question is why do you have homm3 HD?

>>6625085
I had gained credit on a certain gaming store and I got it for free.

John Van Caneghem:
>Underground Terrain is supposed to be limited to small pockets of treasure hoards that won't fit on the surface otherwise. It is NOT supposed to be a whole 'nother map layer.
Also John Van Caneghem
>Dungeon Town

Is he retarded?

>>6625327
>>Underground Terrain is supposed to be limited to small pockets of treasure hoards that won't fit on the surface otherwise. It is NOT supposed to be a whole 'nother map layer.
fucking based
I'm wondering if the second quote isn't coming from proto-WOG and proto-HOTA autists from inside NWC team, where they have to fill each new shit with all possible content.

>>6625327
All you need is a space big enough to fit a town for Dungeon, but people always fall for the sprawling starting area being on the same layer. Can have the town inside a small cavern, and right outside lies the wood, ore, etc as with every other town.

https://www.maps4heroes.com/forum/opinions.php?map_id=1918&game=3
Now also on maps4heroes since someone asked for it.

>>6625517
played it today. I like how the AI (on 160% at least) gets to the center by the start of Month 2 (as a competent player would with how comparatively weak the guards are to random maps), just right in difficulty.

>>6624302
>its fun with friends xD
t. todd fappout 69

fuck off nobody here actualy has any friends to play with, vanilla already has a ton of these retarded "balanced" maps that nobody should ever play because its just not fun to cat and mouse the ai nor is it balanced with its retarded thinking

>>6625080
>asking about videogames
>on /v/

>>6626049
Why are you so mad, Anon? Nobody's forcing you to play the map.

>>6625340
>new content baad!
go play ubisoft's h3 remastered you giga-nigga

>>6626217
1 sitty "balanced map" = 1 lost potentialy good PvC map

>>6626049
>nobody here actualy has any friends to play with

You say that but I have a game going with 2 mates online right now. We play about a month or so every weekend until it’s done. I’d be surprised if no one else here did something similar.

>>6626273
So you're butthurt that the map I made isn't exactly like you think it should be. Have you tried making your own maps? That way you can have them precisely the way you like.
That there weren't any maps just they way I like them was one of the reasons why I made that one. You can do the same.

>>6626473
>>6626513
Why are you you guys still replying to obvious bait?

>>6626561
It's not bait that guy is honest to god retarded
Which is still not a good reason to reply

>>6625327
While I understand the sentiment and personally try to enforce it when I'm building maps there's a lot of classic fan scenarios who utilize underground layer as "map 2.0" and make it work. Ringing of Victory, Time of Testing, Empire of the World 1 and 2 come to mind.

>>6625517
Nice

>>6621852
Great idea, but the skill wheel tool should have been shipped with the game to explain the mechanics better. The problem with the skill system was that the 1st level skills (the outermost) were all the same for all races. Some maneuvering of the inner skills would have been nice. As it is you get locked into very specific paths in order to reach the racial skills which seems counter-intuitive.

I'm bored, post herofus.

>>6630052
>I’m bored
>low effort posting in HoMM gen
why do you do this? the mods don’t even want generals as is

>>6630054
Who cares about jannies and their wishes?

>>6630063
if I was a betting man I’d say (You) do when it’s convenient for you.

>>6630052
female aragorn

what in the nine hells is this purple city

>>6630417
amazing

>>6630427
ok lets bust this fucker wide open

>>6630442
the fucker just teleported

>>6630456
fuggg

Help me out /HOMMMM/

I've started to notice that I'm losing interest in the games I play. The first month I have a blast exploran the starting area, taking the first castles, close battles with the ai.

But once I get to around middle of month 2 the game feels more like a chore and the tempo really slows down. Maybe I'm just burned out? Anyone experience the same thing?

>>6630460
reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

>>6630465
gonna fuck you up this time faggot

>>6630483
fucking hell devils pack a whallop...let see what we have here

>>6630492
>this fixes the Inferno
absolute kek

>>6630495
ok

>>6630503
fuck

>>6630508
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

>>6630513
A̷̢̤̗̠̹̝̳̫̺̥̱͎̰̞͈̱͍̜͔̟̫͌̒ͅÁ̸̡̨̝͉̻̮̬̫̭̙͚̜̝̪͍̝͉̟̉̄͗͆̾͋̓̄̀̈̾͂̕͜ͅA̵̧̰͇̭͇̪̻͙̯͉̎̃Ą̵̧̺̳̟̤͇͕͙͕̻̼̗͇͇̜̯̖͓̮̮̿̿̔̍͊̄̓̿̂̐̊̀̍̄̋̊̍̇̋̇̾͋̉̏̚̚͝Ä̸̢̧͓͙̯̥̳͙̣̘̝͉̙͖̺̯̩̱͍͔̯̬͜ͅĄ̸̻͇͉̌̆ͅÃ̵̡̨̢͔̖̰̫̖͈͇͇̺͍̥͇̠̦̆͒̕͘͜͜Ą̸̨̛͉͕͕̐͑̈́͂̀͒͊̍̒͑͑͊̀͊̋̏͌͝͠͠ͅĄ̸͙̞̹̟̈́̊̒͆͌̑͗̐̑̓͛̒̋̋̉̍͒̈́̈̉͌̒̐́̔̾͝͝͝A̵̛̺̩͍͇͖͇̩͖̠̖̹͈͚͖̺͒̽͆̈́̌͗̑́̇̈́̂̍͋̄̈́̎͊͂̇̍̄̿͘͠͝Ą̴̨̳͕̼̳͕̤̝̼͖̹̫̬̥͇̰̥̆̿̓͑͗͝͝Ä̶̛̱͖̦͔̰̙͚̪͙̗͔̩͎̬͍̠̞̩̏̉͋͆̍͑̋̈̈́͛̀̿̃̈͛̈́͛̉͆͛͋͑͘͘͝͝͠A̸̛̻̞̖̦̟̭̪̼͚͗̓̇̌͗͒̃͠͠Ą̷͕͚̥̻̝̺͙̪̥̙͔̝̖͙͓̭̮̪͇̥̙̦͉̰̤͂Ä̶̻̙̙̠̦̖̱̭̪̤͌̓̓̉̓̔̃́̊̌̾͘ͅĄ̶͓̤̥̟͔̱̳̞͎̫͉͑͒͑̆̾͑̓̍͝ͅA̷̧̨̛̙͔̹̥̼̣̪̭͎̰̺͙͚͕͕̣̳͚͕̾͜ͅA̸̢̢̢̨̖̟̞̠̮͚̮̩̞̱̳̣̱̪̰͉̩̹͎͓̪̪̥̋̇̒̆̾͘̕͜͝͠Ą̸̡̡̢͙͍͙̦̤̼͕̝̱̰͔͖̬͙̱̭̟̹͈̟͂͘ͅĄ̴̡̨̛͎͓̜͇̮̳͍̞̺̞͉̫͖̺̮̘̭̔̋̍̾͌͆͂̈́̎͠Ą̴̺̳̘͓̹͎͇̩̰̥͔̠̙̇̇̀̽̃̀͊͑̈́̓̒̆̕͝͠A̶̧̡̡̧̛̛̻̣̖͖̥̝̘̞̼̬̻̺̻͕̝͉͉̝̮͖͎͍̳̔̽̈́͛̾́́̄͜ͅͅȦ̸̡̨̨̺̜͚͔̬̞͓̭̜͈̤̗͉͖̫̙̘̞͗̑́̈̽̀̃̌̆͂͛͐̈́̋͊͗̆̽͛̉͘͘͜͝͝͝Ǎ̴̛͚͕͉͗̉̒̀̓̄̈́͒̌͐̀̒͗͐͂̇̈́̊̔͘͠A̶͇͉̮̬̖͎̗̟̗̰̬̘͕̳̼͇̙̯͋͆̀̒̊͛̌̀̌́̀̊́̊͗͆̓̕͘̚̚̚͠

>>6630492
>>6630495
>devils and fire elementals in one town

i swear can this sandfucker get any dumber, whats next? earth elementals for stronghold?

>>6630563
>earth elementals for stronghold
stronghold is kinda dusty and earthly

>>6630563
>>6630780
out post are perfectly an hour apart, btw

>>6630563
The town is inactive.

>>6630963
I'm always amazed as to how good job this mod team is doing with the lineups, probably the best ones I've seen in any heroes game ever, homm3 included, simply love them.

>>6630461
Solo or multi?

>>6631973
>sand nigger and reddit frog towns
>good lineup

>>6632098
>good lineup
BEST lineup buzzword boy, no heroes game or mod comes even close

>>6632142
>lets just take heores 2 and slap some random shit together into a faction

orzie get the fuck off vr and go back to whatever boomer ruskie forum you crawed out of, we are sick and tired of your blatant shilling

>>6630563
>>6632098
>>6632451
I don't know what happened in your life to make you like this but I hope it happens over and over again just like you make these comments over and over again.

>>6631973
So Necro is missing from the bottom pic, are they just not in yet? And what's with the devils in the screencaps the other anon posted since they're not in these pics? I'm kinda burnt out on HoMM right now but its pretty great that I'll have this to come back to. Also what tracks are used for battle/overworld/new towns?

>>6632451
what the fuck is an orzie

>>6632451
They're not any more random than the other factions.

>>6632624
he's just some effortposting zoomer midwit that thinks he gets heroes, but he gets them less than he gets pussy in RL, just don't feed into his shitposting and he'll go away
>Necro is missing
no, that's me fucking up my collage, thanks for helping me notice, I'll fix it real quick. The other Inferno creatures are placeholders since the town is still in development, but these two have sprites in the game and available in the "town" for recruitment, so that's why I included them
>>6630461
>burnt out on homm
yeah, it happens. The only cure is to either leave it for a while and get back later or make an effort to get out of your comfort play zone and try something new, a different strategy, castle, hero etc, instead of playing Rampart with Kyrie for the n-th time. Try using multiple heroes instead of one main, it makes for quite a different game experience. Playing campaigns and scenarios also helps.

>>6632624
>who hurt you sweetie? (^:
fuck and off

>>6632639
the succ wars mod leader who i can only presume is here shilling his OC donut steal towns in these threads

>>6632643
read any of my other posts in the previous thread on why a desert/swamp town of mish mashed creatures is retarded, atleast in Age of Wonders they tried being original and coherent with their egypt ripoff by making them cat people
>>6632669
>everyone who doesnt like my random neutral town is a troll

>>6632712
No

fuck it, I can't get pixel ratio not to go to shit for devil and fire elemental, heretic roster is still in development anyway, so yeah

wonder if they'll keep the original crispy golden/sunny feel for the final release, pic related looked comfy af

>>6632779
>heretic roster
what would be your love letter to Inferno /vr/? What creatures you would love to see in your demon-themed town? Here's what I would like to see (sorted by tiers and associated upgrades):
>Slave
>Hellhound/Cerberi
>Succubus
>Nightmare
>Demon/Demon Lord
>Fallen Angel
>Devil

>>6632786
that looks great

>>6633231
imp
gog
hellhound
demon
pit fiend
effreet
devil

>>6630052
would use this in game if it was colored

>>6633231
>damned
ghoul things that look like they're burning from the inside out, melee
>imps
basically demon pixies, you know what an imp is, flier
>hellhounds/cerberi
>fiends
gogs, fireball throwers, skinny with lots of thin upward spikes
>demons
beefy melee unit, like the homm2 devil in appearance, kinda slow
>devils
satan, horns/wings/red skin, maybe a trident, flier
maybe imps have tridents instead and the devil has a scythe, I dunno

dunno exactly what order
dunno what for the 7th creature either, im thinking some kind of dark, edgy monster, like a black demonic scorpion or something
I don't like the idea of succubi, nightmares, or efreet, personally

I can't fucking play stronghold. You're slow as shit if you take orcs with you, your first two weeks are super vulnerable to any shooter stack, any even slightly beefy guard can very easily kneecap your force or stonewall your expansion, you basically play without t6 units for most of the game, and even if you find a second town quickly getting it up to speed to replace your lackluster unit roster is too slow unless the game is extremely generous with chests and resources.

>>6633851
Stronghold is all about "attack first" and "alpha strike". Sure, unupgraded basic units are crap, but that's why you rush to get that attack/speed buff for Goblins and Wolf Riders and that sweet sweet double strike. You outwait your opponents, consume their retaliations with single unit fodder stacks and forget about orcs. Stronghold is definitely not a shooty faction and doesn't play like that - get Rocs and Behemots as soon as you can and that's where the real fun begins (if lucky you can have tier 7 ready on day Week 1 Day 5). Your units are fast attack oriented and if you need to cock block shooters, use your birds for that and divide them into more stacks to do so. For siege, cyclops are kings but there is no need to upgrade them, the regular unit is more cost effective - that + Earthquake will make short work of any walls. Play them for their strengths and don't be afraid to take some casualties and you should roflstomp through the map pretty easily, especially if you find a few external dwellings to further boost your already bountiful pop growth.

>>6633851
Your slow troop bitch carries your orcs and only gives 'em to your main when there's a fight where you need 'em.
Yeah, shooter stacks hurt in the first weeks but on the other hand you got week 1 behemoths.

>>6630528
What the hell

>>6633231
Succubus is nice but you'd have to tone down the lewdness probably since Heroes 2 has a kid friendly aesthetic

>>6633851
You need to remember your Stronghold ABCDs

>>6633231
gay
>>6633594
based

>>6634221
ah yes, think of the kids who will get irreversibly damaged by pixileted bikini woman from a shitty mod recreation of a 25 year old game inside of a 20 year old game thats only popular with slavs in their late 20s and upwards

>>6635304
It's more about tonal consistency tbqh

https://youtu.be/xjfPu0VRWt8
https://youtu.be/nct033XEsiY

>>6636378
are these unit leakes for the new L.A. faction?

>>6636373
If you can put cartoony rotting corpses in the game, you can put cartoony demonsluts in it as well.

>>6636693
dumb post

>>6636705
Great rebuttal, goblinoid.

>>6636693
>cartoony
Ok yes. When I thought of Succubi my mental image was more like red horned thot with big tiddies

>>6633678
Imps tier 2...
Just how shit are damned in this roster

>>6633594
>t.jvc

>>6637040

>>6600568
>>6600573
>>6600590
>>6600626
>>6600640
To me, I'll take MM8 for what it is.
I could have played 20 more games in that same MM6/7/8 format no problem.
8 isn't great, but like I said, I'll take what I can get.

What I wouldn't give for them to have had more time/money and to have made like 20 more games in that exact format. I'd be in heaven. I don't want fancier graphics or more complex gameplay etc. Just give me the same shit but more.

>>6637202
>I don't want fancier graphics
I think the graphics are full SOUL, I don't really dislike them

For the anon who made the Four corners map, I replayed it after getting my ass kicked. Went for the enemy town instead of holding onto the middle underground one. Eliminated one enemy, but the others started destroying me and trolling with dimension door.
It's a very fun map, props!

>>6637760
>I think the graphics are full SOUL, I don't really dislike them
Which... is why I don't want fancier ones

Are there any Hota and factory updates as of late?

>>6640520
factory gets delayed one day for every anti-hota post

>>6637202
This guy gets it

>>6640684
Fuck Horn of the Abyss

>>6640520
Yes, there was a Streamfest just now.
The Factory will be just about finished in about a month or so, but they will probably release it on New Year, like they always do. They revelead on streamfest that after Factory patch and some skill changes Hota Crew will appearently take a bigger break from Hota (still will be doing updates, just not anything groundbreaking) and will try to make their own successor game with people from NWC who worked on H3.
It's okay if you guys dislike Hota project, I'm just happy we're getting free updates to a timeless classic. It's literally the opposite of Ubuysoft to me.

>>6641127
>some skill changes
Any details on those? Will we finally see an Eagle Eye rework?

>ideas for Eagle Eye changes
>1
>You don't need wisdom to learn the spells you learn from eagle eye
>2
>When it triggers, you can cast that spell that turn in addition to your normal spell cast, it can also trigger for spells you've already learned

New Dwellings from the trailer

>>6641274
iirc in the Russian forum it was said that First Aid and Eagle Eye are most likely

New HotA trailer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60aiWSoryLQ

Thoughts?

>>6601779
Jesus

>>6641838
juggernauts are stupidly OP
>3 Juggernauts
>AOE attack on 2 enemies
>1058 dmg

can't tell if its video compression or not, but looks like they made the models not so clean at least so that they blend better with the rest of the 2D artwork

gay dragon looks a lot better than I thought it would going off the previous render they showed off

>>6641838
Looks nice but wait a minute
>Couatl rainbow dragon
>2000 Gold + crystal
Isn't this supposed to be the monster with the Invulnerability talent? Or is that just in the upgraded version... 2000 for a LVL7 monster with op as fuck talent seems awfully cheap.

>>6641907
>>6641946
I don't think they have balance stats yet. Must be a placeholder because otherwise... yeah

>>6641127
i want hd mod to do xxl random maps and i fucking want it now

fuck hota factions i want xxl vanilla homm3 you cunts

>>6641838
Man, I really don't think those units fit into the game that well visually, and I doubt it's just nostalgia, I think most Inferno units suck dick too.

>>6641946
>Invulnerability talent
what's this shit?

>>6641946
It's weak as fuck.
22/22 with an upgrade.
It's not quite Ghost Dragon but it's clearly intended to tank, whereas the actual tank unit seems like the offensive one. Of course enabling Armageddon degeneracy like that without even requiring an upgrade is something else.

>>6642529
you tell it to meditate, and for 1 turn it is invulnerable

>>6641946
Since there's two tier 7s, I can only imagine it being balanced one way:
Couatl has low hp and an average growth rate, selling at 2k.
2nd tier Couatl gets higher defense and sells at ~3.5k.
Juggernaut has a slow growth rate and sells at ~15k + lots of resources.

>>6642582
Upgraded coatl has at least 250 HP, probably 300?
No town-grown unit could possibly cost 15000, that's wack, even extremely powerful titans and archangels are only 5000 + tertiary.

>make new town for expansion
>has powerful creatures with game-breaking skills
>"my town has TWO super powerful units!!"
it's literally fanfic-tier

>>6642641
keep seething

>>6641838
not even close to this beauty

>>6641838
The Gay, the Bad, and the Ugly

>>6642503
H3 is a very old game so by now we all had time to get used to certain units. It feels natural to have stuff like steampunk, magic, nagas, indian and jewish mythology combined in Tower because it took time and effort to make this combination.
I hope that if it won't look natural even after several games, they will at least "fix" some units after the release.

>>6642669
this still looks like a bad photoshop
the capitol is nice tho

is hota the only real high quality mod that is like a legit addition to homm3?

>>6641838
Ayy the earthworms make the same chika chika chika sound as the one from Wind Waker
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlF0-Qs2xkI

>>6641907
>>6642038
they are attakcing 2 stacks, one of which is are magogs and the hero has 22 attack so its not that unbelivable

>>6641946
its okay when conflux did it

>>6642305
G maps not enough for your autism?

>>6642623
I can see it. Anon was probably thinking about price in comparison to crystal dragons. We don't know it:s health or defense though. Also your titan and archangels arent accompanied by a second tier 7 nor do they have an insane aoe attack.

>>6643174
>Also your titan and archangels arent accompanied by a second tier 7 nor do they have an insane aoe attack.
Yeah they resurrect and shoot instead, arguably very, very important.

>>6640767
Would you play a new game in the same format/style?

>>6641127
>will try to make their own successor game with people from NWC who worked on H3.
An actual professional project? That's cool but I hope it's something with its own identity rather than bootleg kickstarter HoMM-but-not-quite.

>>6641838
ngl, this shit looks better with every update

>>6643774
Hell yeah. I have mm6-8 installed on every machine I own. I sometimes play 9 just to pretend it's more of same. If a new game came out with the same graphics and gameplay I'd play the shit out of it.

What are the shittest HOMM3 campaigns?

>>6644643
Yog's campaign in SoD
Horn of the Abyss in Horn of the Abyss
Half of Chronicles

>>6644475
Thanks donko