User:Csaros/Mod - Changelog

Known issues

• WARNING! DO NOT LOAD SAVE FILES MADE WITHOUT THIS PATCH!!! Save files made with an older version of the patch are okay.
  • The game will even out the stats of all heroes to remain as they were in the save, even though the artifact values have changed! This will effectively give you free stats if you were equiping any of the nerfed artifacts, and reduce your stats if you were using Ring of the Magi.
• Some puzzle maps may become impossible to complete. If you encounter such maps, contact me, and I'll happily fix their difficulty.
• Since It's virtually impossible to "add" a new hero, I had to remove some dummy heroes used for portrait only - Tarnum's other incarnation portraits. Tarnum still works on all campaigns - only his image may be replaced by another one now. The version of HC I play uses a different portrait for him anyway.
• Some spell specialists ignore the result of their specialties in the description of the spell in the Spell Book. This is a base-game issue and for now I don't know how to fix it.
• There is a small visual bug where sometimes clicking on a new hero and then on another hero causes the gold rim to remain in place. This rim disappears soon, f.e. once another hero is double clicked.

Note: Using Tournament Rules will overwrite Dimension Door changes.

If you encounter any bugs, first re-download and re-install the mod to ensure you're using the latest version. If the bug persists, contact me.

Download

You can download the mod using this link

Current Version

The current version of the mod is 1.3.8 (you can also see it on the Main Menu screen). The mod is subject to change and updates with further tuning of the balance changes are released regularly. If you have any suggestions as to balance, feel free to message me on my Talk page or on Discord.

Alternative Versions

If you would rather play using the previous version (1.3.0), you can download it using this link instead.

Installation

Move all files to C:/.../Heroes Of Might and Magic III Complete/

Remember to back up your original files, or have access to an installer!

This mod requires fully updated HotA and HD+ mod.

Notice

Due to HotA announcing a new patch for the New Year's, which will most likely include a skill rebalance, expect a vastly different version of the mod within the first weeks of 1.7.2 (or 1.8, however they decide to call it) being available. I expect the incoming patch to feature secondary skill balance, so obviously this mod will be altered based on that.

If you want to play using the new heroes, you have to enable them for a particular map or template - they're banned by default in case someone doesn't want to use them. I recommend playing Battle of the Sexes map, which has all new heroes available.

Changes since 1.0

Version 1.3.8 changes

• Reverted some of the Steel Golem changes which made Tower weaker.
• Reverted Slayer bonus to 8/8/8/8.
• Dimension Door only gets movement reduction on the Expert level now.

Version 1.3.7 changes

• Interference is now available for select magic classes.
• Fire Magic and Water Magic are no longer banned for some classes (but they do have very low chance of appearing in the classes that previously could not acquire them). Chance of getting a magic school was kept the same among each of the might classes affected.
• Added a small change to pick-up text of the Armageddon's Blade combination artifacts in the English language version.

Version 1.3.6 changes

• Tweaked Titan's Thunder spell damage
• Titan's Thunder set now removes negative effects of component artifacts.
• Angelic Alliance casts Prayer for 50 turns on combat start.
• Angelic Alliance allows mixing all units without penalty.
• Ring of the Magi reached its final form - Major artifact that reduces mana cost of all combat spells by 2.
• Vial of Lifeblood affects only living units, to prevent Skeleton stacks from getting out of control.
• Reduced cost of Enchanted Springs (to 5 ore, 5 crystals)
• Reduced requirements of living dragons from Mage Guild 2 and Mage Guild 3 (base and upgrade) to Mage Guild 1 and Mage Guild 2.
• Reverted resource changes to Dragon Cave as a result of the change above.
• Reduced cost of Ogre Fort to 15 wood.
• Reduced cost of Gnoll Hut and Upg. Gnoll Hut.
• Gelare is now an Ice-Bolt specialist.
• Elmore's starting spell changed to Protection from Air.
• Sleen removed due to all available images being of very poor quality.
• New hero - Winstan.
• Archangel's Speed reduced by 1.
• Demon's attack reverted to 10, cost increased to 360.
• Halfling Grenadier's attack reduced to 4 (by 1).
• Juggernaut's Defense increased by 2.
• Trolls moved to Stronghold.
• Small AI and Fight Value changes.
• Implosion scaling reduced to 60*SP.
• Protection from Fire's cost reduced to 8/7.
• Reverted changes to Destroy Undead and Fly.
• Tweaked number of guards in a Pyramid.
• Rashka starts with Protection from Fire.

Version 1.3.5 changes

• Tweaked Mysticism values
• Reverted changes to the Mysticism specialty
• Slight fixes to the remastered Long Live the Queen map
• Magic Mirror cost has been reduced to 15/10.
• Tweaked magic mirror reflection % values.
• Dimension Door mana cost has been increaed to 30/25/25/25.
• Reverted ability to fly on Air and Storm Elementals (it could lead to very easy cheese against enemy units).
• Dragon Cave dwelling cost in ore and wood reduced.
• Manticore Lair cost slightly reduced.
• Lizardman's attack and defense stats have been swapped.
• Increased the scaling of Titan's Thunder to provide a more valuable alternative to the Armageddon's Blade.
• Ring of the Magi has been bumped down to Minor tier, cost reduced to 4000.
• Mana cost of precision reverted to 7/5.
• Monere, Erdamon, Fiur and Kalt no longer specialize in elementals, and instead they specialize in a skill they started with before this patch: Monere in Logistics, Fiur in Offense, Kalt in Learning, Erdamon in Armorer.

Version 1.3.4 changes

• Fixed map editor not showing Roland and Mutare Drake.
• Increased damage scaling of Titan's Thunder.
• Added an updated version of the Long Live the Queen campaign in the optional files.
• Fixed some minor issues (missing text, incorrect commas, etc.)
• The description of upgraded Conflux buildings now states they are building upgrades (based on a user request)

Version 1.3.3 changes

• Fixed Athe instead specializing in Griffins. That damned 0-based counting.
• Having received a few complaints about how weak she is, Athe now starts with Advanced Diplomacy and Visions spell.
• Air, Storm and Fire elementals can now fly. They already had flying animations, so all that was needed was an ability flag.

Version 1.3.2 changes

• Reverted the buff to Blind when using Fire magic skill.
• Changed availability of Athe, Gwenneth and Sleen on standard maps (they now replace Ash, Sanya and Serena, respectively).
• Catherine replaces Sorsha by default.
• Main menu now informs you that you're playing the Pumpkin Patch
• Fixed a few errors in the Polish translation.

Version 1.3.1 changes

• Replaced mana cost changes to follow base-games rule of -n mana for nth level spell with expertise. See Spell page for more information on the way the base game does it.
  • Slow's cost changed to 8/7
  • Dispel's cost changed to 7/6/4/3
  • Remove Obstacle's cost changed to 3/1
  • Protection from Water's cost changed to 6/5
  • Prayer's mana cost changed to 12/8.
  • Protection from Fire's cost changed to 10/9
  • Disguise: cost changed to 3/1
  • Fortune: cost reverted to 7/5
  • Protection from Air's cost changed to 11/9
• Charm of Mana, Talisman of Mana and Mystic Orb of Mana now regenerate 3/5/7 mana each. Costs reduced.
• Mysticism regeneration increased to 5/10/20 mana per day.
• Learning % increased to 40/70/100.
• Archery % increased to 20/35/50.
• Dargem's specialty now increases damage reduction from Air Shield by 25%.
• Fixed swapped rarities of Ring of Life and Ring of Vitality in Help description text in the map editor.
• Fixed all texts that were incorrectly updated or were missing commas, etc.
• Fixed charm and mystic orb of mana being swapped in their bonuses
• Re-balanced fangarms as a result of the Hypnotize changes. They are now a level 6 unit (although they are noticeably weaker than most Level 6 units).
• Added 4 random signs to both versions of the Battle of the Sexes to make finding the secret easier.
• Added a polish translation. It requires already using the acidcave's translation of 1.7.0 (available here)
  • Fixed numerous mistranslations, incorrect texts and missing texts in the polish translation (but judging by the number of issues I've encountered, there's probably still some left).
  • Changed some of the creature name translations used (f.e. Olgoi-Khorkhoi is now translated as "Jadamski Robak Śmierci", Cornucopia is called "Róg Obfitości", etc.)
  • Polish translation of heroes 3 still has a lot of issues and lack of vital information (spell damage calculation, descriptions of many effects, etc.) and I certainly missed a lot of these mistakes. I may create a completely new polish translation at some point.
• Increased Magic Mirror's % chance to reflect damage to 30/30/50/70%.
• Visions spell moved to Air Magic to recompensate for DD being moved to Fire Magic.
• Tweaked Advanced Ballistic stats due to Cyclopes 1-stacks becoming an issue.
• Added a description to Hypnotize that explains how counterstrike of hypnotized creatures works.
• Swapped Lizard Warrior's Attack and Defense stats to make them slightly better shooters.
• Buffed Scorpicores: cost reduced by 50 gold, HP increased by 10, minimum damage increased by 2. AI value altered to match new strength based on some combat tests.
• Tweaked some AI values by a few points here and there.
• Tweaked dungeon building costs for manticores. Total costs for all dwellings are the same.
• Imps and Familiars can now fly.
• Horned Demons (and Horned Demons only) now have the Jousting ability. Cost increased to 350, Attack reduced by 1, AI values changed.
• Reduced Efreet's Fire Shield to 25%, matching % to other level 6 unit abilities (Blind, Deathblow, etc.)

Version 1.3 changes

• Fixed all missing and low-quality specialty images.
• Reduced starting gold bonus to 1000-1500
• Reverted some starting army changes based on user feedback.
• Tweaked all spell specialists to be roughly just as useful. All specialties were divided into a few types and a separate bonus applies to each type.
• Added Bios to Athe, Kastore and Sleen.
• Added a new specialty - Scholar.
• New hero - Sleen. He is a Wizard - Precision specialist, starting with Wisdom and Archery. Yes, it's the Judge Sleen. For now he has a portrait of a similar-looking character from a different Might and Magic game.
• New hero - Gwenneth. She is a Cleric - Scholar specialist, starting with Wisdom and Scholar. She has a portrait that comes from the unused game files (thanks, Aphra!).
• Changed Athe's specialty to Diplomacy specialty, because Curse specialty did not calculate the damage correctly.
• Cape of Velocity is now a Relic.
• Updated two maps from AB campaigns to accomodate hero changes made.
• Reverted the Castle Gate direction change, as it created an irreconcilable issue with multiplayer play.
• Decreased the cost of Castle Gate.
• Removed the "Are you sure you wish to end your turn?" message if all heroes have less than 50 mp.
• Increased Upg. Gantry cost to 20 ore.
• Added art event to Ring of the Magi.

Version 1.2.1 changes

• Fixed a bug with too many quick left-right clicks after clicking the town hall crashing the game.
• Added Right-click functionality to Town Hall.
• Extended Hover info on the Town Hall.
• New hero - Athe, Heretic.
• Changed the cost of the Upg. Gnoll Hut to 5 wood and 5 ore from 10 wood.

Version 1.2 changes

• New hero - Kastore, the Tactics specialist.
• New specialty for Melodia and an image for Inteus's new Fireball specialty.
• Genie base cost reduced by 50.
• Updated h3hota_maped.exe, so that all new maps are made in a manner compliant with this patch.
• Fixed a bug with Adela's Bless specialty working like Daremyth's specialty instead.
• Updated Dragon's Blood campaign to use Mutare correctly.
• Updated Tarnum's Overlord campaign (Sword of Frost) to use his hero character correctly.
• Removed Tactics explanation on every battle (why, NWC?)
• Added a few secrets to rumors and other messages. If you solve their riddles, you'll find something cool.
• Fixed Sirens calculating XP based on Fight Value and not AI value. Changed their divison to 1/4 (as originally intended in this mod, I somehow forgot to divide it earlier)
• Tweaked Cure and Remove obstacle numbers.
• Since Dispel can no longer remove Dendroid Binding (because it targets only enemies), Cure now can.
• To make up for Dispel not having any effect progression from Basic to Advanced, Dispel now has separate mana cost drops (similar to Teleport) - 8/6/5/4.
• Changed Octavia's and Synca's starting spells.

Version 1.1 changes

• Reverted Cloak of the Undead King changes
• Gave Synca (a Scholar) a spellbook to use that Scholar.
• Changed Master Genie's spellcast ability. Now they cannot cast Anti-Magic, but can cast Cure. Coded in a way to allow easy addition of Anti-Magic and Clone spells for those who want them.
• Added new UI feature! Clicking the town hall icon opens the buildings menu!
• Frederick is now available on every map that has 15 or less other Factory heroes available.
• Increased Sharpshooter and Enchanter prices by 25% each.
• Removed the Power of the Dragon Father stat buffs
• Death Cloud changes reverted.

Changelog and Reasoning

Artifacts

Some QoL stuff added:

+ Combination artifacts state their component effects!

+ All pieces of combination artifacts now mention their belonging to a set in their description!

+ Endless Sack of Gold is now a Major artifact! // Having this in your Utopia was probably the worst feeling ever.

+ Eagle Eye artifacts increase Eagle Eye % by 10/20/30% and don't require the Eagle Eye skill. // They did nothing before.

+ Archery artifacts work without the Archery skill.

A few artifacts are in my opinion a little too strong.

- Pendant of Courage: +2 Morale, +2 Luck. Cost: 6000. // This artifact was the equivalent of Expert Leadership and Expert Luck combined, and it's a Major class?

- Necklace of Swiftness is a minor class artifact, cost 5000. // I think developers didn't know how good speed is with this design. Ring of Wayfarer is still Major.

- Cape of Velocity is now a Relic. // It's, the strongest Major class arti and the strongest Cloak in the game. Now it's much more rare.

Apart from that, I consider Interference Stacking to be a significant issue for the game - Ignatius at level 4 with 3 artifacts can reduce enemy mage's power by 75% (!), while Giselle at level 17 reduces power of any hero she encounters to 1, provided she has the aforementioned artifacts. In my opinion, Interference (and Giselle) are not the problem; it is the fact that each separate source of interference is stronger than the one before (as it reduces a higher % of remaining Power). To combat this, I brought all 3 artifacts to the same power and made them slightly less common. Notice, that interference artifacts have a much more powerful effect if you already have an interference skill or other interference artifacts. Ignatius with expert Interference removes over 14% of remaining enemy power thanks to a Seal of Sunset, while Theodorus without interference removes only 10% (as that is the bare bonus).

- Plate of Dying Light decreases enemy power by 10% and is now a Major artifact (cost 5000)

- Charm of Eclipse and Seal of Sunset are now both Major artifacts.

Combination Artifacts

Combination artifacts in my opinion have too little variety. If I can get any piece of Angelic alliance, I'll always use it; and the only viable end-game artifacts are the Ironfist, Armor of the Damned and Angelic Alliance (because Dragon Father has 27 pieces to collect and Titan's Thunder has no real set bonus).

+ Armageddon's Blade is now a new combination artifact, comprised of Shield of the Damned, Sword of Hellfire, Breastplate of Brimstone and the Hellstorm Helmet.

+ Sword of Hellfire, Shield of the Damned and Breastplate of Brimstone have sliightly more verbose pick-up text now.

+ Power of the Dragon Father: Grants complete magic immunity. // This should feel a bit better for how damn rare it is.

+ Titan's Thunder spell deals 100 dmg + 50 * Spell Power. On top of that, equipping the set removes negative effects of the components. // Now the set does *something* and is in many ways a counterpart to Armageddon's Blade the way Ironfist of the Ogre is to the AotD.

- Angelic Alliance: Cost of all pieces increased to 1250 per 1 to any stat.

- Angelic Alliance components provide 1/2/2/3/3/4 to all stats, instead of 1/2/3/4/5/6. // Aphra, if you want to revert it, here's the offset: 0x23e7dc 02020202030303030303030304040404 -> 03030303 04040404 05050505 06060606. In my opinion these artifacts are still healthily unbalanced (+12 total? +16??)

- Angelic alliance allows mixing units from all factions, but only for the hero equipping it (instead of good units and stronghold and fortress on all heroes always, was it intended?).

+ Angelic Alliance casts prayer for 50 turns, instead of 10 (matching other combination artifact spellcasting).

- Ring of the Magi is no longer a combination artifact. It's instead a Major class artifact which reduces spell cost of all spells by 2 (similar to how Mage's special ability works). // I don't know how to add new artifact sets for now; because of that, I had to remove one combination arti. Ring of the Magi seemed the most useless.

Elixir of Life is a bit too common for my taste - we've all seen Lexiav casually get it from crypts and such by day 2. I also find it peculiar how the progression is 1/1/2 instead of a more intuitive 1/2/3 (especially since 3 HP isn't particularly broken).

- Ring of Vitality is now a Minor class artifact.

+ Ring of Life is now a Major class artifact, +2 HP to all units, cost 10000

+ Vial of Lifeblood is now a Relic class artifact, +3 HP to all living units, cost 15000

Wizard's Well was re-balanced simply because of how it defeats the purpose of having a high mana pool.

+ Charm of Mana, Talisman of Mana and Mystic Orb of Mana replenish 3/5/7 mana points per day extra. Cost changed to 750/1250/1750.

- Wizard's Well regenerates 50% mana per day

And finally, some very weak artifacts were buffed.

+ Cornucopia gives 7 of each rare resource per day (total).

+ Statue of Legion set pieces increase growth by 8/6/4/3/2 . Cost to 10000, class to minor/minor/Major/Major/Relic.

Buildings

I didn't want to change too much; all I ended up doing was slightly alter cost of particularly weak / strong buildinds to make building choices have a little more complexity, create some QOL and fun changes and tried to keep up the beauty of some symmetries the game possesses, without interfering too much with balance. The only exception is Gantry, which had a price increase due to a change to Juggernauts.

All Towns

+ Added a mention that Moats deal damage.

Grails

+ Skyship grants +300 mana during a siege.

+ Guardian of Earth increases Spell Power by 30 during a siege.

+ Warlords' Monument increases Attack by 30 during a siege.

+ Carnivorous Plant increases Attack and Defense by 15 each during a siege.

Rampart

+ Mystic Pond's cost has been reduced to 5 ore, 1500 gold. It produces 3-6 of a random rare resource each week.

+ Fountain of Fortune's cost decreased to 3 crystals and 1000 gold.

+ Enchanted Spring's cost changed to 5 ore, 5 crystals and 2000 gold.

+ Dragon Cliffs require only Mage Guild level 1 (instead of Mage Guild level 2).

+ Upg. Dragon Cliff require only Mage Guild level 2 (instead of Mage Guild level 3).

Inferno

+ The Blacksmith now provides a Ballista. Demoniacs get to utilise their high Attack skill.

+ Castle Gate cost decreased to 5000 gold.

+ Brimstone Stormclouds' cost decreased to 3 sulphur and 1000 gold

- Upg. Demon Gate's cost increased by 5 sulphur and 1000 gold. // See the Creatures section for explanation

Necropolis

- Necromancy Amplifier's cost increased to 5 ore and 2000 gold.

- Cover of Darkness's cost increased to 3 mercury and 1000 gold.

Dungeon

. The Blacksmith now provides an Ammo Cart. Medusas and Beholders get to shoot a little more than 4 shots.

- Mana vortex' cost increased to 5 crystals and 2500 gold.

- Portal of Summoning's cost increased to 5 gems and 2500 gold.

+ Manticore Lair's cost reduced to 5 ore, 5 wood, 3 mercury, 3 sulfur, 3500 gold.

+ Dragon Cave requires only Mage Guild level 1 (instead of Mage Guild level 2).

+ Upg. Dragon Cave requires only Mage Guild level 2 (instead of Mage Guild level 3).

Stronghold

- Hall of Valhalla's cost increased to 5 ore and 1000 gold.

+ Ogre Fort's cost reduced to 15 wood (instead of 20 wood).

Fortress

- Cage of Warlords's cost increased to 5 wood and 1000 gold.

+ Gnoll Hut's cost changed to 5 wood and 5 ore (from 10 wood).

+ Upg. Gnoll Hut's cost changed to 5 wood from 10 wood.

Conflux

- The Blacksmith now provides an Ammo Cart. Storm and Ice elementals focus on shooting, after all.

+ Restored original building names from AB.

Factory

- Upg. Gantry's cost increased to 20 ore (by 10). // See the Creatures section for explanation.

Heroes

Some heroes are never chosen as mains, and some are just straight-up banned from many templates. Many heroes' specialties are not even noticeable.

Specialties

Campaign Heroes

- Kilgor and Xeron are now standard specialists for their units (Behemoths and Devils, respectively)

- Sir Mullich increases speed of all creatures by 1.

- Gelu now only upgrades Marksmen and Grand Elves into Sharpshooters.

- Dracon now only upgrades Zealots and Archmagi into Enchanters.

- Bidley now only upgrades Corsairs into Sea Dogs.

Strong Heroes

- Galthran's specialty changed to increases Attack and Defense of skeleton warriors by 2, without a Speed increase.

- Leena's specialty changed to Estates.

Weak Heroes

+ All unit specialists now increase their units Attack and Defense by 7% instead of 5% per level per creature level.

+ Lacus specialty increases Water and Ice elemental attack by 2 and damage by 1 now. // They were rather weak, and this follows the way other elementalists specialties work.

+ Inteus specialty changed to Fireball specialty. // Since Bloodlust does not work on most Conflux units anyway

+ Gelare specialty changed to Ice Bolt specialty. // Since Dispel is completely unusable and there already is a good +350 gold hero for Conflux (Grindan). Now Gelare can fulfill a role of a water-magic hero.

+ Melodia's specialty changed to Luck specialty - gains permanent +1 Luck.

Planeswalkers

A lot of the planeswalkers are near-identical to one another (Fiur-Ignissa, Pasis-Monere, Thunar-Erdamon, Kalt-Lacus). I changed one hero of each pair to differ, while the other remains as one of the original heroes of the pair.

• Erdamon specializes in Armorer, starts with Armorer and Interference.
• Fiur specializes in Offense, starts with Offense and Artillery (as Ignissa did before).
• Monere specializes in Logistics, starts with Offense and Logistics (as before)
• Kalt specializes in Learning, starts with Tactics and Learning (as before)
• Ignissa starts with Advanced Offense (the way Fiur did before these changes).

Spell specialties

Spell specialties are a bit of a mess - some increase effect by set %, some scale with hero level, other with creature level... And there's seemingly no reason and rhyme to it. On top of that, some specialties are waay better than others (Solmyr vs Victoria, f.e.). I set them apart into a few groups based on what types of spells they specialize in and then made each group scale differently (but following the way the original game scales similar spells).

• The level 4* damage* spell specialists now increase the effect of their spells by 1% per level (regardless of creature level). These include Thant, Deemer and Aislinn, Solmyr, Xyron, Jeddite and Alamar, Adela, Wrathmont, and Astral.
• The level 2-3* damage* spell specialists now increase the effect of their spells by 25%. These include Ziph, Septienna, Victoria, Alagar, Adelaide, Xarfax, Manfred and Inteus. (just like Luna)
• The level 1 damage* spell specialists now increase the effect of their spells by 50%. These include Uland, Astra (just like Ciele).
• The level 4 non-damage* spell specialists now increase the effect of their spells by +3/+3/+2/+2/+1/+1/+0, depending on the creature level - only change is Coronius (it's just like Loynis).
• The level 1-3 non-damage* spell specialists now increase the effect of their spells by +3. These include Weakness, Stone Skin, Bloodlust, and Precision (similarly to Aenain).
• Haste ( Cyra, Brissa, Terek) specialists receive a +2 bonus to their spells (just like Aenain).

* Animate Dead, Hypnotize and Bless are treated as level 4 spells here

* damage spells include spells that scale with unit HP (Animate Dead, Resurrection, Hypnotize, etc.) or unit damage (Bless).

Hero Classes

+ Heretics start with 1/0/2/2 instead of 1/1/2/1 in order to cast their own spells.

+ Artificer's magic school chances were altered to better reflect their lore: 4 Air, 3 Earth, 4 Fire, 3 Water.

+ Captain's magic school chances were altered to better reflect their lore: Air 4, Earth 3, Fire 1, Water 3

+ Overlords, Barbarians and Mercenaries can learn water magic, but the odds are very low (1/112). Obviously standard magic-school-every-4-levels still applies, but it shoudl still rarely pick water magic for them. Total chance of getting a school of magic were kept the same (so simply the values in-between each school where shifted). Signature main schools (Earth, Earth, and Fire & Air respectively) were kept as before.

+ Beastmasters and Rangers can now learn fire magic. Odds are very low (1/112), only shifted around the chances for existing schools. Signature main schools were kept the same.

+ Witches can now learn Resistance and Interference (1/112 each). Their Eagle Eye chance was reduced from 10 to 9 to make them slightly weaker in return ;)

+ Magic classes can now learn Interference, with the exact odds as the ones they had for Resistance before. This means that Wizards, Artificers, Warlocks and Elementalists can't learn it.

+ Fixed the incorrect stat progression of wizards past level 10: 30/20/20/30 replaced for the correct 20/20/30/30

Bios

+ Fixed the typo in Jeddite’s Biography.

+ Extended Mutare Drake's bio.

+ Slightly extended Catherine's bio.

Starting Armies

+ Griffins: 2-4 (instead of 2-3) // This will mostly affect Edric.

- Centaurs: 12-22 (instead of 12-24) // This is to balance the Elves change.

+ Dwarves: 3-6 (instead of 3-5) // This will affect Ufretin the most. Other heroes gain 0.5 a dwarf, which is nothing.

+ Elves: 3-4 (instead of 2-4) // Avoiding a horrible roll on Elves - the primary powerstack.

+ Gargoyles: 5-9 (instead of 5-7) // This will mostly affect Piquedram. Other heroes gain 1 Gargoyle, which is nothing.

+ Walking Dead: 4-8 (instead of 4-6) // This will mostly affect Straker. Other heroes gain 1 walking dead, which is nothing.

- Troglodytes: 18-27 (instead of 20-30) // This will mostly affect Shakti. Other heroes lose out about 2 troglodytes, which is basically nothing.

+ Beholders: 3-5 (onstead of 3-4) // This is to counter the Troglodyte change.

- Basilisks: 4-5 // instead of 4-7, that was busted

- Air Elementals: 3-4 (instead of 3-5) // This will make Pasis a little less of an insta pick.

+ Water Elementals: 2-4 (instead of 2-3) // This will make Lacus a little better. Also balances out the change to Air elementals.

- Pirates: 4-5 (instead of 4-7) // Before, you could start the game with Anabel, buy one hero and have 21 pirates immediately. Compare that to Ivor's 12 elves on a maximum roll.

- Gelu, Dracon, Xeron, Tark and Bidley start with the same army as standard heroes.

- Frederick starts with the same army as Todd. // He's an automaton specialist and therefore starts with a standard army for an automaton specialist.

Miscellaneous

+ Elmore (Navigation specialist) is now a Navigator. His starting spell is Protection from Air. // duh.

+ Tavin starts with Basic Luck, Basic Offense // making Luck a Halfling's racial skill

- Mutare Drake starts without a spellbook. // She doesn't have any magic skills and she is a might hero. Other Overlords (except Synca - see below) don't have a spellbook.

Scholars

The only possible use of the Scholar skill requires using a Spell Book.

+ Rashka starts with a spellbook and the Protection from Fire spell.

+ Octavia starts with a spellbook and the Curse spell.

+ Synca starts with a spellbook and the Haste spell.

New Heroes

Kastore

New hero, Kastore, has been added. One of the future patches will include a campaign with him present (and scheming, as always).

Kastore starts with Wisdom (as all Warlocks do) and Tactics (because of his specialty). He is a Tactics specialist: "Increases the range of Tactics skill by 2. When comparing Tactics skill level with the enemy hero, Kastore has Tactics skill at one level greater than normal."

Only a fool would let somebody else tell their own story. For a tribesman like you, suffice it to say that I have come from another sphere. When the Ancients locked themselves in the Eden of their own creation, the event you simply call "The Silence", I knew we must aspire to take the place of the Ancient for ourselves. I came to Antagarich, because I saw potential in this sphere and secrets hidden underneath it. I shall use this potential, and bend it to my will.

Kastore is disabled by default, in case someone wants to play without him.

Athe

New hero, Athe has been added. She is a Succubi Diplomacy specialist.

Athe is a half-sister to Xeron. Unlike her brother, she's repulsed by brute force. Instead, she prefers to use magic and wits to achieve her aims. She clearly took after their mother, for she is said to have a silver tongue - even the bravest of heroes will yield to her will, only to find themselves begging for her mercy.

Athe starts with Advanced Diplomacy (from her specialty and her race - succubi). Her specialty works just like Melchior's. Her starting spell is Visions.

Winstan

New hero, Winstan, has been added. He is a Wizard with Precision specialty.

First known for his brilliant writing, Winstan's political career quickly advanced, leading him to the coveted position of ambassador of Bracada in Erathia. He predicted the Kreegan attack, an event later known as the Liberation Wars. All because of his uncanny ability to see the world for what it is. Some say this is why his troops never miss their mark.

Winstan starts with Wisdom (as all Wizards do) and Archery (to match his specialty). His starting spell is Precision.

Gwenneth

New hero, Gwenneth, has been added. She is a Cleric with Scholar specialty: "When updating spellbooks with other heroes, the hero can learn and teach spells of one level higher than normal."

Gwenneth always preferred studying with her siblings over anything else. When the news of King Nicolas Gryphonheart's post-mortem re-awakening reached her, she decided to switch the focus of her studies to the undead.

Gwenneth starts with Wisdom (as all Clerics do) and Scholar (because of her specialty). Her starting spell is Destroy Undead.

New hero portraits

Two hero portraits that I will use in incoming campaigns have been added:

• King Nicholas Gryphonheart (Lich)
• Archibald Ironfist.

Banned by default

Due to HD mod's limit of 16 heroes per faction, the following heroes are (not) available by default:

+ Gwenneth

- Sanya

+ Winstan

- Serena

- Xeron

- Ash

+ Athe

- Galthran

- Kastore

+ Kilgor

- Oris

- Tark

+ Zilare

- Elmore

+ Murdoch

+ Frederick (if there are less than 16 factory heroes available)

- Floribert

All other campaign heroes are unavailable by default.

Creatures

War Machines

War machines are famously bad, to the point where their respective skills suffer as a result. At the same time, Cannon is by far the strongest war machine.

+  First Aid Tent: HP 150, cost 1000.

+  Ammo Cart: HP 150. AI 300.

+  Ballista's Attack and Defense increased to 12. Level reduced to 4 (for the sake of Ballista specialists) // Ballista specialists now have a better powerstack with them!

+  Cannon's Attack reduced to 15, damage 3-5, cost 3500. Level reduced to 5 (for the sake of Jeremy). // Cannon is infinitely superior to the Ballista. Hopefully this will make them more akin to one another.

Castle

- Archangel's speed reduced to 17 (by 1). // Archangels are by far the best unit in the game. That is still the case, but now a hero with Gold Dragons and a Ring of the Wayfarer or a hero with Black Dragons and the Cape of Velocity get to cast the first spell.

Tower

•  Genies cost reduced to 500 (by 50). // Genies are relatively weak compared to Master Genies and I want some hot genie-lover to notice me for making this change.
•  Master Genies can no longer cast Anti-Magic. // The most annoying thing to happen when playing Tower is Master Genies casting Anti-Magic on you Master Gremlin on turn 1, and your other master genie stacks just standing there, unable to cast anything else. If you want them to cast Anti-Magic, edit 0x047bf4 to 14. If you want them to cast Anti-Magic and also Clone, edit it to 15 instead.

Inferno

I wanted to buff Inferno a little bit, but not too much. I decided to put most buffs on the Demon Farming, which is heavily underutilized compared to f.e. Necromancy.

+  Familiar's growth increased to 18 (by 3), horde growth to 9 (by 1). // This increased demon farming by 1 per week.

+  Familiar's "Magic Channel" ability now gives 33% (rounded down) of enemies spent spellpoints.

+  Imps and  Familiars now fly. // Yes, they did have wings and moved in a way deceptively similar to flying, but they couldn't cross obstacles because the game considered them a land unit. Based on testing (mostly by guest_273), these units now seem much more valuable despite their stats being exactly as they were before. This makes them superior to Gremlins (but not to Master Gremlins) which is a valuable spot in my opinion.

+  Hell Hound's growth increased to 6 (by 1). // Growth 5 on level 3 is a sick joke. This will also increase demon farming by 1 per week.

+  Horned Demon's now have the Jousting ability. Cost increased to 360. Building cost increased (see Buildings). // Horned Demons are essentially identical to regular demons except for a slightly higher HP. Their only use is to demon-farm them into more demons, keep upgrading, and so on. This strategy is now less viable (as one would have to spend extra 700 gold per 1 demon farmed this way); at the same time, Horned Demons are a little better, especially when commanded by a hero. As a result of the attack decrease, Horned Demons have to embrace their goat-like characteristics to charge into the enemies, and Pikeman have something to be immune to.

+  Pit Lord's cost decreased from 700 to 666.

+  Efreet Sultan's now have a slightly stronger Fire Shield (25%) that stacks with the Fire Shield spell, as long as you have the Black Orb. // I know, this will come up so often.

Dungeon

•  Scorpicore's cost reduced by 50, HP increased by 10, damage floor increased by 2.

Fortress

• Swapped  Lizardman's and  Lizard Warrior's Attack and Defense skills. // This will make him a slightly better shooter, without being too much of a change.

Conflux

•  Fire Elementals now fly. // Yes, their animations was already that of a flying unit, but the flags were not marked as flying.

Factory

-  Halfling's shots reduced to 12 (halved).

-  Halfling Grenadier's shots reduced to 16 (by 8), Attack reduced to 4 (by 1) price increased to 65 (by 5). // Halflings are too good compared to a Master Gremlin for my taste.

+  Gunslinger's and [[Bounty Hunter}}'s HP increased by 5, but defence reduced by 2. // This will make them about as vulnerable in all cases, except for spells, which they should withstand a little better now.

+  Juggernaut's speed increased by 1, defense increased to 25 (by 2). // This, as well as the Gantry cost change, will solidify Juggernauts as the strong-but-expensive alternative to weak-but-cheap Couatls, instead of having Juggernauts be slightly better but slightly more expensive.

Neutrals

-  Sharpshooter's cost increased to 500 gold // because of Gelu

-  Enchanter's cost increased to 1000 gold // because of Dracon

Due to the changes to the Hypnotize spell, Fangarms became much stronger than before. As a result, they have been rebalanced.

+  Fangarm's stats altered: Atk 14, Def 10, HP 80, Dmg 10-14, growth 2, cost 800. They are now a level 6 unit and spawn 5-12 when randomly generated.

For the purposes of morale and native terrain:

• •  Trolls and  Boars belong to Stronghold,
  •  Mummies belong to Necropolis,
  •  Satyrs and  Leprechauns belong to Rampart,
  •  Peasants belong to Castle,
  •         All Golems purchasable at the Golem Factory belong to Tower.

On-hit-chance Abilities

Primarily QoL for the abilities to ever hit and to do something once they do.

+ All 20% chance per hit abilities have 25% chance per hit now (Aging, Death Blow, Disease, Blind, Petrify, Paralyze, Acid Breath, Lightning Strike).

+ Disease reduces Attack and Defense by 4.

+ Petrified units take 25% damage less than normal.

- Lightning Strike is now a level 2 spell. // To make it the real Lightning Bolt

+ Aging is no longer considered a 5th level spell.

+ Poison now has 33% chance to apply.

+ Fear now has 12.5% chance to apply.

AI and Fight values

All of these except the Green and Red dragon change are a result of previous changes.

• Green and Red Dragon's AI values swapped.
• Zombie - 130, 162
• Vampire Lord - 798, 665.
• Dread Knight - 2405, 2049
• Ghost Dragon - 4743, 3260
• Horned Demon - 482, 546.
• Efreet Sultan - 2390, 1839.
• Medusa - 520, 380
• Medusa Queen - 580, 424
• Scorpicore - 1772, 1372
• Thunderbird - 1111, 872
• Basilisk - 554, 509
• Greater Basilisk - 718, 565
• Rust Dragon - 26697, 24271
• Azure Dragon - 79633, 56878
• Cannon - 725, 800
• Mummies - 279, 279
• Fangarms - 1327, 1327
• Juggernauts - 6563, 5468
• Marksmen 184, 165
• Grand Elfes 331, 235
• Wolf Raiders 211, 174
• Halfling Grenadier 95, 84
• Halfling 75, 65
• Master Gremlin 55, 65
• Imp 52, 50
• Familiar 64, 60.

Secondary Skills

- Navigation increases movement on water by 50/75/100%. // The skill was absoolutely necessary on island-type maps. Now its useful, but not as much of a must-have.

+ Ballistics hit chances increased for higher levels. Expert Ballistics now shoots three times. // Ballistics is considered the worst skill; with this change, it's possible to knock-out all three arrow towers or make a hole in the wall AND the gate all in turn 1, before the enemy even starts their turn. Advanced ballistics wasn't affected that much in order to avoid excessively buffing Cyclops.

+ Eagle Eye learning chance increased to 60/70/80%. Eagle Eye allows for learning spells up to 3/4/5th level. // The skill is still bad, but at least it's usable now for some crazy hit-and-run strategy.

+ Learning bonus increased to 40/70/100% (~2/3/4 extra levels) // Learning pays off for itself and grants an extra level; Learning specialists now have up to 6 levels extra after level 10, which should be pretty good.

+ Sorcery increases spell damage by 10/20/30%. // Matching Offense. Sorcery is still worse than having an Orb of Firnament / Tempestuous Fire / Slit, but at least it's useful now. Sorcery specialists get 1.5% damage per level, which should feel relevant and will make Sandro and Malekith reasonable late-game picks.

+ First Aid skill now increases healing more (from 40-50 / 60-75 / 80-100 to 60-75 / 80-100 / 100-125).

+ Mysticism now regenerates 10/20/30 mana per turn. // It's baffling how buffing it by 400% by HotA did not make this skill remotely useful. This shows a serious problem with the design of this skill. I believe Mysticism is about as good or slightly worse than Intelligence, as long as daily mana use is below Daily Mana Regeneration * 3. Making it 20 at expert mirrors Logistics values (so there is precedence) and also makes the skill better later on, where it normally starts to fall off.

+ Archery now increases ranged unit damage by 20/35/50% (matching values of Intelligence).

Spells

+ Necropolis can learn Cure now (5%). Bloodlust chance reduced (to 0%). // It's a friendly mind spell to which undead are wholly immune; Cure fits theme-wise, as Necropolis already has First Aid Tents and can learn Resurrection.

+  Town Portal: Mana 25/20/20/20. Belongs now to all Magic Schools. Movement cost increased to 400/400/400/300. // Town Portal is irreplaceable on maps larger than S size with more than 2 towns and one of the chief reasons Earth Magic is the best skill in the game. Now Earth Magic is more balanced, other schools have greater potential,

-  Dimension Door: Belongs to Fire Magic now. Limited to once per day, unless the hero has Expert Fire Magic (in which case the limit is 2 uses per day). Mana 30/25/25/25. AI 40. Movement cost 400/400/400/300. // Tournament rules already limited Dimension Door to 2 casts per turn before. I couldn't keep Dimension Door in Air Magic, as with the Town Portal changes, this would make Air Magic possess all three adventure map spells and therefore make it far stronger than any other school of magic. Fire seemed fitting - it has no adventure map spells of its own and Inferno already has Castle Gate which is a fiery teleport; so do Archdevils.

+  Visions spell moved to Air Magic, to compensate for Dimension Door moving to Fire Magic.

+  Magic Arrow's damage increased to 10/10/20/50 + 5*SP. // This will only have an effect on heroes who level up a school of magic to expert before they get their hands on some good spells. They will now be recompensated a little for not having access to something remotely useful.

Earth

-  Slow: Mana 8/7 AI 8/8/16/24. // Think twice before you decide to abuse AI with shooters + slow; mana cost is now 40% higher on expert.

+  Quicksand spawns 6/6/7/8 mines.

+  Death Ripple: Damage 10/10/20/50 + SP*5. Doesn't affect unliving.

-  Implosion: Damage 100/100/200/300 + SP*60.

Water

+  Remove Obstacle: Mana 3/1. // When playing with the patch, I found myself actually choosing to use it as a poor-man's Haste.

+  Cure: Heals 10/10/20/50 + 5*SP hit points. No longer removes Hypnosis. // Removing Hypnosis was bugged on Expert level already, and there are other spells that remove hypnosis (including Dispel, Magic Mirror, Berserk, Anti-Magic...)

.  Dispel: Now always targets enemies only, to prevent Expert Dispel ruining your own buffs. Mana cost changed to 7/6/5/4.

.  Protection from Water: Mana 6/5.

+  Ice Bolt: Damage 15/15/30/60 + 20*SP // Making it about as good as Lightning Bolt, but scale differently.

+  Frost Ring: Damage 15/15/30/60 + 15*SP. AI 18 // Making it identical to Fireball.

+  Prayer: Mana 12/8. // Notice that Expert Prayer now costs 8 mana, while Expert Haste costs 5. Which one would you rather use?

Fire

-  Bloodlust: It is now considered a Mind spell.

.  Protection from Fire: Mana 8/7

+  Land Mine spawns 6/6/7/8 mines.

- Blind: Mana cost increased to 12/10. // Blind is probably among the best spells in the game. I believe increasing its cost will also curb fire magic a little, especially after all the buffs it received.

+  Fireball: Mana 12/9. Damage 15/15/30/60 + 15*SP. AI 18

+  Slayer: It is now a mass spell at expert.

+  Inferno: Damage 30/30/60/120 + 20*SP. AI 30.

+  Fire Shield: 20/20/30/30% damage reflection. AI 10/10/15/20. Is now a mass spell at expert.

+  Sacrifice resurrects (SP + 3/3/6/12 + health)*#Creatures

+  Frenzy doubles Attack, instead of Adding Defense to Attack (but still reduces Defense to 0).

Air

+  Disguise: Mana 3/1

-  Protection from Air: Mana 11/9

+  Hypnotize: HP threshold 10/20/50 + 40*SP. AI 50/50/75/100.

+  Counterstrike: Mana 20/16. 1/1/3/3 counterstrikes. AI 16/16/20/24.

+  Magic Mirror has 40/40/60/80% chance to block an incoming spell. Mana cost decreased to 15/10. // It is essentially a worse Anti-Magic that works on Gold Dragons.

Adventure Map Objects

+ Pyramids are guarded by 60 Gold Golems and 40 Mummies.

. Sharpshooters and Enchanters can appear in Refugee Camps, but Mummies cannot.

+ Sirens provide 1 XP per 4 AI value of a lost creature.

+ Mansion reward changed to 5000 gold, major artifact and 3/5/7/9 of each rare resource.

- The Old Hill Fort now upgrades units with the following costs: 1 - Free, 2 - 50%, 3 - 100%, 4 - 125%, 5 - 150%, 6 - 200%, 7 - 300%.

+ The brilliant writing of Foolhardy Waywardness will forever remain seen in random signs and ocean bottles.

+ Added a few secrets and riddles to the text of various rumors, random ocean bottles, etc. Suffice it to say, they lead to a greater treasure than any amount of gold can bring.

Game Mechanics

+ Maximum positive and negative luck: +/- 4. // This is meant to make Luck equally valuable to Morale, which in every other aspect is more important.

+ AI looks for the Grail after finding 25% obelisks on Expert and Impossible // Instead of 1 obelisk how was that supposed to make sense, Greg?

+ Movement for heroes with speed 3, 4 and 5 creatures increased to 1560 (60), 1590 (30) and 1640 (10) respectively.

+ Starting bonus: Gold now grants 1000-1500 gold. // bartek, if you want to revert this, change 0x0C0002 to 05 and 0x0BFFFD to 0a.

. Experience is now a function of AI Value / 12 instead of HP // In order to make fights rewarding based on how difficult they are

- Lava has 25% movement penalty. // This small change makes sense in-lore, but also it buffs a weak skill (Pathfinding), and promotes Inferno to focus on Demon Farming.

UI

+ Double clicking a map calls advanced options instead of starting the map.

+ Tavern only provides map rumors; if no map rumors are customized, it only provides random rumors.

+ Left - clicking a Town Hall lets you build in the town! Right - clicking shows level of the Town Hall, as before.

+ Removed Tactics explanation screen at the beginning of every battle

+ Removed the turn reminder for heroes below 50 mp.

Maps

+ Updated gender requirements for heroes in Battle of the Sexes (and the Allies version)

+ Fixed an unnecessary replacement of the Beware of Demons! with the version with only the red player as playable.

Campaign Maps

All of the campaign map changes outside of simply fixing incompatibility with the Pumpkin Patch are located in the optional files folder.

• Homecoming
  • Added dirt roads between towns for slightly easier navigation for players who don't want to check the map before trying to finish it.
  • Specified amount of gold in two early chests and two early gold piles to ensure a secod hero can be hired on turn 1 on Impossible difficulty (but only if you play exactly right)
  • Banned evil heroes and heroes related to other campaigns from spawning in the tavern and vice versa.
  • Neutral "always join" units replaced with units in hero / garrison army.
  • Added an event that removes movement points for AI if they reach orrin before the player does to slightly increase player's odds of catching up with them and hiring Orrin themselves.
  • Unlocked Interference on the map.
• Guardian Angels
  • Added a win condition - withhold Fair Feather for 3 months. Nobody is feasibly going to try that (even computer on gosolo finished it by the end of month 1)
  • Neutral angels now have agression set to 1 (compliant) except for the large Archangels in the North, who have their agression set to 4 (likely to join).
  • Enemies start getting reinforcements in their respective towns from day 29 every 2 weeks and an extra level 7 boost from day 55 onwards (for players who really want to try to withhold fair feather for 3 months)
  • Tweaked hero pool (see Homecoming)
  • Unlocked Interference on the map.
• Griffin Cliff
  • Specified the size of the Griffin Conservatory near the starting area.
  • Replaced Golden Bow with Angel Feather Arrows in the starting options
  • Tweaked the hero pool (see Homecoming)
  • Neutral Pikemen have their agression set to 2 (extremely likely to join)
  • Seer Huts instead of useless crap now offer Angels, and if you complete one more quest for them (bringing them a very powerful artifact) will allow you to upgrade your Angels to Archangels.
  • Unlocked Interference on the map.

Thanks

• btb2 – writing his amazing guide all those years ago
• sake12 – for Hota.editor.exe, an irreplaceable tool for editing texts in Hota.dat
• greyface – for various tools, in particular MMArchive
• Gandalf196 - for recommending ImHex and noticing the incorrect stat progression for wizards.
• HotA Crew - for the incredible HotA mod. This patch was created out of love for your work.
• The Wiki team - for this amazing website
• void_17 – well done with the IDB, thanks for the help
• Aphra - thanks for the specialty images, Kastore and Gwenneth portraits! The new Scholar specialist is for you. I don't know how else to thank you for the support :)
• guest_273 - for ideas and suggestions; look, I've incorporated a whole bunch of stuff you've asked me for!
• Eldrin - for ideas and suggestions.

Credits

HotA - HotA Crew

HD MOD - baratorch

pumpkin patch - CsArOs

Gwenneth's specialty concept and character portraits - Aphra

Winstan's portrait - Aphra

WIP

• Update all single scenarios where necessary due to the changes above - primarily replace changed artifacts.
• Update all campaigns for HotA + PP (1 done, a lot to go)
• Translate the mod - is there a need for any particular translation? Let me know!
• Campaign maps with new heroes (3.5 / ? done).
• A tool to customize which options of the pumpkin patch to use / ignore + extra SP options.

I want to help!

Really? Do you? Well then: I'm looking for mapmakers and map testers to help me with some parts of the upcoming campaigns. If you think you can spend your own free time on working on a fan project, contact me.

Contact Me

If you encounter any bugs or think that some feature(s) ought to be removed (f.e. because they're too strong or they change too much or are otherwise unnecessary), please contact me.

Feature requests: talk

Other:

Discord: cs.ar.os

My talk page