User:Csaros/Mod - Changelog

Warnings

WARNING! DO NOT LOAD P R E V I O U S S A V E F I L E S !!!

The game will even out the stats of all heroes to remain the same, even though the artifacts have changed!

Note: Tournament rules will revert DD changes.

Castle Gate edit only works for the previous version of the HD mod (for now). The game still functions correctly.

Some puzzle maps may become impossible to complete. If you encounter such maps, contact me, and I'll happily fix their difficulty.

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!

Changelog

Artifacts

Some artifacts appear in every single game, no matter what your hero, faction, or strategy is: f.e. pieces of the Angelic Alliance, Necklace of Swiftness. Some artifacts are so utterly broken in terms of stats that they render whole secondary skills useless (Pendant of Courage). At the same time, when it comes to final artifact builds, often times players end up choosing the exact same set - Angelic Alliance, Ironfist of the Ogre, or Armor of the Damned, along with an Elixir of Life, provided they can get these, and no wonder - these are by far the best sets in the game. Titan's Thunder's set bonus is a joke, while Power of the Dragon Father requires 73 pieces, only to be outclassed by Angelic Alliance anyway.

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.

At the same time, some artifacts are utterly useless, especially for their tier. I made them slightly better, where appropriate.

- Pendant of Courage: +2 Morale, +2 Luck. Cost: 6000. - Necklace of swiftness is a minor class artifact, cost 5000. - 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. + Endless sack of gold is now a Major artifact! + Eagle Eye artifacts increase Eagle Eye % by 10/20/30% and don't require the Eagle Eye skill. + Archery artifacts work without the Archery skill.

Combination Artifacts

+ Combination artifacts state their component effects! + All pieces of combination artifacts now mention their belonging to a set in their description! + 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. + 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 200 dmg + 40 * Spell Power. + 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 units, cost 15000 + Cornucopia gives 7 of each rare resource per day (total). + Legion's set pieces increase growth by 8/6/4/3/2 . Cost to 10000, class to N/N/J/J/R. + Charm, Talisman and Mystic Orb of Mana replenish 2/3/4 mana points per day extra. Cost changed to 1000/2000/3000. - Wizard's well regenerates 50% mana per day . Cloak of the Undead King raises Skeletons / Walking Dead / Wights / Bone Dragons. // Now I know what you'll say: "Csaros, this is broken! Surely you meant to nerf the cloak!" If you think so, calculate AI value per hp resurrected and consider how necromancy calculation works - how often do you fight enemies above 150 hp? What about 30 hp? - 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??) in the game and I'd rather have Teapot or the Shield of Courage above anything else, maybe with the exception of the Fire / Earth Book. - Angelic alliance only mixes good units for the hero equipping it (instead of all units on all heroes always, was it a bug?). - Ring of the magi is no longer a combination artifact. It's instead a Major class artifact which increases Power and Knowledge by 2 each. // I don't know how to add new artifact sets for now; because of that, I had to axe one combination arti. Ring of the Magi seemed the most useless. Current bonus is as it is because no other Ring gives +4 to stats, but some rings have a chance of being equally / more desirable, f.e. Ring of Oblivion, Still Eye of the Dragon, Ring of the Wayfarer, Ring of Suppresion. If you have other ideas how to repurpose this frankly useless artifact, please give me some advice.

TOWNS

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.

All Towns

+ Added a mention that Moats deal damage.

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.

Tower

+ Skyship grants +300 mana during a siege.

Inferno

+ The Blacksmith now provides a Ballista. Demoniacs get to utilise their high Attack skill. + Castle Gate can now teleport heroes (one-way) to any chosen town! However, as a result the construction costs went up - 10 wood and ore, 5 of each rare resource and 10 000 gold! + Brimstone Stormclouds' cost decreased to 3 sulphur and 1000 gold

Necropolis

- Necromancy Amplifier's cost increased to 5 ore and 2000 gold. - Cover of Darkness' 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. + Guardian of Earth increases Spell Power by 30 during a siege. - Mana vortex cost's increased to 5 crystals and 2500 gold. - Portal of Summoning's cost increased to 5 gems and 2500 gold.

Stronghold

+ Warlord's Monument increases Attack by 30 during a siege. - Hall of Valhalla's cost increased to 5 ore and 1000 gold.

Fortress

+ Carnivorous Plant increases Attack and Defense by 15 each during a siege. - Cage of Warlords's cost increased to 5 wood and 1000 gold.

Conflux

. The Blacksmith now provides an Ammo Cart. Storm and Ice elementals focus on shooting, after all. . Restored original building names from AB.

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) - Haart Lich buffs Dread Knights: +5 damage (instead of his previous OP spec.) - Sir Mullich increases speed of all creatures by 1. - Gelu now only upgrades Marksmen and Grand Elves into Sharpshooters. // I might increase Sharpshooter's cost as well. - Dracon now only upgrades Zealots and Archmagi into Enchanters. // I might increase Enchanter's cost as well. - Bidley now only upgrades Corsairs into Sea Dogs. // I dont have other ideas how to make him not as OP.

Strong Heroes

- Galthran increases Attack and Defense of skeleton warriors by 2, no Speed increase. . Leena's specialty changed to Estates.

Weak Heroes

+ Kalt and Lacus specialties increase Water and Ice elemental attack by 4 now - they were far too weak before. + Mysticism specialty increases mana regeneration by 1 per level. + All unit specialists now increase their units Attack and Defense by 7% instead of 5% per level! + Spell specialists increase spell efficiency by 5% per level, from 3% per level (still divide their effect by 3% / creature level). + Inteus specialty changed to Fireball specialty (doesn’t show the correct pic in def32 and def44).

Hero Classes

+ Heretics start with 1/0/2/2 instead of 1/1/2/1 in order to cast their own spells. + Altered Artificer's magic school chances to better reflect their lore: 4 Air, 3 Earth, 4 Fire, 3 Water. + Altered Captain's magic school chances to better reflect their lore: Air 4, Earth 3, Fire 1, Water 3 + 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. (HeroBios) + Extended Catherine's and Mutare Drake's bios (HeroBios)

Starting Armies

+ Pikemen: 12-22 + Griffins: 2-4 - Centaurs: 12-22 + Dwarves: 4-6 + Elves: 3-4 + Gargoyles 5-9 + Starting Walking Dead: 4-8 - Starting Troglodytes: 18-27 + Starting Beholders: 3-5 - Startig Basilisks and Pirates: 4-5 + Starting Pixies: 20-30 - Starting Air Elementals: 3-4 + Starting Water Elementals: 2-4 - Crew Mates: 5-9 - Starting Pirates: 4-5 - Gelu, Dracon, Xeron, Tark and Bidley start with the same army as standard heroes. - Frederick starts with the same army as Todd.

Miscellaneous

. Elmore (Navigation specialist) is now a Navigator. // duh. . Tavin starts with Basic Luck, Basic Offense // making Luck a Halfling's racial skill - Mutare and Mutare Drake start without a spellbook. // They don't have any magic skill and are might heroes. Other Overlords don't have a spellbook. + Erdamon starts with Armorer and Interference. // He is no longer Thunar II

Scholars

+ Rashka starts with a spellbook and the Fire Shield spell. // idk why, but it doesnt show properly in maped + Octavia starts with a spellbook and the Protection from Fire spell. // idk why, but it doesnt show properly in maped

Banned by default

. Due to HD mod's limit of 16 heroes per faction, the following heroes are (not) available by default: + Sir Mullich + Lord Haart + Xeron + Kilgor + Adrienne + Tark + Zilare + Murdoch - Sanya - Ash - Galthran - Haart Lich - Oris - Boragus - Tiva - Elmore - Floribert - Frederick

Creatures

Mostly QoL changes here, increase in % chance of some skills (Stone Gaze, etc.) and a slight rebalance for war machines, Inferno (the weakest town by any metric) as well as Factory.

War Machines

+ First Aid Tent: HP 150, cost 1000. + Ammo Cart: HP 150. AI 300. + Ballista's Attack and Defense increased to 12. + Cannon's Attack reduced to 15, damage 3-5, cost 3500.

Inferno

+ Familiar's growth increased to 18 (by 3), horde growth to 9 (by 1) (purely to increase Demon farming by 1 per week). + Familiar's "Magic Channel" ability now gives 33% (rounded down) of enemies spent spellpoints. + Pit Lord cost decreased from 700 to 666. + Efreet Sultan's now have an Advanced Fire Shield (30%) that stacks with the Fire Shield spell, as long as you have the Black Orb.

Factory

- Halflings shots reduced to 12. - Halfling Grenadier's shots reduced to 16, price increased to 65. + 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 speed increased by 1.

On-hit-chance Abilities

+ All 20% chance per hit abilities have 25% chance per hit now (Aging, Deathblow, Disease, Blind, Petrify, Paralyze, Acid Breath, Thunderbolt). + Zombie's Disease reduces Attack and Defense by 4, chance increased to 25%. + Petrified units take 25% damage less than normal. Petrify and Stone Gaze odds increased to 25%. - Thunderbolt is now a level 2 spell. Chance to apply: 25%. + Aging is no longer considered a 5th level spell. Chance to apply: 25%. - Death Cloud is now considered a 5th level spell. + Poison now has 33% chance to apply. + Fear now has 12.5% chance to apply. + For the purposes of morale and native terrain:

• Trolls belong to Fortress,
• Boars to Stronghold,
• Mummies to Necropolis,
• Satyrs and Leprechauns to Rampart,
• Peasants to Castle,
• All Golems to Tower.

AI and Fight values

• Green and Red Dragon's AI values swapped.
• Zombie - 133, 164
• Vampire Lord - 798, 665.
• Dread Knight - 2405, 2049
• Ghost Dragon - 4743, 3260
• Efreet - 2460, 1892.
• Medusa - 523, 384
• Medusa Queen - 583, 428
• Thunderbird - 1117, 878
• Basilisk - 554, 511
• Greater Basilisk - 721, 568
• Rust Dragon - 26697, 24271
• Azure Dragon - 79633, 56878
• Cannon - 725, 800.
• Fangarms - 963, 963
• Halflings - 70, unchanged.
• Juggernauts - 6533, 5463.

Secondary Skills

- Navigation increases movement on water by 50/75/100% + Ballistics hit chances increased for higher levels. + Eagle Eye learning chance increased to 60/70/80%. Eagle Eye allows for learning spells up to 3/4/5th level. + Learning bonus increased to 25/50/75% (~1/2/3 extra levels) + Sorcery increases spell damage by 10/20/30% + First Aid tent skill now increases healing more (from 40-50 / 60-75 / 80-100 to 60-75 / 80-100 / 100-125)

Spells

. Necropolis can learn Cure now (3%). Bloodlust chance reduced (to 2%). . Town Portal: Mana 25/20/20/20. Belongs now to all Magic Schools. Movement cost increased to 400/400/400/300 - Dimension Door: Belongs to Fire Magic now. Limited to once per day, unless the hero has Expert Fire Magic. Mana 30/25/20/16. AI 40. Movement cost 400/400/400/300

Earth

- Slow: Mana 8/6 AI 8/8/16/24 + Quicksand spawns 6/6/7/8 mines. + Death Ripple: Damage 10/10/20/50 + SP*5. Doesn't affect unliving.

Water

+ Remove Obstacle: Mana 5/4. + Cure: Heals 10/10/20/50 + 10*SP hp. No longer removes Hypnosis. . Prot from Water: Mana 7/5 + Ice Bolt: Damage 15/15/30/60 + 20*SP + Frost Ring: Damage 15/15/30/60 + 15*SP. AI 18 + Prayer: Mana 12/9

Fire

- Bloodlust: It is now considered a Mind spell. . Prot from Fire: Mana 12/9 + Landmine spawns 6/6/7/8 mines. - Blind: Retaliation damage 75/50/0/0. + Fireball: Mana 12/9. Damage 15/15/30/60 + 15*SP. AI 18 + Slayer: Increases attack by 8/8/12/12. AI 1/1/1/2 It is now a mass spell at expert. + Inferno: Damage 30/30/60/120 + 15*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 the Defense.

Air

+ Precision: Mana 6/5 + Disguise: Mana 2/1 + Fortune: Mana 6/5. . Prot from Air: Mana 12/9 + Destroy Undead: Damage 20/20/50/100 + SP*10 + Hypnotize: HP threshold 10/20/50 + 40*SP. AI 50 50 75 100 + Counterstrike: Mana 20/16. 1/1/3/3 counterstrikes. AI 18/18/24/30 + Magic Mirror has 30/30/35/40% chance to block an incoming spell. - Fly: Mana 25/20.

Adventure Map Objects

+ Golem Factory allows purchasing Iron, Steel, Gold and Diamond golems! + Pyramids are guarded by Gold Golems and Mummies. . Sharpshooters and Enchanters can appear in Refugee Camps, but Mummies cannot. + Sirens provide 1 XP per AI value of a lost creature. + Mansion gold reward increased to 3000/6000/9000/12000 gold. - 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.

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 lol + 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 1500-2500 gold. . 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.

UI

+ Pressing N shows new game. + 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.

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.

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
• void_17 – well done with the IDB

Credits

HotA - HotA Crew

HD MOD - baratorch

this tiny patch - CsArOs

WIP Features

• Update all campaigns and single scenarios where necessary due to the changes above
• Ring of the Magi back as a combination artifact. // For now I don't know how to add new combination artis to the game.
• Master Genies to not cast Anti-Magic
• Frederick % value of detonation damage increase
• Clicking a Town Hall button to go to buildings.
• Translate the mod

Contact Me

If you encounter any bugs or think that some feature(s) ought to be removed, please contact me.

Csaros (talk)

Reddit: u/Cezaros Discord: cs.ar.os