Difficulty level
Before starting a new game, it is important to choose the initial map settings. Interest and complexity will depend on this.
AI behavior
In game against computer players, AI randomly gets one of three behaviors: Builder, Warrior or Explorer. As a Builder, AI will act more in defense, focusing on the towns development, limiting the scope of exploring. A Warrior will seek to fight more with other players and capture neutral towns. An Explorer will focus on hiring more heroes and moderate aggression. He will sequentially explore the map. In addition, heroes of the Explorer type AI receive 50 more movement points at the start of each day. AI behavior can also be defined in the map editor.
The behavior of AI is also affected by the selected difficulty level of the map. Below are detailed descriptions of AI perfomance at different difficulty levels:
Easy (80% rating):
- AI heroes are not afraid to move on enemy territory, even near the enemy heroes
- AI heroes underestimate the strength of an enemy hero deciding on an attack
- AI player builds buildings in towns once every two days
- AI player does not build creatures dwellings of a higher level than the already built level of the best human player
- AI player does not build dwellings of level 7 creatures in his towns
- AI heroes do not accept neutral creatures that are willing to join their army
- AI player does not search for the Grail
- AI heroes do not share armies and artifacts
- AI heroes do not use creature tactics in battle, do not wait and always run to attack
- Most neutrals are friendly to players and can join
- AI player does not hire new heroes if there are 9 or more heroes on the map (including the heroes of other players)
Normal (100% rating):
- AI heroes are afraid to move on enemy territory, especially near the enemy heroes
- AI heroes underestimate the strength of an enemy hero deciding on an attack
- AI heroes unite armies, making up the most powerful options
- AI player builds buildings in towns once every two days
- AI player is more aggressive in town developing
- AI heroes begin the search for the Grail when opening at least half of the puzzle map
- AI player puts a lot of emphasis on exploring the map
- AI player does not hire more than 3 heroes
- AI player does not hire new heroes if there are 12 or more heroes on the map (including the heroes of other players)
Hard (130% rating):
- AI heroes always accurately calculate the strength of enemy hero, and if it is higher, they do not attack
- AI heroes are afraid to move on enemy territory, especially near enemy heroes
- AI player builds buildings in towns every day
- AI player is very aggressive in town developing
- AI heroes begin the search for the Grail when opening at least 25% of the puzzle map
- AI player does not hire more than 4 heroes
- AI player during the battle takes into account the range of the enemy troops and uses this information tactically (he does not run into the range of the movement if he knows that the enemy creature is attacking him, etc.)
- AI player does not hire new heroes if there are 15 or more heroes on the map (including the heroes of other players)
Expert (160% rating):
- AI heroes are very careful when moving on enemy territory, especially near enemy heroes
- AI heroes begin the search for the Grail when opening at least one part of the puzzle map
- AI player does not hire more than 5 heroes
- AI player does not hire new heroes if there are 18 or more heroes on the map (including the heroes of other players)
Impossible (200% rating):
- AI player does not hire more than 6 heroes
- AI player does not hire new heroes if there are 21 or more heroes on the map (including the heroes of other players)
Resources
At the beginning of the game, all players receive a certain amount of resources, depending on the chosen difficulty level. AI players get more resources at higher difficulties.
| Difficulty | Player resources | AI resources | AI strenght (% of max.) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
    |
  |
 |
Town income at the start | |
|
|
Town income at the start | |||
|
80% | 15 | 30 | 30000 | 500 | 2 | 5 | 5000 | 375 | ~50% |
|
100% | 10 | 20 | 20000 | 500 | 4 | 10 | 7500 | 500 | ~75% |
|
130% | 7 | 15 | 15000 | 500 | 7 | 15 | 10000 | 500 | 100% |
|
160% | 4 | 10 | 10000 | 500 | 7 | 15 | 10000 | 625 | 100% |
|
200% | 0 | 0 | 0 | 500 | 7 | 15 | 10000 | 750 | 100% |
In addition, AI players have an additional daily bonus on all resources during the entire game period:
| Difficulty | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
| ||
|
80% | -25% | - | - |
|
100% | - | - | - |
|
130% | - | - | - |
|
160% | +25% | +39% | +14% |
|
200% | +50% | +53% | +28% |
The calculation of this bonus is carried out as follows: AI player’s income is calculated daily for all types of resources and the bonus is calculated in relation to the value of his weekly income (if there is no income, the bonus is not accrued). The bonus is distributed evenly throughout the week. Example: The average weekly income of an AI player was 34 Wood. The bonus in this case at a difficulty level of 200% will be 18 Wood, which will be evenly distributed over all seven days of the week (rounding - to the integer).