Movement

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This article refers to the movement of heroes on the Adventure Map. For the movement of creatures in combat, see speed.

Movement refers to a hero's capability to travel on the Adventure Map. At the beginning of each day a hero has certain amount of movement points, which are consumed as the hero moves on the map. Moving from one tile to another consumes movement points at different rate depending on terrain, roads and direction of the movement. The hero cannot move any further, when he has no movement points or he has too few of them to move to the next square.

Moving on the map from one square to another consumes hero's movement points. The amount of reduction depends mainly on the direction a hero moves and the terrain. Moving diagonally on the map consumes 1.41 (square root of 2) times the points compared to moving vertically or horizontally. Moving on swamp, snow, sand or rough terrains consumes hero's movement points more than other types of terrain. This is called terrain penalty.

The movement points of heroes are completely renewed at the beginning of each day. They cannot be stored or preserved over to next day. The amount of movement points depends on many factors, but mainly on the speed of the slowest creature in hero's army and possible Logistics/Navigation secondary skill.

It should be noted, that in original manual of Heroes of Might and Magic III, movement refers to the method of moving, which is either flying or ground. The main difference between these two is, that flying creatures can fly over obstacles (e.g. walls) while creatures moving on ground must go around them (if able).

Initial points at the beginning of the day

Creature
speed
Base
movement
3 1500
4 1560
5 1630
6 1700
7 1760
8 1830
9 1900
10 1960
11 or more 2000

The movement points of heroes are renewed at the beginning of each day, and the exact amount given depends on the following factors:

The main factor for movement affecting all the heroes is the slowest creature in the army. Every hero has a daily base movement of 1900 points, which is reduced if the hero has a creature with speed lower than 9, and increased if it is higher but no more than up to 2000 points. The effect of the slowest to the movement initial movement points creature can be seen in the table on the right. Artifacts increasing creatures' speed (like Necklace of Swiftness) and native terrain bonuses don't affect the base movement, but hero’s creature specialty does.

Heroes with Logistics gain extra movement points on land, while heroes with Navigation gain extra movement points while in a boat. Heroes with Logistic or Navigation specialty further increases this bonus depending on their level. Stables gives +400 movement points per day for a visiting hero for the rest of the week, while each Lighthouse the kingdom controls gives +500 movement points over water (in a boat) for all the kingdom's heroes. While visiting several Stables is not cumulative, owning several Lighthouses is. Both structures are also Castle specific buildings, but work in a similar way as the Adventure Map locations.

During a single day, a hero can gain additional movement points by visiting Fountain of youth, Oasis, Rally Flag or Watering Hole. They all give certain amount of points for the rest of the day or until next battle. Their effect is not cumulative, but if there happens to be chance to fight nearby, they can give their movement (and other) bonus several times per day. Additionally, Swan Pond can consume all the remaining movement points when visited effectively ending the hero's movement for that day.

Consumption of the movement points

Movepoints consumption
Terrain % Str.
step
Diag.
step
Dirt
Grass
Lava
Subterranean
Water
Highlands Horn of the Abyss
100% 100 141
Rough
Wasteland Horn of the Abyss
125% 125 176
Sand
Snow
150% 150 212
Swamp 175% 175 247
Dirt road 75% 75 106
Gravel road 65% 65 91
Cobblestone road 50% 50 70
Favorable Winds 66% 66 93

A hero consumes the movement points while moving on the map. The basic cost for moving horizontally or vertically is 100 points and 141 points for moving diagonally (100 times square root of 2). Terrain penalty will increase this cost to 175% on swamp, 150% on snow or sand and 125% on rough. Other types of terrain do not cause penalty. To move into a new tile hero must have at least as many movement points as the basic cost. The preceding is true with one notable exception - if the hero has less than 141 points but at least 100 points he will still be able to make a diagonal move on non penalty terrains.

All creatures have one native terrain, which means that if a hero is moving on a terrain with terrain penalty, and all the creatures in hero's army are native to that terrain, the terrain penalty is eliminated. This basically concerns three towns (four in HotA): Fortress whose creatures have swamp, Tower whose creatures have snow, Stronghold whose creatures have rough, and (if HotA is installed) Cove whose creatures have swamp as native terrain. Additionally, a hero can eliminate the sand terrain penalty if he has at least one Nomad on his army, because of their sandwalker special ability. Also, the expert level of the Pathfinding secondary skill completely eliminates terrain penalties.

Moving on roads is also an exception to terrain penalty rule. No matter where the roads are laid, they always have a fixed movement cost.

If a hero moves from one terrain to another, the movement points consumption will depend on:

  • Terrain ⇄ Terrain move - starting tile;
  • Road ⇄ Terrain move - terrain tile;
  • RoadRoad move - starting tile;
  • WaterFavorable Winds move - starting tile.

Flying movepoints consumption table
Terrain

Fly

+ Basic
Pathfinding

+ Advanced
Pathfinding

+ Expert
Pathfinding

Air
Magic
*
Straight
move
Diag.
move
Straight
move
Diag.
move
Straight
move
Diag.
move
Straight
move
Diag.
move

Impassable
Water **

bas:
adv:
exp:
140
120
100
197
169
141
not affected

Swamp

bas:
adv:
exp:
140
120
100
197
169
141
140
120
100
197
169
141
125
120
100
176
169
141
100 141

Sand
Snow

bas:
adv:
exp:
140
120
100
197
169
141
125
120
100
176
169
141
100 141 100 141

Rough
Wasteland Horn of the Abyss

bas:
adv:
exp:
125
120
100
176
169
141
100 141 100 141 100 141

Dirt
Grass
Lava
Subterranean
Highlands Horn of the Abyss

100 141 not affected

Dirt road

75 106 not affected

Gravel road

65 91 not affected

Cobb. road

50 70 not affected
* The spell effect without Air Magic skill is equivalent to the basic level of the skill.
** Favorable winds do not affect movement under the Fly spell.

Calculation

M = (B + L + A + S) × T

where:

  • M = movement points
  • B = base movement
  • L = Logistic/Navigation bonus
  • A = Artifact bonus
  • S = Stable/Lighthouse bonus
  • T = Terrain penalty

Base movement is a hero's number of movement points before any bonuses from secondary skills, artifacts, or adventure map locations are included. On water, base movement is always 1500. On land, it is determined by the slowest creature in a hero's army. Base movement is as low as 1500 when the slowest creature has a speed of 3, and as high as 2000 when it has a speed of 11 or more (see table). Base movement is calculated only at the beginning of each day. As a result, heroes cannot earn movement points during the day by transferring their slowest creatures, nor do they lose movement points when receiving even slower creatures.

Two secondary skills, Logistics and Navigation, increase a hero's movement. Basic Logistics increases base movement on land by 10% (5% in HotA), advanced Logistics adds 20% (10% in HotA), and expert Logistics 30% (20% in HotA). Basic Navigation increases base movement on water by 50%, advanced Navigation adds 100%, and expert Navigation 150%. Logistics and Navigation do not affect bonuses from artifacts and adventure map locations. This bonus can furthermore increased if the hero has Logistics or Navigation specialty.

Heroes gain additional movement points when wearing certain artifacts at the beginning of a day.

Furthermore, Stables gives +400 movement points per day for a visiting hero for the rest of the week, while each Lighthouse the kingdom controls gives +500 movement points. When all these area summed up, it is multiplied with (possible) terrain penalty. And that is how the initial movement points for each day is calculated.

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