Heroes of Might and Magic 3 Tomes Alpha Mod Development for CW

[MattCaspermeyer]

I just want to announce that I'm going to be working on a new mod / mini expansion that is based on my Hereos of Might and Magic 3 Babies mod for The Legend for Armored Princess and Crossworlds.

I'm going to be applying a lot of the same modifications and ideas that I applied to TL. Since you can't have children in AP and CW, the babies will become "Tomes" or basically artifacts that you can equip on your hero that will have similar bonuses that they had in my babies mod.

I'll also most likely make it so that the tomes can be upgraded to get better and better bonuses. Also all 8 wives (the 6 original plus 2 I added) will also become tomes as well.

If anyone has any ideas or suggestions, feel free to post them here and if they make sense I may implement them in my mod.

I expect the alpha development phase to take several months as I spent over a year working on my babies mod and will jointly develop the AP / CW mods so that you can play them with either game, but have a slight variant for the differences between the two games.

I'm going to focus on making no loss on impossible exceedingly difficult and will apply my enemy hero bonus system to the enemy heroes in CW so that they will be much more difficult (especially at higher levels), the mana / rage generation limitation system based on combat round, unit difficulty and map location bonuses, long combat penalties, and many other features!

P.S. You can check out the various posts for my babies mod / mini-expansion for TL in these links:

Development Discussion
Beta Download Topic

[MattCaspermeyer]

Originally Posted by Fatt_Shade

Also any idea how to add black knight/vampires to warrior counterstrike class skill ? To me it`s seems stupid that giants/trolls/huge orc units, even fairies have bonus retaliations from that skill and undead are excluded

The Counter-attack skill states that it is for humanoids only and the check in the code is for humanoid troops.

So that's why Undead are not affected since they are not humanoid.

I don't see why, though, that this skill's list of units can't be expanded, but that's why it doesn't work with other troops as is.

The fix for this is easy to do, but need to consider which troops this skill should apply to (i.e. humanoids, but who else) I'll look into this more down the road...

/C\/C\

[MattCaspermeyer]

Originally Posted by Fatt_Shade

On skills note it would be great if you figure out how Onslaught/Adrenaline works toward orc`s and random adrenalin given on start of battle (this for CW only) since this 2 skills don`t work properly now.

As far as I can tell, these 2 skills work as advertised, but they don't give you any message that they're working.

Has anyone had any problems with either of these two skills? I went through the code and they work as far as I can tell - and I already tested Adrenaline and it works.

I can add an informative message, though, to indicate that it's working.

/C\/C\

[Fatt_Shade]

@about counter-strike : But check steam armor item, dwarf armor that gives +35% att/def to short humanoid troops, it includes undead units that walk on 2 legs, and have 2 arms (zombies, vampires,skeletons,black knights,and necromants) it doesnt include ghosts and bone dragons (since they dont have corporal bodies of humans).
I know how to include them so sill works on them, i only discuss about errors in game mechanics. Similar as in necromancy spell to rise undead troops you need specific type of dead unit - humanoid for humanoid units, and animals for ghosts, and it`s ok. So why doesnt it work with skill that is specific targeted to humanoid units. Also with Moro Dark/Gaudi companion and Dark Mistikus (in castle Montero underground) you can change knight to black knights and visa versa or skeletons to swordman, archer to skeleton archer . . . so they are obviously humanoid troops.
And i said before, counter strike works with giants, trolls and ogres , and even little fairies ffs, why not vampires/black knights ???

[MattCaspermeyer]

Yah, those units are listed explicitly for Steam Armor:

unit=alchemist, archer, archmage, barbarian, barbarian2, blackknight, bowman, cannoner, catapult, druid, dryad, dwarf, elf, elf2, footman, footman2, goblin, goblin2, horseman, imp, imp2, knight, miner, necromant, orc, orc2, peasant, pirat, pirat2, priest, priest2, robber, robber2, shaman, skeleton, vampire, werewolf, vampire2, zombie, zombie2, demoness, sprite, sprite_lake, miner2, paladin, demonologist, shaman_blood, goblin_shaman, orc_hunter, ingeneer, witch_hinter, runemage, satyr, pirat_ghost

Whereas, for Counter-attack, it uses the feature "humanoid".

Those ATOM's with humanoid feature: alchemist, archmage, assassin, bowman, cannoner, catapult, demon, demon2, demonologist, druid, dwarf, elf, elf2, footman, footman2, giant, goblin, goblin_shaman, goblin2, horseman, imp, imp2, ingeneer, knight, miner, miner2, ogre, ogre_chieftain, orc, orc_hunter, orc2, paladin, peasant, pirat, pirat2, priest, priest2, robber, robber2, runemage, satyr, troll, werewolf, witch_hunter

Notice that the two lists are not congruent.

So the real question is how should it be fixed? I guess the first questions is how did you fix it?

Here are a few of ideas about how I'd fix it:

Proposal 1 - In ITEMS.TXT, use feature=humanoid (it might be features=humanoid) and remove the unit=list (this will exclude all units without the humanoid feature) so that Steam Armor and Counter-attack use the same list.
Proposal 2
a) In ITEMS.TXT, maintain unit=list, but note that it will be different than Counter-attack (possibly).
b) In LOGIC.TXT, create new feature (i.e. counter_attack).
c) Go through all ATOM's and add counter_attack to the features list for those units that you want Counter-attack to work with.
d) In NEW_SKILLS.LUA, change the code (line 14) so that Counter-attack checks for the "counter_attack" feature instead of humanoid.
Proposal 3
a) In ITEMS.TXT change unt=list to feature=steam_armor (it might be features=steam_armor).
b) In LOGIC.TXT, create new features: 1) counter_attack and 2) steam_armor.
c) Go through all ATOM's and add "counter_attack" to the features list for those units who are affected by Counter-attack and add "steam_armor" for those units who are affected by the Steam Armor item.
d) In NEW_SKILLS.LUA, change the code (line 14) so that Counter-attack checks for the "counter_attack" feature instead of humanoid.
Proposal 4
a) In ITEMS.TXT change unt=list to feature=steam_armor (it might be features=steam_armor).
b) In LOGIC.TXT, create new feature: steam_armor.
c) Go through all ATOM's and add "steam_armor" for those units who are affected by both the Counter-attack skill and the Steam Armor item.
d) In NEW_SKILLS.LUA, change the code (line 14) so that Counter-attack checks for the "steam_armor" feature instead of humanoid.

Proposal 1 makes the lists congruent (I haven't checked the feature= for items, but hopefully it works or it is features=), but all units that don't have humanoid listed as a feature will be removed from Steam Armor. This is very easy to implement.

Proposal 2 allows for different lists between both items and is more flexible, but has (potential) issues with congruence and is more time consuming to implement and maintain.

Proposal 3 has proposal 2's flexibility, but has the same congruence issues as well as being time consuming to implement, but it allows for the addition of new units and simply adding the appropriate feature to the unit's ATOM feature list includes them on that item's or skill's list (i.e. for Warriors of the North, although no guarantee that Counter-strike is a skill for that game).

Proposal 4 makes the list congruent like Proposal 1 and has the growth of Proposal 3, but it is time consuming to implement.

I think I'd be more for changing how Counter-attack works (i.e. make it apply to all units of a certain level, i.e. 1-2, 1-3, and 1-4 for skills levels 1-3), but since I'm not adding new features, yet, it makes sense to fix it.

What do you think?

/C\/C\

Originally Posted by Fatt_Shade

@about counter-strike : But check steam armor item, dwarf armor that gives +35% att/def to short humanoid troops, it includes undead units that walk on 2 legs, and have 2 arms (zombies, vampires,skeletons,black knights,and necromants) it doesnt include ghosts and bone dragons (since they dont have corporal bodies of humans).
I know how to include them so sill works on them, i only discuss about errors in game mechanics. Similar as in necromancy spell to rise undead troops you need specific type of dead unit - humanoid for humanoid units, and animals for ghosts, and it`s ok. So why doesnt it work with skill that is specific targeted to humanoid units. Also with Moro Dark/Gaudi companion and Dark Mistikus (in castle Montero underground) you can change knight to black knights and visa versa or skeletons to swordman, archer to skeleton archer . . . so they are obviously humanoid troops.
And i said before, counter strike works with giants, trolls and ogres , and even little fairies ffs, why not vampires/black knights ???

[MattCaspermeyer]

Here are some items that I've noted when playing the game that I want to capture and open for discussion as I continue play testing Crossworlds and applying the first stage of the alpha development of my mod.

• Gizmo - AI doesn't work very well for selecting units. Often a unit that doesn't need healing is selected simply because it is nearby and powerful enemies aren't targeted. I'll revisit what I did with my HOMM3 Babies mod for The Legend, but I might implement slightly different logic. Since now Gizmo is a spell and can be cast every turn if you have the mana, I'm probably going to make the AI for Gizmo act like this:
  • Compute ally and enemy power.
  • Based on ratio of enemy to ally power, use as percent chance to act on enemy (i.e. if the ratio of enemy to ally power is 0.75, then there is a 75% chance that Gizmo will attack the enemy).
  • Use heuristic, proximity-based, 2-tap filter to determine most dangerous enemy when selecting a target to attack. The idea here is to attack the most dangerous unit.
  • Use heuristic, proximity-based algorithm to determine best candidate to heal. The idea here is to heal higher level units before lower level ones (i.e. it is much more important to heal level 5 units than others).
  • I'm still debating on whether this should be a stage 1 or stage 2 change as it seems like the AI should be programmed better so that this is more of a fix than a new feature.
  • New feature - add capability to resurrect units, etc. as I did in TL (this is a stage 2 effort).
• Ball of Lightning - The AI for the Ball of Lightning is okay, but it should always maximize damage each turn, so I may look into this as well. I'm thinking that this is probably more a stage 2 effort, but once again am a little on the fence about it.
• When a unit uses an ability to resurrect a corpse, it doesn't show you how many you will resurrect. This actually might be hard-coded to behave this way as I toyed with it a bit and don't know how to add a tip for it (the spell Resurrect displays the corpse tip no problem, but for the Orc Tracker, Rune Mage, etc. these units don't display a hint when used on a corpse (works fine for alive units)).
• I'm still not a big fan of the spell (or for that matter spirit ability) balance -what is your take on this? I'm finding that I'm once again using only a few spells and pretty much am always generating mana with the orb so that I can cast more spells. This is a stage 2 effort, but I'm going to make little-used spells much more enticing to use...

Okay, that's all I can think of right now...

/C\/C\

[MattCaspermeyer]

As I've been modding Crossworlds, I'm starting to find that it is a bit buggy with respect to changing the original LUA files in the game.

As an example, I've been working on fixing the Gizmo AI and I'm finding that if the file NEW_SPELLS.LUA is extracted to the mods folder without changing anything, it will cause a "script execution error: gen_dc_cell_filter" when casting Inferno Dragon, even though *nothing* has been changed.

In light of this, I'm thinking it is probably going to be best to leave the original LUA scripts alone if possible and simply just create new LUA files and then have the associated text files (*.ATOM's, *.TXT's, etc.) reference the new functions.

I won't be able to do this for all the files (for example, ARENA.LUA) since certain functions are hard coded in the game, but I'm going to very carefully edit these files, creating new functions in other files as much as possible.

/C\/C\

[MattCaspermeyer]

As I've continued my playthrough of CW, I've made some more observations...

There are a lot of other Astral Damage units in the game, and so I'm thinking that either I'd have to change them all or simply change the Goblin and Blood Shamans back to using Astral Damage for their special attacks. I'm thinking that Astral Damage, now is considered the same as other types of damage. In lieu of this, I'm thinking of making "resist all" spells / skills / bonuses apply that resist to Astral as well so that "all" means all!

This means that certain spells may have to be changed or amped to handle the increase in Astral Resistance, for example, Ghost Sword (which relied on 0 Astral Resistance to perform its damage).

It also opens the door for why aren't more units doing Astral Damage? Maybe Ghosts should be considered for a change to Astral Damage? The Phoenix will have its fire damage split into half Fire and half Astral like I did in TL (since it's flame is so hot).

Also, I noticed that the Ice Orb features are broken (I've had this problem before in my modding - the descriptions are misaligned so when cursor over them, it shows the wrong description). Also, the Ice Orb damage is really low, so I'm going to have to do something about that...

Cyclops are going to get a boost so that they have a chance to either stun, knock a unit unconscious, etc. with those rocks they're throwing!

I've updated the Gizmo AI and will provide that in an alpha update soon. It doesn't resurrect yet, but it at least more "intelligently" attacks enemies / heals your units.

A new idea that has germinated is that I'm going to assign the unit with the greatest "power" as a leader for enemy stacks that don't have a hero leading them. This unit will get a boost in its abilities and it may even have rudimentary scroll use abilities (i.e. cast level 1 spells) - this is a new idea and so I'm just beginning to flesh it out.

Obviously, mana / rage gain will be implemented as I hate using it now to beat enemies with no loss when you can just infinitely regenerate mana.

Also, the mana restriction on Higher Magic is either going to be dramatically increased or removed - makes no sense to limit what you can cast as mana is meant to be the limiter.

I'm starting to get very itchy playing the game and making notes before I restart and start implementing new features, but I must play through the entire game and try to catch as many bugs as I can (i.e. I didn't know about the Ice Orb bug with is descriptions - and I don't think anyone ever reported it in these forums).

By the way, here's something that's a bit embarrassing, but for the life of me, I could not find Agvares in my AP playthrough and finally found him in (the cave - duh!) Shetarra. Most of the companions will get buffs (or I like the training that the Elf companion undergoes and am thinking about creating companion levels - i.e. they upgrade to better abilities after a certain number of battles or they simply gain experience and better abilities the longer they travel with you - hopefully I'll be able to figure out how to implement this down the road...).

/C\/C\

[Fatt_Shade]

About astral dmg, there are allot of units with that type, but also items/spells/medal with astral resistance so it evens out i a way.

I vote to leave phoenix pure fire dmg, and chaos dragon to change 50-50% fire/astral. Just my thought.

Nice work with gizmo improvement. Your changes in gizmo in KB-tL HoMM babies mod were great. Maybe lower heal/resurrect amount but add bonus res when hit ally units. It already act as fit of energy spell for +1 action, so would it be possible to add low lvl divine armor for 1 turn or something ?

Ah, same as HoMM babies, no more 100+ turn battle with mana/rage inflow

As for upgrading companions look for Trigger and his improvement for ranged units crit%, or Elenhel counter for wanderer spell scrols. It`s nice idea to get better bonuses from companion after 10/20/30/40 battle something like wives in KB-tL, and more reason to keep him with you, instead just kick him on the curb when better comes along

[MattCaspermeyer]

In playing CW, I noticed the Brontor's "Spikes" feature description:

"Enemies receive damage from the sharp horns, if they attack the Bronto when he is dug in and unresponsive."

However, the "Spikes" work when the Brontor is both above and below ground (by the way, I'll fix that spelling error, i.e. "Bronto").

So either this description was never updated or the Brontor's "Spikes" are meant to work only when they are below ground. This seems to make sense from a strategic game standpoint as the Brontor can't retaliate when it is buried, but it can via “Spikes”. However, I could see from a visual standpoint, that if you attack the Brontor from one of the 3 hexes in front of it, that an attacker might have to deal with its horns, but not from the 3 hexes behind it.

Strategically, I think it makes sense to remove the "Spikes" ability from their above ground form (plus its easy to implement) and have it conform to their description or change the above ground form to either work directly in front or the 3 front hexes of the Brontor (this is harder to implement). I'll most likely implement the former unless I see some good reasons to leave it as is, in which case I'll implement the latter’s restrictions.

/C\/C\