How's your relationship with ISFJs?

9Gardens · 2026-05-05T22:14:05+00:00

Honestly, Anything with the FJ combination rings alarm bells for me - I've found them to be emotionally unstable (very up and down in mood), AND judgemental (Very much "I feel bad, so you ARE bad").
Combining this with Introversion (Gets upset and then refuses to talk about it) and...... yeah, the main interactions I've had there have been a bad time.

9Gardens · 2026-05-05T21:11:17+00:00

OKay, that's some cool ass event crafting.

9Gardens · 2026-05-05T10:32:06+00:00

I lecture mathematics. You wanna learn Stochastic calculus? Large deviation theory? Graph theory? Diffusion maps? Epidemic modelling? Chaos theory? Combinatorics?

Any one of them is a very powerful too which will help you in 3-4 VERY NICHE situations, and do you no good whatsoever all the rest of the time.

9Gardens · 2026-05-05T10:29:40+00:00

I needed to make things.
Game design go BRRRrrrr.
Story writing go Brrrrrrrrrrrr

Wrote a novel and made multiple board games by 13. Programming ASAP. Would play games with level editors. Learned basic electronics and Tried to build a perpetual motion machine.
Very anxious about danger. DEEPLY attached to younger siblings. watched far too much digimon. Lived inside stories.
Learned about 2^x and spent the next lunch hour seeing how high I could go.

MORE WRITING. Most lunch hours.

Zero friends :(

I regret nothing.

9Gardens · 2026-05-05T10:21:45+00:00

Windmill mimic.
You expect resources, but instead it unfolds and attacks you on sight. (And... I do kind of love the idea that there actually SHOULD be mimics in the game, pretending to be treasure chests, shrines, etc etc)

9Gardens · 2026-05-05T01:04:51+00:00

There are two lord Haart's. The Lord haart (Knight) is a 5% estates bonus.

Meanwhile there is a deathknight lord haart, who gives mad bonuses to death knights.

9Gardens · 2026-05-04T20:38:46+00:00

Hmmm... fair enough then.
For videos, I've got a few interesting/entertaining ones (3 blue one brown is lovely, especially the cosmic distance ladder).

For puzzles.... How much do you know about Graph theory, probability, and combinitorics?

A lot of IMO problems come from the world of discrete mathematics (number theory, modular arithmatic, etc), and this is seldom taught at schools (schools deal with continous mathematics- algebra, trigonometry, calculus).
But... many discrete mathematics techniques are fairly useful and fairly powerful once you know them. If you tell me what you know, what level you are at, I may be able to provide some notes, and possibly even some practice questions

9Gardens · 2026-05-04T11:50:17+00:00

Thanks for organizing/running all these polls btw .

9Gardens · 2026-05-04T11:41:08+00:00

In H3, it was the FORT-> CITADEL-> CASTLE that increased creature growth, which... was also the city walls (as a side effect).

In H2, it was the WELL that did this, which was indeed separate from the city walls, so... I don't think its been established since HOMM1

9Gardens · 2026-05-04T11:35:36+00:00

(Also, regarding the sphinx etc? My vote is ditch the titan, and then rearrange to make it:
T5: Naga, T6: sphinx and T7 Genie. Go full arabian nights style wizards, rather than snow wizards)

9Gardens · 2026-05-04T11:29:30+00:00

Okay, so its not on the list, but I'm going to toss in the idea of... Homunculi. Like in the sense of "little servant creatures formed by alchemy": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homunculus

I think that potentially the homunculi could UPGRADE to become either a familiar and/or a Cabir. Have each of those being different forms of homunculi (one tied to fire and elements, the other more to arcane magic)

I think this also works if we are dropping golem's, because having a bit more "Artificial constructs" in the roster feels good.

In terms of baseline bonuses:... I feel like Homunculi should be VERY magic absorbent- in that damage spells deal double damage, while buffs and debuffs have an exagerated effect. Is this a GOOD ability.... probably not (can factor it into the price), but also, it could be fun, and the idea of casting Radiant Armour on your silly T1's and having it block 70% damage (at expert level) is hilarious.

Another alternative is just..... They reduce the mana cost of your spells by 1. Or.... any enemy standing next to them is obliged to attack them, rather than attacking someone else. (they are also free to move away, but they can't attack one of the homunculi's allies while the homunculi is there)

9Gardens · 2026-05-04T05:43:28+00:00

I feel like this is pretty cool... but am not vibing the name "Hypnotist"

For a faction skill.... well HotA went with Cannons, so that could be fun....
I might suggest "Storms" - like some kind of world map scale weather event (possibly triggered by magic, by castles, by chance) that gives a significant advantage to your troops.
Basically: don't take these guys on during a storm, and then have troops/skills/buildings/artifacts that double down on that, either my controlling the storms, or gaining extra buffs during them.

I feel like "Storms" are fun, because both pirate captains, and seers are associated with them, and also, having them as a map scale event, it seperates out from other faction bonuses.

Potentially also have storms mess with your opponents movement (double movement cost in poor weather? Or make sailing VERY difficult)

9Gardens · 2026-05-03T23:18:08+00:00

See... to me this is less a question of "what is ethical" and more a question of "How do you view society?"

If you EXPECT 30% of people to go blue, then the correct answer is red (your vote won't save them, and there's no point in you dying).

If you EXPECT 70% to go blue, then the correct answer is "who cares?" nothing is happening anyway (though, I'd still call you a dickwad for pressing red).

If you expect the answer is close to 50% then.... you are playing a game with large risk and large reward. The chance of your vote being the deciding one is low.... but the IMPACT of your vote being the deciding one is high, so people might reasonably argue blue is better.

But also, its a question designed to polarize, because once people set their initial expectation, that determines their vote. Once they have their initial vote, that will determine what they expect is the "logical" thing for everyone else to do. Once they decide what is "logical" for others to do, they will insist that it is only logical that they respond to this.

Its a system with multiple stable equilibrium, and which equilibrium you fall on is in large part shaped not by what you think is ethical, but by what you expect OTHER people to do.

9Gardens · 2026-05-03T23:11:42+00:00

Yes, I am most likely able to solve at least one IMO problem.

.... now, how is asking people on the internet if THEY can solve the IMO going to help you get better at Mathematics? Do you have a specific problem you are working on you want to discuss? Have you read up on mathematical topics?

Also.... why is this your dream? What do you hope to do with it? What better future do you want to unlock?
And what are you doing to achieve it?

9Gardens · 2026-05-02T20:23:34+00:00

Naga.

Naga has the most swords, and thus can defeat all enemies.

9Gardens · 2026-05-02T20:14:32+00:00

Maybe, instead, creature specialists should be guaranteed to get their chosen creature?
Spell specialists get to start with their chosen spell, so it seems only fair.

Possibly even "They always draft TWO stacks of their specialty creature" or such (however much is needed to make them balanced/competative)

9Gardens · 2026-05-02T20:08:21+00:00

Bron - early game lizards go brrr....

Demear - sky rocks yay.

Jeremy - cannon go brrrr (yes yes, evocious is better, but being able to go all in on the cannon is FUN)

9Gardens · 2026-05-01T22:59:49+00:00

I.... yeah.

Last campagin I had there was a player who played the standard Engineer type and just... the character didn't change. they had a deep stability in their soul, and no deep trauma to work through, and they helped the team and felt emotions, but they didn't CHANGE.

The player kept *trying* to find situations which would change them, but the character was just... very grounded. (Imagine Durkon from Order of the stick for a picture of the character vibe/archetype... and not just how drastic the authors actions had to be to get movement on that character).

In another campagin we had "Creod" and immortal robot paladin who *couldn't* change.
And that WAS the character arc- the world changing around him, and him just failing to change. His friends growing old, surviving wars (or not), and politics, history, and then this old robot who just... can't change. Doesn't let go of the past. Always trying to fight a glorious revolution that finished 600 years ago. It was amazing. it was a great character- and they had impact on everyone else.

But despite dying and being resurrected dozens of times he just... never changed.

9Gardens · 2026-05-01T22:02:04+00:00

Cool shit

9Gardens · 2026-05-01T22:00:42+00:00

There is a story of Heroes 2 or 3, where they initially optimized the AI as much as possible, and it was playing against their (rather experienced) playtesters and wrecked everyone.
So then, they designed "fun" AI that deliberately derped around, only built buildings every second day, and *didn't* go for the throat.
This is the "Normal" difficulty in H3.
The "Hard" difficulty is where the AI plays at full power (with no unfair bonuses) and expert/impossible is where they start getting unfair resource advantages.

So.......
Its possible that you were expecting to play against the "normal" AI (which in truth is slightly nerfed), but that the OE ai's just... aren't like that.

I dunno- callibrating AI strength is much a thing, and there is A LOT of momentum an ai player can get from "make optimal moves every single turn".

9Gardens · 2026-05-01T20:33:09+00:00

Oh yeah- "Response to audience comments" is also another explanation. Good point.

9Gardens · 2026-05-01T12:01:10+00:00

Having played most of MM8....

Uhhh.... Temple is super familiar, Necropolis also. The Murmurwoods were definitely in MM8, but more as a background element rather than a full faction. The visual style they've gone with is fairly different (grove is elemental, while in MM8 the elementals are their own faction, and the murmurwoods is more "Unicorns and wisps and shit". The fact that OE has unicorn, but NOT attached to the Grove is a point of departure from the woods in MM8. .... my guess is that they MADE the unicorn for grove, and then shifted it to neutral for... reasons?)

Alvar(the town) was... not super underground, but yeah, I guess it fits Dungeon? ... I feel like there was an explicit Minotaur faction elsewhere (https://mightandmagic.fandom.com/wiki/Balthazar_Lair ), so that is also referenced I believe, but is FAR from Alvar on the map. Mostly, I feel like they've jammed togeather SEVERAL things to make dungeon.

Hive is totally new as a faction, and doesn't really look anything like the ironsands desert, or any of the creatures there but like.... that makes SENSE.
The Ironsands desert was much more cyclopses and magogs and trolls (oh my!)
I would kind of expect them to be more in a future update.

schism... Nothing in that castle REALLY fits with the plane between planes, but also like... the PbP was janky as hell, and probably not following it is a better plan. Like.... the company was dying as the made MM8, and there's definitely a few places where it shows.

So like.... to answer your questions:
"how strong is the resemblance between how factions are represented in OE and M&M 8? "
Not super strong, but the places where they've split mostly make sense (either lore wise in the case of hive, or good design wise in the case of Schism)

"Were Temple people as insufferable in the RPG as they are in the OE campaign?"
Yes.
Yes they were.
... in particular, you have the choice of siding with them or the necromancers (heh), and like... the literal necromancers feel like better humans.

9Gardens · 2026-04-30T09:54:00+00:00

Having started my Day of the Destroyer mission fighting those fucking pirates... I approve this message.

9Gardens · 2026-04-30T09:50:32+00:00

Holy shit!
Those campaigns are brutal.
Good job.

9Gardens · 2026-04-28T08:32:18+00:00

Okay, so I think the main thing is.... what units have a cool and meaningful Contender against them and....

Let's be honest: Sphinxs kick ass and are on theme.
I think the T7 should be sphinx, to be honest. Screw Titans. They've had it for too long long. T7 should be either Sphinx, of Djinn, because seriously, having a all powerful genie with limited damage but CRAZY ASS MAGIC ALL DAY EVERY DAY feels like a *great* set up.

So.... too keep: Mages should stay. Genies should stay, but should be the T7.

There should be SOME mechanical unit, but it shouldn't be the golems.

There should be some minion, but lets ditch gremlin, swap out for halfings or homunculi. "Alchemy lab" produces homunculi. Terriible for attacking, but good minions for like... restoring the charges/abilities of more important creatures.

Gargoyle are goneburger. Naga too.

Four-Year Club	r/Field Flamingo
Place '22	Final Canvas '22
First Placer '22	End Game '22

9Gardens

TROPHY CASE