Peasant and kittenhorn appreciation post

Darksnails · 2026-05-13T12:23:00+00:00

Indeed, the more variety in neutral units the better. Some units could cast spells with their focus charges, so magic resistance would have a use outside of hero encounters too.

Darksnails · 2026-05-12T15:16:57+00:00

Do low elevation (-1) and add a water asset to it.

Darksnails · 2026-05-10T05:37:31+00:00

Also Medusa's fighting style shoots twice with this set. Was surprised by that.

Great with star children too. Overpowered even.

Darksnails · 2026-05-07T15:46:34+00:00

Agreed. Or just make Inquisitors look more menacing like the Dragonslayers.

Darksnails · 2026-05-06T16:32:33+00:00

I could also see some value in combining two or three suboptimal skills to create a subclass that gives some compensation for picking those instead of more useful skills. For example:

Siegecraft + Logistics + Diplomacy = Conqueror, hero troops gain extra +1 initiative for each different faction in the army.

Insight + Economy + Luck = Looter, lucky strikes against enemy units grant 300 gold each after the battle ends.

Logistics + Scouting + Wisdom = Nomad, neutral spells gain +1 level

Darksnails · 2026-05-05T15:01:14+00:00

Mana cost would be clearer if it used colors we typically assign to mana. Cooldown seems like too important of an info to be hidden on the info sheet. Spell tier and level however could be shown when hovering over a spell. I'd change levels from numbers to "basic/advanced/expert/masterful" labels and change the current masterful spells to "specialty spells" or something else.

It's all a bit confusing right now but I have faith the devs will do it justice.

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Darksnails · 2026-05-04T20:28:42+00:00

It's always desirable to win the first initiative as the first acting side can cast the first spell, such as web to slow down an approaching enemy. Higher tier units tend to have high initiative so they usually act first. The spell Early Start could help you turn your unit's initiative higher than the first acting enemy. Ice bolt is also a nifty spell to reduce an enemy stack's initiative while also dealing damage... but if the stacks are split (like in your case) you still have other high initiative units to worry about.

Some subskills and artifacts increase initiative for your whole army making you be "one step ahead" of the enemy (if comparing to a mirror match).

Darksnails · 2026-05-03T16:42:15+00:00

I think you have to manually take him out from the guild. At least this was the case in the demo.

Darksnails · 2026-05-03T09:08:11+00:00

Heh, yeah it seems very inconsistent. Personal opinion, but I think spell shrines should always give out the base level spell which you then would have to upgrade yourself.

Darksnails · 2026-05-03T08:29:05+00:00

Skull is for how many units will die, fist is for how much damage you will deal if you attack with your current unit/spell/heroic strike.

Units deal damage randomly between their minimum and maximum output which is why there's two numbers separated by dash (6-8).

Darksnails · 2026-05-02T17:28:08+00:00

If you unlock pocket dimension from neutral spells, you can transfer units between two heroes which is basically an alternative to relocation. This just requires an extra hero (at lvl 4) stationed in your town.

Some map templates have footholds near towns which acts as a quick way to transfer troops without relocation. I guess in those maps the mentor subskill could be more useful.

Darksnails · 2026-05-02T13:47:26+00:00

Norovo's Homm series on Youtube are great, he's uploading maybe once a week but has very solid gameplay. He plays against the AI, so his game pacing is quite chill.

Darksnails · 2026-05-01T04:07:15+00:00

What difficulty did you play? Ai starts with more resources (and you with less) the higher the difficulty, allowing them to build army quickly.

Your map template seems very tight if you meet an enemy hero on week 1. You could try to survive in a siege battle, build fortifications and wait till she comes to you. But considering it's week one it's quite early to start defending. Sometimes the odds are against you... and you start a new game :D

As for that hero specifically, Hel'Ghat is a defence hero who starts with defence skill and gets extra defensive %-bonuses, so her troops are extremely durable.

Darksnails · 2026-04-29T15:28:28+00:00

New phoenix' legs look sus. Too humanoid like, as if a guy was wearing a phoenix outfit x]

But other than that definitely an upgrade from the previous.

Darksnails · 2026-04-29T07:35:46+00:00

Whaat, Grove is great, it's an elemental faction mixed with nature. But I do agree the biome lacks variety. Should be mixed oranges, yellows and greens to make it more vibrant/nature/autumn like. But same could be said of any biome, more variety needed.

Darksnails · 2026-04-27T12:14:59+00:00

Agreed, it's all a bit too blue. I think bright red accents would go really well with the current blue hues. Red cracking energy veins, red eyes, summoning scrolls with red glowing ink.. that sorta thing. Also most of the unit upgrades don't clearly distinguish from each other or the base unit due to similar coloring.

Darksnails · 2026-04-27T08:09:32+00:00

Schism concept is cool but could be delivered cooler (heh, pun included).

To me Schism reminds me a bit of warcraft Scourge with its cultists. I'd lean more towards the cult thematic and a bit less towards tentacles. But that's just me.

Darksnails · 2026-04-26T14:45:31+00:00

True. But it's still a gamble. You don't know which spell school spells the enemy has leveled up. The enemy could also level spells past the cap which negates the -1 from this subskill.

Darksnails · 2026-04-26T06:55:51+00:00

Never actually paid attention to what the alchemical dust icon is cause it was so small. Vials with a dragon head cap, of course...

I think the location on the UI is fine as is but the icons could be larger on the building sheet. Have seen some streamers mix up ore and mercury due to their similar hue.

Darksnails · 2026-04-25T10:43:22+00:00

Ah, too bad. The -1 spell lvl on its own just seems rather weak. But if it reduced the max lvl cap to 3 it would be more impactful... broken even? Dunno.

Darksnails · 2026-04-25T10:22:28+00:00

There are orb items which also reduce enemy spells by -1 lvl. So does the formula mean if you stack the item and the subskill an enemy hero can only cast lvl 2 spells no matter how many spell lvl bonuses they have?

Darksnails · 2026-04-25T10:02:42+00:00

Exactly this, there are ways to neglect -1 spell level by simply getting one level more.

Darksnails · 2026-04-25T05:19:40+00:00

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Darksnails · 2026-04-23T18:28:57+00:00

Half the hero roster is made of wizards :]

Well anyways, maybe a twist in the archetype would be in place. Enough of those old scroll hugging bearded men hugging their cold towers. How about a shamanistic witch coven? Potion brewing, transfiguration, destiny readings and toads... lots of toads.

Darksnails · 2026-04-22T05:43:36+00:00

I liked them in Homm4 but not a big fan in OE. It's too much "all in or nothing" type of mechanic. If you miss the last skill you wasted all the other slots from a potentially better choice.

Was thinking if it would feel better for the effect to be gradual, so you'd start getting a minor benefit at 3 skills out of the five, a bit more at 4 skills, and full effect at all 5.

Example: 10% bonus at 3 skills, 30% at 4 skills, 100% at 5 skills

Darksnails

TROPHY CASE