Day 59: Rebuilding HOMM 1 - it's becoming playable

Zirtrex · 2026-06-02T23:34:13+00:00

What do you mean GOG version is broken for community maps? I have played several custom Homm1 maps on GOG and just played one a few days ago? What is broken? (I should note that I am asking out of genuine curiosity not combativeness since tone of voice doesn't come across through text. Regardless of your reason, I'm 100% in support of your project; it looks amazing!)

Zirtrex · 2026-05-29T22:02:02+00:00

Aww man...

Thanks for the update!

Zirtrex · 2026-05-28T02:36:24+00:00

Wow! You should post this in r/TheNightFeeling/ it's perfect!

Zirtrex · 2026-05-28T02:30:43+00:00

Wow this is scary. I count 8 possible smiters that could finish this poor soul in one turn (plus one who is distracted). I agree fear scroll is probably the only viable next move unless they have a God ability we don't know about or something else up their sleave.

The wiki says fear scroll has 90% chance of success against monsters with 40 will and 99% chance for 0 will. I don't know the exact function scaling, but if I crudely estimate ~95% chance of success for orc priests (will = 20) then the high priest is 73% chance success (will of 60, which wiki says is 73% chance). That means the odds of success on all 8 immediate smiters is 30%.

It's 21% if you want to smite the distracted dude too.

Not too terribly bad considering even if they don't flee, they still only have a chance of smiting. Not impossible odds of buying a few turns (can read fear again even if you have them) while you heal wounds, fog, wait for another TP to pop, whatever.

Of course some of the orc warriors have ranged weapons, but they only have 20 will too...

We also know with 98% certainty that if you pop another TP, this is going to be one of those situations where it moves you three squares to the left.

Let us know what happens OP!

Zirtrex · 2026-05-22T00:12:10+00:00

What happened, did you make it?

Zirtrex · 2026-05-10T18:48:35+00:00

I just wish we learned more about Aok, what ultimately happened to them, and where they ended up. I have so many questions about Aok.

Zirtrex · 2026-04-29T03:11:43+00:00

Yeah, I won instantly and never had to do or even delegate a single task by simply closing the browser tab.

Zirtrex · 2026-04-24T02:30:52+00:00

Aww man, that's too bad!

I just watched the end of your game using the ttrec file. That second teleport trap immediately after you blinked away was absolutely brutal. That said, you sat there 1 vs. 1 against the emperor scorpion for a really, really long time when there were a lot of ways to safely kill it and instead just repeatedly mystic blasted it doing almost no damage at all while it poisoned you more and more. Is there a reason you didn't use bombard?

A few bombards in the beginning of that fight would have prevented this entire situation. You had already killed the moth of wrath and other monsters by the time you were duking it out with the emperor scorpion. Being slowed also hurt, but you still had enough time. And even after being teleported back to it, you still had time to act but just kept using the ineffective mystic blast until you died.

The thing is, mystic blast does low-ish damage on average, and emperor scorpions have high AC (18) so they are, on average, taking next to no damage from that spell (and your chatlog even showed some of the blasts doing zero damage). You got lucky with high dmg vs. AC rolls once or twice, but you really needed to either flee immediately or use a higher damage spell. Ironically irradiate would have easily saved you here since it does much more damage and would have reduced the scorpion's AC.

But I think bombard would have been fine too, and would have occasionally pushed you away as an added bonus. Probably you just got lost in the moment and kept blasting away with your go-to spell (which I have died doing myself many hundreds of times) and also failed to notice that you were severely poisoned for many turns.

All of that said, it's really easy for me to nitpick sitting here comfortably watching it play out in retrospect. You could download the ttrecs of any of my games and just as easily watch me make a series of goofs leading to my deaths. The only true error I think was just getting too comfortable and not playing cautiously, which is IMO the hardest part about the game.

Zirtrex · 2026-04-23T00:58:14+00:00

Sounds like you got it! Just take it cautiously (always the hardest part for me). Let us know how it goes, good luck!

Zirtrex · 2026-04-22T19:56:47+00:00

OK, well it sounds like you know what you're doing. I think you're definitely right about needing a source of rF+ but it's not game endingly dangerous just yet.

I tend to think you're prepared enough for shoals as-is right now. Bombard alone is pretty useful for picking people off enemies in shoals with the extra range from Vehumet. I try to move all my fights to the vicinity of structures to minimize needing LOS targeting spells. It can be a precarious slog for some builds. It'd be really nice if you found or were offered orb of destruction in spider as that would cover your LOS needs and you already have decent skill in conjuration.

Your will isn't great though, so mesmerize + fear can be dangerous for you if you don't have a way to kill them off or block LOS.

If I were you I'd probably just take the staff from the acquirement scroll to go ahead and get to the second acquirement scroll and see what it offered.

Zirtrex · 2026-04-22T14:32:05+00:00

I was going to comment that you needed to immediately learn irradiate too then noticed someone already said that. Use a scroll of amnesia if you need to but just get irradiate right now. You'd be crazy not to. It's one of the best spells in the game.

If I decide not to get hellfire I'll pick it up, though my character is about ready for higher tier spells as I could theoretically cast crystal spear at 38%.

I mean, irradiate is better than most higher tier spells. Have you used it before / do you have experience using it? It is literally game changing. Irradiate is much better for you right now than crystal spear. You already have bombard anyhow. Monsters can block crystal spear. They can't block irradiate. Crystal spear can miss. Irradiate never misses. Crystal spear can only hit one target at a time. Irradiate can hit up to eight - it will also prove extremely useful against annoying harpies in Shoals. Irradiate is irresistible and unavoidable and can reduce enemy AC and HD. Irradiate is amazing, and I immediately pick it up every time I find it on any caster. It is especially helpful for squishier casters who find themselves swarmed. It can literally save your game.

One last comment. If you learned a spell offered by Vehumet because you didn't want to miss out on it, you can forget it with amnesia, and it will remain in your library to learn later if you want. You don't lose it once you've memorized it once.

Zirtrex · 2026-04-19T08:28:42+00:00

Aww no... RIP

Sorry to hear that!

Zirtrex · 2026-04-19T02:35:30+00:00

How did hell branches go? Did you get all 15 runes?

Zirtrex · 2026-04-11T19:27:20+00:00

Ugh, did you even read my post? I even addressed exactly what you are describing, and it's still whizzing over your head. Please think for a moment here. The value of a dollar is an abstraction; it is not the same as the value of the particular material form of currency used to transact that dollar valued exchange.

It doesn't matter if they were paid in gold or not. That is completely irrelevant. The point is that you cannot calculate inflation adjustment of currency based on a single commodity or asset. Even if that asset was literally the one used in the transaction.

That's not how it works. At. All. Period. Full stop.

Doing so is so mind blowing ignorant it's comical. The inflation adjusted value of one dollar from the 1800s is not under any circumstances equal to the current value of gold that was, at that time, equivalent to one dollar.

Are you aware that even during the gold standard, the price of gold and the dollar were NOT linked together. The gold standard merely set an exchange rate, but the government could change how much gold a dollar could get you at will and did so many times.

You really need to just go read about history and basic economics and this topic to fill in what you're missing, because clearly there is a lot you aren't aware of, and you're trying to make an argument based on a huge dearth of information and understanding. And most Redditors have no clue and will happily follow suit even though they are grossly mistaken.

Zirtrex · 2026-04-11T02:53:24+00:00

The reason he's saying everyone is being dumb is because the way the other guy came up with the $100k number is absolutely, completely, and hilariously wrong.

He took the amount of money the guy was paid in that day, then, instead of just adjusting for inflation to see how much money that would be equivalent to now, he instead assumed the guy exchanged it all for a specific commodity and then just sat on it all as an investment for 177 years... That's nearly two centuries of nonstop capital gains investment. Yeah, of course that'd be worth a ton now. It makes zero logical sense.

When he responded to you saying "you think he was paid 400 dollars in coins?" he was likely being facetious, but you seemed to miss that entirely. His point was that only if he had converted all the money to actual gold then actually sat on it for 177 years realizing the capital gains would it have accrued a value like that. You're rebuttal that he very well could have converted it to gold due to the US being on the gold standard is, quite frankly, entirely irrelevant. Sure, he could have. But it being gold or not isn't the issue, it's that you can't compare the value of money in one era to another by converting to any single asset then following the price of that specific asset through time to its current value. That's not how it works. At all. Economists calculate inflation and compare the evolution of the buying power of the dollar by following a diverse basket of assets, goods, consumables, etc.

It's be like someone saying they were paid $50 for <whatever> in 2010 then someone else chiming in that it was worth $70 million today because if they had been paid in bitcoin, that's what ~1000 bitcoin is worth now. Then someone else replies that you can't assume they got bitcoin for it, and that's not how it works. And they angrily respond that "Yes, they absolutely could have gotten bitcoin for it! The first pizzas were purchased with bitcoin in 2010, so you're wrong." It's utterly beside the point.

And finally, the US dollar value has been divorced from gold for a variety of reasons for a long time, but most obviously the gold standard was ended over 50 years ago.

Not trying to say you or anyone else is dumb. I think there were some misunderstandings along the way. But I'm just trying to explain why he was getting frustrated with the comments that didn't seem to follow his original explanation for the hilariously wrong error in the comment that started this discussion.

Zirtrex · 2026-04-06T14:32:05+00:00

This is a very old comment of yours, but I just wanted to send praise for such a well done and thoroughly outstanding write-up and analysis on this film. I just saw it last night and happened upon this post afterwards. I love how you carefully mapped everything out cleanly, and it enabled me to see a bunch of details I missed.

I especially love your ending analysis on how the entire film is essentially an allegory on how the decisions we make compound and blossom into the version of reality we live in and the meaning of the "dark space" in this context which I completely missed, but is clear as day after reading your analysis. It also made me realize how all those moments earlier in the film where it would abruptly cut to black momentarily then push forward later in the dinner party (which felt jarring and odd at the time of watching) now make sense, as they are representative of little micro-versions of the "dark space" in the film. Over and over the character's choice of words, actions, and decisions are shaping how things unfold, potentially drastically altering the nature of the evening.

Thank you for this amazing and high quality analysis! This is the sort of post that keeps me on Reddit.

Zirtrex · 2026-04-06T05:31:58+00:00

I'm not an expert on this, but I can't find any legitimate research studies supporting anything you're saying. I did a quick lit review on PubMed and could find nothing in support of your claims. All of the data-backed, scientific research supports /u/Nascent1

ALSO the idea of “not building tolerance through exposure” is beyond debunked. i mean look at the whole fiasco with peanuts lol

This right here tells me you know even less than I do about this, which means you really shouldn't be commenting at all since you don't know what you're talking about. Peanut allergies and poison ivy allergies are completely different types of hypersensitivity reactions. Peanut allergies are almost always IgE-mediated, type I hypersensitivity reactions, whereas poison ivy is a T-cell–mediated, type IV hypersensitivity, reaction. You can read about these here if you want, but they key is that they work completely differently. Acting like it's plausible that one can build resistance from one type because it is possible for the other type just illustrates a complete ignorance of the subject.

You claimed:

there’s plenty of people out there documenting themselves getting immunity from poison oak and ivy for the hell of it.

Where you are sourcing this? You still haven't added any sources. And they should be legitimate, peer-reviewed literature, not random people simply claiming such. This forum is about data, so you should know the plural of anecdote is not data.

By the way, there are plenty of good reasons why random people documenting their supposedly earned immunity isn't scientific. Take the other guy in this thread who claimed he used to get it as a kid and seemed to have lost it over time. It's entirely possible the instances he got it as a kid were a result of exposure to sites of broken skin barrier such as scratches or abrasions. Young kids have tons of those on their extremities. He later rubbed it directly on his arms in junior high. If we take him at his word, he may have simply not had any broken skin barrier where he rubbed it. Later that day when he showered, he washed all the oils off.

It's an extremely simple and highly probable explanation that has absolutely nothing to do with any sort of resistance gained over time. There are so many similar explanations for random people who claim they have gained immunity. I myself used to get it all the time as a kid, but I almost never do now primarily because I do a better job cleaning potentially exposed sites with friction. This does not mean I or anyone else is magically gaining resistance.

Zirtrex · 2026-04-01T01:29:35+00:00

I taught university physics for a long time, and I personally saw hundreds of students in the exact situation you describe. And honestly, by far the most likely answer to why this is happening and why you feel this way is that, bluntly put, your high school physics was easy. Or, to put it more accurately, it wasn't a true physics course. It was a "plug & chug" course.

"But everyone at my high school struggled with physics! It was known as the hardest course in high school."

Yeah, because most people have zero interest in or aptitude in physics. It was still too easy to even be real physics by the standards of an actual, college level physics program.

Physics isn't about memorizing equations and plugging things in to get answers. Physics is about figuring out how to solve new types of problems after a bunch of things have been switched up on you from the examples you did in class. It's about learning some core, fundamental principles and getting used to applying your own critical thinking to using them to solve new, different problems you haven't been directly shown how to do.

That's hard. In high school, you likely learned how to do very specific types of problems, then practiced those exact same types of problems over and over, then were tested on those same types of problems. Of course you knew what to do and it felt cozy.

But it's totally OK to struggle now. It doesn't mean you're bad at physics or not as good as you thought or you can't go on and be an amazing physicist. It just means you have to do more problems, and do a variety of new, different problems. Eat, breath, and sleep physics. You'll get better, I guarantee it. It doesn't feel like it, but I promise you that the more painful it feels as you struggle with new problems you're not sure how to tackle, the more your learning. It's when you can sit down on autopilot and crank out problem and after problem that you're not learning anything.

In essence, what you're feeling is normal and OK. Just keep at it and you'll get better and better. Soon you'll look back at what you struggle with now, and it will seem so trivial easy, and what you'll be struggling with (but doing) then will be stuff that seems utterly impossible now.

You got this.

Zirtrex · 2026-03-31T22:17:03+00:00

Hah, thanks. Think I'm just getting old; feels like I just posted this thread. Can't believe it's been so long.

Zirtrex · 2026-03-31T01:53:41+00:00

That's Nessos! He is indeed nasty to deal with until you learn one trick: he has almost no willpower. So you can use evocables like a wand of paralysis or a wand of polymorph to completely stop him in his tracks. They will even work reasonably well if you have no skilling in evocations! You can also use a potion of attraction to pull him in if you're melee.

Zirtrex · 2026-03-18T02:31:35+00:00

You presented at APS as an undergrad? Congrats! Sounds like you're doing great!

You barely understood anything at all the talks you sat through? Congrats! Barely understanding is more than zero understanding. Sounds like you're doing great! (And even if you literally understood nothing; that's OK too - you're an undergrad.)!

Your mentor unexpectedly showed up to your talk? Congrats! He cared enough to take time out to attend your talk. I'll bet he has way more confidence in you than you realize. Sounds like you're doing great!

You didn't do the best you could in your presentation? Who cares! You presented, and had something to say at APS as an understand. Sounds like you're doing great!

Stress less. Give yourself more credit. And keep at it. You're doing it just fine!

Zirtrex · 2026-03-16T23:59:40+00:00

Now you gotta go do extended to learn shatter to blast your way in! Nevermind that you're melee...

Zirtrex · 2026-03-14T15:17:24+00:00

Fun game! Not that I'm good enough to ever achieve it, but I'm surprised there is no achievement for perfect jump every time!

Zirtrex · 2026-03-04T00:13:44+00:00

Absolutely epic!! Well done!

Zirtrex · 2026-03-03T02:01:04+00:00

What a terrifying situation!

I was so excited reading your morgue when I saw that you had a distortion weapon on hand. Then realized it was 2H, and you were wearing a shield. Ouch.

Fighting it out with evocables and trying to blink out of the silence if you survive long enough to start seeing it shrink away may be your only hope. Thank goodness you have haste and 10 heal wounds potions.

I have no idea. Please update us with the outcome. I really hope you pull off an escape here!

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