H3SW: Creature Balance

Second update on creature balance
I changed a couple of small things to improve the general balance of the mod. Here is the changelog:

New Units:
First of all we got some new units for the mod:

Rogue:
- Attack decreased from 6 to 5
- Cost decreased from 65 to 60 gold


Bandit:

The Bandit has been reintroduced to the Dervish line-up. Along with his return he received a change in stats. His return also means that the Rogue had to be lowered a bit in attack to make room for the Bandit.


Today also the Ghost is revealed.

Ghost:

Its stats are very close to the H2 ones.

Changes in creature stats and abilities:

Power Lich:
- Health increased from 50 to 55
- Cost increased from 965 to 1000 gold

The Power Lich had a damage/health ratio a bit of its H2 one, thus a little health increase was needed.

Bone Dragon:
- Damage decreased from 30-45 to 25-45
- Cost decreased from 2500 to 2450 gold

The Bone Dragon had slightly increased damage compared to H2. It was found that this increase in damage was unnecessary and therefor changed back to the H2 value.

Gargoyle:
- Received "Non-living" ability
- Speed decreased from 8 to 7
- Cost decreased from 165 to 160 gold

The Gargoyle got a small decrease in its movement while also gaining the "Non-living" attribute which H3 gargoyles also posses. It makes them immune to Resurrection, Aging, Death Stare, Life Drain, Disease, Death Cloud and Demon Summoning (Pit Lord).

Ogre:
- Health decreased from 50 to 45
- Cost decreased from 330 to 315 gold

The Ogre and Ogre Lord both had a damage/health ratio a bit different than their H2 versions. That means that the Ogre to its health lowered a bit while the Ogre Lord got its health increased a bit.

Ogre Lord:
- Health increased from 60 to 65
- Cost decreased from 465 to 485 gold


Cyclops:
- Received "20% chance to Paralyze enemies on attack"
- Cost increased from 850 gold and 1 crystal to 950 gold and 1 crystal

The Cyclops received his classic "20% chance to paralyze enemies on attack". This means a increase in his cost.

Lizardman:
- Damage decreased from 2-5 to 2-4
- Cost decreased from 180 to 165 gold

The Lizardman and Lizardman Warrior had too few differences between them. The upgrade was too small and therefor the damage of the Lizardman was decreased and increased for the Lizardman Warrior.

Lizardman Warrior:
- Damage increased from 2-5 to 2-6
- Cost decreased from 210 to 230 gold


Gorgon:
- Attack decreased from 8 to 7
- Defense decreased from 10 to 9
- Damage increased from 6-9 to 7-10
- Cost increased from 525 to 540 gold

The Gorgon was a bit too defensive for its purpose. It is meant to be a more balance skirmish walker and leave the tanking for the Treant.

Wyvern:
- Health decreased from 100 to 90
- Damage increased from 15-25 to 15-30

The Wyvern was also a bit too defensive and should be a more dangerous flying unit with good damage along its poison ability.

Medusa:
- Cost increased from 430 to 435 gold

A small correction was made.

Genie:
- Damage decreased from 20-30 to 15-30
- Health increased from 60 to 65

The Genie was a bit too squishy and thus sacrificed a bit of damage for a health increase.

I don't know if it's that way in the game, but "Rouge" is a different thing from "Rogue". As far as I know, Rouge is something women put on their face. I may be wrong about that, but "Rogue" is the proper spelling, not "Rouge".

That is just an example of me writing too fast - it will be fixed soon

Ghosts are back! Good and terrible news at the same time Now we need creature, which has an ability of halving stacks

Can't you include ghosts as a neutral only creature and not available through diplomacy or purchase? Or is that not possible?

Haha, Ghosts will always be back! Well, the Genies got the "Aging" ability which reminds a bit of halving a stack. It just halves the health instead

I think we can prevent it from entering the player's army, but we also might want to have it sometimes. I think a ban is possible though

Steven Aus wrote:

I don't know if it's that way in the game, but "Rouge" is a different thing from "Rogue".  As far as I know, Rouge is something women put on their face.  I may be wrong about that, but "Rogue" is the proper spelling, not "Rouge".

Rouge means Red in french. And so, the Red stuff on lips of girls is "Rouge".

Thanks. Almost right. I did 3 years of french in the first three years of high school, but that was over 20 years ago.

Hello guys! It's been a long time I did not visit this page. How is the development of H3SW going?

I see many cool looking new design and creatures in the latest posts. I can't wait for an available download for the version you are working on.

Tibor0803 wrote:

Hello guys! It's been a long time I did not visit this page. How is the development of H3SW going?

I see many cool looking new design and creatures in the latest posts. I can't wait for an available download for the version you are working on.

Hi Tibor

Nice to hear from you again The development is still going and we reached some nice achievements the last months for instance all terrains and the mini map has been fixed. We are still working on some programming features and creature animation, but overall it is going really good

I think it's time to refresh this thread!

I've run a quick tests and I think peasants are a bit too op. 3hp makes them too tanky in large quantities (hut gives 24 of those for free!). Will post more suggestions in the future (hopefuly other team members will as well)

____Edit// We can try to lower their hp or continue testing, cuz I'm not sure yet about that change and would probably leave it for now.
Ballista on the other hand is very much underpowered. Expert artillery causing maybe 20 points of damage with both shots being critical (also, advanced and expert levels are almost exacly the same, the only change being 75% crit -> 100% crit which is lame. Would change the damage x2 on every attack + make the expert level have  75% crit x3 damage as opposed to 100% crit x2 damage. Or just a third shot.

how about some tweaks to the creature line-up? think it looks better this way. feels more harmonic i think. open to discussion

I discussed things with feanor lately. I see the point mostly, but there are big "buts" all the way.

- Putting Crossbowman on Level 5 is not to be discussed. There is no need in doing that, and this brings Knight closer to Heroes 3, which should be avoided when possible. Knight is a faction which a priori has lower stats, but higher growth, upgradeability and lower costs.

- Wolf on the 4th level is confusing. I understand that for some people the Harpy feels a little weak, but this can be solved via improving the Harpy's design in future rather than switching creatures. Having 13 of 16 Barbarians with Harpies in lineup in their starting armies just doesn't feel natural, and this will not be done. Harpy is rather a tactical creature, while Barbarian is not about tactics, so no additional focus on Harpies is needed - it was rather a "lesser evil" decision than a confident choice, since Harpy has a tight affiliation with the Warlock faction. It's also good to have color variety when the Wolf is a some kind of interlayer, so that we don't have too much brown color in consequent creatures.

- Once I really thought about having the Beholder on 3rd, but this brings back the confusing feeling of Griffin and Roc being copies of each other. Just look at the wings. This was the original game design's fault, but still we can solve it. Also, having 2 shooters in starting armies is surely confusing. So, the Warlock's creatures all are more expensive, but also tougher for their respective tier.

- The suggested Witch lineup currently duplicates the H3 Fortress lineup, which we try to avoid. It's okay to have Lizardmen at 3rd, because I have some thoughts for their ability, so that they can concur with Elves somehow. Wasps at 3rd are just a big copy of H3. Concerning the Mantis and Toad, I also don't go for the switch, I would rather improve their static design (making the Toad smaller was in plans for v0.9, actually). The Mantis design is also somewhat WIP and will be improved, too.


I would also put Manticore on the 6th, but this brings unnecessary similarity between Minotaur, Anubite and Ogre who would feel all the same. So, it's only the Beholder which might be switched with the Griffin later, if we really see this necessary after the release.

Orzie wrote:

I discussed things with feanor lately. I see the point mostly, but there are big "buts" all the way.

- Putting Crossbowman on Level 5 is not to be discussed. There is no need in doing that, and this brings Knight closer to Heroes 3, which should be avoided when possible. Knight is a faction which a priori has lower stats, but higher growth, upgradeability and lower costs.

- Wolf on the 4th level is confusing. I understand that for some people the Harpy feels a little weak, but this can be solved via improving the Harpy's design in future rather than switching creatures. Having 13 of 16 Barbarians with Harpies in lineup in their starting armies just doesn't feel natural, and this will not be done. Harpy is rather a tactical creature, while Barbarian is not about tactics, so no additional focus on Harpies is needed - it was rather a "lesser evil" decision than a confident choice, since Harpy has a tight affiliation with the Warlock faction. It's also good to have color variety when the Wolf is a some kind of interlayer, so that we don't have too much brown color in consequent creatures.

- Once I really thought about having the Beholder on 3rd, but this brings back the confusing feeling of Griffin and Roc being copies of each other. Just look at the wings. This was the original game design's fault, but still we can solve it. Also, having 2 shooters in starting armies is surely confusing. So, the Warlock's creatures all are more expensive, but also tougher for their respective tier.

- The suggested Witch lineup currently duplicates the H3 Fortress lineup, which we try to avoid. It's okay to have Lizardmen at 3rd, because I have some thoughts for their ability, so that they can concur with Elves somehow. Wasps at 3rd are just a big copy of H3. Concerning the Mantis and Toad, I also don't go for the switch, I would rather improve their static design (making the Toad smaller was in plans for v0.9, actually). The Mantis design is also somewhat WIP and will be improved, too.


I would also put Manticore on the 6th, but this brings unnecessary similarity between Minotaur, Anubite and Ogre who would feel all the same. So, it's only the Beholder which might be switched with the Griffin later, if we really see this necessary after the release.

I agree on pretty much all of these with Orzie.
I think because people are used to the H3 line ups, everyone wants them as close as possible (even though they are already pretty much similar). There's no need to make it so close to the H3 line ups, and for sure would make it less unique.

About the Witch line up:
Lizardman works really well against the Elf. Lizardman focuses more on being a low level shooter with high health and defence, while the elf has higher attack and deals more damage, while it has low health.

For the Mantis I think "No enemy retaliation" ability would fit well, it's stats are average and it dies fairly quickly so the ability would make it more useful. With it's claws I imagine a creature that could miss enemy retaliations so it fits the design well. It would also make it more unique from other lvl 5 melee creatures which is important.

Let's put this ability for the Mantis, then. I'll also put the stats you suggest for the next update of the closed beta, so the team can check.

Orzie wrote:

Let's put this ability for the Mantis, then. I'll also put the stats you suggest for the next update of the closed beta, so the team can check.

My brother and his friend suggested it, but after some consideration it seems it could be a good solution, fits the design well too. For an odd reason the Mantis had very high damage before (higher than Minotaur King) while the Toad and Treant are already powerful for their levels.

The Mantis has now average stats with an ability that still makes it useful in the Witch line up.

Writing up the Dervish ones right now from my txt file.

well, i try to help with putting my effort on these forums, but let's face it:
you analyze this too much,
it's hard to find any info on the forum, seems like all the project is in one or two heads.
i really think you need some refreshment in the process, becuase you actually do the game for more players.
who i am:
i've been playing h2 for the sentiment like everyone here
i've started playtesting new h3 hota mode with ranked gameplay
i've played leauge of legends and other games eventually scoring 50-50% at the end of my gameplay in those games.
i've played 1 (just one) ranked h3 map with an semi experienced player (i coul gather more info, but he played about a month in ranked maps) and we scored a tie, after i analyzed tutorials, strategies, yt gameplay, stats and best and alternative ways to win.

i have enough experience to balance statistics on my own, but if you're too close minded, you'll just end up creating this for a handful of community.

i could help, but i'd like to avoid inventing my conceptions, trying not to waste anything you've put here, but i'd need to gather some importand info what are set in stone developement decisions.

The thing is, we didn't ask for help at this point of development. It's funny how you say that something is your opinion, but react so aggresively when you realize that we have a different one.

Concerning the visuals, it's true that another designer might have had his/hers own opinion on the creature lineups, and probably there wouldn't be MM6 creatures. We all see the game in a different way. It's just your choice to play or not, and it is impossible to make a perfect game for everyone. A critical example would be that guy Luka Kordic (sorry if I misspelled the name) on Facebook, his suggestions sound no less than hilarious for me, because I see the game differently and I have got a vision how it was made, more or less, so I know that Gargoyles cannot go to Wizard, because they were designed for Warlock, both concept- and graphics-wise. MM6 stands out here, but it was my personal wish, which is warmly greeted by everyone who played the actual NWC games, if you will. It is anyway impossible to put so many new creatures to Heroes 2 without stretching the boundaries, because Heroes 2 in fact didn't need whole 2 new factions. It was self sufficient with its lineups already.

Concerning the balance.

Quote :

i have enough experience to balance statistics on my own, but if you're too close minded, you'll just end up creating this for a handful of community.

Just leave this attitude "I know better than you" behind and everything will eventually be brought back to normal. The first stable beta will be the signal for us. No, you don't know better, because you did not play the game yet. It's not released. But when it will, the opinions may (or may not) matter a lot.

Quote :

i could help, but i'd like to avoid inventing my conceptions, trying not to waste anything you've put here, but i'd need to gather some importand info what are set in stone developement decisions.

When the stable release is done, there will be place for discussion already. For now, the stats are changing everyday and the magic system is still H3, and the artifacts are not like they are supposed to be, and about a dozen hero specialties don't work, so it just doesn't make much sense to put serious faith in the current creature balance - it will be changed dozens of times. Treat this like vanilla H2, for now. It didn't have balance, it was just fun to play.

Sometimes it is not in my power to bring the actual information, because I am not the only one who works on the game, and I am not omnipotent. Creature abilities which are in the design document and which will be in the game, differ noticeably, and I cannot change it, I can only hope that another person will find time and inspiration to modify the game in the required way. Same with other factors.

When  the line up was posted on the Facebook page, everyone was suggesting a million different ways for how it should be changed without even testing the gameplay and the mod itself. I'm sure Orzie is taking in a lot of feedback but a lot of decisions have been made with a bunch of players through the years. If the line up keeps changing a final decision will never be made.

Right now a lot of statistics of the creatures are being adjusted because crazy and odd changes have been made in the past. These statistics will be updated for the new mod version and should be tested well throughout.

We need as much feedback as possible from EVERYONE and make careful decisions as a group, but if one person suggests lots of changes and quickly get hurt this mod will never see a positive future.

Let's focus on what we have now, perhaps test the game with the new stat changes (there's many) and see what could be adjusted. It seems like a lot of people are suggesting line up changes to be similar to H3, but they don't actually have any reasons for them, "just because they like it that way".

thanks.

will I be able to playtest for a video recorded?

Well, currently we are not in need of unorganized playtesting, if you mean something like this. There are several nasty bugs, which are being solved in a special team working in a common chat, and this team is Russian, because it's easier for me to parse reports that way. When the crashes are fixed, it's only graphics work left.

The release is happening pretty soon (I hope that in 1 month, but it depends not only on me), so everyone will be free to record anything when the mod is released.

Hey, guys! Long time no see
Installed the latest available version, and I must admit - you really did it! I currently find H3SW more captivating than vanilla H2, H3SOD or even HotA, the game is awesome! Beautiful, functional, amazing!

I've not played played enough to say that any of my suggestions are a must-have, these are just some ideas that I felt like sharing, I'm likely to find more stuff as I play.

First of all, if it was intended - a really good idea to remove flagging from creature dwellings, but at the same time to standardize them as H3 dwellings. This kinda combines systems of H2 and H3 in an interesting way, dwellings are useful, but not OP. I'm fine with only 1 week of creatures, no stacking of weeks. Still looks weird on minimap though, as dwellings are kinda flagged, hope this can fixed later on.

Regarding creature balance (not definitive, just my feelings):

Knight
Archers - feel slow, especially looking at their sprite, they look fast, even if H2 had small speed as well. I would probably raise speed a little (maybe exchange speed stats with Crossbowman/Marksman).

Cavalry - almost the weakest unit in the lineup... Their health is very low for an armored horse + horseman, and damage is not impressive, while the artwork is awesome, they die like flies dealing very little damage. I think their HP shouldn't be lower than Unicorn's, and damage can be improved a bit to make them more like H3 Cavalry.

Some other minor changes might help to maybe slighlty buff peasant, crossbowman and paladin, but it's not as critical. I would also propose some changes to build order, I find it a bit puzzling:
- Most structures can be built without Blacksmith, but not Watch Tower or Upg. Archery Range
- Stables are not needed for Jousting Arena

I would probably propose to make Blacksmith required for Armory (not Watch Tower), and Stables for Jousting Arena. Yes, it's more in line with H3, but also more logical IMO.

I would also love to see a trebuchet instead of Catapult for Knights, as there were some pretty cool concepts, and knight needs some help for sieges.  

Sorceress
Kinda funny that Sorcery is not their base skill Though I understand the intent, it's just right in the name...

As for creatures, I think they are mostly good, but I would propose to swap tiers for Elves and Satyrs:
1) Elves are pretty bad right now. They look very powerful, but scale veeery similarly to Rangers, and even a bit worse due to lower numbers/week. I would suggest placing them at Tier 4 with 3-6 DMG and 10 growth per week (or around these numbers). This would place them at the same level as Crossbowman/Vampires where I think they belong. They will have lowest HP in tier 4 (if kept at 15), but the best attack, which is fitting. No need to alter built structure, they should still be accessible from the beginning. That would also make them different from H3 version. There could also be additional differences between Elves and Grand Elves (for example, 2-5 DMG and 3-6 DMG).

2) Satyrs are really good right now, perhaps a bit too good. This is one of the best new units in the game, and it's fairly well balanced. My only gripe is that they look like they should die quicker (centaurs look just as tough and die much quicker, both are naked).

I would suggest bringing them one tier lower to tier 3, reducing HP and attack, increasing grow rate. Otherwise, they are pretty awesome, just inexplicably tough.

Everything else is more or less alright, but I would probably recommend to make MG Lvl1 required for Druid's Circle to make higher tier units a little harder to get, plus forcing players to learn basic spells as they pretty vital for Sorceress.

Wizard
Really good, not much to tell.

Gnomes - good fit and balance, but the sprite still annoys me, as it's too similar to Magi/Dwarves IMO. I think they are really good overall! So it's a small gripe.

Magi - can be a bit tougher.

Necromancer
Really tooough start, even worse than it was in H2 due to Vampires having lower range in flight. If you are surrounded by shooters - good luck!   Not sure if this can be fixed in any way. As you gain momentum, you do get pretty strong, it's just these first few days which can be very challenging.

Not much to say about units:

Death Knights are definitely the best addition to the game in my opinion (I remember not the liking the idea, boy was I wrong   ) They are awesome, they fit the niche, they fit their tier, they are not OP, and the design is so good - I can't take my eyes off them! The design is probably the best part, they just fit like no other new unit! (even though most do fit really well!)

Liches should deal damage to undead though... Think it will be added later, for now it's functioning as H3, and I think that H2 liches are more akin to artillery, killing everyone. I think this works for them better than for Magogs. (I would also think about making them artillery to damage walls like Cyclops in H3, they probably have the damage for that)

Warlock
Another awesome castle, everything is pretty much balanced (well, maybe a little OP with dragons, but that's in a way expected).

Beholder - not the best fit stylistically, but they kinda work, and the sprite itself is awesome. Now, it needs some really good sound effects, as they really don't fit, something scarier is needed. Also, attack sprite should probably look more like Magi's beam.

Every other unit works great as they are!

Barbarian
Not bad, almost good, but the harpy kinda sucks...

Goblins are not bad, maybe they can be a bit faster/or a bit healthier. Right now they die almost as fast as peasants, sometimes faster, and don't get to their target in most cases. H3 had hobgoblins for this, they were much faster.

Orcs are good. Wolves are okay.

Harpies - their sprite is pretty, but it's a bit too pretty. They look more beautiful than pixies (aka Sprites), they don't really look like they fit the game as they are a bit too perfect in their wings and faces, and the animation is quite stiff. Their strategic use is also limited - they die rather quickly, they cannot block archers on hit as they return, but they still get retaliation.

I like the idea of harpies, I think they fit the castle and can play the role. I remember the old muscular sprite with knives - this one was pretty epic, even if it was a Frankenstein made of archer.

I would bring back the muscular harpy with knives and add no retaliation. If they return after hitting, I don't think they should take retaliation. Alternatively, they need a buff to HP, as their HP is rather limited for someone who is to take retaliation. Maybe with 30 HP it would be okay, but I would prefer squishier harpies with no retaliation.

Ogres are great, trolls are great.

Cyclops vitally need higher damage to be viable, I think. Their speed is okay, but they cannot fly, and as a result die pretty quickly. They also have the lowest damage in base game. Now, Genies and Wyverns have lesser damage, but they can fly. I am not speaking about extra abilities here (poison, aging, paralysis, etc.), just raw damage of attack.

If Cyclops had fixed 30 damage - that would be pretty interesting IMO. There is no tier 7 unit with fixed damage, as far as I can tell. Barbarian is unlikely to use Bless, and 30 damage is quite average for tier 7, so I don't think it will be OP in any way, but will make Cyclops quite viable and predictable in damage. Laser attack dealing same damage every time is also understandable in terms of logic

Witch
I have to play new factions a bit more, and I understand that both Witch and Dervish are still raw. Just some ideas.

Tribal - good sprite, I like that they are the beefiest starting unit. Overall - solid work!

Wasp - awesome unit! I like their role, their animations, etc. Cool that they are tier 2, not tier 3 like Dragonflies.

Lizardmen - maybe can use different weapon sprite wise, but their role is okay. I like them being better than archers/orcs, but worse than crossbowman/elves (thouh I wish elves were better).

Toads - pretty awesome! Might need a bit bigger tongue in animation, this one is barely visible. Might also apply some status effect, but good as they are.

Mantis - not sure about this one. It's okay, but it feels like bigger and slower Wasp... The sprites and animations are awesome though!

Treant - I like Evil Tree as the name better The unit might be a little OP - it's faster than Hydra, deals more damage (one direction though), can bind enemies, and only has 5 less HP than Hydra. I would lower HP by 5 to 80, and fix attack to 12-14, so it has higher min, but lesser max than Hydra's. Awesome unit though!

Wyvern - really cool looking, but kinda weak. Might benefit from Poison. Maybe slightly higher HP 110-125.

I understand that many changes will come, but these are just some ideas. Cool town overall, needs work, but has great potential.

Dervish
This town is even better IMO Really/really good! The townscreen is almost ready and it looks awesome! Maybe the colors are a bit washed out though, but that's just my feeling.

Rogues/Bandits - great starting unit! I also really like the upgrade for vanilla unit. It would be nice to see at least a couple more upgrades to units later on (maybe for peasant, or harpy/gnome/satyr/etc.)

Acolytes - work very well! Not sure about another animation with no corpse, but you know what - it's not critical. Balance wise - it's an okay unit. Maybe could deal just a little more damage (2-5 instead of 2-4) as it has no upgrade and other units are better when upgraded at this tier. But considering stronger tier 1 unit, it's not necessary.

Nomads - they are okay. Not too special, but not bad.

Medusas - these are really great and really fitting to the castle! And I love how the upgrade fits into the base game, expanding the original creature. I think they are strong tier 4 creature, but not OP like Vampire Lords.

Manticores - really awesome design and animations! Great improvement over scorpions... Currently, their HP is kinda low, I think, and maybe their sting could have some special effect, but they are not bad. HP + 5-15 would be nice though.

Anubites - pretty awesome! Not much to say here, really a great unit!

Genies - they do need some buffs. Definitely some more HP, at least 100-110, and maybe some other changes. I wouldn't mind seeing Master Genie upgrade (seeing how both Rogue and Medusa have benefited from an upgrade)... They could have Enchanters' mass cast, as it was discussed long ago... These are just some ideas.

-------------------

Overall, the project is really going forward! I have to thank everyone working, especially Orzie for his dedication, and others as well! Great job, guys! Can't stop myself from playing, even to eat

These are just some of my thoughts, and I'm sure that Orzie already has his own opinion on everything I've mentioned It's cool! I'm not here to argue, if any of this is useful - that's grat! If not, just know that playing H3SW is awesome! Thank you, guys!

Hi Nikita It has been a while since I have seen you around here.

First of all, I am very happy to hear you like H3SW so much! It is good to know that people enjoy the work we have done

Now, I will not comment on graphics and similar topics, but I can tell you a bit about creature balance:

In general, I would like to remind you that creatures from H2 mostly take the same role in H3SW as they did in H2 which can explain some of your proposals.

NikitaTheTanner wrote:

First of all, if it was intended - a really good idea to remove flagging from creature dwellings, but at the same time to standardize them as H3 dwellings. This kinda combines systems of H2 and H3 in an interesting way, dwellings are useful, but not OP. I'm fine with only 1 week of creatures, no stacking of weeks. Still looks weird on minimap though, as dwellings are kinda flagged, hope this can fixed later on.

Adventure map dwellings are all still flagable and should (even though we had a bug that prevented it) add to the town growth of that particular creature. Classic H2 dwellings have no flag on the sprite, but are flagable which explains why you see the flag color on the minimap. I am not sure if we plan to change this.

About Archers, they are slow because that is how they are design to be in H2, as simple as that. They are not underpowered and thus they don't need a speed increase. An increase in speed would change them from what they were in H2.

I disagree about Cavalries/Champions. They are the second strongest level 6 unit only behind hydras. Remember that they have a base growth of 3 which might be what is missing in your analysis as I cannot recognize the picture of them being either low on damage (especially not when Jousting is considered) or health. They should not have more health than the unicorn, again because of H2 design and the fact that the unicorn individually is a stronger creature and of that reason also only have a base growth of 2.

A buff to both peasant, crossbowman/marksman and paladin/crusader may be considered

About elves and satyrs, I would not swap their places. First of all, it ruins the perception that everyone who played H2 has if suddenly the elves are in the same tier as vampires and beholders. He is simply gaining a power which he is not entitled to. Secondly, elves are one of the strongest level 3 creatures their growth considered, and they don't need any buff in my opinion. Actually, a small decrease in their stats might be more fitting.

I agree that Magi/Arch Magi might need a small buff.

About Necromancer early game I suppose Necromaners will start with the Haste spell if they don't already (I cannot remember atm), but skeletons could use a small buff.

I disagree about Liches having the ability to harm undead units. It might make sense from a graphical point of view as they throw bombs at their enemies, but from a gameplay perspective I think it is more annoying than interesting that you can damage your own units.

Goblins come, like peasants, in high numbers than other level 1 units (as it is in H2). They are rather weak individually, but they are very strong in high numbers. You have to take very good care of them though, as you have experienced, they should always attack before being attacked themselves - just as in H2.

You have some good points about the harpy and it is not intended to take critical hits after it has attacked as it lacks "No enemy retaliation" as you say. Instead, the harpy can finish off creatures avoiding taking a strong retaliation and still be back to fly out again. This can be considered a defensive maneuver, but the harpy can of course still act offensively as well (important in sieges as it is the only flying unit of the Barbarian). We might consider bringing an upgrade with the famous "No enemy retaliation" ability, but time will show

The cyclops is actually strong enough stat-wise if compared to other level 7 creatures. Do note that he (because of a bug from H3 Behemoth) currently has the "Ignores 40% of enemy's defense" which boosts his base damage quite a bit - especially versus high level creatures with good otherwise good defense. When this bug is fixed we might compensate for it by buffing the cyclops both in health and base damage

I am glad you like the Witch so much. It is difficult to come up with something new which still fits along the classic H2 factions.

NikitaTheTanner wrote:

Toads - pretty awesome! Might need a bit bigger tongue in animation, this one is barely visible. Might also apply some status effect, but good as they are.

Toads have the "Disease" ability which you may know from H3 Zombies.

About Treant, it is a bit stronger than the hydra when we only look at its stats, but the special abilities of the hydra are much stronger than the binding ability of the treant. A switch from less health to more damage is fine with me, but I need more opinions on this first.

NikitaTheTanner wrote:

Wyvern - really cool looking, but kinda weak. Might benefit from Poison. Maybe slightly higher HP 110-125.

Wyvern already has poison ability As I see it currently the Wyvern doesn't need a buff and is actually a bit in the high end its 2 base growth considered.

Also glad to know you like Dervish so much! I am quite kind for it too

Acolytes are the most offensive oriented level 2 shooter and come in high numbers. We maybe could increase his damage, but that would result in lowering his growth to prevent him from becoming too strong, so that does't really give him more damage after all.

Manticores are in a good position atm if you ask me. I actually though about giving them a slight stat decrease, but maybe not.

As many others you suggest higher health for genies which I understand. I tried to hit the golden mean of his (very!) offensive H2 version (50 hp, 20-30 damage) and a more balance version while still maintaining his offensive nature. We will properly discuss him in the future. About his special abilities, did you notice he has "Aging" (from H3 Ghost Dragons)? It is a rather strong ability and works, in a way, like a more fair "chance to half enemy stack" ability from H2

Thanks for giving your thought of the mod and again I glad to hear that you enjoy the mod so much