Few observations and questions

First I have to say that I really enjoy the mod. Keep up the good work lads!

1. Some units could use some more detailed ability description (such as % chance)
Such as

• Medusa (petrify)
  
• Wyvern (poison)
  
• Toad (sickness)
  
• Cavalry (charge)
  

2. Probably I am just an idiot, but I cannot find the map editor. Maybe you could help me out.

3. If there is a way to create maps:

• Where can I share them?
  
• Is there a map reveal cheat to help me monitor how AI does on those maps?
  

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1. Some units could use some more detailed ability description (such as % chance)
Such as

Medusa (petrify)
Wyvern (poison)
Toad (sickness)
Cavalry (charge)

You sound as if you play Heroes 3 for the first time.
Perhaps we will provide a better explanation when we re-vamp all game interfaces.
For now, you can check all creature abilities from Heroes 3 here. Medusas from Dungeon have Petrify, Ancient Wyverns from Fortress have Poison, Zombies from Necropolis have Disease and Cavaliers/Champions from Castle have the charging ability. All of the abovementioned abilities do not have their effect changed. Some others, however, do.

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2. Probably I am just an idiot, but I cannot find the map editor. Maybe you could help me out.

Look for h3swmaped.exe in the root game directory. The game reads the maps from the following directory:
(your Heroes 3)/Mods/The Succession Wars 0.8.1/H2MP/

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3. If there is a way to create maps:

Where can I share them?
Is there a map reveal cheat to help me monitor how AI does on those maps?

You can share your maps here in the newly created subforum. I recommend specifying the mod version (currently it's v0.8.1) in the topic name.

I, however, do not recommend mapmaking at the current point, because the mod is constantly changing and overall balance will be drastically changed with the course of time. If you are still inclined for some mapmaking, be ready to maintain and possibly even repair your map each time when the mod is updated, so keeping an eye on our changelogs will be necessary.

Orzie wrote:

You sound as if you play Heroes 3 for the first time.
Perhaps we will provide a better explanation when we re-vamp all game interfaces.
For now, [*there be link*]you can check all creature abilities from Heroes 3 here[/url]. Medusas from Dungeon have Petrify, Ancient Wyverns from Fortress have Poison, Zombies from Necropolis have Disease and Cavaliers/Champions from Castle have the charging ability. All of the abovementioned abilities do not have their effect changed. Some others, however, do.

I deeply apologize for not knowing all detailes about HoMM3 creatures whose plainness discouraged me from playing after some tens of hours.
I meant that the descriptions are inconsistent (some are detailed, some are not).
I understand that this mod is mostly meant for veteran players, but bear in mind that there are some, who did not spent too much time with the older titles and might want to try something like this. Wouldn't it be nice if you spared them from hardships bound with learning the game and put a little more elaborate descriptions?

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Look for h3swmaped.exe in the root game directory. The game reads the maps from the following directory:
(your Heroes 3)/Mods/The Succession Wars 0.8.1/H2MP/

Thanks for that.


I am still interested in the map reveal cheat, though...

Sorry if I sounded harsh, no need for passive aggression.
It is a rarity to see a newcomer to Heroes 3 series, so it is usually expected that people at least have some vision of how some abilities work, like, the charging bonus adds damage for each hex the Cavalry/Champion stack has traveled before reaching the enemy, the Disease is a typical curse reducing the attack/defense of the affected stack, etc.

In fact, the requested abilities can be described just like they are on Age of Heroes website.

Cavalry Charging Bonus

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Special: +5% damage for each hex traveled to creature attacked.

This means that you get more damage even if you are already near the enemy and press to attack it from behind. The Cavalry stack will do a round-up maneuver and thus do more damage.
If the Attack stat of the Cavalry stack is less than the Defense stat of the victim, the bonus is also applied to the base damage modifier.

Poison

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Special: chance to poison living enemies (stack's maximum health will be reduced every turn, can be removed by cure spell).

30% chance to cast Poison upon attack. Each turn (in case of creature ability, the debuff lasts 3 turns) the affected creature has its maximum health decreased. This means that the summary HP of the stack decreases each turn until the time runs out or a Cure spell is involved.
Health decrease percentage: 10%.
Maximum health of the stack cannot go lower than 50% of the basic health.
All values are rounded up.
The Poison works only on living creatures (Undead and non-living, like Elementals, are not affected).
Cannot be dispelled by Anti-Magic or Dispel Magic.

Disease

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Special: 20% chance to disease enemies (-2Att -2Def for 3 rounds)

Self-descriptive. Works only on living creatures.

Petrify

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..., hand-to-hand attacks have 20% chance to turn enemies to stone: 3 rounds, take 50% damage, unstoned when attacked.

Self-descriptive. The petrified stack receives only 50% damage from an enemy attack. Vanilla Heroes 3 SoD bug: the petrified stack receives 200% damage from an Arrow Tower attack.

In H3SW we want to modify this effect due to Petrify being available as a castable spell. If things go right, the petrified stacks in H3SW will also receive damage from the Earthquake spell, to make the spell a little more useful and to adjust the flavor.

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This is how it goes. In fact, the detailed mechanics of the abilities are not known to the vast majority of players, and are not documented anywhere in the game. These are the result of community research, thanks goes to S.Drake and AmberSoler for their cool FizMiG handbook. Only "tournament" players usually dive into that kind of information, with the majority of players having a surface-only understanding of the ability effect.

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I am still interested in the map reveal cheat, though...

In H3SW v0.8.1, standard WoG cheats do work. Just press TAB and write any of them, with the exception of wogminastirith because it breaks your game.

The map reveal cheat is wogeyeofsauron.