Homm4 - the Good, the Bad, the Ugly

[Eli]

Originally posted by FrustratedPoet
does anyone know of a good fansite for HOMM4?
i've tried searching around the 'net and i can't find a decent one.

I was looking for such site too. No luck.

[jackshot]

www.strategyplanet.com/homm has a fairly active forum, if that's what you're looking for.

[FrustratedPoet]

that looks like what i'm looking for. thanks jackshot.

[jackshot]

you're welcome, Frustratedpoet.

But the boards there don't seem to be too happy with the game. NWC is getting a lot of heat for a massive memory leak that slows everyone's games to a crawl, and a very, very brain dead AI. The AI ignores clear resources right next to its castle, wastes itself suicide attacking huge neutral stacks repeatedly, can't handle sieges, and can't upgrade its heroes right.

Upping the difficulty just makes the neutral stacks larger, further hamstringing the AI. Not good. And the lead prgrammer just left the company, which is being very quiet about the problems like the memory leak...

Hope I'm wrong, but I'm not sure I want to go where this is heading.

[FrustratedPoet]

i haven't experienced any of the bugs that most people mention on that site so that isn't a problem for me. the memory leak sounds nasty. though.

also, i have noticed that the AI is a bit stupid and never collects free resources that are close to its base. however, i am struggling to complete the campaigns and scenarios on normal difficulty because the AI builds up its armies faster than i can. this is only because i suck at this game, but at least the poor AI doesn't make the game too easy.

i completed the Life campaign (with the Lysander hero), of course, that was easy, but i'm stuck on the second mission of both the Might and Preserve campaigns. the AI is always stronger than me. whenever i send my main army out to explore/conquer/level-up the AI sneaks behind my back and captures all my mines and towns. i try leaving defenders behind, but they can never match up to the enemy's army and die. even though the AI is stupid it still hands me my ass more often than not . i'm just uselesss, i think , but i'm having fun with it anyway.

still no sign of a multiplayer patch. damn ... i think the only way i'll improve at this game is by playing other people and analysing how they thrash me. i wish they'd hurry up with it.

[Eli]

I'm playing the first campaign, the first level. Where is the damn hammer?

[mactbone]

If you go through one of the gated areas there are a bunch of Black Dragons, if you kill them all and then visit one of the farmhouses (somewhere in the bottom maybe to the left), he'll give you the hammer. He's the one that says he has a hammer so he can kill the black dragons that killed his family. Then, you show him the heads and steal the hammer when he's not looking.

[FrustratedPoet]

if you have problems finding any of the quest buildings, since they can tend to get buried on the larger maps, don't forget to look at your quest log. it keeps track of what you have to do and who asked you to do it, which can be useful if you haven't loaded that save for a couple of days ... or you just get lost.

[Eli]

Thanks MacTBone, I missed that quest hut.

[Ecthy]

the good, the bad, the Eli

[Eli]

First campaign, third level.
Before finding the portal that will allow me to pass the gate, am I supposed to conquer (all) castles? Or is the level passable with the heroes I start with?

I started playing without conquering a thing, just searching for the portal, but then I found few stacks that I have no chances to beat(dozens of behemoths) so I realized that I should've conquered a few castles.

[mactbone]

You're going to have to be more descriptive, I can't remember which one was the third one. Is it the oracle? Or the river wheel thing?

[FrustratedPoet]

the oracle level should be quite easy. IIRC there aren't any towns or enemy armies around, if you're struggling on that one then it's probably because your heroes aren't a high enough level.

so i think it must be the river wheel level you're stuck on ... if so then, yes, i would capture the castles if i were you. you don't have to be too worried about defending them if you don't want to, since they're not part of the victory condition, but you're gonna need the extra units the towns produce to complete the level.

[mactbone]

Haha, I took over the entire map. You just need to go to the bottom right, and I would at least get Angel Falls, or whatever the most top-left town is because they're already producing Champions I think.

[Eli]

Ok. I'll restart the scenario.