HOMM: Assembling artifacts???

[Andemagne]

Originally posted by Trajanus
lol, i've played LOTS of homm3 and i've never assembled an artifact!!! pretty amazing stuff here...

you need to have "shadow of death"-expansion installed to be able to assemble artifacts.

Originally posted by asleepathewheel
I have HoMM2 but haven't played 3 or 4. I've heard that 4 was a bit of a disappointment initially, but how is it now? Which one is the more enjoyable game, more detailed, more entertaining?

in the beginning HoMM4 WAS a disappointment, now its ok. it's a good game. its has less different troops and less town types and everything, but in this game saying "less is more" aplies.

but after all HoMM3 is still the best game in the series.

[asleepathewheel]

Thanks for the opinions on the two games, will probably check one of them out one of these days.

[DarkCloud]

Here's what you wanted loinburger-

Armageddon`s Blade
Gives your hero + 3 attack, + 3 defence, + 6 knowledge and + 3 power.
Places the expert armageddon spell in your spellbook.
All allied creatures become immune to armageddon.

From the Shadow of Death

Angelic Alliance
In addition to all of the bonuses the Angelic Alliance grants the wearer to mix good and neutral town creatures without morale penalty. At the beginning of each combat the Angelic Alliance will cast Prayer.
Requires the following artifacts to create:
+Helm of Heavenly Enlightenment
+Celestial Necklace of Bliss
+Sword of Judgment
+Armor of Wonder
+Sandals of the Saint
+Lion's Shield of Courage

Cloak of the Undead King
In addition to all of the bonuses the Cloak of the Undead King will raise 30% of the battlefield dead as Skeletons. If hero already has the Necromancy skill then the percentages are added to the skill and the level of skill determines what type is resurrected.
Basic: Zombies
Advanced: Wights
Expert: Liches
Requires the following artifacts to create:
+Amulet of the Undertaker
+Vampire's Cowl
+Dead Man's Boot

Elixir of Life
In addition to all of the bonuses the Elixir of Life will give all creatures in the Hero's ranks a 25% bonus to their health and gain the regeneration ability. Does not work on the undead or unliving creatures.
Requires the following artifacts to create:
+Ring of Life
+Vial of Life Blood
+Ring of Vitality

Armor of the Damned
In addition to all of the bonuses the Armor of the Damned casts these spells at the beginning of combat on all of your opponent's creatures: Slow, Disrupting Ray, Curse, Weakness, and Misfortune.
Requires the following artifacts to create:
+Skull Helmet
+Blackshard of the Dead Knight
+Rib Cage
+Shield of the Yawning Dead

Statue of Legion
In addition to the regular bonuses the Statue of Legion gives you +50% creature growth based off of the Castle creature generation level for all towns.
Requires the following artifacts to create:
+Legs of Legion
+Loins of Legion
+Torso of Legion
+Arms of Legion
+Head of Legion

Power of the Dragon Father
In addition to the regular bonuses the Power of the Dragon Father gives you +6 to all primary skills, and the hero's troops become immune to level 1-4 spells.
Requires the following artifacts to create:
+Crown of Dragontooth
+Necklace of Dragonteeth
+Dragon Wing Tabard
+Red Dragon Flame Tongue
+Dragon Scale Shield
+Quiet Eye of the Dragon
+Still Eye of the Dragon
+Dragonbone Greaves
+Dragon Scale Armor

Titan’s Thunder
In addition to the regular bonuses the Titan's Thunder gives the hero the Titan's Lightning Bolt that causes 600 points of damage and does not cost any spell points. If the hero does not have a spell book, then one will be permanently added.
Requires the following artifacts to create:
+Thunder Helmet
+Titan's Gladius
+Titan's Cuirass
+Sentinel's Shield

Admiral’s Hat
Admiral's Hat will remove the Boarding and Unboarding ship penalty, converting the hero’s movement points, in addition to the other bonuses.
Requires the following artifacts to create:
+Sea Captain's Hat
+Necklace of Ocean Guidance

Bow of the Sharpshooter
In addition to the other bonuses the Bow of the Sharpshooter will remove all ranged penalties, obstacle penalties, and melee penalties.
Requires the following artifacts to create:
+Bow of Elven Cherrywood
+Bowstring of the Unicorn's Mane
+Angel Feather Arrows

Wizard’s Well
In addition to the other bonuses the Wizard’s Well will regenerate all spell points each day.
Requires the following artifacts to create:
+Orb of Mana
+Talisman of Mana
+Charm of Mana

Ring of the Magi
In addition to the other bonuses the Ring of the Magi will add 50 rounds to spell duration.
Requires the following artifacts to create:
+Collar of Conjuring
+Ring of Conjuring
+Cape of Conjuring

Cornucopia
In addition to the other bonuses the Cornucopia will generate 4 of each precious resource, each day.
Requires the following artifacts to create:
+Everflowing Cloak of Crystal
+Everpouring Vial of Mercury
+Eversmoking Ring of Sulfur
+Ring of Infinite Gems

[DarkCloud]

IF you are interested in scenarios, I can send you a few of mine

Although I also reccomend The Pen and the Sword (by cattleman) downloadable at this site:http://www.h3trio.com/Non_Java_Menu/nonjavamainpage.htm

Possibly THE BEST heroes map not included in a Tarnum campaign

And many people like the Legacy of Qun-Jin series... which are amazingly tactically hard.

Do a google search on the following names, or you might be able to find them at H3Trio

Sander's Folly... by Timothy Duncan (epic tales)
Hail to the King... by Scrowe (good story/game/balance)

But I would prefer that you play my maps

I'll attach them if you like.

some are big on story- some on quests, and some on tactics!

[Traianvs]

angelic and titanic pride are two very tough maps (for me they were) and great map design as well!!

Btw, I don't have any expansion of the game => costs me money which i didn't have at that time, and now it can't be bought in stores an shops.. also, i'm not sure whether it adds much new stuff, althugh I heard things about a new city typ( conflux) etc so perhaps I should try and get them

+lots of good scenarios are not for the original homm3!

[SnowFire]

Never played any of DarkCloud's scenarios, but do play any map that says "by Timothy Duncan." That would include Goldheart and Sander's Folly for HOMM3, and his whole gigantic "Last Hope" saga for Heroes II. He manages to combine story and strategy quite well. Not recommended for the faint of heart though, as some maps can be quite hard.

[Andemagne]

thanks DarkCloud, you saved me a lot of work.

[DarkCloud]

I can't beat titantic pride or angellic pride it took me 10 restarts to take the city in angellic pride... and I have never managed to get out fo the dungeon

Last hope- I'll try looking for that, never found it yet.

I must be really horrible at H3-but the only usermaps I have ever beaten have been scrowes- Duncan's are abominably hard! But they are supposed to be good.

Snowfire- ever thought of trying one of mine?
I can send you a simple one with a simple story and reasonable strategy. Or I can send you one with an epic story and some strategy... Or I can send you one with a medium tale and lots of strategy

[Traianvs]

Yeah they are hard, though an experienced player should get out of the dungeon at least

the fun starts when you meet the hero with some 8000 cyclops kings

[loinburger]

Is there a good site for downloading scenarios? Y'know, like that one site that had all of the Dink Smallwood scenarios on it?

[SnowFire]

Back in the day, The Astral Wizard's site was easily the best for Heroes II information, and was very strong in Heroes III as well. Maps, map reviews, tactics, everything. After Armageddon's Blade, though, he kind of slowed down (at much the same time I did) and he's actually closing up shop soon.

http://www.astralwizard.com/common/aweds2002.htm#HFarewell

That means grab the maps while you can! Sure, they might move somewhere else, but it's easy to get them here. There are also fun strategy articles there as well. If you don't mind embarassing me, you can also download some old maps of mine. They're flawed in my opinion today, but some have merit. It'll be under Peter Ingraham, in the Heroes II section. Edit: No, actually just search for "Peter." I didn't use my full name for some reason.

Yeah, they changed it to 4th level in HOMM III, but even so, 5th level spells are still pretty easy to get (although Implosion is really the only one that's worthwhile, but hoo baby, is it ever worth it...)

Well, Town Gate was a level 4 spell in Heroes II, but it was middling because it warped you merely to the nearest town. In Heroes III, since they had the whole concept of spell school mastery, they just combined the two spells and said you get more impact at Expert. Which is still really cheap... Mass Slow was one of the best spells in Heroes II (it was level 4) and now, with Expert Earth, you can replicate it at level 1. Ugh. If you haven't figured out already, Earth is ridiculously awesome, Air isn't bad, Water's okay, and Fire sucks. Not entirely fair, but considering that most good Fire spells are good even without Mastery but don't get much better (like Blind)...

I have noticed that the computer likes to attack my worthless summoned elementals

Maybe they changed this in Shadow of Death, but the combat AI in H3 is to hunt down the weakest units first. If the elementals were the weakest, then this makes sense.

Heroes II, they gun for ranged units first, then flying units, then ground units, breaking ties by the most powerful in a set. While I agree that for hopeless battles it's better to cut your losses and hit your enemies weak units (better 10 Trogdolytes than 1/5 of a Black Dragon, which will heal after combat), this is a really bad strategy for winnable fights, as they'll waste time on my least deadly units. I was always more scared by the H2 strategy myself, considering how weak ranged units are in close combat, even if that was abusable too.

DC: Did you ever post your scenarios to the Internet, or to that h3trio site? Just put the link. No guarentees though, I've been a bit busy and have other games distracting me at the moment...

[loinburger]

Garr, the first campaign in Shadow of Death is so bloody frustrating. I'm collecting the Dead Man's Boots, Vampire's Cowl, and Undertaker's Amulet (the three components to the Cloak of the Undead King) in order to supposedly help some magician's apprentice construct an artifact that will help combat necromancy. Bull****! I can't bloody wait until I have to fight the "magician's apprentice" when I discover that he's actually a bloody necromancer, especially since he'll have an entire army of Power Liches behind him...

Sometimes I wish I could just suicide my hero in these "accidentally help the bad guy with your idiot hero" campaigns. "Whoops, your hero is so goddamn stupid that she fell off of a cliff, I guess you won't have to fight that necromancer with the Power Lich army after all!"

[DarkCloud]

Is there a good site for downloading scenarios?

AAAAAHhhahhahahahaha!
Didn't you read my post

http://www.h3trio.com/Non_Java_Menu/nonjavamainpage.htm

http://members.lycos.co.uk/Heroes3/index.html

http://heroes.mycomport.com/maphaven.html

--
Hmm... the apprentice's name isn't Sandro by any chance, is he?

---
Snowfire, I can attach the others, but only one is at the H3Trio site... and It isn't my best (it's my first) the others arent' there yet becuase I just finished an intensive round of testing them... and with some feedback from Andemagne.


The one on the H3Trio site- you can access it by going to maps and searchig for DarkCloud

Although if you are intersted in a more compelling story, different challenge one of my others might be better.

Rise of the King (my 1st one) is a medium map... and it is really good for management of resources and is fairly challenging and has a good story- but I like my others better Although I would say that Rise of the King is at least B-class... so please dont' listen too much to my putdowns of it I just like my others so much better! And it has an 85% rating at the site- so it must be doing something good! when so many others are 70% and below!!!

Thanks for your offer!

Just wondering, do you have any scenarios that you made? I would be glad to try them!
--
also on the site- you can see the first screenshots of Heroes FIVE!

[DarkCloud]

The Angellic Alliance is what I feel to be my best Scenario (but I have yet to finish playtesting it),... and it is long.

NC-5 Winter Storms runs a close second (and should play fairly well, but I have yet to have an expert Hommer play it. Although some amaeturs, myself included have. ) Warning: it is story intensive

NC-1 (the one at the site) is my second best

NC-2 is my 4th

Here's a zip pack with the Angelilc alliance an NC-5

Good luck

and thanks!

please feel free to post any comments!