All I want is more towns and creatures. I'm bored with the old ones in 3

When one wants to go to the castle, one is obliged of click once then second time, the time that the castleau is redefined (in the screen card, to the left). It would be much more useful to reach the castle with a simple double(copy) - click.

Hi, I see Gaird has made plenty of suggestions, so now it's Dave's turn.
Most of my suggestions have to do with the adventure map, and map designing (my favorite part of this INCREDIBLE game series)

I would like to request these things on the adventure map: (some are just neat landscaping, handy for map making)

1)one time portals
2)messages on portals
3)guarded portals
4)walls - Earth, stone, adobe, etc
5)fences - wire, wood, etc
6)gypsy camps - maybe gypsies could be a neutral unit
7)3-D terrain; building towns on mountains and in valleys
8)roads which lead off the edge (some stop short of the sides)
9)smaller stumps (ones that actually match the trees! ;o)
10)vegetable gardens
11)gravestones
12)exterior village huts, thatched houses, adobe, cabins,
13)bubbling oil pools
14)caves containing treasure

Some ideas for actual game play:
1)branching story lines
2)dependent timed events; (i.e. if *blank* happens, these stories pop up)
3)hero timed events; events based on heros, not castles or players
4)story lines that start once *blank* has been completed.
5)non-jail recruitment;Find neutral heroes in places other than jails. Perhaps even as the result of an event or timed event.
6)heroes as a result of completion of quest, or military conquest - (get hero as reward in seer's hut, or after taking a castle)
7)cut and paste sections - draw a sqaure around a section of terrain and move everything within that square to the clipboard)
8)I don't know if it's on purpose, but serpent flies still cast weakness with the orb of inhibition present.
9)winning and losing events - a place to write the ending for the story, the story that pops up depends on whether the game ends in victory or defeat, and may be different for each player
Thanx for the hard work, keeping up this wonderful site!

~ Dave

My comments, in part, echo previous suggestions. However also included is other ideas:
The Fog of War should be made an option, with various levels possible OR better yet tie it to a skill.
Like to see certain eliminated items returned to the game. Jails, "See the World" artifact and Ghosts (but make them weaker by only obtaining 10% of killed creatures)
More town types yes: Jungle, Desert and Waterfront towns. Boat Battle could be a skill raisable by boat battle experience. Lots of possibilities here, cannons included to try and destroy opposing boat, additional sails for speed of movement, special boat armor etc. Consider another type of travel (and battle)=Air balloons, able to traverse any type of water or terrain. More information on hero screen as to the hero's special abilities on different terrains, his native terrain.
AND NOW FOR THE THREE BIG ONES:
1. CORRECT THE MORALE BUG. I've been trying to get 3DO to do this for a very long time. Negative Morale features are NOT shown on hero info.
2. SHORTEN WON GAMES. So often the game deterioates into a boring clean-up when it is obvious it is already won. When the game is obviously won let it end instead of having it drawn out.
3. ENHANCE THE GRAIL. The search for the Grail is hardly worth while because by the time someone gets it the game is nearly over (almost always) so why get it?? Enhance by adding to game score (or 10 or 15 points) if you get the Grail.

How about a "buy all available troops" option in the castle. real annoying at the end of the game when you have more money than god and seventeen castles.
ciao

ch

Non-Aligned Heroes

Behaviors ---------
Beserker - Attacks anyone and everyone
Protector - Attacks anyone in his territory (designated by the terrain he is placed on, cannot cross into other terrains), provided the AI believes it can win.
Thief - will run around the map taking mines and open resources, if conquers a town, steals players resources (equal to [#of each resource/#of towns owned by player]) Can take artifacts on open ground.
Rules of existence ------------------
Can recruit from any creature dwelling, provided it has the resources to do so. Cannot capture or own castles as long as it is non-aligned, though it may attack them. Towns lost to NAHs turn grey. Can become aligned/recruited either before battle or after defeat. Diplomacy has an affect on this. Retreat is a NAHs best friend. Unlike aligned heroes, they do not lose their armies when they retreat. After retreat/defeat, NAHs reappear on the nearest Sanctuary, Tavern or Haven (new structure - basically the home base of a NAH) If played by a human, No resource rule replaces 7-day rule. Basically, when you have no resources to support your army, you lose.

New spell ideas:
Invisibility(air) - allows the caster to become invisible to his enemies on the adventure map. The number of turns that he can stay invisible depends upon the spell level/ability. This would be a great way to sneak up and attack enemy castles.
Detect Invisibility(air) - allows the caster to "see" invisible heroes in his area. The radius of "sight" would depend upon the spell level/ability. Flamethrower(fire) - a jet of flame shoots in the direction of the nearest enemy troop and continues striking everything in that line until it reaches the each of the battlefield. This could be a high level fire spell.
Hailstorm(water) - similar to meteor shower, but with large hailstones over an area of the battlefield. Area of effect could be determined by proficiency in water.

To my great dismay I read that some people actually have got the audacity to suggest that Homm4 should go real-time. To those people (even the one that that suggested a split between real-time for day-to-day action and turn based strategy for the combat sequences) I must say one word; NO! The beauty of the Homm series lies in the fact that it is a turn based system. If you want RTS then go and play Warcraft, Starcraft, Diablo or any other of the billion RTS games available. Don't mess with our favourite game. Real Time Strategy is not the holy grail! There are many polls on many websites that address this issue and ALL of them have come up with the very clear result that the vast majority of gamers want to keep the Homm series turn based.

I have only one suggestion for Homm4 and that is a statement that I understand is shared by a very large number of gamers out there; keep Homm4 TURN BASED...forever!

Fredrik Bäck

Heroes of Might and Magic IV idea suggestion:

1. The spell book should be customized by the user. Each hero is allowed to customize spell book in the castle. In other words, each hero can chose what spells they want to learn.
2. Upgrade resource structures such as gold mines, gem ponds, wood mills, etc. The idea is that you could upgrade these structures to increase their production. For example, you would pay a lot of each resource to upgrade a gold mine so that you could get 2000 gold per day instead of 1000 or you could upgrade a wood mill so that you could get 4 wood per day instead of 2 wood per day.
3. Each of the creatures should be upgraded two times. e.g. Angel - Archangel - Throne Angel
4. There are eight creatures in each town.
5. Eighth level creatures should be most expensive e.g. pay approximately 20,000 gold, 5 Gems, 5 Crystals, 5 Sulfurs and 5 mercury. All eighth level creatures should be ten times more powerful.
6. The upgraded capital income should earn like 10,000 gold per day.
7. I have one idea for a new town. May I present Catholic Town? The idea of the Catholic Town is that is should be enemy to Necropolis and Inferno Town.
Outline of New Units:
Level 1: Holymen - Acolytes - Saints (shoot with an holy cross) (walk)
Level 2: Holy Spirits - Holy Spectres - Holy Spectrals (attack with holy touch) (fly)
Level 3: Priests - High Priests - Bishops (attack with holy staff) (walk)
Level 4: Lycanthropes - Werewolves - Greater Werewolves (attack with holy claw) (walk)
Level 5: Cardinals - Ministers - Popes (shoot with a holy bible light) (walk)
Level 6: Holy Knights - Paladins - War Paladins (attack with a holy hammer) (walk)
Level 7: Angels - Archangels - Throne Angels (attack with a holy sword) (fly)
Level 8: Jesuses - Guardians - Gods (shoot with a holy lighting bolt) (teleport)
That's all!

Lord Haart

For those who are not yet sick of our suggestions, here are a few more new creatures, spells and artefacts

1) Spells (I'm leaning toward trying to strengthen the schools of fire and water)
Fear - 3rd level - fire: Causes enemy units to lose both attack and defense points but with an slight increase in speed
Stun - 4th level - earth: Causes enemy units to forget to retaliate
Beacon - 4th level - water : Draws an enemy unit toward a designated point on the battlefield. Unless dispelled, he will disobey orders and blindly travel to that location.
Hand of Terror - 5th level - fire : Used on the adventure map, causes weaker units to flee the enemy army.
Demolition - 5th level - fire : Destroys structures within a town, number of structures depends on skill level and power Invisibility - fifth level - air : Creaure stack becomes invisible until they attack Ice
Sculpture - 4th level - water : Freezes a unit and all adjacent units with same effect as stone can be cast on either side.

2) Artifacts
Cloak of the Banshee - Casts fear on all enemy humanoid creatures, or all rampart creatures
Pendant of Iron will - Immunity to mind spells
Pendant of Mobility - Renders units immune to slow, stone, freeze, or being tied down by dendroids
Shoes of the Arch Devil - Grants all units the ability to teleport.
Wing of the golden feather - Grants +3 movement bonus to all flying creatures

3) New Town -
Pyramid Spearmen => Heavy Spearmen
Royal Archer => Golden Archers (range unit)
Crocodiles => Blood Crocodiles
Corpses => Mummies
Seers => Prophets (range unit)
Chariots => Grand Chariots
Sphinx => Golden Sphinx
I don't know how to make it fit in with the story line, but this was a suggestion from my family: A prehistoric town with cavemen, stone throwers, saber tooth tigers, teredactyls, brontosaurus riders, wooly mammoths and T-rexs Another new town I would like to see is an eastern town of some kind with Sumu's and Golden dragons... Chinese and Japanese folk lore

-- And just in case anyone is looking for a major change...

-- 4) New schools of magic (Adapted from Might and Magic series)
-1- Mind magic - Steals some spells from other schools including: hypnotize, beserk, fear and hand of terror (see above suggestions ;o) - Adds mind blast and telekinesis from Might and Magic series. Telekinesis would allow you to open castle gates or control balistas and catapaults
-2- Spirit Magic - Takes resurect and animate dead, sacrifice, as well as destroy undead, bless, and all summoning spells. - Adds brotherhood (adjascent units retaliate together) and holy war (raises moral, luck, speed, bloodlust etc)
-3- Body Magic - Takes spells like cure, and dispel disease, dispel poison, dispel aging etc. The regular dispel is too powerful for its current position and could be moved to a higher level, more expensive spell
-4, 5- Light and Dark magic Basically follows the magic from Might and Magic VII with prismatic light, create resources and some good stuff in the light magic, and Touch of Death, shrinking ray, toxic cloud and whatever that elemental shield was called in the Dark magic I don't have the time or patience to figure out all the spells for the various schools, but I have to leave some of the fun for others don't I? Hopefully adding more schools of magic would bring more options for spells, and better seperate the men from the magi. Well that's all for now... keep those ideas coming, folks!

A few more quick suggestions from two Heroes Fanatics...
1) Ressurect vs Animate Dead - Ressurected creatures should stay in your army after the battle like animated dead. Maybe it's just a glitch or covered in some patch, but they're always counted as casualties in my game.
2) Expert Hypnotize - the Hypnotize spell cast at expert should be a brainwash spell of sorts allowing weaker units to be absorbed into your army completely. It seems kind of silly attacking a unit that is working for you.
3) Movement spell - Bring a haste spell to the adventure map as well as the battlefield.
4) Snow storm and Sand storm spells on the Adventure map - A powerful hero could raise these weather conditions around where they are standing, causing slower movement by all heroes in the area. An actual snow storm would be visually stimulating.
5) Historic neutral bands - It would be nice to have neutrals which are actual historic groups, ie vikings, roman legions, aztecs, spanish conquistadors, etc.
6) New town - Oasis Alamov, a powerful wizard is cast out of the tower town for practicing dark magics and is forced into exile in the desert. There he plots his revenge conjuring dark spirits to embody the creatures of the desert.
Hero classes: Wanderers and Dark Magi?
Creatures:
-1- Scavengers, upgrade to Hunters. Deformed humanoid creatures of the desert, more like rats than humans, travel in hunched position with hands in front of face to block the sun.
-2- Blowgunner, upgrade to Poison Blowgunner Small upright humanoid archer unit with blowgun. Upgraded units have a chance to poison their target.
-3- Nomads (already a neutral unit), upgrade to Bedouin Sand walkers on horses
-4- Vultures, upgrade to Condors OR Rattle Snakes upgrade to Cobras Bloodlust when fighting against armies containing undead units
-5- Shadows upgrade to Dark Winds? Conjured by the dark magi to act as spies and warriors, the shadows can flit around the battle map and can not be tied down or blinded.
-6- Ghost Phalanx, upgrade to Ghost Legion Alamov's elite warriors. Conjured from the rusted armor of an army of forgotten warriors. Ghost Phalanx resemble a rusted specter of Ancient Greece with a gray and indescernable face, long spear, and round sheild. The Ghost Legion rides a rusty chariot pulled by a spector in horse armor.
-7- Sand Beast, upgrade to Sand Storm The very spirit of the desert itself, held in bondage by the powerful dark magi, the Sand beast can not be tied down or blinded and has a chance of blinding enemies. Upgraded it becomes an archery unit unleashing sandstorms which can effect units adjascent to each other and casting slow upon all enemies in the storm's path.

I had one more idea for a town... it may be silly but I decided to include it anyway I've given my neutral and evil towns, Here is my idea for the forces of Good.
Gnome Inventors (for lack of a better name)
The gnomes, having no real battle skills and no powerful creatures, rely almost entirely upon their inventions consuming large quanities of resources.
-1- Gnomes, upgrade to Axe Gnomes The basic weak unit of the gnome town. Little guys with pointy hats, non-upgraded gnomes could be armed with shovels or something
-2- Halflings (already a neutral unit) upgrade to Three-Quarterlings
-3- Shooties, upgrade to Shooty Slingers Gnomes in little mini balista-like vehichles which resemble giant slingshots The little gnome sits in on the back, pulling the giant band. Upgraded units can attack fort walls or even archery towers. In hand to hand battle, the gnomes can flick the enemy with the band or BAP them with the giant rock
-4- Gliders, upgrade to Glide-iators Flying unit which drops rocks on the heads of their enemies, no retaliation
-5- Trojan Horse, upgrade to Trojan Stallion Wooden ground unit full of gnomes who attack out of tiny holes. Good defense, poor attack, no retaliation.
-6- Flying machine, upgrade to Whirligig. Strange wooden flying machine with lots of funny bells and whistles, attacks with scalding hot steam and rocks. No retaliation
-7- Archer tower, upgrade to Sniper Tower Little tower unit on wheels with gnome archers at the top. No range penalty, excellent defense and health points, no enemy retaliation.

I think they should make it so you can get level 8-10 creatures in castles. But somehow make it so that the lower level creatures still have their uses, maybe they could make it so that certain low level creatures are say "dragon/hydra slayers" who do 200% damage and take 50% damage to dragons/hydras. And maybe they should have it so some unupgraded units are ranged, but the upgrades ones are excellent melee fighters (just to add some variety to the game :-)).
Sorry if this has been covered already.

Richard