The Griffons will protect you until you are ready to make your move.
This is a throwback map from Heroes of Might and Magic 1, recreated block by block, with some modifications made to make it as authentic an experience as possible. For a list of the changes made, check the ReadMe file.
Claw (Easy) - Heroes of Might and Magic III Remake
Foreword:
So, uh, hi!
I made this because I was bored at work. That's pretty much it.
That plus I was a little nostalgic, because when I was a kid, Claw
was about the only map on Heroes 1 that I would play. I thought it
would be fun to fiddle around and re-create it in Heroes III, just
to see if I could.
I started out just to make the actual map layout, and then I thought
it would be fun to mess around and make it as close to the HoMM1
experience as I could. I didn't go all-out and go into editing
creatures or whatever, because I am not that talented, but I did
make some alterations that I have detailed below.
The result, when I tested it, actually came relatively close to the
classic experience. The map is ludicrously easy (as implied by the
title) but I figure if you're playing it, you probably aren't after
the challenge as much as the novelty/nostalgia.
Anyway, feel free to read up below on what I did, or just go ahead
and enjoy.
Requirements:
Heroes of Might and Magic III with Horn of the Abyss.
The Map Itself:
I tried to make the terrain/passability as loyal to the original
map as I could. I had to fudge one or two things (the size of the
Sawmill in HoMM3 compared to HoMM1 was a real pain in the patookus
here), but for the most part, everything is in the right place,
down to the square of the grid.
This map always felt so much bigger when I was playing it as a kid,
but gosh darn, Claw is a tiny map.
I also found that it feels much more enclosed than a typical HoMM3
map would; like I said, I went block-by-block, which meant I didn't
up the spacing between objects to account for some slightly larger
map objects (in most cases, anyway).
Gameplay Tweaks:
1) Factions
You'll notice when you go into the game setup that you can only
choose from Castle, Rampart, Dungeon or Stronghold - just like in
HoMM1, you'd have access to Knight, Barbarian, Sorceress or Warlock.
Most of the choices were pretty obvious, but I debated for a while
on whether I would go with Conflux or Rampart for the Sorceress
castle. I ended up going with Rampart because it felt closer to the
feel of the Sorceress castle. Not as many fairies, but still magical
and foresty.
The computer players will always start with the same kinds of castles
that they did in the original Claw map: Dungeon/Warlock in the upper
left, Stronghold/Barbarian in the upper middle, and Rampart/Sorceress
in the upper right. The town in the middle will always be a Castle/
Knight town.
When I was testing, I liked to pick Random because you didn't
originally get the chance to choose in HoMM1.
2) Towns and Castles
I disabled several of the build options inside towns and I also had
some buildings automatically created. I'll go through what I went
with:
a. Town Hall
Since in HoMM1 your castle earns you 1,000 gold, I decided that each
of the towns on the map would start with a Town Hall. I disabled
anything higher up than that (mostly because the map is already
obnoxiously easy, as well as for reasons of authenticity).
b. Castle
You (and the computers) start with a Citadel, and Castle is disabled.
The intent here was to balance the lack of a Well, and the one arrow
turret you get when defending against a siege. The moat... well,
little to do about the moat.
c. Creature Dwellings
I left the actual creature dwellings alone but I disabled the upgrades,
partly for the sake of that Heroes 1 feel, but partly because upgrading
in this map leaves it truly broken.
d. Misc. Structures
Because of certain requirements for certain dwellings in certain towns,
I left certain structures (like the Blacksmith, for example) enabled.
This is also why the player can build a Ballista Yard as a Barbarian;
disabling that on a random castle also disables the Stables, which the
Knight needs in order to make Cavaliers. Meh.
e. Mage Guild
I allowed for all five levels of the Mage Guild to be built wherever they
normally could, because the spells I left in the map (see the Spells
section below) go up to Level 5.
f. Grail
Obviously enabled, because the Grail can be found on the map (totally
random, not manually placed). I imagine this would utterly break the
map if it were built though, and I think the map goes fast enough that
you wouldn't really have time to put it up anyway.
3) Heroes
I had some fun with the heroes. I am not going to detail all the changes
I made here - because the heck with that, I'm already doing too much
work just typing out this ReadMe.
In brief, though, I disabled all the heroes besides the Knights, Bar-
barians, Druids (Sorceresses), and Warlocks. I found portraits that were,
eh, close enough, and renamed them to the original HoMM1 cast of
characters. Kept the same ones where applicable (e.g. Sandro, Yog, Haart,
Crag Hack, Gem, Luna).
I adjusted the primary skills of each hero type to match their original
stats in HoMM1 - which really only meant a change for the Barbarians and
the Druids/Sorceresses.
I also limited the available secondary skills on the map to include only
those that were natural talents of heroes in HoMM1: Leadership, Pathfinding,
Navigation (hah, won't be using THAT one here) and Scouting. I also included
Wisdom, for the sake of magic larnin', and Ballistics, because there's no
Ballista artifact in HoMM3.
I didn't take into account any hero specialties, so there might be a few
odd balancing acts in there.
4) Wandering Armies
The first thing is that none of the wandering armies will join you ever, and
the second is that none of them run away, either. They didn't in HoMM1 and
they won't here either!
I picked the creatures based on a random game I started in HoMM1 - pretty much
as close to random as I wanted to go.
5) Artifacts
I disabled a lot of the artifacts, and the ones I left in, I left in to emulate
the ones that would have been available in the original HoMM - between +1 to +4
Attack/Defense/Spell Power/Knowledge, +1 Morale or Luck (there was no substitute
for the Fizbin of Misfortune, so I threw in the Spirit of Oppression), increased
mobility, and so on.
As I said earlier, I left the Ballistics skill in to compensate for the Ballista.
Also, just like in HoMM1, a pack of 50 Rogues jumps out to protect the artifact
nearest your town. That said, Rogues are definitely tougher in HoMM3 than in
HoMM1, so... good luck!
6) Map Objects
I was able to keep most of the map objects the same, such as mines and pickups
and so forth, but there were a couple of things that needed switching around:
a. Gazebo - swapped it out for a Learning Stone; same function.
b. Graveyard - swapped it out for a HotA Churchyard.
c. Magic Shrines - put Level 1 shrines in the grassy area and Level 2 ones near
the neutral Knight town.
d. Adventure Caves - Since those don't exist in HoMM3, I swapped them out for
Cyclops Stockpiles.
e. Shipwrecks - now, I could be wrong about this, but I *think* the ones I put
in are accessible by land. I haven't tested it, so let me know if I was wrong.
7) AI Behaviour
I set two of the AI players on "Adventurer" and one on "Warrior" and in my
brief testing I found them to move about as quickly as they usually did in
HoMM1. That said, I don't work with the HoMM3 editor much and I'm not all too
familiar with AI behaviour, so let me know if there's a better way to go
about it.
That should about cover the most important bits, not that any of it really
desperately needed to be said anyway. Hope you enjoy!
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