HOMM3 Newsletter

Welcome to the first issue of the HoMM3 Newsletter. It has been an interesting job trying to keep up with the very latest releases on the web, especially since the AVault released their article just today! This week's newsletter is packed with the latest information and some website introductions. Got some new news? Want to submit something for next week's issue? Send it to: [email protected]. Hope you enjoy this issue, and continue to receive it.

HOMM3 News

OFFICIAL SITES OF THE WEEK:

OFFICIAL NEW RELEASES

Background: Orrin trained with one of Erathia's best
seige tacticians during his early military service.
Any archers under his command learn quickly to shoot
at targets behind obstacles.

A well written article, it includes quite a bit of new stuff in it, including unique buildings for all castle-types, 8 news skill types, and much more!

Campaign: Divided into 3 acts, with 3 mini-campaigns in first, 2 in second, and 1 in third. Of these, 3 are Good Side (Catherine), 2 are Evil side, and 1 is neutral. They are all interlocking, and tell the complete story of Catherine's return to Erathia. It also tells us that certain heroes can be carried, along with their stats and such, into scenerios from previous ones! Also, a certain amount of resources can be carried from scenario to scenario! An interesting addition!

As for the adventure world, with the new subterrean areas, maps are up to 50% larger than before! These will figure prominently in the evil scenarios. Also on the game map are new Quest Objects, where you meet a scholar or other, who gives you a quest to rescue someone, find something, etc.. and you get a powerful reward, as in relation to what you would find typically lying on the map!

Towns are now divided into Military and Economic sides by two new buildings: the Hall and Castle. The Hall has four variations: Village Hall, Town Hall, City Hall, and Capitol, whereas the Caslte has three: Fort, Citadel, and Castle. The Hall allows you to build stuff, and also gives you bonuses in gold for each level per week: 1000, 2000, and 4000. The castle upgrades generate more creatures instead, 2-3 more! Gone are the statue and well though, as the two new buildings take their place. Each building and upgrade allows access to new structures and enhancements, making for an impressive imrpovement in town building.

Castle - Brotherhood of the Sword, an upgraded Tavern that gives +2 morale!
Dungeon - Portal of Summoning, recruit creatures from any flagged creature generator!
Fortress - Glyphics of Fear, +2 attack during castle sieges.
Inferno - Order of Fire, bestows permament +1 attack bonus to all visiting heroes.
Necropolis - Skeleton transformer, turn any unit into a skeleton.
Rampart - Dwarven Treasury, gives gold bonus!
Stronghold - Freelancer's Guild, sell mercenary armies.
Tower - Library (it's back).

Skills have been enhanced, with the four new magical skills: Earth, Water, Air, and Earth. Any magician can cast any spell, though the more proficient with a skill, the more damage a spell does! Other new skills inlcude an Offensive skill, which bestows up to 30%+ attack, and a Defensive one, which does the same in damage negation. There are also skills for mastering the new war machines, of which Artillery is one. All heroes can carry all four war machines.

The AI in HoMM3 has also been much enhanced, as has the multiplayer game. In multiplayer, the player can now play with his castles, look the map over, change this and that, all while it's the other players turn. Also, time limits may now be put on turns, making games much faster! As for AI, the computer controlled heroes will now try to create those famous killer stacks favoured by many fans! Watch out! All in all, this preview concludes that HoMM3 is the closest game to perfection, and I must agree one hundred percent!

Short story at the Avault: "In Might and Magic 6, Queen Catherine learns her father has died. Suspecting foul play, and the great potential for neighboring aggressors to take advantage of the situation, she leaves Enroth for Erathia with a fleet of warships. When she arrives on the shores of Erathia, her suspicions are confirmed. Erathia is under invasion. Battling to Erathia's capitol city of Steadwick, Catherine sets herself up as queen and begins restoring the land's original borders." Funny to note that Avault has the capitol as Steadwick, and Gamespot as Gryphonheart. Interesting... two different builds?

According to the article, anything that isn't part of the interface has been 3D rendered, and it is not as "bright and cheery" as before. More and better animations during combat have been added, along with more serious looking creatures. Also, flying creatures cannot longer cross the whole map at once, as flying lenth depends on your speed!

The interface has been beefed up as well, with two new options on the map adventure screen: sleep, which skips heroes in next hero and gets rid of those annoying dialogues asking you if your sure you want to end your turn; and elevation, which allows you to switch between aboveground, and underground! Stack manipulation is also more straightforward and easier to manage. During combat, you there are now two phases, as implemented by the wait button. If you press wait, it puts the creature in the second phase, which happens after the fatest-slowest moves of the first phase. Combat can be a little longer and require a bit more tactical thought now!

Ultimate artifacts are now Relics, which bestow positive and negative bonuses, and gone are the cursed items. Grail artifacts allow you to build a special building for each town type. Moats can now cause damage, and each castly type has it's own unique moat.

Some of the new spells include: Forgetfulness (ranged creatures 'forget' to use their ranged weapons), Land Mine (randomly places a number of mines on the combat field, hidden from the view of creatures not native to the terrain), Counterstrike (increases the number of retaliations for a given creature), Fire Shield (inflicts fire damage upon any creature striking through the fire shield), and Force Field (places a force field you cannot walk through on the combat terrain ).

And last, but not least, it's seems NWC has not forgotten the manual! It is huge, with detailed descriptions and images of all creatures in the game! It also includes tables for heroes, skills, and much more! A sure change from the skimpy manuals that are shipping with most of today's games. And the editor has been revamped to include drag and drop (pick up object, move it here, then there, then drop it!), and according to Greg Fultan, it will elate any HoMM2 map maker! Another great preview to a great game! Check out some more heroes listed below!

Hero Name	Class	Primary Skill	2ndary Skill	Creature Stack 1	Creature Stack 2	Creature Stack 3	Unique Ability	Unique Ability Info	Hero Bio
Edric	Knight	Leadership - Basic	Defense - Basic	Pikemen	Griffins	Griffins	Creature Bonus: Griffins	Edric increases the Attack and Defense skills of any Griffins or Royal Griffins he commands by 5% for each level he attains after 3rd level. (+5% at 4th level, +10% at 5th level, etc.)	Edric's father was the first man in Erathia to domesticate and train a wild Griffin. Now, Edric continues what his father started by setting up Erathia's largest Griffin breeding grounds for use in the King's armies.
Melodia	Druid	Wisdom - Basic	Luck - Basic	Centaurs	Dwarves	Wood Elves	Spell Bonus: Fortune	Melodia's proficiency with the Fortune spell allows the target unit to automatically receive Luck on its next attack.	Melodia may not be the most highly skilled Druid ever seen in AvLee, but she is certainly the luckiest. Even in the face of insurmountable odds she has managed to achieve miraculous victories. Troops gladly volunteer to serve in any army she leads.
Astral	Wizard	Wisdom - Adv	n/a	Apprentice Gremlins	Stone Gargoyles	Stone Golems	Spell Bonus: Hypnotize	Astral's proficiency with the Hypnotize spell allows him to cast it with increased effect, based on his level compared to the level of the target unit. (the bonus is greater when used on weaker units)	Astral arrived in Erathia nearly ten years ago, and was quickly accepted into the Alchemists' Guild in Bracada. His rise to power within the Guild ranks made some people joke that only magic could have brought him so much success so soon.
Calid	Heretic	Wisdom - Basic	Learning - Basic	Imps	Gogs	Hell Hounds	+1 Sulfur each day.	Calid is able to produce 1 additional Sulfur per day for the Kingdom she serves.	Calid posesses an unusual (though useful) ability to sniff out hidden sulfur deposits. The Dungeon Overlords have used her on several occasions when collecting sulfur for their fearsome dragons.
Sandro	Necromancer	Necromancy - Basic	Sorcery - Basic	Skeletons	Zombies	Wights	Secondary Skill Bonus: Sorcery	Sandro receives a 5% per level bonus to his Sorcery skill.
Darkstorn	Warlock	Wisdom - Basic	Learning - Basic	Troglodytes	Harpies	Beholders	Spell Bonus: Stone Skin	Darkstorn's proficiency with the Stone Skin spell allows him to cast it with increased effect, based on his level compared to the level of the target unit. (the bonus is greater when used on weaker units)
Oris	Battle Mage	Wisdom - Basic	Learning - Basic	Goblins	Wolf Riders w/Goblins	Orcs	Secondary Skill Bonus: Eagle Eye	Oris receives a 5% per level bonus to her Eagle Eye skill.
Broghild	Beastmaster	Defense - Basic	Scouting - Basic	Gnolls	Wyvern	n/a	Creature Bonus: Wyvern	Gerwulf increases the Attack and Defense skills of any Wyverns or Wyvern Monarchs he commands by 5% for each level he attains after 6th level. (+5% at 7th level, +10% at 8th level, etc.)	Broghild's grandfather first tamed wild Wyverns for use as flying scouts above the Tatalian Lowlands. The secrets of handling these creatures was passed to Broghild's father, and eventually to him.

Webmasters

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