By
Christoph Nahr
All links in this Addenda are in the process of
being fixed. Patches and campaign game files will be uploaded as
soon as possible. Any suggestions or additions to either the H3 or
H4 addenda should be e-mailed to me and they will be promptly
updated.......Sir Charles
Manual Addenda for
Heroes of Might and Magic IV
New
patches released on 2003-03-20, bringing the basic game and the
Gathering Storm expansion up to patch level 3.0 which is
identical to the release version of the recent Winds of War
expansion.
Note that
there is no direct upgrade path from version 1.0 (the original release
of the basic game) to the current version 3.0 – you must first patch
your HoMM4 installation to version 1.3, then to 2.0, then to
2.2, and finally to 3.0 using the basic variant of this patch. If you
have The Gathering Storm installed, only the the expansion
variants of the 2.2 and 3.0 patches are needed. Winds of War
owners need no patches at this time.
3DO’s HoMM4
support page describes all patch levels and variants, and includes
links to the US English and foreign-language versions of all patches.
Alternatively, click on one of the following links to directly download
the latest patches for the US English release only:
Preface
HoMM4
is short for Heroes of Might and Magic IV, a fantasy strategy
game set in the Might and Magic universe of role-playing games.
Both series of games are the creation of New World Computing. Visit the official
web site for product information and support, or take a look at fan
sites such as MapHaven and Celestial
Heavens (both English) or Drachenwald
(German) for strategy tips, new scenarios, and other contributions by
Heroes fans.
HoMM4
is copyright © 2002 by The 3DO Company. This page was created by
Christoph Nahr. Neither the author nor the contents of this page are in
any way affiliated with or supported by The 3DO Company or New World
Computing.
This page
gives some corrections and additional information on important aspects
of HoMM4 that go unmentioned in the printed manual. Make sure
you also check the Readme and (if present) Update
text files in your HoMM4 directory for other corrections and
additions to the manual.
Many thanks
to lead programmer Gus Smedstad for his continuing support of the Heroes
community even after leaving New World Computing!
Town Screen
Advanced Classes
Whenever a
hero gains a level and receives a new skill point, the game checks to
see if the hero’s class has changed. Each possible class is assigned a
“weight” by adding up all skill points that have been allocated to
the skill families associated with that class. The weight is reduced by
one for most advanced classes (those that require more than one skill
family), and by three for the Archmage class. If the hero’s current
class is outweighed by a possible advanced class, the game changes the
hero to the “heaviest” available advanced class.
Army Screen
Combat Formations
The
formation diagrams show the correct numbers but the text in the first
paragraph of this section is incorrect. Spell casters and ranged troops
should of course go into positions 2, 4, 6 and not into positions 5, 6,
7.
The combat
map is now divided into small squares (shown by the “Combat
Grid” option added in patch version 1.2) instead of the large hexagons
used in previous Heroes games. Creature stacks occupy a
variable number of squares according to the creature’s size, ranging
from 3x3 for halflings to a roughly circular 7x7 area (with rounded
edges) for dragons.
Creatures
can assume eight different facings aligned with the square
grid: up, down, left, right, and the four diagonals. Diagonal movement
between squares costs 1.5 times as many movement points as horizontal or
vertical movement.
Creature
stacks exert zones of control (ZOC) to their front and both
sides, but not to their rear, relative to the stack’s current facing.
Creatures with ranged attacks are restricted to melee combat while in
the ZOC of an enemy stack. Moving within an enemy ZOC incurs a
substantial movement penalty, but not moving directly towards or away
from it.
Note:
Ranged combat is possible when adjacent to an enemy stack but not in its
ZOC! Clever tacticians can exploit this rule to order a melee attack
against an enemy stack blocking friendly ranged combat troops, causing
it to face the melee attacker and thus releasing the ranged combat
troops from its ZOC.
Combat Rounds
Poison
and Stun are physical effects, regardless of their cause, so
they are only cured by healing spells or potions, not by spells such as
Exorcism or Dispel.
Creatures summoned
by combat spells automatically disappear when combat is over. Only
creatures summoned by skills outside of combat are permanent.
Movement
Flying
creatures can move freely across enemy walkers or teleporters but their
movement is blocked by enemy flyers. Teleporting creatures can move
across any enemy creature, and they only block enemy walkers but not
flyers or teleporters.
Attacking
The amount
of damage inflicted upon a stack by a physical attack is
calculated by dividing the attacker’s Attack attribute by the
defender’s Defense attribute (using either Melee or Ranged as
appropriate) and multiplying the result with the attacker’s Damage
rating.
The
animations for attacks on a creature with the First Strike
ability show the attacker’s move before the defender’s, even though
the defender should strike first due to its special ability. Actually,
combat is resolved correctly (watch the floating numbers) but the
animations are shown in the usual order to clearly identify attacker and
defender.
Siege Combat
The visual
representation of siege combat is a bit misleading. Creatures that
appear directly behind the fortress walls are actually supposed to be
standing on top of the walls. Therefore they can engage in
combat with enemies outside the fortress. In doing so, they receive a
bonus to their Melee Attack and Melee Defense ratings depending on the
fortress level: Forts confer a bonus of 25%, Citadels of 50%, and
Castles of 100%. Ranged combat is unaffected except for an obstacle
penalty for attacks on creatures manning the walls.
Gates
receive 50 hit points per fortress level. Fort gates have 50 HPs,
Citadel gates have 100 HPs, and Castle gates have 150 HPs. Each attack
against a gate can destroy at most 50 HPs, so at least three attacks are
required to destroy a Castle gate.
Moats
are provided by Citadels and Castles and inflict additional combat
penalties on creatures standing in the moat. The penalty is 25% for
Melee Attack and 20% for Melee and Ranged Defense.
Towers
double all combat ratings and remove any range or obstacle
penalties for creatures stationed on a tower. Initially, towers are
manned by the three rear line stacks of the garrison army (positions 2,
4, 6 on the Army or Town Screen).
Flying
creatures must stop in front of enemy fortress walls before they
can cross the walls in the next combat round. Teleportation, either as a
native creature ability or due to a spell, does not have this
limitation.
World Reference
Please
refer to the Combat section for´general notes on
spell usage during tactical combat.
Celestial
Heavens hosts a comprehensive creature
statistics chart including the number of experience points that each
creature is worth. This number is used to determine the effects of the Necromancy
and Summoning skills, as described in the manual.
Spell List: Chaos Magic
Spell
Shackle inflicts ten points of damage for each spell point expended
by the “shackled” creature.
Spell List: Life Magic
Defender
only gives a bonus if the spell recipient takes the Defend action
instead of attacking, moving, or casting a spell.
Spell List: Nature Magic
Quicksand
requires you to “paint” a number of map squares based on the
caster’s level with the wheelbarrow cursor that appears when this
spell is cast. Clicking with the spellbook cursor sets the first patch
of quicksand; now move the wheelbarrow cursor over the area you wish to
turn into quicksand. No further clicks are necessary; the spell will
terminate and quicksand will appear automatically after the maximum
number of patches has been placed. Note that impassable terrain cannot
receive quicksand.
Skill List: Scouting
Pathfinding
is cumulative with any movement-increasing artifacts that the hero is
carrying. However, movement modifiers of different heroes are not
cumulative; only the highest modifier found in an army counts.
Seamanship
applies to sea movement in the same fashion as Pathfinding applies to
land movement. Note that Seamanship and any additional bonuses (e.g.
Lighthouses) are the only variables that affect sea movement.
Ships otherwise always travel at the same speed, regardless of the
heroes and creature types they are carrying.
Skill Progression
Flowcharts
Under this
promising headline, the manual offers nothing but a simple list of the
experience needed for each level. Gus Smedstad elaborates on the actual
mechanics of skill choices when your heroes gain a new level:
- First of all, skill
choices are determined by a hero’s present class. For example,
priests are offered Life Magic skills and ragers are offered Combat
and Scouting skills.
- The first two skill
choices, when possible, are improvements to existing skill families,
rather than a new primary skill. If possible, they will for
different families, and only for families that match the hero’s
class.
- Your hero will be
offered Combat skill a minimum of once every three levels until he
reaches Grandmaster. This is because Combat is vital for all heroes
to survive later combats. Other Combat skills such as Melee are not
offered this often unless your hero is an appropriate class.
- If your hero has six
or more skill levels for each primary skill he knows, he will be
offered a new primary skill. For example, if your hero has 5 levels
in Combat related skills, and 7 levels in Death related skills, he
will be offered a new primary skill.
- The chances of getting
a particular primary skill depend on the hero’s current class.
Skills that are particularly appropriate, e.g. Nobility for
Paladins, are more common.
- Classes that are
associated with a particular alignment (e.g. Knight, Paladin,
Priest) are never offered magic that opposes that alignment, unless
the hero has at least Basic skill in that magic.
- Barbarians are never
offered magic skills as a new primary skill. They must advance to
another class before they will learn magic.
- If your hero isn’t
offered a new primary skill, he will be offered an improvement in an
existing skill family as his third choice, if possible. Occasionally
this is not possible, such as in the case of a Priest’s increase
from first to second level.
- The new choice will be
in a different family from the first two choices, if possible. The
third choice does not have to match the primary skills of the
hero’s current class.
- If your hero cannot
advance further in his existing skills, it’s possible to be
offered two or even three new primary skills.
Advanced Class Abilities
You cannot
directly choose a class for your heroes; instead they automatically
assume the class implied by their current skill combination.
Unfortunately the class table provided in the manual (p. 41f) does not
list class abilities, and the separate list of classes and their
abilities (p. 116ff) is sorted alphabetically, making it rather useless
when trying to decide which skill to pick in the level-up dialogue. As a
remedy I’ve created a small class
table (30 KB, Adobe PDF) that
lists all hero classes and their abilities, sorted by skill
combinations.
Creature Reference Chart
This section
refers to the creature list on the separate fold-out reference chart.
Nature Alignment
The Unicorn’s
Blinding attack has a 30% chance of success per Unicorn stack against
any target stack.
Chaos Alignment
The Minotaur’s
Blocking defense has a 30% chance of success per Minotaur stack against
any target stack.
The Medusa’s
Stone Gaze attack has a decreasing chance of success for increasing
levels of the target creatures or hero. In addition, a stack of Medusae
must have a 50% or better chance of killing at least one single creature
in the target stack via Stone Gaze, or this attack will never succeed.
In other words, decidedly superior stacks are immune to Stone
Gaze!
Life Alignment
The Squire’s
Stun attack has a success chance computed as follows: take the total
damage done by the Squire stack, divide by the target stack’s total
hitpoints before the attack, and subtract 5% from the result. This
implies that the target stack will never get stunned if it has been
damaged for only 5% or less of its total hitpoints.
Death Alignment
The Ice
Demon’s Freezing attack has a 30% chance of success per Ice Demon
stack against any target stack.
Might Alignment
The Sea
Monster’s Devouring attack has a straight 10% chance of success
per Sea Monster against any target creature or hero of any level.
Don’t let your most valuable heroes get into a melee fight against Sea
Monsters!
This page was last updated
on 05 April 2003. |