Heroes of Might and Magic III

The game was developed by New World Computing and released by The 3DO Company on February 28, 1999. The localizer of Heroes of Might and Magic III in Russia is the Buka company, which released the Russian version of the game on March 17, 1999 under the name "Heroes of Might and Magic III: The Rebirth of Erathia".

As in previous games in the series, the gameplay of Heroes III takes place in a fictional fantasy world where the player controls the main characters - heroes. In the strategic component of the game, the heroes lead squads of warriors and travel around the game world, exploring it and capturing all kinds of objects. The tactical part of the game consists in the battles of heroes with enemy troops on a separate screen. The main change from Heroes of Might and Magic II was the graphics, which were completely redrawn. Many changes and innovations have affected the gameplay. Heroes III introduced the underground level and the Grail artifact for the first time. Game modes allow you to fight alone against a computer opponent on individual maps and in the form of passing game campaigns, or against other people in a multiplayer game, including hotseat mode.

The subtitle The Restoration of Erathia refers to the first, original version of Heroes III. In 1999 and 2000, two official add-ons to the game were released - Heroes of Might and Magic III: Armageddon's Blade and Heroes of Might and Magic III: The Shadow of Death, which bring many innovations to the gameplay, new story campaigns and maps. Also, 3DO released the Heroes Chronicles series, which is a separate additional campaign for Heroes III. In Russia, both add-ons and Heroes Chronicles are distributed by Buka.

Heroes III remains the most popular game in the series and one of the most popular turn-based strategy games. The Restoration of Erathia was the only version of Heroes III released for three platforms - Microsoft Windows, Apple Macintosh and Linux. The latter was developed by Loki Entertainment Software, which was involved in porting games to the Linux system. On January 29, 2015, Ubisoft, which took over the rights to the Heroes of Might and Magic series from The 3DO Company, released an HD version of Heroes of Might and Magic III: The Restoration of Erathia with improved graphics and support for iOS and Android platforms, but lacking both additions to the original game.

Heroes of Might and Magic III develops the ideas laid down in the first and second parts of the series. The essence of the game has remained unchanged: the player controls the heroes leading the army of creatures into battle. The main action of the game takes place on a strategic adventure map, on which heroes move, capturing cities and visiting all kinds of buildings on the map. Cities are an important part of the game: the player can develop them by constructing various buildings in them, which give access to more powerful creatures, magic spells and other combat advantages; cities are also sources of income. You cannot build new cities in Heroes III, you can only capture those that are already on the map. The game is a turn-based strategy, which means that time is discrete: its main unit is a move, also called a day. In one game day, a player can perform any available action, limited only by his needs and the movement reserve of his heroes (or a time limit, if one was set before the start of the game). One building can be erected per day in each of the cities owned by the player. When the hero enters the battle, the game switches to a battle screen, vaguely reminiscent of chess: two armies are located on opposite sides of the screen, and groups of creatures, taking turns making a move, must destroy the enemy troops.

One of the main aspects of the Heroes of Might and Magic series is hero development. Basically, this is done by gaining experience and raising the hero to a new level, with new skills and parameters. The main source of experience is victory in battle. After the battle, the victorious hero receives as much experience as the total health of all the dead creatures of the losing army. If the battle is lost, the hero gets nothing. The scale of experience is progressive, that is, to move to each next level, you need to gain more and more experience. In addition to the enemy heroes, there are a large number of neutral creatures on the map - creatures that do not belong to any of the players and participate in the game “for themselves”. Typically, neutral creatures guard resource mines, artifacts, and similar valuable objects on the map, but they can also guard neutral cities or garrisons. Neutral creatures are always immobile and cannot attack the hero; battle with them is possible only if they are attacked. In the initial stages of the game, battles with neutral creatures allow you to develop the hero, preparing him for battles with enemy players.

Heroes III adventure map. In the center is a hero who is on his way to the city of the Castle faction.

Many areas of the adventure map are usually occupied by mountains and forests that are impassable for heroes, so the game world is usually a kind of branched labyrinth in which movement is not always linearly predictable: some territories can only be reached by passing a difficult or not obvious path, conceived by the author of the map . In the narrow passages of the map, it is possible for the hero's path to be blocked by other heroes, which can be used to impose a fight on opponents. The game map can be divided into two levels - surface and underground, to move between which there are special gates of the underworld in the game. The underworld is most often thought of as caverns in solid rock, or as a complex network of tunnels connected to the surface in several places, which provide additional tactical advantages when fighting opponents. At the beginning of the game, the entire map is hidden by unexplored territory; the terrain opened by the heroes remains visible until the end of the game.

The speed of movement of the hero on the map (that is, the path traveled by the hero in one turn of the player) is one of the most important strategic factors, since it not only determines the time required to achieve tactical goals to capture castles, mines and resources, but also predetermines, in who will have the strategic initiative in their hands - a faster hero has more opportunities to impose a battle or avoid it, and having time to go a long way in one turn, he can suddenly attack cities or enemy heroes that are not prepared for defense. The speed depends on many factors at the same time: the type of terrain along which the route runs (a swamp, snow and sand especially slow down the movement), the presence of roads, the speed of creatures in the hero’s army (even one slow creature slows down the entire army), the presence of specialized skills, artifacts and spells at the hero.

The speed is also affected by the racial affiliation of creatures to a certain territory. All creatures in the game belong to a certain type of terrain: for creatures of the city type Castle it is grass, for the city of Inferno it is lava, etc. For example, swamp creatures from the city of Fortress have no penalty when moving through a swamp, and if they are in the army only these creatures the hero moves through the swamp at the same speed as through the grass.

In addition to the usual types of terrain, an adventure map can include the sea, which has its own specific features and properties. Usually the hero moves across the sea on a ship, or uses some spells and artifacts for this. The ship can be bought at the shipyard - a special building on the map and in several cities where it can be built. The Summon Ship spell allows you to summon a ship from another location without spending any money. Depending on the level of the "Water Magic" skill or the presence of some artifacts, this spell either summons an already built ship to the right place (which may take several attempts), or even creates a new ship from nothing. On boarding and disembarking from the ship, the hero has to spend all the power reserves remaining for the current day.

There are seven types of resources in Heroes of Might and Magic III. Gold is the main resource required for a wide variety of activities, while wood and ore are used for most buildings in cities. Mercury, sulfur, crystals and gems are especially valuable resources required for special buildings and hiring high-level creatures.

The main source of gold is the cities that the player controls: each city brings a certain amount of gold daily, depending on its level of development. Special buildings in cities can bring other types of resources. On the adventure map, resources can most often be obtained using mines. A player who captures a mine with the help of a hero receives a fixed amount of resources of a certain type per day. There are also numerous irregular sources of resources. Often, resources can be found scattered around the map in piles that heroes collect. They can serve as a reward for completing a certain task on the map, or can be obtained from periodically updated sources, such as a watermill. Resources also bring some artifacts and heroes with certain skills. In any city, you can build a Market to exchange one resource for another. As a rule, one Market does not bring benefits, but if you build Markets in a large number of available cities, then the exchange rate will become more acceptable. On the adventure map, you can also find the Market with constantly profitable offers.

There are many different objects on the mission map. Below you can read about some of the most notable ones.

• Tree of knowledge. Moves the hero to the next level of experience. Some Trees of Knowledge require gold or gems for their services, but some level up for free. Since the game has a progressive scale of experience (the higher the current level, the more experience is needed to reach the next), it is more profitable to visit the Tree of Knowledge at higher levels.

• Monolith. A portal that allows the hero to instantly move from one place on the map to another - to where another similar portal is located. There are two-sided and one-sided monoliths. In the first case, the hero can enter and exit the portal, in the second case, he can perform only one of these actions: for example, you cannot enter the exit monolith: the hero will emerge from it by entering the corresponding entrance monolith. Double-sided monoliths can have more "two sides": if you place 3 or more identical portals on the map, then entering such a portal will move the hero to one of the arbitrary exits. If this is not where the player wanted to go, they can re-enter the portal and be transported back to one of the monoliths. On the water landscape, the role of a two-sided monolith is played by a whirlpool. Its difference lies in the fact that with each movement the hero loses half of the detachment of the weakest warriors.

• Creature vaults - such as Cache of Imps, Griffin Conservatory, Dragon Utopia, Dilapidated Ship - are guarded by a different number of certain creatures. After defeating them, the hero takes some bonus from the storage: resources, creatures or artifacts. The exact number of creatures guarding the vault may vary and is determined before visiting. The number of guards corresponds to the prize received by the player: the more guards, the higher the reward. Most of the treasures are stored in Dragon Utopia: after defeating several green, red, gold and black dragons, the hero will receive a large amount of gold and several valuable artifacts. The battlefield in the vault has a non-standard format: guard creatures are located in the corners, which gives them a certain advantage, and the hero's troops are located in the middle; at the same time, the hero cannot use the ballista and the Tactics skill.

• Pandora's Box. The box may contain some kind of bonus (resources, experience, increasing the hero's parameters, etc.) or guards that attack the hero when the box is opened. The risk of opening the box is that the player does not know in advance about its contents. Most often, the box contains significant bonuses, but it can also have very serious protection.

An artifact is an object on the map that the hero can pick up and put on himself to gain additional abilities that give him an advantage in the game. According to the degree of power, artifacts are divided into four groups: treasures, small, large and relics. Artifacts can be worn in the following places or slots on the hero’s “body”: 1 artifact is worn on the head (hats, crowns, helmets), 2 artifacts on hands (swords and shields), 2 on fingers (rings), 1 on the neck ( necklaces), 1 on the legs (boots, greaves), 1 on the shoulders (capes, raincoats), 1 on the torso (armor); for a number of artifacts - talismans, bows and various items - 4 separate slots are allocated. Unused artifacts are stored in the hero's backpack.

The game has many different artifacts that increase various characteristics and skills of the hero, protect against various spells or bring resources. Some artifacts give a different significant bonus. For example, the Chains of War prevent the hero wearing them and his opponent from escaping from the battlefield. This gives a great advantage to the player, as it allows you to completely destroy the developed hero of the enemy and capture his artifacts (at the same time, if the player is not sure of victory, then due to the effect of the Chains of War, he will not be able to escape on his own). Thanks to the Golden Bow artifact, all shooting creatures in the hero's army get the ability to shoot through city walls, obstacles and at any distance without penalty, at full strength. There are artifacts such as the Spirit of Despondency and the Hourglass of Evil Hour, which give a negative effect, lowering the morale and luck of all creatures on the battlefield. The Angel Wings artifact allows the hero to fly over any obstacles on the adventure map; another artifact, the Boots of Levitation, grants the ability to fly over water.

A special object called the Grail may be present on the game map, giving a significant bonus to the player who finds it and delivers it to their city. The grail is not easy to obtain, since this object is buried in the ground and its location cannot be seen. The search for the Grail consists in visiting special obelisks placed on the map. When visiting the next obelisk, a part of the mosaic puzzle map is revealed. The riddle map shows the area where the Grail is hidden. After the last obelisk is visited, the puzzle map will open completely and show the location of the Grail. Thus, it is advisable for the player to visit all the obelisks in order to accurately determine by any landmarks where the treasure is located. An additional complication is that only the terrain is marked on the riddle map - landscape, mountains, sea, trees - but there are no objects that are currently present on it (cities, mines, etc.).

Having learned or guessed where the Grail is buried, the player needs to send one of his heroes there. Using a special option, the player orders the hero to excavate at the selected location, which requires the full supply of his movement. If the place was determined correctly, then the hero receives the Grail. Having found the Grail, the hero brings it to one of the cities, where a special building is erected in honor of the Grail, giving the player additional opportunities. In all cases, the building of the Grail daily brings a significant amount of gold to the player and an increase in the number of creatures produced in castles by 50% per week. In addition, each Grail building has an effect that depends on the type of city where it is built. For example, in the city of the Grail Tower, a Skyship is built that opens the entire adventure map, and during a siege it greatly increases the knowledge parameter of the garrison hero, and the city of Conjugation receives the Northern Lights, which makes all spells in the game available in the Mages Guild of this city.

Heroes are the main component of Heroes of Might and Magic III. Heroes move troops around the world map and cast spells during the battle. Thanks to the parameters and skills of the hero, creatures in his army can gain a significant advantage over the enemy.

The hero can increase his parameters with the help of artifacts, as well as by visiting various objects on the map. In addition, by earning experience, the hero increases his level. Upon receiving a new level of experience, the hero is awarded +1 point to one of his main parameters. The choice of parameter is determined randomly, but the probability of obtaining magical parameters (magic and knowledge) is higher for mage heroes, and non-magical ones (attack and defense) are higher for warrior heroes. In addition, upon reaching a new level, the hero is given the opportunity to choose one of two secondary skills. An upgrade to an existing skill and a new base level skill may be offered. If all skill slots are occupied, then the game simply offers two upgrades to choose from, or only awards a point to the main parameter.

The main parameters of the hero determine the strength of his army in battles and the effectiveness of his spells. Each hero has four main parameters.

• The hero's attack is added to the attack of all creatures in his army, which allows them to deal more damage.

• The hero's defense is added to the defense of all creatures in his army and allows you to take less damage from the enemy.

• The power of magic determines the effectiveness of the hero's spells. For example, for spells that deal direct damage, the power of magic determines the amount of that damage. For spells like Blind, the spell's strength determines how long it lasts, while for Resurrection, it determines how many health points are restored.

• Knowledge determines the hero's maximum amount of magical energy points: their number is equal to knowledge times 10 (a hero with zero knowledge has a minimum of 10 energy points).

Secondary skills are also the most important characteristics of the hero, determining his skills in various aspects of the game. Secondary skills first appeared in Heroes of Might and Magic II, but in the third part, their list was significantly expanded. A hero can learn a maximum of eight secondary skills. Each skill has three levels of development: basic, advanced and expert. Secondary skills serve different purposes and act differently depending on their purpose. Magical and combat skills are manifested directly in battle, general skills - on the adventure map. For example, the "Wisdom" skill, which is basic for most magic heroes, allows you to learn spells of the 3rd, 4th and 5th levels - depending on the level to which the skill is developed; the combat skill "Shooting" increases the damage of shooting units in the hero's army as a percentage. And the Logistics skill increases the maximum distance that a hero can travel on an adventure map in one turn.

A specialty is an individual property of each hero, inherent in him from the very beginning of the game and in most cases progressing with an increase in the level of the hero. Specialties can be divided into the following types:

• Creature Specialties. A hero with this specialty gives +1 to the attack and defense of a certain creature when it is in his army. The action of the specialty begins when the hero reaches a level equal to the level of the creature itself. For example, the heroine Shiva has the Rukh specialty: Rukhs are level 5 creatures, which means that at level 7, the Rukhs in her army will receive +2 to attack and defense and +1 to speed. Some heroes have non-leveling specialties that always give the same bonuses to certain creatures.

• Skill Specialties. Such specialties repeat one of the secondary skills, increasing its effect by 5% for each level of experience of the hero.

• Spell Specialties. A hero with this specialty casts one specific spell with greater efficiency, which increases with the hero's experience level.

• Specialties that bring resources. Fixed specialties that work regardless of the level of the hero: every day one or another hero brings additional resources to the player's treasury.

As in most fantasy worlds, magic plays a fundamental role in the Heroes of Might and Magic universe. Magic in Heroes III is primarily in the form of spells that heroes can cast on the adventure map and on the battlefield; in addition, spells can cast some creatures in a limited way. In order to learn and cast a spell, the hero must have a spell book (if it is not available, he can buy it at any magician's guild located in the city). Along with an army, spells can play a key role in combat. With their help, you can make an enemy unit petrify, blind, deal direct damage to it, protect your warriors, and much more. Magic is not a universal weapon in the game: its use may be limited or completely excluded by the properties of certain creatures, the effect of artifacts, anti-magic garrisons on the map, or terrain properties.

There are four schools of magic in Heroes III: earth, air, water, and fire. Each school has its own set of different spells (with the exception of the Magic Missile and Vision spells, which belong to all schools at once). Each spell belongs to one of five levels, which are a measure of its power: 1st level contains the simplest and most common spells, 5th level contains the most complex and usually requires a considerable investment to cast them. By developing the skills Earth Magic, Air Magic, Water Magic, and Fire Magic, the hero can quantitatively and qualitatively increase the effectiveness of spells of the corresponding school. Some heroes already have one spell in advance, matched to their specialty. For example, the hero Solmyr initially knows the Chain Lightning spell and has advantages when using it, consuming less magic points and dealing more damage.

Conventionally, the spells of all schools of magic can be divided into several groups. The spells used in combat are more numerous and varied, although some are highly specialized and rarely used.

• Blessing spells. Example: Stoneskin spell increases the unit's defense level, making it less vulnerable to enemy attacks, while Healing removes the effects of curse spells and restores health points.

• Curse spells. Example: the spell "Blind" for some time deprives the selected enemy unit of the ability to act.

• Attack spells. Example: The spell "Armageddon" deals extensive damage to all creatures on the battlefield (except those that are naturally immune to this spell).

• Auxiliary spells. Example: the spell "Teleport" instantly transfers the selected unit to another place on the battlefield, and the spell "Resurrection" allows you to return to life some of the dead creatures.

Spells cast on the adventure map usually change the hero's ability to move around the map (for example, the Fly spell allows the hero to fly over obstacles, such as mountains and bodies of water), or provide the hero with information about the world around him for example, the Vision spell) allows you to find out the exact number of enemy units even before entering the battle).

Spells are affected by the Wisdom skill. Without this skill, the hero can only learn 1st and 2nd level spells. Depending on the level of development - basic, advanced or expert - "Wisdom" allows you to learn spells of the 3rd, 4th and 5th level, respectively.

The main source of spells are the Mages Guilds - special buildings that can be erected in cities. A Mages Guild can range from one to five levels and contains several spells of the appropriate levels. For example, a 4th-level Mages Guild typically has 5 first-level spells, 4 second-level spells, 3 third-level spells, and 2 fourth-level spells. While the Mages Guild Level 1 is quite cheap and available in all cities, getting it to level 5 requires a lot of rare resources. Some cities are limited to 3rd or 4th level, and the city of the Tower has a special building that increases the number of spells in the Guild. There are other ways to get spells: visit special buildings on the map, find spell scrolls, etc. The Literacy skill allows heroes to teach spells to each other, while Vigilance allows you to learn spells that the enemy used during the battle.

To cast a spell, the hero must spend a certain amount of magic points, or mana. The maximum amount of magic points a hero can have depends mainly on one of his primary skills, knowledge. Under normal circumstances, a hero's magic points are equal to 10 times the knowledge value. In some cases, the hero may have more points - for example, if he has the "Intelligence" skill. As a rule, every day the hero restores one point of magic, but this process can also be accelerated. Having spent the night in a city where there is a Mages Guild, the hero can restore his base mana in one day. Some artifacts and objects on the adventure map help restore mana.