Fun or or replay value is highly subjective but MoM has certainly higher complexity than HoMM 3 (never played 4). HoMM games are in general very simple (but not too simple to be without depth).So here I am, reccomending this little pixelated graphic turd that it is equal in terms of complexity/fun/replay value with HOMM 3/4
(never played 4)
kyrub are you still working on this patch?Flying Invisible Warships FTW!
Also go get the Insecticide (MoM 1.40n) patch here:
http://www.realmsbeyond.net/forums/showthread.php?tid=3663
I would suggest 1.50 stable, or even 1.51RC5 (the latest so far).Also go get the Insecticide (MoM 1.40n) patch here:
http://www.realmsbeyond.net/forums/showthread.php?tid=3663
During combat, AI will consider units exactly reachable in a turn as being too far, failing to prefer units that can be attacked, resulting in units walking around and ignoring enemies right next to them. (W $9BAD8)
Yep, barely scratched.And that's where I am now. I barely, barely scratched all this game has to offer
There are many builds and sub-builds that work.I barely, barely scratched all this game has to offer - didn't finish the game, just played with a school of magic (chaos) and with one or two races.
They also made Master of Orion 1/2 on top of Master of Magic. It is a tragedy that they stopped operating afterwards indeed.One of the top games from the 90's that will forever have a place on my HD along with UFO: Enemy Unknown and MoO II. I can't stress enough how unfortunate that this dev went under and how much it sucks that their last game disappeared into legal limbo. Anyway, do not look for winning strategies of OP builds. Just have fun coming up with your own combinations. I had a blast with my own Sauron like dead lord and his orc armies but also utterly enjoyed my genocidal Klackon run with a nature build. Just don't forget that garrisons are important in this game.
They also made Master of Orion 1/2 on top of Master of Magic. It is a tragedy that they stopped operating afterwards indeed.One of the top games from the 90's that will forever have a place on my HD along with UFO: Enemy Unknown and MoO II. I can't stress enough how unfortunate that this dev went under and how much it sucks that their last game disappeared into legal limbo. Anyway, do not look for winning strategies of OP builds. Just have fun coming up with your own combinations. I had a blast with my own Sauron like dead lord and his orc armies but also utterly enjoyed my genocidal Klackon run with a nature build. Just don't forget that garrisons are important in this game.
There are many builds and sub-builds that work.
1. The Terraformer - High Elves, green books, select Transmute, Change Terrain, and Gaia's Blessing to start with. You can make almost any location great for an elven city (forests) while making your enemies' lands unsuitable.
2. The Undead Troll Warlord - Trolls, black books, select Black Channels. Build War Trolls as fast as possible, level them up, then make them undead with Black Channels. Normally undead creatures can't be healed, but since trolls fully regenerate after every battle...
3. Chaos Summoner - any decent race, 11 red books, retorts that focus on mana and summoning. With this build you rely on hordes of summoned hellhounds to trounce your enemies early and to pop nodes for more magic. Late game chaos spells are super fun too.
4. The ever-popular Artificer/Runemaster combo. There are lots of variations of this one, but by starting with both of these retorts you can spend the whole game creating your own artifacts then instantly destroying them for double the crystals. Hire a few heroes and outfit them with the best equipment you can craft and they'll be able to zip from one side of the world to the other in a couple of turns. Very few enemies can stop them.
That should get you started.
I think the only game that managed to streamline MOO2 well was MOO1.They also made Master of Orion 1/2 on top of Master of Magic. It is a tragedy that they stopped operating afterwards indeed.One of the top games from the 90's that will forever have a place on my HD along with UFO: Enemy Unknown and MoO II. I can't stress enough how unfortunate that this dev went under and how much it sucks that their last game disappeared into legal limbo. Anyway, do not look for winning strategies of OP builds. Just have fun coming up with your own combinations. I had a blast with my own Sauron like dead lord and his orc armies but also utterly enjoyed my genocidal Klackon run with a nature build. Just don't forget that garrisons are important in this game.
Honestly, MoM and MoO2 are still the unbeaten kings of the 4x genre. So much to do, so many lovely little details, it's amazing. Yeah, they're unbalanced as fuck but who cares, they're FUN and they let you DO THINGS!
Every time some newly sprung-up indie dev releases a space 4x that has been streamlined so far that planet management consists of adjusting 3 sliders and that's it, I just shrug and go back to MoO2 where I can actually DO THINGS.
Streamlining and balancing are cancerous design principles that have no place in the 4x genre.
One cheesy build I loved was based around Halflings. Pick the Warlord perk, all Life books and Halflings. Warlord increases your units' level by one, even beyond the normal maximum. One particular global enchantment in Life did the same, so all your units would start as level 3 and could get up to level 5 (IIRC). The utter cheese was that Halfling units had a racial trait called Luck, which scaled with level - and when you went two levels higher than what was supposed to be "normal", it's effect was brutal. Armies of Halfling slingers could wreck everything.
I would suggest 1.50 stable, or even 1.51RC5 (the latest so far).
http://www.realmsbeyond.net/forums/showthread.php?tid=7954
http://www.realmsbeyond.net/forums/showthread.php?tid=8411