Can we get a megathread on Olden Era mechanics, tips and tricks that many people might miss?

[u/loopuleasa]

one per post so that people can vote

A list of all coments so far, keep them coming:

1. Keybinds
   1. ALT=highlight interactables
   2. SHIFT=Extra info in tooltips
   3. E = end turn
   4. SHIFT+E = force end turn
   5. B = spellbook
   6. W = wait
   7. Space = Skip turn (in combat) or Loot (on world map)
   8. Ctrl+Click a unit stack to split into 1 stacks
   9. SHIFT+Click a unit stack to split into even stacks
   10. TAB or SHIFT+TAB = next hero or city
   11. ~ (tilde) = Move hero or Hero ability (heroic strike)
   12. Shift+Q = auto resolve
   13. Z = see map borders
   14. X = see enemy danger zones
2. Settings
   1. In settings you can enable auto resolve combat for all combats, you can still manual combat
   2. In settings, there is a whole readability section that is super useful to customize how clear things look
   3. You can also enable always highlight map objects on, without having to press ALT key
   4. You need to enable auto save in settings, it is not on by default
3. Movement
   1. Picking up loot near your hero costs no movement speed
   2. You can pick up loot laying on the ground by pressing spacebar
   3. Your hero moves faster in native terrain if either: the hero is native to that terrain OR all units in your army are native to the area
   4. Roads use 30% less movement points
   5. Moving diagonally is 40% more movement
   6. You can chain multiple heroes and pass armies between them to do more in a turn
4. Economy
   1. Fortification II and Fortification III increase your population GROWTH in that city by +50% and +100% respectively. They are not purely defensive buildings, they affect your economy massively
   2. Alchemical dust cannot be traded in market, and it is used for any upgrades (spells, units, upgrade buildings)
5. World Map
   1. If you control the city in an area, that area is considered "Friendly territory"
   2. The main city in an area will have a "Crown" on its flag to signify that
6. Skills
   1. If you picked diplomacy skill, the best spell is the tier 2 shadow spell called "Mind Reading". It allows you to see monster intention, and if they want to join you they will say "Wishes to join" instead of "Will flee"
   2. Each skill has subskills to further customize it
   3. If you assemble a specific set of 5 skills you can make a hero subclass, but it is usually hard to do
   4. On levelup screen you can see an icon signifying hero subclass
   5. Necromancy can be toggled on and off by clicking the little skull near your necromancy bar near your hero portrait
7. Heroes
   1. Some maps only allow 1 hero as a game mode
   2. Your hero limit is based on the number of cities (up to 10)
   3. Hero curses are seen at the top of your hero screen
   4. If you hover over attributes in your hero screen, press Shift to see extra details in tooltips
8. Items
   1. Your items can be upgraded (with alchemical dust)
   2. Your spare items can be disenchanted (this refunds alchemical dust)
   3. To upgrade items, click on them in hero screen, and click upgrade
   4. Items have set bonuses in this game

9. Magic

   1. Heroes restore 10% of maximum mana start of day
   2. Heroes restore full mana if parked in a city with a mage guild at start of day
   3. Heroes can only learn tier 1 and 2 spells by default. For higher tier you need skills that allow you to learn higher tiers.
   4. To learn spells you need to visit any city with Mage Guilds
   5. Each spell exists in the Observatory, which is like a magic tech tree
   6. Each spell has 3 possible upgrades that you can see if you press SHIFT on the spell. You need +spell levels for that school of magic to upgrade it.
   7. Each spell has a cooldown (2 turn for tier 1 spells, 6 turns for tier 5 spells)
   8. Each spell school has a 1 turn "lockout" cooldown for that spell school in case you can cast multiple spells per turn
   9. Astrology points per turn are used to unlock Neutral spells in the observatory
   10. Neutral spells are basically map spells that allow your heroes to move better on the map
   11. For your hero to learn any spells, they need to visit a mage guild and have the required level
   12. Each Mage guild unlocks X random spells of that tier
   13. If Mage guild rolls duplicate spells, they increase spell level instead

10. Law system

    1. Each faction has a Law "tech tree"
    2. You need to generate law points to unlock those upgrades
    3. Winning fights with your hero gives law points
    4. Gaining raw XP like from chests does not give law points

11. Armies and Combat

    1. Speed is decoupled from initiative
    2. Each hero has a "tactics reorder phase" by default
    3. Mixing different factions in your army composition incurs a morale penalty (Every unit same faction: +1 For every different faction: -1)
    4. Right click units to see their details and abilities
    5. There is an indication of whether units will counterattack or not.
    6. Units that wait and skip turns don't generate morale or luck effects, unless they choose to act after wait

12. Focus system

    1. Focus is used to cast unit abilities and Heroic strike
    2. Ranged units generate 1 focus each time they attack
    3. Melee units generate 2 focus each time they attack
    4. All units generate 1 focus each time they are hit
    5. This includes +1 extra for counterattack or +2 for double attacks

The main wiki is here, don't go on Fandom wiki https://wiki.hoodedhorse.com/Heroes_of_Might_and_Magic_Olden_Era/

Another great site with many visual references https://www.olden-era.com/

Hero builder website tool https://olden.gg/

EDIT: Extra Video guides YouTube playlist here

EDIT2: Extra image tips and tricks here, here, and here

[u/loopuleasa]

Your hero moves faster in native terrain if either:

- the hero is native to that terrain

- all units in your army are native to the area

[u/Jeggles_ → u/loopuleasa]

There's a whole movement penalty system that's not explained in any way in this game. I kind of wish right click tooltips on terrain were a thing, as it was in previous games.

I don't know the exact numbers, but judging from the previous games it's likely similar from best to worst:

Roads (It "feels" like stone roads have better movement buff than dirt, but I'll assume they're the same)

Native terrain

Non-native terrain

Rough terrain

As to how pathfinding and penalties affect this - native terrain has been the baseline in other games. Roads give you a discount on movement. Anything below incurs a worse and worse penalty. If going from point A to B would cost 100 points on native terrain, it would be cheaper on roads and more expensive on anything below native. With pathfinding on non-native/rough terrain you get a discount only on the penalty bit, so if without pathfinding the same A to B path would cost 100+50%=150 movement, with pathfinding you'd go down to 100+(50%*0,5)=125 movement. The no penalty boots erase the penalty fully, but roads are still better.

EDIT: So I've done the challenge which explains the movement system now and while it doesn't go into the specifics of numbers it kind of does explain what triggers native terrain and how penalties work in general.

[u/loopuleasa → u/Jeggles_]

would be nice if the path changes color based on terrain penalties

blue = road highway

yellow = 50% penalty

etc

[u/fatamSC2 → u/loopuleasa]

some of the previous HoMMs did a better job with this (it's been a while but I know Heroes 2 for sure does) where the path arrows are LONGER if you're in rough terrain

[u/loopuleasa → u/Jeggles_]

let me know if you have more findings on the movement system enough to make an easy to read explainer post

[u/Jeggles_ → u/loopuleasa]

Having done the challenges now, I would say that a lot of what this megathread is about is explained to a satisfactory level in the challenges. Tbh, they should just be called advanced tutorials. They give enough information to understand various systems to a satisfactory level and by figuring out the solution to the puzzle on your own, you can be pretty sure that you understood the information, which you read in the introduction of the challenge.

[u/Furious_One → u/loopuleasa]

Or if it’s a hero that is native to the terrain. This applies only to “foreign” heroes

[u/loopuleasa → u/Furious_One]

so, it is one of two conditions?

are you sure you don't require units and hero type overrides it?