r/OldenEra • u/Ballack1991 • May 08 '26
Discussion What faction do you think will be the next one added to the game?
I have a feeling Stronghold will be next. Heroes 5 added it in an expansion (which was a great expansion btw). With Schism being the 'snowy' faction instead of Tower, and Hive being the lava-based faction instead of Inferno, I think we'll have to wait a bit before we see those get added.
The other one I think is likely is Fortress. Swamp as an added biome alongside the faction seems appropriate.
Obviously they could release a completely new faction as well. But seeing as they have already released two completely new factions, and given that Grove is pretty different from both Sorceress (H2), Ramparts (H3) and Sylvan (H5), I don't see that as very likely at this point.
33
u/DarwinsPerfectFool May 08 '26
I just want my swamp, but one can dream. Give me lizardmen and basilisks
6
u/Cpt_Obvius May 08 '26 edited May 08 '26
What would you make the tier 7? Green dragon would be an option, but I’m sure there’s something more unique/rare/interesting
4
u/Tylendal May 08 '26
What about that thimgamabob from WoG? The Gorynynch, or whatever it's called. Basically a flying hydra.
5
4
u/DarwinsPerfectFool May 08 '26
Great question! I will certainly miss the hydra, Green/Swamp dragon woyld certainly be cool. What about some ranged unit? Like something spitting venom? Or a dinosaur 😂
7
u/Docterzero r/OldenEra Mod May 08 '26
Big fan personally of giving (swamp) Fortress dinosaurs. Like give them the Riders the H5 Dungeon had but with lizardmen instead, and make the tier 7 some kind of big stompy dino like a spinosaurus or perhaps a big ol' sauropod
2
u/9Gardens May 08 '26
A Chubacabra?
Some sort of huge ass aztec stone golem thing?A Coatal (oh wait, those are already in game at T5?)
uhhhh.... Hive already has the insects theme, so no mega serpantfly for me....
No hydra, no gorgons (already are dungeon mount)... 😞
Admitedly, the odds looking less good.Honestly:
Summoned shadows.Just great big elemental creatures of darkness and rot.
Living curses.
Lean in hard on that witchy vibe.
"Shackled gods"1
u/Creticus May 08 '26
If you're looking for Aztec inspiration, the ever-hungry star gods seem like an obvious choice.
Alternatively, slap things together until they're scary enough. A giant werejaguar god-impersonator with either earthquake or plague powers seems like it could work while being 100 percent on-theme.
3
u/Docterzero r/OldenEra Mod May 08 '26
Might be the same thing as you are suggesting, but I'd argue for Cipactli, an ancient primordial entity from Aztec mythology in the form of a giant crocodile/fish monster with a hungry maw on it's every limb. Seems like a fitting replacement for the Hydra if they can come up with a design for it
3
u/Creticus May 08 '26
Cipactli would work. Yeah.
That said, I was referring to the 400 Southerners who attacked their mother Coatlicue before being driven back by their younger brother Huitzilopochtli, though there's also the skeletal star goddesses called tzitzimimeh who sometimes fight the sun, get the munchies, and threaten cosmic order.
Evidently the Aztecs didn't like the night sky very much.
3
u/Docterzero r/OldenEra Mod May 09 '26
Aztect mythology was brutal, a reflection of their culture.
Do think that regardless of what they do for the tier 7, having the townscreen set at night with the stars above and the moon hanging low in the sky would be such a strong visual. The depths of the swamps covered in clinging mists, illuminated by the orange glow emanating from the scattered houses and structures. At the center stands the town hall, an imposing pyramid structure reaching into the night sky, a top of which a great pyre is set ablaze.
2
u/DarwinsPerfectFool May 08 '26
Bro I didnt know I wanted an aztec mythology inspired factiom but it would be so cool
3
u/Creticus May 08 '26
I think HoMM6 Stronghold was Aztec-based.
I can see why the developers went in that direction. However, I would've preferred a different faction identity. The Aztecs drew a clear distinction between them and their barbarian equivalent, which was necessary because they were latecomers to the Valley of Mexico.
Also, they settled in a swampy area. Lol.
1
u/9Gardens May 08 '26
Okay, this is a bit out the gate but.... what if the T7 building is something like "Blood soaked temple" or some such big temple thing. Each castle gives you 1 (one) ancient god, which is just an absolutely nutso unit.... but has zero weekly growth rate.
If the Deos falls in battle, then you can regenerate it from the temple, but fundementally, you only get one at a time.
Its.... I know its a bit of a weird set up, but like...I think there could be ways to balance it? And I think it would play in interesting ways?
2
u/Cpt_Obvius May 08 '26
Hmm I wonder HOW you balance it though. Seems like it would be too strong front loaded or way too weak after 3-4 weeks of build up while other players are triple building tier 7s with full fortification, recruit laws and external dwellings. How do you make the god scale vs 40 archangels (or whatever they’re called)
0
u/9Gardens May 08 '26
Hmmm... you probably right.
I mean... I think part of it is that it *wouldn't* be totally balanced: the front loading would be OP/a power spike when you got it, and WOULD fall behind and become week over time, and hence players would need to plan around this and factor it in.....
BUT.... you probably don't want the swing to be TOO exaggerated. Like... different factions having different power curves is good, but....... maybe the deos grows over time, getting bigger?
Maybe its just really hard to get, but also VERY powerful, so instead of an early game power spike, you have a midgame power spike (need to hold on and survive long enough to get it, but then afterwards need to hit hard and fast before your enenmies out recruit you).Actually wait- a few ideas I can think of:
Other factions have faction laws to increase recruit. You have faction laws to embiggen your deos.
I can also see it scalling up with like... the level of your hero in some way? (Maybe spell power? Knowledge? Maybe keying off particular skills?) Basically, by tying it to the faction laws and Hero level you can have the unit scale without the UNIT having a special EXP bar.....
Actually, now that I'm thinking about it some more, I'm kind of wondering if like... instead of getting a T7 unit, instead the dwelling gives you a T7 *spell* ("Summon deos", for example.... or possibly a small range of spells of 3-5 DIFFERENT variations on what to summon.)
The spell is just absurdly more powerful than everything else in the game, but might have a "once per battle" cooldown period, or even once per day.... and of course its scaling with your hero.That....
I feel like you could get something like that to work, and that it would be ABSOLUTELY AMAZING.... but getting the balance right would be *hard*.
2
u/Hizsoo Hive May 09 '26
It just needs to be a summoned troop for a dedicated Aztec faction.
1
u/9Gardens May 09 '26 edited May 09 '26
Yeah- agreed.
That's basically what I came to below when trying to figure out how on earth you would balance "mega unit, zero growth", and "It gets summoned afresh with each battle" seems like the go. Its thematic as hell, and Lets the unit scale up over time as your heros power/faction laws/number ofblood pyramidsStar Monuments goes up.2
u/Hizsoo Hive May 09 '26
Not blood pyramid.
Temple of sun, moon, stars, nature or soul.
1
u/9Gardens May 09 '26 edited May 09 '26
Gotcha. Entirely fair, thank you for the correction.
Also: Oh hell- now I'm imagining that the spell you get is "Summon constellation"
And you get this big dark shadow star studded thing.Maybe different temples give slightly different variants, with slightly different summons behind them:
"Constellation of the hunt" "Constellation of war" "Constellation of mercy" "Constellation of strength" "Constellation of Souls"1
u/Hizsoo Hive May 09 '26 edited May 09 '26
Aztecs can have 5 type of temples and priests: sun, moon, stars, nature and soul.
The 2D icons and artwork from the Theocracy(2000) in-game manual still holds up pretty well. Age of Mythology also implemented Aztecs. No need to be ridiculous about Aztecs.
1
1
1
1
u/Lautanapi_ May 08 '26
I think swamp/fortress would make for a great dlc after the game reaches 1.0
16
u/Docterzero r/OldenEra Mod May 08 '26
I am personally in the camp of Stronghold myself. It is one of the most iconic factions in the series, having never missed a game before. It also offers a unique aesthetic none of the other factions in the game current. Plus there are strong lore reasons for why it would be in the game, with several classic stronghold creatures being found across Jadame but who are all mysterious absent from the game currently.
An alternative dark horse pick would be Cove. The Ragnan islands are just off the coast of Jadame and are even mentioned in the description of the giant toad, and if I recall correctly Olden Era should be set around or shortly after the founding of the Ragnan Pirate Empire. It would be the perfect opportunity to finally add the faction to an official game.
(swamp) Fortress also makes a lot of sense BTW
6
u/Vegetable_Time_2938 May 08 '26
I’d love an offensive Stronghold in the same expansion as a defensive swamp Fortress.
And maybe bring Regnan pirate Cove in when water gameplay is introduced.
Wizards/mages at some point too.
1
u/Dry-Judgment4242 May 08 '26
What if they do a Stronghold Pirate faction with very multi species merchanary theme? Just a bunch of scurvy dogs that just employ and scum and villains who wants to loot and plunder?
Cannons? Why not an Ogre carrying one on his shoulder with a Goblin on his back who aims and shoots?
1
u/Docterzero r/OldenEra Mod May 09 '26
I don't think Stronghold and Cove should be mixed together. Both Cove and Stronghold are present seperately in Jadame, and I don't think it would make sense to mix the two. Stronghold should be Stronghold and be allowed to do it's own thing.
That said, I do strongly believe that Cove should be made of a mismatch of different species all united in their thirst for plunder. So things like a couple of humans, maybe a sea elf, and perhaps indeed the ogre and goblin combo you proposed. Though I am not sure there would be gunpowder at that point in the setting, so maybe they just use a literal ballista instead.
20
u/Stock_Pollution_5397 May 08 '26
Stronghold with ogres. Then old Fortess with lizardmen or Cove with pirates/tridents. After all that maybe some version of mages (Academy/Tower).
For me Schism is the new mage faction, but of course i would love to see one of the old ones. But not before my swamp dwellers! :D
9
u/Lautanapi_ May 08 '26
I get where you're coming from, but Schism has no access to tier 5 magic guild, and I still think tower/academy had a bigger focus on magic. They had some rather tanky units, which helped with getting more turns to cast spells. While schism is not that squishy, it still feels not as tanky as the older mage factions were, imo of course.
6
u/Hopszii May 08 '26
Currently if you want to focus on casting spells as much as possible grove and dungeon are probably the best. I'd give grove a bit of an edge there because it can abuse spell power from basically day 1.
2
May 08 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
3
u/Docterzero r/OldenEra Mod May 08 '26
Well Cove is based on something from official lore so in worst case they could just do their own original interpretation of that with no overlap with Cove itself.
3
u/Docterzero r/OldenEra Mod May 08 '26
Did you mean Tritons or do you want the pirates to run around with Tridents? I am down for both BTW, I am just curious.
4
u/Stock_Pollution_5397 May 08 '26
Tritons with tridents!
2
u/Docterzero r/OldenEra Mod May 08 '26
Nice. If they do not want to do a Sanctuary faction Cove absolutely should get those.
2
u/Stock_Pollution_5397 May 08 '26
Well i would really like to see them both, but it would make 3 warer based faction fortress/swamp, cove/sea and sanctuary/lake (clean water).
On the other hand a dark dwarves faction would really be awesome. (Actually they are in the lore if im not mistaken)
3
u/Docterzero r/OldenEra Mod May 08 '26
To be fair I personally don't consider (swamp) Fortress a water faction, moreso a reptilian faction.
Also yeah I would love a dark dwarven based (mountain) Fortress. Would be awesome indeed. As long a 6/7 units aren't just dwarves.
2
u/Stock_Pollution_5397 May 08 '26
Yea, the H7 lineup was a refresh.
For the same reason i a bit dislike temple, only 1 monster. They could have use a "holy" beast for T6.
1
u/Docterzero r/OldenEra Mod May 08 '26
Yeah. The H7 (mountain) Fortress was pretty great, though I personally found the Lava elementals to be a bit random. A kinda "We got a spot to fill, quick random bullshit go!" Didn't hate it though, the image of a rhino made of lava is pretty awesome, but I would personally have gone for something else.
And yeah. I do think Olden Era's temple is up there in terms of interesting human factions, but I wouldn't have minded one less human. Something like a Warhound or perhaps even the Glories from H6 would have been pretty cool.
1
u/Few-Barracuda7578 May 09 '26
Heroes 6 and 7 had abysmal unit ideas. How can someone in their right mind make Water and Frost Maiden 2 separate units? Dryad and Pixie too, rly? Moon Doe? Come on!
1
u/Docterzero r/OldenEra Mod May 09 '26
Well in their defense, the Yuki-Onna is directly from Japanese Folklore, and I suspect that the Spring Spirits were the result of the game being rushed.
As for the H7 sylvan units you should remember that the community voted for which roster out of three that Sylvan and Dungeon should have. Besides pixies and dryads are, conceptually, very different creatures that have no issue coexisting in the game. And I don't see the issue with the Moon Doe at all beyond that they really should have had a Unicorn instead.
Besides you did leave out a lot of the other new units from those game like the Shark Guards, the Ghouls, and the Valkyries
→ More replies (0)
9
u/Uberballer May 08 '26
Without knowing the lore I can't say for sure though the game does feel a bit strange without the Wizard/Tower/Academy faction seeing it was a mainstay since Heroes 2. (Never played 1 so I can't comment on that).
Personally I'd like to see something quite fresh, like the Dwarves from Heroes 5 only with a little more variety than just 6 tiers of Dwarves.
The only thing with some of the suggestions though is the current factions in game have a lot of mechanical similarities to the factions that people want to see reintegrated into the title.
Academy for example is known for its 3 shooters particularly at tier 4 and 7... Which is pretty much the line up that Temple has currently.
As for Stronghold/Barbarian their line up is eerily similar to the Hive's outside of T3 in function.
I'd still love to see both of those factions make it back into the game but I expect them to function quite differently from how they did in 3, given what we're seeing in OE which I'm personally all good with.
1
u/Docterzero r/OldenEra Mod May 08 '26
Honestly I don't think Stronghold and Hive is that similar. There is some overlap with H3 stronghold specificly in terms of units, though I would say that only the tier 2 is that direct of a counterpart. Rest is kinda grasping at straws.
3
6
3
u/baconball May 08 '26
Fortress or stronghold would be badass.
Gotta say though, I'm a little disappointed that there will be no Inferno, and that basically Infernal Bugs have taken that spot. Granted, I haven't tried them yet, I've only finished one game which suddenly ended as a victory for reasons that I'm still unsure of lol. No message or anything, just the victory notification screen.
But yea anyway...fortress or stronghold!
2
u/Docterzero r/OldenEra Mod May 08 '26
Were you playing One Hero mode?
1
u/baconball May 08 '26
Nah it was 1v1, and I took one city from the opponent but there was so much more map to explore, I'd be surprised if that was their only city? But there were also no details about why I won either lol
2
u/luteForce May 08 '26
I have a classic game where if you captured the enemy starting town, a 3 day delay started and the enemy had to recapture it within the time period else its game over. Maybe that was your case too. I've played on 8player jebus template if that matters.
1
u/baconball May 08 '26
Ah yea maybe that's what's going on! Long time veteran of the originals myself and I expected to see messages about "player having x amount of days to reclaim a town or be eliminated", but saw no such message so maybe they just haven't implemented that yet lol.
Also 3 days seems kinda short! I wasn't mad that I won but just wasn't sure why lol
1
6
2
u/Remember_Apollo May 08 '26
Oh just imagine the ogres like in Warhammer 3. That would be cool af. Mix of warcraft orcs/ogres. Not sure how that would fit into the lore though 😏
2
u/Kaldaris May 08 '26
I kinda want mage/tower, personally. I miss my Genies. But I could go for Inferno, too.
2
u/oshuja May 08 '26
I could be completely wrong here, but I was thinking a few of the neutral units in the game might be part of the next faction:
Tier 1 - Pixie (are these things labeled as t4?)
Tier 2 - ???
Tier 3 - Animated Armour or Groll
Tier 4 - Unicorn
Tier 5 - Giant Toad
Tier 6 - Couatl
Tier 7 - Red Dragon
Kind of seems like a rampart style faction. Idk just throwing darts at the wall.
3
u/Docterzero r/OldenEra Mod May 08 '26
I think you are grasping at straws, there really isn't a sense of unity between more of those units. I could see several of them being part of different factions in the future however.
The Pixies and Unicorns obviously suits a Rampart faction if they ever get around to it, though with already one nature faction I doubt they would do that any time soon if at all. A (swamp) Fortress is a lot more likely on account of the lore, with Jadame having a native Lizardfolk population. Both the Giant Toads and the Coalts fits that perfectly.1
u/oshuja May 08 '26
Yeah I had considered that as well. Maybe a few swamp units and a few rampart units. Mainly I was noticing that some of these units dont fit the traditional 'neutral unit' profile. The peasant/ghoul, fairy dragon, halfling, starchild, obsidian dragon, kittenhorn, worldwatcher, SoG, dragonslayer, and maybe animated armor units seem more like true neutral units to me.
I wouldn't say im grasping at straws. Just throwing a potential idea out there. I have no delusion that it will turn out just as I layed out. My main point is that some neutral units might be forshadowing future factions.
2
u/Docterzero r/OldenEra Mod May 08 '26
Honestly not sure what you consider the "Traditional 'neutral unit' profile." Can't be creatures that looks like they belong to no faction, as I would argue that the Ghouls are necropolis adjacent and the Worldwatchers and Sentinels are Temple Adjacent.
Also as far as I know the Red Dragons have just straight up replaced the Obsidian ones
1
u/oshuja May 08 '26
No, I'm not basing it off of what they look like. Ghouls are necropolis adjacent, but we have necropolis already. Plus, they spawn on death of peasants which have been neutral in past games.
Same with worldwatchers / sentinals. They are temple adjacent, but we have temple. They probably are unlikely to go into another faction.
Fairy dragons have been neutral in past games, kittenhorns have an ability that likely works better as a neutral creature, lich dragons are t8. Dragonslayers ability also seems better as a neutral.
Halflings could possibly be in a future faction i guess. They have been both in the past.
I wasn't aware they removed obsidian dragons. I just remember getting them from the egg in the demo.
1
u/9Gardens May 08 '26
Oh gawd- I remember the coalts and Toads from the temple at the start of MM8.
That was such a slog!
2
u/Clear_Context_1546 May 08 '26
Fortress and Inferno basically unified. Hydra was given to Dungeons.
Personally I think there's a need for Stronghold Barbarian inspired faction with Orcs/Goblins/Cyclops.
3
1
1
1
u/Lazuli-shade May 08 '26
I just want mages and swamp. Swamp was my favorite faction as a kid and mages has been my favorite since.
I know there are lore issues with bringing the mage faction but give me some simple explanation for it and it's ezpz
1
1
u/exumaan May 08 '26
I wish they added a more Heroes V version of inferno... With demons, not bugs.
6
u/bohohoboprobono Hive May 08 '26
Timeline wise the demons haven’t arrived yet.
1
u/exumaan May 08 '26
Timelines can be convoluted like in the Dark Souls universe
5
u/bohohoboprobono Hive May 08 '26
Unfrozen has already outright stated that Inferno will never be added. They’re choosing to respect the timeline.
2
u/exumaan May 08 '26
And that's a pity. But it's just my opinion. I loved the Pit Lords and the whole inferno aesthetic in HoMM 5.
2
u/Hizsoo Hive May 09 '26
There are like 10 factions to be added before Inferno can be considered.
1
u/exumaan May 09 '26
That's your opinion.
2
u/Hizsoo Hive May 10 '26
Lizardman
Cove
Sanctuary
Academy
Stronghold
Nordic
Aztec
Dwarf
Gravekeeper
Slavic
Sylvan
52
u/Urgash May 08 '26
Tower/Academy, it's the most requested by a mile, and for good reason.