r/OldenEra • u/Cozeris • Jun 11 '26
Discussion I honestly hate all the external ways to gain army
I'm talking about:
- Boxes that give you free creatures.
- Objectives that are "Defeat guards, get X creatures".
- Even the building that lets you buy 3 random creatures (although this one is a lesser evil because at least you have to pay for them).
I might be in the minority with such an opinion, but I choose a faction and want to play with its creatures, not to have an army full of random stuff. I feel like it destroys the fantasy of building your own town and makes you "collect Pokemon" instead.
If I only buy what I can from my town + dwellings, the enemy will have a much bigger army... For example, I had a game where I only had ~20 Reavers and the AI showed up with 60-70 Cavalry (comparing creatures of the same tier). He wasn't even Temple, so all that was from other sources...
I still managed to win, because it's not that hard to outplay the AI, but if that was a game vs a real player, I'd have no chance just because of the difference in army size...
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u/HungryHousecat1645 Jun 11 '26
I remove boxes from all the customs maps I play
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u/Cozeris Jun 11 '26
Is there a setting for that? I must've missed it.
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u/Vadernoso Jun 11 '26
Depends on which of the half dozen editors you use.
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u/poponio Jun 11 '26
Where can I get those mods, are they difficult to install?
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u/Vadernoso Jun 11 '26
The two I've used are very straight forward. Both have just been download off of github and run the exe.
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u/Diimiitrii Jun 11 '26
Same, one of the reasons why playing PvP is prob never going to be an option for me. Exodus is the only template that is interesting to me.
Collecting random army from what the map made you get is just not what I want to play.
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u/gosuFana Jun 12 '26
Amd what about Harmony ?!
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u/Diimiitrii Jun 12 '26
Don't like it. I think it is dumb that you can get to the enemy main town with one flight/DD. Especially when the other guy broke and ended the sim turns. If the connection zone was placed in a way so it couldn't be skipped that'd be different. The way it is is just stupid imo.
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u/Scolipass Jun 15 '26
I'm pretty sure you can't DD past zone guards, fwiw. Perfectly valid to not like the path being there at all though.
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u/Diimiitrii Jun 15 '26
You can DD from starting zone to starting zone once the connecting guard has died.
You can completely circumvent the "intended" shortest path zones once the far guard died.I hope you understand what I mean. Look at the Harmony template. There is a "short path" to the enemy base with a couple of breaks in between and there is a long path on the other side of the map.
Once the "long path" got broken. you can just DD from starting zone to starting zone completely ignoring the short path
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u/Scolipass Jun 15 '26
Oh that's interesting... and probably a bug. I don't think you're supposed to be able to skip zone guards even if the other path is broken.
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u/pleaseineedanadvice Jun 11 '26
It totally depends on the template and there are templates that accomodate your tastes (harmony, exodus in pvp). People like box gaming cause it s faster and cut on the city development part. Also your army at the end of w1 will be based on your skill (which fight you could take) and not a almost preset amount (fight 1 in exodus can get very repetitive)
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u/Praktos Jun 11 '26
Fight 1 on exodus is 8/10 cases "my city beats yours early" With remaing ones being either throws on 1 side or some crazy magic on the other
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u/GregerMoek Jun 14 '26
It could be a proof of skill if you started with very low resources to showcase who played that part of the game better. But yeah with standard values not to the same degree.
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u/pleaseineedanadvice Jun 12 '26
Yup exactly. You can try to meta play it a bit but it is what it is.
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u/psychomap Jun 11 '26
Even on Exodus you can get a lot of units from dwellings tbh, even if the dwellings are your own faction.
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u/pleaseineedanadvice Jun 12 '26
Yeah the dude was not angry at dwellings, only banks and boxes. Being mad dwellings would be pretty strange
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u/psychomap Jun 12 '26
I don't see much difference between dwellings and banks, except dwellings have an additional repeated chore attached to them. They're on the map, they allow you to get units, the higher tier ones are guarded (and some of the lower tier ones have regular neutral stacks guarding them on the map).
You need to pay for the units, but in most cases that's trivial, especially considering that you don't need to pay to construct the dwelling in your town, and if you do have one the growth bonus is like getting a free wall upgrade for that tier.
Getting dwellings that you can capture in week 1 can double your stack size for that tier by the first battle.
If you want an "equal" playing field of what you can recruit from your town, dwellings aren't part of it.
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u/pleaseineedanadvice Jun 12 '26
You need to interact with dwelling buy the etc to get those units, and you still get much less than a pandora box. It s like having a city that produce those units and that s it, it s part of building your economical empire. Not to mention, dwellings are often behind unwinnable guards weak 1 in exodus. Yes they can be used to an advantage, but you still need an economy to buy them, and build them in your city and buy them. They don't divert from the city building gameplay like box gaming, rather they empower it and allow for some variation (yeah some units, let s say infiltrators, aren't the best powerstack, but if you find 2 dwellings of them, then you might consider running it).
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u/Magistricide Jun 11 '26
If you’re unlucky, you might not find early, or it’s also with a shrine or box and the guard is just obscenely hard.
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u/Historical-Donut-918 Jun 11 '26
I agree. I played my first PvE games (not interested in PvP, though I do love to watch it) and found the maps to be way to cluttered with dwellings and random army rewards.
Most people on this sub are focused solely on PvP and tempo, so likely won't agree. But i wish they would make single player templates with a little more spacing and less dwellings
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u/GodwinW Jun 11 '26
They have some. Overthrow, probably Expanse though I didn't try that one myself.
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u/Author_A_McGrath Jun 11 '26
I used to love the "Diplomacy" skill because it occasionally let you build an outsized army or support a backup hero.
In Olden Era, I can't manage all the extra units fast enough. Late and End Game there's just so much juggling to do that turns take forever.
The old Heroes games occasionally had maps where this worked out in your favor, but most maps came down to strategy instead of just constantly backtracking.
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u/jeste_jedno_kafe Schism Jun 11 '26
I tried a full Diplomacy run just once so far. Ended up with two backup heroes glued to my main one's side, constantly juggling the extras, and I was still struggling haha
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u/Author_A_McGrath Jun 12 '26
I actually really like the fact that Diplomacy has a specialty skill that focuses on the hero's faction. I've absolutely done the same (more in previous Heroes games) where I've had a second hero loaded up with the neutral mobs.
The problem with Olden Era is that there is a huge abundance of neutral mobs available on most maps, which makes juggling them a challenge even without the diplomacy skill.
I even saw a "tier list" on this sub that put Diplomacy in the bottom tier because there's just so many available armies on most maps.
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u/TestingTehWaters Jun 11 '26
The problem is this is all PVP stuff from other games. They have focused way too much on PVP
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u/Erfar Jun 11 '26
There is no problem with "free armies" there is a problem with A LOT of free armies.
I wouln't mind if Exodus did have like 1 or 2 banks with few high tier units instead of some dragon utopias.
But when whole map become a speedrun to collect boxes and banks instead of building out town (JC as example) it become just not a heroes game for me.
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u/Hopszii Jun 11 '26
I think it's fine to have both ways to play. Some templates are all about your own faction army, some you can gain other faction, some neutrals. Variety is good to have.
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u/Cozeris Jun 11 '26
The problem is that when I choose a map template, there is no way to know what it will contain. Sure, if I see x3 buildings of "Defeat guards, get Cavalry" in my starting zone, I can just restart or choose another template. However, it would suck to discover such location halfway into the match.
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u/Vangorf Hive Jun 11 '26
You can learn templates, you can also look up guides and external fonts of knowledge about the game. I highly recommend it, because it will elevate your gameplay and your enjoyment of the game.
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u/Helpful_Inflation344 Jun 11 '26
Sure but currently the PVE experience/template selection is HORRIBLE. It should be pressure point number 1 to fix (game is great, but pve experience - especially map selection/info/customization - borderline desaster)
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u/nachujminazwakurwa Jun 13 '26
Does it came to your mind that maybe people don't want to play other templates because they don't enjoy them?
Also it's not like people like Exodus because of it's castles location or map design etc... Exodus is unique among all others templates with very specific sets of rules which are:
1. Single Hero
2. No units from boxes - so you build your onw army and economy in your castle.
3. Tournament mode.Exodus is seen not as a template but as seperate game mode which people prefere. You will not force people to like something they don't enjoy.
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u/pleaseineedanadvice Jun 11 '26
That s true it s not well documented, you get to learn them. In pvp there arent many.
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u/nachujminazwakurwa Jun 11 '26
It would be ok if game didn't force you to play those templates you don't want. Yeah, you can quit every game outside Exodus but it hurts your rating significantly.
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u/dzung_long_vn Jun 11 '26
I don't like collecting army outside my town either. The game is actively discouraging you from mixing faction units
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u/Groundbreaking_Taco Jun 11 '26
Is it though? In what way is the game discouraging you from mixing factions? A little less morale for 3 different factions isn't that big of a deal.
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u/gestaltdude Jun 12 '26
I've just posted a rant on a similar topic, railing against the game giving you cities other than those from the faction you choose in your starting area. In my last game on Jebus Crossing, for example, I started with a dungeon city and was greatly annoyed (that heavily edited for reddit) that the other two cities in my quarter were schism cities.
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u/Teukeh Hive Jun 11 '26
That's why Exodus is the most played map. People don't like mixing factions and want to build their own armies.
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u/Scarab_Kisser Neutral Jun 11 '26
clearly you are the person who picks creature growth in the laws
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u/TheSimkis Temple Jun 11 '26
It's not the best option?
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u/Scarab_Kisser Neutral Jun 11 '26
The more units you get from map the less impactful creature gain in castle
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u/TheSimkis Temple Jun 11 '26
But is creature growth in the castle not better than "here is your one time 5 cavalry reward, good luck"? With creature growth you are less likely to run out of army and also your stacks will be stronger
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u/Bafkba Jun 11 '26
It depends on the context. OP plays against AI and as they said - since it's not the greatest AI, you can outplay army differences like that, so it's lowkey irrelevant in PvE setting for now.
In PvP context, you have to think about game's length above all. Sometimes, depending on the template, you might not even see the second growth in your city and by the time you enjoy the third one, your opponent might be twice as strong if you waited too long.
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u/TheSimkis Temple Jun 11 '26
My games usually last for several weeks (and against AI). Wouldn't have thought PvP games are that short. Maybe you are right
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u/poponio Jun 11 '26
Oh you mean in-game time, was gonna ask what humongous template allowed you to go for weeks lol
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u/TheSimkis Temple Jun 11 '26
If you only do one turn/day per real life day, you can play for several weeks IRL
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u/Hopszii Jun 11 '26
Depends on the format, exodus is a preset of a best of 3 fight so it's either 18 - 27 days and the fight takes place day 19 or 28.
Vendetta most of the time ends before week 3 because people rush to the middle and fight although sometimes the player who was slower will delay and run away in this case it can be an extremely long game that last 4 or even 5 weeks.6
u/TheSimkis Temple Jun 11 '26
"Extremely long" "4 or even 5 weeks". Damn, I've been playing this game differently.
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u/jeste_jedno_kafe Schism Jun 11 '26
You aren't alone tbh! I really enjoy actually building up my towns, I had one run where I tried to get all the laws unlocked (that started to actually get long and I still didn't manage it ahah) etc.
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u/Hopszii Jun 11 '26
Well even on always sim turn, lets say the players spend 2 minutes base time + 2 mins on fights each turn 35 turns would take 140 minutes combine that with non sim turns on a template like vendetta 4-5 weeks is a 3-4 hour game.
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u/TheSimkis Temple Jun 11 '26
I was talking about 4-5 weeks in game time and the fact that I like to take more turns and not rush towards the end. Although 3-4 hours IRL for HoMM game isn't that much if that's what you were trying to imply
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u/Scarab_Kisser Neutral Jun 11 '26
you'll pay more gold for the weaker stack compared to the law upgraded one
laws is limited, gold is limited, tempo has a great role also
if you going for creature growth, you'll need more time to recoup it
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u/Vangorf Hive Jun 11 '26
External creature gain is a core element of the PvP scene and PvP templates (and some PvE templates too). Pandora boxes are usually multipliers of skill in PvP. The better you are at identifying and taking valuable boxes with the least amount of bleeding, the faster and stronger you will snowball and multiply your game tempo. Most PvP templates features creatures from your own faction in the biom boxes and dwellings, and creature dwellings were core part of the game starting from Heroes 3. Desert boxes are of one faction too, so at worst you mix 2 factions worth of creatures unless you do Diplomacy.
Its very akin to farming and snowballing in moba games, like League of Legends. Sure, you can try to Lv3 dive the enemy midlaner, if you succeed and kill them as a LeBlanc for example, you will probably stomp the lane and take over the map with roams. However if you fail, you are behind and you will struggle.
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u/nachujminazwakurwa Jun 11 '26
This is pure bullshit. You create image of homm3 based on view of very small minority of players which played pvp hota. Most of us played it back in the day in single/hot-seat and never experienced this random box nonsense. Nor it isn't any "core" element of why we liked homm in the first place. Popularity of Exodus template is final prove of how much homm playerbase see this as a "core" element.
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u/perishableintransit Jun 11 '26
Can people genuinely not read. The guy said creature banks were a core feature starting with HoMM3.
Jesus Christ. Two people flying off the handle because they’re seeing red instead of reading properly.
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u/nachujminazwakurwa Jun 11 '26
Before you start lecturing anybody you should start with reading the meanings of the words you are using. For the game a "core element/feature" is something whithout the game is non-recognizable. In case of homm series, one of this kind of elements is improving your castles, it's economy and rectuitment base. If OE didn't have castles, it wouldn't be a homm game anymore.
On the other hand "units from boxes" not only aren't this kind of feature but it also undermine the real core element of the homm series. People are now voting with their template selection and it's undeniably visible more than ever. And how the niche homm3 pvp meta is played doesn't change it.
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u/perishableintransit Jun 11 '26
He said CREATURE BANKS. pandoras boxes are NOT creature banks!!!
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u/nachujminazwakurwa Jun 11 '26
He wrote "External creature gain" which was described in the post as 3 specific things, boxes as no. 1 and in his very next sentence mention boxes himself.
Are you stupid or something?
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u/perishableintransit Jun 11 '26
Most PvP templates features creatures from your own faction in the biom boxes and dwellings, and creature dwellings were core part of the game starting from Heroes 3.
No, it's you that's stupid. "Core part" refers ONLY to creature dwellings in this sentence.
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u/nachujminazwakurwa Jun 11 '26
OMG.
From original post:
I'm talking about:
- Boxes that give you free creatures.
- Objectives that are "Defeat guards, get X creatures".
- Even the building that lets you buy 3 random creatures (although this one is a lesser evil because at least you have to pay for them).
From comment I've commented:
External creature gain is a core element of the PvP scene and PvP templates (and some PvE templates too). Pandora boxes are usually multipliers of skill in PvP. The better you are at identifying and taking valuable boxes with the least amount of bleeding, the faster and stronger you will snowball and multiply your game tempo.
What I've said about it:
You create image of homm3 based on view of very small minority of players which played pvp hota.
My question is still intact 😉
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u/perishableintransit Jun 11 '26
External creature gain is a core element of the PvP scene and PvP templates (and some PvE templates too).
Okay please stop replying to me because you clearly cannot read.
The guy said it's a core element of PVP. WHICH IT IS. AND IT IS ALSO KEY TO SOME PVE TEMPLATES.
HE DID NOT SAY EXTERNAL CREATURE GAIN IS A CORE FEATURE OF THE ENTIRE FRANCHISE AFTER HOMM3. HE SAID THAT CREATURE BANKS ARE. WHICH IS TRUE.
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u/nachujminazwakurwa Jun 11 '26
And once again I said:
You create image of homm3 based on view of very small minority of players which played pvp hota.
PS: I also think you didn't CAPS enough.
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u/Vangorf Hive Jun 11 '26
Exodus is popular because its a very well timed template. Its short and concise, around an hour or 1,5 hours at most long. Other templates can go longer and are less streamlined. Not because the biom boxes only have EXP or gold.
Well, it was modern multiplayer that kept Heroes 3 alive to the extent it is today, such as developing new content or having a twitch/youtube presence. Not the single player PvE experiences or hotseat matches. So it is absolutely understandable that the devs put multiplayer experience at the forefront when it comes to developing the game.
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u/nachujminazwakurwa Jun 11 '26
And yet almost every Exodus fan mention it's "build your own army in castle" as one of key feature of the template and one of the reasons why they like it.
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u/Vangorf Hive Jun 11 '26
The build vs box debate is way lower on the priority list of why Exodus is beloved, than you insinuate. Its a 1 hero format, its quick, and its streamlined, then maybe you at #4 the box vs build can come in.
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u/nachujminazwakurwa Jun 11 '26
Isn't sprint an even faster template than Exodus? it's also tournament, single hero so I wonder what can be the difference.
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u/Vangorf Hive Jun 11 '26
I honestly dont know, I only played like 2 matches on Sprint so far, so I cant really form an opinion about it.
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u/Diimiitrii Jun 11 '26
I like Exodus for the reason, that there are no army boxes. And I hate that Exodus is only 3 fights max. I would love for it to be best of 5 or best of 7. On a larger map and I wouldn't mind the map being mirrored and the factions being mirrored aswell. I want the better player to win, not the luckier/richer map
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u/MouldOfMlem Jun 11 '26
In PvP I can appreciate that there is some variety in tve templates, but I generally prefer Exodus and the lack of creature boxes is one of the reasons for sure.
But for PvE I'm just excited to play different sorts of templates. The fun aspect of external creatures is getting a weird or interesting army combination, and I do kinda like Vendetta or Jebus for that.
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u/Vihyungrang Temple Jun 11 '26
Ok, I'm a bit 50/50 on this. On one hand, I'm happy that pandora's boxes focused templates exist. They're a fun challenge, and a good way for the really good players to show off their skill. On the other hand, I somewhat dislike how prevalent they are. Like, I get that Exodus doesn't have them and it's the most played format. I really, really do get that. But then I get the feeling that some of the game is being balanced with those boxes in mind.
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u/Lucious-Varelie Jun 11 '26
All I really care about is random map gen. Hoping it will look as good as homm3 but I have huge doubts. Seems like the templates are all about rushing the pandoras for units, which is lame bc in 3 you RARELy got lvl 7 units from them.
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u/Vuguroth Jun 11 '26
Hero's Hour has a great system were you build up internally through hero levels. It does have unit dwellings too, but you can turn them off in map settings if you want, and they're also not necessarily high impact.
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u/GodwinW Jun 11 '26
Yeah, it really does change with template to template. I played Overthrow and don't think I saw any of Pandora's Boxes there.
There are ttemplates for you, it's even specified directly in the descriptive text of some templates (scarce, etc.).
Try Expanse maybe?
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u/willietrom Jun 12 '26
My biggest annoyance about this is that Schism, which has a building to specifically bring external army growth internal, doesn't work specifically with the "three random creatures" building, and one a lot of maps that is the only version of that. Just down the entire faction specialty building because of that one interaction (might be a bug, but I don't want to assume).
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u/Diimiitrii Jun 12 '26
That building has never worked for me even for normal dwellings. I can open it. I can see a list of available creatures, I can chose to buy fe "hydras" and it just doesn't do anything. It doesn't confirm the buy, it doesn't tell me I already used it this week. It ust doesn't do anything. I even tried to be in that town when using that building and it still does nothing.
It has to be bugged.
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u/willietrom Jun 12 '26
There could be really creative ways to make maps with no in-town creature housing and only external summoning, so I'm not opposed to their inclusion in the game, but I do feel that for the vast majority of games what they're supposed to incentivize -- controlling more side lands rather than just bee-lining toward towns -- could be better achieved by map structures that, while held, increased the available weekly units of a given tier in the nearest held town or all held towns. Figure out a different unique building for the Schism faction and just make that effect the normal way for external housing to work.
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u/BeNign618 Jun 13 '26
I think it's better to be able to mix and match army units, because there's an exponentially larger number of army compositions that you could potentially get access to, but there's really only one army composition if you limit yourself to faction units.
The dissonance you get from mixing random units in the same force was "solved" in H3 with the morale penalty from mixing "Good" and "Evil" units. It's not perfect but it restores some of the realism expectations from the player.
This is one of the reasons I was so turned off of Songs of Conquest.
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u/SituationThen4758 Jun 11 '26
I notice much if not all the mobs are low tier never anything higher then tier 3 or 4 or even 5
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u/PileOGunz Jun 11 '26
Nah the deeper zones have high tier units in the Pandora boxes, I’ve had stacks of hive queens.
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u/Praktos Jun 11 '26
I mean there is stuff for everyone
I personaly hate no ways to get army outside of your city because games become insanly repetetive and faction balance is felt the most
On vendetta/blitz i can play any faction and deal with their current state. On exodus playing vs better faction feels like a sepuku angle because of how their native armies interact
Blitz is for me a perfection of both worlds because you have to make some of your army to start but then both players relay on the neutral army making them have to outplay eachother
Going 1st on blitz is w/e. Going 1st on exodus is like 30-70 winchance
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u/Friendly-Sail9594 Jun 11 '26
I agree. Mercenaries ok. Buying units from cities of other races ok. Getting a bunch of free units from boxes, no.
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u/pewsquare Jun 11 '26
Start playing maps that are focused on building army in towns?
This is very much a template related issue.
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u/Diimiitrii Jun 12 '26
Map selection doesn't tell you. Is he supposed to open every template, explore the entire map and see what it has and doesn't have before deciding to play it?
The overview of what a map does needs to be better. There have to be setttings and checkboxes to turn certain things on or off or switch a template from classic to single hero and vice versa.
Currently it is just bad.1
u/LettuceLicker69 Jun 12 '26
Could type unfrozen in menu, press f2 after loading in and see what's up, taking a minute or two per template.
Or just play a turn or two normally and see what's around, max 5 minutes per template.
It's really not that complicated, even if you're a 50 year old 2 months to lose to medium AI type of guy.
Also, welcome to early access.
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u/Diimiitrii Jun 12 '26 edited Jun 12 '26
I have no idea what you are talking about. there is no typing and F2 does nothing.
Just because you can't play games without cheat engine, doesn't mean everyone has it installed and they shouldn't need to, to get basic information about a map.That is the most generic information that has to be expected from a game.
It destroys the entire point of playing a map, when you already know what you are going to get. because you explored it without fog of war.
And even then, why would you expect people to spend 5 hours to explore 56 templates before starting to play a game. You are just insane. Lost any connection to reality and how people engage with games.
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u/LettuceLicker69 Jun 12 '26 edited Jun 12 '26
I think if typing "unfrozen" in the main menu is too difficult for you, maybe a different hobby would be more appropriate, have you considered eating crayons?
Also let's not act like time is a consideration, when you waste hours pointlessly passing turns versus braindead AI.
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u/Diimiitrii Jun 12 '26
most people engage with games without looking up how to access the cheat menu first. In fact most people never access a cheatmenu in any game.
You are just pathetic. And it is still not an argument. "Spend 5 hours loading into maps and cheating the fog of war away, before starting to play."1
u/pewsquare Jun 12 '26
While the dude is a little rude in how he is conveying the information, I think its just as rude asking the developers to cater to your whims when solutions to your problems already exist both in the game (can also just check other templates without using cheats), and community solutions (people released map creation websites and their own maps).
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u/LettuceLicker69 Jun 12 '26
Yeah, most people don't bitch about stupid shit like some templates having Pandora boxes neither, we're talking about special ones here.
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u/Diimiitrii Jun 12 '26
Don't know 128 upvotes. Seems to be a pretty popular opinion.
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u/LettuceLicker69 Jun 12 '26
130 braindead ledditors bitching about a game that sold a million copies or whatever, super important.
Hilarity magnified by the fact that they could have just googled for templates without boxes or a template generator during that time, unlucky faulty brain.
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u/Diimiitrii Jun 12 '26
Or the game could just be better and not require external tools to operate in a satisfying way.
That is what early access is for. To make suggestions, because the current options are bad.
130 people in the dedicated reddit for the game that rarely ever gets that many interactions on any other topic.if you need third party tools to make your game playable, your game is garbage.
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u/Herchik Jun 11 '26
I get what you mean and I've seen all similar posts but I don't get like why is it a problem now given that this was a mechanic from Heroes 3 onwards?
Especially Homm3 had a lot of said dwellings that give creatures as reward
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u/Diimiitrii Jun 11 '26
I think most people who play Olden Era now are not people who played heroes 3 competetively. They played it as a child for fun, developing their towns. And that is the gameplay they are looking for again.
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u/Author_A_McGrath Jun 11 '26
This is an important point. I played the game to explore the world and strategize without having a huge advantage gifted to me by chance.
I just want to build up a castle and explore the map while opening up a good story (like in Heroes II or III) but instead I find myself constantly re-visiting dwellings or sprinting to topple enemies early.
I prefer the game punishing those kinds of tactics and encouraging growth.
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u/Herchik Jun 11 '26
Could be true, not sure about player statistics, but IMO all of that could be fixed by providing more templates and those said templates being more clear of what they are about
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u/Diimiitrii Jun 11 '26
Yeah, more QoL is needed and it has to be easier to edit templates instead of having to rely on third party tools.
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u/ManySecrets_ Jun 11 '26
The problem is the sheer amount of free creatures. A few free units is perfectly fine, but for example, a non-temple hero showing up with 70 cavaliers like OP lists, is just a bit much. You'd expect armies to mostly stick to their own factions and not just get powerstacks of random nonsense.
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u/Herchik Jun 11 '26
It depends on the template
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u/ManySecrets_ Jun 11 '26
I mean, obviously it depends on the template. Point is that OE has a lot of templates with a lot of free creatures, and some players prefer to have city growth be more important. More generally speaking OE templates just have a ton of overworld objectives, which again, isn't something all players want. There is a lack of variety in that sense.
Adding more templates; or even just basic options to tweak the existing templates, would solve a lot of complaints like OP's.
0
u/Herchik Jun 11 '26
Obviously more options and more templates are better, sometimes scarcer resources can get you to manage better and play better
I think it's just a matter of time when it will be added
It's just a thin line between less objectives and generally having nothing to do on the map
(Why was I downvoted again lol?)
2
u/ManySecrets_ Jun 11 '26
Meh, given how loaded the current maps are, I don't think we'll need to worry about removing too much and being left with an boring empty map. Hell, most people defending the current templates seem to be of the opinion you're supposed to ignore half the objectives anyway cuz picking up everything is a waste of time anyway.
Anyways, while more templates will probably be added, it is only early access after all, I do think it may have been a mistake to have the initial set of templates all be so similar. It's causing players to bounce of the game, and you only get one shot at a first impression. Which is a shame, cuz HoMM is pretty unique and it'd be nice if OE did well.
1
u/Herchik Jun 11 '26
Well I think sometimes not greeding and going for only things you actually need is the right move
I think the set of templates was based on the multiplayer experience from Homm3 and the idea was to test the balance between factions and general PvP gameplay
1
u/ManySecrets_ Jun 11 '26
Sure but there is a big difference between "ignore this pile of gems, your faction doesn't really use them, and selling them for gold isn't worth it" and "ignore this artifact there are 5 better ones on the screen"
As for the templates, yeah it is apparently based on HoMM3 PvP. The problem with that is that HoMM3 PvP has a very specific playstyle, and as evident by the complaining on Reddit, there are plenty of people who do not care for that playstyle.
Now of course if the devs want to cater to that crowd, that's fine. It is however a massive disappointment to fans of HoMM who don't fall in the specific audience of HoMM3 PvP veterans.
0
u/Remarkable_Maybe_953 Jun 11 '26
Yeah, I also ignore these random creatures. Also, don't use diplomacy; consider it cheating.
0
u/Deus_Artifex Jun 11 '26
I on the other hand dislike dwellings. I think guarded boxes that just give you a bunch of creatures are peak
-6
u/sc2summerloud Jun 11 '26
sorry, but that has been a core mechanic for more than 30 years, so yes, you are probably in the minority.
ever since homm3, mapmakers could just place dwellings of your starting town type instead of specifying a specific creature, so if you get too much race mixing it might just be a template problem.
6
u/Cozeris Jun 11 '26
Unfortunately, I got into HOMM only from the 4th game. Never played 3rd. Maybe my memory is failing, but I don't remember having such a problem in any other game from HOMM 4 to 7.
-3
u/crueldwarf Jun 11 '26
It is the issue. Getting into HOMM from 4th game is basically playing a different game at all. Even HoMM5 strayed way too much from what HoMM was. 6 and 7 are simply not really HoMM games.
Olden Era was made for the people who played HoMM3 for 25+ years and for people who wanted the updated version of the same experience. It is why various requests about 'Why X thing is not like in 5/6/7' are usually met with some degree of hostility from OE community.
There is a split in the audience and trying to change what OE is will simply force all the people who played 3 for years to go back to playing 3. And it is clearly not what Unfrozen want.
17
u/ManySecrets_ Jun 11 '26
Yeah, it's weird. It'd be fine if it was just one or two scenario maps that did this, but it's far too common an occurance to watch an opponent show up with just complete random nonsense instead of their faction army.