- caverns in free play and the campaign (mission pieces, fortresses, islands, sealed caves and dwarf caves stay untouched)
- caverns sometimes hold a pool of water or lava, veins in their walls, rarely a small treasure or a creature in chains to free
- rivers keep away from the start; test: open share, liquids and a hero path to the core
- standalone file in play/ rebuilt
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
- explored tiles stay known (saved compactly as bits), enemies are only drawn while in sight; sight runs along open ground, walls block it
- unexplored tiles are black blocks; units, towers, torches, furniture, portals, gate and rival cores in the dark are hidden; minimap and tile info too
- the nearest portal is known from the start; the seer's eye opens a wide area for 20 seconds without remembering it
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
- studying creatures collect research points (mages and owls best, higher levels faster); studying gives less mana than before
- free play starts with the basics; campaign missions know what their story allows and can research what the next four missions would bring
- research shown in the top bar; the library's info lists the current item and what comes next; locked tools say whether they can be researched
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
- 1-4 cave slots by map size, 50% each (at least one); knight treasure caves only where a mission places them
- dwarves fight intruders near the cave, never chase far, heal at home, grow with distance and the player's army, never count for victory
- rune chest: one free rune forge tower (chain bolt to three more enemies), upgradeable for gold, sold once it comes back (next mission / free play at once), unbuilt ones carry over
- new tool (key N) shown in the tower menu while a rune tower can be built or upgraded
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
- One opponent on maps up to 128x128, two on bigger maps; with a chance of one in two one of
them is the humans' gate instead of a rival master
- Simplified rival masters (rival.rs): own soul core and dungeon (lair, treasury to loot) that
grows ring by ring, creatures appear and get stronger over time, guard the dungeon and attack
in groups - the player, the other master or the humans' gate; a fallen core puts the master
out and frees its ground
- The humans attack everybody: waves now and then march on a rival master
- Sides for units: all other sides are enemies; towers and contested ground follow them; the
hand cannot pick up rival creatures; the flag next to a rival core attacks it
- Difficulty (easy / medium / hard) in the New Game dialog
- Colours: green and blue floors, cores, unit rings, minimap, HUD bars of the rival cores
- Victory in free games: every rival core and the gate (if any) destroyed
- Tests for setups, growth and attacks, elimination and victory, humans against rivals
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Richard ZinkandClaude Opus 5.5