Heroes of Might and Magic III: Conflux 1v7 (200%)

Conflux -- the second faction that is commonly banned or restricted in competitive play.
With the Slaughtered Sprites and the Flaming Firebirds, let's see what we can do using Conflux.
RULES: No DD, Fly, Diplomacy, Cartographer, Hill Fort
Link to how ridiculous Luna can be: • Heroes of Might and Ma...
(Twitch Channel: / theknownworld )
-MeKick

[@Channel-cy4lh]

2:32:45 "Aurora Borealis. At this time of year, at this time of day, on this map, localised entirely within your faction."

[@Aenygma_]

Yes! :D

[@Channel-cy4lh]

​@@Aenygma_ ...May I dig for it?

[@SVillainG]

2:14:46 Best battle ever 10/10.

[@TheKnownWorld]

Good fight? :P

[@yueliu25]

​@@TheKnownWorldI love it when people figure out the AI mechanisms and come up with ways to take advantage of it. check this video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/pZbVoWihhrWnq7M

[@micekVicek]

@@yueliu25 the AI mechanisms in year 2015? do you even know what AI is? It's been just a gooood-written script bro.

[@jzheng7324]

@@micekVicek All non-player activities done by computer are co-called AI mechanisms in terms of video games. The AI term that you are referring to is the one with extra "self-learning" ability based on big data.

[@avartanprime6364]

I need my pyre it's a PYRERORITY. *ok i'll walk away alone*

[@TheKnownWorld]

LOL, gave me a chuckle... I give it 7/10 Have a +1, good sir!

[@SVillainG]

I was thinking the exact same thing. You know what they say, great minds...

[@lubbiz]

I liked it cause the word was had to say loud

[@MrAntifreezer]

This sort of illegal pun deserves *capitol* punishment

[@Sutaraiku]

This blew my mind when I was 8 and played this for the first time. 16 years later it's still my favourite game. You're video was fun to watch and taught me a lot about conflux and advanced techs I didn't know about! Liked and sub'd

[@TheKnownWorld]

+momothewizard Thank you! It's my pleasure to know that you enjoyed (and somehow learned from) my video. Heroes III is my favorite game, too. :)

[@dibens666]

You should revisit Conflux in Horn Of The Abyss version of the game. They made it much less insane- sprite upgrade requires magic university, firebirds are more expensive and you only get three of them per week (third one requires building a new special building). They nerfed Necropolis in similar fashion by halving all necromancy effects and bonuses and replacing Galthran with different hero. I'd love to see a Cove gameplay as well, ofc.

[@NEC234]

+dibens666 Yeah Cove Rocks

[@dwntherabbithole9785]

that necromancy nerf broke my heart :( sigh

[@TheSpiritedFendron]

dibens666 so the unecessary equilibris nerfs hm k? No thx

[@arnigeir1597]

@@TheSpiritedFendron for factions that are often banned in online play? yeah, unless you just think change is bad, it actually improves the game.

[@Draxxor]

So they destroy the main reason to play Necropolis? What next tower without Wizads? Castle without Angels??

[@nooobiechild]

It's 2016. This game is still one of my favorite strategy game of all time. Even civ 5 couldn't top this.

[@heraschade7981]

tbh it's 2018 civ 5 is pretty bad

[@darudemanastorm123]

Vitriol Squared Tbh it’s 2019 and civ V with Vox Populi is pretty great

[@heraschade7981]

+DarudeManastorm tbh i havent tried it im having too much fun with stellaris

[@darudemanastorm123]

Vitriol Squared that’s a good one too. And crusader kings and hearts of iron and I mean I could go on

[@HellShot22]

@noobiechild : it WAS 2016. It's 2020 now. And people (me......) are(am......................) still watching this.

[@ColdP]

I just finished watching the 1v7 necropolis and this shows up as recommended. Thanks mekick. Consider doing a 1v7 tower next, I'd love to see how you'd take that approach since everything there is so cost intensive.

[@TheKnownWorld]

Bloo Well, thank you for watching! 1v7 Tower... who needs Gold for units when you can have The Genie? ;)

[@TheKnownWorld]

***** We shall see about that. :) However, I have some other strategies I want to try first before I move on to Stronghold.

[@TheKnownWorld]

That's not quite what I meant by "other strategies". I meant that I wanted to highlight some of the game strategies people would use to win in PvP matches (i.e. Diplomacy, "Demon Farming/Herding", etc.) over battle strategies (i.e. Wait, Force Field, Blinding units on an entrance).

[@TheKnownWorld]

+Bloo kzbin.info/www/bejne/n3PHi3-ofdJ2eac

[@TheKnownWorld]

+Emil Aavik For some reason, I cannot reply directly to your comment so I will have to do so here. In what sense are you looking for "casted tournaments"? There are some tournaments available for Heroes III, and these can primarily be found on HeroesWorld.ru. However, the only available commentators are generally the ones playing the match (and at that, most of them do so in Russian). Once in a blue moon there can be others who try to commentate over tournament-level matches in English, but this is quite seldom.

[@mathewlau1733]

What are you criticisms of heroes 5 and 6? Do you recommend the HD mod over buying the HD version?

[@TheKnownWorld]

Mathew Lau First of all, absolutely. Never get the HD Edition -- HD mod all the way, 100%! The HD mod is compatible with all of the expansions (which includes the RMG) and adds so many quality-of-life updates that, in my opinion, it would be absurd for any Heroes III enthusiast to want to get the more-expensive, not-so-complete HD version of the game. Regarding Heroes V and VI, I've never tried Heroes VI and so I have no opinion about that game. However, I tried Heroes V briefly and while the combat system does seem to share some similarities with Heroes III as others have mentioned, I dislike the game's 3D nature on the Adventure Map. I find it horribly confusing and disorienting to play on and was not able to adjust in the brief time I was giving the game a shot.

[@mathewlau1733]

TheKnownWorld Thanks for the quick reply. your videos have convinced me to pick up Heroes 3 again :) Heroes 5 felt like a bad copy of Heroes 3 with 3D graphics slapped on, but Heroes 6 added some cool stuff to the game so I'd recommend giving it a shot.

[@TheKnownWorld]

Mathew Lau You're welcome! I hope you enjoy your journey back into Heroes III. :)

[@TheKnownWorld]

Interesting -- there were quite a number of people who actually quite enjoyed Heroes V by my understanding!

[@Skandbrand]

Oman this is my jam. Have now finished 3 videos fully. Thanks for pointing out the HD mod. I'm amazed at how much it does for the game.

[@TheKnownWorld]

You're welcome, and thank you for watching my videos! I agree -- the HD mod does wonders for Heroes III and augments the gameplay significantly.

[@caboose202ful]

I'd be interested to see a Diplomacy run.

[@naitsirk32]

I know it has been a while, but he actually made one now, kzbin.info/www/bejne/ZoDWY2iJlpdnaaM

[@madsli]

The one thing that is the most impressive with this series of videos, is that mekick knows how to pronounce all the names of the heroes in the game.

[@TheKnownWorld]

Much appreciated! To be honest though, I'm still not 100% sure how to pronounce Ciele and Aenain. ;)

[@CountElectric]

Enjoyed the video. Very entertaining and well explained of why this faction is so powerful.

[@TheKnownWorld]

Awesome! It's nice to hear that you enjoyed the video and liked my explanations!

[@Gilgaberry]

This is the first four hour youtube video I have ever watched in it's entirety. What an adventure.

[@TheKnownWorld]

It's good to know that you watched the full video and enjoyed it! Thanks for watching and commenting!

[@Daniel-jk7zv]

Great work ! Its very interesting to watch your HoMM3 Gameplays on impossible difficulty :D

[@TheKnownWorld]

+Daniel Hamann I'm always happy to hear others enjoying these gameplays. Hope to see you around on the Tower video as well. :)

[@iwanromanow6038]

Pretty cool, that you don´t use fly/dimension door so early. Really appreciate that ^^

[@TheKnownWorld]

+Iwan Romanow :)

[@Psiaken]

I am pretty sure that putting all AI into one alliance is making things much easier, this way they won't counquer each other castles and snowball from that, so human player is the only one allowed to rush fully built town and stuff like that.

[@TheKnownWorld]

Psiaken Yes, but then I could also argue that if the AI *aren't* allied against each other, then they'll waste time, resources, and units weakening each other in preparation of allowing me to potentially clean them up (and come in for the kill). I believe that this topic has come up many times on my stream as well, and I don't think that everyone can come up with a consensus. It seems that for the most part, the majority of people argue that going up against 7 armies with only 1 army is tougher than going against a couple of super-armies (if that makes sense). Even so, I'll look into doing some 200% FFAs since there has been a fair amount of demand for it. :)

[@Psiaken]

TheKnownWorld Thanks for response, I just did several tests, like starting random map and waiting 3 months, then checking AI strongest army and so. And my estimation is that if you are conquering most of the map before sth like 4th month 1v7 will be harder, but if you are taking your time and fight with only one her and at 4th month you have like 2-3 towns and one nearest AI defeated then from that moment in the 8v8 strongest AI is very likely to conquer others therefore making it more difficult than 1v7.

[@TheKnownWorld]

So to sum up your testing, am I correct to assume that doing nothing for four months means that the AI in a FFA will grow way out of hand whereas actually clearing out zones entails that a 1v7 would be harder?

[@Psiaken]

TheKnownWorld yes, because if you are actively clearing zones in FFA you are likely to encounter some weakened AI that just defended it's town or conquered some other AI's castle and it didn't have time to really use advantage of having multiple towns. In 1v7 that would of course never happened but AI can do much less things to gain advantage over you besides starting with more resources.

[@TheKnownWorld]

+Psiaken kzbin.info/www/bejne/n3PHi3-ofdJ2eac - In case you're interested in a 1v7 FFA.

[@danboswell745]

Bit late to the party but this was a great watch!! Thanks for uploading. Next video should be race to town portal lol

[@TheKnownWorld]

It's never too late to join the party :) I'm glad you enjoyed the video! But why are you recommending a race to Town Portal? This seems like a rather random suggestion. Also, how would the race even work?

[@goldhetman729]

Conflux, the town that usually appears unconquered in almost every map.

[@TheKnownWorld]

lol

[@adamtanner6380]

Awesome to see that people still play this amazing game!

[@TheKnownWorld]

Agreed!

[@CheeKiatTeo]

I'd never thought i'd have more fun watching than playing!

[@TheKnownWorld]

I'm glad you're enjoying my content! :)

[@Tibor0803]

The strangest part with Conflux is all of it's creatures are only weak against a specific spell. There is one creature in level 6 which is fully immune to magic when upgraded, also half of the faction line-up is just fine after the cast of Armageddon spell (namely: Fire/Energy Elementals, Magma Elementals, Magic Elementals, Firebirds/Phoenixes) which is really ridiculous. Not to mention there is the University building can be bought to make a hero learn specific magic secondary skills for the upcoming magic spells become available in the magic guild to strenghten those spells effectiveness compare to other heroes with magical preferences.

[@Urza26]

+Savage Source Their tier 4 and 5 are worthless though AND expensive for having such poor stats. They can't get armageddon in their own guilds also. It's an odd faction with either superb units or pathetic ones. Their heroes though are almost all nice.

[@Tibor0803]

Urza26 I agree. Conflux in some of the chances failed in my hands, but other people hands it seemed really powerful against the most factions.

[@SBaby]

11:18 - Artillery is good to have for throwaway heroes, because you can use the Magic/Flee/Rehire trick to whittle down large enemy armies.

[@TheKnownWorld]

Artillery for controlling Arrow Towers? If you're sieging in a town that doesn't have an Escape Tunnel, your hero won't be able to flee from combat.

[@Muffinzy]

Its almost 7 years now, game is stiill a banger

[@vasiliyrazumov9909]

Thank you man, it was a great pleasure to watch this video

[@TheKnownWorld]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@vasiliyrazumov9909]

Yep. As well as other your videos. You're awesome!

[@Nonii-92]

3:01:53 Good way to make sure you won't lose a town is to leave another hero outside the town, so that you can recapture the town as soon as the enemy takes it. The AI doesn't always leave any forces in the captured town, and you can just take it back from him :) To make sure it works I sometimes recruit multiple heroes and run them to all possible direction so that they can reach the town

[@TheKnownWorld]

This is true! Something to consider for next time when I'm in excess of Gold, perhaps. :D

[@dmitrymokshin7755]

Good commentary, very fun to watch.

[@TheKnownWorld]

I'm glad you enjoyed watching and listening!

[@Coldheart322]

I can remember when Conflux was released. I wonder how many people still remember the original faction they were planning: The 'cyborg/tech' faction. It used things like Goblins with rifles and Naga-tanks (yes, seriously), and I think orcs with rockets. There was HUGE player backlash (especially with the topless Naga-tanks for some reason), and Ubisoft changed it. It may help explain why the Conflux is not as well balanced. as they likely rushed the balance testing to get the DLC out after having to scrap their initial idea.

[@TheKnownWorld]

I think that a number of Heroes III fans still have fond memories of the Forge faction. Indeed, the rushed removal of Forge might have been a contributing factor to why Conflux was so imbalanced, but sometimes it's still difficult to comprehend how the game developers managed to add in Conflux without seeing just how many perks they have access to.

[@leonoraekaterina5838]

”Im not a good player by any standards” mate you are a legend dont put yourself down

[@runklestiltskin_2407]

200% game speed and normal audio, that's great, thanks

[@benjaminpapp9011]

Your videos are amazing it helps a lot for me thanks! :D

[@PamMcElprang]

with the number of conflux castles in this one, it got me thinking that a FFA with every color having the same castle type would be actually impossible. I'd obviously love to see you give it a shot, but I might have to try it myself now :)

[@TheKnownWorld]

Give it a try! :) Truthfully, I don't see how this would be impossible. If I were to guess, your reasoning is that in an FFA, the AI would kill each other off and take each others' towns to dramatically increase the size of their strongest stacks. But if every color had the same town type, then the human player can also take advantage of this and build up their army much more quickly as well -- perhaps at an even faster pace than the AI, assuming you play aggressively. Cheers!

[@kevinnitta1301]

You are a better player than most. The only thing I was wondering about was the way you left some resources alone when they could have been traded at your marketplaces.

[@nelsonyip7510]

Thanks for bringing back the childhood nostalgia! You really make this game look a lot more fun than it already is! Question though....which mod are you using? I've recently got HOMM3 again and it's pretty clunky?

[@TheKnownWorld]

You're welcome! I'm happy to hear that you're enjoying my content and that it's bringing you nostalgia for Heroes III :) To answer your question, I'm using the Heroes III Complete Edition with the fan-made HD mod. You can get the Heroes III Complete Edition from www.gog.com/game/heroes_of_might_and_magic_3_complete_edition and you can get the HD mod from sites.google.com/site/heroes3hd/. I hope this helps!

[@siechamontillado]

3:04:41 Boooh MeKicks from 8 years ago, boooh! It would be so cool to see Angel Wings used!

[@sidewinDr]

Just discovered your channel. I got hooked trying to see when you'll finally get that spell. Hopefully I'll catch you streaming, if you're still doing it.

[@TheKnownWorld]

Welcome! I hope you've been enjoying your journey so far on this channel. Which spell are you referring to exactly? :P And yes, I am still streaming on a week-by-week basis! I just finished streaming 5 minutes ago, actually. Did you manage to catch it?

[@ciplogic]

Very cool videos. I have a question, what do you think about VCMI? Can you make a clip reviewing it? 4-5 minutes are just enough (but it can be hours long also).

[@TheKnownWorld]

+Ciprian Khlud Thanks, Ciprian! Regarding VCMI, I've heard about it and it seems like a pretty cool pursuit for Heroes III. However, I've never personally used it myself so I don't have much more of an opinion about it than that. If I have time in the near future, I'll consider giving it a try, though. :P

[@MrPumponer]

Sir can you please revive this channel. You are an amazing player and I want to watch more of your videos you explain everything in depth and you produce quality content. I love the 3-8 hour uploads and I have subscribed. Please produce more content you are good and what you do, and if you continue you will grow! Thank you!

[@TheKnownWorld]

lol, what do you mean by "revive this channel"? I released an episode just last week and I intend to release another video next week too. Anyway, it's nice to hear that you think so highly of me and my content!

[@AndrewLyssunov]

Uhhh, every time I see the wings, I am like “YES!!” and then I get to hear that you won’t be using them, its so much fun playing with them then without...

[@TheKnownWorld]

+Andrew Lyssunov Sorry about that. :( Perhaps you find great enjoyment out of flying over everything, and don't get me wrong -- I do too. But the moment I slap on the Angel Wings, I have a feeling that there will be people who will complain that I've basically "cheated" my way to victory since Angel Wings are such a strong artifact. The AI have no idea how to react to Angel Wings, so they probably wouldn't survive much long thereafter.

[@AndrewLyssunov]

+TheKnownWorld Well your choice, I personally prefer with Angel Wings.

[@SBaby]

3:04:40 - A better question is if the AI had them, would THEY use them?

[@demon54702nd]

Good video! Wow, never knew that sprites could be that OP . Since I am new to this channel can I ask you how did you get introduced to this game? My neighbour at my grandma's showed me and I'm happy he did because since that day I still play it and probably will for a very long time.

[@TheKnownWorld]

+demon54702nd Your neighbor, eh? That's awesome! Regarding how I got introduced to it, I'm glad you asked (although the story isn't anything too special). My brother and I played Heroes II for quite some time, and when Heroes III came out, he got that too and we ended up playing Heroes III together. That was a long, long time ago. :)

[@TheKnownWorld]

+Sándor Birincsik Once again, KZbin won't let me comment directly to your post. I am playing Heroes of Might and Magic III: The Shadow of Death version 3.2 with the HD mod.

[@TheKnownWorld]

?

[@iloclucian2328]

Why aren't you playing complete?

[@Rookie_Leader]

Hey Mekick, any chance to see a video on Hota Conflux since Sprites are a little bit nerfed?

[@Merpalist]

Thanks for the great video. I have just bought HMM3 on steam and I would like to play as good as you. I can't find conflux to start with though. Is it a expansion or something?

[@TheKnownWorld]

Yes, Conflux does indeed come with the expansions (particularly, Armageddon's Blade). Having said that, I'm not sure that getting Ubisoft's HD Edition from Steam was the best call. Getting the original version and its expansions from GOG.com or some other source may have been a cheaper and overall better alternative since it would have come with the expansions. Also, the original version is compatible with many fan-made mods (i.e. the HD mod). Thank you for watching!

[@ManOverboard]

I guess it would be more effective if u made small 1sprite-stacks with the ones, which were lvl1. So u would get additional 4 sprites in the main stack

[@csakadiosgyor94]

you are awesome, I actually just watched the whole video :)

[@TheKnownWorld]

Well thank you! I hope you enjoyed it. :)

[@ivetaradoniute1806]

I would like to see some dungeon action ,but harpy tactics for start or something different then trogs or gremlins ,or wivern rush.

[@banosisbest4976]

I saw the thumbnail and said to myself: *Fucking slayer*

[@RG-tv2dx]

Great gaming. Didn't know about the magic elemental de-buff vs black dragons or that equestrian gloves bonus doesn't stack.

[@TheKnownWorld]

Thanks! Yeah, there are some hidden details about some of the units and artifacts in Heroes III that a lot of people don't know about since it's not really written anywhere in the game. It's always nice to share something new with you folks ;)

[@grzegorzkapica7930]

Tou are talking about OP factions, artifacts and so on. I would like to see you play the most PO game you can do. To see, how OP things can get.

[@TheKnownWorld]

Many others have made the same request, but the strategy I would use to win a match without rules doesn't sit well with me. Given the high level of demand for such a playthrough however, I may consider doing it at some point.

[@twitchrareswedishki11errabbit]

You're such a god at this game @theknownworld

[@TheKnownWorld]

I appreciate your high opinion of me, but you're giving me too much credit! There are far better players out there in the Heroes III community. Meanwhile, I'm just a Heroes III enthusiast. Cheers!

[@clintonalver2715]

I feel like ballistics and artillery are very underrated skills in the early game

[@basiccarrot413]

Hey MeKick, i still dont understand why you avoid picking up things diagonally, but rather you move one step horizontally or vertically, then pick up. And one more thing is that i rarely see you build city hall, in your main town and other towns as well, even though you have plenty of resourse. Or is that something you get used to when playing PvP, to deny the chance of the opponent getting too many advantages when they capture a town of ours ?

[@TheKnownWorld]

+phung trung Hello! You are asking some very nice questions, so allow me to elaborate. When you attempt to pick things up diagonally, you eat up more movement (141 movement points) than you would if you were to pick them up vertically or horizontally (100 movement points). If I am already heading in a specific direction, I step beside a resource pile and pick it up vertically or horizontally so that I conserve more movement points. As for your second question (the City Hall), not building up to City Hall or Capitol is not because I am trying to "deny my opponent". In general, it is because building a Marketplace, Mage Guild Level 1, and Blacksmith just to get the City Hall itself costs quite a bit of time (turns) and resources (especially Gold) to make it there. I want to be able to preserve that Gold for in case I need armies at the start of the week (or from Diplomacy), if I need a new hero, or if I need to surrender. The Gold that would come from a City Hall in the late game should be coming from creature bank fights instead (i.e. Naga Banks or Dragon Utopias) by the time late game rolls around anyway. Generally, I thus tend to forget to even bother with City Hall in the later stages of the game because there just isn't much of a point to do so in my eyes.

[@basiccarrot413]

Thank you MeKick, that's an awesome answer!

[@TheKnownWorld]

phung trung Awesome answers for awesome questions. Cheers! :)

[@stefantoma8382]

MeKick, can you please say again the name of the mod that allows you to speed up the animations in combat? I forgot to write it down and I really want to add it, besides the HD mod. Thanks in advance! Keep up the good work! Your commentaries and gameplay are awesome!

[@TheKnownWorld]

+Stefan Toma You are looking for the file known as crAnim.txt (which you can obtain from heroesportal.net/getfile.php?file=/files/information/16/Cranim.txt). Simply take this file and add it to the Data folder and you're good to go. Anyway, I appreciate the feedback and I'm glad you've been enjoying my videos thus far! :D

[@stefantoma8382]

+TheKnownWorld Yes, that's it! Thanks a lot for the quick reply!

[@TheKnownWorld]

Stefan Toma My pleasure. :)

[@metal5984]

Can you tell me the version of heroes that you are playing?

[@Broekje]

Conflux was specifically created for the campaign, they needed a new faction with little time to develop it. They went with Conflux so that they could re-use the existing elemental sprites and save time. But they really did not balance it out properly yeah.

[@TheKnownWorld]

I'm aware that Conflux was rushed and that it filled in for the heavily-criticized Forge faction. Even so, from a balance perspective, Conflux is still too strong.

[@hannibalwintcentsen441]

Hey man awesome video great job!! Can u make a video how to get HD mod and hota pls pls pls

[@AveTarnkappe]

Any chance of you doing a video on key bindings and little tricks? I've recently returned to this game after over a decade of not playing it and there's just so much that isn't really intuitive haha

[@TheKnownWorld]

I don't see a need to do a video on key bindings and tricks at this time. These key bindings and tricks are all a part of the HD mod, and work as so: CTRL+Click to make a 1-stack ALT+Click to group up all units of the same type into one big stack SHIFT+Click to split a group into two halves CTRL+SHIFT+Click to fill up all empty slots with 1-stack.

[@prof.mauriciooliva4364]

great video

[@milat9287]

Do you have a video where you go into detail about why you like/dislike certain things? You have alot of opinions that don't really make sense to me, so I would love to see if I could learn to understand what's going on in your mind xD Forexample, Artillery used to be one of my favourite skills to get, and my favourite faction is Tower. But you compared Artillery to Eagle Eye in this video, and in the tower video, you said you didn't like Tower cause it was expensive. I can get behind it being pricy and all, but I feel like it more than makes up for it in the spell power it gives you. When you make a magic focussed hero, you usually end up casting spells almost every round, and Magi will help you keep doing that for longer during extended fights, especially in the early rounds. And Library gets you going alot faster. It's sorta a faction dedicated to spells, somewhat similarly to Conflux, where you can get all 4 magic schools for a sum of money, and can get Aurora.

[@finesseandstyle]

Hey, TheKnownWorld, for some reason resurrect doesn't keep the units after battle even if I have the expert earth magic, I'm playing on the complete edition with the HD mod, on the armmageddon's blade campaign.

[@TheKnownWorld]

Sorry, but I'm not sure why that would be the case. Even Advanced Earth Magic should allow you to use Resurrection on dead units and have them stay alive even after combat.

[@Flatstoiversonroad]

Thanks for the video!

[@TheKnownWorld]

You're welcome! Thank you for watching :)

[@zivko86]

you should try my favorite 1 v 7: everything random :) (no town, hero or artifact selection before the game)

[@TheKnownWorld]

I considered doing this, but I chose not to since it didn't seem very interesting to me. At first glance it may seem like a good idea, but a game where I random my Town, Hero, and Bonus would probably be a glorified version of one of my existing Let's Play videos. In particular, if I got a "bad" hero then I would just wait to get a "good" hero that I would use as my main hero. Then, I'd probably end up playing the faction in a similar way to a previous Let's Play video.

[@dorylaions]

great work, requires a lot patience tho. hope u keep uploading them. do you stream them as well? or just record and publish? last question, is there an online homm3 community where i can follow recent events or make contact with other players to play multi ?

[@TheKnownWorld]

+Furkan Öztürk I record videos separately from my weekly Saturday streams on www.twitch.tv/theknownworld. When I record videos, my main focus is on discussing my strategies and opinions whereas I prefer interacting with my chat when I stream. As for an "online Heroes III community", I'd say that you'd be pretty hard-pressed to find such a community. However, you might be interested in places such as GameRanger (there's typically other players willing to play multiplayer there), a program that easily permits players to play against each other. Alternatively, you may want to take a look at the Heroes III subreddits (www.reddit.com/r/HoMM/ and www.reddit.com/r/heroes3/) as well as heroescommunity.com/forumdisplay.php3?FID=6 if you want discussions for the game.

[@dorylaions]

+TheKnownWorld alright alright, decided to play the game after like 10-15 years. can't even remember the first time i played, i was a child and could barely understand english. back in the day, all those games were simply trial-error for us. there was no wikia, no internet, no nothing. damn good old days. whatever, just wanted to say that i literally enjoyed ur vods, watched conflux,necro and tower already. interestingly, back in the day in our little friend sphere tower was considered OP and necro was usually dodged. rampart and caste was pretty popular as well. shooters were generally considered OP. I managed to abuse sprites and phoenixes with conflux already, gonno try other strats as well. btw, don't be discouraged cuz of little number of subscribers, i think it's directly about the game itself rather than the way u make the vods. you play fast and your games are full of interesting explanations and strats. u made a slooooow turn-based game as enjoyable to watch as possible imho. got a lot to say but don't rly want to overextend, u got my point i suppose. i will follow your streams from now on. keep up the good work, greetings from a casual gamer in turkey. =)

[@TheKnownWorld]

+Furkan Öztürk Well that's ironic! Back when I used to play with my brother, I always played Castle since I thought it was the strongest, but I forbade my brother from playing Necropolis and Conflux since he always managed to end up ludicrously strong with those factions. But yes, back in the day, no wiki, no internet, and *no KZbin videos* -- those were indeed the best of days for hot seat gaming, I would say. ;) I am not at all discouraged by the number of subscribers I have. In fact, it motivates me to keep going since I'm growing day by day! But anyway, I appreciate your kind words, and I hope to see you again in the future. Now, off to make my next 1v7! :D

[@Muffinzy]

The most wholesome comment section ive seen in a while

[@dorylaions]

@@Muffinzy 6 years eh, how time passes by

[@rannugblah4251]

Please make the template video, out of everything that is what I'm most confused about.

[@VodkaCouch]

56:20 - Wood Mine? XD

[@SebiHemke]

im like an hour and a half in and youre talking about how conflux is so mercury needy - why not buy the resource silo?

[@KeLuHanh]

Hi Me Kick. Hope you help me clear some issues. How did you do that? 1. I saw you pass the Skull Gate and come back while in front of main hero is hight level monsters or rangers. 2. I saw your hero was very close check point (resource, stable…). You dont need to come back 1 step and move up, just click. How is that? 3. You know eaxacly what area when you pass the Skull Gate( may be this area is still in darkside? Thanks and Regards All you did for this game play.

[@revenant5]

It's some features of the HD mod, if you go trough a gate you can press space to go through it again without needing to even fight something on the other side. Idk what you meant to say in 2. And 3.

[@ouzokiller1]

4:03:12 teleporting to Corona in 2015 lol.

[@Nherva-Cant-Play]

"Wood mine" :D:D Love you haha, you and the old you too

[@TheKnownWorld]

Oh? What's the difference between old me and new me? :P

[@Nherva-Cant-Play]

@@TheKnownWorld The old you said you are no Conflux master or anything, but your new me has already ascended into a highly professional Conflux player ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) [[ I couldn't think of anything better, sarry D: ]]

[@massalzheimers4021]

Do you have a link to the HD mod? :0

[@sexybrathuhnmitsose]

Hi, what mod are you using that the game is zoomed out so much and that you can act while the fight music is playing?

[@TheKnownWorld]

Hello! This would be the HD mod, downloadable from sites.google.com/site/heroes3hd/.

[@ZzSora85]

Nice play

[@florentperrin1972]

Thank you very much for yours very great and interesting videos. Do you have a twitch channel ?

[@TheKnownWorld]

+Florent Perrin And thank you for watching them. I do indeed have a Twitch channel (I always point this out at the end of each video) with the same name as my KZbin (www.twitch.tv/theknownworld/). I stream every Sunday from 10AM - 6PM PDT (1900 - 0300 CET), so if you're interested, make sure to go check that out.

[@florentperrin1972]

+TheKnownWorld Thank you. I'm now follow your channel. You can, if you're interested, go to my channel too, i play also homm serie games and might and magic game sometimes.

[@TheKnownWorld]

Florent Perrin Ooh! Interesting. I'll be sure to check that out.

[@TheKnownWorld]

+TheKnownWorld ... Oddly, it doesn't say you have any KZbin videos up except for the ones that you've Liked.

[@florentperrin1972]

+TheKnownWorld Yes i d'ont have youtube video because i don't have times to do my twitch channel and youtube. I prefer mostly play on twitch for fun and to discuss with chat =) !!

[@KreazLV]

+TheKnownWorld the conflux is op very op ! i love conflux

[@TheKnownWorld]

I agree -- Conflux is very strong! I hope I conveyed that well in this video. :)

[@atnguyen23]

can u tell me how to transfer and spilit units fast like on video. tks

[@TheKnownWorld]

These are features of the HD mod (downloadable from sites.google.com/site/heroes3hd/). With the HD mod, the hotkeys for quick army management are: - CTRL+Click to create a 1-stack - ALT+Click to group up all units of the same type into one big stack - SHIFT+Click to split a stack into two halves - CTRL+SHIFT+Click to fill up all remaining empty slots with a 1-stack A full list of hotkeys, including the ones for transferring units between heroes, can be found at sites.google.com/site/heroes3hd/eng/description/extended-ui.

[@PedroLMariano4]

What's about the "hidden passive" of Badge of Courage?

[@TheKnownWorld]

I'm not entirely sure why, but Badge of Courage has a "hidden passive" that grants mind spell immunity (i.e. Blind, Berserk, Hypnotize) to all of your creatures when you wear it.

[@Kirschbaumleiche]

Hi @TheKnownWorld, how did you get the short info about the result of a fight before your are in the battle? Sorry, when I overheard the Info, but english is not my mother tongue and I do not understand everything in the video, cause you talk sometimes a little bit too fast for me.

[@TheKnownWorld]

+Kirschbaumleiche Sorry about speaking too fast! To answer your question, seeing the result of a fight is a feature called "Replayable Quick Combat." You can find it when you turn on download/install the HD mod from sites.google.com/site/heroes3hd/ and turn on Quick Combat.

[@norrec234]

How you do it that units move so fast during combat? I got animation speed at max and my units/enemy units still move slow

[@TheKnownWorld]

I use crAnim.txt, downloadable from heroesportal.net/getfile.php?file=/files/information/16/Cranim.txt. Simply take this file and put it into the Data folder of your Heroes III directory, and you should be good to go!

[@Epolas06]

@@TheKnownWorld Hello Mekick. I DL the file and put it where you indicated, but it doesn't work. Any trik? I use homm3 hota + HD mod.

[@finesseandstyle]

May I know why are you not using the SoD_SP? It's a handy tool showing more detailed information in combat. Is it because you want to keep the game as close to the original as possible?

[@TheKnownWorld]

Great guess! Yes, that's right. I was one of the first people to get the SoD_SP plugin, but I prefer not using the tool since I like keeping it as close to the original game as possible. ;) Also, do note that this video came out long before the SoD_SP plugin was released.

[@clintonalver2715]

If you were to mix skeletons and vampire lords together what do you get? Answer: Sprites

[@degtarev95]

one question: why did you pick up that seers hut with every hero atleast twice? its losing movement points i think?

[@TheKnownWorld]

How so? The Seer's Hut was stationed along the road, meaning that if I wanted to stay on the road then I would have to step on the Seer's Hut and then keep going. I actually preserved a fair amount of movement points by moving onto the Seer's Hut rather than running around it.

[@LeafGreen906]

holy fuck that early implosion

[@thunglunggio]

Học được nhiều kinh nghiệm, kể cả từ những sai lầm :x

[@quocphantruong]

Hey, how do you have such feature that it display spell directly on 39:33 That is so convenience, mine does not have that so it is so annoying Thank you

[@TheKnownWorld]

This is a feature of the HD mod, which you can download from sites.google.com/site/heroes3hd/.

[@Vincentwytam]

Hi there where can I find the Cranium Mod for the smooth speed? Thanks!

[@TheKnownWorld]

Hello! You can get crAnim.txt from heroesportal.net/getfile.php?file=/files/information/16/Cranim.txt. Make sure to put this file into the Data folder of your Heroes III directory. Cheers!

[@Tanzklaue]

i think the mainproblem with conflux was that they took over the elementals 1 to 1. the problem balancewise is obvious: elementals by themselves were approximately as strong as an upgraded tier 3 unit in the basegame, and only available through spells. now this makes them pretty ludicrous early game for conflux where storm and ice elementals are more or less equal to msot tier 4 units, if not to their upgraded counterparts. on the other hand, their tier 4 and tier 5 (fire and earth elementals) are jsut passable and the worst unit in the game for their respective tier respectively. energy elementals are, again, jsut as good as most unupgraded tier 4 units, maybe a bit better than that (tier 4,125 comapred to upgraded tier 4 being tier 4,5), and earth elementals are jsut about the same strengthwise, but ofc as a tier 5 unit that is jsut unacceptably weak, especially considering the other tier 5 units (which are generally pretty passable) and tier 6 units (which are all great except for wyverns and manticores). that said, sprites, psychic elements and firebirds could ahve and should have received better balancing than they did, they are all ludicrously powerful (why no retaliation on a tier 1 while still having above peasant tier stats? why magic immunity + area attack and strong stats AND no retaliation on a tier 6, where no other tier 6 does this much? WHY DOUBLE BASEGROWTH ON AN TIER 7 THAT ALMOST GUARANTEES INNITIATIVE OMG?!?!). i'd love to have seen sprites being very weak to make up for no retaliation (like they were in homm2, barely better than peasants in direct combat), only heavy magic resistance and no retaliation for psychic elements and firebirds be better individually, but also more expensive and less plentiful. PS: I forgot, the true reason why conflux is OP? that sweet sweet ice elemental death animation aw yeah.

[@TheKnownWorld]

+Tanzklaue I absolutely agree! I could never make sense of their "balancing" in terms of Sprites, Magic Elementals, and Firebirds/Phoenixes. Seriously, why does the Sprite -- a Tier 1 unit -- have 1-3 Damage, Speed 9, AND the No Enemy Retaliation special ability? Same goes with the overloaded packages that come from the Tier 6/7 units in Conflux as well. Even now it seems quite ridiculous, but perhaps that wasn't their main concern back when they were trying to release a game that could have been meant for "casual" play more than anything.

[@watzesnow7169]

The CPU is able to knew that your heroes have a spellbook? Otherweise they would not attac your heroes (for example you're h. with a sprite and the CPU with a normal imp, each 1:1...)

[@luk9999]

Can you guys tell me what version of Heroes 3 he uses? The settings interface is fantastic since u can select the template and many other things. I have the original Heroes 3 Complete and the standard interface just creates lots of random settings.

[@TheKnownWorld]

I use Heroes III Complete Edition with the HD mod (downloadable from sites.google.com/site/heroes3hd/).

[@luk9999]

Thank you.

[@TheKnownWorld]

You're welcome!

[@J.A.Welhaven]

What about doing a Ballista only challenge with the Cove faction? (Canon?)

[@TheKnownWorld]

Nah. I have to go big or go home, although right now it's looking like the latter. :P

[@Phnxkon]

I really hate how many spell scroll artifacts are on random gen.

[@Sad-Lemon]

14:47 Gerara here man shiiiit, no wamasayin... XD

[@ConfusedDonkey]

I remember once I played Castle, and got Angels day 5

[@TheKnownWorld]

Nice! Getting Angels on Day 5 sounds ridiculously fun, but a little too expensive for most of the matches of Heroes III that I play. :P

[@Jannaliina]

Do you even have any saved games? I save like crazy all the time, since the HD mod or my GOG homm3 crash and some files get corrupted from time to time

[@TheKnownWorld]

When playing against the AI, not really. I typically only use the Autosave file, and this is only if Heroes III crashes on me. I've never had an issue with corrupted Heroes III files.

[@kryghyzho7868]

Conflux is super fun, currently messing around a bit with Luna and firewalls. Doing OK so far but having a hard time predicting how creatures will move during battles, sometimes they walk around the walls. Do they automatically pick a path around the wall if their movement allows them to? Any advice / tips / tricks you can share on this?

[@kryghyzho7868]

*No they don't auto go around the wall either... :)

[@TheKnownWorld]

Hello, Lex! I'm glad to see you've been enjoying Conflux thus far. Truthfully, I myself haven't actually had a chance to thoroughly research the workings of Fire Wall. However, I have made some observations, although some of them are hard to put into words: - The AI for 2-hex units pay attention to Fire Walls differently than 1-hex units. - During a combat round, if an enemy can only attack your unit through hexes with Fire Wall, they will run into the Fire Wall. - However, if a hex is present where they can avoid getting hit by Fire Wall, they will try and access that hex to hit your unit. Perhaps this video on Fire Wall might give you a bit of insight on how to use it with maximum efficiency: kzbin.info/www/bejne/qWbLdptjgtN8h5o. Otherwise, I apologize, but I cannot help you further at this time. :( Best of luck!

[@kryghyzho7868]

Thanks! :) 2-hex units act really strange; yesterday I place a pixie in the top left corner with a 2 hex firewall in front (thus leaving the hex directly below the pixie open). Some centaurs would approach, but start wait/defending until the wall went away. Strangely, once I moved down the battlefield and back up to the exact same spot, with the wall located in the same 2 hexes they would walk into it :')

[@TheKnownWorld]

Lex Bergsma Well, that's weird. o.O

[@iliyaniliev6377]

hello , how can i play this version for free ? I have it installed , but say no licence

[@HeavyBeber]

Hehe what a shame you didn't notice that you got the armor of the damned ! Rly good job though with your videos !

[@TheKnownWorld]

I did what now? :P Anyway, thank you!

[@artman40]

How much would learning skill and eagle eye have to be buffed for it to be considered worthwhile? Also, I think it would be interesting if there were hidden stockpiles of resources or adventure map locations that would only become visible if a hero with scouting skill were near them. This means that scouting would be great for secondary heroes.

[@TheKnownWorld]

First, we need to consider why Learning and Eagle Eye should be getting buffs in the first place. The fundamental issue with Learning is that you're wasting three level-ups to get Expert Learning (that is, +15% Experience). So we need to justify deviating from levelling other Secondary Skills just to invest levels into Learning. I would say that a minimum of +10/25/50% Experience is necessary for Learning to be worthwhile, although the numbers would probably be closer to +25/50/75% to even consider Learning over the high-tier Secondary Skills like Tactics. On the other hand, there are a number of issues with Eagle Eye, but perhaps the biggest issue is its unreliability. In particular, having just a 40% chance to learn up to a level 1 or 2 spell with Basic Eagle Eye, going up to a 60% chance at Expert Eagle Eye, is just silly. Personally, I believe that the "% chance" aspect of the skill should be removed entirely and you should just be able to copy spells when they're used (assuming that you win the battle and that your opponent is casting spells from Tomes or Spell Scrolls). If that % chance were to stay, the scaling should be closer to 40/60/80% at the very least. I hope this answers your question! On a final remark, I think that Scouting is quite fine where it is. HotA's scaling for Scouting is a little better than in SoD, but Scouting is still relatively underrated despite its utility value in my opinion.

[@artman40]

If learning skill could be buffed so that in expert level you'd get three times more experience, you'd still end up only 5-6 levels higher in the late game. Not that much.

[@TheKnownWorld]

artman40 Perhaps Learning as a whole just needs a complete overhaul.

[@Vytagus]

Actually in wog they changed those abilities a bit, whereas learning give additional stats upon leveling up and eagle eye has a chance to block an enemy spell in battle also you get those chose 1 of 2 given spells upon leveling up

[@TheKnownWorld]

Vytautas G. Now *those* are some great Secondary Skill reworks!

[@danielssipols5522]

how did you split your units so fast

[@charleslee8107]

Haha, like me you like to do mass Phoenixes on Grindan and to hire Earth and Fire elementals only in late game when I am rich. Funny how some ways of playing just seem so natural to Conflux players. Due to the high need for gold for Conflux towns, hiring Gelare and Grindan is like compulsory. Then after that I hire basically the same units as you and fight largely the same way...

[@TheKnownWorld]

Taking into account how strong Conflux's upgraded Tier 1/6/7 units are, I think this style of play is only natural. Even so, some of the more experienced players prefer taking Luna as a starting hero since Fire Wall can come in incredibly handy (as can be seen in kzbin.info/www/bejne/qWbLdptjgtN8h5o).

[@eweuhkapaur]

hi...i play this game too.. can u tell me, what version ur game...? my game can't choose map.. so i have to recreate game, if not 8xm8 or 6LM10.. sorry for my bad english.. thx b4..

[@TheKnownWorld]

+Taz Portnoy No worries, I think I know what you're asking. You want to know how I'm able to choose the map template so easily. Download the HD mod from sites.google.com/site/heroes3hd/ and you'll be able to choose from most of the map templates on the Random Map Generation screen (although I don't know how to get 8XM8).