Heroes IV: The Equilibris mod

Author: Liso1 March 3, 2021 2 Comments

The Equilibris is an add-on to Heroes of Might and Magic IV (balance mod). Heroes of Might and Magic IV is an excellent game, however, to the regret of many players, the game was rushed to the stores too early, and came out in a somewhat unfinished shape.

A sloppy AI, missing mulitplayer mode (in the beginning only Hot Seat was functional), continuous memory leaks during the game which made it run slow even on some powerful machines, absence of a combat grid, wrong descriptions of some artifacts and many more issues arose. All of that resulted in many fans of Heroes series, who were actually trying to learn all the subtleties of the game, giving up on it and returning to play Heroes III (just like me).

The idea of the add-on is to balance out everything. As any ideal, of course, it’s unreachable, but worth aiming at. Equilibris team are changing the original game to equalize the chances of victory of different towns, strategies and tactics, usefullness of units. Hence, the name “Equilibris“. But at the same time, they trying to save the Heroes IV look and feel, so the game would still be recognizable and playable. So, a “Wake of Gods” type of change is neither envisioned or wanted.

The Equilibris mod v3.51 changelog:

Gameplay and interface improvements:

Experience popup after battle
Magic Resistanse of heroes and creatures is shown on Army Dialog Window.
 Necromancy and Sumoning got new menu (invoked by ALT-E)
New battle animation speed settings added (7,8,9,10)
When 2 stacks of same units with different movement bonuses combine into 1 stack, movement bonuses do not disappear. The resulting stack now has the average movement bonus. This rule applies to resurrected and summoned creatures too (they are treated as new creatures without any movement bonuses).

AI improvements:

AI players will not build Creature Portal in their towns (as they can not use it anyway).
Neutral armies will never fight player in 1 or 2 stacks. So even if player attacks neutral army (of cyclops, for example), they will split into 3 stacks. (upgraded)
AI does not build Creature Portal (as it does not hire creatures from there (yet ;))
 AI attempts to choose battle formation depending on player’s army
 On higher difficulty setting AI heroes start battles with immortality potion cast on them.

Heroes and Skills:

Changed values of Resurrection skill (Life Magic). The description of the skill has been changed to reflect the change.
Basic 15% (reduced from 20%)
Advanced 25% (reduced from 30%)
Expert 35% (reduced from 40%)
Master 45%
GrandMaster 55% (increased from 50%)

The formula for the Resurrection skill has been changed. If casualties are small, the efficiency of the skill is increased. Expert can resurrect 1 of 1 killed, GM – 2 of 2 killed, GM+Cardinal – 3 of 3 killed. For further details refer to add. 1.
! A Hero with the Cardinal advanced class and GM Resurrection who possesses both Saint Ranan’s Staff and Ankh of Life will resurrect 100% of units killed in combat.

The difference between army strength needed for the Diplomacy and Charm skills to work has been reduced from 3 times to 1.25 times.

 Necromancy skill changed to make it weaker (20-40-60-80-120 XP + 15% per level) and creature selection wider. Menu for selecting what to raise is supplied (see Addendum 2).
 The type of creatures necromancer raises after battle is now dependent on 3 factors:
1. Creature necromancer chose in Necromancy menu.
2. Necromancy skill level (B – Skeletons, A – Zombies, E – Mummies, M – Ghosts, Gargoyles, GM – Vampires, Bone Dragons).
3. Type of creatures slain in battle (1 level – Skeletons, Zombies, 2 level – Mummies, 3 level – Ghosts, Gargoyles, 4 level – Vampires, Dragons – Bone Dragons. Undead, mechanical and elemental creatures can not be raised in any form).

To raise Bone Dragons hero must choose Bone Dragons in Necromancy menu, be GM Necromancy and kill dragons.
To raise Vampires – select Vampires or Bone Dragons, be GM Necromancy, [kill 4-th level] OR [be GM Death Magic and kill 3-rd level]
To raise Ghosts – select Ghosts, Vampires or Bone Dragons, be at least M Necromancy, kill at least 2-nd level creatures.
To raise Gargoyles – select Gargoyles, be at least M Necromancy, kill at least 2-nd level creatures.
To raise Mummies – select Mummies, be at least E Necromancy, at least 2-nd level creatures.
To raise Zombies – select Zombies, be at least A Necromancy, kill any level creatures.
To raise Skeletons – select Skeletons, Ghosts, Vampires, Bone Dragons, have Necromancy at B, kill any level creatures.

B-A-E-M-GM Combat gives 15-20-30-40-50 defence respectively.
 B-A-E-M-GM Melee divides enemy creatures’ defence by 1.5 – 2.0 – 2.5 – 3.0 – 3.0 respectively.

Every levelup increases hero’s defence by 1.
Every levelup increases hero’s mana by 1.
Every second levelup increases hero’s own Magic Resistance by 3%. This works like hero is wearing Cowl of Resistanse with effect based on hero’s level.
Every 5-th levelup increases hero’s speed by 1.

B-A-E-M-GM Summoning summons 7-14-21-28-42 XP (+10 XP for Summoner adv/ class + 10 XP for Druid’s chain) of creatures respectively + 15% per level. Creatures are selected from all creatures from 1-st to 3-th level.
Summoning skill now allows to chose creatures to summon (including option “Summon none”). Look in Addendum 2 for details.

 Starting speed (at level 1) lowered to 5

 Seamanship makes board/unboard penalties lower (100%, 100%, 66%, 33%, 0% for B, A, E, M, GM instead of 100% on all skill levels)

 Tactician gives increased bonus to creatures as the hero gains more levels. So lvl.25 hero with 5555 tactics will give more attack, defense, speed and movement in battle bonuses to troops than lvl.15 hero with 5555 tactics. Bonus grows 5% from current skill bonus every 2 levels. Example – lvl.10 hero with E attack will give 30%*(1+0.05*(10/2))= 30%*1.25= 37.5%

 Charm limits (percent of enemy army limit and experience limit) increased. Percents now are 20%-35%-50%-70%-90% and base experience limits are 80-160-240-320-400 (old values are 15%-20%-25%-30%-45% and 60-120-180-240-300).

Spells:

– “Free Armageddon” bug fixed.
Effect of “Cancellation” and “Dispell” spells changed. Now spells do not effect creatures raised by “Animate Dead”, “Death Call”,”Raise Vampires”, and “Summon Imp”.

Changed spells:

=== Order ===
Cowardice – lowered from 2-nd to 1-st level .
Dispel – lifted from 1-st to 2-nd level .
Phantom Image – lowered from 4-th to 3-rd level .
Teleport – lifted from 3-rd to 4-th level, Line of Sight requirement added.
 Teleport spell description changed to “Teleport allows this creature to move instantly on the battlefield, ignoring obstacles and terrain penalty”.
 Town Gate – forbidden to cast in battle and is now 4-th level spell.
Hypnotize – Line of Sight requirement added.
 Pain Mirror – level 5, spell damage is not affected by magic resistance, limited to 5 turns.
 Blind is now 3-rd level spell .

=== Death ===
Cancellation – lifted from 1-st to 2-nd level
Mass Cancellation – lifted from 3-rd to 5-th level
Sacrifice – lowered from 5-th to 4-th level
Weakness – lowered from 2-nd to 1-st level
Mass Weakness – lowered from 4-th to 3-rd level
Vampiric Touch – lifted from 4-th to 5-th level
Raise Vampires – lowered from 5-th to 4-th level
 Poison and Plague are limited to 15 turns

=== Life ===
Mass Exorcism – lowered from 4-th to 3-rd level
Retribution – lowered from 2-nd to 1-st level
 Regeneration is limited to 15 turns
 Endurance is now level 3 life spell

=== Nature ===
Quicksand – lifted from 2nd to 3rd level.

=== Chaos ===
Lightning, Chain Lightning, Implosion, Desintegration description changed to reflect that their damage is affected by target’s luck.

Added new spells:

=== Order ===
Bind flyer (Order, 3rd level) – Removes a flying target’s natural ability to fly, and reduces the target’s movement and speed by half.
Bind Flyer lowered to 2nd level
Mass Forgetfulness (Order, 5th level) – Mass Forgetfulness restrains all enemy targets from using ranged attacks.
Mass Forgetfulness lowered to 4th level
 Mass forgetfullness spell is disabled

=== Chaos ===
Smoke (Chaos, 1st level) – Creates a 3×3 yard cloud that reduces all Ranged Attacks through the cloud by 50%.
Hydra Health (Chaos, 2nd level) – Increases the hit points of the target by 25% until the end of the next combat.
Added pictures for new Chaos spells (Hydra Health and Smoke).

=== Nature ===
Endurance (Nature, 2nd level) – Increases an army’s movement on the Adventure Map by 3 (moved to Life Magic in 3.51).
Added pictures for new Nature spells (Magic Resistance, Endurance).

=== Death ===
Poison attack (Death, 2nd level) – The target’s attacks in melee combat become poisonous. Anyone struck by the target will suffer the doubled effects of the 1st level Death spell, Poison.
Spell does not affect undead, mechanical and elemental creatures.
Aging (Death, 3rd level) – Aged targets do 25% less damage and their Melee and Ranged Defence is reduced by 20%. Speed and Movement are also cut in half.
Terror (Death, 3rd level) – Terror causes a single target within the line of sight of the caster to lose its next 2 actions.
Spell “Terror” raised to 4-th level, mana cost changed respectively to 8 mana.
Life ward (Death, 2-nd level) – The target of a Life Ward is 50% resistant to Life spells, and their Melee and Ranged Defense is increased by 50% against Life-aligned opponents.

=== Life ===
Resurrection (Life, 5th level) – Brings a certain number of hit points of dead creatures back to life.
Spell cost lowered to 12 mana and spell effect is increasing with heroes’ growth in level and life magic skill. Spell description improved.
Increased spell power growth per level of hero by 50%.
Bug fixed – “Resurrection” and “Mass Forgetfullness” did not appear naturally in the game, if not predefined.
Bug fixed – “Sanctuary” description changed to reflect “6-3-moves” change.

Advanced Classes:

 Witch-king description changed (removed incorrect “Death Magic” from description)
 Guildmaster bonus changed from “ignore MR” to “make MR 3 times lower” (firebolt of 100 points of damage will make 67 points of damage to GM MR hero)

Artifacts

Dragon Scale Shield artifact now gives Protection From Fire to army, which is not displayed, but acts even if creatures move.
Corrected description for Ankh of Life – it gives +10% to Resurrection, instead of 5%, as it was stated in the in-game description.
Sniper’s crossbow artifact now gives a hero and army ability to shoot without penalties for distance and
obstacles. Description changed to reflect the change.
Elven king’s bow artifact now gives an additional shot for creatures in army and additional shot for a hero, only if he/she has Archery or Ranger adv.class. Otherwise hero can’t shoot. Description changed to reflect the change.
Spider silk arrow – lifted from Treasure to Minor
Ring of Permanency – lifted from Minor to Major
Halberd of Swiftwatch – lifted from Minor to Major
Hideous Mask – lifted from Minor to Major
Tinan’s Dagger of despair – lowered from Major to Minor
Spear of Centaur – lowered from Major to Minor
Purse of pennypinching discount increased to 25% (from 10%).
Demon Fire cost raised to 750 gold.
Mana Potion cost raised to 750 gold.
Angel’s Blade bug fixed. Now it increases attack and defense of the hero by 3 and damage to undead by allied units by 50%. Description changed to reflect the change.
 Wands of haste, bless, curse, weakness are lowered to treasure.
 Stuffs of alignments (Chaos, Order etc) are lowered to minor.
 Ring of Health raised to minor
 Vial of Acid now costs 750 gold

Added new artifacts

Griffin Helm (Relic) – gives hero unlimited retaliations in battle.
Spirit of Oppression (Major) – negates all morale bonuses and penalties of every hero and creature, friend or foe alike while in battle.
“Mirth”,”Fervor”,”Sorrow” and “Mass Sorrow” can not be cast when Spirit of Oppression is in battle.
Whitch’s ring – Gives this hero ability to drain 2 mana points from enemy spellcasters each turn.

Buildings:

=== Common ===
Citadel: Gold 3000 (was 7500), wood 5 (was 10), ore 5 (was 10).
Castle: Gold 4500 (was 7500), wood 10, ore 10.
Caravan: gold 3000 (was 4000), wood 10, ore 2 (was 0).

=== Order ===
 Altar of wishes: 6250 gold, 6 crystals, 12 gems
Treasury: gold 1500 (was 6000), wood 2 (was 5), ore 2 (was 10), gems 1 (was 0), sulphur 1 (was 0), mercury 1 (was 0), crystals 1 (was 0).
Prerequisite for Titan dwelling changed from Castle to Citadel.
Naga dwelling does not require Treasury anymore.
 Blacksmith: Potion of Immortality, Potion of Restoration, Vial of Acid, Potion of Endurance, Potion of Fire resisrtance, Telescope, Mage stuff, ChainMail, Axe

=== Death ===
Mansion: gold 6250, wood 12 (was 8), crystals 12 (was 8).
Changed prerequisite for Vampire dwelling. Now it requires Undead Transformer.
Changed prerequisite for Ghost dwelling. Now it requires Necromancy Amplifier, not Undead Transformer.
 Necromancy amplifier affects necromancy 2 ways – it increases both percentage of slain enemy that can be raised and experience points limit of necromancer. To keep it simple – every amplifier gives hero extra virtual level when hero raises undead troops. Lvl.15 hero with GM Necromancy and 2 amplifiers will raise troops like lvl.17 hero with GM Necromancy and no amplifiers.
 Blacksmith: Potion of Immortality, Potion of Restoration, Vial of Acid, Vial of Despair, Vial of Poison, LongSword, Longbow, ChainMail, Shield

=== Nature ===
Ranger’s Guild: gold 3500, wood 5 (was 20), ore 10 (was 0).
Pire now requires Conservatory of Life instead of Creature Portal.
 Blacksmith: Potion of Immortality, Potion of Restoration, Potion of Toughness, Potion of Strength, Vial of Acid, Longbow, Leather, Shield, Mage stuff

=== Chaos ===
Black Dragon dwelling construction now requires Mage Guild level 3 and Hall of Dead.
 Blacksmith: Potion of Immortality, Potion of Restoration, Vial of Acid, Potion of Speed, Vial of Binding liquid, GreatSword, Crossbow, PlateMail

=== Might ===
Arsenal: gold 3500 (was 5000), wood 10 (was 12), ore 10 (was 12).
Breeing pits: gold 15000, wood 15 (was 10), ore 25 (was 30).
Magic Dampeners now affect creatures as well as heroes. Description changed to reflect the change.
 Blacksmith: Potion of Immortality, Potion of Restoration, Potion of Endurance, Potion of Quickness, Vial of Acid, Axe, GreatSword, Leather

=== Life ===
Stables in Life castle now increase movement for 2 weeks, instead of 1.
Blacksmith: Potion of Immortality, Potion of Restoration, Vial of Acid, Potion of Healing, Vial of Bindidng liquid, LongSword, PlateMail, Crossbow, Telescope

Creatures’ abilities:

Added spells to Ogre mage: Magic Resistance, Mana Drain, Spell Shackle, Snake Strike, Sparks. Mana lowered from 6 to 5. Description changed to reflect the change.
Changed ability of Ogre-Mage from Bloodlust to Spellcaster. Description changed to reflect the change.
Wasport’s Weakness now working on undead, mechanics and elementals. (Before this bugfix only heroes with corresponding magic skill could cast Weakness on undead, mechanics and elementals)
Chance of Unicorn’s Blinding increased from 30% to 40%. Description changed to reflect the change.
“Charge” ability added to Frenzied gnasher. Description changed to reflect the change.
Efreets’ Fire Shield damage increased from 25% to 40% of damage taken from melee attack. Description changed to reflect the change.
Efreet’s Fire Shield damage changed to 33%.
Chance of Minotaurs’ Block increased from 30% to 40%. Description changed to reflect the change.
Added Ranged Stun ability to Orc – chance to deafen target by hit of their axe (depends on inflicted damage).
Added picture and description of Ranged Stun ability.
Added Teleport ability to Earth Elementals – they can move under the ground and ignore quicksand and other obstacles (which are ON the ground, not UNDER the ground). Description changed to reflect the change.
Added Negate First Strike ability to Air Elementals. Description changed to reflect the change.
Nagas now have 3-handed attack.
Lightning attack ability also grants Thunderbirds immunity to Lightning spell and effect.
Beholder’s ability description changed to reflect that it cast also Order Spells, not only Death and Chaos.
Poison Attack (Death spell) cannot be cast on Venom Spawn.
Evil Sorceress’ “Banish” spell power now depends on their number (before 3.42 always was 110 hp).
Spellcaster ability lets creatures cast mass spells starting from stack number of 5 weekly growths.

Creatures’ stats:

=== Chaos ===
Orc: Dmg 2-3 (old value /was/ 1-3 )
Minotaur: Attack 19 (was 16), Defence 18 (was 15), Weekly Growth 7 (was 6)
Nightmare: Spell Points 8 (was 6)
Nightmare: Spell Points 10 due to change in cost of “Terror” spell.
Hydra: Move 28 (was 22).
 Trolls: health 50, attack 14, defence 20
 Troglodytes: attack 12, growth 25
 Pirate: damage 1-3, health 12, attack 12, defence 8

=== Death ===
Skeleton: Hit Points 10 (was 8)
 Vampires: Attack 27 (was 30), Defence 27 (was 30), Move 30 (was 38), Experience 275 (was 205).
Venom spawn: Move 26 (was 18)
Dark Champion: Spell Points 24 due to change in cost of “Terror” spell.
Zombie: Experience 8 (was 10).
Ghost: Experience 35 (was 33).
 Mummy: Experience 28, health 40 defence 18

=== Life ===
Ballista: Move 16 (was 8)
Crusader: Hit Points 75 (was 65), Move 22 (was 18), Weekly Growth 6 (was 5)
Angel: Spell Points 22 (was 20)
Angel: Spell Points 14 due to change in cost of “Resurrection” spell.
Monks: Movementis raised to 22
Crusaders: Movement is raised to 26
 Peasant: 2 gold per day income

=== Might ===
Cyclops: Attack 26 (was 30), Shots 7 (was 8)
Ogre mage: Attack 24 (was 18), Defence 22 (was 16), Move 24 (was 18), Speed 5 (was 4), Mana 5 (was 6)
Orge’s experience raised to 130 XP, growth lowered to 5 and cost raised to 450 gold.

=== Nature ===
Satyr: Spell Points 8 (was 6)
Unicorn: Hit Points 85
Waspwort: Move 12 (was 8)
Phoenix: Spell Points 14 (was 12)
Sprite experience is lifted to 10 (was 7), and its Growth rate lowered to 16 (was 23)
Wolf experience is lowered to 9 (was 11), and its Growth rate lifted to 17 (was 16)
Air Elemental experience is lifted to 77 (was 74).
Earth Elemental experience is lowered to 65 (was 77).
Fire Elemental experience is lowered to 72 (was 75).
Water Elemental experience is raised to 90 (was 73).

=== Order ===
Dwarf: Attack 10 (was 11), Defence 13 (was 11)
Gold golem: Dmg 9-13 (was 8-12)
Mage: Spell Points 18 (was 16)
Genie: Move 25 (was 30), Spell Power 38 (was 45), Weekly Growth 5 (was 6)
Genie’s experience raised to 120.
Titan: Move 30 (was 22).
Naga and Genie movement changed to 28
Naga exp. changed to 175 (was 157).

Scripting system:
“Add Movement” script bug fixed.
“Increase Level” script bug fixed.
“Divided by” script bug fixed.
“Negate” script bug fixed.
“Remainder” script bug fixed.
“Combat” script fixed.
 Variables can be used in messages and quest log entries (check news from June 29, 2004 for details)
Number of armies can be limied in script (by defining variable MAX_ARMIES)

Bug fixes:

 Exp popup problems in some cases (quick battle, hero dead in combat)
 Morale indicator for Lich advanced class on adventure map is now zero (reflecting that Lich is undead)
 First strike spell now can not be cast on creatures with FS ability.
 Bad file bug (map error) is partially fixed.
 Swamp battles do not slow down anymore
 Hydra Health spell is now shown in adventure spells too (on adv. map)