Get the Warlords IV: Heroes of Etheria v1.05 Patch off Worthplaying (6mb)

Warlords IV: Heroes of Etheria v1.05 fixes/changes :

It's been quite a while since the last patch, but that wait should be more than made up for by the fact that our good friend Tim Sowden (aka KGB) with the help of a number of other tireless Warlords has added more in this patch than 1.01 - 1.04 combined.

ENJOY!

The 1.05 Patch for Warlords IV: Heroes of Etheria contains fixes/changes for the following problems:

Warlords:

* The Merchant skill now increases the chance of a merchant offering an item for sale at cheaper prices (in addition to all previous benefits). The increase is 3% per level with a 2% per level discount. If the side has more than 1500 gold then the chance the item offered is a major instead of a minor goes up by 5% per level.

* The Engineer skill now allows certain sites to be upgraded (in addition to all previous benefits).
Level 1 : A Well may be upgraded to an Aqueduct (cost 1000 gold)
Level 4 : A Forge may be upgraded to a Foundry (cost 1000 gold)
Level 7 : A Farm may be upgraded to an Inn (cost 1000 gold)
Level 10 : A Timbermill may be upgraded to a Windmill (cost 2000 gold)

* The Anti-Magic skill now supresses enemy spells in combat at a rate of 5% per level (in addition to all previous benefits). Each time a side with the Anti-Magic skill places a unit in combat a check is made to see if enemy spells are surpressed against that unit. If the check is successful all enemy spells are supressed while that unit remains alive. If the check is not successful then enemy spells remain active. The Magic Immunity skill on units/items DOES NOT gain this ability!

Sites:

* The Foundry site was renamed to Forge.

* A new site called an Aqueduct was added that gives +4 life to units.

* A new site called a Foundry was added that gives +2 combat to units.

* After a side reaches 5 Inns, each additional one now gives a diminished effect of +2% per Inn to the chance of a hero offer.

Races:

* The Race Wheel was re-aligned as follows:

1) The Elves move to the Empire spot.

2) The Empire moves to the Dwarves spot.

3) The Dwarves move to the Elves spot.

Knights
Dwarves Elves
Dragons Empire
Deamons Minotaurs
Dk Elves Orcs
Undead

The opposite races are now:

Knights - Undead
Elves - Dk Elves
Empire - Deamons
Minotaurs - Dragons
Orcs - Dwarves

This fits with the theme of keeping the good races at least 2 neutral races away from the evil ones. The opposite races on the wheel are matched for natural hatred and the slayer skills were changed to reflect that.

Skills:

* Added a new skill of Daemonslayer.

* Added a new skill of Monsterslayer.

* Deathgaze chance was increased by 5% to
Level 1 : 10% chance (formerly 5%)
Level 2 : 15 chance (formerly 10%)
Level 3 : 20 chance (formerly 15%)
Level 4 : 25 chance (formerly 20%)
Level 5 : 30 chance (formerly 25%)

Units:

* Swordsmen now get Deathslayer as their primary ability (formerly Dragonslayer) and Scouting as their secondary ability (formerly Deathslayer).

* Bowmen now get First Strike as their secondaray ability (formerly Scouting).

* Archons are now type Monster (formerly Celestials).

* Elf Guards now get Elfslayer as their primary ability (formerly Dwarfslayer).

* Treants now get Siege as their secondary ability (formerly Build).

* Ballista now get Siege as their secondary ability (formerly Dragonslayer). However none can be built in cities with the siege skill.

* Cavalry now get Daemonslayer as their secondary ability (formerly Speed +2).

* Minotaurs now get Dragonslayer as their secondary ability (formerly Elfslayer).

* Goblins now get Dwarfslayer as their primary skill (formerly Scavenging).

* Spiders now get Elfslayer as their secondary ability (formerly Speed).

* Soul Gatherers now get Manslayer as their secondary ability (formerly Negate).

* Dragonsknights now get Giantslayer as their secondary ability (formerly Manslayer).

* Axemen now get Build as their secondary ability (formerly Giantslayer).

* Ogre Hero now gets Poison as an ability (formerly Dwarfslayer).

* All Heroes replace any race slayer skills with Monsterslayer.

Spells:

* Raise Dragon now summons a L9 (formerly L Dragon with Vampirism +1.

* Altar of Wind now has an upkeep of 3 (formerly 4).

* All Altar spell effects are changed to be based off the Warlord Level.

Altar of Battle L1-14 +2 (formerly +6)
L15-29 +3
L30+ +4

Altar of Wind L1-14 +1 (formerly +2)
L15+ +2

Altar of Stone L1-14 +2 (formerly +4)
L15-29 +3
L30+ +4

Altar of Fire L1-14 +2 (formerly +4)
L15-29 +3
L30+ +4

Altar of Night L1-14 +2 (formerly +3)
L15-29 +3
L30+ +4

* Added a new Hero Spell sphere which works as follows:

1) Hero spells may be researched by any Warlord type. The research time for each is fixed and can not be reduced.

2) Hero spells may be cast ONLY when a hero is present in the stack.

3) Any of the five dispel magic spells will dispel a hero battle spell.

4) Hero spells may still be cast if the Warlord dies, however no further spell research is possible.

5) Hero spells will be mixed in with the normal spells available for research and will use Orange colors and unique icons and sounds to distinguish them.

Hero Spell Table

Spell Name Type Mana Research Time
Heroic Presence Battle 6 3
Heroic Strike Battle 8 3
Heroic Expertise Battle 12 3
Heroes Feast Battle 10 3
Heroes Mount Creature 18 6

Heroic Presence - Add +2 Morale for the current Battle.
Heroic Strike - Doubles the chance for a critical hit for all units.
Heroic Expertise - All units gain +1 to their damage.
Heroes Feast - All units gain +2 life.
Heroes Mount - Summons a specially trained mount for the hero to ride.

The mount summoned is based on the Heros Race and Level

Good Hero - Pegasi
Neutral Hero - Storm Dragon
Evil Hero - Wyvern

Hero L1-5 - L1 Mount
Hero L6-10 - L2 Mount
Hero L10+ - L3 Mount

NOTE: The mount will be SPECIALLY tied to the hero it is summoned for. Furthermore the mount is not a taxi, it does not carry your buddy or girlfriend or anything else. Just your hero. So if you want 2 heroes to fly you will cast the spell once for each hero. Also each hero can only have 1 mount, subsequent mounts can be summoned for the hero but the hero will only be able to ride the last one summoned.

To mark this for players, the mount is 'named' after the heroes name so if your hero is named 'KGB' the mount will be named 'KGBs Mount'. So short hero names will be better than long since there is limited display space on the screen.

You can most definitely seperate mount and hero if you wish but then the hero won't be able to fly.

Should the heroes mount be slain over water or lava, the hero will die as he plunges to earth. Over forest or mountains the hero will survive but will be trapped there until another mount is summoned unless the terrain next to him is passable without flight.

If your running the wind spell, the mount will get the move bonus, but the hero won't.

Items:

* A new major armor item called 'Medal of Valor' was added that gives +50% XP bonus to the stack.

* A new major misc item called 'Beedub's Horn' was added that gives +1 Morale to the side.

* A new major misc item called 'Figurine of Kor' was added that gives -1 to all Enemy Morale.

* A new minor misc item called 'Golden Chest' was added that gives +10 gold per city.

* A new minor armor item called 'Paladin's Armor' was added that gives +1 Divine Magic.

* A new major weapon item called 'Cross of Power' was added that gives +2 Divine Magic.

* A new minor misc item called 'Gloves of Skill' was added that gives +1 Rune Magic.

* A new major head item called 'Mask of Vulcan' was added that gives +2 Rune Magic.

* A new minor weapon item called 'Sheppard's Staff' was added that gives +1 Nature Magic.

* A new minor misc item called 'Four Leaf Clover' was added that gives +2 Nature Magic.

* A new minor misc item called 'Summoning Orb' was added that gives +1 Summoning Magic.

* A new major misc item called 'Daemon's Heart' was added that gives +2 Summoning Magic.

* A new minor misc item called 'Tome of Necromancy' was added that gives +1 Necromancy Magic.

* A new major misc item called 'Talking Skull' was added that gives +2 Necromancy magic.

* A new minor weapon item called 'Deamonic Crossbow' was added that gives +2 Daemonslayer.

* A new major weapon item called 'Heroes Torch' was added that gives +5 Monsterslayer.

* a new minor armor item called 'Rangers Cloak' was added that gives a move bonus on all terrain to the stack.

* A new artifact misc item called 'Ring of Escape' was added that allows a hero to avoid a deathblow.

* A new major misc item called 'A King's Ransom' was added that grants Fealty from any neutral city.

* A new minor misc item called 'Dwarven Ale' was added that gives a 10% increase in the chance to get mercenaries offering for hire each turn.

* Items that give bonus's to the entire side no longer stack. Only the best item bonus is applied for a side. This applies to Mana Regen, Max Mana, Morale, Enemy Morale, all Magic (Divine, Rune, Nature, Summoning, Necromancy) items.

* All items now have unique icons so they can more easily be distinguished.

NOTE: The items that grant increases to Magic Skills (Divine, Rune, Nature, Summoning, Necromancy) do not grant the ability to cast/research spells in those spheres. They only increase existing Warlord skills.

The Escape skill automatically activates when a hero in combat is about to be killed from a hit. It returns him to the stack as if he was terrorized (set to 1 life). The hero may still be killed If he is returned to combat or hit from multi-attack damage. It does not prevent death from Assassination, Death Gaze or Archery.

The Ring of Escape and King's Ransom are single use items. Once used they are removed from the heroes inventory.

The Medal of Valor adds to any bonus from Weaponmaster so that Level 10 Weaponmaster + the Medal of Valor would give +150% XP bonus.

Terrain Effects:

* Terrain effect modifiers for races, unit types and abilities have been added into combat. All categories that a unit belongs to will be be applied. For example Elf Cavalry in a Forest would get -1 combat for being Cavalry and +2 combat for being Elves for an overall bonus of +1 combat.

* There may be more than one terrain type affecting a combat. In that case all modifiers for the terrain types will be applied.

* The terrain is the terrain the defender occupies and it is shown at the top of the combat screen.

* Terrain types and bonus's/penalties are:

Chasm: No bonus's
City: Archery units : +1 combat when defending
Siege units : +1 combat and +2 life when attacking
Desert: Orc units : -1 combat
Undead units : -2 life
Forest: Cavalry units : -1 combat
Elf units : +2 combat
Hill: Dwarf units : +2 life
Ogre units : +2 life
Lava: Dark Elf units: -1 combat
Daemon units : +1 combat and +2 life
Elf units : -1 combat
Units with Fire skill : +1 Fire
Marsh: Orc units : +1 combat
Undead units : +2 life
Units with Disease skill : +1 Disease
Mountain: Dragon units : +2 life
Dwarf units : +1 combat and +2 life
Ogre units : +1 combat and +2 life
Plains: No bonus's
Road: Cavalry units : +1 combat
Infantry units : -1 combat
Siege units : -1 combat
Rock: Dark Elf units : +1 combat
Dwarf units : +1 combat
Ogre units : +1 combat
Ruin: Archery units : +1 combat when defending
Cavalry units : -1 combat
Fliers : -1 combat when attacking
Monster units : +1 combat and +2 life when defending
Units with Terror skill : +1 Terror when defending
Snow: Daemon units : -1 combat and -2 life
Dragon units : -1 combat
Units with Fire skill : -1 Fire
Water: Dwarf units : -2 life
Fliers : +1 combat
Units with Fire skill : -1 Fire
Woods: Cavalry units : -1 combat
Dwarf units : -2 life
Elf units : +2 combat
Ogre units : -1 combat and -2 life
All: Units with Archery skill : +1 Archery versus Fliers

Random Maps:

* The number of Timbermills on a random map was reduced slightly due to
Engineers now being able to upgrade them to Windmills. The number of Gold Mines
was slightly increased to offset the Timbermill reduction.

* Very strong neutral garrisons will now tend to only appear in the central 1/3 of the map instead of 1/2 of the map. Garrisons near the edge will now be slightly weaker.

Scenario Design:

* Added new event trigger that fires when the city count for a side reaches a
certain count. The XML tag is 'on_city_count' and the only value to enter is
the number of cities.

* Added new event action that allows setting the AI level for each side. The
XML tag is 'AI_level' and the only value is the AI level from Knight to
Emperor (0-3).

* Added new event action that allows automatic casting of a spell in a city.
The XML tag is 'cast_spell' and the only value is the number of the spell
(0-104). This spell will not take mana from the side. The event location
should be set to city to ensure the spell has a valid casting location.

* Updated the Message action to allow a wav file to be played in addition to
displaying a message. To play a wav file with a message add a second string
parameter with an XML tag of 'string2' to the Message event. The data
should be the pathname to the wav file.
Eg. "AssetsSoundsSpellsSpellHeroes.wav"

* Updated the Chance trigger to allow the random seed to varry a bit instead
of always being fixed each turn. A side's current amount of gold, upkeep and
the current turn number are now factored into the chance value. In addition a
value can be added to this in the event by filling out the second value
field for the Change trigger.

Campaign:

* A new 10 map campaign is included called Amthor. To play it you must select
each of the 10 Amthor maps in 'Skirmish Mode' because there is no way to
create an actual campaign overview map. A Warlord called Amthor is included
that is meant to be the Warlord used in the campaign.

Warlord Editor:

* A completely updated Warlord Editor is included with all the latest items
and unit/hero changes. This means players who didn't install 1.03 don't have
to download the editor seperately.

Bug Fixes:

* Circle of Protection now gives Negate +1 (formerly the bug gave +2).

* Fixed bug where unit id's would be invalid causing crashes when
production/heroes/mercs would arrive in an already full city.

* Increase the number of AI stacks from 250 to 1000 and the number of AI units
from 1000 to 2000 due to crashes when the AI ran out of array space.

* Fixed bug that caused a crash on large/huge maps when the AI needed multiple
turns of movement to reach a city to rebuild.

* Fixed a bug that caused the AI to set production on its cities multiple times
a turn which would slow the AI down to a crawl on slow machines and in MP.

* Fixed a bug that caused the AI to check the city/stack replentish logic
multiple times a turn which would slow down the AI to a crawl when the number
of units and cities controlled by an AI grew large.

* Fixed a bug where if the city garrison had more movement than the city stack
the garrison would lose its extra movement when trying to move out of the city.

* Fixed a bug in MP where minimizing the game would freeze the game in the combat
screen for other players until the game was unminimized.

* Fixed a bug where units summoned to an empty city wouldn't get their full
movement but instead got the movement of the last stack that was there.

* Fixed a bug in MP where the last human player vs some AI's can't save the
game to continue on in solo mode. The game now saves as a solo player game
when only 1 human player remains.

* Fixed a bug where AI stacks with heroes would target and move to a square with
items even though the heroes had no space to take the item. This would cause
the Stack to remain there forever.

* Fixed a bug in MP (I hope) where ghost units would sometimes appear outside a
newly captured city when the AI was moving.

* Fixed a bug where Mana Crystals were not being sent properly in MP mode from
scenario trigger events.

* Fixed a bug where Spells were not being given to a side properly in MP mode
from scenario trigger events.

Miscellaneous:

* A View Chat History option has been added under the View Units menu. In MP
games the last 20 messages can now be recalled. In addition team chat
messages are displayed with leading and trailing ** characters to distinguish
them from general chat messages to all players.

* Regenerating the list of spells to research now always gives an entire new
set of spells to chose from. Before it was possible to get some spell
duplication in the list. If there are is not enough spells to form an entire
new list then some duplicates will appear.

* During the opponent turns the opponent Warlord type and the race being played
are now displayed in addition to the Warlords name and the side color.

* Doing a mouse over of the units in the currently selected stack now shows the
unit stats on the bottom status bar. The stats shown are unit level, combat,
current life, maximum life and movement remaining. This allows a player to
find units with low movement when merging stacks without resorting to
deselecting or right clicking every unit.

* Doing a mouse over of your Mana Regeneration now shows the true regeneration
rate for your side by showing your income from all sources and your upkeep.

* Defeated sides are now removed from all report menus.

* The Help Menu has undergone a massive update:

1) A new Racewheel graphic reflecting the race wheel realignment.

2) Tips for selecting and playing a Warlord have been added to the playtips
section.

3) The Warlord skills section has been updated to 1.05 changes.

4) A Hero skills section has been added describing the hero spells and mounts.

5) The Unit skills section has been updated to 1.05 changes.

6) An Item skills section has been added describing special item powers.

7) A Terrain Effects section has been added showing all bonus/penalties for
every terrain type.

A Miscellaneous section has been added showing the combat table, morale
table, hero/mercenary/merchant offers.

* The Racewheel and the level of the city captured has been added to the City
Capture screen to aid players in deciding whether to raze or keep a city.

* Permanently razing a city now costs gold instead of giving gold. The cost to permanently raze uses the same formula as the the one used to give gold for sack/pillage. If a player does not have enough gold the cost will be set to the current amount in the players treasury so that a player will never lose the ability to permanently raze due to lack of gold.

* Permanently razed cities are now valid terrain for movement for all stacks. The movement cost is the same as a road movement cost (2 mp). Combat may take place on permanently razed cities.

* The ability to queue units in the city production menu with the primary or
secondary ability has been added. To use this feature: 1) First turn on/off the secondary ability button.
2) Select the unit to be produced.
3) Repeat steps 1&2 for the remaining units in the queue.

The production queue will now grey out units that are to be produced with the secondary ability for a visual reference of what is in the queue. When a unit in the queue becomes the current unit to be made the secondary button will automatically set/unset.

NOTE: This feature works with the loop production button to allow players to create an infinite queue of alternating unit skills.

* Back by popular demand is a complete battle report history for every side! Under the View Opponents menu a Battle Report button has been added to each enemy side (team sides still contain the Transfer Gold button) plus your own side.

1) Selecting an enemy side battle report shows the kills inflicted by you upon that side as follows:

0 Warlord was overthown
1 Retinue was ground to dust
2 Heroes were gloriously defeated
5 Allies were dispatched with ease
27 Units were surrounded and slain
A total of 5 victories and 6 defeats

2) Selecting your sides battle report shows the kills inflicted on you by all sides including neutral cities plus some overall empire stats as follows:

1 Retinue was betrayed and slain
3 Heroes were tricked and murdered
11 Allies were mercilessly slain
100 Units were cruelly ambushed
A total of 34 victories and 16 defeats
A total of 16 cities captured and 5 lost
A total of 14 ruins were explored
A total of 2 heroes offered to pledge their sword
A total of 9 allies offered to join our cause
A total of 4 merchants offered an item for sale

NOTE: The city captured/lost reflects the absolute number captured/lost not the number of unique cities. So if you trade a city back and forth several times your totals will increase each time that city is captured or lost.

The hero offer count is a count of the number of turns you are offered a hero regardless of whether you accept or not including your initial hero. It does NOT include heroes built in cities or found in ruins/quest rewards.

The ally offer count is a count of the number of allies who are offered for sale regardless of whether you accept or not. It is NOT the number of turns you are offered allies. This means an offer of 5 units increases the count by 5, not 1.

The merchant offer count is a count of the number of turns you are offered an item for sale regardless of whether you accept or not.

Counts may not add up exactly as you expect. Units you get from ruins or via city fealty are considered allies. Thus when they die your ally death total rises. Heroes you get from ruins or build in cities add to your hero death total when they die. So you may see something strange such as 8 heroes lost but only 3 offered to pledge their sword.

The AI:

* Fixed a bug where arrays were too small to take into account the neutral side when calculating distance to enemy cities.

* Fixed a bug where the city had not switched races before production time was being calculated when the AI captured a city and did a raze/rebuild.

* Fixed a bug where the dispel spell for some Magic Sphere's was not being handled correctly in terms when to cast it so that some sphere's would never be dispelled.

* Fixed a bug where the AI stacks would not pick up more than 2 items lying in a square even if it had space for them. Now all 4 items can be picked up if there is space for them.

* Updated the production logic, level up logic and unit value logic to take into account the Daemonslayer and Monsterslayer skills when producing, upgrading and valuing units.

* Updated the purchase item logic to take into account all the new item skills when deciding whether to accept merchant offers. The AI won't buy items it can't use (like Divine Magic if it can only cast Rune magic).

* Added logic to handle site upgrades for Engineer Warlords. The AI will upgrade sites attached to its capitol first. After that it will only upgrade cities that are not in danger from enemies (basically rear cities) no matter how much gold it may have.

* Updated the spell research logic to take into account the new hero sphere spells.

* Updated the spell casting logic to allow the AI to cast the new hero sphere spells.

* Added spell casting logic for the shatter spell. The AI will now be able to cast the shatter spell. This will be a valuable spell now with the change to the Merchant skill and the Uber Retinue option.

* Changed the casting logic for Ring of Fire, Hail and Meteor swarm so that they can now only be cast by stacks that have a target of another stack or city (Ring of Fire) and the casting stack must still some of its movement left. This is to prevent wasted casts of those spells.

* Adjusted some of the AI cheats downward on King and Emperor levels as the AI no longer needs that much of an advantage.

* The AI item targetting routines were changed to allow the AI to drop items it can't use (Build, Scouting, Scavenging, Income, Magic Spheres the Warlord can't cast from) and replace them with items it can use. This will allow the AI heroes to accumulate better items over time.

* The stack targetting logic underwent a change to prevent the AI from over targetting stacks. The AI now keeps track of the number (and strength) of each stack it has targetted toward an enemy stack. Once a certain threshold is reached where the AI feels confident of victory, it will ignore that enemy stack when finding targets for the rest of its stacks. This prevents the issue of 5 stacks chasing down a lone unit/weak stack.

* Added a new targetting routine to find empty enemy cities. If nearby empty enemy cities are detected they get priority over any other target type.

* The A grade stack logic underwent a massive change to improve handling of A grade stacks. The first part involves preventing A grade stacks from leaving a city empty in order to rush off to a new target. A grade stacks are now prevented from leaving a city until the garrison reaches a certain strength based on nearby enemy presence. The second part involves adding HitNRun logic which allows A grade stacks to pop out of a city, attack a nearby weak enemy stack and then return to their city just as a human player would. This change also means the AI expansion will be slightly slower now as it encounters
enemies.

* The AI combat logic underwent a complete re-write to improve how the AI uses its armies in combat. I essentially wrote a combat simulator for the AI. It takes into account virtually every important skill during and between (heal/ regeneration) combat rounds factoring in spells, items etc. Bonus's and penalties are given for certain skills (eg. things like avoiding placing archery, curse, bless and heal into combat while giving preference to slayers/smite skills when the current enemy unit is vulnerable to those skills). In addition the AI now divides all its units into 3 categories (hero, valuable and cannon fodder). A best unit is found in each category and then the three bests are compared to find the optimum unit to send into battle. In addition, hero and valuable units have a 'gotta beat em all' mentality so they will only get serious consideration when they can survive against all remaining enemy units.

The result is quite impressive. The AI does a really good job now with selecting units for combat. It holds back heroes and valuable units until the end but can still send them in against the last enemy or two so that they can get the majority of experience just as a human player would. While I wouldn't agree with every AI choice (I defined valuble for the AI as high level units), I'd agree with a vast majority of them and the simulator has revealed a few things to me regarding how good certain units/skills are/aren't. Combat now seems a lot closer to what happens when two human players battle it out.

The unexpected bonus of this is you can now allow the AI to fight your battles for you without worrying it will do something dumb like put your heroes in danger. This makes PBEM games viable since the AI always fights for the defending human player.

* A new difficultly level called 'Emperor with Uber Retinue' was added. The only difference between this an Emperor is that the AI Warlords will come equipped with Uber Retinue's as follows:

1) All 3 retinue will be the level of the single highest human player retinue unit plus one. If the highest level human retinue level is less than 10 the AI will be level 10. Eg. If you have a retinue of L15, L10 and L5 the AI will have 3 L16 retinue units.

2) The retinue units will be given combat and life bonus's equal to the buildings the Warlord has added to the Capitol city. Eg. If the combat and life bonus is +6 and +6 (a Combat warlord with all buildings added) then the retinue will have +6 combat and +6 life added to their stats.

3) The retinue will come with items roughly corresponding in value to those possessed by the human players. The value assigned is a simple scale of minor=1, major=2, artifact=4. So 1 artifact=4 minors. If your retinue comes decked out in artifacts, the AI retinue will come the same way. If you come with one or two minor items, the AI will come the same way. There may be slight variances as the AI could substitute 1 major for 2 minors kind of thing.

NOTE: This option while selectable, does NOT work in campaigns. That's because campaigns have pre-built warlords to face on each map that include retinue. Randomly build Warlords are only used on Random or Scenario (pre-built) maps.

Do NOT expect much variance in the AI uber retinue. The AI gets the very best hero combo with the very best items in terms of fighting a 'Battle of the Retinue Titans' game. In other words this retinue is designed to kill other retinue, not be well rounded for all kinds of situations. However, once the retinue levels creep past L20 or so these retinues are virtually unkillable without your own retinue.

There is no special AI logic to handle this option. So the AI won't go out of its way to load up the retinue stack with top units. This option was really just added as a bonus for solo players to compare their retinue against the very best combo used in MP games. So don't write asking for logic to improve the rest of the retinue stack. In fact if you want a supreme challenge, disband your own retinue (you won't lose them if you disband them) and try and take down the AI uber retinue without your own.

* Please delete all old saved games. Older saved games or PBEM games will not work with version 1.05.

* You may report any bugs at http://www.warlorders.com or the I2 website.

Warlords IV: Heroes of Etheria v1.04 fixes/changes :

Warlords IV: Heroes of Etheria v1.03 fixes/changes :

Warlords:

• Divine Warlords now can get mana regen of +1 by selecting Mage Turret and Mage Tower (formerly max mana +2 and max mana +3).
• Rune Warlords now can get mana regen of +1 by selecting Rune Spire, Rune Turret and Rune Tower (formerly max mana +2, max mana +3 and max mana +4).
• Nature Warlords now only get mana regen of +1 from Adept Spire (formerly +2).
• Summoning Warlords now can get max mana +3 from the Occult tower (formerly mana regen +1). Quests are now available from the Sacrifical Shrine building.
• Necromancer Warlords can now get a quest from the Death Shrine building.
• Glory and Fame powers are now 4% per level instead of 2%.
• Arcane spells can now never take less than 5 turns to research (formerly could get as low as 2). After L10 the research time declines to 6 turns at L13 and 5 turns at L15.
• Gold for defending was changed from 100 gold to 20 gold per unit defeated.
• The Gate skill was changed to {1 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 2}
  ---------------------------------------{- 1 2 3 3 3 4 5 6 6}
  ---------------------------------------{- - - - 1 1 1 1 1 2}
• Pre-made warlords automatically change their Favored Race to be the one selected by the player for the game.

Races:

• Elven race now gets 20 movement (formerly 21) matching Dark Elves.
• Dragon race now gets 21 movement (formerly 19).
• Daemon race now builds 2 imps per turn (formerly 1 per turn).

Units:

• Elven Archers now get archery +1 (formerly archery +2) when levelling up and get access to scouting +1 at level 3.
• Elven Guards now get magic immunity instead of scouting.
• Elven Hero now gets archery instead of first strike.
• Dragon Knight now has 13 life (formerly 11).
• Flame Cannon now gets fire +1 at level 3 (formerly no second ability).
• Manticore now gets archery +1 at level 2 (formerly no second ability).
• Orc now has 12 life (formerly 10).
• Goblins now have taunt as primary ability and scavenging as their secondary ability (formerly was the other way around).
• Spearmen now has 10 life (formerly 12).
• Empire hero now gets archery instead of terror.
• Dwarf hero now gets siege instead of income.
• Skeletons now get warding +1 at level 2 (formerly got at level 3).
• Ballista now gets dragonslayer instead of siege.
• Assassins now get first strike instead of scouting.

Spells:

• Inspiration now gives morale +3 (formerly +1) and the casting cost is 10 (formerly .
• Altar of battle now has an upkeep of 4 (formerly 3).
• Create Golem now has a casting cost of 10 (formerly .
• Pathfinding now has an upkeep of 1 (formerly 2) with a casting cost of 14 (formerly 12).
• Earthpower now also gives damage +2 from the towers and casting cost is 15 (formerly 13).
• Accuracy now gives archery +2 (formerly +3).
• Bounty now gives +100 gold (formerly +50) with an unkeep of 1 (formerly 2).
• Regeneration now gives regen +2 (formerly +3) to all units (formerly good).
• Kargoth now gives 16 spiders (formerly 24) at level 3 (formerly varrying levels).
• Doombat now is an arcane spell (formerly rare).
• Pyrohydra is now a rare spell (formerly arcane) and has a casting cost of 17 (formerly 20).
• Bloodritual now has an upkeep of 4 (formerly 5).
• Memories is now Stolen Memories and gives +8 XP to all evil units (formerly only undead got 8 XP).
• Tranquility now has a casting cost of 14 (formerly 16) to be inline with dispels in other spheres.

Items:

• A new item called 'The Crown of KGB' was added that gives Mana Regen +2.
• A new item called 'The Moonwine Cup' was added that gives Max Mana +3.
• A new item called 'Heathen's Hammer' was added that gives Siege +1.
• A new item called 'WizIce's Robe' was added that gives Magic Immunity +5.

Abilities:

• Archery is changed to now do 1-2 damage at L1, 1-3 at L2, 1-4 at L3, 1-5 at L4 and 1-6 at L6 (formerly all damage was 2-6). The maximum number of archery hits is now 2 (formerly 3).
• Armor is changed to now reduce 1 point of damage from archery (formerly 3).
• Heal is changed to now do heal 1 at L1, 1-2 at L2, 1-3 at L3, 1-4 at L4, 1-5 at L5 and 1-6 at L6 (formerly 1-2 at L1, 1-3 at L2 and so on).
• Assassin now doubles the chance of a critial hit on any strike against any unit (in addition to still having chance to assassinate hero outright).
• Scouting now shows the ruin reward (hero, gold, allies, mana crystals, item, tome) if the level of scouting is high enough.
• Negate no longer negates siege attacks against towers. Negate no longer negates blessing of enemy units or the cursing of the unit with negate.

Bug Fixes:

• White ward now gives warding +1 (formerly the bug gave +2).
• Wind spell no longer gives extra movement to non-fliers (formerly the bug could give extra movement to non-fliers).
• Inn sites now give +5% chance to get a hero at 5% discount per inn (formerly the bug was not even counting inns at all in a new hero chance).
• Crushing blow now works at the percentages listed in manual (formerly the bug had it working at 15,25,35,45,55).
• Units can merge and unmerge from a stack without losing individual movement (formerly the bug reduced all units to the slowest moving unit).
• On turn 1 in hidden map games any sites attached to the capitol become visible helping to uncover the map a bit (formerly you had to guess which sites you had on your capitol whereas other conquered cities automatically showed their sites).
• If a city is full of units and you are offered a hero/allies in that city or your retinue arrives in a full capitol those units will now be placed outside the city (formerly those units would be lost from
  the game).

NOTE: If the 8 squares surrounding the city are occupied or consist of impassible terrain the units will still be lost!

Random Maps:

• Random maps are now divided into 4 quadrants and cites and ruins are placed evenly in each quadrant so that each quadrant receives between 20 and 30 percent of the total number of cities and ruins.
• The number of extra roads on the map is now a function of the map size (small, medium, large, huge) and the number of citys (few, normal, many).
• Cities in the middle of the map will now tend to be a higher level with stronger garrisons.

The AI:

• The bug that prevented the AI from attacking a capitol city has now been fixed.
• The AI warlord generation logic underwent a massive change to improve the warlords and retinue generated. The changes now produce AI warlords that tend to resemble those created by human players at emperor levels and tend to be more random as the AI level goes down to knight.
• The AI targeting routines were changed to allow the AI to track down and pick up items lying on the ground and in cities.
• The AI spell research logic underwent a massive change to improve the spells chosen by the AI to research.
• The AI spellcasting logic underwent a massive change to improve the AI spellcasting.

Miscellaneous:

• Summoned units now come with the movement of the casting stack even if they form their own stack (formerly new stacks got full movement). Only in empty cities can they get full movement.
• All capitol cities have a base income of 100 (formerly it was random) to reduce money starvation early.
• Neutral cities will have a minimum of 2 units defending them (formerly it could be 1) and the odds are more likely of 3 or more.
• Combat in multi-player mode will be automatically defaulted to 'fast' (formerly both players had to click the auto button to get fast).
• Critical hit percentage is now 10% (formerly 15%) to reduce the number of criticals.
• The cost of upgrading to a L2 city is now 200 gold (formerly 100) to make merchant skill more useful.
• A new button called '2nd ability' was added to the city menu which allows cities to produce units with their secondary ability instead of their primary one. This allows a wider variety of units to be produced by each side.
• Team games now have allies in alternating slots such a slot 1 and 3 vs slot 2 and 4 (formerly went slot 1 and 2 vs slot 3 and 4). In odd numbered games like 2vs1 the single player now goes first (formerly the single player went last).
• The ability to purchase neutral cities of your own race has been added. To purchase a city, move a stack containing at least one hero next to the city and 'attack' it. The city will then offer fealty for an amount of gold based on the city level and the size of the garrison. Purchase of a city includes its garrison. Click on a city to see the 'fealty' cost. The AI purchases cities when offered.

• NOTE: Once you attack a city you will no longer be able to purchase it (however other players of the same race could still purchase it if they have not attacked it). If you refuse the initial fealty offer the city will never offer again so the next time you 'attack' the city it will go to the combat screen.

• The ability to give gold to allies in team games has been added. Select the 'View Opponents' menu and then the 'Transfer Gold' button and enter the amount of gold to give to your ally. The AI will share gold with all its allies including human players.
• The ability to regenerate the list of spells available for research has been added. The cost of regenerating the list is 2 mana for specialty casters (major=minor sphere) and 3 for other casters.

• NOTE: The regenerated list is entirely random and could include some or all of the original list offered.

• The ability to attack flying units on impassible terrain by land units has been added (I call this the bat/imp change). To attack the flying units you must first move a stack to an adjacent square and then attack from that square (similar to DLR). If you win the battle your armies do not move onto the impassible terrain.

• NOTE: You CAN'T target the flying units on impassible terrain from a distance! Obviously you can't attack flying units on impassible terrain if you can't move next to them.

• Production in full cities is now possible with the newly produced units appearing outside the city. Waypointed units will begin their movement from the placement outside the city.

• NOTE: If the 8 squares surrounding the city are occupied or consist of impassible terrain the newly produced units will still be lost!

• All pre-made warlords were edited to make them more usable and realistic in terms of how points were spent.
• A new 5 player game of 4V1 was added to the game selection menu when choosing the number of players in a game.
• A new quest called 'The Lost City of Moon' was added.

Warlord Editor:

• A warlords and retinue editor has been provided to allow players to create and edit warlords of any level including the retinue and items. The editor resides in the folder where the Warlords IV game was installed.
• The editor is written in Java and needs the runtime java library before it will run.

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