Editing Talk:AI value (section)

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  Q: Let’s talk about balance.  What methods did you use to make decisions about creature statistics, AI value, faction balance and schools of magic?  Was every single value chosen on a whim and then verified or rather were there more complicated mathematical calculations involved?
  A: Balance was determined using a process of opinion and verification, via abstract simulation.  JVC and I hashed out the statistics for the various troops, based on our personal opinion of which was more or less powerful, in relation to one another.
  Using these preliminary numbers, I put each Troop through a Battle Simulator I constructed in Microsoft Excel.  This Battle Simulator produced a relative number, which I then used to verify our assumptions.  If something appeared to be out of whack... an adjustment was made.
  Using these base ai values, Gus Smedstad further modified the numbers, to account for special abilities, creating adjusted ai values, which were again verified using the Battle Simulator.  If something appeared to be out of whack... an adjustment was made.
  Faction balance was less complicated.  I did an analysis of Troop Power versus costs over time. If something appeared to be out of whack... an adjustment was made.
  Spells and spell schools were largely opinion.

  Q: Were there dedicated testers and balance designers in the dev team of Heroes III?
  A: Short answer... no.  Please keep in mind, at the time, network play was a relatively new thing, and the thought of competitive HoMM3 was inconceivable.  Also, dedicated balance designers and testers didn’t really become a thing until Starcraft became an esport in South Korea.  Today, it is standard practice for any pure multiplayer game.

Greg Fulton, the lead designer of HoMM3 (RoE and AB)

Behemoth Cave [http://h3.heroes.net.pl/nowina/3765] Interview (2020.11.20)

[https://www.fanstratics.com/fstnewsletter10 Fanstratics Newsletter #10	 (June 2021)]