Frequently Asked Questions

General

What is Heroes of Might and Magic V?
Heroes of Might and Magic V is the fifth installment in the Heroes of Might and Magic series. It is a Turn Based Strategy game in which you take over mines, and collect treasure in order to build up your castle, and raise an army to defeat your opponent.

Where does the game take place?
The game takes place in a brand new universe whose foundation rests upon the Dragons. The Dragons are the center of the universe as they influence the philosophy behind each faction, which in turn influences the faction's magic system, and war strategy.

What is the main campaign about?
The main campaign focuses on Isabel who has been betrothed to Nicolai, the young ruler of the Holy Griffin Empire. Unfortunately, bad luck follows Isabel and her fiancé dies leaving her in charge of the kingdom. To make matters worse an unexpected total eclipse occurs, which allows the Demons to escape their hellish prison. From here you must play to uncover the rest of the story.

When is Heroes of Might and Magic V going to be released?
The game will be released on May 23 in North America.

Who's developing the game?
The game is being developed by Nival Interactive a Russian company, who is known for the Etherlords series, and more recently Silent Storm.

Who's publishing the game?
The game is being published by Ubisoft who is known for such hits as the Splinter Cell series, and Prince of Persia: Sands of Time.

What are the system requirements?
The system requirements are the following:

Minimum:
- OS: Windows 2000/XP, DirectX 9.0c April 2005
- CPU: Pentium 4 1.5 GHz / Athlon 2000+ or higher
- RAM: 512 MB or higher
- Video: 128 MB AGP GeForce4 Ti4200 / RADEON 8500 or higher video card
- CD/DVD-ROM speed: 32x
- Sound: DirectX compatible PCI 16-bit sound card

Recommended:
- OS: Windows 2000/XP, DirectX 9.0c April 2005
- CPU: Pentium 4 3.0 GHz / Athlon 3000+ or higher
- RAM: 1024MB or higher
- Video: 256 MB AGP 8x GeForceFX 6600 / RADEON x800 or higher video card
- CD/DVD-ROM speed: 32x
- lby Surround 5.1 sound processor

Gameplay

What are factions?

Factions are the races in the game. Currently, it is known that there will be six factions, five of which will be recognizable to fans of the series, and one completely new faction.

Which factions have been confirmed?
To this date three factions have been revealed. The Haven, the Necropolis, and the Inferno.

What are castles?
The castles are one of the most important focus points in the game. It is the place where you build buildings in order to recruit your army. Also, it is in the castle that magic using heroes learn their spells. Furthermore, castles have several improvements which will increase the amount of resources you gain per turn.

What are the game's resources?
The game's resources have not been officially confirmed, however based on the latest screenshots there will be seven resources in the game gold, mercury, sulphur, crystal, gems, wood, and ore.

How are battles fought?
Battles are fought on a screen that is different from the adventure screen on which exploration is done. Once you engage a neutral or enemy stack, the game takes you to the battle screen. This screen is made up of several squares. When it is a creature's turn to fight they can take action. The action they take depends on what special abilities they have. Certain units are ranged attackers, and can shoot an enemy. Others can cast spells, which can be either defensive or offensive in nature. Yet other units might only be able to initiate melee combat, in which case they must go up to the enemy creature in order to attack.

What determines the size of the battlefield?
In Heroes 5 the size of the battlefield depends on the number of creatures participating in the battle. The fewer the creatures the smaller the battlefield. Also, the biggest battlefield is reserved for castle sieges.

What is the Active Time Battle System?
This is an optional battle system, which was created to speed up battles. In this system creatures still take turns, however each creature also has a counter associated with it. In the event that it is your creatures turn, but you take too long to decide on your move it is possible that an enemy creature whose counter has run out will be able to attack before you make your move.

Heroes

What are Heroes?

Heroes are the commanders of your forces. In order to attack enemy stacks, or your main opponent you must use your hero to transverse the map. Then when you find your opponent you initiate the battle through your hero. Also, the hero is used to claim mines, and collect the treasure that is spread throughout the adventure map.

Can there be more then one hero in a stack?
No there can only be one hero per stack, however you can field multiple heroes throughout the course of the game.

Can Heroes participate directly in battle?
It has been stated that certain hero classes can participate in battle. Other heroes support their creatures by casting spells.

How do Heroes gain experince?
Heroes gain experience by fighting neutral stacks, or other enemy heroes. You can also gain experience by collecting treasure chests, and trading in the gold for experience. Finally, you gain experience by visiting special locations such as the tree of knowledge and the learning posts.

Creatures

What are creatures?

Creatures are the units in the game. They make up your army, and you use them to fight against enemy creatures.

Can creatures be upgraded?
Yes you can upgrade creatures in Heroes of Might and Magic V.

Can stacks move without Heroes?
No, in order for your stacks to move they must be attached to a hero.

What stats are used for creatures?
Although the creature stats have not been officially confirmed, judging from the screenshots creatures will have six stats

Attack: This stat is a damage modifier, and allows you creature to deal more damage when attacking.

Defense: This stat allows the creature to take less damage when attacked.

Damage: This stat is the amount of damage that a creature can inflict. When calculating damage the defense of the opposing creature is taken into effect as well as the attack of the attacking creature.

Health: This is the amount of health the creature has.

Speed: This determines when the creatures turn to act is, as well as how many squares it can move.

Shots: This stat is used for ranged attackers and determines the amount of ammo the creature has.

Multiplayer

Is there a Hotseat mode?

Yes there is Hotseat mode you can all relax now.

What other multiplayer modes are there?
There are five multiplayer modes in total.

Regular multiplayer mode: This mode is the same as the single player mode except that you play with other players over a LAN or an internet connection.

Hotseat Mode: In this mode players can play a multiplayer game using the same computer. Once one player finishes his turn, the next player begins his turn on the same computer as the first player was using.

Simultaneous turns: Not much information has been released regarding this mode except that it is meant to speed up the early portions of the game.

Ghost mode: In this mode a player whose turn has passed can control a special ghost hero who can fight with other ghost heroes. This ghost hero can scout, slow down enemy heroes, and steal resources.

Duel mode: Duel mode games are meant to be quick 15 minute games, in which you choose your army at the beginning of the game, and then duel it out with your opponent.