Heroes of Might and Magic IV: The Gathering Storm Information taken from http://www.3do.com/mightandmagic/heroes4/ The Gathering Storm includes six entirely new campaigns which tell the tale of five heroes and their quest to defeat a mad wizard named Hexis, whose control of the realms of Nature and Death have begun a chain of events that threaten not just the heroes' own kingdom of Devonshire, but all of the lands of Lodwar. As Hexis's strength grows, so does his negative effect on nature itself. Earthquakes, floods, storms, and more have begun to spread across the kingdom, and it is up to the five heroes to stop Hexis and somehow reverse the damage he has done. This expansion pack includes: 6 new massive HeroesT IV campaigns with more than 20 new maps 4 original fantastic creatures 16 brand new artifacts New skillful heroes for the campaigns All new music track Heroes IV Multiplayer Update System Requirements: Operating System:Windows* 95/98/Me/XP/2000 CPU: Pentium* II 300Mhz (450 Mhz recommended) Free Hard Disk Space: 100 MB (After original Heroes IV installation) Memory: 128 MB RAM (256MB recommended) CD-ROM Drive: 4X Speed Video Card: 4MB SVGA DirectX* 8.0 compatible, capable of 800x600 16 bit high color display. Sound Card: All major DirectX* 8.0 compatible sound cards Peripherals: Keyboard and mouse Multiplayer: 28.8 modem or greater, TCP/IP or IPX Introduction It's All New, Period. The Reinvention of the Award-Winning Franchise Heroes of Might and Magic IV is more than a sequel - it's a celebration of both the old and the new. With an all-new engine that features a new magic system, new campaigns, new hero- character classes, and gameplay that varies according to how you play, you'll be amazed at how much the Heroes you know and love has improved! Players familiar with the Heroes series will immediately notice many improvements to the familiar interface and gameplay: Now you can actively lead multiple hero-characters into battle to fight alongside troops for an intense combat experience. You'll encounter all-new heroes and over 60 creatures in 6 massive campaigns and 24 scenarios. With an all-new game engine, lifelike isometric view, breathtaking graphics and richly detailed landscapes, the adventure map comes alive! Heroes IV combines the latest technology with the best features of the classic strategy game. With 48 Hero Classes and all-new skill and magic systems, summon all your strategic insight, tactical cunning and leadership abilities to ascend to the throne of this perilous new world! Newcomers to Heroes of Might and Magic will find that, while the game includes very detailed scenarios and hero possibilities, the series itself is renowned for its ease of use. Much of your time will be spent exploring the maps and continents, collecting resources, and engaging the enemy in battle. Visit towns, explore forests, raid castles.each of these places is a new opportunity to build up your army, earn gold, and gain new territory and hero-characters! Story Genesis of a New World: Some prophecies of doom come true. Escape the flames licking at your back and jump quickly through a portal into another world, for only the bold will be allowed to live. Embrace a wondrous new land. Uncover its ancient mysteries, battle its deadly creatures, and explore its forgotten past. Here lie gods who have been silent all too long. Here lies a realm that can only be claimed by the strong, the crafty, or the wise. It is yours to conquer! Features General For the first time ever, bring hero-characters into battle as super-soldiers in your army! All-new game engine! All-new isometric viewpoint and informative interface. Tweak the new personal scenarios and map editor to make levels and quests for your friends! Over 140 hours of gameplay and 6 unique campaigns. 11 starting Hero classes, 37 advanced classes - choose the specific class of each member in your army! All-new magic system - Complete Hero customization at your fingertips. 60 varied creature classes to control. Adventure Map More than 300 Adventure Map structures to interact with. Resource mines appear in multiple states: undeveloped resource deposit, working mine, abandoned mine (guarded by creatures), and run-out mine (no longer producing resources). New "Fog of War" map effect: clear for recently explored terrain, gray in areas visited in the past, and black for areas not yet visited. Watch out for Wandering Monsters. If they find any of your armies and they think they can take them out, prepare for battle! Creature stacks controlled by the player will run away if overpowered, join your army if they feel like it, or fight. Hero Classes, Creatures and Armies Each player can control up to 8 armies, each consisting of up to 7 individual hero-characters and/or troops of creatures! 11 starting Hero Classes, each with two starting skills (Barbarians have 3), and 37 advanced Hero Classes. 9 Hero Primary Skills, each with 3 associated Secondary Skills (27 total). 66 types of creatures! Hero-characters and creatures have similar stats: Damage, Hit Points, Speed, Movement, Spell Points, Shots, Luck, and Morale. Hero-characters of any class can equip themselves with any artifact. Creatures have a backpack so that they may carry, but not equip, artifacts. Combat Each combat screen grid can be a different terrain, with associated bonuses and negatives for Hero Classes/Creatures. Hero Classes can participate in combat; they can move, attack, defend and retaliate just like creatures! Combatants can face in 8 different directions on the Combat Screen. In siege combat, Creatures at the base of a town wall can attack defenders at the top of a wall and vice versa! Towns Six town types: Academy, Haven, Preserve, Asylum, Necropolis and Stronghold. 5 Schools of Magic: Life, Order, Death, Chaos, and Nature. Gameplay Adventuring Each scenario is played upon a map or, for a campaign, a series of maps. In the Adventure Screen, players can examine the countryside and move their armies. Map regions not yet explored by the player are masked by a black shroud; regions outside of each army's viewing perimeter are obscured by a "Fog of War" that hides the movement of enemy armies. Players move their armies over land and sea to visit mines providing resources, power-ups increasing hero skills and abilities, dwellings producing additional creatures, quest huts initiating adventure quests, and treasures providing wealth and magical artifacts. Additionally, players can visit owned towns or conquer enemy towns. Creating an Army Each player can control up to eight armies traveling upon the Adventure Map at one time. Each army consists of up to seven Hero Classes and/or troops of creatures. Players can view the details and information for each army by using the Army Screen. This screen shows the primary abilities of each hero or creature type, the additional skills learned by each hero, the artifacts kept in each hero/creature's backpack, and the artifacts equipped by each hero. Combat When a player army and enemy army meet on the Adventure Map, the Combat Screen appears. Each army's heroes and creature troops appear on a battlefield facing each other. Each hero-character and creature troop can fight via hand-to-hand combat, ranged combat (e.g., arrows), or magical combat. Additionally, if a hero is skilled in Tactics, nearby creatures from his army get increased combat abilities. As your character travels across the countryside, he/she represents your entire army. The same can be said for wandering groups of monsters and opposing armies, who appear as an individual warrior or single monster wandering the lands. When your character and the monster meet face to face in the countryside, the game enters Combat Mode. Your army appears across from these new foes on a close-up of the battlefield, and combat begins. Choose your characters and troops carefully, as their strengths and weaknesses can easily sway the outcome of each battle.they must be able to fight and survive! Where It All Happens Towns owned or captured by the player supply hero-characters, creatures, magic spells, and gold. Conquering towns is the objective of most scenarios; however, unlike previous HeroesT games, it is possible to complete a scenario without ever owning a town. Six types of towns are available in the game, one Might town (the Barbarian Stronghold) and one town for each of the five schools of magic: the Haven (Life), Academy (Order), Necropolis (Death), Asylum (Chaos) and Preserve (Nature). Each town can be upgraded with three levels of Castles, three levels of Town Halls, five levels of Magic Guilds, two Magic Guild Wings, two level 1 Creature Dwellings, two types of Dwellings for each of the next three levels of creatures, and many other upgrades. Players expend resources to upgrade their towns. - o -