Well, who'd have thought it - something rang a bell so I checked my list of games and found that I actually have Disciples Sacred Lands! I now remember buying it ages ago in a sale from DotEmu. I will finish Lords of Xulima and then give it a go.

Thanks for the info :)

You're welcome.

Since I'm brainstorming games you might like, I ought to add in Eador:Genesis. The combat is very similar to KB.

I've actually tried playing Eador:Genesis but found that the problem is that whilst the combat is similar I'm not so good on the strategy part. What I so love about KB is the exploration and the battles which can be fought when I'm ready for them, I have the freedom to explore the game world without getting stressed about the other 'player' grabbing all the goodies and then becoming to strong to beat. I really want to be able to 'do' strategy games but usually find myself overwhelmed and then demoralised. I think this is why I love the KB series so much, it lets me go at my own pace.

Thank you for the suggestions though +1 :)

Which is also true for Eador: Masters of the Broken World.

Actually, the Eador Games combine elements form the HoMM and KB serien.
You have the world map, where you conquer new sites and build them up to gain access to new units and other benefits (similar to HoMM).
There is also an exploration and adventure part similiar to KB, except you don't actually go anywhere. Instead you are exploring your provinces (with some advance every round) and get popups of events, e.g. you might find a stronghold or other sites hold by monsters which you can then fight on a combat map resembling those from HoMM and KB.
You can have several heroes with armies other than in KB, where you only have one hero.

The Eador series bring together good elements from both KB and HoMM and make for excellent and polished gameplay with lots of fun and variety.


oops, got ninja'd ;-)

I can understand that. KB certainly focuses more on your character having a long adventure rather than any kind of conquest strategy.

But thank you for replying though,+1 for your suggestion :)

I also like playing some time without being bothered by enemies. You could try playing on a large map with only one opponent. It would take him quite a while to reach you.

Seeing them on sale for the weekend, I thougt the Etherlords series might be of interest too.
The game is heavily influenced by the trading card game Magic: The Gatherning. The player gets a set of cards depending on the race he is playing and can obtain more and bettter cards during gameplay (they can be bought at shops or you can receive them on other occasions).
The cards stand for magic spells of different kinds, like summoning spells, damage spells, supporting spells, and so on. They are mostly used on the battlefield.

Etherlords 1 + II both come with a strategy mode which is basically the same as the HoMM series' scearios; you have to kill monster groups on the adventure map to get the treasures and buildings they are guarding or acces to other regions that is blocked by monsters and you must conquer other strongholds or defend your own.

Etherlords II has a campaign which is more of an adventure. Similar to KB you can walk the adventure map, explore things and pick your fights when you are ready.

Both games have a duelling mode where you can play on the battlefield with a hero of certain level and race/class against the computer or other human players.

Considering your likes and dislikes, Etherlords II may be of interest to you. (It also resembles the classic MicroProse game "Magic: The Gathering" where the player could travel the lands of Shandalar.)

Funny you should mention this - I've just this second bought it and am downloading now. I remember playing Magic: The Gathering (card game) years ago and really enjoying it. In fact, I think I still have my decks somewhere...

Thanks for the recommendation :)

?!?

Seriously?! HoMM 3 is one of the easiest games ever created! I have never even heard of someone needing to cheat to solve any map in any campaign. The closest I can think of to that sort of thing is the occasional random map wherein one of the enemies somehow ends up with legions of powerful units and your main ends up without Earth magic and/or Town Portal but those are rare. Most games I play at even the highest difficulty on randomized maps I have a hard time losing a battle to an enemy.

I wasn't specifically referring to HoMM 3. And as said the AI only cheats in the campaigns, so if you play randomized maps, then yeah, it's easy.

But for example take HoMM 6. The AI just has unlimited units and resources in that game's campaign and the enemy heroes will always have a larger army than you at any time, so if even if you never lose any unit and kill thousands of enemy units, the army of each successive enemy hero will still be larger than the previous. (Not to mention that hero levels are not lost even if the enemy hero does not run.)

Well, you said this to the OP: which prompted his exchange which ultimately resulted in him deciding that HoMM was not for him after all.

I cannot comment much on HoMM games after HoMM 3 (Horn of the Abyss mod installed is how I play it now) as they have been pretty disastrously bad IMO so you may be right about HoMM6 (or "Clash of Heroes" or whatever they are calling it now). HoMM 5 (w/Tribes of the East exp.) had a few good points but ultimately I have a hard time forcing myself to play it for various reasons.
Not sure exactly what you are referring to when you say the AI cheats in campaigns (for HoMM 3). I mean yeah I know about the little things they had to do to make the AI competitive (enemies staying in precise spots just outside of viewing range etc.) but this stuff was hardly reason a reason for the player to cheat himself as the game is just not THAT hard. I mentioned the random maps because these can often be much harder than the campaigns depending on your luck.

In HoMM 1-3 most of the difficulty comes from the AI simply starting with more units than you (or it's many players vs you alone), though there are also campaign scripts that frequently grant the AI players extra resources every week.

Anyway the order of events you are depicted never took place. I suggested HoMM3 because I thought it's closest to what he wants (also because it's easiest) and he then decided the series is not for him and only after that I wrote the other part saying how I can relate because the series (in general) is too hard for me too to be enjoyable without cheating.