Heroes of Might and Magic III: The Succession Wars (Mod), previously known as The Succession Wars Mod or the SW Mod, is a massive WoG-based modification of Heroes of Might and Magic III: The Shadow of Death, developed as a total conversion with a tribute to the previous installments (Heroes I and Heroes II), transferring Heroes II graphics to the Heroes III engine with some upgrades over classic Heroes III mechanics and adding lots of new content. Like other WoG-based modifications for Heroes III, it is fully fan-made, but the project team claims high standards in every tiny aspect in order to get "the genuine NWC feeling".
Heroes of Might and Magic III The Succession Wars v0.8 Official Trailer
Main menu of the v0.8 release, resembling classic Heroes II menu screen
General Information[]
The project is supposed to enrich the legacy of the first two Heroes of Might and Magic games by focusing on the pixel graphics style characteristic to them, adding new creatures, characters and a lot of other content with regards to the same graphic style and also, in the foreseeable future - the classic Heroes 2 campaigns and even the new campaigns that are supposed to develop the Enroth-based lore further.
Detailed Information[]
Factions and Classes[]
Unlike Heroes 3, the mod reinvents the single-class system for every faction, and takes Heroes 2 class-faction system as a basis.
In addition to classic Heroes 2 factions (Knight, Barbarian, Sorceress, Warlock, Wizard, Necromancer) the mod adds its own factions named Witch (a concept inspired by Heroes 3 Witch class with its own unique features), Dervish (an eclectic desert-themed faction composed partially from Heroes 2 neutrals and partially from new creatures made from scratch), and Heretic (unlike Heroes 3 Heretic class, it is a might-oriented faction with a different lineup).
Adventure Map[]
The project map editor is supposed to have all Heroes 2 map objects and a selection of new ones to satisfy Heroes 3 standards, such as creature dwellings, banks, conservatories, and all other. Moreover, some new map objects with a brand new functionality are expected too.
Battle[]
The huge difference with the vanilla Heroes 2 is the battle screen. The battlefield size is expanded to the Heroes 3 standards, and Heroes 3 battle mechanics intends range penalty and a limited movability for the majority of flying creatures. With the appearance of new animations characteristic to Heroes 3 (Defense, Turn Around, Start Moving, Stop Moving) all creature sprites are likely to receive additional animation frames.
Differences with Heroes 3 SoD mechanics[]
Although mainly the gaming mechanics of the modded game is still close to the one of the vanilla Heroes 3, there are some shifts towards several Heroes 2 features and even some unique ones are expected. For instance, some secondary skills like Necromancy or Mysticism are likely to be tweaked in the next releases of the mod, with some global map objects having changed their functionality, like optional skill learning in the Witch Huts. The magic system and the artifact system are claimed to be different from classic games.
Another big tweak over Heroes 3 engine is the invention of the dynamic castle looks on different terrain and fixing the Bad Luck feature (both present in Heroes 2), which will be also featured in the next release of the modification.
Numerous changes are expected to be made, and will be revealed right after the official mod update.
Compatibility with other modifications[]
H3SW v0.8 + HD Mod beta 5.0
In 2018, the team officially announced that the upcoming v0.8 release will be graphically and functionally compatible with the actual builds of Heroes 3 High Resolution Project by baratorch, except for HD+ functionality.
Mod Development[]
The Succession Wars Mod dates back to 2008, when mister_kalu started the project by experimenting with Heroes 3 and adding various Heroes 2 content to it. Later on, the duty of the project coordinator was taken by Kivo Currently the latest version of the mod is marked as January, 2013 (open to public access). However, according to the team members, it is strongly outdated, and is barely able to describe the current state of the project. Since the end of 2013, the team is coordinated by Orzie.
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