After a “well-deserved” break, I now resume the analysis of the official pictures Ubisoft released. The seventh picture presents the combat screen.
Might & Magic: Heroes VI - Official Screenshot #07
There are several things that are obvious at first glance:
- we have turns in combat;
- the grid consists in squares;
- the heroes are outside the grid (most probably not directly involved in combat);
- there is an “initiative” bar.
The first and four statements contradict each other. In fact, we now know the initiative system is gone and the bottom bar merely indicates the order in which stacks will take action.
Similar to Heroes V, there are creatures occupying one square and creatures occupying four squares (griffins); it looks like there will not be two squares creatures. Speculating on the boss fights that were mentioned, maybe there will be bosses or very large creatures occupying nine or sixteen squares.
There are obstacles on the battlefield. We are told those are dynamic – some might be removed; other may appear.
It looks like, without tactics, the creatures can be arranged on the first two rows of the grid.
We notice five types of necropolis creatures and three types of haven creatures. It is relatively easy to identify the griffins, the archers and the swordsmen. For the necropolis, we certainly have vampires and ghosts. There are also some kind of skeletons and two creatures that are new (it is speculated there are ghouls in the game.
The numbers also suggests the relative strength of the creatures. Griffins looks stronger than archers and swordsmen and archers and swordsmen are somehow equal (this somehow confirms the three tire system that was mentioned). For necropolis, vampires are stronger (tire 2). There is a stack of 17 creatures which might also be tire 2. Also, the ghosts seem to be stronger than skeletons and ghouls(?), but they are not necessarily tire 2.
Regarding speed, the ghouls seem to have the same speed as the griffins. The vampires are either faster or have the same speed. the ghosts are slower than griffins (or at most the same speed), and the archers are definitely slower than them. The 17 stack creatures are even slower. The skeletons and the swordsmen have even lower speed. This is based on the order on the bottom bar; at the end of the bat we notice some arrows that suggest we are at the beginning of the list (left arrow is disabled) and we can look at the rest of the list if we want.
The next action will be taken by vampires. There are two icons that allow them to defend or wait (most probably the efect will be similar to the one in Heroes II and III).
Below the bar and to the right there are 5 icons. It is speculated these are quick spells for the hero or the vampire. This might suggest the hero is able to take action any time he or she wants. But, we have a problem with the spell book. If we click it, will it open spells for hero, the vampires or both? If the hero can take action any time, where are all his or her spells? maybe some of the icons on the right represent vampire spells.
Some of these icons are obvious: spell book, retreat, surrender, combat related settings. There are other for which we currently do not know the purpose.
The skeleton might indicate the faction taking the current action. There is also a bar (which is now empty, but in other screenshots is almost filled and the filled part is yellow; when it is full it becomes orange). Maybe there is a time limit for taking one action. There was a similar feature in Heroes V.
The two heroes have a ground print specific to their faction; also, there is a faction specific symbol above them.
Around the battlefield there are some terrain specific graphics.
The size of this battlefield is 10 x 12 (same as the Heroes V regular battlefield – the siege battlefield was 14 x 16 in Heroes V) . We are told there will also be larger battlefields in Heroes V.
The square occupied by the current creature is highlighted. The squares were it can move are also highlighted. We can compute that the speed of the vampire is 6.
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