Fanstratics月报#6#2021-02

来源：https://www.fanstratics.com/fstnewsletter06，以下由HeavenK翻译。

• Fanstratics Faction #3: Thornwood.
• Fanstratics阵营3：Thornwood
• This faction rounds out the three ‘good’ cultures. Elfin in origin, the Thornwood inhabit tribal towns throughout the enchanted Spring Lands. Where most cultures resist nature’s merciless cycles of birth, life, transformation, and death, the Thornwood zealously embrace them. If you are familiar with HoMM3’s ‘Rampart’, you should find comfort in playing this fierce, wild, and virtuous faction. Representing the Thornwood is the Elfin Sharpshooter, which can be viewed in the Fanstratics Gallery.
• 至此，三个“正义”阵营已经全部介绍完毕。Thornwood阵营源自精灵，其居民以部族城镇的形式，居住在神秘的春之林地中。尽管其他文明大多抗拒自然那无情的生死循环，但Thornwood阵营狂热的拥抱这一思潮。如果你熟悉英雄无敌3里的壁垒族，那么你能很快上手这个狂野的阵营。Thornwood阵营的代表是精灵神射手。

• When HoMM3 was in development, did the team think Eagle Eye would be a viable or competitive secondary skill? I`ve seen players say it was meant to be a bad one to balance out with the good ones, but things like the boosting artifacts, a few pre-made Seer Huts and Witches high learning chance tell me otherwise.
• 关于H3的鹰眼术，当初制作组设计这个技能的时候是怎么考虑的？
• Regarding Eagle Eye... it was a holdover from HoMM2. While we knew it was a ‘lesser’ skill, we didn’t consider it ‘useless’. In hindsight, I should have cut it, but like I said... it was a legacy skill from HoMM2, and there was a desire to maintain some consistency between HoMM2 and HoMM3. So, to directly answer your question, we never intentionally created ‘bad’ skills to balance out ‘good’ skills. Originally, the concept of Eagle Eye was simple. An Allied Hero ‘sees’ an Enemy Hero use an unlearned Spell, and upon seeing it, the Allied Hero learns the Spell. In practice, it didn’t work out so well. First, there was only a ‘chance’ to the learn the spell. Second, an Allied Hero typically fought and defeated lesser Enemy Heroes, thus rarely saw a Spell the Hero didn’t already know. Third, Enemy Towns are not necessarily difficult to acquire, thus Enemy Spells are not necessarily difficult to acquire. Also, big maps tend to give plenty of opportunities for learning ‘other’ Spells. I’ve given Eagle Eye a lot of thought, but ultimately... I’m discarding its equivalent. Once it is gone, I strongly doubt most people will miss it.
• 鹰眼术是H2保留下来的产物。尽管制作组知道它有点弱，但并不认为它没用。该技能或许应该被删掉，但最后还是考虑到为了保持H2和H3之间的连贯而保留下来。简而言之，鹰眼术并不是故意设计的用来平衡好技能的烂技能。它的设计初衷很简单，英雄看到敌人用的魔法，并由此学会该魔法。但在实际游戏中效果不佳，一是概率太低；二是多数时候敌人英雄不如你的，没魔法可学；三是既然我能打下敌人的城市学魔法，为什么还要博鹰眼术的概率去学。我本人对鹰眼术有很多想法，不过最后没实现。所以H3中的鹰眼术确实不太平衡，就算被删了，应该也没多少人会怀念。

• Astrologers from HoMM3 but have long been a meme. Will they proclaim weeks and months in the Fanstratics?
• 英雄无敌3里的占星家一直是一个著名的梗，Fanstratics里会保留么？
• Fanstratics will have weekly and monthly Astrological events.
• 会的，Fanstratics里仍然会保留每周每月的占星家事件。

• The story you related for the Forge faction sounds great, a pity that it didn`t come to pass. From what you say, it nearly seems that in AB, destroying the whole world was born from frustration coming with the cancellation of the Forge.
• 英雄无敌3代最终灭世结局是不是因为铸造族被砍带来的怨念？
• Regarding the Armageddon`s Blade story, it was written well before the cancellation, but was oddly prescient.
• 根据末日之刃的故事，结局应该是在铸造族被砍之前就定好了的，不过这确实是一个巧合。

• Gamers in Russia and the CIS countries are very fond of HoMM3 and are one of the most active community of the game. In this case, have you thought about adding creatures from Russian/Slavic mythology and fairy tales or about creating a faction in the Slavic style in the Fanstratics?
• Fanstratics里会不会有俄罗斯/斯拉夫神话相关的阵营？
• Truthfully, I have investigated Slavic mythology, but shied away from it. In my estimation, one of the reasons why HoMM3 was successful, was in how it embraced stereotypical fantasy creatures: dragons, unicorns, dwarves, elves, etc. Worldwide fantasy tropes are largely driven by Western and Central European mythology, specifically Tolkien’s ‘The Hobbit’ and ‘The Lord of Rings’ (which largely inspired ‘Dungeons & Dragons’). Other fantasy tropes... Chinese, Japanese, Indian, African, North/South American, Russian/Slavic, etc... have for the most part... stayed regional. With this in mind, there is a fair amount of visual crossover between Central/Western/Eastern mythology. For example, if outside of Russia or East Europe, I showed most people a picture of a Zmei... they would tell me it was a Hydra. Another example would be the Psoglav (human torso, horse legs, dog’s head, one eye), which most people would see as a weird-looking, cyclopean Werewolf (which, by the way, is a lot of fun). In the end, when you have 60+ creatures, quick identification and natural assumptions, are especially paramount. So, it’s safer to embrace common stereotypes, and avoid any potential for confusion. This being said, I’ll take another look into Russian/Slavic mythology, and see if I can’t sprinkle a couple creatures into the Neutral roster.
• 简单说，作者认为H3的成功在于大众最熟悉的奇幻形象，即从托尔金到龙与地下城所造就的基于西欧/中欧神话的奇幻形象。而其他神话，无论中国、日本、印度、非洲、美洲、斯拉夫等，都只是区域性的，流传不够广。所以Fanstratics里不会出现专门以这些神话为基础的阵营，但是有可能会有些基于此为灵感的中立生物。

以下是之前说的访谈的第35到45个问答（共58个）。

• In your FAQ on the Forge’s cancellation you highlighted the fact that the Inferno town is populated by aliens who look like demons. Those being Kreegans and the demon-like creatures they breed and summon, like pit fiends, demons, imps, efreeti, etc. Jennifer Bullard has mentioned in an interview that the Kreegan are the original demons faced in MM worlds, and you viewed them as such. That means the demons in MM 1-5 and MM9 are Kreegans and their creatures, like in the case of the Inferno line-up. Inferno creatures are also present in the Underworld, a deep and vast network of cavern below Erathia, nearly a millennium before HoMM3 (and they are mostly exterminated in Heroes Chronicles: Conquest of the Underworld). In MM2 Devil Kings are even seen guarding an Ancient installation, which has an interesting implication of it being possible to tame Kreegans and/or their creatures in some way. Kreegans and their creatures present in those games are probably remnants of past invasion and/or agents that has arrived on a particular world (which fits well with demons being summoned in MM3). Can you provide insights into how you viewed demons present in different games when developing the game?
• 根据剧情，英雄无敌3里的地狱族都是来自外星的克林根人，但是在历代记里又提到，千年以前埃拉西亚就有了地狱魔鬼。那么地狱族到底是个什么设定？
• When developing HoMM3, my view of demons in MM was defined by Paul Rattner (Lead Designer of MM6). He established their lore in MM6. In doing this, as far as I was concerned, he laid the foundation for their story going forward. As to ‘demons in MM1-5 and MM9 being Kreegans’, I think it is safe to assume all demons in the Jon Van Caneghem era are Kreegans, until a different developer or another game effectively explains otherwise.
• 地狱族的设定是由Paul Rattner（魔法门6的主设计师）完成的，所以我认为所有JVC时代的魔法门系列游戏中的恶魔应该都是克林根人。

• Did you have some ideas on the origin of Kreegan? One tavern rumor says: when a devil travels, it journeys to its plane before returning to our world. This implies that Kreegans control or at least have access to another plane of existence. Can you tell us more?
• 克林根人起源是什么？有一个酒馆谣言说，当一个魔鬼旅行时，它会在回到我们世界之前，先去它们自己的世界。这是不是意味着克林根人控制着至少一个其他世界？
• This really is a question for Paul Rattner, as I did not create the Kreegans, I merely inherited them. Nevertheless, I understood the Kreegans to be alien invaders from another plane of existence. Folklore would call them Demons from Hell.
• 这些问题应该问Paul Rattner，克林根人是他创造的。就我个人认为，克林根人属于其他世界来的异形入侵者，也就是乡野百姓所说的来自地狱的恶魔。

• What is the origin of angels and archangels? Don’t worry, we won’t have a heart attack.
• 天使和大天使的来源是什么？
• Over the course of my time at New World, on occasion, typically when taking a break, I would wander into Paul Rattner’s office. Even though MM6 was in mid production, Paul was already thinking about MM7, so I made sure to update him on what was happening with HoMM3. When I told him about the changes to the factions, I specifically mentioned the Angels. At that point in time, Paul was essentially the lore master for the MM universe. On the topic of the Angels and Arch Angels, he proposed they be sophisticated robots created by the Ancients to hunt down and eradicate the Kreegans. I agreed, and we ran with it. Later, after the Forge was shelved, I remember thinking to myself, If people have a problem with the whole ‘goblins are aliens’ idea, I can only imagine what they will think if they figure out the true origins of the Angels.
• 魔法门6设计中期，我和Paul交流过，我们认为天使和大天使其实是远古神民所创造的用来追捕克林根人的精密机器人。不过，在铸造族事件后，我觉得这个设定还是不要说出来比较好。

• Giants and titans are made of some rock-like material (which is especially evident in the titan’s HoMM2 and MM 6-7 death animation), but appear to be something more than just a golem. Moreover, their HoMM4 variation is clearly made of flesh? Also a notable thing is that both angels and some giants and titans are allied with Bracada. Did you have any ideas about titan lore?
• 巨人和泰坦的故事是什么？英2和魔法门6、7中，泰坦都是石头做的，这一点从死亡动画可以看出，但是到了英4，泰坦很明显有了血肉。而且天使和泰坦都是布拉卡达的盟友。
• Starting with HoMM4, I can tell you, I was only on the project for the first two weeks of its existence. Why did the Titans shed their apparent inorganic appearance? I honestly do not know. It is possible the HoMM4 team, by setting the game on a completely new world, chose to reinvent the Titans as flesh and blood giants the Greek tradition. It is also possible a ‘lack of communication led to creative inconsistency’. In terms of game mechanics, what Jon and I wanted to avoid, was having yet another group of troops immune to Mind Spells. To this end, I considered Naga, Giants, and Titans to be conceptually similar to Dendroids, but there was never any specific lore explanation crafted to elaborate on this idea.
• 英4时代我基本没参与，所以我也不清楚英4的泰坦为什么修改了设定。不过我猜有可能是英4想换个新世界，也有可能单纯是设计组与动画组沟通不畅。在游戏机制设计中，当初我们考虑哪些怪物免疫心灵魔法，我就想到了娜迦、巨人和泰坦，不过当时并没有在剧情设定上加以考虑。

• Was there a specific reason (or several reason) for the exclusion of halflings from the Tower faction?
• 为什么半身人被赶出了塔楼族？
• I wanted something more creative and more visually interesting than a halfling. For a replacement candidate, it was a toss up between Gremlins and Red Caps. Gremlins were more familiar, so they made the cut. When the Halflings were removed, there was always an intention to use one of the expansions as an opportunity to reinsert them as a neutral troop.
• 想要换一个更有创造性、看上去更有意思的怪物，所以最后选了妖精，而把半身人放在了中立部队里。

• Did you have any lore and story ideas about characters that weren`t realized or properly reflected in the game?
• 有没有一些角色的故事是没有在游戏中体现出来的？
• Not really. HoMM story was basically created on-the-fly, very similar to comic book storytelling and continuity. A long term, game-to-game plan is rare and something of a luxury.
• 没有，英雄无敌的故事基本是为游戏服务。

• Was there any ideas on the future of Deyja and Archibald`s advisors (who became its new rulers in MM7) in the light of Forge`s cancellation?
• 关于迪迦和阿基巴德，在铸造族被砍之后他们的故事是什么？
• Paul Rattner may have had some ideas pertaining to the subject, but we never discussed any such subject.
• Paul Rattner当初有些想法，不过我们没交流过。

• What is your personal opinion on the advisor`s (and, by extension, the Forge faction they created) actions and motivations? Do you think they were driven more by their desire to lead the world to a better future (with them as leaders) or their lust for power? Or were those motivations roughly equally present?
• 你觉得阿基巴德他们创造铸造族的动机是什么？为了让世界在他们的控制下变得更好，还是单纯为了权力？
• Simple lust for power and domination, but I am sure there were plenty of rationalizations.
• 应该是为了权力。

• Can you tell us more about Forge`s 7th lvl creature. Was that a cyborg dragon or something more akin to a golem (like in HoMM4)? Was it flying?
• 铸造族7级兵是什么？是半机械龙么，还是像H4一样的傀儡龙？会飞么？
• It was not flying and definitely not a cyborg. If my memory is correct, it was supposed to be robotic, so more golem-like in origin.
• 不会飞也不是半机械人。如果我记得没错，应该是更像傀儡模型一样的机器人。

• The intro cinematic for Armageddon`s Blade is apparently a remnant of the original version of the story with the Forge, or at least inspired by it. The most notable difference is that the Blade is found rather that Forge. Can you tell us more about the intro`s conception and inclusion?
• 末日之刃的开场动画显然保留了一些铸造族的要素，你有什么可以告诉我们的？
• Originally, the intro cinematic was a teaser trailer made specifically for E3, with the intention to eventually use it for the final game. At the end of the cinematic, instead of finding Armageddon’s Blade, there was supposed to be something akin to high tech ‘Predator vision’ scanning Gelu, Roland, and Catherine. This implication was to set the stage for the Forge as a sci-fi town. After the Forge was cancelled, Armageddon’s Blade was inserted as the replacement.
• 是的，开场动画其实是当初放在E3上的预告片，在动画最后，其实不是找到了末日之刃，而是有一个高科技感的“捕食者视角”在扫描格鲁、罗兰德和凯瑟琳，这样刚好能预示着下一个族是一个科幻风格的种族。不过随着铸造族被砍，后面的动画也就改成了现在这样。

• Did NWC have plans or rather ideas for any town types other than Forge and Conflux? If yes, do you remember some details about them?
• NWC当初有没有除了铸造族和元素族之外的其他族的计划？
• At the time, there were no such plans for additional town types.
• 当初应该是没有的。