HoMM Olden Era Patch Notes 0.81.02 (Alliances & Map Generator)

Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era has received one of its most important Early Access updates yet, with Unfrozen finally delivering Alliances and the expanded Random Map Generator promised on the game's roadmap. Check out the full HoMM Olden Era 0.81.02 Patch Notes.

Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era Finally Adds Alliances and a Better Random Map Generator

Both features have been highly requested since Olden Era launched into Early Access in April, particularly by players who prefer the classic PvE and Hotseat side of Heroes rather than spending every waking moment calculating the optimal Jebus Cross break.

Unfrozen had previously identified Teamplay and advanced Random Map Generator features as two of its major Q3 priorities. The studio repeatedly teased both throughout the summer before finally releasing them as part of the latest Roadmap Patch.

Alliances Finally Bring Proper Teamplay to Olden Era

The biggest addition is Alliances, allowing players to organize themselves into teams instead of every match automatically becoming an exercise in mutually assured destruction.

Teamplay was one of the biggest omissions from Olden Era at launch, particularly for people who grew up playing Heroes cooperatively against several AI opponents.

Unfrozen's roadmap specifically described the feature as supporting teams involving both players and computer-controlled opponents, opening the door to proper cooperative PvE setups alongside team-based multiplayer.

It's a seemingly straightforward addition, but an important one for a series where “let's team up against the AI” has probably destroyed almost as many childhood friendships as Monopoly.

The Random Map Generator Is Getting Much More Useful

The other headline addition is the expanded Random Map Generator.

Olden Era already generated its multiplayer maps from templates, but the initial implementation left players with relatively limited control over exactly what kind of world they wanted. The issue was noticeable enough that fans began building external tools to create and customize their own templates within days of release.

The updated generator is intended to bring far more of that flexibility directly into the game, including control over fundamental parameters such as map size and player count, rather than forcing players to find a pre-existing template that happens to resemble what they want.

For casual PvE players in particular, that could end up being more important than a dozen new maps. A good Random Map Generator is essentially an infinite-content machine for Heroes, and the series has historically survived for years on players repeatedly telling themselves they'll play “just one more map.”

Unfrozen had also previewed a redesigned setup screen for the system back in July.

More Multiplayer Changes Are Part of the Roadmap Patch

This update was previously announced as a broader Roadmap Patch, with Unfrozen also promising an improved Emoji Wheel, matchmaking changes, ranking-system updates, and a ranked reset alongside Alliances and the Random Map Generator improvements.

It's worth separating those additions from the major balance overhaul Unfrozen has also been discussing. Changes to Battle Magic, Battlecraft, Temple's faction mechanic, and bleeding-related issues for Hive and Dungeon were previously described as part of a separate balance patch arriving after the Roadmap Patch, rather than necessarily being included here.

For now, Alliances and the expanded Random Map Generator alone make this one of the most consequential quality-of-life updates Olden Era has received since Early Access began.

Because sometimes you don't need another faction or Tier 8 monster. You just need a giant random map and three friends willing to lose an entire Sunday to it.

Full v. 0.81.02 Patch Notes

Bug Fixes

Combat & Creature Mechanics

"Double attack" effects now correctly apply to the Onyx and Jasper Dancers' alternative attack.
Traps now correctly trigger when stacks are forcibly moved onto them.
Traps located within the area of the "Overwatch" effect now trigger correctly.
Landing on a "Spatial Snare" trap no longer allows a stack to continue its turn when positive Morale activates.
Applying Speed and Initiative buffs to summoned creatures now correctly recalculates turn order.
Fixed a bug where the death of an Energy Phoenix at the end of a round could cause the first stack of the next round to skip its turn.
Fixed two separate bugs that caused combat to freeze after an Energy Phoenix died at end of round — one involving "Reality Distortion" and one involving negative Morale triggering alongside that same effect.
"Reality Distortion" now correctly deals damage at the end of the turn in the last round of its duration.
Effects of the type "prevents health restoration" now block healing from all game mechanics without exception.
The Mist Qilin is now correctly protected from Speed and Initiative reduction effects by its passive ability.
The "Murderous Glee" passive now correctly triggers even if the stack previously killed an enemy with a counter-attack.
"Naira's Kiss" now triggers even when a stack ends its turn after the timer expires. Its damage is also now correctly reduced by bonuses of the type "reduces all incoming damage."
The "Buckler" artifact now correctly allows counter-attacks against enemies with "Swift Strike" if that property was gained during combat.
A Phoenix resurrected via the "Immortal" passive can no longer use abilities before awakening.
Stacks with the Ranged Attack property now behave correctly under the "Berserk" effect, creature passives trigger properly, and Iriyads no longer damage themselves.
Abyssal Envoys under the "Will of the Abyss" ability no longer gain an extra turn when positive Morale triggers.
Several game mechanics and effects that previously failed to trigger after the last enemy was killed now work correctly.

Creatures

The Infiltrator passive ability "Sharper Blade" now works correctly.
The Infiltrator active ability "Shadowstrike" now correctly ignores the target's Defense.
The Hive Queen passive ability "Squash the Weak!" now works correctly.

Spells & Skills

The "Sorcery" skill now correctly enhances traps.
"Pocket Dimension" can no longer be cast in locations the hero cannot reach.
Fixed a bug with hero Xirr's specialization that caused him to be susceptible to negative effects in combat.
Uses of Global Map Spells obtained from scrolls are now correctly tracked when transferring scrolls to another hero.

Artifacts

The "Vortex Robe" artifact no longer triggers multiple times when interacting with multi-hit spells.

AI & Stability

The AI in combat no longer ignores restrictions on hero ability usage.
Fixed an AI freeze when attempting to capture a neutral city previously owned by a player who left or was defeated.
Fixed an AI freeze when one of its heroes interacted with a portal whose exit point was occupied by another hero.
In rare situations, the turn no longer freezes after a player is defeated.
Fixed a rare bug where a game save would fail to load.

Major New Features

1. Alliance System

The Alliance system has been added, allowing players to team up and fight together against opponents. As part of an Alliance, players have access to the following:

Simultaneous turns with no restrictions in online play. Allied players meeting on the map do not switch to sequential turns — they continue acting simultaneously.
A temporary lock system for players and objects has been added to support this mechanic. For example, while a player is in combat, their ally cannot interact with their heroes. The lock is lifted immediately after combat ends.
Allies share the fog of war and can see each other's planned movement paths.
Allied heroes can freely interact with one another through the standard exchange window, where both players can give and take artifacts and armies.
Players can send and request resources through a dedicated interface. The player list panel has been updated to display more notifications for easier trading.
Via "Remote Footholds" and "Pocket Dimension", allies gain access to a shared Alliance storage for remote transfer of artifacts and armies.
Several new templates specifically designed for Alliance play have been added to the game.

2. Save & Load UI Update

The save and load interface and file structure have been completely overhauled.

Each match now has its own profile that stores its saves.
Saves can be sorted by date, name, and in-game time.
A save can now be loaded directly from this window without going through the lobby.
Save information has been significantly expanded: the window now shows a minimap screenshot, hero roster, and other details.
Saves are split into Single Player and Multiplayer tabs.
Filters by save type have been added: Campaign, Template, Scenario, Map, Tutorial, Challenge, Other. The Multiplayer tab also includes a filter by connection type: All, Hotseat, Online.
Bulk deletion of saves is now available.

3. Quick Start Update

The Quick Start interface has been significantly reworked:

Templates and scenarios now display much more detailed information.
Sorting for templates and scenarios has been added.
Tags have been added to help find templates and scenarios suited to your playstyle.

4. Fully Random Map Generator

Since Early Access launch, the game has featured a random map generator — but it only worked based on pre-made templates. This update adds a fully random map generator that creates a unique map from scratch based on your chosen settings. The feature is available in single-player Quick Start mode. First, choose the map's base settings:

Game mode: multi-hero or single hero.
Map size.
Number of players.
Alliances: if enabled, players are randomly assigned to teams (when possible).
Overall zone richness and content density.
Overall map difficulty.
Symmetry: if enabled, the map will have a symmetrical structure. An asymmetrical map may be completely unpredictable.
Win conditions.

Then, just like in regular Quick Start, you choose your faction, hero, and difficulty level — and begin the game.

5. Emoji Wheel & Notification System Update

The Emoji Wheel has been fully updated, along with improvements to the companion notification system:

The Emoji Wheel is now available not only on the global map, but also in combat and in towns.
Customization of the wheel's content has been significantly improved.
New emojies have been added.
The player list now displays notifications sent by other players, both in expanded and collapsed view.

6. Matchmaking System Update

Alongside the rating reset, we are introducing a number of important changes to the matchmaking system:

An automated cheater detection algorithm and a low-priority system have been added.
All players now start with a rating of 1000 regardless of the skill level chosen before calibration matches.
The calibration process has been adjusted: wins during calibration now grant additional points independent of the base gain.
The number of points gained and lost per match now depends on the player's current rank. The higher the rank, the fewer points earned for a win and the more lost for a defeat. For example, at the lowest rank a win grants 40 points and a loss costs 10. At the highest rank it's reversed: 10 for a win and 40 for a loss.
The influence of rating difference between players on the final point totals has been significantly increased.

Minor Gameplay Changes

The selected alternative camera position in combat is now saved between battles and applied immediately, not from the next battle onwards.
Traps automatically created during a siege now take priority over other traps and cannot be destroyed by them.
Bonuses that increase maximum HP no longer reduce the number of Fire Larvae summoned to the battlefield.
The "Emerald Resonance Controller" artifact now also protects temporary creatures from banishment.
The Haven law "Sacred Lands" has been replaced by "Sacred Protection," making friendly heroes immune to negative effects in combat and on the adventure map.