kolotok
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Map: "Field of Wonders" 《壮志雄心》
author: no, not Leonid Yakubovich, but Woxin
Other creations by this author can be found on maps4heroes, for example, Tear in Long March, Enemy at the Gates
1. Another Chinese map, rating 8/10
I am continuing my series of walkthroughs for Chinese maps, mostly selected from gamerhome. I try to choose maps that aren't overexposed on this site, as well as those without a walkthrough (or if one exists, I only look at it after completing the map).
As is typical for Chinese maps: everything is in Chinese, but there is little text; no impassable areas were noticed; lack of spells, absence of taverns, etc.
It is highly recommended to use Prospector and a map editor to understand where to go.
I classify this as a dynamic map: the AI roam the ENTIRE map, build up their strength, and head toward you. You, however, are limited to certain territories and passage guards and/or tents. Therefore, arriving and killing any of the AI in the short term is not possible.
The whole map is like an open thoroughfare. The AI move around mixed together, swarm you collectively, and try to capture your castles.
No tricks or bugs are intended for completion; simply fight the enemy and follow the designated route. It's a pure combat and strategy map. There is no real novelty or level 6424 heroes. Overall, it gets a 7-8 out of 10.
Map feature: Grails are placed EVERYWHERE + there is a constant weekly additional creature growth in all castles (it varies from castle to castle), so over time the AI can accumulate VERY large forces and endless money. In a couple of weeks, any AI can amass significant strength, so the strategy of "I'll build up troops first, then go fight" won't work. If you don't hurry, the AI will eat all the perks at the starting respawn.
In one of the Stronghold castles, by the time I arrived, there was an overflow of level 1 troops exceeding 37 thousand, so I couldn't buy them out! Yes, EVERY castle has a grail. Creature growth from events is huge.
No bugs or impassable areas were noticed on the map.
We have no Necromancer; the number of heroes in the first hard-to-reach tavern is strictly limited (you cannot buy AI heroes). You can try to be clever, but it's ineffective (I didn't do it once), as you then have to spend a couple of days leaving the tavern.
Artifact sets can be collected (Angel Alliance, Titan's Roar, AOTD, Sniper's Bow, etc.).
2. Locations and Walkthrough Route
The map can conventionally be divided into 4 locations:
Overworld 1: our starting respawn, southern peninsular-water area. Inferno, Haven (elf), same Haven (archangel), and Swamp castles.
Overworld 2: north of the map, snows. Castles: Temple, Stronghold.
Dungeon 1: 3/4 of the map is a swamp respawn, all types of castles.
Dungeon 2: far south of the map, water-island respawn, MANY angel external dwellings.
Passages from location to location are guarded by bosses.
So, we start in Overworld 1, likely as Mephala (photo changed :) and starting skills.
Already at 1-3-1, the first AI arrives with great strength!
There are almost no taverns on the same map; we recruit heroes gradually from prisons. At the starting respawn, immediately release Christian (will be a loser until the end of the game) and Elezar with Resurrection magic – our main for 90% of the battles on the map. Level him up immediately as the primary hero. Later, free another loser – Aeris.
Since the respawn is water-peninsular, movement consists of hiring a boat / boarding / disembarking. A great waste of time since we don't have Water Walking, and neither does the AI.
You need to hurry very much on this map, because very soon the AI start arriving with far greater strength, and escaping them while boarding/disembarking boats is often impossible.
Main tasks at this stage (you can choose the order yourself):
1) free Orrin at point 122-99-0; he is the first of ours who knows Town Portal magic (did it at 2-2-6),
2) free Nilu at point 42-70-0; she has Boots of Levitation, which must not fall into AI hands, and they can release her (did it at 3-2-7),
3) capture the Stronghold at point 74-41-0, kill Gretchen there, then immediately take the Earth book from behind the guard (did it at 3-4-2),
4) capture the Rampart at point 4-106-0, where everyone should learn Water Walking magic (did it at 4-1-3), and immediately block this castle so no AI can enter!
Along the way in other castles, learn important magic: Blindness, Summon Boat, Flood Boat, etc.
at 3-2-5 an AI visited a red tent and came to visit us with all their strength.
At the end of the location, visit the blue tent, go to Fafnir, kill him; slightly above, free Kirry with the BOOK OF FIRE MAGIC (Berserk + Rage are everything). To move to a new respawn, you need to kill Brohild (lots of strength, but only Healing magic).
In Overworld 2: it is advisable to move very quickly from the west to the far east of the location, capturing all castles and killing Solmir; this can be done in 1 – 1.5 weeks. Because after that, all AI start heading to this respawn, and since it's a corridor, there's nowhere much to run. Be sure to buy up all Azure Dragons along the way (at least 10-14 per week should be bought).
At the end of the location, you need to kill Keg Heck, which is done quite easily by Orrin with 3 stacks of archers and a Golden Bow, practically without losses. And immediately after – Tazar. For the fight with Tazik, take bulls; only they can break through his Azure and Crystal Dragons quickly.
Dungeon 1: capture it from east to west, visit upgrade trees, double mana in the dungeon. You need to kill 3 bosses: Jedidiah, Grindan, and Aenain; with Elezar's abundance of mana, this is not very difficult. By this point, Elezar already has about 3.5 thousand mana; after doubling – 7 thousand! you can do anything! For Grindan, we get the Water magic book from the seer; we can finally make clones for archangels for resurrections.
In Dungeon 2: quickly capture all castles on the respawn and especially quickly – the archangel external dwellings. With all external dwellings and the Legion Statue, we can get 22 archangels per castle x 6-7 castles (depending on which were captured by AI at the end of the week), getting more than 100-150 archangels a week (including angels from external dwellings). Accumulate strength as needed (or not) and go to the final boss – Lord Haart. You can fight him with Elezar (by this point we have over 10 thousand mana!), but Mephala is better. Mephala has enough 1000 mana for archangel clones/resurrection, plus we have the Medal of Vulnerability; we can spawn Azure Dragons – oops, and he cannot heal them!
3. Our Heroes
Our main hero is Elezar, an Intelligence specialist. He will handle most battles, resurrecting our forces.
First castle: Orrin, handles many easy battles with archers, especially after leveling to 30-40.
Second castle: Kirry, chases down AI losers, captures castles with growth, circles the north of the map in a week, buying Azure Dragons, etc.
Adelaide – knows Town Portal, transports/moves/sells/buys troops, transfers artifacts, etc.
Mephala / starting hero – a loser until the very end of the game; only at the end of the map did I level him for the final battle with Lord Haart, essentially for just one battle. You can build him up from the start, but in my opinion, this would detract from the game since Elezar is more effective in the first half.
At the very end of the game, you can free Roland who knows Clone, Dimension Door, and Town Portal, but there's almost no use for it anymore as the map is nearly completed. Roland is only needed to finish off AI castles that are otherwise inaccessible (guarded by Azure Dragons on cursed ground) + he gives the Medal of Vulnerability.
In terms of magic in castles, there is ABSOLUTELY NO: Fly and Dimension Door, Town Portal, Clone, Rage, Berserk. All of this is obtained either from scrolls or magic books.
There is no Town Portal magic in other castles, and no one to teach it, so it's important to skillfully use our heroes who know Town Portal (Orrin, Kirry, Adelaide, Roland). One Earth book is hard to share between Elezar and Mephala, so I gave up on Mephala, left her for secondary functions, and the book traveled with Elezar since he doesn't know Town Portal, and mobility on the map is important.
Logistics and pathfinding are important for everyone, as half the map is in snows and swamps.
Towards the end of the map, heroes can be passed through upgrade trees; before the finale, Tazar and Elezar can be boosted to level 88.
4. Strategy and Tricks on the Map
There are many enemy heroes; they are released by controllers from prisons one after another. They build strength very quickly. Most of them have a bravery icon, so Blindness, Forgetfulness, or Berserk don't work. Some even travel with a Cloak of Denial; these are extremely hard to kill without losses. Some cannot be killed at all without huge losses: Thorgrim with magic immunity, Mutare Drake with the Power of Dragon Fathers, etc. Often forces consolidate on one hero. Therefore, general tips for this map, at least those I followed:
1) At the starting respawn, use free heroes to "dig in" around islands and peninsulas. All Inferno castles + almost all Swamp ones can be dug in very quickly. Since the AI doesn't know Water Walking, they will never get into them. Angelic castles are harder since they can be reached via one-way teleports, but it's recommended to dig those in too. The point of "digging in" is huge: the AI won't capture the castles, and all growth is yours.
2) There is a constant lack of money on the map; it's impossible to buy everyone out. Therefore, where it's obvious the AI will capture a castle, you must buy out the forces and sell them in the Stronghold. That is, constantly buy out and immediately sell forces so they don't go to the AI.
3) Due to constant growth and lack of money, it's advisable to save up for a couple of weeks. We can have 4 Ramparts. If you keep them until the end of the week, 40% gold is added. This way you can accumulate impressive sums for the final buyout. Ramparts and archangel castles are our priority for strength.
4) Since there is VERY large growth in all castles, you can save money, buy out everyone from levels 1-4, and DEMONIZE. With 15-20 thousand demons, you can pull off very difficult battles. For the finale, I gathered over 160 thousand demons, but it's possible to win without them.
5) If you stay in one place too long, the AI will arrive with superior forces and we will suffer defeat. You must take back their castles and creature growth.
6) It is not necessary to kill all AI heroes; you can lure them into water traps, capture their castles, and the AI will die off on their own (that's how I dealt with Thorgrim and a couple of others). Though this trick is optional.
7) Standard troop set for battles (depending on situation): demons (in case of demonizing), archangels, archdevils, azure dragons, grand elves, castle archers and fanatics, bulls from the swamp, titans.
8) Since Elezar is an Intelligence specialist, many battles are based on draining the AI's mana (in the field or in a castle – doesn't matter). Try to leave the AI with a unit that hits without retaliation (psychic elemental, hydra, fairy, archdevil, harpy) or a shooter with a cart for endless shots; resurrect ourselves while the AI uses their attack magic on us, or better yet, casts Blindness one by one. In short, wait until the AI's mana runs out, then fully resurrect. With 1.5-3 thousand mana, these are standard battles. Of course, don't forget to equip Shackles of War; the AI might flee.
9) A couple of AI heroes actually know Water Walking: Dessa, Lorelei, Tunnar, Gird. They should be caught and killed at the first opportunity since they can capture "dug-in" castles.
Something new I learned on this map is that you can assign Titan's Roar magic to the AI, but they only use it when their mana hits "0". Therefore, you need to either equip an artifact for lightning block or finish the battle with the AI before their mana hits "0".
I liked the map. Below are the save file and screenshots of some battles.
author: no, not Leonid Yakubovich, but Woxin
Other creations by this author can be found on maps4heroes, for example, Tear in Long March, Enemy at the Gates
1. Another Chinese map, rating 8/10
I am continuing my series of walkthroughs for Chinese maps, mostly selected from gamerhome. I try to choose maps that aren't overexposed on this site, as well as those without a walkthrough (or if one exists, I only look at it after completing the map).
As is typical for Chinese maps: everything is in Chinese, but there is little text; no impassable areas were noticed; lack of spells, absence of taverns, etc.
It is highly recommended to use Prospector and a map editor to understand where to go.
I classify this as a dynamic map: the AI roam the ENTIRE map, build up their strength, and head toward you. You, however, are limited to certain territories and passage guards and/or tents. Therefore, arriving and killing any of the AI in the short term is not possible.
The whole map is like an open thoroughfare. The AI move around mixed together, swarm you collectively, and try to capture your castles.
No tricks or bugs are intended for completion; simply fight the enemy and follow the designated route. It's a pure combat and strategy map. There is no real novelty or level 6424 heroes. Overall, it gets a 7-8 out of 10.
Map feature: Grails are placed EVERYWHERE + there is a constant weekly additional creature growth in all castles (it varies from castle to castle), so over time the AI can accumulate VERY large forces and endless money. In a couple of weeks, any AI can amass significant strength, so the strategy of "I'll build up troops first, then go fight" won't work. If you don't hurry, the AI will eat all the perks at the starting respawn.
In one of the Stronghold castles, by the time I arrived, there was an overflow of level 1 troops exceeding 37 thousand, so I couldn't buy them out! Yes, EVERY castle has a grail. Creature growth from events is huge.
No bugs or impassable areas were noticed on the map.
We have no Necromancer; the number of heroes in the first hard-to-reach tavern is strictly limited (you cannot buy AI heroes). You can try to be clever, but it's ineffective (I didn't do it once), as you then have to spend a couple of days leaving the tavern.
Artifact sets can be collected (Angel Alliance, Titan's Roar, AOTD, Sniper's Bow, etc.).
2. Locations and Walkthrough Route
The map can conventionally be divided into 4 locations:
Overworld 1: our starting respawn, southern peninsular-water area. Inferno, Haven (elf), same Haven (archangel), and Swamp castles.
Overworld 2: north of the map, snows. Castles: Temple, Stronghold.
Dungeon 1: 3/4 of the map is a swamp respawn, all types of castles.
Dungeon 2: far south of the map, water-island respawn, MANY angel external dwellings.
Passages from location to location are guarded by bosses.
So, we start in Overworld 1, likely as Mephala (photo changed :) and starting skills.
Already at 1-3-1, the first AI arrives with great strength!
There are almost no taverns on the same map; we recruit heroes gradually from prisons. At the starting respawn, immediately release Christian (will be a loser until the end of the game) and Elezar with Resurrection magic – our main for 90% of the battles on the map. Level him up immediately as the primary hero. Later, free another loser – Aeris.
Since the respawn is water-peninsular, movement consists of hiring a boat / boarding / disembarking. A great waste of time since we don't have Water Walking, and neither does the AI.
You need to hurry very much on this map, because very soon the AI start arriving with far greater strength, and escaping them while boarding/disembarking boats is often impossible.
Main tasks at this stage (you can choose the order yourself):
1) free Orrin at point 122-99-0; he is the first of ours who knows Town Portal magic (did it at 2-2-6),
2) free Nilu at point 42-70-0; she has Boots of Levitation, which must not fall into AI hands, and they can release her (did it at 3-2-7),
3) capture the Stronghold at point 74-41-0, kill Gretchen there, then immediately take the Earth book from behind the guard (did it at 3-4-2),
4) capture the Rampart at point 4-106-0, where everyone should learn Water Walking magic (did it at 4-1-3), and immediately block this castle so no AI can enter!
Along the way in other castles, learn important magic: Blindness, Summon Boat, Flood Boat, etc.
at 3-2-5 an AI visited a red tent and came to visit us with all their strength.
At the end of the location, visit the blue tent, go to Fafnir, kill him; slightly above, free Kirry with the BOOK OF FIRE MAGIC (Berserk + Rage are everything). To move to a new respawn, you need to kill Brohild (lots of strength, but only Healing magic).
In Overworld 2: it is advisable to move very quickly from the west to the far east of the location, capturing all castles and killing Solmir; this can be done in 1 – 1.5 weeks. Because after that, all AI start heading to this respawn, and since it's a corridor, there's nowhere much to run. Be sure to buy up all Azure Dragons along the way (at least 10-14 per week should be bought).
At the end of the location, you need to kill Keg Heck, which is done quite easily by Orrin with 3 stacks of archers and a Golden Bow, practically without losses. And immediately after – Tazar. For the fight with Tazik, take bulls; only they can break through his Azure and Crystal Dragons quickly.
Dungeon 1: capture it from east to west, visit upgrade trees, double mana in the dungeon. You need to kill 3 bosses: Jedidiah, Grindan, and Aenain; with Elezar's abundance of mana, this is not very difficult. By this point, Elezar already has about 3.5 thousand mana; after doubling – 7 thousand! you can do anything! For Grindan, we get the Water magic book from the seer; we can finally make clones for archangels for resurrections.
In Dungeon 2: quickly capture all castles on the respawn and especially quickly – the archangel external dwellings. With all external dwellings and the Legion Statue, we can get 22 archangels per castle x 6-7 castles (depending on which were captured by AI at the end of the week), getting more than 100-150 archangels a week (including angels from external dwellings). Accumulate strength as needed (or not) and go to the final boss – Lord Haart. You can fight him with Elezar (by this point we have over 10 thousand mana!), but Mephala is better. Mephala has enough 1000 mana for archangel clones/resurrection, plus we have the Medal of Vulnerability; we can spawn Azure Dragons – oops, and he cannot heal them!
3. Our Heroes
Our main hero is Elezar, an Intelligence specialist. He will handle most battles, resurrecting our forces.
First castle: Orrin, handles many easy battles with archers, especially after leveling to 30-40.
Second castle: Kirry, chases down AI losers, captures castles with growth, circles the north of the map in a week, buying Azure Dragons, etc.
Adelaide – knows Town Portal, transports/moves/sells/buys troops, transfers artifacts, etc.
Mephala / starting hero – a loser until the very end of the game; only at the end of the map did I level him for the final battle with Lord Haart, essentially for just one battle. You can build him up from the start, but in my opinion, this would detract from the game since Elezar is more effective in the first half.
At the very end of the game, you can free Roland who knows Clone, Dimension Door, and Town Portal, but there's almost no use for it anymore as the map is nearly completed. Roland is only needed to finish off AI castles that are otherwise inaccessible (guarded by Azure Dragons on cursed ground) + he gives the Medal of Vulnerability.
In terms of magic in castles, there is ABSOLUTELY NO: Fly and Dimension Door, Town Portal, Clone, Rage, Berserk. All of this is obtained either from scrolls or magic books.
There is no Town Portal magic in other castles, and no one to teach it, so it's important to skillfully use our heroes who know Town Portal (Orrin, Kirry, Adelaide, Roland). One Earth book is hard to share between Elezar and Mephala, so I gave up on Mephala, left her for secondary functions, and the book traveled with Elezar since he doesn't know Town Portal, and mobility on the map is important.
Logistics and pathfinding are important for everyone, as half the map is in snows and swamps.
Towards the end of the map, heroes can be passed through upgrade trees; before the finale, Tazar and Elezar can be boosted to level 88.
4. Strategy and Tricks on the Map
There are many enemy heroes; they are released by controllers from prisons one after another. They build strength very quickly. Most of them have a bravery icon, so Blindness, Forgetfulness, or Berserk don't work. Some even travel with a Cloak of Denial; these are extremely hard to kill without losses. Some cannot be killed at all without huge losses: Thorgrim with magic immunity, Mutare Drake with the Power of Dragon Fathers, etc. Often forces consolidate on one hero. Therefore, general tips for this map, at least those I followed:
1) At the starting respawn, use free heroes to "dig in" around islands and peninsulas. All Inferno castles + almost all Swamp ones can be dug in very quickly. Since the AI doesn't know Water Walking, they will never get into them. Angelic castles are harder since they can be reached via one-way teleports, but it's recommended to dig those in too. The point of "digging in" is huge: the AI won't capture the castles, and all growth is yours.
2) There is a constant lack of money on the map; it's impossible to buy everyone out. Therefore, where it's obvious the AI will capture a castle, you must buy out the forces and sell them in the Stronghold. That is, constantly buy out and immediately sell forces so they don't go to the AI.
3) Due to constant growth and lack of money, it's advisable to save up for a couple of weeks. We can have 4 Ramparts. If you keep them until the end of the week, 40% gold is added. This way you can accumulate impressive sums for the final buyout. Ramparts and archangel castles are our priority for strength.
4) Since there is VERY large growth in all castles, you can save money, buy out everyone from levels 1-4, and DEMONIZE. With 15-20 thousand demons, you can pull off very difficult battles. For the finale, I gathered over 160 thousand demons, but it's possible to win without them.
5) If you stay in one place too long, the AI will arrive with superior forces and we will suffer defeat. You must take back their castles and creature growth.
6) It is not necessary to kill all AI heroes; you can lure them into water traps, capture their castles, and the AI will die off on their own (that's how I dealt with Thorgrim and a couple of others). Though this trick is optional.
7) Standard troop set for battles (depending on situation): demons (in case of demonizing), archangels, archdevils, azure dragons, grand elves, castle archers and fanatics, bulls from the swamp, titans.
8) Since Elezar is an Intelligence specialist, many battles are based on draining the AI's mana (in the field or in a castle – doesn't matter). Try to leave the AI with a unit that hits without retaliation (psychic elemental, hydra, fairy, archdevil, harpy) or a shooter with a cart for endless shots; resurrect ourselves while the AI uses their attack magic on us, or better yet, casts Blindness one by one. In short, wait until the AI's mana runs out, then fully resurrect. With 1.5-3 thousand mana, these are standard battles. Of course, don't forget to equip Shackles of War; the AI might flee.
9) A couple of AI heroes actually know Water Walking: Dessa, Lorelei, Tunnar, Gird. They should be caught and killed at the first opportunity since they can capture "dug-in" castles.
Something new I learned on this map is that you can assign Titan's Roar magic to the AI, but they only use it when their mana hits "0". Therefore, you need to either equip an artifact for lightning block or finish the battle with the AI before their mana hits "0".
I liked the map. Below are the save file and screenshots of some battles.