kolotok
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Map Title: 25more next
Version: English, 3.9
Author: Frifix
Downloaded: from the Heroesportal map catalog
I also played this map. Probably the most challenging map I've played recently.
I'll add my two cents :)
The map is easier than some Chinese counterparts with triggers because, on this map, we usually choose when to kill the enemy and release a new hero. You can delay releasing someone. A more complex type of trigger: when enemies are released automatically (for example, building a dwelling for a passage guard or redeeming creatures from dwellings into passage guards). In the second case, they all appear at once, and you can no longer control this. In our case, you can still do some management. I enjoyed the map, and I played it based on your recommendation. Below is a copy-paste from heroesportal, where I left a similar review.
I completed the map in 66 days. I killed Mom Hurry on 3-1-3 and then waited a week for the orange hero to die. The playthrough was very similar to the scenario described by Marlo_Stanfield in his link.
The map is completely dynamic; you can go anywhere, and the AI also has freedom.
I would rate the map 9 out of 10 (the ending is a bit weak and doesn't allow a slow player to complete the map 100%, IMHO). The map is definitely worth playing and interesting. You won't have to rack your brains over quests; instead, there will be constant battles with the AI and incredibly long days with 12-16 heroes moving per day. A game week could last 2-3 hours.
I can add some additional information (SPOILER WARNING):
1. Choosing a main hero. I chose Nela, meaning that the morale of Mephala will not be useful in many places (there are no difficulties in obtaining morale on the map), and I didn't want to fill the main hero's stack with morale, so I chose Nela.
2. Main hero development: Wisdom + Defense (given at the beginning).
Must take: Earth + Water + Intelligence (at the end of the map, intelligence may not be needed, as there will be mana doublers, but at the beginning and in the middle of the map, it is extremely difficult without it).
Highly desirable: Fire (you can use berserk and blindness without restrictions, especially in the final battle), Logistics (how can you do without it on the entire map?), Tactics (useful throughout the map). In general, Fire + Logistics + Tactics can be replaced, for example, with Archery, Attack, or Pathfinding (if you are playing for speed), but with them, the playthrough is easier.
There were no moments on the map where I critically needed Attack or Archery. Magic will be much better than Attack in difficult battles. On the map, I didn't visit all the skill-boosting structures (I didn't have enough time), but you need to visit all the libraries.
3. Development of secondary heroes needed for a) diplomacy and joining (2 diplomats are enough), b) scouting + distracting the enemy + capturing weak enemy heroes + gathering resources, so we take Wisdom + Logistics + Pathfinding + Intelligence + Earth + Water for everyone, c) hit-and-run tactics (using berserk or something else), so it is also desirable to take Fire for many.
It is better not to make a hero with the retraining skill (except for Ain), because secondary heroes can learn magic (for example, Town Portal), then you dismiss them, and then the AI can buy them back (this has happened), and it is better to avoid this.
4. Necromancy: yes or no? According to the map editor, there is an option to free Vidomina and farm liches. But it is almost impossible to do this. By the time we free her, there is ALREADY NOTHING LEFT on the map to make liches; there is simply nothing to kill. Since the map is completely open for AI playthroughs, they quickly eliminate all neutrals, and we arrive in completely deserted lands. Therefore, I completely and immediately rejected the idea of liches and hid Vidomina further away. The only way to make liches is to save/load at the end of the week and try to farm creatures for a week that can be turned into liches. I also tried to place a Grail in Inferno (for a week of imps), but it cannot be placed there. By the time Vidomina is freed, there were only a couple of wyverns left on the water, as well as remnants of ships, plus a few neutrals underground. But all together, this would give no more than a couple of hundred liches, which don't fundamentally change anything. Perhaps the author intended to mislead the player (as was the case on some Chinese maps), but I don't see how to follow the path of lich development.
5. Funny moments: It looks very funny (really!), when events start taking away all your resources and money, and the AI tries to give them to you, and this happens every day! :)
And the name of the orange boss, Mom Hurry :) with a corresponding facial expression :)
6. Ally. He survived, but I deliberately gave the enemies the opportunity to take his castle, which he immediately retook. Therefore, until the end of the map, the ally did not provide any military assistance, but he helped with finances and resources when needed.
7. Enemy heroes. Killing secondary AI heroes is not difficult. It's worse when you kill several enemies of the same color at once; then they are released from prisons simultaneously and add all their strength to one hero. Try to avoid this situation; it is better to kill them one at a time. Otherwise, you will have an enemy main hero flying around the map, and you won't be able to do anything to him. On the other hand, you can kill all the secondary heroes, and it is easier to play against one, even a strong enemy: you can lure him, capture all his castles, and use hit-and-run tactics more effectively with one hero with large forces. There were a couple of difficult battles, the most difficult of which was with Lord Haart. I had to use hit-and-run tactics to deplete his strength and mana and attack on the same day with the bug of dismissing/hiring a hero (the only time I did this on the map). The final battle with the orange hero, having the Vulnerability medal and berserk, is not difficult; I passed it in 3 tries. Sea-Lord (Tant) could not get out of his starting zone and stayed there until the end of the game.
8. Army. At the beginning, the army consists of Titans, nagas, mages, in short, all snow creatures. Later, we add archers and fanatics. As soon as we start taking utopias of dragons or find treasures for gold, we need to turn archers into snipers and fanatics and mages into sorcerers. In general, the army in the late game: archers, titans, archdevils, sorcerers, snipers. The rest are to taste: djinn, nagas.
9. Speedrun. The author should add a description to the site that the map should be played as quickly as possible; otherwise, resources will stop coming, and we will no longer be able to buy anything, and if we haven't managed to gain strength, we won't be able to. For a speedrun, you need to move and occupy all your heroes, and this is not 8 (as you might think), but 12-16. At the end, I had something like 14-16 upgraded heroes who moved in turn and then hid in castles.
10. Artifacts: critical artifacts are the Legion Statue (which must be collected), the Titan's Roar (also to be collected from killed enemies) for the quest, the Admiral's Hat (there was a set of 3-4), you can make a Horn of Plenty for money and resources, and several others. I didn't have time to take the Dragon's Blood Vial for the quest and didn't collect the set for +25% health, but it wasn't needed.
11. Flight + teleport. After getting the Angel Wings, I didn't give them up but managed to fly to the phoenix dwellings, from there - to Mom Hurry, and from her - to the teleport for the teleport spell. That is, I didn't give up a lot of the army for quests (I even suspect that it is impossible to do this, and that I chose the only option).