Grover’s Expedition

raspisnoy, have you tried playing this map on the HotA version with NCF disabled?

I hadn't even thought of it. The thing is, alternative creatures make the game much more challenging (for example, energy elementals (default air elementals) immediately attack with lightning and have incredibly high initiative). Or, in packs, there are usually 3-4 different types of creatures (from different and non-faction creatures, and with a lot of resistance to almost all elements). The interest increases many times over, as the usual (and well-known) combat tactics don't work. So, the default NPCs are no longer interesting. I just finished "Temporal Paradox" (by this author) - and there, on the contrary, the dwarves are too overpowered, and the alternative NCF armies guarding treasures and upgrades are just an easy warm-up before the serious beatings from the dwarves. Especially when the goal is to win without any losses. In "Paradox," I suffered the biggest losses only from the dwarves (the guy with the ballista, who was shooting at the castle, turned out to be imbued with Divine Vengeance).
One thing I don't like about map authors is when they give opponents overpowered abilities (for example, summoning a bunch of units at once out of thin air or giving the opponent double turns). It makes you want to spit and abandon the map. You play and build a combat strategy, taking into account your knowledge of the opponent's abilities and the abilities of his troops, and then you get wild and meaningless randomness (it's like in a race - you agreed on a street race with your two Ladas, and he shows up in a Ferrari). I quit Heroes 3 back then (I was young)... a normal map, and by the end of the FIRST week, the opponent has 50 level 7 creatures. I resigned myself to it; life is cruel and unfair.