Marlo_Stanfield
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Campaign Name: In Search of the Sword
Author: Maxuta-Phoenix
Downloaded: from this post
I returned to the game after six months and decided to finish off the campaigns by this author. "In Search of the Sword" is the first campaign chronologically. The main characters overlap with those in "The Magnificent Four" and "Risen from Hell": Lord Max, Anastasia, and Vasyok Skull. Additionally, an allied Necromancer, Lord Gena, helps us in several missions. This time, the plot goal is clear from the title itself. The sword that needs to be found is Armageddon's Blade. I can say that this campaign is significantly less demanding than the other two. The style is the same, but this time, with rare exceptions, nothing supernatural is required of the player; therefore, I can recommend "In Search of the Sword" to a wider circle of Heroes players than the subsequent campaigns. It is also noteworthy that during the walkthrough, the author comments on various gameplay moments and even gives direct instructions on what needs to be done, which wasn't noticed before (or rather later, since this is the first campaign). In terms of skills, Lord Max's development is important. If in "Risen from Hell," for example, Eagle Eye was the key skill and we had to figure that out ourselves, here the author says at the start of the walkthrough that without Diplomacy, mission 7 will be impossible. Although I would say not only the seventh :)
Mission 1. The Breakthrough
Lord Max must break out of the Necromancers' encirclement, rescue Anastasia, and obtain the captain's hat. The author immediately introduces us to the original features of his style and makes it clear that one cannot relax here. We essentially have one city (Rampart), which must not be lost. Meanwhile, the AI Necromancers have four isolated castles between which they can move rapidly. This means that in terms of growth, we are far behind in the long run, even despite having a grail from the start. To win, we need to visit a bunch of tents at different ends of the map and sail to the top left corner to the prison where Anastasia is held. Notably, the mission has a double defeat condition: the AI can take the captain's hat itself at its designated spot, or after a certain amount of time, an unkillable Dream Demon awakens and captures our Rampart. The key moment in the walkthrough comes down to the need to kill 5 magic dragons as quickly as possible and receive 300 grand as a reward. After that, victory is only a matter of time. The final days of the mission are curious, as the AI surprisingly boldly rushed to grab its hat behind the black gates.
Mission 2. Showdown by the River
Lord Max and Anastasia sailed away from the Necromancers, intending to meet with dwarves and find out the location of Armageddon's Blade, but suddenly Lord Max saw that Anastasia had disappeared along with the captain's hat. Then the ship crashed against coastal rocks. Lord Max must find his wife and the hat. The mission is notable for the high importance of Diplomacy; in my case, the outcome of the game was decided by joining two packs of unicorns. The key opponent is our closest neighbor, Barbarian Matsui; other rivals are insignificant. It is also noteworthy that we are without mana almost all the time here, as there are non-deactivatable events before the AI cities that strip spell points.
Mission 3. Knee-Deep in the Swamp
The soap opera of the complicated relationship between Lord Max and Anastasia continues. After being freed from prison, she ran away again and even poisoned him. The first symptom is the disappearance of all spells from the book :) Lord Max ended up in a swamp together with his accomplice from the previous mission, Vasyok Skull. Things are very bad for him: he turned out to be a professional alcoholic, spends the whole mission sitting in the tavern drinking our money, and at the same time, he must not be harmed, otherwise the mission will be lost. I was especially amused by the author's message in the mid-game: "Listen, Vasyok!!! Maybe stop drinking? We have a crisis here; we're selling resources every week because of you at prices that make your hair fall out from horror! Please, stop drinking." Gameplay-wise, this mission can be considered one of the author's best calling cards. A positional war against swamp dwellers, which is essentially fought at sea, where it is important to maintain control over beacons, of which there are an immense number here. The key tactic during the walkthrough is fortifying captured islands; otherwise, crushing the enemies is extremely problematic, and protecting our clumsy Vasyok is impossible without this.
Mission 4. Rehabilitation (Path to Revival)
The potion Anastasia used to poison Lord Max eventually turned him into a Necromancer. To return to his former appearance, it is necessary to find a vial of dragon blood and bring it to the mages. This is the only mission in the campaign that I would classify as difficult. The gameplay is specific; the author tests how fast we can run. All because of a special defeat condition. You cannot lose the tower village located next to the orange player, which is guarded by a measly 70 Archmagi. The AI spends some time doing its own thing and then, as if nothing happened, attempts to demolish our unfortunate outpost as early as the 2nd month. Therefore, you have to rush across the map like a madman. Join crosses and minotaurs along the way, fight through black dragons, then run crisscross to visit tents, take down a pack of crystal dragons, and deliver the vial to the tower. The horse was exhausted by the end :)
Mission 5. Alliance
Here we are offered to play as Lord Max's antagonist — Anastasia. And her ally will be her Necromancer buddy, Lord Gena. Anastasia helps the Necromancers improve their situation by fighting forest dwellers led by Vasyok Skull. The mission objective is to capture all mines. The enemy cities are behind red border gates, and we need to solve a small puzzle to visit the red tent in time. The mission carries no other difficulties. Except that one of the enemies has a town portal, which could probably cause some problems.
Mission 6. Anastasia's Brains
Vasyok Skull assured Anastasia that Lord Max is heavy-handed but light-hearted. Vasyok Skull promised to be the parliamentarian in the reconciliation. Another specific mission, which involves playing a game of neutralizing enemy magic. Both the Cloak of Negation and the Red Orb will be useful, as the main enemies have magic stats of 99, and such happiness cannot be countered any other way. A mission whose very title hints at the need to act cunningly. In the instructions, the author mentions the special importance for completion of maintaining control over a tower called "Checkpoint." And hints that the player will understand the importance of the Checkpoint as they go. I must admit, I never did :) But in my case, Anastasia acted so cunningly that I suspect even the author didn't foresee this method. I won't reveal my cards and suggest you try to play it yourselves. I'll only say that during the process, it was critically important to throw all forces into as quickly as possible breaking the external dwelling of the azure dragons, because even one dragon in the early stages of completion is capable of making a difference.
Mission 7. Expert
Lord Max meets Vasyok Skull with news about Anastasia. The description says: "All the malice of the creator was contained in this mission. Very many will break on this mission!!!". It's funny to hear that, knowing what missions he has in subsequent campaigns. And here? There is a task at the beginning purely based on Diplomacy specifics. You need to sequentially join several packs of elves, turn them into snipers, and hand them over to the pass guard. The author warned us right at the start to take Diplomacy, so it's unclear who was supposed to break here and why. Especially since you then need to fight through two Conflux heroes, descend underground, dig up a grail, and deliver it to the starting city, which is done without effort in half an hour.
Mission 8. Armageddon's Blade
The author establishes a tradition of epic finales. XL map, combining the efforts of all heroes from previous missions, the blade guarded by 8000 azure dragons. But it must be admitted that the first attempt was a failure. Diplomacy is too OP, so instead of fighting through the same-type guards of the keymaster's tents (like 100 fairy dragons), you can start joining them very early. The surface enemies are frankly weak and just got in the way instead of creating any tangible problems. And the only serious opponent, the Dream Demon, wandered aimlessly underground, where we didn't even have to descend. But he too could be taken out if necessary. The scenario allows for it.
In conclusion, I can note that Maxuta-Phoenix has occupied a special place in the same-map history I've completed. Even from the perspective of 2020, when these campaigns will soon hit their twentieth anniversary, playing them is still interesting, which cannot be said for the absolute majority of other works from those times. I believe that any player interested in map walkthroughs should experience Maxuta's work themselves, as they have no equals. And if you don't feel like a hardcore player, then you should start specifically with the search for Armageddon's Blade.
P.S. Also completed the author's fourth campaign "Strength and Mind. Mind and Strength." Unfortunately, it cannot be called a full-fledged campaign. These are more like unfinished drafts, work on which stopped almost at the very beginning. The second mission is notable in that it is probably the first puzzle map in the history of Heroes III and is quite high quality for its time and place. You can entertain yourself for about half an hour.
Author: Maxuta-Phoenix
Downloaded: from this post
I returned to the game after six months and decided to finish off the campaigns by this author. "In Search of the Sword" is the first campaign chronologically. The main characters overlap with those in "The Magnificent Four" and "Risen from Hell": Lord Max, Anastasia, and Vasyok Skull. Additionally, an allied Necromancer, Lord Gena, helps us in several missions. This time, the plot goal is clear from the title itself. The sword that needs to be found is Armageddon's Blade. I can say that this campaign is significantly less demanding than the other two. The style is the same, but this time, with rare exceptions, nothing supernatural is required of the player; therefore, I can recommend "In Search of the Sword" to a wider circle of Heroes players than the subsequent campaigns. It is also noteworthy that during the walkthrough, the author comments on various gameplay moments and even gives direct instructions on what needs to be done, which wasn't noticed before (or rather later, since this is the first campaign). In terms of skills, Lord Max's development is important. If in "Risen from Hell," for example, Eagle Eye was the key skill and we had to figure that out ourselves, here the author says at the start of the walkthrough that without Diplomacy, mission 7 will be impossible. Although I would say not only the seventh :)
Mission 1. The Breakthrough
Lord Max must break out of the Necromancers' encirclement, rescue Anastasia, and obtain the captain's hat. The author immediately introduces us to the original features of his style and makes it clear that one cannot relax here. We essentially have one city (Rampart), which must not be lost. Meanwhile, the AI Necromancers have four isolated castles between which they can move rapidly. This means that in terms of growth, we are far behind in the long run, even despite having a grail from the start. To win, we need to visit a bunch of tents at different ends of the map and sail to the top left corner to the prison where Anastasia is held. Notably, the mission has a double defeat condition: the AI can take the captain's hat itself at its designated spot, or after a certain amount of time, an unkillable Dream Demon awakens and captures our Rampart. The key moment in the walkthrough comes down to the need to kill 5 magic dragons as quickly as possible and receive 300 grand as a reward. After that, victory is only a matter of time. The final days of the mission are curious, as the AI surprisingly boldly rushed to grab its hat behind the black gates.
Mission 2. Showdown by the River
Lord Max and Anastasia sailed away from the Necromancers, intending to meet with dwarves and find out the location of Armageddon's Blade, but suddenly Lord Max saw that Anastasia had disappeared along with the captain's hat. Then the ship crashed against coastal rocks. Lord Max must find his wife and the hat. The mission is notable for the high importance of Diplomacy; in my case, the outcome of the game was decided by joining two packs of unicorns. The key opponent is our closest neighbor, Barbarian Matsui; other rivals are insignificant. It is also noteworthy that we are without mana almost all the time here, as there are non-deactivatable events before the AI cities that strip spell points.
Mission 3. Knee-Deep in the Swamp
The soap opera of the complicated relationship between Lord Max and Anastasia continues. After being freed from prison, she ran away again and even poisoned him. The first symptom is the disappearance of all spells from the book :) Lord Max ended up in a swamp together with his accomplice from the previous mission, Vasyok Skull. Things are very bad for him: he turned out to be a professional alcoholic, spends the whole mission sitting in the tavern drinking our money, and at the same time, he must not be harmed, otherwise the mission will be lost. I was especially amused by the author's message in the mid-game: "Listen, Vasyok!!! Maybe stop drinking? We have a crisis here; we're selling resources every week because of you at prices that make your hair fall out from horror! Please, stop drinking." Gameplay-wise, this mission can be considered one of the author's best calling cards. A positional war against swamp dwellers, which is essentially fought at sea, where it is important to maintain control over beacons, of which there are an immense number here. The key tactic during the walkthrough is fortifying captured islands; otherwise, crushing the enemies is extremely problematic, and protecting our clumsy Vasyok is impossible without this.
Mission 4. Rehabilitation (Path to Revival)
The potion Anastasia used to poison Lord Max eventually turned him into a Necromancer. To return to his former appearance, it is necessary to find a vial of dragon blood and bring it to the mages. This is the only mission in the campaign that I would classify as difficult. The gameplay is specific; the author tests how fast we can run. All because of a special defeat condition. You cannot lose the tower village located next to the orange player, which is guarded by a measly 70 Archmagi. The AI spends some time doing its own thing and then, as if nothing happened, attempts to demolish our unfortunate outpost as early as the 2nd month. Therefore, you have to rush across the map like a madman. Join crosses and minotaurs along the way, fight through black dragons, then run crisscross to visit tents, take down a pack of crystal dragons, and deliver the vial to the tower. The horse was exhausted by the end :)
Mission 5. Alliance
Here we are offered to play as Lord Max's antagonist — Anastasia. And her ally will be her Necromancer buddy, Lord Gena. Anastasia helps the Necromancers improve their situation by fighting forest dwellers led by Vasyok Skull. The mission objective is to capture all mines. The enemy cities are behind red border gates, and we need to solve a small puzzle to visit the red tent in time. The mission carries no other difficulties. Except that one of the enemies has a town portal, which could probably cause some problems.
Mission 6. Anastasia's Brains
Vasyok Skull assured Anastasia that Lord Max is heavy-handed but light-hearted. Vasyok Skull promised to be the parliamentarian in the reconciliation. Another specific mission, which involves playing a game of neutralizing enemy magic. Both the Cloak of Negation and the Red Orb will be useful, as the main enemies have magic stats of 99, and such happiness cannot be countered any other way. A mission whose very title hints at the need to act cunningly. In the instructions, the author mentions the special importance for completion of maintaining control over a tower called "Checkpoint." And hints that the player will understand the importance of the Checkpoint as they go. I must admit, I never did :) But in my case, Anastasia acted so cunningly that I suspect even the author didn't foresee this method. I won't reveal my cards and suggest you try to play it yourselves. I'll only say that during the process, it was critically important to throw all forces into as quickly as possible breaking the external dwelling of the azure dragons, because even one dragon in the early stages of completion is capable of making a difference.
Mission 7. Expert
Lord Max meets Vasyok Skull with news about Anastasia. The description says: "All the malice of the creator was contained in this mission. Very many will break on this mission!!!". It's funny to hear that, knowing what missions he has in subsequent campaigns. And here? There is a task at the beginning purely based on Diplomacy specifics. You need to sequentially join several packs of elves, turn them into snipers, and hand them over to the pass guard. The author warned us right at the start to take Diplomacy, so it's unclear who was supposed to break here and why. Especially since you then need to fight through two Conflux heroes, descend underground, dig up a grail, and deliver it to the starting city, which is done without effort in half an hour.
Mission 8. Armageddon's Blade
The author establishes a tradition of epic finales. XL map, combining the efforts of all heroes from previous missions, the blade guarded by 8000 azure dragons. But it must be admitted that the first attempt was a failure. Diplomacy is too OP, so instead of fighting through the same-type guards of the keymaster's tents (like 100 fairy dragons), you can start joining them very early. The surface enemies are frankly weak and just got in the way instead of creating any tangible problems. And the only serious opponent, the Dream Demon, wandered aimlessly underground, where we didn't even have to descend. But he too could be taken out if necessary. The scenario allows for it.
In conclusion, I can note that Maxuta-Phoenix has occupied a special place in the same-map history I've completed. Even from the perspective of 2020, when these campaigns will soon hit their twentieth anniversary, playing them is still interesting, which cannot be said for the absolute majority of other works from those times. I believe that any player interested in map walkthroughs should experience Maxuta's work themselves, as they have no equals. And if you don't feel like a hardcore player, then you should start specifically with the search for Armageddon's Blade.
P.S. Also completed the author's fourth campaign "Strength and Mind. Mind and Strength." Unfortunately, it cannot be called a full-fledged campaign. These are more like unfinished drafts, work on which stopped almost at the very beginning. The second mission is notable in that it is probably the first puzzle map in the history of Heroes III and is quite high quality for its time and place. You can entertain yourself for about half an hour.