Walkthroughs for custom maps.

Map Title: Heroes of Jin Yong
Author: Season
Downloaded: from the Heroesportal map catalog

mediafire

Hello everyone! I also completed the Heroes of Jin Yong map and decided to definitely leave a review. The map is outstanding in every way: the concept, development, design, enemy balance, lack of bugs, and more.
If you want to get what is called "quality content," be sure to play this map. My rating is 10/10, definitely, and the map can be added to the list of 10 favorite maps.
I can't say whether it is more difficult or easier than Lord of the Rings or Way Home. Heroes of Jin Yong is a more dynamic map, and comparing it to Lord of the Rings, I like Heroes of Jin Yong more.

I won't repeat Marlo's review; I'll just add a couple of my own tips for completing the map. Next, there is a series of spoilers and tips on how to complete it faster, plus some timings, if someone wants to complete it.

1. It is not necessary to generate a starting save, although it may be desirable to get a certain skill in the logistics branch and for the second starting hero earlier (for example, pathfinding is very desirable, or earth should level up earlier). Although I suffered, of course, with the initial save, because I wanted to get the optimal skill tree for the first two weeks, but this is not necessary in your walkthrough. The most useful skills can be obtained in witch huts.
2. Timing for the very beginning of the walkthrough (so that the map goes smoothly later): in the first week, you need to place Birds in the city in the sands and, if possible, a Stronghold; in the second week, complete the Castle. The second flux, which is a little north, must be captured in the first week, and in the second, place Birds there up to 127 (unfortunately, I didn't have time for a Citadel). As a result, when a large number of guests came to me on day 131, I had 9 Birds, which, together with the fairies and storm elementals, allowed me to defeat them without much difficulty. On day 122, I freed Kragg from prison. This kind of energetic start will help you gather an army for initial resistance.
3. Initial army, until you learn resurrection: Birds, fairies, storm elementals (archers), and as many magic elementals as you can afford, which are not affected by magic. We don't have any other army yet :) As you liberate the Castle from enemies, buy all level 7 creatures immediately - bears, archons, archdevils; all of this is the future army.
4. Regarding the pace, Marlo is right that you need to maintain the pace. I would also add that you should not give the enemy an increase in the number of creatures in their Castles. That is, some Castle may be taken from you in the first months. But always try to buy back the increase there, but only of the creatures you need. If the computer buys some ballast there, you can use it to level up your weaker units. In my game, I lost only 1 increase in Birds, and I saved the rest of the army.
5. "Switching" from one hero to another (from the logistics hero to Kragg, and from Kragg to the armor hero) corresponds to the author's idea, but it can be violated.
In my walkthrough, the logistics hero was the main hero for quite a long time, and he took the Town Portal, Blindness, Resurrection, Prayer, etc. The advantage of this approach is obvious: the main logistics hero can do everything much faster, especially visit all the upgrades and necessary objects, which, by the way, are deliberately located very inconveniently. Therefore, it makes sense to continue leveling up the logistics hero, and then switch to the armor hero. The logistics hero managed to get the Town Portal (you need to get the hero to level 32) on day 326, and I am almost sure that the armor hero would not have been able to do this so early.
Kragg did not participate in almost any significant battles. The intelligence specialist was needed in a couple of battles. But given the presence of a mana doubler in the Citadel lands, there may be enough mana even for the armor hero. On day 343, I freed the dragon with literacy and retrained him in all Town Portals.
6. It will also be important to increase the kingdom's funds. In theory, there should be enough money. But to be sure, it is better to exchange as many unnecessary resources as possible for gold and sell unnecessary units, since one of the Ramparts at the beginning gives a bonus of +10% income. By making such an increase at the end of the 3rd month, I didn't need any more money.
7. An unobvious tip will be not to take unnecessary external dwellings. I foolishly took several low-level unnecessary dwellings to distract the computer, and this caused me problems later. When you capture 3 dungeons, you can portal azure dragons into them. And the fewer useless dwellings you take, the higher the chance of them appearing.
8. I got into the underground by defeating the titans on day 411. If you take the timings for opening the pillars to get a free army, then I got the titans and archons a week late, and I managed to get the bears and archdevils for free, because I opened the quest pillars only with my color. Given the pace I set and my previous experience with Season's maps, I completed the walkthrough on day 547, of course, with a smaller army than Marlo's. I won't be surprised if the Chinese completed this map a month earlier :) I think that 2-3 weeks could be saved by avoiding upgrades, but completing the last 6 battles with a small army is very, very difficult.
9. The most difficult were the battles with the last 6 heroes, primarily because I was trying to do this with the army I had, and there was simply not enough manpower. However, the armor hero's special ability surprises again :) I used hit-and-run 2 times: before the final battle, I reduced the number of fairy dragons from 300 to 220 (but this turned out to be not necessary in the battle), and once against Thorgrim, I reduced his bears from 400 to 50 (but I think that it was possible to do without this). As far as I remember, Season's maps allow you to do without tricks.
10. A debatable question will be what to level up the armor hero with. I focused on attack and, for a while, on knowledge. As soon as you have access to a mana doubler, you can start leveling up magic power instead of knowledge. And I leveled up attack primarily for the bears. It was precisely in the final battles that, due to the higher attack, the bears could break through the large stacks of the enemy.

The map is, without a doubt, excellent!
I am attaching a couple of screenshots from the last day before / during / after the final battle.