Magnificent
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I completed this scenario on Hero difficulty.
Then, Vittorio broke through the elven garrison: first, he took 7 peasants, attacked, and retreated; after that, he won the battle (losses: 6 peasants, 7 crossbowmen). On day 29, he captured their city, killing Dirael (losses: 11 pikemen). You can hire some elves, but they won't grow in numbers. I agreed to convert it into a level 1 human city. I completed the time-limited quest on day 49 (it had to be completed within 3 months), choosing the option to complete it through a prophet. Gradually, I defeated the elves (they kept running away), captured and converted another elven city, and on day 92, the green player lost.
I gained experience for Edward on the neutrals and used him to explore the map, while Vittorio trained and gathered an army from three cities. Regeneration and vampirism are forbidden; I received resurrection late (it wasn't available in three cities). I lost 6 archangels guarding the mentor. I gave Edward the Light, Darkness, Defense, Marauding, and Magic Attraction build. Level 27 is the development limit here.
Dwarves were running around the map; I attacked enemies with very low danger, and they retreated in auto-battle. Where the danger was low, I didn't attack immediately but waited for Vittorio to bring troops. The enemy heroes are always weak, but there are many of them, and they respawn with an army. For some reason, orc chieftains sometimes appeared in the enemy armies. I captured cities manually, with archangels without losses. On day 225, I captured the second dwarven city, and the enemies stopped respawning. With inquisitors and 12 pikemen, I defeated a huge dwarven army without losses (10885 bears, 759 dragons...) and received the Flame Rune for the quest. I defeated Tolgar with one squad of inquisitors under antimagic. The scenario was completed in 242 days.
I still didn't understand what overall development strategy the author had in mind. In the comments, all walkthrough options involve restarts so that Edward would be lucky with his skills. I played differently, but my strategy will also not work in every situation.
Walkthrough
Edward immediately receives level 12, Light, and starts with Light, as well as Darkness and Defense skills. The neutrals here are strong, and there is a time-limited quest, so in the first week, I hired Vittorio and played with two heroes at once, often transferring the army. In the third week, enemies arrive; knowing this, I played a bit defensively, sending Vittorio to the sea in advance and leaving Edward in the city. The elves were afraid to attack the castle. Vittorio captured the lighthouse, but the dwarves caught up with him there, and he had to surrender. On day 23, Vittorio, with pikemen and peasants, defeated Anwen and Faidaen in the field; the total losses were 11 peasants and 50 pikemen.Then, Vittorio broke through the elven garrison: first, he took 7 peasants, attacked, and retreated; after that, he won the battle (losses: 6 peasants, 7 crossbowmen). On day 29, he captured their city, killing Dirael (losses: 11 pikemen). You can hire some elves, but they won't grow in numbers. I agreed to convert it into a level 1 human city. I completed the time-limited quest on day 49 (it had to be completed within 3 months), choosing the option to complete it through a prophet. Gradually, I defeated the elves (they kept running away), captured and converted another elven city, and on day 92, the green player lost.
I gained experience for Edward on the neutrals and used him to explore the map, while Vittorio trained and gathered an army from three cities. Regeneration and vampirism are forbidden; I received resurrection late (it wasn't available in three cities). I lost 6 archangels guarding the mentor. I gave Edward the Light, Darkness, Defense, Marauding, and Magic Attraction build. Level 27 is the development limit here.
Dwarves were running around the map; I attacked enemies with very low danger, and they retreated in auto-battle. Where the danger was low, I didn't attack immediately but waited for Vittorio to bring troops. The enemy heroes are always weak, but there are many of them, and they respawn with an army. For some reason, orc chieftains sometimes appeared in the enemy armies. I captured cities manually, with archangels without losses. On day 225, I captured the second dwarven city, and the enemies stopped respawning. With inquisitors and 12 pikemen, I defeated a huge dwarven army without losses (10885 bears, 759 dragons...) and received the Flame Rune for the quest. I defeated Tolgar with one squad of inquisitors under antimagic. The scenario was completed in 242 days.
I still didn't understand what overall development strategy the author had in mind. In the comments, all walkthrough options involve restarts so that Edward would be lucky with his skills. I played differently, but my strategy will also not work in every situation.
The gameplay here is quite unique; I would say that this scenario is more about logistics than about battles. There are predominantly negative reviews in the thread, and I understand why... But I have mostly positive impressions, so, as always...
Thank you very much for the map!
