bolotnik
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To avoid cluttering the "Most Difficult Maps for You" thread with discussions about maps that clearly cannot be called very difficult, I decided to create this thread. I will share interesting custom maps that I have completed, and I suggest you do the same. Here, we can discuss the difficulties encountered during the playthrough, ask questions, etc.
And to start, I want to briefly talk about a map that I finished playing today: "Darkness Attacks".
Following your advice, I decided to play this map (and I plan to check out the other maps by this author later). The map's difficulty is 200%, but it doesn't really feel like 200%; it's quite easy to complete.
I decided to play on 200% difficulty with the Red faction, using the Rampart Castle. I was surprised that the starting hero was Jelu. The start was very easy; there are many resources on the map, and they are replenished from time to time by an event. I was very surprised that most of the neutral creatures on the map ran away or, even better, joined me. There are also enough resources; with a slow and steady pace, by day 4-1-1, three Rampart Castles and one Castle were fully built, plus two Barbarian towns were captured and also fully upgraded (I managed to capture one Barbarian town with the help of an ally).
As soon as the Blue player built a tavern in their starting castle, they hired several heroes, gave troops to one of them, and captured a neutral castle in the Blue player's starting area (a castle); they didn't have time to capture a second one.
I don't really like the one-sided gameplay: accumulate troops, level up the hero a bit, and attack the enemy, then replenish losses, accumulate again, and attack further. It would be better to give the AI the opportunity to attack the player (at least let the Barbarians attack). The Barbarians have weak troops. We shouldn't forget that our allies also attack and don't stand still (while sometimes managing to provide resources). After capturing the Barbarians, I collected all the artifacts that could be collected and obtained, accumulated strength, gave it to two heroes, and went to attack the Necropolis.
The troops and heroes of the Necropolis are somewhat interesting (the heroes are well-leveled, and there are many enemies). But still, the one-sided gameplay on such a map is a bit boring. Therefore, the Necropolis was taken in this way: I came out of the gates with a large group, defeated several enemy heroes, captured the town, brought reinforcements, then retreated behind the gates, accumulated more strength, and went further. Plus, the allies are also approaching the Necropolis lands. I defeated the Necromancers in the following way: I gathered all the troops from the three Rampart Castles, gave them to Jelu, found one or two enemy heroes, defeated them, captured the castle if possible, and then retreated back to a safe area. While these actions were taking place, the Barbarians and Humans accumulated troops. Then I gathered the castle troops, went out, and prevented the Necropolis from retaking its castles, sometimes using a third hero with Barbarians. And in this way, after defeating the main heroes and the main forces of the enemy, I reached the last Necropolis town, plus the allies are constantly on the move; they are really doing something. At the moment, the main enemy hero is sitting in his last castle and doesn't come out; I think that today or tomorrow, when I have some free time, I will finish this map.
P.S. The map is well-designed, well-drawn, and quite interesting, but the one-sided gameplay, and even with allies, is just simple and sometimes even uninteresting. There is also one unpleasant and unintended aspect of the map: the spells in the Guilds of Mages. There are no water and water objects, but the spells "Summon Ship" and "Walk on Water" appear. Moreover, I got "Walk on Water" in the castle and two Rampart Castles. Perhaps they should be banned; anyway, they are useless.
Another point: in the Guilds of Mages in the towns, you cannot get "Flight," "Dimension Door," or "Town Portal." But "Town Portal" can be obtained for nothing on the map; this valuable and useful spell is given for just a few troops, and "Armageddon's Blade" and "Angel Alliance" are given for free. It would be better to have more difficulty, giving artifacts and spells in exchange for something valuable and difficult, rather than getting such powerful things quickly and easily.
I will check out the other interesting custom maps suggested by Marmot later.
Added 19 minutes ago
I'm just noticing now that most of the AI heroes are lost in battles between themselves, and one of them is even left without any heroes... and they can't buy any
and also, how did you manage to defeat the huge armies? with a berserker?
It depends on various circumstances. If the hero is already leveled up and has a lot of mana, then give them more or less decent troops, and then attack: first, use mass slow, then you can mow down the enemy with archers, troops, and combat spells; you can also use a berserker here; the main thing is to send a weaker stack first, then blind it, and keep your fast squad (flying units, for example) safe and don't let them engage in battle, constantly retreating. Then, when only one weak, blinded stack of the enemy remains (which can be defeated in one hit), while it is doing nothing, gradually resurrect your own units each turn, and then finish off the enemy stack, but this requires a lot of mana and at least an Earth expert with a rich selection of spells...
One berserker can also help, I don't know about others, but in the best case, with a Fire expert, a berserker can affect 3-4 stacks, and if you gather them all in one place, then 5, but sometimes it happens that a neutral unit is attacked, where there are all 7 stacks. It also often happens that only 1 stack is attacked, so it is defeated depending on the circumstances, but still, it is necessary to have: slow, blind, resurrection, and many other spells... It depends on the hero, their troops, spells, and the neutrals....