I completed the Witch's ritual at the very beginning, and with its help, I captured the entire north of the map, except for one city. At the same time, my army constantly included paladins, adepts, and crossbowmen. Using the undead summoning, I created something like a BDP (Battle-Defense-Priest) formation, i.e., excellent cover for the ranged units.
So, I completed the map.
What can I say? If the previous maps can be rated a five out of five, I would give this one a ten. The map turned out to be simply amazing. I really liked the surface processing and the style of the terrain; I also like to use something similar when creating human and swamp lands. The videos are excellent, the missions are interesting and well-thought-out, and the plot unfolds in a very interesting way; I haven't been so engrossed in a playthrough in a long time. The ending is, of course, quite unusual; so many thousands died for a short dialogue with a sensible high priest, who also quickly figures things out. I even felt sorry for him at the end.
I was only able to level up the hero to level 33; I should probably add a couple of Silanna artifacts, I think. And the final battle definitely needs to be made more challenging – my army simply crushed Dominic's army. I had 74 Archangels (which I hadn't even bought before).
Tomorrow I will try to play the fifth mission.
And also, I have a couple of questions:
1) Who is Andreas? Is this a randomly chosen name, or was this character present in the original version? After all, Prince Andreas was killed by Biara...
2) Why does Arantir go to Stonehelm if Menelag and Fenrig were still in Ivendel? What was he doing there?
3) What actually happened in Ivendel, and how did the book end up with Dominic? Did he give the runes to the mages? I think I missed that part.
4) Am I right in assuming that some of the Empire's troops (green seraphim) were actually agents of Kha-Beleth, who were supposed to accompany Dominic in his attempt to destroy Shio?
I'll add more later if I remember anything. Thank you very much for the interesting weekend!
1) This is not the prince, of course. However, he was present in the campaigns of Lords of the North and a little in Lords of Magic, but only as a silent opponent.
2) It would be good for him to get there before them, and there is a hint of this in the 5th mission.
3) The Book of Changes was stolen by the mages while Varens was on his way. Dominic gave the runes to the mages so that they would protect Ivendel with a barrier, but they didn't have time (or even planned to do so). They also summoned 10,000 phoenixes.
4) Yes. Only some of his close associates. There were not many demons left in Asghan by that time, so I have to be economical.
Added 18 minutes ago
Everyone has already moved far ahead. Next, I will share my impressions of the original version.
I tried playing the first mission on "hero" difficulty. I lose without a chance. I replayed it several times – it's pretty much the same every time. The time limit is very strict, and in conditions where resources are limited, and the experience gained in battles is reduced, there is nothing to rely on. The orc has an incredibly large army. The hero's life depends heavily on the number of random resources found. This is not very good. Finding 8 or 10 stones on this map is a huge difference. There were no problems finding a master. I rushed to buy a tent, and they started telling me about firewood. It would be nice to have access to a machine workshop, and place the master separately. The caravan from the archer tower takes not the stated 2 days, but 3-4 days. It is desirable to slightly shorten the first bridge from the city. There is a constant traffic jam there. First, the swordsmen stop, then the monks. The guard of the archer tower seemed excessive. On "hero" difficulty, it can be captured without fatal losses with a whole set of luck. The necromancer's attack on the city looks very strange. If there is a garrison left in the city, without a hero, Vladd attacks, and the game freezes (Eleondor wrote about this). If Andreas remains to repel the attack in the city, then there are options. He can win, and the plot will continue (i.e., a loss in time), but he can kill all the necromancer's troops, but the battle does not end – you just have to close and restart the game. In this battle, all magic is closed to me; even the inquisitors are not allowed to cast spells, but Vladd casts spells. Is this how it is intended? After the battle, if Andreas wins, it says that 2 wood and about 2000 gold were spent. How is this possible? The task itself, to defend the city at all costs from the necromancer, is very confusing – the victory on the map is achieved by liberating Varens, so what happens to the city is not very important – the necromancer arrives almost at the end of the time limit. The ship is built for 5 logs, but the requirements window says -10 units of wood.
The dialogue in the final movie is puzzling; Andreas is constantly told that he needs to free Varens from captivity, blood is spilled everywhere, and Varens comes out of the tent and says something like, "Well, what are you doing here, making noise?"
P.S. I looked at the thread about the campaign, and it seemed to me that it would be better to have a separate topic for each map. This way, it becomes a big mess – someone is talking about the second map, someone about the first, etc.
The bug with the spellbook not opening was present a year ago. However, I thought I had fixed it; in any case, it did not appear during testing. Is this in the city? I also didn't see the resources spent. The amount of these resources strongly resembles the daily income from 1 sawmill and 1 magistrate... Maybe the game is glitching.
The amount of ore in all the piles is fixed and totals 37.
The necromancer arrives 2 days after the shipyard is built, which does not allow you to sail away earlier and win. The specialization of the city allows you to build a ship for half the price, and the fact that they write about 10 units of wood is a bug that I don't know how to fix anymore.
The dialogue in the final movie is puzzling; Andreas is constantly told that he needs to free Varens from captivity, blood is spilled everywhere, and Varens comes out of the tent and says something like, "Well, what are you doing here, making noise?"
I agree that the time is too short. I will increase it to 2 months.
I may also make the mission easier in some other way.
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