Walkthroughs for custom maps.

Link: http://www.maps4heroes.com/heroes3/maps.php?keywords=The+Lone+Knight&type=&size=&difficulty=&sort=3 (English version is the 2nd, added 25.05.2016) or in the collection of best maps.

A very good and challenging RPG-style map.
You can play as one of 4 sides, but since the main storyline is dedicated to the fate of a young necromancer, it would be logical to complete it as him (Turquoise) for your first run.
Plot: an evil prime minister has removed the king and queen from power and imprisoned them in dungeons somewhere far from their homeland. The Elemental Lords and princesses, whose help we will need, are also languishing in prisons. The heir to the throne, Prince Jasca, must find and free his parents and the Elemental Lords, and then punish the offenders.
Despite the differences, the map in some ways resembles "The Fall of Atlantis": 4 races to choose from, and a need to repel enemy attacks or flee during the mid-game. However, there are significant advantages here: the map is generally balanced (although the author did not balance the increased phoenix growth and even placed an external dwelling like the opponents have) and the strongest enemies cannot attack us; they sit motionless in their cities or roam only within their own territory. In "The Fall of Atlantis," only Duke Ufretin stays in the capital, while others wander freely wherever they please. Also, there is no regular resource drain here, nor sudden (and sometimes very powerful) ambushes.
A characteristic feature of the map is the strikingly different nature of gameplay at various stages of completion. Battles with the main enemies of Red and Brown will be a serious trial for players. Everything before that will turn out to be mere preparation!
Aeris Quamarine (China), also a well-known map author, quite accurately and vividly described the essence of this map in a discussion on maps4heroes.com:

Everyone firstly playing maps of Hans will experience a lot of sadness and endless night, such as "too hard" and "impossible". But then you will appreciate his perfect works and enjoy the game, enjoying play tricks on AI.

http://www.maps4heroes.com/forum/opinions.php?map_id=67&game=3&limit=2
Therefore, the Ministry of Health warns: this map is not recommended for children under 18, pregnant women, or persons with a fragile psyche! ;)
Presence of a plot, delivered in small portions as you reach certain locations. There isn't much text, but just enough to understand where we are, what is happening, why, and "who all these people" (and non-people) are. By the way, if you read everything carefully, before attacking the prime minister, you will learn something unexpected about his motives, which will prepare you for whom you will have to fight after Erdian. For me, this was a real surprise. On a simpler map, killing the prime minister would be the end of it, but here he is not the main villain!
Possibility of choosing a race to play. Moreover, completion with different races differs greatly in tactics, so another color means a completely different game; thus, a second playthrough will not be boring or predictable.
Absence of strict time limits ("timing") for completing tasks: it is no secret that this can be very stressful for players, and if the author's calculation is wrong, the map can become impossible for those who do not play fast enough. By the way, from the reviews I've seen, completion times vary greatly between players: some finished in 17 months, while Aeris Quamarine writes that he completed it in 77 days and believes it can be done in as little as 60 days!

As for score~~~ My Best is 77 days and 498 Archangel.

http://www.maps4heroes.com/forum/opinions.php?map_id=67&game=3&limit=2

77 days are not the possibly fastest, as it can be surely done within 60 days.

http://www.maps4heroes.com/forum/opinions.php?map_id=67&game=3&limit=1
The "traditional" for RPG maps hiding of objects and passages is also present here, but if you look around carefully, you won't miss anything important; in case of difficulty, the editor with accessibility mode enabled will always help.
* An original trick by the author, "thanks" to which we have a guaranteed problem during gameplay that is solved by one of two methods depending on which color we play: the prison with Ignissa in cell 77,38 stands on water. From the event texts before the prison, we know this is not accidental, but intentional.
* An author's error, which fortunately does not hinder completion, but rather allows the player to cheat and get 2 important things earlier than intended: one passage guard can be bypassed (though you will still have to defeat the guards in front of him). Interestingly, I have yet to encounter any mentions of this—did people see it but just rubbed their hands in silence?
* Of the many seer quests on the map, most are optional. Sometimes you need to compare rewards to choose which artifact to exchange for what. To prevent an unsuccessful exchange and for convenience, I created screenshots of tables with guard and seer quests and marked them with my own notes and a series of comments. The colors of the marks clearly show: what is mandatory, what is not, and what is better not to do.

Read all texts carefully, starting with the author's description file! There is a lot of important information there. I will not repeat what was said there, except for the most essential parts. I have also translated this file (for now, the translation made by Google and partially edited is quite raw, but perfectly understandable).
Think carefully before starting the game: which race will you play? The choice of race strongly affects the difficulty of individual stages. However, in later stages, you can (and should) mix different troops. If it seems to you that playing as a Necromancer is easiest, I must warn you: you will not have pieces of the Undead King's Cloak until the final stage.
By the way, regarding troops: try to capture all creature dwellings, especially crossbowmen, monks, elves, and mages. Also, do not miss any opportunity to get additional wizards and snipers: in some battles they will be exceptionally important! And let heroes with pieces of the Legion Statue spend the night in cities on the 7th day of each week.
Despite the lack of timing, it is highly desirable to finish within 6-7 months: starting from day 180, a significant additional growth of creatures will appear weekly in enemy cities (besides previous "gifts")! For this same reason, the approach of "I'll wait a few weeks/months, build up my army, and then defeat everyone" won't work here: you either beat the enemies with existing forces and means, or set the map aside until you figure out how to do it. I confirm: there are no unkillable enemies here, but you will have to think hard in some places!
The author suggests: the main hero needs Logistics, Intelligence, Earth Magic, Water Magic, and, of course, Wisdom. Witch huts and scholars providing these skills help the player along the way. There is also a University. Important: until you get Earth Magic, do not take the Accuracy skill from one hiding scholar—you can do without this skill, but playing without Earth Magic is useless. In my opinion after completion, Fire Magic (Berserk, Blindness...) is also very desirable for the main hero, and it's good if he gets Tactics and Ballistics. If not—no matter: in that case, you will need to take a hero with Tactics for a couple of battles.
There are very many artifacts in the game. Therefore, constantly distribute them among heroes, and assemble combined ones from pieces at the first opportunity. The main hero should ideally carry only those artifacts that are needed constantly and those that will be needed in the coming days.
To avoid difficulties with quests, I will name those that are optional:
- all that give additional resources;
- all that give additional troops;
- all that increase primary skills.
There are also quests that I call "conditionally mandatory": whether you need to perform them depends on which color you play and which method of obtaining the required item you prefer. These are primarily tasks for freeing Elemental Lords and tasks for taking 3 Tomes of Magic and the Sphere of Banning in the vicinity of the Brown city Soul Crusher: your "own" Lord is simply freed, while the other 3 will have to be "dug up" in the tavern. You will need 4 Elemental Spheres to give to the guard before Soul Crusher. However, taking the books and the Sphere of Banning can be done "peacefully" with the help of Lords or by opening Pandora's boxes and defeating the powerful dragon guards.
Do not lose heroes in battles and do not dismiss them, except those who have no artifacts and no advanced spells. It is especially important to keep the main hero of your color (Prince Jasca / Adele / Xeron / Mutare): some quests are designed only for him. If you already have 8 heroes and need to make room for a hero from prison or one hired in the tavern, hide the "extra" hero in a city (it's also useful to give him pieces of the Legion Statue).
Do not let the "main" enemies (Blue, Green, Red, Brown) learn Town Portal: this could disrupt the entire intended course of the game and make victory unattainable! "Ordinary" opponents (Orange, Purple, Turquoise, Pink) will learn Town Portal in their last city anyway.
When fighting enemies in the field, be sure to equip the Shackles of War: you cannot let the enemy escape so that you can definitely obtain their artifacts!
Once at sea, try to visit the Dragon Utopia before the enemies: valuable artifacts from there will give a noticeable advantage, and there is only one Utopia on the map!
How to get Ignissa: if you don't want to have a problem with her—do not play as Pink (Inferno), as only the main hero of this color can remove the passage guard on the way to her prison, or remove the guard but do not free her—let one of the enemies do it! Once she is freed, if an enemy did it, she will disappear a week after all his cities are captured and appear in the tavern (HD mod helps dig her up). If you freed her yourself—the only option is to dismiss her and hire her again.
By the way, the clever trick with Ignissa suggests that defeated enemies dug up in the tavern could play a significant role in easing the struggle.
In the barbarian lands, don't forget to visit the Seer's Hut behind the blue tent (you need to cross the body of water and have level 25): he will teach you Forgetfulness!
The anti-magic garrison with dragons on the way to the prison south of the Rampart does not need to be broken through: there is a bypass!
Capturing the Brown city Soul Crusher, where Terek sits, is not necessary immediately: losses are inevitable in this battle, and until you are sufficiently ready, it's better not to touch him.
After visiting the black tent, return and use a secondary hero to cross the water inside the circle formed by Castles: there are several other important objects there.
Playing as Necromancers, toward the end of the game keep an eye on the number of skeletons in one squad: they must not exceed 32767—neither through normal troop addition nor as a result of battle! Otherwise, a numerical overflow may occur, and the number of skeletons will become negative! Leave "extra" skeletons (over 30,000) in the city or give them to another hero. Only for the final battle can you take all skeletons with you.
The Elixir of Life obtained from the prime minister must be given immediately to the passage guard, but we can give the Luck Clover to a seer and receive the Ring of Life, which together with existing Vials of Life and the Ring of Vitality will assemble into a second Elixir.
The main villainess, Lea de Vuz, can be defeated by one of two methods:
a) for game masters and the hardcore: :) take everything best (hero, troops, artifacts) and try to defeat her in one battle;
b) for those who are weaker or simply don't like to strain themselves: ;) she can be weakened via hit-n-run, using only the Explosion spell (and the Silt Sphere). When you feel that you will now win in battle—attack. Good luck!

Since I was completing the map for the first time, I played as the prince-necromancer.
I freed all assistants and the queen, and dug up the Grail.
The battles with Kilgor and Terek were conducted by their former tribesman, Boragus: not only his primary skills but also expert Tactics were important.
The last 3 battles I fought with the defected prime minister: it was a kind of terrible revenge for Erdian for what was done to him. I wonder what the author himself would say about such a turn of events? :)
Lea de Vuz was defeated in one battle on the 6th month, 4th week, 2nd day. True, there wasn't enough mana to raise all the fallen, but the loss of 30 thousand skeletons is acceptable for a final battle with such an enemy!
Result: 163 days, 494 points.

Hans C. also created the map "The Uprising" (more difficult and considered his best work) and the campaign "Eternal Love". They are also in the collection of best maps. I plan to complete "The Uprising" someday, and I started "Eternal Love" a long time ago but quit: at that time it didn't interest me due to the total absence of a strategic component (the author focused on battle tactics).