Posts from The Price of Love

Title: "Payment For Love"
Map name: "Payment For Love"
Map type: scenario
Size: 136x136 (medium)
Dungeon: yes
Number of players: 3
Main heroes: Kolger, Lorik
Map version: 3.0
Required: game version 3.1
Map author: AstralLein
Idea author: AstralLein
Last update: 13.01.2025
Sequel: "The Necromancer's Path"
Forbidden spells: vampirism, armageddon, astral gate
Difficulty: high
Description:
200 years have passed since the founding of the Holy Unicorn Empire on the ruins of the Griffin Empire. The world remembers Queen Freya, but now it is time for others... Angels have returned and once again, as many centuries ago, they have become guardians of the human faction. What fate awaits the Empire at the hands of the Dragon Gods? Time will tell, but now the hour of war has struck. A war of allies. A war between the Unicorn and Grimheim, which will mark the beginning of great changes in Erathia.

From the author: This is a story-driven map featuring Dwarves. In cutscenes, dialogue is delivered quite quickly; reading fast is recommended. No quest (except for the deaths of Lorik and Kolger) is tied to the main heroes – you can complete it with any character. The map differs noticeably at different difficulty levels, but overall it is not one of the easiest, even very difficult by some players’ standards. There are many additional quests and opportunities for various builds. There are some unconventional elements.

The map is a pure mod! Install only on a clean version of the game! It conflicts with most other maps/mods, especially my own maps!

Versions
v0.1beta (18.03.2018)
— first version of the map (played through during Remix streams)
v0.9 (31.03.2018)
— numerous fixes and bug corrections
— rebalancing of much of the map
— changing parameters and capabilities of many AI heroes
— fixing some AI errors
— strengthening Lorik
— cosmetic changes on the map
— easing some moments in the game
v1.0 (24.04.2018)
— Levels 4 and 5 of the Guild of Mages are forbidden in the city of Fallen Belged (only in the Necromancer version; when rebuilt, they become available). Ter-Gelat receives "Berserk" at the start.
— Lorik's level at the time of his appearance is now equal to Kolger's level (plus or minus a little experience). The composition of his basic skills has been changed. Now, in addition to the racial skill of Necromancy, Lorik also has the additional skill Knowledge of Runes (Leadership and Defense have been removed). However, the hero's abilities in this skill are limited. Lorik cannot learn spells from this branch, nor can he gain Absolute Knowledge of Runes.
— The necromancer Orson and everything related to him have been removed.
— The Temple with the spell "Plague (general)" now teaches the spell "Regeneration".
— Increased the number of some neutral creatures.
— Improved the battle with the boss Tashlak. His initiative has been increased.
— Removed foreign changes to creature abilities (e.g., instant action for combat griffins’ ability).
— Added a fort on the hill (it does not allow blue/red troops of the Order faction to raid into white territory).
— All creature recruitment buildings have been removed from the city of Kalrit (the blue player summons "extra" troops from there).
— The number of gems required for the quest at one of the seer huts has been reduced from 40 to 25.
— A small pause has been added before checking the condition in the script that triggers events after the final battle.
— Kirdan's logistics have been replaced with machines; some of his skills have been changed.
— The second "native" magic in the city of the Order faction is now not Darkness, but Summoning.
— Various minor fixes.
v1.1 (26.09.2018)
— finally fixed the buggy ambushes
— Johnny was removed because he was unnecessary
— a couple of changes in the location of artifacts
v2.0 (05.06.2022)
— graphical update of the map: many visual shortcomings have been corrected, including mountains
— texts have been proofread: typos and some awkward expressions have been corrected
— the yellow player has been removed from the map: all of his role has been given to the green player
— when capturing the second Imperial city, the player receives a hint about achieving a good ending to the map
— when rebuilding the cursed city, it includes a level 3 Guild of Mages and a basic dwelling for Trolls
— reduced the number of Knowledge points for Zoltan
— changed Deidre’s skills and gave her more spells from the school of Darkness
— changed the changing images when selecting a map in the menu to match the design revisions
— replaced Elissar's icon, but the player will not see this
v2.1 (10.07.2023)
— several minor errors in the texts have been fixed
— added a hint about options for using the Dwarves' cursed city
— Kirdan's army now initially fills all slots so that various random units do not end up there later
— Kirdan no longer has the Dodge spell; he also received several artifacts
— increased some characteristics of cherubs; they also lost the Resurrection spell
— the second outpost of the green player now gives him mummies instead of bone dragons
— interface blocking was added during the reconstruction of the cursed city
— when reconstructing the cursed city, the Guild of Mages is now level 5, and the dwellings are improved
— two mana wells were added: near the player's capital and near Kirdan
— reduced the growth of knowledge and magic for Ter-Gelat
— swapped the locations of the seer huts in the player’s zone: now the quest with mummies is located very close and is not even guarded
v3.0 (13.01.2025)
— Zoltan, guarding the pyramid, has been weakened
— The script for the battle with Deidre has been reworked, and her army has been increased
— The green player is now considered an ally of the blue player, which should theoretically solve the problem with his behavior (in the menu, they are still in different teams, but this does not apply to the map)
— Increased the reward for the skull quest
— Changed the description of cherubs

Thank you to RedHeavenHero, 32MeTpa, and Jack_of_shadows for their help with scripts; fktifzobr@mail.ru and the NCF team for the models used; Remix for testing the first version of the map; Godrikov's Hollow, masgak, Gerter, Ketzz, Sandro_S, and 13ga for feedback on the second version of the map, as well as many map makers and modders whose work I drew inspiration from.

I welcome constructive criticism and feedback.

Have a nice game!

Link: Google Drive

Screenshots:

Cool map, I started playing with a very unusual build, specifically a leader with Runic Harmony, Attack, Defense, Summoning, and Knowledge skills. So far, everything is going well; I'm playing as the Fortress and Haven factions with regeneration. The stats turned out well, specifically 7, 14, 26, and 18, including artifacts. So far, it's a beautiful and enjoyable scenario.

That's interesting. Let's see how this build performs against Ter-Gelat.

Added 2 hours and 40 minutes ago
By the way, I noticed a couple of mistakes in the header; I'll fix them when I get to my computer.

Trying Necropolis for the third time on Veteran difficulty, and they are crushing me.

This is the third time I'm trying on Veteran difficulty, and the Necromancers are crushing me.

Could you be a bit more specific? Yellow or green?

Added 5 minutes later
The header has been updated.

Could you provide a bit more detail? Yellow or green?

Green. I made my way to the castle on the left, and I'm thinking of building up an army now, but there isn't a single dwarf warrior there :D
Is the army in the second castle the same?

Only in the green Castle. If you complete the quest, it will become a regular one.

Added 1 minute ago
As I understand it, you took the city from him, but the Necromancer himself is still alive?

Yellow defeated him, captured the Castle, and Green is taking a beating. Will the First Prophet give a quest later? And could you replace Kolger with someone who moves faster? Although, in principle, you can play with other heroes as well.

Increase movement speed in the settings.

The first prophet is needed to rebuild a green town.

You can play as any faction, but Kolger is stronger than the standard ones in terms of specialization.

Upon completing the first main quest, you will receive another hero - Lorik. You can play as him.

There are too many Necromancers, considering the very slow development of the Dwarves and the strong neutral creatures. On the 4th week, a green hero with high difficulty appeared, with a developed Dungeon faction and 250 mana. The balance is terrible.

Does the map conflict with specific mods, or should everything be removed at once?

It’s best to remove all mods.

The game is clean, without any mods.

Besides the graphics, perhaps.

The Necromancer's stats depend on the difficulty level.

The Dwarf develops normally; I personally didn't have any problems with resources or neutral creatures. A month before the Green Dragon arrives, I clear 90% of the area and defeat him easily. Remix managed to defeat him on the old version, where he had Chaos magic that decimated everyone except the Dark creatures.

Added 1 minute ago
He needs to be tactically defeated. On a veteran hero, he is a very formidable enemy. Runes are very helpful.

Added 4 minutes ago
The Green Dragon can only come to the player on the last day of the first month.

Added 1 hour 13 minutes ago
By the way, share replays of battles against the Green and Yellow Dragons so I can assess the situation.

Well, for now, everything is going well; the fire wars and the Phoenix are doing their job. And, as always, regeneration is essential. Ter-Galat was defeated without much trouble. I'm playing as a Knight, and I realized that I shouldn't have focused on Attack; I should have invested in Spellcasting instead.