Posts from Under the Griffin's Claw

Title: Under the Griffin's Claw
Map name: Under The Griffin's Claw
Map type: Single-player scenario
Two-level map: yes
Number of players: 2
Size: Large 176x176
Map author: Vladimir (Serbia)
Map description: This morning, you received a report from your scouts: "The Griffin Empire is on the move, crushing one kingdom after another, and their forces are heading our way. They are strong and well-organized – a perfect war machine. They are approaching our borders. According to legend, Nicholas once possessed two items of immense power and hid them in remote corners of our land. Since then, he has been searching for them. Our best chance is to find them before he does."

Overall, this is quite a challenging map. But I enjoyed it and added it to my collection. I found it on some thematic forum. I don't know anything about the author except that his name is Vladimir, that he is from Serbia, and that he finished working on the map on January 8, 2017. The author took the time to add useful in-game rumors to the scenario, so for the convenience of users, I translated them into Russian.

Firstly, the map at the link is buggy and cannot be opened in the editor. Secondly, the map has not one, but two players. One is a Knight by default. It's a good map.

I played through the English version of this map. If anyone is interested in a walkthrough, here it is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZUbnlxxQpk

elizbar1967, I've corrected the description. I can't say anything about the editor; I don't know how to use it at all. I unpacked the scenario using an archiver, translated all the text files from English to Russian, packed the archive, and played it – I liked it. Now I checked, and my editor refuses to open the original scenario.

Remix, I have a feeling that there are no more scenarios left that Remix hasn't played.

An absolutely excellent and epic map. I played as a Necromancer. It was tough at the beginning (I didn't expect such a large increase in numbers from the Tyrants; Paladins seemed to multiply by budding). Of course, I didn't use cheats to examine the map beforehand and didn't see the anthill there, so I had to resort to tactical tricks – I kept most of my army in Sanctuary to make the danger level high and lure enemies out of the castle. After one overconfident enemy kindly provided me with Shackles of Fate and the Book of Darkness (I was terribly unlucky with spells – Berserk in the second-to-last castle, and no Subjugation at all), things started to improve. The last garrison is very powerful, with Darkness and Summoning; of course, I couldn't complete it without losses, but I can hardly imagine how I could have done it with a different build – 800/1600/2000/4000/6000/8000 (garrison size). The distances between my own castles and the enemy are very large; logistics are essential here. Because of these distances, I couldn't explore most of the dungeons – that's a pity. It took me a long time, but it wasn't boring; it took 6.5 months. Everything works, and there are no bugs or other inconveniences. Thank you for finding, translating, and uploading it!

I played on this map, and my impression wasn't great. Although it was created a long time ago, it's very much in the spirit of modern games – the difficulty is rubber-banded, and the quality is very high. The author deserves a solid 5+ for creating the landscape. The labyrinths are so complex that it's almost impossible to navigate. None of the AI heroes ever reached my Castle; they all got stuck in teleporters along the way. My own main hero behaved like the AI, turning away from enemy Castles just one step before, otherwise, I would have finished the war three weeks earlier. The feeling of stagnation is enhanced by the large limitation on resources and the hordes of neutral creatures guarding everything. Castles barely develop, and it's impossible to move heroes anywhere, meaning almost nothing happens. The abundance of well-reproducing neutral creatures makes the map glitchy. Crashes started around the 3rd month of game time. The second-to-last enemy Castle refused to be captured, and the game crashed immediately. I only managed to take it in the very end. The strongest AI main hero disappeared without a fight somewhere while wandering around. The map is not suitable for beginners; it's too difficult. For experienced players, it's a monotonous grind.

I don't know why 13ga gives the landscape a 5+ (maybe he's just trolling)... it's hard to rotate the map where there's a forest to see the goodies. Overall, the map is decent, for those who like battles, not stories or landscapes. Darkness is a must-have here, and you can choose between light or summoning... chaos might work, if you go through the Dungeon like I did, but that's just an option. My choice is darkness + summoning... the walls are very helpful for breaking through garrisons. It's a very long map, but I didn't rush. The enemy was sealed in a portal by phoenixes, which allowed me to develop somewhat. Here, you're more likely to go to him than he comes to you. A solid four (in my opinion). Thanks for the game (even though I've played it before).