Posts from The Lord is more alive than dead

Name: "The Sovereign is More Alive Than Dead"
Name: "NikolasRemarsh"
Size: 176x176 Large
Underground: yes
Type: scenario
Number of players: 4 (1 vs 3)
Faction: Necropolis
Starting heroes: Nicholas, Stefan
Required Heroes 5 version: only 3.1 (Tribes of the East) !
Current map version: 1.3
Date of last update: 26.06.2026
Author: Koschei the Deathless


Acknowledgments:
- forum members RedHeavenHero, AstralLein, MasteR, Jack_of_shadows, AlekseyS, Markel the Imperor, Remix, Sashager, Novik, psatkha;
- developers at Nival Interactive, as well as the creators of HoMM5 Map Scripts Editor (HSerg, Valex, Romzes).

Special thanks: }{0TT@6bI4 (aka Hottabych), Gerter, Andrei_21, IchGViji, Grigory Kovalev, zahar0z (aka Zahar), fktifzobr@mail.ru (aka Zobr), Narron.

Manuals, guides, maps, mods and other works by these people became the foundation and source of inspiration for my work, for which they receive beams of goodness and respect.

Description: While Markel was fighting the demonic expansion and rebels in the Griffin Empire, he tasked the resurrected Nicholas with invading Irollan and dealing with those insurgents who had fled to the elves. However, the military campaign, which seemed like an easy walk, clearly went awry when the undead legions were stopped near Syris Thalla and pushed back to the southwestern border of the forest kingdom. Now Findan is preparing a decisive retaliatory strike, and the high vampire faces a dilemma: silently accept his preordained fate or try to cheat his Final Death, already the second time around...


From the author: This is my first map. Its events take place approximately during the mission "The High Vampire" (Sylvan campaign), but from the perspective of the other side of the conflict. Initially, I wanted to extract the map from the original part of the game and remake it for that same part... Unfortunately or fortunately – depending on how you look at it – that fell through, so I ended up creating it for the second expansion. From scratch, so to speak. The idea of getting a kind of "rematch" for this particular mission had been brewing in me for quite a long time and demanded implementation, although I generally like any well-made story maps based on the lore of Heroes 5. Keep in mind, "The Sovereign..." is a trial run, so don't expect major miracles from the story. But if, in the end, some old-timers shed a nostalgic tear, that's already a success. The map is large, and there is a lot of rough terrain, so logistics are your friend, especially at the beginning. That should be all, throw your slippers/hats at me, just don't throw me into the thorn bush! =)

Warnings:
1. The map contains built-in mods (inside the "h5m" file itself) and uses in conjunction external mods ("pak" file), as well as a few scripts! Therefore, it is best to place it on a "clean" version of the game and delete other maps from the "Maps" folder while playing!
The external mods present include, among others, mods for:

a) wide text message window (taken with permission from Gerter from his scenario);
Map link – /topic/14423/

b) faction gates (author Hottabych);
Source link – /topic/15478/

c) visuals (textures, models) for death knights, manticores, and 4 types of elementals (author Narron);
Link to NVS project – https://vk.com/homm_ashan
Its creation also involved the masters ArchWarlock, Hannik, Samurai, Zobr, Zahar, artists Sveta Nero (formerly S.Nero), L’Garold. Not all are listed, as this modification has been partially used.

d) textures of the mummy, its icon, and the pyramid (author Zahar);
Source links – https://vk.com/wall-40470309_2605 , https://vk.com/wall-40470309_2626

e) replacement of zealots with spearmen from Heroes 6 (author Zahar);
Source link – https://vk.com/wall-40470309_1359
Editing of the attack animation timing was done by vova2112.

f) replacement of wolves with elven archers from NCF (author psatkha, together with mDance);
Source link – https://psatkha.narod.ru/creature_433.html

g) replacement of unused yetis with guardian vampires (author Koschei the Deathless).

If you already have similar unit replacement mods with id 108, 113 or 114, it's best to remove them first to avoid bugs!

2. Do not rush to sell some combination and high-level artifacts (e.g., Cloak of Death's Shadow, magic school tomes, etc.) – they may be the only copy!

3. Old saves (meaning from earlier versions) of the map will most likely work unstable/with crashes/previous errors on later versions, and vice versa (see section "Change History")! When an "upgrade" is released, it's best to delete all previous saves and start anew if you want to avoid surprises. Which will 100% occur when launching the map in game v3.0 and below (see required Heroes 5 version)!

Banned:
1. Alternate creature upgrades in towns and hill forts (this does not apply to armies under a neutral flag).

2. Spells: "Anti-Magic", "Astral Gate", "Vampirism", "Summon Boat".

Installation: From the downloaded zip archive, move the file NikolasRemarsh.h5m to the "Maps" folder (create it if it doesn't exist), and NikolasRemarsh_mods.pak to the "data" folder of the installed game.
Both components must be installed! The NCF core is not required. There will be a slight delay on startup (the script will load); just wait it out.

Uninstallation: Remove the files NikolasRemarsh.h5m and NikolasRemarsh_mods.pak from the above-mentioned folders.
It is recommended to do this immediately after completing the map due to its impact on other maps/mods!


Feedback, suggestions, and constructive criticism are welcome. I wish you a pleasant game!

Change History: attached as a docx file in the zip archive at the link below (couldn't fit it here, as the number of 'chars' there already exceeds the character limit for a single message).

Download link: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1PlBq9cBd-0VkEb6nFnVH1Ijn8sn4uwMI?usp=sharing

Screenshots:

Wow, you guys are really on a roll! Two maps in two days! And what maps! And this one is for the Necromancers! I'm off to get Bayrother. Alright, this map is going to be completed today. Whew!

elizbar1967, I wish you good luck with the Walkthrough!

I'm playing through it. It's very interesting. I didn't quite understand. Will Vampire Guards join you in places other than the portal? I'm thinking about whether to rely on them or leave them in the Castle.

Added 1 minute ago
Stefan, with his Death Knight summoning, is simply a machine for destroying Elves.

You can't recruit them. But you can obtain them by upgrading higher vampires in the Stronghold of Iriba-Ishkun (the tower is approximately in the center of the western lands). The portal has a stack so you can understand who they are and what they do. Whether to use them or not is up to the player.

And is the "Machine Operation" skill not blocked? It's quite good in the early stages, especially with a mentor, of course. Do you have a mentor?)) It's like a transfer from those times – I want to know everything!))

It is not blocked, feel free to use it. There are even two mentors.

I'm running around the ghost dragons, but I can't seem to defeat them. The game is very interesting! I haven't felt this much excitement in a long time.

If you mean the Guardians of the Veil of Eternal Night, then the player shouldn't be taking them. On the contrary, the AI will try to overwhelm them, and your task is to prevent it from reaching them. This is mentioned at the very end of the description of the additional quest for the Veil.

Decided to start over. Will I get the Necromancer set? I've explored the entire map, but nothing has appeared.

Except for the Cloak of Deadly Shadows (since it is associated with the quest for the Guard Vampires). The rest of the artifacts were taken by Marcel. He spent most of his campaign acquiring the set – he spent at least one entire mission just getting the Amulet, and the Ring of Sinners took just as long. My map is related to the Nivalis storyline, and it would be strange if Nicholas found all 4 artifacts from the nearest smuggler around the corner)

Well, I already got the cloak. Interestingly, I already have five artifacts from the dragon set. I'm heading towards the Castle of Magic. I cleared the outpost. My army isn't very strong, though. This isn't like playing as Markel.

I completed the map and really enjoyed it. Considering that the map is very similar to the map from the final elf mission, as the author himself wrote, the location of all castles, except for the magic academy, is known in advance. There was a very interesting battle in the pyramid; at that time, I was playing solo with vampires, and I had to clear everything with battle mages. The map itself is not difficult because the second hero has an overpowered "Knight Summon" ability, which helps to quickly clear the starting location. The vampires are also quite overpowered (although they are expensive), and the "Vampirism" spell is available. In general, the enemies have few resistances, so it's quite easy to clear everything (only the "Spell Deflection" ability of the mages prevented me from clearing it without losses). To balance the game, as the author wrote, the "Mentorship" skill was reduced; otherwise, the armies would become too strong. For both main heroes, I leveled them up using the standard "Darkness" and "Summoning" skills. The Death Knight was stationed on the "Dragon Defense" and army accumulation from a certain stage. I also have a small question for the author: I was too lazy to test what would happen if I didn't give the ring to the Sphinx dragon. Thank you also for placing the last obelisk near the prophet, so the quest could be completed quickly without having to run across half the map. It's also interesting that the prophet talks about the elves keeping the dwarf king's set for themselves, and indeed, there are two pieces of it with each of the two heroes. It was a bit tedious to bring the upgraded vampires to the main hero and play with him without a cloak, as this artifact is necessary for the hero's leveling. Also, regarding the vampires, I noticed a small bug/feature: if there were only vampires in the army during leveling, the hero receives one additional higher vampire. I didn't quite understand why there was a portal to the supply line behind the mage and what changes after the caravan is destroyed. There are also quite a few stat-boosting locations on the map; Nicholas ended up with 40 attack points. Regarding the finale, thanks to the teleport near the elf city, I quickly reached the castle, took the armies with Nicholas, and saw that Faidaen's threat level was low. I was already afraid that I would have to chase him across the map, but thank you to the author for giving him a script to rush the Necropolis cities. I can't call the battle difficult; the only threat is the upgraded version of the elf archers. Otherwise, it was fun to watch how, when playing defensively, 600 vampires were added every couple of turns. I also want to note the interesting battle with the elves, during which a new pack appears when they are killed, and again, this is either a bug or a feature: the "Vampire Swarm" ability worked on the newly appeared pack after the previous one was killed in one hit. There are also a couple of minor details that fit in well: the mummy's specialization with a screenshot from "Sapper," the elemental models from the 6th part, the dragon sneezing with Armageddon, the gates that can be opened and closed at will to save the hero, the ambushes are similar to those in the "Sacred Grove" map, but unfortunately, it's much easier to get rid of them here than in the aforementioned map. I can't say for sure whether I was just lucky or the author tried hard, but there were quite a few creatures on the map that could be resurrected as vampires.

Overall, the map is very good, even though it borrows the original campaign as a basis. It reminded me of the "Another Side" series of maps for Warcraft 3. I express my great gratitude to the author for the work done and for adding scenarios for my favorite faction.

PingWing, thank you for the Walkthrough! Regarding the Sphinx – if you don't give him the Ring, he will slightly diminish the bonus from the complete Dragon set. As for the bug when summoning vampires – I'll look into it; it's related to the script functions for removing/adding units. Regarding the portal to the supply line – a caravan with reinforcements spawns from there for the mages (the storyline justification is that the elves are also helping them). By destroying it, the player simply deprives the "academics" of additional troops, and that's all. As for the "assault" ability of the guard vampires – this is a feature embedded in the game's mechanics for this ability; I have nothing to do with it.
I'm glad you liked it, which means all those references weren't in vain


Added 3 minutes ago
Fellow forum users, if it's not too much trouble, it would be nice to know the following:
- what difficulty level the map was played on;
- suggestions for improvement (I can't promise that all of them will be implemented, but nevertheless);
- and also balance, bugs, and typos, of course.

Regarding the difficulty, I played through it on Veteran mode. I also forgot to mention earlier that I liked the fact that the main character tries to resist becoming undead (again, a reference to the original, where he didn't want to become undead himself), and also that all the non-standard heroes have their own backstories.

Also, regarding the set, as I understand it, based on the presence of artifact shops, it can theoretically be collected while also fulfilling the Sphinx's conditions (although I never got the ring, so maybe it can only be obtained in the pyramid). As for suggestions, I would suggest making Faidan more difficult as the final boss, because even without specifically farming an army, he is defeated very easily.