Posts from Walkthroughs for custom maps.

Interesting, I glanced through it – it seems he has time to replay battles if something goes wrong. This suggests that there shouldn’t be any overly difficult battles. I’m now thinking that I might try to do my own challenge playthrough without save loading.

Today, player Giorgio1777 uploaded a recording of his speedrun playthrough of the "Lord of the Rings 3.0" map. He believes that this is currently the world record for this map:

It took me just a few minutes to conclude that the player is not very skilled. Apparently, the speed of the game in real-time was clearly a priority over quality.

There's really no point in speedrunning this in real time. Heroes isn't a shooter, so it's not about showing how quickly you can click.

Anyone who wants to see a real speedrun should enter the code gosolo. ;) It will be quite chaotic and hilarious, especially on modern, fast PCs! :D

The speedrunner in the video closes each window with the mouse cursor. Is that how it's supposed to be? I won't even mention other things.

If anyone wants to see a real speedrun, they should enter the code gosolo. ;) It will be such a mess and a laugh, especially on modern, fast PCs! :D

gosolo is good for testing. But whether it's worth using it for completing maps is, in my opinion, an open question. At least we won't get the "Cheater" title.

I still hope to one day see an attempt to beat the season record in UTB. The map is one of the most famous, and the Walkthrough is very challenging (81 days). Here are some save files. You can read on gamerhome what and when was taken/killed, so there is something to base your strategy on. :)

The only problem is finding the same version that the speedrun was performed on. I found an old version of UTB from 2001 in the Chinese internet, also for Blade of Armageddon, but in English. It's possible that this is it. You can Download it here. It's the first one at the top of the list.

And yes, I don't see much benefit from real-time speedruns. I suspect that this is some new trend that has come, in part, from the speedrun.com website. Here, for example, is a speedrun by a guy who holds the first place in real time. It's already better; he closes the windows not with the mouse cursor and knows some hotkeys. But again, why click the mouse twice every time when moving a hero when you can remove the "Show Move Path" function, and it will save -1 click? There is also additional wasted time when he moves the mouse to the castle gate to move the hero there, even though it can be done with one key press.

I still hope to one day see an attempt to beat the season record in UTB. The map is one of the most famous, and the Walkthrough is very challenging (81 days). Here are some saves. On gamerhome, you can read what and when was taken/killed on each day, so there is something to use as a reference :)
The only problem is finding the same version on which the speedrun was performed.

Although I haven't played this map yet and may be wrong (in which case, please forgive me), after loading both saves, I strongly suspect that this is either a very old version of the map, 9000 times easier than the final one, or a completely reworked version by someone "for themselves" (such "smart guys" exist, in case someone is not aware). You can already see that it has been translated into Chinese. Therefore, for me, a record Walkthrough of an unknown version of the map is not a good indicator (but this is not a criticism of season, just an observation).
By the way, since we're talking about "Unleashing the Bloodthirsty", it's worth mentioning: there are at least 2 versions, the second of which is significantly more difficult, as the author "tightened the screws" and blocked a number of things that helped to complete it with less effort. On the maps4heroes.com website, there is currently only one version, and somewhere in the comments it says exactly what the difference is from the other.
Here is one difference:

rushRunner (Boston), 27-11-2017 12:21
I finished on 6-4-4, the SoD version (Dragonmaster had enchanters etc). Not quite a rush run, but the quickest result I had so far.

Yes, here:

Adam, 03-11-2017 21:48
what is the difference between 1 and 2?

gyorgy writes:
10-11-2017 23:22
I played both - Unleashing the Bloodthirsty II
The first version had the last boss with 6K black and red dragons and some other army, and you could blind/berserk stuff. Now his army is a lot stronger, he has armor of the damned and you can't blind/berserk anything...

I strongly suspect that this is either a very old version of the map, 9000 times easier than the final one, or a completely reworked version by someone "for themselves" (such "smart guys" exist, in case someone is unaware).

Well, I wrote that it's an old version. My link has several other versions, one of which has been edited for an easier game. It's clear that playing on an edited version isn't interesting, but that's not what we're talking about.

Therefore, for me, a record playthrough of an unknown version of the map is completely irrelevant (but this is not a criticism of season, just an observation).

Well, well, this is one of the most difficult maps of its time. There were no wayhomes or anything like that back then. I played it about 10 years ago, and these 2 saves show that the pace is very intense. Instead of your screenshot, it would be more illustrative to show a more complete picture. It's clear that in the tower, we get Berserkers, and this army doesn't seem so threatening anymore. But I liked how the capture of the swamp castles was skipped while keeping the main army.

That's why I'm talking about this record - there's a competitive element here. An attempt to speedrun the very latest version would also be very interesting, but beating season's record, even on an old version, will be (perhaps only for me) much more interesting:cool:

Map: "Road to Destruction" (improved version) 毁灭之路 BT 改良版
walkthrough review, Chinese map

1. General comments. Rating 8/10
Another challenge on a Chinese map from gamerhome. For those who download it, don't forget to rename the map file, as the program won't recognize the same filename if it's in Chinese.
The map kept me engaged, revealed some new aspects of gameplay, and the map art itself looks cool.
Although the map is somewhat linear, it still allows for different walkthrough options.
All quests, tasks, passages, etc. — everything works; knowledge of Chinese text is not required.
I liked the beginning; I was most impressed by the fight with Solmir—special respect to the author for that.
The second half of the map is completed without much difficulty.
Battles don't drag on for hours, which I also liked about the map.
There is a distinct Chinese style:
- taverns are missing (there is only 1 behind insane guards),
- Fly and Dimension Door spells are missing,
- we go a very long time without Resurrection, which complicates the game, although Berserk appears not too late and it's OP,
- there may be "necro-ing" and "demo-ning".
At first, we play as Xeron with Arch Devils, then for almost the entire game as Tazar. Orrin wasn't particularly useful during the run.
The battles are varied. Especially in the first 2 months, it is advisable to know basic mechanics to avoid losses.
Our main strike stacks: Arch Devils and Archangels. At some stage, we can use Efreet, make snipers at the end, or buy Titans. But generally, the first two are enough for the whole game. I didn't buy any Titans until the final week.
Overall, the map should appeal to a wide range of enthusiasts who want to play something new and not too difficult. The main thing is to survive the fight with Solmir; everything else can be handled!

2. Beginning (111 – 121)
Quite traditional for such maps.
We start with two heroes without a castle: a very over-leveled Rashka level 59 with stats over 90, AoTD and the red orb. Unfortunately, this hero will die on day 2 and cannot be saved. His function is to take 5k gold and open the purple tent on the island to clear the way for our other hero. The odds are uneven: we have 1 Efreet against 100 of the opponent's Azure Dragons. I tried searching the original and modified HD+ terrain for a cell surrounded by obstacles to hide the Efreet in tactics and kill the 100 Azures with Armageddon. This is possible (Armageddon deals 4720 damage with 1840 mana), but there is no spot to hide like in Ira the Mage (harpy vs red dragon). My search could be called a game of "find me"; I found 2 almost suitable spots, but they don't hide us, see screens 1 and 2. In short, I checked ALL available cells on the island and nearby, but Rashka cannot be saved—that would be too OP, having such an over-leveled hero so early with a fire magic collection: Berserk, Armageddon, etc. Here you have a choice (and I'll give advice immediately): simply dismiss Rashka along with the artifacts (so the enemy doesn't get the KS and AoTD, which looks very painful against Azures), or lose and hand over the arts. I eventually gave the arts to Roland, and he can later be killed to retrieve them.
In the northwest of the map, Xeron opens the purple guard and begins his journey through the 1st location. Here, the map author immediately gives us a task: how to get the Town Portal spell (costing 10k gold) by day 113. I'll say right away, this can be done "to the letter," but you have to dig into the physics/mechanics for something and generate the correct STARTING SAVE. Without generating the correct starting save, it is impossible to get Town Portal on day 113. The task isn't super difficult, but I've seen such a task for the first time; overall, I liked it.
Next, with 1 Devil, you need to travel through the location and kill either Archs, gold dragons, or Titans. You also need to have some basic knowledge of attacking with Arch Devils, use magic reasonably, and save resources. On day 115, we capture the 1st Inferno.
Overall, everything is not as difficult as it seems, but I highly recommend checking the quests and passage guards for the 1st week via the editor so you don't get frustrated and have to replay the first week 5-6 times.
The fight with 5 Arch Devils against 10 Archs was also hard if you wanted to lose no one. I replayed it about 20-30 times, but managed to save everyone, see screen 3 — start of the battle, the terrain helps :)
On day 122, we get the 2nd Inferno; the beginning is complete.

3. Development from 122 to 147
At this stage, there is also some thinking to be done.
As I noticed, the AI quite often generates a Devil week, which allows us to get +5 Devils in the growth castle, which looks very OP. But in that case, we cannot upgrade Devils to Arch Devils in that same castle. I had to remember that increasing creatures via weekly growth doesn't work with upgraded units. Therefore, from a growth perspective in one castle (PROBABLY, NOT SURE), it is better not to upgrade the Arch Devils. But from a tempo and availability of upgraded units perspective, this will slightly delay development, though a troop fort can be found in the neighboring location a bit later.
At this stage, we finally secure the Inferno respawn, complete quests, make sure to buy growth from Devil dwellings, go to the sandy respawn, and then to the snowy spit, where we kill Josephine, Theodore, Loins, and Jeditta. I killed Jeditta with -6 black dragons — my minimum. The beauty is that the spell arsenal is very limited for both us and the AI, and there is no Resurrection :) therefore all battles are conducted with minimal losses. I'll say right away that it's not worth carrying anyone else besides Arch Devils and a couple of Efreet for distractions; this is our entire army.
Generally, the battles are very interesting: how to kill everyone and lose almost nothing :)

4. From 211 to 317 (killing Solmir)
On day 212, we free Tazar, get him the necessary skills from seers, and level him up on neutrals right there. Be sure to give Tazar Pathfinding: it will be useful 100 times on the map + Fire Magic is also a must; Berserk will be available later. As for intelligence, see Tazar's stats in screen 4.
Then you need to manage the timing to take the quest for the Amulet of Courage by day 241, pull the trick with opening the blue tent and running away from Dessa (or Kirri); it's better to open the path to Dessa, though.
Next, we capture the neighboring respawn with 2 angel castles, kill Stig (using Xeron via blinding his Archs), then 2 dungeons.
Here is another important tip: do not give the seer the anti-hypnosis artifact for passage to the dragon utopia. This artifact will be needed a bit later to open the way to the Azure Dragon caches, and this artifact is unique on the map.
And then the difficult stage begins: capturing Titan castles, where you must kill Cutberg, Fafner, Than, and the location boss — Solmir, one by one. This is where things get brutal, because we still don't have Resurrection!!! The only question is how many losses we will take in these battles. If the first three same-types can be killed without significant losses, then Solmir is just brutal. I would even say it's one of the most difficult fights in my experience.
See screen 5 — start of the battle. I took 142 Arch Devils, a dozen and a half split black dragons, and 460 demonized Horned Ones and 68 joined Pegasi (although the last 2 stacks weren't that necessary). Solmir blasts with Chain Lightning for almost -30 (!) Arch Devils each; we have no Resurrection! My strategy for this fight: use an Elixir of Life and definitely a cloak for +10% magic resistance, visit as many morale and luck spots as possible. In short: you need to wait on the 1st round and ensure that Solmir's Chain Lightning hits the 10% resistance. Then cast Berserk on Arch Devils and must catch morale, i.e., perform a double strike on Titans; even better if one of them has luck. Catching this coincidence is VERY AND VERY difficult. Next, you need to find a positioning where Arch Devils are surrounded only by wounded enemy stacks and deal minimal damage, then finish off the Titans. It's also important to catch as much morale and luck as possible so the AI doesn't get lucky. He also likes to cast anti-magic or other unpleasant things on us. A VERY AND VERY HARD battle. As a result, the best outcome I achieved was -38 Arch Devils (out of 142), which satisfied me.
The trick with the Solmir fight is also that if we tempo too hard and arrive early, there won't be enough Arch Devils and we won't kill him; but if we come very late and hoard strength, we might not make it to the passage guard 14-51-0 by 3-4-1, where important goodies and upgrades await us. Also, our Arch Devil growth is 4+4 (in castle) +2 from dwellings = 10 per week. Meanwhile, Solmir gets +9 Titans and a bunch of other troops. So time is not on our side. Therefore, perhaps for the first time in my gaming experience, I encountered a case where arriving neither too early nor too late was key—arriving exactly on time! In short, on day 317, Solmir was killed with a result of -38 Arch Devils.

5. From 321 to the finale (Nella)
After killing Solmir, we free Orrin, relearn Resurrection and start playing normally. The difficulty level of the walkthrough drops.
Especially when we capture the respawn with angel castles; we try particularly hard to do this to get all the uncollected growth. For example, in one castle I got more than +350 Archangels and +2000 Monks.
Capturing the castle at point 112-56-1 and 20 (TWENTY!) external dwellings of Arch Devils looks completely OP. After this, farming Devils becomes a natural imbalance.
There's no real sense in describing the rest of the walkthrough. Just a few tips:
- once you capture all Rampart castles, save money and get +50% income weekly,
- break the Azure garrison; behind it is the Grail and the only tavern on the map. Place the Grail in the castle with +2 morale.
- In the tavern, buy out the logisticians and MAINLY: your hero Rashka with artifacts (if dismissed) or Roland. The artifact from them is needed to free Gela or the Dragon (you can choose one to free; I chose Gela because he has +1 speed). Also buy a Necromancer; we will have the opportunity to "necro" over 60k Liches for the final battle (though it's possible without them),
- Nella in the final battle can be outsmarted with Berserk, as she is far too strong for us. Alternatively, you can open a passage for her, drive her into a castle and then attack while blocking the castle, but that would take longer.

Thanks for the review! I'm currently trying to figure out how to get 10,000 gold in 2 days (choose an artifact as a bonus, but which one?). :confused: And if I don't get the Town Portal from this soothsayer, can I still complete the map? Or how much more difficult will it be without it? Generating the "correct" starting save can take a long time, and that prospect is discouraging. So far, I've only encountered the need to set the correct starting parameters in the "007 chases Dr No" map; otherwise, the map is impossible to complete. But even there, the author explicitly stated what our starting town should be. We were discussing the other day in a private message: does anyone read our stories, and are they needed by anyone? I'll say it here too: I think people do read them, but not everyone will want to or be able to complete difficult maps, especially those in Chinese. I've downloaded it; maybe I'll try to complete it later. If I manage to complete "Brave People" (I'm currently stuck on the battle with Crag Hack). I don't know how it will go, but I think players of above-average skill and fans of large battles will find it interesting.

Thanks for the review!
I'm currently trying to figure out how to get 10,000 gold in 2 days (choose an artifact as a bonus, but which one?). :confused: And if I don't get the Town Portal from that soothsayer, can I still complete the map? Or how much more difficult will it be without it?
We were discussing the other day in private messages: does anyone read our stories, and are they needed by anyone? I'll say it here too: I think people do read them, but not everyone will want to or be able to complete difficult maps, especially those in Chinese.
I downloaded it, maybe I'll try to complete it later. If I manage to complete "Brave People" (I'm currently stuck on the battle with Crag Hack). I don't know how it will go further, but I think players of above-average skill and fans of large battles will find it interesting.

There's nothing extraordinary about getting 10K gold :)
We only have 2 starting heroes and only 2 days to get 10K. There aren't many options here, you can't really speed things up. I don't want to spoil anything on this topic, but here's a hint: when generating the starting save, I had to look into the game files to understand how much gold we can get from each source! ;) The starting artifacts don't matter.
If you don't take the Town Portal on day 112, you can get it later; there's a soothsayer on the water, on our side as a player. We can get to him from the water from two sides; there are two approaches (swimming). So, everything is still possible without the Town Portal on the second day, but the Walkthrough will be like going back and forth to gather forces. We don't have a tavern, so we'll have to travel back and forth across the map, losing a couple of weeks on each trip to gain strength.

We'll continue to create reviews, as long as they don't shut this down!

Hooray! I managed to find a page on a Chinese website with a brief description of the map walkthrough and several screenshots: https://dl.3dmgame.com/patch/110968.html Now I know where to get 10000 gold.
From that Chinese review, I also realized that maps with the abbreviation BT in their title are those where victory in battles is often achieved by repeatedly replaying, hoping for some random favorable factors: repeated attacks due to high morale, fear of our azure troops among enemy forces, etc. I don't remember if anyone mentioned this before (if so, it doesn't hurt to repeat it). You can take this into account when choosing Chinese maps for a Walkthrough. Personally, I don't like this (and "Brave People" is one of such maps, but I will still try to progress further).
Clarification: I just came across a quote explaining the meaning of the abbreviation BT (I misinterpreted it, but luck still plays a big role):

Chinese map ... are often harder than official maps, therefore we call them BT map (BT is short for Chinese words "biantai", means is hardest than normal).

Hooray! I managed to find a page on a Chinese website with a brief description of the map walkthrough and several screenshots: https://dl.3dmgame.com/patch/110968.html Now I know where to get 10000 gold.
From that Chinese review, I also understood that maps with the abbreviation BT in their name are those where victory in battles is often achieved by repeatedly replaying them so that we get lucky and some random favorable factors appear: repeated attacks due to high morale, fear of our Azure Dragons by enemy troops, etc. I don't remember if anyone mentioned this before (if they did, it doesn't hurt to repeat it). You can take this into account when choosing Chinese maps for playthroughs. Personally, I don't like this (and "Brave People" is one of these maps, but I will still try to progress further).
Clarification: I just came across this quote, which explains the meaning of the abbreviation BT (I misinterpreted it, but the factor of luck still plays a big role):

Thank you for explaining the abbreviation BT in the map title because I see it on almost every Chinese map, but I never wondered what it meant. By the way, on GamerHome, the Chinese are very meticulous about the difficulty of the map. Usually, they immediately post two versions of the map: a simple ("popular" in translation) and a more difficult (BT) version. I once compared a couple of maps, and the difference lies in:
- starting forces of the computer,
- events where the computer receives different bonuses,
- guarding objects,
- timing of opening seers, etc.
The Chinese love to make players "randomize" in their maps. The most challenging battle in this regard was on the Jedi Counterattack map, in my opinion. In the battle with Lakus, who had legions of Phoenixes, Ice Golems, Azure Dragons, etc., Lakus constantly gave Prayer and Speed to his Phoenixes and had a ranged stack, so you couldn't just hide behind a force field. In short, in that battle, I needed to catch an unreal random event:
- fear of his phoenixes towards my azure dragons in the first round,
- in the first round, I needed to give Frenzy to my Archdevils and have them attack his azure dragons (and not get scared), preferably all under Luck,
- no one from our side should be afraid of his azure dragons,
- in subsequent rounds, it was necessary for the computer to randomly choose a specific order of spells (towards Resurrection, rather than boosting its own Phoenixes),
- I don't remember if he also had resistance.
The number of attempts per battle was 80-100, or maybe even more; it was a terrible battle.

P.S. I remembered another "wonderful" battle on the Xiedu map: you need to play about 25 rounds, something like that, so that we have an Archdevil and a Specter left behind the force field to consume mana. The computer cannot reach us and starts summoning elementals. So, you need to catch the moment when the computer summons water elementals (two-hex ones) because earth, air, and fire elementals are single-hex and can easily fly into our force field. I could never figure out what principle the computer uses to summon specific elementals, why in the same battle with the same setup, it summons different elementals (and water elementals seem to appear less often). In short, I needed to catch the random event of summoning specific two-hex elementals after playing 25 rounds.

Year created: 2004.
Genre: RPG.
Language: Russian.
Actual difficulty: Medium (moderate). If you avoid gross mistakes and obtain the necessary skills, the walkthrough will not be stressful up until the finale.
Plot: The Barbarian lord Gorder Harro, who commissioned a coat of arms from the head of the Merchant Guild, Magister Sombreus, decided that he could simply afford not to pay for the master's work! It is time to prove to him how wrong he is!
Inquisitorio asked about this map before. I decided to check it out now and completed it. I hope my review helps him.

Thoughtful design. The world has a specific geography; all cities and characters are given names.
The topography of the map is simple and will not confuse you.
Lack of strict linearity in the walkthrough, although there is a preferred order of key actions.
The absence of timing (time limits) allows you to complete the map calmly at your own pace without fear of missing something.
Guards prevent enemies from raiding you: only you can open them, and only where and when you wish.
The author took measures to ensure the Grail does not fall into enemy hands: many forget about this.
All artifacts and spells are available except those allowing flight (they are not needed here).
Good and thorough drawing.

The author did not bother to provide the main hero with the necessary skills, specifically Earth and Fire magic (and intelligence is very desirable for a warrior hero). Yes, there is a University of Magic in Conflux, but Sombreus will not reach it immediately.
In my personal opinion, the Cloak of Denial on the main enemy is overkill: this makes the battle more about strength than magic. If it were necessary to make the fight less easy than expert Berserker and Blindness make it, one could limit it to a medal protecting against mind spells.
A non-critical error: west of Necropolis there is a small area of snowy lands that is impossible to reach: trees block the way. Fortunately, there is nothing important there.
Not an error, but a confusing point: the purpose of the green and white border gates remained unclear. They simply prevent you from passing from one side, but you can easily enter from the other. These gates play no fundamental role. Yet for visiting the white tent, the author created a whole mini-quest, which, however, is not mandatory to complete.

We play as Dungeon and the main hero Sombreus is a lord. At the start, he has Leadership, Wisdom, and +350 gold daily.
It should be mentioned immediately regarding skills necessary for the main hero: Wisdom and Earth magic are mandatory, Fire magic is highly desirable; for the final battle, Tactics is very desirable (to "counter" enemy tactics, preventing him from deploying troops outside the gates immediately) and Ballistics is useful to avoid letting enemy troops out of the walls prematurely. Intelligence will also be useful in the early and middle stages (later mana whirls and a magic spring will allow you to have plenty of mana). Personally, I was lucky with the random roll: Sombreus received almost all desired skills.
In the initial stage, I slowly developed the hero and expanded my domains. We have the main things necessary for successful progress: Sphere of Vulnerability, Tome of Fire Magic. Resurrection and Town Portal can be learned in cities. Conflux will allow all heroes capable of effectively moving through the world and—in necessary cases—conducting easy battles to learn the required schools of magic.
On 3-4-5 I removed the purple guard and entered Blue's snowy lands in the southwest.
On 4-2-1 I gave the Titan's Gladius to the guard and crossed the bridge. Before me is Blue's 3rd Tower — Slengard. It already has a very powerful garrison, though without a hero. Took the city, and Blue disappeared.
On 4-3-4 Sombreus passed through the light blue border gates and entered the lands of the Barbarian.
On 4-4-2 I captured Stronghold Tygydyr and beat Grender, who blocked the way to the black tent. Took the archmages waiting for me with the Ring (Dragon's Motionless Eye) and minotaur kings. Visited the black tent.
On 4-4-3 I exchanged the Dragon's Motionless Eye for 700 ogre shamans. Gave them to Sombreus, replacing his minotaurs.
On 4-4-4 120 rust dragons were defeated, and I visited the red tent.
On 4-4-5 Sombreus went northeast from Ergenrok and visited the observatory, revealing the surroundings. Here is Gorder Harro himself nearby, and his Stronghold behind red gates. It's not worth attacking him now, but you can pass by to the east, where there is a canyon in the mountains leading to Castle Eleston.
On 5-1-4 I took the Saint's Sandals and captured Eleston. A Colossus stands there, all possible buildings are constructed, and troops are available.
On 5-2-1 we are informed that 3 additional archangels appeared in Eleston. Good, but not enough to fight the main enemy.
On 5-2-2 I captured Rampart Ostelind in the northeast.
On 5-2-6 Sombreus beat crystal dragons and entered Brown's lands.
On 5-3-1 Dessa level 19, whom I had previously beaten, appeared in the tavern with good skills, and I decided to hire her. On the same day, I beat Onderis in Tower Esleteran, and Brown disappeared.
On 5-3-3 I took eastern Conflux Alioran.
On 5-3-4 Deemer took Tower Zeliaron, and Purple disappeared.
On 5-3-5 I beat the necromancer Gorvanu, obtaining Shackles of War, took Necropolis Uuli Keritas, and Pink disappeared.
Now Sombreus headed to open the passage to Turquoise from the swamps.
On 5-4-5 Sombreus took Tower Vullengard, and Turquoise disappeared.
Only Red remained.
On 5-4-7 I beat Orbruh, obtaining the Ambassador's Ribbon, Sword of Justice, Tome of Earth Magic and captured Stronghold Orbanter. Red only has the capital left, where Gorder Harro is currently hiding. Giving the Ribbon to the guard at the prison, I freed Stervelin, who has the Helmet of Divine Enlightenment, 100 snipers, and 100 dendroids.
On 6-1-1 I finally remembered about the trolls who robbed the caravan and beat them, obtaining the Centaur's Axe. Also visited the last obelisk there. Now it's time to dig up the Grail.
On 6-1-5 I dug up the Grail.
I decided after all to give 3 necklaces to the guard to receive the Cursed Armor. Giving all collected troops to Sombreus, I rushed toward the enemy's lair.
On 6-2-1, adding a few more troops, Sombreus attacked Harrogat. He wore Cursed Armor and Sphere of Forbidding, as well as Sniper's Bow and Elixir of Life. The combination of CA and SF allows you to apply all CA effects to the enemy but prevents them from being removed (Hans C used this on "The Uprising" map).
The first attempt was successful, but with very heavy losses. Repeated it while wearing Spirit of Despair: the enemy periodically triggered high morale, which must not be allowed. Also, I saw that enemy troops partially resist magic. The result is noticeably better (although losses are still high).
Red is destroyed, honor is restored, I won.
Result: 148 days.
Tried using all artifacts that increase attack and defense instead of Cursed Armor in the final battle. This option is perhaps even better.
Tried leading Dessa into battle instead of Sombreus: she has Ballistics and the walls will not be destroyed. Unfortunately, the enemy has Tactics and she does not, so he immediately deployed monsters and thunder birds outside the gates, and the battle went poorly; moreover, in terms of skills, Dessa is much weaker than Sombreus, so she lost the battle.
Another interesting point (I don't know if it's described anywhere): even the Sphere of Forbidding does not stop enemy thunder birds from hitting you with lightning, so you should wear a Negative Charm in battle.
Attaching a screenshot of the hero before the final battle and its beginning.
Kirinyale has several other interesting maps that I downloaded and hope to complete someday.
And in general, besides "Paragon", "First Blood" and "Last Crusade", there are many other Russian maps that can be tried. Reviews of two previously completed ones are with me, and after editing them slightly, I will post them.

Another interesting point (I don't know if it's described anywhere): even the Sphere of Inhibition doesn't prevent enemy storm birds from hitting you with lightning, so you need to wear the Amulet of Negation in battle.

Yes, everything seems a bit ambiguous regarding autocasts of creatures with probabilistic effects under the influence of prohibitions. In my opinion, they should trigger almost all the time.
For example, I definitely encountered a situation where phoenixes resurrect in an antimagic garrison (and, therefore, also with the Spell Immunity skill).
But another example surprised me - on cursed ground, bone dragons attacked a stack for about 20 rounds, but the aging effect didn't trigger. Although, at the same time, the viper's poison was applied quickly and multiple times. Maybe I was just unlucky - more extensive tests or studying the game's code are needed. I think that petrification, deadly gaze, blindness, stunning, and dispel effects will also work.
And, speaking of ambiguity, we can recall that on cursed ground, djinns and sprites cannot cast any spells, although, in theory, they have spells to cast, since cursed ground does not impose a prohibition on 1st-level magic.

Recently, I completed the map “The Rise of Power”. It’s an old map (2001), “classic” in nature, and very easy (but this became clear only after some time), and today, it only interests beginners. But due to a couple of interesting moments, it’s still worth talking about it a little.
The gist of what’s happening: Necromancers have captured the capital of the kingdom, but loyal people managed to take the sacred relic, the Grail, and bury it in the ground. Your task: find the Grail and return it to the capital. This is the first condition for victory.
The advantages of the map are that the author has thought a little about the backstory and the topography of the world, and there is a choice of which faction to play (you can even play as the “bad guys”).
The disadvantages are the very weak guards (with one exception) and the random location of the Grail.
I chose Rampart (Green). The game is played in alliance with Tower (Blue) and Castle (Turquoise). At the start, we have Jelu and a number of sniper dwellings. Blue has Wizards, but he frees the Dragon from prison a little later. Attacks from enemies can be expected from several directions. Necromancers can attack from the Dungeon, but a purple border guard blocks their path.
I immediately had to remember how the AI searches for and digs up the Grail. Obelisks, visited by any of the allies, reveal pieces of the puzzle map to all allies. Soon it became clear in which player’s zone the Grail was buried: it turned out to be Red, who has Inferno. I need to get ahead of him. As soon as I was sufficiently prepared, I went to Red and captured 2 of his cities. The surviving hero sailed across the sea. I relaxed, and in vain. Important tasks arose: I needed to repel attacks from enemies from the sea and from the north. I repelled 2 Turquoise Castles from the enemy, but he, left without cities, soon disappeared.
Blue’s second Tower turned out to have a Dimension Door! After a while, I got there and learned it. Resurrection and City Portal appeared in the second Castle. And in the central Tower, the capital captured by the Necromancers, there was Flight (surprisingly, they didn’t use it)!
The Blue ally was performing some strange actions on the lava. It wasn’t immediately clear to me that he was digging up the Grail. And soon he dug it up! And brought it to his Tower, placing it there. Victory according to the first condition became impossible, but a view of the entire world opened up. Now all that remains for me is to defeat all the remaining enemies. Blue helped me with this: I can see where they are and where to go. He didn’t want to fight the enemies, only later did he capture one enemy city.
After that, I simply went around the lands of the remaining enemies and defeated them. Only before the finale, after breaking through the anti-magic garrisons, I captured the “secret” neutral Castle in the Dungeon, next to which lay many valuable artifacts. Here I first saw another interesting moment (for mapmakers to take note!): if the garrison belonged to an ally, we could freely pass through it, but if the ally was destroyed, the garrison becomes neutral, and we will have to fight it to pass!
After capturing the Castle (its guard was simply funny, especially in comparison with the passed garrisons), I finished off the last enemy, and I was congratulated on my victory. This happened on the 101st day (4-3-3). I wasn’t in a hurry, otherwise I could have easily set a record for completing the map.
Despite the lack of serious enemies, my main hero was able to level up greatly by visiting upgrade locations, and because he was an intelligence specialist, Ellezar, he had a lot of mana: initial skills 43/48/66/51, 3774 mana after visiting a magic source.
So, conclusions: the map could have been much better if the author
1) had placed adequate guards everywhere;
2) had prevented enemies or allies from digging up the Grail;
3) had made it impossible to simply learn Flight and Dimension Door in the players’ cities (they could have been given, for example, in a seer’s hut next to the “secret” Castle).