Posts from Walkthroughs for custom maps.

What are your opinions on Grigori Mintchev's maps? I've always been familiar with this name, and I don't rule out the possibility that I even played some of his maps as a child, so until recently, I didn't see any point in delving into his work. But after user kolotok mentioned that he restarted "Abelia" three times, I decided to take a look in the editor and was surprised. The supposed gameplay seems like a real challenge. Or recently, this author released two maps: "Adela's Revenge" and "Arlok." They are very similar in topography but different in gameplay (this is generally his thing). Take a look, for example, at the starting point in "Arlok." I haven't seen anything like it before.

As it turns out, Mintchev is a former chess player who has never been defeated. And also, the names of all his maps, with the exception of "Nexus Polaris," begin with the letter A.

I remember that name. It definitely brings back childhood memories, something from the old school. I remember a few maps in the form of 4 strips and an alien in the dungeon. Indeed, there were several maps that looked the same, but had different storylines (I don't remember how different, it was a long time ago).

What are your opinions on Grigori Mintchev's maps? I've always been familiar with this name, and I don't rule out that I might have even played some of his maps as a child, so until recently, I didn't see any point in delving into his work. But after user kolotok mentioned that he restarted "Abelia" three times, I decided to take a look in the editor and was surprised. The supposed gameplay seems like a real challenge. Or recently, this author released two maps: "Adela's Revenge" and "Arlok." They are very similar in topography but different in gameplay (this is his trademark). Take a look, for example, at the starting conditions in "Arlok." I haven't seen anything like it before.

As it turns out, Mintchev is a former chess player who has never been defeated. And also, the names of all his maps, with the exception of "Nexus Polaris," begin with the letter A.

Mintchev has his own style in mapmaking. And in my opinion, it's very good.
In his time, he submitted maps to one forum for contests, and there was some kind of scandal with vote manipulation, his maps were downvoted, it's an old story. :)
Now he makes maps with complex decisions. I played a couple of his maps this year, and I even wrote a report to him about one of them, where a bug was found: when you put a Titan's Gladius or Titan's Shield on a hero, I don't remember which, his defense increases to 90 or so, and then when you remove the artifact, the defense doesn't go down! :) The author responded to emails.
But his latest maps are very challenging. There is a time limit for the first week. As usual: very few resources, you need to play the first week strictly according to the author's plan, go through the battles according to his idea. I started playing one of the maps - in it, you can't get Earth magic, for example! Another point: the hero Mullich starts with -20,000 experience. And you need to survive the first week of battles on the starting map so that the experience starts to accumulate positively and you can start gaining at least some skills.
I'm not sure that most players will like his maps, because there is usually some kind of gameplay discomfort, you have to work hard, especially at the beginning.
Typical features of this author: absence or strong limitation of starting magic, strong enemy units, the possibility of enemy units attacking from one-way teleporters.
Personally, I like most of his maps. "Abelia," for example, was great!

Could you recommend a couple of puzzle maps similar to Ira the Mage or Deeply Inundated Dungeon?

You can start by playing a map like this one. It’s relatively simple but interesting.

Genre: RPG.
Actual Difficulty: medium-high.
This is another Russian map listed among the best by the HeroesPortal masters. And another one that I once failed to complete, but later decided to try my luck with again. And I succeeded. This was 2 years ago, but after winning via the 1st condition, I decided to try and fulfill the 2nd, but never finished, and the report remained unwritten.
Plot: Two worlds, Toynori and Alkeria, are bound by a single fate: the death of one will be the end for the other. And so the ruthless wheel of time has turned; the final hour has struck. Hordes of Barbarians from the east begin their march in Alkeria, while a mysterious sorcerer, His Shadow, prepares doomsday for the world of Toynori...
* Attention: there is an error in the original map (it remains unfixed). The author forgot to disable Flight and Dimension Door! There are also a couple of flaws that the Red player will encounter in the very first days (the guards of the Captain's Hat and the mine do not let you pass without a fight). Therefore, it is highly recommended to play the fixed version (which I have attached)!
Also, since 3 people mentioned in the comments that the game freezes in month 2-3, it is highly recommended to play with the HD mod, in which this problem is solved (at least, I didn't experience it).
Victory Conditions 2: obtain the Angel Alliance or defeat everyone. In this case, it should be mentioned because assembling the Angel Alliance is incomparably easier.
The author gave the enemies two other types of advantages: each starts with 2 or more towns, and the main heroes have starting experience and good basic skills. Additionally, many enemy main heroes have a starting army.
You can choose to play as either Red (Castle) or Purple (Necropolis). The choice of race should be made not only based on which race you are stronger with, but also taking into account the above. Pink has 4 towns in the Dungeon, and Turquoise has 5. In terms of total power, Turquoise is initially the strongest enemy, followed by Brown. Furthermore, only Turquoise's capital is protected by 5 border gates, with a mega-powerful hero stationed there. Therefore, it will likely be harder for the Necromancer than for the Knight. By the way, components for the Undead King's Cloak are on the map, and obtaining them will significantly ease the game for the undead.

Overall thoughtfulness.
Meticulous design and high density of the map.
There is no plot text in "calendar" events – only in seers' huts, with passage guards, and in map events (which are ambushes). Visiting seers and completing their tasks is not mandatory, but the texts give you a vivid picture of life in this world and create atmosphere.
The role-playing component of the map is kept to a minimum: there are no mandatory actions or set order of execution; the player is given almost complete freedom. This is probably the most strategic map by the author that I have completed.
The difficulty remains high until the finale, only current tasks and hardships change.

This could rather be called a feature: not every player will be able to complete this map. In addition to skill, a certain amount of luck is required here. You need to use every opportunity and take advantage of every mistake or oversight by the enemies.
During the walkthrough, another minor non-critical error was revealed: the road from the eastern Tower to the two-way monolith is blocked by an obstacle, and it can only be passed by water. By the time I got there, it was no longer a problem.

As with the first time, I decided to play as Castle.
At the start of the game, I had a long period of poverty and weakness. Troops arrived in the town via events in large numbers, but for a very long time there wasn't enough money to buy them out, even though I could have developed much faster with these troops. The author also provided resources, but there were far fewer than needed to buy all the troops even in the capital. Here, either the troop increase should be decreased or the money increase increased so it wouldn't be so frustrating.
Enemies appeared around the turn of months 1 and 2.
Choosing the right moment when Blue's heroes were exploring the eastern lands of the main continent, I landed in the north and began capturing Towers.
On 2-4-7, heading from the middle Tower to the monolith to capture the 3rd one on the island, I risked attacking minotaurs. I beat them, losing only one champion, but immediately took the Helmet of Divine Enlightenment (the main component of the Angel Alliance!) and 3 other artifacts.
By taking 3 Towers in the north and 2 gold mines, I obtained many useful spells, a boost to knowledge, and income.
I took the Magic Armor in the swamps.
On 3-1-2, Blue's main villain Yaksh the Blind attacked my Lord Helpy on the way to my capital. Fortunately, by that day I was already stronger than him and wasn't afraid. I replayed this battle several times: he has great spell power and hit my troops with Chain Lightning. I had to make sure losses were minimized. Finally, I managed to conduct this battle very well. Now Blue, not I, became the "weakest link" on the map. And so many useful artifacts I got from him!
I captured Green's western Rampart and headed for the eastern one.
On 3-2-1, the terrible Barbarian Talayga Khan crushed my border garrison but did not proceed further in my direction, turning back toward his own.
Taking the eastern Rampart, I learned Resurrection. It turned out that this Rampart also had a Spirit Keeper.
On 3-3-1, by intuition, I robbed a warrior's grave, and it contained a Magic Mana Medal – with it, the Wizard's Well was assembled.
Setting off by sea from Zaynmitz, I passed through all the Whirlpools, landed on Orange's lands, and captured 2 Confluxes.
On 3-3-5, after beating Sandro (hired by Brown), I received the Necklace of Divine Grace, Ring of Life (with which the Elixir of Life was assembled), and several other useful items.
On 3-3-6, I beat Antaurphin (Green's main villain) without losses. That same day it turned out my backpack was full.
On 3-4-1 Green was destroyed (the first of the disappearing enemies).
On 3-4-5 Blue was destroyed.
On 3-4-7, I beat Orange's main villain Al-Hazred.
On 4-1-1, I took the Shield of Lion Courage, guarded by fabulous dragons in the elven lands.
On 4-2-4 I finished off Orange. Now I have only one enemy in the overworld: Brown. Fortunately, he is somewhere in the far south for now.
When Lord Helpy finally headed to the far south to see where the Barbarians were and what they were doing, I realized that I was lucky here too: Talayga Khan broke through the guard of the one-way monolith and entered the same dungeon, and probably cannot return yet.
On the last day of month 4, I captured the last Stronghold, and no enemies remained on the surface.
In month 5, I set about exploring the dungeon.
On 5-4-2, I attacked Darkstorm, and here I got lucky: I took the Saint's Sandals from him.
On 6-1-7, I saw Talayga Khan near Lord Helpy and attacked him. Beating him without losses, as I expected, I captured the Sword of Justice. Having assembled the Angel Alliance, I was declared the winner.
Result: 147 days, 390 points (Brown dug up the Grail, a neutral Fortress and several enemy towns were not captured, 4 enemies still exist).
However, having achieved formal victory, I still wanted to continue the game (disassembling the Alliance): it's interesting to try and find and visit the remaining same-key tents and test my strength against Gershecheron.
On 6-2-3 Pink disappeared from the map (I had nothing to do with this).
On 6-2-6, I beat Gershecheron without losses. Now Turquoise has only one town left, the capital behind 5 border gates, and he cannot leave yet (as he hasn't visited all necessary tents). This means I can destroy the remaining enemies and take all towns. As for His Shadow, I am unlikely to defeat the legion of azure dragons with Dragon Father's Might in the near future. Therefore, a total victory is unattainable.
On 6-3-1, I beat Brünnan Ji, Purple's main hero, who can be played when choosing sides.
That's where I stopped, and the map and report were set aside for a long time. Now I am posting the report; whether I will continue playing – I don't know.
Whoever completes the map as Necromancers, tell us about it. Update: Glenn completed it, there is a video recording.
If anyone manages to defeat His Shadow, be sure to tell us about that too.
Of the maps downloaded from this author, I started some others but didn't finish them. After completing this map, I finished "Ice Pass" on my 2nd attempt. The report is also almost ready, and it's for the same reason: you can continue the walkthrough via the 2nd condition.

Map Title: Arlok
Author: Grigor Minchev
Downloaded: from the Heroesportal map catalog

I played through Minchev's new map and also got acquainted with the Bulgarian's creative style. The map turned out to be relatively simple, but interesting and engaging. I played it for several evenings without stopping.

Mission objective: find and unearth the Holy Grail; condition of defeat: lose the hero Arlok. He is our only hero at the start and is extremely unusual (see screenshot below). Sir Mullich is a level 0 specialist with a negative experience of 5,800,000 (!). His skills include advanced necromancy, plus artifacts for stats and the King of the Undead cloak. That is, he is not capable of acquiring any secondary skills naturally until he overcomes the huge experience deficit. At the same time, he is not critical to ghosts in battles, and he only has one spell in his spellbook – Titan's Thunder. In the taverns, we are offered a number of necromancer heroes, but here's the catch. In all of them, necromancy has been replaced with diplomacy, and necromancy itself is banned on the map. That is, it will not be possible to switch to another hero and summon liches. Jelu is also available for hire, and it makes sense to gradually develop him with a couple of "necro-diplomats."

The map has a very tight start in terms of resources and money, so incorrect actions will most likely lead to sad consequences. You need to quickly rush the AI while they are not strong and establish yourself at the expense of their cities. I went through the map counterclockwise: rampart – barbarians – rampart again – center and simultaneously the tower in the left corner. On the third month, I finished off the last ground flag (green), and it should be noted that by this time it had managed to gather some troops. But in general, in my opinion, the AI could have been significantly strengthened, since in the case of a quick clearing of the map according to a pre-planned plan, they surrender with minimal resistance. The brown AI predictably gathered the most troops in the dungeon. This is the only flag on the map that cannot be completely eliminated, as access to a number of castles is very difficult, and one dungeon is located in a completely inaccessible area for the player, and the AI periodically sends us guests through a portal from there.

It is also worth noting a couple of other unusual moments:
- there are practically no stat boosters on the map. With secondary heroes, you can visit several libraries of enlightenment, but for Arlok there are literally 2-3 boosters (!), that is, he is in a very sad state throughout the scenario;
- there are very few artifacts on the map. A number of artifacts are given to us at the start, but almost everything will have to be surrendered for quests during the game and run around in the mid-game completely naked;
- there are strong restrictions on magic. There is no city portal, flight, or dimension door on the map. It is not easy to get the call boat and walk on water. From the combat set, slow, blindness, resurrection, clone, forgetfulness, and force field are excluded until very late in the game. There is no berserk. In this regard, Arlok evoked associations with Dejavu Dreality. But there, at least, it was possible to apply slow from the cursed armor, and here I only got slow at the very end of the game, on the 7th month (!);
- the main feature is in the form of a sophisticated system of quests. This is the first such map in my practice, where defeating the AI is a smaller part of the required amount of work. And some of the difficulties in battles are precisely in solving the Pandora's boxes, ambushes in events, and not in the actual clashes with the AI. If you do not analyze the entire quest chain in advance in the editor (the prospector does not load saves for this map), then you can get stuck in Arlok for a very long time, considering that there is no city portal here, and the main hero, who opens the bulk of the quests, cannot be split and dismissed. I will not spoil too much, I will only say that if a quest asks you to hand over an artifact(s), then you can safely do it. The author does not resort to cheap tricks;
- I noticed that grayed-out ghosts are 30% less critical than non-grayed-out ones. In the example of liches, I thought that there was a connection to the amount of health, but no, the principle turns out to be different. You live, you learn in Heroes.

I finished the walkthrough on 7.2.4. The map ends with the need to dig up a randomly located Holy Grail in a huge square in the dungeon, and I had to work hard to find the digging point (I put a puzzle map in the screenshots, opened through nwcoracle, for clarity). Also, at the end of the map, I got an achievement: Arlok's experience on the 7th month exceeded the positive value, and finally, secondary skills acquired in quests, Pandora's boxes, and the witch's hut were pumped up, including necromancy becoming expert.

Overall, I liked the map. It seems that the source of new ideas in HoMM 3 is inexhaustible.

Map Name: Abelia
Author: Grigor Minchev
Downloaded: from the maps4heroes map catalog

I've completed this map as well. Everything turned out to be not as scary as the editor preview suggested, although the map is certainly not easy and will simply grind an unprepared/slow/clumsy player into powder. The closest relatives to "Abelia" in terms of gameplay are "First Blood" and "25more next". The key requirement here is the need to maintain a high tempo and execute a pre-developed plan. Plus, playing with a swarm of heroes. It's one of those rare cases where the map isn't the easiest even with taverns available.

To outline it in general, the main difficulties you'll face during the game are as follows:
- Incredible poverty in terms of gold and resources throughout the entire walkthrough. There will only be enough for the absolute essentials, and there will be no adequate opportunity to buy out the army even after capturing most of the towns and mines, as there are few mines, and money-generating buildings are banned in towns (you get the standard +500 gold per day from one castle, except for the starting one, where you can plug in a capitol). Additionally, events and pandoras are scattered across the map that strip away all gold and all resources;
- Strong restrictions on access to spells, artifacts, and stat boosters, which are traditional for this author. There is no magic in the town guilds at all! The bulk of the artifacts will be held by the AI after they visit the dragon utopias at their respawns;
- Energetic AI. The main AI heroes, who are unavailable for us to hire, have almost all magic (except for Fly, Dimension Door, and Town Portal), with the most problematic point being the presence of Water Walking. Most of the AI are set by the author to Warrior mode; furthermore, the main heroes of these flags are logistics specialists;
- Confusing map topography and a complex quest system (though simpler than in "Arlok"). The quests revolving around the mark of courage, the rider's gloves, and 10 azure dragons initially put me in quite a stupor, but discovering a secret that is very unexpected for a 2008 map allowed me to put the puzzle together. As in "Arlok", I would advise dealing with the AI as much as possible first, and then unraveling the quests.

We start the game with Lord Haart and his necromancer reflection. Sir Mullich also stands locked up, waiting for the quest in front of him to be opened. Amusingly, the first global task is the same as in "First Blood". You need to sail away from the starting respawn. To do this, you must obtain the captain's hat and level up water magic. But here it is harder to do, as there are more conditions for completing the task. Points to worry about: choose a decent main (I took Tazar, although Orrin would have worked well here too), also choose a scholar (the best scholar in the game, as known, is Alamar), upgrade the scholar's literacy to expert and advance wisdom, then find the right moment to scour the tavern for heroes with useful starting spells (Gundula, Tant, Adela, etc.). Also, at the respawn, you need to eliminate the necro with minimal losses, and it's also desirable to take his town on day 8 so that we have a growth of horses considering his external dwellings. Another important point: quickly completing the quest with the pit lords and farming a hundred demons. This quest, for example, requires the player to build the only correct route for the necro on the first day, which is quite non-obvious. In general, the logistics at the respawn are calculated by the author down to the details. Proper execution of the plan allows you to sail away from the respawn by week 5.

After several heroes sail away, I strongly advise burying our and the enemy's shore. This will save a lot of trouble later. The next winning move: split the army into two parts and send the main with titans to the tower zone, and the second hero (the starting necro who leveled up necromancy) with terror knights and legions of skeletons farmed from fish through the whirlpool into the underground to the necromancers via the Inferno zone. Our key opponent on this map is the brown player. You need to cut off his oxygen as quickly as possible, as he has a monstrous titan growth (100+ per week!). The longer we delay, the more pitiful our situation will be. I reached him in the middle of the second month, and he had nearly a thousand titans. Luckily, he hadn't gathered them on one hero. Next, smoke out the remaining brown forces from the one-way path and block the exit. Our next target is the Inferno AI. By cooperating with our heroes in the underground, we can take him out quite simply. Then move to the center and break the ambush on the road to the barbarians and swamp-dwellers. The barbarians have a curious one-way path at the very center of the respawn. In my game, the guard didn't manage to break through it in time, but I can imagine how everything would go if I had dragged out the game and the AI rushed into it in a crowd.

After wiping out all available flags and blocking the brown player, only the tents and quests remained. As I wrote, understanding how to complete the quests with the azure dragons was difficult. I even thought about hoarding them for 10 or even 20 weeks at first, but no, that's a trick. In the final quest battles, having a force field would not have been superfluous, but it can only be obtained on this map by lucky chance: some enemy hero must turn out to be a trained scholar and relearn high-level spells from the map bosses. I pulled out Than, but his skills and my luck were only enough to get blindness, which is also quite a bit, of course. I even threw my Alamar into the tavern, but the AI never bought him. Therefore, I had to tank with titans against 4k azure dragons head-on. Tazar managed.

The map has a double victory condition. I decided to play it "by the book" and placed the grail in the starting town. Victory on 5.4.3.

Short summary: the map is cool. I will continue getting acquainted with Minchev's works.

Grigor thinks this map looks interesting. He even mentioned somewhere on the portal's forum that it's for hardcore players.

Grigor has this map, and it looks interesting. He even wrote somewhere on the portal forum that it's for hardcore players.

I took a look. The map looks very intriguing. I think I'll either play this one or Adela's Revenge next. I checked the latter to see the differences with Arlok, and they are significant. The gameplay will be different overall. Minchev has proven to be a master of mapmaking. I like his style of building quest systems the most. It's a unique approach. And a big plus is the absence of a town portal on the maps. I'm getting tired of playing with it.

Another map has been released. Guess which letter the title starts with :D

I took a quick look at the beginning. Hmm... 2 stacks against 10 dendroids in Pandora and taking a hiding spot?:confused: It can be easily looped, but even on turbo, it will take some time, or I missed something because I quickly checked the map. But how to kill 6 crystals faster and whether it is necessary to give away the fire book with other artifacts (maybe there is a workaround?) is more interesting:)

The third map using the same landscape is definitely too much. Minchev is a strange guy, after all :D

The third map using the same landscape is definitely too much. Minchev is still a strange guy :D

Well, it’s convenient. You create a template first, and then you can create as many maps as you want.

It all seems like one map with gameplay for different factions and quest systems tailored to them, along with slightly modified landscapes. On one hand, it feels like a half-baked job, but on the other hand, the gameplay will feel noticeably different on each map. Overall, my opinion is mixed.

It all seems like one map with different factions and quest systems tailored to them, and a slightly modified landscape. On one hand, it's a bit lazy, but on the other hand, the gameplay will feel noticeably different on each map. Overall, my opinion is mixed.

I think that for a single map, it's still okay, but doing it every time, especially with several joke maps, is already too much.
I remember playing his maps as a child. Yes, I completed a couple of maps, but playing on the same terrain really got tiring.