Posts from Walkthroughs for custom maps.

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

I also discovered that SoD_SP can cheat and change the original game mechanics.

I also discovered that SoD_SP can cheat and change the original game mechanics :(

The hero also levels up in the skill tree from level 88 to 100. This is impossible without SoD_SP.

If you're playing for your own enjoyment, does it even matter?)))

Well, it's always been the case that after level 88, there's a sharp jump to 100+ and experience goes into the negatives. Or is that what you're talking about?

The Trees of Knowledge work differently. On this map, with SoD_SP, you can eliminate the experience penalty on the first day by generating a free level-up in the tree. Also, the hero can level up from 88 to 100 in the tree. Without SoD_SP, this is impossible.

Screenshot of the current progress on the 4th month; the entire underground is still closed.

What if it's a bug in the SOD_SP plugin? Does the same thing happen without it? Have you checked?

This is a very large and detailed map. Orange is alone, and so are you. The rest teamed up.
All enemies start in one corner (normal level and underground) of this map. Build up an army fast or your enemies will crush you. There's tons of monsters about. Dare to attack them... some might be willing to join you.
Do not confuse this map with the domestic "Clash of titans": other than a similar name, they have nothing in common.
Although I played a version modified "for myself," the strengths and weaknesses described below refer to the original version (though most of them were preserved in the light version).
If you want to play the original version, you first need to learn about its peculiarities so that you understand what you will face and how it should be played.

About the original and changes in the light version

In the original version, each enemy starts with 2 fully developed towns of their race. All enemies except Orange play in an alliance. Resurrection is disabled (I don't know if by accident or intention), but heroes specializing in this spell are allowed: Alamar and Jeddit. Flight and Dimension Door are also allowed. All monsters have random temperament. The map is designed for a fast Walkthrough using diplomacy, visions, recruiting neutrals, and flight.
Attempting to play the original version without knowing these peculiarities, I soon suffered defeat.
The author himself suggests in the tips that those for whom the map proved too difficult or too easy should modify it their own way. This is good: in this case, my desire to modify it was very strong, and I took advantage of the author's permission.
The first thing I changed: enabled Resurrection and disabled Flight and Dimension Door.
But this proved to be too little, as a 2nd unsuccessful attempt showed, so I had to make more substantial changes (to avoid bloating the report, I will not list them here — they are all specified in the file attached to the archive).

Strengths:

An extremely rich map: plenty of monsters, visitable objects, and artifacts. At the same time, there is no excess of anything. This shows the author's sense of proportion.
The author did not forget about wells and observatories.
You can only play as Red, but you can set races for each of the 7 enemies or leave them random.
All players start their journey from the very corner of the map, and given the richness, enough time should pass before the first encounter to prepare for it.

Weaknesses:

In my opinion, the author, having initially made a normal map, began to increase the difficulty and overdid it.
Even those monsters that clearly should serve as guards and always be hostile have a neutral temperament!

Other (ambiguous) features of the map:

Generally, looking at the topography, one gets the impression that the map was made as "symmetrical" with the possibility of playing for any of the 8 sides, but then the author fell into heresy for the sake of creating a hardcore game: the human is only Red with one town at the start, AI enemies are strengthened in every way, etc.
Random towns, random monsters with neutral temperament, random artifacts and resources — all this creates many options to complicate life for some players and ease it for others. At the same time, because of this, each Walkthrough will be unique, not like others — this can be considered a strength.

About my Walkthrough

I chose Castle as my race. I set the races for the other colors (mostly based on "native" terrain and striving to make them all different): Blue — Tower, Brown — Dungeon, Green — Stronghold, Orange — Fortress, Purple — Inferno, Turquoise — Necropolis, Pink — Fortress.
For an easier start, I chose resources as my starting bonus. I chose Caitlin as the starting hero.
On 1-2-7 — first luck: 5 cyclops before the hippodrome joined. With them, I took the hippodrome with little blood and hired 2 cavalrymen.
On 1-4-6, Caitlin took her first artifact: Shield of Mourning Dead.
After some time, I saw a Sphere of Vulnerability nearby, guarded by 50 cyclops.
On 2-1-5 — just mega luck: the cyclops joined, and I took the Sphere of Vulnerability without a fight! I also took the Great Gnoll Mace.
On 2-2-5, I easily took the utopia without losses, receiving the Shield of Lion's Courage, Charm of Dispassion, Mantle of Balance, String of Unicorn Mane Hair, and 20000 gold.
On 2-2-7, Orange's hero Gundula is already wandering close to my domains.
On 2-3-4, I took the 3rd town, a Conflux on the shore of the lake. With the available spells and ballistics, this went great.
On 2-3-7, I caught up with Gundula, but she escaped. At least I got away with the loss of 3 griffins and 2 djinns. And another Orange hero, Brohild, landed on the shore of the lake east of the Conflux.
On 2-4-2, Brohild suddenly took the road and attacked Caitlin himself. As with Gundula, he escaped, but after several retries, I managed to beat him cleanly. From him, I received several useful artifacts: Speed Boots, Rider's Gloves, 2 Dragon Wing Capes, and others. Putting on the best of these items, Caitlin became even more confident in herself. On the same day, I took a Necropolis further down the road and opened the surroundings with an observatory. The Thieves Guild shows that I am already stronger than Green and Orange.
On 3-1-1, in the center of the surface world at the edge of visibility, Purple's hero Josephine appeared with a very large army. Her appearance, as I found out later, happened because of a non-obvious nuance that I corrected after the Walkthrough (thanks to a monster placement favorable to the enemy, passing through the Dungeon Gate, she managed to fight not the azure ones, but weak monsters nearby; this happened later in another place).
On 3-1-3, 85 basilisks wanted to join, but I had to beat them, receiving advanced logistics. 21 angels guarding the Guardian's Shield wanted to escape, but I beat them and took the Shield.
On 3-2-2, I took a Necropolis on the snowy lands in the north and built an upgraded Portal of Glory in the 2nd Castle.
On 3-2-4, 235 horned demons wanted to join, but I refused them.
On 3-4-2, I saw another strange phenomenon: Josephine approached the westernmost Dungeon Gates in the sands and took gold chests from under the noses of the azure ones, but the dragons didn't even budge! After inspecting that part of the map in the editor, everything became clear.
On 3-4-7, when I passed through the two-way monolith and headed toward another Blue Tower, its Solmir suddenly popped out from there and attacked Caitlin himself. Even without berserk, the advantage was on my side, and I defeated him. It just took 3 attempts to prevent him from escaping and resurrecting all troops. From him, I received a number of valuable artifacts. On the same day, I also took the Tower.
On 4-1-5, I captured Orange's 2nd Fortress, and then the 1st. And he was left without towns (as shown by checking the air)! His hero Tazar is looting treasures in the center of the surface world.
On 4-1-7, Tazar jumped out of the darkness and captured the Conflux in the center of the world.
Tried to fight Tazar. Attacked him in the field. With his special ability, a fat stack of black knights (unblindable!) and all his artifacts, it was extremely hard to hit him, and at the end of the battle, when I was already resurrecting the fallen and could have overcome him, he escaped. Finally, on the 4th attempt, I managed to resurrect everyone, but the enemy still escaped. No matter, one more day, and I will take his Conflux; there is nowhere left for him to go.
On 4-2-1, I took the Conflux, where Tazar met me again. But he had almost no troops (the town was not developed) and I killed him immediately. Received a bunch of valuable artifacts, and Orange disappeared.
On 4-2-3, Caitlin attacked Josephine. The problems with her were the same as with Tazar: I don't have Shackles of War yet, and the fattest stack is unblindable (for her — mummies), so the enemy, sensing death, escapes, hitting with magic as a farewell. After several attempts, when I tried to destroy specifically the mummies as quickly as possible, I was able to overcome Josephine without losses. And from her, I received many valuable things, including a 2nd Sphere of Vulnerability and a 2nd Badge of Courage. Sorting the items, I assembled the Wizard's Well.
On 4-3-5, I occupied the southwestern Stronghold, beating Fafner, and Blue disappeared.
And on the same day, Brown's hero Jaegar broke through from the dungeon.
The next day, Caitlin rushed to meet Jaegar from the nearest Castle. This enemy was quite strong, but thanks to the Sphere of Vulnerability, the battle turned out easy (one only had to act quickly so he wouldn't escape). From Jaegar, I received many valuable things. It turned out he also had a Sphere of Prohibition, and I was lucky that it wasn't used.
On 4-3-7, Oris returned to the Stronghold, where Caitlin came out to meet her and killed her. Green disappeared. The entire surface world is now mine; I just need to capture one neutral Conflux and open a number of dark spots.
On 4-4-2, I descended into the dungeon.
On 5-1-5, Turquoise's hero Mindyra (released from prison) broke through from the dungeon upwards with a very large army. In the battle with her, again, the main problem was escaping: the fattest stack — vampire lords! I retried several times until I could beat her cleanly. And after this battle, the backpack was full! And right behind the Gates stood Lord Haart, ready for invasion.
The next day, Lord Haart retreated and holed up in the nearest Inferno. Grindan took excess artifacts from Caitlin. Along the way, he assembled the Elixir of Life. And very timely: Lord Haart had a Cloak of Renunciation! Losses are inevitable, but they must be minimized. Later it turned out that the enemy also had a Sphere of Prohibition. But after victory over him, I already became the strongest player!
On 5-1-7, I beat Ciel, and Brown disappeared.
On 5-2-4 and the next day, Grindan visited the underground and sea cartographers.
On 5-4-1, Adele level 23 and Mindyra level 23 appeared in the tavern. Looking at their skills, I hired both. It's just time to find the Grail as soon as possible (if one of the enemies hasn't already dug it up).
On 5-4-5, Turquoise's hero Sylvia attacked Grindan while he was visiting obelisks in the center of the dungeon, but he managed to fight her off with almost no losses.
On 5-4-6, to ensure my weak heroes could safely dig for the Grail, Caitlin went to the lava zone in the center of the surface world where the Grail should be. She visited a black tent and the surface cartographer. Quickly comparing the landscape of the lava zone with the map, I realized that enemies had not dug here yet.
On 6-1-2, having found another obelisk with difficulty on the fully opened map, I visited it. It's not the last one, but the cross is already visible.
On 6-1-4, I dug up the Grail.
The next day, I installed the Grail in my capital.
On 6-1-7, the last Turquoise hero, left without towns, attacked Pink's Fortress but died, and Turquoise disappeared.
On the same day, Caitlin attacked that same Fortress. Jeddit was inside, a strong hero with a large army. The victory was easy, without losses.
On 6-2-1, Caitlin beat the last hero of Purple, and he disappeared. And Grindan beat Vistan, and Pink disappeared.
Result: 148 days, 494 points.
Having completed the map, I can say: I liked it, but to get enjoyment, I had to change it a bit. The last small edits were made already "in the footsteps" of my Walkthrough.
On the same site, the author posted another of his maps: "Golden Harbour". It is (in his own words) simpler than this one, but can also be completed.

Marlo_Stanfield, By the way, did you fix your mouse? If not, you can try this as a temporary solution; it should work. Of course, this is only if you have a problem with the double-click.

I recently had the same issue with my mouse. For example, you place a Wall of Fire, and the unit immediately flies into it and dies due to an instant double-click. And what I'm getting at is that recently, I managed to place a wall directly on top of an enemy unit! I went into the spellbook (not using a hotkey), selected the wall, and, apparently, the mouse glitched when I hovered over it, and that's what happened. I haven't been able to reproduce it. Has anyone else experienced something similar?

By the way, did you fix your mouse?

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

I also completed this map.