Posts from Walkthroughs for custom maps.

There was no Fire Wall. But I managed to do something unclear with the Force Field once.
In HD+ SoD_SP, I set hotkeys: 1 - Force Field, 2 - for example, Resurrect or Quicksand (it's not that important), or a second Force Field slightly below to protect an additional stack. I don't remember exactly. Then, after the Force Field, I alternately press either 1 or 2 in each round. So, at some point, with the Force Field active, I managed to cast the Force Field in the same place using "button 1." As a result, it started lasting for 1 round instead of 2. I had to replay the battle. I'm not sure if I can reproduce this. Such a bug is impossible without SoD_SP in principle, where there are no hotkeys linked to a specific battle cell.

Interesting. I didn't immediately attribute this to SoD_SP because I wasn't using hotkeys in that battle. Previously, I placed the wall in that location using the keys, but that was on a different save, and this save is new and I didn't use the keys. Also, my computer is a bit laggy, and the graphics sometimes glitch. SoD_SP 1.15c.

Other things like this are possible with the Force Field. This seems to be due to the Archmage's resurrection by the AI.

Generally, I didn't do almost anything the way it was intended. I captured the first Castle on day 8 deliberately because that way, I get the increased unit production (11 Knights instead of 4), which allowed me to leave the starting area on the fifth week, not the sixth (there's a mandatory quest to have 100 Knights of Terror and 37 Archangels). I took all the Giant Nests and did it as quickly as possible. In the end, the brown player is left with only one Castle without any scripted troop reinforcements, thus reducing his weekly production in the last Castle from 20+ Titans to 2. I left one well-leveled hero to guard it with about 50 Titans after a hero with ≈ 200 Titans emerged from the portal. If you periodically hide your hero in the garrison of a nearby Castle, the AI will regularly try to break out. But to prevent this from happening daily, I blocked the portal for about two weeks and then let weaker units out. After blocking the brown player, I started eliminating the Inferno AI. Around this time, the red and orange players also started to fall apart because a second front was opened underground. In the end, after two and a half months, I also defeated the green player and completely fortified the fourth strip of land. This was a risky move, as particularly clever AIs could cross it by water, but I controlled this. The most difficult battle was with the brown player's main hero, and that was only because he dealt damage and ran away, and his main force consisted of uncontrollable Titans. I had 400 Titans and 600 Knights from the boxes in the starting area + 10,000 skeletons. There were no losses anywhere. I never got the "Walk on Water" ability. Gunnar didn't bother me with his presence because he spent almost all his time in the lower part of the second strip, which I cleared last. The only thing he did at the end was swim into the whirlpool and land in an empty zone of the black tent, and the next day, he crossed the water to the completely fortified shore of the Inferno zone (!). I even had to rewind a week because of this.

Actually, I did almost everything differently.

Your walkthrough is more fast-paced! That's why it's different.
I played through the map almost 2 years ago, and my skill level was lower, of course.
Now, I suppose, I would play it differently. But elements of luck, such as, for example, rescuing the schoolboy with the spell for walking on water, still apply!

Dunkler HorizontV02 (standard version)

Author: Dungeonmaster

Downloaded from: http://karten.drachenwald.net/index.php?area=h3&page=2&col=dt&dir=DESC
There is an even later link here, but I haven't checked which version it is http://heroesportal.net/maps/view/3988

Walkthrough overview in parts. Part 1. (days 111 – 147)

On Marmot's tip, I completed the German map Dunkler HorizontV02.
As it turned out after completion, this is the standard version. There is also a more difficult one: Dunkler Horizont - Pakt des BösenV02. As the author writes, the same-difficulty version: "Dark Horizon - Pact of Evil" is "a somewhat harder version, since the turquoise are still the devil (red) and barbarian (purple) in one team".
The author attaches a useful info file in German. If you put all this into Google Translate, you can read some tips and recommendations, for example, about useful rumors in taverns. I read the file after completion; there is no critical info there, although it might have made the walkthrough slightly easier.
At Marmot's request, I will post a detailed walkthrough of this map with screenshots and explanations (since the map seems little-known and few people have completed it). For example, the topic of this map was touched upon in 2016 /topic/at/86926/
Due to the large volume of information, I will do the description in blocks.

I attach an archive of the map itself (2 options), a starting save, and screenshots of the 1st month.

1. Starting save.
To start, as usual, I played around with generating a lucky start. For the starting hero, I took Valeska with her archers for a faster start.
In general, I wanted to catch a speed +1 necklace (very useful), but with such generation, the necessary heroes didn't level up as I needed; the skill tree wasn't "ideal". With a good skill tree, the start felt spiritless—that is exactly how I began the game. Plus, for the start, one can consider the initial monsters at the respawn, i.e., pick them to be easier to break through in the first few days, but this is the least significant factor. In fact, the MOST IMPORTANT factor in my opinion for a starting save is the presence of the RESURRECTION spell in one of the starting castles. This makes the start on this map VERY easy. Unfortunately, I missed this point, and it brought a number of problems on the map (albeit solvable), but more on that later. On the other hand, even knowing about resurrection, our main's knowledge is no more than 3-5 in the first month, there are no wells anywhere, so I discarded the idea of actually using this spell in the 1st month.

So, as for me, here is the list of important factors for a starting save (in descending order):
1) presence of the RESURRECTION spell in one of the 2 castles at the initial respawn (ideally in the starting castle),
2) a good level-up tree for heroes (more on this below), especially for the main - Mephala!
3) starting artifact on the hero in the castle – speed +1 or spirit of despondency,
4) generation in the tavern of the native hero with archers and a second hero necessarily – GELU immediately with snipers.
5) generation of 3 stacks of archers for Valeska as the starting hero.
6) generation of gold and the necessary combination of resources near the starting castle for required buildings,
7) generation of a good artifact at the starting respawn near the second castle (for me, it was a speed +1 necklace).
In my starting save, points №2, 3, 4, 6, and 7 were met.
Of course, there could be other ideas for the start, but that depends on what comes to mind.
The number of heroes available for purchase in the tavern is limited (i.e., you cannot buy defeated enemies), so you should decide on your main in advance based on possibilities and level them up as much as possible. Kirry and Orrin are good options. But the best, in my opinion, is Mephala.
According to the author's design, there is also Kasmir, and he is supposed to be the lead because only he can open about 80% of the guards on the map; dialogues etc. are dedicated to him. But Kasmir's level-up and skills leave much to be desired. As a 2nd or 3rd deputy to Mephala - "yes", but as a main - definitely no. In short, I immediately decided to make him a support hero and make Mephala the main.

2. Start of the walkthrough (1st week)
111. With Valeska, we grab gold and wood below the castle. We buy Gelu with 9 snipers, break through the green tent and sawmill on the way; we spend the night at the sawmill using the sniper speed-up. Kasmir at the enemy respawn runs south from Tanta, grabbing gold chests and picking up artifacts where possible. When buying Gelu, we "invite" Mephala to the tavern – our future main for leveling from the very first days. End of day in the screenshot.
112. Kasmir continues running south, picking up everything for gold. Valeska takes the stone mine. Mephala leaves the castle and breaks through mummies to the west along the road. From then on (and almost always) – Mephala is at full speed, and everyone else helps her.
As far as I remember, we don't buy anything in the castle for now; we don't upgrade snipers; all money (which is a serious struggle) goes toward buying archers and heroes.
113. Start of day in the screenshot. We buy Cutberg with starting forces and add him to the army. Gelu breaks the road north to our garrison; we take 10 cavalrymen there – a good reinforcement for the starting army. We pass them to Mephala, who goes to the attack +1 upgrade, kills basilisks, and upgrades: now she has advanced morale + advanced defense.
114. We do almost nothing :( We place Mephala on the road before the wyverns for the breakthrough. All archers are brought to the castle and upgraded.
115. We bring 83 upgraded archers to Mephala and start breaking through more adult guards to the west – wyverns, fire elementals. Mephala gets water + shooting (important skill given the archers as the strike stack) + wisdom. Approximate forces for breakthroughs in the coming days are in the screenshot; they break through without losses (single halberdiers not counted).
116. Start of day in the screenshot. We break through Rukh; a difficult fight to end with almost no losses. You can catch morale. Lucky that we find a +1 speed necklace (although any other artifact could have dropped). Kasmir finally reaches the teleport and jumps back to our respawn.
117. Mephala gives all forces to Kasmir, who goes north – takes the +5 club, buys more archers in an external dwelling, and spends the night there. In screenshots: end of day, mains, castle construction.
Results of the 1st week: gathered initial army for breaking guards at respawn, Kasmir reached the initial respawn, started leveling Mephala well, collected good artifacts. There is no money to upgrade archers to snipers yet. We invest money in buying archers in the castle and all external dwellings.
Small mistakes: downtime on 114, didn't go east (where knights join and part of the map can be opened); it would have been desirable to do this, but not critical.

3. Second week
121 – 122 - 123 Buy up all available archers from external dwellings. Mephala breaks through manticores, levels up further; we take the monks' external dwelling, approach the second castle at respawn, and on 123 with purchased forces, we take the second castle almost without losses. We cannot yet break the liches north of the garrison without own adequate losses (or don't want to :) . Same for the ifrits south of our respawn. There is no slow cast at the initial respawn, which complicates battles. On the other hand, we barely use magic at all due to knowledge 1 - 2.
After taking the 2nd castle, we all start heading east.
124-127 We break through creatures in the east, pass by griffin external dwellings, kill devils and open access to the fort on the hill, where we will later upgrade angels. For now, we improve all our units. Mephala catches the "earth" skill and improves it. End of week in screenshot.

4. Third week
131 – 134. We pick up what we can in the east of the map, take the mine; Mephala receives ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT SKILLS – intelligence. There are very few upgrades on the map; knowledge and resurrect are lacking. Therefore, intelligence, imho, is a must. By the way, later Orrin failed to get intelligence, so by the middle of the map, Orrin was just running errands, although with his specialization and bunch of shooters he should have become one of the mains.
135-137 – we break through a mini ГО of hydras, visit the arena for +2 attack. Then immediately break through devils – they have an upgraded stack; it's impossible without losses, but Mephala holds the blow well. On 136 we go to the computer's respawn – barbarians. On 137 we take the barbarian castle with Mephala and head to the next one. Meanwhile, Mephala took her last skill – logistics. I intentionally gave up pathfinding (though I wanted it) and tactics; log is needed for tempo. Mephala at the end of the week in screenshot.
We place other heroes in a chain to deliver the army.
In the initial castle, we clicked the angel building; the second castle is barely being built due to lack of resources.

5. Fourth week
141-142. Buy up forces in the home castle, use all heroes in a chain to bring the army to Mephala, who on 142 kills Kreg in the castle. Of course, it would have been better to catch him in the field without growth (though he probably could have run away!), but since he's in the castle, we'll take him there. I had to lose about 80 archers (the largest losses, I think, on this map) and 1 angel. On the other hand, we got a kneepad +1 knowledge and spell power and a good ogre shield +5 defense. Given the lack of upgrades, it's almost an even trade.
143-144 Give forces to Kasmir and Kirry; successfully start leveling them on earth elementals and other neutrals. Return forces to Mephala and start breaking through from the second barbarian castle westward and then immediately south. Buy Coronius and expert his wisdom + learning on neutrals, retrain magic for everyone, see screenshot. Clearing the barbarian respawn.
144-147 FINALLY we learn "SLOW" in the shrine; everything becomes significantly easier, we clear 2 conservatories, break through liches (mini ГО on our initial respawn), return to the home castle on 146, and on 147 break through ifrits, expert Mephala's log – now she is an expert in all skills. And we get a sniper bow artifact.

Month results.
A big problem in the first month was the absence of the slow spell, which we got only at the end of the month. An even bigger problem remains the absence of the resurrection spell. If we had it initially in one of the castles, we wouldn't have lost anything at all, especially in the fight with Kreg.
On the other hand, I repeat, Mephala has almost no knowledge, and almost all battles in the 1st month can be conducted WITHOUT MAGIC AT ALL! So resurrect is desirable, of course, but its absence is not critical.
Month negatives: downtime of 1-2 days for Mephala in some moments, as well as lack of speed-up on some days, large losses in the battle with Kreg. Also, the 2nd castle is poorly built; I didn't manage to put angels there. Movement logistics could have been slightly improved.
Positives: "wiping" barbarians at an early stage, ideal leveling of Mephala, obtaining the slow spell, (accidental) joining of pegasi, start of Kirry and Kasmir's leveling. Mephala's skill in battles with mini-bosses like devils, hydras etc., as well as the shooting skill, helps a lot.
As an alternative, one could change the movement trajectory on the map and try to immediately break through liches in the north on the 2nd or 3rd week, but I decided to take another path.

to be continued

Dunkler HorizontV02 (standard version)

Overview of the playthrough in parts. Part 1. (days 111 – 147)
more screenshots from the first month

P.S. A map has been added - a diagram of the movement of forces and heroes in the first month. Very clumsily drawn, but understandable!

Thank you very much! You don't need to rush with the continuation and details; I need to read and digest what's been written, and look at the screenshots...
Ideally, it would be good to include the translation of the description at the beginning of the review:

"Dark Horizon. The evil Xaraska has mobilized his undead hordes for a final campaign of destruction. The nations are at war with each other and are too weak individually to withstand the undead storm. So, this nation needs a hero now... and that hero is YOU."

Also, please include a link to the discussion page so that people don't have to search for the map on the site: http://karten.drachenwald.net/mapcomm.php?map=783 You can also download it from there. If anyone needs the "raw" and incomplete translation of the texts, I made it for myself and can share it.
Generating a good starting save is valuable, but how much time and how many restarts are needed to get it?
The fact that the author's main hero is not the best "warrior" is quite unexpected (for me). Usually, the player follows the author's "dictate," and if there are no taverns on the map, there is no choice. It's easier here.

Thank you very much! You don't need to rush with the continuation and details: I need to read and digest what has been written, look at the screenshots...
It would still be good to insert the translation of the description at the beginning of the review:

And also, please include a link to the discussion page so that I don't have to search for the map on the site: http://karten.drachenwald.net/mapcomm.php?map=783 You can also download it from there. If anyone needs a "raw" and incomplete translation of the texts, I made it for myself and can share it.
Generating a good starting save is valuable, but how much time and how many restarts are needed to get it?..
The fact that the author's main hero is not the best "warrior" is quite unexpected (for me). Usually, the player follows the author's "dictate," and if there are no taverns on the map, there is no choice. It's easier here.

At the beginning, you usually explore the starting area and the approximate terrain of the map (to understand, for example, whether we need pathfinding, tactics, ranged attack, intelligence, diplomacy, or resistance - these are secondary skills, but they can become decisive during the playthrough), what artifacts can be obtained, whether there are any boosts at all, and what is the approximate order of quests for at least the next month or two. This takes 10-30 minutes.
Then, the starting save is generated based on the need. I described the criteria for the starting save; you can add a couple more points, but you have the list: the development tree of the starting hero or main hero, the starting artifact (or resources) for the hero or in the starting area, starting heroes in the tavern, the starting army (presence of archers), the presence of a specific type of magic in the guild. You can also add: the size of conservatories or utopias of dragons, etc. Generating a starting save can take from 3-5 minutes to half an hour, depending on the criteria (the more criteria, the harder it is to get the desired result). I can also recall generations that took up to an hour on some individual maps, including, for example, the Chinese "Jedi Counterattack" (there, the "quicksand" magic in the third castle is CRITICAL, without which you cannot complete the map + a critical upgrade tree for a secondary hero; I described my struggles in detail in the review of that map), or the recently completed Chinese "Road to Destruction" (there, too, a specific size of an external object is needed, in my opinion, with a 10% probability + random chance for the desired upgrade tree for the main hero).
I can only add that, specifically on this map, the starting save is NOT critical at all. But with a good start, the whole journey will be faster :)

:)
regarding the hero Casimir. The author, for some reason, liked him. His special ability is the "prayer" spell, which, as I understand it, should be effective in some battles. Casimir also unlocks 80-90% of the guardians, and he WILL HAVE TO be taken around all the surrounding areas.
Hahahaha! I'll make an announcement that in the middle of the playthrough, Adelaide and Malcolm SUDDENLY become the main heroes! :) I'll try to make the next part of the review in the coming days!

Thank you very much! You don't need to rush with the continuation and details: I need to read and digest what you've written first, and look at the screenshots...

Please note that I have just added the movement scheme of the forces on this map to the screenshots.

You've created a guide that's almost as detailed as WSW's guide for "Paragon" 2.0. But the most interesting part is yet to come...

You've created a guide that's almost as detailed as WSW's guide for "Paragon" 2.0. But the most interesting part is yet to come...

To be honest, not much interesting happened in the first month. Just managed to break through a couple of minor Guard Towers against the computer, and had a battle with Craig. Yes, the most exciting part is still ahead!

to be continued

We are looking forward to it,
excellent result for the end of the month)
a good route has been drawn according to the map
it turns out that they didn't go out for the garrison to the north, there they didn't get the gold behind the demons and didn't join the crusaders, but immediately went along the bottom to the quest guard on the Zemdian swamp, and went up to the barbarians from the far city, now the most interesting thing is waiting, and whether the necromancers will be slow or not

by the way, the author was a little too clever, in the editor it is visible that the access to the upper right corner to the Sword of Justice is closed and has no passage....

We're really looking forward to it,
excellent result by the end of the month)
a good route has been drawn according to the scheme
it turns out that they didn't go out for the garrison to the north, there they didn't get the gold behind the demons and didn't join the crusaders, but immediately went along the bottom to the quest guard on the Earth domain swamp, and went up to the barbarians from the far city, now the most interesting thing is waiting, and whether the necromancers will be slow, will they run around or sit

by the way, the author still overcomplicated things, in the editor it is visible that the access to the upper right corner to the Sword of Justice is closed and has no passage....

Here I forgot to write at the beginning of the review that this is a description of exactly my playthrough, and not how it should be played ideally :) There are almost always several options for where to go. For some reason, I decided to choose this one - going southeast and getting the Amulet of Blindness, and then to the barbarians.

Dunkler HorizontV02 (standard version)

Author: Dungeonmaster

Review in parts. Part 2. (days 211 – 247)

So, the first month ended with the capture of the purple castle, and I decided to plan the next month. Now, at the beginning of this map's Walkthrough, as mentioned before, I was generating starting saves and on one of those occasions decided to check what magic is available in the 2 human castles. Seeing the resurrect spell in the 2nd castle, for some reason, I thought it would drop there next time too. But, as it turned out, in the current Walkthrough, the resurrection magic did not drop (meaning there is randomness), and resurrect is only available in the castle at the Inferno respawn…
This is certainly not a failure yet, but the situation is veeeery bad, because there is essentially almost nowhere to move further without resurrection magic - heavy guards are stationed everywhere and it will be impossible to conduct further battles without losses.
Therefore, for the 2nd month, I set myself 2 tasks: reach the Inferno respawn as quickly as possible at any cost (although I am almost sure the author did not plan a quick exit to it!) and learning the resurrection spell (by visiting the castle with the required same). And the second task, more important – obtaining the earth magic book in the underground, guarded by rust dragons and earth elementals.

I am attaching the force movement map on the 1st screen, a couple of saves, and screenshots.

6. Fifth week (advance and capture of Inferno respawn)
211-231. We buy up all angels, archers, and fanatics in our home castle, and with Mephala we break through the northern guard of liches to exit to the Rampart respawn. Right there we break a legion of earth elementals for experience and 2222 imps. With Mephala we move northeast, ignoring the Rampart castle, as it is currently guarded by 50 green dragons outside and an even larger army inside. We capture another conservatory, and after that, we give the 12 available angels to the lackeys, who take them south to the fort on the hill for upgrade, since building the Upgraded Portal of Glory is still beyond our means; money is still lacking. Mephala begins to travel toward the Inferno zone in the northeast, breaking neutrals – reaching level 24.
212.PURPLE PERISHES. His last hero was blocking the passage to the earth book in the underground with huge forces, and without castles he disappeared on the 7th day. He had no artifacts with him, so let him perish.
214 – 215. On 214 Mephala spends the night in the Barbarian castle Baruk with the main forces, while from the south they bring her 12 archangels + 40 upgraded pegasi. On 215 Mephala breaks a ГО of 95 same bears. With slow, quicksand, 210 archers, 42 fanatics, and 12 archangels, this is an easy battle. Right there we kill 228 efreets. We get closer to the enemy garrison.
216. We take the enemy garrison; the battle is not simple. Yes, there is slow + blindness, but no resurrection. See force screen. Autobattle suggests we retreat! :) At first I thought this garrison couldn't be countered, but that's why Mephala is level 25, to endure it! We use mass slow, obviously. In the first round, we try for the following: catch morale for archers + fanatics and shoot at his magogs; meanwhile a single griffin flies toward the enemy so almost all his stacks fly toward it (but don't reach). Then we shoot down efreets first, blind the devils, and others. Don't forget that there is STILL no resurrection! Overall, we managed to take this garrison ALMOST WITHOUT LOSSES (maybe a couple of griffins). No other hero besides Mephala could have broken this garrison in this situation. After that, Mephala reaches the Inferno castle, settles in, buys 4-Mage Guild and obtains RESURRECTION. This is the turning point.
I had to be greedy: for the first time in the Walkthrough, I did a dismiss/hire on the same day with Kirry and captured the 2nd Inferno castle in the east.
217. Overnight, Khalid and Calch approach us, stunned by surprise (since Mephala was sitting there with only 1 pegasus, the rest of the army was in the castle without a hero). We kill Khalid (stats 14/12/11/9) easily, but as for Calch with stats 27/29/11/6 and tactics (see screen), we cannot kill him without losses - neither in the field nor EVEN in the castle. Autobattle fails completely! No matter how I tried, there are still terrible losses. Therefore (and the end of the week is upon us) we do a feint: with rescued heroes we try to capture dwellings and resources, Mephala flees from the Inferno respawn together with the army, and a rescued hero with speed captures the 3rd Inferno castle in the north. In the captured castles, we place guards with imps (to trick Calch). As expected, Calch gets aggroed by Brennadh castle and goes to take Magma northern castle – he doesn't touch Mephala.
So, the first goal is achieved – resurrection spell taken, now we can "do business" :) We will finish off Calch later; in general, enemies are not interfering yet. We proceed to a more important mission – get the earth book, and with it greater movement dynamics with town portal. First thing is to take the brown tent.

7. Sixth week (taking Rampart castle and going to the brown tent – needed for passage to КЗ)
221 – 223. Calch goes and takes his northern Magma castle, then unexpectedly leaves for the west from the respawn to hit neutrals. He also has no money for rescue; all Inferno castles remain unrescued. On 223, Ciel and Erdamon approach the Barbarian lands from the east with not very large flax forces. Using this pause, we move all forces to the far west and Mephala takes Elvinir Rampart castle without much trouble (intelligence allows having enough mana to restore archangels in battles with dragons). Again, I had to use dismiss/hire of heroes.
224-227. Almost all heroes hang out in the center of the map, forming a chain. Along this chain, we transfer Rampart forces toward the Barbarian respawn, catch and kill Ciel. Then – back to the same rampart and brown tent, leveling up heroes there.

Results of these two weeks: resurrection taken, red opponent "damaged" (no longer accumulating forces), several secondary heroes leveled up, the most important being Kirry level 21 and Kasmir level 23, since both have log + pathfinding, which allows them to either break medium guards (Mephala doesn't have time to reach all points) or quickly transport the army back and forth. Mephala is level 29. Unfortunately, we still didn't take the brown tent; the guard is just too strong! On the other hand, we started upgrading archers to snipers.

8. Seventh week (finishing off red Inferno)
231-233. We buy more archers in castles + fanatics, bring them to the main forces. Unfortunately, the brown tent is guarded by 1120 black knights on cursed land. Even with slow we cannot separate and shoot them down; there are too many, the strength of the archers is not enough. Therefore, we move forces to the 3rd castle Omdan.
234 – 235. We take Omdan castle and return forces to Barbarian lands. We calmly kill Calch right here: he didn't buy more forces, and he has no magic left.
236 – 237. We take all castles and the Inferno respawn; in the far east we break a ГО of titans and enter the elemental lands.

9. Eighth week (capture of flax lands)
241. Mephala captures the first flax castle – Emezath, we dismiss/hire Mephala, give her two phoenixes for speed, and go to the second castle.
242-243. We reach the second flax – Carnarvas, kill zero-level Brissa almost on autobattle, Mephala spends the night here and replenishes mana.
244 – 245 we move with Mephala and all forces south to the swamp-dwellers' lands with only Mephala. Others clear Inferno and flax respawns.
245 – RED PERISHES (his last guard in the underground disappeared on the 7th day).
246 – 247. We reach and take Bladjhas swamp castle, approach the second swamp castle.

So, results of the month:
- completed the plan to get the resurrection spell in the 1st week, after which great opportunities opened for breaking computers and guards,
- "cut" red and then finished him off,
- captured flax respawn and almost half of the swamp-dwellers' respawn,
- Mephala level 31 has 220 mana and can conduct more complex battles, although stats are still small 20/22/13/11
- secondary heroes leveled up well: Kirry and Kasmir are fully expertized, Ellezar, Orrin, and Jelu are being leveled.
Cons of the month: great confusion in week 2-3 regarding moving the army back and forth, a slight loss of momentum is felt. Failed to finish off red immediately on the first visit, and also failed to break the brown tent so far. Nevertheless, forces have been deployed to press the computers in the west and south.
Mephala visits all stat boosters on her way; stats are growing.
Tea Tant visited our respawn in the northwest, but due to green border gates cannot reach us yet.
For now, the biggest minus – failed to get close to the earth book. Main goal for the 3rd month – take КЗ.

Here I forgot to mention at the beginning of the review that this description is specifically of my own Walkthrough, not like an ideal way to do it :) There are almost always several options for where to go. For some reason, I decided to choose this route — heading southeast and getting the Blindness spell, and then moving toward the Barbarians.

An excellent variant, the Walkthrough really aims for the ideal))

it's just that I envisioned a more logical (easier) approach on this map — going upward, picking up crusaders there, then heading the opposite way through the respawn towards the conservatories (two, where the griffin external dwellings are) or through the devil legion with losses but gaining tempo, going to the shrine with Slow (above the second conservatory over the griffin external dwellings), and only then moving into enemy territory. But here it turns out this is how people play — placing a portal in the first month, beating up enemies without Slow)))

by the way, wasn't resurrection via clone archangels considered?
I just thought now, why bother if you can just level up the main hero (and Prayer is really a powerful spell anyway), mana will be sufficient, and there won't be enough power for a proper resurrection regardless, while there it's purely based on the number of archangels in the stack....

This is a great option; the Walkthrough aims for perfection.

That's a big exaggeration! :)

I just thought it was more logical (easier) to go up on this map, take the Crusaders there, and then, in the opposite direction, through the respawn point towards the "canned goods" (two of them, where the Griffons are hiding), or through the Legion of Demons, with some losses but at a faster pace, to the shrine with the slowing effect (above the second "canned goods" above the Griffon hiding places), and only then go to the enemy lands. But it turns out that people play differently; they set up a portal in the first month and defeat the enemies without slowing them down.

I assume this is the author's main "working" strategy. It's not wrong, as it results in good forces in the form of Angels from the "canned goods." But I didn't like it very much. Angels will only represent real strength after they are upgraded (due to the regeneration ability), and you'll still have to go south towards the fort to upgrade them.

By the way, was resurrecting through cloning Archons considered?

It was considered and used later, but at the time of the battle with Kreg, in the first month, there were only 2 Angels in the army, and I didn't visit the "canned goods," so this option only started working after visiting the "canned goods" and upgrading the Angels, i.e., later.