Posts from Walkthroughs for custom maps.

Marmot, hello.
I've been browsing the forum and saw that you were interested in the map "Brothers of Mercy and War." Are there any results? I'm particularly interested in the card game in the dungeon among the Pandora's boxes. I'm not very good at German, and the translator provides a poor translation. I've been racking my brain over it.
And in general, if anyone has any information about this map, I would be very grateful.

veR, unfortunately, no. I sent the author of the "10 Best Maps" video a message via Google+ (you can't just send a message to a stranger there, only if they are in your circle), but he hasn't responded yet. So, for now, all hope rests on the translator and my own ingenuity. :)
Feel free to share: which maps did you like, which were particularly difficult to complete, etc. Especially if they are maps that aren't among the well-known hits.
I'm almost finished with my review of the last map I completed, and I want to write about the one I'm currently playing when I finish it. There's also another completed map that I was thinking of writing about, but first, I need to write to the author in detail about its shortcomings (I've already contacted him, and he promised to send two more large and detailed maps, but he's still working on them).

Marmot, I didn't quite understand you. Did you also start playing it and get stuck at the same point, or what?

No, veR, I haven't started playing the map "Brothers of Mercy and War" yet. And there are many other maps waiting to be played.
Perhaps you could tell me a little about it? Please!

Well, in my opinion, the map is not bad. It is very important to start correctly; the first two weeks are crucial. This is the first time I've seen a map with so few artifacts; you can almost count them on your fingers. Another difficulty lies in the fact that at the beginning of each week, all resources and gold are automatically deducted, meaning you need to build up your cities as much as possible during the week. At the end of each week, you need to convert resources into gold and buy creatures available in the cities so as not to lose them. Another difficulty is that level 4 magic is not very well developed in the cities; there is no water walking or city portal, etc. And level 5 magic is completely absent, although it is visible in the cities; you pay for it, but it simply doesn't unlock. I don't know if this is a bug or not; it's still unclear. Currently, I entered the Dungeon (the upper right part of the map) through a one-way portal. There is a small piece of land crammed with Pandora's Boxes, each containing a different number of Azure Dragons, from 700-800 each, so winning is impossible. At least, not with the army I have there today. But it's not even about that; when exiting the portal, a hint appears in German (I've never seen this in this game before!), saying that a certain teleport is ready to take you to some place, but for that, it offers you to play cards and gives you a hint with codes, next to each card (Ace, 2, 3, 4... J, Q, K, there are 13 cards in total). Each card has a four-digit code, a set of letters and numbers. I wrote it down separately. Also, on this small piece of the Dungeon where I teleported, among those Pandora's Boxes, there are signs with different hints (again, in German), there are exactly 13 of them, exactly as many as there are cards. The hints on the signs are different, like "4 instead of Queen," "7 instead of 4," "Jack and 8 cover," etc. I came to the conclusion that these 13 signs need to be collected in a certain sequence, and when you reach each one, you need to enter the code from the hint, but which one goes where, and how to enter it, in the TAB system or something else, is unclear. I've been sitting on this piece of the Dungeon for a long time; I haven't found another way. After you collect everything correctly, this teleport should take you where you need to go. Guys, who has played this map and knows the solution, please help! I'm seeing this approach from the creator for the first time; I have to say, respect. Wayfarer (E) and Ira the mage caused fewer problems than this

veR, for now, I can suggest the following:
1. In the archive with the map, I have the author's help files in German: Readme!!!.txt and Update 1.1.txt. You've probably already translated them, but just in case, here's a Google translation:
Readme!!!.txt

Hello, dear players!
Although Heroes III has long been one of the newest and most popular games, I hope there are still one or two professionals among you.
I tried to express all the knowledge I have gathered in this game in this map. He put a lot of work into it. Even testing took a lot of time, as I usually make the opponents too strong. This hasn't changed much, but now it's ready.
If anyone still finds bugs or has better ideas, they can write to me: alex.fuchsberger @ gmail.com
I look forward to receiving your feedback!
Now I would like to say that the difficulty level of this map is extreme. And I mean it. If you have little experience in Heroes III, you will probably fail to complete it successfully...
It is also not recommended to leave yourself too little time. There are strong creatures, the number of which increases geometrically after about 2 years, and it is simply very difficult (even for a good player) to complete the map successfully.
Now I wish you many hours of fun!
Alexander Fuchsberger

P.S. If you have already played this map, you may be interested in the information in the attached file "Update 1.1.txt". It is now impossible for anyone to deal with the map using various tricks (bordering on cheating).

Update 1.1.txt

Changes in version 1.0
================================================== ==============================
Version 1.1 by Alexander Fuchsberger as of 01.05.2009
-------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------
+ The hero Gem was disabled, so that the "Boot Call" spell can only be obtained in order.
+ While 4 spellbooks were used in the quests. The Air magic book was replaced with the Blood Dragon's Viola, otherwise the "Flying" and "Dimensional Portal" spells would be impossible.
+ All level 5 spells, if any, can only be learned in certain places or introduced into the game using certain heroes.
+ The related quest character "Kjiara" was introduced as a heroine, and some contracts require her. You must be careful not to let her die.
+ An event was added so that every 2 weeks all resources are replenished, and in a week from 4 months the difficulty will increase even more.
+ Landmarks are now opened after about 1.5 years (game time). This is to avoid the player spending too much time building at the beginning and then becoming unable to continue, simply because the number of creatures in the wild is too high.
+ Additional story texts have been added in some places.
+ Various cosmetic and spelling errors have been fixed.

================================================== ==============================
Version 1.0 by Alexander Fuchsberger from 03.09.2007
-------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------
+ Original version of the map

ATTENTION!

================================================== ==============================
Version 2.0 Abbaddon / Cloud Temple
-------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------
+ This version is a continuation of the Cloud Temple, which, however, requires a completely different
tactics, but is also possible. Visually, the map is almost identical,
However, some bugs and undesirable options remain open, which I have fixed in the update.
+ This map can be found on www.kartenarchiv.de in "Brothers of Mercy and War 2".

2. If you get hopelessly stuck somewhere, you can use the ProspectorRT utility. By opening the starting save file, you will get complete information about the map (in this generation): where the artifacts, spells, objects, quests, events, etc. are located.
3. Here, I found a discussion of the map on the website specified by the author, www.kartenarchiv.de. However, it's also in German...
4. Finally, you can write a letter to the author (of course, in German or at least in English). He may be able to answer your questions.

And about maps in Chinese, I already talked about them: I think this is for the most desperate players, whom even a complete lack of understanding of the texts will not stop, which, combined with the sophistication of the author's tricks, probably makes them the most mind-blowing

Recently, I completed a wonderful map: Epic; author - Philip Karlovic. In terms of genre, it is a classic strategy that does not force any specific path to victory or development method upon the player. Its name perfectly reflects its essence: after some time, both your and the enemy heroes will become strong enough that warring becomes difficult and interesting.
The map's design is natural and very good. The terrain is densely packed with obstacles (forests, mountains), and since monsters are also placed quite frequently, clearing one's own zone takes a lot of time, making the initial period of the game last relatively long. The player does not reach enemy territory quickly: my first combat encounter with an enemy occurred only at the beginning of the 3rd month – later than ever before!
The Plot is practically non-existent here, as in many typical strategy maps; there is only a brief description. The Victory and Defeat Conditions are also standard.
Not all races existing in Heroes are represented on the map, but only 5 (Castle, Rampart, Fortress, Tower, Necropolis), though there are several neutral cities of other races. All 5 opposing sides dwell on the surface, while the same dungeon contains only neutral cities and winding paths full of monsters and treasures.
The difficulty of completing the map is due to a specific author's decision, in addition to the accelerated development of AI enemies compared to the player: Town Portal is forbidden, but Flight is allowed (it can be learned in towns) and there is a Dimension Door (only in the Air Magic Book and Wizard's Hat). In my opinion, it would have been better the other way around: Town Portal allowed, while Flight and Dimension Door forbidden. Especially since there are Border Guards here (almost all of them in the dungeon).
Here I decided to play as Fortress (Orange player). After some thought, I chose Expert difficulty, and later became convinced that this was the right decision: on Impossible, I would have lost. There are plenty of resources scattered everywhere on the map, but monsters are also numerous, so from the very beginning, exploring the territory becomes not a walk in the park, but a constant struggle. There are many artifacts as well, although at first one cannot complain: they too must be fought for from the monsters!
The map allows one to see how much the pace of the game depends on the number of troops, which primarily depends on the number of cities of one race each player has: there are as many as 4 here!
The witch Andra was chosen as the main hero, and her outstanding intellect allowed for the active use of high-level magic in battles, since this requires a lot of mana! To my great regret, Andra was unlucky with skills: having studied water, fire, and air magic, she did not receive earth magic! :( What is noteworthy: this has happened to me for the first time in recent years; usually, earth magic would drop sooner or later, or it could be learned in a witch's hut or university. This made the game very difficult, but I had to continue: when Andra's eighth skill slot was filled, it was too late to change the main hero; a newcomer would have to be "leveled up" for a very long time, and the enemies will not wait! In addition, almost until the end of the game, no previously defeated enemy heroes appeared in the tavern for me to hire as warriors. However, even when such heroes did appear, it turned out that hiring them was impractical: the AI again approached skill selection strangely, and even leveled-up heroes had neither wisdom nor a free slot to learn it! More often, the AI "leveled" attack and defense, betting on brute force.
Already from the second week, by the message about the arrival of the imp/devil week, it became clear: there is an Inferno with the Fire God somewhere on the map. I immediately thought of the pleasant side of this fact: one does not have to fear the terrible month of Plague; it will never come!
Probably, the author overlooked some factor affecting balance somewhere, because quite soon Brown (Necromancers) began to increasingly outpace the others in development. The second thing that was strange to me: two usually most successful races – Castle and Rampart – were weaker than the rest and soon dropped out of the game.
While all opponents were still present on the map, according to Thieves' Guild statistics, I was an average-strength player; after the death of Green and Blue, I became the weakest. The Necromancers were the strongest, followed by the mages (Tower). However, after a few months, almost every player visited the lands of their opponents on the surface, and armies became partially mixed. I gradually captured the human lands in the southwest and began to add archangels to my army: they gave me the ability to attack first in most battles, and more importantly, they allowed for resurrecting the fallen, and with the Clone spell and expert water magic, I could repeat resurrection as many times as necessary. Necessity is the mother of invention. You've got to be flexible to survive! ;)
Viewing the land showed that, unfortunately, my neighbors turned out to be Necromancers; however, we were separated by neutral central lands full of monsters. But around the 4th month, enemy heroes finally invaded my lands, and since I was still far inferior to them, I had to retreat, heading west through the dungeon to the human lands. The enemy captured all my cities, but I did not waste time, making a campaign into distant lands (Ramparts in the center, Necropolises in the east) and collecting archangels with secondary heroes. When the necromancer finally left my swamps, I recaptured my cities and continued to gather troops.
The turning point in the war occurred after I captured the Sphere of Vulnerability – on this map, as on most others, it is one of the most important artifacts! After that, I saw that the main necromancer, Claivus, no longer sought to attack me but, instead, avoided me. Well, enemies, hold on tight now! :smile10:
At the beginning of the 7th month, I saw that one strong hero each for Brown and Red had started flying! This, of course, made them much more dangerous: moving across a map with such jagged terrain is not fast at all, and Flight accelerates movement many times over! However, this time the enemies were flying on perfectly legal grounds: Flight dropped in the Mages' Guild of a couple of cities. And when I was finally able to reach Claivus after many days, among other trophies, I took the Wizard's Hat from him.
Besides that, there was also a Tome of Air Magic on the map (in a secluded place and under serious guard by azure dragons). Although, having the Wizard's Hat, I could do without it, for the sake of experience and for a second strong heroine (Nella), I captured it as well! After this, the absence of Town Portal was partially compensated by the ability to make 4 jumps per day across the map, which accelerated the course of the war many times over.
The surface Cartographer opened most of the world to me, and then I found and visited the underground Cartographer.
By visiting obelisks, I gradually uncovered the location of the Grail, and soon realized where it should be sought. However, one of the enemies had already made a hole there. Could he have beaten me? But no city has the corresponding special building. Fortunately, I still dug up the Grail: as it turned out, the enemy had dug a hole 1 cell to the northeast of its burial place.
Having captured the last two neutral cities in the dungeon (Inferno, where the Fire God stood, and Dungeon), I completed all main objectives and could now finish off Brown and end the game. At the same time, quite a few treasures and monsters in the dungeon remained untouched, but there was no longer any interest in them.
The last enemy castle was captured on the 9th month, 2nd week, 2nd day. Result: 233 days, 388 points.
Unfortunately, there is 1 non-critical error here: the blue border guard in cell 93,48 of the dungeon is placed such that he does not block the passage and can be bypassed. True, with Flight and Dimension Door, border guards lose their meaning – but those spells still need to be acquired!
To sum up, I must say that this excellent map has only one noticeable (but also non-critical) flaw: a forbidden Town Portal while Flight and Dimension Door are allowed. After all, by acquiring one of these two spells, a player can fly over gates, guards, garrisons, and passage guards. Therefore, searching for and visiting keymasters' tents with Flight is no longer necessary; this violates the author's design, according to which reaching cities and dwarven treasures in the dungeon should be very difficult; however, it is not mandatory for victory.
Interestingly, on this map I had to kill the same strongest enemy hero (Claivus) as many as 4 times: the necromancers hired him again every time!

Marmot, thanks for the info. I wrote directly to the map creator, and he replied! I didn't even think he would, but he did. We're currently exchanging messages; I'm trying to explain my problem in broken English. He immediately said that he hasn't played in a long time, and the map seems to be from 2009. I sent him a screenshot of the place where the game gets stuck. He said he'll take a look and try to remember what he did there, saying that he "made a real mess" and doesn't remember how or why. We'll see; I'll update you on the results.

Marmot, what were you doing there for so long? I finished this map, and nothing impressed me. I played without trying to optimize everything, didn't use the editor. I got lucky at the beginning and encountered a brown player (I also started with the Swamp faction). He died in the second month, and the Hives helped me form a powerful army, which I used to defeat everyone. Naturally, I continued playing with Necropolis troops (more cities and they were already built). Then, I took over the Rampart castles. By the way, I didn't attack any garrisons; it's not worth it when you can just go around them. It's a shame I didn't play with autosaves, so I'm telling this from memory. Then, with an Earth and Air expert, I used the "View" spell to figure out where to go and where the enemies were. I captured the castles, and then it was time for the Towers. There were a couple of moments when I had to retreat because I hadn't reinforced my troops for too long when I went to attack the castles. I returned to the Rampart's starting point to build up my army. There, I got incredibly lucky; an Armageddon spell appeared in the Mage Guild, and I got 8 Golden Dragons, which made the game a boring and monotonous slaughter. I thought it was intentionally designed that way and wondered why someone would create such a ridiculous situation. But as I saw after the game, it was just a coincidence. So, in the fourth month, only one blue player remained, and the whole challenge was finding him and catching up in the dungeons. Overall, the map is so-so; it looks good, but it's not very interesting. It's great that there are no city portals; this added some interesting elements. With them, it would just be uninteresting. By the way, I didn't build flying units/damage dealers in the Guilds; I was hoping for artifacts, but they never appeared.

Lider1, thank you for taking a look at this map! :) Perhaps you didn't read my review carefully enough (or didn't read it at all ;)). The main difficulty for me was that

Andre was unlucky with her skills: after learning water, fire, and air magic, she didn't get earth magic!

Secondly, for very skilled players, this map may seem relatively simple. I didn't claim that it was particularly difficult; it just requires some effort.
Finally, you should also take into account factors such as luck and the initial distribution:

I was lucky to get to the brown resource early on

I was very lucky, of course

And since you found "Epic" so easy to complete, maybe you could help veR with a walkthrough for "Brothers of Mercy and War" or try to complete "Legend of Heroes". ;)
The next map I completed (in the RPG genre) that I'm going to write about is even easier, so I'm warning you in advance: don't waste your time on it. ;)

veR, could you help me with completing "Brothers of Mercy and War"?

I tried. It's a tricky map :D I haven't even killed the first enemy yet :D

The next map I completed (in the RPG genre), which I'm going to write about, is even easier, so I'm warning you in advance: don't waste your time on it.

Okay.

Secondly, for very skilled players

I don't consider myself to be one of them. On the contrary, I play map challenges very averagely. There's just nothing special here.

Seven seals

After a classic strategic map, my choice fell upon an RPG-style map. It became clear in the first few days that this was not a strategy game, but indeed an RPG. And although I prefer strategic maps, this one is undoubtedly among the best examples of its genre, such as the maps from the "Prides" trilogy. Here, while there is no strategic development or ability to choose heroes, and the main stages of the walkthrough are determined by the author's design, it is done exceptionally unobtrusively, so that the player does not feel as if they are walking along a path from which they cannot step left or right. We still have considerable freedom of action, and what needs to be done is logically derived from the current situation.
The plot is that the terrible necromancer Sandro is imprisoned in a dungeon, and his prison is sealed by seven seals, but his allies strive to free Sandro, and if they succeed, the entire world will be conquered by him, and no one will be able to escape. There is still time, but you must hurry!
Aside from this brief description, the map has no plot events. Unfortunately, we are given no instructions from the author on where to go or what to do – you must rely only on yourself, scouting data, and logic.
Victory condition: defeat Sandro. Defeat condition: lose the hero Dragon.
Bans and restrictions: no Fly or Dimension Door spells.
At first, captivated by the map, I began to write a story of my walkthrough, but then I decided it was better not to do so, as it would make passing it less interesting for you; in this case, that is exactly what maintains the player's interest if they haven't studied the map in the editor beforehand: wanting to know what comes next?
Therefore, I will limit myself to a general characterization, the most interesting moments, and a couple of tips for players (although one can manage without them here).
The map can easily be called easy – at least, I encountered no difficulties in completing it (there was only one section that had to be repeated, but more on that later).
We play as Red Tower (though our island is somehow on grass, but it will soon turn out that this doesn't hold us back much). I chose Expert difficulty, fearing a long and agonizing start (it is the Tower, after all!), but it turned out: I worried for nothing, one can even play on Impossible difficulty.
At the start, the player has one hero and one city. The hero already has all 8 skills, so there will be no need to worry about which skills are needed (or fear them not appearing!). Also, the hero already has a detachment of 10 titans and 40 wizards, and the name of this hero is Dragon, a wizard specialist (which is why I especially love him!). Thus, barely starting the game, I seized all cities on my island, looked around, and realized that the start would be rapid: all Towers, except the starting one, are already fully built, so you can immediately assemble an army, studying almost all possible spells along the way, seize mines, and set sail to conquer the world! Unfortunately, there are no taverns in the cities (they are banned): I would have liked to know at least something about the enemies I'll have to fight! Alas, such are the inevitable restrictions of the RPG genre.
Regarding the army, I can say right away, jumping ahead: throughout the journey, you can focus on level 7 creatures, adding perhaps wizards and nag queens (for some battles).
Diplomacy for heroes on this map will be pleasing more than once: many monster detachments will want to join you (for money or free), and some will be quite strong.
Exploration of the world should begin with the neighboring island to the east. There we will find many other useful things, and most importantly – acquire helper heroes. After that, you can explore the seas and start by seizing those lands that are accessible. This is not hard to figure out: viewing the land will show us where there are areas where landing or disembarking from a ship is possible. The way to where Border Gates or Border Guards stand is currently closed to us.
Opening the road to the enemies begins with visiting the island where our red garrison of titans stands. As expected, they cannot be taken into your army: they perform an extremely important task, preventing any of the enemies from reaching the first Keykeeper's Tent. Only we should visit it! Along the way, we will stop at a Mage's Hut. The mage's eye will reveal Sandro's position to us. Jumping ahead, I'll say that after some time you can relax when it becomes clear that Pink himself cannot free Sandro. But as we advance through the world, we ourselves will open the road for him, removing the 7 seals holding him one by one. The way the author implemented this reminds me of the classic "Prides" trilogy, and it is done very elegantly – at least, I liked it! You will have to run away from the seal guardians, and each time it will look slightly different. Escaping pursuit may be a bit frightening, as all the guardians are so powerful that there is no question of fighting them, but your hero can almost certainly return safely from each such expedition if well-prepared. The enemies themselves cannot leave the Purple Gates and pursue you further... until the finale. But even then, you will only need to defeat Sandro.
Speaking of escaping pursuit, I can give the promised couple of tips: you will easily evade pursuers if a hero with logistics, boots, gloves, and only fast units (speed no lower than 9!) is sent there. And before opening the Purple border guard, you should spend the night near him to ensure the greatest lead from the pursuit the next morning. Fighting in these areas is practically unnecessary, except for clumps of neutrals that appeared during monster week, and water elementals in the northern underground canal. This was the only place where I underestimated the enemy's speed: after a few days he caught up with me, and I had to redo this section. Yes, another tip: while sailing through the canal, don't forget to wear the Admiral's Hat at night or just not take it off; at the start, it is exactly what will allow you to get into a boat and sail sufficiently far ahead; the guard has no Hat, but he is an expert in navigation and moves rapidly, closing the gap between you!
As you progress, you will soon have plenty of resources, artifacts, and troops. A few more heroes will join you, including some very strong ones. It is desirable to constantly train all heroes, except for a couple of the weakest, increasing their primary skills.
The only thing perhaps missing from this map is a Grail buried in the ground, but there are Grails in enemy cities, which will gradually become ours.
Of all the enemy heroes I defeated, the most unpleasant was Jagegar (Green, Dungeon): he had a Cloak of Denial and a quite decent army, the core of which were black dragons. Therefore, losses in this battle were inevitable, and I replayed it several times to minimize them.
Before removing the last seal, assess your strength; it is desirable to assemble the strongest possible army and give it to the strongest hero. If you weren't lazy and captured external dragon dwellings during the war, you will have many of them! Don't forget about Summoning Portals in Dungeons.
So, the finale. Sandro was freed, did not attack on his own, but teleported via a monolith to my island, where I caught up with him. In the final battle, my hero wearing the Alliance of Angels had maximum primary skill values (as did Sandro), and overcoming the adversary turned out to be neither difficult nor long. My losses, thanks to the archangels, were also insignificant. Victory!
Now I must say that in the end it turned out: there is no need to complete the seers' tasks; you can avoid visiting huts entirely; this is a flaw, especially since on RPG-style maps all quests are usually mandatory.
What else should be added: in a couple of places there are hidden objects (behind volcanoes), but of those you will only need the Tent, and you're unlikely to miss it, as there is a small area between gates where logically something important must be. In another place, fairy dragons "hid" behind trees, which must be defeated to proceed further, but a hint is given in a message. You can also find a prison with the strongest hero on the map, but even if you don't find him – no matter: your strongest hero (heroine) can level up just as well if they methodically visit all "boosters," visit all cities, and kill strong monsters who refused to stand under our banners. Already after victory, looking at the map, I discovered a hidden monolith I had previously missed, leading to a small underground treasury.
Finally, the author has another RPG map posted on the same site (according to reviews, also good), and someday I will complete that one too. Right now, I am playing a map by another author, completely unlike this one; if I ultimately like it – I'll tell you about it too.
Attention! Due to a serious error* in the original version of the map, those wishing to complete it should download the fixed version attached below!
(* the error is as follows: in the dungeon where Orange enters shortly after the start of the game, there is a Scroll with Dimension Door under own light guard; obtaining Fly or Dimension Door by any player on this map will lead to a violation of the author's design and, most likely, the impossibility of victory. I played on the map with the error, and Orange had already seized the scroll when I discovered it, defeating his hero and taking the scroll; fortunately, Orange had not yet managed to abuse it).
Map page on the maps4heroes site with discussion.

Seven Seals

Attention! Due to a serious error* in the original version of the map, those who wish to play it should download the attached corrected version!
(*The error is as follows: in the Dungeon, where Orange ends up shortly after the start of the game, there is a Scroll of Dimension Door under weak guard; obtaining Flight or Dimension Door by any player on this map will disrupt the author's intent and will most likely make victory impossible. I played on the map with the error, and Orange had already acquired the scroll when I discovered this, defeating his hero and taking the scroll; fortunately, Orange had not yet had time to abuse it).
Map page on the maps4heroes website with discussion.

I played your edited version of the map. The main hero of Orange somehow managed to capture a Tower-type castle east of his own castles, which is not easily accessible. Fortunately, he stood there and didn't capture anything or reveal a hero with good stats. When I killed him, I didn't find anything that could have allowed him to get there. Neither a Scroll of Dimension Door nor Flight.
Otherwise, everything was fine; I completed the map in 139 days. The map is unusual, and I enjoyed it. Are there any other maps of this kind?

Completed the map in 139 days.

And I did it in 140! :) Of course, if you really want to, you can do it much faster, but here I wasn't chasing points; I was enjoying the adventure.
alextet, this is really unclear, but I had another Orange hero who somehow managed to fly to cell 80,29 and stood there until he disappeared because I captured all his castles. Seeing him with Air View, I even (after saving) used a Portal to jump there to kill him and see what artifacts I would get. He didn't seem to have any at all, which means he had no legitimate right to fly! (Then I loaded the save and continued the Walkthrough honestly.)
Maybe someone can dig into the save file and figure out these wonders. I'm posting the save in the appropriate "AI Cheating on Single-Player Maps" thread.
The map discussion on the maps4heroes website mentions such cases, and the reason for this remains unclear.
I don't know of any maps that are exactly the same, but you can try another map created by Jimmy: DreamLand.

Mist and Mysteries

The other day, I completed a wonderful map that I want to briefly describe (author - Audun; link for download).
In terms of genre, this is a classic strategy game with all its inherent features: to win, you simply need to defeat all enemies and capture all their cities. There are no mandatory quests, no restrictions (the most valuable spells are available, but they can only be obtained after acquiring the corresponding artifacts), and no plot. There are also no tricky author's tricks that could spoil your mood (hiding objects, etc.). There are many seers, but completing their quests is not necessary. The map size is XL, and it features the Dungeon faction. The graphics are good, and the map is quite densely populated.
I played as the Dungeon, under the Purple Flag. At the beginning, after surveying the starting area, I decided to choose a "high" difficulty level because there are almost no freely available resources around, and on expert or impossible difficulty, the player's development at the start would be quite slow. Indeed, I managed to quickly build up my capital, gather an army, and subsequent actions proceeded at a rapid pace; I never had to simply stall to accumulate troops for a particularly difficult battle; I simply captured the third Dungeon last, and then broke through the anti-magic garrison, which blocked the only way to the "big world." By the way, the isolation of the Purple Flag's starting area also "helps" the player: you can develop without much haste and fear of a sudden attack (even later, until the end of the game, uninvited guests did not visit my lands).
At the end of the initial stage of the game, I must admit, luck played an important role: in one place, the creatures guarding the Shield of the Guardian suddenly joined me (I could have defeated them, but I decided to use them to destroy a squad of black dragons that blocked the entrance to the 3rd Dungeon), and after passing the garrison, a squad of ancient creatures also joined (in front of the underground Cartographer). This was probably an oversight by the author; but I think that a similar stroke of luck also occurred with my enemies. A couple of months later, a hundred Chaos Hydras, guarding the Tome of Earth Magic, also wanted to join me, but I had already destroyed them.
I defeated all the enemies, captured all the cities except for one neutral one (the entrance to it was blocked by a Guardian, who required me to bring a Dragon hero, which I could not find, although I freed everyone I met from prisons; it seems that someone else freed him, and then he died), dug up the Grail, and placed it in the city. Victory came on the 5th month, 4th week, 6th day (a total of 139 days).
As for the disadvantages of the map, I can only note that the "mist and mysteries" promised in the title are missing, that is, there are no secret, hard-to-reach areas where something particularly valuable and interesting is hidden, and that, contrary to what the author stated in the description:

The map offers challenges both in start, middle and end game,

after a successful start, the game soon becomes frankly easy – my army is much stronger than all the enemy armies, and defeating them is not difficult; finally, the most valuable artifacts that give the main "transport" spells – City Portal, Fly, and Dimension Door – should have been guarded more seriously, and it turned out to be quite easy to capture the underground Cartographer. However, on the other hand, the ability to win quickly on a map of this size is more of a plus than a minus; and for those who like something "more difficult," there are enough challenging maps (the next one I started playing is just such a map).