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Hello everyone. I want to share with you the secrets of masters of offline tournaments. I present to you articles on how to play offline tournaments. And not just play, but do so with maximum efficiency. The authors of the articles are Dirty_Player (coordinator of Heroesworld, one of the most titled Heroesworld players in the offline section) and Eldgernon (winner of the Best of the Best tournament, two-time winner of the prestigious Continent Championship tournament on HeroesPortal). I hope the thread will be supplemented with tips and articles from other masters. So, let's begin point by point.
1. Choosing the Map!
Initially, you should evaluate the map and ask yourself: "Am I ready to play it?". Choosing a map is a matter of taste: some like small maps, some like large ones, but usually large maps require much more time and effort to complete. If you are ready, then download the save, FAMILIARIZE YOURSELF WITH THE RULES (especially what is Forbidden) and start studying it.
2. Reconnaissance!
Reconnaissance is probably the most important point for an offline tournament. 90% of success is achieved through reconnaissance and choosing the right plan. You need to study the map as much as possible and, among hundreds of completion options, spot that narrow path that leads to the best (fastest) victory. For simplicity, let's divide this huge point into sections.
A) Cheat Codes
In a draft (test) playthrough, most information is obtained using cheat codes. A list of cheat codes can be found anywhere, and everyone knows them, but I recommend forgetting about them and using the debug-menu. This menu has much more than the standard codes: you can assign any secondary skill and any monsters, as well as enable the invaluable View Enemy Towns mode. The only thing missing is the +1 level code, you need to know - nwcneo. See the screenshots for how to set up the menu, and I suggest you test the possibilities yourself.
B) The Path to Victory.
To plot a route, you need to consider many factors, such as guards, quests, spells, boats, etc. If it's a speed tournament, first mark the farthest point on the map (among those you must reach for victory) and decide on the hero who will run there. From personal experience, I can say that most often these are logistics heroes or runners, who need to be boosted as much as possible for the fastest movement to the goal. It is important to choose a method of travel. There are 4:
- On Foot. This seems simple. You just need to find the right hero (Usually Kyrre, Dessa, Gunnar), as well as the necessary speed boost objects (fountains, springs, flags, stables) and required artifacts (Boots of Speed, Equestrian's Gloves)
- By Air. If this path is a priority on the map, then reconnaissance should start with searching for control spells (DD, Fly, TP,) and a way to obtain them. These spells can be obtained from:
* Mage Guild - check in the editor for bans and clarify in the save by building all guilds.
* Control Artifacts (Books, Hats, including scrolls) - searched for in the editor via search. Random Relics also require mandatory searching, which are clarified in the save. It is very important to check ALL utopias in the save and not forget about shipwreck survivors and warrior's tombs (a 0.5% chance cannot be ruled out)
* Quests/Pandora's Boxes/Events - check everything that could theoretically contain the needed spell or artifact. This is done by searching in the editor. If it's a quest, look for how to complete it.
* Grail in Conflux - if this town is on the map, check the availability of placing the Grail there and the presence/availability of obelisks.
* Pyramids/Scholars - search in the editor, clarify in the save.
* Heroes who know spells from the start (enemy heroes, heroes from prisons) - search in the editor (don't forget to check the garrisons of enemy towns).
All these points need to be checked first thing, as the presence of any of them can radically affect the completion and simplify it to the minimum.
- By Sea. If there is water, then the swimming option must be considered. Look for artifacts that are part of the Admiral's Hat, as well as the Book of Water and Boots of Levitation (just in case). Be sure to check for the presence of water spells - Water Walk, Summon Boat (Availability of the hero Gem on the map). The search is carried out similarly to air spells.
- Combined. This method is the most common, and finding the best combination is mastery! Make several attempts and find the best one - the optimal combination!
C) Heroes
The path to victory has been found, the route is planned, now we need to determine who will run in which direction. There are many heroes in the game, and there is plenty to choose from. Much has been written about this. I recommend studying the article from HeroesPortal about "fashionable" heroes by HateYou. For running, it's better to use heroes who specialize in logistics. For flying - mages with a large mana pool and Air Magic. For swimming - navigators. But there are many different ones among them too. How do you choose the best one? The best one will be the one with the best skill tree development. Determine the skill combination we want, find the right hero in the tavern, make a save (e.g., test_Kyrre_1, test_Gunnar_1) and start entering the nwcneo code until we get the required level (whatever we want). If you don't like it, reload the save, try leveling up differently, and check – can you get all this earlier, at a lower level? And start over. For example, after spending some time, we concluded that Gunnar will get the combination of Expert Logistics and Expert Air Magic at level 10, while Kyrre will get it at level 6, and so we choose Kyrre. (Sometimes it's worth writing down the "leveling path" right away for memory.) But this doesn't mean that Gunnar is no longer needed; we'll find a place for him for secondary tasks. The procedure is, of course, very tedious, but very important. In the modern world, there are programs that simplify this process (HMM3_Cheater, LMOracle, etc.)
D) Battles
Heroes are planned out, now we move on to battles. There are maps where our starting army is stronger than everyone else and you just need to kill everyone faster, but this is not always the case. There are maps where, for success, you need to fight a serious battle (e.g., take a Dragon Utopia with a Book of Air, or kill a horde of Hydras for a Fly scroll) immediately, in the first few days, with almost no troops, and as early as possible. How to plan battles? To do this, you need to roughly understand who, with what, and why to fight.
- Who? Choosing the right hero for this particular battle is important. Priorities are all standard. Best skills, spells, specialty. You can roughly estimate what level the hero will be by the time of the battle and what spells and secondary skills he will have. Sometimes a battle can be won just by choosing the right hero (Luna, Ciele, Solmyr, Deemer, Tazar, etc.)
- With What? It is important to understand what units can realistically be brought to the battle, who can be bought from the town, who can be joined, etc. (more on this below). It happens that a battle cannot be won without a specific battle spell. In such cases, you need not only to choose a hero but also to plan when and how to obtain that spell beforehand, before the battle.
- Why? The goal must justify the means. If we are sacrificing almost the entire army, it must be for something valuable, something absolutely essential. Also remember – if a battle is hopelessly lost on the first try, without the slightest chance, then on the 63rd attempt you might pass it with almost no losses. This is offline.
E) Where to get troops?
One of the most pressing and important questions. We won't dwell on gift maps where we are initially stronger than everyone else. So:
- Diplomacy. A crucial component of any offline tournament (very few exceptions). To use diplomacy you need to:
- Check monster loyalty in the editor.
- Open the save, use the debug-menu to give expert diplomacy, a lot of troops, and assess the possibility of joining.
- Start reducing troops to the minimum to find out how many are enough for joining, and whether expert diplomacy is mandatory (maybe advanced/basic is enough, even with more "meat")?
- Join the most agreeable stack and then look at another, etc. The order of joining and the route are also extremely important. Based on the results of the diplo-reconnaissance, we get a cheat sheet like: "Stack No. 1 can be joined if you have Diplo-1, 10 Swordsmen, and 48 Gnolls, or Diplo-2 and only 35 Gnolls. Stack No. 2 – etc."
- Choose a diplomat hero who will do all the work in the clean walkthrough. Usually, this is Kyra, Rylund, or Adela, but there are exceptions. (For example, in one tournament for me, Kyra, Rylund, and Adela only got expert diplomacy at level 5, but Josephine only needed level 4. Thus, a weak hero became mega-strong :) But don't get carried away!
Beginner mistakes: they join too many stacks, wasting precious in-game days on gathering. Then, of course, they start crushing everything in their path, but... the winner has already finished by then.
- Necromancy. Helps a lot in situations where neutral stacks are very numerous. You can buy a hero with necromancy, raise it to expert level (Isra, Vidomina, Lord Haart have advanced from the start and are guaranteed to get expert on their first level up). By killing part of the stacks, you can immediately raise several hundred skeletons, which will be a considerable help in fighting stronger monsters (for example, about 500 skeletons can take a Dragon Utopia). Don't forget about the Skeleton Transformer. And if the map has the Cloak of the Undead King, I consider it a crime not to use the necro-strategy!
- Buildings that give troops (Dwellings/External Dwellings). A good thing, don't forget to include them in your heroes' running routes. I consider mentioning their importance unnecessary.
- Sharpshooters/Enchanters. When scouting the map, be sure to check the availability of hiring heroes Gelu and Dracon. Favorite heroes from the Blade's campaigns can be very helpful! Gelu, by transforming starting Archers into Sharpshooters, creates a decent stack. An Enchanter, coming with Dracon, even alone can seriously influence the outcome of a battle, for example, by casting Mass Slow on the enemies.
- Building troops in towns. This option should be considered last, as it requires a lot of gold and resources, which could be more efficiently invested in buying heroes or diplomacy. But there are exceptions, especially on long maps.
F) Determining the Maximum.
After we have figured out the route, battles, heroes, and troops, we can draw a conclusion about what the best result will be. Let's say we settled on N days. Once we are completely sure that N days is possible, let's think about what prevents us from doing N-1, N-2, etc. Weighing all the pros and cons, we start PLAYING!
3. Implementation
We shouldn't start playing just like that, but rather adhere to some principles. Let me share my view on this.
A) Saves.
To make it easy to play without getting confused in the playthrough, and also for possible rollbacks, I recommend using the following save labeling system.
Immediately save the starting save as Turnir_111_00, where
Turnir – the name of the tournament (e.g., VK3)
111 – the date in hero time (Month: 1 Week: 1 Day: 1)
00 – the sequential number of the save for the current day.
Then, after performing an action, e.g., collecting resources with the starting hero, make a save named Turnir_111_01. Let's say we decide to buy a hero. It's important to already know in advance who we will buy second, and put that hero in the tavern "window". Let's say we decide to buy the hero Malcolm, but put Dessa. After the purchase, make a save. Turnir_111_02 or, to make it easier to search, Turnir_111_02 Malcolm (Dessa). After moving the new hero, make a save Turnir_111_03. After ending the turn, make a save Turnir_112_00. And so on. I think the general principle is clear. The main thing is not to be lazy about making saves. The more there are, the easier it will be to go back and redo some actions if something goes wrong.
B) Determining the Play Time in Real Time.
It's important to plan everything so that you have enough time for everything and don't end up having to finish in online mode in the last hour. I've had this happen, and I can say the feeling is indescribable. It's worth adding that the better your reconnaissance, the fewer restarts you'll need.
C) Checkpoints.
Every map has them. It could be a town, an external tavern, a boat, etc. – in other words, something that must be done on that specific day, and failing to do so leads to a worse result. For example: you need to reach a castle on day 3, from where a hero will immediately run out, get on a boat, sail to the other shore the next day, and complete the final task there. Thus, if you don't reach the castle by even one hex, you lose a day; not reaching the boat – another day; not reaching the shore – another, etc. If you just barely missed reaching a point, think: did I do everything right? Can I save something somewhere? This point should be considered during reconnaissance and hero preparation.
D) Random Generation.
In the game, it's often important to time a particular event. Be it the actions of the computer or a week of a certain monster. Sometimes you need to spend an hour on something that will simplify the game. And while it's hard to predict the computer's actions, generating the right monster in a refugee camp is a trivial matter. There are maps where generating anything is practically impossible... Everyone will understand this section with experience.
E) Parallelism, Multitasking
Try to do everything in parallel. If the main hero is heading to their goal, the others should be doing secondary tasks. Ideally, you should always have 8 heroes, and those who have served and are no longer needed should be dismissed, and others should come in their place to perform new tasks. Of course, every tournament is individual, and there is no specific algorithm of behavior, but you need to try to do everything. Only then can you achieve the optimal result. Beginners are often surprised, "How could someone complete the map so fast?!" Answer: an experienced player manages to do several times more various things and tasks in a day. And if a beginner's hero goes just to join a stack (1 task), in experienced hands, the same hero can go in the same direction to also level up "Logistics" at a Learning Stone, get a secondary skill from a Scholar, join a stack, then immediately beat a weak but very needed artifact, and finally transfer the army and disband (6 tasks).
4. Tactical Tips for Playing
This section will cover what is essential to even start playing, namely basic knowledge.
A) Turn Management.
You absolutely cannot do without this, it is the main tool for saving your movement points. Before you start playing, study the section PhyzMiG – "Logistics. Features of Movement on the Map" – this is the alphabet for offline tournaments. Also, the section "Landscapes, Soil Types" wouldn't hurt.
You can save movement points not only through movement logistics but also through the correct interaction of heroes with each other. Even small details matter, like which hero spends 100 MP to transfer the army from one to another.
B) Hero Digging.
We've talked a lot about heroes, dismissing, etc. It's time to touch on this process in more detail. Previously, a special program called Digger HMM was used to speed up digging. It worked tediously and slowly, perhaps this was the reason offline tournaments were losing popularity. Now, HD-mod easily solves the problem of hero digging, digging up heroes in seconds. So, to show excellent results, you no longer have to spend hours.
C) Dismissing Heroes.
As already mentioned, excess heroes need to be removed, but that's not the only reason to use dismissal. Often, to empower a hero, you need to DISMISS them. Yes, yes. Dismiss them. What does dismissal give? Dismissal gives three main advantages.
+ Relocation. Today a hero served in one place, but tomorrow they will be needed in a completely different one.
+ Speed Boost. A dismissed hero gets maximum movement points – 2000 (not counting logistics bonuses). So, by dismissing today, you can run far tomorrow.
+ Mana Refill. In the absence of wells, it makes sense to equip artifacts for knowledge and then dismiss, getting a hero with full mana the next day.
It's also worth mentioning that according to the rules of offline tournaments, it is FORBIDDEN TO HIRE A HERO ON THE SAME DAY HE IS DISMISSED!
D) Preparing Heroes.
Prepare your heroes in advance. If you need a hero for a specific purpose, level them up ahead of time. For example: You know for sure that on day 115 you will capture a town with a built Mage Guild that has DD. Because of this, over the first 4 days, you need to level up several heroes with the skill combination "Expert Wisdom + Expert Air Magic", boost their knowledge (give artifacts), and dismiss them. On day 5, you take the town and calmly hire our air mages from there, who will immediately, like vultures, fly around and clear the entire map.
E) Enemy Heroes.
Most maps have computer opponents. If you kill one of their heroes (not letting them run away), you are allowed to dig him up in your tavern on the SAME day (!), thereby getting his bonuses. Upon hiring, he will have the maximum 2000 MP and a full mana pool.
F) Pathfinding.
I would like to dwell on this section in more detail. To move through rough terrain without penalty, you absolutely need Pathfinding or Angel Wings. To move without penalty, you need to find a creature that belongs to that terrain type and give it to the main hero; other troops will be carried by support heroes who already have the skill. For example: we have Kyrre with Archangels and need to cross a swamp. For this, we dig up a swamp hero with 1 Gnoll, ideally Korbac (basic Pathfinding), transfer the Gnoll to Kyrre, and the Archangels to Korbac, who will faithfully carry them through the swamp as long as he can. Kyrre, meanwhile, easily and effortlessly runs through the swamp with the gnoll in tow... And then adapt to the situation. If instead of a swamp there was snow, you would need to look for a Gremlin.
Overall victory in offline tournaments is built from such nuances.
G) Analysis.
After the tournament ends, if you didn't win, ALWAYS try to analyze the winner's saves, ask questions like "why this way?" or "why not that way?", and success won't be long in coming after a couple of tournaments. This is where the article should end, and it's time to move on to playing! I will gladly answer all your questions that arise after reading the article.
A Dirty Look at Clean Walkthrough.
1. Choosing the Map!
Initially, you should evaluate the map and ask yourself: "Am I ready to play it?". Choosing a map is a matter of taste: some like small maps, some like large ones, but usually large maps require much more time and effort to complete. If you are ready, then download the save, FAMILIARIZE YOURSELF WITH THE RULES (especially what is Forbidden) and start studying it.
2. Reconnaissance!
Reconnaissance is probably the most important point for an offline tournament. 90% of success is achieved through reconnaissance and choosing the right plan. You need to study the map as much as possible and, among hundreds of completion options, spot that narrow path that leads to the best (fastest) victory. For simplicity, let's divide this huge point into sections.
A) Cheat Codes
In a draft (test) playthrough, most information is obtained using cheat codes. A list of cheat codes can be found anywhere, and everyone knows them, but I recommend forgetting about them and using the debug-menu. This menu has much more than the standard codes: you can assign any secondary skill and any monsters, as well as enable the invaluable View Enemy Towns mode. The only thing missing is the +1 level code, you need to know - nwcneo. See the screenshots for how to set up the menu, and I suggest you test the possibilities yourself.
B) The Path to Victory.
To plot a route, you need to consider many factors, such as guards, quests, spells, boats, etc. If it's a speed tournament, first mark the farthest point on the map (among those you must reach for victory) and decide on the hero who will run there. From personal experience, I can say that most often these are logistics heroes or runners, who need to be boosted as much as possible for the fastest movement to the goal. It is important to choose a method of travel. There are 4:
- On Foot. This seems simple. You just need to find the right hero (Usually Kyrre, Dessa, Gunnar), as well as the necessary speed boost objects (fountains, springs, flags, stables) and required artifacts (Boots of Speed, Equestrian's Gloves)
- By Air. If this path is a priority on the map, then reconnaissance should start with searching for control spells (DD, Fly, TP,) and a way to obtain them. These spells can be obtained from:
* Mage Guild - check in the editor for bans and clarify in the save by building all guilds.
* Control Artifacts (Books, Hats, including scrolls) - searched for in the editor via search. Random Relics also require mandatory searching, which are clarified in the save. It is very important to check ALL utopias in the save and not forget about shipwreck survivors and warrior's tombs (a 0.5% chance cannot be ruled out)
* Quests/Pandora's Boxes/Events - check everything that could theoretically contain the needed spell or artifact. This is done by searching in the editor. If it's a quest, look for how to complete it.
* Grail in Conflux - if this town is on the map, check the availability of placing the Grail there and the presence/availability of obelisks.
* Pyramids/Scholars - search in the editor, clarify in the save.
* Heroes who know spells from the start (enemy heroes, heroes from prisons) - search in the editor (don't forget to check the garrisons of enemy towns).
All these points need to be checked first thing, as the presence of any of them can radically affect the completion and simplify it to the minimum.
- By Sea. If there is water, then the swimming option must be considered. Look for artifacts that are part of the Admiral's Hat, as well as the Book of Water and Boots of Levitation (just in case). Be sure to check for the presence of water spells - Water Walk, Summon Boat (Availability of the hero Gem on the map). The search is carried out similarly to air spells.
- Combined. This method is the most common, and finding the best combination is mastery! Make several attempts and find the best one - the optimal combination!
C) Heroes
The path to victory has been found, the route is planned, now we need to determine who will run in which direction. There are many heroes in the game, and there is plenty to choose from. Much has been written about this. I recommend studying the article from HeroesPortal about "fashionable" heroes by HateYou. For running, it's better to use heroes who specialize in logistics. For flying - mages with a large mana pool and Air Magic. For swimming - navigators. But there are many different ones among them too. How do you choose the best one? The best one will be the one with the best skill tree development. Determine the skill combination we want, find the right hero in the tavern, make a save (e.g., test_Kyrre_1, test_Gunnar_1) and start entering the nwcneo code until we get the required level (whatever we want). If you don't like it, reload the save, try leveling up differently, and check – can you get all this earlier, at a lower level? And start over. For example, after spending some time, we concluded that Gunnar will get the combination of Expert Logistics and Expert Air Magic at level 10, while Kyrre will get it at level 6, and so we choose Kyrre. (Sometimes it's worth writing down the "leveling path" right away for memory.) But this doesn't mean that Gunnar is no longer needed; we'll find a place for him for secondary tasks. The procedure is, of course, very tedious, but very important. In the modern world, there are programs that simplify this process (HMM3_Cheater, LMOracle, etc.)
D) Battles
Heroes are planned out, now we move on to battles. There are maps where our starting army is stronger than everyone else and you just need to kill everyone faster, but this is not always the case. There are maps where, for success, you need to fight a serious battle (e.g., take a Dragon Utopia with a Book of Air, or kill a horde of Hydras for a Fly scroll) immediately, in the first few days, with almost no troops, and as early as possible. How to plan battles? To do this, you need to roughly understand who, with what, and why to fight.
- Who? Choosing the right hero for this particular battle is important. Priorities are all standard. Best skills, spells, specialty. You can roughly estimate what level the hero will be by the time of the battle and what spells and secondary skills he will have. Sometimes a battle can be won just by choosing the right hero (Luna, Ciele, Solmyr, Deemer, Tazar, etc.)
- With What? It is important to understand what units can realistically be brought to the battle, who can be bought from the town, who can be joined, etc. (more on this below). It happens that a battle cannot be won without a specific battle spell. In such cases, you need not only to choose a hero but also to plan when and how to obtain that spell beforehand, before the battle.
- Why? The goal must justify the means. If we are sacrificing almost the entire army, it must be for something valuable, something absolutely essential. Also remember – if a battle is hopelessly lost on the first try, without the slightest chance, then on the 63rd attempt you might pass it with almost no losses. This is offline.
E) Where to get troops?
One of the most pressing and important questions. We won't dwell on gift maps where we are initially stronger than everyone else. So:
- Diplomacy. A crucial component of any offline tournament (very few exceptions). To use diplomacy you need to:
- Check monster loyalty in the editor.
- Open the save, use the debug-menu to give expert diplomacy, a lot of troops, and assess the possibility of joining.
- Start reducing troops to the minimum to find out how many are enough for joining, and whether expert diplomacy is mandatory (maybe advanced/basic is enough, even with more "meat")?
- Join the most agreeable stack and then look at another, etc. The order of joining and the route are also extremely important. Based on the results of the diplo-reconnaissance, we get a cheat sheet like: "Stack No. 1 can be joined if you have Diplo-1, 10 Swordsmen, and 48 Gnolls, or Diplo-2 and only 35 Gnolls. Stack No. 2 – etc."
- Choose a diplomat hero who will do all the work in the clean walkthrough. Usually, this is Kyra, Rylund, or Adela, but there are exceptions. (For example, in one tournament for me, Kyra, Rylund, and Adela only got expert diplomacy at level 5, but Josephine only needed level 4. Thus, a weak hero became mega-strong :) But don't get carried away!
Beginner mistakes: they join too many stacks, wasting precious in-game days on gathering. Then, of course, they start crushing everything in their path, but... the winner has already finished by then.
- Necromancy. Helps a lot in situations where neutral stacks are very numerous. You can buy a hero with necromancy, raise it to expert level (Isra, Vidomina, Lord Haart have advanced from the start and are guaranteed to get expert on their first level up). By killing part of the stacks, you can immediately raise several hundred skeletons, which will be a considerable help in fighting stronger monsters (for example, about 500 skeletons can take a Dragon Utopia). Don't forget about the Skeleton Transformer. And if the map has the Cloak of the Undead King, I consider it a crime not to use the necro-strategy!
- Buildings that give troops (Dwellings/External Dwellings). A good thing, don't forget to include them in your heroes' running routes. I consider mentioning their importance unnecessary.
- Sharpshooters/Enchanters. When scouting the map, be sure to check the availability of hiring heroes Gelu and Dracon. Favorite heroes from the Blade's campaigns can be very helpful! Gelu, by transforming starting Archers into Sharpshooters, creates a decent stack. An Enchanter, coming with Dracon, even alone can seriously influence the outcome of a battle, for example, by casting Mass Slow on the enemies.
- Building troops in towns. This option should be considered last, as it requires a lot of gold and resources, which could be more efficiently invested in buying heroes or diplomacy. But there are exceptions, especially on long maps.
F) Determining the Maximum.
After we have figured out the route, battles, heroes, and troops, we can draw a conclusion about what the best result will be. Let's say we settled on N days. Once we are completely sure that N days is possible, let's think about what prevents us from doing N-1, N-2, etc. Weighing all the pros and cons, we start PLAYING!
3. Implementation
We shouldn't start playing just like that, but rather adhere to some principles. Let me share my view on this.
A) Saves.
To make it easy to play without getting confused in the playthrough, and also for possible rollbacks, I recommend using the following save labeling system.
Immediately save the starting save as Turnir_111_00, where
Turnir – the name of the tournament (e.g., VK3)
111 – the date in hero time (Month: 1 Week: 1 Day: 1)
00 – the sequential number of the save for the current day.
Then, after performing an action, e.g., collecting resources with the starting hero, make a save named Turnir_111_01. Let's say we decide to buy a hero. It's important to already know in advance who we will buy second, and put that hero in the tavern "window". Let's say we decide to buy the hero Malcolm, but put Dessa. After the purchase, make a save. Turnir_111_02 or, to make it easier to search, Turnir_111_02 Malcolm (Dessa). After moving the new hero, make a save Turnir_111_03. After ending the turn, make a save Turnir_112_00. And so on. I think the general principle is clear. The main thing is not to be lazy about making saves. The more there are, the easier it will be to go back and redo some actions if something goes wrong.
B) Determining the Play Time in Real Time.
It's important to plan everything so that you have enough time for everything and don't end up having to finish in online mode in the last hour. I've had this happen, and I can say the feeling is indescribable. It's worth adding that the better your reconnaissance, the fewer restarts you'll need.
C) Checkpoints.
Every map has them. It could be a town, an external tavern, a boat, etc. – in other words, something that must be done on that specific day, and failing to do so leads to a worse result. For example: you need to reach a castle on day 3, from where a hero will immediately run out, get on a boat, sail to the other shore the next day, and complete the final task there. Thus, if you don't reach the castle by even one hex, you lose a day; not reaching the boat – another day; not reaching the shore – another, etc. If you just barely missed reaching a point, think: did I do everything right? Can I save something somewhere? This point should be considered during reconnaissance and hero preparation.
D) Random Generation.
In the game, it's often important to time a particular event. Be it the actions of the computer or a week of a certain monster. Sometimes you need to spend an hour on something that will simplify the game. And while it's hard to predict the computer's actions, generating the right monster in a refugee camp is a trivial matter. There are maps where generating anything is practically impossible... Everyone will understand this section with experience.
E) Parallelism, Multitasking
Try to do everything in parallel. If the main hero is heading to their goal, the others should be doing secondary tasks. Ideally, you should always have 8 heroes, and those who have served and are no longer needed should be dismissed, and others should come in their place to perform new tasks. Of course, every tournament is individual, and there is no specific algorithm of behavior, but you need to try to do everything. Only then can you achieve the optimal result. Beginners are often surprised, "How could someone complete the map so fast?!" Answer: an experienced player manages to do several times more various things and tasks in a day. And if a beginner's hero goes just to join a stack (1 task), in experienced hands, the same hero can go in the same direction to also level up "Logistics" at a Learning Stone, get a secondary skill from a Scholar, join a stack, then immediately beat a weak but very needed artifact, and finally transfer the army and disband (6 tasks).
4. Tactical Tips for Playing
This section will cover what is essential to even start playing, namely basic knowledge.
A) Turn Management.
You absolutely cannot do without this, it is the main tool for saving your movement points. Before you start playing, study the section PhyzMiG – "Logistics. Features of Movement on the Map" – this is the alphabet for offline tournaments. Also, the section "Landscapes, Soil Types" wouldn't hurt.
You can save movement points not only through movement logistics but also through the correct interaction of heroes with each other. Even small details matter, like which hero spends 100 MP to transfer the army from one to another.
B) Hero Digging.
We've talked a lot about heroes, dismissing, etc. It's time to touch on this process in more detail. Previously, a special program called Digger HMM was used to speed up digging. It worked tediously and slowly, perhaps this was the reason offline tournaments were losing popularity. Now, HD-mod easily solves the problem of hero digging, digging up heroes in seconds. So, to show excellent results, you no longer have to spend hours.
C) Dismissing Heroes.
As already mentioned, excess heroes need to be removed, but that's not the only reason to use dismissal. Often, to empower a hero, you need to DISMISS them. Yes, yes. Dismiss them. What does dismissal give? Dismissal gives three main advantages.
+ Relocation. Today a hero served in one place, but tomorrow they will be needed in a completely different one.
+ Speed Boost. A dismissed hero gets maximum movement points – 2000 (not counting logistics bonuses). So, by dismissing today, you can run far tomorrow.
+ Mana Refill. In the absence of wells, it makes sense to equip artifacts for knowledge and then dismiss, getting a hero with full mana the next day.
It's also worth mentioning that according to the rules of offline tournaments, it is FORBIDDEN TO HIRE A HERO ON THE SAME DAY HE IS DISMISSED!
D) Preparing Heroes.
Prepare your heroes in advance. If you need a hero for a specific purpose, level them up ahead of time. For example: You know for sure that on day 115 you will capture a town with a built Mage Guild that has DD. Because of this, over the first 4 days, you need to level up several heroes with the skill combination "Expert Wisdom + Expert Air Magic", boost their knowledge (give artifacts), and dismiss them. On day 5, you take the town and calmly hire our air mages from there, who will immediately, like vultures, fly around and clear the entire map.
E) Enemy Heroes.
Most maps have computer opponents. If you kill one of their heroes (not letting them run away), you are allowed to dig him up in your tavern on the SAME day (!), thereby getting his bonuses. Upon hiring, he will have the maximum 2000 MP and a full mana pool.
F) Pathfinding.
I would like to dwell on this section in more detail. To move through rough terrain without penalty, you absolutely need Pathfinding or Angel Wings. To move without penalty, you need to find a creature that belongs to that terrain type and give it to the main hero; other troops will be carried by support heroes who already have the skill. For example: we have Kyrre with Archangels and need to cross a swamp. For this, we dig up a swamp hero with 1 Gnoll, ideally Korbac (basic Pathfinding), transfer the Gnoll to Kyrre, and the Archangels to Korbac, who will faithfully carry them through the swamp as long as he can. Kyrre, meanwhile, easily and effortlessly runs through the swamp with the gnoll in tow... And then adapt to the situation. If instead of a swamp there was snow, you would need to look for a Gremlin.
Overall victory in offline tournaments is built from such nuances.
G) Analysis.
After the tournament ends, if you didn't win, ALWAYS try to analyze the winner's saves, ask questions like "why this way?" or "why not that way?", and success won't be long in coming after a couple of tournaments. This is where the article should end, and it's time to move on to playing! I will gladly answer all your questions that arise after reading the article.
